A slowly evolving host moves first in symbiotic interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Damore, James; Gore, Jeff

2011-03-01

Symbiotic relationships, both parasitic and mutualistic, are ubiquitous in nature. Understanding how these symbioses evolve, from bacteria and their phages to humans and our gut microflora, is crucial in understanding how life operates. Often, symbioses consist of a slowly evolving host species with each host only interacting with its own sub-population of symbionts. The Red Queen hypothesis describes coevolutionary relationships as constant arms races with each species rushing to evolve an advantage over the other, suggesting that faster evolution is favored. Here, we use a simple game theoretic model of host- symbiont coevolution that includes population structure to show that if the symbionts evolve much faster than the host, the equilibrium distribution is the same as it would be if it were a sequential game where the host moves first against its symbionts. For the slowly evolving host, this will prove to be advantageous in mutualisms and a handicap in antagonisms. The model allows for symbiont adaptation to its host, a result that is robust to changes in the parameters and generalizes to continuous and multiplayer games. Our findings provide insight into a wide range of symbiotic phenomena and help to unify the field of coevolutionary theory.

Adaptation to fluctuations in temperature by nine species of bacteria.

PubMed

Saarinen, Kati; Laakso, Jouni; Lindström, Leena; Ketola, Tarmo

2018-03-01

Rapid environmental fluctuations are ubiquitous in the wild, yet majority of experimental studies mostly consider effects of slow fluctuations on organism. To test the evolutionary consequences of fast fluctuations, we conducted nine independent experimental evolution experiments with bacteria. Experimental conditions were same for all species, and we allowed them to evolve either in fluctuating temperature alternating rapidly between 20°C and 40°C or at constant 30°C temperature. After experimental evolution, we tested the performance of the clones in both rapid fluctuation and in constant environments (20°C, 30°C and 40°C). Results from experiments on these nine species were combined meta-analytically. We found that overall the clones evolved in the fluctuating environment had evolved better efficiency in tolerating fluctuations (i.e., they had higher yield in fluctuating conditions) than the clones evolved in the constant environment. However, we did not find any evidence that fluctuation-adapted clones would have evolved better tolerance to any measured constant environments (20°C, 30°C, and 40°C). Our results back up recent empirical findings reporting that it is hard to predict adaptations to fast fluctuations using tolerance curves.

Evolution of circadian rhythms in Drosophila melanogaster populations reared in constant light and dark regimes for over 330 generations.

PubMed

Shindey, Radhika; Varma, Vishwanath; Nikhil, K L; Sharma, Vijay Kumar

2017-01-01

Organisms are believed to have evolved circadian clocks as adaptations to deal with cyclic environmental changes, and therefore it has been hypothesized that evolution in constant environments would lead to regression of such clocks. However, previous studies have yielded mixed results, and evolution of circadian clocks under constant conditions has remained an unsettled topic of debate in circadian biology. In continuation of our previous studies, which reported persistence of circadian rhythms in Drosophila melanogaster populations evolving under constant light, here we intended to examine whether circadian clocks and the associated properties evolve differently under constant light and constant darkness. In this regard, we assayed activity-rest, adult emergence and oviposition rhythms of D. melanogaster populations which have been maintained for over 19 years (~330 generations) under three different light regimes - constant light (LL), light-dark cycles of 12:12 h (LD) and constant darkness (DD). We observed that while circadian rhythms in all the three behaviors persist in both LL and DD stocks with no differences in circadian period, they differed in certain aspects of the entrained rhythms when compared to controls reared in rhythmic environment (LD). Interestingly, we also observed that DD stocks have evolved significantly higher robustness or power of free-running activity-rest and adult emergence rhythms compared to LL stocks. Thus, our study, in addition to corroborating previous results of circadian clock evolution in constant light, also highlights that, contrary to the expected regression of circadian clocks, rearing in constant darkness leads to the evolution of more robust circadian clocks which may be attributed to an intrinsic adaptive advantage of circadian clocks and/or pleiotropic functions of clock genes in other traits.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nunes, R. P.; Rizzato, F. B.

This work analyzes the transversal dynamics of an inhomogeneous and mismatched charged particle beam. The beam is azimuthally symmetric, initially cold, and evolves in a linear channel permeated by an external constant magnetic field. Based on a Lagrangian approach, a low-dimensional model for the description of the beam dynamics has been obtained. The small set of nonlinear dynamical equations provided results that are in reasonable agreement with that ones observed in full self-consistent N-particle beam numerical simulations.

History of Weak Interactions

DOE R&D Accomplishments Database

Lee, T. D.

1970-07-01

While the phenomenon of beta-decay was discovered near the end of the last century, the notion that the weak interaction forms a separate field of physical forces evolved rather gradually. This became clear only after the experimental discoveries of other weak reactions such as muon-decay, muon-capture, etc., and the theoretical observation that all these reactions can be described by approximately the same coupling constant, thus giving rise to the notion of a universal weak interaction. Only then did one slowly recognize that the weak interaction force forms an independent field, perhaps on the same footing as the gravitational force, the electromagnetic force, and the strong nuclear and sub-nuclear forces.

Anisotropic k-essence cosmologies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chimento, Luis P.; Forte, Monica

We investigate a Bianchi type-I cosmology with k-essence and find the set of models which dissipate the initial anisotropy. There are cosmological models with extended tachyon fields and k-essence having a constant barotropic index. We obtain the conditions leading to a regular bounce of the average geometry and the residual anisotropy on the bounce. For constant potential, we develop purely kinetic k-essence models which are dust dominated in their early stages, dissipate the initial anisotropy, and end in a stable de Sitter accelerated expansion scenario. We show that linear k-field and polynomial kinetic function models evolve asymptotically to Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmologies.more » The linear case is compatible with an asymptotic potential interpolating between V{sub l}{proportional_to}{phi}{sup -{gamma}{sub l}}, in the shear dominated regime, and V{sub l}{proportional_to}{phi}{sup -2} at late time. In the polynomial case, the general solution contains cosmological models with an oscillatory average geometry. For linear k-essence, we find the general solution in the Bianchi type-I cosmology when the k field is driven by an inverse square potential. This model shares the same geometry as a quintessence field driven by an exponential potential.« less

Kaluza-Klein cosmological model in f(R, T) gravity with Λ(T)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sahoo, P. K.; Mishra, B.; Tripathy, S. K.

2016-04-01

A class of Kaluza-Klein cosmological models in $f(R,T)$ theory of gravity have been investigated. In the work, we have considered the functional $f(R,T)$ to be in the form $f(R,T)=f(R)+f(T)$ with $f(R)=\\lambda R$ and $f(T)=\\lambda T$. Such a choice of the functional $f(R,T)$ leads to an evolving effective cosmological constant $\\Lambda$ which depends on the stress energy tensor. The source of the matter field is taken to be a perfect cosmic fluid. The exact solutions of the field equations are obtained by considering a constant deceleration parameter which leads two different aspects of the volumetric expansion namely a power law and an exponential volumetric expansion. Keeping an eye on the accelerating nature of the universe in the present epoch, the dynamics and physical behaviour of the models have been discussed. From statefinder diagnostic pair we found that the model with exponential volumetric expansion behaves more like a $\\Lambda$CDM model.

The varying cosmological constant: a new approximation to the Friedmann equations and universe model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Öztaş, Ahmet M.; Dil, Emre; Smith, Michael L.

2018-05-01

We investigate the time-dependent nature of the cosmological constant, Λ, of the Einstein Field Equation (EFE). Beginning with the Einstein-Hilbert action as our fundamental principle we develop a modified version of the EFE allowing the value of Λ to vary as a function of time, Λ(t), indirectly, for an expanding universe. We follow the evolving Λ presuming four-dimensional space-time and a flat universe geometry and present derivations of Λ(t) as functions of the Hubble constant, matter density, and volume changes which can be traced back to the radiation epoch. The models are more detailed descriptions of the Λ dependence on cosmological factors than previous, allowing calculations of the important parameters, Ωm and Ωr, to deep lookback times. Since we derive these without the need for extra dimensions or other special conditions our derivations are useful for model evaluation with astronomical data. This should aid resolution of several difficult problems of astronomy such as the best value for the Hubble constant at present and at recombination.

Spinor Field Nonlinearity and Space-Time Geometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saha, Bijan

2018-03-01

Within the scope of Bianchi type VI,VI0,V, III, I, LRSBI and FRW cosmological models we have studied the role of nonlinear spinor field on the evolution of the Universe and the spinor field itself. It was found that due to the presence of non-trivial non-diagonal components of the energy-momentum tensor of the spinor field in the anisotropic space-time, there occur some severe restrictions both on the metric functions and on the components of the spinor field. In this report we have considered a polynomial nonlinearity which is a function of invariants constructed from the bilinear spinor forms. It is found that in case of a Bianchi type-VI space-time, depending of the sign of self-coupling constants, the model allows either late time acceleration or oscillatory mode of evolution. In case of a Bianchi VI 0 type space-time due to the specific behavior of the spinor field we have two different scenarios. In one case the invariants constructed from bilinear spinor forms become trivial, thus giving rise to a massless and linear spinor field Lagrangian. This case is equivalent to the vacuum solution of the Bianchi VI 0 type space-time. The second case allows non-vanishing massive and nonlinear terms and depending on the sign of coupling constants gives rise to accelerating mode of expansion or the one that after obtaining some maximum value contracts and ends in big crunch, consequently generating space-time singularity. In case of a Bianchi type-V model there occur two possibilities. In one case we found that the metric functions are similar to each other. In this case the Universe expands with acceleration if the self-coupling constant is taken to be a positive one, whereas a negative coupling constant gives rise to a cyclic or periodic solution. In the second case the spinor mass and the spinor field nonlinearity vanish and the Universe expands linearly in time. In case of a Bianchi type-III model the space-time remains locally rotationally symmetric all the time, though the isotropy of space-time can be attained for a large proportionality constant. As far as evolution is concerned, depending on the sign of coupling constant the model allows both accelerated and oscillatory mode of expansion. A negative coupling constant leads to an oscillatory mode of expansion, whereas a positive coupling constant generates expanding Universe with late time acceleration. Both deceleration parameter and EoS parameter in this case vary with time and are in agreement with modern concept of space-time evolution. In case of a Bianchi type-I space-time the non-diagonal components lead to three different possibilities. In case of a full BI space-time we find that the spinor field nonlinearity and the massive term vanish, hence the spinor field Lagrangian becomes massless and linear. In two other cases the space-time evolves into either LRSBI or FRW Universe. If we consider a locally rotationally symmetric BI( LRSBI) model, neither the mass term nor the spinor field nonlinearity vanishes. In this case depending on the sign of coupling constant we have either late time accelerated mode of expansion or oscillatory mode of evolution. In this case for an expanding Universe we have asymptotical isotropization. Finally, in case of a FRW model neither the mass term nor the spinor field nonlinearity vanishes. Like in LRSBI case we have either late time acceleration or cyclic mode of evolution. These findings allow us to conclude that the spinor field is very sensitive to the gravitational one.

Guardians at the gate

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Patents provide one of the few protections companies can avail themselves of to help protect their therapeutic monoclonal antibody products. Just as the therapeutic monoclonal antibody field is constantly evolving, so too is the legal environment surrounding these inventions. In a series of articles, the general state of the law surrounding therapeutic antibodies will be explained, and important challenges to this technology area will be discussed. Much is at stake when companies market therapeutic monoclonal antibodies; therefore, a firm understanding of this important form of protection is critically important for anyone developing such products. PMID:20068400

Exact solutions for network rewiring models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Evans, T. S.

2007-03-01

Evolving networks with a constant number of edges may be modelled using a rewiring process. These models are used to describe many real-world processes including the evolution of cultural artifacts such as family names, the evolution of gene variations, and the popularity of strategies in simple econophysics models such as the minority game. The model is closely related to Urn models used for glasses, quantum gravity and wealth distributions. The full mean field equation for the degree distribution is found and its exact solution and generating solution are given.

Low temperature specific heat of frustrated antiferromagnet HoInCu4

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weickert, Franziska; Fritsch, Veronika; Bambaugh, Ryan; Sarrao, John; Thompson, Joe D.; Movshovich, Roman

2014-03-01

We present low temperature specific heat measurements of single crystal HoInCu4, down to 35 mK and in magnetic field up to 12 Tesla. Ho atoms are arranged in an FCC lattice of the edge-sharing tetrahedra, and undergo an antiferromagnetic ordering at TN = 0.76 K, with the frustration parameter f = -ΘCW /TN of 14.3. Magnetic AF order is suppressed in field H0 ~ 4 T. The low temperature Schottky anomaly due to Ho evolves smoothly as a function of field through H0 and TN. The peak value of the anomaly remains roughly constant from 0 T to 12 T. The temperature of the anomaly's peak remains constant at TSch ~ 170 mK for H

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shao Xiaoqiang; Wang Hongfu; Zhang Shou

We present an approach for implementation of a 1->3 orbital state quantum cloning machine based on the quantum Zeno dynamics via manipulating three rf superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) qubits to resonantly interact with a superconducting cavity assisted by classical fields. Through appropriate modulation of the coupling constants between rf SQUIDs and classical fields, the quantum cloning machine can be realized within one step. We also discuss the effects of decoherence such as spontaneous emission and the loss of cavity in virtue of master equation. The numerical simulation result reveals that the quantum cloning machine is especially robust against themore » cavity decay, since all qubits evolve in the decoherence-free subspace with respect to cavity decay due to the quantum Zeno dynamics.« less

The Solar Wind Source Cycle: Relationship to Dynamo Behavior

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luhmann, J. G.; Li, Y.; Lee, C. O.; Jian, L. K.; Petrie, G. J. D.; Arge, C. N.

2017-12-01

Solar cycle trends of interest include the evolving properties of the solar wind, the heliospheric medium through which the Sun's plasmas and fields interact with Earth and the planets -including the evolution of CME/ICMEs enroute. Solar wind sources include the coronal holes-the open field regions that constantly evolve with solar magnetic fields as the cycle progresses, and the streamers between them. The recent cycle has been notably important in demonstrating that not all solar cycles are alike when it comes to contributions from these sources, including in the case of ecliptic solar wind. In particular, it has modified our appreciation of the low latitude coronal hole and streamer sources because of their relative prevalence. One way to understand the basic relationship between these source differences and what is happening inside the Sun and on its surface is to use observation-based models like the PFSS model to evaluate the evolution of the coronal field geometry. Although the accuracy of these models is compromised around solar maximum by lack of global surface field information and the sometimes non-potential evolution of the field related to more frequent and widespread emergence of active regions, they still approximate the character of the coronal field state. We use these models to compare the inferred recent cycle coronal holes and streamer belt sources of solar wind with past cycle counterparts. The results illustrate how (still) hemispherically asymmetric weak polar fields maintain a complex mix of low-to-mid latitude solar wind sources throughout the latest cycle, with a related marked asymmetry in the hemispheric distribution of the ecliptic wind sources. This is likely to be repeated until the polar field strength significantly increases relative to the fields at low latitudes, and the latter symmetrize.

Holographic Dark Energy in Brans-Dicke Theory with Logarithmic Form of Scalar Field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, C. P.; Kumar, Pankaj

2017-10-01

In this paper, an interacting holographic dark energy model with Hubble horizon as an infra-red cut-off is considered in the framework of Brans-Dicke theory. We assume the Brans-Dicke scalar field as a logarithmic form ϕ = ϕ 0 l n( α + β a), where a is the scale factor, α and β are arbitrary constants, to interpret the physical phenomena of the Universe. The equation of state parameter w h and deceleration parameter q are obtained to discuss the dynamics of the evolution of the Universe. We present a unified model of holographic dark energy which explains the early time acceleration (inflation), medieval time deceleration and late time acceleration. It is also observed that w h may cross the phantom divide line in the late time evolution. We also discuss the cosmic coincidence problem. We obtain a time-varying density ratio of holographic dark energy to dark matter which is a constant of order one (r˜ O(1)) during early and late time evolution, and may evolve sufficiently slow at present time. Thus, the model successfully resolves the cosmic coincidence problem.

Contemporary Perspectives on Spirituality and Mental Health

PubMed Central

Sharma, Pulkit; Charak, Ruby; Sharma, Vibha

2009-01-01

The paper strives to elucidate the complex yet intimate relation between spirituality and mental health from contemporary perspectives. The diverse and constantly evolving views that spiritualists and mental health professionals have held toward each other over last century are discussed with special accent on the transpersonal spiritual framework within psychology. The role of spirituality in promoting mental health and alleviating mental illness is highlighted. The paper is concluded with an increasing need to integrate spirituality within the mental health field albeit there are several impediments in achieving the same, which need to be worked through circumspectly. PMID:21938086

All-optical measurement of interlayer exchange coupling in Fe/Pt/FePt thin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berk, C.; Ganss, F.; Jaris, M.; Albrecht, M.; Schmidt, H.

2018-01-01

Time Resolved Magneto Optic Kerr Effect spectroscopy was used to all-optically study the dynamics in exchange coupled Fe(10 nm)/Pt(x = 0-5 nm)/FePt (10 nm) thin films. As the Pt spacer decreases, the effective magnetization of the layers is seen to evolve towards the strong coupling limit where the two films can be described by a single effective magnetization. The coupling begins at x = 1.5 nm and reaches a maximum exchange coupling constant of 2.89 erg/cm2 at x = 0 nm. The films are ferromagnetically coupled at all Pt thicknesses in the exchange coupled regime (x ≤ 1.5 nm). A procedure for extracting the interlayer exchange constant by measuring the magnetic precession frequencies at multiple applied fields and angles is outlined. The dynamics are well reproduced using micromagnetic simulations.

Universal Non-Debye Scaling in the Density of States of Amorphous Solids.

PubMed

Charbonneau, Patrick; Corwin, Eric I; Parisi, Giorgio; Poncet, Alexis; Zamponi, Francesco

2016-07-22

At the jamming transition, amorphous packings are known to display anomalous vibrational modes with a density of states (DOS) that remains constant at low frequency. The scaling of the DOS at higher packing fractions remains, however, unclear. One might expect to find a simple Debye scaling, but recent results from effective medium theory and the exact solution of mean-field models both predict an anomalous, non-Debye scaling. Being mean-field in nature, however, these solutions are only strictly valid in the limit of infinite spatial dimension, and it is unclear what value they have for finite-dimensional systems. Here, we study packings of soft spheres in dimensions 3 through 7 and find, away from jamming, a universal non-Debye scaling of the DOS that is consistent with the mean-field predictions. We also consider how the soft mode participation ratio evolves as dimension increases.

Numerical modeling of field-assisted ion-exchanged channel waveguides by the explicit consideration of space-charge buildup.

PubMed

Mrozek, Piotr

2011-08-01

A numerical model explicitly considering the space-charge density evolved both under the mask and in the region of optical structure formation was used to predict the profiles of Ag concentration during field-assisted Ag(+)-Na(+) ion exchange channel waveguide fabrication. The influence of the unequal values of diffusion constants and mobilities of incoming and outgoing ions, the value of a correlation factor (Haven ratio), and particularly space-charge density induced during the ion exchange, on the resulting profiles of Ag concentration was analyzed and discussed. It was shown that the incorporation into the numerical model of a small quantity of highly mobile ions other than exclusively Ag(+) and Na(+) may considerably affect the range and shape of calculated Ag profiles in the multicomponent glass. The Poisson equation was used to predict the electric field spread evolution in the glass substrate. The results of the numerical analysis were verified by the experimental data of Ag concentration in a channel waveguide fabricated using a field-assisted process.

Regularizing cosmological singularities by varying physical constants

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dąbrowski, Mariusz P.; Marosek, Konrad, E-mail: mpdabfz@wmf.univ.szczecin.pl, E-mail: k.marosek@wmf.univ.szczecin.pl

2013-02-01

Varying physical constant cosmologies were claimed to solve standard cosmological problems such as the horizon, the flatness and the Λ-problem. In this paper, we suggest yet another possible application of these theories: solving the singularity problem. By specifying some examples we show that various cosmological singularities may be regularized provided the physical constants evolve in time in an appropriate way.

ISSN Exercise & Sport Nutrition Review: Research & Recommendations

PubMed Central

Kreider, Richard B; Almada, Anthony L; Antonio, Jose; Broeder, Craig; Earnest, Conrad; Greenwood, Mike; Incledon, Thomas; Kalman, Douglas S; Kleiner, Susan M; Leutholtz, Brian; Lowery, Lonnie M; Mendel, Ron; Stout, Jeffrey R; Willoughby, Darryn S; Ziegenfuss, Tim N

2004-01-01

Sport nutrition is a constantly evolving field with literally thousands of research papers published annually. For this reason, keeping up to date with the literature is often difficult. This paper presents a well-referenced overview of the current state of the science related to how to optimize training through nutrition. More specifically, this article discusses: 1.) how to evaluate the scientific merit of nutritional supplements; 2.) general nutritional strategies to optimize performance and enhance recovery; and, 3.) our current understanding of the available science behind weight gain, weight loss, and performance enhancement supplements. Our hope is that ISSN members find this review useful in their daily practice and consultation with their clients.

The Role of the Environment in the Evolution of Tolerance and Resistance to a Pathogen.

PubMed

Zeller, Michael; Koella, Jacob C

2017-09-01

Defense against parasites can be divided into resistance, which limits parasite burden, and tolerance, which reduces pathogenesis at a given parasite burden. Distinguishing between the two and understanding which defense is favored by evolution in different ecological settings are important, as they lead to fundamentally different evolutionary trajectories of host-parasite interactions. We let the mosquito Aedes aegypti evolve under different food levels and with either no parasite, a constant parasite, or a coevolving parasite (the microsporidian Vavraia culicis). We then tested tolerance and resistance of the evolved lines on a population level at the two food levels. Exposure to parasites during evolution increased resistance and tolerance, but there were no differences between the lines evolved with coevolving or constant parasites. Mosquitoes that had evolved with food restriction had higher resistance than those evolved with high food but similar tolerance. The mosquitoes that had restricted food when being tested had lower tolerance than those with normal food, but there was no difference in resistance. Our results emphasize the complexity and dependence on environmental conditions of the evolution and expression of resistance and tolerance and help to evaluate some of the predictions about the evolution of host defense against parasites.

Aging in freely evolving granular gas with impact velocity dependent coefficient of restitution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumari, Shikha; Ahmad, Syed Rashid

2018-05-01

The evolution of granular system is governed by the concept of coefficient of restitution that gives a relationship between normal component of relative velocities before and after collision. Most of the studies consider a simplified collision model where particles interact through coefficient of restitution which is a constant while in reality, the coefficient of restitution must be a variable that depends on the impact velocity of colliding particles. In this work, we have considered the aging in the velocity autocorrelation function, A(τw, τ) for a granular gas of realistic particles interacting through coefficient of restitution that is depending on impact velocity. Molecular dynamics simulation is used to study granular gas that is evolving freely in absence of any external force. From the simulation results, we observe that A(τw, τ) depends explicitly on waiting time τw and collision time τ. Initially, the function decays exponentially but as the waiting time increases the decay of function becomes slow due to correlations that emerge in velocity field.

Evolution of the eye transcriptome under constant darkness in Sinocyclocheilus cavefish.

PubMed

Meng, Fanwei; Braasch, Ingo; Phillips, Jennifer B; Lin, Xiwen; Titus, Tom; Zhang, Chunguang; Postlethwait, John H

2013-07-01

In adaptating to perpetual darkness, cave species gradually lose eyes and body pigmentation and evolve alternatives for exploring their environments. Although troglodyte features evolved independently many times in cavefish, we do not yet know whether independent evolution of these characters involves common genetic mechanisms. Surface-dwelling and many cave-dwelling species make the freshwater teleost genus Sinocyclocheilus an excellent model for studying the evolution of adaptations to life in constant darkness. We compared the mature retinal histology of surface and cave species in Sinocyclocheilus and found that adult cavefish showed a reduction in the number and length of photoreceptor cells. To identify genes and genetic pathways that evolved in constant darkness, we used RNA-seq to compare eyes of surface and cave species. De novo transcriptome assemblies were developed for both species, and contigs were annotated with gene ontology. Results from cave-dwelling Sinocyclocheilus revealed reduced transcription of phototransduction and other genes important for retinal function. In contrast to the blind Mexican tetra cavefish Astyanax mexicanus, our results on morphologies and gene expression suggest that evolved retinal reduction in cave-dwelling Sinocyclocheilus occurs in a lens-independent fashion by the reduced proliferation and downregulation of transcriptional factors shown to have direct roles in retinal development and maintenance, including cone-rod homeobox (crx) and Wnt pathway members. These results show that the independent evolution of retinal degeneration in cavefish can occur by different developmental genetic mechanisms.

Gravitational particle production in inflation. A fresh look

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yajnik, Urjit A.

1990-01-01

Gravitational production of energy density in the case of a minimally coupled scalar field is treated using quantum field theory in curved spacetime. We calculate 0> of the produced particles. The results for the massless case can be applied to gravitons, but an unphysically large contribution is found from wavelengths longer than the horizon size. Gravitons of wavelengths smaller that the horizon give rise to energy density ϱgrav~H4 (H being the Hubble constant during inflation). In the case of a light scalar of mass m≪H the long wavelengths contribute ϱm~H5/m, which too can become unphysically large for sufficiently small m. We also discuss how this energy density subsequently evolves. Address after August 1989: Physics Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay 400 076, India.

The urban watershed continuum: evolving spatial and temporal dimensions

Treesearch

Sujay S. Kaushal; Kenneth T. Belt

2012-01-01

Urban ecosystems are constantly evolving, and they are expected to change in both space and time with active management or degradation. An urban watershed continuum framework recognizes a continuum of engineered and natural hydrologic flowpaths that expands hydrologic networks in ways that are seldom considered. It recognizes that the nature of hydrologic connectivity...

Fixational Eye Movements in the Earliest Stage of Metazoan Evolution

PubMed Central

Bielecki, Jan; Høeg, Jens T.; Garm, Anders

2013-01-01

All known photoreceptor cells adapt to constant light stimuli, fading the retinal image when exposed to an immobile visual scene. Counter strategies are therefore necessary to prevent blindness, and in mammals this is accomplished by fixational eye movements. Cubomedusae occupy a key position for understanding the evolution of complex visual systems and their eyes are assumedly subject to the same adaptive problems as the vertebrate eye, but lack motor control of their visual system. The morphology of the visual system of cubomedusae ensures a constant orientation of the eyes and a clear division of the visual field, but thereby also a constant retinal image when exposed to stationary visual scenes. Here we show that bell contractions used for swimming in the medusae refresh the retinal image in the upper lens eye of Tripedalia cystophora. This strongly suggests that strategies comparable to fixational eye movements have evolved at the earliest metazoan stage to compensate for the intrinsic property of the photoreceptors. Since the timing and amplitude of the rhopalial movements concur with the spatial and temporal resolution of the eye it circumvents the need for post processing in the central nervous system to remove image blur. PMID:23776673

Fixational eye movements in the earliest stage of metazoan evolution.

PubMed

Bielecki, Jan; Høeg, Jens T; Garm, Anders

2013-01-01

All known photoreceptor cells adapt to constant light stimuli, fading the retinal image when exposed to an immobile visual scene. Counter strategies are therefore necessary to prevent blindness, and in mammals this is accomplished by fixational eye movements. Cubomedusae occupy a key position for understanding the evolution of complex visual systems and their eyes are assumedly subject to the same adaptive problems as the vertebrate eye, but lack motor control of their visual system. The morphology of the visual system of cubomedusae ensures a constant orientation of the eyes and a clear division of the visual field, but thereby also a constant retinal image when exposed to stationary visual scenes. Here we show that bell contractions used for swimming in the medusae refresh the retinal image in the upper lens eye of Tripedalia cystophora. This strongly suggests that strategies comparable to fixational eye movements have evolved at the earliest metazoan stage to compensate for the intrinsic property of the photoreceptors. Since the timing and amplitude of the rhopalial movements concur with the spatial and temporal resolution of the eye it circumvents the need for post processing in the central nervous system to remove image blur.

Loop quantum cosmology and singularities.

PubMed

Struyve, Ward

2017-08-15

Loop quantum gravity is believed to eliminate singularities such as the big bang and big crunch singularity. This belief is based on studies of so-called loop quantum cosmology which concerns symmetry-reduced models of quantum gravity. In this paper, the problem of singularities is analysed in the context of the Bohmian formulation of loop quantum cosmology. In this formulation there is an actual metric in addition to the wave function, which evolves stochastically (rather than deterministically as the case of the particle evolution in non-relativistic Bohmian mechanics). Thus a singularity occurs whenever this actual metric is singular. It is shown that in the loop quantum cosmology for a homogeneous and isotropic Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker space-time with arbitrary constant spatial curvature and cosmological constant, coupled to a massless homogeneous scalar field, a big bang or big crunch singularity is never obtained. This should be contrasted with the fact that in the Bohmian formulation of the Wheeler-DeWitt theory singularities may exist.

Evolution of the Eye Transcriptome under Constant Darkness in Sinocyclocheilus Cavefish

PubMed Central

Meng, Fanwei; Braasch, Ingo; Phillips, Jennifer B.; Lin, Xiwen; Titus, Tom; Zhang, Chunguang; Postlethwait, John H.

2013-01-01

In adaptating to perpetual darkness, cave species gradually lose eyes and body pigmentation and evolve alternatives for exploring their environments. Although troglodyte features evolved independently many times in cavefish, we do not yet know whether independent evolution of these characters involves common genetic mechanisms. Surface-dwelling and many cave-dwelling species make the freshwater teleost genus Sinocyclocheilus an excellent model for studying the evolution of adaptations to life in constant darkness. We compared the mature retinal histology of surface and cave species in Sinocyclocheilus and found that adult cavefish showed a reduction in the number and length of photoreceptor cells. To identify genes and genetic pathways that evolved in constant darkness, we used RNA-seq to compare eyes of surface and cave species. De novo transcriptome assemblies were developed for both species, and contigs were annotated with gene ontology. Results from cave-dwelling Sinocyclocheilus revealed reduced transcription of phototransduction and other genes important for retinal function. In contrast to the blind Mexican tetra cavefish Astyanax mexicanus, our results on morphologies and gene expression suggest that evolved retinal reduction in cave-dwelling Sinocyclocheilus occurs in a lens-independent fashion by the reduced proliferation and downregulation of transcriptional factors shown to have direct roles in retinal development and maintenance, including cone-rod homeobox (crx) and Wnt pathway members. These results show that the independent evolution of retinal degeneration in cavefish can occur by different developmental genetic mechanisms. PMID:23612715

Developing Collective Learning Extension for Rapidly Evolving Information System Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Agarwal, Nitin; Ahmed, Faysal

2017-01-01

Due to rapidly evolving Information System (IS) technologies, instructors find themselves stuck in the constant game of catching up. On the same hand students find their skills obsolete almost as soon as they graduate. As part of IS curriculum and education, we need to emphasize more on teaching the students "how to learn" while keeping…

BSSA: Worth thinking about

USGS Publications Warehouse

Michael, Andrew J.

2009-01-01

The Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (BSSA) is a powerful community project that has helped us share the information necessary to keep our field moving forward since 1911. In some ways, BSSA is much like it has always been, and each issue provides us with a collection of research that has been improved by the peer review process and copyedited, typeset, and printed to make it easily readable. But BSSA has also constantly evolved, and the online edition with full-text searching of all content back to volume 1 and linked references that speed our navigation through the related literature is unlike anything J. C. Branner could have imagined when he edited the first issue.

Overview of Facial Plastic Surgery and Current Developments

PubMed Central

Chuang, Jessica; Barnes, Christian; Wong, Brian J. F.

2016-01-01

Facial plastic surgery is a multidisciplinary specialty largely driven by otolaryngology but includes oral maxillary surgery, dermatology, ophthalmology, and plastic surgery. It encompasses both reconstructive and cosmetic components. The scope of practice for facial plastic surgeons in the United States may include rhinoplasty, browlifts, blepharoplasty, facelifts, microvascular reconstruction of the head and neck, craniomaxillofacial trauma reconstruction, and correction of defects in the face after skin cancer resection. Facial plastic surgery also encompasses the use of injectable fillers, neural modulators (e.g., BOTOX Cosmetic, Allergan Pharmaceuticals, Westport, Ireland), lasers, and other devices aimed at rejuvenating skin. Facial plastic surgery is a constantly evolving field with continuing innovative advances in surgical techniques and cosmetic adjunctive technologies. This article aims to give an overview of the various procedures that encompass the field of facial plastic surgery and to highlight the recent advances and trends in procedures and surgical techniques. PMID:28824978

Noether symmetry approach in the cosmological alpha-attractors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaewkhao, Narakorn; Kanesom, Thanyagamon; Channuie, Phongpichit

2018-06-01

In cosmological framework, Noether symmetry technique has revealed a useful tool in order to examine exact solutions. In this work, we first introduce the Jordan-frame Lagrangian and apply the conformal transformation in order to obtain the Lagrangian equivalent to Einstein-frame form. We then analyze the dynamics of the field in the cosmological alpha-attractors using the Noether symmetry approach by focusing on the single field scenario in the Einstein-frame form. We show that with a Noether symmetry the corresponding dynamical system can be completely integrated and the potential exhibited by the symmetry can be exactly obtained. With the proper choice of parameters, the behavior of the scale factor displays an exponential (de Sitter) behavior at the present epoch. Moreover, we discover that the Hubble parameters strongly depends on the initial values of parameters exhibited by the Noether symmetry. Interestingly, it can retardedly evolve and becomes a constant in the present epoch in all cases.

Cosmology for quadratic gravity in generalized Weyl geometry

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jiménez, Jose Beltrán; Heisenberg, Lavinia; Koivisto, Tomi S.

A class of vector-tensor theories arises naturally in the framework of quadratic gravity in spacetimes with linear vector distortion. Requiring the absence of ghosts for the vector field imposes an interesting condition on the allowed connections with vector distortion: the resulting one-parameter family of connections generalises the usual Weyl geometry with polar torsion. The cosmology of this class of theories is studied, focusing on isotropic solutions wherein the vector field is dominated by the temporal component. De Sitter attractors are found and inhomogeneous perturbations around such backgrounds are analysed. In particular, further constraints on the models are imposed by excludingmore » pathologies in the scalar, vector and tensor fluctuations. Various exact background solutions are presented, describing a constant and an evolving dark energy, a bounce and a self-tuning de Sitter phase. However, the latter two scenarios are not viable under a closer scrutiny.« less

Hybrid reconstruction of field-reversed configurations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steinhauer, Loren; TAE Team

2016-10-01

Field-reversed configurations (FRC) are poorly represented by fluid-based models and require instead an ion-distribution function. Two such populations are needed since ``core'' ions are roughly restricted to the region inside the separatrix, whereas ``periphery'' ions can escape along open field lines. The Vlasov equation governs the distribution, the general solution to which is an arbitrary function of the constants of motion (Hamiltonian, canonical angular momentum). Only a small subset of such distributions are realistic in view of collisions, which smooth the distribution, and instabilities, which reorganize the field structure. Collisions and end loss are included if the distribution is a solution to the Fokker-Planck (FP) equation. Vlasov and FP solutions are nearly identical in weakly-collisional plasmas. Numerical construction of such equilibria requires solving both Ampere's law for the magnetic flux variable and the ponderous task of a full velocity-space integration at each point. The latter can be done analytically by expressing the distribution as the superposition of simple basis elements. This procedure allows rapid reconstruction of evolving equilibria based on limited diagnostic observables in FRC experiments.

Anisotropic inflation with a non-minimally coupled electromagnetic field to gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adak, Muzaffer; Akarsu, Özgür; Dereli, Tekin; Sert, Özcan

2017-11-01

We consider the non-minimal model of gravity in Y(R) F2-form. We investigate a particular case of the model, for which the higher order derivatives are eliminated but the scalar curvature R is kept to be dynamical via the constraint YRFmnFmn =-2/κ2. The effective fluid obtained can be represented by interacting electromagnetic field and vacuum depending on Y(R), namely, the energy density of the vacuum tracks R while energy density of the conventional electromagnetic field is dynamically scaled with the factor Y(R)/2. We give exact solutions for anisotropic inflation by assuming the volume scale factor of the Universe exhibits a power-law expansion. The directional scale factors do not necessarily exhibit power-law expansion, which would give rise to a constant expansion anisotropy, but expand non-trivially and give rise to a non-monotonically evolving expansion anisotropy that eventually converges to a non-zero constant. Relying on this fact, we discuss the anisotropic e-fold during the inflation by considering observed scale invariance in CMB and demanding the Universe to undergo the same amount of e-folds in all directions. We calculate the residual expansion anisotropy at the end of inflation, though as a result of non-monotonic behaviour of expansion anisotropy all the axes of the Universe undergo the same of amount of e-folds by the end of inflation. We also discuss the generation of the modified electromagnetic field during the first few e-folds of the inflation and its persistence against to the vacuum till end of inflation.

Living organ donation: an ethical evolution or evolution of ethics?

PubMed

Ghahramani, N

2010-01-01

The disparity between available and needed organs is rapidly increasing, and the number of patients dying while still on the waiting list is growing exponentially. As a partial solution to this disparity, living unrelated transplantation is being performed more frequently, and some have proposed providing financial incentives to donors. The aim of this discussion is to illustrate that with an ever-increasing number of living unrelated transplantations, society and the transplant community should adopt a more active role in developing specific strategies to scrutinize the process. The current paper will also examine the viewpoint that medical ethics is not separable from the prevailing needs of society and involves a constant balancing of often opposing goods. Issues surrounding living unrelated donor transplantation illustrate ethics as a dynamically evolving field, which is often influenced by necessity and which evolves with progression of science and society. As part of this evolution, it is the collective responsibility of society and the transplant community to devise safeguards to guarantee adherence to basic principles of ethics and to avoid "situational ethics."

Evolving cell models for systems and synthetic biology.

PubMed

Cao, Hongqing; Romero-Campero, Francisco J; Heeb, Stephan; Cámara, Miguel; Krasnogor, Natalio

2010-03-01

This paper proposes a new methodology for the automated design of cell models for systems and synthetic biology. Our modelling framework is based on P systems, a discrete, stochastic and modular formal modelling language. The automated design of biological models comprising the optimization of the model structure and its stochastic kinetic constants is performed using an evolutionary algorithm. The evolutionary algorithm evolves model structures by combining different modules taken from a predefined module library and then it fine-tunes the associated stochastic kinetic constants. We investigate four alternative objective functions for the fitness calculation within the evolutionary algorithm: (1) equally weighted sum method, (2) normalization method, (3) randomly weighted sum method, and (4) equally weighted product method. The effectiveness of the methodology is tested on four case studies of increasing complexity including negative and positive autoregulation as well as two gene networks implementing a pulse generator and a bandwidth detector. We provide a systematic analysis of the evolutionary algorithm's results as well as of the resulting evolved cell models.

Coevolution of bed surface patchiness and channel morphology: 2. Numerical experiments

USGS Publications Warehouse

Nelson, Peter A.; McDonald, Richard R.; Nelson, Jonathan M.; Dietrich, William E.

2015-01-01

In gravel bed rivers, bed topography and the bed surface grain size distribution evolve simultaneously, but it is not clear how feedbacks between topography and grain sorting affect channel morphology. In this, the second of a pair of papers examining interactions between bed topography and bed surface sorting in gravel bed rivers, we use a two-dimensional morphodynamic model to perform numerical experiments designed to explore the coevolution of both free and forced bars and bed surface patches. Model runs were carried out on a computational grid simulating a 200 m long, 2.75 m wide, straight, rectangular channel, with an initially flat bed at a slope of 0.0137. Over five numerical experiments, we varied (a) whether an obstruction was present, (b) whether the sediment was a gravel mixture or a single size, and (c) whether the bed surface grain size feeds back on the hydraulic roughness field. Experiments with channel obstructions developed a train of alternate bars that became stationary and were connected to the obstruction. Freely migrating alternate bars formed in the experiments without channel obstructions. Simulations incorporating roughness feedbacks between the bed surface and flow field produced flatter, broader, and longer bars than simulations using constant roughness or uniform sediment. Our findings suggest that patches are not simply a by-product of bed topography, but they interact with the evolving bed and influence morphologic evolution.

Coupled Thermo-Hydro-Chemical (THC) Modeling of Hypogene Karst Evolution in a Prototype Mountain Hydrologic System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chaudhuri, A.; Rajaram, H.; Viswanathan, H. S.; Zyvoloski, G.

2011-12-01

Hypogene karst systems are believed to develop when water flowing upward against the geothermal gradient dissolves limestone as it cools. We present a comprehensive THC model incorporating time-evolving fluid flow, heat transfer, buoyancy effects, multi-component reactive transport and aperture/permeability change to investigate the origin of hypogene karst systems. Our model incorporates the temperature and pressure dependence of the solubility and dissolution kinetics of calcite. It also allows for rigorous representation of temperature-dependent fluid density and its influence on buoyancy forces at various stages of karstification. The model is applied to investigate karstification over geological time scales in a prototype mountain hydrologic system. In this system, a high water table maintained by mountain recharge, drives flow downward through the country rock and upward via a high-permeability fault/fracture. The pressure boundary conditions are maintained constant in time. The fluid flux through the fracture remains nearly constant even though the fracture aperture and permeability increase by dissolution, largely because the permeability of the country rock is not altered significantly due to slower dissolution rates. However, karstification by fracture dissolution is not impeded even though the fluid flux stays nearly constant. Forced and buoyant convection effects arise due to the increased permeability of the evolving fracture system. Since in reality the aperture varies significantly within the fracture plane, the initial fracture aperture is modeled as a heterogeneous random field. In such a heterogeneous aperture field, the water initially flows at a significant rate mainly through preferential flow paths connecting the relatively large aperture zones. Dissolution is more prominent at early time along these flow paths, and the aperture grows faster within these paths. With time, the aperture within small sub-regions of these preferential flow paths grows to a point where the permeability is large enough for the onset of buoyant convection. As a result, a multitude of buoyant convection cells form that take on a two-dimensional (2D) maze-like appearance, which could represent a 2D analog of the three-dimensional (3D) mazework pattern widely thought to be characteristic of hypogene cave systems. Although computational limitations limited us to 2D, we suggest that similar process interactions in a 3D network of fractures and faults could produce a 3D mazework.

Hubble's diagram and cosmic expansion

PubMed Central

Kirshner, Robert P.

2004-01-01

Edwin Hubble's classic article on the expanding universe appeared in PNAS in 1929 [Hubble, E. P. (1929) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 15, 168–173]. The chief result, that a galaxy's distance is proportional to its redshift, is so well known and so deeply embedded into the language of astronomy through the Hubble diagram, the Hubble constant, Hubble's Law, and the Hubble time, that the article itself is rarely referenced. Even though Hubble's distances have a large systematic error, Hubble's velocities come chiefly from Vesto Melvin Slipher, and the interpretation in terms of the de Sitter effect is out of the mainstream of modern cosmology, this article opened the way to investigation of the expanding, evolving, and accelerating universe that engages today's burgeoning field of cosmology. PMID:14695886

Unraveling navigational strategies in migratory insects

PubMed Central

Merlin, Christine; Heinze, Stanley; Reppert, Steven M.

2011-01-01

Long-distance migration is a strategy some animals use to survive a seasonally changing environment. To reach favorable grounds, migratory animals have evolved sophisticated navigational mechanisms that rely on a map and compasses. In migratory insects, the existence of a map sense (sense of position) remains poorly understood, but recent work has provided new insights into the mechanisms some compasses use for maintaining a constant bearing during long-distance navigation. The best-studied directional strategy relies on a time-compensated sun compass, used by diurnal insects, for which neural circuits have begun to be delineated. Yet, a growing body of evidence suggests that migratory insects may also rely on other compasses that use night sky cues or the Earth's magnetic field. Those mechanisms are ripe for exploration. PMID:22154565

Thermosetting resins with high fractions of free volume and inherently low dielectric constants.

PubMed

Lin, Liang-Kai; Hu, Chien-Chieh; Su, Wen-Chiung; Liu, Ying-Ling

2015-08-18

This work demonstrates a new class of thermosetting resins, based on Meldrum's acid (MA) derivatives, which have high fractions of free volume and inherently low k values of about 2.0 at 1 MHz. Thermal decomposition of the MA groups evolves CO2 and acetone to create air-trapped cavities so as to reduce the dielectric constants.

Recovery of an evolving magnetic flux rope in the solar wind: Decomposing spatial and temporal variations from single-spacecraft data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hasegawa, H.; Sonnerup, B.; Hu, Q.; Nakamura, T.

2013-12-01

We present a novel single-spacecraft data analysis method for decomposing spatial and temporal variations of physical quantities at points along the path of a spacecraft in spacetime. The method is designed for use in the reconstruction of slowly evolving two-dimensional, magneto-hydrostatic structures (Grad-Shafranov equilibria) in a space plasma. It is an extension of the one developed by Sonnerup and Hasegawa [2010] and Hasegawa et al. [2010], in which it was assumed that variations in the time series of data, recorded as the structures move past the spacecraft, are all due to spatial effects. In reality, some of the observed variations are usually caused by temporal evolution of the structure during the time it moves past the observing spacecraft; the information in the data about the spatial structure is aliased by temporal effects. The purpose here is to remove this time aliasing from the reconstructed maps of field and plasma properties. Benchmark tests are performed by use of synthetic data taken by a virtual spacecraft as it traverses, at a constant velocity, a slowly growing magnetic flux rope in a two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulation of magnetic reconnection. These tests show that the new method can better recover the spacetime behavior of the flux rope than does the original version, in which time aliasing effects had not been removed. An application of the new method to a solar wind flux rope, observed by the ACE spacecraft, suggests that it was evolving in a significant way during the ~17 hour interval of the traversal. References Hasegawa, H., B. U. Ö. Sonnerup, and T. K. M. Nakamura (2010), Recovery of time evolution of Grad-Shafranov equilibria from single-spacecraft data: Benchmarking and application to a flux transfer event, J. Geophys. Res., 115, A11219, doi:10.1029/2010JA015679. Sonnerup, B. U. Ö., and H. Hasegawa (2010), On slowly evolving Grad-Shafranov equilibria, J. Geophys. Res., 115, A11218, doi:10.1029/2010JA015678. Magnetic field maps recovered from (a) the aliased (original) and (b) de-aliased (new) versions of the time evolution method. Colors show the out-of-plane (z) magnetic field component, and white arrows at points along y = 0 show the transverse velocities obtained from the reconstruction. The blue diamonds in panels (b) mark the location of the ACE spacecraft.

Investigation of laser Doppler anemometry in developing a velocity-based measurement technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jung, Ki Won

2009-12-01

Acoustic properties, such as the characteristic impedance and the complex propagation constant, of porous materials have been traditionally characterized based on pressure-based measurement techniques using microphones. Although the microphone techniques have evolved since their introduction, the most general form of the microphone technique employs two microphones in characterizing the acoustic field for one continuous medium. The shortcomings of determining the acoustic field based on only two microphones can be overcome by using numerous microphones. However, the use of a number of microphones requires a careful and intricate calibration procedure. This dissertation uses laser Doppler anemometry (LDA) to establish a new measurement technique which can resolve issues that microphone techniques have: First, it is based on a single sensor, thus the calibration is unnecessary when only overall ratio of the acoustic field is required for the characterization of a system. This includes the measurements of the characteristic impedance and the complex propagation constant of a system. Second, it can handle multiple positional measurements without calibrating the signal at each position. Third, it can measure three dimensional components of velocity even in a system with a complex geometry. Fourth, it has a flexible adaptability which is not restricted to a certain type of apparatus only if the apparatus is transparent. LDA is known to possess several disadvantages, such as the requirement of a transparent apparatus, high cost, and necessity of seeding particles. The technique based on LDA combined with a curvefitting algorithm is validated through measurements on three systems. First, the complex propagation constant of the air is measured in a rigidly terminated cylindrical pipe which has very low dissipation. Second, the radiation impedance of an open-ended pipe is measured. These two parameters can be characterized by the ratio of acoustic field measured at multiple locations. Third, the power dissipated in a variable RLC load is measured. The three experiments validate the LDA technique proposed. The utility of the LDA method is then extended to the measurement of the complex propagation constant of the air inside a 100 ppi reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) sample. Compared to measurements in the available studies, the measurement with the 100 ppi RVC sample supports the LDA technique in that it can achieve a low uncertainty in the determined quantity. This dissertation concludes with using the LDA technique for modal decomposition of the plane wave mode and the (1,1) mode that are driven simultaneously. This modal decomposition suggests that the LDA technique surpasses microphone-based techniques, because they are unable to determine the acoustic field based on an acoustic model with unconfined propagation constants for each modal component.

Cosmological effects of scalar-photon couplings: dark energy and varying-α Models

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Avgoustidis, A.; Martins, C.J.A.P.; Monteiro, A.M.R.V.L.

2014-06-01

We study cosmological models involving scalar fields coupled to radiation and discuss their effect on the redshift evolution of the cosmic microwave background temperature, focusing on links with varying fundamental constants and dynamical dark energy. We quantify how allowing for the coupling of scalar fields to photons, and its important effect on luminosity distances, weakens current and future constraints on cosmological parameters. In particular, for evolving dark energy models, joint constraints on the dark energy equation of state combining BAO radial distance and SN luminosity distance determinations, will be strongly dominated by BAO. Thus, to fully exploit future SN datamore » one must also independently constrain photon number non-conservation arising from the possible coupling of SN photons to the dark energy scalar field. We discuss how observational determinations of the background temperature at different redshifts can, in combination with distance measures data, set tight constraints on interactions between scalar fields and photons, thus breaking this degeneracy. We also discuss prospects for future improvements, particularly in the context of Euclid and the E-ELT and show that Euclid can, even on its own, provide useful dark energy constraints while allowing for photon number non-conservation.« less

Determination of output factor for 6 MV small photon beam: comparison between Monte Carlo simulation technique and microDiamond detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krongkietlearts, K.; Tangboonduangjit, P.; Paisangittisakul, N.

2016-03-01

In order to improve the life's quality for a cancer patient, the radiation techniques are constantly evolving. Especially, the two modern techniques which are intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) are quite promising. They comprise of many small beam sizes (beamlets) with various intensities to achieve the intended radiation dose to the tumor and minimal dose to the nearby normal tissue. The study investigates whether the microDiamond detector (PTW manufacturer), a synthetic single crystal diamond detector, is suitable for small field output factor measurement. The results were compared with those measured by the stereotactic field detector (SFD) and the Monte Carlo simulation (EGSnrc/BEAMnrc/DOSXYZ). The calibration of Monte Carlo simulation was done using the percentage depth dose and dose profile measured by the photon field detector (PFD) of the 10×10 cm2 field size with 100 cm SSD. Comparison of the values obtained from the calculations and measurements are consistent, no more than 1% difference. The output factors obtained from the microDiamond detector have been compared with those of SFD and Monte Carlo simulation, the results demonstrate the percentage difference of less than 2%.

What's new with the flu? Reflections regarding the management and prevention of influenza from the 2nd New Zealand Influenza Symposium, November 2015.

PubMed

Charania, Nadia A; Mansoor, Osman D; Murfitt, Diana; Turner, Nikki M

2016-09-09

Influenza is a common respiratory viral infection. Seasonal outbreaks of influenza cause substantial morbidity and mortality that burdens healthcare services every year. The influenza virus constantly evolves by antigenic drift and occasionally by antigenic shift, making this disease particularly challenging to manage and prevent. As influenza viruses cause seasonal outbreaks and also have the ability to cause pandemics leading to widespread social and economic losses, focused discussions on improving management and prevention efforts is warranted. The Immunisation Advisory Centre (IMAC) hosted the 2nd New Zealand Influenza Symposium (NZiS) in November 2015. International and national participants discussed current issues in influenza management and prevention. Experts in the field presented data from recent studies and discussed the ecology of influenza viruses, epidemiology of influenza, methods of prevention and minimisation, and experiences from the 2015 seasonal influenza immunisation campaign. The symposium concluded that although much progress in this field has been made, many areas for future research remain.

Induced pluripotent stem cells for regenerative cardiovascular therapies and biomedical discovery.

PubMed

Nsair, Ali; MacLellan, W Robb

2011-04-30

The discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) has, in the short time since their discovery, revolutionized the field of stem cell biology. This technology allows the generation of a virtually unlimited supply of cells with pluripotent potential similar to that of embryonic stem cells (ESC). However, in contrast to ESC, iPSC are not subject to the same ethical concerns and can be easily generated from living individuals. For the first time, patient-specific iPSC can be generated and offer a supply of genetically identical cells that can be differentiated into all somatic cell types for potential use in regenerative therapies or drug screening and testing. As the techniques for generation of iPSC lines are constantly evolving, new uses for human iPSC are emerging from in-vitro disease modeling to high throughput drug discovery and screening. This technology promises to revolutionize the field of medicine and offers new hope for understanding and treatment of numerous diseases. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ocean Modeling in an Eddying Regime

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hecht, Matthew W.; Hasumi, Hiroyasu

This monograph is the first to survey progress in realistic simulation in a strongly eddying regime made possible by recent increases in computational capability. Its contributors comprise the leading researchers in this important and constantly evolving field. Divided into three parts, • Oceanographic Processes and Regimes: Fundamental Questions • Ocean Dynamics and State: From Regional to Global Scale, and • Modeling at the Mesoscale: State of the Art and Future Directions the volume details important advances in physical oceanography based on eddy resolving ocean modeling. It captures the state of the art and discusses issues that ocean modelers must consider in order to effectively contribute to advancing current knowledge, from subtleties of the underlying fluid dynamical equations to meaningful comparison with oceanographic observations and leading-edge model development. It summarizes many of the important results which have emerged from ocean modeling in an eddying regime, for those interested broadly in the physical science. More technical topics are intended to address the concerns of those actively working in the field.

Unraveling navigational strategies in migratory insects.

PubMed

Merlin, Christine; Heinze, Stanley; Reppert, Steven M

2012-04-01

Long-distance migration is a strategy some animals use to survive a seasonally changing environment. To reach favorable grounds, migratory animals have evolved sophisticated navigational mechanisms that rely on a map and compasses. In migratory insects, the existence of a map sense (sense of position) remains poorly understood, but recent work has provided new insights into the mechanisms some compasses use for maintaining a constant bearing during long-distance navigation. The best-studied directional strategy relies on a time-compensated sun compass, used by diurnal insects, for which neural circuits have begun to be delineated. Yet, a growing body of evidence suggests that migratory insects may also rely on other compasses that use night sky cues or the Earth's magnetic field. Those mechanisms are ripe for exploration. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Marine Polysaccharides in Pharmaceutical Applications: An Overview

PubMed Central

Laurienzo, Paola

2010-01-01

The enormous variety of polysaccharides that can be extracted from marine plants and animal organisms or produced by marine bacteria means that the field of marine polysaccharides is constantly evolving. Recent advances in biological techniques allow high levels of polysaccharides of interest to be produced in vitro. Biotechnology is a powerful tool to obtain polysaccharides from a variety of micro-organisms, by controlling the growth conditions in a bioreactor while tailoring the production of biologically active compounds. Following an overview of the current knowledge on marine polysaccharides, with special attention to potential pharmaceutical applications and to more recent progress on the discovering of new polysaccharides with biological appealing characteristics, this review will focus on possible strategies for chemical or physical modification aimed to tailor the final properties of interest. PMID:20948899

NASA Applied Sciences' DEVELOP Program Fosters the Next Generation of Earth Remote Sensing Scientists

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Childs, Lauren M.; Brozen, Madeline W.; Gleason, Jonathan L.; Silcox, Tracey L.; Rea, Mimi; Holley, Sharon D.; Renneboog, Nathan; Underwood, Lauren W.; Ross, Kenton W.

2009-01-01

Satellite remote sensing technology and the science associated with the evaluation of the resulting data are constantly evolving. To meet the growing needs related to this industry, a team of personnel that understands the fundamental science as well as the scientific applications related to remote sensing is essential. Therefore, the workforce that will excel in this field requires individuals who not only have a strong academic background, but who also have practical hands-on experience with remotely sensed data, and have developed knowledge of its real-world applications. NASA's DEVELOP Program has played an integral role in fulfilling this need. DEVELOP is a NASA Science Mission Directorate Applied Sciences training and development program that extends the benefits of NASA Earth science research and technology to society.

ipole: Semianalytic scheme for relativistic polarized radiative transport

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moscibrodzka, Monika; Gammie, Charles F.

