Student understanding of the direction of the magnetic force on a charged particle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scaife, Thomas M.; Heckler, Andrew F.

2010-08-01

We study student understanding of the direction of the magnetic force experienced by a charged particle moving through a homogeneous magnetic field in both the magnetic pole and field line representations of the magnetic field. In five studies, we administer a series of simple questions in either written or interview format. Our results indicate that although students begin at the same low level of performance in both representations, they answer correctly more often in the field line representation than in the pole representation after instruction. This difference is due in part to more students believing that charges are attracted to magnetic poles than believing that charges are pushed along magnetic field lines. Although traditional instruction is fairly effective in teaching students to answer correctly up to a few weeks following instruction, especially for the field line representation, some students revert to their initial misconceptions several months after instruction. The responses reveal persistent and largely random sign errors in the direction of the force. The sign errors are largely nonsystematic and due to confusion about the direction of the magnetic field and the execution and choice of the right-hand rule and lack of recognition of the noncommutativity of the cross product.

The inference of vector magnetic fields from polarization measurements with limited spectral resolution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lites, B. W.; Skumanich, A.

1985-01-01

A method is presented for recovery of the vector magnetic field and thermodynamic parameters from polarization measurement of photospheric line profiles measured with filtergraphs. The method includes magneto-optic effects and may be utilized on data sampled at arbitrary wavelengths within the line profile. The accuracy of this method is explored through inversion of synthetic Stokes profiles subjected to varying levels of random noise, instrumental wave-length resolution, and line profile sampling. The level of error introduced by the systematic effect of profile sampling over a finite fraction of the 5 minute oscillation cycle is also investigated. The results presented here are intended to guide instrumental design and observational procedure.

Modeling and statistical analysis of non-Gaussian random fields with heavy-tailed distributions.

PubMed

Nezhadhaghighi, Mohsen Ghasemi; Nakhlband, Abbas

2017-04-01

In this paper, we investigate and develop an alternative approach to the numerical analysis and characterization of random fluctuations with the heavy-tailed probability distribution function (PDF), such as turbulent heat flow and solar flare fluctuations. We identify the heavy-tailed random fluctuations based on the scaling properties of the tail exponent of the PDF, power-law growth of qth order correlation function, and the self-similar properties of the contour lines in two-dimensional random fields. Moreover, this work leads to a substitution for the fractional Edwards-Wilkinson (EW) equation that works in the presence of μ-stable Lévy noise. Our proposed model explains the configuration dynamics of the systems with heavy-tailed correlated random fluctuations. We also present an alternative solution to the fractional EW equation in the presence of μ-stable Lévy noise in the steady state, which is implemented numerically, using the μ-stable fractional Lévy motion. Based on the analysis of the self-similar properties of contour loops, we numerically show that the scaling properties of contour loop ensembles can qualitatively and quantitatively distinguish non-Gaussian random fields from Gaussian random fluctuations.

Improved methods for the measurement and analysis of stellar magnetic fields

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Saar, Steven H.

1988-01-01

The paper presents several improved methods for the measurement of magnetic fields on cool stars which take into account simple radiative transfer effects and the exact Zeeman patterns. Using these methods, high-resolution, low-noise data can be fitted with theoretical line profiles to determine the mean magnetic field strength in stellar active regions and a model-dependent fraction of the stellar surface (filling factor) covered by these regions. Random errors in the derived field strength and filling factor are parameterized in terms of signal-to-noise ratio, wavelength, spectral resolution, stellar rotation rate, and the magnetic parameters themselves. Weak line blends, if left uncorrected, can have significant systematic effects on the derived magnetic parameters, and thus several methods are developed to compensate partially for them. The magnetic parameters determined by previous methods likely have systematic errors because of such line blends and because of line saturation effects. Other sources of systematic error are explored in detail. These sources of error currently make it difficult to determine the magnetic parameters of individual stars to better than about + or - 20 percent.

Field Line Mapping of the Polar Cap Neutral Density Anomaly

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sutton, E. K.; Lin, C. S.; Huang, C. Y.; Cooke, D. L.

2016-12-01

Polar cap neutral density anomaly (PCNDA) events of localized density enhancement with a half size around 700-1000 km had been frequently detected by CHAMP satellite at around 400 km during major magnetic storms with Dst < -100 nT. Density enhancement is probably produced via Joule heating of the thermosphere when a significant amount of energy is deposited in the polar cap. We have identified 12 PCNDA events measured by CHAMP during two major magnetic storms including one initiated by a large solar wind pressure pulse. Their density anomaly locations are found to scatter randomly within the polar circle of 80o magnetic latitude in the geomagnetic coordinate. However after transformed to the Geocentric Solar Wind (GSW) coordinates, their locations become aligned in the direction of solar wind velocity. To better understand the polar cap energy deposition we trace magnetic field lines to the magnetosphere up to 30 earth radii from the ionosphere at 400 km using the data-based Tsyganenko T95 and TS05 magnetic field models. Field line tracing is performed in the GSW coordinate along the CHAMP orbit as well as for the whole polar cap. Each traced magnetic field line is classified into one of the three categories, (1) magnetosphere closed field line (MC) crossing the equatorial plane within 30 earth radii, (2) open field line connected to the magnetopause (MP), or (3) open field line connected to the magnetotail lobe (MT). For nine PCNDA events among the 10 events that we are able to conduct tracing, field lines originated from the density anomaly regions are classified as MT. Only one outlier event in association with a very large IMF BZ is classified as MP. Furthermore the separation angle between the density anomaly peak and the MP-MT field line separation point at 400 km on the X- and Z-axes meridian plane varies from -4o to 16o. Based on these results we speculate that convective electric fields and field aligned currents in the ionosphere might be enhanced near the MP-MT separation point during magnetic storms, resulting in intense localized Joule heating of the thermosphere.

Quincke random walkers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pradillo, Gerardo; Heintz, Aneesh; Vlahovska, Petia

2017-11-01

The spontaneous rotation of a sphere in an applied uniform DC electric field (Quincke effect) has been utilized to engineer self-propelled particles: if the sphere is initially resting on a surface, it rolls. The Quincke rollers have been widely used as a model system to study collective behavior in ``active'' suspensions. If the applied field is DC, an isolated Quincke roller follows a straight line trajectory. In this talk, we discuss the design of a Quincke roller that executes a random-walk-like behavior. We utilize AC field - upon reversal of the field direction a fluctuation in the axis of rotation (which is degenerate in the plane perpendicular to the field and parallel to the surface) introduces randomness in the direction of motion. The MSD of an isolated Quincke walker depends on frequency, amplitude, and waveform of the electric field. Experiment and theory are compared. We also investigate the collective behavior of Quincke walkers,the transport of inert particles in a bath of Quincke walkers, and the spontaneous motion of a drop containing Quincke active particle. supported by NSF Grant CBET 1437545.

Structure of small-scale magnetic fields in the kinematic dynamo theory.

PubMed

Schekochihin, Alexander; Cowley, Steven; Maron, Jason; Malyshkin, Leonid

2002-01-01

A weak fluctuating magnetic field embedded into a a turbulent conducting medium grows exponentially while its characteristic scale decays. In the interstellar medium and protogalactic plasmas, the magnetic Prandtl number is very large, so a broad spectrum of growing magnetic fluctuations is excited at small (subviscous) scales. The condition for the onset of nonlinear back reaction depends on the structure of the field lines. We study the statistical correlations that are set up in the field pattern and show that the magnetic-field lines possess a folding structure, where most of the scale decrease is due to the field variation across itself (rapid transverse direction reversals), while the scale of the field variation along itself stays approximately constant. Specifically, we find that, though both the magnetic energy and the mean-square curvature of the field lines grow exponentially, the field strength and the field-line curvature are anticorrelated, i.e., the curved field is relatively weak, while the growing field is relatively flat. The detailed analysis of the statistics of the curvature shows that it possesses a stationary limiting distribution with the bulk located at the values of curvature comparable to the characteristic wave number of the velocity field and a power tail extending to large values of curvature where it is eventually cut off by the resistive regularization. The regions of large curvature, therefore, occupy only a small fraction of the total volume of the system. Our theoretical results are corroborated by direct numerical simulations. The implication of the folding effect is that the advent of the Lorentz back reaction occurs when the magnetic energy approaches that of the smallest turbulent eddies. Our results also directly apply to the problem of statistical geometry of the material lines in a random flow.

Effects of Coronal Magnetic Field Structures on the Transport of Solar Energetic Particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Lulu; Zhang, Ming

2018-06-01

This Letter presents a model calculation of solar energetic particle (SEP) transport to test the sensitivity of the distribution of escaped SEPs in interplanetary space and dependence upon the details of the magnetic field structure in the corona. It is applied to a circumsolar event on 2011 November 3, in which SEPs are observed promptly after the solar event eruption by three spacecraft (the twin Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatories (STEREO-A and STEREO-B) and ACE) separated by more than 100° in longitude from each other. The corona magnetic field reconstructed from photosphseric field measurements using the PFSS method changes substantially before and after the solar eruption, especially around the active region. The locations of open field regions, separatrix surfaces including the heliospheric current sheet, and footpoints of magnetic field lines connected to the spacecraft location have shifted substantially. We inject 100 keV energetic electrons on the open field lines at 1.5 R s within the size of observed coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and follow their propagation in the corona and the interplanetary space. We find that with a perpendicular diffusion due to field line random walk equal to 10% of the supergranular diffusion rate, the overall distribution of escaped SEPs does not change much even though the region of open field lines from SEPs has changed. The result suggests that detailed small-scale coronal magnetic field structures and the exact magnetic field connection are not crucially important for observing SEPs in the interplanetary space.

New constraints on modelling the random magnetic field of the MW

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beck, Marcus C.; Beck, Alexander M.; Beck, Rainer; Dolag, Klaus; Strong, Andrew W.; Nielaba, Peter

2016-05-01

We extend the description of the isotropic and anisotropic random component of the small-scale magnetic field within the existing magnetic field model of the Milky Way from Jansson & Farrar, by including random realizations of the small-scale component. Using a magnetic-field power spectrum with Gaussian random fields, the NE2001 model for the thermal electrons and the Galactic cosmic-ray electron distribution from the current GALPROP model we derive full-sky maps for the total and polarized synchrotron intensity as well as the Faraday rotation-measure distribution. While previous work assumed that small-scale fluctuations average out along the line-of-sight or which only computed ensemble averages of random fields, we show that these fluctuations need to be carefully taken into account. Comparing with observational data we obtain not only good agreement with 408 MHz total and WMAP7 22 GHz polarized intensity emission maps, but also an improved agreement with Galactic foreground rotation-measure maps and power spectra, whose amplitude and shape strongly depend on the parameters of the random field. We demonstrate that a correlation length of 0≈22 pc (05 pc being a 5σ lower limit) is needed to match the slope of the observed power spectrum of Galactic foreground rotation-measure maps. Using multiple realizations allows us also to infer errors on individual observables. We find that previously-used amplitudes for random and anisotropic random magnetic field components need to be rescaled by factors of ≈0.3 and 0.6 to account for the new small-scale contributions. Our model predicts a rotation measure of -2.8±7.1 rad/m2 and 04.4±11. rad/m2 for the north and south Galactic poles respectively, in good agreement with observations. Applying our model to deflections of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays we infer a mean deflection of ≈3.5±1.1 degree for 60 EeV protons arriving from CenA.

Observed Faraday Effects in Damped Lyα Absorbers and Lyman Limit Systems: The Magnetized Environment of Galactic Building Blocks at Redshift = 2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farnes, J. S.; Rudnick, L.; Gaensler, B. M.; Haverkorn, M.; O'Sullivan, S. P.; Curran, S. J.

2017-06-01

Protogalactic environments are typically identified using quasar absorption lines and can manifest as Damped Lyman-alpha Absorbers (DLAs) and Lyman Limit Systems (LLSs). We use radio observations of Faraday effects to test whether these galactic building blocks host a magnetized medium, by combining DLA and LLS detections with 1.4 GHz polarization data from the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS). We obtain a control, a DLA, and an LLS sample consisting of 114, 19, and 27 lines of sight, respectively. Using a Bayesian framework and weakly informative priors, we are unable to detect either coherent or random magnetic fields in DLAs: the regular coherent fields must be ≤slant 2.8 μG, and the lack of depolarization suggests the weakly magnetized gas in DLAs is non-turbulent and quiescent. However, we find a mild suggestive indication that LLSs have coherent magnetic fields, with a 71.5% probability that LLSs have higher | {RM}| than a control, although this is sensitive to the redshift distribution. We also find a strong indication that LLSs host random magnetic fields, with a 95.5% probability that LLS lines of sight have lower polarized fractions than a control. The regular coherent fields within the LLSs must be ≤slant 2.4 μG, and the magnetized gas must be highly turbulent with a typical turbulent length scale on the order of ≈5-20 pc. Our results are consistent with the standard dynamo paradigm, whereby magnetism in protogalaxies increases in coherence over cosmic time, and with a hierarchical galaxy formation scenario, with the DLAs and LLSs exploring different stages of magnetic field evolution in galaxies.

The role of magnetic loops in particle acceleration at nearly perpendicular shocks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Decker, R. B.

1993-01-01

The acceleration of superthermal ions is investigated when a planar shock that is on average nearly perpendicular propagates through a plasma in which the magnetic field is the superposition of a constant uniform component plus a random field of transverse hydromagnetic fluctuations. The importance of the broadband nature of the transverse magnetic fluctuations in mediating ion acceleration at nearly perpendicular shocks is pointed out. Specifically, the fluctuations are composed of short-wavelength components which scatter ions in pitch angle and long-wavelength components which are responsible for a spatial meandering of field lines about the mean field. At nearly perpendicular shocks the field line meandering produces a distribution of transient loops along the shock. As an application of this model, the acceleration of a superthermal monoenergetic population of seed protons at a perpendicular shock is investigated by integrating along the exact phase-space orbits.

Random-hole optical fiber evanescent-wave gas sensing.

PubMed

Pickrell, G; Peng, W; Wang, A

2004-07-01

Research on development of optical gas sensors based on evanescent-wave absorption in random-hole optical fibers is described. A process to produce random-hole optical fibers was recently developed that uses a novel in situ bubble formation technique. Gas molecules that exhibit characteristic vibrational absorption lines in the near-IR region that correspond to the transmission window for silica optical fiber have been detected through the evanescent field of the guided mode in the pore region. The presence of the gas molecules in the holes of the fiber appears as a loss at wavelengths that are characteristic of the particular gas species present in the holes. An experimental setup was constructed with these holey fibers for detection of acetylene gas. The results clearly demonstrate the characteristic absorptions in the optical spectra that correspond to the narrow-line absorptions of the acetylene gas, and this represents what is to our knowledge the first report of random-hole fiber gas sensing in the literature.

Columnar organization of orientation domains in V1

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liedtke, Joscha; Wolf, Fred

In the primary visual cortex (V1) of primates and carnivores, the functional architecture of basic stimulus selectivities appears similar across cortical layers (Hubel & Wiesel, 1962) justifying the use of two-dimensional cortical models and disregarding organization in the third dimension. Here we show theoretically that already small deviations from an exact columnar organization lead to non-trivial three-dimensional functional structures. We extend two-dimensional random field models (Schnabel et al., 2007) to a three-dimensional cortex by keeping a typical scale in each layer and introducing a correlation length in the third, columnar dimension. We examine in detail the three-dimensional functional architecture for different cortical geometries with different columnar correlation lengths. We find that (i) topological defect lines are generally curved and (ii) for large cortical curvatures closed loops and reconnecting topological defect lines appear. This theory extends the class of random field models by introducing a columnar dimension and provides a systematic statistical assessment of the three-dimensional functional architecture of V1 (see also (Tanaka et al., 2011)).

The Complete Redistribution Approximation in Optically Thick Line-Driven Winds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gayley, K. G.; Onifer, A. J.

2001-05-01

Wolf-Rayet winds are thought to exhibit large momentum fluxes, which has in part been explained by ionization stratification in the wind. However, it the cause of high mass loss, not high momentum flux, that remains largely a mystery, because standard models fail to achieve sufficient acceleration near the surface where the mass-loss rate is set. We consider a radiative transfer approximation that allows for the dynamics of optically thick Wolf-Rayet winds to be modeled without detailed treatment of the radiation field, called the complete redistribution approximation. In it, it is assumed that thermalization processes cause the photon frequencies to be completely randomized over the course of propagating through the wind, which allows the radiation field to be treated statistically rather than in detail. Thus the approach is similar to the statistical treatment of the line list used in the celebrated CAK approach. The results differ from the effectively gray treatment in that the radiation field is influenced by the line distribution, and the role of gaps in the line distribution is enhanced. The ramifications for the driving of large mass-loss rates is explored.

Theory and Applications of Random Fields.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-11-01

sheet, the natural generalisation to Rk, k>l, of the Brownian motion on the line. Good, general, asymptotic bounds are, however, now known. For...research described, as well as a list of conferences attended and visits made to American universities under the auspices and financing of the grant...some even more complex space. There, very little is known, even if one restricts attention to supposedly simple fields, such as the so called Brownian

Self-Organization by Stochastic Reconnection: The Mechanism Underlying CMEs/Flares

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Antiochos, S. K.; Knizhnik, K. J.; DeVore, C. R.

2017-12-01

The largest explosions in the solar system are the giant CMEs/flares that produce the most dangerous space weather at Earth, yet may also have been essential for the origin of life. The root cause of CMEs/flares is that the lowest-lying magnetic field lines in the Sun's corona undergo the continual buildup of stress and free energy that can be released only through explosive ejection. We perform the first MHD simulations of a coronal-photospheric magnetic system that is driven by random photospheric convective flows and has a realistic geometry for the coronal field. Furthermore, our simulations accurately preserve the key constraint of magnetic helicity. We find that even though small-scale stress is injected randomly throughout the corona, the net result of "stochastic" coronal reconnection is a coherent stretching of the lowest-lying field lines. This highly counter-intuitive demonstration of self-organization - magnetic stress builds up locally rather than spreading out to a minimum energy state - is the fundamental mechanism responsible for the Sun's magnetic explosions and is likely to be a mechanism that is ubiquitous throughout space and laboratory plasmas. This work was supported in part by the NASA LWS and SR Programs.

Statistical properties of Faraday rotation measure in external galaxies - I. Intervening disc galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basu, Aritra; Mao, S. A.; Fletcher, Andrew; Kanekar, Nissim; Shukurov, Anvar; Schnitzeler, Dominic; Vacca, Valentina; Junklewitz, Henrik

2018-06-01

Deriving the Faraday rotation measure (RM) of quasar absorption line systems, which are tracers of high-redshift galaxies intervening background quasars, is a powerful tool for probing magnetic fields in distant galaxies. Statistically comparing the RM distributions of two quasar samples, with and without absorption line systems, allows one to infer magnetic field properties of the intervening galaxy population. Here, we have derived the analytical form of the probability distribution function (PDF) of RM produced by a single galaxy with an axisymmetric large-scale magnetic field. We then further determine the PDF of RM for one random sight line traversing each galaxy in a population with a large-scale magnetic field prescription. We find that the resulting PDF of RM is dominated by a Lorentzian with a width that is directly related to the mean axisymmetric large-scale field strength of the galaxy population if the dispersion of B0 within the population is smaller than . Provided that RMs produced by the intervening galaxies have been successfully isolated from other RM contributions along the line of sight, our simple model suggests that in galaxies probed by quasar absorption line systems can be measured within ≈50 per cent accuracy without additional constraints on the magneto-ionic medium properties of the galaxies. Finally, we discuss quasar sample selection criteria that are crucial to reliably interpret observations, and argue that within the limitations of the current data base of absorption line systems, high-metallicity damped Lyman-α absorbers are best suited to study galactic dynamo action in distant disc galaxies.

Three-dimensional simulations of the orientation and structure of reconnection X-lines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schreier, R.; Swisdak, M.; Drake, J. F.; Cassak, P. A.

2010-11-01

This letter employs Hall magnetohydrodynamic simulations to study X-lines formed during the reconnection of magnetic fields with differing strengths and orientations embedded in plasmas of differing densities. Although random initial perturbations trigger the growth of X-lines with many orientations, a few robust X-lines sharing an orientation consistent with the direction of maximal outflow speed, as predicted by Swisdak and Drake [Geophys. Res. Lett. 34, L11106 (2007)] eventually dominate the system. Reconnection in the geometry examined here contradicts the suggestion of Sonnerup [J. Geophys. Res. 79, 1546 (1974)] that it occurs in a plane normal to the equilibrium current. At late time, the X-lines' growth stagnates, leaving them shorter than the simulation domain.

Flight-path estimation in passive low-altitude flight by visual cues

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grunwald, Arthur J.; Kohn, S.

1993-01-01

A series of experiments was conducted, in which subjects had to estimate the flight path while passively being flown in straight or in curved motion over several types of nominally flat, textured terrain. Three computer-generated terrain types were investigated: (1) a random 'pole' field, (2) a flat field consisting of random rectangular patches, and (3) a field of random parallelepipeds. Experimental parameters were the velocity-to-height (V/h) ratio, the viewing distance, and the terrain type. Furthermore, the effect of obscuring parts of the visual field was investigated. Assumptions were made about the basic visual-field information by analyzing the pattern of line-of-sight (LOS) rate vectors in the visual field. The experimental results support these assumptions and show that, for both a straight as well as a curved flight path, the estimation accuracy and estimation times improve with the V/h ratio. Error scores for the curved flight path are found to be about 3 deg in visual angle higher than for the straight flight path, and the sensitivity to the V/h ratio is found to be considerably larger. For the straight motion, the flight path could be estimated successfully from local areas in the far field. Curved flight-path estimates have to rely on the entire LOS rate pattern.

Coupling the Gaussian Free Fields with Free and with Zero Boundary Conditions via Common Level Lines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qian, Wei; Werner, Wendelin

2018-06-01

We point out a new simple way to couple the Gaussian Free Field (GFF) with free boundary conditions in a two-dimensional domain with the GFF with zero boundary conditions in the same domain: Starting from the latter, one just has to sample at random all the signs of the height gaps on its boundary-touching zero-level lines (these signs are alternating for the zero-boundary GFF) in order to obtain a free boundary GFF. Constructions and couplings of the free boundary GFF and its level lines via soups of reflected Brownian loops and their clusters are also discussed. Such considerations show for instance that in a domain with an axis of symmetry, if one looks at the overlay of a single usual Conformal Loop Ensemble CLE3 with its own symmetric image, one obtains the CLE4-type collection of level lines of a GFF with mixed zero/free boundary conditions in the half-domain.

On the upstream boundary of electron foreshocks in the solar wind

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zimbardo, G.; Veltri, P.

1995-01-01

The upstream boundary of electron foreshocks is defined as the path of the fastest electrons reflected by collisionless shocks and moving along the magnetic field in the solar wind. Considerable levels of magnetic fluctuations are found in these regions of the solar wind, and their effect is to create both a broadening and a fine structure of the electron foreshock boundary. The magnetic structure is studied by means of a 3-D numerical simulation of a turbulent magnetic field. Enhanced, anomalous diffusion is found, (Delta x(exp 2)) varies as s(sup alpha), where alpha is greater than 1 for typical values of the parameters (here, Delta x(exp 2) is the mean square width of the tangent magnetic surface and s is the field line length). This corresponds to a Levy flight regime for the magnetic field line random walk, and allows very efficient electron propagation perpendicular to the magnetic field. Implications on the observations of planetary foreshocks and of the termination shock foreshock are considered.

Ordering statistics of four random walkers on a line

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Helenbrook, Brian; ben-Avraham, Daniel

2018-05-01

We study the ordering statistics of four random walkers on the line, obtaining a much improved estimate for the long-time decay exponent of the probability that a particle leads to time t , Plead(t ) ˜t-0.91287850 , and that a particle lags to time t (never assumes the lead), Plag(t ) ˜t-0.30763604 . Exponents of several other ordering statistics for N =4 walkers are obtained to eight-digit accuracy as well. The subtle correlations between n walkers that lag jointly, out of a field of N , are discussed: for N =3 there are no correlations and Plead(t ) ˜Plag(t) 2 . In contrast, our results rule out the possibility that Plead(t ) ˜Plag(t) 3 for N =4 , although the correlations in this borderline case are tiny.

Driving reconnection in sheared magnetic configurations with forced fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pongkitiwanichakul, Peera; Makwana, Kirit D.; Ruffolo, David

2018-02-01

We investigate reconnection of magnetic field lines in sheared magnetic field configurations due to fluctuations driven by random forcing by means of numerical simulations. The simulations are performed with an incompressible, pseudo-spectral magnetohydrodynamics code in 2D where we take thick, resistively decaying, current-sheet like sheared magnetic configurations which do not reconnect spontaneously. We describe and test the forcing that is introduced in the momentum equation to drive fluctuations. It is found that the forcing does not change the rate of decay; however, it adds and removes energy faster in the presence of the magnetic shear structure compared to when it has decayed away. We observe that such a forcing can induce magnetic reconnection due to field line wandering leading to the formation of magnetic islands and O-points. These reconnecting field lines spread out as the current sheet decays with time. A semi-empirical formula is derived which reasonably explains the formation and spread of O-points. We find that reconnection spreads faster with stronger forcing and longer correlation time of forcing, while the wavenumber of forcing does not have a significant effect. When the field line wandering becomes large enough, the neighboring current sheets with opposite polarity start interacting, and then the magnetic field is rapidly annihilated. This work is useful to understand how forced fluctuations can drive reconnection in large scale current structures in space and astrophysical plasmas that are not susceptible to reconnection.

Effects of stimulant medication on the lateralisation of line bisection judgements of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Sheppard, D M; Bradshaw, J L; Mattingley, J B; Lee, P

1999-01-01

Deficits in the maintenance of attention may underlie problems in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Children with ADHD also show asymmetric attention deficits in traditional lateralisation and visuospatial orienting tasks, suggesting right hemispheric (and left hemispace) attentional disturbance. This study aimed to examine the lateralisation of selective attention in ADHD; specifically, the effect of a moving, random dot background, and stimulant medication in the line bisection task. The performance of children with ADHD, on and off methylphenidate, was examined using a computerised horizontal line bisection task with moving and blank backgrounds. Twenty children with a DSM-IV diagnosis of ADHD participated with 20 controls, individually matched for age, sex, grade at school, and IQ. Twelve of the 20 children with ADHD were on stimulant medication at the time of testing. Horizontal lines of varying length were presented in the centre of a computer screen, with either a blank background, or a moving, random dot field. The random dots moved either leftward or rightward across the screen at either 40 mm/s or 80 mm/s. The children with ADHD off medication bisected lines significantly further to the right compared with controls, who showed a small leftward error. Methylphenidate normalised the performance of the children with ADHD for the task with the moving dots. These results support previous evidence for a right hemispheric hypoarousal theory of attentional dysfunction, and are consistent with the emerging picture of a lateralised dysfunction of frontostriatal circuitry in ADHD.

What is the Relationship between the Solar Wind and Storms/Substorms?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fairfield, D. H.; Burlaga, L. F.

1999-01-01

The interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) carried past the Earth by the solar wind has long been known to be the principal quantity that controls geomagnetic storms and substorms. Intervals of strong southward IMF with durations of at least a significant fraction of a day produce storms, while more typical, shorter intervals of less-intense southward fields produce substorms. The strong, long-duration southward fields are generally associated with coronal mass ejections and magnetic clouds or else they are produced by interplanetary dynamics initiated by fast solar wind flows that compress preexisting southward fields. Smaller, short-duration southward fields that occur on most days are related to long period waves, turbulence, or random variations in the IMF. Southward IMF enhances dayside reconnection between the IMF and the Earth's dipole with the reconnected field lines supplementing open field lines of the geomagnetic tail and producing an expanded polar cap and increased tail energy. Although the frequent storage of solar wind energy and its release during substorms is the most common mode of solar wind/magnetosphere interaction, under certain circumstances, steady southward IMF seems to produce intervals of relatively steady magnetosphere convection without substorms. During these latter times, the inner magnetosphere remains in a stressed tail-like state while the more distant magnetotail has larger northward field and more dipolar-like field lines. Recent evidence suggests that enhanced magnetosphere particle densities associated with enhanced solar wind densities allow more particles to be accelerated for the ring current, thus creating larger storms.

The Role of the MHV Receptor and Related Glycoproteins in Murine Hepatitis Virus Infection of Murine Cell Lines

DTIC Science & Technology

1995-04-13

rhodamine-coupled goat anti -mouse antibody . A rare , fused Cl 1 D giant cell was selected to show (Al, while extensive fusion was common throughout the...mouse anti - MHV-AS9 antiserum. To quantify the lev el of susceptibility of cells to MHV infection , ten randomly selected fields for each sample...named CealO) was discovered and found to be co-expressed with MHVR in the CI 1 D and F40 lines of mouse fibroblasts. A monoclonal anti - MHVR

Application of information theory to the design of line-scan imaging systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huck, F. O.; Park, S. K.; Halyo, N.; Stallman, S.

1981-01-01

Information theory is used to formulate a single figure of merit for assessing the performance of line scan imaging systems as a function of their spatial response (point spread function or modulation transfer function), sensitivity, sampling and quantization intervals, and the statistical properties of a random radiance field. Computational results for the information density and efficiency (i.e., the ratio of information density to data density) are intuitively satisfying and compare well with experimental and theoretical results obtained by earlier investigators concerned with the performance of TV systems.

Dispersal of spores following a persistent random walk.

PubMed

Bicout, D J; Sache, I

2003-03-01

A model of a persistent random walk is used to describe the transport and deposition of the spore dispersal process. In this model, the spore particle flies along straight line trajectories, with constant speed v, which are interrupted by scattering, originating from interaction of spores with the field and wind variations, which randomly change its direction. To characterize the spore dispersal gradients, we have derived analytical expressions of the deposition probability epsilon (r|v) of airborne spores as a function of the distance r from the spore source in an infinite free space and in a disk of radius R with an absorbing edge that mimics an agricultural field surrounded with fields of nonhost plants and bare land. It is found in the free space that epsilon (r|v) approximately e(-alphar/l), with alpha a function of l(d)/l, where l and l(d) are the scattering and deposition mean free paths, respectively. In the disk, however, epsilon (r|v) is an infinite series of Bessel functions and, exhibits three regimes: absorbing (Rl(d)).

International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility, 25th, Arlington, VA, August 23-25, 1983, Symposium Record

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Subjects related to electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) analysis are discussed, taking into account forcing terms of line equations for externally excited transmission lines, E-fields over ground, electromagnetic near fields as a function of electrical size, a program for experimental verification of EMC analysis models, random susceptability of an IC 7400 TTL NAND gate, and a comparison of IEMCAP and SEMCAP. Other topics explored are concerned with EMC measurements, spectrum management, the electromagnetic pulse (EMP), a Navy EMC program, measurement systems, filters, EMC design, electromagnetic vulnerability (EMV) assessment of weapon systems, FCC rules and regulations, shielding, and electromagnetic interference (EMI) in communication systems. Attention is also given to nonsinusoidal functions in radar and communications, transients/electrostatic discharge, open field testing, cables and connectors, interference effects of induced and conducted earth current at dc and ELF, test cells, and cable coupling.

Thermally switchable photonic band-edge to random laser emission in dye-doped cholesteric liquid crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ye, Lihua; Wang, Yan; Feng, Yangyang; Liu, Bo; Gu, Bing; Cui, Yiping; Lu, Yanqing

2018-03-01

By changing the doping concentration of the chiral agent to adjust the relative position of the reflection band of cholesteric liquid crystals and the fluorescence emission spectrum of the dye, photonic band-edge and random lasing were observed, respectively. The reflection band of the cholesteric phase liquid crystal can also be controlled by adjusting the temperature: the reflection band is blue-shifted with increasing temperature, and a reversible switch from photonic band-edge to random lasing is obtained. Furthermore, the laser line width can be thermally adjusted from 1.1 nm (at 27 °C) to 4.6 nm (at 32.1 °C). A thermally tunable polarization state of a random laser from dual cells was observed, broadening the field of application liquid crystal random lasers.

Assessing the significance of pedobarographic signals using random field theory.

PubMed

Pataky, Todd C

2008-08-07

Traditional pedobarographic statistical analyses are conducted over discrete regions. Recent studies have demonstrated that regionalization can corrupt pedobarographic field data through conflation when arbitrary dividing lines inappropriately delineate smooth field processes. An alternative is to register images such that homologous structures optimally overlap and then conduct statistical tests at each pixel to generate statistical parametric maps (SPMs). The significance of SPM processes may be assessed within the framework of random field theory (RFT). RFT is ideally suited to pedobarographic image analysis because its fundamental data unit is a lattice sampling of a smooth and continuous spatial field. To correct for the vast number of multiple comparisons inherent in such data, recent pedobarographic studies have employed a Bonferroni correction to retain a constant family-wise error rate. This approach unfortunately neglects the spatial correlation of neighbouring pixels, so provides an overly conservative (albeit valid) statistical threshold. RFT generally relaxes the threshold depending on field smoothness and on the geometry of the search area, but it also provides a framework for assigning p values to suprathreshold clusters based on their spatial extent. The current paper provides an overview of basic RFT concepts and uses simulated and experimental data to validate both RFT-relevant field smoothness estimations and RFT predictions regarding the topological characteristics of random pedobarographic fields. Finally, previously published experimental data are re-analysed using RFT inference procedures to demonstrate how RFT yields easily understandable statistical results that may be incorporated into routine clinical and laboratory analyses.

Feasibility of quasi-random band model in evaluating atmospheric radiance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tiwari, S. N.; Mirakhur, N.

1980-01-01

The use of the quasi-random band model in evaluating upwelling atmospheric radiation is investigated. The spectral transmittance and total band adsorptance are evaluated for selected molecular bands by using the line by line model, quasi-random band model, exponential sum fit method, and empirical correlations, and these are compared with the available experimental results. The atmospheric transmittance and upwelling radiance were calculated by using the line by line and quasi random band models and were compared with the results of an existing program called LOWTRAN. The results obtained by the exponential sum fit and empirical relations were not in good agreement with experimental results and their use cannot be justified for atmospheric studies. The line by line model was found to be the best model for atmospheric applications, but it is not practical because of high computational costs. The results of the quasi random band model compare well with the line by line and experimental results. The use of the quasi random band model is recommended for evaluation of the atmospheric radiation.

Simulated near-field mapping of ripple pattern supported metal nanoparticles arrays for SERS optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arya, Mahima; Bhatnagar, Mukul; Ranjan, Mukesh; Mukherjee, Subroto; Nath, Rabinder; Mitra, Anirban

2017-11-01

An analytical model has been developed using a modified Yamaguchi model along with the wavelength dependent plasmon line-width correction. The model has been used to calculate the near-field response of random nanoparticles on the plane surface, elongated and spherical silver nanoparticle arrays supported on ion beam produced ripple patterned templates. The calculated near-field mapping for elongated nanoparticles arrays on the ripple patterned surface shows maximum number of hot-spots with a higher near-field enhancement (NFE) as compared to the spherical nanoparticle arrays and randomly distributed nanoparticles on the plane surface. The results from the simulations show a similar trend for the NFE when compared to the far field reflection spectra. The nature of the wavelength dependent NFE is also found to be in agreement with the observed experimental results from surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The calculated and the measured optical response unambiguously reveal the importance of interparticle gap and ordering, where a high intensity Raman signal is obtained for ordered elongated nanoparticles arrays case as against non-ordered and the aligned configuration of spherical nanoparticles on the rippled surface.

Transport of Charged Particles in Turbulent Magnetic Fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parashar, T.; Subedi, P.; Sonsrettee, W.; Blasi, P.; Ruffolo, D. J.; Matthaeus, W. H.; Montgomery, D.; Chuychai, P.; Dmitruk, P.; Wan, M.; Chhiber, R.

2017-12-01

Magnetic fields permeate the Universe. They are found in planets, stars, galaxies, and the intergalactic medium. The magnetic field found in these astrophysical systems are usually chaotic, disordered, and turbulent. The investigation of the transport of cosmic rays in magnetic turbulence is a subject of considerable interest. One of the important aspects of cosmic ray transport is to understand their diffusive behavior and to calculate the diffusion coefficient in the presence of these turbulent fields. Research has most frequently concentrated on determining the diffusion coefficient in the presence of a mean magnetic field. Here, we will particularly focus on calculating diffusion coefficients of charged particles and magnetic field lines in a fully three-dimensional isotropic turbulent magnetic field with no mean field, which may be pertinent to many astrophysical situations. For charged particles in isotropic turbulence we identify different ranges of particle energy depending upon the ratio of the Larmor radius of the charged particle to the characteristic outer length scale of the turbulence. Different theoretical models are proposed to calculate the diffusion coefficient, each applicable to a distinct range of particle energies. The theoretical ideas are tested against results of detailed numerical experiments using Monte-Carlo simulations of particle propagation in stochastic magnetic fields. We also discuss two different methods of generating random magnetic field to study charged particle propagation using numerical simulation. One method is the usual way of generating random fields with a specified power law in wavenumber space, using Gaussian random variables. Turbulence, however, is non-Gaussian, with variability that comes in bursts called intermittency. We therefore devise a way to generate synthetic intermittent fields which have many properties of realistic turbulence. Possible applications of such synthetically generated intermittent fields are discussed.

Biexciton emission from single isoelectronic traps formed by nitrogen-nitrogen pairs in GaAs

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

Takamiya, Kengo; Fukushima, Toshiyuki; Yagi, Shuhei

2013-12-04

We have studied photoluminescence (PL) from individual isoelectronic traps formed by nitrogen-nitrogen (NN) pairs in GaAs. Sharp emission lines due to exciton and biexciton were observed from individual isoelectronic traps in nitrogen atomic-layer doped (ALD) GaAs. The binding energy of biexciton bound to individual isoelectronic traps was approximately 8 meV. Both the exciton and biexciton luminescence lines show completely random polarization and no fine-structure splitting. These results are desirable to the application to the quantum cryptography used in the field of quantum information technology.

Global diffusion of cosmic rays in random magnetic fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Snodin, A. P.; Shukurov, A.; Sarson, G. R.; Bushby, P. J.; Rodrigues, L. F. S.

2016-04-01

The propagation of charged particles, including cosmic rays, in a partially ordered magnetic field is characterized by a diffusion tensor whose components depend on the particle's Larmor radius RL and the degree of order in the magnetic field. Most studies of the particle diffusion presuppose a scale separation between the mean and random magnetic fields (e.g. there being a pronounced minimum in the magnetic power spectrum at intermediate scales). Scale separation is often a good approximation in laboratory plasmas, but not in most astrophysical environments such as the interstellar medium (ISM). Modern simulations of the ISM have numerical resolution of the order of 1 pc, so the Larmor radius of the cosmic rays that dominate in energy density is at least 106 times smaller than the resolved scales. Large-scale simulations of cosmic ray propagation in the ISM thus rely on oversimplified forms of the diffusion tensor. We take the first steps towards a more realistic description of cosmic ray diffusion for such simulations, obtaining direct estimates of the diffusion tensor from test particle simulations in random magnetic fields (with the Larmor radius scale being fully resolved), for a range of particle energies corresponding to 10-2 ≲ RL/lc ≲ 103, where lc is the magnetic correlation length. We obtain explicit expressions for the cosmic ray diffusion tensor for RL/lc ≪ 1, that might be used in a sub-grid model of cosmic ray diffusion. The diffusion coefficients obtained are closely connected with existing transport theories that include the random walk of magnetic lines.

Melatonin secretion and puberty in female lambs exposed to environmental electric and magnetic fields

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

Lee, J.M. Jr.; Stormshak, F.; Thompson, J.M.

This study determined whether chronic exposure of female lambs to the electric and magnetic fields (EMF) of a high voltage transmission line can alter pineal secretion of melatonin and the normal occurrence of puberty. Twenty female Suffolk lambs were assigned randomly in equal numbers to a control and a treatment group. Treatment from 2 to 10 mo of age consisted of continuous exposure within the electrical environment of a 500-kV transmission line (mean electric field 6 kV/m, mean magnetic field 40 mG). Treated lambs were penned directly beneath the transmission line; control lambs were maintained in a pen of similarmore » construction 229 m from the line where EMF were at ambient levels (mean electric field < 10 V/m, mean magnetic field < 0.3 mG). Melatonin was analyzed by RIA in serum of blood samples collected at 0.5-3-h intervals over eight 48-h periods. To assess attainment of puberty, serum concentrations of progesterone were determined by RIA from blood samples collected twice weekly beginning at 19 wk of age. Concentrations of circulating melatonin in control and treated lambs were low during daylight hours and increased during nighttime hours. The characteristic pattern of melatonin secretion during nighttime (amplitude, phase, and duration) did not differ between control and treatment groups. Age at puberty and number of subsequent estrous cycles also did not differ between groups. These data suggest that chronic exposure of developing female sheep to 60-Hz environmental EMF does not affect the mechanisms underlying the generation of the circadian pattern of melatonin secretion or the mechanisms involved in the onset of reproductive activity.« less

Precipitation and Release of Solar Energetic Particles from the Solar Coronal Magnetic Field

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

Zhang, Ming; Zhao, Lulu, E-mail: mzhang@fit.edu

Most solar energetic particles (SEPs) are produced in the corona. They propagate through complex coronal magnetic fields subject to scattering and diffusion across the averaged field lines by turbulence. We examine the behaviors of particle transport using a stochastic 3D focused transport simulation in a potential field source surface model of coronal magnetic field. The model is applied to an SEP event on 2010 February 7. We study three scenarios of particle injection at (i) the compact solar flare site, (ii) the coronal mass ejection (CME) shock, and (iii) the EUV wave near the surface. The majority of particles injectedmore » on open field lines are able to escape the corona. We found that none of our models can explain the observations of wide longitudinal SEP spread without perpendicular diffusion. If the perpendicular diffusion is about 10% of what is derived from the random walk of field lines at the rate of supergranular diffusion, particles injected at the compact solar flare site can spread to a wide range of longitude and latitude, very similar to the behavior of particles injected at a large CME shock. Stronger pitch-angle scattering results in a little more lateral spread by holding the particles in the corona for longer periods of time. Some injected particles eventually end up precipitating onto the solar surface. Even with a very small perpendicular diffusion, the pattern of the particle precipitation can be quite complicated depending on the detailed small-scale coronal magnetic field structures, which could be seen with future sensitive gamma-ray telescopes.« less

Precipitation and Release of Solar Energetic Particles from the Solar Coronal Magnetic Field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Ming; Zhao, Lulu

2017-09-01

Most solar energetic particles (SEPs) are produced in the corona. They propagate through complex coronal magnetic fields subject to scattering and diffusion across the averaged field lines by turbulence. We examine the behaviors of particle transport using a stochastic 3D focused transport simulation in a potential field source surface model of coronal magnetic field. The model is applied to an SEP event on 2010 February 7. We study three scenarios of particle injection at (I) the compact solar flare site, (II) the coronal mass ejection (CME) shock, and (III) the EUV wave near the surface. The majority of particles injected on open field lines are able to escape the corona. We found that none of our models can explain the observations of wide longitudinal SEP spread without perpendicular diffusion. If the perpendicular diffusion is about 10% of what is derived from the random walk of field lines at the rate of supergranular diffusion, particles injected at the compact solar flare site can spread to a wide range of longitude and latitude, very similar to the behavior of particles injected at a large CME shock. Stronger pitch-angle scattering results in a little more lateral spread by holding the particles in the corona for longer periods of time. Some injected particles eventually end up precipitating onto the solar surface. Even with a very small perpendicular diffusion, the pattern of the particle precipitation can be quite complicated depending on the detailed small-scale coronal magnetic field structures, which could be seen with future sensitive gamma-ray telescopes.

Electron spin resonance of nitrogen-vacancy centers in optically trapped nanodiamonds

PubMed Central

Horowitz, Viva R.; Alemán, Benjamín J.; Christle, David J.; Cleland, Andrew N.; Awschalom, David D.

2012-01-01

Using an optical tweezers apparatus, we demonstrate three-dimensional control of nanodiamonds in solution with simultaneous readout of ground-state electron-spin resonance (ESR) transitions in an ensemble of diamond nitrogen-vacancy color centers. Despite the motion and random orientation of nitrogen-vacancy centers suspended in the optical trap, we observe distinct peaks in the measured ESR spectra qualitatively similar to the same measurement in bulk. Accounting for the random dynamics, we model the ESR spectra observed in an externally applied magnetic field to enable dc magnetometry in solution. We estimate the dc magnetic field sensitivity based on variations in ESR line shapes to be approximately . This technique may provide a pathway for spin-based magnetic, electric, and thermal sensing in fluidic environments and biophysical systems inaccessible to existing scanning probe techniques. PMID:22869706

Narrow-band generation in random distributed feedback fiber laser.

PubMed

Sugavanam, Srikanth; Tarasov, Nikita; Shu, Xuewen; Churkin, Dmitry V

2013-07-15

Narrow-band emission of spectral width down to ~0.05 nm line-width is achieved in the random distributed feedback fiber laser employing narrow-band fiber Bragg grating or fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer filters. The observed line-width is ~10 times less than line-width of other demonstrated up to date random distributed feedback fiber lasers. The random DFB laser with Fabry-Perot interferometer filter provides simultaneously multi-wavelength and narrow-band (within each line) generation with possibility of further wavelength tuning.

Spatial Transport of Magnetic Flux Surfaces in Strongly Anisotropic Turbulence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matthaeus, W. H.; Servidio, S.; Wan, M.; Ruffolo, D. J.; Rappazzo, A. F.; Oughton, S.

2013-12-01

Magnetic flux surfaces afford familiar descriptions of spatial structure, dynamics, and connectivity of magnetic fields, with particular relevance in contexts such as solar coronal flux tubes, magnetic field connectivity in the interplanetary and interstellar medium, as well as in laboratory plasmas and dynamo problems [1-4]. Typical models assume that field-lines are orderly, and flux tubes remain identifiable over macroscopic distances; however, a previous study has shown that flux tubes shred in the presence of fluctuations, typically losing identity after several correlation scales [5]. Here, the structure of magnetic flux surfaces is numerically investigated in a reduced magnetohydrodynamic (RMHD) model of homogeneous turbulence. Short and long-wavelength behavior is studied statistically by propagating magnetic surfaces along the mean field. At small scales magnetic surfaces become complex, experiencing an exponential thinning. At large scales, instead, the magnetic flux undergoes a diffusive behavior. The link between the diffusion of the coarse-grained flux and field-line random walk is established by means of a multiple scale analysis. Both large and small scales limits are controlled by the Kubo number. These results have consequences for understanding and interpreting processes such as magnetic reconnection and field-line diffusion in plasmas [6]. [1] E. N. Parker, Cosmical Magnetic Fields (Oxford Univ. Press, New York, 1979). [2] J. R. Jokipii and E. N. Parker, Phys. Rev. Lett. 21, 44 (1968). [3] R. Bruno et al., Planet. Space Sci. 49, 1201 (2001). [4] M. N. Rosenbluth et al., Nuclear Fusion 6, 297 (1966). [5] W. H. Matthaeus et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 2136 (1995). [6] S. Servidio et al., submitted (2013).

SU-E-T-510: Interplay Between Spots Sizes, Spot / Line Spacing and Motion in Spot Scanning Proton Therapy

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

Lee, TK

Purpose In proton beam configuration for spot scanning proton therapy (SSPT), one can define the spacing between spots and lines of scanning as a ratio of given spot size. If the spacing increases, the number of spots decreases which can potentially decrease scan time, and so can whole treatment time, and vice versa. However, if the spacing is too large, the uniformity of scanned field decreases. Also, the field uniformity can be affected by motion during SSPT beam delivery. In the present study, the interplay between spot/ line spacing and motion is investigated. Methods We used four Gaussian-shape spot sizesmore » with 0.5cm, 1.0cm, 1.5cm, and 2.0cm FWHM, three spot/line spacing that creates uniform field profile which are 1/3*FWHM, σ/3*FWHM and 2/3*FWHM, and three random motion amplitudes within, +/−0.3mm, +/−0.5mm, and +/−1.0mm. We planned with 2Gy uniform single layer of 10×10cm2 and 20×20cm2 fields. Then, mean dose within 80% area of given field size, contrubuting MU per each spot assuming 1cGy/MU calibration for all spot sizes, number of spots and uniformity were calculated. Results The plans with spot/line spacing equal to or smaller than 2/3*FWHM without motion create ∼100% uniformity. However, it was found that the uniformity decreases with increased spacing, and it is more pronounced with smaller spot sizes, but is not affected by scanned field sizes. Conclusion It was found that the motion during proton beam delivery can alter the dose uniformity and the amount of alteration changes with spot size which changes with energy and spot/line spacing. Currently, robust evaluation in TPS (e.g. Eclipse system) performs range uncertainty evaluation using isocenter shift and CT calibration error. Based on presented study, it is recommended to add interplay effect evaluation to robust evaluation process. For future study, the additional interplay between the energy layers and motion is expected to present volumetric effect.« less

How do protozoa respond to intense magnetic fields?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guevorkian, Karine

2005-03-01

Most microorganisms such as Paramecium Caudatum, swim in helical paths in nature. In the absence of any external stimuli (e.g. obstacles, electric field, heat, etc.) the axes of these helical paths, which define the trajectories, are straight lines and are distributed in random directions. Our experiments reveal that these trajectories can be manipulated by applying intense DC magnetic fields of the order of several Tesla. Swimming paramecia, for example, align their trajectories with magnetic fields in excess of about 7 Tesla in fraction of a second. We will describe this phenomenon in fields up to 25 T. We will address whether this effect is an active or passive response to the magnetic torque exerted on the diamagnetically anisotropic structures in Paramecium. In addition we will present results for other species as they are obtained.

The Galactic Magnetic Field and its lensing of Ultrahigh Energy and Galactic Cosmic Rays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farrar, Glennys

2015-08-01

It has long been recognized that magnetic fields play an important role in many astrophysical environments, but the magnetic field strength and structure has only been quantitatively determined for relatively few systems beyond our solar system.Our understanding of the Galactic magnetic field (GMF) has improved tremendously in recent years. The Jansson-Farrar (2012) (JF12) GMF model is the most realistic and comprehensive model available. It was constrained by fitting all-sky Faraday Rotation Measures of ~40k extragalactic sources, simultaneously with WMAP polarized (Q,U) and total synchrotron emission maps - together providing a total of more than 10,000 independent datapoints, each with measured astrophysical variance. In addition to disk and toroidal halo components, a previously overlooked coherent poloidal halo field proves to be necessary to account for the RM, Q and U data. Moreover a “striated” random component is needed in addition to a fully random component, in both disk and halo.The talk will give a concise review of the JF12 model and its derivation, with emphasis on which features of the GMF are well or poorly established. I will show that the data unambiguously demand a large scale coherent component to the halo field which is a diverging-spiral centered on the Galactic center, with field lines running from Southern to Northern hemispheres. The puzzles posed by the large scale coherent halo and disk magnetic fields, and their possible origins, will be discussed.Having a good model of the Galactic magnetic field is crucial for determining the sources of UHECRs, for modeling the transport of Galactic CRs (the halo field provides a heretofore-overlooked escape route for by diffusion along its field lines), and for calculating the background to dark matter and CMB-cosmology studies. I will present new results on the lensing effect of the GMF on UHECRs, which produces multiple images and dramatic magnification and demagnification that varies with source direction and CR rigidity, E/Z, and show movies of VHECR propagation from a transient source at the Galactic Center or elsewhere in the Galaxy.

Supernova-regulated ISM. V. Space and Time Correlations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hollins, J. F.; Sarson, G. R.; Shukurov, A.; Fletcher, A.; Gent, F. A.

2017-11-01

We apply correlation analysis to random fields in numerical simulations of the supernova-driven interstellar medium (ISM) with the magnetic field produced by dynamo action. We solve the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations in a shearing Cartesian box representing a local region of the ISM, subject to thermal and kinetic energy injection by supernova explosions, and parameterized, optically thin radiative cooling. We consider the cold, warm, and hot phases of the ISM separately; the analysis mostly considers the warm gas, which occupies the bulk of the domain. Various physical variables have different correlation lengths in the warm phase: 40,50, and 60 {pc} for the random magnetic field, density, and velocity, respectively, in the midplane. The correlation time of the random velocity is comparable to the eddy turnover time, about {10}7 {year}, although it may be shorter in regions with a higher star formation rate. The random magnetic field is anisotropic, with the standard deviations of its components {b}x/{b}y/{b}z having approximate ratios 0.5/0.6/0.6 in the midplane. The anisotropy is attributed to the global velocity shear from galactic differential rotation and locally inhomogeneous outflow to the galactic halo. The correlation length of Faraday depth along the z axis, 120 {pc}, is greater than for electron density, 60{--}90 {pc}, and the vertical magnetic field, 60 {pc}. Such comparisons may be sensitive to the orientation of the line of sight. Uncertainties of the structure functions of synchrotron intensity rapidly increase with the scale. This feature is hidden in a power spectrum analysis, which can undermine the usefulness of power spectra for detailed studies of interstellar turbulence.

Anti-levitation in integer quantum Hall systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, C.; Avishai, Y.; Meir, Yigal; Wang, X. R.

2014-01-01

The evolution of extended states of two-dimensional electron gas with white-noise randomness and field is numerically investigated by using the Anderson model on square lattices. Focusing on the lowest Landau band we establish an anti-levitation scenario of the extended states: As either the disorder strength W increases or the magnetic field strength B decreases, the energies of the extended states move below the Landau energies pertaining to a clean system. Moreover, for strong enough disorder, there is a disorder-dependent critical magnetic field Bc(W) below which there are no extended states at all. A general phase diagram in the W-1/B plane is suggested with a line separating domains of localized and delocalized states.

The Detection of Nonplanar Surfaces in Visual Space.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-03-01

involve quasi -dotted stimuli. For example, applications may be found in fields such as air traffic control ; geophysical surveys (e.g., to distinguish a...line microcomputers. The control program was initially loaded by the experimenter from the computer’s disk O memory into its randomly addressable... experimenter and the computer carried out certain initialization segments of the control program. Next, the observer signed on at the computer terminal with a

MIRO Computational Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Broderick, Daniel

2010-01-01

A computational model calculates the excitation of water rotational levels and emission-line spectra in a cometary coma with applications for the Micro-wave Instrument for Rosetta Orbiter (MIRO). MIRO is a millimeter-submillimeter spectrometer that will be used to study the nature of cometary nuclei, the physical processes of outgassing, and the formation of the head region of a comet (coma). The computational model is a means to interpret the data measured by MIRO. The model is based on the accelerated Monte Carlo method, which performs a random angular, spatial, and frequency sampling of the radiation field to calculate the local average intensity of the field. With the model, the water rotational level populations in the cometary coma and the line profiles for the emission from the water molecules as a function of cometary parameters (such as outgassing rate, gas temperature, and gas and electron density) and observation parameters (such as distance to the comet and beam width) are calculated.

A quasi-static model of global atmospheric electricity. I - The lower atmosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hays, P. B.; Roble, R. G.

1979-01-01

A quasi-steady model of global lower atmospheric electricity is presented. The model considers thunderstorms as dipole electric generators that can be randomly distributed in various regions and that are the only source of atmospheric electricity and includes the effects of orography and electrical coupling along geomagnetic field lines in the ionosphere and magnetosphere. The model is used to calculate the global distribution of electric potential and current for model conductivities and assumed spatial distributions of thunderstorms. Results indicate that large positive electric potentials are generated over thunderstorms and penetrate to ionospheric heights and into the conjugate hemisphere along magnetic field lines. The perturbation of the calculated electric potential and current distributions during solar flares and subsequent Forbush decreases is discussed, and future measurements of atmospheric electrical parameters and modifications of the model which would improve the agreement between calculations and measurements are suggested.

Acoustic Quality of the 40- by 80- Foot Wind Tunnel Test Section After Installation of a Deep Acoustic Lining

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Soderman, Paul T.; Jaeger, Stephen M.; Hayes, Julie A.; Allen, Christopher S.

2002-01-01

A recessed, 42-inch deep acoustic lining has been designed and installed in the 40- by 80- Foot Wind Tunnel (40x80) test section to greatly improve the acoustic quality of the facility. This report describes the test section acoustic performance as determined by a detailed static calibration-all data were acquired without wind. Global measurements of sound decay from steady noise sources showed that the facility is suitable for acoustic studies of jet noise or similar randomly generated sound. The wall sound absorption, size of the facility, and averaging effects of wide band random noise all tend to minimize interference effects from wall reflections. The decay of white noise with distance was close to free field above 250 Hz. However, tonal sound data from propellers and fans, for example, will have an error band to be described that is caused by the sensitivity of tones to even weak interference. That error band could be minimized by use of directional instruments such as phased microphone arrays. Above 10 kHz, air absorption began to dominate the sound field in the large test section, reflections became weaker, and the test section tended toward an anechoic environment as frequency increased.

Dipole-dipole resonance line shapes in a cold Rydberg gas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Richards, B. G.; Jones, R. R.