2018-04-01

ipole is a ray-tracing code for covariant, polarized radiative transport particularly useful for modeling Event Horizon Telescope sources, though may also be used for other relativistic transport problems. The code extends the ibothros scheme for covariant, unpolarized transport using two representations of the polarized radiation field: in the coordinate frame, it parallel transports the coherency tensor, and in the frame of the plasma, it evolves the Stokes parameters under emission, absorption, and Faraday conversion. The transport step is as spacetime- and coordinate- independent as possible; the emission, absorption, and Faraday conversion step is implemented using an analytic solution to the polarized transport equation with constant coefficients. As a result, ipole is stable, efficient, and produces a physically reasonable solution even for a step with high optical depth and Faraday depth.

Relativistic numerical cosmology with silent universes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bolejko, Krzysztof

2018-01-01

Relativistic numerical cosmology is most often based either on the exact solutions of the Einstein equations, or perturbation theory, or weak-field limit, or the BSSN formalism. The silent universe provides an alternative approach to investigate relativistic evolution of cosmological systems. The silent universe is based on the solution of the Einstein equations in 1  +  3 comoving coordinates with additional constraints imposed. These constraints include: the gravitational field is sourced by dust and cosmological constant only, both rotation and magnetic part of the Weyl tensor vanish, and the shear is diagnosable. This paper describes the code simsilun (free software distributed under the terms of the reposi General Public License), which implements the equations of the silent universe. The paper also discusses applications of the silent universe and it uses the Millennium simulation to set up the initial conditions for the code simsilun. The simulation obtained this way consists of 16 777 216 worldlines, which are evolved from z  =  80 to z  =  0. Initially, the mean evolution (averaged over the whole domain) follows the evolution of the background ΛCDM model. However, once the evolution of cosmic structures becomes nonlinear, the spatial curvature evolves from ΩK =0 to ΩK ≈ 0.1 at the present day. The emergence of the spatial curvature is associated with ΩM and Ω_Λ being smaller by approximately 0.05 compared to the ΛCDM.

Thermoregulation in homeothermic and poikilothermic organisms

EPA Science Inventory

Homeothermic organisms (birds and mammals) have evolved autonomic and behavioral thermoeffectors to maintain a relatively constant core temperature over a wide range of environmental temperatures. Poikilotherms, including reptiles, amphibians, fish, and insects have internal temp...

Evolving Digital Ecological Networks

PubMed Central

Wagner, Aaron P.; Ofria, Charles

2013-01-01

“It is hard to realize that the living world as we know it is just one among many possibilities” [1]. Evolving digital ecological networks are webs of interacting, self-replicating, and evolving computer programs (i.e., digital organisms) that experience the same major ecological interactions as biological organisms (e.g., competition, predation, parasitism, and mutualism). Despite being computational, these programs evolve quickly in an open-ended way, and starting from only one or two ancestral organisms, the formation of ecological networks can be observed in real-time by tracking interactions between the constantly evolving organism phenotypes. These phenotypes may be defined by combinations of logical computations (hereafter tasks) that digital organisms perform and by expressed behaviors that have evolved. The types and outcomes of interactions between phenotypes are determined by task overlap for logic-defined phenotypes and by responses to encounters in the case of behavioral phenotypes. Biologists use these evolving networks to study active and fundamental topics within evolutionary ecology (e.g., the extent to which the architecture of multispecies networks shape coevolutionary outcomes, and the processes involved). PMID:23533370

Quantized Advantages to a Proposed Satellite at L5 from Simulated Synoptic Magnetograms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwarz, A. M.; Petrie, G. J. D.

2017-12-01

The dependency the Earth and its inhabitants have on the Sun is delicate and complex and sometimes dangerous. At the NSO, we provide 24/7 coverage of the full-disk solar magnetic field used in solar forecasting, however this only includes data from the Sun's Earth facing side. Ideally we would like to have constant coverage of the entire solar surface, however we are limited in our solar viewing angle. Our project attempts to quantify the advantages of full-disk magnetograms from a proposed satellite at L5. With instrumentation at L5 we would have an additional 60 degrees of solar surface coverage not seen from Earth. These 60 degrees crucially contain the solar longitudes that are about to rotate towards Earth. Using a full-surface flux-transport model of the evolving solar photospheric field, I created a simulation of full-disk observations from Earth and L5. Using standard solar forecasting tools we quantify the relative accuracy of the Earth-Only and Earth plus L5 forecasts relative to the "ground truth" of the full surface field model, the ideal case. My results gauge exactly how much polar coverage is improved, contrast the spherical multipoles of each model, and use a Potential-Field Source-Surface (PFSS) magnetic field analysis model to find comparisons in the neutral lines and open field coverage.

Relaxing the cosmological constant: a proof of concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alberte, Lasma; Creminelli, Paolo; Khmelnitsky, Andrei; Pirtskhalava, David; Trincherini, Enrico

2016-12-01

We propose a technically natural scenario whereby an initially large cosmological constant (c.c.) is relaxed down to the observed value due to the dynamics of a scalar evolving on a very shallow potential. The model crucially relies on a sector that violates the null energy condition (NEC) and gets activated only when the Hubble rate becomes sufficiently small — of the order of the present one. As a result of NEC violation, this low-energy universe evolves into inflation, followed by reheating and the standard Big Bang cosmology. The symmetries of the theory force the c.c. to be the same before and after the NEC-violating phase, so that a late-time observer sees an effective c.c. of the correct magnitude. Importantly, our model allows neither for eternal inflation nor for a set of possible values of dark energy, the latter fixed by the parameters of the theory.

Renormalization constants for 2-twist operators in twisted mass QCD

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alexandrou, C.; Computation-based Science and Technology Research Center, The Cyprus Institute, 15 Kypranoros Str., 1645 Nicosia; Constantinou, M.

2011-01-01

Perturbative and nonperturbative results on the renormalization constants of the fermion field and the twist-2 fermion bilinears are presented with emphasis on the nonperturbative evaluation of the one-derivative twist-2 vector and axial-vector operators. Nonperturbative results are obtained using the twisted mass Wilson fermion formulation employing two degenerate dynamical quarks and the tree-level Symanzik improved gluon action. The simulations have been performed for pion masses in the range of about 450-260 MeV and at three values of the lattice spacing a corresponding to {beta}=3.9, 4.05, 4.20. Subtraction of O(a{sup 2}) terms is carried out by performing the perturbative evaluation of thesemore » operators at 1-loop and up to O(a{sup 2}). The renormalization conditions are defined in the RI{sup '}-MOM scheme, for both perturbative and nonperturbative results. The renormalization factors, obtained for different values of the renormalization scale, are evolved perturbatively to a reference scale set by the inverse of the lattice spacing. In addition, they are translated to MS at 2 GeV using 3-loop perturbative results for the conversion factors.« less

Evolved stars as complex chemical laboratories - the quest for gaseous chemistry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Katrien Els Decin, Leen

2015-08-01

At the end of their life, most stars lose a large fraction of their mass through a stellar wind. The stellar winds of evolved (super)giant stars are the dominant suppliers for the pristine building blocks of the interstellar medium (ISM). Crucial to the understanding of the chemical life cycle of the ISM is hence a profound insight in the chemical and physical structure governing these stellar winds.These winds are really unique chemical laboratories in which currently more than 70 different molecules and 15 different dust species are detected. Several chemical processes such as neutral-neutral and ion-molecule gas-phase reactions, dust nucleation and growth, and photo-processes determine the chemical content of these winds. However, gas-phase and dust-nucleation chemistry for astronomical environments still faces many challenges. One should realize that only ˜15% of the rate coefficients for gas-phase reactions considered to occur in (inter/circum)stellar regions at temperatures (T) below 300K have been subject to direct laboratory determinations and that the temperature dependence of the rate constants is often not known; only ˜2% have rate constants at T<200K and less than 0.5% at T<100 K. For stellar wind models, an important bottleneck occurs among the reactions involving silicon- and sulfur-bearing species, for which only a few have documented reaction rates. Often, researchers are implementing ‘educated guesses’ for these unknown rates, sometimes forcing the network to yield predictions concurring with (astronomical) observations. Large uncertainties are inherent in this type of ‘optimized’ chemical schemes.Thanks to an ERC-CoG grant, we are now in the position to solve some riddles involved in understanding the gas-phase chemistry in evolved stars. In this presentation, I will demonstrate the need for accurate temperature-dependent gas-phase reaction rate constants and will present our new laboratory equipment built to measure the rate constants for species key in stellar wind chemistry. Specifically, we aim to obtain the rate constants of reactions involving silicon- and sulphur bearing species and HCCO for 30

Multiple magnetization steps and plateaus across the antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic transition in L a1 -xC exF e12B6 : Time delay of the metamagnetic transitions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diop, L. V. B.; Isnard, O.

2018-01-01

The effects of cerium substitution on the structural and magnetic properties of the L a1 -xC exF e12B6 (0 ≤x ≤0.175 ) series of compounds have been studied. All of the compounds exhibit an antiferromagnetic ground state below the Néel temperature TN≈36 K . Both antiferromagnetic and paramagnetic states can be transformed into the ferromagnetic state irreversibly and reversibly depending on the magnitude of the applied magnetic field, the temperature, and the direction of their changes. Of particular interest is the low-temperature magnetization process. This process is discontinuous and evolves unexpected huge metamagnetic transitions consisting of a succession of sharp magnetization steps separated by plateaus, giving rise to an unusual avalanchelike behavior. At constant temperature and magnetic field, the evolution with time of the magnetization displays a spectacular spontaneous jump after a long incubation time. L a1 -xC exF e12B6 compounds exhibit a unique combination of exceptional features like large thermal hysteresis, giant magnetization jumps, and remarkably huge magnetic hysteresis for the field-induced first-order metamagnetic transition.

Development of spectral indices for roofing material condition status detection using field spectroscopy and WorldView-3 data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samsudin, Sarah Hanim; Shafri, Helmi Z. M.; Hamedianfar, Alireza

2016-04-01

Status observations of roofing material degradation are constantly evolving due to urban feature heterogeneities. Although advanced classification techniques have been introduced to improve within-class impervious surface classifications, these techniques involve complex processing and high computation times. This study integrates field spectroscopy and satellite multispectral remote sensing data to generate degradation status maps of concrete and metal roofing materials. Field spectroscopy data were used as bases for selecting suitable bands for spectral index development because of the limited number of multispectral bands. Mapping methods for roof degradation status were established for metal and concrete roofing materials by developing the normalized difference concrete condition index (NDCCI) and the normalized difference metal condition index (NDMCI). Results indicate that the accuracies achieved using the spectral indices are higher than those obtained using supervised pixel-based classification. The NDCCI generated an accuracy of 84.44%, whereas the support vector machine (SVM) approach yielded an accuracy of 73.06%. The NDMCI obtained an accuracy of 94.17% compared with 62.5% for the SVM approach. These findings support the suitability of the developed spectral index methods for determining roof degradation statuses from satellite observations in heterogeneous urban environments.

3D level set methods for evolving fronts on tetrahedral meshes with adaptive mesh refinement

DOE PAGES

Morgan, Nathaniel Ray; Waltz, Jacob I.

2017-03-02

The level set method is commonly used to model dynamically evolving fronts and interfaces. In this work, we present new methods for evolving fronts with a specified velocity field or in the surface normal direction on 3D unstructured tetrahedral meshes with adaptive mesh refinement (AMR). The level set field is located at the nodes of the tetrahedral cells and is evolved using new upwind discretizations of Hamilton–Jacobi equations combined with a Runge–Kutta method for temporal integration. The level set field is periodically reinitialized to a signed distance function using an iterative approach with a new upwind gradient. We discuss themore » details of these level set and reinitialization methods. Results from a range of numerical test problems are presented.« less

CMB power spectrum contribution from cosmic strings using field-evolution simulations of the Abelian Higgs model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bevis, Neil; Hindmarsh, Mark; Kunz, Martin; Urrestilla, Jon

2007-03-01

We present the first field-theoretic calculations of the contribution made by cosmic strings to the temperature power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Unlike previous work, in which strings were modeled as idealized one-dimensional objects, we evolve the simplest example of an underlying field theory containing local U(1) strings, the Abelian Higgs model. Limitations imposed by finite computational volumes are overcome using the scaling property of string networks and a further extrapolation related to the lessening of the string width in comoving coordinates. The strings and their decay products, which are automatically included in the field theory approach, source metric perturbations via their energy-momentum tensor, the unequal-time correlation functions of which are used as input into the CMB calculation phase. These calculations involve the use of a modified version of CMBEASY, with results provided over the full range of relevant scales. We find that the string tension μ required to normalize to the WMAP 3-year data at multipole ℓ=10 is Gμ=[2.04±0.06(stat.)±0.12(sys.)]×10-6, where we have quoted statistical and systematic errors separately, and G is Newton’s constant. This is a factor 2 3 higher than values in current circulation.

Boson mapping techniques applied to constant gauge fields in QCD

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hess, Peter Otto; Lopez, J. C.

1995-01-01

Pairs of coordinates and derivatives of the constant gluon modes are mapped to new gluon-pair fields and their derivatives. Applying this mapping to the Hamiltonian of constant gluon fields results for large coupling constants into an effective Hamiltonian which separates into one describing a scalar field and another one for a field with spin two. The ground state is dominated by pairs of gluons coupled to color and spin zero with slight admixtures of color zero and spin two pairs. As color group we used SU(2).

Foam flows through a local constriction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chevalier, T.; Koivisto, J.; Shmakova, N.; Alava, M. J.; Puisto, A.; Raufaste, C.; Santucci, S.

2017-11-01

We present an experimental study of the flow of a liquid foam, composed of a monolayer of millimetric bubbles, forced to invade an inhomogeneous medium at a constant flow rate. To model the simplest heterogeneous fracture medium, we use a Hele-Shaw cell consisting of two glass plates separated by a millimetric gap, with a local constriction. This single defect localized in the middle of the cell reduces locally its gap thickness, and thus its local permeability. We investigate here the influence of the geometrical property of the defect, specifically its height, on the average steady-state flow of the foam. In the frame of the flowing foam, we can observe a clear recirculation around the obstacle, characterized by a quadrupolar velocity field with a negative wake downstream the obstacle, which intensity evolves systematically with the obstacle height.

ARF tumor suppression in the nucleolus.

PubMed

Maggi, Leonard B; Winkeler, Crystal L; Miceli, Alexander P; Apicelli, Anthony J; Brady, Suzanne N; Kuchenreuther, Michael J; Weber, Jason D

2014-06-01

Since its discovery close to twenty years ago, the ARF tumor suppressor has played a pivotal role in the field of cancer biology. Elucidating ARF's basal physiological function in the cell has been the focal interest of numerous laboratories throughout the world for many years. Our current understanding of ARF is constantly evolving to include novel frameworks for conceptualizing the regulation of this critical tumor suppressor. As a result of this complexity, there is great need to broaden our understanding of the intricacies governing the biology of the ARF tumor suppressor. The ARF tumor suppressor is a key sensor of signals that instruct a cell to grow and proliferate and is appropriately localized in nucleoli to limit these processes. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Role of the Nucleolus in Human Disease. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Arts and technology - Mosaic new techniques and procedures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papiu, G. A.; Suciu, N.

2017-05-01

The relationship between art and technique has been along the time one that is inseparable and systematic, artists appealing to various technologies, tools and practices that help them stimulate their imagination. Today there is a new category of artists, coming from a technical or scientific field, that are being 'trapped’ in this ‘game of art”. The mosaic, even if it is an old technique, responded to the social requirements and it evolved over time, being constantly related to aesthetic and artistic thinking, discoveries of science, assimilating permanent new techniques and technologies, diversifying its artistic forms of expression and methods of transposition. Not being bound any more to a religious institution, which was its birth place, today, she migrated to all public spaces. Works of art in public space have become today an active factor in reshaping the urban aesthetic landscape.

(In)validity of the constant field and constant currents assumptions in theories of ion transport.

PubMed Central

Syganow, A; von Kitzing, E

1999-01-01

Constant electric fields and constant ion currents are often considered in theories of ion transport. Therefore, it is important to understand the validity of these helpful concepts. The constant field assumption requires that the charge density of permeant ions and flexible polar groups is virtually voltage independent. We present analytic relations that indicate the conditions under which the constant field approximation applies. Barrier models are frequently fitted to experimental current-voltage curves to describe ion transport. These models are based on three fundamental characteristics: a constant electric field, negligible concerted motions of ions inside the channel (an ion can enter only an empty site), and concentration-independent energy profiles. An analysis of those fundamental assumptions of barrier models shows that those approximations require large barriers because the electrostatic interaction is strong and has a long range. In the constant currents assumption, the current of each permeating ion species is considered to be constant throughout the channel; thus ion pairing is explicitly ignored. In inhomogeneous steady-state systems, the association rate constant determines the strength of ion pairing. Among permeable ions, however, the ion association rate constants are not small, according to modern diffusion-limited reaction rate theories. A mathematical formulation of a constant currents condition indicates that ion pairing very likely has an effect but does not dominate ion transport. PMID:9929480

An evaluation of bridge deck joint sealing systems in Virginia.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-01-01

The design and fabrication of bridge expansion joint (or movement) systems comprise a rapidly evolving industry. New designs are constantly being presented for trial, often on a piecemeal basis. Occasionally, failures of products occur without suffic...

A mapping closure for turbulent scalar mixing using a time-evolving reference field

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Girimaji, Sharath S.

1992-01-01

A general mapping-closure approach for modeling scalar mixing in homogeneous turbulence is developed. This approach is different from the previous methods in that the reference field also evolves according to the same equations as the physical scalar field. The use of a time-evolving Gaussian reference field results in a model that is similar to the mapping closure model of Pope (1991), which is based on the methodology of Chen et al. (1989). Both models yield identical relationships between the scalar variance and higher-order moments, which are in good agreement with heat conduction simulation data and can be consistent with any type of epsilon(phi) evolution. The present methodology can be extended to any reference field whose behavior is known. The possibility of a beta-pdf reference field is explored. The shortcomings of the mapping closure methods are discussed, and the limit at which the mapping becomes invalid is identified.

Defining terms for proactive management of resistance to Bt crops and pesticides.

PubMed

Tabashnik, Bruce E; Mota-Sanchez, David; Whalon, Mark E; Hollingworth, Robert M; Carrière, Yves

2014-04-01

Evolution of pest resistance to pesticides is an urgent global problem with resistance recorded in at least 954 species of pests, including 546 arthropods, 218 weeds, and 190 plant pathogens. To facilitate understanding and management of resistance, we provide definitions of 50 key terms related to resistance. We confirm the broad, long-standing definition of resistance, which is a genetically based decrease in susceptibility to a pesticide, and the definition of "field-evolved resistance," which is a genetically based decrease in susceptibility to a pesticide in a population caused by exposure to the pesticide in the field. The impact of field-evolved resistance on pest control can vary from none to severe. We define "practical resistance" as field-evolved resistance that reduces pesticide efficacy and has practical consequences for pest control. Recognizing that resistance is not "all or none" and that intermediate levels of resistance can have a continuum of effects on pest control, we describe five categories of field-evolved resistance and use them to classify 13 cases of field-evolved resistance to five Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins in transgenic corn and cotton based on monitoring data from five continents for nine major pest species. We urge researchers to publish and analyze their resistance monitoring data in conjunction with data on management practices to accelerate progress in determining which actions will be most useful in response to specific data on the magnitude, distribution, and impact of resistance.

Large numbers hypothesis. IV - The cosmological constant and quantum physics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adams, P. J.

1983-01-01

In standard physics quantum field theory is based on a flat vacuum space-time. This quantum field theory predicts a nonzero cosmological constant. Hence the gravitational field equations do not admit a flat vacuum space-time. This dilemma is resolved using the units covariant gravitational field equations. This paper shows that the field equations admit a flat vacuum space-time with nonzero cosmological constant if and only if the canonical LNH is valid. This allows an interpretation of the LNH phenomena in terms of a time-dependent vacuum state. If this is correct then the cosmological constant must be positive.

Some Aspects of Evolution of Microbial Rock-Formation in the Earth's History

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuznetsov, V. G.

2018-01-01

Under a relatively constant system and morphology of microbiota, sedimentary rocks produced by microbial organisms (microbiolites) evolved intensively during the geological history of the Earth. The parameters that changed were the composition, extraction form, and formation environments.

Dynamic wormhole solutions in Einstein-Cartan gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mehdizadeh, Mohammad Reza; Ziaie, Amir Hadi

2017-12-01

In the present work, we investigate evolving wormhole configurations described by a constant redshift function in Einstein-Cartan theory. The matter content consists of a Weyssenhoff fluid along with an anisotropic matter which together generalize the anisotropic energy momentum tensor in general relativity in order to include the effects of intrinsic angular momentum (spin) of particles. Using a generalized Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetime, we derive analytical evolving wormhole geometries by assuming a particular equation of state for energy density and pressure profiles. We introduce exact asymptotically flat and anti-de Sitter spacetimes that admit traversable wormholes and respect energy conditions throughout the spacetime. The rate of expansion of these evolving wormholes is determined only by the Friedmann equation in the presence of spin effects.

Hardware Evolution of Analog Speed Controllers for a DC Motor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gwaltney, David A.; Ferguson, Michael I.

2003-01-01

Evolvable hardware provides the capability to evolve analog circuits to produce amplifier and filter functions. Conventional analog controller designs employ these same functions. Analog controllers for the control of the shaft speed of a DC motor are evolved on an evolvable hardware platform utilizing a Field Programmable Transistor Array (FPTA). The performance of these evolved controllers is compared to that of a conventional proportional-integral (PI) controller.

Magnetic-time model at off-season germination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahajan, Tarlochan Singh; Pandey, Om Prakash

2014-03-01

Effect of static magnetic field on germination of mung beans is described. Seeds of mung beans, were exposed in batches to static magnetic fields of 87 to 226 mT intensity for 100 min. Magnetic time constant - 60.743 Th (Tesla hour) was determined experimentally. High value of magnetic time constant signifies lower effect of magnetic field on germination rate as this germination was carried out at off-season (13°C). Using decay function, germination magnetic constant was calculated. There was a linear increase in germination magnetic constant with increasing intensity of magnetic field. Calculated values of mean germination time, mean germination rate, germination rate coefficient, germination magnetic constant, transition time, water uptake, indicate that the impact of applied static magnetic field improves the germination of mung beans seeds even in off-season

Electromechanical conversion efficiency for dielectric elastomer generator in different energy harvesting cycles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Jian-Bo; E, Shi-Ju; Guo, Zhuang; Gao, Zhao; Luo, Han-Pin

2017-11-01

In order to improve electromechanical conversion efficiency for dielectric elastomer generators (DEG), on the base of studying DEG energy harvesting cycles of constant voltage, constant charge and constant electric field intensity, a new combined cycle mode and optimization theory in terms of the generating mechanism and electromechanical coupling process have been built. By controlling the switching point to achieve the best energy conversion cycle, the energy loss in the energy conversion process is reduced. DEG generating test bench which was used to carry out comparative experiments has been established. Experimental results show that the collected energy in constant voltage cycle, constant charge cycle and constant electric field intensity energy harvesting cycle decreases in turn. Due to the factors such as internal resistance losses, electrical losses and so on, actual energy values are less than the theoretical values. The electric energy conversion efficiency by combining constant electric field intensity cycle with constant charge cycle is larger than that of constant electric field intensity cycle. The relevant conclusions provide a basis for the further applications of DEG.

Examining Comprehensive School Reform

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aladjem, Daniel K., Ed.; Borman, Kathryn M., Ed.

2006-01-01

Urban school reformers for decades have tried to improve educational outcomes for underserved and disadvantaged students, with the assistance of constantly evolving federal and state policies. In recent years, education policies have shifted from targeting individual students to developing universal standards for teaching and learning, and…

Reconceptualizing Learning as a Dynamical System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ennis, Catherine D.

1992-01-01

Dynamical systems theory can increase our understanding of the constantly evolving learning process. Current research using experimental and interpretive paradigms focuses on describing the attractors and constraints stabilizing the educational process. Dynamical systems theory focuses attention on critical junctures in the learning process as…

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Morgan, Nathaniel Ray; Waltz, Jacob I.

The level set method is commonly used to model dynamically evolving fronts and interfaces. In this work, we present new methods for evolving fronts with a specified velocity field or in the surface normal direction on 3D unstructured tetrahedral meshes with adaptive mesh refinement (AMR). The level set field is located at the nodes of the tetrahedral cells and is evolved using new upwind discretizations of Hamilton–Jacobi equations combined with a Runge–Kutta method for temporal integration. The level set field is periodically reinitialized to a signed distance function using an iterative approach with a new upwind gradient. We discuss themore » details of these level set and reinitialization methods. Results from a range of numerical test problems are presented.« less

Stepwise formation of H3O(+)(H2O)n in an ion drift tube: Empirical effective temperature of association/dissociation reaction equilibrium in an electric field.

PubMed

Nakai, Yoichi; Hidaka, Hiroshi; Watanabe, Naoki; Kojima, Takao M

2016-06-14

We measured equilibrium constants for H3O(+)(H2O)n-1 + H2O↔H3O(+)(H2O)n (n = 4-9) reactions taking place in an ion drift tube with various applied electric fields at gas temperatures of 238-330 K. The zero-field reaction equilibrium constants were determined by extrapolation of those obtained at non-zero electric fields. From the zero-field reaction equilibrium constants, the standard enthalpy and entropy changes, ΔHn,n-1 (0) and ΔSn,n-1 (0), of stepwise association for n = 4-8 were derived and were in reasonable agreement with those measured in previous studies. We also examined the electric field dependence of the reaction equilibrium constants at non-zero electric fields for n = 4-8. An effective temperature for the reaction equilibrium constants at non-zero electric field was empirically obtained using a parameter describing the electric field dependence of the reaction equilibrium constants. Furthermore, the size dependence of the parameter was thought to reflect the evolution of the hydrogen-bond structure of H3O(+)(H2O)n with the cluster size. The reflection of structural information in the electric field dependence of the reaction equilibria is particularly noteworthy.

GOODS-HERSCHEL: STAR FORMATION, DUST ATTENUATION, AND THE FIR–RADIO CORRELATION ON THE MAIN SEQUENCE OF STAR-FORMING GALAXIES UP TO z ≃ 4

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pannella, M.; Elbaz, D.; Daddi, E.

We use deep panchromatic data sets in the GOODS-N field, from GALEX to the deepest Herschel far-infrared (FIR) and VLA radio continuum imaging, to explore the evolution of star-formation activity and dust attenuation properties of star-forming galaxies to z ≃ 4, using mass-complete samples. Our main results can be summarized as follows: (i) the slope of the star-formation rate–M{sub *} correlation is consistent with being constant ≃0.8 up to z ≃ 1.5, while its normalization keeps increasing with redshift; (ii) for the first time we are able to explore the FIR–radio correlation for a mass-selected sample of star-forming galaxies: themore » correlation does not evolve up to z ≃ 4; (iii) we confirm that galaxy stellar mass is a robust proxy for UV dust attenuation in star-forming galaxies, with more massive galaxies being more dust attenuated. Strikingly, we find that this attenuation relation evolves very weakly with redshift, with the amount of dust attenuation increasing by less than 0.3 mag over the redshift range [0.5–4] for a fixed stellar mass; (iv) the correlation between dust attenuation and the UV spectral slope evolves with redshift, with the median UV slope becoming bluer with redshift. By z ≃ 3, typical UV slopes are inconsistent, given the measured dust attenuations, with the predictions of commonly used empirical laws. (v) Finally, building on existing results, we show that gas reddening is marginally larger (by a factor of around 1.3) than the stellar reddening at all redshifts probed. Our results support a scenario where the ISM conditions of typical star-forming galaxies evolve with redshift, such that at z ≥ 1.5 Main Sequence galaxies have ISM conditions moving closer to those of local starbursts.« less

The Importance of NADPH Oxidases and Redox Signaling in Angiogenesis

PubMed Central

Prieto-Bermejo, Rodrigo; Hernández-Hernández, Angel

2017-01-01

Eukaryotic cells have to cope with the constant generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Although the excessive production of ROS might be deleterious for cell biology, there is a plethora of evidence showing that moderate levels of ROS are important for the control of cell signaling and gene expression. The family of the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidases (NADPH oxidases or Nox) has evolved to produce ROS in response to different signals; therefore, they fulfil a central role in the control of redox signaling. The role of NADPH oxidases in vascular physiology has been a field of intense study over the last two decades. In this review we will briefly analyze how ROS can regulate signaling and gene expression. We will address the implication of NADPH oxidases and redox signaling in angiogenesis, and finally, the therapeutic possibilities derived from this knowledge will be discussed. PMID:28505091

Age estimation from canine volumes.

PubMed

De Angelis, Danilo; Gaudio, Daniel; Guercini, Nicola; Cipriani, Filippo; Gibelli, Daniele; Caputi, Sergio; Cattaneo, Cristina

2015-08-01

Techniques for estimation of biological age are constantly evolving and are finding daily application in the forensic radiology field in cases concerning the estimation of the chronological age of a corpse in order to reconstruct the biological profile, or of a living subject, for example in cases of immigration of people without identity papers from a civil registry. The deposition of teeth secondary dentine and consequent decrease of pulp chamber in size are well known as aging phenomena, and they have been applied to the forensic context by the development of age estimation procedures, such as Kvaal-Solheim and Cameriere methods. The present study takes into consideration canines pulp chamber volume related to the entire teeth volume, with the aim of proposing new regression formulae for age estimation using 91 cone beam computerized scans and a freeware open-source software, in order to permit affordable reproducibility of volumes calculation.

Brazilian experiments in Mobile Learning for Health Professionals.

PubMed

Pereira, Samáris Ramiro; Loddi, Sueli Aparecida; Larangeira, Valmir Aparecido; Labrada, Luis; Bandiera-Paiva, Paulo

2013-01-01

The Distance Education has evolved with the available technology in each new decade. The evolution and spread of mobile technology from year 2000s enabled their migration to this new platform: The Mobile Learning. Making it possible for professionals and students can carry with multimedia tools with Internet access to learning tools or professional references. This new concept fits very well the needs of Health, in which students must absorb and put into practice large amounts of technical knowledge, and also professionals must stay constantly updated. Distance Education in Health has received prominence in Brazil. A country of a geographically dispersed group of professionals, and research & training centers concentrated in the capitals. Updating field teams is a difficult task, but the information has access to modern technologies, which contribute to the teachers who use them. This paper, through the methodology of literature review, presents technology experiments in health environments and their considerations.

Solid-state (55)Mn NMR spectroscopy of bis(μ-oxo)dimanganese(IV) [Mn(2)O(2)(salpn)(2)], a model for the oxygen evolving complex in photosystem II.

PubMed

Ellis, Paul D; Sears, Jesse A; Yang, Ping; Dupuis, Michel; Boron, Thaddeus T; Pecoraro, Vincent L; Stich, Troy A; Britt, R David; Lipton, Andrew S

2010-12-01

We have examined the antiferromagneticly coupled bis(μ-oxo)dimanganese(IV) complex [Mn(2)O(2)(salpn)(2)] (1) with (55)Mn solid-state NMR at cryogenic temperatures and first-principle theory. The extracted values of the (55)Mn quadrupole coupling constant, C(Q), and its asymmetry parameter, η(Q), for 1 are 24.7 MHz and 0.43, respectively. Further, there was a large anisotropic contribution to the shielding of each Mn(4+), i.e. a Δσ of 3375 ppm. Utilizing broken symmetry density functional theory, the predicted values of the electric field gradient (EFG) or equivalently the C(Q) and η(Q) at ZORA, PBE QZ4P all electron level of theory are 23.4 MHz and 0.68, respectively, in good agreement with experimental observations.

Thermal conductance of interfaces with molecular layers - low temperature transient absorption study on gold nanorods supported on self assembled monolayers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Wei; Huang, Jingyu; Murphy, Catherine; Cahill, David; University of Illinois At Urbana Champaign, Department of Materials Science; Engineering Team; Department Collaboration

2011-03-01

While heat transfer via phonons across solid-solid boundary has been a core field in condense matter physics for many years, vibrational energy transport across molecular layers has been less well elucidated. We heat rectangular-shaped gold nanocrystals (nanorods) with Ti-sapphire femtosecond pulsed laser at their longitudinal surface plasmon absorption wavelength to watch how their temperature evolves in picoseconds transient. We observed single exponential decay behavior, which suggests that the heat dissipation is only governed by a single interfacial conductance value. The ``RC'' time constant was 300ps, corresponding to a conductance value of 95MW/ m 2 K. This interfacial conductance value is also a function of ambient temperature since at temperatures as low as 80K, which are below the Debye temperature of organic layers, several phonon modes were quenched, which shut down the dominating channels that conduct heat at room temperature.

Update in feline therapeutics: clinical use of 10 emerging therapies.

PubMed

Whitehouse, William; Viviano, Katrina

2015-03-01

The field of veterinary medicine is constantly evolving. New medications are being introduced into clinical practice, and novel uses for established medications are frequently being discovered as new information comes to light. Therapeutic options for our feline patients can be restricted based on inadequate clinical evidence, adverse effects and patient compliance concerns. Additionally, with the reduced availability of commonly used medications in some regions, clinicians are forced to utilize alternatives with which they may have limited experience. This review article is directed towards primary care veterinarians working with feline patients. The selection of medications discussed is based on many of the clinical challenges commonly encountered in practice. The evidence for use of some of these medications is limited due to their novelty. Known mechanisms of action, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics data, adverse effects and clinical uses are reviewed where possible, with clinical recommendations made based on the evidence of data available. © ISFM and AAFP 2015.

Pulsed Flows Along a Cusp Structure Observed with SOO/AIA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thompson, Barbara; Demoulin, P.; Mandrini, C. H.; Mays, M. L.; Ofman, L.; Driel-Gesztelyi, L. Van; Viall, N. M.

2011-01-01

We present observations of a cusp-shaped structure that formed after a flare and coronal mass ejection on 14 February 2011. Throughout the evolution of the cusp structure, blob features up to a few Mm in size were observed flowing along the legs and stalk of the cusp at projected speeds ranging from 50 to 150 km/sec. Around two dozen blob features, on order of 1 - 3 minutes apart, were tracked in multiple AlA EUV wavelengths. The blobs flowed outward (away from the Sun) along the cusp stalk, and most of the observed speeds were either constant or decelerating. We attempt to reconstruct the 3-D magnetic field of the evolving structure, discuss the possible drivers of the flows (including pulsed reconnect ion and tearing mode instability), and compare the observations to studies of pulsed reconnect ion and blob flows in the solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere.

Preliminary Version: Ada (Trade Name)/SQL: A Standard, Portable Ada-DBMS Interface.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-04-01

3.3.2) and renaming declarations (see IRM section 8.5). The only declarations that are permitted within a schema package are those that apply directly...end SQLOPERATIONS; bl r °o. 184 with SQLDEFINITIONS: use SQLDEFINITIONS: package DATEUNDERLYING is type CELLARTYPE is record I STAR, BIN, WINE ...34); WINE constant FIELD MAKEFIELD(" WINE "); PRODUCER constant FIELD = MAKEFIELD ("PRODUCER"); YEAR constant FIELD MAKEFIELD("YEAR"); BOTTLES constant

Random diffusion and cooperation in continuous two-dimensional space.

PubMed

Antonioni, Alberto; Tomassini, Marco; Buesser, Pierre

2014-03-07

This work presents a systematic study of population games of the Prisoner's Dilemma, Hawk-Dove, and Stag Hunt types in two-dimensional Euclidean space under two-person, one-shot game-theoretic interactions, and in the presence of agent random mobility. The goal is to investigate whether cooperation can evolve and be stable when agents can move randomly in continuous space. When the agents all have the same constant velocity cooperation may evolve if the agents update their strategies imitating the most successful neighbor. If a fitness difference proportional is used instead, cooperation does not improve with respect to the static random geometric graph case. When viscosity effects set-in and agent velocity becomes a quickly decreasing function of the number of neighbors they have, one observes the formation of monomorphic stable clusters of cooperators or defectors in the Prisoner's Dilemma. However, cooperation does not spread in the population as in the constant velocity case. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Stability and the Evolvability of Function in a Model Protein

PubMed Central

Bloom, Jesse D.; Wilke, Claus O.; Arnold, Frances H.; Adami, Christoph

2004-01-01

Functional proteins must fold with some minimal stability to a structure that can perform a biochemical task. Here we use a simple model to investigate the relationship between the stability requirement and the capacity of a protein to evolve the function of binding to a ligand. Although our model contains no built-in tradeoff between stability and function, proteins evolved function more efficiently when the stability requirement was relaxed. Proteins with both high stability and high function evolved more efficiently when the stability requirement was gradually increased than when there was constant selection for high stability. These results show that in our model, the evolution of function is enhanced by allowing proteins to explore sequences corresponding to marginally stable structures, and that it is easier to improve stability while maintaining high function than to improve function while maintaining high stability. Our model also demonstrates that even in the absence of a fundamental biophysical tradeoff between stability and function, the speed with which function can evolve is limited by the stability requirement imposed on the protein. PMID:15111394

A complex ligase ribozyme evolved in vitro from a group I ribozyme domain

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jaeger, L.; Wright, M. C.; Joyce, G. F.; Bada, J. L. (Principal Investigator)

1999-01-01

Like most proteins, complex RNA molecules often are modular objects made up of distinct structural and functional domains. The component domains of a protein can associate in alternative combinations to form molecules with different functions. These observations raise the possibility that complex RNAs also can be assembled from preexisting structural and functional domains. To test this hypothesis, an in vitro evolution procedure was used to isolate a previously undescribed class of complex ligase ribozymes, starting from a pool of 10(16) different RNA molecules that contained a constant region derived from a large structural domain that occurs within self-splicing group I ribozymes. Attached to this constant region were three hypervariable regions, totaling 85 nucleotides, that gave rise to the catalytic motif within the evolved catalysts. The ligase ribozymes catalyze formation of a 3',5'-phosphodiester linkage between adjacent template-bound oligonucleotides, one bearing a 3' hydroxyl and the other a 5' triphosphate. Ligation occurs in the context of a Watson-Crick duplex, with a catalytic rate of 0.26 min(-1) under optimal conditions. The constant region is essential for catalytic activity and appears to retain the tertiary structure of the group I ribozyme. This work demonstrates that complex RNA molecules, like their protein counterparts, can share common structural domains while exhibiting distinct catalytic functions.

How warm is too warm for the life cycle of actinopterygian fishes?

PubMed Central

Motani, Ryosuke; Wainwright, Peter C.

2015-01-01

We investigated the highest constant temperature at which actinopterygian fishes can complete their lifecycles, based on an oxygen supply model for cleavage-stage eggs. This stage is one of the most heat-sensitive periods during the lifecycle, likely reflecting the exhaustion of maternally supplied heat shock proteins without new production. The model suggests that average eggs would not develop normally under a constant temperature of about 36 °C or higher. This estimate matches published empirical values derived from laboratory and field observations. Spermatogenesis is more heat sensitive than embryogenesis in fishes, so the threshold may indeed be lower, at about 35 °C, unless actinopterygian fishes evolve heat tolerance during spermatogenesis as in birds. Our model also predicts an inverse relationship between egg size and temperature, and empirical data support this prediction. Therefore, the average egg size, and hence hatching size, is expected to shrink in a greenhouse world but a feeding function prohibits the survival of very small hatchlings, posing a limit to the shrinkage. It was once suggested that a marine animal community may be sustained under temperatures up to about 38 °C, and this value is being used, for example, in paleotemperature reconstruction. A revision of the value is overdue. (199/200) PMID:26166622

Fast backprojection-based reconstruction of spectral-spatial EPR images from projections with the constant sweep of a magnetic field.

PubMed

Komarov, Denis A; Hirata, Hiroshi

2017-08-01

In this paper, we introduce a procedure for the reconstruction of spectral-spatial EPR images using projections acquired with the constant sweep of a magnetic field. The application of a constant field-sweep and a predetermined data sampling rate simplifies the requirements for EPR imaging instrumentation and facilitates the backprojection-based reconstruction of spectral-spatial images. The proposed approach was applied to the reconstruction of a four-dimensional numerical phantom and to actual spectral-spatial EPR measurements. Image reconstruction using projections with a constant field-sweep was three times faster than the conventional approach with the application of a pseudo-angle and a scan range that depends on the applied field gradient. Spectral-spatial EPR imaging with a constant field-sweep for data acquisition only slightly reduces the signal-to-noise ratio or functional resolution of the resultant images and can be applied together with any common backprojection-based reconstruction algorithm. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

How Long Is Long Ago?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jax, Daniel W.

1991-01-01

Provides a lesson plan with student worksheet for teaching the concept of geologic time to middle school students. The lesson is cited as representative of an Earth systems approach to science curriculum with emphasis on the age of the earth and the fact that its subsystems are constantly evolving. (MCO)

Inter-University Collaboration for Online Teaching Innovation: An Emerging Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nerlich, Andrea Perkins; Soldner, James L.; Millington, Michael J.

2012-01-01

Distance education is constantly evolving and improving. To stay current, effective online instructors must utilize the most innovative, evidence-based teaching methods available to promote student learning and satisfaction in their courses. One emerging teaching method, referred to as blended online learning (BOL), involves collaborative…

Going with the Technology Flow

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patton, Madeline

2017-01-01

In the age of ubiquitous and constantly evolving technologies, decisions about what to buy, when and how to deploy digital innovations work best when community colleges use systematic, team approaches. In this article, digital education leaders of Walters State Community College (Morristown, Tennessee), Kirkwood Community College (Cedar Rapids,…

The Current Status of Instructional Design Theories in Relation to Today's Authoring Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Neil, A. Fred

2008-01-01

It is of course very difficult to accurately project important characteristics of the future state of any rapidly evolving field, and the field of authoring systems for computer-assisted instruction (CAI) is no exception. However, strong trends in evolving CAI systems of today would seem to indicate some important characteristics of the software…

The Prevalence of Performance Improvement as a Central Topic in the Professional Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guerra-Lopez, Ingrid

2012-01-01

The performance improvement field has evolved from the work of professionals seeking to improve performance in the workplace. Each time the field has evolved, it has done so by consistently expanding its scope and incorporating a broader performance context in line with its systems-theory roots. But just how much has performance improvement…

Biofabrication: reappraising the definition of an evolving field.

PubMed

Groll, Jürgen; Boland, Thomas; Blunk, Torsten; Burdick, Jason A; Cho, Dong-Woo; Dalton, Paul D; Derby, Brian; Forgacs, Gabor; Li, Qing; Mironov, Vladimir A; Moroni, Lorenzo; Nakamura, Makoto; Shu, Wenmiao; Takeuchi, Shoji; Vozzi, Giovanni; Woodfield, Tim B F; Xu, Tao; Yoo, James J; Malda, Jos

2016-01-08

Biofabrication is an evolving research field that has recently received significant attention. In particular, the adoption of Biofabrication concepts within the field of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine has grown tremendously, and has been accompanied by a growing inconsistency in terminology. This article aims at clarifying the position of Biofabrication as a research field with a special focus on its relation to and application for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. Within this context, we propose a refined working definition of Biofabrication, including Bioprinting and Bioassembly as complementary strategies within Biofabrication.

Cystic Fibrosis: Microbiology and Host Response.

PubMed

Zemanick, Edith T; Hoffman, Lucas R

2016-08-01

The earliest descriptions of lung disease in people with cystic fibrosis (CF) showed the involvement of 3 interacting pathophysiologic elements in CF airways: mucus obstruction, inflammation, and infection. Over the past 7 decades, our understanding of CF respiratory microbiology and inflammation has evolved with the introduction of new treatments, increased longevity, and increasingly sophisticated laboratory techniques. This article reviews the current understanding of infection and inflammation and their roles in CF lung disease. It also discusses how this constantly evolving information is used to inform current therapeutic strategies, measures and predictors of disease severity, and research priorities. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effector Mimics and Integrated Decoys, the Never-Ending Arms Race between Rice and Xanthomonas oryzae

PubMed Central

Zuluaga, Paola; Szurek, Boris; Koebnik, Ralf; Kroj, Thomas; Morel, Jean-Benoit

2017-01-01

Plants are constantly challenged by a wide range of pathogens and have therefore evolved an array of mechanisms to defend against them. In response to these defense systems, pathogens have evolved strategies to avoid recognition and suppress plant defenses (Brown and Tellier, 2011). Three recent reports dealing with the resistance of rice to Xanthomonas oryzae have added a new twist to our understanding of this fascinating co-evolutionary arms race (Ji et al., 2016; Read et al., 2016; Triplett et al., 2016). They show that pathogens also develop sophisticated effector mimics to trick recognition. PMID:28400786

Effector Mimics and Integrated Decoys, the Never-Ending Arms Race between Rice and Xanthomonas oryzae.

PubMed

Zuluaga, Paola; Szurek, Boris; Koebnik, Ralf; Kroj, Thomas; Morel, Jean-Benoit

2017-01-01

Plants are constantly challenged by a wide range of pathogens and have therefore evolved an array of mechanisms to defend against them. In response to these defense systems, pathogens have evolved strategies to avoid recognition and suppress plant defenses (Brown and Tellier, 2011). Three recent reports dealing with the resistance of rice to Xanthomonas oryzae have added a new twist to our understanding of this fascinating co-evolutionary arms race (Ji et al., 2016; Read et al., 2016; Triplett et al., 2016). They show that pathogens also develop sophisticated effector mimics to trick recognition.

Disgust: Evolved Function and Structure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tybur, Joshua M.; Lieberman, Debra; Kurzban, Robert; DeScioli, Peter

2013-01-01

Interest in and research on disgust has surged over the past few decades. The field, however, still lacks a coherent theoretical framework for understanding the evolved function or functions of disgust. Here we present such a framework, emphasizing 2 levels of analysis: that of evolved function and that of information processing. Although there is…

A discussion of current issues and concepts in the practice of skull-photo/craniofacial superimposition.

PubMed

Gordon, G M; Steyn, M

2016-05-01

A recent review paper on cranio-facial superimposition (CFS) stated that "there have been specific conceptual variances" from the original methods used in the practice of skull-photo superimposition, leading to poor results as far as accuracy is concerned. It was argued that the deviations in the practice of the technique have resulted in the reduced accuracies (for both failure to include and failure to exclude) that are noted in several recent studies. This paper aims to present the results from recent research to highlight the advancement of skull-photo/cranio-facial superimposition, and to discuss some of the issues raised regarding deviations from original techniques. The evolving methodology of CFS is clarified in context with the advancement of technology, forensic science and specifically within the field of forensic anthropology. Developments in the skull-photo/cranio-facial superimposition techniques have largely focused on testing reliability and accuracy objectively. Techniques now being employed by forensic anthropologists must conform to rigorous scientific testing and methodologies. Skull-photo/cranio-facial superimposition is constantly undergoing accuracy and repeatability testing which is in line with the principles of the scientific method and additionally allows for advancement in the field. Much of the research has indicated that CFS is useful in exclusion which is consistent with the concept of Popperian falsifiability - a hypothesis and experimental design which is falsifiable. As the hypothesis is disproved or falsified, another evolves to replace it and explain the new observations. Current and future studies employing different methods to test the accuracy and reliability of skull-photo/cranio-facial superimposition will enable researchers to establish the contribution the technique can have for identification purposes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Autonomous evolution of topographic regularities in artificial neural networks.

PubMed

Gauci, Jason; Stanley, Kenneth O

2010-07-01

Looking to nature as inspiration, for at least the past 25 years, researchers in the field of neuroevolution (NE) have developed evolutionary algorithms designed specifically to evolve artificial neural networks (ANNs). Yet the ANNs evolved through NE algorithms lack the distinctive characteristics of biological brains, perhaps explaining why NE is not yet a mainstream subject of neural computation. Motivated by this gap, this letter shows that when geometry is introduced to evolved ANNs through the hypercube-based neuroevolution of augmenting topologies algorithm, they begin to acquire characteristics that indeed are reminiscent of biological brains. That is, if the neurons in evolved ANNs are situated at locations in space (i.e., if they are given coordinates), then, as experiments in evolving checkers-playing ANNs in this letter show, topographic maps with symmetries and regularities can evolve spontaneously. The ability to evolve such maps is shown in this letter to provide an important advantage in generalization. In fact, the evolved maps are sufficiently informative that their analysis yields the novel insight that the geometry of the connectivity patterns of more general players is significantly smoother and more contiguous than less general ones. Thus, the results reveal a correlation between generality and smoothness in connectivity patterns. They also hint at the intriguing possibility that as NE matures as a field, its algorithms can evolve ANNs of increasing relevance to those who study neural computation in general.

Information Retrieval in Biomedical Research: From Articles to Datasets

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wei, Wei

2017-01-01

Information retrieval techniques have been applied to biomedical research for a variety of purposes, such as textual document retrieval and molecular data retrieval. As biomedical research evolves over time, information retrieval is also constantly facing new challenges, including the growing number of available data, the emerging new data types,…

Dynamic Soaring: Aerodynamics for Albatrosses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Denny, Mark

2009-01-01

Albatrosses have evolved to soar and glide efficiently. By maximizing their lift-to-drag ratio "L/D", albatrosses can gain energy from the wind and can travel long distances with little effort. We simplify the difficult aerodynamic equations of motion by assuming that albatrosses maintain a constant "L/D". Analytic solutions to the simplified…

Inspired Art in the Bear's Paw Mountains

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Worley, Jerry

2013-01-01

This article introduces the reader to Art professor John Murie, of Stone Child College as he discusses how Native art is constantly evolving and integrating new ideas. Art symbolizes meaning--an awareness and realization of a mystical foundation of intersubjectivity, amd a communication between the artist and the admirer. Murie maintains that…

Areas of Cross-Cultural Difference in the Workplace

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Castaneda, Mario E.; Bateh, Justin; Heyliger, Wilton

2013-01-01

In the last 30 years, there has been a shift towards using multicultural management strategies. The constant shifts taking place in multi-ethnic, multicultural, and multinational workforces indicate that both administrators of these organizations and higher education practices must evolve to adapt to needs for changing skill sets. A multicultural…

Supporting STEM Teachers to Inspire through Everyday Innovation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bienkowski, Marie; Shechtman, Nicole; Remold, Julie; Knudsen, Jennifer

2014-01-01

Science teachers inspire in part by their constant adaptation to the learning needs of their students and to evolving content, curriculum, technology, and student populations. Innovation--bringing novel things to a situation to confer a benefit--is an integral part of teaching overall, and in especially inspired science teaching. While innovation…

Teaching Strategies Used to Maintain Classroom Order

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roman, Daniel

2007-01-01

With the ever evolving environment of the classroom setting the role of the teacher is constantly being challenged and the responsibilities remain the same. Teachers are required to create a safe learning environment for student learning. Although this is an overwhelming responsibility it is not impossible. This study explored teachers'…

A Framework for Evaluation and Use of Automated Scoring

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williamson, David M.; Xi, Xiaoming; Breyer, F. Jay

2012-01-01

A framework for evaluation and use of automated scoring of constructed-response tasks is provided that entails both evaluation of automated scoring as well as guidelines for implementation and maintenance in the context of constantly evolving technologies. Consideration of validity issues and challenges associated with automated scoring are…

Use of aerobic spores as a surrogate for cryptosporidium oocysts in drinking water and supplies

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Waterborne illnesses are a growing concern among health agencies worldwide and regulatory efforts to prevent microbial contamination of water supplies are constantly evolving to stay ahead of the threat. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has established several rules to combat the co...

Overview of USEPA's ORD Technical Outreach and Support Activities on Vapor Intrusion Impacts - 03/2008

EPA Science Inventory

The science of determining, characterizing and managing vapor intrusion risks is constantly evolving. Much remains to be done in assisting regulators, consultants and other decision-makers to make informed decisions in mitigating the problem and reducing these risks. ORD has been...

Management Matters. Nurture Your Vision

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pappas, Marjorie L.

2005-01-01

In many professional roles, long-term vision may help guide short-term decisions. This is especially true for school library professionals as library media programs are constantly evolving. This author suggests strategies to assist library media specialists to nurture their vision and provides reviews of several sources and experts in the field…

Student Gender and Perceptions of Teaching Effectiveness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lavin, Angeline; Korte, Leon; Davies, Thomas

2012-01-01

Becoming an effective teacher is a constantly evolving, multi-faceted journey, and differences of opinion exist as to what constitutes effective teaching. The goal of this study is to investigate whether there are identifiable differences between male and female students in terms of the teaching traits each finds important. This paper summarizes…

Constant Change: The Ever-Evolving Personal Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Torres Kompen, Ricardo; Monguet, Josep Ma.; Brigos, Miguel

2015-01-01

There are several definitions for the term "personal learning environment" (PLE); in this article, PLE refers to a group of web technologies, with various degrees of integration and interaction, that helps users and learners manage the flow of information that relates to the learning process, the creation of knowledge, and the…

Eyes on the prize: reflections on the impact of the evolving digital ecology on the librarian as expert intermediary and knowledge coach, 1969-2009.

PubMed

Homan, J Michael

2010-01-01

The 2009 Janet Doe Lecture reflects on the continuing value and increasing return on investment of librarian-mediated services in the constantly evolving digital ecology and complex knowledge environment of the health sciences. The interrelationship of knowledge, decision making based on knowledge, technology used to access and retrieve knowledge, and the important linkage roles of expert librarian intermediaries is examined. Professional experiences from 1969 to 2009, occurring during a time of unprecedented changes in the digital ecology of librarianship, are the base on which the evolving role and value of librarians as knowledge coaches and expert intermediaries are examined. Librarian-mediated services linking knowledge and critical decision making in health care have become more valuable than ever as technology continues to reshape an increasingly complex knowledge environment.

Development of buried wire gages for measurement of wall shear stress in Blastane experiments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murthy, S. V.; Steinle, F. W.

1986-01-01

Buried Wire Gages operated from a Constant Temperature Anemometer System are among the special types of instrumentation to be used in the Boundary Layer Apparatus for Subsonic and Transonic flow Affected by Noise Environment (BLASTANE). These Gages are of a new type and need to be adapted for specific applications. Methods were developed to fabricate Gage inserts and mount those in the BLASTANE Instrumentation Plugs. A large number of Gages were prepared and operated from a Constant Temperature Anemometer System to derive some of the calibration constants for application to fluid-flow wall shear-stress measurements. The final stage of the calibration was defined, but could not be accomplished because of non-availability of a suitable flow simulating apparatus. This report provides a description of the Buried Wire Gage technique, an explanation of the method evolved for making proper Gages and the calibration constants, namely Temperature Coefficient of Resistance and Conduction Loss Factor.

Evolution of Cost-Free Resistance under Fluctuating Drug Selection in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

PubMed Central

McCloskey, Nicholas; Hinz, Aaron J.; Dettman, Jeremy; Kassen, Rees

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Antibiotic resistance evolves rapidly in response to drug selection, but it can also persist at appreciable levels even after the removal of the antibiotic. This suggests that many resistant strains can both be resistant and have high fitness in the absence of antibiotics. To explore the conditions under which high-fitness, resistant strains evolve and the genetic changes responsible, we used a combination of experimental evolution and whole-genome sequencing to track the acquisition of ciprofloxacin resistance in the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa under conditions of constant and fluctuating antibiotic delivery patterns. We found that high-fitness, resistant strains evolved readily under fluctuating but not constant antibiotic conditions and that their evolution was underlain by a trade-off between resistance and fitness. Whole-genome sequencing of evolved isolates revealed that resistance was gained through mutations in known resistance genes and that second-site mutations generally compensated for costs associated with resistance in the fluctuating treatment, leading to the evolution of cost-free resistance. Our results suggest that current therapies involving intermittent administration of antibiotics are contributing to the maintenance of antibiotic resistance at high levels in clinical settings. IMPORTANCE Antibiotic resistance is a global problem that greatly impacts human health. How resistance persists, even in the absence of antibiotic treatment, is thus a public health problem of utmost importance. In this study, we explored the antibiotic treatment conditions under which cost-free resistance arises, using experimental evolution of the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the quinolone antibiotic ciprofloxacin. We found that intermittent antibiotic treatment led to the evolution of cost-free resistance and demonstrate that compensatory evolution is the mechanism responsible for cost-free resistance. Our results suggest that discontinuous administration of antibiotic may be contributing to the high levels of antibiotic resistance currently found worldwide. PMID:28744479

Efficient data assimilation algorithm for bathymetry application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghorbanidehno, H.; Lee, J. H.; Farthing, M.; Hesser, T.; Kitanidis, P. K.; Darve, E. F.