2016-04-01

We have explored the dipole-dipole mediated, resonant energy transfer reaction, 32 p3 /2+32 p3 /2→32 s +33 s , in an ensemble of cold 85Rb Rydberg atoms. Stark tuning is employed to measure the population transfer probability as a function of the total electronic energy difference between the initial and final atom-pair states over a range of Rydberg densities, 2 ×108≤ρ ≤3 ×109 cm-3. The observed line shapes provide information on the role of beyond nearest-neighbor interactions, the range of Rydberg atom separations, and the electric field inhomogeneity in the sample. The widths of the resonance line shapes increase approximately linearly with the Rydberg density and are only a factor of 2 larger than expected for two-body, nearest-neighbor interactions alone. These results are in agreement with the prediction [B. Sun and F. Robicheaux, Phys. Rev. A 78, 040701(R) (2008), 10.1103/PhysRevA.78.040701] that beyond nearest-neighbor exchange interactions should not influence the population transfer process to the degree once thought. At low densities, Gaussian rather than Lorentzian line shapes are observed due to electric field inhomogeneities, allowing us to set an upper limit for the field variation across the Rydberg sample. At higher densities, non-Lorentzian, cusplike line shapes characterized by sharp central peaks and broad wings reflect the random distribution of interatomic distances within the magneto-optical trap (MOT). These line shapes are well reproduced by an analytic expression derived from a nearest-neighbor interaction model and may serve as a useful fingerprint for characterizing the position correlation function for atoms within the MOT.

Active Region Photospheric Magnetic Properties Derived from Line-of-Sight and Radial Fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guerra, J. A.; Park, S.-H.; Gallagher, P. T.; Kontogiannis, I.; Georgoulis, M. K.; Bloomfield, D. S.

2018-01-01

The effect of using two representations of the normal-to-surface magnetic field to calculate photospheric measures that are related to the active region (AR) potential for flaring is presented. Several AR properties were computed using line-of-sight (B_{los}) and spherical-radial (Br) magnetograms from the Space-weather HMI Active Region Patch (SHARP) products of the Solar Dynamics Observatory, characterizing the presence and features of magnetic polarity inversion lines, fractality, and magnetic connectivity of the AR photospheric field. The data analyzed correspond to {≈ }4{,}000 AR observations, achieved by randomly selecting 25% of days between September 2012 and May 2016 for analysis at 6-hr cadence. Results from this statistical study include: i) the Br component results in a slight upwards shift of property values in a manner consistent with a field-strength underestimation by the B_{los} component; ii) using the Br component results in significantly lower inter-property correlation in one-third of the cases, implying more independent information as regards the state of the AR photospheric magnetic field; iii) flaring rates for each property vary between the field components in a manner consistent with the differences in property-value ranges resulting from the components; iv) flaring rates generally increase for higher values of properties, except the Fourier spectral power index that has flare rates peaking around a value of 5/3. These findings indicate that there may be advantages in using Br rather than B_{los} in calculating flare-related AR magnetic properties, especially for regions located far from central meridian.

Enhanced electrocaloric effect in displacive-type organic ferroelectrics

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

Ding, L. J., E-mail: dinglinjie82@126.com; Zhong, Y.; Fan, S. W.

2015-08-07

We explore the intrinsic feature of electrocaloric effect (ECE) accompanied by ferroelectric (FE)-paraelectric (PE) transition for displacive-type organic ferroelectrics using Green's function theory. It is demonstrated that decreasing elastic constant K or increasing spin-lattice coupling λ can enhance the ECE, as well as polarization P and transition temperature T{sub C}. Indeed, one expects that the optimal operating temperature for solid-state refrigeration is around room temperature, at which the ECE achieves its maximum. As T{sub C} is tuned to ∼310 K, it presents larger ECE response and remanent polarization with lower coercive field for smaller K value, suggesting that well flexible displacive-typemore » organic ferroelectrics are excellent candidates both for electric cooling and data storage in the design of nonvolatile FE random-access memories. Furthermore, in an electric field, it provides a bridge between a Widom line that denotes FE-PE crossover above T{sub C} and a metaelectric transition line below T{sub C} that demonstrates an FE switching behavior with an antiparallel field.« less

A novel look at the pulsar force-free magnetosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrova, S. A.; Flanchik, A. B.

2018-03-01

The stationary axisymmetric force-free magnetosphere of a pulsar is considered. We present an exact dipolar solution of the pulsar equation, construct the magnetospheric model on its basis and examine its observational support. The new model has toroidal rather than common cylindrical geometry, in line with that of the plasma outflow observed directly as the pulsar wind nebula at much larger spatial scale. In its new configuration, the axisymmetric magnetosphere consumes the neutron star rotational energy much more efficiently, implying re-estimation of the stellar magnetic field, B_{new}0=3.3×10^{-4}B/P, where P is the pulsar period. Then the 7-order scatter of the magnetic field derived from the rotational characteristics of the pulsars observed appears consistent with the \\cotχ-law, where χ is a random quantity uniformly distributed in the interval [0,π/2]. Our result is suggestive of a unique actual magnetic field strength of the neutron stars along with a random angle between the magnetic and rotational axes and gives insight into the neutron star unification on the geometrical basis.

Charged-particle motion in multidimensional magnetic-field turbulence

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Giacalone, J.; Jokipii, J. R.

1994-01-01

We present a new analysis of the fundamental physics of charged-particle motion in a turbulent magnetic field using a numerical simulation. The magnetic field fluctuations are taken to be static and to have a power spectrum which is Kolmogorov. The charged particles are treated as test particles. It is shown that when the field turbulence is independent of one coordinate (i.e., k lies in a plane), the motion of these particles across the magnetic field is essentially zero, as required by theory. Consequently, the only motion across the average magnetic field direction that is allowed is that due to field-line random walk. On the other hand, when a fully three-dimensional realization of the turbulence is considered, the particles readily cross the field. Transport coefficients both along and across the ambient magnetic field are computed. This scheme provides a direct computation of the Fokker-Planck coefficients based on the motions of individual particles, and allows for comparison with analytic theory.

MAGNETIC FLUX CANCELATION AS THE TRIGGER OF SOLAR QUIET-REGION CORONAL JETS

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

Panesar, Navdeep K.; Sterling, Alphonse C.; Moore, Ronald L.

We report observations of 10 random on-disk solar quiet-region coronal jets found in high-resolution extreme ultraviolet (EUV) images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory ( SDO )/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly and having good coverage in magnetograms from the SDO /Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI). Recent studies show that coronal jets are driven by the eruption of a small-scale filament (called a minifilament ). However, the trigger of these eruptions is still unknown. In the present study, we address the question: what leads to the jet-driving minifilament eruptions? The EUV observations show that there is a cool-transition-region-plasma minifilament present prior to each jetmore » event and the minifilament eruption drives the jet. By examining pre-jet evolutionary changes in the line of sight photospheric magnetic field, we observe that each pre-jet minifilament resides over the neutral line between majority-polarity and minority-polarity patches of magnetic flux. In each of the 10 cases, the opposite-polarity patches approach and merge with each other (flux reduction between 21% and 57%). After several hours, continuous flux cancelation at the neutral line apparently destabilizes the field holding the cool-plasma minifilament to erupt and undergo internal reconnection, and external reconnection with the surrounding coronal field. The external reconnection opens the minifilament field allowing the minifilament material to escape outward, forming part of the jet spire. Thus, we found that each of the 10 jets resulted from eruption of a minifilament following flux cancelation at the neutral line under the minifilament. These observations establish that magnetic flux cancelation is usually the trigger of quiet-region coronal jet eruptions.« less

Anomalous transport in fracture networks: field scale experiments and modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, P. K.; Le Borgne, T.; Bour, O.; Dentz, M.; Juanes, R.

2012-12-01

Anomalous transport is widely observed in different settings and scales of transport through porous and fractured geologic media. A common signature of anomalous transport is the late-time power law tailing in breakthrough curves (BTCs) during tracer tests. Various conceptual models of anomalous transport have been proposed, including multirate mass transfer, continuous time random walk, and stream tube models. Since different conceptual models can produce equally good fits to a single BTC, tracer test interpretation has been plagued with ambiguity. Here, we propose to resolve such ambiguity by analyzing BTCs obtained from both convergent and push-pull flow configurations at two different fracture planes. We conducted field tracer tests in a fractured granite formation close to Ploemeur, France. We observe that BTC tailing depends on the flow configuration and the injection fracture. Specifically the tailing disappears under push-pull geometry, and when we injected at a fracture with high flux (Figure 1). This indicates that for this fractured granite, BTC tailing is controlled by heterogeneous advection and not by matrix diffusion. To explain the change in tailing behavior for different flow configurations, we employ a simple lattice network model with heterogeneous conductivity distribution. The model assigns random conductivities to the fractures and solves the Darcy equation for an incompressible fluid, enforcing mass conservation at fracture intersections. The mass conservation constraint yields a correlated random flow through the fracture system. We investigate whether BTC tailing can be explained by the spatial distribution of preferential flow paths and stagnation zones, which is controlled by the conductivity variance and correlation length. By combining the results from the field tests and numerical modeling, we show that the reversibility of spreading is a key mechanism that needs to be captured. We also demonstrate the dominant role of the injection fracture on the tailing behavior: where we inject makes the difference in the tailing. Blue line is a BTC with injection into a slow velocity zone under convergent flow configuration. The late-time tailing observed for the convergent test diminished for push-pull experiment performed in the same zone(red line). Black line is a BTC with injection into a high velocity zone under convergent flow configuration. Insets: illustration of convergent and push-pull tracer tests using a double packer system.

Robustness of power systems under a democratic-fiber-bundle-like model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yaǧan, Osman

2015-06-01

We consider a power system with N transmission lines whose initial loads (i.e., power flows) L1,...,LN are independent and identically distributed with PL(x ) =P [L ≤x ] . The capacity Ci defines the maximum flow allowed on line i and is assumed to be given by Ci=(1 +α ) Li , with α >0 . We study the robustness of this power system against random attacks (or failures) that target a p fraction of the lines, under a democratic fiber-bundle-like model. Namely, when a line fails, the load it was carrying is redistributed equally among the remaining lines. Our contributions are as follows. (i) We show analytically that the final breakdown of the system always takes place through a first-order transition at the critical attack size p=1 -E/[L ] maxx(P [L >x ](α x +E [L |L >x ]) ) , where E [.] is the expectation operator; (ii) we derive conditions on the distribution PL(x ) for which the first-order breakdown of the system occurs abruptly without any preceding diverging rate of failure; (iii) we provide a detailed analysis of the robustness of the system under three specific load distributions—uniform, Pareto, and Weibull—showing that with the minimum load Lmin and mean load E [L ] fixed, Pareto distribution is the worst (in terms of robustness) among the three, whereas Weibull distribution is the best with shape parameter selected relatively large; (iv) we provide numerical results that confirm our mean-field analysis; and (v) we show that p is maximized when the load distribution is a Dirac delta function centered at E [L ] , i.e., when all lines carry the same load. This last finding is particularly surprising given that heterogeneity is known to lead to high robustness against random failures in many other systems.

Dynamics and morphology of chiral magnetic bubbles in perpendicularly magnetized ultra-thin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarma, Bhaskarjyoti; Garcia-Sanchez, Felipe; Nasseri, S. Ali; Casiraghi, Arianna; Durin, Gianfranco

2018-06-01

We study bubble domain wall dynamics using micromagnetic simulations in perpendicularly magnetized ultra-thin films with disorder and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. Disorder is incorporated into the material as grains with randomly distributed sizes and varying exchange constant at the edges. As expected, magnetic bubbles expand asymmetrically along the axis of the in-plane field under the simultaneous application of out-of-plane and in-plane fields. Remarkably, the shape of the bubble has a ripple-like part which causes a kink-like (steep decrease) feature in the velocity versus in-plane field curve. We show that these ripples originate due to the nucleation and interaction of vertical Bloch lines. Furthermore, we show that the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction field is not constant but rather depends on the in-plane field. We also extend the collective coordinate model for domain wall motion to a magnetic bubble and compare it with the results of micromagnetic simulations.

Reduction of display artifacts by random sampling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ahumada, A. J., Jr.; Nagel, D. C.; Watson, A. B.; Yellott, J. I., Jr.

1983-01-01

The application of random-sampling techniques to remove visible artifacts (such as flicker, moire patterns, and paradoxical motion) introduced in TV-type displays by discrete sequential scanning is discussed and demonstrated. Sequential-scanning artifacts are described; the window of visibility defined in spatiotemporal frequency space by Watson and Ahumada (1982 and 1983) and Watson et al. (1983) is explained; the basic principles of random sampling are reviewed and illustrated by the case of the human retina; and it is proposed that the sampling artifacts can be replaced by random noise, which can then be shifted to frequency-space regions outside the window of visibility. Vertical sequential, single-random-sequence, and continuously renewed random-sequence plotting displays generating 128 points at update rates up to 130 Hz are applied to images of stationary and moving lines, and best results are obtained with the single random sequence for the stationary lines and with the renewed random sequence for the moving lines.

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

Vanderveld, R. Ali; Flanagan, Eanna E.; Wasserman, Ira

Recently, there have been suggestions that the Type Ia supernova data can be explained using only general relativity and cold dark matter with no dark energy. In 'Swiss cheese' models of the Universe, the standard Friedmann-Robertson-Walker picture is modified by the introduction of mass-compensating spherical inhomogeneities, typically described by the Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi metric. If these inhomogeneities correspond to underdense cores surrounded by mass-compensating overdense shells, then they can modify the luminosity distance-redshift relation in a way that can mimic accelerated expansion. It has been argued that this effect could be large enough to explain the supernova data without introducing dark energymore » or modified gravity. We show that the large apparent acceleration seen in some models can be explained in terms of standard weak field gravitational lensing together with insufficient randomization of void locations. The underdense regions focus the light less than the homogeneous background, thus dimming supernovae in a way that can mimic the effects of acceleration. With insufficient randomization of the spatial location of the voids and of the lines of sight, coherent defocusing can lead to anomalously large demagnification effects. We show that a proper randomization of the voids and lines of sight reduces the effect to the point that it can no longer explain the supernova data.« less

On-line failure detection and damping measurement of aerospace structures by random decrement signatures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cole, H. A., Jr.

1973-01-01

Random decrement signatures of structures vibrating in a random environment are studied through use of computer-generated and experimental data. Statistical properties obtained indicate that these signatures are stable in form and scale and hence, should have wide application in one-line failure detection and damping measurement. On-line procedures are described and equations for estimating record-length requirements to obtain signatures of a prescribed precision are given.

A homodyne detector integrated onto a photonic chip for measuring quantum states and generating random numbers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raffaelli, Francesco; Ferranti, Giacomo; Mahler, Dylan H.; Sibson, Philip; Kennard, Jake E.; Santamato, Alberto; Sinclair, Gary; Bonneau, Damien; Thompson, Mark G.; Matthews, Jonathan C. F.

2018-04-01

Optical homodyne detection has found use as a characterisation tool in a range of quantum technologies. So far implementations have been limited to bulk optics. Here we present the optical integration of a homodyne detector onto a silicon photonics chip. The resulting device operates at high speed, up 150 MHz, it is compact and it operates with low noise, quantified with 11 dB clearance between shot noise and electronic noise. We perform on-chip quantum tomography of coherent states with the detector and show that it meets the requirements for characterising more general quantum states of light. We also show that the detector is able to produce quantum random numbers at a rate of 1.2 Gbps, by measuring the vacuum state of the electromagnetic field and applying off-line post processing. The produced random numbers pass all the statistical tests provided by the NIST test suite.

Relative distribution of cosmic rays and magnetic fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seta, Amit; Shukurov, Anvar; Wood, Toby S.; Bushby, Paul J.; Snodin, Andrew P.

2018-02-01

Synchrotron radiation from cosmic rays is a key observational probe of the galactic magnetic field. Interpreting synchrotron emission data requires knowledge of the cosmic ray number density, which is often assumed to be in energy equipartition (or otherwise tightly correlated) with the magnetic field energy. However, there is no compelling observational or theoretical reason to expect such a tight correlation to hold across all scales. We use test particle simulations, tracing the propagation of charged particles (protons) through a random magnetic field, to study the cosmic ray distribution at scales comparable to the correlation scale of the turbulent flow in the interstellar medium (≃100 pc in spiral galaxies). In these simulations, we find that there is no spatial correlation between the cosmic ray number density and the magnetic field energy density. In fact, their distributions are approximately statistically independent. We find that low-energy cosmic rays can become trapped between magnetic mirrors, whose location depends more on the structure of the field lines than on the field strength.

Observational Signatures of Coronal Heating Mechanisms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Judge, Philip

1998-11-01

Many mechanisms for heating the corona have been proposed since the problem was identified by Edlen more than 50 years ago. Identifying those that are important is a challenging problem that has so far not been resolved. One thing is clear: based upon a variety of observations, the corona is heated by conversion of magnetic flux into thermal energy. The flux emerges from sub-photospheric layers and is buffeted by photospheric dynamics. The ``coronal heating problem'' is to identify how, given the high conductivities of coronal plasma, the magnetic energy is dissipated. After reviewing some basic observational facts and placing the corona into appropriate physical regimes, I will focus on two pieces of information recently obtained from spacecraft. In one, I will discuss the interpretation of line profiles from the UVCS instrument on the SOHO spacecraft, presented by Kohl and colleagues. These observations indicate the presence of asymmetric particle distribution functions low in the solar wind, so I will discuss implications for heating mechanisms for plasma on these ``open'' field lines, in terms of ion cyclotron resonant heating by high frequency Alfven waves. In the other, I will try to review evidence for the ``nano-flare'' heating mechanism proposed by Parker to explain the heating of plasma along closed field lines, such as are present in active regions, based upon data from the SOHO and TRACE spacecraft. Parker's picture is one of slow field line ``braiding'', driven by random footpoint motions, with sudden energy release at critical energies. An attempt will be made to relate these different mechanisms by looking for the source of the high frequency waves implied by the UVCS observations.

Radiative Amplification of Acoustic Waves in Hot Stars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolf, B. E.

1985-01-01

The discovery of broad P Cygni profiles in early type stars and the detection of X-rays emitted from the envelopes of these stars made it clear, that a considerable amount of mechanical energy has to be present in massive stars. An attack on the problem, which has proven successful when applied to late type stars is proposed. It is possible that acoustic waves form out of random fluctuations, amplify by absorbing momentum from stellar radiation field, steepen into shock waves and dissipate. A stellar atmosphere was constructed, and sinusoidal small amplitude perturbations of specified Mach number and period at the inner boundary was introduced. The partial differential equations of hydrodynamics and the equations of radiation transfer for grey matter were solved numerically. The equation of motion was augmented by a term which describes the absorption of momentum from the radiation field in the continuum and in lines, including the Doppler effect and allows for the treatment of a large number of lines in the radiative acceleration term.

Dynamical arrest with zero complexity: The unusual behavior of the spherical Blume-Emery-Griffiths disordered model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rainone, Corrado; Ferrari, Ulisse; Paoluzzi, Matteo; Leuzzi, Luca

2015-12-01

The short- and long-time dynamics of model systems undergoing a glass transition with apparent inversion of Kauzmann and dynamical arrest glass transition lines is investigated. These models belong to the class of the spherical mean-field approximation of a spin-1 model with p -body quenched disordered interaction, with p >2 , termed spherical Blume-Emery-Griffiths models. Depending on temperature and chemical potential the system is found in a paramagnetic or in a glassy phase and the transition between these phases can be of a different nature. In specific regions of the phase diagram coexistence of low-density and high-density paramagnets can occur, as well as the coexistence of spin-glass and paramagnetic phases. The exact static solution for the glassy phase is known to be obtained by the one-step replica symmetry breaking ansatz. Different scenarios arise for both the dynamic and the thermodynamic transitions. These include: (i) the usual random first-order transition (Kauzmann-like) for mean-field glasses preceded by a dynamic transition, (ii) a thermodynamic first-order transition with phase coexistence and latent heat, and (iii) a regime of apparent inversion of static transition line and dynamic transition lines, the latter defined as a nonzero complexity line. The latter inversion, though, turns out to be preceded by a dynamical arrest line at higher temperature. Crossover between different regimes is analyzed by solving mode-coupling-theory equations near the boundaries of paramagnetic solutions and the relationship with the underlying statics is discussed.

The effect of spatial orientation on detecting motion trajectories in noise.

PubMed

Pavan, Andrea; Casco, Clara; Mather, George; Bellacosa, Rosilari M; Cuturi, Luigi F; Campana, Gianluca

2011-09-15

A series of experiments investigated the extent to which the spatial orientation of a signal line affects discrimination of its trajectory from the random trajectories of background noise lines. The orientation of the signal line was either parallel (iso-) or orthogonal (ortho-) to its motion direction and it was identical in all respects to the noise (orientation, length and speed) except for its motion direction, rendering the signal line indistinguishable from the noise on a frame-to-frame basis. We found that discrimination of ortho-trajectories was generally better than iso-trajectories. Discrimination of ortho-trajectories was largely immune to the effects of spatial jitter in the trajectory, and to variations in step size and line-length. Discrimination of iso-trajectories was reliable provided that step-size was not too short and did not exceed line length, and that the trajectory was straight. The new result that trajectory discrimination in moving line elements is modulated by line orientation suggests that ortho- and iso-trajectory discrimination rely upon two distinct mechanisms: iso-motion discrimination involves a 'motion-streak' process that combines motion information with information about orientation parallel to the motion trajectory, while ortho-motion discrimination involves extended trajectory facilitation in a network of receptive fields with orthogonal orientation tuning. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Magnetic field geometry and chemical abundance distribution of the He-strong star CPD -57°3509

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hubrig, S.; Przybilla, N.; Korhonen, H.; Ilyin, I.; Schöller, M.; Järvinen, S. P.; Nieva, M.-F.; Scholz, R.-D.; Kimeswenger, S.; Ramolla, M.; Kholtygin, A. F.; Briquet, M.

2017-10-01

The magnetic field of CPD -57°3509 was recently detected in the framework of the BOB (B fields in OB stars) collaboration. We acquired low-resolution spectropolarimetric observations of CPD -57°3509 with the FOcal Reducer low-dispersion Spectrograph 2 and high-resolution UV-Visual Echelle Spectrograph observations randomly distributed over a few months to search for periodicity, to study the magnetic field geometry and to determine the surface distribution of silicon and helium. We also obtained supplementary photometric observations at a timeline similar to the spectroscopic and spectropolarimetric observations. A period of 6.36 d was detected in the measurements of the mean longitudinal magnetic field. A sinusoidal fit to our measurements allowed us to constrain the magnetic field geometry and estimate the dipole strength in the range of 3.9-4.5 kG. Our application of the Doppler imaging technique revealed the presence of He I spots located around the magnetic poles, with a strong concentration at the positive pole and a weaker one around the negative pole. In contrast, high-concentration Si III spots are located close to the magnetic equator. Furthermore, our analysis of the spectral variability of CPD -57°3509 on short time-scales indicates distinct changes in shape and position of line profiles possibly caused by the presence of β Cep like pulsations. A small periodic variability in line with the changes of the magnetic field strength is clearly seen in the photometric data.

From Never Born Proteins to Minimal Living Cells: two projects in synthetic biology.

PubMed

Luisi, Pier Luigi; Chiarabelli, Cristiano; Stano, Pasquale

2006-12-01

The Never Born Proteins (NBPs) and the Minimal Cell projects are two currently developed research lines belonging to the field of synthetic biology. The first deals with the investigation of structural and functional properties of de novo proteins with random sequences, selected and isolated using phage display methods. The minimal cell is the simplest cellular construct which displays living properties, such as self-maintenance, self-reproduction and evolvability. The semi-synthetic approach to minimal cells involves the use of extant genes and proteins in order to build a supramolecular construct based on lipid vesicles. Results and outlooks on these two research lines are shortly discussed, mainly focusing on their relevance to the origin of life studies.

Intelligent form removal with character stroke preservation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garris, Michael D.

1996-03-01

A new technique for intelligent form removal has been developed along with a new method for evaluating its impact on optical character recognition (OCR). All the dominant lines in the image are automatically detected using the Hough line transform and intelligently erased while simultaneously preserving overlapping character strokes by computing line width statistics and keying off of certain visual cues. This new method of form removal operates on loosely defined zones with no image deskewing. Any field in which the writer is provided a horizontal line to enter a response can be processed by this method. Several examples of processed fields are provided, including a comparison of results between the new method and a commercially available forms removal package. Even if this new form removal method did not improve character recognition accuracy, it is still a significant improvement to the technology because the requirement of a priori knowledge of the form's geometric details has been greatly reduced. This relaxes the recognition system's dependence on rigid form design, printing, and reproduction by automatically detecting and removing some of the physical structures (lines) on the form. Using the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) public domain form-based handprint recognition system, the technique was tested on a large number of fields containing randomly ordered handprinted lowercase alphabets, as these letters (especially those with descenders) frequently touch and extend through the line along which they are written. Preserving character strokes improves overall lowercase recognition performance by 3%, which is a net improvement, but a single performance number like this doesn't communicate how the recognition process was really influenced. There is expected to be trade- offs with the introduction of any new technique into a complex recognition system. To understand both the improvements and the trade-offs, a new analysis was designed to compare the statistical distributions of individual confusion pairs between two systems. As OCR technology continues to improve, sophisticated analyses like this are necessary to reduce the errors remaining in complex recognition problems.

Outcrossing and crossbreeding recovers deteriorated traits in laboratory cultured Steinernema carpocapsae nematodes

PubMed Central

Chaston, John M.; Dillman, Adler R.; Shapiro-Ilan, David I.; Bilgrami, Anwar L.; Gaugler, Randy; Hopper, Keith R.; Adams, Byron J.

2011-01-01

The nematode Steinernema carpocapsae infects and kills many pest insects in agroecosystems and is commonly used in biocontrol of these pests. Growth of the nematodes prior to distribution for biocontrol commonly results in deterioration of traits that are essential for nematode persistence in field applications. To better understand the mechanisms underlying trait deterioration of the efficacy of natural parasitism in entomopathogenic nematodes, we explored the maintenance of fitness related traits including reproductive capacity, heat tolerance, virulence to insects and `tail standing' (formerly called nictation) among laboratory-cultured lines derived from natural, randomly mating populations of S. carpocapsae. Laboratory cultured nematode lines with fitness-related trait values below wild-type levels regained wild-type levels of reproductive and heat tolerance traits when outcrossed with a non-deteriorated line, while virulence and `tail standing' did not deteriorate in our experiments. Crossbreeding two trait-deteriorated lines with each other also resulted in restoration of trait means to wild-type levels in most crossbred lines. Our results implicate inbreeding depression as the primary cause of trait deterioration in the laboratory cultured S. carpocapsae. We further suggest the possibility of creating inbred lines purged of deleterious alleles as founders in commercial nematode growth. PMID:21447341

Structural Analysis of Pressurized Small Diameter Lines in a Random Vibration Environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davis, Mark; Ridnour, Andrew; Brethen, Mark

2011-01-01

The pressurization and propellant feed lines for the Ares 1 Upper Stage Reaction and Roll Control Systems (ReCS and RoCS) were required to be in a high g-load random vibration flight environment. The lines connected the system components and were filled with both liquid hydrazine and gaseous helium. They are considered small and varied between one fourth to one inch in diameter. The random vibration of the lines was considered to be base excitation through the mating components and mounting hardware. It was found that reducing the amount of support structure for the lines added flexibility to the system and improved the line stresses from random vibration, but caused higher stresses from the static g-loads. The locations and number of brackets were optimized by analyzing the mode shapes of the lines causing high stresses. The use of brackets that only constrain motion in the direction of concern further reduced the stresses in the lines. Finite element analysis was used to perform the analysis. The lines were pre-stressed by temperature and internal pressure with fluid and insulation included as non-structural mass. Base excitation was added to the model using Power Spectral Density (PSD) data for the expected flight loads. The random vibration and static g-load cases were combined to obtain the total stress in the lines. This approach advances the state of the art in line analysis by using FEA to predict the stresses in the lines and to optimize the entire system based on the expected flight environment. Adding flexibility to lines has been used in piping system for temperature loads, but in flight environments flexibility has been limited for the static stresses. Adding flexibility to the system in a flight environment by reducing brackets has the benefit of reducing stresses and weight

Employing online quantum random number generators for generating truly random quantum states in Mathematica

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miszczak, Jarosław Adam

2013-01-01

The presented package for the Mathematica computing system allows the harnessing of quantum random number generators (QRNG) for investigating the statistical properties of quantum states. The described package implements a number of functions for generating random states. The new version of the package adds the ability to use the on-line quantum random number generator service and implements new functions for retrieving lists of random numbers. Thanks to the introduced improvements, the new version provides faster access to high-quality sources of random numbers and can be used in simulations requiring large amount of random data. New version program summaryProgram title: TRQS Catalogue identifier: AEKA_v2_0 Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEKA_v2_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.html No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 18 134 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 2 520 49 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: Mathematica, C. Computer: Any supporting Mathematica in version 7 or higher. Operating system: Any platform supporting Mathematica; tested with GNU/Linux (32 and 64 bit). RAM: Case-dependent Supplementary material: Fig. 1 mentioned below can be downloaded. Classification: 4.15. External routines: Quantis software library (http://www.idquantique.com/support/quantis-trng.html) Catalogue identifier of previous version: AEKA_v1_0 Journal reference of previous version: Comput. Phys. Comm. 183(2012)118 Does the new version supersede the previous version?: Yes Nature of problem: Generation of random density matrices and utilization of high-quality random numbers for the purpose of computer simulation. Solution method: Use of a physical quantum random number generator and an on-line service providing access to the source of true random numbers generated by quantum real number generator. Reasons for new version: Added support for the high-speed on-line quantum random number generator and improved methods for retrieving lists of random numbers. Summary of revisions: The presented version provides two signicant improvements. The first one is the ability to use the on-line Quantum Random Number Generation service developed by PicoQuant GmbH and the Nano-Optics groups at the Department of Physics of Humboldt University. The on-line service supported in the version 2.0 of the TRQS package provides faster access to true randomness sources constructed using the laws of quantum physics. The service is freely available at https://qrng.physik.hu-berlin.de/. The use of this service allows using the presented package with the need of a physical quantum random number generator. The second improvement introduced in this version is the ability to retrieve arrays of random data directly for the used source. This increases the speed of the random number generation, especially in the case of an on-line service, where it reduces the time necessary to establish the connection. Thanks to the speed improvement of the presented version, the package can now be used in simulations requiring larger amounts of random data. Moreover, the functions for generating random numbers provided by the current version of the package more closely follow the pattern of functions for generating pseudo- random numbers provided in Mathematica. Additional comments: Speed comparison: The implementation of the support for the QRNG on-line service provides a noticeable improvement in the speed of random number generation. For the samples of real numbers of size 101; 102,…,107 the times required to generate these samples using Quantis USB device and QRNG service are compared in Fig. 1. The presented results show that the use of the on-line service provides faster access to random numbers. One should note, however, that the speed gain can increase or decrease depending on the connection speed between the computer and the server providing random numbers. Running time: Depends on the used source of randomness and the amount of random data used in the experiment. References: [1] M. Wahl, M. Leifgen, M. Berlin, T. Röhlicke, H.-J. Rahn, O. Benson., An ultrafast quantum random number generator with provably bounded output bias based on photon arrival time measurements, Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 098, 171105 (2011). http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3578456.

Strong-pinning regimes by spherical inclusions in anisotropic type-II superconductors

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

Willa, R.; Koshelev, A. E.; Sadovskyy, I. A.

2017-11-27

The current-carrying capacity of type-II superconductors is decisively determined by how well material defect structures can immobilize vortex lines. In order to gain deeper insights into intrinsic pinning mechanisms, we have explored the case of vortex trapping by randomly distributed spherical inclusions using large-scale simulations of the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations. We find that for a small density of particles having diameters of two coherence lengths, the vortex lattice preserves its structure and the critical current jc decays with the magnetic field following a power-law B-a with a ~ 0:66, which is consistent with predictions of strong pinning theory. For highermore » density of particles and/or larger inclusions, the lattice becomes progressively more disordered and the exponent smoothly decreases down to a ~ 0:3. At high magnetic fields, all inclusions capture a vortex and the critical current decays faster than B-1 as would be expected by theory. In the case of larger inclusions with diameter of four coherence length, the magnetic-field dependence of the critical current is strongly affected by the ability of inclusions to capture multiple vortex lines. We found that at small densities, the fraction of inclusions trapping two vortex lines rapidly grows within narrow field range leading to a shallow peak in jc(B)-dependence within this range. With increasing inclusion density, this peak transforms into a plateau, which then smooths out. Using the insights gained from simulations, we determine the limits of applicability of strong pinning theory and provide different routes to describe vortex pinning beyond those bounds.« less

Strong-pinning regimes by spherical inclusions in anisotropic type-II superconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Willa, R.; Koshelev, A. E.; Sadovskyy, I. A.; Glatz, A.

2018-01-01

The current-carrying capacity of type-II superconductors is decisively determined by how well material defect structures can immobilize vortex lines. In order to gain deeper insights into the fundamental pinning mechanisms, we have explored the case of vortex trapping by randomly distributed spherical inclusions using large-scale simulations of the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations. We find that for a small density of particles having diameters of two coherence lengths, the vortex lattice preserves its structure and the critical current j c decays with the magnetic field following a power-law {B}-α with α ≈ 0.66, which is consistent with predictions of strong-pinning theory. For a higher density of particles and/or larger inclusions, the lattice becomes progressively more disordered and the exponent smoothly decreases down to α ≈ 0.3. At high magnetic fields, all inclusions capture a vortex and the critical current decays faster than {B}-1 as would be expected by theory. In the case of larger inclusions with a diameter of four coherence lengths, the magnetic-field dependence of the critical current is strongly affected by the ability of inclusions to capture multiple vortex lines. We found that at small densities, the fraction of inclusions trapping two vortex lines rapidly grows within narrow field range leading to a peak in j c(B)-dependence within this range. With increasing inclusion density, this peak transforms into a plateau, which then smooths out. Using the insights gained from simulations, we determine the limits of applicability of strong-pinning theory and provide different routes to describe vortex pinning beyond those bounds.

Intrinsic speckle noise in in-line particle holography due to polydisperse and continuous particle sizes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Edwards, Philip J.; Hobson, Peter R.; Rodgers, G. J.

2000-08-01

In-line particle holography is subject to image deterioration due to intrinsic speckle noise. The resulting reduction in the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the replayed image can become critical for applications such as holographic particle velocimetry (HPV) and 3D visualisation of marine plankton. Work has been done to extend the mono-disperse model relevant to HPV to include poly-disperse particle fields appropriate for the visualisation of marine plankton. Continuous and discrete particle fields are both considered. It is found that random walk statistics still apply for the poly-disperse case. The speckle field is simply the summation of the individual speckle patters due to each scatter size. Therefor the characteristic speckle parameter (which encompasses particle diameter, concentration and sample depth) is alos just the summation of the individual speckle parameters. This reduces the SNR calculation to the same form as for the mono-disperse case. For the continuous situation three distributions, power, exponential and Gaussian are discussed with the resulting SNR calcuated. The work presented here was performed as part of the Holomar project to produce a working underwater holographic camera for recording plankton.

The interaction between the cognitive style of field dependence and visual presentations in color, monochrome, and line drawings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Myers, Robert Gardner

1997-12-01

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a correlation between the cognitive style of field dependence and the type of visual presentation format used in a computer-based tutorial (color; black and white: or line drawings) when subjects are asked to identify human tissue samples. Two hundred-four college students enrolled in human anatomy and physiology classes at Westmoreland County Community College participated. They were first administered the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) and then were divided into three groups: field-independent (score, 15-18), field-neutral (score, 11-14), and field dependent (score, 0-10). Subjects were randomly assigned to one of the three treatment groups. Instruction was delivered by means of a computer-aided tutorial consisting of text and visuals of human tissue samples. The pretest and posttest consisted of 15 tissue samples, five from each treatment, that were imported into the HyperCardsp{TM} stack and were played using QuickTimesp{TM} movie extensions. A two-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) using pretest and posttest scores was used to investigate whether there is a relationship between field dependence and each of the three visual presentation formats. No significant interaction was found between individual subject's relative degree of field dependence and any of the different visual presentation formats used in the computer-aided tutorial module, F(4,194) = 1.78, p =.1335. There was a significant difference between the students' levels of field dependence in terms of their ability to identify human tissue samples, F(2,194) = 5.83, p =.0035. Field-independent subjects scored significantly higher (M = 10.59) on the posttest than subjects who were field-dependent (M = 9.04). There was also a significant difference among the various visual presentation formats, F(2,194) = 3.78, p =.0245. Subjects assigned to the group that received the color visual presentation format scored significantly higher (M = 10.38) on the posttest measure than did those assigned to the group that received the line drawing visual presentation format (8.99).

Levofloxacin-Based First-Line Therapy versus Standard First-Line Therapy for Helicobacter pylori Eradication: Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

PubMed Central

Peedikayil, Musthafa Chalikandy; AlSohaibani, Fahad Ibrahim; Alkhenizan, Abdullah Hamad

2014-01-01

Background First-line levofloxacin-based treatments eradicate Helicobacter pylori with varying success. We examined the efficacy and safety of first-line levofloxacin-based treatment in comparison to standard first-line therapy for H pylori eradication. Materials and Methods We searched literature databases from Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Register of Randomized Controlled Trials through March 2013 for randomized controlled trials comparing first-line levofloxacin and standard therapy. We included randomized controlled trials conducted only on naïve H pylori infected patients in adults. A systematic review was conducted. Meta-analysis was performed with Review Manager 5.2. Treatment effect was determined by relative risk with a random or fixed model by the Mantel-Haenszel method. Results Seven trials were identified with 888 patients receiving 7 days of first-line levofloxacin and 894 treated with standard therapy (Amoxicillin, Clarithromycin and proton pump inhibitor) for 7 days. The overall crude eradication rate in the Levofloxacin group was 79.05% versus 81.4% in the standard group (risk ratio 0.97; 95% CI; 0.93, 1.02). The overall dropout was 46 (5.2%) in the levofloxacin group and 52 (5.8%) for standard therapy. The dizziness was more common among group who took Levofloxacin based treatment and taste disturbance was more common among group who took standard therapy. Meta-analysis of overall adverse events were similar between the two groups with a relative risk of 1.06 (95% CI 0.72, 1.57). Conclusion Helicobacter pylori eradication with 7 days of Levofloxacin-based first line therapy was safe and equal compared to 7 days of standard first-line therapy. PMID:24465624

Multiwavelength generation in a random distributed feedback fiber laser using an all fiber Lyot filter.

PubMed

Sugavanam, S; Yan, Z; Kamynin, V; Kurkov, A S; Zhang, L; Churkin, D V

2014-02-10

Multiwavelength lasing in the random distributed feedback fiber laser is demonstrated by employing an all fiber Lyot filter. Stable multiwavelength generation is obtained, with each line exhibiting sub-nanometer line-widths. A flat power distribution over multiple lines is obtained, which indicates that the power between lines is redistributed in nonlinear mixing processes. The multiwavelength generation is observed both in first and second Stokes waves.

Covariant electromagnetic field lines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hadad, Y.; Cohen, E.; Kaminer, I.; Elitzur, A. C.

2017-08-01

Faraday introduced electric field lines as a powerful tool for understanding the electric force, and these field lines are still used today in classrooms and textbooks teaching the basics of electromagnetism within the electrostatic limit. However, despite attempts at generalizing this concept beyond the electrostatic limit, such a fully relativistic field line theory still appears to be missing. In this work, we propose such a theory and define covariant electromagnetic field lines that naturally extend electric field lines to relativistic systems and general electromagnetic fields. We derive a closed-form formula for the field lines curvature in the vicinity of a charge, and show that it is related to the world line of the charge. This demonstrates how the kinematics of a charge can be derived from the geometry of the electromagnetic field lines. Such a theory may also provide new tools in modeling and analyzing electromagnetic phenomena, and may entail new insights regarding long-standing problems such as radiation-reaction and self-force. In particular, the electromagnetic field lines curvature has the attractive property of being non-singular everywhere, thus eliminating all self-field singularities without using renormalization techniques.

A quasi-static model of global atmospheric electricity. II - Electrical coupling between the upper and lower atmosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roble, R. G.; Hays, P. B.

1979-01-01

The paper presents a model of global atmospheric electricity used to examine the effect of upper atmospheric generators on the global electrical circuit. The model represents thunderstorms as dipole current generators randomly distributed in areas of known thunderstorm frequency; the electrical conductivity in the model increases with altitude, and electrical effects are coupled with a passive magnetosphere along geomagnetic field lines. The large horizontal-scale potential differences at ionospheric heights map downward into the lower atmosphere where the perturbations in the ground electric field are superimposed on the diurnal variation. Finally, changes in the upper atmospheric conductivity due to solar flares, polar cap absorptions, and Forbush decreases are shown to alter the downward mapping of the high-latitude potential pattern and the global distribution of fields and currents.

Global and local skin friction diagnostics from TSP surface patterns on an underwater cylinder in crossflow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miozzi, Massimo; Capone, Alessandro; Di Felice, Fabio; Klein, Christian; Liu, Tianshu

2016-12-01

A systematical method is formulated for extracting skin-friction fields from Temperature Sensitive Paint (TSP) images in the sense of time-averaging and phase-averaging. The method is applied to an underwater cylinder in crossflow at two subcritical regimes (Re = 72 000 and 144 000). TSP maps are decomposed in a time-averaged, a phase-averaged, and a random component. The asymptotic form of the energy equation at the wall provides an Euler-Lagrange equation set that is solved numerically to gain the relative skin friction time- and phase-averaged fields from the TSP surface temperature maps. The comparison of the time averaged relative skin-friction profiles with the literature data shows an excellent agreement on the whole laminar boundary layer up to the laminar separation line. Downstream of separation, time averaged results identify the secondary reattachment/separation events, which are lost in the available literature data. The periodic behavior of the skin-friction is taken, describing how the laminar separation bubble evolves by providing the time history of the laminar separation line and of the secondary reattachment/separation over the entire vortex shedding period. Instantaneous skin friction maps reveal the existence of coherent structures by capturing their footprint on the cylinder's surface. An array of Π-shaped traces marks the existence of counter-rotating, streamwise-oriented vortices just before the laminar separation line. Their interaction with the laminar boundary layer and with the separation line is briefly described. An example of the intermittent excerpt of their influence through the laminar separation line is reported.

Protecting clean critical points by local disorder correlations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoyos, J. A.; Laflorencie, Nicolas; Vieira, André.; Vojta, Thomas

2011-03-01

We show that a broad class of quantum critical points can be stable against locally correlated disorder even if they are unstable against uncorrelated disorder. Although this result seemingly contradicts the Harris criterion, it follows naturally from the absence of a random-mass term in the associated order-parameter field theory. We illustrate the general concept with explicit calculations for quantum spin-chain models. Instead of the infinite-randomness physics induced by uncorrelated disorder, we find that weak locally correlated disorder is irrelevant. For larger disorder, we find a line of critical points with unusual properties such as an increase of the entanglement entropy with the disorder strength. We also propose experimental realizations in the context of quantum magnetism and cold-atom physics. Financial support: Fapesp, CNPq, NSF, and Research Corporation.

Real-time monitoring of river water quality using in-line continuous acquisition of fluorescence excitation and emission matrices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carstea, E.; Baker, A.; Johnson, R.; Reynolds, D. M.

2009-12-01

In-line fluorescence EEM monitoring has been performed over an eleven-day period for Bournbrook River, Birmingham, UK. River water was diverted to a portable laboratory via a continuous flow pump and filter system. Fluorescence excitation-emission matrices data was recorded every 3 minutes using a flow cell (1cm pathlength) coupled to a fiber optic probe. This real-time fluorescence EEM data (Excitation, 225-400 nm at 5 nm steps, emission, 280-500 nm at 2 nm steps) was collected 'in-line'and directly compared with the spectrophotometric properties and physical and chemical parameters of river water samples collected off-line at known time intervals. Over the monitoring period, minor pollution pulses from cross connections were detected and identified hourly along with a random diesel pollution event. This work addresses the practicalities of measuring and detecting fluorescence EEM in the field and discusses the potential of this technological approach for further understanding important hydrological and biogeochemical processes. Problems associated with fouling and system failure are also reported. Example of the data generated from the continuous fluorescence EEM monitoring.

Reaction of common bean lines and aggressiveness of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum isolates.

PubMed

Silva, P H; Santos, J B; Lima, I A; Lara, L A C; Alves, F C

2014-11-07

The aims of this study were to evaluate the reaction of common bean lines to white mold, the aggressiveness of different Sclerotinia sclerotiorum isolates from various common bean production areas in Brazil, and comparison of the diallel and GGE (genotype main effect plus genotype-by-environment interaction) biplot analysis procedures via study of the line-by-isolate interaction. Eleven common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) lines derived from 3 backcross populations were used. Field experiments were performed in the experimental area of the Departamento de Biologia of the Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, MG, Brazil, in the 2011 and 2012 dry crop season and 2011 winter crop season through a randomized block design with 3 replications. This study was also set up in a greenhouse. Inoculations were performed 28 days after sowing by means of the straw test method. The reaction of the bean lines to white mold was assessed according to a diagrammatic scale from 1 (plant without symptoms) to 9 (dead plant). Estimations of general reaction capacity (lines) and general aggressiveness capacity (isolates) indicated different horizontal levels of resistance in the lines and levels of aggressiveness in the isolates. Therefore, it was possible to select more resistant lines and foresee those crosses that are the most promising for increasing the level of resistance. It was also possible to identify the most aggressive isolates that were more efficient in distinguishing the lines. Both diallel and GGE biplot analyses were useful in identifying the genotypic values of lines and isolates.

The use of augmented reality glasses in central line simulation: "see one, simulate many, do one competently, and teach everyone".

PubMed

Huang, Cynthia Y; Thomas, Jonathan B; Alismail, Abdullah; Cohen, Avi; Almutairi, Waleed; Daher, Noha S; Terry, Michael H; Tan, Laren D

2018-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of using augmented reality (AR) glasses in central line simulation by novice operators and compare its efficacy to standard central line simulation/teaching. This was a prospective randomized controlled study enrolling 32 novice operators. Subjects were randomized on a 1:1 basis to either simulation using the augmented virtual reality glasses or simulation using conventional instruction. The study was conducted in tertiary-care urban teaching hospital. A total of 32 adult novice central line operators with no visual or auditory impairments were enrolled. Medical doctors, respiratory therapists, and sleep technicians were recruited from the medical field. The mean time for AR placement in the AR group was 71±43 s, and the time to internal jugular (IJ) cannulation was 316±112 s. There was no significant difference in median (minimum, maximum) time (seconds) to IJ cannulation for those who were in the AR group and those who were not (339 [130, 550] vs 287 [35, 475], p =0.09), respectively. There was also no significant difference between the two groups in median total procedure time (524 [329, 792] vs 469 [198, 781], p =0.29), respectively. There was a significant difference in the adherence level between the two groups favoring the AR group ( p =0.003). AR simulation of central venous catheters in manikins is feasible and efficacious in novice operators as an educational tool. Future studies are recommended in this area as it is a promising area of medical education.

Quenched bond randomness: Superfluidity in porous media and the strong violation of universality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Falicov, Alexis; Berker, A. Nihat

1997-04-01

The effects of quenched bond randomness are most readily studied with superfluidity immersed in a porous medium. A lattice model for3He-4He mixtures and incomplete4He fillings in aerogel yields the signature effect of bond randomness, namely the conversion of symmetry-breaking first-order phase transitions into second-order phase transitions, the λ-line reaching zero temperature, and the elimination of non-symmetry-breaking first-order phase transitions. The model recognizes the importance of the connected nature of aerogel randomness and thereby yields superfluidity at very low4He concentrations, a phase separation entirely within the superfluid phase, and the order-parameter contrast between mixtures and incomplete fillings, all in agreement with experiments. The special properties of the helium mixture/aerogel system are distinctly linked to the aerogel properties of connectivity, randomness, and tenuousness, via the additional study of a regularized “jungle-gym” aerogel. Renormalization-group calculations indicate that a strong violation of the empirical universality principle of critical phenomena occurs under quenched bond randomness. It is argued that helium/aerogel critical properties reflect this violation and further experiments are suggested. Renormalization-group analysis also shows that, adjoiningly to the strong universality violation (which hinges on the occurrence or non-occurrence of asymptotic strong coupling—strong randomness under rescaling), there is a new “hyperuniversality” at phase transitions with asymptotic strong coupling—strong randomness behavior, for example assigning the same critical exponents to random- bond tricriticality and random- field criticality.

Statistical simulation of ensembles of precipitation fields for data assimilation applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haese, Barbara; Hörning, Sebastian; Chwala, Christian; Bárdossy, András; Schalge, Bernd; Kunstmann, Harald

2017-04-01

The simulation of the hydrological cycle by models is an indispensable tool for a variety of environmental challenges such as climate prediction, water resources management, or flood forecasting. One of the crucial variables within the hydrological system, and accordingly one of the main drivers for terrestrial hydrological processes, is precipitation. A correct reproduction of the spatio-temporal distribution of precipitation is crucial for the quality and performance of hydrological applications. In our approach we stochastically generate precipitation fields conditioned on various precipitation observations. Rain gauges provide high-quality information for a specific measurement point, but their spatial representativeness is often rare. Microwave links, e. g. from commercial cellular operators, on the other hand can be used to estimate line integrals of near-surface rainfall information. They provide a very dense observational system compared to rain gauges. A further prevalent source of precipitation information are weather radars, which provide rainfall pattern informations. In our approach we derive precipitation fields, which are conditioned on combinations of these different observation types. As method to generate precipitation fields we use the random mixing method. Following this method a precipitation field is received as a linear combination of unconditional spatial random fields, where the spatial dependence structure is described by copulas. The weights of the linear combination are chosen in the way that the observations and the spatial structure of precipitation are reproduced. One main advantage of the random mixing method is the opportunity to consider linear and non-linear constraints. For a demonstration of the method we use virtual observations generated from a virtual reality of the Neckar catchment. These virtual observations mimic advantages and disadvantages of real observations. This virtual data set allows us to evaluate simulated precipitation fields in a very detailed manner as well as to quantify uncertainties which are conveyed by measurement inaccuracies. In a further step we use real observations as a basis for the generation of precipitation fields. The resulting ensembles of precipitation fields are used for example for data assimilation applications or as input data for hydrological models.

Outcrossing and crossbreeding recovers deteriorated traits in laboratory cultured Steinernema carpocapsae nematodes.

PubMed

Chaston, John M; Dillman, Adler R; Shapiro-Ilan, David I; Bilgrami, Anwar L; Gaugler, Randy; Hopper, Keith R; Adams, Byron J

2011-06-01

The nematode Steinernema carpocapsae infects and kills many pest insects in agro-ecosystems and is commonly used in biocontrol of these pests. Growth of the nematodes prior to distribution for biocontrol commonly results in deterioration of traits that are essential for nematode persistence in field applications. To better understand the mechanisms underlying trait deterioration of the efficacy of natural parasitism in entomopathogenic nematodes, we explored the maintenance of fitness related traits including reproductive capacity, heat tolerance, virulence to insects and 'tail standing' (formerly called nictation) among laboratory-cultured lines derived from natural, randomly mating populations of S. carpocapsae. Laboratory cultured nematode lines with fitness-related trait values below wild-type levels regained wild-type levels of reproductive and heat tolerance traits when outcrossed with a non-deteriorated line, while virulence and 'tail standing' did not deteriorate in our experiments. Crossbreeding two trait-deteriorated lines with each other also resulted in restoration of trait means to wild-type levels in most crossbred lines. Our results implicate inbreeding depression as the primary cause of trait deterioration in the laboratory cultured S. carpocapsae. We further suggest the possibility of creating inbred lines purged of deleterious alleles as founders in commercial nematode growth. Copyright © 2011 Australian Society for Parasitology Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of drain bias on the statistical variation of double-gate tunnel field-effect transistors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Woo Young

2017-04-01

The effects of drain bias on the statistical variation of double-gate (DG) tunnel field-effect transistors (TFETs) are discussed in comparison with DG metal-oxide-semiconductor FETs (MOSFETs). Statistical variation corresponds to the variation of threshold voltage (V th), subthreshold swing (SS), and drain-induced barrier thinning (DIBT). The unique statistical variation characteristics of DG TFETs and DG MOSFETs with the variation of drain bias are analyzed by using full three-dimensional technology computer-aided design (TCAD) simulation in terms of the three dominant variation sources: line-edge roughness (LER), random dopant fluctuation (RDF) and workfunction variation (WFV). It is observed than DG TFETs suffer from less severe statistical variation as drain voltage increases unlike DG MOSFETs.

Targeting MTA1/HIF-1alpha Signaling by Pterostilbene in Combination with Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor Attenuates Prostate Cancer Progression (Open Access)

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-08-30

stained cells in five randomly selected fields for each slide. ELISA Conditioned media from cell lines or mice sera diluted in carbonate coating buffer... ELISA . Our results showed that Pter/SAHA combination treat- ment was more effective in suppressing VEGF- c and IL- 1β circulating levels compared to...3) SAHA (50 mg/kg; n = 5), and (4) Pter + SAHA (10 mg/kg and 50 mg/kg; n = 7) by i.p. injections for 10 weeks were quantitatively analyzed by ELISA

An analytically soluble problem in fully nonlinear statistical gravitational lensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schneider, P.

1987-01-01

The amplification probability distribution p(I)dI for a point source behind a random star field which acts as the deflector exhibits a I exp-3 behavior for large amplification, as can be shown from the universality of the lens equation near critical lines. In this paper it is shown that the amplitude of the I exp-3 tail can be derived exactly for arbitrary mass distribution of the stars, surface mass density of stars and smoothly distributed matter, and large-scale shear. This is then compared with the corresponding linear result.

Tungsten Contact and Line Resistance Reduction with Advanced Pulsed Nucleation Layer and Low Resistivity Tungsten Treatment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chandrashekar, Anand; Chen, Feng; Lin, Jasmine; Humayun, Raashina; Wongsenakhum, Panya; Chang, Sean; Danek, Michal; Itou, Takamasa; Nakayama, Tomoo; Kariya, Atsushi; Kawaguchi, Masazumi; Hizume, Shunichi

2010-09-01

This paper describes electrical testing results of new tungsten chemical vapor deposition (CVD-W) process concepts that were developed to address the W contact and bitline scaling issues on 55 nm node devices. Contact resistance (Rc) measurements in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices indicate that the new CVD-W process for sub-32 nm and beyond - consisting of an advanced pulsed nucleation layer (PNL) combined with low resistivity tungsten (LRW) initiation - produces a 20-30% drop in Rc for diffused NiSi contacts. From cross-sectional bright field and dark field transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis, such Rc improvement can be attributed to improved plugfill and larger in-feature W grain size with the advanced PNL+LRW process. More experiments that measured contact resistance for different feature sizes point to favorable Rc scaling with the advanced PNL+LRW process. Finally, 40% improvement in line resistance was observed with this process as tested on 55 nm embedded dynamic random access memory (DRAM) devices, confirming that the advanced PNL+LRW process can be an effective metallization solution for sub-32 nm devices.

Discrete Huygens’ modeling for the characterization of a sound absorbing medium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chai, L.; Kagawa, Y.

2007-07-01

Based on the equivalence between the wave propagation in the electrical transmission-lines and acoustic tubes, the authors proposed the use of the transmission-line matrix modeling (TLM) for time-domain solution method of the sound field. TLM is known in electromagnetic engineering community, which is equivalent to the discrete Huygens' modeling. The wave propagation is simulated by tracing the sequences of the transmission and scattering of impulses. The theory and the demonstrated examples are presented in the references, in which a sound absorbing field was preliminarily considered to be a medium with simple acoustic resistance independent of frequency and the angle of incidence for the absorbing layer placed on the room wall surface. The present work is concerned with the time-domain response for the characterization of the sound absorbing materials. A lossy component with variable propagation velocity is introduced for sound absorbing materials to facilitate the energy consumption. The frequency characteristics of the absorption coefficient are also considered for the normal, oblique and random incidence. Some numerical demonstrations show that the present modeling provide a reasonable modeling of the homogeneous sound absorbing materials in time domain.

Numerical analysis of electronegative plasma in the extraction region of negative hydrogen ion sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuppel, S.; Matsushita, D.; Hatayama, A.; Bacal, M.

2011-01-01

This numerical study focuses on the physical mechanisms involved in the extraction of volume-produced H- ions from a steady state laboratory negative hydrogen ion source with one opening in the plasma electrode (PE) on which a dc-bias voltage is applied. A weak magnetic field is applied in the source plasma transversely to the extracted beam. The goal is to highlight the combined effects of the weak magnetic field and the PE bias voltage (upon the extraction process of H- ions and electrons). To do so, we focus on the behavior of electrons and volume-produced negative ions within a two-dimensional model using the particle-in-cell method. No collision processes are taken into account, except for electron diffusion across the magnetic field using a simple random-walk model at each time step of the simulation. The results show first that applying the magnetic field (without PE bias) enhances H- ion extraction, while it drastically decreases the extracted electron current. Secondly, the extracted H- ion current has a maximum when the PE bias is equal to the plasma potential, while the extracted electron current is significantly reduced by applying the PE bias. The underlying mechanism leading to the above results is the gradual opening by the PE bias of the equipotential lines towards the parts of the extraction region facing the PE. The shape of these lines is due originally to the electron trapping by the magnetic field.

Tortuosity of lightning return stroke channels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Levine, D. M.; Gilson, B.

1984-01-01

Data obtained from photographs of lightning are presented on the tortuosity of return stroke channels. The data were obtained by making piecewise linear fits to the channels, and recording the cartesian coordinates of the ends of each linear segment. The mean change between ends of the segments was nearly zero in the horizontal direction and was about eight meters in the vertical direction. Histograms of these changes are presented. These data were used to create model lightning channels and to predict the electric fields radiated during return strokes. This was done using a computer generated random walk in which linear segments were placed end-to-end to form a piecewise linear representation of the channel. The computer selected random numbers for the ends of the segments assuming a normal distribution with the measured statistics. Once the channels were simulated, the electric fields radiated during a return stroke were predicted using a transmission line model on each segment. It was found that realistic channels are obtained with this procedure, but only if the model includes two scales of tortuosity: fine scale irregularities corresponding to the local channel tortuosity which are superimposed on large scale horizontal drifts. The two scales of tortuosity are also necessary to obtain agreement between the electric fields computed mathematically from the simulated channels and the electric fields radiated from real return strokes. Without large scale drifts, the computed electric fields do not have the undulations characteristics of the data.

Electromagnetic power of merging and collapsing compact objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyutikov, Maxim

2011-06-01

Understanding possible electromagnetic signatures of merging and collapsing compact objects is important for identifying possible sources of the LIGO signal. Electromagnetic emission can be produced as a precursor to the merger, as a prompt emission during the collapse of a neutron star and at the spin-down stage of the resulting Kerr-Newman black hole. For the neutron star-neutron star mergers, the precursor power scales as L≈BNS2GMNSRNS8/(Rorb7c), while for the neutron star-black hole mergers, it is (GM/(c2RNS))2 times smaller. We demonstrate that the time evolution of the axisymmetric force-free magnetic fields can be expressed in terms of the hyperbolic Grad-Shafranov equation, and we formulate the generalization of Ferraro’s law of isorotation to time-dependent angular velocity. We find an exact nonlinear time-dependent Michel-type (split-monopole) structure of magnetospheres driven by spinning and collapsing neutron stars in Schwarzschild geometry. Based on this solution, we argue that the collapse of a neutron star into a black hole happens smoothly, without the natural formation of current sheets or other dissipative structures on the open field lines; thus, it does not allow the magnetic field to become disconnected from the star and escape to infinity. Therefore, as long as an isolated Kerr black hole can produce plasma and currents, it does not lose its open magnetic field lines. Its magnetospheric structure evolves towards a split monopole, and the black hole spins down electromagnetically (the closed field lines get absorbed by the hole). The “no-hair theorem,” which assumes that the outside medium is a vacuum, is not applicable in this case: highly conducting plasma introduces a topological constraint forbidding the disconnection of the magnetic field lines from the black hole. Eventually, a single random large scale spontaneous reconnection event will lead to magnetic field release, shutting down the electromagnetic black hole engine forever. Overall, the electromagnetic power in all the above cases is expected to be relatively small. We also discuss the nature of short gamma-ray bursts and suggest that if the magnetic field is amplified to ˜1014G during the merger or the core collapse, the similarity of the early afterglow properties of long and short gamma-ray bursts can be related to the fact that in both cases a spinning black hole can retain a magnetic field for a sufficiently long time to extract a large fraction of its rotational energy and produce high energy emission via the internal dissipation in the wind.

Sound Transmission Through Multi-Panel Structures Lined with Elastic Porous Materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bolton, J. S.; Shiau, N.-M.; Kang, Y. J.

1996-04-01

Theory and measurements related to sound transmission through double panels lined with elastic porous media are presented. The information has application to the design of noise control barriers and to the optimization of aircraft fuselage transmission loss, for example. The major difference between the work described here and earlier research in this field relates to the treatment of the porous material that is used to line the cavity between the two panels of the double panel structure. Here we have used the porous material theory proposed by Biot since it takes explicit account of all the wave types known to propagate in elastic porous materials. As a result, it is possible to use the theory presented here to calculate the transmission loss of lined double panels at arbitrary angles of incidence; results calculated over a range of incidence angles may then be combined to yield the random incidence transmission loss. In this paper, the equations governing wave propagation in an elastic porous material are first considered briefly and then the general forms for the stresses and displacements within the porous material are given. Those solutions are expressed in terms of a number of constants that can be determined by application of appropriate boundary conditions. The boundary conditions required to model double panels having linings that are either directly attached to the facing panels or separated?!from them by air gaps are presented and discussed. Measurements of the random incidence transmission loss of aluminium double-panel structures lined with polyurethane foam are presented and have been found to be in good agreement with theoretical predictions. Both the theoretical predictions and the measured results have shown that the method by which an elastic porous lining material is attached to the facing panels can have a profound influence on the transmission loss of the panel system. It has been found, for example, that treatments in which the lining material is not directly attached to the facing panels are generally to be preferred to those in which the lining is directly bonded to the panels. These effects may be explained by considering the degree to which the various wave types within the elastic porous material are excited, which in turn can be related to the method by which the lining is mounted to the facing panels.

The nature of the dense obscuring material in the nucleus of NGC 1068

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tacconi, L. J.; Genzel, R.; Blietz, M.; Cameron, M.; Harris, A. I.; Madden, S.

1994-01-01

High spatial and spectral resolution observations of the distribution, physical parameters, and kinematics of the molecular interstellar medium toward the nucleus of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068 are reported. The data consist of 2.4 by 3.4 arcseconds resolution interferometry of the 88.6 GHz HCN J = 1 towards 0 line at 17 km/s spectral resolution, single dish observations of several mm/submm isotopic lines of CO and HCN, and 0.85 arcseconds imaging spectroscopy of the 2.12 micron H2 S(1) line at a velocity resolution of 110 km/s. The central few hundred parsecs of NGC 1068 contain a system of dense (N(H2) approximately 10(exp 5) cm(exp -3)), warm (T greater than or equal to 70 K) molecular cloud cores. The low density molecular envelopes have probably been stripped by the nuclear wind and radiation. The molecular gas layer is located in the plane of NGC 1068's large scale disk (inclination approximately 35 deg) and orbits in elliptical streamlines in response to the central stellar bar. The spatial distribution of the 2 micron H2 emission suggests that gas is shocked at the leading edge of the bar, probably resulting in gas influx into the central 100 pc at a rate of a few solar mass per year. In addition to large scale streaming (with a solid body rotation curve), the HCN velocity field requires the presence of random motions of order 100 km/s. We interpret these large random motions as implying the nuclear gas disk to be very thick (scale height/radius approximately 1), probably as the result of the impact of nuclear radiation and wind on orbiting molecular clouds. Geometry and column density of the molecular cloud layer between approximately 30 pc to 300 pc from the nucleus can plausibly account for the nuclear obscuration and anisotropy of the radiation field in the visible and UV.

Interstellar Pickup Ion Acceleration in the Turbulent Magnetic Field at the Solar Wind Termination Shock Using a Focused Transport Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ye, Junye; le Roux, Jakobus A.; Arthur, Aaron D.

2016-08-01

We study the physics of locally born interstellar pickup proton acceleration at the nearly perpendicular solar wind termination shock (SWTS) in the presence of a random magnetic field spiral angle using a focused transport model. Guided by Voyager 2 observations, the spiral angle is modeled with a q-Gaussian distribution. The spiral angle fluctuations, which are used to generate the perpendicular diffusion of pickup protons across the SWTS, play a key role in enabling efficient injection and rapid diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) when these particles follow field lines. Our simulations suggest that variation of both the shape (q-value) and the standard deviation (σ-value) of the q-Gaussian distribution significantly affect the injection speed, pitch-angle anisotropy, radial distribution, and the efficiency of the DSA of pickup protons at the SWTS. For example, increasing q and especially reducing σ enhances the DSA rate.

Micromagnetic modeling of the shielding properties of nanoscale ferromagnetic layers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iskandarova, I. M.; Knizhnik, A. A.; Popkov, A. F.; Potapkin, B. V.; Stainer, Q.; Lombard, L.; Mackay, K.

2016-09-01

Ferromagnetic shields are widely used to concentrate magnetic fields in a target region of space. Such shields are also used in spintronic nanodevices such as magnetic random access memory and magnetic logic devices. However, the shielding properties of nanostructured shields can differ considerably from those of macroscopic samples. In this work, we investigate the shielding properties of nanostructured NiFe layers around a current line using a finite element micromagnetic model. We find that thin ferromagnetic layers demonstrate saturation of magnetization under an external magnetic field, which reduces the shielding efficiency. Moreover, we show that the shielding properties of nanoscale ferromagnetic layers strongly depend on the uniformity of the layer thickness. Magnetic anisotropy in ultrathin ferromagnetic layers can also influence their shielding efficiency. In addition, we show that domain walls in nanoscale ferromagnetic shields can induce large increases and decreases in the generated magnetic field. Therefore, ferromagnetic shields for spintronic nanodevices require careful design and precise fabrication.

The global distribution of magnetic helicity in the solar corona

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yeates, A. R.; Hornig, G.

2016-10-01

By defining an appropriate field line helicity, we apply the powerful concept of magnetic helicity to the problem of global magnetic field evolution in the Sun's corona. As an ideal-magnetohydrodynamic invariant, the field line helicity is a meaningful measure of how magnetic helicity is distributed within the coronal volume. It may be interpreted, for each magnetic field line, as a magnetic flux linking with that field line. Using magneto-frictional simulations, we investigate how field line helicity evolves in the non-potential corona as a result of shearing by large-scale motions on the solar surface. On open magnetic field lines, the helicity injected by the Sun is largely output to the solar wind, provided that the coronal relaxation is sufficiently fast. But on closed magnetic field lines, helicity is able to build up. We find that the field line helicity is non-uniformly distributed, and is highly concentrated in twisted magnetic flux ropes. Eruption of these flux ropes is shown to lead to sudden bursts of helicity output, in contrast to the steady flux along the open magnetic field lines. Movies are available at http://www.aanda.org

Investigating the magnetic inclination angle distribution of γ-ray-loud radio pulsars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rookyard, S. C.; Weltevrede, P.; Johnston, S.

2015-02-01

Several studies have shown the distribution of pulsars' magnetic inclination angles to be skewed towards low values compared with the distribution expected if the rotation and magnetic axes are placed randomly on the star. Here, we focus on a sample of 28 γ-ray-detected pulsars using data taken as part of the Parkes telescope's FERMI timing program. In doing so, we find a preference in the sample for low magnetic inclination angles, α, in stark contrast to both the expectation that the magnetic and rotation axes are orientated randomly at the birth of the pulsar and to γ-ray-emission-model-based expected biases. In this paper, after exploring potential explanations, we conclude that there are two possible causes of this preference, namely that low α values are intrinsic to the sample, or that the emission regions extend outside what is traditionally thought to be the open-field-line region in a way which is dependent on the magnetic inclination. Each possibility is expected to have important consequences, ranging from supernova physics to population studies of pulsars and considerations of the radio beaming fraction. We also present a simple conversion scheme between the observed and intrinsic magnetic inclinations which is valid under the assumption that the observed skew is not intrinsic and which can be applied to all existing measurements. We argue that extending the active-field-line region will help to resolve the existing tension between emission geometries derived from radio polarization measurements and those required to model γ-ray light curves.

Unique topological characterization of braided magnetic fields

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

Yeates, A. R.; Hornig, G.

We introduce a topological flux function to quantify the topology of magnetic braids: non-zero, line-tied magnetic fields whose field lines all connect between two boundaries. This scalar function is an ideal invariant defined on a cross-section of the magnetic field, and measures the average poloidal magnetic flux around any given field line, or the average pairwise crossing number between a given field line and all others. Moreover, its integral over the cross-section yields the relative magnetic helicity. Using the fact that the flux function is also an action in the Hamiltonian formulation of the field line equations, we prove thatmore » it uniquely characterizes the field line mapping and hence the magnetic topology.« less

Deriving the Coronal Magnetic Field Using Parametric Transformation Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gary, G. Allen; Rose, M. Franklin (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

When plasma-beta greater than 1 then the gas pressure dominates over the magnetic pressure. This ratio as a function along the coronal magnetic field lines varies from beta greater than 1 in the photosphere at the base of the field lines, to beta much less than 1 in the mid-corona, to beta greater than 1 in the upper corona. Almost all magnetic field extrapolations do not or cannot take into account the full range of beta. They essentially assume beta much less than 1, since the full boundary conditions do not exist in the beta greater than 1 regions. We use a basic parametric representation of the magnetic field lines such that the field lines can be manipulated to match linear features in the EUV and SXR coronal images in a least squares sense. This research employs free-form deformation mathematics to generate the associated coronal magnetic field. In our research program, the complex magnetic field topology uses Parametric Transformation Analysis (PTA) which is a new and innovative method to describe the coronal fields that we are developing. In this technique the field lines can be viewed as being embedded in a plastic medium, the frozen-in-field-line concept. As the medium is deformed the field lines are similarly deformed. However the advantage of the PTA method is that the field line movement represents a transformation of one magnetic field solution into another magnetic field solution. When fully implemented, this method will allow the resulting magnetic field solution to fully match the magnetic field lines with EUV/SXR coronal loops by minimizing the differences in direction and dispersion of a collection of PTA magnetic field lines and observed field lines. The derived magnetic field will then allow beta greater than 1 regions to be included, the electric currents to be calculated, and the Lorentz force to be determined. The advantage of this technique is that the solution is: (1) independent of the upper and side boundary conditions, (2) allows non-vanishing magnetic forces, and (3) provides a global magnetic field solution, which contains high- and low-beta regimes and maximizes the similarity between the field lines structure and all the coronal images of the region. The coronal image analysis is crucial to the investigation and for the first time these images can be exploited to derive the coronal magnetic field in a well-posed mathematical formulation. This program is an outgrowth of an investigation in which an extrapolated potential field was required to be "inflated" in order to have the field lines match the Yohkoh/SXT images. The field lines were radially stretched resulting in a better match to the coronal loops of an active region. The PTA method of radial and non-radial deformations of field lines to provide a match to the EUV/SXR images will be presented.

Quenched bond randomness: Superfluidity in porous media and the strong violation of universality

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

Falicov, A.; Berker, A.N.

1997-04-01

The effects of quenched bond randomness are most readily studied with superfluidity immersed in a porous medium. A lattice model for {sup 3}He-{sup 4}He mixtures and incomplete {sup 4}He fillings in aerogel yields the signature effect of bond randomness, namely the conversion of symmetry-breaking first-order phase transitions into second-order phase transitions, the A-line reaching zero temperature, and the elimination of non-symmetry-breaking first-order phase transitions. The model recognizes the importance of the connected nature of aerogel randomness and thereby yields superfluidity at very low {sup 4}He concentrations, a phase separation entirely within the superfluid phase, and the order-parameter contrast between mixturesmore » and incomplete fillings, all in agreement with experiments. The special properties of the helium mixture/aerogel system are distinctly linked to the aerogel properties of connectivity, randomness, and tenuousness, via the additional study of a regularized {open_quote}jungle-gym{close_quotes} aerogel. Renormalization-group calculations indicate that a strong violation of the empirical universality principle of critical phenomena occurs under quenched bond randomness. It is argued that helium/aerogel critical properties reflect this violation and further experiments are suggested. Renormalization-group analysis also shows that, adjoiningly to the strong universality violation (which hinges on the occurrence or non-occurrence of asymptotic strong coupling-strong randomness under resealing), there is a new {open_quotes}hyperuniversality{close_quotes} at phase transitions with asymptotic strong coupling-strong randomness behavior, for example assigning the same critical exponents to random-bond tricriticality and random-field criticality.« less

The use of augmented reality glasses in central line simulation: “see one, simulate many, do one competently, and teach everyone”

PubMed Central

Huang, Cynthia Y; Thomas, Jonathan B; Alismail, Abdullah; Cohen, Avi; Almutairi, Waleed; Daher, Noha S; Terry, Michael H; Tan, Laren D

2018-01-01

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of using augmented reality (AR) glasses in central line simulation by novice operators and compare its efficacy to standard central line simulation/teaching. Design This was a prospective randomized controlled study enrolling 32 novice operators. Subjects were randomized on a 1:1 basis to either simulation using the augmented virtual reality glasses or simulation using conventional instruction. Setting The study was conducted in tertiary-care urban teaching hospital. Subjects A total of 32 adult novice central line operators with no visual or auditory impairments were enrolled. Medical doctors, respiratory therapists, and sleep technicians were recruited from the medical field. Measurements and main results The mean time for AR placement in the AR group was 71±43 s, and the time to internal jugular (IJ) cannulation was 316±112 s. There was no significant difference in median (minimum, maximum) time (seconds) to IJ cannulation for those who were in the AR group and those who were not (339 [130, 550] vs 287 [35, 475], p=0.09), respectively. There was also no significant difference between the two groups in median total procedure time (524 [329, 792] vs 469 [198, 781], p=0.29), respectively. There was a significant difference in the adherence level between the two groups favoring the AR group (p=0.003). Conclusion AR simulation of central venous catheters in manikins is feasible and efficacious in novice operators as an educational tool. Future studies are recommended in this area as it is a promising area of medical education. PMID:29785148

Structure and Dynamics of the Solar Corona

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schnack, D. D.

1994-01-01

Advanced computational techniques were used to study solar coronal heating and coronal mass ejections. A three dimensional, time dependent resistive magnetohydrodynamic code was used to study the dynamic response of a model corona to continuous, slow, random magnetic footpoint displacements in the photosphere. Three dimensional numerical simulations of the response of the corona to simple smooth braiding flows in the photosphere were calculated to illustrate and understand the spontaneous formation of current filaments. Two dimensional steady state helmet streamer configurations were obtained by determining the time asymptotic state of the interaction of an initially one dimensinal transponic solar wind with a spherical potential dipole field. The disruption of the steady state helmet streamer configuration was studied as a response to shearing of the magnetic footpoints of the closed field lines under the helmet.

PEARS Emission Line Galaxies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pirzkal, Nor; Rothberg, Barry; Ly, Chun; Rhoads, James E.; Malhotra, Sangeeta; Grogin, Norman A.; Dahlen, Tomas; Meurer, Gerhardt R.; Walsh, Jeremy; Hathi, Nimish P.;

An evaluation of eco-friendly naturally coloured cottons regarding seed cotton yield, yield components and major lint quality traits under conditions of East Mediterranean region of Turkey.

PubMed

Efe, Lale; Killi, Fatih; Mustafayev, Sefer A

2009-10-15

In the study carried out in 2002-2003 in the East Mediterranean region of Turkey (in Kahramanmaras Province), four different naturally coloured cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) (dark brown, light brown, cream and green) lines from Azerbaijan and two white linted cotton varieties (Maras-92 and Sayar-314 (G. hirsutum L.)) of the region were used as material. The aim of this study was to determine seed cotton yield and yield components and major lint quality traits of investigated coloured cotton lines comprising white linted local standard cotton varieties. Field trials were established in randomized block design with four blocks. According to two year's results, it was determined that naturally coloured cottons were found similar to both white linted standard cotton varieties for sympodia number and seed cotton yield. For boll number per plant, except green cotton line all coloured cotton lines were similar to standard varieties or even some of them were better than standards. For ginning outturn, dark brown, cream and green cotton lines were found statistically similar to standard Maras-92. But all naturally coloured cotton lines had lower seed cotton weight per boll and generally lower fiber quality than white linted standard varieties. For fiber length and fiber strength cream cotton line was the best coloured cotton. And for fiber fineness only green cotton line was better than both standards. It can be said that naturally coloured cotton lines need to be improved especially for fiber quality characters in the East Mediterranean region of Turkey.

Statistical Methods in Physical Oceanography: Proceedings of ’Aha Huliko’a Hawaiian Winter Workshop Held in Manoa, Hawaii on January 12-15, 1993

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-11-01

field X(t) at time 1. Ti. is the set of all times when both pi and pi have been observed and ni. is the number of elements in T Definition Eq. (22) is...termed contour analysis, for melding of oceanic data and for space-time interpolation of gappy frontal data sets . The key elements of contour analysis...plane and let fl(1) be the set of all straight lines intersecting F. Directly measuring the number of intersections between a random element W E 11(F) and

Contextual influence on orientation discrimination of humans and responses of neurons in V1 of alert monkeys.

PubMed

Li, W; Thier, P; Wehrhahn, C

2000-02-01

We studied the effects of various patterns as contextual stimuli on human orientation discrimination, and on responses of neurons in V1 of alert monkeys. When a target line is presented along with various contextual stimuli (masks), human orientation discrimination is impaired. For most V1 neurons, responses elicited by a line in the receptive field (RF) center are suppressed by these contextual patterns. Orientation discrimination thresholds of human observers are elevated slightly when the target line is surrounded by orthogonal lines. For randomly oriented lines, thresholds are elevated further and even more so for lines parallel to the target. Correspondingly, responses of most V1 neurons to a line are suppressed. Although contextual lines inhibit the amplitude of orientation tuning functions of most V1 neurons, they do not systematically alter the tuning width. Elevation of human orientation discrimination thresholds decreases with increasing curvature of masking lines, so does the inhibition of V1 neuronal responses. A mask made of straight lines yields the strongest interference with human orientation discrimination and produces the strongest suppression of neuronal responses. Elevation of human orientation discrimination thresholds is highest when a mask covers only the immediate vicinity of the target line. Increasing the masking area results in less interference. On the contrary, suppression of neuronal responses in V1 increases with increasing mask size. Our data imply that contextual interference observed in human orientation discrimination is in part directly related to contextual inhibition of neuronal activity in V1. However, the finding that interference with orientation discrimination is weaker for larger masks suggests a figure-ground segregation process that is not located in V1.

What Does a Random Line Look Like: An Experimental Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turner, Nigel E.; Liu, Eleanor; Toneatto, Tony

2011-01-01

The study examined the perception of random lines by people with gambling problems compared to people without gambling problems. The sample consisted of 67 probable pathological gamblers and 46 people without gambling problems. Participants completed a number of questionnaires about their gambling and were then presented with a series of random…

Topology and convection of a northward interplanetary magnetic field reconnection event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wendel, Deirdre E.

>From observations and global MHD simulations, we deduce the local and global magnetic topology and current structure of a northward IMF reconnection event in the dayside magnetopause. The ESA four-satellite Cluster suite crossed the magnetopause at a location mapping along field lines to an ionospheric H-alpha emission observed by the IMAGE spacecraft. Therefore, we seek reconnection signatures in the Cluster data. From the four-point Cluster observations, we develop a superposed epoch method to find the instantaneous x-line, its associated current sheet, and the nature of the reconnecting particle flows. This method is unique in that it removes the motion of the hyperbolic structure and the magnetopause relative to the spacecraft. We detect singular field line reconnection--planar hyperbolic reconnecting fields superposed on an out-of- plane field. We also detect the non-ideal electric field that is required to certify reconnection at locations where the magnetic field does not vanish, and estimate a reconnection electric field of - 4 mV/m. The current sheet appears bifurcated, embedding a 30 km current sheet of opposite polarity within a broader current sheet about 130 km thick. Using a resistive MHD simulation and ionospheric satellite data, we examine the same event at global length scales. This gives a 3D picture of where reconnection occurs on the magnetopause for northward IMF with B x and B y components and a tilted dipole field. It also demonstrates that northward IMF 3D reconnection couples the reconnection electric field and field-aligned currents to the ionosphere, driving sunward convection in a manner that agrees with satellite measurements of sunward flows. We find singular field line reconnection of the IMF with both open and closed field lines near nulls in both hemispheres. The reconnection in turn produces both open and closed field lines. We discuss for the first time how line-tying in the ionosphere and draping of open and IMF field lines produce a torsion of the reconnecting singular magnetic field lines within the magnetopause. The simulation and data show that magnetopause reconnection topology is three-dimensional in a way that challenges accepted models of neutral lines and x-lines with guide fields.

SELFI: an object-based, Bayesian method for faint emission line source detection in MUSE deep field data cubes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meillier, Céline; Chatelain, Florent; Michel, Olivier; Bacon, Roland; Piqueras, Laure; Bacher, Raphael; Ayasso, Hacheme

2016-04-01

We present SELFI, the Source Emission Line FInder, a new Bayesian method optimized for detection of faint galaxies in Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) deep fields. MUSE is the new panoramic integral field spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) that has unique capabilities for spectroscopic investigation of the deep sky. It has provided data cubes with 324 million voxels over a single 1 arcmin2 field of view. To address the challenge of faint-galaxy detection in these large data cubes, we developed a new method that processes 3D data either for modeling or for estimation and extraction of source configurations. This object-based approach yields a natural sparse representation of the sources in massive data fields, such as MUSE data cubes. In the Bayesian framework, the parameters that describe the observed sources are considered random variables. The Bayesian model leads to a general and robust algorithm where the parameters are estimated in a fully data-driven way. This detection algorithm was applied to the MUSE observation of Hubble Deep Field-South. With 27 h total integration time, these observations provide a catalog of 189 sources of various categories and with secured redshift. The algorithm retrieved 91% of the galaxies with only 9% false detection. This method also allowed the discovery of three new Lyα emitters and one [OII] emitter, all without any Hubble Space Telescope counterpart. We analyzed the reasons for failure for some targets, and found that the most important limitation of the method is when faint sources are located in the vicinity of bright spatially resolved galaxies that cannot be approximated by the Sérsic elliptical profile. The software and its documentation are available on the MUSE science web service (muse-vlt.eu/science).

The Triggering Mechanism of Quiet-Region Coronal Jet Eruptions: Flux Cancelation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Panesar, Navdeep K.; Sterling, Alphonse C.; Moore, Ronald L.

2017-01-01

Coronal jets are frequent transient features on the Sun, observed in EUV and X-ray emissions. They occur in active regions, quiet Sun and coronal holes, and appear as a bright spire with base brightenings. Recent studies show that many coronal jets are driven by the eruption of a minifilament. Here we investigate the magnetic cause of jet-driving minifilament eruptions. We study ten randomly-found on-disk quiet-region coronal jets using SDO/AIA intensity images and SDO/HMI magnetograms. For all ten events, we track the evolution of photospheric magnetic flux in the jet-base region in EUV images and find that (a) a cool (transition-region temperature) minifilament is present prior to each jet eruption; (b) the pre-eruption minifilament resides above the polarity-inversion line between majority-polarity and minority-polarity magnetic flux patches; (c) the opposite-polarity flux patches converge and cancel with each other; (d) the cancelation between the majority-polarity and minority-polarity flux patches eventually destabilizes the field holding the minifilament to erupt outwards; (e) the envelope of the erupting field barges into ambient oppositely-directed far-reaching field and undergoes external reconnection (interchange reconnection); (f) the external reconnection opens the envelope field and the minifilament field inside, allowing reconnected-heated hot material and cool minifilament material to escape along the far-reaching field, producing the jet spire. In summary, we found that each of our ten jets resulted from a minifilament eruption following flux cancelation at the magnetic neutral line under the pre-eruption minifilament. These observations show that flux cancelation is usually the trigger of quiet-region coronal jet eruptions.

Numerical model a graphene component for the sensing of weak electromagnetic signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nasswettrova, A.; Fiala, P.; Nešpor, D.; Drexler, P.; Steinbauer, M.

2015-05-01

The paper discusses a numerical model and provides an analysis of a graphene coaxial line suitable for sub-micron sensors of magnetic fields. In relation to the presented concept, the target areas and disciplines include biology, medicine, prosthetics, and microscopic solutions for modern actuators or SMART elements. The proposed numerical model is based on an analysis of a periodic structure with high repeatability, and it exploits a graphene polymer having a basic dimension in nanometers. The model simulates the actual random motion in the structure as the source of spurious signals and considers the pulse propagation along the structure; furthermore, the model also examines whether and how the pulse will be distorted at the beginning of the line, given the various ending versions. The results of the analysis are necessary for further use of the designed sensing devices based on graphene structures.

Where do field lines go in the quiet magnetosphere?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stern, David P.; Alekseev, Igor' I.

1988-01-01

The state of knowledge concerning the global pattern of geomagnetic field lines is reviewed. Sources of information on that pattern include (1) magnetic-field models, derived directly from magnetic data or indirectly from generally observed properties and from physics; (2) the tracing of magnetospheric features (e.g., polar cusps or the inner edge of the plasma sheet); (3) matching of magnetic flux; and (4) analysis of magnetic fields. Field-line structure inside about 8 earth radii is known fairly well, but beyond that, especially in the tail, the situation becomes rather uncertain and variable. Two particularly difficult problems are the linkage between open field lines and the interplanetary field and the field-line structure of the quiescent magnetosphere following periods of prolonged northward Bz.

Correlation Between the Field Line and Particle Diffusion Coefficients in the Stochastic Fields of a Tokamak

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Calvin, Mark; Punjabi, Alkesh

1996-11-01

We use the method of quasi-magnetic surfaces to calculate the correlation between the field line and particle diffusion coefficients. The magnetic topology of a tokamak is perturbed by a spectrum of neighboring resonant resistive modes. The Hamiltonian equations of motion for the field line are integrated numerically. Poincare plots of the quasi-magnetic surfaces are generated initially and after the field line has traversed a considerable distance. From the areas of the quasi-magnetic surfaces and the field line distance, we estimate the field line diffusion coefficient. We start plasma particles on the initial quasi-surface, and calculate the particle diffusion coefficient from our Monte Carlo method (Punjabi A., Boozer A., Lam M., Kim H. and Burke K., J. Plasma Phys.), 44, 405 (1990). We then estimate the correlation between the particle and field diffusion as the strength of the resistive modes is varied.

Gradient of the stellar magnetic field in measurements of hydrogen line cores

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kudryavtsev, Dimitry O.; Romanyuk, Iosif I.

2009-04-01

We report the observed systematic differences in longitudinal magnetic field values, obtained from measurements of metal lines and the core of the Hβ line for a number of Ap stars, having strong global magnetic fields. In overwhelming majority of cases the magnetic field values, obtained from measurements of hydrogen lines cores, is smaller then the ones obtained from metal lines. We discuss some possible explanations of this effect, the most probable of which is the existence of the gradient of the magnetic field in stellar atmospheres.

Examining the Properties of Jets in Coronal Holes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gaulle, Owen; Adams, Mitzi L.; Tennant, A. F.

2012-01-01

Data from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) were used to look for triggers of jets in a coronal hole. It has been proposed that bright points affiliated with the jets are caused by either random collisions between magnetic elements or by magnetic flux emerging from the photosphere; either of which can give rise to magnetic reconnection. Images from the 193AA filter of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) were searched to identify and locate jets. Changes in the line-of-sight magnetic field prior to the time of the jet were sought in data from the Helioseismic Magnetic Imager (HMI). In total we studied 15 different jets that occurred over a two day period starting 2011-02-27 00:00:00 UTC and ending 2011-02-28 23:59:55 UTC. All of the jets were contained within a coronal hole that was close to disk center. Of the 15 that we studied 6 were shown to have an increase of the parameter B2 (where B is the line-of-sight component of the magnetic field), within one hour prior to the creation of the jet and 10 were within 3 hours before the event.

An EPR investigation of the dynamic Jahn-Teller effect in SrCl2:y(2 plus) and SrCl2:Sc(2 plus)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Herrington, J. R.; Estle, T. L.; Boatner, L. A.

1972-01-01

EPR spectra have been observed for SrCl2:Y(2+) and SrCl2:Sc(2+) at liquid helium temperatures. At 1.2 K the spectra were dominated by anisotropic hyperfine patterns whose lineshapes and angular dependences were explained using second order solutions of the effective Hamiltonian for an isolated 2Eg state split by large random internal strains. Pronounced asymmetries in some of the strin produced lineshapes for Srcl2:Sc(2+) are shown to result from second order terms in the solution of the effective Hamiltonian. Coexisting with the anisotropic hyperfine patterns are weak nearly isotropic hyperfine patterns with typical lineshapes. Variations in the apparent intensity of lines in these weak hyperfine patterns as functions of the applied magnetic field direction and temperature imply that these lines result from averaging by vibronic relaxation of a portion of the anisotropic pattern. The effective Hamiltonian parameters for SrCl2:La(2+), SrCl2:y(2+), and SrCl2:SC(2+) are analyzed in terms of crystal field theory modified to include a dynamic Jahn-Teller effect.

Populational survey of arthropods on transgenic common bean expressing the rep gene from Bean golden mosaic virus

PubMed Central

Pinheiro, Patrícia V; Quintela, Eliane D; Junqueira, Ana Maria R; Aragão, Francisco JL; Faria, Josias C

2014-01-01

Genetically modified (GM) crops is considered the fastest adopted crop technology in the history of modern agriculture. However, possible undesirable and unintended effects must be considered during the research steps toward development of a commercial product. In this report we evaluated effects of a common bean virus resistant line on arthropod populations, considered as non-target organisms. This GM bean line (named M1/4) was modified for resistance against Bean golden mosaic virus (BGMV) by expressing a mutated REP protein, which is essential for virus replication. Biosafety studies were performed for a period of three years under field conditions. The abundance of some species was significantly higher in specific treatments in a particular year, but not consistently different in other years. A regular pattern was not observed in the distribution of insects between genetically modified and conventional treatments. Data analyses showed that minor differences observed can be attributed to random variation and were not consistent enough to conclude that the treatments were different. Therefore the present study indicates that the relative abundance of species are similar in transgenic and non-transgenic fields. PMID:24922280

Populational survey of arthropods on transgenic common bean expressing the rep gene from Bean golden mosaic virus.

PubMed

Pinheiro, Patrícia V; Quintela, Eliane D; Junqueira, Ana Maria R; Aragão, Francisco J L; Faria, Josias C

2014-01-01

Genetically modified (GM) crops is considered the fastest adopted crop technology in the history of modern agriculture. However, possible undesirable and unintended effects must be considered during the research steps toward development of a commercial product. In this report we evaluated effects of a common bean virus resistant line on arthropod populations, considered as non-target organisms. This GM bean line (named M1/4) was modified for resistance against Bean golden mosaic virus (BGMV) by expressing a mutated REP protein, which is essential for virus replication. Biosafety studies were performed for a period of three years under field conditions. The abundance of some species was significantly higher in specific treatments in a particular year, but not consistently different in other years. A regular pattern was not observed in the distribution of insects between genetically modified and conventional treatments. Data analyses showed that minor differences observed can be attributed to random variation and were not consistent enough to conclude that the treatments were different. Therefore the present study indicates that the relative abundance of species are similar in transgenic and non-transgenic fields.

Axitinib in the treatment of renal cell carcinoma: design, development, and place in therapy

PubMed Central

Bellesoeur, Audrey; Carton, Edith; Alexandre, Jerome; Goldwasser, Francois; Huillard, Olivier

2017-01-01

Since 2005, the approved first-line treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma consists in tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) targeting the vascular endothelial growth factor receptors (VEGFRs). Axitinib is an oral second-generation TKI and a potent VEGFR inhibitor with a half maximal inhibitory concentration for the VEGF family receptors 10-fold lower than other TKIs. Axitinib activity in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients has been studied in various settings and particularly as second-line treatment. In this setting, axitinib with clinically based dose escalation compared to sorafenib has demonstrated an improvement in progression-free survival in a randomized Phase III trial leading to US Food and Drug Administration approval. In the first-line setting, axitinib failed to demonstrate improved efficacy over sorafenib, but the field of RCC treatment is rapidly changing with novel TKIs as cabozantinib or the emergence of check point inhibitors as nivolumab and the place of axitinib in therapy is therefore challenged. In this review, we focus on axitinib pharmacological and clinical properties in RCC patients and discuss its place in the treatment of patients with RCC. PMID:29033542

Cell line name recognition in support of the identification of synthetic lethality in cancer from text

PubMed Central

Kaewphan, Suwisa; Van Landeghem, Sofie; Ohta, Tomoko; Van de Peer, Yves; Ginter, Filip; Pyysalo, Sampo

2016-01-01

Motivation: The recognition and normalization of cell line names in text is an important task in biomedical text mining research, facilitating for instance the identification of synthetically lethal genes from the literature. While several tools have previously been developed to address cell line recognition, it is unclear whether available systems can perform sufficiently well in realistic and broad-coverage applications such as extracting synthetically lethal genes from the cancer literature. In this study, we revisit the cell line name recognition task, evaluating both available systems and newly introduced methods on various resources to obtain a reliable tagger not tied to any specific subdomain. In support of this task, we introduce two text collections manually annotated for cell line names: the broad-coverage corpus Gellus and CLL, a focused target domain corpus. Results: We find that the best performance is achieved using NERsuite, a machine learning system based on Conditional Random Fields, trained on the Gellus corpus and supported with a dictionary of cell line names. The system achieves an F-score of 88.46% on the test set of Gellus and 85.98% on the independently annotated CLL corpus. It was further applied at large scale to 24 302 102 unannotated articles, resulting in the identification of 5 181 342 cell line mentions, normalized to 11 755 unique cell line database identifiers. Availability and implementation: The manually annotated datasets, the cell line dictionary, derived corpora, NERsuite models and the results of the large-scale run on unannotated texts are available under open licenses at http://turkunlp.github.io/Cell-line-recognition/. Contact: sukaew@utu.fi PMID:26428294

Nanoscale shift of the intensity distribution of dipole radiation.

PubMed

Shu, Jie; Li, Xin; Arnoldus, Henk F

2009-02-01

The energy flow lines (field lines of the Poynting vector) for radiation emitted by a dipole are in general curves, rather than straight lines. For a linear dipole the field lines are straight, but when the dipole moment of a source rotates, the field lines wind numerous times around an axis, which is perpendicular to the plane of rotation, before asymptotically approaching a straight line. We consider an elliptical dipole moment, representing the most general state of oscillation, and this includes the linear dipole as a special case. Due to the spiraling near the source, for the case of a rotating dipole moment, the field lines in the far field are displaced with respect to the outward radial direction, and this leads to a shift of the intensity distribution of the radiation in the far field. This shift is shown to be independent of the distance to the source and, although of nanoscale dimension, should be experimentally observable.

Sensor, method and system of monitoring transmission lines

DOEpatents

Syracuse, Steven J.; Clark, Roy; Halverson, Peter G.; Tesche, Frederick M.; Barlow, Charles V.

2012-10-02

An apparatus, method, and system for measuring the magnetic field produced by phase conductors in multi-phase power lines. The magnetic field measurements are used to determine the current load on the conductors. The magnetic fields are sensed by coils placed sufficiently proximate the lines to measure the voltage induced in the coils by the field without touching the lines. The x and y components of the magnetic fields are used to calculate the conductor sag, and then the sag data, along with the field strength data, can be used to calculate the current load on the line and the phase of the current. The sag calculations of this invention are independent of line voltage and line current measurements. The system applies a computerized fitter routine to measured and sampled voltages on the coils to accurately determine the values of parameters associated with the overhead phase conductors.

Dynamical behavior of the random field on the pulsating and snaking solitons in cubic-quintic complex Ginzburg-Landau equation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bakhtiar, Nurizatul Syarfinas Ahmad; Abdullah, Farah Aini; Hasan, Yahya Abu

2017-08-01

In this paper, we consider the dynamical behaviour of the random field on the pulsating and snaking solitons in a dissipative systems described by the one-dimensional cubic-quintic complex Ginzburg-Landau equation (cqCGLE). The dynamical behaviour of the random filed was simulated by adding a random field to the initial pulse. Then, we solve it numerically by fixing the initial amplitude profile for the pulsating and snaking solitons without losing any generality. In order to create the random field, we choose 0 ≤ ɛ ≤ 1.0. As a result, multiple soliton trains are formed when the random field is applied to a pulse like initial profile for the parameters of the pulsating and snaking solitons. The results also show the effects of varying the random field of the transient energy peaks in pulsating and snaking solitons.

Childhood leukemia and magnetic fields in infant incubators.

PubMed

Söderberg, Karin C; Naumburg, Estelle; Anger, Gert; Cnattingius, Sven; Ekbom, Anders; Feychting, Maria

2002-01-01

In studies of magnetic field exposure and childhood leukemia, power lines and other electrical installations close to the children's homes constitute the most extensively studied source of exposure. We conducted a study to assess whether exposure to magnetic fields in infant incubators is associated with an increased leukemia risk. We identified all children with leukemia born in Sweden between 1973 and 1989 from the national Cancer Registry and selected at random one control per case, individually matched by sex and time of birth, from the study base. We retrieved information about treatment in infant incubators from medical records. We made measurements of the magnetic fields inside the incubators for each incubator model kept by the hospitals. Exposure assessment was based on measurements of the magnetic field level inside the incubator, as well as on the length of treatment. For acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the risk estimates were close to unity for all exposure definitions. For acute myeloid leukemia, we found a slightly elevated risk, but with wide confidence intervals and with no indication of dose response. Overall, our results give little evidence that exposure to magnetic fields inside infant incubators is associated with an increased risk of childhood leukemia.

Random center vortex lines in continuous 3D space-time

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

Höllwieser, Roman; Institute of Atomic and Subatomic Physics, Vienna University of Technology, Operngasse 9, 1040 Vienna; Altarawneh, Derar

2016-01-22

We present a model of center vortices, represented by closed random lines in continuous 2+1-dimensional space-time. These random lines are modeled as being piece-wise linear and an ensemble is generated by Monte Carlo methods. The physical space in which the vortex lines are defined is a cuboid with periodic boundary conditions. Besides moving, growing and shrinking of the vortex configuration, also reconnections are allowed. Our ensemble therefore contains not a fixed, but a variable number of closed vortex lines. This is expected to be important for realizing the deconfining phase transition. Using the model, we study both vortex percolation andmore » the potential V(R) between quark and anti-quark as a function of distance R at different vortex densities, vortex segment lengths, reconnection conditions and at different temperatures. We have found three deconfinement phase transitions, as a function of density, as a function of vortex segment length, and as a function of temperature. The model reproduces the qualitative features of confinement physics seen in SU(2) Yang-Mills theory.« less

Capture of visual direction in dynamic vergence is reduced with flashed monocular lines.

PubMed

Jaschinski, Wolfgang; Jainta, Stephanie; Schürer, Michael

2006-08-01

The visual direction of a continuously presented monocular object is captured by the visual direction of a closely adjacent binocular object, which questions the reliability of nonius lines for measuring vergence. This was shown by Erkelens, C. J., and van Ee, R. (1997a,b) [Capture of the visual direction: An unexpected phenomenon in binocular vision. Vision Research, 37, 1193-1196; Capture of the visual direction of monocular objects by adjacent binocular objects. Vision Research, 37, 1735-1745] stimulating dynamic vergence by a counter phase oscillation of two square random-dot patterns (one to each eye) that contained a smaller central dot-free gap (of variable width) with a vertical monocular line oscillating in phase with the random-dot pattern of the respective eye; subjects adjusted the motion-amplitude of the line until it was perceived as (nearly) stationary. With a continuously presented monocular line, we replicated capture of visual direction provided the dot-free gap was narrow: the adjusted motion-amplitude of the line was similar as the motion-amplitude of the random-dot pattern, although large vergence errors occurred. However, when we flashed the line for 67 ms at the moments of maximal and minimal disparity of the vergence stimulus, we found that the adjusted motion-amplitude of the line was smaller; thus, the capture effect appeared to be reduced with flashed nonius lines. Accordingly, we found that the objectively measured vergence gain was significantly correlated (r=0.8) with the motion-amplitude of the flashed monocular line when the separation between the line and the fusion contour was at least 32 min arc. In conclusion, if one wishes to estimate the dynamic vergence response with psychophysical methods, effects of capture of visual direction can be reduced by using flashed nonius lines.

Automated Stitching of Microtubule Centerlines across Serial Electron Tomograms

PubMed Central

Weber, Britta; Tranfield, Erin M.; Höög, Johanna L.; Baum, Daniel; Antony, Claude; Hyman, Tony; Verbavatz, Jean-Marc; Prohaska, Steffen

2014-01-01

Tracing microtubule centerlines in serial section electron tomography requires microtubules to be stitched across sections, that is lines from different sections need to be aligned, endpoints need to be matched at section boundaries to establish a correspondence between neighboring sections, and corresponding lines need to be connected across multiple sections. We present computational methods for these tasks: 1) An initial alignment is computed using a distance compatibility graph. 2) A fine alignment is then computed with a probabilistic variant of the iterative closest points algorithm, which we extended to handle the orientation of lines by introducing a periodic random variable to the probabilistic formulation. 3) Endpoint correspondence is established by formulating a matching problem in terms of a Markov random field and computing the best matching with belief propagation. Belief propagation is not generally guaranteed to converge to a minimum. We show how convergence can be achieved, nonetheless, with minimal manual input. In addition to stitching microtubule centerlines, the correspondence is also applied to transform and merge the electron tomograms. We applied the proposed methods to samples from the mitotic spindle in C. elegans, the meiotic spindle in X. laevis, and sub-pellicular microtubule arrays in T. brucei. The methods were able to stitch microtubules across section boundaries in good agreement with experts' opinions for the spindle samples. Results, however, were not satisfactory for the microtubule arrays. For certain experiments, such as an analysis of the spindle, the proposed methods can replace manual expert tracing and thus enable the analysis of microtubules over long distances with reasonable manual effort. PMID:25438148

Automated stitching of microtubule centerlines across serial electron tomograms.

PubMed

Weber, Britta; Tranfield, Erin M; Höög, Johanna L; Baum, Daniel; Antony, Claude; Hyman, Tony; Verbavatz, Jean-Marc; Prohaska, Steffen

2014-01-01

Tracing microtubule centerlines in serial section electron tomography requires microtubules to be stitched across sections, that is lines from different sections need to be aligned, endpoints need to be matched at section boundaries to establish a correspondence between neighboring sections, and corresponding lines need to be connected across multiple sections. We present computational methods for these tasks: 1) An initial alignment is computed using a distance compatibility graph. 2) A fine alignment is then computed with a probabilistic variant of the iterative closest points algorithm, which we extended to handle the orientation of lines by introducing a periodic random variable to the probabilistic formulation. 3) Endpoint correspondence is established by formulating a matching problem in terms of a Markov random field and computing the best matching with belief propagation. Belief propagation is not generally guaranteed to converge to a minimum. We show how convergence can be achieved, nonetheless, with minimal manual input. In addition to stitching microtubule centerlines, the correspondence is also applied to transform and merge the electron tomograms. We applied the proposed methods to samples from the mitotic spindle in C. elegans, the meiotic spindle in X. laevis, and sub-pellicular microtubule arrays in T. brucei. The methods were able to stitch microtubules across section boundaries in good agreement with experts' opinions for the spindle samples. Results, however, were not satisfactory for the microtubule arrays. For certain experiments, such as an analysis of the spindle, the proposed methods can replace manual expert tracing and thus enable the analysis of microtubules over long distances with reasonable manual effort.

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

Laitinen, T.; Dalla, S., E-mail: tlmlaitinen@uclan.ac.uk

Current particle transport models describe the propagation of charged particles across the mean field direction in turbulent plasmas as diffusion. However, recent studies suggest that at short timescales, such as soon after solar energetic particle (SEP) injection, particles remain on turbulently meandering field lines, which results in nondiffusive initial propagation across the mean magnetic field. In this work, we use a new technique to investigate how the particles are displaced from their original field lines, and we quantify the parameters of the transition from field-aligned particle propagation along meandering field lines to particle diffusion across the mean magnetic field. Wemore » show that the initial decoupling of the particles from the field lines is slow, and particles remain within a Larmor radius from their initial meandering field lines for tens to hundreds of Larmor periods, for 0.1–10 MeV protons in turbulence conditions typical of the solar wind at 1 au. Subsequently, particles decouple from their initial field lines and after hundreds to thousands of Larmor periods reach time-asymptotic diffusive behavior consistent with particle diffusion across the mean field caused by the meandering of the field lines. We show that the typical duration of the prediffusive phase, hours to tens of hours for 10 MeV protons in 1 au solar wind turbulence conditions, is significant for SEP propagation to 1 au and must be taken into account when modeling SEP propagation in the interplanetary space.« less

On random field Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart generation.

PubMed

Kouritzin, Michael A; Newton, Fraser; Wu, Biao

2013-04-01

Herein, we propose generating CAPTCHAs through random field simulation and give a novel, effective and efficient algorithm to do so. Indeed, we demonstrate that sufficient information about word tests for easy human recognition is contained in the site marginal probabilities and the site-to-nearby-site covariances and that these quantities can be embedded directly into certain conditional probabilities, designed for effective simulation. The CAPTCHAs are then partial random realizations of the random CAPTCHA word. We start with an initial random field (e.g., randomly scattered letter pieces) and use Gibbs resampling to re-simulate portions of the field repeatedly using these conditional probabilities until the word becomes human-readable. The residual randomness from the initial random field together with the random implementation of the CAPTCHA word provide significant resistance to attack. This results in a CAPTCHA, which is unrecognizable to modern optical character recognition but is recognized about 95% of the time in a human readability study.

ELF field in the proximity of complex power line configuration measurement procedures.

PubMed

Benes, M; Comelli, M; Villalta, R

2006-01-01

The issue of how to measure magnetic induction fields generated by various power line configurations, when there are several power lines that run across the same exposure area, has become a matter of interest and study within the Regional Environment Protection Agency of Friuli Venezia Giulia. In classifying the various power line typologies the definition of double circuit line was given: in this instance the magnetic field is determined by knowing the electrical and geometric parameters of the line. In the case of independent lines instead, the field is undetermined. It is therefore pointed out how, in the latter case, extracting previsional information from a set of measurements of the magnetic field alone is impossible. Making measurements throughout the territory of service has in several cases offered the opportunity to define standard operational procedures.

14 CFR 142.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... accordance with subpart C of this part. Line-Operational Simulation means simulation conducted using... operations. Line operational simulation simulations are conducted for training and evaluation purposes and include random, abnormal, and emergency occurrences. Line operational simulation specifically includes...

Long-term cryopreservation of Greek fir embryogenic cell lines: recovery, maturation and genetic fidelity.

PubMed

Krajňáková, Jana; Sutela, Suvi; Aronen, Tuija; Gömöry, Dušan; Vianello, Angelo; Häggman, Hely

2011-08-01

In coniferous species, including Greek fir (Abies cephalonica Loud), the involvement of somatic embryo plants in breeding and reforestation programs is dependent on the success of long-term cryostorage of embryogenic cultures during clonal field testing. In the present study on Greek fir, we assayed the recovery, morphological characteristics and genetic fidelity of embryogenic cell lines 6 and 8 during proliferation and maturation after long-term cryostorage. Our results indicate successful recovery of both cell lines after 6 years in cryostorage. In the maturation phase, both cell lines were capable of producing somatic embryos although some differences were detected among experiments. However, these changes were more dependent on the differences in the components of the maturation media or in the experimental set-up than on the long-term cryostorage. During both proliferation and maturation phases, the morphological fidelity of the embryogenic cultures as well as of the somatic embryos were alike before and after cryopreservation. The genetic fidelity of the cryopreserved cell line 6 that was assayed by random amplified polymorphic DNA (i.e. RAPD) markers demonstrated some changes in the RAPD profiles. The results indicate possible genetic aberrations caused by long-term cryopreservation or somaclonal variation during the proliferation stage. However, in spite of these changes the embryogenic cultures did not lose their proliferation or maturation abilities. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Estimating continuous floodplain and major river bed topography mixing ordinal coutour lines and topographic points

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bailly, J. S.; Dartevelle, M.; Delenne, C.; Rousseau, A.

2017-12-01

Floodplain and major river bed topography govern many river biophysical processes during floods. Despite the grow of direct topographic measurements from LiDARS on riverine systems, it still room to develop methods for large (e.g. deltas) or very local (e.g. ponds) riverine systems that take advantage of information coming from simple SAR or optical image processing on floodplain, resulting from waterbodies delineation during flood up or down, and producing ordered coutour lines. The next challenge is thus to exploit such data in order to estimate continuous topography on the floodplain combining heterogeneous data: a topographic points dataset and a located but unknown and ordered contourline dataset. This article is comparing two methods designed to estimate continuous topography on the floodplain mixing ordinal coutour lines and continuous topographic points. For both methods a first estimation step is to value each contourline with elevation and a second step is next to estimate the continuous field from both topographic points and valued contourlines. The first proposed method is a stochastic method starting from multigaussian random-fields and conditional simualtion. The second is a deterministic method based on radial spline fonction for thin layers used for approximated bivariate surface construction. Results are first shown and discussed from a set of synoptic case studies presenting various topographic points density and topographic smoothness. Next, results are shown and discuss on an actual case study in the Montagua laguna, located in the north of Valparaiso, Chile.

Estimating continuous floodplain and major river bed topography mixing ordinal coutour lines and topographic points

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown, T. G.; Lespez, L.; Sear, D. A.; Houben, P.; Klimek, K.

2016-12-01

Floodplain and major river bed topography govern many river biophysical processes during floods. Despite the grow of direct topographic measurements from LiDARS on riverine systems, it still room to develop methods for large (e.g. deltas) or very local (e.g. ponds) riverine systems that take advantage of information coming from simple SAR or optical image processing on floodplain, resulting from waterbodies delineation during flood up or down, and producing ordered coutour lines. The next challenge is thus to exploit such data in order to estimate continuous topography on the floodplain combining heterogeneous data: a topographic points dataset and a located but unknown and ordered contourline dataset. This article is comparing two methods designed to estimate continuous topography on the floodplain mixing ordinal coutour lines and continuous topographic points. For both methods a first estimation step is to value each contourline with elevation and a second step is next to estimate the continuous field from both topographic points and valued contourlines. The first proposed method is a stochastic method starting from multigaussian random-fields and conditional simualtion. The second is a deterministic method based on radial spline fonction for thin layers used for approximated bivariate surface construction. Results are first shown and discussed from a set of synoptic case studies presenting various topographic points density and topographic smoothness. Next, results are shown and discuss on an actual case study in the Montagua laguna, located in the north of Valparaiso, Chile.

Energetic Particle Transport across the Mean Magnetic Field: Before Diffusion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laitinen, T.; Dalla, S.

2017-01-01

Current particle transport models describe the propagation of charged particles across the mean field direction in turbulent plasmas as diffusion. However, recent studies suggest that at short timescales, such as soon after solar energetic particle (SEP) injection, particles remain on turbulently meandering field lines, which results in nondiffusive initial propagation across the mean magnetic field. In this work, we use a new technique to investigate how the particles are displaced from their original field lines, and we quantify the parameters of the transition from field-aligned particle propagation along meandering field lines to particle diffusion across the mean magnetic field. We show that the initial decoupling of the particles from the field lines is slow, and particles remain within a Larmor radius from their initial meandering field lines for tens to hundreds of Larmor periods, for 0.1-10 MeV protons in turbulence conditions typical of the solar wind at 1 au. Subsequently, particles decouple from their initial field lines and after hundreds to thousands of Larmor periods reach time-asymptotic diffusive behavior consistent with particle diffusion across the mean field caused by the meandering of the field lines. We show that the typical duration of the prediffusive phase, hours to tens of hours for 10 MeV protons in 1 au solar wind turbulence conditions, is significant for SEP propagation to 1 au and must be taken into account when modeling SEP propagation in the interplanetary space.

Observations of a Small Interplanetary Magnetic Flux Rope Opening by Interchange Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, J. M.; Feng, H. Q.; Zhao, G. Q.

2018-01-01

Interchange reconnection, specifically magnetic reconnection between open magnetic fields and closed magnetic flux ropes, plays a major role in the heliospheric magnetic flux budget. It is generally accepted that closed magnetic field lines of interplanetary magnetic flux ropes (IMFRs) can gradually open through reconnection between one of its legs and other open field lines until no closed field lines are left to contribute flux to the heliosphere. In this paper, we report an IMFR associated with a magnetic reconnection exhaust, whereby its closed field lines were opening by a magnetic reconnection event near 1 au. The reconnection exhaust and the following IMFR were observed on 2002 February 2 by both the Wind and ACE spacecraft. Observations on counterstreaming suprathermal electrons revealed that most magnetic field lines of the IMFR were closed, especially those after the front boundary of the IMFR, with both ends connected to the Sun. The unidirectional suprathermal electron strahls before the exhaust manifested the magnetic field lines observed before the exhaust was open. These observations provide direct evidence that closed field lines of IMFRs can be opened by interchange reconnection in interplanetary space. This is the first report of the closed field lines of IMFRs being opened by interchange reconnection in interplanetary space. This type of interplanetary interchange reconnection may pose important implications for balancing the heliospheric flux budget.