2017-12-01

Information on the evolving state of the nearshore zone bathymetry is crucial to shoreline management, recreational safety, and naval operations. The high cost and complex logistics of using ship-based surveys for bathymetry estimation have encouraged the use of remote sensing techniques. Data assimilation methods combine the remote sensing data and nearshore hydrodynamic models to estimate the unknown bathymetry and the corresponding uncertainties. In particular, several recent efforts have combined Kalman Filter-based techniques such as ensembled-based Kalman filters with indirect video-based observations to address the bathymetry inversion problem. However, these methods often suffer from ensemble collapse and uncertainty underestimation. Here, the Compressed State Kalman Filter (CSKF) method is used to estimate the bathymetry based on observed wave celerity. In order to demonstrate the accuracy and robustness of the CSKF method, we consider twin tests with synthetic observations of wave celerity, while the bathymetry profiles are chosen based on surveys taken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer Field Research Facility (FRF) in Duck, NC. The first test case is a bathymetry estimation problem for a spatially smooth and temporally constant bathymetry profile. The second test case is a bathymetry estimation problem for a temporally evolving bathymetry from a smooth to a non-smooth profile. For both problems, we compare the results of CSKF with those obtained by the local ensemble transform Kalman filter (LETKF), which is a popular ensemble-based Kalman filter method.

The evolving activity of the dynamically young comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bodewits, D.; Farnham, T. L.; A'Hearn, M. F.

2014-05-01

We used the Ultraviolet-Optical Telescope on board Swift to observe the dynamically young comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) from a heliocentric distance of 3.5 AU pre-perihelion until 4.0 AU outbound. At 3.5 AU pre-perihelion, comet Garradd had one of the highest dust-to-gas ratios ever observed, matched only by comet Hale-Bopp. The evolving morphology of the dust in its coma suggests an outburst that ended around 2.2 AU pre-perihelion. Comparing slit-based measurements and observations acquired with larger fields of view indicated that between 3 AU and 2 AU pre-perihelion a significant extended source started producing water in the coma. We demonstrate thatmore » this source, which could be due to icy grains, disappeared quickly around perihelion. Water production by the nucleus may be attributed to a constantly active source of at least 75 km{sup 2}, estimated to be >20% of the surface. Based on our measurements, the comet lost 4 × 10{sup 11} kg of ice and dust during this apparition, corresponding to at most a few meters of its surface. Even though this was likely not the comet's first passage through the inner solar system, the activity of Garradd was complex and changed significantly during the time it was observed.« less

Diffusion constant of slowly rotating black three-brane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amoozad, Z.; Sadeghi, J.

2018-01-01

In this paper, we take the slowly rotating black three-brane background and perturb it by introducing a vector gauge field. We find the components of the gauge field through Maxwell equations and Bianchi identities. Using currents and some ansatz we find Fick's first law at long wavelength regime. An interesting result for this non-trivial supergravity background is that the diffusion constant on the stretched horizon which emerges from Fick's first law is a complex constant. The pure imaginary part of the diffusion constant appears because the black three-brane has angular momentum. By taking the static limit of the corresponding black brane the well known diffusion constant will be recovered. On the other hand, from the point of view of the Fick's second law, we have the dispersion relation ω = - iDq2 and we found a damping of hydrodynamical flow in the holographically dual theory. Existence of imaginary term in the diffusion constant introduces an oscillating propagation of the gauge field in the dual field theory.

Three species one-dimensional kinetic model for weakly ionized plasmas

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gonzalez, J., E-mail: jorge.gonzalez@upm.es; Donoso, J. M.; Tierno, S. P.

2016-06-15

A three species one-dimensional kinetic model is presented for a spatially homogeneous weakly ionized plasma subjected to the action of a time varying electric field. Planar geometry is assumed, which means that the plasma evolves in the privileged direction of the field. The energy transmitted to the electric charges is channelized to the neutrals thanks to collisions, a mechanism that influences the plasma dynamics. Charge-charge interactions have been designed as a one-dimensional collision term equivalent to the Landau operator used for fully ionized plasmas. Charge-neutral collisions are modelled by a conservative drift-diffusion operator in the Dougherty's form. The resulting setmore » of coupled integro-differential equations is solved with the stable and robust propagator integral method. This semi–analytical method feasibility accounts for non–linear effects without appealing to linearisation or simplifications, providing conservative physically meaningful solutions even for initial or emerging sharp velocity distribution function profiles. It is found that charge-neutral collisions exert a significant effect since a quite different plasma evolution arises if compared to the collisionless limit. In addition, substantial differences in the system motion are found for constant and temperature dependent collision frequencies cases.« less

Pulsed Magnetic Field Improves the Transport of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles through Cell Barriers

PubMed Central

Min, Kyoung Ah; Shin, Meong Cheol; Yu, Faquan; Yang, Meizhu; David, Allan E.; Yang, Victor C.; Rosania, Gus R.

2013-01-01

Understanding how a magnetic field affects the interaction of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) with cells is fundamental to any potential downstream applications of MNPs as gene and drug delivery vehicles. Here, we present a quantitative analysis of how a pulsed magnetic field influences the manner in which MNPs interact with, and penetrate across a cell monolayer. Relative to a constant magnetic field, the rate of MNP uptake and transport across cell monolayers was enhanced by a pulsed magnetic field. MNP transport across cells was significantly inhibited at low temperature under both constant and pulsed magnetic field conditions, consistent with an active mechanism (i.e. endocytosis) mediating MNP transport. Microscopic observations and biochemical analysis indicated that, in a constant magnetic field, transport of MNPs across the cells was inhibited due to the formation of large (>2 μm) magnetically-induced MNP aggregates, which exceeded the size of endocytic vesicles. Thus, a pulsed magnetic field enhances the cellular uptake and transport of MNPs across cell barriers relative to a constant magnetic field by promoting accumulation while minimizing magnetically-induced MNP aggregates at the cell surface. PMID:23373613

A design study for a simple-to-fly, constant attitude light aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smetana, F. O.; Humphreys, D. E.; Montoya, R. J.; Rickard, W. W.; Wilkinson, I. E.

1973-01-01

The activities during a four-year study by doctoral students to evolve in detail a design for a simple-to-fly, constant attitude light airplane are described. The study indicated that such aircraft could materially reduce the hazards to light airplane occupants which arise from the high pilot work load and poor visibility that occur during landing. Preliminary cost studies indicate that in volume production this system would increase the cost of the aircraft in roughly the same fashion that automatic transmission, power steering, power brakes, and cruise control increase the cost of a compact car.

The avian embryo responding to microgravity of space flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hullinger, Ronald L.

1993-01-01

Of all the many potential and real microenvironmental influences, only gravity would appear to have remained relatively constant and ubiquitous for developing organisms. Histo- and organogenesis as well as differential growth of the embryo and fetus may have evolved with a constant environmental factor of gravity. Chick embryos of 2-day and 9-day stages of incubation were flown in an incubator on the Space Shuttle during a 9-day mission. Significant differences in embryo response to this microgravity environment were observed. This paper offers an analysis and suggests mechanisms which may contribute to these results.

CYSTIC FIBROSIS: MICROBIOLOGY AND HOST RESPONSE

PubMed Central

Zemanick, Edith T.

2016-01-01

THE EARLIEST DESCRIPTIONS OF LUNG DISEASE IN PEOPLE WITH CYSTIC FIBROSIS (CF) DEMONSTRATED THE INVOLVEMENT OF THREE INTERACTING PATHOPHYSIOLOGICAL ELEMENTS IN CF AIRWAYS: MUCUS OBSTRUCTION, INFLAMMATION, AND INFECTION. OVER THE PAST 7 DECADES, OUR UNDERSTANDING OF CF RESPIRATORY MICROBIOLOGY AND INFLAMMATION HAS EVOLVED WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF NEW TREATMENTS, WITH INCREASED LONGEVITY, AND WITH INCREASINGLY SOPHISTICATED LABORATORY TECHNIQUES. IN THIS CHAPTER, WE WILL REVIEW THE CURRENT STATE OF UNDERSTANDING OF THE ROLES OF INFECTION AND INFLAMMATION AND THEIR ROLES IN DRIVING LUNG DISEASE. WE WILL ALSO DISCUSS HOW THIS CONSTANTLY EVOLVING INFORMATION IS USED TO INFORM CURRENT THERAPEUTIC STRATEGIES, MEASURES AND PREDICTORS OF DISEASE SEVERITY, AND RESEARCH PRIORITIES. PMID:27469179

Solar-terrestrial data access distribution and archiving

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1984-01-01

It is recommended that a central data catalog and data access network (CDC/DAN) for solar-terrestrial research be established, initially as a NASA pilot program. The system is envisioned to be flexible and to evolve as funds permit, starting from a catalog to an access network for high-resolution data. The report describes the various functional requirements for the CDC/DAN, but does not specify the hardware and software architectures as these are constantly evolving. The importance of a steering committee, working with the CDC/DAN organization, to provide scientific guidelines for the data catalog and for data storage, access, and distribution is also stressed.

The galvanizing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: An antimicrobial mechanism

PubMed Central

Russell, David G

2011-01-01

Summary Evolving under constant threat from invading microbes, macrophages have acquired multiple means of killing bacteria. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Botella and colleagues describe a novel anti-microbial mechanism based on elevated levels of intraphagosomal Zn2+ and the corresponding induction of bacterial genes to ameliorate this host-derived stress. PMID:21925106

Art Education and the Visual Arts in Botswana

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brennan, Geraldine

2006-01-01

The history of art and design education in Botswana has evolved in a unique way and reflects its British colonial history and post-independence development. It has involved constant exchange and dialogue with other countries through the employment of teachers, teacher trainers and university lecturers from a variety of European, Asian and other…

The Effect of Choral Music Education on Literacy Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hearnsberger, Keith Alan

2013-01-01

American education was going through dramatic change in the beginning of the 21st century. The way children were educated was constantly evolving. Public schools, private schools, parochial schools, charter schools, and many other types of educational institutions were affected by various federal and state regulations since the 1960's. The…

Designing Educational Games for Computer Programming: A Holistic Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malliarakis, Christos; Satratzemi, Maya; Xinogalos, Stelios

2014-01-01

Computer science is continuously evolving during the past decades. This has also brought forth new knowledge that should be incorporated and new learning strategies must be adopted for the successful teaching of all sub-domains. For example, computer programming is a vital knowledge area within computer science with constantly changing curriculum…

Colleges and Universities Want to Be Your Friend: Communicating via Online Social Networking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wandel, Tamara L.

2008-01-01

This article presents a compilation of data regarding the role of online social networks within campus communities, specifically for nonacademic purposes. Both qualitative and quantitative data methodologies are used to provide a unique perspective on a constantly evolving topic. Interviews of students and administrators allow for candid…

Professional Doctoral Scholarship in Ghana: A Case Study of the CDT-BEPS Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Owusu-Manu, D.; Edwards, D. J.; Afrane, S. K.; Dontwi, I. K.; Laycock, P.

2015-01-01

The constantly evolving paradigm of 21st century educational offerings and the growing demand for "professional practice" research degrees have raised concerns about the relevance of the traditional "theoretical" PhD award. To meet this growing demand, and address these concerns, alternative routes to achieving the doctoral…

Toward a Functional and Culturally Salient Definition of Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ntiri, Daphne W.

2009-01-01

This paper sets out to show that the concept of literacy is evolving and its conventional definition, "reading and writing," is no longer adequate. Literacy is now subjected to constant redefinition to reflect criteria for social, political, religious, and economic relevance and expectations. The definition must be reframed to capture the…

International Student Enrollment Trends from 2008-2014: Country Case Studies and Comparison to a Midwest Liberal Arts Institution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hajiyev, Emin

2017-01-01

The international student recruitment and overall cross-border education have constantly been evolving. In the past two decades, higher education institutions were developing and implementing their plan of campus internationalization. Various universities and colleges have different approaches to the internationalization. However, through the…

The School Technology Primer: A Non-Technical Guide to Understanding School Technology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Little Inst. for School Facilities Research, Charlotte, NC.

This booklet is designed to provide educational administrators and planners with an easy guide to understanding the constantly evolving elements of school technology. The booklet presents a comprehensive overview of modern information systems in schools and how they can enhance the students' learning environment. Seven sections address a variety…

Learning to be Watched: Surveillance Culture at School--The Eighteenth Annual Report on Schoolhouse Commercializing Trends, 2014-2015

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boninger, Faith; Molnar, Alex

2016-01-01

Digital technologies used by marketers continue to evolve. Sophisticated and personalized, they help ensure that today's children and adolescents are constantly connected and available to advertisers wherever they may roam. Moreover, because digital technologies enable extensive personalization, they amplify opportunities for marketers to take…

Climate Change and Societal Response: Livelihoods, Communities, and the Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Molnar, Joseph J.

2010-01-01

Climate change may be considered a natural disaster evolving in slow motion on a global scale. Increasing storm intensities, shifting rainfall patterns, melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and other manifold alterations are being experienced around the world. Climate has never been constant in any location, but human-induced changes associated…

In the Smelter: Leading Special Education in an Era of Systems Redesign--A Commentary

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harper, John

2012-01-01

This article provides background and commentary on the articles in this issue of "Journal of Special Education Leadership." Each of the articles describes the agonizing choices and constant struggles in the evolving educational landscape. Two themes emerged: (1) the conflicting intersection of the Individuals with Disabilities…

Using Technology in Gifted and Talented Education Classrooms: The Teachers' Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zimlich, Susan L.

2015-01-01

Technology skills are assumed to be a necessity for college and career success, but technology is constantly evolving. Thus, development of students' technology skills is an on-going and persistent issue. Standards from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and the International Society for Technology in Education encourage educators to teach…

Isotopic, Ecological and Technological Investigations of the Land Snail Record

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Faber, Meredith L.

2012-01-01

In the ever-evolving landscape of the natural world, change is the only constant. Investigating how life accommodates that change can provide valuable insights into the biological, ecological and geological history of our planet. The fossil record is replete with examples of organisms which failed to survive in the wake of ongoing environmental…

Agility in Business School Education through Richness and Reach: A Conceptual Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gupta, Nakul; Bharadwaj, Sangeeta Shah

2013-01-01

Purpose: Pedagogy today has become a function of technology and this relationship becomes all the more promising when used to address the educational needs of the constantly changing and fast evolving business school education. Business schools today are responsible for empowering future managers and leaders with not only the knowledge and…

Strategies for Multicultural Management: Communication and a Common Set of Values

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Castaneda, Mario E.; Bateh, Justin

2013-01-01

In the last 30 years, there has been a shift towards using multicultural strategies. The constant shifts taking place in multi-ethnic, multicultural, and multinational workforces indicate that both administrators of these organizations and higher education practices must evolve to adapt to needs for changing skill sets. In the future,…

Pleistocene high-silica rhyolites of the Coso volcanic field, Inyo County, California.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bacon, C.R.; Macdonald, R.; Smith, R.L.; Baedecker, P.A.

1981-01-01

The high-silica rhyolite domes and lava flows of the bimodal Pleistocene part of the Coso volcanic field provide an example of the early stages of evolution of a silicic magmatic system of substantial size and longevity. Major and trace element compositions are consistent with derivation from somewhat less silicic parental material by liquid state differentiation processes in compositionally and thermally zoned magmatic systems. Seven chemically homogeneous eruptive groups can be distinguished on the basis of trace element and K/Ar data. The oldest two groups are volumetrically minor and geochemically distinct from the younger groups, all five of which appear to have evolved from the same magmatic system. Erupted volume-time relations suggest that small amounts of magma were bled from the top of a silicic reservoir at a nearly constant long-term rate over the last 0.24Ma. The interval of repose between eruptions appears to be proportional to the volume of the preceding eruptive group. This relationship suggests that eruptions take place when some parameter which increases at a constant rate reaches a critical value; this parameter may be extensional strain accumulated in roof rocks. Extension of the lithosphere favors intrusion of basalt into the crust, attendant partial melting, and maintenance of a long-lived silicic magmatic system. The Coso silicic system may contain a few hundred cubic kilometers of magma. The Coso magmatic system may eventually have the potential for producing voluminous pyroclastic eruptions if the safety valve provided by rapid crustal extension becomes inadequate to 1) defuse the system through episodic removal of volatile-rich magma from its top and 2) prohibit migration of the reservoir to a shallow crustal level.-from Authors

Utilizing the dynamic stark shift as a probe for dielectric relaxation in photosynthetic reaction centers during charge separation.

PubMed

Guo, Zhi; Lin, Su; Woodbury, Neal W

2013-09-26

In photosynthetic reaction centers, the electric field generated by light-induced charge separation produces electrochromic shifts in the transitions of reaction center pigments. The extent of this Stark shift indirectly reflects the effective field strength at a particular cofactor in the complex. The dynamics of the effective field strength near the two monomeric bacteriochlorophylls (BA and BB) in purple photosynthetic bacterial reaction centers has been explored near physiological temperature by monitoring the time-dependent Stark shift during charge separation (dynamic Stark shift). This dynamic Stark shift was determined through analysis of femtosecond time-resolved absorbance change spectra recorded in wild type reaction centers and in four mutants at position M210. In both wild type and the mutants, the kinetics of the dynamic Stark shift differ from those of electron transfer, though not in the same way. In wild type, the initial electron transfer and the increase in the effective field strength near the active-side monomer bacteriochlorophyll (BA) occur in synchrony, but the two signals diverge on the time scale of electron transfer to the quinone. In contrast, when tyrosine is replaced by aspartic acid at M210, the kinetics of the BA Stark shift and the initial electron transfer differ, but transfer to the quinone coincides with the decay of the Stark shift. This is interpreted in terms of differences in the dynamics of the local dielectric environment between the mutants and the wild type. In wild type, comparison of the Stark shifts associated with BA and BB on the two quasi-symmetric halves of the reaction center structure confirm that the effective dielectric constants near these cofactors are quite different when the reaction center is in the state P(+)QA(-), as previously determined by Steffen et al. at 1.5 K (Steffen, M. A.; et al. Science 1994, 264, 810-816). However, it is not possible to determine from static, low-temperature measurments if the difference in the effective dielectric constant between the two sides of the reaction center is manifest on the time scale of initial electron transfer. By comparing directly the Stark shift dynamics of the ground-state spectra of the two monomer bacteriochlorophylls, it is evident that there is, in fact, a large dielectric difference between protein environments of the two quasi-symmetric electron-transfer branches on the time scale of initial electron transfer and that the effective dielectric constant in the region continues to evolve on a time scale of hundreds of picoseconds.

Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) with field-evolved resistance to Bt maize are susceptible to Bt pesticides.

PubMed

Jakka, S R K; Knight, V R; Jurat-Fuentes, J L

2014-10-01

Field-evolved resistance to maize event TC1507 expressing the Cry1Fa toxin from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) was detected in populations of Spodoptera frugiperda from Puerto Rico. We tested for cross-resistance to purified Cry1A toxins and commercial Bt pesticides in susceptible (Benzon) and TC1507-resistant (456) strains of S. frugiperda. Larvae from the 456 strain exhibited cross-resistance to Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac toxins, while no differences in susceptibility to XenTari WG and DiPel ES pesticides were detected. These data support cross-resistance to toxins that share binding sites with Cry1Fa and no cross-resistance to Bt pesticides in S. frugiperda with field-evolved resistance to Bt maize. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Measuring the fine structure constant with Bragg diffraction and Bloch oscillations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parker, Richard; Yu, Chenghui; Zhong, Weicheng; Estey, Brian; Müller, Holger

2017-04-01

We have demonstrated a new scheme for atom interferometry based on large-momentum-transfer Bragg beam splitters and Bloch oscillations. In this new scheme, we have achieved a resolution of δÎ+/-/Î+/-=0.25ppb in the fine structure constant measurement, which gives over 10 million radians of phase difference between freely evolving matter waves. We have suppressed many systematic effects known in most atom interferometers with Raman beam splitters such as light shift, Zeeman effect shift as well as vibration. We have also simulated multi-atom Bragg diffraction to understand sub-ppb systematic effects, and implemented spatial filtering to further suppress systematic effects. We present our recent progress toward a measurement of the fine structure constant, which will provide a stringent test of the standard model of particle physics.

Scalar field as an intrinsic time measure in coupled dynamical matter-geometry systems. II. Electrically charged gravitational collapse

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakonieczna, Anna; Yeom, Dong-han

2016-05-01

Investigating the dynamics of gravitational systems, especially in the regime of quantum gravity, poses a problem of measuring time during the evolution. One of the approaches to this issue is using one of the internal degrees of freedom as a time variable. The objective of our research was to check whether a scalar field or any other dynamical quantity being a part of a coupled multi-component matter-geometry system can be treated as a `clock' during its evolution. We investigated a collapse of a self-gravitating electrically charged scalar field in the Einstein and Brans-Dicke theories using the 2+2 formalism. Our findings concentrated on the spacetime region of high curvature existing in the vicinity of the emerging singularity, which is essential for the quantum gravity applications. We investigated several values of the Brans-Dicke coupling constant and the coupling between the Brans-Dicke and the electrically charged scalar fields. It turned out that both evolving scalar fields and a function which measures the amount of electric charge within a sphere of a given radius can be used to quantify time nearby the singularity in the dynamical spacetime part, in which the apparent horizon surrounding the singularity is spacelike. Using them in this respect in the asymptotic spacetime region is possible only when both fields are present in the system and, moreover, they are coupled to each other. The only nonzero component of the Maxwell field four-potential cannot be used to quantify time during the considered process in the neighborhood of the whole central singularity. None of the investigated dynamical quantities is a good candidate for measuring time nearby the Cauchy horizon, which is also singular due to the mass inflation phenomenon.

Two distinct origins for Archean greenstone belts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smithies, R. Hugh; Ivanic, Tim J.; Lowrey, Jack R.; Morris, Paul A.; Barnes, Stephen J.; Wyche, Stephen; Lu, Yong-Jun

2018-04-01

Applying the Th/Yb-Nb/Yb plot of Pearce (2008) to the well-studied Archean greenstone sequences of Western Australia shows that individual volcanic sequences evolved through one of two distinct processes reflecting different modes of crust-mantle interaction. In the Yilgarn Craton, the volcanic stratigraphy of the 2.99-2.71 Ga Youanmi Terrane mainly evolved through processes leading to Th/Yb-Nb/Yb trends with a narrow range of Th/Nb ('constant-Th/Nb' greenstones). In contrast, the 2.71-2.66 Ga volcanic stratigraphy of the Eastern Goldfields Superterrane evolved through processes leading to Th/Yb-Nb/Yb trends showing a continuous range in Th/Nb ('variable-Th/Nb' greenstones). Greenstone sequences of the Pilbara Craton show a similar evolution, with constant-Th/Nb greenstone evolution between 3.13 and 2.95 Ga and variable-Th/Nb greenstone evolution between 3.49 and 3.23 Ga and between 2.77 and 2.68 Ga. The variable-Th/Nb trends dominate greenstone sequences in Australia and worldwide, and are temporally associated with peaks in granite magmatism, which promoted crustal preservation. The increasing Th/Nb in basalts correlates with decreasing εNd, reflecting variable amounts of crustal assimilation during emplacement of mantle-derived magmas. These greenstones are typically accompanied in the early stages by komatiite, and can probably be linked to mantle plume activity. Thus, regions such as the Eastern Goldfields Superterrane simply developed as plume-related rifts over existing granite-greenstone crust - in this case the Youanmi Terrane. Their Th/Nb trends are difficult to reconcile with modern-style subduction processes. The constant-Th/Nb trends may reflect derivation from a mantle source already with a high and constant Th/Nb ratio. This, and a lithological association including boninite-like lavas, basalts, and calc-alkaline andesites, all within a narrow Th/Nb range, resembles compositions typical of modern-style subduction settings. These greenstones are very rare, and were probably only preserved when fortuitously stabilised by granitic magmatism related to the evolution of later variable-Th/Nb greenstones. The rarity of constant-Th/Nb trends suggests that either processes forming them never dominated Archean greenstone evolution, or that such greenstones simply were rarely preserved. Metamorphic mobility of Th renders the Th/Yb-Nb/Yb plot inappropriate for interpreting Eoarchean greenstone units worldwide. Nevertheless, such sequences appear dominated by volcanic rocks that, in modern settings, reflect only the embryonic or initiation stages of subduction. They probably record subduction failure rather than anything resembling modern-style subduction.

Graviton fluctuations erase the cosmological constant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wetterich, C.

2017-10-01

Graviton fluctuations induce strong non-perturbative infrared renormalization effects for the cosmological constant. The functional renormalization flow drives a positive cosmological constant towards zero, solving the cosmological constant problem without the need to tune parameters. We propose a simple computation of the graviton contribution to the flow of the effective potential for scalar fields. Within variable gravity, with effective Planck mass proportional to the scalar field, we find that the potential increases asymptotically at most quadratically with the scalar field. The solutions of the derived cosmological equations lead to an asymptotically vanishing cosmological "constant" in the infinite future, providing for dynamical dark energy in the present cosmological epoch. Beyond a solution of the cosmological constant problem, our simplified computation also entails a sizeable positive graviton-induced anomalous dimension for the quartic Higgs coupling in the ultraviolet regime, substantiating the successful prediction of the Higgs boson mass within the asymptotic safety scenario for quantum gravity.

Multiphoton amplitude in a constant background field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmad, Aftab; Ahmadiniaz, Naser; Corradini, Olindo; Kim, Sang Pyo; Schubert, Christian

2018-01-01

In this contribution, we present our recent compact master formulas for the multiphoton amplitudes of a scalar propagator in a constant background field using the worldline fomulation of quantum field theory. The constant field has been included nonperturbatively, which is crucial for strong external fields. A possible application is the scattering of photons by electrons in a strong magnetic field, a process that has been a subject of great interest since the discovery of astrophysical objects like radio pulsars, which provide evidence that magnetic fields of the order of 1012G are present in nature. The presence of a strong external field leads to a strong deviation from the classical scattering amplitudes. We explicitly work out the Compton scattering amplitude in a magnetic field, which is a process of potential relevance for astrophysics. Our final result is compact and suitable for numerical integration.

Dynamically orthogonal field equations for stochastic flows and particle dynamics

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-02-01

where uncertainty ‘lives’ as well as a system of Stochastic Di erential Equations that de nes how the uncertainty evolves in the time varying stochastic ... stochastic dynamical component that are both time and space dependent, we derive a system of field equations consisting of a Partial Differential Equation...a system of Stochastic Differential Equations that defines how the stochasticity evolves in the time varying stochastic subspace. These new

Contesting the Canon: Understanding the History of the Evolving Discipline of Kinesiology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wrynn, Alison M.

2003-01-01

How do we remember the past in the discipline of kinesiology? What is the connection between memory and history? The conjunction between these two topics has in the past decade become a focus of increasing interest in the broader field of historiography. How do we locate our past in a field that has evolved in a number of ways in the past century?…

Eyes on the prize: reflections on the impact of the evolving digital ecology on the librarian as expert intermediary and knowledge coach, 1969–2009*

PubMed Central

Homan, J. Michael

2010-01-01

Objective: The 2009 Janet Doe Lecture reflects on the continuing value and increasing return on investment of librarian-mediated services in the constantly evolving digital ecology and complex knowledge environment of the health sciences. Setting: The interrelationship of knowledge, decision making based on knowledge, technology used to access and retrieve knowledge, and the important linkage roles of expert librarian intermediaries is examined. Methodology: Professional experiences from 1969 to 2009, occurring during a time of unprecedented changes in the digital ecology of librarianship, are the base on which the evolving role and value of librarians as knowledge coaches and expert intermediaries are examined. Conclusion: Librarian-mediated services linking knowledge and critical decision making in health care have become more valuable than ever as technology continues to reshape an increasingly complex knowledge environment. PMID:20098655

A Markovian model of evolving world input-output network

PubMed Central

Isacchini, Giulio

2017-01-01

The initial theoretical connections between Leontief input-output models and Markov chains were established back in 1950s. However, considering the wide variety of mathematical properties of Markov chains, so far there has not been a full investigation of evolving world economic networks with Markov chain formalism. In this work, using the recently available world input-output database, we investigated the evolution of the world economic network from 1995 to 2011 through analysis of a time series of finite Markov chains. We assessed different aspects of this evolving system via different known properties of the Markov chains such as mixing time, Kemeny constant, steady state probabilities and perturbation analysis of the transition matrices. First, we showed how the time series of mixing times and Kemeny constants could be used as an aggregate index of globalization. Next, we focused on the steady state probabilities as a measure of structural power of the economies that are comparable to GDP shares of economies as the traditional index of economies welfare. Further, we introduced two measures of systemic risk, called systemic influence and systemic fragility, where the former is the ratio of number of influenced nodes to the total number of nodes, caused by a shock in the activity of a node, and the latter is based on the number of times a specific economic node is affected by a shock in the activity of any of the other nodes. Finally, focusing on Kemeny constant as a global indicator of monetary flow across the network, we showed that there is a paradoxical effect of a change in activity levels of economic nodes on the overall flow of the world economic network. While the economic slowdown of the majority of nodes with high structural power results to a slower average monetary flow over the network, there are some nodes, where their slowdowns improve the overall quality of the network in terms of connectivity and the average flow of the money. PMID:29065145

The future of holographic technologies and their use by artists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oliveira, S.; Richardson, M.

2013-02-01

The use of holographic technologies in the past has faced resistance in the artistic field. The most conservative artists and critiques saw the term "holographic" more as a technical subject than an artistic one. Nevertheless, to explore new forms to create art has been a constant challenge for any artist, whatever their field. At the end of the 20-century the concept that art can explore any field or subject, create a vision that is somehow technological, is part of the evolving artistic world. In the last two decades, in the search for new terminologies, scientists and artists have used the expression "Holographic" as a synonym of evolution, but with different meanings. Artists are using it as a new form of art call "Holo Art"; scientists see it as a "new" science technique where light takes an important part in the process, and can be used in various aspects of daily life, such as, security and medicine. This paper will explore artists who take the challenge of combining their art with new technologies and how they are viewed in a world where the question of 'what is and what isn't art' is very debatable. Other questions that will be explored are 'How can these techniques be useful to artists?' and 'How do artists challenge themselves to analyse the pros and cons of the results that can be obtained?'

The origin of luciferase activity in Zophobas mealworm AMP/CoA-ligase (protoluciferase): luciferin stereoselectivity as a switch for the oxygenase activity.

PubMed

Viviani, Vadim R; Scorsato, Valeria; Prado, Rogilene A; Pereira, Jose G C; Niwa, Kazuki; Ohmiya, Yoshihiro; Barbosa, João A R G

2010-08-01

Beetle luciferases evolved from AMP/CoA-ligases. However, it is unclear how the new luciferase activity evolved. In order to clarify this question, we compared the luminescence and catalytic properties of a recently cloned luciferase-like enzyme from Zophobas mealworm, an AMP/CoA-ligase displaying weak luminescence activity, with those of cloned luciferases from the three main families of luminescent beetles: Phrixthrix hirtus railroad worm; Pyrearinus termitilluminans click beetle and Photinus pyralis firefly. The catalytic constant of the mealworm enzyme was 2-4 orders of magnitude lower than that of beetle luciferases, but 3 orders of magnitude above the non-catalyzed chemiluminescence of luciferyl-adenylate in buffer. Studies with D- and L-luciferin and their adenylates show that the luminescence reaction of the luciferase-like enzyme and beetle luciferases are stereoselective for D-luciferin and its adenylate, and that the selectivity is determined mainly at the adenylation step. Modelling studies showed that the luciferin binding site cavity of this enzyme is smaller and more hydrophobic than that of beetle luciferases. Therefore Zophobas mealworm enzyme displays true luciferase activity, keeping the attributes of an ancient protoluciferase. These results suggest that stereoselectivity for D-luciferin may have been a key event for the origin of oxygenase/luciferase activity in AMP/CoA-ligases, and that efficient luciferase activity may have further evolved mainly by increasing the catalytic constant of the oxidative reaction and the quantum yield of bioluminescence.

Constant fields and constant gradients in open ionic channels.

PubMed Central

Chen, D P; Barcilon, V; Eisenberg, R S

1992-01-01

Ions enter cells through pores in proteins that are holes in dielectrics. The energy of interaction between ion and charge induced on the dielectric is many kT, and so the dielectric properties of channel and pore are important. We describe ionic movement by (three-dimensional) Nemst-Planck equations (including flux and net charge). Potential is described by Poisson's equation in the pore and Laplace's equation in the channel wall, allowing induced but not permanent charge. Asymptotic expansions are constructed exploiting the long narrow shape of the pore and the relatively high dielectric constant of the pore's contents. The resulting one-dimensional equations can be integrated numerically; they can be analyzed when channels are short or long (compared with the Debye length). Traditional constant field equations are derived if the induced charge is small, e.g., if the channel is short or if the total concentration gradient is zero. A constant gradient of concentration is derived if the channel is long. Plots directly comparable to experiments are given of current vs voltage, reversal potential vs. concentration, and slope conductance vs. concentration. This dielectric theory can easily be tested: its parameters can be determined by traditional constant field measurements. The dielectric theory then predicts current-voltage relations quite different from constant field, usually more linear, when gradients of total concentration are imposed. Numerical analysis shows that the interaction of ion and channel can be described by a mean potential if, but only if, the induced charge is negligible, that is to say, the electric field is spatially constant. Images FIGURE 1 PMID:1376159

Self-organized stationary states of inductively driven tokamaks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jardin, S. C.; Ferraro, N.; Krebs, I.; Chen, J.

2014-10-01

We report on a mechanism for preventing the current and temperature profiles from peaking in a stationary state tokamak. For certain parameters, regardless of the initial state, the plasma profiles will evolve into a self-organized state with the safety factor q slightly above 1 and constant in a central volume. This large shear free region is unstable to interchange modes for any pressure gradient, and the instability drives a strong (1,1) helical flow. This flow has the property that V × B is the gradient of a potential, so it does not affect the magnetic field evolution. However, the driven flow appears in the temperature evolution equation and dominates over the thermal conductivity in the center of the discharge. The net effect is to keep the central temperature (and resistivity) profiles flat so that the resistive steady state preserves the self organized state with q slightly above 1 and constant in the central volume. This mechanism was discovered with the M3D-C1 toroidal 3D MHD code, and could possibly explain the mechanism at play in non-sawtoothing discharges with q0 just above 1 such as hybrid modes in DIII-D and ASDEX-U and long-lived modes in NSTX and MAST. This work was supported by US DOE Contract No. DE-AC02-09CHI1446, MPPC, and SciDAC CEMM.

Magnetic heat pumping

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, G. V. (Inventor)

1978-01-01

A ferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic element is used to control the temperature and applied magnetic field of the element to cause the state of the element as represented on a temperature-magnetic entropy diagram to repeatedly traverse a loop. The loop may have a first portion of concurrent substantially isothermal or constant temperature and increasing applied magnetic field, a second portion of lowering temperature and constant applied magnetic field, a third portion of isothermal and decreasing applied magnetic field, and a fourth portion of increasing temperature and constant applied magnetic field. Other loops may be four-sided, with two isotherms and two adiabats. Preferably, a regenerator is used to enhance desired cooling or heating effects, with varied magnetic fields, or varying temperatures including three-sided figures traversed by the representative point.

First results from the LIFE project: discovery of two magnetic hot evolved stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martin, A. J.; Neiner, C.; Oksala, M. E.; Wade, G. A.; Keszthelyi, Z.; Fossati, L.; Marcolino, W.; Mathis, S.; Georgy, C.

2018-04-01

We present the initial results of the Large Impact of magnetic Fields on the Evolution of hot stars (LIFE) project. The focus of this project is the search for magnetic fields in evolved OBA giants and supergiants with visual magnitudes between 4 and 8, with the aim to investigate how the magnetic fields observed in upper main-sequence (MS) stars evolve from the MS until the late post-MS stages. In this paper, we present spectropolarimetric observations of 15 stars observed using the ESPaDOnS instrument of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. For each star, we have determined the fundamental parameters and have used stellar evolution models to calculate their mass, age, and radius. Using the least-squared deconvolution technique, we have produced averaged line profiles for each star. From these profiles, we have measured the longitudinal magnetic field strength and have calculated the detection probability. We report the detection of magnetic fields in two stars of our sample: a weak field of Bl = 1.0 ± 0.2 G is detected in the post-MS A5 star 19 Aur and a stronger field of Bl = -230 ± 10 G is detected in the MS/post-MS B8/9 star HR 3042.

Biophysical models of protein evolution: Understanding the patterns of evolutionary sequence divergence

PubMed Central

Echave, Julian; Wilke, Claus O.

2018-01-01

For decades, rates of protein evolution have been interpreted in terms of the vague concept of “functional importance”. Slowly evolving proteins or sites within proteins were assumed to be more functionally important and thus subject to stronger selection pressure. More recently, biophysical models of protein evolution, which combine evolutionary theory with protein biophysics, have completely revolutionized our view of the forces that shape sequence divergence. Slowly evolving proteins have been found to evolve slowly because of selection against toxic misfolding and misinteractions, linking their rate of evolution primarily to their abundance. Similarly, most slowly evolving sites in proteins are not directly involved in function, but mutating them has large impacts on protein structure and stability. Here, we review the studies of the emergent field of biophysical protein evolution that have shaped our current understanding of sequence divergence patterns. We also propose future research directions to develop this nascent field. PMID:28301766

Curriculum evaluation and revision in a nascent field: the utility of the retrospective pretest--posttest model in a homeland security program of study.

PubMed

Pelfrey, William V; Pelfrey, William V

2009-02-01

Although most academic disciplines evolve at a measured pace, the emerging field of homeland security must, for reasons of safety and security, evolve rapidly. The Department of Homeland Security sponsored the establishment of a graduate educational program for key officials holding homeland security roles. Because homeland security is a nascent field, the establishment of a program curriculum was forced to draw from a variety of disciplines. Curriculum evaluation was complicated by the rapid changes occurring in the emerging discipline, producing response shift bias, and interfering with the pre-post assessments. To compensate for the validity threat associated with response shift bias, a retrospective pretest-posttest evaluative methodology was used. Data indicate the program has evolved in a significant and orderly fashion and these data support the use of this innovative evaluation approach in the development of any discipline.

X-ray scattering studies of structural phase transitions in pyrochlore Cd2Nb2O7

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tachibana, Makoto; Fritsch, Katharina; Gaulin, Bruce D.

2013-10-01

Structural phase transitions in pyrochlore Cd2Nb2O7 were studied by means of single crystal x-ray scattering. On cooling below the ferroelastic transition at T1 = 204 K, the cubic Bragg peaks broaden in a manner consistent with weak orthorhombic distortion. The distortion evolves rather smoothly through the ferroelectric transition at T2 = 196 K, which explains the absence of sharp anomalies in the heat capacity and dielectric constant at this transition. At lower temperatures, the anomalous relaxor-like character of this compound is evident as a gradual reduction in the Bragg peak intensities, which continues down to the onset of another transition at T3 = 85 K. The studies of two Bragg peaks that are forbidden within the cubic phase reveal an interesting disparity: while the intensity for one of them increases in a classical mean-field manner below T1, the other shows unconventional behavior that is reminiscent of the pyrochlore superconductor Cd2Re2O7.

ISSN exercise & sport nutrition review: research & recommendations

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Sports nutrition is a constantly evolving field with hundreds of research papers published annually. For this reason, keeping up to date with the literature is often difficult. This paper is a five year update of the sports nutrition review article published as the lead paper to launch the JISSN in 2004 and presents a well-referenced overview of the current state of the science related to how to optimize training and athletic performance through nutrition. More specifically, this paper provides an overview of: 1.) The definitional category of ergogenic aids and dietary supplements; 2.) How dietary supplements are legally regulated; 3.) How to evaluate the scientific merit of nutritional supplements; 4.) General nutritional strategies to optimize performance and enhance recovery; and, 5.) An overview of our current understanding of the ergogenic value of nutrition and dietary supplementation in regards to weight gain, weight loss, and performance enhancement. Our hope is that ISSN members and individuals interested in sports nutrition find this review useful in their daily practice and consultation with their clients.

Tangled up Active Region

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

This close-up image of the sun presents an active region in profile as it rotated out of view. We can observe both the bright arching field lines and smaller pieces of darker matter in their midst being pulled back and forth just above the Sun's surface over about 36 hours (July 20-22, 2011). Both of these physical responses were caused by strong, tangled magnetic forces that are constantly evolving and reorganizing within the active region. Other active regions can be seen in the foreground as well. The image and movie were taken in extreme ultraviolet light of ionized iron heated to one million degrees. To view a hd video of this event go here: www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/6006013038 Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

The NASA Software Research Infusion Initiative: Successful Technology Transfer for Software Assurance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hinchey, Michael G.; Pressburger, Thomas; Markosian, Lawrence; Feather, Martin S.

2006-01-01

New processes, methods and tools are constantly appearing in the field of software engineering. Many of these augur great potential in improving software development processes, resulting in higher quality software with greater levels of assurance. However, there are a number of obstacles that impede their infusion into software development practices. These are the recurring obstacles common to many forms of research. Practitioners cannot readily identify the emerging techniques that may most benefit them, and cannot afford to risk time and effort in evaluating and experimenting with them while there is still uncertainty about whether they will have payoff in this particular context. Similarly, researchers cannot readily identify those practitioners whose problems would be amenable to their techniques and lack the feedback from practical applications necessary to help them to evolve their techniques to make them more likely to be successful. This paper describes an ongoing effort conducted by a software engineering research infusion team, and the NASA Research Infusion Initiative, established by NASA s Software Engineering Initiative, to overcome these obstacles.

Kerr–anti-de Sitter/de Sitter black hole in perfect fluid dark matter background

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Zhaoyi; Hou, Xian; Wang, Jiancheng

2018-06-01

We obtain the Kerr–anti-de-sitter (Kerr–AdS) and Kerr–de-sitter (Kerr–dS) black hole (BH) solutions to the Einstein field equation in the perfect fluid dark matter background using the Newman–Janis method and Mathematica package. We discuss in detail the black hole properties and obtain the following main results: (i) From the horizon equation g rr   =  0, we derive the relation between the perfect fluid dark matter parameter α and the cosmological constant Λ when the cosmological horizon exists. For , we find that α is in the range for and for . For positive cosmological constant Λ (Kerr–AdS BH), decreases if , and increases if . For negative cosmological constant (Kerr–dS BH), increases if and decreases if ; (ii) An ergosphere exists between the event horizon and the outer static limit surface. The size of the ergosphere evolves oppositely for and , while decreasing with the increasing . When there is sufficient dark matter around the black hole, the black hole spacetime changes remarkably; (iii) The singularity of these black holes is the same as that of rotational black holes. In addition, we study the geodesic motion using the Hamilton–Jacobi formalism and find that when α is in the above ranges for , stable orbits exist. Furthermore, the rotational velocity of the black hole in the equatorial plane has different behaviour for different α and the black hole spin a. It is asymptotically flat and independent of α if while is asymptotically flat only when α is close to zero if . We anticipate that Kerr–Ads/dS black holes could exist in the universe and our future work will focus on the observational effects of the perfect fluid dark matter on these black holes.

Why People Use Facebook: A Comprehensive Review of the Current Literature and Psychodynamic Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chow, Stanley S.

2014-01-01

In 2008, Facebook became the most widely-used social networking website (Arrington, 2009), and in 2012, Facebook surpassed one billion active users on its site (Facebook, 2013). With such immense growth, psychology researchers are simply unable to keep up with the constantly-evolving and growing online community of users with its outdated research…

Using Multilingual Analytics to Explore the Usage of a Learning Portal in Developing Countries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Protonotarios, Vassilis; Stoitsis, Giannis; Kastrantas, Kostas; Sanchez-Alonso, Salvador

2013-01-01

Learning analytics is a domain that has been constantly evolving throughout recent years due to the acknowledgement of its importance by those using intelligent data, learner-produced data, and analysis models to discover information and social connections for predicting and advising people's learning [1]. Learning analytics may be applied in a…

Civic Responsibility and Human Rights Education: A Pan-Educational Alliance for Social Justice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osanloo, Azadeh F.

2009-01-01

Educating global citizens to have knowledge of world political and economic systems and conditions is imperative as the notion of the "citizen" is constantly evolving. This type of civic education needs to involve critical thinking skills that are pan-educational and allow for cross-cultural discussion that span all public spheres and…

""Delicious" Politics"--The Use of Social Bookmarking in Politics Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lightfoot, Simon

2012-01-01

This case study highlights the use of the social bookmarking site "Delicious" on a Level 2 module "Governing the EU." The nature of politics as a discipline is that it is constantly evolving such that new developments and policies emerge almost every day. It is therefore imperative that the students keep on top of these…

What Are We Seeking to Sustain through Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy? A Loving Critique Forward

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paris, Django; Alim, H. Samy

2014-01-01

In this article, Django Paris and H. Samy Alim use the emergence of Paris's concept of culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) as the foundation for a respectful and productive critique of previous formulations of asset pedagogies. Paying particular attention to asset pedagogy's failures to remain dynamic and critical in a constantly evolving global…

Developing Digital Literacy in the Middle School Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kimbell-Lopez, Kimberly; Cummins, Carrice; Manning, Elizabeth

2016-01-01

Students are growing up in a digital world where technology is constantly changing and evolving. However, their use of these technologies is often more social rather than academically as a way to advance their understanding of key concepts or skills as it relates to instructional content. Teachers know how to teach, and our students are definitely…

The Challenges of Web 2.0 for Education in Greece: A Review of the Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anastasiades, Panagiotes S.; Kotsidis, Konstantinos

2013-01-01

The pedagogical use of informational communication technology (ICT) in contemporary schools is an important issue in today's era of online learning environments. The internet is constantly evolving and it is transformed from a space of searching for information into a space of content creation and collaboration among users. Web 2.0 applications…

Children's Perception of Learning with Educational Games Using iPod Touches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allsop, Yasemin

2011-01-01

The use of computer games on mobile devices in schools for learning is still relatively new and is constantly evolving. The successful integration of this emerging technology into education requires a longitudinal study into how they are being perceived by learners and teachers. Finding out what works well with children in the terms of technology…

Ready Schools, Kindergarten Student Achievement and Demographics: An Examination of Their Variation and Covariation among Public Elementary Schools in Northeast Georgia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hope, Ashley D.

2011-01-01

Goals of social equality, authentic assessments, and effective schools have peppered U.S. educational history. In response curricula, policies, and processes are constantly evolving to meet perceived needs. Nowadays "academic achievement" and "accountability" are of greatest interest to stakeholders. While students are tested…

The ABCs of managing systolic heart failure: Past, present, and future.

PubMed

Okwuosa, Ike Stanley; Princewill, Oluseyi; Nwabueze, Chiemeke; Mathews, Lena; Hsu, Steven; Gilotra, Nisha A; Lewsey, Sabra; Blumenthal, Roger S; Russell, Stuart D

2016-10-01

Heart failure management is complex and constantly evolving. The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) last issued evidence-based guidelines in 2013, and since then, new drugs and devices have been developed. This review presents an evidence-based approach to current heart failure management. Copyright © 2016 Cleveland Clinic.

Effectively Adapting the Sport Management Curricula: Harnessing Internal and External Resources to Address Industry-Specific Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Braunstein-Minkove, Jessica R.; DeLuca, Jaime R.

2015-01-01

Academic programs must constantly evolve in order to ensure that students are best prepared for success in internships and subsequent post-collegiate endeavors within the dynamic, rapidly changing sport industry. Based upon qualitative research, this work assesses and recommends areas of development in sport management curricula using internal and…

States Respond to School Safety Concerns with 2013 Legislation. School Safety: 2013 Legislative Session

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wixom, Micah Ann

2014-01-01

School safety policies are constantly evolving, often in response to fatal events. After several high-profile and tragic shootings over the past 15 years, school safety has become a major focus for parents, school officials, policymakers and the public nationwide. ECS [Education Commission of the States] conducted a scan of school safety-related…

Creation and Evolution of Particle Number Asymmetry in an Expanding Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morozumi, T.; Nagao, K. I.; Adam, A. S.; Takata, H.

2017-03-01

We introduce a model which may generate particle number asymmetry in an expanding Universe. The model includes charge parity (CP) violating and particle number violating interactions. The model consists of a real scalar field and a complex scalar field. Starting with an initial condition specified by a density matrix, we show how the asymmetry is created through the interaction and how it evolves at later time. We compute the asymmetry using non-equilibrium quantum field theory and as a first test of the model, we study how the asymmetry evolves in the flat limit.

COSMIC-RAY PITCH-ANGLE SCATTERING IN IMBALANCED MHD TURBULENCE SIMULATIONS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Weidl, Martin S.; Jenko, Frank; Teaca, Bogdan

2015-09-20

Pitch-angle scattering rates for cosmic-ray particles in MHD simulations with imbalanced turbulence are calculated for fully evolving electromagnetic turbulence. We compare with theoretical predictions derived from the quasilinear theory of cosmic-ray diffusion for an idealized slab spectrum and demonstrate how cross helicity affects the shape of the pitch-angle diffusion coefficient. Additional simulations in evolving magnetic fields or static field configurations provide evidence that the scattering anisotropy in imbalanced turbulence is not primarily due to coherence with propagating Alfvén waves, but an effect of the spatial structure of electric fields in cross-helical MHD turbulence.

Dynamical manifestation of an evolving Berry phase as a frequency shift of the resonance transition between two eigenstates

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Toriyama, Koichi; Oguchi, Akihide; Morinaga, Atsuo

2011-12-15

We investigate the phenomenon that a Berry phase evolving linearly in time induces a frequency shift of the resonance transition between two eigenstates, regardless of whether or not they are superposed. Using the magnetic-field-insensitive two-photon microwave--radio-frequency transition, which is free of any other dynamical frequency shift, we demonstrate that the frequency shift caused by a uniform rotation of the magnetic field corresponds to the derivative of the Berry phase with respect to time and depends on the direction of rotation of the magnetic field.

Tensions inherent in the evolving role of the infection preventionist.

PubMed

Conway, Laurie J; Raveis, Victoria H; Pogorzelska-Maziarz, Monika; Uchida, May; Stone, Patricia W; Larson, Elaine L

2013-11-01

The role of infection preventionists (IPs) is expanding in response to demands for quality and transparency in health care. Practice analyses and survey research have demonstrated that IPs spend a majority of their time on surveillance and are increasingly responsible for prevention activities and management; however, deeper qualitative aspects of the IP role have rarely been explored. We conducted a qualitative content analysis of in-depth interviews with 19 IPs at hospitals throughout the United States to describe the current IP role, specifically the ways that IPs effect improvements and the facilitators and barriers they face. The narratives document that the IP role is evolving in response to recent changes in the health care landscape and reveal that this progression is associated with friction and uncertainty. Tensions inherent in the evolving role of the IP emerged from the interviews as 4 broad themes: (1) expanding responsibilities outstrip resources, (2) shifting role boundaries create uncertainty, (3) evolving mechanisms of influence involve trade-offs, and (4) the stress of constant change is compounded by chronic recurring challenges. Advances in implementation science, data standardization, and training in leadership skills are needed to support IPs in their evolving role. Copyright © 2013 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

To Exist as a Case Manager Is to Constantly Change; to Be Successful, You Must Constantly Adapt.

PubMed

Tahan, Hussein M

Change is inevitable whether in personal or professional lives. Case management practice is always evolving on the basis of the dynamic nature of the U.S. health care environment. Effective case managers are those who possess an adaptive mind-set, recognize the importance to change to maintain success, and remain relevant. They also demonstrate a sense of accountability and responsibility for own learning, professional development, and acquisition of new skills and knowledge. This editorial discusses the nature of change and adaptation and presents key strategies for case managers to remain relevant and effective in dynamic practice environments.

Measuring h /mCs and the Fine Structure Constant with Bragg Diffraction and Bloch Oscillations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parker, Richard

2016-05-01

We have demonstrated a new scheme for atom interferometry based on large-momentum-transfer Bragg beam splitters and Bloch oscillations. In this new scheme, we have achieved a resolution of δα / α =0.25ppb in the fine structure constant measurement, which gives up to 4.4 million radians of phase difference between freely evolving matter waves. We suppress many systematic effects, e.g., Zeeman shifts and effects from Earth's gravity and vibrations, use Bloch oscillations to increase the signal and reduce the diffraction phase, simulate multi-atom Bragg diffraction to understand sub-ppb systematic effects, and implement spatial filtering to further suppress systematic effects. We present our recent progress toward a measurement of the fine structure constant, which will provide a stringent test of the standard model of particle physics.

USSR Report, Physics and Mathematics

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-08-20

TEKHNICHESKIY FIZIKI, No 6(148), Nov-Dec 84) 80 Thermodynamic Potential of Quark -Antiquark Plasma in Constant Chromomagnetic Field CSh. S. Agayev... QUARK -ANTIQUARK PLASMA IN CONSTANT CHROMOMAGNETIC FIELD Tomsk IZVESTIYA VYSSHIKH UCHEBNYKH ZAVEDENIY: FIZIKA in Russian Vol 28, No 1, Jan 85...Automation Institute; Moscow State University imeni M. V. Lomonosov [Abstract] Light-neutral quark -antiquark plasma in a constant optical magnetic

Cell therapy worldwide: an incipient revolution.

PubMed

Rao, Mahendra; Mason, Chris; Solomon, Susan

2015-01-01

The regenerative medicine field is large, diverse and active worldwide. A variety of different organizational and product models have been successful, and pioneering entrepreneurs have shown both what can work and, critically, what does not. Evolving regulations, novel funding mechanisms combined with new technological breakthroughs are keeping the field in a state of flux. The field struggles to cope with the lack of infrastructure and investment, it nevertheless has evolved from its roots in human stem cell therapy and tissue and organ transplants to a field composed of a variety of products from multiple cell sources with approval for use in numerous countries. Currently, tens of thousands of patients have been treated with some kind of cell therapy.

Effects of diurnal temperature variation on microbial community and petroleum hydrocarbon biodegradation in contaminated soils from a sub-Arctic site.

PubMed

Akbari, Ali; Ghoshal, Subhasis

2015-12-01

Contaminated soils are subject to diurnal and seasonal temperature variations during on-site ex-situ bioremediation processes. We assessed how diurnal temperature variations similar to that in summer at the site from which petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated soil was collected affect the soil microbial community and the extent of biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons compared with constant temperature regimes. Microbial community analyses for 16S rRNA and alkB genes by pyrosequencing indicated that the microbial community for soils incubated under diurnal temperature variation from 5°C to 15°C (VART5-15) evolved similarly to that for soils incubated at constant temperature of 15°C (CST15). In contrast, under a constant temperature of 5°C (CST5), the community evolved significantly different. The extent of biodegradation of C10-C16 hydrocarbons in the VART5-15 systems was 48%, comparable with the 41% biodegradation in CST15 systems, but significantly higher than CST5 systems at 11%. The enrichment of Gammaproteobacteria was observed in the alkB gene-harbouring communities in VART5-15 and CST15 but not in CST5 systems. However, the Actinobacteria was abundant at all temperature regimes. The results suggest that changes in microbial community composition as a result of diurnal temperature variations can significantly influence petroleum hydrocarbon bioremediation performance in cold regions. © 2015 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Quasi-Classical Asymptotics for the Pauli Operator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sobolev, Alexander V.

We study the behaviour of the sums of the eigenvalues of the Pauli operator in , in a magnetic field and electric field V(x) as the Planck constant ħ tends to zero and the magnetic field strength μ tends to infinity. We show that for the sum obeys the natural Weyl type formula where σ = (d- 2)/2 + γ, with an explicit constant Cγ, d. If the field B has a constant direction, then this formula is uniform in μ>= 0. The method is based on Colin de Verdiere's approach proposed in his work on ``magnetic bottles'' (Commun. Math Phys, 105 , 327-335 (1986)).

Transport equations for low-energy solar particles in evolving interplanetary magnetic fields

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ng, C. K.

1988-01-01

Two new forms of a simplified Fokker-Planck equation are derived for the transport of low-energy solar energetic particles in an evolving interplanetary magnetic field, carried by a variable radial solar wind. An idealized solution suggests that the 'invariant' anisotropy direction reported by Allum et al. (1974) may be explained within the conventional theoretical framework. The equations may be used to relate studies of solar particle propagation to solar wind transients, and vice versa.

Repeated action of a constant magnetic field on the blood coagulation system in artificially produced anemia

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zabrodina, L. V.

1974-01-01

Changes are discussed in the coagulatory system of the blood in rabbits under the influence of a constant magnetic field of an intensity of 2500 oersteds against the background of artificially induced anemia. Reversibility of the changes produced and the presence of the adaptational effect are noted. Taking all this into consideration, the changes involving the coagulatory system of the blood which arise under the influence of a constant magnetic field may be considered to have a nerve-reflex nature.