Structure and temperature effects on Nd3+ spectra in polycrystalline mixed scandium aluminum garnets Y3ScxAl5-xO12

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lupei, A.; Lupei, V.; Hau, S.; Gheorghe, C.; Voicu, F.

2015-09-01

New spectroscopic data obtained from high resolution low temperature absorption and emission spectra of Nd3+ in mixed scandium aluminum garnets Y3ScxAl5-xO12 - (x = 0-2) translucent ceramics revealed transition dependent composition effects: modification of the shapes (Lorentz at x = 0 and 2, quasi-Gauss at x = 1, x-dependent asymmetric for other x values, with obvious multicenter structure for low x), widths and shifts of the lines. Nd3+ electronic structure dependence on structural changes with composition is analyzed in terms of nephelauxetic effect and maximum splitting of manifolds: Sc3+ co-doping reduces the nephelauxetic effect, and the increase of 4F3/2 splitting from 85 cm-1 (x = 0) to 98 cm-1 (x = 2) denotes the lowering of local symmetry. The multicenter structure and inhomogeneous broadening of Nd3+ lines is attributed to crystal field distributions determined by the random occupancy of the octahedral sites by Sc3+ and Al3+. For low x (0.2) the resolved two satellites S1, S2 that accompany Nd:YAG lines are correlated to anisotropic crystal field perturbations produced by the n.n. Sc3+ by analogy to those determined by Y3+-antisites (excess of Y3+ ions that enter in octahedral sites of the melt-grown YAG crystals). The temperature evolution of the Nd3+ spectral characteristics (line intensity, shift, broadening) in the 10-300 K range is analyzed in terms of thermal population of the Stark levels, of the effect on electron-phonon interaction and on lattice expansion. The relevance of the spectroscopic properties on the laser emission characteristics in these systems is discussed.

Selecting black-spot resistant papaya genotypes derived from backcrossing and hybrids.

PubMed

Poltronieri, T P S; Silveira, S F; Vivas, M; Santa Catarina, R; Cortes, D F M; Azevedo, A O N; Pereira, M G

2017-02-23

Papaya crop is important to Brazilian agribusiness. However, the expansion of papaya cultivation in the country is affected by the absence of commercial cultivars presenting good disease resistance. The black-spot caused by the fungus Asperisporium caricae is the most damaging foliar disease affecting Brazilian papaya crops. The use of genetically resistant cultivars is a promising strategy to reduce the dependence of papaya crops on fungicides. A field split-plot experiment was carried out in the municipality of Linhares, Espírito Santo State, and included 20 hybrids derived from the cross between 14 superior lines and four elite genotypes ('SS72/12', 'SEKATI', 'JS/12' and '41/7'), two commercial cultivars ('Golden' and 'Tainung 01'), and the superior line '36/7', which were evaluated for resistance to black-spot in the fruits and leaves. The treatments were arranged in a randomized block design with six repetitions of three plants per plot. The incidence and severity of black spot in the fruits and leaves were evaluated at three different times in the 2015-2016 crop season. Lines 4, 9, 21, and the parent SEKATI were notable for their capacity to reduce disease severity in the leaves and fruits. Lines 1, 2, 9, 16, and 19, and the parents 'SEKATI' and 'SS-72/12' had reduced disease incidence in their fruits. The most resistant hybrids 'SS-72/12 X 4', 'SS-72/12 X 6', 'SEKATI X 1', 'SEKATI X 2', 'SEKATI X 6', 'SEKATI X 9', and 'SEKATI X 20' presented negative heterosis values for improved black-spot resistance. The current study allowed the selection of black-spot resistant genotypes and hybrids, which presented a significantly reduced disease index in the field.

Narrow line width dual wavelength semiconductor optical amplifier based random fiber laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shawki, Heba A.; Kotb, Hussein E.; Khalil, Diaa

2018-02-01

A novel narrow line-width Single longitudinal mode (SLM) dual wavelength random fiber laser of 20 nm separation between wavelengths of 1530 and 1550 nm is presented. The laser is based on Rayleigh backscattering in a standard single mode fiber of 2 Km length as distributed mirrors, and a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) as the optical amplification medium. Two optical bandpass filters are used for the two wavelengths selectivity, and two Faraday Rotator mirrors are used to stabilize the two lasing wavelengths against fiber random birefringence. The optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) was measured to be 38 dB. The line-width of the laser was measured to be 13.3 and 14 KHz at 1530 and 1550 nm respectively, at SOA pump current of 370 mA.

CCMC Modeling of Magnetic Reconnection in Electron Diffusion Region Events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marshall, A.; Reiff, P. H.; Daou, A.; Webster, J.; Sazykin, S. Y.; Kuznetsova, M.; Grocer, A.; Rastaetter, L.; Welling, D. T.; DeZeeuw, D.; Russell, C. T.

2017-12-01

We use the unprecedented spatial and temporal cadence of the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission to study four electron diffusion events, and infer important physical properties of their respective magnetic reconnection processes. We couple these observations with numerical simulations using tools such as SWMF with RCM, and RECON-X, from the Coordinated Community Modeling Center, to provide, for a first time, a coherent temporal description of the magnetic reconnection process through tracing the coupling of IMF and closed Earth magnetic field lines, leading to the corresponding polar cap open field lines. We note that the reconnection geometry is far from slab-like: the IMF field lines drape over the magnetopause, lending to a stretching of the field lines. The stretched field lines become parallel to, and merge with the dayside separator. Surprisingly, the inner closed field lines also distort to become parallel to the separator. This parallel geometry allows a very sharp boundary between open and closed field lines. In three of the events, the MMS location was near the predicted separator location; in the fourth it was near the outflow region.

Field line twist and field-aligned currents in an axially symmetric equilibrium magnetosphere. [of Uranus

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Voigt, Gerd-Hannes

1986-01-01

Field-aligned Birkeland currents and the angle of the magnetic line twist were calculated for an axially symmetric pole-on magnetosphere (assumed to be in MHD equilibrium). The angle of the field line twist was shown to have a strong radial dependence on the axisymmetric magnetotail as well as on the ionospheric conductivity and the amount of thermal plasma contained in closed magnetotail flux tubes. The field line twist results from the planetary rotation, which leads to the development of a toroidal magnetic B-sub-phi component and to differentially rotating magnetic field lines. It was shown that the time development of the toroidal magnetic B-sub-phi component and the rotation frequency are related through an induction equation.

Multipactor threshold calculation of coaxial transmission lines in microwave applications with nonstationary statistical theory

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

Lin, S.; Li, Y.; Liu, C.

2015-08-15

This paper presents a statistical theory for the initial onset of multipactor breakdown in coaxial transmission lines, taking both the nonuniform electric field and random electron emission velocity into account. A general numerical method is first developed to construct the joint probability density function based on the approximate equation of the electron trajectory. The nonstationary dynamics of the multipactor process on both surfaces of coaxial lines are modelled based on the probability of various impacts and their corresponding secondary emission. The resonant assumption of the classical theory on the independent double-sided and single-sided impacts is replaced by the consideration ofmore » their interaction. As a result, the time evolutions of the electron population for exponential growth and absorption on both inner and outer conductor, in response to the applied voltage above and below the multipactor breakdown level, are obtained to investigate the exact mechanism of multipactor discharge in coaxial lines. Furthermore, the multipactor threshold predictions of the presented model are compared with experimental results using measured secondary emission yield of the tested samples which shows reasonable agreement. Finally, the detailed impact scenario reveals that single-surface multipactor is more likely to occur with a higher outer to inner conductor radius ratio.« less

Efficient mapping of transgene integration sites and local structural changes in Cre transgenic mice using targeted locus amplification

PubMed Central

Cain-Hom, Carol; Splinter, Erik; van Min, Max; Simonis, Marieke; van de Heijning, Monique; Martinez, Maria; Asghari, Vida

2017-01-01

Abstract Cre/LoxP technology is widely used in the field of mouse genetics for spatial and/or temporal regulation of gene function. For Cre lines generated via pronuclear microinjection of a Cre transgene construct, the integration site is random and in most cases not known. Integration of a transgene can disrupt an endogenous gene, potentially interfering with interpretation of the phenotype. In addition, knowledge of where the transgene is integrated is important for planning of crosses between animals carrying a conditional allele and a given Cre allele in case the alleles are on the same chromosome. We have used targeted locus amplification (TLA) to efficiently map the transgene location in seven previously published Cre and CreERT2 transgenic lines. In all lines, transgene insertion was associated with structural changes of variable complexity, illustrating the importance of testing for rearrangements around the integration site. In all seven lines the exact integration site and breakpoint sequences were identified. Our methods, data and genotyping assays can be used as a resource for the mouse community and our results illustrate the power of the TLA method to not only efficiently map the integration site of any transgene, but also provide additional information regarding the transgene integration events. PMID:28053125

Difference method to search for the anisotropy of primary cosmic radiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pavlyuchenko, V. P.; Martirosov, R. M.; Nikolskaya, N. M.; Erlykin, A. D.

2018-01-01

The original difference method used in the search for an anisotropy of primary cosmic radiation at the knee region of its energy spectrum is considered. Its methodical features and properties are analyzed. It is shown that this method, in which properties of particle fluxes (rather than an intensity) are investigated, is stable against random experimental errors and allows one to separate anomalies connected with the laboratory coordinate system from anomalies in the celestial coordinate system. The method uses the multiple scattering of charged particles in the magnetic fields of the Galaxy to study the whole celestial sphere, including the regions outside the line of sight of the installation.

14 CFR 142.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... instruction in accordance with subpart C of this part. Line-Operational Simulation means simulation conducted..., and ground operations. Line operational simulation simulations are conducted for training and evaluation purposes and include random, abnormal, and emergency occurrences. Line operational simulation...

14 CFR 142.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... instruction in accordance with subpart C of this part. Line-Operational Simulation means simulation conducted..., and ground operations. Line operational simulation simulations are conducted for training and evaluation purposes and include random, abnormal, and emergency occurrences. Line operational simulation...

14 CFR 142.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... instruction in accordance with subpart C of this part. Line-Operational Simulation means simulation conducted..., and ground operations. Line operational simulation simulations are conducted for training and evaluation purposes and include random, abnormal, and emergency occurrences. Line operational simulation...

Concentration dependence of the wings of a dipole-broadened magnetic resonance line in magnetically diluted lattices

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

Zobov, V. E., E-mail: rsa@iph.krasn.ru; Kucherov, M. M.

2017-01-15

The singularities of the time autocorrelation functions (ACFs) of magnetically diluted spin systems with dipole–dipole interaction (DDI), which determine the high-frequency asymptotics of autocorrelation functions and the wings of a magnetic resonance line, are studied. Using the self-consistent fluctuating local field approximation, nonlinear equations are derived for autocorrelation functions averaged over the independent random arrangement of spins (magnetic atoms) in a diamagnetic lattice with different spin concentrations. The equations take into account the specificity of the dipole–dipole interaction. First, due to its axial symmetry in a strong static magnetic field, the autocorrelation functions of longitudinal and transverse spin components aremore » described by different equations. Second, the long-range type of the dipole–dipole interaction is taken into account by separating contributions into the local field from distant and near spins. The recurrent equations are obtained for the expansion coefficients of autocorrelation functions in power series in time. From them, the numerical value of the coordinate of the nearest singularity of the autocorrelation function is found on the imaginary time axis, which is equal to the radius of convergence of these expansions. It is shown that in the strong dilution case, the logarithmic concentration dependence of the coordinate of the singularity is observed, which is caused by the presence of a cluster of near spins whose fraction is small but contribution to the modulation frequency is large. As an example a silicon crystal with different {sup 29}Si concentrations in magnetic fields directed along three crystallographic axes is considered.« less

Simulations of Lateral Transport and Dropout Structure of Energetic Particles from Impulsive Solar Flares

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tooprakai, P.; Seripienlert, A.; Ruffolo, D.; Chuychai, P.; Matthaeus, W. H.

2016-11-01

We simulate trajectories of energetic particles from impulsive solar flares for 2D+slab models of magnetic turbulence in spherical geometry to study dropout features, I.e., sharp, repeated changes in the particle density. Among random-phase realizations of two-dimensional (2D) turbulence, a spherical harmonic expansion can generate homogeneous turbulence over a sphere, but a 2D fast Fourier transform (FFT) locally mapped onto the lateral coordinates in the region of interest is much faster computationally, and we show that the results are qualitatively similar. We then use the 2D FFT field as input to a 2D MHD simulation, which dynamically generates realistic features of turbulence such as coherent structures. The magnetic field lines and particles spread non-diffusively (ballistically) to a patchy distribution reaching up to 25° from the injection longitude and latitude at r ˜ 1 au. This dropout pattern in field line trajectories has sharper features in the case of the more realistic 2D MHD model, in better qualitative agreement with observations. The initial dropout pattern in particle trajectories is relatively insensitive to particle energy, though the energy affects the pattern’s evolution with time. We make predictions for future observations of solar particles near the Sun (e.g., at 0.25 au), for which we expect a sharp pulse of outgoing particles along the dropout pattern, followed by backscattering that first remains close to the dropout pattern and later exhibits cross-field transport to a distribution that is more diffusive, yet mostly contained within the dropout pattern found at greater distances.

Kernel-Correlated Levy Field Driven Forward Rate and Application to Derivative Pricing

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

Bo Lijun; Wang Yongjin; Yang Xuewei, E-mail: xwyangnk@yahoo.com.cn

2013-08-01

We propose a term structure of forward rates driven by a kernel-correlated Levy random field under the HJM framework. The kernel-correlated Levy random field is composed of a kernel-correlated Gaussian random field and a centered Poisson random measure. We shall give a criterion to preclude arbitrage under the risk-neutral pricing measure. As applications, an interest rate derivative with general payoff functional is priced under this pricing measure.

Multi-parameter fiber optic sensors based on fiber random grating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Yanping; Zhang, Mingjiang; Lu, Ping; Mihailov, Stephen; Bao, Xiaoyi

2017-04-01

Two novel configurations of multi-parameter fiber-optic sensing systems based on the fiber random grating are reported. The fiber random grating is fabricated through femtosecond laser induced refractive index modification over a 10cm standard telecom single mode fiber. In one configuration, the reflective spectrum of the fiber random grating is directly detected and a wavelength-division spectral cross-correlation algorithm is adopted to extract the spectral shifts for simultaneous measurement of temperature, axial strain, and surrounding refractive index. In the other configuration, a random fiber ring laser is constructed by incorporating the random feedback from the random grating. Numerous polarization-dependent spectral filters are formed along the random grating and superimposed to provide multiple lasing lines with high signal-to-noise ratio up to 40dB, which enables a high-fidelity multi-parameter sensing scheme by monitoring the spectral shifts of the lasing lines. Without the need of phase mask for fabrication and with the high physical strength, the random grating based sensors are much simpler and more compact, which could be potentially an excellent alternative for liquid medical sample sensing in biomedical and biochemical applications.

Is the Non-Dipole Magnetic Field Random?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walker, Andrew D.; Backus, George E.

1996-01-01

Statistical modelling of the Earth's magnetic field B has a long history. In particular, the spherical harmonic coefficients of scalar fields derived from B can be treated as Gaussian random variables. In this paper, we give examples of highly organized fields whose spherical harmonic coefficients pass tests for independent Gaussian random variables. The fact that coefficients at some depth may be usefully summarized as independent samples from a normal distribution need not imply that there really is some physical, random process at that depth. In fact, the field can be extremely structured and still be regarded for some purposes as random. In this paper, we examined the radial magnetic field B(sub r) produced by the core, but the results apply to any scalar field on the core-mantle boundary (CMB) which determines B outside the CMB.

Comparing Learning Style to Performance in On-Line Teaching: Impact of Proctored v. Un-Proctored Testing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wellman, Gregory S.

2005-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact that proctored versus un-proctored testing would have on learning for an on-line content module; and examine the relationship between LASSI variables and learning. A randomized, pre-test/post-test control group design was employed. College students in a pharmacy curriculum, were randomized to two…

Solar monochromatic images in magneto-sensitive spectral lines and maps of vector magnetic fields

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shihui, Y.; Jiehai, J.; Minhan, J.

1985-01-01

A new method which allows by use of the monochromatic images in some magneto-sensitive spectra line to derive both the magnetic field strength as well as the angle between magnetic field lines and line of sight for various places in solar active regions is described. In this way two dimensional maps of vector magnetic fields may be constructed. This method was applied to some observational material and reasonable results were obtained. In addition, a project for constructing the three dimensional maps of vector magnetic fields was worked out.

49 CFR 192.715 - Transmission lines: Permanent field repair of welds.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Transmission lines: Permanent field repair of... § 192.715 Transmission lines: Permanent field repair of welds. Each weld that is unacceptable under § 192.241(c) must be repaired as follows: (a) If it is feasible to take the segment of transmission line...

49 CFR 192.715 - Transmission lines: Permanent field repair of welds.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Transmission lines: Permanent field repair of... § 192.715 Transmission lines: Permanent field repair of welds. Each weld that is unacceptable under § 192.241(c) must be repaired as follows: (a) If it is feasible to take the segment of transmission line...

49 CFR 192.715 - Transmission lines: Permanent field repair of welds.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Transmission lines: Permanent field repair of... § 192.715 Transmission lines: Permanent field repair of welds. Each weld that is unacceptable under § 192.241(c) must be repaired as follows: (a) If it is feasible to take the segment of transmission line...

49 CFR 192.715 - Transmission lines: Permanent field repair of welds.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Transmission lines: Permanent field repair of... § 192.715 Transmission lines: Permanent field repair of welds. Each weld that is unacceptable under § 192.241(c) must be repaired as follows: (a) If it is feasible to take the segment of transmission line...

49 CFR 192.715 - Transmission lines: Permanent field repair of welds.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Transmission lines: Permanent field repair of... § 192.715 Transmission lines: Permanent field repair of welds. Each weld that is unacceptable under § 192.241(c) must be repaired as follows: (a) If it is feasible to take the segment of transmission line...

Studies of the field-of-view resolution tradeoff in virtual-reality systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Piantanida, Thomas P.; Boman, Duane; Larimer, James; Gille, Jennifer; Reed, Charles

1992-01-01

Most virtual-reality systems use LCD-based displays that achieve a large field-of-view at the expense of resolution. A typical display will consist of approximately 86,000 pixels uniformly distributed over an 80-degree by 60-degree image. Thus, each pixel subtends about 13 minutes of arc at the retina; about the same as the resolvable features of the 20/200 line of a Snellen Eye Chart. The low resolution of LCD-based systems limits task performance in some applications. We have examined target-detection performance in a low-resolution virtual world. Our synthesized three-dimensional virtual worlds consisted of target objects that could be positioned at a fixed distance from the viewer, but at random azimuth and constrained elevation. A virtual world could be bounded by chromatic walls or by wire-frame, or it could be unbounded. Viewers scanned these worlds and indicated by appropriate gestures when they had detected the target object. By manipulating the viewer's field size and the chromatic and luminance contrast of annuli surrounding the field-of-view, we were able to assess the effect of field size on the detection of virtual objects in low-resolution synthetic worlds.

Statistical simulations of the dust foreground to cosmic microwave background polarization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vansyngel, F.; Boulanger, F.; Ghosh, T.; Wandelt, B.; Aumont, J.; Bracco, A.; Levrier, F.; Martin, P. G.; Montier, L.

2017-07-01

The characterization of the dust polarization foreground to the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is a necessary step toward the detection of the B-mode signal associated with primordial gravitational waves. We present a method to simulate maps of polarized dust emission on the sphere that is similar to the approach used for CMB anisotropies. This method builds on the understanding of Galactic polarization stemming from the analysis of Planck data. It relates the dust polarization sky to the structure of the Galactic magnetic field and its coupling with interstellar matter and turbulence. The Galactic magnetic field is modeled as a superposition of a mean uniform field and a Gaussian random (turbulent) component with a power-law power spectrum of exponent αM. The integration along the line of sight carried out to compute Stokes maps is approximated by a sum over a small number of emitting layers with different realizations of the random component of the magnetic field. The model parameters are constrained to fit the power spectra of dust polarization EE, BB, and TE measured using Planck data. We find that the slopes of the E and B power spectra of dust polarization are matched for αM = -2.5, an exponent close to that measured for total dust intensity but larger than the Kolmogorov exponent - 11/3. The model allows us to compute multiple realizations of the Stokes Q and U maps for different realizations of the random component of the magnetic field, and to quantify the variance of dust polarization spectra for any given sky area outside of the Galactic plane. The simulations reproduce the scaling relation between the dust polarization power and the mean total dust intensity including the observed dispersion around the mean relation. We also propose a method to carry out multifrequency simulations, including the decorrelation measured recently by Planck, using a given covariance matrix of the polarization maps. These simulations are well suited to optimize component separation methods and to quantify the confidence with which the dust and CMB B-modes can be separated in present and future experiments. We also provide an astrophysical perspective on our phenomenological modeling of the dust polarization spectra.

Negative ion formation and evolution in atmospheric pressure corona discharges between point-to-plane electrodes with arbitrary needle angle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sekimoto, K.; Takayama, M.

2010-12-01

The change in the distribution pattern of negative ions HO-, NOx- and COx- observed on arbitrary point-to-plane electrode configuration has been investigated by varying the angle of needle to the plane electrode, under atmospheric pressure corona discharge conditions. The stationary inhomogeneous electric field distributions between the point-to-plane electrodes with arbitrary needle angle were calculated. The experimental and theoretical results obtained suggested that the negative ion evolutions progress along field lines established between the electrodes with arbitrary configurations and the resulting terminal ion formation on a given field line is attributable to the electric field strength on the needle tip surface where the field line arose. The NOx- and COx- ions were dominantly produced on the field lines arising from the needle tip apex region with the highest electric field strength, while the field lines emanating from the tip peripheral regions with lower field strength resulted in the formation of the HO- ion.

Hints of correlation between broad-line and radio variations for 3C 120

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

Liu, H. T.; Bai, J. M.; Li, S. K.

2014-01-01

In this paper, we investigate the correlation between broad-line and radio variations for the broad-line radio galaxy 3C 120. By the z-transformed discrete correlation function method and the model-independent flux randomization/random subset selection (FR/RSS) Monte Carlo method, we find that broad Hβ line variations lead the 15 GHz variations. The FR/RSS method shows that the Hβ line variations lead the radio variations by a factor of τ{sub ob} = 0.34 ± 0.01 yr. This time lag can be used to locate the position of the emitting region of radio outbursts in the jet, on the order of ∼5 lt-yr frommore » the central engine. This distance is much larger than the size of the broad-line region. The large separation of the radio outburst emitting region from the broad-line region will observably influence the gamma-ray emission in 3C 120.« less

Structure of chaotic magnetic field lines in IR-T1 tokamak due to ergodic magnetic limiter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmadi, S.; Salar Elahi, A.; Ghorannevis, M.

2018-03-01

In this paper we have studied an Ergodic Magnetic Limiter (EML) based chaotic magnetic field for transport control in the edge plasma of IR-T1 tokamak. The resonance created by the EML causes perturbation of the equilibrium field line in tokamak and as a result, the field lines are chaotic in the vicinity of the dimerized island chains. Transport barriers are formed in the chaotic field line and actually observe in tokamak with reverse magnetic shear. We used area-preserving non-twist (and twist) Poincaré maps to describe the formation of transport barriers, which are actually features of Hamiltonian systems. This transport barrier is useful in reducing radial diffusion of the field line and thus improving the plasma confinement.

Random Fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vanmarcke, Erik

1983-03-01

Random variation over space and time is one of the few attributes that might safely be predicted as characterizing almost any given complex system. Random fields or "distributed disorder systems" confront astronomers, physicists, geologists, meteorologists, biologists, and other natural scientists. They appear in the artifacts developed by electrical, mechanical, civil, and other engineers. They even underlie the processes of social and economic change. The purpose of this book is to bring together existing and new methodologies of random field theory and indicate how they can be applied to these diverse areas where a "deterministic treatment is inefficient and conventional statistics insufficient." Many new results and methods are included. After outlining the extent and characteristics of the random field approach, the book reviews the classical theory of multidimensional random processes and introduces basic probability concepts and methods in the random field context. It next gives a concise amount of the second-order analysis of homogeneous random fields, in both the space-time domain and the wave number-frequency domain. This is followed by a chapter on spectral moments and related measures of disorder and on level excursions and extremes of Gaussian and related random fields. After developing a new framework of analysis based on local averages of one-, two-, and n-dimensional processes, the book concludes with a chapter discussing ramifications in the important areas of estimation, prediction, and control. The mathematical prerequisite has been held to basic college-level calculus.

A perfect correlate does not a surrogate make

PubMed Central

Baker, Stuart G; Kramer, Barnett S

2003-01-01

Background There is common belief among some medical researchers that if a potential surrogate endpoint is highly correlated with a true endpoint, then a positive (or negative) difference in potential surrogate endpoints between randomization groups would imply a positive (or negative) difference in unobserved true endpoints between randomization groups. We investigate this belief when the potential surrogate and unobserved true endpoints are perfectly correlated within each randomization group. Methods We use a graphical approach. The vertical axis is the unobserved true endpoint and the horizontal axis is the potential surrogate endpoint. Perfect correlation within each randomization group implies that, for each randomization group, potential surrogate and true endpoints are related by a straight line. In this scenario the investigator does not know the slopes or intercepts. We consider a plausible example where the slope of the line is higher for the experimental group than for the control group. Results In our example with unknown lines, a decrease in mean potential surrogate endpoints from control to experimental groups corresponds to an increase in mean true endpoint from control to experimental groups. Thus the potential surrogate endpoints give the wrong inference. Similar results hold for binary potential surrogate and true outcomes (although the notion of correlation does not apply). The potential surrogate endpointwould give the correct inference if either (i) the unknown lines for the two group coincided, which means that the distribution of true endpoint conditional on potential surrogate endpoint does not depend on treatment group, which is called the Prentice Criterion or (ii) if one could accurately predict the lines based on data from prior studies. Conclusion Perfect correlation between potential surrogate and unobserved true outcomes within randomized groups does not guarantee correct inference based on a potential surrogate endpoint. Even in early phase trials, investigators should not base conclusions on potential surrogate endpoints in which the only validation is high correlation with the true endpoint within a group. PMID:12962545

Genomic-Enabled Prediction Kernel Models with Random Intercepts for Multi-environment Trials.

PubMed

Cuevas, Jaime; Granato, Italo; Fritsche-Neto, Roberto; Montesinos-Lopez, Osval A; Burgueño, Juan; Bandeira E Sousa, Massaine; Crossa, José

2018-03-28

In this study, we compared the prediction accuracy of the main genotypic effect model (MM) without G×E interactions, the multi-environment single variance G×E deviation model (MDs), and the multi-environment environment-specific variance G×E deviation model (MDe) where the random genetic effects of the lines are modeled with the markers (or pedigree). With the objective of further modeling the genetic residual of the lines, we incorporated the random intercepts of the lines ([Formula: see text]) and generated another three models. Each of these 6 models were fitted with a linear kernel method (Genomic Best Linear Unbiased Predictor, GB) and a Gaussian Kernel (GK) method. We compared these 12 model-method combinations with another two multi-environment G×E interactions models with unstructured variance-covariances (MUC) using GB and GK kernels (4 model-method). Thus, we compared the genomic-enabled prediction accuracy of a total of 16 model-method combinations on two maize data sets with positive phenotypic correlations among environments, and on two wheat data sets with complex G×E that includes some negative and close to zero phenotypic correlations among environments. The two models (MDs and MDE with the random intercept of the lines and the GK method) were computationally efficient and gave high prediction accuracy in the two maize data sets. Regarding the more complex G×E wheat data sets, the prediction accuracy of the model-method combination with G×E, MDs and MDe, including the random intercepts of the lines with GK method had important savings in computing time as compared with the G×E interaction multi-environment models with unstructured variance-covariances but with lower genomic prediction accuracy. Copyright © 2018 Cuevas et al.

Genomic-Enabled Prediction Kernel Models with Random Intercepts for Multi-environment Trials

PubMed Central

Cuevas, Jaime; Granato, Italo; Fritsche-Neto, Roberto; Montesinos-Lopez, Osval A.; Burgueño, Juan; Bandeira e Sousa, Massaine; Crossa, José

2018-01-01

In this study, we compared the prediction accuracy of the main genotypic effect model (MM) without G×E interactions, the multi-environment single variance G×E deviation model (MDs), and the multi-environment environment-specific variance G×E deviation model (MDe) where the random genetic effects of the lines are modeled with the markers (or pedigree). With the objective of further modeling the genetic residual of the lines, we incorporated the random intercepts of the lines (l) and generated another three models. Each of these 6 models were fitted with a linear kernel method (Genomic Best Linear Unbiased Predictor, GB) and a Gaussian Kernel (GK) method. We compared these 12 model-method combinations with another two multi-environment G×E interactions models with unstructured variance-covariances (MUC) using GB and GK kernels (4 model-method). Thus, we compared the genomic-enabled prediction accuracy of a total of 16 model-method combinations on two maize data sets with positive phenotypic correlations among environments, and on two wheat data sets with complex G×E that includes some negative and close to zero phenotypic correlations among environments. The two models (MDs and MDE with the random intercept of the lines and the GK method) were computationally efficient and gave high prediction accuracy in the two maize data sets. Regarding the more complex G×E wheat data sets, the prediction accuracy of the model-method combination with G×E, MDs and MDe, including the random intercepts of the lines with GK method had important savings in computing time as compared with the G×E interaction multi-environment models with unstructured variance-covariances but with lower genomic prediction accuracy. PMID:29476023

Effects of low and high mode number tearing modes in divertor tokamaks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Punjabi, Alkesh; Ali, Halima; Boozer, Allen; Evans, Todd

2007-08-01

The topological effects of magnetic perturbations on a divertor tokamak, such as DIII-D, are studied using field-line maps that were developed by Punjabi et al. [A. Punjabi, A. Verma, and A. Boozer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 69, 3322 (1992)]. The studies consider both long-wavelength perturbations, such as those of m =1, n =1 tearing modes, and localized perturbations, which are represented as a magnetic dipole. The parameters of the dipole map are set using DIII-D data from shot 115467 in which the C-coils were activated [J. L. Luxon and L. E. Davis, Fusion Technol. 8, 441 (1985)]. The long-wavelength perturbations alter the structure of the interception of magnetic field lines with the divertor plates, but the interception is in sharp lines. The dipole perturbations cause a spreading of the interception of the field lines with the divertor plates, which alleviates problems associated with heat deposition. Magnetic field lines are the trajectories of a one-and-a-half degree of freedom Hamiltonian, which strongly constrains the topological features of the lines. Although the field line maps that we use do not accurately represent the trajectories through ordinary space of individual field lines, they do represent their topological structure.

Banded whistlers observed on OGO-4

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paymar, E. M.

1972-01-01

Inspection of broadband VLF records from OGO-4 shows that some whistlers exhibit a banded structure in which one or more bands of frequencies are missing from the whistler's spectrum. The phenomenon is commonly observed by satellites on midlatitude field lines at all local times and at various longitudes around the world. The dispersion of banded whistlers (BW) is of several tens of sec to the 1/2 power, indicating that they originated in the opposite hemisphere and are propagating downward at the satellite. BW are generally spread in time (tenths of seconds) rather than sharply defined and tend to occur at random. The frequency spacing of the bands may be either uniform or irregular, and may vary radically between successive events. Several possible explanations for BW are considered. In particular, an analysis of the interaction of plane electromagnetic waves traveling in an anisotropic plasma with a field aligned slab of enhanced ionization is presented with promising results.

Directed self-assembly into low-density colloidal liquid crystal phases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Yongxiang; Romano, Flavio; Dullens, Roel P. A.; Doye, Jonathan K.; Aarts, Dirk G. A. L.

2018-01-01

Alignment of anisometric particles into liquid crystals (LCs) often results from an entropic competition between their rotational and translational degrees of freedom at dense packings. Here we show that by selectively functionalizing the heads of colloidal rods with magnetic nanoparticles this tendency can be broken to direct the particles into novel, low-density LC phases. Under an external magnetic field, the magnetic heads line up in columns whereas the nonmagnetic tails point out randomly in a plane perpendicular to the columns, forming bottle-brush-like objects; laterally, the bottle brushes are entropically stabilized against coalescence. Experiments and simulations show that upon increasing the particle density the system goes from a dilute gas to a dense two-dimensional liquid of bottle brushes with a density well below the zero-field nematic phase. Our findings offer a strategy for self-assembly into three-dimensional open phases that may find applications in switchable photonics, filtration, and light-weight materials.

Data and results of a laboratory investigation of microprocessor upset caused by simulated lightning-induced analog transients

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Belcastro, C. M.

1984-01-01

Advanced composite aircraft designs include fault-tolerant computer-based digital control systems with thigh reliability requirements for adverse as well as optimum operating environments. Since aircraft penetrate intense electromagnetic fields during thunderstorms, onboard computer systems maya be subjected to field-induced transient voltages and currents resulting in functional error modes which are collectively referred to as digital system upset. A methodology was developed for assessing the upset susceptibility of a computer system onboard an aircraft flying through a lightning environment. Upset error modes in a general-purpose microprocessor were studied via tests which involved the random input of analog transients which model lightning-induced signals onto interface lines of an 8080-based microcomputer from which upset error data were recorded. The application of Markov modeling to upset susceptibility estimation is discussed and a stochastic model development.

Quantum Hall Effect near the Charge Neutrality Point in a Two-Dimensional Electron-Hole System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gusev, G. M.; Olshanetsky, E. B.; Kvon, Z. D.; Mikhailov, N. N.; Dvoretsky, S. A.; Portal, J. C.

2010-04-01

We study the transport properties of HgTe-based quantum wells containing simultaneously electrons and holes in a magnetic field B. At the charge neutrality point (CNP) with nearly equal electron and hole densities, the resistance is found to increase very strongly with B while the Hall resistivity turns to zero. This behavior results in a wide plateau in the Hall conductivity σxy≈0 and in a minimum of diagonal conductivity σxx at ν=νp-νn=0, where νn and νp are the electron and hole Landau level filling factors. We suggest that the transport at the CNP point is determined by electron-hole “snake states” propagating along the ν=0 lines. Our observations are qualitatively similar to the quantum Hall effect in graphene as well as to the transport in a random magnetic field with a zero mean value.

Neural field theory of perceptual echo and implications for estimating brain connectivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robinson, P. A.; Pagès, J. C.; Gabay, N. C.; Babaie, T.; Mukta, K. N.

2018-04-01

Neural field theory is used to predict and analyze the phenomenon of perceptual echo in which random input stimuli at one location are correlated with electroencephalographic responses at other locations. It is shown that this echo correlation (EC) yields an estimate of the transfer function from the stimulated point to other locations. Modal analysis then explains the observed spatiotemporal structure of visually driven EC and the dominance of the alpha frequency; two eigenmodes of similar amplitude dominate the response, leading to temporal beating and a line of low correlation that runs from the crown of the head toward the ears. These effects result from mode splitting and symmetry breaking caused by interhemispheric coupling and cortical folding. It is shown how eigenmodes obtained from functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments can be combined with temporal dynamics from EC or other evoked responses to estimate the spatiotemporal transfer function between any two points and hence their effective connectivity.

Comparison and statistical analysis of four write stability metrics in bulk CMOS static random access memory cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qiu, Hao; Mizutani, Tomoko; Saraya, Takuya; Hiramoto, Toshiro

2015-04-01

The commonly used four metrics for write stability were measured and compared based on the same set of 2048 (2k) six-transistor (6T) static random access memory (SRAM) cells by the 65 nm bulk technology. The preferred one should be effective for yield estimation and help predict edge of stability. Results have demonstrated that all metrics share the same worst SRAM cell. On the other hand, compared to butterfly curve with non-normality and write N-curve where no cell state flip happens, bit-line and word-line margins have good normality as well as almost perfect correlation. As a result, both bit line method and word line method prove themselves preferred write stability metrics.

In-line interferometer for broadband near-field scanning optical spectroscopy.

PubMed

Brauer, Jens; Zhan, Jinxin; Chimeh, Abbas; Korte, Anke; Lienau, Christoph; Gross, Petra

2017-06-26

We present and investigate a novel approach towards broad-bandwidth near-field scanning optical spectroscopy based on an in-line interferometer for homodyne mixing of the near field and a reference field. In scattering-type scanning near-field optical spectroscopy, the near-field signal is usually obscured by a large amount of unwanted background scattering from the probe shaft and the sample. Here we increase the light reflected from the sample by a semi-transparent gold layer and use it as a broad-bandwidth, phase-stable reference field to amplify the near-field signal in the visible and near-infrared spectral range. We experimentally demonstrate that this efficiently suppresses the unwanted background signal in monochromatic near-field measurements. For rapid acquisition of complete broad-bandwidth spectra we employ a monochromator and a fast line camera. Using this fast acquisition of spectra and the in-line interferometer we demonstrate the measurement of pure near-field spectra. The experimental observations are quantitatively explained by analytical expressions for the measured optical signals, based on Fourier decomposition of background and near field. The theoretical model and in-line interferometer together form an important step towards broad-bandwidth near-field scanning optical spectroscopy.

Hanle Effect Diagnostics of the Coronal Magnetic Field: A Test Using Realistic Magnetic Field Configurations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raouafi, N.-E.; Solanki, S. K.; Wiegelmann, T.

2009-06-01

Our understanding of coronal phenomena, such as coronal plasma thermodynamics, faces a major handicap caused by missing coronal magnetic field measurements. Several lines in the UV wavelength range present suitable sensitivity to determine the coronal magnetic field via the Hanle effect. The latter is a largely unexplored diagnostic of coronal magnetic fields with a very high potential. Here we study the magnitude of the Hanle-effect signal to be expected outside the solar limb due to the Hanle effect in polarized radiation from the H I Lyα and β lines, which are among the brightest lines in the off-limb coronal FUV spectrum. For this purpose we use a magnetic field structure obtained by extrapolating the magnetic field starting from photospheric magnetograms. The diagnostic potential of these lines for determining the coronal magnetic field, as well as their limitations are studied. We show that these lines, in particular H I Lyβ, are useful for such measurements.

The Tai Chi in Star Formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Hua-bai

2017-10-01

Tai Chi, a Chinese martial art developed based on the laws of nature, emphasises how 'to conquer the unyielding with the yielding'. The recent observation of star formation shows that stars result from the interaction between gravity, turbulence and magnetic fields. This interaction again follows the nature rules that inspired Tai Chi. For example, if self-gravity is the force that dominates, the molecular cloud will collapse isotropically, which compresses magnetic field lines. The density of the yielding field lines increases until magnetic pressure reaches the critical value to support the cloud against the gravitational force in directions perpendicular to the field lines (Lorentz force). Then gravity gives way to Lorentz force, accumulating gas only along the field lines till the gas density achieves the critical value to again compress the field lines. The Tai Chi goes on in a self-similar way.

The Mechanism for the Energy Buildup Driving Solar Eruptive Events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knizhnik, K. J.; Antiochos, S. K.; DeVore, C. R.; Wyper, P. F.

2017-12-01

The underlying origin of solar eruptive events (SEEs), ranging from giant coronal mass ejections to small coronal-hole jets, is that the lowest-lying magnetic flux in the Sun’s corona undergoes continual buildup of stress and free energy. This magnetic stress has long been observed as the phenomenon of “filament channels:” strongly sheared magnetic field localized around photospheric polarity inversion lines. However, the mechanism for the stress buildup—the formation of filament channels—is still debated. We present magnetohydrodynamic simulations of a coronal volume that is driven by transient, cellular boundary flows designed to model the processes by which the photosphere drives the corona. The key feature of our simulations is that they accurately preserve magnetic helicity, the topological quantity that is conserved even in the presence of ubiquitous magnetic reconnection. Although small-scale random stress is injected everywhere at the photosphere, driving stochastic reconnection throughout the corona, the net result of the magnetic evolution is a coherent shearing of the lowest-lying field lines. This highly counterintuitive result—magnetic stress builds up locally rather than spreading out to attain a minimum energy state—explains the formation of filament channels and is the fundamental mechanism underlying SEEs. Furthermore, this process is likely to be relevant to other astrophysical and laboratory plasmas.

Lithium ion dynamics in Li2S+GeS2+GeO2 glasses studied using (7)Li NMR field-cycling relaxometry and line-shape analysis.

PubMed

Gabriel, Jan; Petrov, Oleg V; Kim, Youngsik; Martin, Steve W; Vogel, Michael

2015-09-01

We use (7)Li NMR to study the ionic jump motion in ternary 0.5Li2S+0.5[(1-x)GeS2+xGeO2] glassy lithium ion conductors. Exploring the "mixed glass former effect" in this system led to the assumption of a homogeneous and random variation of diffusion barriers in this system. We exploit that combining traditional line-shape analysis with novel field-cycling relaxometry, it is possible to measure the spectral density of the ionic jump motion in broad frequency and temperature ranges and, thus, to determine the distribution of activation energies. Two models are employed to parameterize the (7)Li NMR data, namely, the multi-exponential autocorrelation function model and the power-law waiting times model. Careful evaluation of both of these models indicates a broadly inhomogeneous energy landscape for both the single (x=0.0) and the mixed (x=0.1) network former glasses. The multi-exponential autocorrelation function model can be well described by a Gaussian distribution of activation barriers. Applicability of the methods used and their sensitivity to microscopic details of ionic motion are discussed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ultrafast random-access scanning in two-photon microscopy using acousto-optic deflectors.

PubMed

Salomé, R; Kremer, Y; Dieudonné, S; Léger, J-F; Krichevsky, O; Wyart, C; Chatenay, D; Bourdieu, L

2006-06-30

Two-photon scanning microscopy (TPSM) is a powerful tool for imaging deep inside living tissues with sub-cellular resolution. The temporal resolution of TPSM is however strongly limited by the galvanometric mirrors used to steer the laser beam. Fast physiological events can therefore only be followed by scanning repeatedly a single line within the field of view. Because acousto-optic deflectors (AODs) are non-mechanical devices, they allow access at any point within the field of view on a microsecond time scale and are therefore excellent candidates to improve the temporal resolution of TPSM. However, the use of AOD-based scanners with femtosecond pulses raises several technical difficulties. In this paper, we describe an all-digital TPSM setup based on two crossed AODs. It includes in particular an acousto-optic modulator (AOM) placed at 45 degrees with respect to the AODs to pre-compensate for the large spatial distortions of femtosecond pulses occurring in the AODs, in order to optimize the spatial resolution and the fluorescence excitation. Our setup allows recording from freely selectable point-of-interest at high speed (1kHz). By maximizing the time spent on points of interest, random-access TPSM (RA-TPSM) constitutes a promising method for multiunit recordings with millisecond resolution in biological tissues.

Diagnostics of Coronal Magnetic Fields Through the Hanle Effect in UV and IR Lines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raouafi, Nour E.; Riley, Pete; Gibson, Sarah; Fineschi, Silvano; Solanki, Sami K.

2016-06-01

The plasma thermodynamics in the solar upper atmosphere, particularly in the corona, are dominated by the magnetic field, which controls the flow and dissipation of energy. The relative lack of knowledge of the coronal vector magnetic field is a major handicap for progress in coronal physics. This makes the development of measurement methods of coronal magnetic fields a high priority in solar physics. The Hanle effect in the UV and IR spectral lines is a largely unexplored diagnostic. We use magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations to study the magnitude of the signal to be expected for typical coronal magnetic fields for selected spectral lines in the UV and IR wavelength ranges, namely the HI Ly-α and the He I 10830 Å lines. We show that the selected lines are useful for reliable diagnosis of coronal magnetic fields. The results show that the combination of polarization measurements of spectral lines with different sensitivities to the Hanle effect may be most appropriate for deducing coronal magnetic properties from future observations.

Impact of a high magnetic field on the orientation of gravitactic unicellular organisms--a critical consideration about the application of magnetic fields to mimic functional weightlessness.

PubMed

Hemmersbach, Ruth; Simon, Anja; Waßer, Kai; Hauslage, Jens; Christianen, Peter C M; Albers, Peter W; Lebert, Michael; Richter, Peter; Alt, Wolfgang; Anken, Ralf

2014-03-01

The gravity-dependent behavior of Paramecium biaurelia and Euglena gracilis have previously been studied on ground and in real microgravity. To validate whether high magnetic field exposure indeed provides a ground-based facility to mimic functional weightlessness, as has been suggested earlier, both cell types were observed during exposure in a strong homogeneous magnetic field (up to 30 T) and a strong magnetic field gradient. While swimming, Paramecium cells were aligned along the magnetic field lines; orientation of Euglena was perpendicular, demonstrating that the magnetic field determines the orientation and thus prevents the organisms from the random swimming known to occur in real microgravity. Exposing Astasia longa, a flagellate that is closely related to Euglena but lacks chloroplasts and the photoreceptor, as well as the chloroplast-free mutant E. gracilis 1F, to a high magnetic field revealed no reorientation to the perpendicular direction as in the case of wild-type E. gracilis, indicating the existence of an anisotropic structure (chloroplasts) that determines the direction of passive orientation. Immobilized Euglena and Paramecium cells could not be levitated even in the highest available magnetic field gradient as sedimentation persisted with little impact of the field on the sedimentation velocities. We conclude that magnetic fields are not suited as a microgravity simulation for gravitactic unicellular organisms due to the strong effect of the magnetic field itself, which masks the effects known from experiments in real microgravity.

Random-field-induced disordering mechanism in a disordered ferromagnet: Between the Imry-Ma and the standard disordering mechanism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andresen, Juan Carlos; Katzgraber, Helmut G.; Schechter, Moshe

2017-12-01

Random fields disorder Ising ferromagnets by aligning single spins in the direction of the random field in three space dimensions, or by flipping large ferromagnetic domains at dimensions two and below. While the former requires random fields of typical magnitude similar to the interaction strength, the latter Imry-Ma mechanism only requires infinitesimal random fields. Recently, it has been shown that for dilute anisotropic dipolar systems a third mechanism exists, where the ferromagnetic phase is disordered by finite-size glassy domains at a random field of finite magnitude that is considerably smaller than the typical interaction strength. Using large-scale Monte Carlo simulations and zero-temperature numerical approaches, we show that this mechanism applies to disordered ferromagnets with competing short-range ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions, suggesting its generality in ferromagnetic systems with competing interactions and an underlying spin-glass phase. A finite-size-scaling analysis of the magnetization distribution suggests that the transition might be first order.

Solar magnetic field studies using the 12 micron emission lines. I - Quiet sun time series and sunspot slices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Deming, Drake; Boyle, Robert J.; Jennings, Donald E.; Wiedemann, Gunter

1988-01-01

The use of the extremely Zeeman-sensitive IR emission line Mg I, at 12.32 microns, to study solar magnetic fields. Time series observations of the line in the quiet sun were obtained in order to determine the response time of the line to the five-minute oscillations. Based upon the velocity amplitude and average period measured in the line, it is concluded that it is formed in the temperature minimum region. The magnetic structure of sunspots is investigated by stepping a small field of view in linear 'slices' through the spots. The region of penumbral line formation does not show the Evershed outflow common in photospheric lines. The line intensity is a factor of two greater in sunspot penumbrae than in the photosphere, and at the limb the penumbral emission begins to depart from optical thinness, the line source function increasing with height. For a spot near disk center, the radial decrease in absolute magnetic field strength is steeper than the generally accepted dependence.

MAJOR ELECTRON EVENTS AND CORONAL MAGNETIC CONFIGURATIONS OF THE RELATED SOLAR ACTIVE REGIONS

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

Li, C.; Owen, C. J.; Matthews, S. A.

A statistical survey of 26 major electron events during the period 2002 February through the end of solar cycle 23 is presented. We have obtained electron solar onset times and the peak flux spectra for each event by fitting to a power-law spectrum truncated by an exponential high-energy tail, i.e., f(E){approx}E{sup -{delta}}e{sup -E/E{sub 0}}. We also derived the coronal magnetic configurations of the related solar active regions (ARs) from the potential-field source-surface model. It is found that (1) 10 of the 11 well-connected open field-line events are prompt events whose solar onset times coincide with the maxima of flare emissionmore » and 13 of the 14 closed field-line events are delayed events. (2) A not-well-connected open field-line event and one of the closed field-line events are prompt events, they are both associated with large-scale coronal disturbances or dimming. (3) An averaged harder spectrum is found in open field-line events compared with the closed ones. Specifically, the averaged spectral index {delta} is of 1.6 {+-} 0.3 in open field-line events and of 2.0 {+-} 0.4 in closed ones. The spectra of three closed field-line events show infinite rollover energies E {sub 0}. These correlations clearly establish a significant link between the coronal magnetic field-line topology and the escape of charged particles from the flaring ARs into interplanetary space during the major solar energetic particle events.« less

Different responses of Drosophila subobscura isofemale lines to extremely low frequency magnetic field (50 Hz, 0.5 mT): fitness components and locomotor activity.

PubMed

Zmejkoski, Danica; Petković, Branka; Pavković-Lučić, Sofija; Prolić, Zlatko; Anđelković, Marko; Savić, Tatjana

2017-05-01

Extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields as essential ecological factors may induce specific responses in genetically different lines. The object of this study was to investigate the impact of the ELF magnetic field on fitness components and locomotor activity of five Drosophila subobscura isofemale (IF) lines. Each D. subobscura IF line, arbitrarily named: B16/1, B24/4, B39/1, B57/2 and B69/5, was maintained in five full-sib inbreeding generations. Their genetic structures were defined based on the mitochondrial DNA variability. Egg-first instar larvae and 1-day-old flies were exposed to an ELF magnetic field (50 Hz, 0.5 mT, 48 h) and thereafter, fitness components and locomotor activity of males and females in an open field test were observed for each selected IF line, respectively. Exposure of egg-first instar larvae to an ELF magnetic field shortened developmental time, and did not affect the viability and sex ratio of D. subobscura IF lines. Exposure of 1-day-old males and females IF lines B16/1 and B24/4 to an ELF magnetic field significantly decreased their locomotor activity and this effect lasted longer in females than males. These results indicate various responses of D. subobscura IF lines to the applied ELF magnetic field depending on their genetic background.

FLiT: a field line trace code for magnetic confinement devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Innocente, P.; Lorenzini, R.; Terranova, D.; Zanca, P.

2017-04-01

This paper presents a field line tracing code (FLiT) developed to study particle and energy transport as well as other phenomena related to magnetic topology in reversed-field pinch (RFP) and tokamak experiments. The code computes magnetic field lines in toroidal geometry using curvilinear coordinates (r, ϑ, ϕ) and calculates the intersections of these field lines with specified planes. The code also computes the magnetic and thermal diffusivity due to stochastic magnetic field in the collisionless limit. Compared to Hamiltonian codes, there are no constraints on the magnetic field functional formulation, which allows the integration of whichever magnetic field is required. The code uses the magnetic field computed by solving the zeroth-order axisymmetric equilibrium and the Newcomb equation for the first-order helical perturbation matching the edge magnetic field measurements in toroidal geometry. Two algorithms are developed to integrate the field lines: one is a dedicated implementation of a first-order semi-implicit volume-preserving integration method, and the other is based on the Adams-Moulton predictor-corrector method. As expected, the volume-preserving algorithm is accurate in conserving divergence, but slow because the low integration order requires small amplitude steps. The second algorithm proves to be quite fast and it is able to integrate the field lines in many partially and fully stochastic configurations accurately. The code has already been used to study the core and edge magnetic topology of the RFX-mod device in both the reversed-field pinch and tokamak magnetic configurations.

First evidence of anisotropy of GPS phase slips caused by the mid-latitude field-aligned ionospheric irregularities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Afraimovich, E. L.; Ishin, A. B.; Tinin, M. V.; Yasyukevich, Yu. V.; Jin, S. G.

2011-05-01

The mid-latitude field-aligned irregularity (FAI) along the magnetic field line is a common phenomenon in the ionosphere. However, few data reveal the field-aligned ionospheric irregularities. They are insufficient to identify FAIs effects so far, particularly effect on global positioning system (GPS) signals. In this paper, the mid-latitude FAIs by line-of-sight angular scanning relative to the local magnetic field vector are investigated using the denser GPS network observations in Japan. It has been the first found that total GPS L2 phase slips over Japan, during the recovery phase of the 12 Feb 2000 geomagnetic storm were caused by GPS signal scattering on FAIs both for the lines-of-sight aligned to the magnetic field line (the field of aligned scattering, FALS) and across the magnetic field line (the field of across scattering, FACS). The FALS results are also in a good agreement with the data of the magnetic field orientation control of GPS occultation observations of equatorial scintillation during thorough low earth orbit (LEO) satellites measurements, e.g. Challenging Minisatellite Payload (CHAMP) and Satellite de Aplicaciones Cientificas-C (SAC-C). The role of large-angle scattering almost along the normal to the magnetic field line in GPS scintillation is determined by attenuation of the irregularity anisotropy factor as compared with the other factors.

Treatment carryover impacts on effectiveness of intraocular pressure lowering agents, estimated by a discrete event simulation model.

PubMed

Denis, P; Le Pen, C; Umuhire, D; Berdeaux, G

2008-01-01

To compare the effectiveness of two treatment sequences, latanoprost-latanoprost timolol fixed combination (L-LT) versus travoprost-travoprost timolol fixed combination (T-TT), in the treatment of open-angle glaucoma (OAG) or ocular hypertension (OHT). A discrete event simulation (DES) model was constructed. Patients with either OAG or OHT were treated first-line with a prostaglandin, either latanoprost or travoprost. In case of treatment failure, patients were switched to the specific prostaglandin-timolol sequence LT or TT. Failure was defined as intraocular pressure higher than or equal to 18 mmHg at two visits. Time to failure was estimated from two randomized clinical trials. Log-rank tests were computed. Linear functions after log-log transformation were used to model time to failure. The time horizon of the model was 60 months. Outcomes included treatment failure and disease progression. Sensitivity analyses were performed. Latanoprost treatment resulted in more treatment failures than travoprost (p<0.01), and LT more than TT (p<0.01). At 60 months, the probability of starting a third treatment line was 39.2% with L-LT versus 29.9% with T-TT. On average, L-LT patients developed 0.55 new visual field defects versus 0.48 for T-TT patients. The probability of no disease progression at 60 months was 61.4% with L-LT and 65.5% with T-TT. Based on randomized clinical trial results and using a DES model, the T-TT sequence was more effective at avoiding starting a third line treatment than the L-LT sequence. T-TT treated patients developed less glaucoma progression.

On Pfaffian Random Point Fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kargin, V.

2014-02-01

We study Pfaffian random point fields by using the Moore-Dyson quaternion determinants. First, we give sufficient conditions that ensure that a self-dual quaternion kernel defines a valid random point field, and then we prove a CLT for Pfaffian point fields. The proofs are based on a new quaternion extension of the Cauchy-Binet determinantal identity. In addition, we derive the Fredholm determinantal formulas for the Pfaffian point fields which use the quaternion determinant.

The source of the electric field in the nightside magnetosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stern, D. P.

1975-01-01

In the open magnetosphere model magnetic field lines from the polar caps connect to the interplanetary magnetic field and conduct an electric field from interplanetary space to the polar ionosphere. By examining the magnetic flux involved it is concluded that only slightly more than half of the magnetic flux in the polar caps belongs to open field lines and that such field lines enter or leave the magnetosphere through narrow elongated windows stretching the tail. These window regions are identified with the tail's boundary region and shift their position with changes in the interplanetary magnetic field, in particular when a change of interplanetary magnetic sector occurs. The circuit providing electric current in the magnetopause and the plasma sheet is extended across those windows; thus energy is drained from the interplanetary electric field and an electric potential drop is produced across the plasma sheet. The polar cap receives its electric field from interplanetary space on the day side from open magnetic field lines and on the night side from closed field lines leading to the plasma sheet. The theory described provides improved understanding of magnetic flux bookkeeping, of the origin of Birkeland currents, and of the boundary layer of the geomagnetic tail.

Effects of inbreeding on economic traits of channel catfish.

PubMed

Bondari, K; Dunham, R A

1987-05-01

Inbred channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) were produced from two generations of full-sib matings to study the effect of inbreeding on reproduction, growth and survival. A randomly mated control line was propagated from the same base population to be used for the evaluation of the inbred fish. First generation inbred (I1) and control (C1) lines comprised five full-sib families each. Second generation inbred (I2) and control (C2) lines were produced by mating each male catfish from the I1 or C1 line to two females in sequence, one from the I1 and one from the C1 line. The design also produced two reciprocal outcross lines to be compared to their contemporary inbred and control lines. The coefficient of inbreeding for the inbred line increased from 0.25 in generation 1 to 0.375 in generation 2. The inbreeding coefficient was zero for all other lines. The resulting fish were performance tested in two locations, Tifton, Georgia and Auburn, Alabama and no genotype-environment interactions occurred. Results indicated that one generation of inbreeding increased number of days required for eggs to hatch by 21%, but did not significantly influence spawn weight or hatchability score. However, inbred females produced more eggs/kg body weight than control females. Two generations of full-sib mating in Georgia did not depress weight when expressed as a deviation to random controls but was depressed 13-16% when expressed as a deviation to half-sib out-crosses. Second generation inbreds produced in Alabama exhibited a 19% depression for growth rate when compared to either random or half-sib outcross controls. Survival rates at various age intervals was not decreased by inbreeding. The amount of inbreeding depression varied among families and between sexes.

Significance of Polarization Charges and Isomagnetic Surface in Magnetohydrodynamics

PubMed Central

Liang, Zhu-Xing; Liang, Yi

2015-01-01

From the frozen-in field lines concept, a highly conducting fluid can move freely along, but not traverse to, magnetic field lines. We discuss this topic and find that in the study of the frozen-in field lines concept, the effects of inductive and capacitive reactance have been omitted. When admitted, the relationships among the motional electromotive field, the induced electric field, the eddy electric current, and the magnetic field becomes clearer. We emphasize the importance of isomagnetic surfaces and polarization charges, and show analytically that whether a conducting fluid can freely traverse magnetic field lines or not depends solely on the magnetic gradient along the path of the fluid. If a fluid does not change its density distribution and shape (can be regarded as a quasi-rigid body) and moves along isomagnetic surface, it can freely traverse magnetic field lines without any magnetic drag, no matter how strong the magnetic field is. Besides theoretical analysis, we also present experimental results to support our analysis. The main purpose of this work is to correct a fallacy among some astrophysicists. PMID:26322894

Observation of arrival times of EAS with energies or = 6 x 10 (14) eV

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sun, L.

1985-01-01

The Earth's atmosphere is continually being bombarded by primary cosmic ray particles which are generally believed to be high-energy nuclei. The fact that the majority of cosmic ray primaries are charged particles and that space is permeated with random magnetic fields, means that the particles do not travel in straight lines. The arrival time distribution of EAS may also transfer some information about the primary particles. Actually, if the particles come to our Earth in a completely random process, the arrival time distribution of pairs of successive particles should fit an exponential law. The work reported here was arried out at Sydney University from May 1982 to January 1983. All the data are used to plot the arrival-time distribution of the events, that is, the distribution of time-separation between consecutive events on a 1 minute bin size. During this period more than 2300 showers were recorded. The results are discussed and compared with that of some other experiments.

Peripheral T-cell lymphoma: the role of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

PubMed

Gkotzamanidou, Maria; Papadimitriou, Christos A

2014-02-01

Peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) is a rare and heterogeneous group of non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs). Whereas the incidence of the disease appears to increase during last decades and the prognosis remains dramatically poor, so far no standard treatment has been established. High-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (HDT-ASCT) has been proven effective in relapsed PTCL, while retrospective studies have shown a survival benefit as first-line treatment in some subsets of PTCL patients. However, given disease rarity, there is a paucity of randomized trials in both upfront and relapse setting. Here, we critically evaluated eligible prospective and retrospective studies that address the role of ASCT in treatment of PTCL, with respect to quality of design and performance. Additionally, the role of allogeneic transplantation has been reviewed. The comparison of ASCT with novel agents that emerge or the combination of both, are to be ascertained via prospective randomized trials in this field. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Polarization of Coronal Forbidden Lines

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

Li, Hao; Qu, Zhongquan; Landi Degl’Innocenti, Egidio, E-mail: sayahoro@ynao.ac.cn

Since the magnetic field is responsible for most manifestations of solar activity, one of the most challenging problems in solar physics is the diagnostics of solar magnetic fields, particularly in the outer atmosphere. To this end, it is important to develop rigorous diagnostic tools to interpret polarimetric observations in suitable spectral lines. This paper is devoted to analyzing the diagnostic content of linear polarization imaging observations in coronal forbidden lines. Although this technique is restricted to off-limb observations, it represents a significant tool to diagnose the magnetic field structure in the solar corona, where the magnetic field is intrinsically weakmore » and still poorly known. We adopt the quantum theory of polarized line formation developed in the framework of the density matrix formalism, and synthesize images of the emergent linear polarization signal in coronal forbidden lines using potential-field source-surface magnetic field models. The influence of electronic collisions, active regions, and Thomson scattering on the linear polarization of coronal forbidden lines is also examined. It is found that active regions and Thomson scattering are capable of conspicuously influencing the orientation of the linear polarization. These effects have to be carefully taken into account to increase the accuracy of the field diagnostics. We also found that linear polarization observation in suitable lines can give valuable information on the long-term evolution of the magnetic field in the solar corona.« less

Persistant Spectral Hole-Burning: Photon-Gating and Fundamental Statistical Limits

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-11-03

pentacene inhomogeneous line that results from tile statistics of independent, additive random variables. For this data, Nil - 10’. The rms amplitude...features in inhomogencous lines. To illustrate this, Figure 5 shows a portion of the optical spectrum of pentacene in p-terphenyl before and after a...contained in each irradiated spot of recording medium. The stress-induced variations in the local environment of the storage centers are random in nature

Apker Award Recipient: Renormalization-Group Study of Helium Mixtures Immersed in a Porous Medium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lopatnikova, Anna

1998-03-01

Superfluidity and phase separation in ^3He-^4He mixtures immersed in aerogel are studied by renormalization-group theory. Firstly, the theory is applied to jungle-gym (non-random) aerogel.(A. Lopatnikova and A.N. Berker, Phys. Rev. B 55, 3798 (1997).) This calculation is conducted via the coupled renormalization-group mappings of interactions near and away from aerogel. Superfluidity at very low ^4He concentrations and a depressed tricritical temperature are found at the onset of superfludity. A superfluid-superfluid phase separation, terminating at an isolated critical point, is found entirely within the superfluid phase. Secondly, the theory is applied to true aerogel, which has quenched disorder at both atomic and geometric levels.(A. Lopatnikova and A.N. Berker, Phys. Rev. B 56, 11865 (1997).) This calculation is conducted via the coupled renormalization-group mappings, near and away from aerogel, of quenched probability distributions of random interactions. Random-bond effects on superfluidity onset and random-field effects on superfluid phase separation are seen. The quenched randomness causes the λ line of second-order phase transitions of superfluidity onset to reach zero temperature, in agreement with general prediction and experiments. Based on these studies, the experimentally observed(S.B. Kim, J. Ma, and M.H.W. Chan, Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 2268 (1993); N. Mulders and M.H.W. Chan, Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 3705 (1995).) distinctive characteristics of ^3He-^4He mixtures in aerogel are related to the aerogel properties of connectivity, tenuousness, and atomic and geometric randomness.

Development of a Random Field Model for Gas Plume Detection in Multiple LWIR Images.

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

Heasler, Patrick G.

This report develops a random field model that describes gas plumes in LWIR remote sensing images. The random field model serves as a prior distribution that can be combined with LWIR data to produce a posterior that determines the probability that a gas plume exists in the scene and also maps the most probable location of any plume. The random field model is intended to work with a single pixel regression estimator--a regression model that estimates gas concentration on an individual pixel basis.

Tensor Minkowski Functionals for random fields on the sphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chingangbam, Pravabati; Yogendran, K. P.; Joby, P. K.; Ganesan, Vidhya; Appleby, Stephen; Park, Changbom

2017-12-01

We generalize the translation invariant tensor-valued Minkowski Functionals which are defined on two-dimensional flat space to the unit sphere. We apply them to level sets of random fields. The contours enclosing boundaries of level sets of random fields give a spatial distribution of random smooth closed curves. We outline a method to compute the tensor-valued Minkowski Functionals numerically for any random field on the sphere. Then we obtain analytic expressions for the ensemble expectation values of the matrix elements for isotropic Gaussian and Rayleigh fields. The results hold on flat as well as any curved space with affine connection. We elucidate the way in which the matrix elements encode information about the Gaussian nature and statistical isotropy (or departure from isotropy) of the field. Finally, we apply the method to maps of the Galactic foreground emissions from the 2015 PLANCK data and demonstrate their high level of statistical anisotropy and departure from Gaussianity.

Cell death induced by Morarah and Khaltita in hepatoma cancer cells (Huh-7).

PubMed

Baig, Saeeda; Alamgir, Mohiuddin

2009-10-01

To compare the combined and isolated growth inhibitory effects of Morarah and Khaltita (herbs) on hepatoma cell lines (Huh-7), through induction of apoptosis or necrosis. Comparative controlled in-vitro study. The Molecular Biology Laboratory, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, from June to December 2006. The growth of hepatoma cell lines (Huh-7) was checked by adding Khaltita and Morarah to the cells before culture in a 24 well plate. Six wells were selected and labeled for each of the four variables (controls, Khaltita, Morarah and mixture). After 2 days, cells were studied under an inverted phase contrast microscope and fields were recorded. Approximately four fields per slide of higher intensity were selected randomly to determine the dead cell density, and the procedure was repeated 10 or more times. Frequency and percentages were calculated for dead or alive cells in controls, Morarah, Khaltita and their mixture. Chi-square was used to compare the qualitative variables. P-values < 0.05 were considered significant. Morarah and Khaltita were found to induce statistically significant (p < 0.001) cell death in hepatoma cell lines (Huh-7). At a magnification of 40x, the controls showed 1% dead cells compared to 91% in Morarah, 83% in Khaltita and 73% in combined mixture of Khaltita and Morarah. At magnification of 20x, the controls showed 4% dead cells compared to 44% in Morarah, 47% in Khaltita and 49% in the combined mixture of Khaltita and Morarah. Morarah and Khaltita induced cell death in cultured hepatoma cells (Huh-7).

Coronal Magnetism: Hanle Effect in UV and IR Spectral Lines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raouafi, N. E.; Riley, P.

2014-12-01

The plasma thermodynamics in the solar upper atmosphere, particularly in the corona, are dominated by the magnetic field, which controls the flow and dissipation of energy. The relative lack of knowledge of the coronal vector magnetic field is a major handicap for the progress in coronal physics. This makes the development of measurement methods of coronal magnetic fields a high priority in solar physics. The Hanle effect in the UV and IR spectral lines is a largely unexplored diagnostic. Here we use magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations to study the magnitude of the signal to be expected for typical coronal magnetic fields for selected spectral lines in the UV and IR wavelength ranges, namely the H I Lyman series (i.e., α, β, and γ), O VI 103.2 nm line, and the He I 1083 nm line. We show that the selected lines may be useful for the diagnostic of coronal magnetic fields. We also show that the combination of polarization measurements of spectral lines with different sensitivities to the Hanle effect may be most appropriate for the interpretation of the data. We propose that UV coronal magnetic field mapper should be a central part of the science payload of any future spacebased solar observatory.

Martian low-altitude magnetic topology deduced from MAVEN/SWEA observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Shaosui; Mitchell, David; Liemohn, Michael; Fang, Xiaohua; Ma, Yingjuan; Luhmann, Janet; Brain, David; Steckiewicz, Morgane; Mazelle, Christian; Connerney, Jack; Jakosky, Bruce

2017-02-01

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission has obtained comprehensive particle and magnetic field measurements. The Solar Wind Electron Analyzer provides electron energy-pitch angle distributions along the spacecraft trajectory that can be used to infer magnetic topology. This study presents pitch angle-resolved electron energy shape parameters that can distinguish photoelectrons from solar wind electrons, which we use to deduce the Martian magnetic topology and connectivity to the dayside ionosphere. Magnetic topology in the Mars environment is mapped in three dimensions for the first time. At low altitudes (<400 km) in sunlight, the northern hemisphere is found to be dominated by closed field lines (both ends intersecting the collisional atmosphere), with more day-night connections through cross-terminator closed field lines than in the south. Although draped field lines with 100 km amplitude vertical fluctuations that intersect the electron exobase ( 160-220 km) in two locations could appear to be closed at the spacecraft, a more likely explanation is provided by crustal magnetic fields, which naturally have the required geometry. Around 30% of the time, we observe open field lines from 200 to 400 km, which implies three distinct topological layers over the northern hemisphere: closed field lines below 200 km, open field lines with foot points at lower latitudes that pass over the northern hemisphere from 200 to 400 km, and draped interplanetary magnetic field above 400 km. This study also identifies open field lines with one end attached to the dayside ionosphere and the other end connected with the solar wind, providing a path for ion outflow.

Cascading failures in interdependent systems under a flow redistribution model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yingrui; Arenas, Alex; Yaǧan, Osman

2018-02-01

Robustness and cascading failures in interdependent systems has been an active research field in the past decade. However, most existing works use percolation-based models where only the largest component of each network remains functional throughout the cascade. Although suitable for communication networks, this assumption fails to capture the dependencies in systems carrying a flow (e.g., power systems, road transportation networks), where cascading failures are often triggered by redistribution of flows leading to overloading of lines. Here, we consider a model consisting of systems A and B with initial line loads and capacities given by {LA,i,CA ,i} i =1 n and {LB,i,CB ,i} i =1 n, respectively. When a line fails in system A , a fraction of its load is redistributed to alive lines in B , while remaining (1 -a ) fraction is redistributed equally among all functional lines in A ; a line failure in B is treated similarly with b giving the fraction to be redistributed to A . We give a thorough analysis of cascading failures of this model initiated by a random attack targeting p1 fraction of lines in A and p2 fraction in B . We show that (i) the model captures the real-world phenomenon of unexpected large scale cascades and exhibits interesting transition behavior: the final collapse is always first order, but it can be preceded by a sequence of first- and second-order transitions; (ii) network robustness tightly depends on the coupling coefficients a and b , and robustness is maximized at non-trivial a ,b values in general; (iii) unlike most existing models, interdependence has a multifaceted impact on system robustness in that interdependency can lead to an improved robustness for each individual network.

Cascading failures in interdependent systems under a flow redistribution model.

PubMed

Zhang, Yingrui; Arenas, Alex; Yağan, Osman

2018-02-01

Robustness and cascading failures in interdependent systems has been an active research field in the past decade. However, most existing works use percolation-based models where only the largest component of each network remains functional throughout the cascade. Although suitable for communication networks, this assumption fails to capture the dependencies in systems carrying a flow (e.g., power systems, road transportation networks), where cascading failures are often triggered by redistribution of flows leading to overloading of lines. Here, we consider a model consisting of systems A and B with initial line loads and capacities given by {L_{A,i},C_{A,i}}_{i=1}^{n} and {L_{B,i},C_{B,i}}_{i=1}^{n}, respectively. When a line fails in system A, a fraction of its load is redistributed to alive lines in B, while remaining (1-a) fraction is redistributed equally among all functional lines in A; a line failure in B is treated similarly with b giving the fraction to be redistributed to A. We give a thorough analysis of cascading failures of this model initiated by a random attack targeting p_{1} fraction of lines in A and p_{2} fraction in B. We show that (i) the model captures the real-world phenomenon of unexpected large scale cascades and exhibits interesting transition behavior: the final collapse is always first order, but it can be preceded by a sequence of first- and second-order transitions; (ii) network robustness tightly depends on the coupling coefficients a and b, and robustness is maximized at non-trivial a,b values in general; (iii) unlike most existing models, interdependence has a multifaceted impact on system robustness in that interdependency can lead to an improved robustness for each individual network.

All God's Chillun Got a Mama and a Papa?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hollander, Willard F.

1972-01-01

Describes alternate methods of schematically representing genetic lines of descent, and illustrates the different patterns obtained with random mating, line breeding, parthanogentic males, cloning, and grafting. (AL)

Topological events on the lines of circular polarization in nonparaxial vector optical fields.

PubMed

Freund, Isaac

2017-02-01

In nonparaxial vector optical fields, the following topological events are shown to occur in apparent violation of charge conservation: as one translates the observation plane along a line of circular polarization (a C line), the points on the line (C points) are seen to change not only the signs of their topological charges, but also their handedness, and, at turning points on the line, paired C points with the same topological charge and opposite handedness are seen to nucleate. These counter-intuitive events cannot occur in paraxial fields.

Global mean-field phase diagram of the spin-1 Ising ferromagnet in a random crystal field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borelli, M. E. S.; Carneiro, C. E. I.

1996-02-01

We study the phase diagram of the mean-field spin-1 Ising ferromagnet in a uniform magnetic field H and a random crystal field Δi, with probability distribution P( Δi) = pδ( Δi - Δ) + (1 - p) δ( Δi). We analyse the effects of randomness on the first-order surfaces of the Δ- T- H phase diagram for different values of the concentration p and show how these surfaces are affected by the dilution of the crystal field.

POLARIZED LINE FORMATION IN MOVING ATMOSPHERES WITH PARTIAL FREQUENCY REDISTRIBUTION AND A WEAK MAGNETIC FIELD

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

Sampoorna, M.; Nagendra, K. N., E-mail: sampoorna@iiap.res.in, E-mail: knn@iiap.res.in

2015-10-10

The dynamical state of the solar and stellar atmospheres depends on the macroscopic velocity fields prevailing within them. The presence of such velocity fields in the line formation regions strongly affects the polarized radiation field emerging from these atmospheres. Thus it becomes necessary to solve the radiative transfer equation for polarized lines in moving atmospheres. Solutions based on the “observer’s frame method” are computationally expensive to obtain, especially when partial frequency redistribution (PRD) in line scattering and large-amplitude velocity fields are taken into account. In this paper we present an efficient alternative method of solution, namely, the comoving frame technique,more » to solve the polarized PRD line formation problems in the presence of velocity fields. We consider one-dimensional planar isothermal atmospheres with vertical velocity fields. We present a study of the effect of velocity fields on the emergent linear polarization profiles formed in optically thick moving atmospheres. We show that the comoving frame method is far superior when compared to the observer’s frame method in terms of the computational speed and memory requirements.« less

SIMULATIONS OF LATERAL TRANSPORT AND DROPOUT STRUCTURE OF ENERGETIC PARTICLES FROM IMPULSIVE SOLAR FLARES

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

Tooprakai, P.; Seripienlert, A.; Ruffolo, D.

2016-11-10

We simulate trajectories of energetic particles from impulsive solar flares for 2D+slab models of magnetic turbulence in spherical geometry to study dropout features, i.e., sharp, repeated changes in the particle density. Among random-phase realizations of two-dimensional (2D) turbulence, a spherical harmonic expansion can generate homogeneous turbulence over a sphere, but a 2D fast Fourier transform (FFT) locally mapped onto the lateral coordinates in the region of interest is much faster computationally, and we show that the results are qualitatively similar. We then use the 2D FFT field as input to a 2D MHD simulation, which dynamically generates realistic features ofmore » turbulence such as coherent structures. The magnetic field lines and particles spread non-diffusively (ballistically) to a patchy distribution reaching up to 25° from the injection longitude and latitude at r ∼ 1 au. This dropout pattern in field line trajectories has sharper features in the case of the more realistic 2D MHD model, in better qualitative agreement with observations. The initial dropout pattern in particle trajectories is relatively insensitive to particle energy, though the energy affects the pattern’s evolution with time. We make predictions for future observations of solar particles near the Sun (e.g., at 0.25 au), for which we expect a sharp pulse of outgoing particles along the dropout pattern, followed by backscattering that first remains close to the dropout pattern and later exhibits cross-field transport to a distribution that is more diffusive, yet mostly contained within the dropout pattern found at greater distances.« less

Overall Survival Analysis From a Randomized Phase II Study of Axitinib With or Without Dose Titration in First-Line Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma.

PubMed

Rini, Brian I; Tomita, Yoshihiko; Melichar, Bohuslav; Ueda, Takeshi; Grünwald, Viktor; Fishman, Mayer N; Uemura, Hirotsugu; Oya, Mototsugu; Bair, Angel H; Andrews, Glen I; Rosbrook, Brad; Jonasch, Eric

2016-12-01

In a randomized phase II trial in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC), objective response rate was significantly higher with axitinib versus placebo titration (54% vs. 34%; 1-sided P = .019). Treatment-naive patients with mRCC (n = 213) received axitinib 5 mg twice per day (b.i.d.) for 4 weeks. Patients meeting dose titration criteria were randomized to receive axitinib 5 mg b.i.d. with axitinib or placebo titration (n = 56 each); 91 patients ineligible for randomization continued axitinib 5 mg b.i.d.; 10 discontinued before randomization. Median overall survival (95% confidence interval [CI]) was 42.7 months (24.7-not estimable) with axitinib titration versus 30.4 months (23.7-45.0) with placebo titration (stratified hazard ratio, 0.785; 95% CI, 0.485-1.272; 1-sided P = .162), and 41.6 months (95% CI, 33.0-not estimable) in nonrandomized patients. Safety data were consistent with previous reports. Median overall survival was numerically longer in patients with first-line mRCC who received axitinib versus placebo titration. No new safety signal was observed after long-term axitinib treatment in first-line mRCC. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Connectivity ranking of heterogeneous random conductivity models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rizzo, C. B.; de Barros, F.

2017-12-01

To overcome the challenges associated with hydrogeological data scarcity, the hydraulic conductivity (K) field is often represented by a spatial random process. The state-of-the-art provides several methods to generate 2D or 3D random K-fields, such as the classic multi-Gaussian fields or non-Gaussian fields, training image-based fields and object-based fields. We provide a systematic comparison of these models based on their connectivity. We use the minimum hydraulic resistance as a connectivity measure, which it has been found to be strictly correlated with early time arrival of dissolved contaminants. A computationally efficient graph-based algorithm is employed, allowing a stochastic treatment of the minimum hydraulic resistance through a Monte-Carlo approach and therefore enabling the computation of its uncertainty. The results show the impact of geostatistical parameters on the connectivity for each group of random fields, being able to rank the fields according to their minimum hydraulic resistance.

Text, photo, and line extraction in scanned documents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erkilinc, M. Sezer; Jaber, Mustafa; Saber, Eli; Bauer, Peter; Depalov, Dejan

2012-07-01

We propose a page layout analysis algorithm to classify a scanned document into different regions such as text, photo, or strong lines. The proposed scheme consists of five modules. The first module performs several image preprocessing techniques such as image scaling, filtering, color space conversion, and gamma correction to enhance the scanned image quality and reduce the computation time in later stages. Text detection is applied in the second module wherein wavelet transform and run-length encoding are employed to generate and validate text regions, respectively. The third module uses a Markov random field based block-wise segmentation that employs a basis vector projection technique with maximum a posteriori probability optimization to detect photo regions. In the fourth module, methods for edge detection, edge linking, line-segment fitting, and Hough transform are utilized to detect strong edges and lines. In the last module, the resultant text, photo, and edge maps are combined to generate a page layout map using K-Means clustering. The proposed algorithm has been tested on several hundred documents that contain simple and complex page layout structures and contents such as articles, magazines, business cards, dictionaries, and newsletters, and compared against state-of-the-art page-segmentation techniques with benchmark performance. The results indicate that our methodology achieves an average of ˜89% classification accuracy in text, photo, and background regions.

Efficient mapping of transgene integration sites and local structural changes in Cre transgenic mice using targeted locus amplification.

PubMed

Cain-Hom, Carol; Splinter, Erik; van Min, Max; Simonis, Marieke; van de Heijning, Monique; Martinez, Maria; Asghari, Vida; Cox, J Colin; Warming, Søren

2017-05-05

Cre/LoxP technology is widely used in the field of mouse genetics for spatial and/or temporal regulation of gene function. For Cre lines generated via pronuclear microinjection of a Cre transgene construct, the integration site is random and in most cases not known. Integration of a transgene can disrupt an endogenous gene, potentially interfering with interpretation of the phenotype. In addition, knowledge of where the transgene is integrated is important for planning of crosses between animals carrying a conditional allele and a given Cre allele in case the alleles are on the same chromosome. We have used targeted locus amplification (TLA) to efficiently map the transgene location in seven previously published Cre and CreERT2 transgenic lines. In all lines, transgene insertion was associated with structural changes of variable complexity, illustrating the importance of testing for rearrangements around the integration site. In all seven lines the exact integration site and breakpoint sequences were identified. Our methods, data and genotyping assays can be used as a resource for the mouse community and our results illustrate the power of the TLA method to not only efficiently map the integration site of any transgene, but also provide additional information regarding the transgene integration events. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

MAGNETIC FIELD-LINE LENGTHS IN INTERPLANETARY CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS INFERRED FROM ENERGETIC ELECTRON EVENTS

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

Kahler, S. W.; Haggerty, D. K.; Richardson, I. G., E-mail: AFRL.RVB.PA@hanscom.af.mil

About one quarter of the observed interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) are characterized by enhanced magnetic fields that smoothly rotate in direction over timescales of about 10-50 hr. These ICMEs have the appearance of magnetic flux ropes and are known as 'magnetic clouds' (MCs). The total lengths of MC field lines can be determined using solar energetic particles of known speeds when the solar release times and the 1 AU onset times of the particles are known. A recent examination of about 30 near-relativistic (NR) electron events in and near 8 MCs showed no obvious indication that the field-line lengthsmore » were longest near the MC boundaries and shortest at the MC axes or outside the MCs, contrary to the expectations for a flux rope. Here we use the impulsive beamed NR electron events observed with the Electron Proton and Alpha Monitor instrument on the Advanced Composition Explorer spacecraft and type III radio bursts observed on the Wind spacecraft to determine the field-line lengths inside ICMEs included in the catalog of Richardson and Cane. In particular, we extend this technique to ICMEs that are not MCs and compare the field-line lengths inside MCs and non-MC ICMEs with those in the ambient solar wind outside the ICMEs. No significant differences of field-line lengths are found among MCs, ICMEs, and the ambient solar wind. The estimated number of ICME field-line turns is generally smaller than those deduced for flux-rope model fits to MCs. We also find cases in which the electron injections occur in solar active regions (ARs) distant from the source ARs of the ICMEs, supporting CME models that require extensive coronal magnetic reconnection with surrounding fields. The field-line lengths are found to be statistically longer for the NR electron events classified as ramps and interpreted as shock injections somewhat delayed from the type III bursts. The path lengths of the remaining spike and pulse electron events are compared with model calculations of solar wind field-line lengths resulting from turbulence and found to be in good agreement.« less

Magnetic Field-Line Lengths in Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections Inferred from Energetic Electron Events

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kahler, S. W.; Haggerty, D. K.; Richardson, I. G.

2011-01-01

About one quarter of the observed interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) are characterized by enhanced magnetic fields that smoothly rotate in direction over timescales of about 10-50 hr. These ICMEs have the appearance of magnetic flux ropes and are known as "magnetic clouds" (MCs). The total lengths of MC field lines can be determined using solar energetic particles of known speeds when the solar release times and the I AU onset times of the particles are known. A recent examination of about 30 near-relativistic (NR) electron events in and near 8 MCs showed no obvious indication that the field-line lengths were longest near the MC boundaries and shortest at the MC axes or outside the MCs, contrary to the expectations for a flux rope. Here we use the impulsive beamed NR electron events observed with the Electron Proton and Alpha Monitor instrument on the Advanced Composition Explorer spacecraft and type III radio bursts observed on the Wind spacecraft to determine the field-line lengths inside ICMEs included in the catalog of Richardson & Cane. In particular, we extend this technique to ICMEs that are not MCs and compare the field-line lengths inside MCs and non-MC ICMEs with those in the ambient solar wind outside the ICMEs. No significant differences of field-line lengths are found among MCs, ICMEs, and the ambient solar wind. The estimated number of ICME field-line turns is generally smaller than those deduced for flux-rope model fits to MCs. We also find cases in which the electron injections occur in solar active regions CARs) distant from the source ARs of the ICMEs, supporting CME models that require extensive coronal magnetic reconnection with surrounding fields. The field-line lengths are found to be statistically longer for the NR electron events classified as ramps and interpreted as shock injections somewhat delayed from the type III bursts. The path lengths of the remaining spike and pulse electron events are compared with model calculations of solar wind field-line lengths resulting from turbulence and found to be in good agreement.

Geomagnetic responses to the solar wind and the solar activity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Svalgaard, L.

1975-01-01

Following some historical notes, the formation of the magnetosphere and the magnetospheric tail is discussed. The importance of electric fields is stressed and the magnetospheric convection of plasma and magnetic field lines under the influence of large-scale magnetospheric electric fields is outlined. Ionospheric electric fields and currents are intimately related to electric fields and currents in the magnetosphere and the strong coupling between the two regions is discussed. The energy input of the solar wind to the magnetosphere and upper atmosphere is discussed in terms of the reconnection model where interplanetary magnetic field lines merge or connect with the terrestrial field on the sunward side of the magnetosphere. The merged field lines are then stretched behind earth to form the magnetotail so that kinetic energy from the solar wind is converted into magnetic energy in the field lines in the tail. Localized collapses of the crosstail current, which is driven by the large-scale dawn/dusk electric field in the magnetosphere, divert part of this current along geomagnetic field lines to the ionosphere, causing substorms with auroral activity and magnetic disturbances. The collapses also inject plasma into the radiation belts and build up a ring current. Frequent collapses in rapid succession constitute the geomagnetic storm.

A randomized, controlled, single-blind, 6-month pilot study to evaluate the efficacy of MS-Line!: a cognitive rehabilitation programme for patients with multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Gich, Jordi; Freixanet, Jordi; García, Rafael; Vilanova, Joan Carles; Genís, David; Silva, Yolanda; Montalban, Xavier; Ramió-Torrentà, Lluís

2015-09-01

MS-Line! was created to provide an effective treatment for cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. To assess the efficacy of MS-Line!. A randomized, controlled, single-blind, 6-month pilot study. Patients were randomly assigned to an experimental group (cognitive rehabilitation with the programme) or to a control group (no cognitive rehabilitation). Randomization was stratified by cognitive impairment level. Cognitive assessment included: selective reminding test, 10/36 spatial recall test (10/36 SPART), symbol digit modalities test, paced auditory serial addition test, word list generation (WLG), FAS test, subtests of WAIS-III, Boston naming test (BNT), and trail making test (TMT). Forty-three patients (22 in the experimental group, 21 in the control group) were analyzed. Covariance analysis showed significant differences in 10/36 SPART (P=0.0002), 10/36 SPART delayed recall (P=0.0021), WLG (P=0.0123), LNS (P=0.0413), BNT (P=0.0007) and TMT-A (P=0.010) scores between groups. The study showed a significant improvement related to learning and visual memory, executive functions, attention and information processing speed, and naming ability in those patients who received cognitive rehabilitation. The results suggest that MS-Line! is effective in improving cognitive impairment in MS patients. © The Author(s), 2015.

Formation and evolution of magnetised filaments in wind-swept turbulent clumps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banda-Barragan, Wladimir Eduardo; Federrath, Christoph; Crocker, Roland M.; Bicknell, Geoffrey Vincent; Parkin, Elliot Ross

2015-08-01

Using high-resolution three-dimensional simulations, we examine the formation and evolution of filamentary structures arising from magnetohydrodynamic interactions between supersonic winds and turbulent clumps in the interstellar medium. Previous numerical studies assumed homogenous density profiles, null velocity fields, and uniformly distributed magnetic fields as the initial conditions for interstellar clumps. Here, we have, for the first time, incorporated fractal clumps with log-normal density distributions, random velocity fields and turbulent magnetic fields (superimposed on top of a uniform background field). Disruptive processes, instigated by dynamical instabilities and akin to those observed in simulations with uniform media, lead to stripping of clump material and the subsequent formation of filamentary tails. The evolution of filaments in uniform and turbulent models is, however, radically different as evidenced by comparisons of global quantities in both scenarios. We show, for example, that turbulent clumps produce tails with higher velocity dispersions, increased gas mixing, greater kinetic energy, and lower plasma beta than their uniform counterparts. We attribute the observed differences to: 1) the turbulence-driven enhanced growth of dynamical instabilities (e.g. Kelvin-Helmholtz and Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities) at fluid interfaces, and 2) the localised amplification of magnetic fields caused by the stretching of field lines trapped in the numerous surface deformations of fractal clumps. We briefly discuss the implications of this work to the physics of the optical filaments observed in the starburst galaxy M82.

A new beam emission polarimetry diagnostic for measuring the magnetic field line angle at the plasma edge of ASDEX Upgrade.

PubMed

Viezzer, E; Dux, R; Dunne, M G

2016-11-01

A new edge beam emission polarimetry diagnostic dedicated to the measurement of the magnetic field line angle has been installed on the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak. The new diagnostic relies on the motional Stark effect and is based on the simultaneous measurement of the polarization direction of the linearly polarized π (parallel to the electric field) and σ (perpendicular to the electric field) lines of the Balmer line D α . The technical properties of the system are described. The calibration procedures are discussed and first measurements are presented.

A new beam emission polarimetry diagnostic for measuring the magnetic field line angle at the plasma edge of ASDEX Upgrade

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

Viezzer, E., E-mail: eleonora.viezzer@ipp.mpg.de, E-mail: eviezzer@us.es; Department of Atomic, Molecular, and Nuclear Physics, University of Seville, Avda. Reina Mercedes, 41012 Seville; Dux, R.

2016-11-15

A new edge beam emission polarimetry diagnostic dedicated to the measurement of the magnetic field line angle has been installed on the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak. The new diagnostic relies on the motional Stark effect and is based on the simultaneous measurement of the polarization direction of the linearly polarized π (parallel to the electric field) and σ (perpendicular to the electric field) lines of the Balmer line D{sub α}. The technical properties of the system are described. The calibration procedures are discussed and first measurements are presented.

The Poincaré-Hopf Theorem for line fields revisited

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crowley, Diarmuid; Grant, Mark

2017-07-01

A Poincaré-Hopf Theorem for line fields with point singularities on orientable surfaces can be found in Hopf's 1956 Lecture Notes on Differential Geometry. In 1955 Markus presented such a theorem in all dimensions, but Markus' statement only holds in even dimensions 2 k ≥ 4. In 1984 Jänich presented a Poincaré-Hopf theorem for line fields with more complicated singularities and focussed on the complexities arising in the generalized setting. In this expository note we review the Poincaré-Hopf Theorem for line fields with point singularities, presenting a careful proof which is valid in all dimensions.

Parallel inhomogeneity and the Alfven resonance. 1: Open field lines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hansen, P. J.; Harrold, B. G.

1994-01-01

In light of a recent demonstration of the general nonexistence of a singularity at the Alfven resonance in cold, ideal, linearized magnetohydrodynamics, we examine the effect of a small density gradient parallel to uniform, open ambient magnetic field lines. To lowest order, energy deposition is quantitatively unaffected but occurs continuously over a thickened layer. This effect is illustrated in a numerical analysis of a plasma sheet boundary layer model with perfectly absorbing boundary conditions. Consequences of the results are discussed, both for the open field line approximation and for the ensuing closed field line analysis.

¹⁴N Quadrupole Resonance line broadening due to the earth magnetic field, occuring only in the case of an axially symmetric electric field gradient tensor.

PubMed

Aissani, Sarra; Guendouz, Laouès; Marande, Pierre-Louis; Canet, Daniel

2015-01-01

As demonstrated before, the application of a weak static B0 magnetic field (less than 10 G) may produce definite effects on the ¹⁴N Quadrupole Resonance line when the electric field gradient tensor at the nitrogen nucleus level is of axial symmetry. Here, we address more precisely the problem of the relative orientation of the two magnetic fields (the static field and the radio-frequency field of the pure NQR experiment). For a field of 6G, the evolution of the signal intensity, as a function of this relative orientation, is in very good agreement with the theoretical predictions. There is in particular an intensity loss by a factor of three when going from the parallel configuration to the perpendicular configuration. By contrast, when dealing with a very weak magnetic field (as the earth field, around 0.5 G), this effect drops to ca. 1.5 in the case Hexamethylenetetramine (HMT).This is explained by the fact that the Zeeman shift (due to the very weak magnetic field) becomes comparable to the natural line-width. The latter can therefore be determined by accounting for this competition. Still in the case of HMT, the estimated natural line-width is half the observed line-width. The extra broadening is thus attributed to earth magnetic field. The latter constitutes therefore the main cause of the difference between the natural transverse relaxation time (T₂) and the transverse relaxation time derived from the observed line-width (T₂(⁎)). Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Indeterminism in Classical Dynamics of Particle Motion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eyink, Gregory; Vishniac, Ethan; Lalescu, Cristian; Aluie, Hussein; Kanov, Kalin; Burns, Randal; Meneveau, Charles; Szalay, Alex

2013-03-01

We show that ``God plays dice'' not only in quantum mechanics but also in the classical dynamics of particles advected by turbulent fluids. With a fixed deterministic flow velocity and an exactly known initial position, the particle motion is nevertheless completely unpredictable! In analogy with spontaneous magnetization in ferromagnets which persists as external field is taken to zero, the particle trajectories in turbulent flow remain random as external noise vanishes. The necessary ingredient is a rough advecting field with a power-law energy spectrum extending to smaller scales as noise is taken to zero. The physical mechanism of ``spontaneous stochasticity'' is the explosive dispersion of particle pairs proposed by L. F. Richardson in 1926, so the phenomenon should be observable in laboratory and natural turbulent flows. We present here the first empirical corroboration of these effects in high Reynolds-number numerical simulations of hydrodynamic and magnetohydrodynamic fluid turbulence. Since power-law spectra are seen in many other systems in condensed matter, geophysics and astrophysics, the phenomenon should occur rather widely. Fast reconnection in solar flares and other astrophysical systems can be explained by spontaneous stochasticity of magnetic field-line motion

Effect of resonant magnetic perturbations on three dimensional equilibria in the Madison Symmetric Torus reversed-field pinch

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Munaretto, S.; Chapman, B. E.; Nornberg, M. D.; Boguski, J.; DuBois, A. M.; Almagri, A. F.; Sarff, J. S.

2016-05-01

The orientation of 3D equilibria in the Madison Symmetric Torus (MST) [R. N. Dexter et al., Fusion Technol. 19, 131 (1991)] reversed-field pinch can now be controlled with a resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP). Absent the RMP, the orientation of the stationary 3D equilibrium varies from shot to shot in a semi-random manner, making its diagnosis difficult. Produced with a poloidal array of saddle coils at the vertical insulated cut in MST's thick conducting shell, an m = 1 RMP with an amplitude br/B ˜ 10% forces the 3D structure into any desired orientation relative to MST's diagnostics. This control has led to improved diagnosis, revealing enhancements in both the central electron temperature and density. With sufficient amplitude, the RMP also inhibits the generation of high-energy (>20 keV) electrons, which otherwise emerge due to a reduction in magnetic stochasticity in the core. Field line tracing reveals that the RMP reintroduces stochasticity to the core. A m = 3 RMP of similar amplitude has little effect on the magnetic topology or the high-energy electrons.

Kinetic-scale flux rope reconnection in periodic and line-tied geometries

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

Sauppe, J. P.; Daughton, W.

Here, the collisionless reconnection of two parallel flux ropes driven by both the coalescence and kink instabilities is examined using fully kinetic simulations in periodic and line-tied geometries. The three-dimensional reconnection rate is computed from the maximum of the quasi-potential, Ξ≡-∫E·dℓ, where the integral of the electric field is taken along the magnetic field lines across the system. In periodic simulations in which the kink mode is nearly suppressed, reconnection is driven by the coalescence instability, and the peak rate is within 3%–8% of comparable 2D simulations. When a strong kink growth is observed, the peak reconnection rate drops bymore » 10%–25%, and there is a larger drop for lower guide field. With line-tied boundary conditions, the kink instability plays a key role in allowing the flux ropes to interact and partially reconnect. In this limit, the field lines with maximum quasi-potential are associated with a quasi-separatrix layer, and the electric field along these special field lines is supported predominantly by the divergence of the electron pressure tensor. Both of these features, along with the observed reconnection rate, are consistent with recent laboratory experiments on kinetic-scale flux ropes. In kinetic simulations, the non-gyrotropic pressure tensor terms contribute significantly more to the reconnecting electric field than do the gyrotropic terms, while contributions from the electron inertia are significant for field lines adjacent to the quasi-separatrix layer.« less

Kinetic-scale flux rope reconnection in periodic and line-tied geometries

DOE PAGES

Sauppe, J. P.; Daughton, W.

2017-12-28

Here, the collisionless reconnection of two parallel flux ropes driven by both the coalescence and kink instabilities is examined using fully kinetic simulations in periodic and line-tied geometries. The three-dimensional reconnection rate is computed from the maximum of the quasi-potential, Ξ≡-∫E·dℓ, where the integral of the electric field is taken along the magnetic field lines across the system. In periodic simulations in which the kink mode is nearly suppressed, reconnection is driven by the coalescence instability, and the peak rate is within 3%–8% of comparable 2D simulations. When a strong kink growth is observed, the peak reconnection rate drops bymore » 10%–25%, and there is a larger drop for lower guide field. With line-tied boundary conditions, the kink instability plays a key role in allowing the flux ropes to interact and partially reconnect. In this limit, the field lines with maximum quasi-potential are associated with a quasi-separatrix layer, and the electric field along these special field lines is supported predominantly by the divergence of the electron pressure tensor. Both of these features, along with the observed reconnection rate, are consistent with recent laboratory experiments on kinetic-scale flux ropes. In kinetic simulations, the non-gyrotropic pressure tensor terms contribute significantly more to the reconnecting electric field than do the gyrotropic terms, while contributions from the electron inertia are significant for field lines adjacent to the quasi-separatrix layer.« less

US-1136, US-1137, and US-1138 cowpea lines for cover crop use

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Following five years of field evaluation, three cowpea populations were selected as best adapted for use as a cover crop. A pure line selection procedure was used to develop genetically uniform lines from the segregating populations. Field evaluations demonstrated that the lines grow rapidly for u...

Pyramiding of transgenic Pm3 alleles in wheat results in improved powdery mildew resistance in the field.

PubMed

Koller, Teresa; Brunner, Susanne; Herren, Gerhard; Hurni, Severine; Keller, Beat

2018-04-01

The combined effects of enhanced total transgene expression level and allele-specificity combination in transgenic allele-pyramided Pm3 wheat lines result in improved powdery mildew field resistance without negative pleiotropic effects. Allelic Pm3 resistance genes of wheat confer race-specific resistance to powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici, Bgt) and encode nucleotide-binding domain, leucine-rich repeat (NLR) receptors. Transgenic wheat lines overexpressing alleles Pm3a, b, c, d, f, and g have previously been generated by transformation of cultivar Bobwhite and tested in field trials, revealing varying degrees of powdery mildew resistance conferred by the transgenes. Here, we tested four transgenic lines each carrying two pyramided Pm3 alleles, which were generated by crossbreeding of lines transformed with single Pm3 alleles. All four allele-pyramided lines showed strongly improved powdery mildew resistance in the field compared to their parental lines. The improved resistance results from the two effects of enhanced total transgene expression levels and allele-specificity combinations. In contrast to leaf segment tests on greenhouse-grown seedlings, no allelic suppression was observed in the field. Plant development and yield scores of the pyramided lines were similar to the mean scores of the corresponding parental lines, and thus, the allele pyramiding did not cause any negative effects. On the contrary, in pyramided line, Pm3b × Pm3f normal plant development was restored compared to the delayed development and reduced seed set of parental line Pm3f. Allele-specific RT qPCR revealed additive transgene expression levels of the two Pm3 alleles in the pyramided lines. A positive correlation between total transgene expression level and powdery mildew field resistance was observed. In summary, allele pyramiding of Pm3 transgenes proved to be successful in enhancing powdery mildew field resistance.

On the Distribution of Ion Density Depletion Along Magnetic Field Lines as Deduced Using C-NOFS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dao, E.; Kelley, M. C.; Hysell, D. L.; Retterer, J. M.; Su, Y.-J.; Pfaff, Robert F.; Roddy, P. A.; Ballenthin, J. O.

2012-01-01

To investigate ion density depletion along magnetic field lines, we compare in situ-measured ion density fluctuations as seen from C/NOFS and compare them to the field-line-integrated depletion of the whole bubble as inferred from electric field measurements. Results show that, within C/NOFS' range, local measurement of the normalized density depletion, (Delta)n/n(sub 0), near the apex may be far less than at other points on the same field line. We argue that the distribution of (Delta)n/n(sub 0) is a weighted distribution concentrated at latitudes of the Appleton anomalies and becomes more heavily weighted the closer the field-aligned bubble rises to the peak of the anomalies. A three-dimensional simulation of an ionospheric bubble verifies our arguments.

On the Construction and Dynamics of Knotted Fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kedia, Hridesh

Representing a physical field in terms of its field lines has often enabled a deeper understanding of complex physical phenomena, from Faraday's law of magnetic induction, to the Helmholtz laws of vortex motion, to the free energy density of liquid crystals in terms of the distortions of the lines of the director field. At the same time, the application of ideas from topology--the study of properties that are invariant under continuous deformations--has led to robust insights into the nature of complex physical systems from defects in crystal structures, to the earth's magnetic field, to topological conservation laws. The study of knotted fields, physical fields in which the field lines encode knots, emerges naturally from the application of topological ideas to the investigation of the physical phenomena best understood in terms of the lines of a field. A knot--a closed loop tangled with itself which can not be untangled without cutting the loop--is the simplest topologically non-trivial object constructed from a line. Remarkably, knots in the vortex (magnetic field) lines of a dissipationless fluid (plasma), persist forever as they are transported by the flow, stretching and rotating as they evolve. Moreover, deeply entwined with the topology-preserving dynamics of dissipationless fluids and plasmas, is an additional conserved quantity--helicity, a measure of the average linking of the vortex (magnetic field) lines in a fluid (plasma)--which has had far-reaching consequences for fluids and plasmas. Inspired by the persistence of knots in dissipationless flows, and their far-reaching physical consequences, we seek to understand the interplay between the dynamics of a field and the topology of its field lines in a variety of systems. While it is easy to tie a knot in a shoelace, tying a knot in the the lines of a space-filling field requires contorting the lines everywhere to match the knotted region. The challenge of analytically constructing knotted field configurations has impeded a deeper understanding of the interplay between topology and dynamics in fluids and plasmas. We begin by analytically constructing knotted field configurations which encode a desired knot in the lines of the field, and show that their helicity can be tuned independently of the encoded knot. The nonlinear nature of the physical systems in which these knotted field configurations arise, makes their analytical study challenging. We ask if a linear theory such as electromagnetism can allow knotted field configurations to persist with time. We find analytical expressions for an infinite family of knotted solutions to Maxwell's equations in vacuum and elucidate their connections to dissipationless flows. We present a design rule for constructing such persistently knotted electromagnetic fields, which could possibly be used to transfer knottedness to matter such as quantum fluids and plasmas. An important consequence of the persistence of knots in classical dissipationless flows is the existence of an additional conserved quantity, helicity, which has had far-reaching implications. To understand the existence of analogous conserved quantities, we ask if superfluids, which flow without dissipation just like classical dissipationless flows, have an additional conserved quantity akin to helicity. We address this question using an analytical approach based on defining the particle relabeling symmetry--the symmetry underlying helicity conservation--in superfluids, and find that an analogous conserved quantity exists but vanishes identically owing to the intrinsic geometry of complex scalar fields. Furthermore, to address the question of a ``classical limit'' of superfluid vortices which recovers classical helicity conservation, we perform numerical simulations of \\emph{bundles} of superfluid vortices, and find behavior akin to classical viscous flows.

Identification and evaluation of resistance to powdery mildew and yellow rust in a wheat mapping population

PubMed Central

Zhang, Xu; Wang, Jirui; Luo, Mingcheng; Yang, Mujun; Wang, Hua; Xiang, Libo; Zeng, Fansong; Yu, Dazhao; Fu, Daolin

2017-01-01

Deployment of cultivars with genetic resistance is an effective approach to control the diseases of powdery mildew (PM) and yellow rust (YR). Chinese wheat cultivar XK0106 exhibits high levels of resistance to both diseases, while cultivar E07901 has partial, adult plant resistance (APR). The aim of this study was to map resistance loci derived from the two cultivars and analyze their effects against PM and YR in a range of environments. A doubled haploid population (388 lines) was used to develop a framework map consisting of 117 SSR markers, while a much higher density map using the 90K Illumina iSelect SNP array was produced with a subset of 80 randomly selected lines. Seedling resistance was characterized against a range of PM and YR isolates, while field scores in multiple environments were used to characterize APR. Composite interval mapping (CIM) of seedling PM scores identified two QTLs (QPm.haas-6A and QPm.haas-2A), the former being located at the Pm21 locus. These QTLs were also significant in field scores, as were Qpm.haas-3A and QPm.haas-5A. QYr.haas-1B-1 and QYr.haas-2A were identified in field scores of YR and were located at the Yr24/26 and Yr17 chromosomal regions respectively. A second 1B QTL, QYr.haas-1B-2 was also identified. QPm.haas-2A and QYr.haas-1B-2 are likely to be new QTLs that have not been previously identified. Effects of the QTLs were further investigated in multiple environments through the testing of selected lines predicted to contain various QTL combinations. Significant additive interactions between the PM QTLs highlighted the ability to pyramid these loci to provide higher level of resistance. Interactions between the YR QTLs gave insights into the pathogen populations in the different locations as well as showing genetic interactions between these loci. PMID:28542459

Weekly and every 2 weeks cetuximab maintenance therapy after platinum-based chemotherapy plus cetuximab as first-line treatment for non-small cell lung cancer: randomized non-comparative phase IIIb NEXT trial.

PubMed

Heigener, David F; Pereira, José Rodrigues; Felip, Enriqueta; Mazal, Juraj; Manzyuk, Lyudmila; Tan, Eng Huat; Merimsky, Ofer; Sarholz, Barbara; Esser, Regina; Gatzemeier, Ulrich

2015-06-01

The First-Line Erbitux in Lung Cancer (FLEX) trial showed that the addition of cetuximab to chemotherapy followed by weekly cetuximab maintenance significantly improved survival in the first-line treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The phase IIIb NSCLC Erbitux Trial (NEXT) trial (NCT00820755) investigated the efficacy and safety of weekly and every 2 weeks cetuximab maintenance therapy in this setting. Patients were treated with platinum-based chemotherapy plus cetuximab, and those progression-free after four to six cycles were randomized to every 2 weeks (500 mg/m(2)) or weekly (250 mg/m(2)) cetuximab maintenance. Randomization was stratified for tumor histology and response status. The primary endpoint for a regimen would be reached if the lower boundary of the 95 % confidence interval (CI) for the 1-year survival rate exceeded 55 %. A planned 480 patients were to be randomized. However, enrollment was curtailed following a negative opinion from the European Medicines Agency with regard to the use of cetuximab in this setting. After combination therapy, 311/583 (53.3 %) patients without progression were randomized to maintenance therapy: 157 to every 2 weeks cetuximab and 154 to weekly cetuximab. Baseline characteristics were balanced between these groups and exposure to cetuximab was similar. The 1-year survival rate was 62.8 % (95 % CI, 54.7-70.0) for every 2 weeks cetuximab and 64.4 % (95 % CI, 56.2-71.4) for weekly cetuximab. Safety profiles were similar, manageable, and in line with expectations. Therefore, in patients with advanced NSCLC who were progression-free after four to six cycles of first-line chemotherapy plus cetuximab, weekly and every 2 weeks cetuximab maintenance therapy were associated with similar survival outcomes.

Statistical properties of links of network: A survey on the shipping lines of Worldwide Marine Transport Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Wenjun; Deng, Weibing; Li, Wei

2018-07-01

Node properties and node importance identification of networks have been vastly studied in the last decades. While in this work, we analyze the links' properties of networks by taking the Worldwide Marine Transport Network (WMTN) as an example, i.e., statistical properties of the shipping lines of WMTN have been investigated in various aspects: Firstly, we study the feature of loops in the shipping lines by defining the line saturability. It is found that the line saturability decays exponentially with the increase of line length. Secondly, to detect the geographical community structure of shipping lines, the Label Propagation Algorithm with compression of Flow (LPAF) and Multi-Dimensional Scaling (MDS) method are employed, which show rather consistent communities. Lastly, to analyze the redundancy property of shipping lines of different marine companies, the multilayer networks are constructed by aggregating the shipping lines of different marine companies. It is observed that the topological quantities, such as average degree, average clustering coefficient, etc., increase smoothly when marine companies are randomly merged (randomly choose two marine companies, then merge the shipping lines of them together), while the relative entropy decreases when the merging sequence is determined by the Jensen-Shannon distance (choose two marine companies when the Jensen-Shannon distance between them is the lowest). This indicates the low redundancy of shipping lines among different marine companies.

Signature of open magnetic field lines in the extended solar corona and of solar wind acceleration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Antonucci, E.; Giordano, S.; Benna, C.; Kohl, J. L.; Noci, G.; Michels, J.; Fineschi, S.

1997-01-01

The observations carried out with the ultraviolet coronagraph spectrometer onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) are discussed. The purpose of the observations was to determine the line of sight and radial velocity fields in coronal regions with different magnetic topology. The results showed that the regions where the high speed solar wind flows along open field lines are characterized by O VI 1032 and HI Lyman alpha 1216 lines. The global coronal maps of the line of sight velocity were reconstructed. The corona height, where the solar wind reaches 100 km/s, was determined.

On the suitability of refractory bricks from a mediaeval brass melting and working site near Dinant (Belgium) as geomagnetic field recorders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hus, J.; Geeraerts, R.; Plumier, J.

2004-11-01

Directional field archaeomagnetic data from two oval shaped kilns, of which still one was lined with refractory bricks, unearthed in a brass melting and working site in Bouvignes-sur-Meuse in Belgium, confirm the archaeologic dating as 14-15th century A.D. for the main site activities. The archaeomagnetic dates, obtained using reference secular variation curves of the geomagnetic field direction for France and Great Britain, lead to better time constraints for the cessation of kiln operations. Refractory bricks (firebricks) that are used for their chemical and thermal properties, and in particular for their resistance to high temperatures and temperature changes, are not unusual in metal melting and working sites. The firebricks from the examined site are coarse-grained and very porous inside but possess a very stable remanent magnetisation and revealed to be suitable magnetic field recorders. Although the firebricks have a single-component remanent magnetization, non-random deviations in remanence direction in function of the relative azimuth from the centre of the kiln or with the position of the bricks in the kiln wall, were observed. Several hypotheses for the origin of the deviations were considered: anisotropy, refraction, magnetic interaction, magnetic field distortion and the presence of a local disturbing magnetic source.

Observations of the Ion Signatures of Double Merging and the Formation of Newly Closed Field Lines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chandler, Michael O.; Avanov, Levon A.; Craven, Paul D.

2007-01-01

Observations from the Polar spacecraft, taken during a period of northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) show magnetosheath ions within the magnetosphere with velocity distributions resulting from multiple merging sites along the same field line. The observations from the TIDE instrument show two separate ion energy-time dispersions that are attributed to two widely separated (-20Re) merging sites. Estimates of the initial merging times show that they occurred nearly simultaneously (within 5 minutes.) Along with these populations, cold, ionospheric ions were observed counterstreaming along the field lines. The presence of such ions is evidence that these field lines are connected to the ionosphere on both ends. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that double merging can produce closed field lines populated by solar wind plasma. While the merging sites cannot be unambiguously located, the observations and analyses favor one site poleward of the northern cusp and a second site at low latitudes.

Magnetic field vector and electron density diagnostics from linear polarization measurements in 14 solar prominences

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bommier, V.

1986-01-01

The Hanle effect is the modification of the linear polarization parameters of a spectral line due to the effect of the magnetic field. It has been successfully applied to the magnetic field vector diagnostic in solar prominences. The magnetic field vector is determined by comparing the measured polarization to the polarization computed, taking into account all the polarizing and depolarizing processes in line formation and the depolarizing effect of the magnetic field. The method was applied to simultaneous polarization measurements in the Helium D3 line and in the hydrogen beta line in 14 prominences. Four polarization parameters are measured, which lead to the determination of the three coordinates of the magnetic field vector and the electron density, owing to the sensitivity of the hydrogen beta line to the non-negligible effect of depolarizing collisions with electrons and protons of the medium. A mean value of 1.3 x 10 to the 10th power cu. cm. is derived in 14 prominences.

Relationship between Birkeland current regions, particle precipitation, and electric fields

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

De La Beaujardiere, O.; Watermann, J.; Newell, P.; Rich, F.

1993-01-01

The relationship of the large-scale dayside Birkeland currents to large-scale particle precipitation patterns, currents, and convection is examined using DMSP and Sondrestrom radar observations. It is found that the local time of the mantle currents is not limited to the longitude of the cusp proper, but covers a larger local time extent. The mantle currents flow entirely on open field lines. About half of region 1 currents flow on open field lines, consistent with the assumption that the region 1 currents are generated by the solar wind dynamo and flow within the surface that separates open and closed field lines. More than 80 percent of the Birkeland current boundaries do not correspond to particle precipitation boundaries. Region 2 currents extend beyond the plasma sheet poleward boundary; region 1 currents flow in part on open field lines; mantle currents and mantle particles are not coincident. On most passes when a triple current sheet is observed, the convection reversal is located on closed field lines.