Configurational entropy as a lifetime predictor and pattern discriminator for oscillons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gleiser, Marcelo; Stephens, Michelle; Sowinski, Damian

2018-05-01

Oscillons are long-lived, spherically symmetric, attractor scalar field configurations that emerge as certain field configurations evolve in time. It has been known for many years that there is a direct correlation between the initial configuration's shape and the resulting oscillon lifetime: a shape memory. In this paper, we use an information-entropic measure of spatial complexity known as differential configurational entropy (DCE) to obtain estimates of oscillon lifetimes in scalar field theories with symmetric and asymmetric double-well potentials. The time-dependent DCE is built from the Fourier transform of the two-point correlation function of the energy density of the scalar field configuration. We obtain a scaling law correlating oscillon lifetimes and measures obtained from its evolving DCE. For the symmetric double well, for example, we show that we can apply DCE to predict an oscillon's lifetime with an average accuracy of 6% or better. We also show that the DCE acts as a pattern discriminator, able to distinguish initial configurations that evolve into long-lived oscillons from other nonperturbative short-lived fluctuations.

DFT calculations for anharmonic force field and spectroscopic constants of YC2 and its 13C isotopologues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Yanliang; Wang, Meishan; Yang, Chuanlu; Ma, Xiaoguang; Li, Jing

2018-02-01

The construction of the complete third and the semi-diagonal quartic force fields including the anharmonicity of the ground state (X˜2A1) for yttrium dicarbide (YC2) is carried out employing the vibrational second-order perturbation theory (VPT2) in combination with the density functional theory (DFT). The equilibrium geometries optimization, anharmonic force field and vibrational spectroscopic constants of YC2 are calculated by B3LYP, B3PW91 and B3P86 methods. Aug-cc-pVnZ (n = D, T, Q) and cc-pVnZ-PP (n = D, T, Q) basis sets are chosen for C and Y atoms, respectively. The calculated geometry parameters of YC2 agree well with the corresponding experimental and previous theoretical results. The bonding characters of Ysbnd C2 or Csbnd C are discussed. Based on the optimized equilibrium geometries, the spectroscopic constants and anharmonic force field of YC2 are calculated. Comparing with the spectroscopic constants of YC2 derived from the experiment, the calculated results show that the B3PW91 and B3P86 methods are superior to B3LYP for YC2. The Coriolis coupling constants, cubic and quartic force constants of YC2 are reasonably predicted. Besides, the spectroscopic constants and anharmonic force field of Y13C2 (X˜2A1) and Y13CC (X˜2A‧) are calculated for the first time, which are expected to guide the high resolution experimental work for YC2 and its 13C isotopologues.

Cosmological constant is a conserved charge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernyavsky, Dmitry; Hajian, Kamal

2018-06-01

Cosmological constant can always be considered as the on-shell value of a top form in gravitational theories. The top form is the field strength of a gauge field, and the theory enjoys a gauge symmetry. We show that cosmological constant is the charge of the global part of the gauge symmetry, and is conserved irrespective of the dynamics of the metric and other fields. In addition, we introduce its conjugate chemical potential, and prove the generalized first law of thermodynamics which includes variation of cosmological constant as a conserved charge. We discuss how our new term in the first law is related to the volume–pressure term. In parallel with the seminal Wald entropy, this analysis suggests that pressure can also be considered as a conserved charge.

Advances in the control and management of the southern pine bark beetles

Treesearch

T. Evan Nebeker

2004-01-01

Management of members of the southern pine bark beetle guild, which consists of five species, is a continually evolving process. A number of management strategies and tactics have remained fairly constant over time as new ones are being added. These basic practices include doing nothing, direct control, and indirect control. This chapter focuses primarily on the latter...

Strategic Planning for Electronic Resources Management: A Case Study at Gustavus Adolphus College

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hulseberg, Anna; Monson, Sarah

2009-01-01

Electronic resources, the tools we use to manage them, and the needs and expectations of our users are constantly evolving; at the same time, the roles, responsibilities, and workflow of the library staff who manage e-resources are also in flux. Recognizing a need to be more intentional and proactive about how we manage e-resources, the…

Using ICT to Teach "Hard to Teach" Topics in Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oakes, Malcolm

2009-01-01

Science is a wonderful subject to teach. Often characterised as "hard", it is a subject that has evolved constantly over the years by adopting new practices. In recent years, these have included many aspects of ICT, which was the starting point for the author and his team's project. The basic principles of the project were that: (1) subject…

Is There Creativity in Design? From a Perspective of School Design and Technology in Hong Kong

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wong, Yi Lin; Siu, Kin Wai Michael

2012-01-01

As creativity is likely to become a crucial aspect of living in the future, it is important for educators to teach students to think creatively when solving constantly evolving and increasingly complex problems. Supported by the idea that creativity can be taught and learnt, elements of creativity are now embedded in secondary school education.…

From sMOOC to tMOOC, Learning towards Professional Transference: ECO European Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osuna-Acedo, Sara; Marta-Lazo, Carmen; Frau-Meigs, Divina

2018-01-01

The evolution of MOOCs in the last decade has been constant and dynamic. The first cMOOC and xMOOC models eventually evolved into different post-MOOC modalities, such as sMOOC, which conjugates interaction among students with a participation model based on social networks. This work is focused on carrying out a systematic review of the…

Elevation of the Corner of the Mouth Using Botulinum Toxin Type A

PubMed Central

Goldman, Alberto; Wollina, Uwe

2010-01-01

Indications for botulinum toxin type A have been constantly evolving, and it can currently be used in virtually any area of the face and neck. The authors present their experience with this neurotoxin in treating the platysmal bands and depressor anguli oris muscle with the purpose of cosmetically improving the anterior neck and lifting the oral commissure. PMID:21430826

Assessment Opt-Out Policies: State Responses to Parent Pushback. ECS Education Trends

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aragon, Stephanie; Rowland, Julie; Wixom, Micah Ann

2015-01-01

With new state assessments kicking into full swing across the country, schools are seeing more and more parents wanting to opt out their children. Determining whether states allow assessment opt-outs can be complex and is constantly evolving. In some states the answer is clear: State policies either allow or prohibit state assessment opt-outs, or…

NetGENgagement: How the Net Generation College Student Uses Social Media in Academic and Social College Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sesterhenn, Shannon Marie

2012-01-01

The landscape of higher education is constantly evolving. Similar to a wave that washes ashore and transforms the shoreline, the same is occurring with higher education and its "shoreline". With the influx of technology and social media on college and university campuses, higher education institutions have had to grapple with whether or…

Evolving Information Technology: A Case Study of the Effects of Constant Change on Information Technology Instructional Design Architecture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Helps, Richard

2010-01-01

A major challenge for Information Technology (IT) programs is that the rapid pace of evolution of computing technology leads to frequent redesign of IT courses. The problem is exacerbated by several factors. Firstly, the changing technology is the subject matter of the discipline and is also frequently used to support instruction; secondly, this…

The oxygen paradox of neurovascular coupling

PubMed Central

Leithner, Christoph; Royl, Georg

2014-01-01

The coupling of cerebral blood flow (CBF) to neuronal activity is well preserved during evolution. Upon changes in the neuronal activity, an incompletely understood coupling mechanism regulates diameter changes of supplying blood vessels, which adjust CBF within seconds. The physiologic brain tissue oxygen content would sustain unimpeded brain function for only 1 second if continuous oxygen supply would suddenly stop. This suggests that the CBF response has evolved to balance oxygen supply and demand. Surprisingly, CBF increases surpass the accompanying increases of cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2). However, a disproportionate CBF increase may be required to increase the concentration gradient from capillary to tissue that drives oxygen delivery. However, the brain tissue oxygen content is not zero, and tissue pO2 decreases could serve to increase oxygen delivery without a CBF increase. Experimental evidence suggests that CMRO2 can increase with constant CBF within limits and decreases of baseline CBF were observed with constant CMRO2. This conflicting evidence may be viewed as an oxygen paradox of neurovascular coupling. As a possible solution for this paradox, we hypothesize that the CBF response has evolved to safeguard brain function in situations of moderate pathophysiological interference with oxygen supply. PMID:24149931

Fitness costs associated with field-evolved resistance to Bt maize in Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae).

PubMed

Jakka, S R K; Knight, V R; Jurat-Fuentes, J L

2014-02-01

Increasing adoption of transgenic crops expressing cry toxin genes from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt crops) represents an augmented risk for development of insect resistance. While fitness costs can greatly influence the rate of resistance evolution, most available data related to Bt resistance have been obtained from laboratory-selected insect strains. In this article, we test the existence of fitness costs associated with high levels of field-evolved resistance to Bt maize event TC1507 in a strain of Spodoptera frugiperda (JE Smith) originated from maize fields in Puerto Rico. Fitness costs in resistant S. frugiperda were evaluated by comparing biological performance to susceptible insects when reared on meridic diet, maize or soybean leaf tissue, or cotton reproductive tissues. Parameters monitored included larval survival, larval and pupal weights, developmental time (larval and pupal), adult longevity, reproductive traits (fecundity and fertility), and sex ratio. We found that all monitored parameters were influenced to a similar extent by the host, independently of susceptibility to Bt maize. The only parameter that significantly differed between strains for all hosts was a longer larval developmental period in resistant S. frugiperda, which resulted in emergence asynchrony between susceptible and resistant adults. To test the relevance of fitness costs in resistant S. frugiperda, we performed a selection experiment to monitor the stability of resistance in a heterogeneous strain through 12 generations of rearing on meridic diet. Our data demonstrate lack of fitness costs relevant to stability of field-evolved resistance to Bt maize and help explain reported stability of field-evolved resistance in Puerto Rican populations of S. frugiperda.

Evolvable mathematical models: A new artificial Intelligence paradigm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grouchy, Paul

We develop a novel Artificial Intelligence paradigm to generate autonomously artificial agents as mathematical models of behaviour. Agent/environment inputs are mapped to agent outputs via equation trees which are evolved in a manner similar to Symbolic Regression in Genetic Programming. Equations are comprised of only the four basic mathematical operators, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, as well as input and output variables and constants. From these operations, equations can be constructed that approximate any analytic function. These Evolvable Mathematical Models (EMMs) are tested and compared to their Artificial Neural Network (ANN) counterparts on two benchmarking tasks: the double-pole balancing without velocity information benchmark and the challenging discrete Double-T Maze experiments with homing. The results from these experiments show that EMMs are capable of solving tasks typically solved by ANNs, and that they have the ability to produce agents that demonstrate learning behaviours. To further explore the capabilities of EMMs, as well as to investigate the evolutionary origins of communication, we develop NoiseWorld, an Artificial Life simulation in which interagent communication emerges and evolves from initially noncommunicating EMM-based agents. Agents develop the capability to transmit their x and y position information over a one-dimensional channel via a complex, dialogue-based communication scheme. These evolved communication schemes are analyzed and their evolutionary trajectories examined, yielding significant insight into the emergence and subsequent evolution of cooperative communication. Evolved agents from NoiseWorld are successfully transferred onto physical robots, demonstrating the transferability of EMM-based AIs from simulation into physical reality.

Quantum dynamics in phase space: Moyal trajectories 2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Braunss, G.

Continuing a previous paper [G. Braunss, J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 43, 025302 (2010)] where we had calculated Planck-Constant-Over-Two-Pi {sup 2}-approximations of quantum phase space viz. Moyal trajectories of examples with one and two degrees of freedom, we present in this paper the calculation of Planck-Constant-Over-Two-Pi {sup 2}-approximations for four examples: a two-dimensional Toda chain, the radially symmetric Schwarzschild field, and two examples with three degrees of freedom, the latter being the nonrelativistic spherically Coulomb potential and the relativistic cylinder symmetrical Coulomb potential with a magnetic field H. We show in particular that an Planck-Constant-Over-Two-Pi {sup 2}-approximation of the nonrelativisticmore » Coulomb field has no singularity at the origin (r= 0) whereas the classical trajectories are singular at r= 0. In the third example, we show in particular that for an arbitrary function {gamma}(H, z) the expression {beta}{identical_to}p{sub z}+{gamma}(H, z) is classically ( Planck-Constant-Over-Two-Pi = 0) a constant of motion, whereas for Planck-Constant-Over-Two-Pi {ne} 0 this holds only if {gamma}(H, z) is an arbitrary polynomial of second order in z. This statement is shown to extend correspondingly to a cylinder symmetrical Schwarzschild field with a magnetic field. We exhibit in detail a number of properties of the radially symmetric Schwarzschild field. We exhibit finally the problems of the nonintegrable Henon-Heiles Hamiltonian and give a short review of the regular Hilbert space representation of Moyal operators.« less

Large-scale and Long-duration Simulation of a Multi-stage Eruptive Solar Event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, chaowei; Hu, Qiang; Wu, S. T.

2015-04-01

We employ a data-driven 3D MHD active region evolution model by using the Conservation Element and Solution Element (CESE) numerical method. This newly developed model retains the full MHD effects, allowing time-dependent boundary conditions and time evolution studies. The time-dependent simulation is driven by measured vector magnetograms and the method of MHD characteristics on the bottom boundary. We have applied the model to investigate the coronal magnetic field evolution of AR11283 which was characterized by a pre-existing sigmoid structure in the core region and multiple eruptions, both in relatively small and large scales. We have succeeded in producing the core magnetic field structure and the subsequent eruptions of flux-rope structures (see https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/96898685/large.mp4 for an animation) as the measured vector magnetograms on the bottom boundary evolve in time with constant flux emergence. The whole process, lasting for about an hour in real time, compares well with the corresponding SDO/AIA and coronagraph imaging observations. From these results, we show the capability of the model, largely data-driven, that is able to simulate complex, topological, and highly dynamic active region evolutions. (We acknowledge partial support of NSF grants AGS 1153323 and AGS 1062050, and data support from SDO/HMI and AIA teams).

The Storm Time Evolution of the Ionospheric Disturbance Plasma Drifts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Ruilong; Liu, Libo; Le, Huijun; Chen, Yiding; Kuai, Jiawei

2017-11-01

In this paper, we use the C/NOFS and ROCSAT-1 satellites observations to analyze the storm time evolution of the disturbance plasma drifts in a 24 h local time scale during three magnetic storms driven by long-lasting southward IMF Bz. The disturbance plasma drifts during the three storms present some common features in the periods dominated by the disturbance dynamo. The newly formed disturbance plasma drifts are upward and westward at night, and downward and eastward during daytime. Further, the disturbance plasma drifts are gradually evolved to present significant local time shifts. The westward disturbance plasma drifts gradually migrate from nightside to dayside. Meanwhile, the dayside downward disturbance plasma drifts become enhanced and shift to later local time. The local time shifts in disturbance plasma drifts are suggested to be mainly attributed to the evolution of the disturbance winds. The strong disturbance winds arisen around midnight can constantly corotate to later local time. At dayside the westward and equatorward disturbance winds can drive the F region dynamo to produce the poleward and westward polarization electric fields (or the westward and downward disturbance drifts). The present results indicate that the disturbance winds corotated to later local time can affect the local time features of the disturbance dynamo electric field.

Modernizing Systems and Software: How Evolving Trends in Future Trends in Systems and Software Technology Bode Well for Advancing the Precision of Technology

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-04-23

of Code Need for increased functionality will be a forcing function to bring the fields of software and systems engineering... of Software-Intensive Systems is Increasing 3 How Evolving Trends in Systems and Software Technologies Bode Well for Advancing the Precision of ...Engineering in Continued Partnership 4 How Evolving Trends in Systems and Software Technologies Bode Well for Advancing the

An improved probabilistic approach for linking progenitor and descendant galaxy populations using comoving number density

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wellons, Sarah; Torrey, Paul

2017-06-01

Galaxy populations at different cosmic epochs are often linked by cumulative comoving number density in observational studies. Many theoretical works, however, have shown that the cumulative number densities of tracked galaxy populations not only evolve in bulk, but also spread out over time. We present a method for linking progenitor and descendant galaxy populations which takes both of these effects into account. We define probability distribution functions that capture the evolution and dispersion of galaxy populations in number density space, and use these functions to assign galaxies at redshift zf probabilities of being progenitors/descendants of a galaxy population at another redshift z0. These probabilities are used as weights for calculating distributions of physical progenitor/descendant properties such as stellar mass, star formation rate or velocity dispersion. We demonstrate that this probabilistic method provides more accurate predictions for the evolution of physical properties than the assumption of either a constant number density or an evolving number density in a bin of fixed width by comparing predictions against galaxy populations directly tracked through a cosmological simulation. We find that the constant number density method performs least well at recovering galaxy properties, the evolving method density slightly better and the probabilistic method best of all. The improvement is present for predictions of stellar mass as well as inferred quantities such as star formation rate and velocity dispersion. We demonstrate that this method can also be applied robustly and easily to observational data, and provide a code package for doing so.

Extraction of hot QCD matter transport coefficients utilizing microscopic transport theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demir, Nasser Soliman

Ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) are thought to have produced a state of matter called the Quark-Gluon-Plasma (QGP). The QGP forms when nuclear matter governed by Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) reaches a temperature and baryochemical potential necessary to achieve the transition of hadrons (bound states of quarks and gluons) to deconfined quarks and gluons. Such conditions have been achieved at RHIC, and the resulting QGP created exhibits properties of a near perfect fluid. In particular, strong evidence shows that the QGP exhibits a very small shear viscosity to entropy density ratio eta/s, near the lower bound predicted for that quantity by Anti-deSitter space/Conformal Field Theory (AdS/CFT) methods of eta/s = ℎ4pkB , where h is Planck's constant and kB is Boltzmann's constant. As the produced matter expands and cools, it evolves through a phase described by a hadron gas with rapidly increasing eta/s. This thesis presents robust calculations of eta/s for hadronic and partonic media as a function of temperature using the Green-Kubo formalism. An analysis is performed for the behavior of eta/s to mimic situations of the hadronic media at RHIC evolving out of chemical equilibrium, and systematic uncertainties are assessed for our method. In addition, preliminary results are presented for the bulk viscosity to entropy density ratio zeta/s, whose behavior is not well-known in a relativistic heavy ion collisions. The diffusion coefficient for baryon number is investigated, and an algorithm is presented to improve upon the previous work of investigation of heavy quark diffusion in a thermal QGP. By combining the results of my investigations for eta/s from our microscopic transport models with what is currently known from the experimental results on elliptic flow from RHIC, I find that the trajectory of eta/s in a heavy ion collision has a rich structure, especially near the deconfinement transition temperature Tc. I have helped quantify the viscous hadronic effects to enable investigators to constrain the value of eta/s for the QGP created at RHIC.

Exact Electromagnetic Fields Produced by a Finite Wire with Constant Current

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jimenez, J. L.; Campos, I.; Aquino, N.

2008-01-01

We solve exactly the problem of calculating the electromagnetic fields produced by a finite wire with a constant current, by using two methods: retarded potentials and Jefimenko's formalism. One result in this particular case is that the usual Biot-Savart law of magnetostatics gives the correct magnetic field of the problem. We also show…

Mathematics Education as a Field of Research: Have We Become Too Comfortable?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lowrie, Tom

2015-01-01

Mathematics education is highly regarded as a research field within our region, especially when compared to other fields within the broader education discipline. The field has been relatively cohesive, well organised and internationally influential in a universally strong field. Mathematics education research has developed and evolved in…

Magnetic Field Diagnostics and Spatio-Temporal Variability of the Solar Transition Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peter, H.

2013-12-01

Magnetic field diagnostics of the transition region from the chromosphere to the corona faces us with the problem that one has to apply extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) spectro-polarimetry. While for the coronal diagnostics techniques already exist in the form of infrared coronagraphy above the limb and radio observations on the disk, one has to investigate EUV observations for the transition region. However, so far the success of such observations has been limited, but various current projects aim to obtain spectro-polarimetric data in the extreme UV in the near future. Therefore it is timely to study the polarimetric signals we can expect from these observations through realistic forward modeling. We employ a 3D magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) forward model of the solar corona and synthesize the Stokes I and Stokes V profiles of C iv (1548 Å). A signal well above 0.001 in Stokes V can be expected even if one integrates for several minutes to reach the required signal-to-noise ratio, and despite the rapidly changing intensity in the model (just as in observations). This variability of the intensity is often used as an argument against transition region magnetic diagnostics, which requires exposure times of minutes. However, the magnetic field is evolving much slower than the intensity, and therefore the degree of (circular) polarization remains rather constant when one integrates in time. Our study shows that it is possible to measure the transition region magnetic field if a polarimetric accuracy on the order of 0.001 can be reached, which we can expect from planned instrumentation.

Application of non-traditional stable isotopes in analytical ecogeochemistry assessed by MC ICP-MS--A critical review.

PubMed

Irrgeher, Johanna; Prohaska, Thomas

2016-01-01

Analytical ecogeochemistry is an evolving scientific field dedicated to the development of analytical methods and tools and their application to ecological questions. Traditional stable isotopic systems have been widely explored and have undergone continuous development during the last century. The variations of the isotopic composition of light elements (H, O, N, C, and S) have provided the foundation of stable isotope analysis followed by the analysis of traditional geochemical isotope tracers (e.g., Pb, Sr, Nd, Hf). Questions in a considerable diversity of scientific fields have been addressed, many of which can be assigned to the field of ecogeochemistry. Over the past 15 years, other stable isotopes (e.g., Li, Zn, Cu, Cl) have emerged gradually as novel tools for the investigation of scientific topics that arise in ecosystem research and have enabled novel discoveries and explorations. These systems are often referred to as non-traditional isotopes. The small isotopic differences of interest that are increasingly being addressed for a growing number of isotopic systems represent a challenge to the analytical scientist and push the limits of today's instruments constantly. This underlines the importance of a metrologically sound concept of analytical protocols and procedures and a solid foundation of data processing strategies and uncertainty considerations before these small isotopic variations can be interpreted in the context of applied ecosystem research. This review focuses on the development of isotope research in ecogeochemistry, the requirements for successful detection of small isotopic shifts, and highlights the most recent and innovative applications in the field.

Spin foam propagator: A new perspective to include the cosmological constant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Muxin; Huang, Zichang; Zipfel, Antonia

2018-04-01

In recent years, the calculation of the first nonvanishing order of the metric 2-point function or graviton propagator in a semiclassical limit has evolved as a standard test for the credibility of a proposed spin foam model. The existing results of spin foam graviton propagators rely heavily on the so-called double scaling limit where spins j are large and the Barbero-Immirzi parameter γ is small such that the area A ∝j γ is approximately constant. However, it seems that this double scaling limit is bound to break down in models including a cosmological constant. We explore this in detail for the recently proposed model [7 H. M. Haggard, M. Han, W. Kaminski, and A. Riello, Nucl. Phys. B900, 1 (2015), 10.1016/j.nuclphysb.2015.08.023.] by Haggard, Han, Kaminski, and Riello and discuss alternative definitions of a graviton propagator, in which the double scaling limit can be avoided.

Entropy production of doubly stochastic quantum channels

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Müller-Hermes, Alexander, E-mail: muellerh@posteo.net; Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen; Stilck França, Daniel, E-mail: dsfranca@mytum.de

2016-02-15

We study the entropy increase of quantum systems evolving under primitive, doubly stochastic Markovian noise and thus converging to the maximally mixed state. This entropy increase can be quantified by a logarithmic-Sobolev constant of the Liouvillian generating the noise. We prove a universal lower bound on this constant that stays invariant under taking tensor-powers. Our methods involve a new comparison method to relate logarithmic-Sobolev constants of different Liouvillians and a technique to compute logarithmic-Sobolev inequalities of Liouvillians with eigenvectors forming a projective representation of a finite abelian group. Our bounds improve upon similar results established before and as an applicationmore » we prove an upper bound on continuous-time quantum capacities. In the last part of this work we study entropy production estimates of discrete-time doubly stochastic quantum channels by extending the framework of discrete-time logarithmic-Sobolev inequalities to the quantum case.« less

On evolutionary spatial heterogeneous games

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fort, H.

2008-03-01

How cooperation between self-interested individuals evolve is a crucial problem, both in biology and in social sciences, that is far from being well understood. Evolutionary game theory is a useful approach to this issue. The simplest model to take into account the spatial dimension in evolutionary games is in terms of cellular automata with just a one-parameter payoff matrix. Here, the effects of spatial heterogeneities of the environment and/or asymmetries in the interactions among the individuals are analysed through different extensions of this model. Instead of using the same universal payoff matrix, bimatrix games in which each cell at site ( i, j) has its own different ‘temptation to defect’ parameter T(i,j) are considered. First, the case in which these individual payoffs are constant in time is studied. Second, an evolving evolutionary spatial game such that T=T(i,j;t), i.e. besides depending on the position evolves (by natural selection), is used to explore the combination of spatial heterogeneity and natural selection of payoff matrices.

Artifacts correction for T1rho imaging with constant amplitude spin-lock

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Weitian

2017-01-01

T1rho imaging with constant amplitude spin-lock is prone to artifacts in the presence of B1 RF and B0 field inhomogeneity. Despite significant technological progress, improvements on the robustness of constant amplitude spin-lock are necessary in order to use it for routine clinical practice. This work proposes methods to simultaneously correct for B1 RF and B0 field inhomogeneity in constant amplitude spin-lock. By setting the maximum B1 amplitude of the excitation adiabatic pulses equal to the expected constant amplitude spin-lock frequency, the spins become aligned along the effective field throughout the spin-lock process. This results in T1rho-weighted images free of artifacts, despite the spatial variation of the effective field caused by B1 RF and B0 field inhomogeneity. When the pulse is long, the relaxation effect during the adiabatic half passage may result in a non-negligible error in the mono-exponential relaxation model. A two-acquisition approach is presented to solve this issue. Simulation, phantom, and in-vivo scans demonstrate the proposed methods achieve superior image quality compared to existing methods, and that the two-acquisition method is effective in resolving the relaxation effect during the adiabatic half passage.

Note on the initial conditions within the effective field theory approach of cosmic acceleration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Xue-Wen; Hu, Bin; Zhang, Yi

2017-12-01

By using the effective field theory approach, we investigate the role of initial conditions for the dark energy or modified gravity models. In detail, we consider the constant and linear parametrization of the effective Newton constant models. First, under the adiabatic assumption, the correction from the extra scalar degree of freedom in the beyond Λ CDM model is found to be negligible. The dominant ingredient in this setup is the primordial curvature perturbation originated from the inflation mechanism, and the energy budget of the matter components is not very crucial. Second, the isocurvature perturbation sourced by the extra scalar field is studied. For the constant and linear models of the effective Newton constant, no such kind of scalar mode exists. For the quadratic model, there is a nontrivial one. However, the amplitude of the scalar field is damped away very fast on all scales. Consequently, it could not support a reasonable structure formation. Finally, we study the importance of the setup of the scalar field starting time. By setting different turn-on times, namely, a =10-2 and a =10-7, we compare the cosmic microwave background radiation temperature, lensing deflection angle autocorrelation function, and the matter power spectrum in the constant and linear models. We find there is an order of O (1 %) difference in the observable spectra for constant model, while for the linear model, it is smaller than O (0.1 %).

Microbial Activity in Organic Soils as Affected by Soil Depth and Crop †

PubMed Central

Tate, Robert L.

1979-01-01

The microbial activity of Pahokee muck, a lithic medisaprist, and the effect of various environmental factors, such as position in the profile and type of plant cover, were examined. Catabolic activity for [7-14C]salicylic acid, [1,4-14C]succinate, and [1,2-14C]acetate remained reasonably constant in surface (0 to 10 cm) soil samples from a fallow (bare) field from late in the wet season (May to September) through January. Late in January, the microbial activity toward all three compounds decreased approximately 50%. The microbial activity of the soil decreased with increasing depth of soil. Salicylate catabolism was the most sensitive to increasing moisture deep in the soil profile. At the end of the wet season, a 90% decrease in activity between the surface and the 60- to 70-cm depth occurred. Catabolism of acetate and succinate decreased approximately 75% in the same samples. Little effect of crop was observed. Variation in the microbial activity, as measured by the catabolism of labeled acetate, salicylate, or succinate, was not significant between a sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) field and a fallow field. The activity with acetate was insignificantly different in a St. Augustine grass [Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt) Kuntz] field, whereas the catabolism of the remaining substrates was elevated in the grass field. These results indicate that the total carbon evolved from the different levels of the soil profile by the microbial community oxidizing the soil organic matter decreased as the depth of the soil column increased. However, correction of the amount of carbon yielded at each level for the bulk density of that level reveals that the microbial contribution to the soil subsidence is approximately equivalent throughout the soil profile above the water table. PMID:16345393

Microbial activity in organic soils as affected by soil depth and crop.

PubMed

Tate, R L

1979-06-01

The microbial activity of Pahokee muck, a lithic medisaprist, and the effect of various environmental factors, such as position in the profile and type of plant cover, were examined. Catabolic activity for [7-C]salicylic acid, [1,4-C]succinate, and [1,2-C]acetate remained reasonably constant in surface (0 to 10 cm) soil samples from a fallow (bare) field from late in the wet season (May to September) through January. Late in January, the microbial activity toward all three compounds decreased approximately 50%. The microbial activity of the soil decreased with increasing depth of soil. Salicylate catabolism was the most sensitive to increasing moisture deep in the soil profile. At the end of the wet season, a 90% decrease in activity between the surface and the 60- to 70-cm depth occurred. Catabolism of acetate and succinate decreased approximately 75% in the same samples. Little effect of crop was observed. Variation in the microbial activity, as measured by the catabolism of labeled acetate, salicylate, or succinate, was not significant between a sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) field and a fallow field. The activity with acetate was insignificantly different in a St. Augustine grass [Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt) Kuntz] field, whereas the catabolism of the remaining substrates was elevated in the grass field. These results indicate that the total carbon evolved from the different levels of the soil profile by the microbial community oxidizing the soil organic matter decreased as the depth of the soil column increased. However, correction of the amount of carbon yielded at each level for the bulk density of that level reveals that the microbial contribution to the soil subsidence is approximately equivalent throughout the soil profile above the water table.

Transient times in linear metabolic pathways under constant affinity constraints.

PubMed

Lloréns, M; Nuño, J C; Montero, F

1997-10-15

In the early seventies, Easterby began the analytical study of transition times for linear reaction schemes [Easterby (1973) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 293, 552-558]. In this pioneer work and in subsequent papers, a state function (the transient time) was used to measure the period before the stationary state, for systems constrained to work under both constant and variable input flux, was reached. Despite the undoubted usefulness of this quantity to describe the time-dependent features of these kinds of systems, its application to the study of chemical reactions under other constraints is questionable. In the present work, a generalization of these magnitudes to linear metabolic pathways functioning under a constant-affinity constraint is carried out. It is proved that classical definitions of transient times do not reflect the actual properties of the transition to the steady state in systems evolving under this restriction. Alternatively, a more adequate framework for interpretation of the transient times for systems with both constant and variable input flux is suggested. Within this context, new definitions that reflect more accurately the transient characteristics of constant affinity systems are stated. Finally, the meaning of these transient times is discussed.

Trails through time: A geologist's guide to Jefferson County open space parks

USGS Publications Warehouse

Reed, John C.

2014-01-01

Jefferson County Open Space Parks, as well as other nearby parks and National Forest lands, offer marvelousopportunities to explore the geologic story behind this singular landscape. At first the distribution of rocks of differentages and types seems almost random, but careful study of the rocks and landscape features reveals a captivatinggeologic story, a history that tells of the building of the foundations of the continent, the rise and destruction of longvanishedmountain ranges, the ebb and flow of ancient seas, and the constant shaping and reshaping of the landscape inresponse to the never-ending interplay between uplift and erosion. This historical account is constantly being improvedand expanded as new evidence accumulates and new interpretations evolve.

CONSTRAINTS ON HYBRID METRIC-PALATINI GRAVITY FROM BACKGROUND EVOLUTION

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lima, N. A.; Barreto, V. S., E-mail: ndal@roe.ac.uk, E-mail: vsm@roe.ac.uk

2016-02-20

In this work, we introduce two models of the hybrid metric-Palatini theory of gravitation. We explore their background evolution, showing explicitly that one recovers standard General Relativity with an effective cosmological constant at late times. This happens because the Palatini Ricci scalar evolves toward and asymptotically settles at the minimum of its effective potential during cosmological evolution. We then use a combination of cosmic microwave background, supernovae, and baryonic accoustic oscillations background data to constrain the models’ free parameters. For both models, we are able to constrain the maximum deviation from the gravitational constant G one can have at earlymore » times to be around 1%.« less

Coupling time constants of striated and copper-plated coated conductors and the potential of striation to reduce shielding-current-induced fields in pancake coils

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amemiya, Naoyuki; Tominaga, Naoki; Toyomoto, Ryuki; Nishimoto, Takuma; Sogabe, Yusuke; Yamano, Satoshi; Sakamoto, Hisaki

2018-07-01

The shielding-current-induced field is a serious concern for the applications of coated conductors to magnets. The striation of the coated conductor is one of the countermeasures, but it is effective only after the decay of the coupling current, which is characterised with the coupling time constant. In a non-twisted striated coated conductor, the coupling time constant is determined primarily by its length and the transverse resistance between superconductor filaments, because the coupling current could flow along its entire length. We measured and numerically calculated the frequency dependences of magnetisation losses in striated and copper-plated coated conductors with various lengths and their stacks at 77 K and determined their coupling time constants. Stacked conductors simulate the turns of a conductor wound into a pancake coil. Coupling time constants are proportional to the square of the conductor length. Stacking striated coated conductors increases the coupling time constants because the coupling currents in stacked conductors are coupled to one another magnetically to increase the mutual inductances for the coupling current paths. We carried out the numerical electromagnetic field analysis of conductors wound into pancake coils and determined their coupling time constants. They can be explained by the length dependence and mutual coupling effect observed in stacked straight conductors. Even in pancake coils with practical numbers of turns, i.e. conductor lengths, the striation is effective to reduce the shielding-current-induced fields for some dc applications.

Phase-field-crystal investigation of the morphology of a steady-state dendrite tip on the atomic scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Sai; Wang, Jincheng; Li, Junjie; Wang, Zhijun; Guo, Yaolin; Guo, Can; Zhou, Yaohe

2017-06-01

Through phase-field-crystal (PFC) simulations, we investigated, on the atomic scale, the crucial role played by interface energy anisotropy and growth driving force during the morphological evolution of a dendrite tip at low growth driving force. In the layer-by-layer growth manner, the interface energy anisotropy drives the forefront of the dendrite tip to evolve to be highly similar to the corner of the corresponding equilibrium crystal from the aspects of atom configuration and morphology, and thus affects greatly the formation and growth of a steady-state dendrite tip. Meanwhile, the driving force substantially influences the part behind the forefront of the dendrite tip, rather than the forefront itself. However, as the driving force increases enough to change the layer-by-layer growth to the multilayer growth, the morphology of the dendrite tip's forefront is completely altered. Parabolic fitting of the dendrite tip reveals that an increase in the influence of interface energy anisotropy makes dendrite tips deviate increasingly from a parabolic shape. By quantifying the deviations under various interface energy anisotropies and growth driving forces, it is suggested that a perfect parabola is an asymptotic limit for the shape of the dendrite tips. Furthermore, the atomic scale description of the dendrite tip obtained in the PFC simulation is compatible with the mesoscopic results obtained in the phase-field simulation in terms of the dendrite tip's morphology and the stability criterion constant.

A multicomponent tracer field experiment to measure the flow volume, surface area, and rectilinear spacing of fractures away from the wellbore

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cathles, L. M.; Sanford, W. E.; Hawkins, A.; Li, Y. V.

2017-12-01

The nature of flow in fractured porous media is important to almost all subsurface processes including oil and gas recovery, contaminant transport and remediation, CO2 sequestration, and geothermal heat extraction. One would like to know, under flowing conditions, the flow volume, surface area, effective aperture, and rectilinear spacing of fractures in a representative volume of rock away from the well bore, but no methods currently allow acquisition of this data. It could, however, be collected by deploying inert tracers with a wide range of aqueous diffusion constants (e.g., rapidly diffusing heat to non-diffusing nanoparticle) in the following fashion: The flow volume is defined by the heated volume measured by resistivity surveys. The fracture volume within this flow volume is indicate by the nanoparticle transit time. The average fracture spacing is indicated by the evolving thermal profile in the monitor and the production wells (measured by fiber optic cable), and by the retention of absorbing tracers. The average fracture aperture is determined by permeability measurements and the average fracture separation. We have proposed a field test to redundantly measure these fracture parameters in the fractured Dakota Sandstone where it approaches the surface in Ft Collins, Colorado. Five 30 m deep wells (an injection, production, and 3 monitor wells) cased to 20 m are proposed. The experiments will involve at least 9 different tracers. The planned field test and its potential significance will be described.

Stability Results, Almost Global Generalized Beltrami Fields and Applications to Vortex Structures in the Euler Equations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Enciso, Alberto; Poyato, David; Soler, Juan

2018-05-01

Strong Beltrami fields, that is, vector fields in three dimensions whose curl is the product of the field itself by a constant factor, have long played a key role in fluid mechanics and magnetohydrodynamics. In particular, they are the kind of stationary solutions of the Euler equations where one has been able to show the existence of vortex structures (vortex tubes and vortex lines) of arbitrarily complicated topology. On the contrary, there are very few results about the existence of generalized Beltrami fields, that is, divergence-free fields whose curl is the field times a non-constant function. In fact, generalized Beltrami fields (which are also stationary solutions to the Euler equations) have been recently shown to be rare, in the sense that for "most" proportionality factors there are no nontrivial Beltrami fields of high enough regularity (e.g., of class {C^{6,α}}), not even locally. Our objective in this work is to show that, nevertheless, there are "many" Beltrami fields with non-constant factor, even realizing arbitrarily complicated vortex structures. This fact is relevant in the study of turbulent configurations. The core results are an "almost global" stability theorem for strong Beltrami fields, which ensures that a global strong Beltrami field with suitable decay at infinity can be perturbed to get "many" Beltrami fields with non-constant factor of arbitrarily high regularity and defined in the exterior of an arbitrarily small ball, and a "local" stability theorem for generalized Beltrami fields, which is an analogous perturbative result which is valid for any kind of Beltrami field (not just with a constant factor) but only applies to small enough domains. The proof relies on an iterative scheme of Grad-Rubin type. For this purpose, we study the Neumann problem for the inhomogeneous Beltrami equation in exterior domains via a boundary integral equation method and we obtain Hölder estimates, a sharp decay at infinity and some compactness properties for these sequences of approximate solutions. Some of the parts of the proof are of independent interest.

Influence of a constant and variable magnetic field on the coagulation of human blood in vitro and in vivo

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Degen, I. L.; Plaksenko, V. Y.

1974-01-01

The influence of constant and varying magnetic fields on the coagulation of the blood was studied in experiments performed in vitro and vivo. In the in vitro tests it was found that a constant magnetic field with a strength of 100 or 200 oersteds influences the coagulation of the blood, retarding it in some cases and speeding up the coagulation time in others. In the in vivo studies, both retarding and accelerating effects were likewise observed with respect to the coagulation of the blood, but the nature of the change was a function of the background. A normalizing effect of the magnetic field on the coagulation of the blood was observed.

Spherical type integrable classical systems in a magnetic field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marchesiello, A.; Šnobl, L.; Winternitz, P.

2018-04-01

We show that four classes of second order spherical type integrable classical systems in a magnetic field exist in the Euclidean space {E}3 , and construct the Hamiltonian and two second order integrals of motion in involution for each of them. For one of the classes the Hamiltonian depends on four arbitrary functions of one variable. This class contains the magnetic monopole as a special case. Two further classes have Hamiltonians depending on one arbitrary function of one variable and four or six constants, respectively. The magnetic field in these cases is radial. The remaining system corresponds to a constant magnetic field and the Hamiltonian depends on two constants. Questions of superintegrability—i.e. the existence of further integrals—are discussed.

Yearning for Learning in Regional Retirement: Seeking to Satisfy This through the University of the Third Age

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ellis, Bronwyn J.

2006-01-01

Constant change necessitates lifelong learning for those in the workforce, if they are not to fall behind in the skills and knowledge needed as their occupations evolve. Learning new skills and knowledge remains a part of life for those no longer in paid employment. Not only is learning essential in order to keep up with changing needs and…

The galvanizing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: an antimicrobial mechanism.

PubMed

Russell, David G

2011-09-15

Evolving under constant threat from invading microbes, macrophages have acquired multiple means of killing bacteria. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Botella and colleagues (Botella et al., 2011) describe a novel antimicrobial mechanism based on elevated levels of intraphagosomal Zn(2+) and the corresponding induction of bacterial genes to ameliorate this host-derived stress. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Tralinet Guide to the Internet

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-02-01

Internet surfers often get stuck. The Internet is new, evolving, constantly changing, designed by computer system people rather than information retrieval...Librarians are already getting questions daily about Internet -accessible resources: providing information for their customers is about to get far...InterNIC. These are the best tools we have for looking up information about various Internet hosts. The DDN Network Information Center (NIC) is best for

What Strategy Should Bulgaria Pursue to Track and Disrupt Terror Networks in the Balkans?

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-03-01

important function of law enforcement is to “disrupt terrorist financing that includes by uncovering links between terrorists and organized criminal groups... money laundering , black market activity, and drug trade.”119 C. SUMMARY International terrorism is constantly evolving in its tactics and...NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA THESIS Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited WHAT STRATEGY SHOULD

Parallel Performance of Linear Solvers and Preconditioners

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-01

are produced by a discrete dislocation dynamics ( DDD ) simulation and change with each timestep of the DDD simulation as the dislocation structure...evolves. However, the coefficient—or stiffness matrix— remains constant during the DDD simulation and some expensive matrix factorizations only occur once...discrete dislocation dynamics ( DDD ) simulations. This can be achieved by coupling a DDD simulator for bulk material (Arsenlis et al., 2007) to a

Future Diet Scenarios and Their Effect on Regional and Global Biofuel Potential

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gregg, J.; hvid, A.

2012-04-01

Food production has been one of the most significant ways in which humans have changed the surface of the Earth. It is projected that further intensification of agriculture will be necessary to meet a growing population and the increased demand for calories from animal products. This would require substantially more land and resources devoted to animal production. However, globally, the proportion of per capita caloric intake from animal to total caloric intake has remained relatively constant for the last 50 years at slightly above 15%. Nevertheless, there are large discrepancies across regions and through time. For example, northern European countries derive over 30% of calories from animal products, while India is under 10%; between 1961 and 2007, China's per capita consumption of animal calories has increased by over a factor of ten, while in the US, animal calorie consumption has remained constant. In general, per capita consumption of animal products is lower in developing countries than in developed countries, and it is commonly assumed that future animal product consumption will increase as developing countries become wealthier. On the other hand, wealthier countries are remaining constant or even decreasing their proportional consumption of animal calories, and this could be a different way that future diets may evolve. We create different future scenarios for calorie demand from vegetal products, beef, sheep and goat, pork, poultry, and dairy based on historical national trends and estimated income elasticities for these various food products. The extreme scenarios are one in which the world evolves to a highly vegetal calorie diet and, on the other extreme, one in which the world evolves to diets with high meat consumption. Intermediate scenarios include projections of current trends and one in which the world moves to a healthy balanced diet given current recommendations. Using DTU-GCAM, and global integrated assessment model with an included land use module, we explore the effect of these different global and regional diet scenarios on land use and biofuel potential up to the year 2095. The model economically optimizes food production for 14 different regions of the world based on their current and historical land use and land cover, using free market and free trade assumptions.

Future Diet Scenarios and Their Effect on Regional and Global Land Use

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gregg, J. S.; Hvid, A.

2011-12-01

Food production has been one of the most significant ways in which humans have changed the surface of the Earth. It is projected that further intensification of agriculture will be necessary to meet a growing population and the increased demand for calories from animal products. This would require substantially more land and resources devoted to animal production. However, globally, the proportion of per capita caloric intake from animal to total caloric intake has remained relatively constant for the last 50 years at slightly above 15%. Nevertheless, there are large discrepancies across regions and through time. For example, northern European countries derive over 30% of calories from animal products, while India is under 10%; between 1961 and 2007, China's per capita consumption of animal calories has increased by over a factor of ten, while in the US, animal calorie consumption has remained constant. In general, per capita consumption of animal products is lower in developing countries than in developed countries, and it is commonly assumed that future animal product consumption will increase as developing countries become wealthier. On the other hand, wealthier countries are remaining constant or even decreasing their proportional consumption of animal calories, and this could be a different way that future diets may evolve. We create different future scenarios for calorie demand from vegetal products, beef, sheep and goat, pork, poultry, and dairy based on historical national trends and estimated income elasticities for these various food products. The extreme scenarios are one in which the world evolves to a highly vegetal calorie diet and, on the other extreme, one in which the world evolves to diets with high meat consumption. Intermediate scenarios include projections of current trends and one in which the world moves to a healthy balanced diet given current recommendations. Using DTU-GCAM, and global integrated assessment model with an included land use module, we explore the effect of these different global and regional diet scenarios on land use up to 2050. The model economically optimizes food production for 14 different regions of the world based on their current and historical land use and land cover, using free market and free trade assumptions.

MODELING TO EVOLVE UNDERSTANDING OF THE SHALLOW GROUND WATER FLOW SYSTEM BENEATH THE LIZZIE RESEARCH SITE, NC

EPA Science Inventory

The purpose of the modeling effort presented here is to evolve a conceptual model of ground-water flow at the Lizzie, NC research site using analytic solutions and field observations. The resulting analytic element parameterization of boundary conditions, aquifer transmissivitie...

A similarity hypothesis for the two-point correlation tensor in a temporally evolving plane wake

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ewing, D. W.; George, W. K.; Moser, R. D.; Rogers, M. M.

1995-01-01

The analysis demonstrated that the governing equations for the two-point velocity correlation tensor in the temporally evolving wake admit similarity solutions, which include the similarity solutions for the single-point moment as a special case. The resulting equations for the similarity solutions include two constants, beta and Re(sub sigma), that are ratios of three characteristic time scales of processes in the flow: a viscous time scale, a time scale characteristic of the spread rate of the flow, and a characteristic time scale of the mean strain rate. The values of these ratios depend on the initial conditions of the flow and are most likely measures of the coherent structures in the initial conditions. The occurrences of these constants in the governing equations for the similarity solutions indicates that these solutions, in general, will only be the same for two flows if these two constants are equal (and hence the coherent structures in the flows are related). The comparisons between the predictions of the similarity hypothesis and the data presented here and elsewhere indicate that the similarity solutions for the two-point correlation tensors provide a good approximation of the measures of those motions that are not significantly affected by the boundary conditions caused by the finite extent of real flows. Thus, the two-point similarity hypothesis provides a useful tool for both numerical and physical experimentalist that can be used to examine how the finite extent of real flows affect the evolution of the different scales of motion in the flow.

Directed Field Ionization: A Genetic Algorithm for Evolving Electric Field Pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, Xinyue; Rowley, Zoe A.; Carroll, Thomas J.; Noel, Michael W.

2017-04-01

When an ionizing electric field pulse is applied to a Rydberg atom, the electron's amplitude traverses many avoided crossings among the Stark levels as the field increases. The resulting superposition determines the shape of the time resolved field ionization spectrum at a detector. An engineered electric field pulse that sweeps back and forth through avoided crossings can control the phase evolution so as to determine the electron's path through the Stark map. In the region of n = 35 in rubidium there are hundreds of potential avoided crossings; this yields a large space of possible pulses. We use a genetic algorithm to search this space and evolve electric field pulses to direct the ionization of the Rydberg electron in rubidium. We present the algorithm along with a comparison of simulated and experimental results. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. 1607335 and No. 1607377 and used the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE), which is supported by National Science Foundation Grant Number OCI-1053575.

Water chemistry: fifty years of change and progress.

PubMed

Brezonik, Patrick L; Arnold, William A

2012-06-05

Water chemistry evolved from early foundations in several related disciplines. Although it is difficult to associate a precise date to its founding, several events support the argument that the field as we know it today developed in the mid-20th century--at the dawn of the "environmental era"--that is, ∼1960. The field in its modern incarnation thus is about 50 years old. In celebration of this half-centenary, we examine here the origins of water chemistry, how the field has changed over the past 50 years, and the principal driving forces for change, focusing on both the "practice" of water chemistry and ways that teaching the subject has evolved.

Low field magnetic resonance imaging

DOEpatents

Pines, Alexander; Sakellariou, Dimitrios; Meriles, Carlos A.; Trabesinger, Andreas H.

2010-07-13

A method and system of magnetic resonance imaging does not need a large homogenous field to truncate a gradient field. Spatial information is encoded into the spin magnetization by allowing the magnetization to evolve in a non-truncated gradient field and inducing a set of 180 degree rotations prior to signal acquisition.

Loop corrections in double field theory: non-trivial dilaton potentials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lv, Songlin; Wu, Houwen; Yang, Haitang

2014-10-01

It is believed that the invariance of the generalised diffeomorphisms prevents any non-trivial dilaton potential from double field theory. It is therefore difficult to include loop corrections in the formalism. We show that by redefining a non-local dilaton field, under strong constraint which is necessary to preserve the gauge invariance of double field theory, the theory does permit non-constant dilaton potentials and loop corrections. If the fields have dependence on only one single coordinate, the non-local dilaton is identical to the ordinary one with an additive constant.

Magnetization Switching of a Co /Pt Multilayered Perpendicular Nanomagnet Assisted by a Microwave Field with Time-Varying Frequency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suto, Hirofumi; Kanao, Taro; Nagasawa, Tazumi; Mizushima, Koichi; Sato, Rie

2018-05-01

Microwave-assisted magnetization switching (MAS) is attracting attention as a method for reversing nanomagnets with a high magnetic anisotropy by using a small-amplitude magnetic field. We experimentally study MAS of a perpendicularly magnetized nanomagnet by applying a microwave magnetic field with a time-varying frequency. Because the microwave field frequency can follow the nonlinear decrease of the resonance frequency, larger magnetization excitation than that in a constant-frequency microwave field is induced, which enhances the MAS effect. The switching field decreases almost linearly as the start value of the time-varying microwave field frequency increases, and it becomes smaller than the minimum switching field in a constant-frequency microwave field. To obtain this enhancement of the MAS effect, the end value of the time-varying microwave field frequency needs to be almost the same as or lower than the critical frequency for MAS in a constant-frequency microwave field. In addition, the frequency change typically needs to take 1 ns or longer to make the rate of change slow enough for the magnetization to follow the frequency change. This switching behavior is qualitatively explained by the theory based on the macrospin model.

QCDNUM: Fast QCD evolution and convolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Botje, M.

2011-02-01

The QCDNUM program numerically solves the evolution equations for parton densities and fragmentation functions in perturbative QCD. Un-polarised parton densities can be evolved up to next-to-next-to-leading order in powers of the strong coupling constant, while polarised densities or fragmentation functions can be evolved up to next-to-leading order. Other types of evolution can be accessed by feeding alternative sets of evolution kernels into the program. A versatile convolution engine provides tools to compute parton luminosities, cross-sections in hadron-hadron scattering, and deep inelastic structure functions in the zero-mass scheme or in generalised mass schemes. Input to these calculations are either the QCDNUM evolved densities, or those read in from an external parton density repository. Included in the software distribution are packages to calculate zero-mass structure functions in un-polarised deep inelastic scattering, and heavy flavour contributions to these structure functions in the fixed flavour number scheme. Program summaryProgram title: QCDNUM version: 17.00 Catalogue identifier: AEHV_v1_0 Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEHV_v1_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: GNU Public Licence No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 45 736 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 911 569 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: Fortran-77 Computer: All Operating system: All RAM: Typically 3 Mbytes Classification: 11.5 Nature of problem: Evolution of the strong coupling constant and parton densities, up to next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative QCD. Computation of observable quantities by Mellin convolution of the evolved densities with partonic cross-sections. Solution method: Parametrisation of the parton densities as linear or quadratic splines on a discrete grid, and evolution of the spline coefficients by solving (coupled) triangular matrix equations with a forward substitution algorithm. Fast computation of convolution integrals as weighted sums of spline coefficients, with weights derived from user-given convolution kernels. Restrictions: Accuracy and speed are determined by the density of the evolution grid. Running time: Less than 10 ms on a 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor to evolve the gluon density and 12 quark densities at next-to-next-to-leading order over a large kinematic range.

The equilibrium tide in stars and giant planets. I. The coplanar case

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Remus, F.; Mathis, S.; Zahn, J.-P.

2012-08-01

Context. Since 1995, more than 500 extrasolar planets have been discovered orbiting very close to their parent star, where they experience strong tidal interactions. Their orbital evolution depends on the physical mechanisms that cause tidal dissipation, which remain poorly understood. Aims: We refine the theory of the equilibrium tide in fluid bodies that are partly or entirely convective, to predict the dynamical evolution of the systems. In particular, we examine the validity of modeling the tidal dissipation using the quality factor Q, which is commonly done. We consider here the simplest case where the considered star or planet rotates uniformly, all spins are aligned, and the companion is reduced to a point mass. Methods: We expand the tidal potential as a Fourier series, and express the hydrodynamical equations in the reference frame, which rotates with the corresponding Fourier component. The results are cast in the form of a complex disturbing function, which may be implemented directly in the equations governing the dynamical evolution of the system. Results: The first manifestation of the tide is to distort the shape of the star or planet adiabatically along the line of centers. This generates the divergence-free velocity field of the adiabatic equilibrium tide, which is stationary in the frame rotating with the considered Fourier component of the tidal potential; this large-scale velocity field is decoupled from the dynamical tide. The tidal kinetic energy is dissipated into heat by means of turbulent friction, which is modeled here as an eddy-viscosity acting on the adiabatic tidal flow. This dissipation induces a second velocity field, the dissipative equilibrium tide, which is in quadrature with the exciting potential; this field is responsible for the imaginary part of the disturbing function, which is implemented in the dynamical evolution equations, from which one derives the characteristic evolutionary times. Conclusions: The rate at which the system evolves depends on the physical properties of the tidal dissipation, and specifically on both how the eddy viscosity varies with tidal frequency and the thickness of the convective envelope for the fluid equilibrium tide. At low frequency, this tide is retarded by a constant time delay, whereas it lags behind by a constant angle when the tidal frequency exceeds the convective turnover rate.

Acceleration of Relativistic Electrons: A Comparison of Two Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Green, J. C.; Kivelson, M. G.

2001-12-01

Observations of relativistic electron fluxes show order of magnitude increases during some geomagnetic storms. Many electron acceleration models have been proposed to explain the flux enhancements but attempts to validate these models have yielded ambiguous results. Here we examine two models of electron acceleration, radial diffusion via enhanced ULF wave activity [Elkington et al.,1999] and acceleration by resonant interaction with whistler waves[Summers,1998; Roth et al.,1999]. Two methods are used to compare observations with features predicted by the models. First, the evolution of phase space density as a function of L during flux enhancement events is evaluated. The phase space density (PSD) is calculated at constant first, second and third adiabatic invariants using data obtained by the CEPPAD-HIST instrument and the MFE instrument onboard the Polar spacecraft. Liouville's theorem states that PSD calculated at constant adiabatic invariants does not change with time unless some mechanism violates one of the invariants. The radial diffusion model predicts that only the flux invariant will be violated during the acceleration process while acceleration by whistler waves violates the first invariant. Therefore, the two models predict a different evolution of the PSD as a function of time and L. Previous examinations of the evolution of PSD have yielded ambiguous results because PSD calculations are highly dependent on the global accuracy of magnetic field models. We examine the PSD versus L profiles for a series of geomagnetic storms and in addition determine how errors in the Tsyganenko 96 field model affect the results by comparing the measured magnetic field to the model magnetic field used in the calculations. Second, the evolution of the relativistic electron pitch angle distributions is evaluated. Previous studies of pitch angle distributions were limited because few spacecraft have the necessary instrumentation and global coverage. The CEPPAD-HIST instrument measures 16 look directions and along with measurements from the MFE experiment allows calculation of complete pitch angle distributions. The evolving orbit of the Polar spacecraft over the 6 years mission has given measurements over a wide range of L and local time. Using data extending over the entire mission we use superposed epoch analysis to examine the evolution of pitch angle distributions during flux enhancement events as a function of L, magnetic local time, and storm phase.

Noninvasive valve monitor using constant magnetic and/or DC electromagnetic field

DOEpatents

Casada, D.A.; Haynes, H.D.

1993-08-17

One or more sources of steady magnetic field are carefully located on the outside of a valve body. The constant magnetic field is transmitted into the valve body and valve internals. A magnetic field detector carefully located on the outside of the valve body detects the intensity of the magnetic field at its location. As the position of a valve internal part is changed, there is an alteration in the magnetic field in the valve, and a consequent change in the detected magnetic field. Changes in the detected signal provide an indication of the position and motion of the valve internals.

Noninvasive valve monitor using constant magnetic and/or DC electromagnetic field

DOEpatents

Casada, Donald A.; Haynes, Howard D.