Tracing Magnetic Fields With The Polarization Of Submillimeter Lines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Heshou; Yan, Huirong

2017-10-01

Magnetic fields play important roles in many astrophysical processes. However, there is no universal diagnostic for the magnetic fields in the interstellar medium (ISM) and each magnetic tracer has its limitation. Any new detection method is thus valuable. Theoretical studies have shown that submillimeter fine-structure lines are polarized due to atomic alignment by Ultraviolet (UV) photon-excitation, which opens up a new avenue to probe interstellar magnetic fields. The method is applicable to all radiative-excitation dominant region, e.g., H II Regions, PDRs. The polarization of the submillimeter fine-structure lines induced by atomic alignment could be substantial and the applicability of using the spectro-polarimetry of atomic lines to trace magnetic fields has been supported by synthetic observations of simulated ISM in our recent paper. Our results demonstrate that the polarization of submillimeter atomic lines is a powerful magnetic tracer and add great value to the observational studies of the submilimeter astronomy.

Magnetic field direction differentially impacts the growth of different cell types.

PubMed

Tian, Xiaofei; Wang, Dongmei; Zha, Meng; Yang, Xingxing; Ji, Xinmiao; Zhang, Lei; Zhang, Xin

2018-04-05

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines have horizontal or upright static magnetic field (SMF) of 0.1-3 T (Tesla) at sites of patients and operators, but the biological effects of these SMFs still remain elusive. We examined 12 different cell lines, including 5 human solid tumor cell lines, 2 human leukemia cell lines and 4 human non-cancer cell lines, as well as the Chinese hamster ovary cell line. Permanent magnets were used to provide 0.2-1 T SMFs with different magnetic field directions. We found that an upward magnetic field of 0.2-1 T could effectively reduce the cell numbers of all human solid tumor cell lines we tested, but a downward magnetic field mostly had no statistically significant effect. However, the leukemia cells in suspension, which do not have shape-induced anisotropy, were inhibited by both upward and downward magnetic fields. In contrast, the cell numbers of most non-cancer cells were not affected by magnetic fields of all directions. Moreover, the upward magnetic field inhibited GIST-T1 tumor growth in nude mice by 19.3% (p < 0.05) while the downward magnetic field did not produce significant effect. In conclusion, although still lack of mechanistical insights, our results show that different magnetic field directions produce divergent effects on cancer cell numbers as well as tumor growth in mice. This not only verified the safety of SMF exposure related to current MRI machines but also revealed the possible antitumor potential of magnetic field with an upward direction.

[Krigle estimation and its simulated sampling of Chilo suppressalis population density].

PubMed

Yuan, Zheming; Bai, Lianyang; Wang, Kuiwu; Hu, Xiangyue

2004-07-01

In order to draw up a rational sampling plan for the larvae population of Chilo suppressalis, an original population and its two derivative populations, random population and sequence population, were sampled and compared with random sampling, gap-range-random sampling, and a new systematic sampling integrated Krigle interpolation and random original position. As for the original population whose distribution was up to aggregative and dependence range in line direction was 115 cm (6.9 units), gap-range-random sampling in line direction was more precise than random sampling. Distinguishing the population pattern correctly is the key to get a better precision. Gap-range-random sampling and random sampling are fit for aggregated population and random population, respectively, but both of them are difficult to apply in practice. Therefore, a new systematic sampling named as Krigle sample (n = 441) was developed to estimate the density of partial sample (partial estimation, n = 441) and population (overall estimation, N = 1500). As for original population, the estimated precision of Krigle sample to partial sample and population was better than that of investigation sample. With the increase of the aggregation intensity of population, Krigel sample was more effective than investigation sample in both partial estimation and overall estimation in the appropriate sampling gap according to the dependence range.

Should in-line filters be used in peripheral intravenous catheters to prevent infusion-related phlebitis? A systematic review of randomized controlled trials.

PubMed

Niël-Weise, Barbara S; Stijnen, Theo; van den Broek, Peterhans J

2010-06-01

In this systematic review, we assessed the effect of in-line filters on infusion-related phlebitis associated with peripheral IV catheters. The study was designed as a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. We used MEDLINE and the Cochrane Controlled Trial Register up to August 10, 2009. Two reviewers independently assessed trial quality and extracted data. Data on phlebitis were combined when appropriate, using a random-effects model. The impact of the risk of phlebitis in the control group (baseline risk) on the effect of in-line filters was studied by using meta-regression based on the bivariate meta-analysis model. The quality of the evidence was determined by using the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) method. Eleven trials (1633 peripheral catheters) were included in this review to compare the effect of in-line filters on the incidence of phlebitis in hospitalized patients. Baseline risks across trials ranged from 23% to 96%. Meta-analysis of all trials showed that in-line filters reduced the risk of infusion-related phlebitis (relative risk, 0.66; 95% confidence interval, 0.43-1.00). This benefit, however, is very uncertain, because the trials had serious methodological shortcomings and meta-analysis revealed marked unexplained statistical heterogeneity (P < 0.0000, I(2) = 90.4%). The estimated benefit did not depend on baseline risk. In-line filters in peripheral IV catheters cannot be recommended routinely, because evidence of their benefit is uncertain.

Lane detection using Randomized Hough Transform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mongkonyong, Peerawat; Nuthong, Chaiwat; Siddhichai, Supakorn; Yamakita, Masaki

2018-01-01

According to the report of the Royal Thai Police between 2006 and 2015, lane changing without consciousness is one of the most accident causes. To solve this problem, many methods are considered. Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS) is considered to be one of the potential solutions. LDWS is a mechanism designed to warn the driver when the vehicle begins to move out of its current lane. LDWS contains many parts including lane boundary detection, driver warning and lane marker tracking. This article focuses on the lane boundary detection part. The proposed lane boundary detection detects the lines of the image from the input video and selects the lane marker of the road surface from those lines. Standard Hough Transform (SHT) and Randomized Hough Transform (RHT) are considered in this article. They are used to extract lines of an image. SHT extracts the lines from all of the edge pixels. RHT extracts only the lines randomly picked by the point pairs from edge pixels. RHT algorithm reduces the time and memory usage when compared with SHT. The increase of the threshold value in RHT will increase the voted limit of the line that has a high possibility to be the lane marker, but it also consumes the time and memory. By comparison between SHT and RHT with the different threshold values, 500 frames of input video from the front car camera will be processed. The accuracy and the computational time of RHT are similar to those of SHT in the result of the comparison.

Magnetic Topology and Ion Outflow in Mars' Magnetotail

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mitchell, D. L.; Xu, S.; McFadden, J. P.; Hara, T.; Luhmann, J. G.; Mazelle, C. X.; Andersson, L.; DiBraccio, G. A.; Connerney, J. E. P.

2017-12-01

Planetary ion outflow down the Martian magnetotail could be an important atmospheric loss mechanism. This process depends on magnetic connectivity to the day-side ionosphere and on acceleration of ions to escape velocity. The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission has obtained comprehensive ion, electron, and magnetic field data in Mars' magnetotail. The spacecraft is in a 75°-inclination, elliptical orbit that samples altitudes from 150 to 6200 km. As the orbit precesses, it sweeps through the tail at a variety of altitudes in this range. Data from the Solar Wind Electron Analyzer (SWEA) and Magnetometer (MAG) are used to determine the magnetic field topology in the tail at high cadence (every 2-4 seconds), and in particular whether field lines are open, closed, or draped, and if open whether they have access to the day-side or night-side ionosphere. Simultaneous observations by the Supra-Thermal and Thermal Ion Composition (STATIC) instrument and the Langmuir Probe and Waves (LPW) experiment are used to measure the density, composition, and velocity of planetary plasma on these field lines. We find that magnetic topology in the tail is complex and variable, and is influenced by the IMF polarity and the orientation of Mars' crustal magnetic fields with respect to the Sun. We find that planetary ion outflow occurs on both open and draped field lines. On open field lines, outflow tends to occur parallel to the field line, with colder, denser, and slower outflow on field lines connected to the day-side ionosphere (Fig. 1). On these same field lines (after correction for the spacecraft potential) a shift in the position of the He-II photoelectron feature indicates a 1-Volt parallel electric potential directed away from the planet. Except for H+ and occasionally O+, this potential is insufficient by itself to accelerate planetary ions to escape velocity. Outflow is warmer, less dense, and faster moving on draped field lines. In this case, the ion bulk velocity can be at large angles to the magnetic field, suggesting JxB acceleration. This indicates that more than one mechanism is responsible for accelerating ions into the tail.

Statistical analysis of loopy belief propagation in random fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yasuda, Muneki; Kataoka, Shun; Tanaka, Kazuyuki

2015-10-01

Loopy belief propagation (LBP), which is equivalent to the Bethe approximation in statistical mechanics, is a message-passing-type inference method that is widely used to analyze systems based on Markov random fields (MRFs). In this paper, we propose a message-passing-type method to analytically evaluate the quenched average of LBP in random fields by using the replica cluster variation method. The proposed analytical method is applicable to general pairwise MRFs with random fields whose distributions differ from each other and can give the quenched averages of the Bethe free energies over random fields, which are consistent with numerical results. The order of its computational cost is equivalent to that of standard LBP. In the latter part of this paper, we describe the application of the proposed method to Bayesian image restoration, in which we observed that our theoretical results are in good agreement with the numerical results for natural images.

Inflation with a graceful exit in a random landscape

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pedro, F. G.; Westphal, A.

2017-03-01

We develop a stochastic description of small-field inflationary histories with a graceful exit in a random potential whose Hessian is a Gaussian random matrix as a model of the unstructured part of the string landscape. The dynamical evolution in such a random potential from a small-field inflation region towards a viable late-time de Sitter (dS) minimum maps to the dynamics of Dyson Brownian motion describing the relaxation of non-equilibrium eigenvalue spectra in random matrix theory. We analytically compute the relaxation probability in a saddle point approximation of the partition function of the eigenvalue distribution of the Wigner ensemble describing the mass matrices of the critical points. When applied to small-field inflation in the landscape, this leads to an exponentially strong bias against small-field ranges and an upper bound N ≪ 10 on the number of light fields N participating during inflation from the non-observation of negative spatial curvature.

Mirror force induced wave dispersion in Alfvén waves

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

Damiano, P. A.; Johnson, J. R.

2013-06-15

Recent hybrid MHD-kinetic electron simulations of global scale standing shear Alfvén waves along the Earth's closed dipolar magnetic field lines show that the upward parallel current region within these waves saturates and broadens perpendicular to the ambient magnetic field and that this broadening increases with the electron temperature. Using resistive MHD simulations, with a parallel Ohm's law derived from the linear Knight relation (which expresses the current-voltage relationship along an auroral field line), we explore the nature of this broadening in the context of the increased perpendicular Poynting flux resulting from the increased parallel electric field associated with mirror forcemore » effects. This increased Poynting flux facilitates wave energy dispersion across field lines which in-turn allows for electron acceleration to carry the field aligned current on adjacent field lines. This mirror force driven dispersion can dominate over that associated with electron inertial effects for global scale waves.« less

Optimal estimation of spatially variable recharge and transmissivity fields under steady-state groundwater flow. Part 1. Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Graham, Wendy D.; Tankersley, Claude D.

1994-05-01

Stochastic methods are used to analyze two-dimensional steady groundwater flow subject to spatially variable recharge and transmissivity. Approximate partial differential equations are developed for the covariances and cross-covariances between the random head, transmissivity and recharge fields. Closed-form solutions of these equations are obtained using Fourier transform techniques. The resulting covariances and cross-covariances can be incorporated into a Bayesian conditioning procedure which provides optimal estimates of the recharge, transmissivity and head fields given available measurements of any or all of these random fields. Results show that head measurements contain valuable information for estimating the random recharge field. However, when recharge is treated as a spatially variable random field, the value of head measurements for estimating the transmissivity field can be reduced considerably. In a companion paper, the method is applied to a case study of the Upper Floridan Aquifer in NE Florida.

The random field Blume-Capel model revisited

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santos, P. V.; da Costa, F. A.; de Araújo, J. M.

2018-04-01

We have revisited the mean-field treatment for the Blume-Capel model under the presence of a discrete random magnetic field as introduced by Kaufman and Kanner (1990). The magnetic field (H) versus temperature (T) phase diagrams for given values of the crystal field D were recovered in accordance to Kaufman and Kanner original work. However, our main goal in the present work was to investigate the distinct structures of the crystal field versus temperature phase diagrams as the random magnetic field is varied because similar models have presented reentrant phenomenon due to randomness. Following previous works we have classified the distinct phase diagrams according to five different topologies. The topological structure of the phase diagrams is maintained for both H - T and D - T cases. Although the phase diagrams exhibit a richness of multicritical phenomena we did not found any reentrant effect as have been seen in similar models.

Impact of a High Magnetic Field on the Orientation of Gravitactic Unicellular Organisms—A Critical Consideration about the Application of Magnetic Fields to Mimic Functional Weightlessness

PubMed Central

Simon, Anja; Waßer, Kai; Hauslage, Jens; Christianen, Peter C.M.; Albers, Peter W.; Lebert, Michael; Richter, Peter; Alt, Wolfgang; Anken, Ralf

2014-01-01

Abstract The gravity-dependent behavior of Paramecium biaurelia and Euglena gracilis have previously been studied on ground and in real microgravity. To validate whether high magnetic field exposure indeed provides a ground-based facility to mimic functional weightlessness, as has been suggested earlier, both cell types were observed during exposure in a strong homogeneous magnetic field (up to 30 T) and a strong magnetic field gradient. While swimming, Paramecium cells were aligned along the magnetic field lines; orientation of Euglena was perpendicular, demonstrating that the magnetic field determines the orientation and thus prevents the organisms from the random swimming known to occur in real microgravity. Exposing Astasia longa, a flagellate that is closely related to Euglena but lacks chloroplasts and the photoreceptor, as well as the chloroplast-free mutant E. gracilis 1F, to a high magnetic field revealed no reorientation to the perpendicular direction as in the case of wild-type E. gracilis, indicating the existence of an anisotropic structure (chloroplasts) that determines the direction of passive orientation. Immobilized Euglena and Paramecium cells could not be levitated even in the highest available magnetic field gradient as sedimentation persisted with little impact of the field on the sedimentation velocities. We conclude that magnetic fields are not suited as a microgravity simulation for gravitactic unicellular organisms due to the strong effect of the magnetic field itself, which masks the effects known from experiments in real microgravity. Key Words: Levitation—Microgravity—Gravitaxis—Gravikinesis—Gravity. Astrobiology 14, 205–215. PMID:24621307

The generalization of upper atmospheric wind and temperature based on the Voigt line shape profile.

PubMed

Zhang, Chunmin; He, Jian

2006-12-25

The principle of probing the upper atmospheric wind field, which is the Voigt profile spectral line shape, is presented for the first time. By the Fourier Transform of Voigt profile, with the Imaging Spectroscope and the Doppler effect of electromagnetic wave, the distribution and calculation formulae of the velocity field, temperature field, and pressure field of the upper atmosphere wind field are given. The probed source is the two major aurora emission lines originated from the metastable O(1S) and O(1D) at 557.7nm and 630.0nm. From computer simulation and error analysis, the Voigt profile, which is the correlation of the Gaussian profile and Lorentzian profile, is closest to the actual airglow emission lines.

ISEE 1 charged particle observations indicative of open magnetospheric field lines near the subsolar region

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, D. J.; Frank, L. A.

1980-01-01

On November 20, 1977, at 0230-0300 UT, ISEE 1 encountered unusual charged particle distributions within the magnetosphere. The three-dimensional distribution observations for energetic (greater than 24 keV) ions and plasma show the development of field-aligned asymmetries in the energetic ion distributions simultaneously with a marked change in plasma flow. It is concluded that the most likely explanation for these observations is that ISEE 1 encountered open magnetospheric field lines at its position within the magnetosphere (1030 LT and 1200 plus or minus 300 km from the magnetopause). Field lines were open near the geomagnetic equator, and the geometry was spatially or temporally variable. Other features of the field line topology are presented.

Computer-Drawn Field Lines and Potential Surfaces for a Wide Range of Field Configurations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brandt, Siegmund; Schneider, Hermann

1976-01-01

Describes a computer program that computes field lines and equipotential surfaces for a wide range of field configurations. Presents the mathematical technique and details of the program, the input data, and different modes of graphical representation. (MLH)

Source Localization in Wireless Sensor Networks with Randomly Distributed Elements under Multipath Propagation Conditions

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-03-01

IN WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS WITH RANDOMLY DISTRIBUTED ELEMENTS UNDER MULTIPATH PROPAGATION CONDITIONS by Georgios Tsivgoulis March 2009...COVERED Engineer’s Thesis 4. TITLE Source Localization in Wireless Sensor Networks with Randomly Distributed Elements under Multipath Propagation...the non-line-of-sight information. 15. NUMBER OF PAGES 111 14. SUBJECT TERMS Wireless Sensor Network , Direction of Arrival, DOA, Random

Recent Plasma Observations Related to Magnetic Merging and the Low-Latitude Boundary Layer. Case Study by Polar, March 18, 2006

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chandler, M.; Avanov, L.; Craven, P.; Mozer, F.; Moore, T. E.

2007-01-01

We have begun an investigation of the nature of the low-latitude boundary layer in the mid-altitude cusp region using data from the Polar spacecraft. Magnetosheath-like plasma is frequently observed deep (in terms of distance from the magnetopause and in invariant latitude) in the magnetosphere. One such case, taken during a long period of northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMP) on March 18, 2006, shows injected magnetosheath ions within the magnetosphere with velocity distributions resulting from two separate merging sites along the same field lines. Cold ionospheric ions were also observed counterstreaming along the field lines, evidence that these field lines were closed. Our results support the idea of double reconnection under northward IMP on the same group of field lines can provide a source for the LLBL. However, the flow direction of the accelerated magnetosheath ions antiparallel to the local magnetic field and given location of the spacecraft suggest that these two injection sites are located northward of the spacecraft position. Observed convection velocities of the magnetic field lines are inconsistent with those expected for double post-cusp reconnection in both hemispheres. These observations favor a scenario in which a group of newly closed field lines was created by a combination of high shear merging at high latitudes in the northern hemisphere and low shear merging at lower latitudes at the dayside magnetopause.

A New Algorithm with Plane Waves and Wavelets for Random Velocity Fields with Many Spatial Scales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elliott, Frank W.; Majda, Andrew J.

1995-03-01

A new Monte Carlo algorithm for constructing and sampling stationary isotropic Gaussian random fields with power-law energy spectrum, infrared divergence, and fractal self-similar scaling is developed here. The theoretical basis for this algorithm involves the fact that such a random field is well approximated by a superposition of random one-dimensional plane waves involving a fixed finite number of directions. In general each one-dimensional plane wave is the sum of a random shear layer and a random acoustical wave. These one-dimensional random plane waves are then simulated by a wavelet Monte Carlo method for a single space variable developed recently by the authors. The computational results reported in this paper demonstrate remarkable low variance and economical representation of such Gaussian random fields through this new algorithm. In particular, the velocity structure function for an imcorepressible isotropic Gaussian random field in two space dimensions with the Kolmogoroff spectrum can be simulated accurately over 12 decades with only 100 realizations of the algorithm with the scaling exponent accurate to 1.1% and the constant prefactor accurate to 6%; in fact, the exponent of the velocity structure function can be computed over 12 decades within 3.3% with only 10 realizations. Furthermore, only 46,592 active computational elements are utilized in each realization to achieve these results for 12 decades of scaling behavior.

A comparison of field-line resonances observed at the Goose Bay and Wick radars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Provan, G.; Yeoman, T. K.

1997-02-01

Previous observations with the Goose Bay HF coherent-scatter radar have revealed structured spectral peaks at ultra-low frequencies. The frequencies of these spectral peaks have been demonstrated to be extremely consistent from day to day. The stability of these spectral peaks can be seen as evidence for the existence of global magnetospheric cavity modes whose resonant frequencies are independent of latitude. Field-line resonances occur when successive harmonics of the eigenfrequency of the magnetospheric cavity or waveguide match either the first harmonic eigenfrequency of the geomagnetic field lines or higher harmonics of this frequency. Power spectra observed at the SABRE VHF coherent-scatter radar at Wick, Scotland, during night and early morning are revealed to show similarly clearly structured spectral peaks. These spectral peaks are the result of local field-line resonances due to Alfvén waves standing on magnetospheric field lines. A comparison of the spectra observed by the Goose Bay and Wick radars demonstrate that the frequencies of the field-line resonances are, on average, almost identical, despite the different latitudinal ranges covered by the two radars. Possible explanations for the similarity of the signatures on the two radar systems are discussed.

Synthetic observations of wave propagation in a sunspot umbra

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

Felipe, T.; Socas-Navarro, H.; Khomenko, E.

2014-11-01

Spectropolarimetric temporal series from Fe I λ6301.5 Å and Ca II infrared triplet lines are obtained by applying the Stokes synthesis code NICOLE to a numerical simulation of wave propagation in a sunspot umbra from MANCHA code. The analysis of the phase difference between Doppler velocity and intensity core oscillations of the Fe I λ6301.5 Å line reveals that variations in the intensity are produced by opacity fluctuations rather than intrinsic temperature oscillations, except for frequencies between 5 and 6.5 mHz. On the other hand, the photospheric magnetic field retrieved from the weak field approximation provides the intrinsic magnetic fieldmore » oscillations associated to wave propagation. Our results suggest that this is due to the low magnetic field gradient of our sunspot model. The Stokes parameters of the chromospheric Ca II infrared triplet lines show striking variations as shock waves travel through the formation height of the lines, including emission self-reversals in the line core and highly abnormal Stokes V profiles. Magnetic field oscillations inferred from the Ca II infrared lines using the weak field approximation appear to be related with the magnetic field strength variation between the photosphere and the chromosphere.« less

The effect of a guide field on the structures of magnetic islands formed during multiple X line reconnections: Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Can; Lu, Quanming; Lu, San; Wang, Peiran; Wang, Shui

2014-02-01

A magnetic island plays an important role in magnetic reconnection. In this paper, using a series of two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we investigate the magnetic structures of a magnetic island formed during multiple X line magnetic reconnections, considering the effects of the guide field in symmetric and asymmetric current sheets. In a symmetric current sheet, the current in the x direction forms a tripolar structure inside a magnetic island during antiparallel reconnection, which results in a quadrupole structure of the out-of-plane magnetic field. With the increase of the guide field, the symmetry of both the current system and out-of-plane magnetic field inside the magnetic island is distorted. When the guide field is sufficiently strong, the current forms a ring along the magnetic field lines inside a magnetic island. At the same time, the current carried by the energetic electrons accelerated in the vicinity of the X lines forms another ring at the edge of the magnetic island. Such a dual-ring current system enhances the out-of-plane magnetic field inside the magnetic island with a dip in the center of the magnetic island. In an asymmetric current sheet, when there is no guide field, electrons flow toward the X lines along the separatrices from the side with a higher density and are then directed away from the X lines along the separatrices to the side with a lower density. The formed current results in the enhancement of the out-of-plane magnetic field at one end of the magnetic island and the attenuation at the other end. With the increase of the guide field, the structures of both the current system and the out-of-plane magnetic field are distorted.

SMERFS: Stochastic Markov Evaluation of Random Fields on the Sphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Creasey, Peter; Lang, Annika

2018-04-01

SMERFS (Stochastic Markov Evaluation of Random Fields on the Sphere) creates large realizations of random fields on the sphere. It uses a fast algorithm based on Markov properties and fast Fourier Transforms in 1d that generates samples on an n X n grid in O(n2 log n) and efficiently derives the necessary conditional covariance matrices.

Magneto-mechanical bone growth stimulation by actuation of highly porous ferromagnetic fiber arrays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Markaki, Athina E.; Clyne, Trevor W.

2005-02-01

This work relates to porous material made by bonding together fibres of a magnetic material. When subjected to a magnetic field, the array deforms, with individual fibres becoming magnetised along their length and then tending to line up locally with the direction of the field. An investigation is presented into the concept that this deformation could induce beneficial strains in bone tissue network in the early stages of growth as it grows into the porous fibre array. An analytical model has been developed, based on the deflection of individual fibre segments (between joints) experiencing bending moments as a result of the induced magnetic dipole. The model has been validated via measurements made on simple fibre assemblies and random fibre arrays. Work has also been done on the deformation characteristics of random fibre arrays with a matrix filling the inter-fibre space. This has the effect of reducing the fibre deflections. The extent of this reduction, and an estimate of the maximum strains induced in the space-filling material, can be obtained using a simple force balance approach. Predictions indicate that in-growing bone tissue, with a stiffness of around 0.01-0.1 GPa, could be strained to beneficial levels (~1 millistrain), using magnetic field strengths in current diagnostic use (~1 Tesla), provided the fibre segment aspect ratio is at least about 10. Such material has a low Young"s modulus, but the overall stiffness of a prosthesis could be matched to that of cortical bone by using an integrated design involving a porous magneto-active layer bonded to a dense non-magnetic core.

Differences in soil quality between organic and conventional farming over a maize crop season

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferreira, Carla; Veiga, Adelcia; Puga, João; Kikuchi, Ryunosuke; Ferreira, António

2017-04-01

Land degradation in agricultural areas is a major concern. The large number of mechanical interventions and the amount of inputs used to assure high crop productivity, such as fertilizers and pesticides, have negative impacts on soil quality and threaten crop productivity and environmental sustainability. Organic farming is an alternative agriculture system, based on organic fertilizers, biological pest control and crop rotation, in order to mitigate soil degradation. Maize is the third most important cereal worldwide, with 2008 million tons produced in 2013 (IGN, 2016). In Portugal, 120000 ha of arable land is devoted to maize production, leading to annual yields of about 930000 ton (INE, 2015). This study investigates soil quality differences in maize farms under organic and conventional systems. The study was carried out in Coimbra Agrarian Technical School (ESAC), in central region of Portugal. ESAC campus comprises maize fields managed under conventional farming - Vagem Grande (32 ha), and organic fields - Caldeirão (12 ha), distancing 2.8 km. Vagem Grande has been intensively used for grain maize production for more than 20 years, whereas Caldeirão was converted to organic farming in 2008, and is being used to select regional maize varieties. The region has a Mediterranean climate. The maize fields have Eutric Fluvisols, with gentle slopes (<3%). In order to assess soil quality, three plots per farm were installed in May 2006, immediately after sowing, and monitored until October 2016, before harvesting, in order to cover all the crop season. Each plot comprises 5 plant lines (˜4 m width) with 20 m length. In order to assure the comparison between both farms, the same maize variety was used (Pigarro) in both fields, with the same compass. Soil samples were collected immediately after sowing. In Vagem Grande distinct soil samples were taken: (i) within plant lines, and (ii) between plant lines, since mineral fertilizers were spread over the field before sowing, and addition fertilizer was applied together with seeds, in plant lines. In Caldeirão, since fertilization was not performed due to weather constrains, soil samples were collected randomly within the plots. Additional soil samples were collected before harvest, in plant lines and between plant lines, in both farms. Surface (0-15 cm) and subsurface (15-30 cm) soil samples were taken. Soil samples were used for texture, pH, organic carbon, Kjeldhal nitrogen, nitrates, ammonia nitrogen, plant available phosphorus and potassium, and exchangeable cations (Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Na+) analyses. Additional soil samples were also collected with soil ring samplers (137 cm3) for bulk density analyses after sowing. Surface water infiltration was also measured with tension infiltrometer (membrane of 20cm), using different tensions (0 cm, -3cm, -6 cm e -15cm). Decomposition rate and litter stabilisation was assessed over a 3-month period through the Tea Bag Index (Keuskamp et al., 2013). The number and diversity of earthworms were also measured at the surface (0-20cm), through extraction, and at the subsurface (>20cm), using mustard solution.

Effect of a Binocular iPad Game vs Part-time Patching in Children Aged 5 to 12 Years With Amblyopia: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

PubMed

Holmes, Jonathan M; Manh, Vivian M; Lazar, Elizabeth L; Beck, Roy W; Birch, Eileen E; Kraker, Raymond T; Crouch, Eric R; Erzurum, S Ayse; Khuddus, Nausheen; Summers, Allison I; Wallace, David K

2016-12-01

A binocular approach to treating anisometropic and strabismic amblyopia has recently been advocated. Initial studies have yielded promising results, suggesting that a larger randomized clinical trial is warranted. To compare visual acuity (VA) improvement in children with amblyopia treated with a binocular iPad game vs part-time patching. A multicenter, noninferiority randomized clinical trial was conducted in community and institutional practices from September 16, 2014, to August 28, 2015. Participants included 385 children aged 5 years to younger than 13 years with amblyopia (20/40 to 20/200, mean 20/63) resulting from strabismus, anisometropia, or both. Participants were randomly assigned to either 16 weeks of a binocular iPad game prescribed for 1 hour a day (190 participants; binocular group) or patching of the fellow eye prescribed for 2 hours a day (195 participants; patching group). Study follow-up visits were scheduled at 4, 8, 12, and 16 weeks. A modified intent-to-treat analysis was performed on participants who completed the 16-week trial. Binocular iPad game or patching of the fellow eye. Change in amblyopic-eye VA from baseline to 16 weeks. Of the 385 participants, 187 were female (48.6%); mean (SD) age was 8.5 (1.9) years. At 16 weeks, mean amblyopic-eye VA improved 1.05 lines (2-sided 95% CI, 0.85-1.24 lines) in the binocular group and 1.35 lines (2-sided 95% CI, 1.17-1.54 lines) in the patching group, with an adjusted treatment group difference of 0.31 lines favoring patching (upper limit of the 1-sided 95% CI, 0.53 lines). This upper limit exceeded the prespecified noninferiority limit of 0.5 lines. Only 39 of the 176 participants (22.2%) randomized to the binocular game and with log file data available performed more than 75% of the prescribed treatment (median, 46%; interquartile range, 20%-72%). In younger participants (aged 5 to <7 years) without prior amblyopia treatment, amblyopic-eye VA improved by a mean (SD) of 2.5 (1.5) lines in the binocular group and 2.8 (0.8) lines in the patching group. Adverse effects (including diplopia) were uncommon and of similar frequency between groups. In children aged 5 to younger than 13 years, amblyopic-eye VA improved with binocular game play and with patching, particularly in younger children (age 5 to <7 years) without prior amblyopia treatment. Although the primary noninferiority analysis was indeterminate, a post hoc analysis suggested that VA improvement with this particular binocular iPad treatment was not as good as with 2 hours of prescribed daily patching. http://www.clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT02200211.

Comparisons of measured and calculated potential magnetic fields. [in solar corona

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hagyard, M. J.; Teuber, D.

1978-01-01

Photospheric line-of-sight and transverse-magnetic-field data obtained, with a vector magnetograph system for an isolated sunspot are described. A study of the linear polarization patterns and of the calculated transverse field lines indicates that the magnetic field of the region is very nearly potential. The H-alpha fibril structures of this region as seen in high-resolution photographs corroborate this conclusion. Consequently, a potential-field calculation is described using the measured line-of-sight fields together with assumed Neumann boundary conditions; both are necessary and sufficient for a unique solution. The computed transverse fields are then compared with the measured transverse fields to verify the potential-field model and assumed boundary values. The implications of these comparisons for the validity of magnetic-field extrapolations using potential theory are discussed.

The Effectiveness of a Phone Help Line As Indicated by Student Awareness and Use

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Craig W.

1976-01-01

Randomly sampled students (N=287) indicated the Help Line at the University of Nebraska significantly helped with their personal and informational needs. Perceptions of Help Line's purposes fell into two groups: informational versus personal. The two groups had radically different call rates. Advertising procedures are also discussed. (Author)

Energy buildup in sheared force-free magnetic fields

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolfson, Richard; Low, Boon C.

1992-01-01

Photospheric displacement of the footpoints of solar magnetic field lines results in shearing and twisting of the field, and consequently in the buildup of electric currents and magnetic free energy in the corona. The sudden release of this free energy may be the origin of eruptive events like coronal mass ejections, prominence eruptions, and flares. An important question is whether such an energy release may be accompanied by the opening of magnetic field lines that were previously closed, for such open field lines can provide a route for matter frozen into the field to escape the sun altogether. This paper presents the results of numerical calculations showing that opening of the magnetic field is permitted energetically, in that it is possible to build up more free energy in a sheared, closed, force-free magnetic field than is in a related magnetic configuration having both closed and open field lines. Whether or not the closed force-free field attains enough energy to become partially open depends on the form of the shear profile; the results presented compare the energy buildup for different shear profiles. Implications for solar activity are discussed briefly.

On the electric field model for an open magnetosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, Zhi; Ashour-Abdalla, Maha; Walker, Raymond J.

1993-01-01

We have developed a new canonical separator line type magnetospheric magnetic field and electric field model for use in magnetospheric calculations, we determine the magnetic and electric field by controlling the reconnection rate at the subsolar magnetopause. The model is applicable only for purely southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). We have obtained a more realistic magnetotail configuration by applying a stretch transformation to an axially symmetric field solution. We also discuss the Stern singularity in which there is an electric field singlarity in the canonical separate line models for B(sub y) not = to 0 by using a new technique that solves for the electric field along a field line directly instead of determining it by a potential mapping. The singularity not only causes an infinite electric field on the polar cap, but also causes the boundary conditions at plus infinity and minus infinity in the solar wind to contradict each other. This means that the canonical separator line models do not represent the open magnetosphere well, except for the case of purely southward IMF.

Stochastic field-line wandering in magnetic turbulence with shear. II. Decorrelation trajectory method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Negrea, M.; Petrisor, I.; Shalchi, A.

2017-11-01

We study the diffusion of magnetic field lines in turbulence with magnetic shear. In the first part of the series, we developed a quasi-linear theory for this type of scenario. In this article, we employ the so-called DeCorrelation Trajectory method in order to compute the diffusion coefficients of stochastic magnetic field lines. The magnetic field configuration used here contains fluctuating terms which are described by the dimensionless functions bi(X, Y, Z), i = (x, y) and they are assumed to be Gaussian processes and are perpendicular with respect to the main magnetic field B0. Furthermore, there is also a z-component of the magnetic field depending on radial coordinate x (representing the gradient of the magnetic field) and a poloidal average component. We calculate the diffusion coefficients for magnetic field lines for different values of the magnetic Kubo number K, the dimensionless inhomogeneous magnetic parallel and perpendicular Kubo numbers KB∥, KB⊥ , as well as Ka v=bya vKB∥/KB⊥ .

An overview of the Families Improving Together (FIT) for weight loss randomized controlled trial in African American families.

PubMed

Wilson, Dawn K; Kitzman-Ulrich, Heather; Resnicow, Ken; Van Horn, M Lee; St George, Sara M; Siceloff, E Rebekah; Alia, Kassandra A; McDaniel, Tyler; Heatley, VaShawn; Huffman, Lauren; Coulon, Sandra; Prinz, Ron

2015-05-01

The Families Improving Together (FIT) randomized controlled trial tests the efficacy of integrating cultural tailoring, positive parenting, and motivational strategies into a comprehensive curriculum for weight loss in African American adolescents. The overall goal of the FIT trial is to test the effects of an integrated intervention curriculum and the added effects of a tailored web-based intervention on reducing z-BMI in overweight African American adolescents. The FIT trial is a randomized group cohort design the will involve 520 African American families with an overweight adolescent between the ages of 11-16 years. The trial tests the efficacy of an 8-week face-to-face group randomized program comparing M + FWL (Motivational Plus Family Weight Loss) to a comprehensive health education program (CHE) and re-randomizes participants to either an 8-week on-line tailored intervention or control on-line program resulting in a 2 (M + FWL vs. CHE group) × 2 (on-line intervention vs. control on-line program) factorial design to test the effects of the intervention on reducing z-BMI at post-treatment and at 6-month follow-up. The interventions for this trial are based on a theoretical framework that is novel and integrates elements from cultural tailoring, Family Systems Theory, Self-Determination Theory and Social Cognitive Theory. The intervention targets positive parenting skills (parenting style, monitoring, communication); cultural values; teaching parents to increase youth motivation by encouraging youth to have input and choice (autonomy-support); and provides a framework for building skills and self-efficacy through developing weight loss action plans that target goal setting, monitoring, and positive feedback. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Inc.

The monitoring results of electromagnetic radiation of 110-kV high-voltage lines in one urban location in Chongqing P.R. China.

PubMed

Qin, Qi-Zhong; Chen, Yu; Fu, Ting-Ting; Ding, Li; Han, Ling-Li; Li, Jian-Chao

2012-03-01

To understand electromagnetic radiation field strength and its influencing factors of certain 110-kV high-voltage lines in one urban area of Chongqing by measuring 110-kV high-voltage line's electromagnetic radiation level. According to the methodology as determined by the National Hygienic Standards, we selected certain adjacent residential buildings, high-voltage lines along a specific street and selected different distances around its vertical projection point as monitoring points. The levels of electromagnetic radiations were measured respectively. In this investigation within the frequency of 5-1,000 Hz both the electric field strength and magnetic field strength of each monitoring sites were lower than the public exposure standards as determined by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection. However, the electrical field strength on the roof adjacent to the high-voltage lines was significantly higher than that as measured on the other floors in the same buildings (p < 0.05). The electromagnetic radiation measurements of different monitoring points, under the same high-voltage lines, showed the location which is nearer the high-voltage line maintain a consistently higher level of radiation than the more distant locations (p < 0.05). Electromagnetic radiation generated by high-voltage lines decreases proportionally to the distance from the lines. The buildings can to some extent shield (or absorb) the electric fields generated by high-voltage lines nearby. The electromagnetic radiation intensity near high-voltage lines may be mitigated or intensified by the manner in which the high-voltage lines are set up, and it merits attention for the potential impact on human health.

Restoration of dimensional reduction in the random-field Ising model at five dimensions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fytas, Nikolaos G.; Martín-Mayor, Víctor; Picco, Marco; Sourlas, Nicolas

2017-04-01

The random-field Ising model is one of the few disordered systems where the perturbative renormalization group can be carried out to all orders of perturbation theory. This analysis predicts dimensional reduction, i.e., that the critical properties of the random-field Ising model in D dimensions are identical to those of the pure Ising ferromagnet in D -2 dimensions. It is well known that dimensional reduction is not true in three dimensions, thus invalidating the perturbative renormalization group prediction. Here, we report high-precision numerical simulations of the 5D random-field Ising model at zero temperature. We illustrate universality by comparing different probability distributions for the random fields. We compute all the relevant critical exponents (including the critical slowing down exponent for the ground-state finding algorithm), as well as several other renormalization-group invariants. The estimated values of the critical exponents of the 5D random-field Ising model are statistically compatible to those of the pure 3D Ising ferromagnet. These results support the restoration of dimensional reduction at D =5 . We thus conclude that the failure of the perturbative renormalization group is a low-dimensional phenomenon. We close our contribution by comparing universal quantities for the random-field problem at dimensions 3 ≤D <6 to their values in the pure Ising model at D -2 dimensions, and we provide a clear verification of the Rushbrooke equality at all studied dimensions.

Restoration of dimensional reduction in the random-field Ising model at five dimensions.

PubMed

Fytas, Nikolaos G; Martín-Mayor, Víctor; Picco, Marco; Sourlas, Nicolas

2017-04-01

The random-field Ising model is one of the few disordered systems where the perturbative renormalization group can be carried out to all orders of perturbation theory. This analysis predicts dimensional reduction, i.e., that the critical properties of the random-field Ising model in D dimensions are identical to those of the pure Ising ferromagnet in D-2 dimensions. It is well known that dimensional reduction is not true in three dimensions, thus invalidating the perturbative renormalization group prediction. Here, we report high-precision numerical simulations of the 5D random-field Ising model at zero temperature. We illustrate universality by comparing different probability distributions for the random fields. We compute all the relevant critical exponents (including the critical slowing down exponent for the ground-state finding algorithm), as well as several other renormalization-group invariants. The estimated values of the critical exponents of the 5D random-field Ising model are statistically compatible to those of the pure 3D Ising ferromagnet. These results support the restoration of dimensional reduction at D=5. We thus conclude that the failure of the perturbative renormalization group is a low-dimensional phenomenon. We close our contribution by comparing universal quantities for the random-field problem at dimensions 3≤D<6 to their values in the pure Ising model at D-2 dimensions, and we provide a clear verification of the Rushbrooke equality at all studied dimensions.

Enhancing patient understanding of medical procedures: evaluation of an interactive multimedia program with in-line exercises.

PubMed

Tait, Alan R; Voepel-Lewis, Terri; Chetcuti, Stanley J; Brennan-Martinez, Colleen; Levine, Robert

2014-05-01

Standard print and verbal information provided to patients undergoing treatments are often difficult to understand and may impair their ability to be truly informed. This study examined the effect of an interactive multimedia informational program with in-line exercises and corrected feedback on patients' real-time understanding of their cardiac catheterization procedure. 151 adult patients scheduled for diagnostic cardiac catheterization were randomized to receive information about their procedure using either the standard institutional verbal and written information (SI) or an interactive iPad-based informational program (IPI). Subject understanding was evaluated using semi-structured interviews at baseline, immediately following catheterization, and 2 weeks after the procedure. In addition, for those randomized to the IPI, the ability to respond correctly to several in-line exercises was recorded. Subjects' perceptions of, and preferences for the information delivery were also elicited. Subjects randomized to the IPI program had significantly better understanding following the intervention compared with those randomized to the SI group (8.3±2.4 vs 7.4±2.5, respectively, 0-12 scale where 12=complete understanding, P<0.05). First-time correct responses to the in-line exercises ranged from 24.3% to 100%. Subjects reported that the in-line exercises were very helpful (9.1±1.7, 0-10 scale, where 10=extremely helpful) and the iPad program very easy to use (9.0±1.6, 0-10 scale, where 10=extremely easy) suggesting good clinical utility. Results demonstrated the ability of an interactive multimedia program to enhance patients' understanding of their medical procedure. Importantly, the incorporation of in-line exercises permitted identification of knowledge deficits, provided corrected feedback, and confirmed the patients' understanding of treatment information in real-time when consent was sought. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

First-principles studies of chromium line-ordered alloys in a molybdenum disulfide monolayer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andriambelaza, N. F.; Mapasha, R. E.; Chetty, N.

2017-08-01

Density functional theory calculations have been performed to study the thermodynamic stability, structural and electronic properties of various chromium (Cr) line-ordered alloy configurations in a molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) hexagonal monolayer for band gap engineering. Only the molybdenum (Mo) sites were substituted at each concentration in this study. For comparison purposes, different Cr line-ordered alloy and random alloy configurations were studied and the most thermodynamically stable ones at each concentration were identified. The configurations formed by the nearest neighbor pair of Cr atoms are energetically most favorable. The line-ordered alloys are constantly lower in formation energy than the random alloys at each concentration. An increase in Cr concentration reduces the lattice constant of the MoS2 system following the Vegard’s law. From density of states analysis, we found that the MoS2 band gap is tunable by both the Cr line-ordered alloys and random alloys with the same magnitudes. The reduction of the band gap is mainly due to the hybridization of the Cr 3d and Mo 4d orbitals at the vicinity of the band edges. The band gap engineering and magnitudes (1.65 eV to 0.86 eV) suggest that the Cr alloys in a MoS2 monolayer are good candidates for nanotechnology devices.

Model of random center vortex lines in continuous 2 +1 -dimensional spacetime

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Altarawneh, Derar; Engelhardt, Michael; Höllwieser, Roman

2016-12-01

A picture of confinement in QCD based on a condensate of thick vortices with fluxes in the center of the gauge group (center vortices) is studied. Previous concrete model realizations of this picture utilized a hypercubic space-time scaffolding, which, together with many advantages, also has some disadvantages, e.g., in the treatment of vortex topological charge. In the present work, we explore a center vortex model which does not rely on such a scaffolding. Vortices are represented by closed random lines in continuous 2 +1 -dimensional space-time. These random lines are modeled as being piecewise linear, and an ensemble is generated by Monte Carlo methods. The physical space in which the vortex lines are defined is a torus with periodic boundary conditions. Besides moving, growing, and shrinking of the vortex configurations, also reconnections are allowed. Our ensemble therefore contains not a fixed but a variable number of closed vortex lines. This is expected to be important for realizing the deconfining phase transition. We study both vortex percolation and the potential V (R ) between the quark and antiquark as a function of distance R at different vortex densities, vortex segment lengths, reconnection conditions, and at different temperatures. We find three deconfinement phase transitions, as a function of density, as a function of vortex segment length, and as a function of temperature.

Variability of the Baltic Sea level and floods in the Gulf of Finland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kulikov, E. A.; Medvedev, I. P.

2013-03-01

The statistical analysis of the long-term data on the variability of the Baltic Sea level has revealed the complicated character of the wave field structure. The wave field formed by the variable winds and the disturbances of the atmospheric pressure in the Baltic Sea is a superposition of standing oscillations with random phases. The cross spectral analysis of the synchronous observation series of the level in the Gulf of Finland has shown that the nodal lines of the standing dilatational waves are clearly traced with frequencies corresponding to the distance from the nodal line to the top of the gulf (a quarter of the wave length). Several areas of the water basin with clearly expressed resonant properties may be distinguished: the Gulfs of Finland, Riga, and Bothnia, Neva Bay, etc. The estimations of the statistical correlation of the sea level oscillations with the variation of the wind and atmospheric pressure indicate the dominant role of the zonal wind component during the formation of the floods in the Gulf of Finland. The probable reason for the extreme floods in St. Petersburg may be the resonance rocking of the eigenmode oscillations corresponding to the basic fundamental seiche mode of the Gulf of Finland with a period of 27 h when the repeated atmospheric disturbances in the Baltic Sea occur with a period of 1-2 days.

On the existence of the field line solutions of the Einstein-Maxwell equations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vancea, Ion V.

The main result of this paper is the proof that there are local electric and magnetic field configurations expressed in terms of field lines on an arbitrary hyperbolic manifold. This electromagnetic field is described by (dual) solutions of the Maxwell’s equations of the Einstein-Maxwell theory. These solutions have the following important properties: (i) they are general, in the sense that the knot solutions are particular cases of them and (ii) they reduce to the electromagnetic fields in the field line representation in the flat space-time. Also, we discuss briefly the real representation of these electromagnetic configurations and write down the corresponding Einstein equations.

Bayesian approach to non-Gaussian field statistics for diffusive broadband terahertz pulses.

PubMed

Pearce, Jeremy; Jian, Zhongping; Mittleman, Daniel M

2005-11-01

We develop a closed-form expression for the probability distribution function for the field components of a diffusive broadband wave propagating through a random medium. We consider each spectral component to provide an individual observation of a random variable, the configurationally averaged spectral intensity. Since the intensity determines the variance of the field distribution at each frequency, this random variable serves as the Bayesian prior that determines the form of the non-Gaussian field statistics. This model agrees well with experimental results.

Genomic Selection in Multi-environment Crop Trials.

PubMed

Oakey, Helena; Cullis, Brian; Thompson, Robin; Comadran, Jordi; Halpin, Claire; Waugh, Robbie

2016-05-03

Genomic selection in crop breeding introduces modeling challenges not found in animal studies. These include the need to accommodate replicate plants for each line, consider spatial variation in field trials, address line by environment interactions, and capture nonadditive effects. Here, we propose a flexible single-stage genomic selection approach that resolves these issues. Our linear mixed model incorporates spatial variation through environment-specific terms, and also randomization-based design terms. It considers marker, and marker by environment interactions using ridge regression best linear unbiased prediction to extend genomic selection to multiple environments. Since the approach uses the raw data from line replicates, the line genetic variation is partitioned into marker and nonmarker residual genetic variation (i.e., additive and nonadditive effects). This results in a more precise estimate of marker genetic effects. Using barley height data from trials, in 2 different years, of up to 477 cultivars, we demonstrate that our new genomic selection model improves predictions compared to current models. Analyzing single trials revealed improvements in predictive ability of up to 5.7%. For the multiple environment trial (MET) model, combining both year trials improved predictive ability up to 11.4% compared to a single environment analysis. Benefits were significant even when fewer markers were used. Compared to a single-year standard model run with 3490 markers, our partitioned MET model achieved the same predictive ability using between 500 and 1000 markers depending on the trial. Our approach can be used to increase accuracy and confidence in the selection of the best lines for breeding and/or, to reduce costs by using fewer markers. Copyright © 2016 Oakey et al.

Cluster spacecraft observations of a ULF wave enhanced by Space Plasma Exploration by Active Radar (SPEAR)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Badman, S. V.; Wright, D. M.; Clausen, L. B. N.; Fear, R. C.; Robinson, T. R.; Yeoman, T. K.

2009-09-01

Space Plasma Exploration by Active Radar (SPEAR) is a high-latitude ionospheric heating facility capable of exciting ULF waves on local magnetic field lines. We examine an interval from 1 February 2006 when SPEAR was transmitting a 1 Hz modulation signal with a 10 min on-off cycle. Ground magnetometer data indicated that SPEAR modulated currents in the local ionosphere at 1 Hz, and enhanced a natural field line resonance with a 10 min period. During this interval the Cluster spacecraft passed over the heater site. Signatures of the SPEAR-enhanced field line resonance were present in the magnetic field data measured by the magnetometer on-board Cluster-2. These are the first joint ground- and space-based detections of field line tagging by SPEAR.

A Randomized Trial Comparing Bangerter Filters and Patching for the Treatment of Moderate Amblyopia in Children

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Objective To determine whether visual acuity improvement with Bangerter filters is similar to improvement with patching as initial therapy for children with moderate amblyopia. Design Randomized clinical trial. Participants 186 children, 3 to <10 years old, with moderate amblyopia (20/40 to 20/80). Methods Children were randomly assigned to receive either daily patching or to use a Bangerter filter on the spectacle lens in front of the fellow eye. Study visits were scheduled at 6, 12, 18 and 24 weeks. Main outcome measure Visual acuity in amblyopic eye at 24 weeks. Results At 24 weeks, amblyopic eye improvement averaged 1.9 lines in the Bangerter group and 2.3 lines in the patching group (difference in mean visual acuities between groups adjusted for baseline acuity = 0.38 line). The upper limit of a 1-sided 95% confidence interval was 0.76 line, which slightly exceeded a pre-specified non-inferiority limit of < 0.75 line. Similar percentages of subjects in each group improved ≥3 lines (Bangerter group 38% versus patching group 35%, P=0.61) or had 20/25 or better amblyopic eye acuity (36% versus 31%, respectively, P=0.86). There was a lower treatment burden in the Bangerter group as measured with the Amblyopia Treatment Index. With Bangerter filters, neither a fixation switch to the amblyopic eye nor induced blurring in the fellow eye to worse than that of the amblyopic eye was required for visual acuity improvement. Conclusion Because the average difference in visual acuity improvement between Bangerter filters and patching was less than half a line, and there was lower burden of treatment on the child and family, Bangerter filter treatment is a reasonable option to consider for initial treatment of moderate amblyopia. PMID:20163869

The Genetic Architecture of Response to Long-Term Artificial Selection for Oil Concentration in the Maize Kernel

PubMed Central

Laurie, Cathy C.; Chasalow, Scott D.; LeDeaux, John R.; McCarroll, Robert; Bush, David; Hauge, Brian; Lai, Chaoqiang; Clark, Darryl; Rocheford, Torbert R.; Dudley, John W.

2004-01-01

In one of the longest-running experiments in biology, researchers at the University of Illinois have selected for altered composition of the maize kernel since 1896. Here we use an association study to infer the genetic basis of dramatic changes that occurred in response to selection for changes in oil concentration. The study population was produced by a cross between the high- and low-selection lines at generation 70, followed by 10 generations of random mating and the derivation of 500 lines by selfing. These lines were genotyped for 488 genetic markers and the oil concentration was evaluated in replicated field trials. Three methods of analysis were tested in simulations for ability to detect quantitative trait loci (QTL). The most effective method was model selection in multiple regression. This method detected ∼50 QTL accounting for ∼50% of the genetic variance, suggesting that >50 QTL are involved. The QTL effect estimates are small and largely additive. About 20% of the QTL have negative effects (i.e., not predicted by the parental difference), which is consistent with hitchhiking and small population size during selection. The large number of QTL detected accounts for the smooth and sustained response to selection throughout the twentieth century. PMID:15611182

Cold and warm atomic gas around the Perseus molecular cloud. I. Basic properties

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

Stanimirović, Snežana; Murray, Claire E.; Miller, Jesse

2014-10-01

Using the Arecibo Observatory, we have obtained neutral hydrogen (HI) absorption and emission spectral pairs in the direction of 26 background radio continuum sources in the vicinity of the Perseus molecular cloud. Strong absorption lines were detected in all cases, allowing us to estimate spin temperature (T{sub s} ) and optical depth for 107 individual Gaussian components along these lines of sight. Basic properties of individual H I clouds (spin temperature, optical depth, and the column density of the cold and warm neutral medium (CNM and WNM), respectively) in and around Perseus are very similar to those found for randommore » interstellar lines of sight sampled by the Millennium H I survey. This suggests that the neutral gas found in and around molecular clouds is not atypical. However, lines of sight in the vicinity of Perseus have, on average, a higher total H I column density and the CNM fraction, suggesting an enhanced amount of cold H I relative to an average interstellar field. Our estimated optical depth and spin temperature are in stark contrast with the recent attempt at using Planck data to estimate properties of the optically thick H I. Only ∼15% of lines of sight in our study have a column density weighted average spin temperature lower than 50 K, in comparison with ≳ 85% of Planck's sky coverage. The observed CNM fraction is inversely proportional to the optical depth weighted average spin temperature, in excellent agreement with the recent numerical simulations by Kim et al. While the CNM fraction is, on average, higher around Perseus relative to a random interstellar field, it is generally low, between 10%-50%. This suggests that extended WNM envelopes around molecular clouds and/or significant mixing of CNM and WNM throughout molecular clouds are present and should be considered in the models of molecule and star formation. Our detailed comparison of H I absorption with CO emission spectra shows that only 3 of the 26 directions are clear candidates for probing the CO-dark gas as they have N(H I)>10{sup 21} cm{sup –2} yet no detectable CO emission.« less

Magnetic flux ropes at the high-latitude magnetopause

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berchem, Jean; Raeder, Joachim; Ashour-Abdalla, Maha

1995-01-01

We examine the consequences of magnetic reconnection at the high-latitude magnetopause using a three-dimensional global magnetohydrodynamic simulation of the solar wind interaction with the Earth's magnetosphere. Magnetic field lines from the simulation reveal the formation of magnetic flux ropes during periods with northward interplanetary magnetic field. These flux ropes result from multiple reconnection processes between the lobes field lines and draped magnetosheath field lines that are convected around the flank of the magnetosphere. The flux ropes identified in the simulation are consistent with features observed in the magnetic field measured by Hawkeye-1 during some high-latitude magnetopause crossings.

Jet outflow and open field line measurements on the C-2U advanced beam-driven field-reversed configuration plasma experiment.

PubMed

Sheftman, D; Gupta, D; Roche, T; Thompson, M C; Giammanco, F; Conti, F; Marsili, P; Moreno, C D

2016-11-01

Knowledge and control of the axial outflow of plasma particles and energy along open-magnetic-field lines are of crucial importance to the stability and longevity of the advanced beam-driven field-reversed configuration plasma. An overview of the diagnostic methods used to perform measurements on the open field line plasma on C-2U is presented, including passive Doppler impurity spectroscopy, microwave interferometry, and triple Langmuir probe measurements. Results of these measurements provide the jet ion temperature and axial velocity, electron density, and high frequency density fluctuations.

Jet outflow and open field line measurements on the C-2U advanced beam-driven field-reversed configuration plasma experiment

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

Sheftman, D., E-mail: dsheftman@trialphaenergy.com; Gupta, D.; Roche, T.

Knowledge and control of the axial outflow of plasma particles and energy along open-magnetic-field lines are of crucial importance to the stability and longevity of the advanced beam-driven field-reversed configuration plasma. An overview of the diagnostic methods used to perform measurements on the open field line plasma on C-2U is presented, including passive Doppler impurity spectroscopy, microwave interferometry, and triple Langmuir probe measurements. Results of these measurements provide the jet ion temperature and axial velocity, electron density, and high frequency density fluctuations.

Evaluation of upwelling infrared radiance from earth's atmosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gupta, S. K.; Tiwari, S. N.

1975-01-01

Basic equations for calculating the upwelling atmospheric radiation are presented which account for various sources of radiation coming out at the top of the atmosphere. The theoretical formulation of the transmittance models (line-by-line and quasi-random band model) and the computational procedures used for the evaluation of the transmittance and radiance are discussed in detail. By employing the Lorentz line-by-line and quasi-random computer programs, model calculations were made to determine the upwelling radiance and signal change in the wave number interval of CO fundamental band. These results are useful in determining the effects of different interfering molecules, water vapor profiles, ground temperatures, and ground emittances on the upwelling radiance and signal change. This information is of vital importance in establishing the feasibility of measuring the concentrations of pollutants in the atmosphere from a gas filter correlation instrument flown on an aircraft or mounted on a satellite.

Near-isogenic cotton germplasm lines that differ in fiber-bundle strength have temporal differences in fiber gene expression patterns as revealed by comparative high-throughput profiling.