1993-01-01

One or more sources of steady magnetic field are carefully located on the outside of a valve body. The constant magnetic field is transmitted into the valve body and valve internals. A magnetic field detector carefully located on the outside of the valve body detects the intensity of the magnetic field at its location. As the position of a valve internal part is changed, there is an alteration in the magnetic field in the valve, and a consequent change in the detected magnetic field. Changes in the detected signal provide an indication of the position and motion of the valve internals.

Exploratory studies of new avenues to achieve high electromechanical response and high dielectric constant in polymeric materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Cheng

High performance soft electronic materials are key elements in advanced electronic devices for broad range applications including capacitors, actuators, artificial muscles and organs, smart materials and structures, microelectromechanical (MEMS) and microfluidic devices, acoustic devices and sensors. This thesis exploits new approaches to improve the electromechanical response and dielectric response of these materials. By making use of novel material phenomena such as large anisotropy in dipolar response in liquid crystals (LCs) and all-organic composites in which high dielectric constant organic solids and conductive polymers are either physically blended into or chemically grafted to a polymer matrix, we demonstrate that high dielectric constant and high electromechanical conversion efficiency comparable to that in ceramic materials can be achieved. Nano-composite approach can also be utilized to improve the performance of the electronic electroactive polymers (EAPs) and composites, for example, exchange coupling between the fillers and matrix with very large dielectric contrast can lead to significantly enhance the dielectric response as well as electromechanical response when the heterogeneity size of the composite is comparable to the exchange length. In addition to the dielectric composites, in which high dielectric constant fillers raise the dielectric constant of composites, conductive percolation can also lead to high dielectric constant in polymeric materials. An all-polymer percolative composite is introduced which exhibits very high dielectric constant (>7,000). The flexible all-polymer composites with a high dielectric constant make it possible to induce a high electromechanical response under a much reduced electric field in the field effect electroactive polymer (EAP) actuators (a strain of 2.65% with an elastic energy density of 0.18 J/cm3 can be achieved under a field of 16 V/mum). Agglomeration of the particles can also be effectively prevented by in situ preparation. High dielectric constant copper phthalocyanine oligomer and conductive polyaniline oligomer were successfully bonded to polyurethane backbone to form fully functionalized nano-phase polymers. Improvement of dispersibility of oligomers in polymer matrix makes the system self-organize the nanocomposites possessing oligomer nanophase (below 30nm) within the fully functionalized polymers. The resulting nanophase polymers significantly enhance the interface effect, which through the exchange coupling raises the dielectric response markedly above that expected from simple mixing rules for dielectric composites. Consequently, these nano-phase polymers offer a high dielectric constant (a dielectric constant near 1,000 at 20 Hz), improve the breakdown field and mechanical properties, and exhibit high electromechanical response. A longitudinal strain of more than -14% can be induced under a much reduced field, 23 V/mum, with an elastic energy density of higher than 1 J/cm3. The elastic modulus is as high as 100MPa, and a transverse strain is 7% under the same field. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Millimeter wave studies of circumstellar chemistry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tenenbaum, Emily Dale

2010-06-01

Millimeter wave studies of molecules in circumstellar envelopes and a planetary nebula have been conducted. Using the Submillimeter Telescope (SMT) of the Arizona Radio Observatory (ARO) on Mt. Graham, a comparative spectral survey from 215-285 GHz was carried out of the carbon-rich asymptotic giant branch star IRC +10216 and the oxygen-rich supergiant VY Canis Majoris. A total of 858 emission lines were observed in both objects, arising from 40 different molecules. In VY Canis Majoris, AlO, AlOH, and PO were detected for the first time in interstellar space. In IRC +10216, PH3 was detected for the first time beyond the solar system, and C3O, and CH2NH were found for the first time in a circumstellar envelope. Additionally, in the evolved planetary nebula, the Helix, H2CO, C2H, and cyclic-C3H2 were observed using the SMT and the Kitt Peak 12 m telescopes. The presence of these three molecules in the Helix suggests that relatively complex chemistry occurs in planetary nebulae, despite the harsh ultraviolet field. Overall, the research on molecules in circumstellar and planetary nebulae furthers our understanding of the nature of the material that is fed back into the interstellar medium from evolved stars. Besides telescope work, laboratory research was also conducted -- the rotational spectrum of ZnCl was measured and its bond length and rotational constants were determined. Lastly, in partial fulfillment of a graduate certificate in entrepreneurial chemistry, the commercial applications of terahertz spectroscopy were explored through literature research.

Reception and learning of electric fields in bees

PubMed Central

Greggers, Uwe; Koch, Gesche; Schmidt, Viola; Dürr, Aron; Floriou-Servou, Amalia; Piepenbrock, David; Göpfert, Martin C.; Menzel, Randolf

2013-01-01

Honeybees, like other insects, accumulate electric charge in flight, and when their body parts are moved or rubbed together. We report that bees emit constant and modulated electric fields when flying, landing, walking and during the waggle dance. The electric fields emitted by dancing bees consist of low- and high-frequency components. Both components induce passive antennal movements in stationary bees according to Coulomb's law. Bees learn both the constant and the modulated electric field components in the context of appetitive proboscis extension response conditioning. Using this paradigm, we identify mechanoreceptors in both joints of the antennae as sensors. Other mechanoreceptors on the bee body are potentially involved but are less sensitive. Using laser vibrometry, we show that the electrically charged flagellum is moved by constant and modulated electric fields and more strongly so if sound and electric fields interact. Recordings from axons of the Johnston organ document its sensitivity to electric field stimuli. Our analyses identify electric fields emanating from the surface charge of bees as stimuli for mechanoreceptors, and as biologically relevant stimuli, which may play a role in social communication. PMID:23536603

Reception and learning of electric fields in bees.

PubMed

Greggers, Uwe; Koch, Gesche; Schmidt, Viola; Dürr, Aron; Floriou-Servou, Amalia; Piepenbrock, David; Göpfert, Martin C; Menzel, Randolf

2013-05-22

Honeybees, like other insects, accumulate electric charge in flight, and when their body parts are moved or rubbed together. We report that bees emit constant and modulated electric fields when flying, landing, walking and during the waggle dance. The electric fields emitted by dancing bees consist of low- and high-frequency components. Both components induce passive antennal movements in stationary bees according to Coulomb's law. Bees learn both the constant and the modulated electric field components in the context of appetitive proboscis extension response conditioning. Using this paradigm, we identify mechanoreceptors in both joints of the antennae as sensors. Other mechanoreceptors on the bee body are potentially involved but are less sensitive. Using laser vibrometry, we show that the electrically charged flagellum is moved by constant and modulated electric fields and more strongly so if sound and electric fields interact. Recordings from axons of the Johnston organ document its sensitivity to electric field stimuli. Our analyses identify electric fields emanating from the surface charge of bees as stimuli for mechanoreceptors, and as biologically relevant stimuli, which may play a role in social communication.

Change in fibrinolytic activity under the influence of a constant magnetic field. [blood coagulation normilization in heart patients

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yepishina, S. G.

1974-01-01

The fibrinolytic activity of plasma changes under the influence of a constant magnetic field (CMF) with a strength of 250 or 2500 oersteds. CMF shows a tendency toward normalization of fibrinolytic processes in the presence of pathological disturbances in fibrinolysis activation.

Origin and Evolution of Magnetic Field in PMS Stars: Influence of Rotation and Structural Changes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Emeriau-Viard, Constance; Brun, Allan Sacha, E-mail: constance.emeriau@cea.fr, E-mail: sacha.brun@cea.fr

During stellar evolution, especially in the pre-main-sequence phase, stellar structure and rotation evolve significantly, causing major changes in the dynamics and global flows of the star. We wish to assess the consequences of these changes on stellar dynamo, internal magnetic field topology, and activity level. To do so, we have performed a series of 3D HD and MHD simulations with the ASH code. We choose five different models characterized by the radius of their radiative zone following an evolutionary track computed by a 1D stellar evolution code. These models characterized stellar evolution from 1 to 50 Myr. By introducing amore » seed magnetic field in the fully convective model and spreading its evolved state through all four remaining cases, we observe systematic variations in the dynamical properties and magnetic field amplitude and topology of the models. The five MHD simulations develop a strong dynamo field that can reach an equipartition state between the kinetic and magnetic energies and even superequipartition levels in the faster-rotating cases. We find that the magnetic field amplitude increases as it evolves toward the zero-age main sequence. Moreover, the magnetic field topology becomes more complex, with a decreasing axisymmetric component and a nonaxisymmetric one becoming predominant. The dipolar components decrease as the rotation rate and the size of the radiative core increase. The magnetic fields possess a mixed poloidal-toroidal topology with no obvious dominant component. Moreover, the relaxation of the vestige dynamo magnetic field within the radiative core is found to satisfy MHD stability criteria. Hence, it does not experience a global reconfiguration but slowly relaxes by retaining its mixed stable poloidal-toroidal topology.« less

Design Evolution of the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope using Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (WFIRST-AFTA) and Lessons Learned

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peabody, Hume; Peters, Carlton; Rodriguez, Juan; McDonald, Carson; Content, David A.; Jackson, Cliff

2015-01-01

The design of the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope using Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (WFIRST-AFTA) continues to evolve as each design cycle is analyzed. In 2012, two Hubble sized (2.4 m diameter) telescopes were donated to NASA from elsewhere in the Federal Government. NASA began investigating potential uses for these telescopes and identified WFIRST as a mission to benefit from these assets. With an updated, deeper, and sharper field of view than previous design iterations with a smaller telescope, the optical designs of the WFIRST instruments were updated and the mechanical and thermal designs evolved around the new optical layout. Beginning with Design Cycle 3, significant analysis efforts yielded a design and model that could be evaluated for Structural-Thermal-Optical-Performance (STOP) purposes for the Wide Field Imager (WFI) and provided the basis for evaluating the high level observatory requirements. Development of the Cycle 3 thermal model provided some valuable analysis lessons learned and established best practices for future design cycles. However, the Cycle 3 design did include some major liens and evolving requirements which were addressed in the Cycle 4 Design. Some of the design changes are driven by requirements changes, while others are optimizations or solutions to liens from previous cycles. Again in Cycle 4, STOP analysis was performed and further insights into the overall design were gained leading to the Cycle 5 design effort currently underway. This paper seeks to capture the thermal design evolution, with focus on major design drivers, key decisions and their rationale, and lessons learned as the design evolved.

Design Evolution of the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope Using Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (WFIRST-AFTA) and Lessons Learned

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peabody, Hume L.; Peters, Carlton V.; Rodriguez-Ruiz, Juan E.; McDonald, Carson S.; Content, David A.; Jackson, Clifton E.

2015-01-01

The design of the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope using Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (WFIRST-AFTA) continues to evolve as each design cycle is analyzed. In 2012, two Hubble sized (2.4 m diameter) telescopes were donated to NASA from elsewhere in the Federal Government. NASA began investigating potential uses for these telescopes and identified WFIRST as a mission to benefit from these assets. With an updated, deeper, and sharper field of view than previous design iterations with a smaller telescope, the optical designs of the WFIRST instruments were updated and the mechanical and thermal designs evolved around the new optical layout. Beginning with Design Cycle 3, significant analysis efforts yielded a design and model that could be evaluated for Structural-Thermal-Optical-Performance (STOP) purposes for the Wide Field Imager (WFI) and provided the basis for evaluating the high level observatory requirements. Development of the Cycle 3 thermal model provided some valuable analysis lessons learned and established best practices for future design cycles. However, the Cycle 3 design did include some major liens and evolving requirements which were addressed in the Cycle 4 Design. Some of the design changes are driven by requirements changes, while others are optimizations or solutions to liens from previous cycles. Again in Cycle 4, STOP analysis was performed and further insights into the overall design were gained leading to the Cycle 5 design effort currently underway. This paper seeks to capture the thermal design evolution, with focus on major design drivers, key decisions and their rationale, and lessons learned as the design evolved.

Simulating the Atmospheric Impact of Criegee Intermediates: Implementation of new understanding in atmospheric chemical mechanisms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bloss, William; Newland, Mike; Rickard, Andrew; Vereecken, Luc; Evans, Mathew; Munoz, Amalia; Rodenas, Mila

2016-04-01

Unsaturated hydrocarbons - alkenes - account for about 90% of global VOC. Stabilized Criegee Intermediates (SCI) are thought to be formed in the atmosphere mainly from reactions of unsaturated hydrocarbons with ozone. SCI have been shown in laboratory and chamber experiments to rapidly oxidise SO2 and NO2, providing a potentially important gas phase oxidation route for these species in the atmosphere. They have also been implicated in the formation of aerosol and organic acids. However, the importance of SCI reactions with traces gases is critically dependent on the relative ratio of the rate constants for the reactions of the SCI with these and other trace gases, with H2O, and for unimolecular decomposition, which vary between SCIs, and between geometric isomers. The selection of reactions and rate constants is critically important in determining the calculated impact of SCI processes upon atmospheric composition and chemistry. Since the recent resurgence in interest in this chemistry, a number of model studies have been performed, with SCI mechanisms of varying comprehensiveness and accuracy, as the understanding of the community has evolved from new laboratory, theoretical and chamber studies, and field observations. Here we present an assessment of the dependence of modelled SCI abundance, behaviour and impacts upon the Criegee mechanism adopted, in the context of (a) the accepted status quo prior to the laboratory and field studies of Welz et al. and Mauldin et al., (b) changes to the SCI mechanism reflecting new kinetics for key bimolecular reactions, e.g. with SO2 and NO2; (c) emerging understanding of the interactions of SCI with water vapour and their unimolecular decomposition and (d) reactions with other atmospheric trace gases. The modelled SCI behaviour is compared with the results from recent chamber studies, and the resulting calculated SCI abundance and impacts evaluated for urban and forested atmospheric boundary layer scenarios.

PyEvolve: a toolkit for statistical modelling of molecular evolution.

PubMed

Butterfield, Andrew; Vedagiri, Vivek; Lang, Edward; Lawrence, Cath; Wakefield, Matthew J; Isaev, Alexander; Huttley, Gavin A

2004-01-05

Examining the distribution of variation has proven an extremely profitable technique in the effort to identify sequences of biological significance. Most approaches in the field, however, evaluate only the conserved portions of sequences - ignoring the biological significance of sequence differences. A suite of sophisticated likelihood based statistical models from the field of molecular evolution provides the basis for extracting the information from the full distribution of sequence variation. The number of different problems to which phylogeny-based maximum likelihood calculations can be applied is extensive. Available software packages that can perform likelihood calculations suffer from a lack of flexibility and scalability, or employ error-prone approaches to model parameterisation. Here we describe the implementation of PyEvolve, a toolkit for the application of existing, and development of new, statistical methods for molecular evolution. We present the object architecture and design schema of PyEvolve, which includes an adaptable multi-level parallelisation schema. The approach for defining new methods is illustrated by implementing a novel dinucleotide model of substitution that includes a parameter for mutation of methylated CpG's, which required 8 lines of standard Python code to define. Benchmarking was performed using either a dinucleotide or codon substitution model applied to an alignment of BRCA1 sequences from 20 mammals, or a 10 species subset. Up to five-fold parallel performance gains over serial were recorded. Compared to leading alternative software, PyEvolve exhibited significantly better real world performance for parameter rich models with a large data set, reducing the time required for optimisation from approximately 10 days to approximately 6 hours. PyEvolve provides flexible functionality that can be used either for statistical modelling of molecular evolution, or the development of new methods in the field. The toolkit can be used interactively or by writing and executing scripts. The toolkit uses efficient processes for specifying the parameterisation of statistical models, and implements numerous optimisations that make highly parameter rich likelihood functions solvable within hours on multi-cpu hardware. PyEvolve can be readily adapted in response to changing computational demands and hardware configurations to maximise performance. PyEvolve is released under the GPL and can be downloaded from http://cbis.anu.edu.au/software.

Examining the Perspectives of Teachers and School Building Leaders on the Use of the Flipped Classroom Method in New York City Public Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collins, Michael A.

2015-01-01

Engaging students within the classroom setting is a constant and evolving process for teachers today. Teachers have used unique methods to connect with toodays students in a meaningful way through the use of technology to increase the effectiveness of their instruction towards how students learn best. Many have turned towards using the flipped…

Publicity campaign, wellness event raise awareness of Michigan home health company, products.

PubMed

2007-01-01

HoMedics, a home healthcare and wellness company in Commerce Township, MI, had a problem. As a leading manufacturer of personal wellness and home healthcare products, its product line was constantly evolving with new and innovative technological advances. But with so many rapid changes, HoMedics had trouble educating the media about its new product lines quickly enough. The solution? A multiphase public relations campaign.

An updated Lagrangian discontinuous Galerkin hydrodynamic method for gas dynamics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wu, Tong; Shashkov, Mikhail Jurievich; Morgan, Nathaniel Ray

Here, we present a new Lagrangian discontinuous Galerkin (DG) hydrodynamic method for gas dynamics. The new method evolves conserved unknowns in the current configuration, which obviates the Jacobi matrix that maps the element in a reference coordinate system or the initial coordinate system to the current configuration. The density, momentum, and total energy (ρ, ρu, E) are approximated with conservative higher-order Taylor expansions over the element and are limited toward a piecewise constant field near discontinuities using a limiter. Two new limiting methods are presented for enforcing the bounds on the primitive variables of density, velocity, and specific internal energymore » (ρ, u, e). The nodal velocity, and the corresponding forces, are calculated by solving an approximate Riemann problem at the element nodes. An explicit second-order method is used to temporally advance the solution. This new Lagrangian DG hydrodynamic method conserves mass, momentum, and total energy. 1D Cartesian coordinates test problem results are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and convergence order of the new DG method with the new limiters.« less

Subtle flickering in Cepheids: Kepler and MOST

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Evans, Nancy Remage; Szabó, Robert; Szabados, Laszlo; Derekas, Aliz; Matthews, Jaymie M.; Cameron, Chris; the MOST Team

2014-02-01

Fundamental mode classical Cepheids have light curves which repeat accurately enough that we can watch them evolve (change period). The new level of accuracy and quantity of data with the Kepler and MOST satellites probes this further. An intriguing result was found in the long time-series of Kepler data for V1154 Cyg the one classical Cepheid (fundamental mode, P = 4.9 d) in the field, which has short term changes in period (~=20 minutes), correlated for ~=10 cycles (period jitter). To follow this up, we obtained a month long series of observations of the fundamental mode Cepheid RT Aur and the first overtone pulsator SZ Tau. RT Aur shows the traditional strict repetition of the light curve, with the Fourier amplitude ratio R 1/R 2 remaining nearly constant. The light curve of SZ Tau, on the other hand, fluctuates in amplitude ratio at the level of approximately 50%. Furthermore prewhitening the RT Aur data with 10 frequencies reduces the Fourier spectrum to noise. For SZ Tau, considerable power is left after this prewhitening in a complicated variety of frequencies.

Differential expression of survival proteins during decreased intracellular oxygen tension in brain endothelial cells of grey mullets.

PubMed

Ekambaram, Padmini; Narayanan, Meenakshi; Parasuraman, Parimala

2017-02-15

The brain requires constant oxygen supply to perform its biological functions essential for survival. Because of low oxygen capacity and poor oxygen diffusibility of water, many fish species have evolved various adaptive mechanisms to cope with depleted oxygen. Endothelial cells (EC) are the primary components responsible for controlled environment of brain. Brain homeostasis largely depends on integrity of the EC. To elucidate their adaptive strategy, EC were isolated from the fish brain of Kovalam-control site and Ennore estuary-test/field hypoxic site and were subjected to low oxygen tension in laboratory. Cell viability, 4-hydroxynonenal (4HNE) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were analyzed to ascertain stress. Hypoxic insult, cytoprotective role of HSPs and apoptotic effect were analyzed by assessing hypoxia-inducible-factor-α (HIF1α), heat-shock-protein-70 (HSP70), heme-oxygenase 1 (HO-1), and apoptosis signal regulating kinase-1 (ASK1). This study evidenced that HSP70 and HO-1 are the key stress proteins, confer high tolerance to decreased oxygen tension mediated stress. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Biorhythms on cellular and organismic level (introduction).

PubMed

Mergenhagen, D

1989-01-01

The regular change of day and night, of light and darkness during millions of years has strongly affected the development of life on earth. Many organisms adapted themselves to this environmental condition and, finally, evolved an endogenous timer which usually is in phase with the earth's rotation and causes many functions to perform one oscillation per day. Such circadian rhythms (derived from circa dies i.e. about 1 day) were found in almost all classes of plants and animals, and even in protozoans. They persist in a constant environment and, therefore, are independent of any known external trigger signals. Since even unicells perform circadian rhythms which are similar to those observed in highly developed multicellular organisms many scientists favor the existence of a basic mechanism common to all kinds of biological clocks that is located somewhere in the single cell and probably comprises many different biochemical reactions. One purpose of this topical meeting was to discuss how organisms respond to the absence of gravity and terrestrial zeitgeber and how they may react to the imposing of hypergravity fields. Another aim was to develop model-mechanisms appropriate to describe these responses.

Dietary sodium, potassium, and alcohol: key players in the pathophysiology, prevention, and treatment of human hypertension.

PubMed

Koliaki, Chrysi; Katsilambros, Nicholas

2013-06-01

Western industrialized societies are currently experiencing an epidemic expansion of hypertension (HTN), which extends alarmingly even to children and adolescents. HTN constitutes an independent risk factor for cardiorenal disease and represents an extremely common comorbidity of diabetes and obesity. Numerous randomized clinical trials and meta-analyses have provided robust scientific evidence that reduced dietary salt intake, increased dietary potassium intake, moderation of alcohol consumption, optimal weight maintenance, and the adoption of "heart-friendly" dietary patterns such as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension or the Mediterranean diet can effectively lower blood pressure. Interestingly, the susceptibility of blood pressure to nutritional interventions is greatly variable among individuals, depending on age, race, genetic background, and comorbidities. The purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of currently available scientific evidence in the constantly evolving field of diet and HTN, placing particular emphasis on the key role of dietary sodium, dietary potassium, and alcohol intake in the pathophysiology, prevention, and treatment of human hypertension. © 2013 International Life Sciences Institute.

Dynamic interactions between cells and their extracellular matrix mediate embryonic development.

PubMed

Goody, Michelle F; Henry, Clarissa A

2010-06-01

Cells and their surrounding extracellular matrix microenvironment interact throughout all stages of life. Understanding the continuously changing scope of cell-matrix interactions in vivo is crucial to garner insights into both congenital birth defects and disease progression. A current challenge in the field of developmental biology is to adapt in vitro tools and rapidly evolving imaging technology to study cell-matrix interactions in a complex 4-D environment. In this review, we highlight the dynamic modulation of cell-matrix interactions during development. We propose that individual cell-matrix adhesion proteins are best considered as complex proteins that can play multiple, often seemingly contradictory roles, depending upon the context of the microenvironment. In addition, cell-matrix proteins can also exert different short versus long term effects. It is thus important to consider cell behavior in light of the microenvironment because of the constant and dynamic reciprocal interactions occurring between them. Finally, we suggest that analysis of cell-matrix interactions at multiple levels (molecules, cells, tissues) in vivo is critical for an integrated understanding because different information can be acquired from all size scales. Copyright 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

An updated Lagrangian discontinuous Galerkin hydrodynamic method for gas dynamics

DOE PAGES

Wu, Tong; Shashkov, Mikhail Jurievich; Morgan, Nathaniel Ray; ...

2018-04-09

Here, we present a new Lagrangian discontinuous Galerkin (DG) hydrodynamic method for gas dynamics. The new method evolves conserved unknowns in the current configuration, which obviates the Jacobi matrix that maps the element in a reference coordinate system or the initial coordinate system to the current configuration. The density, momentum, and total energy (ρ, ρu, E) are approximated with conservative higher-order Taylor expansions over the element and are limited toward a piecewise constant field near discontinuities using a limiter. Two new limiting methods are presented for enforcing the bounds on the primitive variables of density, velocity, and specific internal energymore » (ρ, u, e). The nodal velocity, and the corresponding forces, are calculated by solving an approximate Riemann problem at the element nodes. An explicit second-order method is used to temporally advance the solution. This new Lagrangian DG hydrodynamic method conserves mass, momentum, and total energy. 1D Cartesian coordinates test problem results are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and convergence order of the new DG method with the new limiters.« less

IPOLE - semi-analytic scheme for relativistic polarized radiative transport

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mościbrodzka, M.; Gammie, C. F.

2018-03-01

We describe IPOLE, a new public ray-tracing code for covariant, polarized radiative transport. The code extends the IBOTHROS scheme for covariant, unpolarized transport using two representations of the polarized radiation field: In the coordinate frame, it parallel transports the coherency tensor; in the frame of the plasma it evolves the Stokes parameters under emission, absorption, and Faraday conversion. The transport step is implemented to be as spacetime- and coordinate- independent as possible. The emission, absorption, and Faraday conversion step is implemented using an analytic solution to the polarized transport equation with constant coefficients. As a result, IPOLE is stable, efficient, and produces a physically reasonable solution even for a step with high optical depth and Faraday depth. We show that the code matches analytic results in flat space, and that it produces results that converge to those produced by Dexter's GRTRANS polarized transport code on a complicated model problem. We expect IPOLE will mainly find applications in modelling Event Horizon Telescope sources, but it may also be useful in other relativistic transport problems such as modelling for the IXPE mission.

Sustained fitness gains and variability in fitness trajectories in the long-term evolution experiment with Escherichia coli

PubMed Central

Lenski, Richard E.; Wiser, Michael J.; Ribeck, Noah; Blount, Zachary D.; Nahum, Joshua R.; Morris, J. Jeffrey; Zaman, Luis; Turner, Caroline B.; Wade, Brian D.; Maddamsetti, Rohan; Burmeister, Alita R.; Baird, Elizabeth J.; Bundy, Jay; Grant, Nkrumah A.; Card, Kyle J.; Rowles, Maia; Weatherspoon, Kiyana; Papoulis, Spiridon E.; Sullivan, Rachel; Clark, Colleen; Mulka, Joseph S.; Hajela, Neerja

2015-01-01

Many populations live in environments subject to frequent biotic and abiotic changes. Nonetheless, it is interesting to ask whether an evolving population's mean fitness can increase indefinitely, and potentially without any limit, even in a constant environment. A recent study showed that fitness trajectories of Escherichia coli populations over 50 000 generations were better described by a power-law model than by a hyperbolic model. According to the power-law model, the rate of fitness gain declines over time but fitness has no upper limit, whereas the hyperbolic model implies a hard limit. Here, we examine whether the previously estimated power-law model predicts the fitness trajectory for an additional 10 000 generations. To that end, we conducted more than 1100 new competitive fitness assays. Consistent with the previous study, the power-law model fits the new data better than the hyperbolic model. We also analysed the variability in fitness among populations, finding subtle, but significant, heterogeneity in mean fitness. Some, but not all, of this variation reflects differences in mutation rate that evolved over time. Taken together, our results imply that both adaptation and divergence can continue indefinitely—or at least for a long time—even in a constant environment. PMID:26674951

High food abundance permits the evolution of placentotrophy: evidence from a placental lizard, Pseudemoia entrecasteauxii.

PubMed

Van Dyke, James U; Griffith, Oliver W; Thompson, Michael B

2014-08-01

Mechanisms of reproductive allocation are major determinants of fitness because embryos cannot complete development without receiving sufficient nutrition from their parents. The nourishment of offspring via placentas (placentotrophy) has evolved repeatedly in vertebrates, including multiple times in squamate reptiles (lizards and snakes). Placentotrophy has been suggested to evolve only if food is sufficiently abundant throughout gestation to allow successful embryogenesis. If scarcity of food prevents successful embryogenesis, females should recoup nutrients allocated to embryos via abortion, reabsorption, and/or cannibalism. We tested these hypotheses in the placentotrophic southern grass skink Pseudemoia entrecasteauxii. We fed females one of four diets (high constant, high variable, low constant, and low variable) during gestation and tested the effects of both food amount and schedule of feeding on developmental success, cannibalism rate, placental nutrient transport, offspring size, and maternal growth and body condition. Low food availability reduced developmental success, placental nutrient transport, offspring size, and maternal growth and body condition. Cannibalism of offspring also increased when food was scarce. Schedule of feeding did not affect offspring or mothers. We suggest that high food abundance and ability to abort and cannibalize poor-quality offspring are permissive factors necessary for placentotrophy to be a viable strategy of reproductive allocation.

Scalar field and time varying cosmological constant in f(R,T) gravity for Bianchi type-I universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, G. P.; Bishi, Binaya K.; Sahoo, P. K.

2016-04-01

In this article, we have analysed the behaviour of scalar field and cosmological constant in $f(R,T)$ theory of gravity. Here, we have considered the simplest form of $f(R,T)$ i.e. $f(R,T)=R+2f(T)$, where $R$ is the Ricci scalar and $T$ is the trace of the energy momentum tensor and explored the spatially homogeneous and anisotropic Locally Rotationally Symmetric (LRS) Bianchi type-I cosmological model. It is assumed that the Universe is filled with two non-interacting matter sources namely scalar field (normal or phantom) with scalar potential and matter contribution due to $f(R,T)$ action. We have discussed two cosmological models according to power law and exponential law of the volume expansion along with constant and exponential scalar potential as sub models. Power law models are compatible with normal (quintessence) and phantom scalar field whereas exponential volume expansion models are compatible with only normal (quintessence) scalar field. The values of cosmological constant in our models are in agreement with the observational results. Finally, we have discussed some physical and kinematical properties of both the models.

Music Audiences 3.0: Concert-Goers' Psychological Motivations at the Dawn of Virtual Reality.

PubMed

Charron, Jean-Philippe

2017-01-01

Reviewing consumers' motivations to attend performances in a continuously evolving social and technological context is essential because live concerts generate an important and growing share of revenues for the music industry. Evolving fans' preferences and technological innovations constantly alter the way music is distributed and consumed. In a marketing 3.0 era, what consumers do with music is becoming more significant than simply owning or listening to a song. These changes are not only blurring the lines between production and consumption (i.e., co-creation), but also distorting the concept of live attendance altogether. Although mediated performances typically lack presence and authenticity, recent advances in immersive technologies, such as spherical videos and virtual reality goggles, could represent a new form of experiencing live music.

Music Audiences 3.0: Concert-Goers’ Psychological Motivations at the Dawn of Virtual Reality

PubMed Central

Charron, Jean-Philippe

2017-01-01

Reviewing consumers’ motivations to attend performances in a continuously evolving social and technological context is essential because live concerts generate an important and growing share of revenues for the music industry. Evolving fans’ preferences and technological innovations constantly alter the way music is distributed and consumed. In a marketing 3.0 era, what consumers do with music is becoming more significant than simply owning or listening to a song. These changes are not only blurring the lines between production and consumption (i.e., co-creation), but also distorting the concept of live attendance altogether. Although mediated performances typically lack presence and authenticity, recent advances in immersive technologies, such as spherical videos and virtual reality goggles, could represent a new form of experiencing live music. PMID:28588528

EvoGraph: On-The-Fly Efficient Mining of Evolving Graphs on GPU

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sengupta, Dipanjan; Song, Shuaiwen

With the prevalence of the World Wide Web and social networks, there has been a growing interest in high performance analytics for constantly-evolving dynamic graphs. Modern GPUs provide massive AQ1 amount of parallelism for efficient graph processing, but the challenges remain due to their lack of support for the near real-time streaming nature of dynamic graphs. Specifically, due to the current high volume and velocity of graph data combined with the complexity of user queries, traditional processing methods by first storing the updates and then repeatedly running static graph analytics on a sequence of versions or snapshots are deemed undesirablemore » and computational infeasible on GPU. We present EvoGraph, a highly efficient and scalable GPU- based dynamic graph analytics framework.« less

Time Evolution of the Wigner Operator as a Quasi-density Operator in Amplitude Dessipative Channel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Zhisong; Ren, Guihua; Yu, Ziyang; Wei, Chenhuinan; Fan, Hongyi

2018-06-01

For developing quantum mechanics theory in phase space, we explore how the Wigner operator {Δ } (α ,α ^{\\ast } )≡ {1}/{π } :e^{-2(α ^{\\ast } -α ^{\\dag })(α -α )}:, when viewed as a quasi-density operator correponding to the Wigner quasiprobability distribution, evolves in a damping channel. with the damping constant κ. We derive that it evolves into 1/T + 1:\\exp 2/T + 1[-(α^{\\ast} e^{-κ t}-a^{\\dag} )(α e^{-κ t}-a)]: where T ≡ 1 - e - 2 κ t . This in turn helps to directly obtain the final state ρ( t) out of the dessipative channel from the initial classical function corresponding to initial ρ(0). Throught the work, the method of integration within ordered product (IWOP) of operators is employed.

47 CFR 73.184 - Groundwave field strength graphs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... a dielectric constant of the ground (referred to air as unity) equal to 15 for land and 80 for sea..., Washington, DC 20554, (202) 632-7000. (c) Provided the value of the dielectric constant is near 15, the... dielectric constant, the following procedure may be used to determine the dielectric constant of the ground...

Nonlinear multidimensional cosmological models with form fields: Stabilization of extra dimensions and the cosmological constant problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Günther, U.; Moniz, P.; Zhuk, A.

2003-08-01

We consider multidimensional gravitational models with a nonlinear scalar curvature term and form fields in the action functional. In our scenario it is assumed that the higher dimensional spacetime undergoes a spontaneous compactification to a warped product manifold. Particular attention is paid to models with quadratic scalar curvature terms and a Freund-Rubin-like ansatz for solitonic form fields. It is shown that for certain parameter ranges the extra dimensions are stabilized. In particular, stabilization is possible for any sign of the internal space curvature, the bulk cosmological constant, and of the effective four-dimensional cosmological constant. Moreover, the effective cosmological constant can satisfy the observable limit on the dark energy density. Finally, we discuss the restrictions on the parameters of the considered nonlinear models and how they follow from the connection between the D-dimensional and the four-dimensional fundamental mass scales.

Inflation with a smooth constant-roll to constant-roll era transition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Odintsov, S. D.; Oikonomou, V. K.

2017-07-01

In this paper, we study canonical scalar field models, with a varying second slow-roll parameter, that allow transitions between constant-roll eras. In the models with two constant-roll eras, it is possible to avoid fine-tunings in the initial conditions of the scalar field. We mainly focus on the stability of the resulting solutions, and we also investigate if these solutions are attractors of the cosmological system. We shall calculate the resulting scalar potential and, by using a numerical approach, we examine the stability and attractor properties of the solutions. As we show, the first constant-roll era is dynamically unstable towards linear perturbations, and the cosmological system is driven by the attractor solution to the final constant-roll era. As we demonstrate, it is possible to have a nearly scale-invariant power spectrum of primordial curvature perturbations in some cases; however, this is strongly model dependent and depends on the rate of the final constant-roll era. Finally, we present, in brief, the essential features of a model that allows oscillations between constant-roll eras.

The evolving magnetic topology of τ Boötis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mengel, M. W.; Fares, R.; Marsden, S. C.; Carter, B. D.; Jeffers, S. V.; Petit, P.; Donati, J.-F.; Folsom, C. P.; BCool Collaboration

2016-07-01

We present six epochs of spectropolarimetric observations of the hot-Jupiter-hosting star τ Boötis that extend the exceptional previous multiyear data set of its large-scale magnetic field. Our results confirm that the large-scale magnetic field of τ Boötis varies cyclicly, with the observation of two further magnetic reversals; between 2013 December and 2014 May and between 2015 January and March. We also show that the field evolves in a broadly solar-type manner in contrast to other F-type stars. We further present new results which indicate that the chromospheric activity cycle and the magnetic activity cycles are related, which would indicate a very rapid magnetic cycle. As an exemplar of long-term magnetic field evolution, τ Boötis and this long-term monitoring campaign presents a unique opportunity for studying stellar magnetic cycles.

[Specific features in realization of the principle of minimum energy dissipation during individual development].

PubMed

Zotin, A A

2012-01-01

Realization of the principle of minimum energy dissipation (Prigogine's theorem) during individual development has been analyzed. This analysis has suggested the following reformulation of this principle for living objects: when environmental conditions are constant, the living system evolves to a current steady state in such a way that the difference between entropy production and entropy flow (psi(u) function) is positive and constantly decreases near the steady state, approaching zero. In turn, the current steady state tends to a final steady state in such a way that the difference between the specific entropy productions in an organism and its environment tends to be minimal. In general, individual development completely agrees with the law of entropy increase (second law of thermodynamics).

Modeling and characterization of dielectrophoretically structured piezoelectric composites using piezoceramic particle inclusions with high aspect ratios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van den Ende, D. A.; Maier, R. A.; van Neer, P. L. M. J.; van der Zwaag, S.; Randall, C. A.; Groen, W. A.

2013-01-01

In this work, the piezoelectric properties at high electric fields of dielectrophoretically aligned PZT—polymer composites containing high aspect ratio particles (such as short fibers) are presented. Polarization and strain as a function of electric field are evaluated. The properties of the composites are compared to those of PZT-polymer composites with equiaxed particles, continuous PZT fiber-polymer composites, and bulk PZT ceramics. From high-field polarization and strain measurements, the effective field dependent permittivity and piezoelectric charge constant in the poling direction are determined for dielectrophoresis structured PZT-polymer composites, continuous PZT fiber-polymer composites, and bulk PZT ceramics. The changes in dielectric properties of the inclusions and the matrix at high fields influence the dielectric and piezoelectric properties of the composites. It is found that the permittivity and piezoelectric charge constants increase towards a maximum at an applied field of around 2.5-5 kV/mm. The electric field at which the maximum occurs depends on the aspect ratio and degree of alignment of the inclusions. Experimental values of d33 at low and high applied fields are compared to a model describing the composites as a continuous polymer matrix containing PZT particles of various aspect ratios arranged into chains. Thickness mode coupling factors were determined from measured impedance data using fitted equivalent circuit model simulations. The relatively high piezoelectric strain constants, voltage constants, and thickness coupling factors indicate that such aligned short fiber composites could be useful as flexible large area transducers.

Reproducing the Photospheric Magnetic Field Evolution during the Rise of Cycle 24 with Flux Transport by Supergranules

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hathaway, David; Upton, Lisa

2012-01-01

We simulate the transport of magnetic flux in the Sun s photosphere by an evolving pattern of cellular horizontal flows (supergranules). Characteristics of the simulated flow pattern can match observed characteristics including the velocity power spectrum, cell lifetimes, and cell motions in longitude and latitude. Simulations using an average, and north-south symmetric, meridional motion of the cellular pattern produce polar magnetic fields that are too weak in the North and too strong in the South. Simulations using cellular patterns with meridional motions that evolve with the observed changes in strength and north-south asymmetry will be analyzed to see if they reproduce the polar field evolution observed during the rise of Cycle 24.

Reproducing the Photospheric Magnetic Field Evolution During the Rise of Cycle 24 with Flux Transport by Supergranules

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hathaway, David H.; Upton, Lisa

2012-01-01

We simulate the transport of magnetic flux in the Sun s photosphere by an evolving pattern of cellular horizontal flows (supergranules). Characteristics of the simulated flow pattern match observed characteristics including the velocity power spectrum, cell lifetimes, and cell pattern motion in longitude and latitude. Simulations using an average, and north-south symmetric, meridional motion of the cellular pattern produce polar magnetic fields that are too weak in the North and too strong in the South. Simulations using cellular patterns with meridional motions that evolve with the observed changes in strength and north-south asymmetry will be analyzed to see if they reproduce the polar field evolution observed during the rise of Cycle 24.

Constraining possible variations of the fine structure constant in strong gravitational fields with the Kα iron line

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bambi, Cosimo, E-mail: bambi@fudan.edu.cn

2014-03-01

In extensions of general relativity and in theories aiming at unifying gravity with the forces of the Standard Model, the value of the ''fundamental constants'' is often determined by the vacuum expectation value of new fields, which may thus change in different backgrounds. Variations of fundamental constants with respect to the values measured today in laboratories on Earth are expected to be more evident on cosmological timescales and/or in strong gravitational fields. In this paper, I show that the analysis of the Kα iron line observed in the X-ray spectrum of black holes can potentially be used to probe themore » fine structure constant α in gravitational potentials relative to Earth of Δφ ≈ 0.1. At present, systematic effects not fully under control prevent to get robust and stringent bounds on possible variations of the value of α with this technique, but the fact that current data can be fitted with models based on standard physics already rules out variations of the fine structure constant larger than some percent.« less

The ratio of B-field and dB/dt time constants from time-domain electromagnetic data: a new tool for estimating size and conductivity of mineral deposits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Kun; Mungall, James E.; Smith, Richard S.

2013-09-01

A discrete conductive sphere model in which current paths are constrained to a single planar orientation (the `dipping sphere') is used to calculate the secondary response from Geotech Ltd's VTEM airborne time domain electromagnetic (EM) system. In addition to calculating the time constants of the B-field and dB/dt responses, we focus on the time-constant ratio at a late time interval and compare numerical results with several field examples. For very strong conductors with conductivity above a critical value, both the B-field and dB/dt responses show decreasing values as the conductivity increases. Therefore response does not uniquely define conductivity. However, calculation of time constants for the decay removes the ambiguity and allows discrimination of high and low conductivity targets. A further benefit is gained by comparing the time constants of the B-field and dB/dt decays, which co-vary systematically over a wide range of target conductance. An advantage of calculating time constant ratios is that the ratios are insensitive to the dip and the depth of the targets and are stable across the conductor. Therefore we propose to use their ratio rτ=τB/τdB/dt as a tool to estimate the size and conductivity of mineral deposits. Using the VTEM base frequency, the magnitude of rτ reaches a limiting value of 1.32 for the most highly conductive targets. Interpretations become more complicated in the presence of conductive overburden, which appears to cause the limiting value of rτ to increase to 2 or more.

Real-time visualization of soliton molecules with evolving behavior in an ultrafast fiber laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Meng; Li, Heng; Luo, Ai-Ping; Cui, Hu; Xu, Wen-Cheng; Luo, Zhi-Chao

2018-03-01

Ultrafast fiber lasers have been demonstrated to be great platforms for the investigation of soliton dynamics. The soliton molecules, as one of the most fascinating nonlinear phenomena, have been a hot topic in the field of nonlinear optics in recent years. Herein, we experimentally observed the real-time evolving behavior of soliton molecule in an ultrafast fiber laser by using the dispersive Fourier transformation technology. Several types of evolving soliton molecules were obtained in our experiments, such as soliton molecules with monotonically or chaotically evolving phase, flipping and hopping phase. These results would be helpful to the communities interested in soliton nonlinear dynamics as well as ultrafast laser technologies.

THE ONSET OF ELECTRICAL BREAKDOWN IN DUST LAYERS: II. EFFECTIVE DIELECTRIC CONSTANT AND LOCAL FIELD ENHANCEMENT

EPA Science Inventory

Part 1 of the work has shown that electrical breakdown in dust layers obeys Paschen's Law, but occurs at applied field values which appear too small to initiate the breakdown. In this paper the authors show how an effective dielectric constant characterizing the dust layer can be...

Interfacial force field characterization of a constrained vapor bubble thermosyphon using IAI

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dasgupta, Sunando; Plawsky, Joel L.; Wayner, Peter C., Jr.

1994-01-01

The isothermal profiles of the extended meniscus in a quartz cuvette were measured in a gravitational field using IAI (image analyzing interferometer) which is based on computer enhanced video microscopy of the naturally occurring interference fringes. The experimental results for heptane and pentane menisci were analyzed using the extended Young-Laplace Equation. These isothermal results characterized the interfacial force field in-situ at the start of the heat transfer experiments by quantifying the dispersion constant for the specific liquid-solid system. The experimentally obtained values of the disjoining pressures and the dispersion constants are compared to the subsequent non-isothermal experiments because one of the major variables in the heat sink capability of the CVBT is the dispersion constant. In all previous studies of micro heat pipes the value of the dispersion constant has been 'guesstimated'. The major advantages of the current glass cell is the ability to view the extended meniscus at all times. Experimentally, we find that the extended Young-Laplace Equation is an excellent model for for the force field at the solid-liquid vapor interfaces.

Oblique Impact Ejecta Flow Fields: An Application of Maxwells Z Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, J. L. B.; Schultz, P. H.; Heineck, J. T.

2001-01-01

Oblique impact flow fields show an evolution from asymmetric to symmetric ejecta flow. This evolution can be put into the simple analytical description of the evolving flow field origin using the Maxwell Z Model. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Coordinating Aircraft During Field Campaigns: Real Time Mission Monitor Tool

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goodman, Michael

2012-01-01

RTMM has evolved into a powerful and easy to use application in support of planning, situational awareness and strategic decision-making during airborne field campaigns. NASA is very open to sharing these capabilities with any interested group through interagency collaborations in future field activities.

Strongly nonlinear composite dielectrics: A perturbation method for finding the potential field and bulk effective properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blumenfeld, Raphael; Bergman, David J.

1991-10-01

A class of strongly nonlinear composite dielectrics is studied. We develop a general method to reduce the scalar-potential-field problem to the solution of a set of linear Poisson-type equations in rescaled coordinates. The method is applicable for a large variety of nonlinear materials. For a power-law relation between the displacement and the electric fields, it is used to solve explicitly for the value of the bulk effective dielectric constant ɛe to second order in the fluctuations of its local value. A simlar procedure for the vector potential, whose curl is the displacement field, yields a quantity analogous to the inverse dielectric constant in linear dielectrics. The bulk effective dielectric constant is given by a set of linear integral expressions in the rescaled coordinates and exact bounds for it are derived.

Organizing the HIV vaccine development effort.

PubMed

Voronin, Yegor; Snow, William

2013-09-01

To describe and compare the diverse organizational structures and funding mechanisms applied to advance HIV preventive vaccine research and development and to help explain and inform evolving infrastructures and collaborative funding models. On the basis of models that have been tried, improved or abandoned over three decades, the field seems to have settled into a relatively stable set of diverse initiatives, each with its own organizational signature. At the same time, this set of organizations is forging cross-organizational collaborations, which promise to acquire newly emergent beneficial properties. Strong motivation to expedite HIV vaccine R&D has driven a diversity of customized and inventive organizational approaches, largely government and foundation funded. Although no one approach has proven a panacea, the field has evolved into a constellation of often overlapping organizations that complement or reinforce one another. The Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, a responsive, rapidly evolving loose infrastructure, is an innovative collaboration to catalyze that evolution.

Organizing the HIV Vaccine Development Effort

PubMed Central

Voronin, Yegor; Snow, William

2014-01-01

Purpose of Review Describe and compare the diverse organizational structures and funding mechanisms applied to advance HIV preventive vaccine research and development, to help explain and inform evolving infrastructures and collaborative funding models. Recent Findings Based on models that have been tried, improved or abandoned over three decades, the field seems to have settled into a relatively stable set of diverse initiatives, each with its own organizational signature. At the same time, this set of organizations is forging cross-organizational collaborations, which promise to acquire newly emergent beneficial properties. Summary Strong motivation to expedite HIV vaccine R&D has driven a diversity of customized and inventive organizational approaches, largely government and foundation funded. While no one approach has proven a panacea, the field has evolved into a constellation of often overlapping organizations that complement or reinforce one another. The Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, a responsive, rapidly evolving loose infrastructure, is an innovative collaboration to catalyze that evolution. PMID:23924997

Protoclusters with evolved populations around radio galaxies at z ~ 2.5

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kajisawa, Masaru; Kodama, Tadayuki; Tanaka, Ichi; Yamada, Toru; Bower, Richard

2006-09-01

We report the discovery of protocluster candidates around high-redshift radio galaxies at z ~ 2.5 on the basis of clear statistical excess of colour-selected galaxies around them seen in the deep near-infrared imaging data obtained with CISCO on the Subaru Telescope. We have observed six targets, all at similar redshifts at z ~ 2.5, and our data reach J = 23.5, H = 22.6 and K = 21.8 (5σ) and cover a 1.6 × 1.6 arcmin2 field centred on each radio galaxy. We apply colour cuts in JHK bands in order to exclusively search for galaxies located at high redshifts, z > 2. Over the magnitude range of 19.5 < K < 21.5, we see a significant excess of red galaxies with J - K > 2.3 by a factor of 2 around the combined radio galaxies fields compared to those found in the general field of the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey-South (GOODS-S). The excess of galaxies around the radio galaxies fields becomes more than a factor of 3 around 19.5 < K < 20.5 when the two-colour cuts are applied with JHK bands. Such overdensity of the colour-selected galaxies suggests that those fields tend to host high-density regions at high redshifts, although there seems to be the variety of the density of the colour-selected galaxies in each field. In particular, two radio galaxies fields out of the six observed fields show very strong density excess and these are likely to be protoclusters associated with the radio galaxies which would evolve into rich clusters of galaxies dominated by old passively evolving galaxies.

Non-trivial behavior of the low temperature maximum of dielectric constant and location of the end critical point in Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3-0.06BaTiO3 lead free relaxor ferroelectrics crystals detected by acoustic emission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dul'kin, Evgeniy; Tiagunova, Jenia; Mojaev, Evgeny; Roth, Michael

2018-01-01

[001] lead free relaxor ferroelectrics crystals of Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3-0.06BaTiO3 were studied by means of dielectric and acoustic emission methods in the temperature range of 25-240 °C and under a dc bias electric field up to 0.4 kV/cm. A temperature maximum of the dielectric constant was found near 170 °C, as well as the acoustic emission bursts pointed out to both the depolarization temperature near 120 °C and the temperature, corresponding to the maximum of dielectric constant, near 170 °C. While the depolarization temperature increased linearly, the temperature of the dielectric constant maximum was shown to exhibit a V-shape behavior under an electric field: it initially decreases, reaches a sharp minimum at some small threshold electric field of 0.15 kV/cm, and then starts to increase similar to the Curie temperature of the normal ferroelectrics, as the field enhances. Acoustic emission bursts, accompanying the depolarization temperature, weakened with the enhancing field, whereas the ones accompanying the temperature of the dielectric constant maximum exhibited two maxima: near 0.1 kV/cm and near 0.3 kV/cm. The meaning of these two acoustic emission maxima is discussed.

Meeting the Challenge of IS Curriculum Modernization: A Guide to Overhaul, Integration, and Continuous Improvement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGann, Sean T.; Frost, Raymond D.; Matta, Vic; Huang, Wayne

2007-01-01

Information Systems (IS) departments are facing challenging times as enrollments decline and the field evolves, thus necessitating large-scale curriculum changes. Our experience shows that many IS departments are in such a predicament as they have not evolved content quickly enough to keep it relevant, they do a poor job coordinating curriculum…

Thinking Through Computational Exposure as an Evolving Paradign Shift for Exposure Science: Development and Application of Predictive Models from Big Data

EPA Science Inventory

Symposium Abstract: Exposure science has evolved from a time when the primary focus was on measurements of environmental and biological media and the development of enabling field and laboratory methods. The Total Exposure Assessment Method (TEAM) studies of the 1980s were class...

On the efficacy of cinema, or what the visual system did not evolve to do

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cutting, James E.

1989-01-01

Spatial displays, and a constraint that they do not place on the use of spatial instruments are discussed. Much of the work done in visual perception by psychologists and by computer scientists has concerned displays that show the motion of rigid objects. Typically, if one assumes that objects are rigid, one can then proceed to understand how the constant shape of the object can be perceived (or computed) as it moves through space. The author maintains that photographs and cinema are visual displays that are also powerful forms of art. Their efficacy, in part, stems from the fact that, although viewpoint is constrained when composing them, it is not nearly so constrained when viewing them. It is obvious, according to the author, that human visual systems did not evolve to watch movies or look at photographs. Thus, what photographs and movies present must be allowed in the rule-governed system under which vision evolved. Machine-vision algorithms, to be applicable to human vision, should show the same types of tolerance.

Calibration of Post-AGB Supergiants as Standard Extragalactic Candles for HST

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bond, Howard E.

1998-01-01

This report summarizes activities carried out with support from the NASA Ultraviolet, Visible, and Gravitational Astrophysics Research and Analysis Program. The aim of the program is to calibrate the absolute magnitudes of post-asymptotic-giant-branch (post-AGB or PAGB) stars, which we believe will be an excellent new "standard candle" for measuring extragalactic distances. The reason for this belief is that in old populations, the stars that are evolving through the PAGB region of the HR (Hertzsprung-Russell) diagram arise from only a single main-sequence turnoff mass. In addition, the theoretical PAGB evolutionary tracks show that they evolve through this region at constant luminosity; hence the PAGB stars should have an extremely narrow luminosity function. Moreover, as the PAGB stars evolve through spectral types F and A (en route from the AGB to hot stellar remnants and white dwarfs), they have the highest luminosities attained by old stars (both bolometrically and in the visual band). Finally, the PAGB stars of these spectral types are very easily identified, due to their large Balmer jumps, which are due to their very low surface gravities.

The logarithmic and power law behaviors of the accelerating, turbulent thermal boundary layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castillo, Luciano; Hussain, Fazle

2017-02-01

Direct numerical simulation of spatially evolving thermal turbulent boundary layers with strong favorable pressure gradient (FPG) shows that the thermal fluctuation intensity, θ' + and the Reynolds shear stress, u'v'¯+ exhibit a logarithmic behavior spanning the meso-layer (e.g., 50 ≤y+≤170 ). However, the mean thermal profile is not logarithmic even in the zero pressure gradient (ZPG) region; instead, it follows a power law. The maxima of u' 2 ¯+ and v'θ'¯+ change little with the strength of acceleration, while v'+, w'+, and u'v'¯+ continue to decay in the flow direction. Furthermore, θ'+ and u'θ'¯+ surprisingly experience changes from constants in ZPG to sharp rises in the FPG region. Such behavior appears to be due to squashing of the streaks which decreases the streak flank angle below the critical value for "transient growth" generation of streamwise vortices, shutting down production [W. Schoppa and F. Hussain, "Coherent structure generation near-wall turbulence," J. Fluid Mech. 453, 57-108 (2002)]. The streamwise vortices near the wall, although shrink because of stretching, simultaneously, also become weaker as the structures are progressively pushed farther down to the more viscous region near the wall. While the vortical structures decay rapidly in accelerating flows, the thermal field does not—nullifying the myth that both the thermal and velocity fields are similar.

LUMINOSITY EVOLUTION OF GAMMA-RAY PULSARS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hirotani, Kouichi, E-mail: hirotani@tiara.sinica.edu.tw

2013-04-01

We investigate the electrodynamic structure of a pulsar outer-magnetospheric particle accelerator and the resulting gamma-ray emission. By considering the condition for the accelerator to be self-sustained, we derive how the trans-magnetic-field thickness of the accelerator evolves with the pulsar age. It is found that the thickness is small but increases steadily if the neutron-star envelope is contaminated by sufficient light elements. For such a light element envelope, the gamma-ray luminosity of the accelerator is kept approximately constant as a function of age in the initial 10,000 yr, forming the lower bound of the observed distribution of the gamma-ray luminosity ofmore » rotation-powered pulsars. If the envelope consists of only heavy elements, on the other hand, the thickness is greater, but it increases less rapidly than a light element envelope. For such a heavy element envelope, the gamma-ray luminosity decreases relatively rapidly, forming the upper bound of the observed distribution. The gamma-ray luminosity of a general pulsar resides between these two extreme cases, reflecting the envelope composition and the magnetic inclination angle with respect to the rotation axis. The cutoff energy of the primary curvature emission is regulated below several GeV even for young pulsars because the gap thickness, and hence the acceleration electric field, is suppressed by the polarization of the produced pairs.« less

Deconstructing Memory in Drosophila

PubMed Central

Margulies, Carla; Tully, Tim; Dubnau, Josh

2011-01-01

Unlike most organ systems, which have evolved to maintain homeostasis, the brain has been selected to sense and adapt to environmental stimuli by constantly altering interactions in a gene network that functions within a larger neural network. This unique feature of the central nervous system provides a remarkable plasticity of behavior, but also makes experimental investigations challenging. Each experimental intervention ramifies through both gene and neural networks, resulting in unpredicted and sometimes confusing phenotypic adaptations. Experimental dissection of mechanisms underlying behavioral plasticity ultimately must accomplish an integration across many levels of biological organization, including genetic pathways acting within individual neurons, neural network interactions which feed back to gene function, and phenotypic observations at the behavioral level. This dissection will be more easily accomplished for model systems such as Drosophila, which, compared with mammals, have relatively simple and manipulable nervous systems and genomes. The evolutionary conservation of behavioral phenotype and the underlying gene function ensures that much of what we learn in such model systems will be relevant to human cognition. In this essay, we have not attempted to review the entire Drosophila memory field. Instead, we have tried to discuss particular findings that provide some level of intellectual synthesis across three levels of biological organization: behavior, neural circuitry and biochemical pathways. We have attempted to use this integrative approach to evaluate distinct mechanistic hypotheses, and to propose critical experiments that will advance this field. PMID:16139203

Kink modes and surface currents associated with vertical displacement events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manickam, Janardhan; Boozer, Allen; Gerhardt, Stefan

2012-08-01

The fast termination phase of a vertical displacement event (VDE) in a tokamak is modeled as a sequence of shrinking equilibria, where the core current profile remains constant so that the safety-factor at the axis, qaxis, remains fixed and the qedge systematically decreases. At some point, the n = 1 kink mode is destabilized. Kink modes distort the magnetic field lines outside the plasma, and surface currents are required to nullify the normal component of the B-field at the plasma boundary and maintain equilibrium at finite pressure. If the plasma touches a conductor, the current can be transferred to the conductor, and may be measurable by the halo current monitors. This report describes a practical method to model the plasma as it evolves during a VDE, and determine the surface currents, needed to maintain equilibrium. The main results are that the onset conditions for the disruption are that the growth-rate of the n = 1 kink exceeds half the Alfven time and the associated surface current needed to maintain equilibrium exceeds one half of the core plasma current. This occurs when qedge drops below a low integer, usually 2. Application to NSTX provides favorable comparison with non-axisymmetric halo-current measurements. The model is also applied to ITER and shows that the 2/1 mode is projected to be the most likely cause of the final disruption.

Formation and Evolution of Target Patterns in Cahn-Hilliard Flows: An Extension of the Flux Expulsion Studies in MHD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Xiang; P H Diamond Collaboration; Luis Chacon Collaboration

2017-10-01

Spinodal decomposition is a second order phase transition for a binary liquid mixture to evolve from a miscible phase (e.g., water + alcohol) to two co-existing phases (e.g., water + oil). The Cahn-Hilliard model for spinodal decomposition is analogous to 2D MHD. We study the evolution of the concentration field in a single eddy in the 2D Cahn-Hilliard system to better understand scalar mixing processes in that system. This study extends investigations of the classic studies of flux expulsion in 2D MHD and homogenization of potential vorticity in 2D fluids. Simulation results show that there are three stages in the evolution: (A) formation of a ``jelly roll'' pattern, for which the concentration field is constant along spirals; (B) a change in isoconcentration contour topology; and (C) formation of a target pattern, for which the isoconcentration contours follow concentric annuli. In the final target pattern stage, the isoconcentration bands align with stream lines. The results indicate that the target pattern is a metastable state. Band merger process continues on a time scale exponentially long relative to the eddy turnover time. The band merger process resembles step merger in drift-ZF staircases. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Fusion Energy Sciences, under Award Number DE-FG02-04ER54738.

Intrinsic Hardware Evolution for the Design and Reconfiguration of Analog Speed Controllers for a DC Motor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gwaltney, David A.; Ferguson, Michael I.

2003-01-01

Evolvable hardware provides the capability to evolve analog circuits to produce amplifier and filter functions. Conventional analog controller designs employ these same functions. Analog controllers for the control of the shaft speed of a DC motor are evolved on an evolvable hardware platform utilizing a second generation Field Programmable Transistor Array (FPTA2). The performance of an evolved controller is compared to that of a conventional proportional-integral (PI) controller. It is shown that hardware evolution is able to create a compact design that provides good performance, while using considerably less functional electronic components than the conventional design. Additionally, the use of hardware evolution to provide fault tolerance by reconfiguring the design is explored. Experimental results are presented showing that significant recovery of capability can be made in the face of damaging induced faults.

Characterizing the evolving K -band luminosity function using the UltraVISTA, CANDELS and HUDF surveys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mortlock, Alice; McLure, Ross J.; Bowler, Rebecca A. A.; McLeod, Derek J.; Mármol-Queraltó, Esther; Parsa, Shaghayegh; Dunlop, James S.; Bruce, Victoria A.

2017-02-01

We present the results of a new study of the K-band galaxy luminosity function (KLF) at redshifts z ≤ 3.75, based on a nested combination of the UltraVISTA, Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Legacy Extragalactic Survey and HUDF surveys. The large dynamic range in luminosity spanned by this new data set (3-4 dex over the full redshift range) is sufficient to clearly demonstrate for the first time that the faint-end slope of the KLF at z ≥ 0.25 is relatively steep (-1.3 ≤ α ≤ -1.5 for a single Schechter function), in good agreement with recent theoretical and phenomenological models. Moreover, based on our new data set, we find that a double Schechter function provides a significantly improved description of the KLF at z ≤ 2. At redshifts z ≥ 0.25, the evolution of the KLF is remarkably smooth, with little or no evolution evident at faint (MK ≥ -20.5) or bright magnitudes (MK ≤ -24.5). Instead, the KLF is seen to evolve rapidly at intermediate magnitudes, with the number density of galaxies at MK ≃-23 dropping by a factor of ≃5 over the redshift interval 0.25 ≤ z ≤ 3.75. Motivated by this, we explore a simple description of the evolving KLF based on a double Schechter function with fixed faint-end slopes (α1 = -0.5, α2 = -1.5) and a shared characteristic magnitude (MK^{star }). According to this parametrization, the normalization of the component which dominates the faint end of the KLF remains approximately constant, with φ ^{star }2 decreasing by only a factor of ≃2 between z ≃0 and 3.25. In contrast, the component which dominates the bright end of the KLF at low redshifts evolves dramatically, becoming essentially negligible by z ≃3. Finally, we note that within this parametrization, the observed evolution of MK^{star } between z ≃0 and 3.25 is entirely consistent with MK^{star } corresponding to a constant stellar mass of M⋆ ≃5 × 1010 M⊙ at all redshifts.

Cosmological constant implementing Mach principle in general relativity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Namavarian, Nadereh; Farhoudi, Mehrdad

2016-10-01

We consider the fact that noticing on the operational meaning of the physical concepts played an impetus role in the appearance of general relativity (GR). Thus, we have paid more attention to the operational definition of the gravitational coupling constant in this theory as a dimensional constant which is gained through an experiment. However, as all available experiments just provide the value of this constant locally, this coupling constant can operationally be meaningful only in a local area. Regarding this point, to obtain an extension of GR for the large scale, we replace it by a conformal invariant model and then, reduce this model to a theory for the cosmological scale via breaking down the conformal symmetry through singling out a specific conformal frame which is characterized by the large scale characteristics of the universe. Finally, we come to the same field equations that historically were proposed by Einstein for the cosmological scale (GR plus the cosmological constant) as the result of his endeavor for making GR consistent with the Mach principle. However, we declare that the obtained field equations in this alternative approach do not carry the problem of the field equations proposed by Einstein for being consistent with Mach's principle (i.e., the existence of de Sitter solution), and can also be considered compatible with this principle in the Sciama view.

Field trauma care in the 21st century.

PubMed

O'Reilly, D; König, T; Tai, N

2008-12-01

The nature of trauma care on the modern battlefield is changing quickly. Leading figures in UK field trauma care spoke at a recent meeting of the Haywood Club. The challenge of modern warfare, the evolving evacuation chain and the command and governance of field trauma care were explored.

Force Field Benchmark of Organic Liquids: Density, Enthalpy of Vaporization, Heat Capacities, Surface Tension, Isothermal Compressibility, Volumetric Expansion Coefficient, and Dielectric Constant.

PubMed

Caleman, Carl; van Maaren, Paul J; Hong, Minyan; Hub, Jochen S; Costa, Luciano T; van der Spoel, David

2012-01-10

The chemical composition of small organic molecules is often very similar to amino acid side chains or the bases in nucleic acids, and hence there is no a priori reason why a molecular mechanics force field could not describe both organic liquids and biomolecules with a single parameter set. Here, we devise a benchmark for force fields in order to test the ability of existing force fields to reproduce some key properties of organic liquids, namely, the density, enthalpy of vaporization, the surface tension, the heat capacity at constant volume and pressure, the isothermal compressibility, the volumetric expansion coefficient, and the static dielectric constant. Well over 1200 experimental measurements were used for comparison to the simulations of 146 organic liquids. Novel polynomial interpolations of the dielectric constant (32 molecules), heat capacity at constant pressure (three molecules), and the isothermal compressibility (53 molecules) as a function of the temperature have been made, based on experimental data, in order to be able to compare simulation results to them. To compute the heat capacities, we applied the two phase thermodynamics method (Lin et al. J. Chem. Phys.2003, 119, 11792), which allows one to compute thermodynamic properties on the basis of the density of states as derived from the velocity autocorrelation function. The method is implemented in a new utility within the GROMACS molecular simulation package, named g_dos, and a detailed exposé of the underlying equations is presented. The purpose of this work is to establish the state of the art of two popular force fields, OPLS/AA (all-atom optimized potential for liquid simulation) and GAFF (generalized Amber force field), to find common bottlenecks, i.e., particularly difficult molecules, and to serve as a reference point for future force field development. To make for a fair playing field, all molecules were evaluated with the same parameter settings, such as thermostats and barostats, treatment of electrostatic interactions, and system size (1000 molecules). The densities and enthalpy of vaporization from an independent data set based on simulations using the CHARMM General Force Field (CGenFF) presented by Vanommeslaeghe et al. (J. Comput. Chem.2010, 31, 671) are included for comparison. We find that, overall, the OPLS/AA force field performs somewhat better than GAFF, but there are significant issues with reproduction of the surface tension and dielectric constants for both force fields.

Force Field Benchmark of Organic Liquids: Density, Enthalpy of Vaporization, Heat Capacities, Surface Tension, Isothermal Compressibility, Volumetric Expansion Coefficient, and Dielectric Constant

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

The chemical composition of small organic molecules is often very similar to amino acid side chains or the bases in nucleic acids, and hence there is no a priori reason why a molecular mechanics force field could not describe both organic liquids and biomolecules with a single parameter set. Here, we devise a benchmark for force fields in order to test the ability of existing force fields to reproduce some key properties of organic liquids, namely, the density, enthalpy of vaporization, the surface tension, the heat capacity at constant volume and pressure, the isothermal compressibility, the volumetric expansion coefficient, and the static dielectric constant. Well over 1200 experimental measurements were used for comparison to the simulations of 146 organic liquids. Novel polynomial interpolations of the dielectric constant (32 molecules), heat capacity at constant pressure (three molecules), and the isothermal compressibility (53 molecules) as a function of the temperature have been made, based on experimental data, in order to be able to compare simulation results to them. To compute the heat capacities, we applied the two phase thermodynamics method (Lin et al. J. Chem. Phys.2003, 119, 11792), which allows one to compute thermodynamic properties on the basis of the density of states as derived from the velocity autocorrelation function. The method is implemented in a new utility within the GROMACS molecular simulation package, named g_dos, and a detailed exposé of the underlying equations is presented. The purpose of this work is to establish the state of the art of two popular force fields, OPLS/AA (all-atom optimized potential for liquid simulation) and GAFF (generalized Amber force field), to find common bottlenecks, i.e., particularly difficult molecules, and to serve as a reference point for future force field development. To make for a fair playing field, all molecules were evaluated with the same parameter settings, such as thermostats and barostats, treatment of electrostatic interactions, and system size (1000 molecules). The densities and enthalpy of vaporization from an independent data set based on simulations using the CHARMM General Force Field (CGenFF) presented by Vanommeslaeghe et al. (J. Comput. Chem.2010, 31, 671) are included for comparison. We find that, overall, the OPLS/AA force field performs somewhat better than GAFF, but there are significant issues with reproduction of the surface tension and dielectric constants for both force fields. PMID:22241968

Ask the experts: automation: part I.

PubMed

Allinson, John L; Blick, Kenneth E; Cohen, Lucinda; Higton, David; Li, Ming

2013-08-01

Bioanalysis invited a selection of leading researchers to express their views on automation in the bioanalytical laboratory. The topics discussed include the challenges that the modern bioanalyst faces when integrating automation into existing drug-development processes, the impact of automation and how they envision the modern bioanalytical laboratory changing in the near future. Their enlightening responses provide a valuable insight into the impact of automation and the future of the constantly evolving bioanalytical laboratory.

Molecular clock of HIV-1 envelope genes under early immune selection

DOE PAGES

Park, Sung Yong; Love, Tanzy M. T.; Perelson, Alan S.; ...

2016-06-01

Here, the molecular clock hypothesis that genes or proteins evolve at a constant rate is a key tool to reveal phylogenetic relationships among species. Using the molecular clock, we can trace an infection back to transmission using HIV-1 sequences from a single time point. Whether or not a strict molecular clock applies to HIV-1’s early evolution in the presence of immune selection has not yet been fully examined.

Heeding Cultural Prerogatives: The Evolving Politics of Wine Regulation in France

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-06-01

French wine advanced in concert with the consumption and production booms, according to most observers. Early trailblazers of gastronomy in France...History of Wine (New York: Harper Collins, 2000), 230. 54 Pascal Ory, “ Gastronomy ,” in Pierre Nora, Realms of Memory: The Construction of the French...constantly encounter, and often employ, new viticultural technologies and techniques. Just as is the case with standard versions of globalization, a deep

IT Acquisition: Expediting the Process to Deliver Business Capabilities to the DoD Enterprise. Revised Edition

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-07-01

effectively manage delivery of information capabilities. Under IT 360, they will need to incorporate constantly evolving, market -driven commercial systems...traditional acquisition system; under IT 360, these processes are largely obsolete and create oversight ambiguities. • Congress requires that funds be...2004). Furthermore, because the product is not available on the commercial market , the development of any complementary updates will also need to be

Strategic Positioning of United States Air Force Civil Engineer Contingency Equipment within the Supply Chain

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-03-27

discussed. Background In a dynamic world full of uncertain threats, the United States military is constantly required to evolve and enhance its...capabilities to effectively defend the nation. One of the military capabilities requiring continuous improvement to ensure pursuit of American...force the right personnel, equipment, and supplies in the right place, at the right time, and in the right quantity, across the full range of military

Molecular clock of HIV-1 envelope genes under early immune selection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Park, Sung Yong; Love, Tanzy M. T.; Perelson, Alan S.

Here, the molecular clock hypothesis that genes or proteins evolve at a constant rate is a key tool to reveal phylogenetic relationships among species. Using the molecular clock, we can trace an infection back to transmission using HIV-1 sequences from a single time point. Whether or not a strict molecular clock applies to HIV-1’s early evolution in the presence of immune selection has not yet been fully examined.

The Global Special Operations Forces Network from a Partner-Nation Perspective

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-12-01

in networks vs . management of Networks. ................................80  Figure 17.  A national SOF network with SOCOM as the manager of networks...context and are asked in the natural course of things; there is no predetermination of question topics or wording. 10 descriptive section is the...struggles and challenges that occur naturally over time. As depicted in Figure 2, the network will constantly have to examine how it is evolving and, if

Field patterns: a new mathematical object

PubMed Central

Mattei, Ornella

2017-01-01

Field patterns occur in space–time microstructures such that a disturbance propagating along a characteristic line does not evolve into a cascade of disturbances, but rather concentrates on a pattern of characteristic lines. This pattern is the field pattern. In one spatial direction plus time, the field patterns occur when the slope of the characteristics is, in a sense, commensurate with the space–time microstructure. Field patterns with different spatial shifts do not generally interact, but rather evolve as if they live in separate dimensions, as many dimensions as the number of field patterns. Alternatively one can view a collection as a multi-component potential, with as many components as the number of field patterns. Presumably, if one added a tiny nonlinear term to the wave equation one would then see interactions between these field patterns in the multi-dimensional space that one can consider them to live, or between the different field components of the multi-component potential if one views them that way. As a result of PT-symmetry many of the complex eigenvalues of an appropriately defined transfer matrix have unit norm and hence the corresponding eigenvectors correspond to propagating modes. There are also modes that blow up exponentially with time. PMID:28293143

Coherent and Semiclassical States of a Charged Particle in a Constant Electric Field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adorno, T. C.; Pereira, A. S.

2018-05-01

The method of integrals of motion is used to construct families of generalized coherent states of a nonrelativistic spinless charged particle in a constant electric field. Families of states, differing in the values of their standard deviations at the initial time, are obtained. Depending on the initial values of the standard deviations, and also on the electric field, it turns out to be possible to identify some families with semiclassical states.

Enzymatic mechanisms of biological magnetic sensitivity.

PubMed

Letuta, Ulyana G; Berdinskiy, Vitaly L; Udagawa, Chikako; Tanimoto, Yoshifumi

2017-10-01

Primary biological magnetoreceptors in living organisms is one of the main research problems in magnetobiology. Intracellular enzymatic reactions accompanied by electron transfer have been shown to be receptors of magnetic fields, and spin-dependent ion-radical processes can be a universal mechanism of biological magnetosensitivity. Magnetic interactions in intermediate ion-radical pairs, such as Zeeman and hyperfine (HFI) interactions, in accordance with proposed strict quantum mechanical theory, can determine magnetic-field dependencies of reactions that produce biologically important molecules needed for cell growth. Hyperfine interactions of electrons with nuclear magnetic moments of magnetic isotopes can explain the most important part of biomagnetic sensitivities in a weak magnetic field comparable to the Earth's magnetic field. The theoretical results mean that magnetic-field dependencies of enzymatic reaction rates in a weak magnetic field that can be independent of HFI constant a, if H < a, and are determined by the rate constant of chemical transformations in the enzyme active site. Both Zeeman and HFI interactions predict strong magnetic-field dependence in weak magnetic fields and magnetic-field independence of enzymatic reaction rate constants in strong magnetic fields. The theoretical results can explain the magnetic sensitivity of E. coli cell and demonstrate that intracellular enzymatic reactions are primary magnetoreceptors in living organisms. Bioelectromagnetics. 38:511-521, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

2010 MULTIPHOTON PROCESSES GORDON RESEARCH CONFERENCE, JUNE 6-11, 2010, TILTON, NH

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mette Gaarde

2010-06-11

The Gordon Research Conference on Multiphoton Processes will be held for the 15th time in 2010. The meeting continues to evolve as it embraces both the rapid technological and intellectual growth in the field as well as the multi-disciplinary expertise of the participants. This time the sessions will focus on: (1) Ultrafast coherent control; (2) Free-electron laser experiments and theory; (3) Generation of harmonics and attosecond pulses; (4) Ultrafast imaging; (5) Applications of very high intensity laser fields; (6) Strong-field processes in molecules and solids; (7) Attosecond science; and (8) Controlling light. The scientific program will blur traditional disciplinary boundariesmore » as the presenters and discussion leaders involve chemists, physicists, and optical engineers, representing both experiment and theory. The broad range of expertise and different perspectives of attendees should provide a stimulating and unique environment for solving problems and developing new ideas in this rapidly evolving field.« less

Corrections for a constant radial magnetic field in the muon \\varvec{g}-2 and electric-dipole-moment experiments in storage rings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silenko, Alexander J.

2017-10-01

We calculate the corrections for constant radial magnetic field in muon {g}-2 and electric-dipole-moment experiments in storage rings. While the correction is negligible for the current generation of {g}-2 experiments, it affects the upcoming muon electric-dipole-moment experiment at Fermilab.

Influence of a constant magnetic field on thrombocytes. [delay of blood coagulation time

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Meyerova, Y. A.

1974-01-01

In an experiment on white mice it was found that a constant electromagnetic field with strength of 250-275 oersteds is biologically active at an exposure of 55 minutes. Qualitative and morphological changes in thrombocytes 1-3 days following exposure reduced their numbers, prolonged blood coagulation time and increased the number of leucocytes.

Small field axion inflation with sub-Planckian decay constant

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kadota, Kenji; Kobayashi, Tatsuo; Oikawa, Akane

2016-10-10

We study an axion inflation model recently proposed within the framework of type IIB superstring theory, where we pay a particular attention to a sub-Planckian axion decay constant. Our axion potential can lead to the small field inflation with a small tensor-to-scalar ratio, and a typical reheating temperature can be as low as GeV.

Fluctuations, ghosts, and the cosmological constant

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hirayama, T.; Holdom, B.

2004-12-15

For a large region of parameter space involving the cosmological constant and mass parameters, we discuss fluctuating spacetime solutions that are effectively Minkowskian on large time and distance scales. Rapid, small amplitude oscillations in the scale factor have a frequency determined by the size of a negative cosmological constant. A field with modes of negative energy is required. If it is gravity that induces a coupling between the ghostlike and normal fields, we find that this results in stochastic rather than unstable behavior. The negative energy modes may also permit the existence of Lorentz invariant fluctuating solutions of finite energymore » density. Finally we consider higher derivative gravity theories and find oscillating metric solutions in these theories without the addition of other fields.« less

Clustering of vertically constrained passive particles in homogeneous isotropic turbulence.

PubMed

De Pietro, Massimo; van Hinsberg, Michel A T; Biferale, Luca; Clercx, Herman J H; Perlekar, Prasad; Toschi, Federico

2015-05-01

We analyze the dynamics of small particles vertically confined, by means of a linear restoring force, to move within a horizontal fluid slab in a three-dimensional (3D) homogeneous isotropic turbulent velocity field. The model that we introduce and study is possibly the simplest description for the dynamics of small aquatic organisms that, due to swimming, active regulation of their buoyancy, or any other mechanism, maintain themselves in a shallow horizontal layer below the free surface of oceans or lakes. By varying the strength of the restoring force, we are able to control the thickness of the fluid slab in which the particles can move. This allows us to analyze the statistical features of the system over a wide range of conditions going from a fully 3D incompressible flow (corresponding to the case of no confinement) to the extremely confined case corresponding to a two-dimensional slice. The background 3D turbulent velocity field is evolved by means of fully resolved direct numerical simulations. Whenever some level of vertical confinement is present, the particle trajectories deviate from that of fluid tracers and the particles experience an effectively compressible velocity field. Here, we have quantified the compressibility, the preferential concentration of the particles, and the correlation dimension by changing the strength of the restoring force. The main result is that there exists a particular value of the force constant, corresponding to a mean slab depth approximately equal to a few times the Kolmogorov length scale η, that maximizes the clustering of the particles.

Ferromagnetic resonance of a YIG film in the low frequency regime

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lee, Seongjae; Grudichak, Scott; Sklenar, Joseph

2016-07-21

An improved method for characterizing the magnetic anisotropy of films with cubic symmetry is described and is applied to an yttrium iron garnet (111) film. Analysis of the ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) spectra performed both in-plane and out-of-plane from 0.7 to 8 GHz yielded the magnetic anisotropy constants as well as the saturation magnetization. The field at which FMR is observed turns out to be quite sensitive to anisotropy constants (by more than a factor ten) in the low frequency (<2 GHz) regime, and when the orientation of the magnetic field is nearly normal to the sample plane; the restoring force onmore » the magnetization arising from the magnetocrystalline anisotropy fields is then comparable to that from the external field, thereby allowing the anisotropy constants to be determined with greater accuracy. In this region, unusual dynamical behaviors are observed such as multiple resonances and a switching of FMR resonance with only a 1° change in field orientation at 0.7 GHz.« less

Bearing selection in ball-rolling dung beetles: is it constant?

PubMed

Baird, Emily; Byrne, Marcus J; Scholtz, Clarke H; Warrant, Eric J; Dacke, Marie

2010-11-01

Ball rolling in dung beetles is thought to have evolved as a means to escape intense inter- and intra-specific competition at the dung pile. Accordingly, dung beetles typically roll along a straight-line path away from the pile, this being the most effective escape strategy for transporting dung to a suitable burial site. In this study, we investigate how individual diurnal dung beetles, Scarabaeus (Kheper) nigroaeneus, select the compass bearing of their straight-line rolls. In particular, we examine whether roll bearings are constant with respect to geographic cues, celestial cues, or other environmental cues (such as wind direction). Our results reveal that the roll bearings taken by individual beetles are not constant with respect to geographic or celestial references. Environmental cues appear to have some influence over bearing selection, although the relationship is not strong. Furthermore, the variance in roll bearing that we observe is not affected by the presence or absence of other beetles. Thus, rather than being constant for individual beetles, bearing selection varies each time a beetle makes a ball and rolls it away from the dung pile. This strategy allows beetles to make an efficient escape from the dung pile while minimizing the chance of encountering competition.

The Evolution of Public Health Emergency Management as a Field of Practice.

PubMed

Rose, Dale A; Murthy, Shivani; Brooks, Jennifer; Bryant, Jeffrey

2017-09-01

The health impacts of recent global infectious disease outbreaks and other disasters have demonstrated the importance of strengthening public health systems to better protect communities from naturally occurring and human-caused threats. Public health emergency management (PHEM) is an emergent field of practice that draws on specific sets of knowledge, techniques, and organizing principles necessary for the effective management of complex health events. We highlight how the nascent field of PHEM has evolved in recent years. We explore this development by first examining multiple sites of intersection between the fields of public health and emergency management. We then analyze 2 of the principal pillars on which PHEM was built: organizational and programmatic (i.e., industry) standards and the incident management system. This is followed by a sketch of the key domains, or functional areas, of PHEM and their application to the emergency management cycle. We conclude with some observations about PHEM in a global context and discuss how the field might continue to evolve.

The Evolution of Public Health Emergency Management as a Field of Practice

PubMed Central

Murthy, Shivani; Brooks, Jennifer; Bryant, Jeffrey

2017-01-01

The health impacts of recent global infectious disease outbreaks and other disasters have demonstrated the importance of strengthening public health systems to better protect communities from naturally occurring and human-caused threats. Public health emergency management (PHEM) is an emergent field of practice that draws on specific sets of knowledge, techniques, and organizing principles necessary for the effective management of complex health events. We highlight how the nascent field of PHEM has evolved in recent years. We explore this development by first examining multiple sites of intersection between the fields of public health and emergency management. We then analyze 2 of the principal pillars on which PHEM was built: organizational and programmatic (i.e., industry) standards and the incident management system. This is followed by a sketch of the key domains, or functional areas, of PHEM and their application to the emergency management cycle. We conclude with some observations about PHEM in a global context and discuss how the field might continue to evolve. PMID:28892444

Static solutions in Einstein-Chern-Simons gravity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Crisóstomo, J.; Gomez, F.; Mella, P.

In this paper we study static solutions with more general symmetries than the spherical symmetry of the five-dimensional Einstein-Chern-Simons gravity. In this context, we study the coupling of the extra bosonic field h{sup a} with ordinary matter which is quantified by the introduction of an energy-momentum tensor field associated with h{sup a}. It is found that exist (i) a negative tangential pressure zone around low-mass distributions (μ < μ{sub 1}) when the coupling constant α is greater than zero; (ii) a maximum in the tangential pressure, which can be observed in the outer region of a field distribution that satisfiesmore » μ < μ{sub 2}; (iii) solutions that behave like those obtained from models with negative cosmological constant. In such a situation, the field h{sup a} plays the role of a cosmological constant.« less

The Effect of Electric Field on the Explosive Sensitivity of Silver Azide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodzevich, A. P.; Gazenaur, E. G.; Kuzmina, L. V.; Krasheninin, V. I.; Gazenaur, N. V.

2017-05-01

The effect of a constant contactless electric field on the rate of a chemical reaction in silver azide is explored in this paper. The technology of growing and processing silver azide whiskers in the constant contactless electric field (field intensity was varied in the range from 10-3 V/m to 100 V/m) allows supervising their explosive sensitivity, therefore, the results of experiments can be relevant for purposeful controlling the resistance of explosive materials. This paper is one of the first attempts to develop efficient methods to affect the explosive sensitivity of energy-related materials in a weak electric field (up to 10-3 V/m).

Asymptotic Expansion Homogenization for Multiscale Nuclear Fuel Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hales, J. D.; Tonks, M. R.; Chockalingam, K.

2015-03-01

Engineering scale nuclear fuel performance simulations can benefit by utilizing high-fidelity models running at a lower length scale. Lower length-scale models provide a detailed view of the material behavior that is used to determine the average material response at the macroscale. These lower length-scale calculations may provide insight into material behavior where experimental data is sparse or nonexistent. This multiscale approach is especially useful in the nuclear field, since irradiation experiments are difficult and expensive to conduct. The lower length-scale models complement the experiments by influencing the types of experiments required and by reducing the total number of experiments needed.more » This multiscale modeling approach is a central motivation in the development of the BISON-MARMOT fuel performance codes at Idaho National Laboratory. These codes seek to provide more accurate and predictive solutions for nuclear fuel behavior. One critical aspect of multiscale modeling is the ability to extract the relevant information from the lower length-scale sim- ulations. One approach, the asymptotic expansion homogenization (AEH) technique, has proven to be an effective method for determining homogenized material parameters. The AEH technique prescribes a system of equations to solve at the microscale that are used to compute homogenized material constants for use at the engineering scale. In this work, we employ AEH to explore the effect of evolving microstructural thermal conductivity and elastic constants on nuclear fuel performance. We show that the AEH approach fits cleanly into the BISON and MARMOT codes and provides a natural, multidimensional homogenization capability.« less

Proto-Clusters with Evolved Populations around Radio Galaxies at 2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kodama, T.; Tanaka, M.; Tanaka, I.; Kajisawa, M.

2007-12-01

We present an on-going near-infrared survey of proto-clusters around high-z radio-loud galaxies at 2 ≲ z ≲ 3 with a new wide-field instrument MOIRCS on Subaru. Most of these field are known to show a large number of Lyα and/or Hα emitters at the same redshifts of the radio galaxies. We see a clear excess of near-infrared selected galaxies (JHK_s-selected galaxies as well as DRG) in these fields, and they are indeed proto-clusters with not only young emitters but also evolved populations. Spatial distribution of such NIR selected galaxies is filamentary and track similar structures traced by the emitters. There is an hint that the bright-end of the red sequence first appeared between z=3 and 2.

Elastic constants of stressed and unstressed materials in the phase-field crystal model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Zi-Le; Huang, Zhi-Feng; Liu, Zhirong

2018-04-01

A general procedure is developed to investigate the elastic response and calculate the elastic constants of stressed and unstressed materials through continuum field modeling, particularly the phase-field crystal (PFC) models. It is found that for a complete description of system response to elastic deformation, the variations of all the quantities of lattice wave vectors, their density amplitudes (including the corresponding anisotropic variation and degeneracy breaking), the average atomic density, and system volume should be incorporated. The quantitative and qualitative results of elastic constant calculations highly depend on the physical interpretation of the density field used in the model, and also importantly, on the intrinsic pressure that usually pre-exists in the model system. A formulation based on thermodynamics is constructed to account for the effects caused by constant pre-existing stress during the homogeneous elastic deformation, through the introducing of a generalized Gibbs free energy and an effective finite strain tensor used for determining the elastic constants. The elastic properties of both solid and liquid states can be well produced by this unified approach, as demonstrated by an analysis for the liquid state and numerical evaluations for the bcc solid phase. The numerical calculations of bcc elastic constants and Poisson's ratio through this method generate results that are consistent with experimental conditions, and better match the data of bcc Fe given by molecular dynamics simulations as compared to previous work. The general theory developed here is applicable to the study of different types of stressed or unstressed material systems under elastic deformation.

The effect of magnetic topography on high-latitude radio emission at Neptune

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sawyer, C. B.; Warwick, James W.; Romig, J. H.

1992-01-01

Occultation by a local elevation on the surface of constant magnetic field is proposed as a new interpretation for the unusual properties of Neptune high-latitude emission. Abrupt changes in intensity and polarization of this broadband smooth radio emission were observed as the Voyager 2 spacecraft passed near the north magnetic pole before closest approach. The observed sequence of cutoffs with polarization reversal would not occur during descent of the spacecraft through regular surfaces of increasing magnetic field. The sequence can be understood in terms of constant-frequency (constant-field) surfaces that are not only offset from the planet center but are locally highly distorted by an elevation that occults the outgoing extraordinary-mode beam. The required occulter is similar to the field enhancement observed directly by the magnetometer team when Voyager reached lower altitude farther to the west. Evidence is presented that the sources of the high-altitude emission are located near the longitude of the minimum-B anomaly associated with the dipole offset and that the local elevation of constant-B surfaces extends eastward from the longitude where it is directly measured by the magnetometer to the longitude where occultation of the remote radio source is observed. Together, the radio and magnetometer experiments indicate that the constant-frequency surfaces are distorted by an elevation that extends 0.3 rad in the longitudinal direction.

Increased dielectric constant in the water treated by extremely low frequency electromagnetic field and its possible biological implication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Xun

2011-12-01

Water is the most abundant compound on the surface of the Earth, and can be considered to be the most important molecule in living systems. Water plays a variety of cellular functions, being the solvent of most biological molecules, a substrate and product of enzymatic catalysis, an important component of macromolecules, and more. Because of importance of water in life, many physical and chemical treatments were invented to improve the quality of drinking water. Among them, the treatment with electromagnetic field is a well-known, but much debatable physical method. Although electromagnetic field has been utilized for treating water for 80 years, many reports on beneficial biological effect of electromagnetic field-treated water were either anecdotal or less convincing. To explore if there is any physical base for understanding possible biological effects of electromagnetic field-treated water, dielectric relaxation spectra of deionized water treated with an extremely low frequency electromagnetic (ELFEM) field were measured and compared with that of untreated water. It was surprisingly found that the dielectric constant of the ELFEM field-treated water was 3.7% higher than the control over the frequency range of 1-10 GHz, which indicates a higher molecular polarization occurs in the ELFEM field-treated water. Electrostatic and thermodynamic analysis shows that proteins or other biomacromolecules would have more reduced free energy when they are hydrated in high dielectric constant water. Since free energy is of crucial importance for stability of proteins, protein folding and its conformational change, as well as catalytic activity of enzymes, the free energy reduction of the biomacromolecules hydrated with higher dielectric constant water may be responsible for many possible biological effects of electromagnetic field treated water.

EHWPACK: An evolvable hardware environment using the SPICE simulator and the Field Programmable Transistor Array

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Keymeulen, D.; Klimeck, G.; Zebulum, R.; Stoica, A.; Jin, Y.; Lazaro, C.

2000-01-01

This paper describes the EHW development system, a tool that performs the evolutionary synthesis of electronic circuits, using the SPICE simulator and the Field Programmable Transistor Array hardware (FPTA) developed at JPL.

SiO maser polarization in evolved stars: magnetic field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herpin, F.; Baudry, A.; Thum, C.; Morris, D.; Wiesemeyer, H.

The maser theory still needs to be improved, in particular in terms of polarization. The study of the maser geometry inside the circumstellar envelopes can also be achieved through polarization studies (e.g., VLBI observations). But the most exciting point is the determination of the magnetic field that can be made from polarization measurements: this is definitively a new field of investigation for these evolved objects. The magnetic field probably plays an important role in the AGB star's life and can be a major factor (magnetic rotator theory) on the origin of the high mass loss rates observed in evolved objects. Measurement of the magnetic field is thus essential to study the mass loss mechanisms and also the Alfven waves. During its transition most quasi spherical AGB stars (i.e. envelopes) become complicated aspherical objects. This shaping is well explained by the Interacting Stellar Winds theory (Kwok works), but the ISW model fails to reproduce very complicated structures with jets and ansae. A new model (Magnetized Wind Blown Bubble theory) was thus developed by Blackman et al. (2001) and A. Franck: a weak toroidal magnetic field, embedded in the stellar wind, acts as a collimating agent (cf. Garcia-Segura 1997) and can produce such structures. Three molecules can show polarized maser emission in the circumstellar envelopes: - OH traces the envelope far from the central star (1000-10000 AU) - H2O at intermediate distances (a few 100 AU) - SiO in the inner circumstellar layers (5-10 AU) Measurement of the polarization rate of the maser radiation emitted by these molecules can give us the averaged value B// of the magnetic field along the line of sight (for a single dish observation). We present here the first complete study of the SiO maser polarization in a large sample of evolved stars (more than 100). The 4 Stokes parameters I, U, Q, V were simultaneously measured with the polarimeter on the IRAM-30m telescope. From the Stokes parameters values we derive the linear (pL) and circular (pC) polarization rates and polarization angle. The circular polarization rate gives us directly the magnetic field B//: B// varies from 1 to 32 Gauss depending on the source, with an average value of 9 Gauss.

Time constant determination for electrical equivalent of biological cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dubey, Ashutosh Kumar; Dutta-Gupta, Shourya; Kumar, Ravi; Tewari, Abhishek; Basu, Bikramjit

2009-04-01

The electric field interactions with biological cells are of significant interest in various biophysical and biomedical applications. In order to study such important aspect, it is necessary to evaluate the time constant in order to estimate the response time of living cells in the electric field (E-field). In the present study, the time constant is evaluated by considering the hypothesis of electrical analog of spherical shaped cells and assuming realistic values for capacitance and resistivity properties of cell/nuclear membrane, cytoplasm, and nucleus. In addition, the resistance of cytoplasm and nucleoplasm was computed based on simple geometrical considerations. Importantly, the analysis on the basis of first principles shows that the average values of time constant would be around 2-3 μs, assuming the theoretical capacitance values and the analytically computed resistance values. The implication of our analytical solution has been discussed in reference to the cellular adaptation processes such as atrophy/hypertrophy as well as the variation in electrical transport properties of cellular membrane/cytoplasm/nuclear membrane/nucleoplasm.

H0, q0 and the local velocity field. [Hubble and deceleration constants in Big Bang expansion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sandage, A.; Tammann, G. A.

1982-01-01

An attempt is made to find a systematic deviation from linearity for distances that are under the control of the Virgo cluster, and to determine the value of the mean random motion about the systematic flow, in order to improve the measurement of the Hubble and the deceleration constants. The velocity-distance relation for large and intermediate distances is studied, and type I supernovae are calibrated relatively as distance indicators and absolutely to obtain a new value for the Hubble constant. Methods of determining the deceleration constant are assessed, including determination from direct measurement, mean luminosity density, virgocentric motion, and the time scale test. The very local velocity field is investigated, and a solution is preferred with a random peculiar radial velocity of very nearby field galaxies of 90-100 km/s, and a Virgocentric motion of the local group of 220 km/s, leading to an underlying expansion rate of 55, in satisfactory agreement with the global value.

A Variational Statistical-Field Theory for Polar Liquid Mixtures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhuang, Bilin; Wang, Zhen-Gang

Using a variational field-theoretic approach, we derive a molecularly-based theory for polar liquid mixtures. The resulting theory consists of simple algebraic expressions for the free energy of mixing and the dielectric constant as functions of mixture composition. Using only the dielectric constants and the molar volumes of the pure liquid constituents, the theory evaluates the mixture dielectric constants in good agreement with the experimental values for a wide range of liquid mixtures, without using adjustable parameters. In addition, the theory predicts that liquids with similar dielectric constants and molar volumes dissolve well in each other, while sufficient disparity in these parameters result in phase separation. The calculated miscibility map on the dielectric constant-molar volume axes agrees well with known experimental observations for a large number of liquid pairs. Thus the theory provides a quantification for the well-known empirical ``like-dissolves-like'' rule. Bz acknowledges the A-STAR fellowship for the financial support.

Exact Green's function method of solar force-free magnetic-field computations with constant alpha. I - Theory and basic test cases

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chiu, Y. T.; Hilton, H. H.

1977-01-01

Exact closed-form solutions to the solar force-free magnetic-field boundary-value problem are obtained for constant alpha in Cartesian geometry by a Green's function approach. The uniqueness of the physical problem is discussed. Application of the exact results to practical solar magnetic-field calculations is free of series truncation errors and is at least as economical as the approximate methods currently in use. Results of some test cases are presented.

Non-singular spacetimes with a negative cosmological constant: IV. Stationary black hole solutions with matter fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chruściel, Piotr T.; Delay, Erwann; Klinger, Paul

2018-02-01

We use an elliptic system of equations with complex coefficients for a set of complex-valued tensor fields as a tool to construct infinite-dimensional families of non-singular stationary black holes, real-valued Lorentzian solutions of the Einstein–Maxwell-dilaton-scalar fields-Yang–Mills–Higgs–Chern–Simons-f(R) equations with a negative cosmological constant. The families include an infinite-dimensional family of solutions with the usual AdS conformal structure at conformal infinity.

Non-Noetherian symmetries for oscillators in classical mechanics and in field theory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hojman, Sergio A.; Delajara, Jamie; Pena, Leda

1995-01-01

Infinitely many new conservation laws both for free fields as well as for test fields evolving on a given gravitational background are presented. The conserved currents are constructed using the field theoretical counterpart of a recently discovered non-Noetherian symmetry which gives rise to a new way of solving the classical small oscillations problem. Several examples are discussed.

Beyond PTSD: An Evolving Relationship Between Trauma Theory and Family Violence Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Becker-Blease, Kathryn A.; Freyd, Jennifer J.

2005-01-01

During the past 20 years, we have learned how similarly harmful are experiences of terror, violence, and abuse, whether they occur on the combat field or at home. The field of family violence has gained much from the field of traumatic stress, and collaborations between these two previously separate fields have yielded important new answers, as…

Experimental Bedrock Channel Incision: Scaling, Sculpture and Sediment Transport

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, J. P.; Whipple, K. X.

2004-12-01

Abrasion by sediment in turbulent flows often sculpts bedrock channels into dramatic forms; quantifying the feedbacks between fluid flow, sediment impacts, and channel morphology is needed to refine models of fluvial incision into bedrock. We present data from laboratory flume experiments funded by the National Center for Earth-Surface Dynamics and conducted at St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, University of Minnesota that show how the spatial and temporal distribution of erosion is strongly coupled to the evolving topography of the bed. These experiments focus on the high Froude number and tool-starved end of parameter space, where bed cover tends to be negligible. Independent variables include flume slope, water flux and sediment flux and size distribution. Sediment moves energetically as bedload, suspended load, or locally transitional between transport modes. Quantitative measurements of the evolving bed topography show that the synthetic brittle "bedrock" in the flume (cured sand-cement mixture) eroded to form narrow incised channels with tight scoops and potholes. The experimental erosional forms are similar in morphology, and sometimes in scale, to those observed in natural bedrock rivers in southeast Utah and other field settings. The experiments demonstrate that both the mean and distribution of measured erosion rates change as the bed topography evolves, even with constant water and sediment discharges. Even starting with a plane bed geometry, erosion and sediment transport very quickly become localized in interconnected topographic lows. Positive feedback develops between the evolving topography and the fluid velocity and sediment transport fields, resulting in the incision of an inner channel. Once formed, the erosion rate in the axis of the inner channel decreases as local bed shear stresses and fluid velocities are reduced by increasing wall drag, and sediment fluxes through the channel but causes less incision (no deposition). Decreasing the sediment flux (all else held equal) causes renewed incision, but of an even narrower inner channel; increasing the sediment flux leads to inner channel deposition. Where erosion is most vigorous, sediment generally moving as saltating bedload becomes locally suspended by upward-directed mean flow. For example, swirling clouds of "bedload" particles are continuously suspended by vortices developed within potholes such that the upward flux of particles out of the potholes balance the total sediment flux through the flume. Potholes spontaneously form where average bed slope and fluid velocities were highest, dramatically accelerating the local erosion rate. Our experimental potholes are smaller in scale but morphologically strikingly similar to many observed in the field, and include features such as corkscrew grooves down the outside walls and a protruding horn at the pothole center. More generally, abrasion becomes focused in places where the flow is spatially accelerated, such as in scoops and bends with high curvature. The knife-edge margins and spatial distribution of erosional forms indicate abrupt transitions in erosional efficiency that are tightly coupled to near-bed fluid flow patterns, which in turn are strongly influenced by the erosional forms themselves. Our experiments suggest that, in highly sculpted bedrock channels, naturally developed bed roughness presents a physical length scale that is important to controlling the interaction between sediment impacts and the bed, rather than a length scale based explicitly on sediment transport and average flow conditions such as the saltation hop length.

Lopsidedness of Self-consistent Galaxies Caused by the External Field Effect of Clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Xufen; Wang, Yougang; Feix, Martin; Zhao, HongSheng

2017-08-01

Adopting Schwarzschild’s orbit-superposition technique, we construct a series of self-consistent galaxy models, embedded in the external field of galaxy clusters in the framework of Milgrom’s MOdified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND). These models represent relatively massive ellipticals with a Hernquist radial profile at various distances from the cluster center. Using N-body simulations, we perform a first analysis of these models and their evolution. We find that self-gravitating axisymmetric density models, even under a weak external field, lose their symmetry by instability and generally evolve to triaxial configurations. A kinematic analysis suggests that the instability originates from both box and nonclassified orbits with low angular momentum. We also consider a self-consistent isolated system that is then placed in a strong external field and allowed to evolve freely. This model, just like the corresponding equilibrium model in the same external field, eventually settles to a triaxial equilibrium as well, but has a higher velocity radial anisotropy and is rounder. The presence of an external field in the MOND universe generically predicts some lopsidedness of galaxy shapes.

Lopsidedness of Self-consistent Galaxies Caused by the External Field Effect of Clusters

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wu, Xufen; Wang, Yougang; Feix, Martin

2017-08-01

Adopting Schwarzschild’s orbit-superposition technique, we construct a series of self-consistent galaxy models, embedded in the external field of galaxy clusters in the framework of Milgrom’s MOdified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND). These models represent relatively massive ellipticals with a Hernquist radial profile at various distances from the cluster center. Using N -body simulations, we perform a first analysis of these models and their evolution. We find that self-gravitating axisymmetric density models, even under a weak external field, lose their symmetry by instability and generally evolve to triaxial configurations. A kinematic analysis suggests that the instability originates from both box and nonclassified orbitsmore » with low angular momentum. We also consider a self-consistent isolated system that is then placed in a strong external field and allowed to evolve freely. This model, just like the corresponding equilibrium model in the same external field, eventually settles to a triaxial equilibrium as well, but has a higher velocity radial anisotropy and is rounder. The presence of an external field in the MOND universe generically predicts some lopsidedness of galaxy shapes.« less

Influence of a constant magnetic field on the fibrinogen-fibrin system. [in blood coagulation process

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Matskevichene, V. B.; Platonova, A. T.

1974-01-01

The effect of a constant magnetic field with a strength of 2500 oersteds on the fibrinogen-fibrin system was studied in the organism of healthy rabbits with exposure times of 1 and 5 hours. The results obtained indicate disruptions in the stage of conversion of fibrinogen to fibrin and an increase in the amount of fibrinogen.

The essential spectrum of Schrödinger operators with asymptotically constant magnetic fields on the Poincaré upper-half plane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Inahama, Yuzuru; Shirai, Shin-ichi

2003-01-01

We study the essential spectrum of the magnetic Schrödinger operators on the Poincaré upper-half plane and establish a hyperbolic analog of Iwatsuka's result [J. Math. Kyoto Univ. 23(3), 475-480 (1983)] on the stability of the essential spectrum under perturbations from constant magnetic fields.

The segmentation of the HMD market: optics for smart glasses, smart eyewear, AR and VR headsets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kress, Bernard; Saeedi, Ehsan; Brac-de-la-Perriere, Vincent

2014-09-01

This paper reviews the various optical technologies that have been developed to implement HMDs (Head Mounted Displays), both as AR (Augmented Reality) devices, VR (Virtual Reality) devices and more recently as smart glasses, smart eyewear or connected glasses. We review the typical requirements and optical performances of such devices and categorize them into distinct groups, which are suited for different (and constantly evolving) market segments, and analyze such market segmentation.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Goudfrooij, Paul, E-mail: goudfroo@stsci.edu

We study mass functions of globular clusters derived from Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys images of the early-type merger remnant galaxy NGC 1316, which hosts a significant population of metal-rich globular clusters of intermediate age ({approx}3 Gyr). For the old, metal-poor ({sup b}lue{sup )} clusters, the peak mass of the mass function M{sub p} increases with internal half-mass density {rho}{sub h} as M{sub p}{proportional_to}{rho}{sub h}{sup 0.44}, whereas it stays approximately constant with galactocentric distance R{sub gal}. The mass functions of these clusters are consistent with a simple scenario in which they formed with a Schechter initial mass function andmore » evolved subsequently by internal two-body relaxation. For the intermediate-age population of metal-rich ({sup r}ed{sup )} clusters, the faint end of the previously reported power-law luminosity function of the clusters with R{sub gal} > 9 kpc is due to many of those clusters having radii larger than the theoretical maximum value imposed by the tidal field of NGC 1316 at their R{sub gal}. This renders disruption by two-body relaxation ineffective. Only a few such diffuse clusters are found in the inner regions of NGC 1316. Completeness tests indicate that this is a physical effect. Using comparisons with star clusters in other galaxies and cluster disruption calculations using published models, we hypothesize that most red clusters in the low-{rho}{sub h} tail of the initial distribution have already been destroyed in the inner regions of NGC 1316 by tidal shocking, and that several remaining low-{rho}{sub h} clusters will evolve dynamically to become similar to 'faint fuzzies' that exist in several lenticular galaxies. Finally, we discuss the nature of diffuse red clusters in early-type galaxies.« less

Protecting DNA from errors and damage: an overview of DNA repair mechanisms in plants compared to mammals.

PubMed

Spampinato, Claudia P

2017-05-01

The genome integrity of all organisms is constantly threatened by replication errors and DNA damage arising from endogenous and exogenous sources. Such base pair anomalies must be accurately repaired to prevent mutagenesis and/or lethality. Thus, it is not surprising that cells have evolved multiple and partially overlapping DNA repair pathways to correct specific types of DNA errors and lesions. Great progress in unraveling these repair mechanisms at the molecular level has been made by several talented researchers, among them Tomas Lindahl, Aziz Sancar, and Paul Modrich, all three Nobel laureates in Chemistry for 2015. Much of this knowledge comes from studies performed in bacteria, yeast, and mammals and has impacted research in plant systems. Two plant features should be mentioned. Plants differ from higher eukaryotes in that they lack a reserve germline and cannot avoid environmental stresses. Therefore, plants have evolved different strategies to sustain genome fidelity through generations and continuous exposure to genotoxic stresses. These strategies include the presence of unique or multiple paralogous genes with partially overlapping DNA repair activities. Yet, in spite (or because) of these differences, plants, especially Arabidopsis thaliana, can be used as a model organism for functional studies. Some advantages of this model system are worth mentioning: short life cycle, availability of both homozygous and heterozygous lines for many genes, plant transformation techniques, tissue culture methods and reporter systems for gene expression and function studies. Here, I provide a current understanding of DNA repair genes in plants, with a special focus on A. thaliana. It is expected that this review will be a valuable resource for future functional studies in the DNA repair field, both in plants and animals.

Evolution of Circulating Wild Poliovirus and of Vaccine-Derived Poliovirus in an Immunodeficient Patient: a Unifying Model

PubMed Central

Gavrilin, Gene V.; Cherkasova, Elena A.; Lipskaya, Galina Y.; Kew, Olen M.; Agol, Vadim I.

2000-01-01

We determined nucleotide sequences of the VP1 and 2AB genes and portions of the 2C and 3D genes of two evolving poliovirus lineages: circulating wild viruses of T geotype and Sabin vaccine-derived isolates from an immunodeficient patient. Different regions of the viral RNA were found to evolve nonsynchronously, and the rate of evolution of the 2AB region in the vaccine-derived population was not constant throughout its history. Synonymous replacements occurred not completely randomly, suggesting the need for conservation of certain rare codons (possibly to control translation elongation) and the existence of unidentified constraints in the viral RNA structure. Nevertheless the major contribution to the evolution of the two lineages came from linear accumulation of synonymous substitutions. Therefore, in agreement with current theories of viral evolution, we suggest that the majority of the mutations in both lineages were fixed as a result of successive sampling, from the heterogeneous populations, of random portions containing predominantly neutral and possibly adverse mutations. As a result of such a mode of evolution, the virus fitness may be maintained at a more or less constant level or may decrease unless more-fit variants are stochastically generated. The proposed unifying model of natural poliovirus evolution has important implications for the epidemiology of poliomyelitis. PMID:10906191

Electrical and magnetic properties of rock and soil

USGS Publications Warehouse

Scott, J.H.

1983-01-01

Field and laboratory measurements have been made to determine the electrical conductivity, dielectric constant, and magnetic permeability of rock and soil in areas of interest in studies of electromagnetic pulse propagation. Conductivity is determined by making field measurements of apparent resisitivity at very low frequencies (0-20 cps), and interpreting the true resistivity of layers at various depths by curve-matching methods. Interpreted resistivity values are converted to corresponding conductivity values which are assumed to be applicable at 10^2 cps, an assumption which is considered valid because the conductivity of rock and soil is nearly constant at frequencies below 10^2 cps. Conductivity is estimated at higher frequencies (up to 10^6 cps) by using statistical correlations of three parameters obtained from laboratory measurements of rock and soil samples: conductivity at 10^2 cps, frequency and conductivity measured over the range 10^2 to 10^6 cps. Conductivity may also be estimated in this frequency range by using field measurements of water content and correlations of laboratory sample measurements of the three parameters: water content, frequency, and conductivity measured over the range 10^2 to 10^6 cps. This method is less accurate because nonrandom variation of ion concentration in natural pore water introduces error. Dielectric constant is estimated in a similar manner from field-derived conductivity values applicable at 10^2 cps and statistical correlations of three parameters obtained from laboratory measurements of samples: conductivity measured at 10^2 cps, frequency, and dielectric constant measured over the frequency range 10^2 to 10^6 cps. Dielectric constant may also be estimated from field measurements of water content and correlations of laboratory sample measurements of the three parameters: water content, frequency, and dielectric constant measured from 10^2 to 10^6 cps, but again, this method is less accurate because of variation of ion concentration of pore water. Special laboratory procedures are used to measure conductivity and dielectric constant of rock and soil samples. Electrode polarization errors are minimized by using an electrode system that is electrochemically reversible-with ions in pore water.

Linearized modified gravity theories with a cosmological term: advance of perihelion and deflection of light

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Özer, Hatice; Delice, Özgür

2018-03-01

Two different ways of generalizing Einstein’s general theory of relativity with a cosmological constant to Brans–Dicke type scalar–tensor theories are investigated in the linearized field approximation. In the first case a cosmological constant term is coupled to a scalar field linearly whereas in the second case an arbitrary potential plays the role of a variable cosmological term. We see that the former configuration leads to a massless scalar field whereas the latter leads to a massive scalar field. General solutions of these linearized field equations for both cases are obtained corresponding to a static point mass. Geodesics of these solutions are also presented and solar system effects such as the advance of the perihelion, deflection of light rays and gravitational redshift were discussed. In general relativity a cosmological constant has no role in these phenomena. We see that for the Brans–Dicke theory, the cosmological constant also has no effect on these phenomena. This is because solar system observations require very large values of the Brans–Dicke parameter and the correction terms to these phenomena becomes identical to GR for these large values of this parameter. This result is also observed for the theory with arbitrary potential if the mass of the scalar field is very light. For a very heavy scalar field, however, there is no such limit on the value of this parameter and there are ranges of this parameter where these contributions may become relevant in these scales. Galactic and intergalactic dynamics is also discussed for these theories at the latter part of the paper with similar conclusions.

Continuous-spin mixed-symmetry fields in AdS(5)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Metsaev, R. R.

2018-05-01

Free mixed-symmetry continuous-spin fields propagating in AdS(5) space and flat R(4,1) space are studied. In the framework of a light-cone gauge formulation of relativistic dynamics, we build simple actions for such fields. The realization of relativistic symmetries on the space of light-cone gauge mixed-symmetry continuous-spin fields is also found. Interrelations between constant parameters entering the light-cone gauge actions and eigenvalues of the Casimir operators of space-time symmetry algebras are obtained. Using these interrelations and requiring that the field dynamics in AdS(5) be irreducible and classically unitary, we derive restrictions on the constant parameters and eigenvalues of the second-order Casimir operator of the algebra.

Experimental study of directionally solidified ferromagnetic shape memory alloy under multi-field coupling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Yuping; Chen, Tao; Teng, Yao; Liu, Bingfei; Xue, Lijun

2016-11-01

Directionally solidified, polycrystalline Ni-Mn-Ga is studied in this paper. The polycrystalline Ni-Mn-Ga samples were cut at different angles to solidification direction. The magnetic field induced strain under constant stress and the temperature-induced strain under constant magnetic field during the loading-unloading cycle were measured. The experimental results show that the mechanical behavior during the loading-unloading cycle of the material is nonlinear and anisotropic. Based on the experimental results, the effects of multi-field coupling factors, such as stress, magnetic field, temperature and cutting angle on the mechanical behaviors were analyzed. Some useful conclusions were obtained, which will provide guidance for practical applications.

Relating Ab Initio Mechanical Behavior of Intergranular Glassy Films in Γ-Si3N4 to Continuum Scales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ouyang, L.; Chen, J.; Ching, W.; Misra, A.