PubMed

Hinchliffe, Doug J; Meredith, William R; Yeater, Kathleen M; Kim, Hee Jin; Woodward, Andrew W; Chen, Z Jeffrey; Triplett, Barbara A

2010-05-01

Gene expression profiles of developing cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) fibers from two near-isogenic lines (NILs) that differ in fiber-bundle strength, short-fiber content, and in fewer than two genetic loci were compared using an oligonucleotide microarray. Fiber gene expression was compared at five time points spanning fiber elongation and secondary cell wall (SCW) biosynthesis. Fiber samples were collected from field plots in a randomized, complete block design, with three spatially distinct biological replications for each NIL at each time point. Microarray hybridizations were performed in a loop experimental design that allowed comparisons of fiber gene expression profiles as a function of time between the two NILs. Overall, developmental expression patterns revealed by the microarray experiment agreed with previously reported cotton fiber gene expression patterns for specific genes. Additionally, genes expressed coordinately with the onset of SCW biosynthesis in cotton fiber correlated with gene expression patterns of other SCW-producing plant tissues. Functional classification and enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes between the two NILs revealed that genes associated with SCW biosynthesis were significantly up-regulated in fibers of the high-fiber quality line at the transition stage of cotton fiber development. For independent corroboration of the microarray results, 15 genes were selected for quantitative reverse transcription PCR analysis of fiber gene expression. These analyses, conducted over multiple field years, confirmed the temporal difference in fiber gene expression between the two NILs. We hypothesize that the loci conferring temporal differences in fiber gene expression between the NILs are important regulatory sequences that offer the potential for more targeted manipulation of cotton fiber quality.

Solar and Interstellar Magnetic Fields Artist Concept

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-03

This artist concept shows the different expected directions of the magnetic fields in interstellar space black lines and the magnetic field emanating from our sun white lines as NASA Voyager 1 spacecraft travels northward out of the heliosphere.

Transport of Solar Energetic Particles across the Parker field direction due to field line meandering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laitinen, T. L.; Kopp, A.; Effenberger, F.; Dalla, S.; Marsh, M. S.

2014-12-01

Multi-spacecraft observations of Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs) show that the SEPs can spread large distances across the mean Parker spiral field. The SEPs accelerated during a solar eruption can be observed 360° around the Sun, and the dependence of SEP peak intensity on heliographic longitude at 1 AU has been fitted with Gaussian profiles with σ=30-50° for several events (e.g., Dresing et al 2014; Richardson et al 2014). SEP anisotropy measurements suggest that interplanetary transport is an important factor to the SEP cross-field extent (Dresing et al 2014). However, the currently used diffusive Fokker Planck (FP) description of SEP transport, with realistic diffusion coefficients, has been found insufficient to explain the SEP event cross-field extents. Recently Laitinen et al (2013) emphasised the importance of particle propagation along meandering field lines, which cannot be described as diffusion. They showed that early in an event field line meandering dominates particle cross-field transport and produces events wider than the FP description. They also introduced a new FP model that incorporates both field line meandering and SEP cross-field diffusion using stochastic differential equations and a constant background magnetic field. In this work, we implement the new FP model into Parker field geometry, to study the evolution of an SEP event in the interplanetary space. We compare the new model to the traditional FP approach by using particle and field line diffusion coefficients that are calculated consistently for both models using an assumed radial and spectral description of the turbulence evolution. We find that while the traditional SEP propagation modelling gives typically longitudinal extent with σ=10-20°, the new model results in values σ=30-50°, which is consistent with SEP observations. We conclude that field line meandering must be taken into account when modelling SEP propagation in the interplanetary space.

The Hanle effect applied to magnetic field measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leroy, J. L.

1985-01-01

The Hanle effect is the modification by a local magnetic field of the polarization due to coherent scattering in spectral lines. It results from the precession of a classical oscillator about the magnetic field direction. The sophisticated quantum-mechanical treatment, which is required to compute the polarization parameters of scattered light, was developed. The main features of the Hanle effect concerning magnetic field measurements are: (1) a good sensitivity within the approximate range 0.1 B gamma rho to 10 B gamma rho where B gamma rho is the field strength yielding a Larmor period equal to the radiative lifetime, (2) there is no Hanle effect for field vectors parallel to the excitating beam, (3) the Hanle effect refers essentially to the linear polarization in a spectral line, (4) various points in the line profile are affected in the same way by change of linear polarization so that polarization parameters can be measured on the integrated line profile.

Experimental analysis of a TEM plane transmission line for DNA studies at 900 MHz EM fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belloni, F.; Doria, D.; Lorusso, A.; Nassisi, V.; Velardi, L.; Alifano, P.; Monaco, C.; Talà, A.; Tredici, M.; Rainò, A.

2006-07-01

A suitable plane transmission line was developed and its behaviour analysed at 900 MHz radiofrequency fields to study DNA mutability and the repair of micro-organisms. In this work, utilizing such a device, we investigated the behaviour of DNA mutability and repair of Escherichia coli strains. The transmission line was very simple and versatile in changing its characteristic resistance and field intensity by varying its sizes. In the absence of cell samples inside the transmission line, the relative modulation of the electric and/or magnetic field was ±31% with respect to the mean values, allowing the processing of more samples at different exposure fields in a single run. A slight decrease in spontaneous mutability to rifampicin-resistance of the E. coli JC411 strain was demonstrated in mismatch-repair proficient samples exposed to the radio-frequency fields during their growth on solid medium.

Gaussian free field in the background of correlated random clusters, formed by metallic nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheraghalizadeh, Jafar; Najafi, Morteza N.; Mohammadzadeh, Hossein

2018-05-01

The effect of metallic nano-particles (MNPs) on the electrostatic potential of a disordered 2D dielectric media is considered. The disorder in the media is assumed to be white-noise Coulomb impurities with normal distribution. To realize the correlations between the MNPs we have used the Ising model with an artificial temperature T that controls the number of MNPs as well as their correlations. In the T → 0 limit, one retrieves the Gaussian free field (GFF), and in the finite temperature the problem is equivalent to a GFF in iso-potential islands. The problem is argued to be equivalent to a scale-invariant random surface with some critical exponents which vary with T and correspondingly are correlation-dependent. Two type of observables have been considered: local and global quantities. We have observed that the MNPs soften the random potential and reduce its statistical fluctuations. This softening is observed in the local as well as the geometrical quantities. The correlation function of the electrostatic and its total variance are observed to be logarithmic just like the GFF, i.e. the roughness exponent remains zero for all temperatures, whereas the proportionality constants scale with T - T c . The fractal dimension of iso-potential lines ( D f ), the exponent of the distribution function of the gyration radius ( τ r ), and the loop lengths ( τ l ), and also the exponent of the loop Green function x l change in terms of T - T c in a power-law fashion, with some critical exponents reported in the text. Importantly we have observed that D f ( T) - D f ( T c ) 1/√ ξ( T), in which ξ( T) is the spin correlation length in the Ising model.

The genome architecture of the Collaborative Cross mouse genetic reference population.

PubMed

2012-02-01

The Collaborative Cross Consortium reports here on the development of a unique genetic resource population. The Collaborative Cross (CC) is a multiparental recombinant inbred panel derived from eight laboratory mouse inbred strains. Breeding of the CC lines was initiated at multiple international sites using mice from The Jackson Laboratory. Currently, this innovative project is breeding independent CC lines at the University of North Carolina (UNC), at Tel Aviv University (TAU), and at Geniad in Western Australia (GND). These institutions aim to make publicly available the completed CC lines and their genotypes and sequence information. We genotyped, and report here, results from 458 extant lines from UNC, TAU, and GND using a custom genotyping array with 7500 SNPs designed to be maximally informative in the CC and used a novel algorithm to infer inherited haplotypes directly from hybridization intensity patterns. We identified lines with breeding errors and cousin lines generated by splitting incipient lines into two or more cousin lines at early generations of inbreeding. We then characterized the genome architecture of 350 genetically independent CC lines. Results showed that founder haplotypes are inherited at the expected frequency, although we also consistently observed highly significant transmission ratio distortion at specific loci across all three populations. On chromosome 2, there is significant overrepresentation of WSB/EiJ alleles, and on chromosome X, there is a large deficit of CC lines with CAST/EiJ alleles. Linkage disequilibrium decays as expected and we saw no evidence of gametic disequilibrium in the CC population as a whole or in random subsets of the population. Gametic equilibrium in the CC population is in marked contrast to the gametic disequilibrium present in a large panel of classical inbred strains. Finally, we discuss access to the CC population and to the associated raw data describing the genetic structure of individual lines. Integration of rich phenotypic and genomic data over time and across a wide variety of fields will be vital to delivering on one of the key attributes of the CC, a common genetic reference platform for identifying causative variants and genetic networks determining traits in mammals.

Impact of Magnetic Draping, Convection, and Field Line Tying on Magnetopause Reconnection Under Northward IMF

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wendel, Deirdre E.; Reiff, Patricia H.; Goldstein, Melvyn L.

2010-01-01

We simulate a northward IMF cusp reconnection event at the magnetopause using the OpenGGCM resistive MHD code. The ACE input data, solar wind parameters, and dipole tilt belong to a 2002 reconnection event observed by IMAGE and Cluster. Based on a fully three-dimensional skeleton separators, nulls, and parallel electric fields, we show magnetic draping, convection, ionospheric field line tying play a role in producing a series of locally reconnecting nulls with flux ropes. The flux ropes in the cusp along the global separator line of symmetry. In 2D projection, the flux ropes the appearance of a tearing mode with a series of 'x's' and 'o's' but bearing a kind of 'guide field' that exists only within the magnetopause. The reconnecting field lines in the string of ropes involve IMF and both open and closed Earth magnetic field lines. The observed magnetic geometry reproduces the findings of a superposed epoch impact parameter study derived from the Cluster magnetometer data for the same event. The observed geometry has repercussions for spacecraft observations of cusp reconnection and for the imposed boundary conditions reconnection simulations.

Random walk study of electron motion in helium in crossed electromagnetic fields

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Englert, G. W.

1972-01-01

Random walk theory, previously adapted to electron motion in the presence of an electric field, is extended to include a transverse magnetic field. In principle, the random walk approach avoids mathematical complexity and concomitant simplifying assumptions and permits determination of energy distributions and transport coefficients within the accuracy of available collisional cross section data. Application is made to a weakly ionized helium gas. Time of relaxation of electron energy distribution, determined by the random walk, is described by simple expressions based on energy exchange between the electron and an effective electric field. The restrictive effect of the magnetic field on electron motion, which increases the required number of collisions per walk to reach a terminal steady state condition, as well as the effect of the magnetic field on electron transport coefficients and mean energy can be quite adequately described by expressions involving only the Hall parameter.

Understanding the rotation of coronal holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Y.-M.; Sheeley, N. R., Jr.

1993-09-01

In an earlier study we found that the rotation of coronal holes could be understood on the basis of a nearly current-free coronal field, with the holes representing open magnetic regions. In this paper we illustrate the model by focusing on the case of CH1, the rigidly rotating boot-shaped hole observed by Skylab. We show that the interaction between the polar fields and the flux associated with active regions produces distortions in the coronal field configuration and thus in the polar-hole boundaries; these distortions corotate with the perturbing nonaxisymmetric flux. In the case of CH1, positive-polarity field lines in the northern hemisphere 'collided' with like-polarity field lines fanning out from a decaying active region complex located just below the equator, producing a midlatitude corridor of open field lines rotating at the rate of the active region complex. Sheared coronal holes result when nonaxisymmetric flux is present at high latitudes, or equivalently, when the photospheric neutral line extends to high latitudes. We demonstrate how a small active region, rotating at the local photospheric rate, can drift through a rigidly rotating hole like CH1. Finally, we discuss the role of field-line reconnection in maintaining a quasi-potential coronal configuration.

High density submicron magnetoresistive random access memory (invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tehrani, S.; Chen, E.; Durlam, M.; DeHerrera, M.; Slaughter, J. M.; Shi, J.; Kerszykowski, G.

1999-04-01

Various giant magnetoresistance material structures were patterned and studied for their potential as memory elements. The preferred memory element, based on pseudo-spin valve structures, was designed with two magnetic stacks (NiFeCo/CoFe) of different thickness with Cu as an interlayer. The difference in thickness results in dissimilar switching fields due to the shape anisotropy at deep submicron dimensions. It was found that a lower switching current can be achieved when the bits have a word line that wraps around the bit 1.5 times. Submicron memory elements integrated with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) transistors maintained their characteristics and no degradation to the CMOS devices was observed. Selectivity between memory elements in high-density arrays was demonstrated.

Effectiveness of basic display augmentation in vehicular control by visual field cues

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grunwald, A. J.; Merhav, S. J.

1978-01-01

The paper investigates the effectiveness of different basic display augmentation concepts - fixed reticle, velocity vector, and predicted future vehicle path - for RPVs controlled by a vehicle-mounted TV camera. The task is lateral manual control of a low flying RPV along a straight reference line in the presence of random side gusts. The man-machine system and the visual interface are modeled as a linear time-invariant system. Minimization of a quadratic performance criterion is assumed to underlie the control strategy of a well-trained human operator. The solution for the optimal feedback matrix enables the explicit computation of the variances of lateral deviation and directional error of the vehicle and of the control force that are used as performance measures.

Persistence and Lifelong Fidelity of Phase Singularities in Optical Random Waves.

PubMed

De Angelis, L; Alpeggiani, F; Di Falco, A; Kuipers, L

2017-11-17

Phase singularities are locations where light is twisted like a corkscrew, with positive or negative topological charge depending on the twisting direction. Among the multitude of singularities arising in random wave fields, some can be found at the same location, but only when they exhibit opposite topological charge, which results in their mutual annihilation. New pairs can be created as well. With near-field experiments supported by theory and numerical simulations, we study the persistence and pairing statistics of phase singularities in random optical fields as a function of the excitation wavelength. We demonstrate how such entities can encrypt fundamental properties of the random fields in which they arise.

Persistence and Lifelong Fidelity of Phase Singularities in Optical Random Waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Angelis, L.; Alpeggiani, F.; Di Falco, A.; Kuipers, L.

2017-11-01

Phase singularities are locations where light is twisted like a corkscrew, with positive or negative topological charge depending on the twisting direction. Among the multitude of singularities arising in random wave fields, some can be found at the same location, but only when they exhibit opposite topological charge, which results in their mutual annihilation. New pairs can be created as well. With near-field experiments supported by theory and numerical simulations, we study the persistence and pairing statistics of phase singularities in random optical fields as a function of the excitation wavelength. We demonstrate how such entities can encrypt fundamental properties of the random fields in which they arise.

Random Drug Testing of Students: Where Will the Line Be Drawn?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, Nathan M.; Fossey, Richard

2002-01-01

Discusses several state and federal court cases testing the limits of school district efforts to expand the scope of random student drug-testing since the Supreme Court's 1995 decision in "Vernonia School District 47J v. Action," wherein the Court approved random drug-testing of student athletes in public high schools. (Contains 113…

The Relation between Reconnected Flux, the Parallel Electric Field, and the Reconnection Rate in a Three-Dimensional Kinetic Simulation of Magnetic Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wendel, D. E.; Olson, D. K.; Hesse, M.; Karimabadi, H.; Daughton, W. S.

2013-12-01

We investigate the distribution of parallel electric fields and their relationship to the location and rate of magnetic reconnection of a large particle-in-cell simulation of 3D turbulent magnetic reconnection with open boundary conditions. The simulation's guide field geometry inhibits the formation of topological features such as separators and null points. Therefore, we derive the location of potential changes in magnetic connectivity by finding the field lines that experience a large relative change between their endpoints, i.e., the quasi-separatrix layer. We find a correspondence between the locus of changes in magnetic connectivity, or the quasi-separatrix layer, and the map of large gradients in the integrated parallel electric field (or quasi-potential). Furthermore, we compare the distribution of parallel electric fields along field lines with the reconnection rate. We find the reconnection rate is controlled by only the low-amplitude, zeroth and first-order trends in the parallel electric field, while the contribution from high amplitude parallel fluctuations, such as electron holes, is negligible. The results impact the determination of reconnection sites within models of 3D turbulent reconnection as well as the inference of reconnection rates from in situ spacecraft measurements. It is difficult through direct observation to isolate the locus of the reconnection parallel electric field amidst the large amplitude fluctuations. However, we demonstrate that a positive slope of the partial sum of the parallel electric field along the field line as a function of field line length indicates where reconnection is occurring along the field line.

Electric and magnetic field exposures for people living near a 735-kilovolt power line.

PubMed Central

Levallois, P; Gauvin, D; St-Laurent, J; Gingras, S; Deadman, J E

1995-01-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of a 735-kV transmission line on the electric and magnetic field exposures of people living at the edge of the line's right of way. Exposure of 18 adults, mostly white-collar workers, living in different bungalows located 190-240 feet from the line (exposed subjects) was compared to that of 17 adults living in similar residences far away from any transmission line. Each subject carried a Positron meter for 24 hr during 1 workday, which measured 60-Hz electric and magnetic fields every minute. All measurements were carried out in parallel for exposed and unexposed subjects during the same weeks between September and December. During measurements the average loading on the line varied between 600 and 1100 A. The average magnetic field intensity while at home was 4.4 times higher among exposed subjects than unexposed (7.1 versus 1.6 mG, p = 0.0001) and 6.2 times higher when considering only the sleeping period (6.8 versus 1.1 mG, p = 0.0001). Based on the 24-hr measurement, average magnetic field exposure was three times higher among the exposed. Electric field intensity was also higher among the exposed while at home (26.3 versus 14.0 V/m, p = 0.03). Magnetic field intensity among the exposed was positively correlated with the loading on the line (r = 0.8, p = 0.001). Percentage of time above a magnetic field threshold (2 mG or 7.8 mG) was a good indicator to distinguish the two types of exposure.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS) Images Figure 1. PMID:7498095

Random scalar fields and hyperuniformity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Zheng; Torquato, Salvatore

2017-06-01

Disordered many-particle hyperuniform systems are exotic amorphous states of matter that lie between crystals and liquids. Hyperuniform systems have attracted recent attention because they are endowed with novel transport and optical properties. Recently, the hyperuniformity concept has been generalized to characterize two-phase media, scalar fields, and random vector fields. In this paper, we devise methods to explicitly construct hyperuniform scalar fields. Specifically, we analyze spatial patterns generated from Gaussian random fields, which have been used to model the microwave background radiation and heterogeneous materials, the Cahn-Hilliard equation for spinodal decomposition, and Swift-Hohenberg equations that have been used to model emergent pattern formation, including Rayleigh-Bénard convection. We show that the Gaussian random scalar fields can be constructed to be hyperuniform. We also numerically study the time evolution of spinodal decomposition patterns and demonstrate that they are hyperuniform in the scaling regime. Moreover, we find that labyrinth-like patterns generated by the Swift-Hohenberg equation are effectively hyperuniform. We show that thresholding (level-cutting) a hyperuniform Gaussian random field to produce a two-phase random medium tends to destroy the hyperuniformity of the progenitor scalar field. We then propose guidelines to achieve effectively hyperuniform two-phase media derived from thresholded non-Gaussian fields. Our investigation paves the way for new research directions to characterize the large-structure spatial patterns that arise in physics, chemistry, biology, and ecology. Moreover, our theoretical results are expected to guide experimentalists to synthesize new classes of hyperuniform materials with novel physical properties via coarsening processes and using state-of-the-art techniques, such as stereolithography and 3D printing.

Ideal plasma response to vacuum magnetic fields with resonant magnetic perturbations in non-axisymmetric tokamaks

DOE PAGES

Kim, Kimin; Ahn, J. -W.; Scotti, F.; ...

2015-09-03

Ideal plasma shielding and amplification of resonant magnetic perturbations in non-axisymmetric tokamak is presented by field line tracing simulation with full ideal plasma response, compared to measurements of divertor lobe structures. Magnetic field line tracing simulations in NSTX with toroidal non-axisymmetry indicate the ideal plasma response can significantly shield/amplify and phase shift the vacuum resonant magnetic perturbations. Ideal plasma shielding for n = 3 mode is found to prevent magnetic islands from opening as consistently shown in the field line connection length profile and magnetic footprints on the divertor target. It is also found that the ideal plasma shielding modifiesmore » the degree of stochasticity but does not change the overall helical lobe structures of the vacuum field for n = 3. Furthermore, amplification of vacuum fields by the ideal plasma response is predicted for low toroidal mode n = 1, better reproducing measurements of strong striation of the field lines on the divertor plate in NSTX.« less

COMPUTERIZED EXPERT SYSTEM FOR EVALUATION OF AUTOMATED VISUAL FIELDS FROM THE ISCHEMIC OPTIC NEUROPATHY DECOMPRESSION TRIAL: METHODS, BASELINE FIELDS, AND SIX-MONTH LONGITUDINAL FOLLOW-UP

PubMed Central

Feldon, Steven E

2004-01-01

ABSTRACT Purpose To validate a computerized expert system evaluating visual fields in a prospective clinical trial, the Ischemic Optic Neuropathy Decompression Trial (IONDT). To identify the pattern and within-pattern severity of field defects for study eyes at baseline and 6-month follow-up. Design Humphrey visual field (HVF) change was used as the outcome measure for a prospective, randomized, multi-center trial to test the null hypothesis that optic nerve sheath decompression was ineffective in treating nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy and to ascertain the natural history of the disease. Methods An expert panel established criteria for the type and severity of visual field defects. Using these criteria, a rule-based computerized expert system interpreted HVF from baseline and 6-month visits for patients randomized to surgery or careful follow-up and for patients who were not randomized. Results A computerized expert system was devised and validated. The system was then used to analyze HVFs. The pattern of defects found at baseline for patients randomized to surgery did not differ from that of patients randomized to careful follow-up. The most common pattern of defect was a superior and inferior arcuate with central scotoma for randomized eyes (19.2%) and a superior and inferior arcuate for nonrandomized eyes (30.6%). Field patterns at 6 months and baseline were not different. For randomized study eyes, the superior altitudinal defects improved (P = .03), as did the inferior altitudinal defects (P = .01). For nonrandomized study eyes, only the inferior altitudinal defects improved (P = .02). No treatment effect was noted. Conclusions A novel rule-based expert system successfully interpreted visual field defects at baseline of eyes enrolled in the IONDT. PMID:15747764

Biological Effects of Nonionizing Electromagnetic Radiation. Volume IV. Number 3.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-03-01

lines that produce EMR. perimental evidence on human health effects due to electromagnetic field exposures from high-voltage transmission lines is...1311, Mrch YOW that a permissible occupational exposure level to The biologic effects of electromagnetic fields on MW and RF radiation of 500 PW/cm 2...along with the principal physical param- eters of exposure . 6402 REGULATING POSSIBLE HEALTH EFFECTS FROM AC TRANSMISSION LINE ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS

Emergent scar lines in chaotic advection of passive directors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hejazi, Bardia; Mehlig, Bernhard; Voth, Greg A.

2017-12-01

We examine the spatial field of orientations of slender fibers that are advected by a two-dimensional fluid flow. The orientation field of these passive directors are important in a wide range of industrial and geophysical flows. We introduce emergent scar lines as the dominant coherent structures in the orientation field of passive directors in chaotic flows. Previous work has identified the existence of scar lines where the orientation rotates by π over short distances, but the lines that were identified disappeared as time progressed. As a result, earlier work focused on topological singularities in the orientation field, which we find to play a negligible role at long times. We use the standard map as a simple time-periodic two-dimensional flow that produces Lagrangian chaos. This class of flows produces persistent patterns in passive scalar advection and we find that a different kind of persistent pattern develops in the passive director orientation field. We identify the mechanism by which emergent scar lines grow to dominate these patterns at long times in complex flows. Emergent scar lines form where the recent stretching of the fluid element is perpendicular to earlier stretching. Thus these scar lines can be labeled by their age, defined as the time since their stretching reached a maximum.

High speed parallel spectral-domain OCT using spectrally encoded line-field illumination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Kye-Sung; Hur, Hwan; Bae, Ji Yong; Kim, I. Jong; Kim, Dong Uk; Nam, Ki-Hwan; Kim, Geon-Hee; Chang, Ki Soo

2018-01-01

We report parallel spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) at 500 000 A-scan/s. This is the highest-speed spectral-domain (SD) OCT system using a single line camera. Spectrally encoded line-field scanning is proposed to increase the imaging speed in SD-OCT effectively, and the tradeoff between speed, depth range, and sensitivity is demonstrated. We show that three imaging modes of 125k, 250k, and 500k A-scan/s can be simply switched according to the sample to be imaged considering the depth range and sensitivity. To demonstrate the biological imaging performance of the high-speed imaging modes of the spectrally encoded line-field OCT system, human skin and a whole leaf were imaged at the speed of 250k and 500k A-scan/s, respectively. In addition, there is no sensitivity dependence in the B-scan direction, which is implicit in line-field parallel OCT using line focusing of a Gaussian beam with a cylindrical lens.

A Semi-analytical Line Transfer (SALT) Model. II: The Effects of a Bi-conical Geometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carr, Cody; Scarlata, Claudia; Panagia, Nino; Henry, Alaina

2018-06-01

We generalize the semi-analytical line transfer model recently introduced by Scarlata & Panagia for modeling galactic outflows, to account for bi-conical geometries of various opening angles and orientations with respect to the line of sight to the observer, as well as generalized velocity fields. We model the absorption and emission component of the line profile resulting from resonant absorption in the bi-conical outflow. We show how the outflow geometry impacts the resulting line profile. We use simulated spectra with different geometries and velocity fields to study how well the outflow parameters can be recovered. We find that geometrical parameters (including the opening angle and the orientation) are always well recovered. The density and velocity field parameters are reliably recovered when both an absorption and an emission component are visible in the spectra. This condition implies that the velocity and density fields for narrow cones oriented perpendicular to the line of sight will remain unconstrained.

Random Assignment: Practical Considerations from Field Experiments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunford, Franklyn W.

1990-01-01

Seven qualitative issues associated with randomization that have the potential to weaken or destroy otherwise sound experimental designs are reviewed and illustrated via actual field experiments. Issue areas include ethics and legality, liability risks, manipulation of randomized outcomes, hidden bias, design intrusiveness, case flow, and…

Recovering Seasat SAR Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Logan, T. A.; Arko, S. A.; Rosen, P. A.

2013-12-01

To demonstrate the feasibility of orbital remote sensing for global ocean observations, NASA launched Seasat on June 27th, 1978. Being the first space borne SAR mission, Seasat produced the most detailed SAR images of Earth from space ever seen to that point in time. While much of the data collected in the USA was processed optically, a mere 150 scenes had been digitally processed by March 1980. In fact, only an estimated 3% of Seasat data was ever digitally processed. Thus, for over three decades, the majority of the SAR data from this historic mission has been dormant, virtually unavailable to scientists in the 21st century. Over the last year, researchers at the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) have processed the Seasat SAR archives into imagery products. A telemetry decoding system was created and the data were filtered into readily processable signal files. Due to nearly 35 years of bit rot, the bit error rate (BER) for the ASF DAAC Seasat archives was on the order of 1 out of 100 to 1 out of 100,000. This extremely high BER initially seemed to make much of the data undecodable - because the minor frame numbers are just 7 bits and no range line numbers exist in the telemetry even the 'simple' tasks of tracking the minor frame number or locating the start of each range line proved difficult. Eventually, using 5 frame numbers in sequence and a handful of heuristics, the data were successfully decoded into full range lines. Concurrently, all metadata were stored into external files. Recovery of this metadata was also problematic, the BER making the information highly suspect and, initially at least, unusable in any sort of automated fashion. Because of the BER, all of the single bit metadata fields proved unreliable. Even fields that should be constant for a data take (e.g. receiving station, day of the year) showed high variability, each requiring a median filter to be usable. The most challenging, however, were the supposedly 'steadily' changing millisecond (MSEC) timing values. The elevated BER made even a basic linear fit difficult. In addition, the MSEC field often shows a 'stair step' function, assumed to be a spacecraft clock malfunction. To fix these issues, three separate levels of time filtering were applied. After the initial three-pass time filter, a fourth procedure located and removed discontinuities - missing data sections that occurred randomly throughout the data takes - by inserting random valued lines into the effected data file and repeated value lines into the corresponding header file. Finally, a fifth pass through the metadata was required to fix remaining start time anomalies. After the data were filtered, all times were linearly increasing, and all discontinuities filled, images could finally be formed. ASF DAAC utilized a custom version of ROI, the Repeat Orbit Interferometric SAR processor, to focus the data. Special focusing tasks for Seasat included dealing with Doppler ambiguity issues and filtering out 'spikes' in the power spectra. Once these obstacles were overcome via additional pre-processing software developed in house, well-focused SAR imagery was obtained from approximately 80% the ASF DAAC archives. These focused products, packaged in either HDF5 or geotiff formats with XML metadata, are downloadable from ASF DAAC free of charge.

Sources of magnetic fields in recurrent interplanetary streams

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burlaga, L. F.; Behannon, K. W.; Hansen, S. F.; Pneuman, G. W.; Feldman, W. C.

1978-01-01

The paper examines sources of magnetic fields in recurrent streams observed by the Imp 8 and Heos spacecraft at 1 AU and by Mariner 10 en route to Mercury between October 31, 1973 and February 9, 1974, during Carrington rotations 1607-1610. Although most fields and plasmas at 1 AU were related to coronal holes and the magnetic field lines were open in those holes, some of the magnetic fields and plasmas at 1 AU were related to open field line regions on the sun which were not associated with known coronal holes, indicating that open field lines may be more basic than coronal holes as sources of the solar wind. Magnetic field intensities in five equatorial coronal holes, certain photospheric magnetic fields, and the coronal footprints of the sector boundaries on the source surface are characterized.

Vector tomography for reconstructing electric fields with non-zero divergence in bounded domains

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

Koulouri, Alexandra, E-mail: koulouri@uni-muenster.de; Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2BT; Brookes, Mike

In vector tomography (VT), the aim is to reconstruct an unknown multi-dimensional vector field using line integral data. In the case of a 2-dimensional VT, two types of line integral data are usually required. These data correspond to integration of the parallel and perpendicular projection of the vector field along the integration lines and are called the longitudinal and transverse measurements, respectively. In most cases, however, the transverse measurements cannot be physically acquired. Therefore, the VT methods are typically used to reconstruct divergence-free (or source-free) velocity and flow fields that can be reconstructed solely from the longitudinal measurements. In thismore » paper, we show how vector fields with non-zero divergence in a bounded domain can also be reconstructed from the longitudinal measurements without the need of explicitly evaluating the transverse measurements. To the best of our knowledge, VT has not previously been used for this purpose. In particular, we study low-frequency, time-harmonic electric fields generated by dipole sources in convex bounded domains which arise, for example, in electroencephalography (EEG) source imaging. We explain in detail the theoretical background, the derivation of the electric field inverse problem and the numerical approximation of the line integrals. We show that fields with non-zero divergence can be reconstructed from the longitudinal measurements with the help of two sparsity constraints that are constructed from the transverse measurements and the vector Laplace operator. As a comparison to EEG source imaging, we note that VT does not require mathematical modeling of the sources. By numerical simulations, we show that the pattern of the electric field can be correctly estimated using VT and the location of the source activity can be determined accurately from the reconstructed magnitudes of the field. - Highlights: • Vector tomography is used to reconstruct electric fields generated by dipole sources. • Inverse solutions are based on longitudinal and transverse line integral measurements. • Transverse line integral measurements are used as a sparsity constraint. • Numerical procedure to approximate the line integrals is described in detail. • Patterns of the studied electric fields are correctly estimated.« less

Strong transverse fields in delta-spots

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zirin, Harold; Wang, Haimin

1993-01-01

Spectroscopic measurements of the strength and direction of transverse magnetic fields in six delta-spots are presented. The field direction is determined by the relative strength of the pi- and sigma-components at different polarizer orientations, and is, with one exception, parallel to the neutral line and as strong as the umbral field. Field strengths determined by line splitting are as high as 3980 G.

Efficient Analysis of Simulations of the Sun's Magnetic Field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scarborough, C. W.; Martínez-Sykora, J.

2014-12-01

Dynamics in the solar atmosphere, including solar flares, coronal mass ejections, micro-flares and different types of jets, are powered by the evolution of the sun's intense magnetic field. 3D Radiative Magnetohydrodnamics (MHD) computer simulations have furthered our understanding of the processes involved: When non aligned magnetic field lines reconnect, the alteration of the magnetic topology causes stored magnetic energy to be converted into thermal and kinetic energy. Detailed analysis of this evolution entails tracing magnetic field lines, an operation which is not time-efficient on a single processor. By utilizing a graphics card (GPU) to trace lines in parallel, conducting such analysis is made feasible. We applied our GPU implementation to the most advanced 3D Radiative-MHD simulations (Bifrost, Gudicksen et al. 2011) of the solar atmosphere in order to better understand the evolution of the modeled field lines.

Three-dimensional magnetic reconnection and the magnetic topology of coronal mass ejection events

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gosling, J. T.; Birn, J.; Hesse, M.

1995-01-01

Measurements of superthermal electron fluxes in the solar wind indicate that field lines within coronal mass ejections, CMEs, near and beyond 1 AU are normally connected to the Sun at both ends. However, on occasion some field lines embedded deep within CMEs appear to be connected to the Sun at only one end. Here we propose an explanation for how such field lines arise in terms of 3-dimensional reconnection close to the Sun. Such reconnection also provides a natural explanation for the flux rope topology characteristic of many CMEs as well as the coronal loops formed during long-duration, solar X-ray events. Our consideration of the field topologies resulting from 3-dimensional reconnection indicates that field lines within and near CMEs may on occasion be connected to the outer heliosphere at both ends.

Detecting dark-matter waves with a network of precision-measurement tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Derevianko, Andrei

2018-04-01

Virialized ultralight fields (VULFs) are viable cold dark-matter candidates and include scalar and pseudoscalar bosonic fields, such as axions and dilatons. Direct searches for VULFs rely on low-energy precision-measurement tools. While previous proposals have focused on detecting coherent oscillations of the VULF signals at the VULF Compton frequencies for individual devices, here I consider a network of such devices. Virialized ultralight fields are essentially dark-matter waves and as such they carry both temporal and spatial phase information. Thereby, the discovery reach can be improved by using networks of precision-measurement tools. To formalize this idea, I derive a spatiotemporal two-point correlation function for the ultralight dark-matter fields in the framework of the standard halo model. Due to VULFs being Gaussian random fields, the derived two-point correlation function fully determines N -point correlation functions. For a network of ND devices within the coherence length of the field, the sensitivity compared to a single device can be improved by a factor of √{ND}. Further, I derive a VULF dark-matter signal profile for an individual device. The resulting line shape is strongly asymmetric due to the parabolic dispersion relation for massive nonrelativistic bosons. I discuss the aliasing effect that extends the discovery reach to VULF frequencies higher than the experimental sampling rate. I present sensitivity estimates and develop a stochastic field signal-to-noise ratio statistic. Finally, I consider an application of the formalism developed to atomic clocks and their networks.

Magnetic Flux Cancelation as the Trigger of Solar Coronal Jets in Coronal Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Panesar, Navdeep K.; Sterling, Alphonse C.; Moore, Ronald L.

2018-02-01

We investigate in detail the magnetic cause of minifilament eruptions that drive coronal-hole jets. We study 13 random on-disk coronal-hole jet eruptions, using high-resolution X-ray images from the Hinode/X-ray telescope(XRT), EUV images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), and magnetograms from the SDO/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI). For all 13 events, we track the evolution of the jet-base region and find that a minifilament of cool (transition-region-temperature) plasma is present prior to each jet eruption. HMI magnetograms show that the minifilaments reside along a magnetic neutral line between majority-polarity and minority-polarity magnetic flux patches. These patches converge and cancel with each other, with an average cancelation rate of ∼0.6 × 1018 Mx hr‑1 for all 13 jets. Persistent flux cancelation at the neutral line eventually destabilizes the minifilament field, which erupts outward and produces the jet spire. Thus, we find that all 13 coronal-hole-jet-driving minifilament eruptions are triggered by flux cancelation at the neutral line. These results are in agreement with our recent findings for quiet-region jets, where flux cancelation at the underlying neutral line triggers the minifilament eruption that drives each jet. Thus, from that study of quiet-Sun jets and this study of coronal-hole jets, we conclude that flux cancelation is the main candidate for triggering quiet-region and coronal-hole jets.

Force balance near an X line along which E x J is less than 0. [plasma transfer from closed to open field lines in geomagnetic tail

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lyons, L. R.; Pridmore-Brown, D. C.

1992-01-01

Conditions for which particle motion within the current sheet in the vicinity of an X line can give a current in the direction appropriate for E x J is less than 0. The way in which the balance between gyroviscosity and the electric force along an X line is maintained for any E x J is shown. It is concluded that observational evidence for the occasional existence of E x J is less than 0 along an X line provides support for the suggestion that collisionless graviscosity, rather than resistivity, balances the electric force along an X line. It is found that there is a maximum electric field magnitude for particles to be able to carry a significant current. For parameters typical of the distant magnetotail, the critical electric field magnitude was found to be about 0.15 mV/m, which is of the order of, though somewhat less than, the potential electric field magnitudes expected in the magnetotail. This maximum allowable field magnitude is about the same for protons as it is for electrons in the magnetotail.

Holographic line field en-face OCT with digital adaptive optics in the retina in vivo.

PubMed

Ginner, Laurin; Schmoll, Tilman; Kumar, Abhishek; Salas, Matthias; Pricoupenko, Nastassia; Wurster, Lara M; Leitgeb, Rainer A

2018-02-01

We demonstrate a high-resolution line field en-face time domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) system using an off-axis holography configuration. Line field en-face OCT produces high speed en-face images at rates of up to 100 Hz. The high frame rate favors good phase stability across the lateral field-of-view which is indispensable for digital adaptive optics (DAO). Human retinal structures are acquired in-vivo with a broadband light source at 840 nm, and line rates of 10 kHz to 100 kHz. Structures of different retinal layers, such as photoreceptors, capillaries, and nerve fibers are visualized with high resolution of 2.8 µm and 5.5 µm in lateral directions. Subaperture based DAO is successfully applied to increase the visibility of cone-photoreceptors and nerve fibers. Furthermore, en-face Doppler OCT maps are generated based on calculating the differential phase shifts between recorded lines.

Study of Three-dimensional Magnetic Structure and the Successive Eruptive Nature of Active Region 12371

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vemareddy, P.; Demóulin, P.

2018-04-01

We study the magnetic structure of a successively erupting sigmoid in active region 12371 by modeling the quasi-static coronal field evolution with nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) equilibria. Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager/Solar Dynamic Observatory vector magnetograms are used as input to the NLFFF model. In all eruption events, the modeled structure resembles the observed pre-eruptive coronal sigmoid and the NLFFF core field is a combination of double inverse-J-shaped and inverse-S field lines with dips touching the photosphere. Such field lines are formed by the flux cancellation reconnection of opposite-J field lines at bald-patch locations, which in turn implies the formation of a weakly twisted flux-rope (FR) from large-scale sheared arcade field lines. Later on, this FR undergoes coronal tether-cutting reconnection until a coronal mass ejection is triggered. The modeled structure captured these major features of sigmoid-to-arcade-to-sigmoid transformation, which is reoccuring under continuous photospheric flux motions. Calculations of the field line twist reveal a fractional increase followed by a decrease of the number of pixels having a range of twist. This traces the buildup process of a twisted core field by slow photospheric motions and the relaxation after eruption, respectively. Our study infers that the large eruptivity of this AR is due to a steep decrease of the background coronal field meeting the torus instability criteria at a low height (≈40 Mm) in contrast to noneruptive ARs.

A comparison of online versus on-site training in health research methodology: a randomized study.

PubMed

Aggarwal, Rakesh; Gupte, Nikhil; Kass, Nancy; Taylor, Holly; Ali, Joseph; Bhan, Anant; Aggarwal, Amita; Sisson, Stephen D; Kanchanaraksa, Sukon; McKenzie-White, Jane; McGready, John; Miotti, Paolo; Bollinger, Robert C

2011-06-17

Distance learning may be useful for building health research capacity. However, evidence that it can improve knowledge and skills in health research, particularly in resource-poor settings, is limited. We compared the impact and acceptability of teaching two distinct content areas, Biostatistics and Research Ethics, through either on-line distance learning format or traditional on-site training, in a randomized study in India. Our objective was to determine whether on-line courses in Biostatistics and Research Ethics could achieve similar improvements in knowledge, as traditional on-site, classroom-based courses. Volunteer Indian scientists were randomly assigned to one of two arms. Students in Arm 1 attended a 3.5-day on-site course in Biostatistics and completed a 3.5-week on-line course in Research Ethics. Students in Arm 2 attended a 3.5-week on-line course in Biostatistics and 3.5-day on-site course in Research Ethics. For the two course formats, learning objectives, course contents and knowledge tests were identical. Improvement in knowledge immediately and 3-months after course completion, compared to baseline. Baseline characteristics were similar in both arms (n = 29 each). Median knowledge score for Biostatistics increased from a baseline of 49% to 64% (p < 0.001) 3 months after the on-site course, and from 48% to 63% (p = 0.009) after the on-line course. For the on-site Research Ethics course, median score increased from 69% to 83% (p = 0.005), and for the on-line Research Ethics course from 62% to 80% (p < 0.001). Three months after the course, median gains in knowledge scores remained similar for the on-site and on-line platforms for both Biostatistics (16% vs. 12%; p = 0.59) and Research Ethics (17% vs. 13%; p = 0.14). On-line and on-site training formats led to marked and similar improvements of knowledge in Biostatistics and Research Ethics. This, combined with logistical and cost advantages of on-line training, may make on-line courses particularly useful for expanding health research capacity in resource-limited settings.

A predictor-corrector scheme for vortex identification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singer, Bart A.; Banks, David C.

1994-01-01

A new algorithm for identifying and characterizing vortices in complex flows is presented. The scheme uses both the vorticity and pressure fields. A skeleton line along the center of a vortex is produced by a two-step predictor-corrector scheme. The technique uses the vector field to move in the direction of the skeleton line and the scalar field to correct the location in the plane perpendicular to the skeleton line. A general vortex cross section can be concisely defined with five parameters at each point along the skeleton line. The details of the method and examples of its use are discussed.

Electromagnetic ray tracing model for line structures.

PubMed

Tan, C B; Khoh, A; Yeo, S H

2008-03-17

In this paper, a model for electromagnetic scattering of line structures is established based on high frequency approximation approach - ray tracing. This electromagnetic ray tracing (ERT) model gives the advantage of identifying each physical field that contributes to the total solution of the scattering phenomenon. Besides the geometrical optics field, different diffracted fields associated with the line structures are also discussed and formulated. A step by step addition of each electromagnetic field is given to elucidate the causes of a disturbance in the amplitude profile. The accuracy of the ERT model is also discussed by comparing with the reference finite difference time domain (FDTD) solution, which shows a promising result for a single polysilicon line structure with width of as narrow as 0.4 wavelength.

Spatial Distribution of Phase Singularities in Optical Random Vector Waves.

PubMed

De Angelis, L; Alpeggiani, F; Di Falco, A; Kuipers, L

2016-08-26

Phase singularities are dislocations widely studied in optical fields as well as in other areas of physics. With experiment and theory we show that the vectorial nature of light affects the spatial distribution of phase singularities in random light fields. While in scalar random waves phase singularities exhibit spatial distributions reminiscent of particles in isotropic liquids, in vector fields their distribution for the different vector components becomes anisotropic due to the direct relation between propagation and field direction. By incorporating this relation in the theory for scalar fields by Berry and Dennis [Proc. R. Soc. A 456, 2059 (2000)], we quantitatively describe our experiments.

Exchange bias mechanism in FM/FM/AF spin valve systems in the presence of random unidirectional anisotropy field at the AF interface: The role played by the interface roughness due to randomness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yüksel, Yusuf

2018-05-01

We propose an atomistic model and present Monte Carlo simulation results regarding the influence of FM/AF interface structure on the hysteresis mechanism and exchange bias behavior for a spin valve type FM/FM/AF magnetic junction. We simulate perfectly flat and roughened interface structures both with uncompensated interfacial AF moments. In order to simulate rough interface effect, we introduce the concept of random exchange anisotropy field induced at the interface, and acting on the interface AF spins. Our results yield that different types of the random field distributions of anisotropy field may lead to different behavior of exchange bias.

Vector optical fields with polarization distributions similar to electric and magnetic field lines.

PubMed

Pan, Yue; Li, Si-Min; Mao, Lei; Kong, Ling-Jun; Li, Yongnan; Tu, Chenghou; Wang, Pei; Wang, Hui-Tian

2013-07-01

We present, design and generate a new kind of vector optical fields with linear polarization distributions modeling to electric and magnetic field lines. The geometric configurations of "electric charges" and "magnetic charges" can engineer the spatial structure and symmetry of polarizations of vector optical field, providing additional degrees of freedom assisting in controlling the field symmetry at the focus and allowing engineering of the field distribution at the focus to the specific applications.

Field-Lines-Threaded Model for: (1) the Low Solar Corona; (2) Electrons in the Transition Region; and (3) Solar Energetic Particle Acceleration and Transport

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sokolov, I.; van der Holst, B.; Jin, M.; Gombosi, T. I.; Taktakishvili, A.; Khazanov, G. V.

2013-12-01

In numerical simulations of the solar corona, both for the ambient state and especially for dynamical processes the most computational resources are spent for maintaining the numerical solution in the Low Solar Corona and in the transition region, where the temperature gradients are very sharp and the magnetic field has a complicated topology. The degraded computational efficiency is caused by the need in a highest resolution as well as the use of the fully three-dimensional implicit solver for electron heat conduction. On the other hand, the physical nature of the processes involved is rather simple (which still does not facilitate the numerical methods) as long as the heat fluxes as well as slow plasma motional velocities are aligned with the magnetic field. The Alfven wave turbulence, which is often believed to be the main driver of the solar wind and the main source of the coronal heating, is characterized by the Poynting flux of the waves, which is also aligned with the magnetic field. Therefore, the plasma state in any point of the three-dimensional grid in the Low Solar Corona can be found by solving a set of one-dimensional equations for the magnetic field line ('thread'), which passes through this point and connects it to the chromosphere and to the global Solar Corona. In the present paper we describe an innovative computational technology based upon the use of the magnetic-field-line-threads to find the local solution. We present the development of the AWSoM code of the University of Michigan with the field-lines-threaded Low Solar Corona. In the transition region, where the essentially kinetic description of the electron energy fluxes is required, we solve the Fokker-Plank equation on the system of threads, to achieve the physically consistent description of chromosphere evaporation. The third application for the field-lines-treaded model is the Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) acceleration and transport. Being the natural extension of the Field-Line-Advection Model for Particle Acceleration (FLAMPA), earlier suggested for a single magnetic field line advected with the plasma motion, the multiple-field-lines model allows us to simulate the SEP fluxes at multiple points of possible observation (at the Earth location, at STEREOs, at Mercury).

Jargon that Computes: Today's PC Terminology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crawford, Walt

1997-01-01

Discusses PC (personal computer) and telecommunications terminology in context: Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN); Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL); cable modems; satellite downloads; T1 and T3 lines; magnitudes ("giga-,""nano-"); Central Processing Unit (CPU); Random Access Memory (RAM); Universal Serial Bus…

Spatial analysis of the distribution of Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and losses in maize crop productivity using geostatistics.

PubMed

Farias, Paulo R S; Barbosa, José C; Busoli, Antonio C; Overal, William L; Miranda, Vicente S; Ribeiro, Susane M

2008-01-01

The fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith), is one of the chief pests of maize in the Americas. The study of its spatial distribution is fundamental for designing correct control strategies, improving sampling methods, determining actual and potential crop losses, and adopting precise agricultural techniques. In São Paulo state, Brazil, a maize field was sampled at weekly intervals, from germination through harvest, for caterpillar densities, using quadrates. In each of 200 quadrates, 10 plants were sampled per week. Harvest weights were obtained in the field for each quadrate, and ear diameters and lengths were also sampled (15 ears per quadrate) and used to estimate potential productivity of the quadrate. Geostatistical analyses of caterpillar densities showed greatest ranges for small caterpillars when semivariograms were adjusted for a spherical model that showed greatest fit. As the caterpillars developed in the field, their spatial distribution became increasingly random, as shown by a model adjusted to a straight line, indicating a lack of spatial dependence among samples. Harvest weight and ear length followed the spherical model, indicating the existence of spatial variability of the production parameters in the maize field. Geostatistics shows promise for the application of precise methods in the integrated control of pests.

Level of Creative Behavior among Teachers of Public Schools within the Green Line from Their Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naser, Rina Abdallah

2016-01-01

The current study seeks to identify the level of creative behavior among teachers of public schools within the Green Line, based on gender, academic qualification, years of experience and level of school. The sample consisted of (502) teachers, selected randomly, from public schools within the Green Line in Israel. The tool utilized is a…

From Dot to Line to Plane: Constellating Unconscious Imagery in Art Therapy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steinhardt, Lenore

2017-01-01

In this article I describe an art-based procedure with a gradual sequence of drawing tasks that guides an art therapy client through graphic stages from point, to line, to plane. The client begins by making random dots, connecting them one to another with an unbroken line that reaches all the dots, perceiving abstract or figurative imagery in the…

Summer School Effects in a Randomized Field Trial

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zvoch, Keith; Stevens, Joseph J.

2013-01-01

This field-based randomized trial examined the effect of assignment to and participation in summer school for two moderately at-risk samples of struggling readers. Application of multiple regression models to difference scores capturing the change in summer reading fluency revealed that kindergarten students randomly assigned to summer school…

Colliding Magnetic Flux Ropes and Quasi-Separatrix Layers in a Laboratory Plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lawrence, Eric Eugene

An experimental study of the dynamics of colliding magnetic flux ropes and the magnetic reconnection that occurs during these collisions is presented. A magnetic flux rope is a bundle of twisted magnetic field lines that is ubiquitous in space and solar plasmas. The flux ropes are created in the Large Plasma Device (LAPD) using two heated lanthanum hexaboride (LaB6) cathodes that inject currents into the background plasma. The currents are initially parallel to the background magnetic field. The azimuthal field of each current together with the background axial field create helical twisted flux ropes. It is found that the flux ropes rotate in time (corkscrew) and collide with each other. During a collision, antiparallel magnetic fields can undergo magnetic reconnection. When these collisions occur, we observe current layers flowing in the opposite direction of the injected current, a signatuare of reconnection. Analysis of the three-dimensional magnetic field lines shows the existence of quasi-separatrix layers (QSLs). These are regions in the magnetic configuration where there are large spatial gradients in the connectivity of field line footpoints in the boundary surfaces. QSLs are thought to be favorable sites for magnetic reconnection. It is shown that the location and shape of the QSL is similar to what is seen in simulations of merging flux ropes. Furthermore, the field line structure of the QSL is similar to that of a twisted hyperbolic flux tube (HFT). An HFT is a type of QSL that has been shown to be a preferred site for current sheet formation in simulations of interacting coronal loops. The HFT in this experiment is found to be generally near the reverse current layers, although the agreement is not perfect. Looking at the time evolution of the QSL, we find that the QSL cross-sectional area grows and contracts at the same time that the flux ropes collide and that the reverse current layers appear. Analysis of the field line motion shows that, during reconnection, bundles of field lines rapidly flip across the QSLs. This is analagous to the way that field lines are pushed across a separatrix in 2D reconnection.

A study of weak anisotropy in electron pressure in the tail current sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, D.-Y.; Voigt, G.-H.

1995-01-01

We adopt a magnetotail model with stretched field lines where ion motions are generally nonadiabatic and where it is assumed that the pressure anisotropy resides only in the electron pressure tensor. We show that the magnetic field lines with p(perpendicular) greater than p(parallel) are less stretched than the corresponding field lines in the isotropic model. For p(parallel) greater than p(perpendicular), the magnetic field lines become more and more stretched as the anisotropy approaches the marginal firehose limit, p(parallel) = p(perpendicular) + B(exp 2)/mu(sub 0). We also show that the tail current density is highly enhanced at the firehose limit, a situation that might be subject to a microscopic instability. However, we emphasize that the enhancement in the current density is notable only near the center of the tail current sheet (z = 0). Thus it remains unclear whether any microscopic instability can significantly alter the global magnetic field configuration of the tail. By comparing the radius of the field-line curvature at z = 0 with the particle's gyroradius, we suspect that even the conventional adiabatic description of electrons may become questionable very close to the marginal firehose limit.

Observations of a Newly "Captured" Magnetosheath Field Line: Evidence for "Double Reconnection"

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chandler, Michael O.; Avanov, Levon A.; Craven, Paul D.; Mozer, Forrest S.; Moore, Thomas E.

2007-01-01

We have begun an investigation of the nature of the low-latitude boundary layer in the mid-altitude cusp region using data from the Polar spacecraft. This region has been routinely sampled for about three months each year for the periods 1999-2001 and 2004-2006. The low-to-mid-energy ion instruments frequently observed dense, magnetosheath-like plasma deep (in terms of distance from the magnetopause and in invariant latitude) in the magnetosphere. One such case, taken during a period of northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), shows magnetosheath ions within the magnetosphere with velocity distributions resulting from two separate merging sites along the same field lines. Cold ionospheric ions were also observed counterstreaming along the field lines, evidence that these field lines were closed. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that double merging can produce closed field .lines populated by solar wind plasma. Through the use of individual cases such as this and statistical studies of a broader database we seek to understand the morphology of the LLBL as it projects from the sub-solar region into the cusp. We will present preliminary results of our ongoing study.

Spin dynamics of random Ising chain in coexisting transverse and longitudinal magnetic fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Zhong-Qiang; Jiang, Su-Rong; Kong, Xiang-Mu; Xu, Yu-Liang

2017-05-01

The dynamics of the random Ising spin chain in coexisting transverse and longitudinal magnetic fields is studied by the recursion method. Both the spin autocorrelation function and its spectral density are investigated by numerical calculations. It is found that system's dynamical behaviors depend on the deviation σJ of the random exchange coupling between nearest-neighbor spins and the ratio rlt of the longitudinal and the transverse fields: (i) For rlt = 0, the system undergoes two crossovers from N independent spins precessing about the transverse magnetic field to a collective-mode behavior, and then to a central-peak behavior as σJ increases. (ii) For rlt ≠ 0, the system may exhibit a coexistence behavior of a collective-mode one and a central-peak one. When σJ is small (or large enough), system undergoes a crossover from a coexistence behavior (or a disordered behavior) to a central-peak behavior as rlt increases. (iii) Increasing σJ depresses effects of both the transverse and the longitudinal magnetic fields. (iv) Quantum random Ising chain in coexisting magnetic fields may exhibit under-damping and critical-damping characteristics simultaneously. These results indicate that changing the external magnetic fields may control and manipulate the dynamics of the random Ising chain.

Thinopyrum 7Ai-1-derived small chromatin with Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus (BYDV) resistance gene integrated into the wheat genome with retrotransposon.

PubMed

Ma, Y-Z; Tomita, M

2013-01-01

Thinopyrum intermedium is a useful source of resistance genes for Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus (BYDV), one of the most damaging wheat diseases. In this study, wheat/Th. intermedium translocation lines with a BYDV resistance gene were developed using the Th. intermedium 7Ai- 1 chromosome. Genomic in situ hybridization (GISH), using a Th. intermedium total genomic DNA probe, enabled detection of 7Ai-1-derived small chromatins containing a BYDV resistance gene, which were translocated onto the end of wheat chromosomes in the lines Y95011 and Y960843. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analyses using 120 random 10-mer primers were conducted to compare the BYDV-resistant translocation lines with susceptible lines. Two primers amplified the DNA fragments specific to the resistant line that would be useful as molecular markers to identify 7Ai-1-derived BYDV resistance chromatin in the wheat genome. Additionally, the isolated Th. intermedium-specific retrotransposon-like sequence pTi28 can be used to identify Th. intermedium chromatin transferred to the wheat genome.

Rotating superconductor magnet for producing rotating lobed magnetic field lines

DOEpatents

Hilal, Sadek K.; Sampson, William B.; Leonard, Edward F.

1978-01-01

This invention provides a rotating superconductor magnet for producing a rotating lobed magnetic field, comprising a cryostat; a superconducting magnet in the cryostat having a collar for producing a lobed magnetic field having oppositely directed adjacent field lines; rotatable support means for selectively rotating the superconductor magnet; and means for energizing the superconductor magnet.

Magnetic field selective enhancement of Li I lines comparing Li II line in laser ablated lithium plasma at 10- 2 mbar air ambient gas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Ping; Wu, Ding; Sun, Liying; Hai, Ran; Liu, Jiamin; Ding, Hongbin

2017-11-01

In this paper, the effect of magnetic field (1.1 T) on the atomic and ionic spectral emission of a laser produced lithium plasma at low pressure has been investigated. The experimental results indicate that magnetic field enhances the intensities of Li I spectral lines but reduces the Li II spectral lines intensities. In this study, two narrowband filters were placed before the ICCD camera to observe the evolution feature of Li II spectral line (548.39 nm, 2p3P2,1,0 → 2s3S1) and Li I spectral line (610.30 nm, 3d2P3/2, 5/2 → 2p2P1/2, 3/2), respectively. The plasma dynamic images show that with the magnetic field, the number density of luminous Li atoms is higher, while the number density of luminous Li ions is lower in comparison to the field-free case. The reduced Li II spectral intensities indicate that the quenching rate of Li ions in the excited state is greater than that without the magnetic field. The enhanced impact frequency of recombination indicates that magnetic field increases the recombination process of electron and Li ions. All of these observations strongly suggest that magnetic confinement increases the recombination process of the electrons with Li ions in the plasma, which results in the decrease in the intensity of Li II line. The results are useful for applying laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to in-situ diagnose the processes of lithium wall conditioning in EAST tokamak.