2006-05-01

Nanometer thin intergranular glassy films (IGFs) form in polycrystalline ceramics during sintering at high temperatures. The structure and properties of these IGFs are significantly changed by doping with rare earth elements. We have performed highly accurate large-scale ab initio calculations of the mechanical properties of both undoped and Yittria doped (Y-IGF) model by theoretical uniaxial tensile experiments. Uniaxial strain was applied by incrementally stretching the super cell in one direction, while the other two dimensions were kept constant. At each strain, all atoms in the model were fully relaxed using Vienna Ab initio Simulation Package VASP. The relaxed model at a given strain serves as the starting position for the next increment of strain. This process is carried on until the total energy (TE) and stress data show that the "sample" is fully fractured. Interesting differences are seen between the stress-strain response of undoped and Y-doped models. For the undoped model, the stress-strain behavior indicates that the initial atomic structure of the IGF is such that there is negligible coupling between the x- and the y-z directions. However, once the behavior becomes non- linear the lateral stresses increase, indicating that the atomic structure evolves with loading [1]. To relate the ab initio calculations to the continuum scales we analyze the atomic-scale deformation field under this uniaxial loading [1]. The applied strain in the x-direction is mostly accommodated by the IGF part of the model and the crystalline part experiences almost negligible strain. As the overall strain on the sample is incrementally increased, the local strain field evolves such that locations proximal to the softer spots attract higher strains. As the load progresses, the strain concentration spots coalesce and eventually form persistent strain localization zone across the IGF. The deformation pattern obtained through ab initio calculations indicates that it is possible to construct discrete grain-scale models that may be used to bridge these calculations to the continuum scale for finite element analysis. Reference: 1. J. Chen, L. Ouyang, P. Rulis, A. Misra, W. Y. Ching, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 256103 (2005)

Driven acoustic oscillations within a vertical magnetic field

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hindman, Bradley W.; Zweibel, Ellen G.; Cally, P. S.

1995-01-01

The effects of a vertical magnetic field on p-mode frequencies, line widths, and eigenfunctions, are examined. A solar model, consisting of a neutrally stable polytropic interior matched to an isothermal chromosphere, is applied. The p-modes are produced by a spatially distributed driver. The atmosphere is threaded by a constant vertical magnetic field. The frequency shifts due to the vertical magnetic field are found to be much smaller than the shifts caused by horizontal fields of similar strength. A large vertical field of 2000 G produces shifts of several nHz. It is found that the frequency shifts decrease with increasing frequency and increase with field strength. The coupling of the acoustic fast mode to the escaping slow modes is inefficient. Constant vertical magnetic field models are therefore incapable of explaining the high level of absorption observed in sunspots and plage.

Large Quantum Probability Backflow and the Azimuthal Angle-Angular Momentum Uncertainty Relation for an Electron in a Constant Magnetic Field

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strange, P.

2012-01-01

In this paper we demonstrate a surprising aspect of quantum mechanics that is accessible to an undergraduate student. We discuss probability backflow for an electron in a constant magnetic field. It is shown that even for a wavepacket composed entirely of states with negative angular momentum the effective angular momentum can take on positive…

On parasupersymmetric oscillators and relativistic vector mesons in constant magnetic fields

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Debergh, Nathalie; Beckers, Jules

1995-01-01

Johnson-Lippmann considerations on oscillators and their connection with the minimal coupling schemes are visited in order to introduce a new Sakata-Taketani equation describing vector mesons in interaction with a constant magnetic field. This new proposal, based on a specific parasupersymmetric oscillator-like system, is characterized by real energies as opposed to previously pointed out relativistic equations corresponding to this interacting context.

Dynamical dark energy: Scalar fields and running vacuum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Solà, Joan; Gómez-Valent, Adrià; de Cruz Pérez, Javier

2017-03-01

Recent analyses in the literature suggest that the concordance ΛCDM model with rigid cosmological term, Λ = const. may not be the best description of the cosmic acceleration. The class of “running vacuum models”, in which Λ = Λ(H) evolves with the Hubble rate, has been shown to fit the string of SNIa + BAO + H(z) + LSS + CMB data significantly better than the ΛCDM. Here, we provide further evidence on the time-evolving nature of the dark energy (DE) by fitting the same cosmological data in terms of scalar fields. As a representative model, we use the original Peebles and Ratra potential, V ∝ ϕ-α. We find clear signs of dynamical DE at ˜ 4σ c.l., thus reconfirming through a nontrivial scalar field approach the strong hints formerly found with other models and parametrizations.

Constant-concentration boundary condition: Lessons from the HYDROCOIN variable-density groundwater benchmark problem

USGS Publications Warehouse

Konikow, Leonard F.; Sanford, W.E.; Campbell, P.J.

1997-01-01

In a solute-transport model, if a constant-concentration boundary condition is applied at a node in an active flow field, a solute flux can occur by both advective and dispersive processes. The potential for advective release is demonstrated by reexamining the Hydrologic Code Intercomparison (HYDROCOIN) project case 5 problem, which represents a salt dome overlain by a shallow groundwater system. The resulting flow field includes significant salinity and fluid density variations. Several independent teams simulated this problem using finite difference or finite element numerical models. We applied a method-of-characteristics model (MOCDENSE). The previous numerical implementations by HYDROCOIN teams of a constant-concentration boundary to represent salt release by lateral dispersion only (as stipulated in the original problem definition) was flawed because this boundary condition allows the release of salt into the flow field by both dispersion and advection. When the constant-concentration boundary is modified to allow salt release by dispersion only, significantly less salt is released into the flow field. The calculated brine distribution for case 5 depends very little on which numerical model is used, as long as the selected model is solving the proper equations. Instead, the accuracy of the solution depends strongly on the proper conceptualization of the problem, including the detailed design of the constant-concentration boundary condition. The importance and sensitivity to the manner of specification of this boundary does not appear to have been recognized previously in the analysis of this problem.

Quantitatively probing propensity for structural transitions in engineered virus nanoparticles by single-molecule mechanical analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castellanos, Milagros; Carrillo, Pablo J. P.; Mateu, Mauricio G.

2015-03-01

Viruses are increasingly being studied from the perspective of fundamental physics at the nanoscale as biologically evolved nanodevices with many technological applications. In viral particles of the minute virus of mice (MVM), folded segments of the single-stranded DNA genome are bound to the capsid inner wall and act as molecular buttresses that increase locally the mechanical stiffness of the particle. We have explored whether a quantitative linkage exists in MVM particles between their DNA-mediated stiffening and impairment of a heat-induced, virus-inactivating structural change. A series of structurally modified virus particles with disrupted capsid-DNA interactions and/or distorted capsid cavities close to the DNA-binding sites were engineered and characterized, both in classic kinetics assays and by single-molecule mechanical analysis using atomic force microscopy. The rate constant of the virus inactivation reaction was found to decrease exponentially with the increase in elastic constant (stiffness) of the regions closer to DNA-binding sites. The application of transition state theory suggests that the height of the free energy barrier of the virus-inactivating structural transition increases linearly with local mechanical stiffness. From a virological perspective, the results indicate that infectious MVM particles may have acquired the biological advantage of increased survival under thermal stress by evolving architectural elements that rigidify the particle and impair non-productive structural changes. From a nanotechnological perspective, this study provides proof of principle that determination of mechanical stiffness and its manipulation by protein engineering may be applied for quantitatively probing and tuning the conformational dynamics of virus-based and other protein-based nanoassemblies.Viruses are increasingly being studied from the perspective of fundamental physics at the nanoscale as biologically evolved nanodevices with many technological applications. In viral particles of the minute virus of mice (MVM), folded segments of the single-stranded DNA genome are bound to the capsid inner wall and act as molecular buttresses that increase locally the mechanical stiffness of the particle. We have explored whether a quantitative linkage exists in MVM particles between their DNA-mediated stiffening and impairment of a heat-induced, virus-inactivating structural change. A series of structurally modified virus particles with disrupted capsid-DNA interactions and/or distorted capsid cavities close to the DNA-binding sites were engineered and characterized, both in classic kinetics assays and by single-molecule mechanical analysis using atomic force microscopy. The rate constant of the virus inactivation reaction was found to decrease exponentially with the increase in elastic constant (stiffness) of the regions closer to DNA-binding sites. The application of transition state theory suggests that the height of the free energy barrier of the virus-inactivating structural transition increases linearly with local mechanical stiffness. From a virological perspective, the results indicate that infectious MVM particles may have acquired the biological advantage of increased survival under thermal stress by evolving architectural elements that rigidify the particle and impair non-productive structural changes. From a nanotechnological perspective, this study provides proof of principle that determination of mechanical stiffness and its manipulation by protein engineering may be applied for quantitatively probing and tuning the conformational dynamics of virus-based and other protein-based nanoassemblies. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c4nr07046a

Soil-moisture constants and their variation

Treesearch

Walter M. Broadfoot; Hubert D. Burke

1958-01-01

"Constants" like field capacity, liquid limit, moisture equivalent, and wilting point are used by most students and workers in soil moisture. These constants may be equilibrium points or other values that describe soil moisture. Their values under specific soil and cover conditions have been discussed at length in the literature, but few general analyses and...

The measurement system of birefringence and Verdet constant of optical fiber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Yi; Chen, Li; Guo, Qiang; Pang, Fufei; Wen, Jianxiang; Shang, Yana; Wang, Tingyun

2013-12-01

The Faraday magneto-optical effect of optical fiber has many applications in monitoring magnetic field and electric current. When a linearly polarized light propagates in the direction of a magnetic field, the plane of polarization will rotate linearly proportional to the strength of the applied magnetic field, which following the relationship of θF =VBl. θF is the Faraday rotation angle, which is proportional to the magnetic flux density B and the Verdet constant V . However, when the optical fiber contains the effect of linear birefringence, the detection of Faraday rotation angle will depend on the line birefringence. In order to determine the Verdet constant of an optical fiber under a linear birefringence, the fiber birefringence needs to be accurately measured. In this work, a model is applied to analyze the polarization properties of an optical fiber by using the Jones matrix method. A measurement system based on the lock-in amplifier technology is designed to test the Verdet constant and the birefringence of optical fiber. The magnetic field is produced by a solenoid with a DC current. A tunable laser is intensity modulated with a motorized rotating chopper. The actuator supplies a signal as the phase-locked synchronization reference to the signal of the lock-in amplifier. The measurement accuracy is analyzed and the sensitivity of the system is optimized. In this measurement system, the Verdet constant of the SMF-28 fiber was measured to be 0.56±0.02 rad/T·m at 1550nm. This setup is well suitable for measuring the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) sensitivity for lock-in amplifier at a low magnetic field strength.

Forced vibration of a carbon nanotube with emission currents in an electromagnetic field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bulyarskiy, S. V.; Dudin, A. A.; Orlov, A. P.; Pavlov, A. A.; Leont'ev, V. L.

2017-11-01

The occurrence of vibrations in a single carbon nanotubes placed in an electromagnetic field through which constant field-emission current passes has been analyzed. It has been shown experimentally that the emission current, along with the constant component, has a variable one that resonates at a certain frequency. Calculations show a relationship between the resonance frequency and the parameters of the whole system and nanotube itself. The conditions under which resonance may occur in the terahertz range of vibration frequencies have been analyzed.

Ab initio molecular dynamics in a finite homogeneous electric field.

PubMed

Umari, P; Pasquarello, Alfredo

2002-10-07

We treat homogeneous electric fields within density functional calculations with periodic boundary conditions. A nonlocal energy functional depending on the applied field is used within an ab initio molecular dynamics scheme. The reliability of the method is demonstrated in the case of bulk MgO for the Born effective charges, and the high- and low-frequency dielectric constants. We evaluate the static dielectric constant by performing a damped molecular dynamics in an electric field and avoiding the calculation of the dynamical matrix. Application of this method to vitreous silica shows good agreement with experiment and illustrates its potential for systems of large size.

Determination of wind from NIMBUS 6 satellite sounding data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carle, W. E.; Scoggins, J. R.

1981-01-01

Objective methods of computing upper level and surface wind fields from NIMBUS 6 satellite sounding data are developed. These methods are evaluated by comparing satellite derived and rawinsonde wind fields on gridded constant pressure charts in four geographical regions. Satellite-derived and hourly observed surface wind fields are compared. Results indicate that the best satellite-derived wind on constant pressure charts is a geostrophic wind derived from highly smoothed fields of geopotential height. Satellite-derived winds computed in this manner and rawinsonde winds show similar circulation patterns except in areas of small height gradients. Magnitudes of the standard deviation of the differences between satellite derived and rawinsonde wind speeds range from approximately 3 to 12 m/sec on constant pressure charts and peak at the jet stream level. Fields of satellite-derived surface wind computed with the logarithmic wind law agree well with fields of observed surface wind in most regions. Magnitudes of the standard deviation of the differences in surface wind speed range from approximately 2 to 4 m/sec, and satellite derived surface winds are able to depict flow across a cold front and around a low pressure center.

An all-organic composite actuator material with a high dielectric constant.

PubMed

Zhang, Q M; Li, Hengfeng; Poh, Martin; Xia, Feng; Cheng, Z-Y; Xu, Haisheng; Huang, Cheng

2002-09-19

Electroactive polymers (EAPs) can behave as actuators, changing their shape in response to electrical stimulation. EAPs that are controlled by external electric fields--referred to here as field-type EAPs--include ferroelectric polymers, electrostrictive polymers, dielectric elastomers and liquid crystal polymers. Field-type EAPs can exhibit fast response speeds, low hysteresis and strain levels far above those of traditional piezoelectric materials, with elastic energy densities even higher than those of piezoceramics. However, these polymers also require a high field (>70 V micro m(-1)) to generate such high elastic energy densities (>0.1 J cm(-3); refs 4, 5, 9, 10). Here we report a new class of all-organic field-type EAP composites, which can exhibit high elastic energy densities induced by an electric field of only 13 V micro m(-1). The composites are fabricated from an organic filler material possessing very high dielectric constant dispersed in an electrostrictive polymer matrix. The composites can exhibit high net dielectric constants while retaining the flexibility of the matrix. These all-organic actuators could find applications as artificial muscles, 'smart skins' for drag reduction, and in microfluidic systems for drug delivery.

Modeling Co-evolution of Speech and Biology.

PubMed

de Boer, Bart

2016-04-01

Two computer simulations are investigated that model interaction of cultural evolution of language and biological evolution of adaptations to language. Both are agent-based models in which a population of agents imitates each other using realistic vowels. The agents evolve under selective pressure for good imitation. In one model, the evolution of the vocal tract is modeled; in the other, a cognitive mechanism for perceiving speech accurately is modeled. In both cases, biological adaptations to using and learning speech evolve, even though the system of speech sounds itself changes at a more rapid time scale than biological evolution. However, the fact that the available acoustic space is used maximally (a self-organized result of cultural evolution) is constant, and therefore biological evolution does have a stable target. This work shows that when cultural and biological traits are continuous, their co-evolution may lead to cognitive adaptations that are strong enough to detect empirically. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Understanding the Evolution and Stability of the G-Matrix

PubMed Central

Arnold, Stevan J.; Bürger, Reinhard; Hohenlohe, Paul A.; Ajie, Beverley C.; Jones, Adam G.

2011-01-01

The G-matrix summarizes the inheritance of multiple, phenotypic traits. The stability and evolution of this matrix are important issues because they affect our ability to predict how the phenotypic traits evolve by selection and drift. Despite the centrality of these issues, comparative, experimental, and analytical approaches to understanding the stability and evolution of the G-matrix have met with limited success. Nevertheless, empirical studies often find that certain structural features of the matrix are remarkably constant, suggesting that persistent selection regimes or other factors promote stability. On the theoretical side, no one has been able to derive equations that would relate stability of the G-matrix to selection regimes, population size, migration, or to the details of genetic architecture. Recent simulation studies of evolving G-matrices offer solutions to some of these problems, as well as a deeper, synthetic understanding of both the G-matrix and adaptive radiations. PMID:18973631

Weighted Scaling in Non-growth Random Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Guang; Yang, Xu-Hua; Xu, Xin-Li

2012-09-01

We propose a weighted model to explain the self-organizing formation of scale-free phenomenon in non-growth random networks. In this model, we use multiple-edges to represent the connections between vertices and define the weight of a multiple-edge as the total weights of all single-edges within it and the strength of a vertex as the sum of weights for those multiple-edges attached to it. The network evolves according to a vertex strength preferential selection mechanism. During the evolution process, the network always holds its total number of vertices and its total number of single-edges constantly. We show analytically and numerically that a network will form steady scale-free distributions with our model. The results show that a weighted non-growth random network can evolve into scale-free state. It is interesting that the network also obtains the character of an exponential edge weight distribution. Namely, coexistence of scale-free distribution and exponential distribution emerges.

Strategies Typically Developing Writers Use for Translating Thought into the Next Sentence and Evolving Text: Implications for Assessment and Instruction

PubMed Central

Jones, Jasmin Niedo; Berninger, Virginia Wise

2016-01-01

Three new approaches to writing assessment are introduced. First, strategies for generating the very next sentence are assessed in reference to the local level as well as the evolving text level of composing in progress. Second, strategies for translating thought into written language are coded with transcription (spelling) skill—low, average, or high—held constant. Third, instead of describing composing skill in reference to a single normed score for age or grade in a standardization sample at a static time in development, translation is studied longitudinally when children are in grades 1, 3, and 5 (ages 6, 8, 10) or grades 3, 5, and 7 (ages 8, 10, 12). Applications of the results are discussed for assessment and instruction grounded in levels and generativity of written language and normal variation in typically developing writers. PMID:28127525

Clinical pathway for video-assisted thoracic surgery: the Hong Kong story.

PubMed

Sihoe, Alan D L

2016-02-01

A clinical pathway provides a scheduled, objective protocol for the multi-disciplinary, evidence-based management of patients with a specific condition or undergoing a specific procedure. In implementing a clinical pathway for the care of patients receiving video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) in Hong Kong, many insights were gained into what makes a clinical pathway work: meticulous preparation and team-building are keys to success; the pathway must be constantly reviewed and revisions made in response to evolving clinical need; and data collection is a key element to allow auditing and clinical research. If these can be achieved, a clinical pathway delivers not only measurable improvements in patient outcomes, but also fundamentally complements clinical advances such as VATS. This article narrates the story of how the clinical pathway for VATS in Hong Kong was created and evolved, highlighting how the above lessons were learned.

Host-Parasite Relationship in Cystic Echinococcosis: An Evolving Story

PubMed Central

Siracusano, Alessandra; Delunardo, Federica; Teggi, Antonella; Ortona, Elena

2012-01-01

The larval stage of Echinococcus granulosus causes cystic echinococcosis, a neglected infectious disease that constitutes a major public health problem in developing countries. Despite being under constant barrage by the immune system, E. granulosus modulates antiparasite immune responses and persists in the human hosts with detectable humoral and cellular responses against the parasite. In vitro and in vivo immunological approaches, together with molecular biology and immunoproteomic technologies, provided us exciting insights into the mechanisms involved in the initiation of E. granulosus infection and the consequent induction and regulation of the immune response. Although the last decade has clarified many aspects of host-parasite relationship in human cystic echinococcosis, establishing the full mechanisms that cause the disease requires more studies. Here, we review some of the recent developments and discuss new avenues in this evolving story of E. granulosus infection in man. PMID:22110535

Time Domain Astrochemistry in Protoplanetary Disks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cleeves, Lauren Ilsedore

2018-01-01

The chemistry of protoplanetary disks sets the initial composition of newly formed planets and may regulate the efficiency by which planets form. Disk chemical abundances typically evolve over timescales spanning thousands if not millions of years. Consequently, it was a surprise when ALMA observations taken over the course of a single year showed significantly variable emission in H13CO+ relative to the otherwise constant thermal dust emission in the IM Lup protoplanetary disk. HCO+ is a known X-ray sensitive molecule, and by using simple time-evolving chemical models including stellar activity, we demonstrate that stellar X-ray flares are a viable explanation for the observed H13CO+ variability. If this link between chemistry and stellar activity is confirmed, simultaneous observations can provide a new tool to measure (and potentially map) fundamental disk parameters, such as electron density, as the light from X-ray flares propagates across the disk.

Design of 2D time-varying vector fields.

PubMed

Chen, Guoning; Kwatra, Vivek; Wei, Li-Yi; Hansen, Charles D; Zhang, Eugene

2012-10-01

Design of time-varying vector fields, i.e., vector fields that can change over time, has a wide variety of important applications in computer graphics. Existing vector field design techniques do not address time-varying vector fields. In this paper, we present a framework for the design of time-varying vector fields, both for planar domains as well as manifold surfaces. Our system supports the creation and modification of various time-varying vector fields with desired spatial and temporal characteristics through several design metaphors, including streamlines, pathlines, singularity paths, and bifurcations. These design metaphors are integrated into an element-based design to generate the time-varying vector fields via a sequence of basis field summations or spatial constrained optimizations at the sampled times. The key-frame design and field deformation are also introduced to support other user design scenarios. Accordingly, a spatial-temporal constrained optimization and the time-varying transformation are employed to generate the desired fields for these two design scenarios, respectively. We apply the time-varying vector fields generated using our design system to a number of important computer graphics applications that require controllable dynamic effects, such as evolving surface appearance, dynamic scene design, steerable crowd movement, and painterly animation. Many of these are difficult or impossible to achieve via prior simulation-based methods. In these applications, the time-varying vector fields have been applied as either orientation fields or advection fields to control the instantaneous appearance or evolving trajectories of the dynamic effects.

Rings and arcs around evolved stars - I. Fingerprints of the last gasps in the formation process of planetary nebulae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramos-Larios, G.; Santamaría, E.; Guerrero, M. A.; Marquez-Lugo, R. A.; Sabin, L.; Toalá, J. A.

2016-10-01

Evolved stars such as asymptotic giant branch stars (AGB), post-AGB stars, proto-planetary nebulae (proto-PNe), and planetary nebulae (PNe) show rings and arcs around them and their nebular shells. We have searched for these morphological features in optical Hubble Space Telescope and mid-infrared Spitzer Space Telescope images of ˜650 proto-PNe and PNe and discovered them in 29 new sources. Adding those to previous detections, we derive a frequency of occurrence ≃8 per cent. All images have been processed to remove the underlying envelope emission and enhance outer faint structures to investigate the spacing between rings and arcs and their number. The averaged time lapse between consecutive rings and arcs is estimated to be in the range 500-1200 yr. The spacing between them is found to be basically constant for each source, suggesting that the mechanism responsible for the formation of these structures in the final stages of evolved stars is stable during time periods of the order of the total duration of the ejection. In our sample, this period of time spans ≤4500 yr.

Parallel trait adaptation across opposing thermal environments in experimental Drosophila melanogaster populations

PubMed Central

Tobler, Ray; Hermisson, Joachim; Schlötterer, Christian

2015-01-01

Thermal stress is a pervasive selective agent in natural populations that impacts organismal growth, survival, and reproduction. Drosophila melanogaster exhibits a variety of putatively adaptive phenotypic responses to thermal stress in natural and experimental settings; however, accompanying assessments of fitness are typically lacking. Here, we quantify changes in fitness and known thermal tolerance traits in replicated experimental D. melanogaster populations following more than 40 generations of evolution to either cyclic cold or hot temperatures. By evaluating fitness for both evolved populations alongside a reconstituted starting population, we show that the evolved populations were the best adapted within their respective thermal environments. More strikingly, the evolved populations exhibited increased fitness in both environments and improved resistance to both acute heat and cold stress. This unexpected parallel response appeared to be an adaptation to the rapid temperature changes that drove the cycling thermal regimes, as parallel fitness changes were not observed when tested in a constant thermal environment. Our results add to a small, but growing group of studies that demonstrate the importance of fluctuating temperature changes for thermal adaptation and highlight the need for additional work in this area. PMID:26080903

Dynamical Model for Spindown of Solar-type Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sood, Aditi; Kim, Eun-jin; Hollerbach, Rainer

2016-12-01

After their formation, stars slow down their rotation rates by the removal of angular momentum from their surfaces, e.g., via stellar winds. Explaining how this rotation of solar-type stars evolves in time is currently an interesting but difficult problem in astrophysics. Despite the complexity of the processes involved, a traditional model, where the removal of angular momentum by magnetic fields is prescribed, has provided a useful framework to understand observational relations between stellar rotation, age, and magnetic field strength. Here, for the first time, a spindown model is proposed where loss of angular momentum by magnetic fields evolves dynamically, instead of being prescibed kinematically. To this end, we evolve the stellar rotation and magnetic field simultaneously over stellar evolution time by extending our previous work on a dynamo model which incorporates nonlinear feedback mechanisms on rotation and magnetic fields. We show that our extended model reproduces key observations and is capable of explaining the presence of the two branches of (fast and slow rotating) stars which have different relations between rotation rate Ω versus time (age), magnetic field strength | B| versus rotation rate, and frequency of magnetic field {ω }{cyc} versus rotation rate. For fast rotating stars we find that: (I) there is an exponential spindown {{Ω }}\\propto {e}-1.35t, with t measured in Gyr; (II) magnetic activity saturates for higher rotation rate; (III) {ω }{cyc}\\propto {{{Ω }}}0.83. For slow rotating stars we find: (I) a power-law spindown {{Ω }}\\propto {t}-0.52; (II) that magnetic activity scales roughly linearly with rotation rate; (III) {ω }{cyc}\\propto {{{Ω }}}1.16. The results obtained from our investigations are in good agreement with observations. The Vaughan-Preston gap is consistently explained in our model by the shortest spindown timescale in this transition from fast to slow rotators. Our results highlight the importance of self-regulation of magnetic fields and rotation by direct and indirect interactions involving nonlinear feedback in stellar evolution.

Field-evolved resistance to λ-cyhalothrin in the lady beetle Eriopis connexa.

PubMed

Costa, P M G; Torres, J B; Rondelli, V M; Lira, R

2018-06-01

Natural enemies are exposed to insecticide sprays for herbivorous species and may evolve field resistance to insecticides. Natural enemies selected for resistance in the field, however, are welcome for pest control. The susceptibility of 20 populations of Eriopis connexa from various crop ecosystems to λ-cyhalothrin was tested. Three bioassays were conducted: (i) topical treatment with lethal dose (LD)50 previously determined for populations considered standard for susceptibility (LD50S) and for resistance (LD50R) to λ-cyhalothrin at technical grade; (ii) dose-mortality assay to calculate the LD for populations exhibiting significant survival to the LD50R; and (iii) determination of survival when exposed to dried residues at field rates. Among the 20 tested populations, seven populations did not survive or survival rates were lower than 10% when treated with LD50R; three populations survived >20%, but lower than 50%; while ten populations exhibited equal or greater survival rates compared with the 50% expected survival for the LD50R. Thus, these ten populations were subjected to dose-mortality response, and the LD50 values varied from 0.046 to 5.44 µg a.i./insect with resistance ratio of 8.52- to 884.08-folds. Adults from these ten populations that were ranked as resistant according to the LD50R exhibited survival from 44.5 to 100% exposed to the lowest and from 38.8 to 100% exposed to the highest field rates of λ-cyhalothrin, respectively. Otherwise, the remaining ten populations ranked as susceptible according to the LD50R showed survival from 3.3 to 56% exposed to the lowest and from 0 to 17.7% exposed to the highest field rates of λ-cyhalothrin, respectively. Therefore, 50% of the tested E. connexa populations exhibited field-evolved resistance to λ-cyhalothrin and the use of a discriminatory LD50 for resistance matched the survival obtained when exposed to the insecticide field rates.

Effects of applied electric field during postannealing on the tunable properties of (Ba,Sr)TiO3 thin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xia, Yidong; Cheng, Jinbo; Pan, Bai; Wu, Di; Meng, Xiangkang; Liu, Zhiguo

2005-08-01

The impact of postannealing in electric field on the structure, tunability, and dielectric behavior of rf magnetron sputtering derived (Ba,Sr)TiO3 films has been studied. It has been demonstrated that postannealing in the proper electric field can increase the dielectric constant and the tunability remarkably and destroy the symmetry of capacitance-voltage characteristics of the films. The increased out-of-plane lattice constant and the appearance of the hysteresis loops in the electric-annealed films indicated the formation of small polar regions with tetragonal structure, which are responsible for the increased dielectric constant and tunability. It was proposed that the segregation of Ti3+ ions caused by electric annealing could induce the formation of BaTiO3-like regions, which are ferroelectric at room temperature.

Nonlinear conductivity of a holographic superconductor under constant electric field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeng, Hua Bi; Tian, Yu; Fan, Zheyong; Chen, Chiang-Mei

2017-02-01

The dynamics of a two-dimensional superconductor under a constant electric field E is studied by using the gauge-gravity correspondence. The pair breaking current induced by E first increases to a peak value and then decreases to a constant value at late times, where the superconducting gap goes to zero, corresponding to a normal conducting phase. The peak value of the current is found to increase linearly with respect to the electric field. Moreover, the nonlinear conductivity, defined as an average of the conductivity in the superconducting phase, scales as ˜E-2 /3 when the system is close to the critical temperature Tc, which agrees with predictions from solving the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation. Away from Tc, the E-2 /3 scaling of the conductivity still holds when E is large.

Unimodular Einstein-Cartan gravity: Dynamics and conservation laws

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonder, Yuri; Corral, Cristóbal

2018-04-01

Unimodular gravity is an interesting approach to address the cosmological constant problem, since the vacuum energy density of quantum fields does not gravitate in this framework, and the cosmological constant appears as an integration constant. These features arise as a consequence of considering a constrained volume element 4-form that breaks the diffeomorphisms invariance down to volume preserving diffeomorphisms. In this work, the first-order formulation of unimodular gravity is presented by considering the spin density of matter fields as a source of spacetime torsion. Even though the most general matter Lagrangian allowed by the symmetries is considered, dynamical restrictions arise on their functional dependence. The field equations are obtained and the conservation laws associated with the symmetries are derived. It is found that, analogous to torsion-free unimodular gravity, the field equation for the vierbein is traceless; nevertheless, torsion is algebraically related to the spin density as in standard Einstein-Cartan theory. The particular example of massless Dirac spinors is studied, and comparisons with standard Einstein-Cartan theory are shown.

Hyperfine field, electric field gradient, quadrupole coupling constant and magnetic properties of challenging actinide digallide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khan, Sajid; Yazdani-Kachoei, M.; Jalali-Asadabadi, S.; Ahmad, Iftikhar

2017-12-01

In this paper, we explore the structural and magnetic properties as well as electric field gradient (EFG), hyperfine field (HFF) and quadrupole coupling constant in actinide digallide AcGa2 (Ac = U, Np, Pu) using LDA, GGA, LDA+U, GGA+U and hybrid functional with Wu-Cohen Generalized Gradient approximation HF-WC. Relativistic effects of the electrons are considered by including spin-orbit coupling. The comparison of the calculated structural parameters and magnetic properties with the available experimental results confirms the consistency and hence effectiveness of our theoretical tools. The calculated magnetic moments demonstrate that UGa2 and NpGa2 are ferromagnetic while PuGa2 is antiferromagnetic in nature. The EFG of AcGa2 is reported for the first time. The HFF, EFG and quadrupole coupling constant in AcGa2 (Ac = U, Np, Pu) are mainly originated from f-f and p-p contributions of Ac atom and p-p contribution of Ga atom.

Variations in the fine-structure constant constraining gravity theories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bezerra, V. B.; Cunha, M. S.; Muniz, C. R.; Tahim, M. O.; Vieira, H. S.

2016-08-01

In this paper, we investigate how the fine-structure constant, α, locally varies in the presence of a static and spherically symmetric gravitational source. The procedure consists in calculating the solution and the energy eigenvalues of a massive scalar field around that source, considering the weak-field regime. From this result, we obtain expressions for a spatially variable fine-structure constant by considering suitable modifications in the involved parameters admitting some scenarios of semi-classical and quantum gravities. Constraints on free parameters of the approached theories are calculated from astrophysical observations of the emission spectra of a white dwarf. Such constraints are finally compared with those obtained in the literature.

A Brane Model, Its Ads-DS States and Their Agitated Extra Dimensions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Günther, Uwe; Vargas Moniz, Paulo; Zhuk, Alexander

2006-02-01

We consider multidimensional gravitational models with a nonlinear scalar curvature term and form fields. It is assumed that the higher dimensional spacetime undergoes a spontaneous compactification to a warped product manifold. Particular attention is paid to models with quadratic scalar curvature terms and a Freund-Rubin-like ansatz for solitonic form fields. It is shown that for certain parameter ranges the extra dimensions are stabilized for any sign of the internal space curvature, the bulk cosmological constant and of the effective four-dimensional cosmological constant. Moreover, the effective cosmological constant can satisfy the observable limit on the dark energy density.

Laser-driven interactions and resultant instabilities in materials with high dielectric constant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rajpoot, Moolchandra; Dixit, Sanjay

2015-07-01

An analytical investigation of nonlinear interactions resulting in parametric amplification of acoustic wave is made by obtaining the dispersion relation using hydrodynamic model of inhomogeneous plasma by applying large static field at an arbitrary angle with the pump wave. The investigation shows that many early studies have neglected dependence of dielectric constant on deformation of materials but deformation of materials does infect depends on the dielectric constant of medium. Thus we have assumed to high dielectric material like BaTiO3 which resulted in substantially high growth rate of threshold electric field which opens a new dimension to study nonlinear interactions and instabilities.

Evolvable Hardware for Space Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lohn, Jason; Globus, Al; Hornby, Gregory; Larchev, Gregory; Kraus, William

2004-01-01

This article surveys the research of the Evolvable Systems Group at NASA Ames Research Center. Over the past few years, our group has developed the ability to use evolutionary algorithms in a variety of NASA applications ranging from spacecraft antenna design, fault tolerance for programmable logic chips, atomic force field parameter fitting, analog circuit design, and earth observing satellite scheduling. In some of these applications, evolutionary algorithms match or improve on human performance.

Determination of the dispersion constant in a constrained vapor bubble thermosyphon

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dasgupta, Sunando; Plawsky, Joel L.; Wayner, Peter C., Jr.

1995-01-01

The isothermal profiles of the extended meniscus in a quartz cuvette were measured in a gravitational field using an image analyzing interferometer which is based on computer enhanced video microscopy of the naturally occurring interference fringes. The experimental results for heptane and pentane menisci were analyzed using the extended Young Laplace Equation. These isothermal results characterized the interfacial force field in-siru at the start of the heat transfer experiments by quantifying the dispersion constant, which is a function of the liquid-solid system and cleaning procedures. The experimentally obtained values of the disjoining pressure and the dispersion constants were compared to that predicted from the DLP theory and good agreements were obtained. The measurements are critical to the subsequent non-isothermal experiments because one of the major variables in the heat sink capability of the Constrained Vapor Bubble Thermosyphon, CVBT, is the dispersion constant. In all previous studies of micro heat pipes the value of the dispersion constant has been 'estimated'. One of the major advantages of the current glass cell is the ability to view the extended meniscus at all times. Experimentally, we find that the extended Young-Laplace Equation is an excellent model for the force field at the solid-liquid-vapor interfaces.

Evolution of robust circadian clocks in Drosophila melanogaster populations reared in constant dark for over 330 generations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shindey, Radhika; Varma, Vishwanath; Nikhil, K. L.; Sharma, Vijay Kumar

2016-10-01

Robustness is considered to be an important feature of biological systems which may evolve when the functionality of a trait is associated with higher fitness across multiple environmental conditions. Thus, the ability to maintain stable biological phenotypes across environments is thought to be of adaptive value. Previously, we have reported higher intrinsic activity levels (activity levels of free-running rhythm in constant darkness) and power of rhythm (as assessed by amplitude of the periodogram) in Drosophila melanogaster populations (stocks) reared in constant darkness (DD stocks) as compared to those reared in constant light (LL stocks) and 12:12-h light-dark cycles (LD stocks) for over 19 years (˜330 generations). In the current study, we intended to examine whether the enhanced levels of activity observed in DD stocks persist under various environments such as photoperiods, ambient temperatures, non-24-h light-dark (LD) cycles, and semi-natural conditions (SN). We found that DD stocks largely retain their phenotype of enhanced activity levels across most of the above-mentioned environments suggesting the evolution of robust circadian clocks in DD stocks. Furthermore, we compared the peak activity levels of the three stocks across different environmental conditions relative to their peaks in constant darkness and found that the change in peak activity levels upon entrainment was not significantly different across the three stocks for any of the examined environmental conditions. This suggests that the enhancement of activity levels in DD stocks is not due to differential sensitivity to environment. Thus, these results suggest that rearing in constant darkness (DD) leads to evolution of robust circadian clocks suggesting a possible adaptive value of possessing such rhythms under constant dark environments.

Evolution of robust circadian clocks in Drosophila melanogaster populations reared in constant dark for over 330 generations.

PubMed

Shindey, Radhika; Varma, Vishwanath; Nikhil, K L; Sharma, Vijay Kumar

2016-10-01

Robustness is considered to be an important feature of biological systems which may evolve when the functionality of a trait is associated with higher fitness across multiple environmental conditions. Thus, the ability to maintain stable biological phenotypes across environments is thought to be of adaptive value. Previously, we have reported higher intrinsic activity levels (activity levels of free-running rhythm in constant darkness) and power of rhythm (as assessed by amplitude of the periodogram) in Drosophila melanogaster populations (stocks) reared in constant darkness (DD stocks) as compared to those reared in constant light (LL stocks) and 12:12-h light-dark cycles (LD stocks) for over 19 years (∼330 generations). In the current study, we intended to examine whether the enhanced levels of activity observed in DD stocks persist under various environments such as photoperiods, ambient temperatures, non-24-h light-dark (LD) cycles, and semi-natural conditions (SN). We found that DD stocks largely retain their phenotype of enhanced activity levels across most of the above-mentioned environments suggesting the evolution of robust circadian clocks in DD stocks. Furthermore, we compared the peak activity levels of the three stocks across different environmental conditions relative to their peaks in constant darkness and found that the change in peak activity levels upon entrainment was not significantly different across the three stocks for any of the examined environmental conditions. This suggests that the enhancement of activity levels in DD stocks is not due to differential sensitivity to environment. Thus, these results suggest that rearing in constant darkness (DD) leads to evolution of robust circadian clocks suggesting a possible adaptive value of possessing such rhythms under constant dark environments.

Bench-to-bedside review: Humanism in pediatric critical care medicine – a leadership challenge

PubMed Central

Kissoon, Niranjan

2005-01-01

A humanistic approach to leadership is especially important in the case of children in the technology-rich intensive care unit (ICU) environment. Leaders should create a humanistic milieu in which the needs of critically ill children, their families and staff are never overlooked. Humanistic leaders are tactful, accessible, approachable and versatile, and have a sense of humour. Humanness in the ICU environment has many faces and poses a challenge to many in leadership positions. Humanistic leaders treat others as they hope they will become. They are constantly questioning themselves, seeking awareness of themselves and others, but most importantly they are constantly learning and evolving. Ultimately, humanistic leadership creates an ICU culture that supports all, is conducive to enriching lives, and is sensitive to the needs of patients and their families. PMID:16137386

Response to a small external force and fluctuations of a passive particle in a one-dimensional diffusive environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huveneers, François

2018-04-01

We investigate the long-time behavior of a passive particle evolving in a one-dimensional diffusive random environment, with diffusion constant D . We consider two cases: (a) The particle is pulled forward by a small external constant force and (b) there is no systematic bias. Theoretical arguments and numerical simulations provide evidence that the particle is eventually trapped by the environment. This is diagnosed in two ways: The asymptotic speed of the particle scales quadratically with the external force as it goes to zero, and the fluctuations scale diffusively in the unbiased environment, up to possible logarithmic corrections in both cases. Moreover, in the large D limit (homogenized regime), we find an important transient region giving rise to other, finite-size scalings, and we describe the crossover to the true asymptotic behavior.

Quasilinear models through the lens of resolvent analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McKeon, Beverley; Chini, Greg

2017-11-01

Quasilinear (QL) and generalized quasilinear (GQL) analyses, e.g. Marston et al., also variously described as statistical state dynamics models, e.g., Farrell et al., restricted nonlinear models, e.g. Thomas et al., or 2D/3C models, e.g. Gayme et al., have achieved considerable success in recovering the mean velocity profile for a range of turbulent flows. In QL approaches, the portion of the velocity field that can be represented as streamwise constant, i.e. with streamwise wavenumber kx = 0 , is fully resolved, while the streamwise-varying dynamics are linearized about the streamwise-constant field; that is, only those nonlinear interactions that drive the streamwise-constant field are retained, and the non-streamwise constant ``fluctuation-fluctuation'' interactions are ignored. Here, we show how these QL approaches can be reformulated in terms of the closed-loop resolvent analysis of McKeon & Sharma (2010), which enables us to identify reasons for their evident success as well as algorithms for their efficient computation. The support of ONR through Grant No. N00014-17-2307 is gratefully acknowledged.

Nonlinear dielectric effects in liquids: a guided tour

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Richert, Ranko

2017-09-01

Dielectric relaxation measurements probe how the polarization of a material responds to the application of an external electric field, providing information on structure and dynamics of the sample. In the limit of small fields and thus linear response, such experiments reveal the properties of the material in the same thermodynamic state it would have in the absence of the external field. At sufficiently high fields, reversible changes in enthalpy and entropy of the system occur even at constant temperature, and these will in turn alter the polarization responses. The resulting nonlinear dielectric effects feature field induced suppressions (saturation) and enhancements (chemical effect) of the amplitudes, as well as time constant shifts towards faster (energy absorption) and slower (entropy reduction) dynamics. This review focuses on the effects of high electric fields that are reversible and observed at constant temperature for single component glass-forming liquids. The experimental challenges involved in nonlinear dielectric experiments, the approaches to separating and identifying the different sources of nonlinear behavior, and the current understanding of how high electric fields affect dielectric materials will be discussed. Covering studies from Debye’s initial approach to the present state-of-the-art, it will be emphasized what insight can be gained from the nonlinear responses that are not available from dielectric relaxation results obtained in the linear regime.

[From the "screen" society to concern for future generations].

PubMed

Le Coz, Pierre

2015-01-01

The youth of today is evolving in an unprecedented sociocultural context marked by the rapid development of new virtual technologies. Young people are constantly looking at screens, big and small, tactile and digital, which have invaded their social sphere. Connected, logged on, overstimulated, the new generation lives surrounded by reactivity and electronic interactions. It is adults' responsibility to expand the range of their cultural and outdoor activities in order to avoid the risk of their capacity for personal expression wasting away.

Maximum Path Information and Fokker Planck Equation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Wei; Wang A., Q.; LeMehaute, A.

2008-04-01

We present a rigorous method to derive the nonlinear Fokker-Planck (FP) equation of anomalous diffusion directly from a generalization of the principle of least action of Maupertuis proposed by Wang [Chaos, Solitons & Fractals 23 (2005) 1253] for smooth or quasi-smooth irregular dynamics evolving in Markovian process. The FP equation obtained may take two different but equivalent forms. It was also found that the diffusion constant may depend on both q (the index of Tsallis entropy [J. Stat. Phys. 52 (1988) 479] and the time t.

Excising das All: Evolving Maxwell waves beyond Scri

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

vanMeter, James R.; Fiske, David R.; Misner, Charles W.

2006-01-01

We study the numerical propagation of waves through future null infinity in a conformally compactified spacetime. We introduce an artificial cosmological constant, which allows us some control over the causal structure near null infinity. We exploit this freedom to ensure that all light cones are tilted outward in a region near null infinity, which allows us to impose excision-style boundary conditions in our finite difference code. In this preliminary study we consider electromagnetic waves propagating in a static, conformally compactified spacetime.

Physiological Signals and Their Fractal Response to Stress Conditions, Environmental Changes and Neurodegenerative Diseases

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-11-01

exponent H=(β+1)/2 and from the fractal dimension D=2- H. The algorithms used to estimate the Hurst exponent directly are usually quite simple and...yields a curve of the type D(τ)=cτH, where c is an opportune constant and H is the Hurst exponent [Scafetta and Grigolini, 2002]. 1 Report Documentation...memory of past events. It is largely expected that the Hurst exponent , which measures the strength of this memory, evolves as a response

Arab doctors, evolving society and corruption: a medical student's perspective.

PubMed

Alamri, Yassar

2015-01-01

Doctors, especially junior doctors, face immense pressure in their day-to-day work. As a result, the rates of depression and anxiety are particularly high in this demanding profession. The pressure, which is compounded by constantly being under societal scrutiny, can unfortunately drive the doctor to breaking point. However, we can help doctors deal with these pressures in a more meaningful way if we make them aware of their wider environment (within a social paradigm) and the implications of their actions.

A Comparison of Current Guidelines of Five International Societies on Clostridium difficile Infection Management.

PubMed

Fehér, Csaba; Mensa, Josep

2016-09-01

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is increasingly recognized as an emerging healthcare problem of elevated importance. Prevention and treatment strategies are constantly evolving along with the apperance of new scientific evidence and novel treatment methods, which is well-reflected in the differences among consecutive international guidelines. In this article, we summarize and compare current guidelines of five international medical societies on CDI management, and discuss some of the controversial and currently unresolved aspects which should be addressed by future research.

OneDHS: The Department of Homeland Security’s Organizational Culture

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-04-27

success stories. The first concerns New York City in the 1990s and the second highlights the Walt Disney Company and its chain of excellence. Both...difference that other actions were unable to produce. Walt Disney Company In contrast to a culture that has evolved over a number of years is a culture...designed from day one and constantly reinforced day in and day out for the last ninety years. The Walt Disney Company is an example of a culture

Non-minimal derivative coupling gravity in cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gumjudpai, Burin; Rangdee, Phongsaphat

2015-11-01

We give a brief review of the non-minimal derivative coupling (NMDC) scalar field theory in which there is non-minimal coupling between the scalar field derivative term and the Einstein tensor. We assume that the expansion is of power-law type or super-acceleration type for small redshift. The Lagrangian includes the NMDC term, a free kinetic term, a cosmological constant term and a barotropic matter term. For a value of the coupling constant that is compatible with inflation, we use the combined WMAP9 (WMAP9 + eCMB + BAO + H_0) dataset, the PLANCK + WP dataset, and the PLANCK TT, TE, EE + lowP + Lensing + ext datasets to find the value of the cosmological constant in the model. Modeling the expansion with power-law gives a negative cosmological constants while the phantom power-law (super-acceleration) expansion gives positive cosmological constant with large error bar. The value obtained is of the same order as in the Λ CDM model, since at late times the NMDC effect is tiny due to small curvature.

Phase-field modeling of stress-induced instabilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kassner, Klaus; Misbah, Chaouqi; Müller, Judith; Kappey, Jens; Kohlert, Peter

2001-03-01

A phase-field approach describing the dynamics of a strained solid in contact with its melt is developed. Using a formulation that is independent of the state of reference chosen for the displacement field, we write down the elastic energy in an unambiguous fashion, thus obtaining an entire class of models. According to the choice of reference state, the particular model emerging from this class will become equivalent to one of the two independently constructed models on which brief accounts have been given recently [J. Müller and M. Grant, Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 1736 (1999); K. Kassner and C. Misbah, Europhys. Lett. 46, 217 (1999)]. We show that our phase-field approach recovers the sharp-interface limit corresponding to the continuum model equations describing the Asaro-Tiller-Grinfeld instability. Moreover, we use our model to derive hitherto unknown sharp-interface equations for a situation including a field of body forces. The numerical utility of the phase-field approach is demonstrated by reproducing some known results and by comparison with a sharp-interface simulation. We then proceed to investigate the dynamics of extended systems within the phase-field model which contains an inherent lower length cutoff, thus avoiding cusp singularities. It is found that a periodic array of grooves generically evolves into a superstructure which arises from a series of imperfect period doublings. For wave numbers close to the fastest-growing mode of the linear instability, the first period doubling can be obtained analytically. Both the dynamics of an initially periodic array and a random initial structure can be described as a coarsening process with winning grooves temporarily accelerating whereas losing ones decelerate and even reverse their direction of motion. In the absence of gravity, the end state of a laterally finite system is a single groove growing at constant velocity, as long as no secondary instabilities arise (that we have not been able to see with our code). With gravity, several grooves are possible, all of which are bound to stop eventually. A laterally infinite system approaches a scaling state in the absence of gravity and probably with gravity, too.

New fluorescence techniques for high-throughput drug discovery.

PubMed

Jäger, S; Brand, L; Eggeling, C

2003-12-01

The rapid increase of compound libraries as well as new targets emerging from the Human Genome Project require constant progress in pharmaceutical research. An important tool is High-Throughput Screening (HTS), which has evolved as an indispensable instrument in the pre-clinical target-to-IND (Investigational New Drug) discovery process. HTS requires machinery, which is able to test more than 100,000 potential drug candidates per day with respect to a specific biological activity. This calls for certain experimental demands especially with respect to sensitivity, speed, and statistical accuracy, which are fulfilled by using fluorescence technology instrumentation. In particular the recently developed family of fluorescence techniques, FIDA (Fluorescence Intensity Distribution Analysis), which is based on confocal single-molecule detection, has opened up a new field of HTS applications. This report describes the application of these new techniques as well as of common fluorescence techniques--such as confocal fluorescence lifetime and anisotropy--to HTS. It gives experimental examples and presents advantages and disadvantages of each method. In addition the most common artifacts (auto-fluorescence or quenching by the drug candidates) emerging from the fluorescence detection techniques are highlighted and correction methods for confocal fluorescence read-outs are presented, which are able to circumvent this deficiency.

Logistics Response to the Industry 4.0: the Physical Internet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maslarić, Marinko; Nikoličić, Svetlana; Mirčetić, Dejan

2016-11-01

Today's mankind and all human activities are constantly changing and evolving in response to changes in technology, social and economic environments and climate. Those changes drive a "new" way of manufacturing industry. That novelty could be described as the organization of production processes based on technology and devices autonomously communicating with each other along the value chain. Decision-makers have to address this novelty (usually named as Industry 4.0) and try to develop appropriate information systems, physical facilities, and different kind of technologies capable of meeting the future needs of economy. As a consequence, there is a need for new paradigms of the way freight is move, store, realize, and supply through the world (logistics system). One of the proposed solutions is the Physical Internet, concept of open global logistics system which completely redefines current supply chain configuration, business models, and value-creation patterns.However, further detailed research on this topic is much needed. This paper aims to provide a balanced review of the variety of views considered among professionals in the field of Physical Internet with the final aim to identify the biggest challenges (technological, societal, business paradigm) of proposed new logistics paradigm as a practical solution in supporting Industry 4.0.

Non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics on a moving mesh

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marinacci, Federico; Vogelsberger, Mark; Kannan, Rahul; Mocz, Philip; Pakmor, Rüdiger; Springel, Volker

2018-05-01

In certain astrophysical systems, the commonly employed ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) approximation breaks down. Here, we introduce novel explicit and implicit numerical schemes of ohmic resistivity terms in the moving-mesh code AREPO. We include these non-ideal terms for two MHD techniques: the Powell 8-wave formalism and a constrained transport scheme, which evolves the cell-centred magnetic vector potential. We test our implementation against problems of increasing complexity, such as one- and two-dimensional diffusion problems, and the evolution of progressive and stationary Alfvén waves. On these test problems, our implementation recovers the analytic solutions to second-order accuracy. As first applications, we investigate the tearing instability in magnetized plasmas and the gravitational collapse of a rotating magnetized gas cloud. In both systems, resistivity plays a key role. In the former case, it allows for the development of the tearing instability through reconnection of the magnetic field lines. In the latter, the adopted (constant) value of ohmic resistivity has an impact on both the gas distribution around the emerging protostar and the mass loading of magnetically driven outflows. Our new non-ideal MHD implementation opens up the possibility to study magneto-hydrodynamical systems on a moving mesh beyond the ideal MHD approximation.

Lessons learned about spaceflight and cell biology experiments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hughes-Fulford, Millie

2004-01-01

Conducting cell biology experiments in microgravity can be among the most technically challenging events in a biologist's life. Conflicting events of spaceflight include waiting to get manifested, delays in manifest schedules, training astronauts to not shake your cultures and to add reagents slowly, as shaking or quick injection can activate signaling cascades and give you erroneous results. It is important to select good hardware that is reliable. Possible conflicting environments in flight include g-force and vibration of launch, exposure of cells to microgravity for extended periods until hardware is turned on, changes in cabin gases and cosmic radiation. One should have an on-board 1-g control centrifuge in order to eliminate environmental differences. Other obstacles include getting your funding in a timely manner (it is not uncommon for two to three years to pass between notification of grant approval for funding and actually getting funded). That said, it is important to note that microgravity research is worthwhile since all terrestrial life evolved in a gravity field and secrets of biological function may only be answered by removing the constant of gravity. Finally, spaceflight experiments are rewarding and worth your effort and patience.

The art and science of cancer education and evaluation: toward facilitating improved patient outcomes.

PubMed

Johnson, Lenora; Ousley, Anita; Swarz, Jeffrey; Bingham, Raymond J; Erickson, J Bianca; Ellis, Steven; Moody, Terra

2011-03-01

Cancer education is a constantly evolving field, as science continues to advance both our understanding of cancer and its effects on patients, families, and communities. Moving discoveries to practice expeditiously is paramount to impacting cancer outcomes. The continuing education of cancer care professionals throughout their practice life is vital to facilitating the adoption of therapeutic innovations. Meanwhile, more general educational programs serve to keep cancer patients, their families, and the public informed of the latest findings in cancer research. The National Cancer Institute conducted an assessment of the current knowledge base for cancer education which involved two literature reviews, one of the general literature of the evaluation of medical and health education efforts, and the other of the preceding 5 years of the Journal of Cancer Education (JCE). These reviews explored a wide range of educational models and methodologies. In general, those that were most effective used multiple methodologies, interactive techniques, and multiple exposures over time. Less than one third of the articles in the JCE reported on a cancer education or communication product, and of these, only 70% had been evaluated for effectiveness. Recommendations to improve the evaluation of cancer education and the educational focus of the JCE are provided.

A quantitative approach to painting styles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vieira, Vilson; Fabbri, Renato; Sbrissa, David; da Fontoura Costa, Luciano; Travieso, Gonzalo

2015-01-01

This research extends a method previously applied to music and philosophy (Vilson Vieira et al., 2012), representing the evolution of art as a time-series where relations like dialectics are measured quantitatively. For that, a corpus of paintings of 12 well-known artists from baroque and modern art is analyzed. A set of 99 features is extracted and the features which most contributed to the classification of painters are selected. The projection space obtained provides the basis to the analysis of measurements. These quantitative measures underlie revealing observations about the evolution of painting styles, specially when compared with other humanity fields already analyzed: while music evolved along a master-apprentice tradition (high dialectics) and philosophy by opposition, painting presents another pattern: constant increasing skewness, low opposition between members of the same movement and opposition peaks in the transition between movements. Differences between baroque and modern movements are also observed in the projected "painting space": while baroque paintings are presented as an overlapped cluster, the modern paintings present minor overlapping and are disposed more widely in the projection than the baroque counterparts. This finding suggests that baroque painters shared aesthetics while modern painters tend to "break rules" and develop their own style.

De Sitter stability and coarse graining

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Markkanen, T.

2018-02-01

We present a 4-dimensional back reaction analysis of de Sitter space for a conformally coupled scalar field in the presence of vacuum energy initialized in the Bunch-Davies vacuum. In contrast to the usual semi-classical prescription, as the source term in the Friedmann equations we use expectation values where the unobservable information hidden by the cosmological event horizon has been neglected i.e. coarse grained over. It is shown that in this approach the energy-momentum is precisely thermal with constant temperature despite the dilution from the expansion of space due to a flux of energy radiated from the horizon. This leads to a self-consistent solution for the Hubble rate, which is gradually evolving and at late times deviates significantly from de Sitter. Our results hence imply de Sitter space to be unstable in this prescription. The solution also suggests dynamical vacuum energy: the continuous flux of energy is balanced by the generation of negative vacuum energy, which accumulatively decreases the overall contribution. Finally, we show that our results admit a thermodynamic interpretation which provides a simple alternate derivation of the mechanism. For very long times the solutions coincide with flat space.

Constant-roll (quasi-)linear inflation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karam, A.; Marzola, L.; Pappas, T.; Racioppi, A.; Tamvakis, K.

2018-05-01

In constant-roll inflation, the scalar field that drives the accelerated expansion of the Universe is rolling down its potential at a constant rate. Within this framework, we highlight the relations between the Hubble slow-roll parameters and the potential ones, studying in detail the case of a single-field Coleman-Weinberg model characterised by a non-minimal coupling of the inflaton to gravity. With respect to the exact constant-roll predictions, we find that assuming an approximate slow-roll behaviour yields a difference of Δ r = 0.001 in the tensor-to-scalar ratio prediction. Such a discrepancy is in principle testable by future satellite missions. As for the scalar spectral index ns, we find that the existing 2-σ bound constrains the value of the non-minimal coupling to ξphi ~ 0.29–0.31 in the model under consideration.

Magneto-absorption effects in magnetic-field assisted laser ablation of silicon by UV nanosecond pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farrokhi, H.; Gruzdev, V.; Zheng, H. Y.; Rawat, R. S.; Zhou, W.

2016-06-01

A constant magnetic field can significantly improve the quality and speed of ablation by nanosecond laser pulses. These improvements are usually attributed to the confinement of laser-produced plasma by the magnetic field and specific propagation effects in the magnetized plasma. Here we report a strong influence of constant axial magnetic field on the ablation of silicon by 20-ns laser pulses at wavelength 355 nm, which results in an increase of ablation depth by a factor of 1.3 to 69 depending on laser parameters and magnitude of the magnetic field. The traditional plasma effects do not explain this result, and magneto-absorption of silicon is proposed as one of the major mechanisms of the significant enhancement of ablation.

Dynamics of the echolocation beam during prey pursuit in aerial hawking bats.

PubMed

Jakobsen, Lasse; Olsen, Mads Nedergaard; Surlykke, Annemarie

2015-06-30

In the evolutionary arms race between prey and predator, measures and countermeasures continuously evolve to increase survival on both sides. Bats and moths are prime examples. When exposed to intense ultrasound, eared moths perform dramatic escape behaviors. Vespertilionid and rhinolophid bats broaden their echolocation beam in the final stage of pursuit, presumably as a countermeasure to keep evading moths within their "acoustic field of view." In this study, we investigated if dynamic beam broadening is a general property of echolocation when catching moving prey. We recorded three species of emballonurid bats, Saccopteryx bilineata, Saccopteryx leptura, and Rhynchonycteris naso, catching airborne insects in the field. The study shows that S. bilineata and S. leptura maintain a constant beam shape during the entire prey pursuit, whereas R. naso broadens the beam by lowering the peak call frequency from 100 kHz during search and approach to 67 kHz in the buzz. Surprisingly, both Saccopteryx bats emit calls with very high energy throughout the pursuit, up to 60 times more than R. naso and Myotis daubentonii (a similar sized vespertilionid), providing them with as much, or more, peripheral "vision" than the vespertilionids, but ensonifying objects far ahead suggesting more clutter. Thus, beam broadening is not a fundamental property of the echolocation system. However, based on the results, we hypothesize that increased peripheral detection is crucial to all aerial hawking bats in the final stages of prey pursuit and speculate that beam broadening is a feature characterizing more advanced echolocation.

Taking a deep look: modern microscopy technologies to optimize the design and functionality of biocompatible scaffolds for tissue engineering in regenerative medicine

PubMed Central

Vielreicher, M.; Schürmann, S.; Detsch, R.; Schmidt, M. A.; Buttgereit, A.; Boccaccini, A.; Friedrich, O.

2013-01-01

This review focuses on modern nonlinear optical microscopy (NLOM) methods that are increasingly being used in the field of tissue engineering (TE) to image tissue non-invasively and without labelling in depths unreached by conventional microscopy techniques. With NLOM techniques, biomaterial matrices, cultured cells and their produced extracellular matrix may be visualized with high resolution. After introducing classical imaging methodologies such as µCT, MRI, optical coherence tomography, electron microscopy and conventional microscopy two-photon fluorescence (2-PF) and second harmonic generation (SHG) imaging are described in detail (principle, power, limitations) together with their most widely used TE applications. Besides our own cell encapsulation, cell printing and collagen scaffolding systems and their NLOM imaging the most current research articles will be reviewed. These cover imaging of autofluorescence and fluorescence-labelled tissue and biomaterial structures, SHG-based quantitative morphometry of collagen I and other proteins, imaging of vascularization and online monitoring techniques in TE. Finally, some insight is given into state-of-the-art three-photon-based imaging methods (e.g. coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering, third harmonic generation). This review provides an overview of the powerful and constantly evolving field of multiphoton microscopy, which is a powerful and indispensable tool for the development of artificial tissues in regenerative medicine and which is likely to gain importance also as a means for general diagnostic medical imaging. PMID:23864499

A Hybrid Constant and Oscillatory Field Ion Mobility Analyzer in Structures for Lossless Ion Manipulations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Prabhakaran Nair Syamala Amma, Aneesh; Hamid, Ahme

2018-02-28

Ion mobility (IM) spectrometry is becoming an important approach for analyzing molecular ions in the gas phase with applications that span a multitude of scientific areas. There are a variety of IM-based approaches that utilize either constant or oscillatory electric fields. Here, we explore the combination of constant and oscillatory fields applied in a single device to affect the separation and filtering of ions based on their mobilities. The mobility analyzer allows confining and manipulating ions utilizing a combination of radio frequency (RF), direct current (DC) fields, and traveling waves (TW) in a structures for lossless ion manipulations (SLIM) module.more » In this work, we have investigated theoretically and experimentally the concept for continuous filtering of ions based on their mobilities where ions are mobility separated and selected by a combination of TW and constant fields providing opposing forces on the ions. The SLIM module was composed of two surfaces with mirror-image arrays of electrodes and had two regions where the different TW and opposing DC fields could be applied. By appropriately choosing the DC gradient and TW parameters for the two sections, it is possible to transmit ions of a selected mobility while filtering out others. The filtering capabilities are determined by the applied DC gradient and the TW parameters, such as frequency, amplitude and the TW sequence (i.e., the duty cycle of the traveling wave). The effect of different parameters on the sensitivity and the IM resolution of the device have been investigated.« less

A Hybrid Constant and Oscillatory Field Ion Mobility Analyzer Using Structures for Lossless Ion Manipulations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Prabhakaran, Aneesh; Hamid, Ahmed M.; Garimella, Sandilya V. B.

Ion mobility (IM) spectrometry is becoming an important approach for analyzing molecular ions in the gas phase with applications that span a multitude of scientific areas. There are a variety of IM-based approaches that utilize either constant or oscillatory electric fields. Here, we explore the combination of constant and oscillatory fields applied in a single device to affect the separation and filtering of ions based on their mobilities. The mobility analyzer allows confining and manipulating ions utilizing a combination of radio frequency (RF), direct current (DC) fields, and traveling waves (TW) in a structures for lossless ion manipulations (SLIM) module.more » In this work, we have investigated theoretically and experimentally the concept for continuous filtering of ions based on their mobilities where ions are mobility separated and selected by a combination of TW and constant fields providing opposing forces on the ions. The SLIM module was composed of two surfaces with mirror-image arrays of electrodes and had two regions where the different TW and opposing DC fields could be applied. By appropriately choosing the DC gradient and TW parameters for the two sections, it is possible to transmit ions of a selected mobility while filtering out others. The filtering capabilities are determined by the applied DC gradient and the TW parameters, such as frequency, amplitude and the TW sequence (i.e., the duty cycle of the traveling wave). The effect of different parameters on the sensitivity and the IM resolution of the device have been investigated.« less

Annual Report 2015: High Fidelity Modeling of Field-Reversed Configuration (FRC) Thrusters

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-01

simulations become unstable as time evolves leading to the magnetic island collision with the boundary and destruction of the close magnetic field structure...compares well with the results of the Hall-MHD code. 1 R. D. Milroy, "A magnetohydrodynamic model of rotating magnetic field current drive in a field...reversed configuration," Physics of Plasmas, vol. 7, no. 10. 2 Distribution A: Approved for Public Release. PA# 16202 Figure 1. Magnetic field

The Evolution of an Online Substance Abuse Counseling Certificate Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crozier, Mary K.

2012-01-01

In the field of rehabilitation services, substance abuse counseling requires unique skills. Post-baccalaureate academic certificate programs offer professionals an opportunity to retool or expand their skills and meet licensure needs in this evolving field. East Carolina University's online Substance Abuse Counseling Certificate Program was…

Trends in "JPBI" Publications, 1999-2016

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clarke, Shelley; Zakszeski, Brittany N.; Kern, Lee

2018-01-01

The field of positive behavior support (PBS) has expanded and evolved significantly since the first issue of "Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions" ("JPBI") was published. To ascertain how evolution of the field was reflected in the research, we examined trends in empirical studies published in "JPBI" since its…

Development of Waypoint Planning Tool in Response to NASA Field Campaign Challenges

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

He, Matt; Hardin, Danny; Mayer, Paul; Blakeslee, Richard; Goodman, Michael

2012-01-01

Airborne real time observations are a major component of NASA 's Earth Science research and satellite ground validation studies. Multiple aircraft are involved in most NASA field campaigns. The coordination of the aircraft with satellite overpasses, other airplanes and the constantly evolving, dynamic weather conditions often determines the success of the campaign. Planning a research aircraft mission within the context of meeting the science objectives is a complex task because it requires real time situational awareness of the weather conditions that affect the aircraft track. A flight planning tools is needed to provide situational awareness information to the mission scientists, and help them plan and modify the flight tracks. Scientists at the University of Alabama ]Huntsville and the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center developed the Waypoint Planning Tool, an interactive software tool that enables scientists to develop their own flight plans (also known as waypoints) with point -and-click mouse capabilities on a digital map filled with real time raster and vector data. The development of this Waypoint Planning Tool demonstrates the significance of mission support in responding to the challenges presented during NASA field campaigns. Analysis during and after each campaign helped identify both issues and new requirements, and initiated the next wave of development. Currently the Waypoint Planning Tool has gone through three rounds of development and analysis processes. The development of this waypoint tool is directly affected by the technology advances on GIS/Mapping technologies. From the standalone Google Earth application and simple KML functionalities, to Google Earth Plugin on web platform, and to the rising open source GIS tools with New Java Script frameworks, the Waypoint Planning Tool has entered its third phase of technology advancement. Adapting new technologies for the Waypoint Planning Tool ensures its success in helping scientist reach their mission objectives.

Highlights in bioethics through 40 years: a quantitative analysis of top-cited journal articles.

PubMed

Jin, Pingyue; Hakkarinen, Mark

2017-05-01

The field of bioethics is constantly evolving. To investigate trends in the field of bioethics, we conducted a quantitative analysis of the top-cited articles in bioethical journals over the past 40 years. Retrospective quantitative study of the 20 most cited bioethics articles published each year from 1975 to 2014 were conducted. Article samples were selected from a list of the most relevant 100 journals in the field of bioethics. In total, 800 top-cited articles between 1975 and 2014 in the domain of bioethics were retrieved and analysed. More than half of them were composed by single authors, but multiauthorship became more prevalent with time. The majority (84.5%) of these highly cited articles originated from the USA (65.3%), UK or Canada, though the proportion of other countries increased in recent years. Almost half (44.6%) of the highly cited articles belonged to the subfield of clinical ethics , but other subfields such as research ethics , public health ethics and neuroethics became more prominent. Overall, the distribution of Thesaurus keywords and subfields became more diverse over time, and the number of journals publishing top-cited articles doubled. Furthermore, the empirical ethics approach increased over time in our sample of top-cited articles. In sum, the forefront of bioethics is getting more diversified, collaborative and international. The presumed 'mainstream' becomes less dominant over time, as more highly cited articles come from new subfields, discuss new topics, use more Bioethics Thesaurus keywords, more authors participate and more countries other than the USA contribute to bioethics journals. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

What controls the location of sediment cover in bedrock-alluvial channels?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hodge, R. A.; Hoey, T.

2016-12-01

The extent of sediment cover in a bedrock alluvial channel is a key factor in understanding the processes within these channels, and hence how they evolve over time. However, sediment cover is typically quantified as a single value, with little consideration as to where that sediment is located on the bed. The spatial location of the cover is important because sediment grains typically move between sediment patches, hence sediment transport lengths are controlled by inter-patch distances. Furthermore, the location of sediment cover affects its stability, with patches in deep hollows likely to be more stable that isolated grains on flat bedrock surfaces. We present data that attempts to identify the key factors affecting the location and stability of sediment cover. Field data were collected from rivers with c.10-30% sediment cover. Froude-scaled flume experiments were undertaken using a 3D printed 1:10 scale replica of one of the field sites, Trout Beck. In the flume, we undertook two sets of experiments: 1) spatially-distributed hydraulic measurements at a range of discharges; and 2) pulses of sediment input at a constant discharge, and the subjected to an increasing discharge in order to identify the discharge needed to remove the sediment patches. We found that local topography was an important control on sediment patch location, but that the additional influence of hydraulics means that sediment patches do not just fill the bed from the lowest elevations. The extent to which topography was important also depended on the size of the sediment pulse, with larger sediment pulses being stabilised by grain-grain and grain-flow interactions and less influenced by the bed topography. These results are consistent with field data where the geometry of the patches reflects bed topography.

Recognition of large scale deep-seated landslides in vegetated areas of Taiwan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, C. W.; Tarolli, P.; Tseng, C. M.; Tseng, Y. H.

2012-04-01

In August 2009, Typhoon Morakot triggered thousands of landslides and debris flows, and according to government reports, 619 people were dead and 76 missing and the economic loss was estimated at hundreds million of USD. In particular, the large deep-seated landslides are critical and deserve attention, since they can be affected by a reactivation during intense events, that usually can evolve in destructive failures. These are also difficult to recognize in the field, especially under dense forest areas. A detailed and constantly updated inventory map of such phenomena, and the recognition of their topographic signatures really represents a key tool for landslide risk mitigation, and mapping. The aim of this work is to test the performance of a new developed method for the automatic extraction of geomorphic features related to landslide crowns developed by Tarolli et al. (2010), in support to field surveys in order to develop a detailed and accurate inventory map of such phenomena. The methodology is based on the detection of thresholds derived by the statistical analysis of variability of landform curvature from high resolution LiDAR derived topography. The analysis suggested that the method allowed a good performance in localization and extraction, respect to field analysis, of features related to deep-seated landslides. Thanks to LiDAR capabilty to detect the bare ground elevation data also in forested areas, it was possible to recognize in detail landslide features also in remote regions difficult to access. Reference Tarolli, P., Sofia, G., Dalla Fontana, G. (2010). Geomorphic features extraction from high-resolution topography: landslide crowns and bank erosion, Natural Hazards, doi:10.1007/s11069-010-9695-2

Dr. Bibbo's Presidential Address on Automation in Cytology: Were Her Predictions Right, Wrong, or Somewhere in the Middle?

PubMed

Wilbur, David C

2017-01-01

In 1983, Dr. Marluce Bibbo gave the Presidential Address at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Cytology in Denver, CO, USA. The lecture was entitled "Analytic and Quantitative Cytology," a field in which Dr. Bibbo was intimately involved. In the presentation, she included a summary of 30 years of work already accomplished, the present state of the art, and musings about issues encountered, potential resolutions, progress that needed to be made, and her perception of how the field needed to evolve in order to become ultimately successful as a clinical service. This commentary looks back 34 years, with observations about Dr. Bibbo's predictions and how the field of cytology automation did actually evolve in the decades following her address. New challenges are identified and possible paths forward are discussed. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

On the mechanical stability of the body-centered cubic phase and the emergence of a metastable cI16 phase in classical hard sphere solids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Warshavsky, Vadim B.; Ford, David M.; Monson, Peter A.

2018-01-01

The stability of the body-centered cubic (bcc) solid phase of classical hard spheres is of intrinsic interest and is also relevant to the development of perturbation theories for bcc solids of other model systems. Using canonical ensemble Monte Carlo, we simulated systems initialized in a perfect bcc lattice at various densities in the solid region. We observed that the systems rapidly evolved into one of four structures that then persisted for the duration of the simulation. Remarkably, one of these structures was identified as cI16, a cubic crystalline structure with 16 particles in the unit cell, which has recently been observed experimentally in lithium and sodium solids at high pressures. The other three structures do not exhibit crystalline order but are characterized by common patterns in the radial distribution function and bond-orientational order parameter distribution; we refer to them as bcc-di, with i ranging from 1 to 3. We found similar outcomes when employing any of the three single occupancy cell (SOC) restrictions commonly used in the literature. We also ran long constant-pressure simulations with box shape fluctuations initiated from bcc and cI16 initial configurations. At lower pressures, all the systems evolved to defective face-centered cubic (fcc) or hexagonal close-packed (hcp) structures. At higher pressures, most of the systems initiated as bcc evolved to cI16 with some evolving to defective fcc/hcp. High pressure systems initiated from cI16 remained in that structure. We computed the chemical potential of cI16 using the Einstein crystal reference method and found that it is higher than that of fcc by ˜0.5kT-2.5kT over the pressure range studied, with the difference increasing with pressure. We find that the undistorted bcc solid, even with constant-volume and SOC restrictions applied, is so mechanically unstable that it is unsuitable for consideration as a metastable phase or as a reference system for studying bcc phases of other systems. On the other hand, cI16 is a mechanically stable structure that can spontaneously emerge from a bcc starting point but it is thermodynamically metastable relative to fcc or hcp.

Magnetic field in IRC+10216 and other C-rich evolved stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duthu, A.; Herpin, F.; Wiesemeyer, H.; Baudry, A.; Lèbre, A.; Paubert, G.

2017-07-01

Context. During the transition from the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) to planetary nebulae (PN), the circumstellar geometry and morphology change dramatically. Another characteristic of this transition is the high mass-loss rate, that can be partially explained by radiation pressure and a combination of various factors, such as the stellar pulsation, the dust grain condensation, and opacity in the upper atmosphere. The magnetic field can also be one of the main ingredients that shapes the stellar upper atmosphere and envelope. Aims: Our main goal is to investigate for the first time the spatial distribution of the magnetic field in the envelope of IRC+10216. More generally we intend to determine the magnetic field strength in the circumstellar envelope (CSE) of C-rich evolved stars, compare this field with previous studies for O-rich stars, and constrain the variation of the magnetic field with r the distance to the star's centre. Methods: We use spectropolarimetric observations of the Stokes V parameter, collected with Xpol on the IRAM-30 m radiotelescope, observing the Zeeman effect in seven hyperfine components of the CN J = 1-0 line. We use the Crutcher et al. (1996, ApJ, 456, 217) method to estimate the magnetic field. For the first time, the instrumental contamination is investigated, through dedicated studies of the power patterns in Stokes V and I in detail. Results: For C-rich evolved stars, we derive a magnetic field strength (B) between 1.6 and 14.2 mG while B is estimated to be 6 mG for the proto-PN (PPN) AFGL618, and an upper value of 8 mG is found for the PN NGC 7027. These results are consistent with a decrease of B as 1/r in the environment of AGB objects, that is, with the presence of a toroidal field. But this is not the case for PPN and PN stars. Our map of IRC+10216 suggests that the magnetic field is not homogeneously strong throughout or aligned with the envelope and that the morphology of the CN emission might have changed with time.

Effects of electric and magnetic fields on the electronic properties of zigzag carbon and boron nitride nanotubes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chegel, Raad; Behzad, Somayeh; Ahmadi, Eghbal

2012-04-01

We have investigated the electronic properties of zigzag CNTs and BNNTs under the external transverse electric field and axial magnetic field, using tight binding approximation. It was found that after switching on the electric and magnetic fields, the band modification such as distortion of the degeneracy, change in energy dispersion, subband spacing and band gap size reduction occurs. The band gap of zigzag BNNTs decreases linearly with increasing the electric field strength but the band gap variation for CNTs increases first and later decreases (Metallic) or first hold constant and then decreases (semiconductor). For type (II) CNTs, at a weak magnetic field, by increasing the electric field strength, the band gap remains constant first and then decreases and in a stronger magnetic field the band gap reduction becomes parabolic. For type (III) CNTs, in any magnetic field, the band gap increases slowly until reaches a maximum value and then decreases linearly. Unlike to CNTs, the magnetic field has less effects on the BNNTs band gap variation.

T-duality, non-geometry and Lie algebroids in heterotic double field theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blumenhagen, Ralph; Sun, Rui

2015-02-01

A number of issues in heterotic double field theory are studied. This includes the analysis of the T-dual configurations of a flat constant gauge flux background, which turn out to be non-geometric. Performing a field redefinition to a non-geometric frame, these T-duals take a very simple form reminiscent of the constant Q- and R-flux backgrounds. In addition, it is shown how the analysis of arXiv:1304.2784 generalizes to heterotic generalized geometry. For every field redefinition specified by an O( D, D + n) transformation, the structure of the resulting supergravity action is governed by the differential geometry of a corresponding Lie algebroid.

Numerical study of magnetic nanofluids flow in the round channel located in the constant magnetic field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pryazhnikov, Maxim; Guzei, Dmitriy; Minakov, Andrey; Rodionova, Tatyana

2017-10-01

In this paper, the study of ferromagnetic nanoparticles behaviour in the constant magnetic field is carried out. For numerical simulation we have used Euler-Lagrange two-component approach. Using numerical simulation we have studied the growth of deposition of nanoparticles on the channel walls depending on the Reynolds number and the position of the magnet. The flow pattern, the concentration field and the trajectory of nanoparticles as a function of the Reynolds number were obtained. The good qualitative and quantitative agreement between numerical simulation and experiments was shown.

Perturbative Aspects of Low-Dimensional Quantum Field Theory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wardaya, Asep Y.; Theoretical Physics Laboratory, Theoretical High Energy Physics and Instrumentation Research Group, FMIPA, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Jl. Ganesha 10 Bandung 40132; Zen, Freddy P.

We investigate the low-dimensional applications of Quantum Field Theory (QFT), namely Chern-Simons-Witten Theory (CSWT) and Affine Toda Field Theory (ATFT) in 3- and 2- dimensions. We discuss the perturbative aspects of both theories and compare the results to the exact solutions obtained nonperturbatively. For the three dimensions CSWT case, the perturbative term agree with the nonperturbative polynomial invariants up to third order of the coupling constant 1/k. In the two dimensions ATFT, we investigate the perturbative aspect of S-matrices for A{sub 1}{sup (1)} case in eighth order of the coupling constant {beta}.

THE ABRF-MARG MICROARRAY SURVEY 2004: TAKING THE PULSE OF THE MICROARRAY FIELD

EPA Science Inventory

Over the past several years, the field of microarrays has grown and evolved drastically. In its continued efforts to track this evolution, the ABRF-MARG has once again conducted a survey of international microarray facilities and individual microarray users. The goal of the surve...

On Electron-Positron Pair Production by a Spatially Inhomogeneous Electric Field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chervyakov, A.; Kleinert, H.

2018-05-01

A detailed analysis of electron-positron pair creation induced by a spatially non-uniform and static electric field from vacuum is presented. A typical example is provided by the Sauter potential. For this potential, we derive the analytic expressions for vacuum decay and pair production rate accounted for the entire range of spatial variations. In the limit of a sharp step, we recover the divergent result due to the singular electric field at the origin. The limit of a constant field reproduces the classical result of Euler, Heisenberg and Schwinger, if the latter is properly averaged over the width of a spatial variation. The pair production by the Sauter potential is described for different regimes from weak to strong fields. For all these regimes, the locally constant-field rate is shown to be the upper limit.

Continental collision slowing due to viscous mantle lithosphere rather than topography.

PubMed

Clark, Marin Kristen

2012-02-29

Because the inertia of tectonic plates is negligible, plate velocities result from the balance of forces acting at plate margins and along their base. Observations of past plate motion derived from marine magnetic anomalies provide evidence of how continental deformation may contribute to plate driving forces. A decrease in convergence rate at the inception of continental collision is expected because of the greater buoyancy of continental than oceanic lithosphere, but post-collisional rates are less well understood. Slowing of convergence has generally been attributed to the development of high topography that further resists convergent motion; however, the role of deforming continental mantle lithosphere on plate motions has not previously been considered. Here I show that the rate of India's penetration into Eurasia has decreased exponentially since their collision. The exponential decrease in convergence rate suggests that contractional strain across Tibet has been constant throughout the collision at a rate of 7.03 × 10(-16) s(-1), which matches the current rate. A constant bulk strain rate of the orogen suggests that convergent motion is resisted by constant average stress (constant force) applied to a relatively uniform layer or interface at depth. This finding follows new evidence that the mantle lithosphere beneath Tibet is intact, which supports the interpretation that the long-term strain history of Tibet reflects deformation of the mantle lithosphere. Under conditions of constant stress and strength, the deforming continental lithosphere creates a type of viscous resistance that affects plate motion irrespective of how topography evolved.

Value of the Cosmological Constant in Emergent Quantum Gravity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hogan, Craig

It is suggested that the exact value of the cosmological constant could be derived from first principles, based on entanglement of the Standard Model field vacuum with emergent holographic quantum geometry. For the observed value of the cosmological constant, geometrical information is shown to agree closely with the spatial information density of the QCD vacuum, estimated in a free-field approximation. The comparison is motivated by a model of exotic rotational fluctuations in the inertial frame that can be precisely tested in laboratory experiments. Cosmic acceleration in this model is always positive, but fluctuates with characteristic coherence lengthmore » $$\\approx 100$$km and bandwidth $$\\approx 3000$$ Hz.« less

Conceptual problems in detecting the evolution of dark energy when using distance measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bolejko, K.

2011-01-01

Context. Dark energy is now one of the most important and topical problems in cosmology. The first step to reveal its nature is to detect the evolution of dark energy or to prove beyond doubt that the cosmological constant is indeed constant. However, in the standard approach to cosmology, the Universe is described by the homogeneous and isotropic Friedmann models. Aims: We aim to show that in the perturbed universe (even if perturbations vanish if averaged over sufficiently large scales) the distance-redshift relation is not the same as in the unperturbed universe. This has a serious consequence when studying the nature of dark energy and, as shown here, can impair the analysis and studies of dark energy. Methods: The analysis is based on two methods: the linear lensing approximation and the non-linear Szekeres Swiss-Cheese model. The inhomogeneity scale is ~50 Mpc, and both models have the same density fluctuations along the line of sight. Results: The comparison between linear and non-linear methods shows that non-linear corrections are not negligible. When inhomogeneities are present the distance changes by several percent. To show how this change influences the measurements of dark energy, ten future observations with 2% uncertainties are generated. It is shown the using the standard methods (i.e. under the assumption of homogeneity) the systematics due to inhomogeneities can distort our analysis, and may lead to a conclusion that dark energy evolves when in fact it is constant (or vice versa). Conclusions: Therefore, if future observations are analysed only within the homogeneous framework then the impact of inhomogeneities (such as voids and superclusters) can be mistaken for evolving dark energy. Since the robust distinction between the evolution and non-evolution of dark energy is the first step to understanding the nature of dark energy a proper handling of inhomogeneities is essential.

Measurements of the time constant for steady ionization in shaped-charge barium releases

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoch, Edward L.; Hallinan, Thomas J.

1993-01-01

Quantitative measurements of three solar illuminated shaped-charge barium releases injected at small angles to the magnetic field were made using a calibrated color television camera. Two of the releases were from 1989. The third release, a reanalysis of an event included in Hallinan's 1988 study of three 1986 releases, was included to provide continuity between the two studies. Time constants for ionization, measured during the first 25 s of each release, were found to vary considerably. The two 1989 time constants differed substantially, and both were significantly less than any of the 1986 time constants. On the basis of this variability, we conclude that the two 1989 releases showed evidence of continuous nonsolar ionization. One release showed nonsolar ionization which could not he attributed to Alfven's critical ionization velocity process, which requires a component of velocity perpendicular to the magnetic field providing a perpendicular energy greater than the ionization potential.

Cosmic acceleration in the nonlocal approach to the cosmological constant problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oda, Ichiro

2018-04-01

We have recently constructed a manifestly local formulation of a nonlocal approach to the cosmological constant problem which can treat with quantum effects from both matter and gravitational fields. In this formulation, it has been explicitly shown that the effective cosmological constant is radiatively stable even in the presence of the gravitational loop effects. Since we are naturally led to add the R^2 term and the corresponding topological action to an original action, we make use of this formulation to account for the late-time acceleration of expansion of the universe in case of the open universes with infinite space-time volume. We will see that when the "scalaron", which exists in the R^2 gravity as an extra scalar field, has a tiny mass of the order of magnitude {O}(1 meV), we can explain the current value of the cosmological constant in a consistent manner.

The Psychosemantics of Free Riding: Dissecting the Architecture of a Moral Concept

PubMed Central

Delton, Andrew W.; Cosmides, Leda; Guemo, Marvin; Robertson, Theresa E.; Tooby, John

2012-01-01

For collective action to evolve and be maintained by selection, the mind must be equipped with mechanisms designed to identify free riders—individuals who do not contribute to a collective project but still benefit from it. Once identified, free riders must be either punished or excluded from future collective actions. But what criteria does the mind use to categorize someone as a free rider? An evolutionary analysis suggests that failure to contribute is not sufficient. Failure to contribute can occur by intention or accident, but the adaptive threat is posed by those who are motivated to benefit themselves at the expense of cooperators. In 6 experiments, we show that only individuals with exploitive intentions were categorized as free riders, even when holding their actual level of contribution constant (Studies 1 and 2). In contrast to an evolutionary model, rational choice and reinforcement theory suggest that different contribution levels (leading to different payoffs for their cooperative partners) should be key. When intentions were held constant, however, differences in contribution level were not used to categorize individuals as free riders, although some categorization occurred along a competence dimension (Study 3). Free rider categorization was not due to general tendencies to categorize (Study 4) or to mechanisms that track a broader class of intentional moral violations (Studies 5A and 5B). The results reveal the operation of an evolved concept with features tailored for solving the collective action problems faced by ancestral hunter-gatherers. PMID:22268815

Facet-Dependent Oxidative Goethite Growth As a Function of Aqueous Solution Conditions.

PubMed

Strehlau, Jennifer H; Stemig, Melissa S; Penn, R Lee; Arnold, William A

2016-10-04

Nitroaromatic compounds are groundwater pollutants that can be degraded through reactions with Fe(II) adsorbed on iron oxide nanoparticles, although little is known about the evolving reactivity of the minerals with continuous pollutant exposure. In this work, Fe(II)/goethite reactivity toward 4-chloronitrobenzene (4-ClNB) as a function of pH, organic matter presence, and reactant concentrations was explored using sequential-spike batch reactors. Reaction rate constants were smaller with lower pH, introduction of organic matter, and diluted reactant concentrations as compared to a reference condition. Reaction rate constants did not change with the number of 4-ClNB spikes for all reaction conditions. Under all conditions, oxidative goethite growth was demonstrated through X-ray diffraction, magnetic characterization, and transmission electron microscopy. Nonparametric statistics were applied to compare histograms of lengths and widths of goethite nanoparticles as a function of varied solution conditions. The conditions that slowed the reaction also resulted in statistically shorter and wider particles than for the faster reactions. Additionally, added organic matter interfered with particle growth on the favorable {021} faces to a greater extent, with statistically reduced rate of growth on the tip facets and increased rate of growth on the side facets. These data demonstrate that oxidative growth of goethite in aqueous systems is dependent on major groundwater variables, such as pH and the presence of organic matter, which could lead to the evolving reactivity of goethite particles in natural environments.

Influence of heme environment structure on dioxygen affinity for the dual function Amphitrite ornata hemoglobin/dehaloperoxidase. Insights into the evolutional structure-function adaptations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sun, Shengfang; Sono, Masanori; Wang, Chunxue

Sea worm, Amphitrite ornata, has evolved its globin (an O 2 carrier) also to serves as a dehaloperoxidase (DHP) to detoxify haloaromatic pollutants generated by competing species. A previous mutagenesis study by our groups on both DHP and sperm whale myoglobin (SW Mb) revealed some structural factors that influence the dehaloperoxidase activities (significantly lower for Mb) of both proteins. Using an isocyanide/O 2 partition constant measurement method in this study, we have examined the effects of these structural factors on the O 2 equilibrium constants (K O2) of DHP, SW Mb, and their mutants. A clear trend of decreasing Omore » 2 affinity and increasing catalytic activity along with the increase in the distal His N ε–heme iron distance is observed. An H93K/T95H Mb double mutant mimicking the DHP proximal His positioning exhibited markedly enhanced O 2 affinity, confirming the essential effect of proximal His rotation on the globin function of DHP. For DHP, the L100F, T56G and M86E variants showed the effects of distal volume, distal His flexibility and proximal electronic push, respectively, on the O 2 affinity. This study provides insights into how DHP has evolved its heme environment to gain significantly enhanced peroxidase capability without compromising its primary function as an O 2 carrier.« less

The Repeated Replacement Method: A Pure Lagrangian Meshfree Method for Computational Fluid Dynamics

PubMed Central

Walker, Wade A.

2012-01-01

In this paper we describe the repeated replacement method (RRM), a new meshfree method for computational fluid dynamics (CFD). RRM simulates fluid flow by modeling compressible fluids’ tendency to evolve towards a state of constant density, velocity, and pressure. To evolve a fluid flow simulation forward in time, RRM repeatedly “chops out” fluid from active areas and replaces it with new “flattened” fluid cells with the same mass, momentum, and energy. We call the new cells “flattened” because we give them constant density, velocity, and pressure, even though the chopped-out fluid may have had gradients in these primitive variables. RRM adaptively chooses the sizes and locations of the areas it chops out and replaces. It creates more and smaller new cells in areas of high gradient, and fewer and larger new cells in areas of lower gradient. This naturally leads to an adaptive level of accuracy, where more computational effort is spent on active areas of the fluid, and less effort is spent on inactive areas. We show that for common test problems, RRM produces results similar to other high-resolution CFD methods, while using a very different mathematical framework. RRM does not use Riemann solvers, flux or slope limiters, a mesh, or a stencil, and it operates in a purely Lagrangian mode. RRM also does not evaluate numerical derivatives, does not integrate equations of motion, and does not solve systems of equations. PMID:22866175

Improved Differential Ion Mobility Separations Using Linked Scans of Carrier Gas Composition and Compensation Field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santiago, Brandon G.; Harris, Rachel A.; Isenberg, Samantha L.; Ridgeway, Mark E.; Pilo, Alice L.; Kaplan, Desmond A.; Glish, Gary L.

2015-07-01

Differential ion mobility spectrometry (DIMS) separates ions based on differences in their mobilities in low and high electric fields. When coupled to mass spectrometric analyses, DIMS has the ability to improve signal-to-background by eliminating isobaric and isomeric compounds for analytes in complex mixtures. DIMS separation power, often measured by resolution and peak capacity, can be improved through increasing the fraction of helium in the nitrogen carrier gas. However, because the mobility of ions is higher in helium, a greater number of ions collide with the DIMS electrodes or housing, yielding losses in signal intensity. To take advantage of the benefits of helium addition on DIMS separations and reduce ion losses, linked scans were developed. In a linked scan the helium content of the carrier gas is reduced as the compensation field is increased. Linked scans were compared with conventional compensation field scans with constant helium content for the protein ubiquitin and a tryptic digest of bovine serum albumin (BSA). Linked scans yield better separation of ubiquitin charge states and enhanced peak capacities for the analysis of BSA compared with compensation field scans with constant helium carrier gas percentages. Linked scans also offer improved signal intensity retention in comparison to compensation field scans with constant helium percentages in the carrier gas.

Cooling achieved by rotating an anisotropic superconductor in a constant magnetic field: A new perspective

DOE PAGES

Phan, Manh-Huong; Mandrus, David

2016-12-01

A new type of rotary coolers based on the temperature change (ΔT rot) of an anisotropic superconductor when rotated in a constant magnetic field is proposed.We show that at low temperature the Sommerfeld coefficient (B,Θ) of a single crystalline superconductor, such as MgB 2 and NbS 2, sensitively depends on the applied magnetic field (B) and the orientation of the crystal axis (Θ), which is related to the electronic entropy (S E) and temperature (T) via the expression: S E = T. A simple rotation of the crystal from one axis to one another in a constant magnetic field resultsmore » in a change in and hence S E: ΔSE = ΔγT. A temperature change -ΔT rot ~ 0.94 K from a bath temperature of 2.5 K is achieved by simply rotating the single crystal MgB2 by 90° with respect to the c-axis direction in a fixed field of 2 T. ΔT rot can be tuned by adjusting the strength of B within a wide magnetic field range. Our study paves the way for development of new materials and cryogenic refrigerators that are potentially more energy-efficient, simplified, and compact.« less

Cooling achieved by rotating an anisotropic superconductor in a constant magnetic field: A new perspective

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Phan, Manh-Huong; Mandrus, David

A new type of rotary coolers based on the temperature change (ΔT rot) of an anisotropic superconductor when rotated in a constant magnetic field is proposed.We show that at low temperature the Sommerfeld coefficient (B,Θ) of a single crystalline superconductor, such as MgB 2 and NbS 2, sensitively depends on the applied magnetic field (B) and the orientation of the crystal axis (Θ), which is related to the electronic entropy (S E) and temperature (T) via the expression: S E = T. A simple rotation of the crystal from one axis to one another in a constant magnetic field resultsmore » in a change in and hence S E: ΔSE = ΔγT. A temperature change -ΔT rot ~ 0.94 K from a bath temperature of 2.5 K is achieved by simply rotating the single crystal MgB2 by 90° with respect to the c-axis direction in a fixed field of 2 T. ΔT rot can be tuned by adjusting the strength of B within a wide magnetic field range. Our study paves the way for development of new materials and cryogenic refrigerators that are potentially more energy-efficient, simplified, and compact.« less

Rapid evolution of analog circuits configured on a field programmable transistor array

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stoica, A.; Ferguson, M. I.; Zebulum, R. S.; Keymeulen, D.; Duong, V.; Daud, T.

2002-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate evolution of analog circuits on a stand-alone board-level evolvable system (SABLES). SABLES is part of an effort to achieve integrated evolvable systems. SABLES provides autonomous, fast (tens to hundreds of seconds), on-chip circuit evolution involving about 100,000 circuit evaluations. Its main components are a JPL Field Programmable Transistor Array (FPTA) chip used as transistor-level reconfigurable hardware, and a TI DSP that implements the evolutionary algorithm controlling the FPTA reconfiguration. The paper details an example of evolution on SABLES and points out to certain transient and memory effects that affect the stability of solutions obtained reusing the same piece of hardware for rapid testing of individuals during evolution.

Missing domesticated plant forms: can artificial selection fill the gap?

PubMed Central

Van Tassel, David L; DeHaan, Lee R; Cox, Thomas S

2010-01-01

In the course of their evolution, the angiosperms have radiated into most known plant forms and life histories. Their adaptation to a recently created habitat, the crop field, produced a novel form: the plant that allocates an unprecedented 30–60% of its net productivity to sexual structures. Long-lived trees, shrubs and vines of this form evolved, as did annual herbs. Perennial herb forms with increased allocation to asexual reproduction evolved, but there are no examples of perennial herbs with high sexual effort. We suggest that sowing seed into annually tilled fields favored shorter-lived herbs because of trade-offs between first-year seed production and relative growth rate and/or persistence. By propagating cuttings, people quickly domesticated tuber crops and large woody plants. Perennial herbs were too small to be efficiently propagated by cuttings, and the association between longevity, allogamy and genetic load made rapid domestication by sexual cycles unlikely. Perennial grain crops do not exist because they could not have evolved under the original set of conditions; however, they can be deliberately developed today through artificial phenotypic and genotypic selection. PMID:25567937

Evolved Stars, Masers And Polarization Submm/mm/cm QUESO Workshop 2017 (QUESO2017), Centimetre-Sub-Millimetre Q&U (and V) European Southern Observatory Workshop, held 25-27 October, 2017 at ESO, Garching bei München, Germany. Online at https://www.eso.org/sci/meetings/2017/QUESO2017.html, id.35

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Humphreys, Elizabeth

2017-11-01

Cool evolved stars on the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) and Red Supergiants (RSG) often host strong masers, for example from SiO, water and OH. The maser emission can display high degrees of circular and linear polarization, potentially revealing information on magnetic field strength and morphology at different radii in the circumstellar envelopes. In this review, I will describe maser polarization theory and discuss was has been learnt so far from maser observations. I will also discuss dust polarization at (sub)mm wavelengths and the role that full polarization observations using ALMA is going to play in better characterizing evolved stars. Finally, I will talk about the potential impact of magnetic fields in the evolution of the stars, for example the shaping of AGB stars to often highly axisymmetric/aspherical Planetary Nebulae.queso2017queso2017

Conceptual models of the evolution of transgressive dune field systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

A. Hesp, Patrick

2013-10-01

This paper examines the evolutionary paths of some transgressive dune fields that have formed on different coasts of the world, and presents some initial conceptual models of system dynamics for transgressive dune sheets and dune fields. Various evolutionary pathways are conceptualized based on a visual examination of dune fields from around the world. On coasts with high sediment supply, dune sheets and dune fields tend to accumulate as large scale barrier systems with little colonization of vegetation in arid-hyper to arid climate regimes, and as multiple, active discrete phases of dune field and deflation plain couplets in temperate to tropical environments. Active dune fields tend to be singular entities on coasts with low to moderate sediment supply. Landscape complexity and vegetation richness and diversity increases as dune fields evolve from simple active sheets and dunes to single and multiple deflation plains and basins, precipitation ridges, nebkha fields and a host of other dune types associated with vegetation (e.g. trailing ridges, slacks, remnant knobs, gegenwalle ridges and dune track ridges, ‘tree islands' and ‘bush pockets'). Three principal scenarios of transgressive dune sheet and dune field development are discussed, including dune sheets or dune fields evolving directly from the backshore, development following foredune and/or dune field erosion, and development from the breakdown or merging of parabolic dunes. Various stages of evolution are outlined for each scenario. Knowledge of evolutionary patterns and stages in coastal dune fields is very limited and caution is urged in attempts to reverse, change and/or modify dune fields to ‘restore' some perceived loss of ecosystem or dune functioning.

Conceptual models of the evolution of transgressive dune field systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hesp, Patrick A.

2013-10-01

This paper examines the evolutionary paths of some transgressive dune fields that have formed on different coasts of the world, and presents some initial conceptual models of system dynamics for transgressive dune sheets and dune fields. Various evolutionary pathways are conceptualized based on a visual examination of dune fields from around the world. On coasts with high sediment supply, dune sheets and dune fields tend to accumulate as large scale barrier systems with little colonization of vegetation in arid-hyper to arid climate regimes, and as multiple, active discrete phases of dune field and deflation plain couplets in temperate to tropical environments. Active dune fields tend to be singular entities on coasts with low to moderate sediment supply. Landscape complexity and vegetation richness and diversity increases as dune fields evolve from simple active sheets and dunes to single and multiple deflation plains and basins, precipitation ridges, nebkha fields and a host of other dune types associated with vegetation (e.g. trailing ridges, slacks, remnant knobs, gegenwalle ridges and dune track ridges, 'tree islands' and 'bush pockets'). Three principal scenarios of transgressive dune sheet and dune field development are discussed, including dune sheets or dune fields evolving directly from the backshore, development following foredune and/or dune field erosion, and development from the breakdown or merging of parabolic dunes. Various stages of evolution are outlined for each scenario. Knowledge of evolutionary patterns and stages in coastal dune fields is very limited and caution is urged in attempts to reverse, change and/or modify dune fields to 'restore' some perceived loss of ecosystem or dune functioning.

Unsteady stokes flow of dusty fluid between two parallel plates through porous medium in the presence of magnetic field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sasikala, R.; Govindarajan, A.; Gayathri, R.

2018-04-01

This paper focus on the result of dust particle between two parallel plates through porous medium in the presence of magnetic field with constant suction in the upper plate and constant injection in the lower plate. The partial differential equations governing the flow are solved by similarity transformation. The velocity of the fluid and the dust particle decreases when there is an increase in the Hartmann number.

Fundamental Studies of Strengthening Mechanisms in Metals Using Dislocation Dynamics

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-03-26

to quantify the elastic fields of inclusion eigenstrain problems in 2D and 3D (Lerma et al. 2003). The inclusions can be of any shape or size and the... eigenstrains can be arbitrarily assigned, i.e. constant or non-constant within the inclusion. The method works well for material or field points...geometry and misfits. Recently, we have developed a new distributed-dislocation method for modeling eigenstrain problems such as gamma prime inclusions

Electroluminescence pulse shape and electron diffusion in liquid argon measured in a dual-phase TPC

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Agnes, P.; et al.

We report the measurement of the longitudinal diffusion constant in liquid argon with the DarkSide-50 dual-phase time projection chamber. The measurement is performed at drift electric fields of 100 V/cm, 150 V/cm, and 200 V/cm using high statisticsmore » $$^{39}$$Ar decays from atmospheric argon. We derive an expression to describe the pulse shape of the electroluminescence signal (S2) in dual-phase TPCs. The derived S2 pulse shape is fit to events from the uppermost portion of the TPC in order to characterize the radial dependence of the signal. The results are provided as inputs to the measurement of the longitudinal diffusion constant DL, which we find to be (4.12 $$\\pm$$ 0.04) cm$^2$/s for a selection of 140keV electron recoil events in 200V/cm drift field and 2.8kV/cm extraction field. To study the systematics of our measurement we examine datasets of varying event energy, field strength, and detector volume yielding a weighted average value for the diffusion constant of (4.09 $$\\pm$$ 0.09) cm$^2$ /s. The measured longitudinal diffusion constant is observed to have an energy dependence, and within the studied energy range the result is systematically lower than other results in the literature.« less

Affine theory of gravitation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Popławski, Nikodem

2014-01-01

We propose a theory of gravitation, in which the affine connection is the only dynamical variable describing the gravitational field. We construct a simple dynamical Lagrangian density that is entirely composed from the connection, via its curvature and torsion, and is a polynomial function of its derivatives. It is given by the contraction of the Ricci tensor with a tensor which is inverse to the symmetric, contracted square of the torsion tensor, . We vary the total action for the gravitational field and matter with respect to the affine connection, assuming that the matter fields couple to the connection only through . We derive the resulting field equations and show that they are identical with the Einstein equations of general relativity with a nonzero cosmological constant if the tensor is regarded as proportional to the metric tensor. The cosmological constant is simply a constant of proportionality between the two tensors, which together with and provides a natural system of units in gravitational physics. This theory therefore provides a physical construction of the metric as a polynomial function of the connection, and explains dark energy as an intrinsic property of spacetime.

Building a Morbidostat: An automated continuous-culture device for studying bacterial drug resistance under dynamically sustained drug inhibition

PubMed Central

Toprak, Erdal; Veres, Adrian; Yildiz, Sadik; Pedraza, Juan M.; Chait, Remy; Paulsson, Johan; Kishony, Roy

2013-01-01

We present a protocol for building and operating an automated fluidic system for continuous culture that we call the “morbidostat”. The morbidostat is used to follow evolution of microbial drug resistance in real time. Instead of exposing bacteria to predetermined drug environments, the morbidostat constantly measures the growth rates of evolving microbial populations and dynamically adjusts drug concentrations inside culture vials in order to maintain a constant drug induced inhibition. The growth rate measurements are done using an optical detection system that is based on measuring the intensity of back-scattered light from bacterial cells suspended in the liquid culture. The morbidostat can additionally be used as a chemostat or a turbidostat. The whole system can be built from readily available components within two to three weeks, by biologists with some electronics experience or engineers familiar with basic microbiology. PMID:23429717

Examining the evidence for dynamical dark energy.

PubMed

Zhao, Gong-Bo; Crittenden, Robert G; Pogosian, Levon; Zhang, Xinmin

2012-10-26

We apply a new nonparametric Bayesian method for reconstructing the evolution history of the equation of state w of dark energy, based on applying a correlated prior for w(z), to a collection of cosmological data. We combine the latest supernova (SNLS 3 year or Union 2.1), cosmic microwave background, redshift space distortion, and the baryonic acoustic oscillation measurements (including BOSS, WiggleZ, and 6dF) and find that the cosmological constant appears consistent with current data, but that a dynamical dark energy model which evolves from w<-1 at z~0.25 to w>-1 at higher redshift is mildly favored. Estimates of the Bayesian evidence show little preference between the cosmological constant model and the dynamical model for a range of correlated prior choices. Looking towards future data, we find that the best fit models for current data could be well distinguished from the ΛCDM model by observations such as Planck and Euclid-like surveys.

Spin-Orbit Torque-Assisted Switching in Magnetic Insulator Thin Films with Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Mingzhong

As an in-plane charge current flows in a heavy metal film with spin-orbit coupling, it produces a torque that can induce magnetization switching in a neighboring ferromagnetic metal film. Such spin-orbit torque (SOT)-induced switching has been studied extensively in recent years and has shown higher efficiency than switching using conventional spin-transfer torque. This presentation reports the SOT-assisted switching in heavy metal/magnetic insulator systems.1 The experiments made use of Pt/BaFe12O19 bi-layered structures. Thanks to its strong spin-orbit coupling, Pt has been widely used to produce pure spin currents in previous studies. BaFe12O19 is an M-type barium hexagonal ferrite and is often referred as BaM. It is one of the few magnetic insulators with strong magneto-crystalline anisotropy and shows an effective uniaxial anisotropy field of about 17 kOe. It's found that the switching response in the BaM film strongly depends on the charge current applied to the Pt film. When a constant magnetic field is applied in the film plane, the charge current in the Pt film can switch the normal component of the magnetization (M⊥) in the BaM film between the up and down states. The current also dictates the up and down states of the remnant magnetization when the in-plane field is reduced to zero. When M⊥ is measured by sweeping an in-plane field, the response manifests itself as a hysteresis loop, which evolves in a completely opposite manner if the sign of the charge current is flipped. When the coercivity is measured by sweeping an out-of-plane field, its value can be reduced or increased by as much as about 500 Oe if an appropriate charge current is applied. 1. P. Li, T. Liu, H. Chang, A. Kalitsov, W. Zhang, G. Csaba, W. Li, D. Richardson, A. Demann, G. Rimal, H. Dey, J. S. Jiang, W. Porod, S. Field, J. Tang, M. C. Marconi, A. Hoffmann, O. Mryasov, and M. Wu, Nature Commun. 7:12688 doi: 10.1038/ncomms12688 (2016).

Transverse relaxation in the rotating frame induced by chemical exchange.

PubMed

Michaeli, Shalom; Sorce, Dennis J; Idiyatullin, Djaudat; Ugurbil, Kamil; Garwood, Michael

2004-08-01

In the presence of radiofrequency irradiation, relaxation of magnetization aligned with the effective magnetic field is characterized by the time constant T1rho. On the other hand, the time constant T2rho characterizes the relaxation of magnetization that is perpendicular to the effective field. Here, it is shown that T2rho can be measured directly with Carr-Purcell sequences composed of a train of adiabatic full-passage (AFP) pulses. During adiabatic rotation, T2rho characterizes the relaxation of the magnetization, which under adiabatic conditions remains approximately perpendicular to the time-dependent effective field. Theory is derived to describe the influence of chemical exchange on T2rho relaxation in the fast-exchange regime, with time constant defined as T2rho,ex. The derived theory predicts the rate constant R2rho,ex (= 1/T2rho,ex) to be dependent on the choice of amplitude- and frequency-modulation functions used in the AFP pulses. Measurements of R2rho,ex of the water/ethanol exchanging system confirm the predicted dependence on modulation functions. The described theoretical framework and adiabatic methods represent new tools to probe exchanging systems. Copyright 2004 Elsevier Inc.

A search for radio emission from exoplanets around evolved stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Gorman, E.; Coughlan, C. P.; Vlemmings, W.; Varenius, E.; Sirothia, S.; Ray, T. P.; Olofsson, H.

2018-04-01

The majority of searches for radio emission from exoplanets have to date focused on short period planets, i.e., the so-called hot Jupiter type planets. However, these planets are likely to be tidally locked to their host stars and may not generate sufficiently strong magnetic fields to emit electron cyclotron maser emission at the low frequencies used in observations (typically ≥150 MHz). In comparison, the large mass-loss rates of evolved stars could enable exoplanets at larger orbital distances to emit detectable radio emission. Here, we first show that the large ionized mass-loss rates of certain evolved stars relative to the solar value could make them detectable with the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) at 150 MHz (λ = 2 m), provided they have surface magnetic field strengths >50 G. We then report radio observations of three long period (>1 au) planets that orbit the evolved stars β Gem, ι Dra, and β UMi using LOFAR at 150 MHz. We do not detect radio emission from any system but place tight 3σ upper limits of 0.98, 0.87, and 0.57 mJy on the flux density at 150 MHz for β Gem, ι Dra, and β UMi, respectively. Despite our non-detections these stringent upper limits highlight the potential of LOFAR as a tool to search for exoplanetary radio emission at meter wavelengths.

Superconductor shields test chamber from ambient magnetic fields

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hildebrandt, A. F.

1965-01-01

Shielding a test chamber for magnetic components enables it to maintain a constant, low magnetic field. The chamber is shielded from ambient magnetic fields by a lead foil cylinder maintained in a superconducting state by liquid helium.

Magnetically modified bioсells in constant magnetic field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abramov, E. G.; Panina, L. K.; Kolikov, V. A.; Bogomolova, E. V.; Snetov, V. N.; Cherepkova, I. A.; Kiselev, A. A.

2017-02-01

Paper addresses the inverse problem in determining the area, where the external constant magnetic field captures the biological cells modified by the magnetic nanoparticles. Zero velocity isolines, in area where the modified cells are captured by the magnetic field were determined by numerical method for two locations of the magnet. The problem was solved taking into account the gravitational field, magnetic induction, density of medium, concentration and size of cells, and size and magnetization of nanoparticles attached to the cell. Increase in the number of the nanoparticles attached to the cell and decrease in the cell' size, enlarges the area, where the modified cells are captured and concentrated by the magnet. Solution is confirmed by the visible pattern formation of the modified cells Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Dielectric evidence for possible type-II multiferroicity in α-RuCl3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, JiaCheng; Cui, Yi; Li, TianRun; Ran, KeJing; Wen, JinSheng; Yu, WeiQiang

2018-05-01

$\\alpha$-RuCl$_3$ is a Mott insulator with a honeycomb lattice with strong spin-orbit coupling. We report dielectric measurements on $\\alpha$-RuCl$_3$ single crystals under field. At zero field, the dielectric constant, $\\epsilon$, drops rapidly when cooled through the magnetic transition temperature T$_N$. With increasing field, the onset of the drop in $\\epsilon$ tracks the T$_N$. Such behavior is absent with field above a critical value H$_c$ ~ 7.5 T, indicating the onset of a quantum phase transition. Our data suggest that the dielectric constant can be used as a probe of magnetic ordering in $\\alpha$-RuCl$_3$, and $\\alpha$-RuCl$_3$ is a possible type-II multiferroics.

Mesopic luminance assessed with minimally distinct border perception

PubMed Central

Raphael, Sabine; MacLeod, Donald I. A.

2015-01-01

In photopic vision, the border between two fields is minimally distinct when the two fields are isoluminant; that is, when the achromatic luminance of the two fields is equal. The distinctness of a border between extrafoveal reference and comparison fields was used here as an isoluminance criterion under a variety of adaptation conditions ranging from photopic to scotopic. The adjustment was done by trading off the amount of blue against the amount of red in the comparison field. Results show that isoluminant border settings are linear under all constant adaptation conditions, though varying with state of adaptation. The relative contribution of rods and cones to luminance was modeled such that the linear sum of the suitably weighted scotopic and photopic luminance is constant for the mesopic isoluminant conditions. The relative weights change with adapting intensity in a sigmoid fashion and also depend strongly on the position of the border in the visual field. PMID:26223024

Enabling full-field physics-based optical proximity correction via dynamic model generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lam, Michael; Clifford, Chris; Raghunathan, Ananthan; Fenger, Germain; Adam, Kostas

2017-07-01

As extreme ultraviolet lithography becomes closer to reality for high volume production, its peculiar modeling challenges related to both inter and intrafield effects have necessitated building an optical proximity correction (OPC) infrastructure that operates with field position dependency. Previous state-of-the-art approaches to modeling field dependency used piecewise constant models where static input models are assigned to specific x/y-positions within the field. OPC and simulation could assign the proper static model based on simulation-level placement. However, in the realm of 7 and 5 nm feature sizes, small discontinuities in OPC from piecewise constant model changes can cause unacceptable levels of edge placement errors. The introduction of dynamic model generation (DMG) can be shown to effectively avoid these dislocations by providing unique mask and optical models per simulation region, allowing a near continuum of models through the field. DMG allows unique models for electromagnetic field, apodization, aberrations, etc. to vary through the entire field and provides a capability to precisely and accurately model systematic field signatures.

Dynamic Framing in the Communication of Scientific Research: Texts and Interactions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Pryce R.; Russ, Rosemary S.

2015-01-01

The fields of science education and science communication share the overarching goal of helping non-experts and non-members of the professional science community develop knowledge of the content and processes of scientific research. However, the specific audiences, methods, and aims employed in the two fields have evolved quite differently and as…