Interchange Slip-Running Reconnection and Sweeping SEP-Beams

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Masson, S.; Aulanier, G.; Pariat, E.; Klein, K.-L.

2011-01-01

We present a new model to explain how particles, accelerated at a reconnection site that is not magnetically connected to the Earth, could eventually propagate along the well-connected open flux tube. Our model is based on the results of a low-beta resistive magnetohydrodynamics simulation of a three-dimensional line-tied and initially current-free bipole, that is embedded in a non-uniform open potential field. The topology of this configuration is that of an asymmetric coronal null-point, with a closed fan surface and an open outer spine. When driven by slow photospheric shearing motions, field lines, initially fully anchored below the fan dome, reconnect at the null point, and jump to the open magnetic domain. This is the standard interchange mode as sketched and calculated in 2D. The key result in 3D is that, reconnected open field lines located in the vicinity of the outer spine, keep reconnecting continuously, across an open quasi-separatrix layer, as previously identified for non-open-null-point reconnection. The apparent slipping motion of these field lines leads to form an extended narrow magnetic flux tube at high altitude. Because of the slip-running reconnection, we conjecture that if energetic particles would be travelling through, or be accelerated inside, the diffusion region, they would be successively injected along continuously reconnecting field lines that are connected farther and farther from the spine. At the scale of the full Sun, owing to the super-radial expansion of field lines below 3 solar radius, such energetic particles could easily be injected in field lines slipping over significant distances, and could eventually reach the distant flux tube that is well-connected to the Earth.

The Simple Map for a Single-null Divertor Tokamak: How to Find the Footprint of Field lines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Figgins, Montoya; Ali, Halima; Punjabi, Alkesh

2000-10-01

We are working with the Simple Map^1 to find the footprint of field lines on the diverter plate in a single-null tokamak. Footprint of a field line is the position of the line when it escapes across the divertor plate. The Simple Map represents the magnetic field in a single-null divertor tokamak. The path of a field line is given by the equations: X_n+1=X_n-kY_n(1-Y_n) and Y_n+1=Y_n+kX_n+1. In order to find the footprint, we must first find the last good surface which is Y=0.997135768 and X=0. The value of k is fixed at 0.6. The starting values X0 are fixed at X_0=0. We use 10,000 points between the last good surface and the X-point. The X-point is located at (0,1). We also use the Continuous Analog of the Simple Map given by the equations: X(φ)=X_0-kY0 (1-Y_0)φ and Y(φ)=Y_0+kX(φ)φ. This will tell us what the (φ,X) is which represents the field lines crossing the divertor plate. The divertor plate is located at Y=1. When graphed, the footprint of field lines looks like the rings of Saturn. This work is supported by US DOES OFES. Ms. Montoya Figgins is HU CFRT Summer Fusion High School Scholar from E. E. Smith High School in North Carolina. She is supported by NASA under its NASA SHARP Plus Program. 1. Punjabi A, Verma A, and Boozer A, Phys Rev Lett, 69, 3322 (1992) and J Plasma Phys, 52, 91 (1994)

Stability of the quantum Sherrington-Kirkpatrick spin glass model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Young, A. P.

2017-09-01

I study in detail the quantum Sherrington-Kirkpatrick (SK) model, i.e., the infinite-range Ising spin glass in a transverse field, by solving numerically the effective one-dimensional model that the quantum SK model can be mapped to in the thermodynamic limit. I find that the replica symmetric solution is unstable down to zero temperature, in contrast to some previous claims, and so there is not only a line of transitions in the (longitudinal) field-temperature plane (the de Almeida-Thouless, AT, line) where replica symmetry is broken, but also a quantum de Almeida-Thouless (QuAT) line in the transverse field-longitudinal field plane at T =0 . If the QuAT line also occurs in models with short-range interactions its presence might affect the performance of quantum annealers when solving spin glass-type problems with a bias (i.e., magnetic field).

Gyrokinetic continuum simulation of turbulence in a straight open-field-line plasma

DOE PAGES

Shi, E. L.; Hammett, G. W.; Stoltzfus-Dueck, T.; ...

2017-05-29

Here, five-dimensional gyrokinetic continuum simulations of electrostatic plasma turbulence in a straight, open-field-line geometry have been performed using a full- discontinuous-Galerkin approach implemented in the Gkeyll code. While various simplifications have been used for now, such as long-wavelength approximations in the gyrokinetic Poisson equation and the Hamiltonian, these simulations include the basic elements of a fusion-device scrape-off layer: localised sources to model plasma outflow from the core, cross-field turbulent transport, parallel flow along magnetic field lines, and parallel losses at the limiter or divertor with sheath-model boundary conditions. The set of sheath-model boundary conditions used in the model allows currentsmore » to flow through the walls. In addition to details of the numerical approach, results from numerical simulations of turbulence in the Large Plasma Device, a linear device featuring straight magnetic field lines, are presented.« less

A region of intense plasma wave turbulence on auroral field lines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gurnett, D. A.; Frank, L. A.

1976-01-01

This report presents a detailed study of the plasma wave turbulence observed by HAWKEYE-1 and IMP-6 on high latitude auroral field lines and investigates the relationship of this turbulence to magnetic field and plasma measurements obtained in the same region.

Cosmic Rays in Intermittent Magnetic Fields

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

Shukurov, Anvar; Seta, Amit; Bushby, Paul J.

The propagation of cosmic rays in turbulent magnetic fields is a diffusive process driven by the scattering of the charged particles by random magnetic fluctuations. Such fields are usually highly intermittent, consisting of intense magnetic filaments and ribbons surrounded by weaker, unstructured fluctuations. Studies of cosmic-ray propagation have largely overlooked intermittency, instead adopting Gaussian random magnetic fields. Using test particle simulations, we calculate cosmic-ray diffusivity in intermittent, dynamo-generated magnetic fields. The results are compared with those obtained from non-intermittent magnetic fields having identical power spectra. The presence of magnetic intermittency significantly enhances cosmic-ray diffusion over a wide range of particlemore » energies. We demonstrate that the results can be interpreted in terms of a correlated random walk.« less

Improved field free line magnetic particle imaging using saddle coils.

PubMed

Erbe, Marlitt; Sattel, Timo F; Buzug, Thorsten M

2013-12-01

Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is a novel tracer-based imaging method detecting the distribution of superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticles in vivo in three dimensions and in real time. Conventionally, MPI uses the signal emitted by SPIO tracer material located at a field free point (FFP). To increase the sensitivity of MPI, however, an alternative encoding scheme collecting the particle signal along a field free line (FFL) was proposed. To provide the magnetic fields needed for line imaging in MPI, a very efficient scanner setup regarding electrical power consumption is needed. At the same time, the scanner needs to provide a high magnetic field homogeneity along the FFL as well as parallel to its alignment to prevent the appearance of artifacts, using efficient radon-based reconstruction methods arising for a line encoding scheme. This work presents a dynamic FFL scanner setup for MPI that outperforms all previously presented setups in electrical power consumption as well as magnetic field quality.

"Diffusion" region of magnetic reconnection: electron orbits and the phase space mixing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kropotkin, Alexey P.

2018-05-01

The nonlinear dynamics of electrons in the vicinity of magnetic field neutral lines during magnetic reconnection, deep inside the diffusion region where the electron motion is nonadiabatic, has been numerically analyzed. Test particle orbits are examined in that vicinity, for a prescribed planar two-dimensional magnetic field configuration and with a prescribed uniform electric field in the neutral line direction. On electron orbits, a strong particle acceleration occurs due to the reconnection electric field. Local instability of orbits in the neighborhood of the neutral line is pointed out. It combines with finiteness of orbits due to particle trapping by the magnetic field, and this should lead to the effect of mixing in the phase space, and the appearance of dynamical chaos. The latter may presumably be viewed as a mechanism producing finite conductivity in collisionless plasma near the neutral line. That conductivity is necessary to provide violation of the magnetic field frozen-in condition, i.e., for magnetic reconnection to occur in that region.

Erratum: ``CO Line Width Differences in Early Universe Molecular Emission-Line Galaxies: Submillimeter Galaxies versus QSO Hosts'' (AJ, 131, 2763 [2006])

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carilli, C. L.; Wang, Ran

2006-11-01

It has been pointed out to us that in three dimensions the mean angle of randomly oriented disks with respect to the sky plane is <θ>=30deg, and not the 45° assumed in the original paper. This lower angle for the (assumed) random distribution of submillimeter galaxies, coupled with the factor of 2.3 lower mean CO line width for high-z, far-IR-luminous QSO host galaxies relative to the submillimeter galaxies, implies a mean angle with respect to the sky plane for the QSO host galaxies of <θ>QSO=13deg, as opposed to the 18° quoted in the original paper. We thank Pat Hall for bringing this to our attention.

Introduction to the Special Issue.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petrosino, Anthony

2003-01-01

Introduces the articles of this special issue focusing on randomized field trials in criminology. In spite of the overall lack of randomized field trials in criminology, some agencies and individuals are able to mount an impressive number of field trials, and these articles focus on their experiences. (SLD)

Influence of the on-line ELF-EMF stimulation on the electrophysiological properties of the rat hippocampal CA1 neurons in vitro

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Yu; Ma, Wei; Dong, Lei; Dou, Jun-rong; Gao, Yang; Xue, Jing

2017-10-01

The extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMFs) have been shown to have an environmentally negative effect on humans' health; however, its treatment effect is beneficial for patients suffering from neurological disorders. Despite this success, the application of ELF-EMF has exceeded in the understanding of its internal mechanism. Recently, it was found that on-line magnetic stimulation may offer advantages over off-line magnetic exposure and has proven to be effective in activating the prefrontal cortex pyramidal neurons in vitro. Here, we perform computational simulations of the stimulation coils in COMSOL modeling to describe the uniformity of the distribution of the on-line magnetic field. Interestingly, the modeling data and actual measurements showed that the densities of the magnetic flux that was generated by the on-line stimulation coils were similar. The on-line magnetic stimulator induced sodium channel currents as well as field excitatory postsynaptic potentials of the rat hippocampal CA1 neurons and successfully demonstrated its extensive applications to activate neuronal tissue. These findings further raise the possibility that the instrument of on-line magnetic stimulation may be an effective alternative for studies in the field of bioelectromagnetics.

INTRINSIC ELECTROMAGNETIC VARIABILITY IN CELESTIAL OBJECTS CONTAINING RAPIDLY SPINNING BLACK HOLES

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

Zhang, Fan, E-mail: fnzhang@bnu.edu.cn; Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Virginia University, P.O. Box 6315, Morgantown, WV 26506

2016-02-10

Analytical studies have raised the concern that a mysterious expulsion of magnetic field lines by a rapidly spinning black hole (dubbed the black hole Meissner effect) would shut down the Blandford–Znajek process and quench the jets of active galactic nuclei and microquasars. This effect is, however, not seen observationally or in numerical simulations. Previous attempts at reconciling the predictions with observations have proposed several mechanisms to evade the Meissner effect. In this paper, we identify a new evasion mechanism and discuss its observational significance. Specifically, we show that the breakdown of stationarity is sufficient to remove the expulsion of themore » magnetic field at all multipole orders, and that the associated temporal variation is likely turbulent because of the existence of efficient mechanisms for sharing energy across different modes. Such an intrinsic (as opposed to being driven externally by, e.g., changes in the accretion rate) variability of the electromagnetic field can produce the recorded linear correlation between microvariability amplitudes and mean fluxes, help create magnetic randomness and seed sheared magnetic loops in jets, and lead to a better theoretical fit to the X-ray microvariability power spectral density.« less

Effect of resonant magnetic perturbations on three dimensional equilibria in the Madison Symmetric Torus reversed-field pinch

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

Munaretto, S., E-mail: smunaretto@wisc.edu; Chapman, B. E.; Nornberg, M. D.

2016-05-15

The orientation of 3D equilibria in the Madison Symmetric Torus (MST) [R. N. Dexter et al., Fusion Technol. 19, 131 (1991)] reversed-field pinch can now be controlled with a resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP). Absent the RMP, the orientation of the stationary 3D equilibrium varies from shot to shot in a semi-random manner, making its diagnosis difficult. Produced with a poloidal array of saddle coils at the vertical insulated cut in MST's thick conducting shell, an m = 1 RMP with an amplitude b{sub r}/B ∼ 10% forces the 3D structure into any desired orientation relative to MST's diagnostics. This control has led to improvedmore » diagnosis, revealing enhancements in both the central electron temperature and density. With sufficient amplitude, the RMP also inhibits the generation of high-energy (>20 keV) electrons, which otherwise emerge due to a reduction in magnetic stochasticity in the core. Field line tracing reveals that the RMP reintroduces stochasticity to the core. A m = 3 RMP of similar amplitude has little effect on the magnetic topology or the high-energy electrons.« less

Intrinsic Electromagnetic Variability in Celestial Objects Containing Rapidly Spinning Black Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Fan

2016-02-01

Analytical studies have raised the concern that a mysterious expulsion of magnetic field lines by a rapidly spinning black hole (dubbed the black hole Meissner effect) would shut down the Blandford-Znajek process and quench the jets of active galactic nuclei and microquasars. This effect is, however, not seen observationally or in numerical simulations. Previous attempts at reconciling the predictions with observations have proposed several mechanisms to evade the Meissner effect. In this paper, we identify a new evasion mechanism and discuss its observational significance. Specifically, we show that the breakdown of stationarity is sufficient to remove the expulsion of the magnetic field at all multipole orders, and that the associated temporal variation is likely turbulent because of the existence of efficient mechanisms for sharing energy across different modes. Such an intrinsic (as opposed to being driven externally by, e.g., changes in the accretion rate) variability of the electromagnetic field can produce the recorded linear correlation between microvariability amplitudes and mean fluxes, help create magnetic randomness and seed sheared magnetic loops in jets, and lead to a better theoretical fit to the X-ray microvariability power spectral density.

The impact of different interstellar medium structures on the dynamical evolution of supernova remnants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yueyang; Bao, Biwen; Yang, Chuyuan; Zhang, Li

2018-05-01

The dynamical properties of supernova remnants (SNRs) evolving with different interstellar medium structures are investigated through performing extensive two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations in the cylindrical symmetry. Three cases of different interstellar medium structures are considered: the uniform medium, the turbulent medium and the cloudy medium. Large-scale density and magnetic fluctuations are calculated and mapped into the computational domain before simulations. The clouds are set by random distribution in advance. The above configuration allows us to study the time-dependent dynamical properties and morphological evolution of the SNR evolving with different ambient structures, along with the development of the instabilities at the contact discontinuity. Our simulation results indicate that remnant morphology deviates from symmetry if the interstellar medium contains clouds or turbulent density fluctuations. In the cloudy medium case, interactions between the shock wave and clouds lead to clouds' fragmentation. The magnetic field can be greatly enhanced by stretching field lines with a combination of instabilities while the width of amplification region is quite different among the three cases. Moreover, both the width of amplification region and the maximum magnetic-field strength are closely related to the clouds' density.

Study of the Vertical Magnetic Field in Face-on Galaxies Using Faraday Tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ideguchi, Shinsuke; Tashiro, Yuichi; Akahori, Takuya; Takahashi, Keitaro; Ryu, Dongsu

2017-07-01

Faraday tomography allows astronomers to probe the distribution of the magnetic field along the line of sight (LOS), but that can be achieved only after the Faraday spectrum is interpreted. However, the interpretation is not straightforward, mainly because the Faraday spectrum is complicated due to a turbulent magnetic field; it ruins the one-to-one relation between the Faraday depth and the physical depth, and appears as many small-scale features in the Faraday spectrum. In this paper, by employing “simple toy models” for the magnetic field, we describe numerically as well as analytically the characteristic properties of the Faraday spectrum. We show that the Faraday spectrum along “multiple LOSs” can be used to extract the global properties of the magnetic field. Specifically, considering face-on spiral galaxies and modeling turbulent magnetic field as a random field with a single coherence length, we numerically calculate the Faraday spectrum along a number of LOSs and its shape-characterizing parameters, that is, the moments. When multiple LOSs cover a region of ≳(10 coherence length)2, the shape of the Faraday spectrum becomes smooth and the shape-characterizing parameters are well specified. With the Faraday spectrum constructed as a sum of Gaussian functions with different means and variances, we analytically show that the parameters are expressed in terms of the regular and turbulent components of the LOS magnetic field and the coherence length. We also consider the turbulent magnetic field modeled with a power-law spectrum, and study how the magnetic field is revealed in the Faraday spectrum. Our work suggests a way to obtain information on the magnetic field from a Faraday tomography study.

Study of the Vertical Magnetic Field in Face-on Galaxies Using Faraday Tomography

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

Ideguchi, Shinsuke; Ryu, Dongsu; Tashiro, Yuichi

Faraday tomography allows astronomers to probe the distribution of the magnetic field along the line of sight (LOS), but that can be achieved only after the Faraday spectrum is interpreted. However, the interpretation is not straightforward, mainly because the Faraday spectrum is complicated due to a turbulent magnetic field; it ruins the one-to-one relation between the Faraday depth and the physical depth, and appears as many small-scale features in the Faraday spectrum. In this paper, by employing “simple toy models” for the magnetic field, we describe numerically as well as analytically the characteristic properties of the Faraday spectrum. We showmore » that the Faraday spectrum along “multiple LOSs” can be used to extract the global properties of the magnetic field. Specifically, considering face-on spiral galaxies and modeling turbulent magnetic field as a random field with a single coherence length, we numerically calculate the Faraday spectrum along a number of LOSs and its shape-characterizing parameters, that is, the moments. When multiple LOSs cover a region of ≳(10 coherence length){sup 2}, the shape of the Faraday spectrum becomes smooth and the shape-characterizing parameters are well specified. With the Faraday spectrum constructed as a sum of Gaussian functions with different means and variances, we analytically show that the parameters are expressed in terms of the regular and turbulent components of the LOS magnetic field and the coherence length. We also consider the turbulent magnetic field modeled with a power-law spectrum, and study how the magnetic field is revealed in the Faraday spectrum. Our work suggests a way to obtain information on the magnetic field from a Faraday tomography study.« less

General technique for measurement of refractive index variations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1970-01-01

Time variation of amplitude and phase fluctuations, impressed on waves propagating through a medium which has a randomly varying refractive index, is used to examine isolated regions along the line of propagation. Technique employs only one antenna at each end of the line.

Passenger Flow Analysis, 1978. Riverside Line, MBTA.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1981-08-01

In order to complete a set of passenger flow estimates for use in a simulation model of a light rail line, a count of passenger movement was made at randomly selected stations in the underground section. Above-ground stations had been studied a year ...

Ionospheric and magnetospheric plasmapauses'

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grebowsky, J. M.; Hoffman, J. H.; Maynard, N. C.

1977-01-01

During August 1972, Explorer 45 orbiting near the equatorial plane with an apogee of about 5.2 R sub e traversed magnetic field lines in close proximity to those simultaneously traversed by the topside ionospheric satellite ISIS 2 near dusk in the L range 2-5.4. The locations of the Explorer 45 plasmapause crossings during this month were compared to the latitudinal decreases of the H(+) density observed on ISIS 2 near the same magnetic field lines. The equatorially determined plasmapause field lines typically passed through or poleward of the minimum of the ionospheric light ion trough, with coincident satellite passes occurring for which the L separation between the plasmapause and trough field lines was between 1 and 2. Vertical flows of the H(+) ions in the light ion trough as detected by the magnetic ion mass spectrometer on ISIS were directed upward with velocities between 1 and 2 kilometers/sec near dusk on these passes. These velocities decreased to lower values on the low latitude side of the H(+) trough but did not show any noticeable change across the field lines corresponding to the magnetospheric plasmapause.

Effects of high voltage transmission lines on honeybees: a feasibility study. Final report

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

Greenberg, B.

1977-07-01

Methodology is described for the investigation of the effects of electric fields generated by high-tension power lines on honeybees (Apis mellifera L.). The parameters to be measured include colony population, honey stores, amount of acoustical noise generated by the bees, in-hive temperature, incidence of queen cell production, and tendency to swarm. Accompanying dosimetric support includes in-hive electric field measurements, development of shielding to eliminate the electric field from selected colonies, analysis of the acoustical data, and periodic checks on the ambient electric field present under the line and at the control site.

The Effect of a Guide Field on the Structures of Magnetic Islands: 2D PIC Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, C.; Lu, Q.; Lu, S.; Wang, P.; Wang, S.

2014-12-01

Magnetic island plays an important role in magnetic reconnection. Using a series of 2D PIC simulations, we investigate the magnetic structures of a magnetic island formed during multiple X-line magnetic reconnection, considering the effects of the guide field in symmetric and asymmetric current sheets. In a symmetric current sheet, the current in the direction forms a tripolar structure inside a magnetic island during anti-parallel reconnection, which results in a quadrupole structure of the out-of-plane magnetic field. With the increase of the guide field, the symmetry of both the current system and out-of-plane magnetic field inside the magnetic island is distorted. When the guide field is sufficiently strong, the current forms a ring along the magnetic field lines inside magnetic island. At the same time, the current carried by the energetic electrons accelerated in the vicinity of the X lines forms another ring at the edge of the magnetic island. Such a dual-ring current system enhance the out-of-plane magnetic field inside the magnetic island with a dip in the center of the magnetic island. In an asymmetric current sheet, when there is no guide field, electrons flows toward the X lines along the separatrices from the side with a higher density, and are then directed away from the X lines along the separatrices to the side with a lower density. The formed current results in the enhancement of the out-of-plane magnetic field at one end of the magnetic island, and the attenuation at the other end. With the increase of the guide field, the structures of both the current system and the out-of-plane magnetic field are distorted.

Modelling the Auroral Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling System at Jupiter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bunce, E. J.; Cowley, S.; Provan, G.

2016-12-01

The magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling system at Jupiter is a topic of central significance in understanding the fundamental properties of its large-scale plasma environment. Theoretical discussion of this topic typically considers the properties of the field-aligned current systems that form part of a large-scale magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling current system associated with momentum exchange between the ionosphere and the magnetosphere, communicated via the magnetic field. The current system associated with the main oval is believed to be related to centrifugally-driven outward radial transport of iogenic plasma that leads to sub-corotation in the middle magnetosphere. In addition to the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling current system, upward-directed field-aligned currents may flow at the open-closed field line boundary due to the shear between outer closed field lines and open field lines, which may relate to emission poleward of the main oval. An axi-symmetric model of the plasma flow in the jovian system, the related coupling currents, and the consequent auroral precipitation based on these combined ideas was initially devised to represent typical steady-state conditions for the system and later extended to consider auroral effects resulting from sudden compressions of the magnetosphere. More recently, the model has been extended along model magnetic field lines into the magnetosphere in order to relate them to in situ observations from the NASA Juno spacecraft at Jupiter. The field-aligned coupling currents associated with the modelled current systems produce a readily-observable azimuthal field signature that bends the field lines out of magnetic meridians. Here we show the computed azimuthal fields produced by our model auroral current system throughout the region between the ionosphere and the magnetic equator, and illustrate the results by evaluation of various model parameters (e.g. field-aligned current density, accelerating voltages, accelerated energy flux) along the Juno orbits.

Subsolar magnetopause observation and kinetic simulation of a tripolar guide magnetic field perturbation consistent with a magnetic island

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eriksson, S.; Cassak, P. A.; Retinò, A.; Mozer, F. S.

2016-04-01

The Polar satellite recorded two reconnection exhausts within 6 min on 1 April 2001 across a subsolar magnetopause that displayed a symmetric plasma density, but different out-of-plane magnetic field signatures for similar solar wind conditions. The first magnetopause crossing displayed a bipolar guide field variation in a weak external guide field consistent with a symmetric Hall field from a single X line. The subsequent crossing represents the first observation of a tripolar guide field perturbation at Earth's magnetopause in a strong guide field. This perturbation consists of a significant guide field enhancement between two narrow guide field depressions. A particle-in-cell simulation for the prevailing conditions across this second event resulted in a magnetic island between two simulated X lines across which a tripolar guide field developed consistent with the observation. The simulated island supports a scenario whereby Polar encountered the asymmetric quadrupole Hall magnetic fields between two X lines for symmetric conditions across the magnetopause.

Over-the-Line: An Alternative Striking/Fielding Game for Understanding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gorecki, Jennifer J.

2004-01-01

Over-the-Line is a striking/fielding game designed from the perspective of the Games for Understanding tactical model to serve as an alternative to traditional kickball, softball, and baseball. Over-the-Line can be modified for developmental appropriateness and tasks can increase in complexity as tactical awareness is attained. This article shares…

Viability of Using Diamond Field Emitter Array Cathodes in Free Electron Lasers

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-01

essential component of a field emitter array is the shape of the electric field lines and equipotential lines at the surface of the array. The...BARRIER AND QUANTUM TUNNELING ...........25 B. FIELD ENHANCEMENT AND SURFACE PROTRUSIONS .........26 C. ELECTRIC FIELDS AND ELECTRON TRAVEL...26 Figure 4. Diagram of a protrusion (triangular in shape) from the surface of a cathode. The protrusion is of height h, with a

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

Requerey, Iker S.; Cobo, B. Ruiz; Iniesta, J. C. Del Toro

We study the dynamics and topology of an emerging magnetic flux concentration using high spatial resolution spectropolarimetric data acquired with the Imaging Magnetograph eXperiment on board the sunrise balloon-borne solar observatory. We obtain the full vector magnetic field and the line of sight (LOS) velocity through inversions of the Fe i line at 525.02 nm with the SPINOR code. The derived vector magnetic field is used to trace magnetic field lines. Two magnetic flux concentrations with different polarities and LOS velocities are found to be connected by a group of arch-shaped magnetic field lines. The positive polarity footpoint is weakermore » (1100 G) and displays an upflow, while the negative polarity footpoint is stronger (2200 G) and shows a downflow. This configuration is naturally interpreted as a siphon flow along an arched magnetic flux tube.« less

Combining Linear Polarization Measurements of both Forbidden/Permitted Coronal Emission Lines for measuring the Vector Magnetic Field in the Solar Corona

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dima, G. I.; Kuhn, J. R.; Mickey, D.

2014-12-01

Measuring the coronal vector magnetic field is still a major challenge in solar physics. This is due to the intrinsic weakness of the field (~4 G at a height of 0.1 Rsun above an active region) and the large thermal broadening of coronal emission lines. Current methods deduce either the direction of the magnetic field or the magnetic flux density. We propose using concurrent linear polarization measurements in the near IR of forbidden and permitted lines to calculate the coronal vector magnetic field. The effect of the magnetic field on the polarization properties of emitted light is encapsulated in the Hanle effect. In the unsaturated Hanle regime both the direction and strength of the magnetic field affect the linear polarization, while for saturated Hanle the polarization is insensitive to the strength of the field. Coronal forbidden lines are always in the saturated Hanle regime so the linear polarization holds no information on the strength of the field. By pairing measurements of both forbidden and permitted lines we would be able to obtain both the direction and strength of the field. The near-IR region of the spectrum offers the opportunity to study this problem from the ground. The FeXIII 1.075 um and SiX 1.431 um forbidden lines are strongly polarizable and are sufficiently bright over a large field of view (out to 1.5 Rsun). Measurements of both these lines can be paired up with the recently observed coronal HeI 1.083 um permitted line. The first data set used to test this technique was taken during the March 29, 2006 total solar eclipse and consisted of near-IR spectra covering the spectral region 0.9-1.8 um, with a field of view of 3 x 3 Rsun. The data revealed unexpectedly strong SiX emission compared to FeXIII. Using the HAO FORWARD suite of codes we produced simulated emission maps from a global HMD model for the day of the eclipse. Comparing the intensity variation of the measurements and the model we predict that SiX emission is more extended for this day that the model would suggest, further supporting the possible usefulness of SiX polarimetry. The development of this method and associated tools will be critical in interpreting the high spectral, spatial and temporal IR measurements that will be possible when the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) is completed in a few years time.

A biorthogonal decomposition for the identification and simulation of non-stationary and non-Gaussian random fields

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

Zentner, I.; Ferré, G., E-mail: gregoire.ferre@ponts.org; Poirion, F.

2016-06-01

In this paper, a new method for the identification and simulation of non-Gaussian and non-stationary stochastic fields given a database is proposed. It is based on two successive biorthogonal decompositions aiming at representing spatio–temporal stochastic fields. The proposed double expansion allows to build the model even in the case of large-size problems by separating the time, space and random parts of the field. A Gaussian kernel estimator is used to simulate the high dimensional set of random variables appearing in the decomposition. The capability of the method to reproduce the non-stationary and non-Gaussian features of random phenomena is illustrated bymore » applications to earthquakes (seismic ground motion) and sea states (wave heights).« less

The development of magnetic field line wander in gyrokinetic plasma turbulence: dependence on amplitude of turbulence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bourouaine, Sofiane; Howes, Gregory G.

2017-06-01

The dynamics of a turbulent plasma not only manifests the transport of energy from large to small scales, but also can lead to a tangling of the magnetic field that threads through the plasma. The resulting magnetic field line wander can have a large impact on a number of other important processes, such as the propagation of energetic particles through the turbulent plasma. Here we explore the saturation of the turbulent cascade, the development of stochasticity due to turbulent tangling of the magnetic field lines and the separation of field lines through the turbulent dynamics using nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of weakly collisional plasma turbulence, relevant to many turbulent space and astrophysical plasma environments. We determine the characteristic time 2$ for the saturation of the turbulent perpendicular magnetic energy spectrum. We find that the turbulent magnetic field becomes completely stochastic at time 2$ for strong turbulence, and at 2$ for weak turbulence. However, when the nonlinearity parameter of the turbulence, a dimensionless measure of the amplitude of the turbulence, reaches a threshold value (within the regime of weak turbulence) the magnetic field stochasticity does not fully develop, at least within the evolution time interval 22$ . Finally, we quantify the mean square displacement of magnetic field lines in the turbulent magnetic field with a functional form 2\\rangle =A(z/L\\Vert )p$ ( \\Vert $ is the correlation length parallel to the magnetic background field \\mathbf{0}$ , is the distance along \\mathbf{0}$ direction), providing functional forms of the amplitude coefficient and power-law exponent as a function of the nonlinearity parameter.

Sampling Strategies for Evaluating the Rate of Adventitious Transgene Presence in Non-Genetically Modified Crop Fields.

PubMed

Makowski, David; Bancal, Rémi; Bensadoun, Arnaud; Monod, Hervé; Messéan, Antoine

2017-09-01

According to E.U. regulations, the maximum allowable rate of adventitious transgene presence in non-genetically modified (GM) crops is 0.9%. We compared four sampling methods for the detection of transgenic material in agricultural non-GM maize fields: random sampling, stratified sampling, random sampling + ratio reweighting, random sampling + regression reweighting. Random sampling involves simply sampling maize grains from different locations selected at random from the field concerned. The stratified and reweighting sampling methods make use of an auxiliary variable corresponding to the output of a gene-flow model (a zero-inflated Poisson model) simulating cross-pollination as a function of wind speed, wind direction, and distance to the closest GM maize field. With the stratified sampling method, an auxiliary variable is used to define several strata with contrasting transgene presence rates, and grains are then sampled at random from each stratum. With the two methods involving reweighting, grains are first sampled at random from various locations within the field, and the observations are then reweighted according to the auxiliary variable. Data collected from three maize fields were used to compare the four sampling methods, and the results were used to determine the extent to which transgene presence rate estimation was improved by the use of stratified and reweighting sampling methods. We found that transgene rate estimates were more accurate and that substantially smaller samples could be used with sampling strategies based on an auxiliary variable derived from a gene-flow model. © 2017 Society for Risk Analysis.

The Effect of TIMP-1 on the Cone Mosaic in the Retina of the Rat Model of Retinitis Pigmentosa

PubMed Central

Ji, Yerina; Yu, Wan-Qing; Eom, Yun Sung; Bruce, Farouk; Craft, Cheryl Mae; Grzywacz, Norberto M.; Lee, Eun-Jin

2015-01-01

Purpose. The array of photoreceptors found in normal retinas provides uniform and regular sampling of the visual space. In contrast, cones in retinas of the S334ter-line-3 rat model for RP migrate to form a mosaic of rings, leaving large holes with few or no photoreceptors. Similar mosaics appear in human patients with other forms of retinal dystrophy. In the current study, we aimed to investigate the effect of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) on the mosaic of cones in S334ter-line-3 rat retinas. We focused on TIMP-1 because it is one of the regulators of the extracellular matrix important for cellular migration. Methods. Immunohistochemistry was performed to reveal M-opsin cone cells (M-cone) and the results were quantified to test statistically whether or not TIMP-1 restores the mosaics to normal. In particular, the tests focused on the Voronoi and nearest-neighbor distance analyses. Results. Our tests indicated that TIMP-1 led to significant disruption of the M-opsin cone rings in S334ter-line-3 rat retinas and resulted in almost complete homogeneous mosaics. In addition, TIMP-1 induced the M-cone spatial distribution to become closer to random with decreased regularity in S334ter-line-3 rat retinas. Conclusions. These findings confirm that TIMP-1 induced M-cone mosaics in S334ter-line-3 to gain homogeneity without reaching the degree of regularity seen in normal retinal mosaics. Even if TIMP-1 fails to promote regularity, the effects of this drug on homogeneity appear to be so dramatic that TIMP-1 may be a potential therapeutic agent. TIMP-1 improves sampling of the visual field simply by causing homogeneity. PMID:25515575

Solar Golden Arches

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-05-01

The magnetic field lines between a pair of active regions formed a beautiful set of swaying arches rising up above them Apr. 24-26, 2017, as seen by NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory. The connection between opposing poles of polarity is visible in exquisite detail in this wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. What we are really seeing are charged particles spinning along the magnetic field lines. Other field lines are traced as they reach out in other directions as well. Videos can be seen at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21604

Size and Shape of the Distant Magnetotail

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sibeck, D.G.; Lin, R.-Q.

2014-01-01

We employ a global magnetohydrodynamic model to study the effects of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) strength and direction upon the cross-section of the magnetotail at lunar distances. The anisotropic pressure of draped magnetosheath magnetic field lines and the inclusion of a reconnection-generated standing slow mode wave fan bounded by a rotational discontinuity within the definition of the magnetotail result in cross-sections elongated in the direction parallel to the component of the IMF in the plane perpendicular to the Sun-Earth line. Tilted cross-tail plasma sheets separate the northern and southern lobes within these cross-sections. Greater fast mode speeds perpendicular than parallel to the draped magnetos heath magnetic field lines result in greater distances to the bow shock in the direction perpendicular than parallel to the component of the IMF in the plane transverse to the Sun-Earth line. The magnetotail cross-section responds rapidly to reconnected magnetic field lines requires no more than the magnetosheath convection time to appear at any distance downstream, and further adjustments of the cross-section in response to the anisotropic pressures of the draped magnetic field lines require no more than 10-20 minutes. Consequently for typical ecliptic IMF orientations and strengths, the magnetotail cross-section is oblate while the bow shock is prolate.

HIV-1 Drug Resistance and Second-Line Treatment in Children Randomized to Switch at Low Versus Higher RNA Thresholds.

PubMed

Harrison, Linda; Melvin, Ann; Fiscus, Susan; Saidi, Yacine; Nastouli, Eleni; Harper, Lynda; Compagnucci, Alexandra; Babiker, Abdel; McKinney, Ross; Gibb, Diana; Tudor-Williams, Gareth

2015-09-01

The PENPACT-1 trial compared virologic thresholds to determine when to switch to second-line antiretroviral therapy (ART). Using PENPACT-1 data, we aimed to describe HIV-1 drug resistance accumulation on first-line ART by virologic threshold. PENPACT-1 had a 2 × 2 factorial design, randomizing HIV-infected children to start protease inhibitor (PI) versus nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI)-based ART, and switch at a 1000 copies/mL versus 30,000 copies/mL threshold. Switch criteria were not achieving the threshold by week 24, confirmed rebound above the threshold thereafter, or Center for Disease Control and Prevention stage C event. Resistance tests were performed on samples ≥1000 copies/mL before switch, resuppression, and at 4-years/trial end. Sixty-seven children started PI-based ART and were randomized to switch at 1000 copies/mL (PI-1000), 64 PIs and 30,000 copies/mL (PI-30,000), 67 NNRTIs and 1000 copies/mL (NNRTI-1000), and 65 NNRTI and 30,000 copies/mL (NNRTI-30,000). Ninety-four (36%) children reached the 1000 copies/mL switch criteria during 5-year follow-up. In 30,000 copies/mL threshold arms, median time from 1000 to 30,000 copies/mL switch criteria was 58 (PI) versus 80 (NNRTI) weeks (P = 0.81). In NNRTI-30,000, more nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) resistance mutations accumulated than other groups. NNRTI mutations were selected before switching at 1000 copies/mL (23% NNRTI-1000, 27% NNRTI-30,000). Sixty-two children started abacavir + lamivudine, 166 lamivudine + zidovudine or stavudine, and 35 other NRTIs. The abacavir + lamivudine group acquired fewest NRTI mutations. Of 60 switched to second-line, 79% PI-1000, 63% PI-30,000, 64% NNRTI-1000, and 100% NNRTI-30,000 were <400 copies/mL 24 weeks later. Children on first-line NNRTI-based ART who were randomized to switch at a higher virologic threshold developed the most resistance, yet resuppressed on second-line. An abacavir + lamivudine NRTI combination seemed protective against development of NRTI resistance.

Genetic parameters for growth characteristics of free-range chickens under univariate random regression models.

PubMed

Rovadoscki, Gregori A; Petrini, Juliana; Ramirez-Diaz, Johanna; Pertile, Simone F N; Pertille, Fábio; Salvian, Mayara; Iung, Laiza H S; Rodriguez, Mary Ana P; Zampar, Aline; Gaya, Leila G; Carvalho, Rachel S B; Coelho, Antonio A D; Savino, Vicente J M; Coutinho, Luiz L; Mourão, Gerson B

2016-09-01

Repeated measures from the same individual have been analyzed by using repeatability and finite dimension models under univariate or multivariate analyses. However, in the last decade, the use of random regression models for genetic studies with longitudinal data have become more common. Thus, the aim of this research was to estimate genetic parameters for body weight of four experimental chicken lines by using univariate random regression models. Body weight data from hatching to 84 days of age (n = 34,730) from four experimental free-range chicken lines (7P, Caipirão da ESALQ, Caipirinha da ESALQ and Carijó Barbado) were used. The analysis model included the fixed effects of contemporary group (gender and rearing system), fixed regression coefficients for age at measurement, and random regression coefficients for permanent environmental effects and additive genetic effects. Heterogeneous variances for residual effects were considered, and one residual variance was assigned for each of six subclasses of age at measurement. Random regression curves were modeled by using Legendre polynomials of the second and third orders, with the best model chosen based on the Akaike Information Criterion, Bayesian Information Criterion, and restricted maximum likelihood. Multivariate analyses under the same animal mixed model were also performed for the validation of the random regression models. The Legendre polynomials of second order were better for describing the growth curves of the lines studied. Moderate to high heritabilities (h(2) = 0.15 to 0.98) were estimated for body weight between one and 84 days of age, suggesting that selection for body weight at all ages can be used as a selection criteria. Genetic correlations among body weight records obtained through multivariate analyses ranged from 0.18 to 0.96, 0.12 to 0.89, 0.06 to 0.96, and 0.28 to 0.96 in 7P, Caipirão da ESALQ, Caipirinha da ESALQ, and Carijó Barbado chicken lines, respectively. Results indicate that genetic gain for body weight can be achieved by selection. Also, selection for body weight at 42 days of age can be maintained as a selection criterion. © 2016 Poultry Science Association Inc.

Subcritical Multiplicative Chaos for Regularized Counting Statistics from Random Matrix Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lambert, Gaultier; Ostrovsky, Dmitry; Simm, Nick

2018-05-01

For an {N × N} Haar distributed random unitary matrix U N , we consider the random field defined by counting the number of eigenvalues of U N in a mesoscopic arc centered at the point u on the unit circle. We prove that after regularizing at a small scale {ɛN > 0}, the renormalized exponential of this field converges as N \\to ∞ to a Gaussian multiplicative chaos measure in the whole subcritical phase. We discuss implications of this result for obtaining a lower bound on the maximum of the field. We also show that the moments of the total mass converge to a Selberg-like integral and by taking a further limit as the size of the arc diverges, we establish part of the conjectures in Ostrovsky (Nonlinearity 29(2):426-464, 2016). By an analogous construction, we prove that the multiplicative chaos measure coming from the sine process has the same distribution, which strongly suggests that this limiting object should be universal. Our approach to the L 1-phase is based on a generalization of the construction in Berestycki (Electron Commun Probab 22(27):12, 2017) to random fields which are only asymptotically Gaussian. In particular, our method could have applications to other random fields coming from either random matrix theory or a different context.

Open-closed-loop iterative learning control for a class of nonlinear systems with random data dropouts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, X. Y.; Wang, H. B.; Jia, Y. L.; Dong, YH

2018-05-01

In this paper, an open-closed-loop iterative learning control (ILC) algorithm is constructed for a class of nonlinear systems subjecting to random data dropouts. The ILC algorithm is implemented by a networked control system (NCS), where only the off-line data is transmitted by network while the real-time data is delivered in the point-to-point way. Thus, there are two controllers rather than one in the control system, which makes better use of the saved and current information and thereby improves the performance achieved by open-loop control alone. During the transfer of off-line data between the nonlinear plant and the remote controller data dropout occurs randomly and the data dropout rate is modeled as a binary Bernoulli random variable. Both measurement and control data dropouts are taken into consideration simultaneously. The convergence criterion is derived based on rigorous analysis. Finally, the simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.

A study of the electric field in an open magnetospheric model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stern, D. P.

1972-01-01

The qualitative properties of an open magnetosphere and its electric field are examined and compared to a simple model of a dipole in a constant field and to actual observations. Many of these properties are found to depend on the separatrix, a curve connecting neutral points and separating different field-line regimes. In the simple model, the electric field in the central polar cap tends to point from dawn to dusk for a wide choice of external fields. Near the boundary of the polar cap electric equipotentials curve and become crescent-shaped, which may explain the correlation of polar magnetic variations with the azimuthal component of the interplanetary magnetic field, reported by Svalgaard. Modifications expected to occur in the actual magnetosphere are also investigated: in particular, it appears that bending of equipotentials may be reduced by cross-field flow during the merging of field lines and that open field lines connected to the polar caps emerge from a long and narrow slot extending along the tail.

Sources of magnetic fields in recurrent interplanetary streams

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burlaga, L. F.; Behannon, K. W.; Hansen, S. F.; Pneuman, G. W.; Feldman, W. C.

1977-01-01

The sources of magnetic fields in recurrent streams were examined. Most fields and plasmas at 1 AU were related to coronal holes, and the magnetic field lines were open in those holes. Some of the magnetic fields and plasmas were related to open field line regions on the sun which were not associated with known coronal holes, indicating that open field lines are more basic than coronal holes as sources of the solar wind. Magnetic field intensities in five equatorial coronal holes ranged from 2G to 18G. Average measured photospheric magnetic fields along the footprints of the corresponding unipolar fields on circular equatorial arcs at 2.5 solar radii had a similar range and average, but in two cases the intensities were approximately three times higher than the projected intensities. The coronal footprints of the sector boundaries on the source surface at 2.5 solar radii, meandered between -45 deg and +45 deg latitude, and their inclination ranged from near zero to near ninety degrees.

Resolving the Azimuthal Ambiguity in Vector Magnetogram Data with the Divergence-Free Condition: Theoretical Examination

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crouch, A.; Barnes, G.

2008-01-01

We demonstrate that the azimuthal ambiguity that is present in solar vector magnetogram data can be resolved with line-of-sight and horizontal heliographic derivative information by using the divergence-free property of magnetic fields without additional assumptions. We discuss the specific derivative information that is sufficient to resolve the ambiguity away from disk center, with particular emphasis on the line-of-sight derivative of the various components of the magnetic field. Conversely, we also show cases where ambiguity resolution fails because sufficient line-of-sight derivative information is not available. For example, knowledge of only the line-of-sight derivative of the line-of-sight component of the field is not sufficient to resolve the ambiguity away from disk center.

The irreversibility line of magnetically grain-aligned Hg-1212 sample - Evidences of flux line lattice melting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Andrade, R., Jr.; Lanfredi, A. J. C.; Ortiz, W. A.; Leite, E. R.

1997-08-01

The irreversibility line (IL) of a magnetically grain-aligned HgBa2CaCu2O6+δ (Hg-1212) sample was determined from magnetization measurements, with the magnetic fieldH parallel to the samplec-axis. The grain-aligned sample was made by mixing powdered polycrystalline samples with epoxy resin, cured under 94 KOe at room temperature. For fields below 10 kOe the Il is well fitted by a model of flux line lattice melting due to thermal fluctuations. For higher fields the IL behavior changes to an exponential growth of Hirr with 1/T. This change is related to a corresponding alteration in the character of the vortex fluctuations leading to the melting of the flux line lattice.

New measurements of photospheric magnetic fields in late-type stars and emerging trends

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Saar, S. H.; Linsky, J. L.

1986-01-01

The magnetic fields of late-type stars are measured using the method of Saar et al. (1986). The method includes radiative transfer effects and compensation for line blending; the photospheric magnetic field parameters are derived by comparing observed and theoretical line profiles using an LTE code that includes line saturation and full Zeeman pattern. The preliminary mean active region magnetic field strengths (B) and surface area coverages for 20 stars are discussed. It is observed that there is a trend of increasing B towards the cooler dwarfs stars, and the linear correlation between B and the equipartition value of the magnetic field strength suggests that the photospheric gas pressure determines the photospheric magnetic field strengths. A tendency toward larger filling factors at larger stellar angular velocities is also detected.

Clustering, randomness and regularity in cloud fields. I - Theoretical considerations. II - Cumulus cloud fields

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weger, R. C.; Lee, J.; Zhu, Tianri; Welch, R. M.

1992-01-01

The current controversy existing in reference to the regularity vs. clustering in cloud fields is examined by means of analysis and simulation studies based upon nearest-neighbor cumulative distribution statistics. It is shown that the Poisson representation of random point processes is superior to pseudorandom-number-generated models and that pseudorandom-number-generated models bias the observed nearest-neighbor statistics towards regularity. Interpretation of this nearest-neighbor statistics is discussed for many cases of superpositions of clustering, randomness, and regularity. A detailed analysis is carried out of cumulus cloud field spatial distributions based upon Landsat, AVHRR, and Skylab data, showing that, when both large and small clouds are included in the cloud field distributions, the cloud field always has a strong clustering signal.

Validation of community models: 3. Tracing field lines in heliospheric models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

MacNeice, Peter; Elliott, Brian; Acebal, Ariel

2011-10-01

Forecasting hazardous gradual solar energetic particle (SEP) bursts at Earth requires accurately modeling field line connections between Earth and the locations of coronal or interplanetary shocks that accelerate the particles. We test the accuracy of field lines reconstructed using four different models of the ambient coronal and inner heliospheric magnetic field, through which these shocks must propagate, including the coupled Wang-Sheeley-Arge (WSA)/ENLIL model. Evaluating the WSA/ENLIL model performance is important since it is the most sophisticated model currently available to space weather forecasters which can model interplanetary coronal mass ejections and, when coupled with particle acceleration and transport models, will provide a complete model for gradual SEP bursts. Previous studies using a simpler Archimedean spiral approach above 2.5 solar radii have reported poor performance. We test the accuracy of the model field lines connecting Earth to the Sun at the onset times of 15 impulsive SEP bursts, comparing the foot points of these field lines with the locations of surface events believed to be responsible for the SEP bursts. We find the WSA/ENLIL model performance is no better than the simplest spiral model, and the principal source of error is the model's inability to reproduce sufficient low-latitude open flux. This may be due to the model's use of static synoptic magnetograms, which fail to account for transient activity in the low corona, during which reconnection events believed to initiate the SEP acceleration may contribute short-lived open flux at low latitudes. Time-dependent coronal models incorporating these transient events may be needed to significantly improve Earth/Sun field line forecasting.

Student difficulties regarding symbolic and graphical representations of vector fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bollen, Laurens; van Kampen, Paul; Baily, Charles; Kelly, Mossy; De Cock, Mieke

2017-12-01

The ability to switch between various representations is an invaluable problem-solving skill in physics. In addition, research has shown that using multiple representations can greatly enhance a person's understanding of mathematical and physical concepts. This paper describes a study of student difficulties regarding interpreting, constructing, and switching between representations of vector fields, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. We first identified to what extent students are fluent with the use of field vector plots, field line diagrams, and symbolic expressions of vector fields by conducting individual student interviews and analyzing in-class student activities. Based on those findings, we designed the Vector Field Representations test, a free response assessment tool that has been given to 196 second- and third-year physics, mathematics, and engineering students from four different universities. From the obtained results we gained a comprehensive overview of typical errors that students make when switching between vector field representations. In addition, the study allowed us to determine the relative prevalence of the observed difficulties. Although the results varied greatly between institutions, a general trend revealed that many students struggle with vector addition, fail to recognize the field line density as an indication of the magnitude of the field, confuse characteristics of field lines and equipotential lines, and do not choose the appropriate coordinate system when writing out mathematical expressions of vector fields.

Simulations of Lateral Transport and Dropout Structure of Energetic Particles from Impulsive Solar Flares

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matthaeus, W. H.; Ruffolo, D. J.; Tooprakai, P.; Seripienlert, A.; Chuychai, P.

2016-12-01

We simulate trajectories of energetic particles from impulsive solar flares for 2D+slab models of magnetic turbulence in spherical geometry to study dropout features, i.e., sharp, repeated changes in the particle density, and the particles' lateral transport. Among random-phase realizations of 2D turbulence, a spherical harmonic expansion can generate homogeneous turbulence over a sphere, but a 2D fast Fourier transform (FFT) locally mapped onto the lateral coordinates in the region of interest is much faster computationally, and we show that the results are qualitatively similar. We then use the 2D FFT field as input to a 2D MHD simulation, which dynamically generates realistic features of turbulence such as coherent structures. The magnetic field lines and particles spread non-diffusively (ballistically) to a patchy distribution reaching up to 25° from the injection longitude and latitude at r 1 AU. This dropout pattern in field line trajectories has sharper features in the case of the more realistic 2D MHD model, in better qualitative agreement with observations. The initial dropout pattern in particle trajectories is relatively insensitive to particle energy, though the energy affects the pattern's evolution with time. We make predictions for future observations of solar particles near the Sun (e.g., at 0.25 AU), for which we expect a sharp pulse of outgoing particles along the dropout pattern, followed by backscattering that first remains close to the dropout pattern and later exhibits cross-field transport to a distribution that is more diffusive, yet mostly contained within the dropout pattern found at greater distances. Partially supported by the Thailand Research Fund (Grants BRG5880009 and RTA5980003), the U.S. NSF (AGS-1063439), NASA (NNX14AI63G & NNX15AB88G), and the Solar Probe Plus/ISIS project.

Influence of inhomogeneous static magnetic field-exposure on patients with erosive gastritis: a randomized, self- and placebo-controlled, double-blind, single centre, pilot study

PubMed Central

Juhász, Márk; Nagy, Viktor L.; Székely, Hajnal; Kocsis, Dorottya; Tulassay, Zsolt; László, János F.

2014-01-01

This pilot study was devoted to the effect of static magnetic field (SMF)-exposure on erosive gastritis. The randomized, self- and placebo-controlled, double-blind, pilot study included 16 patients of the 2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Semmelweis University diagnosed with erosive gastritis. The instrumental analysis followed a qualitative (pre-intervention) assessment of the symptoms by the patient: lower heartburn (in the ventricle), upper heartburn (in the oesophagus), epigastric pain, regurgitation, bloating and dry cough. Medical diagnosis included a double-line upper panendoscopy followed by 30 min local inhomogeneous SMF-exposure intervention at the lower sternal region over the stomach with peak-to-peak magnetic induction of 3 mT and 30 mT m−1 gradient at the target site. A qualitative (post-intervention) assessment of the same symptoms closed the examination. Sham- or SMF-exposure was used in a double-blind manner. The authors succeeded in justifying the clinically and statistically significant beneficial effect of the SMF- over sham-exposure on the symptoms of erosive gastritis, the average effect of inhibition was 56% by p = 0.001, n = 42 + 96. This pilot study was aimed to encourage gastroenterologists to test local, inhomogeneous SMF-exposure on erosive gastritis patients, so this intervention may become an evidence-based alternative or complementary method in the clinical use especially in cases when conventional therapy options are contraindicated. PMID:25008086

Influence of inhomogeneous static magnetic field-exposure on patients with erosive gastritis: a randomized, self- and placebo-controlled, double-blind, single centre, pilot study.

PubMed

Juhász, Márk; Nagy, Viktor L; Székely, Hajnal; Kocsis, Dorottya; Tulassay, Zsolt; László, János F

2014-09-06

This pilot study was devoted to the effect of static magnetic field (SMF)-exposure on erosive gastritis. The randomized, self- and placebo-controlled, double-blind, pilot study included 16 patients of the 2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Semmelweis University diagnosed with erosive gastritis. The instrumental analysis followed a qualitative (pre-intervention) assessment of the symptoms by the patient: lower heartburn (in the ventricle), upper heartburn (in the oesophagus), epigastric pain, regurgitation, bloating and dry cough. Medical diagnosis included a double-line upper panendoscopy followed by 30 min local inhomogeneous SMF-exposure intervention at the lower sternal region over the stomach with peak-to-peak magnetic induction of 3 mT and 30 mT m(-1) gradient at the target site. A qualitative (post-intervention) assessment of the same symptoms closed the examination. Sham- or SMF-exposure was used in a double-blind manner. The authors succeeded in justifying the clinically and statistically significant beneficial effect of the SMF- over sham-exposure on the symptoms of erosive gastritis, the average effect of inhibition was 56% by p = 0.001, n = 42 + 96. This pilot study was aimed to encourage gastroenterologists to test local, inhomogeneous SMF-exposure on erosive gastritis patients, so this intervention may become an evidence-based alternative or complementary method in the clinical use especially in cases when conventional therapy options are contraindicated. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

The effects of the one-step replica symmetry breaking on the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick spin glass model in the presence of random field with a joint Gaussian probability density function for the exchange interactions and random fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hadjiagapiou, Ioannis A.; Velonakis, Ioannis N.

2018-07-01

The Sherrington-Kirkpatrick Ising spin glass model, in the presence of a random magnetic field, is investigated within the framework of the one-step replica symmetry breaking. The two random variables (exchange integral interaction Jij and random magnetic field hi) are drawn from a joint Gaussian probability density function characterized by a correlation coefficient ρ, assuming positive and negative values. The thermodynamic properties, the three different phase diagrams and system's parameters are computed with respect to the natural parameters of the joint Gaussian probability density function at non-zero and zero temperatures. The low temperature negative entropy controversy, a result of the replica symmetry approach, has been partly remedied in the current study, leading to a less negative result. In addition, the present system possesses two successive spin glass phase transitions with characteristic temperatures.

Relativistic electron flux dropout due to field line curvature during the storm on 1 June 2013

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, S. B.; Fok, M. C. H.; Engebretson, M. J.; Li, W.; Glocer, A.

2017-12-01

Significant electron flux depletion over a wide range of L-shell and energy, referred as a dropout, was observed by Van Allen Probes during the storm main phase on June 1, 2013. During the same period, MeV electron precipitation with isotropic pitch-angle distribution was also observed in the evening sector from POES but no EMIC waves were detected from either space- or ground-based magnetometers. Based on Tsyganenko empirical magnetic field model, magnetic field lines are highly non-dipolar and stretched at the night side in the inner magnetosphere. This condition can break the first adiabatic invariant (conservation of magnetic moment) and generate pitch-angle scattering of relativistic electron to the loss cone. To understand the relative roles of different physical mechanisms on this dropout event, we simulate flux and phase space density of relativistic electrons with event specific plasma wave intensities using the Comprehensive Inner Magnetosphere and Ionosphere (CIMI) model, as a global 4-D inner magnetosphere model. We also employ pitch-angle scattering due to field line curvature in the CIMI model. We re-configure magnetic field every minute and update electric field every 20 seconds to capture radial transport. CIMI-simulation with pitch-angle scattering due to field line curvature shows more depletion of relativistic electron fluxes and better agreement to observation than CIMI-simulation with radial transport only. We conclude that pitch-angle scattering due to field line curvature is one of the dominant processes for the relativistic electron flux dropout.

FOLFIRI plus bevacizumab as second-line therapy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer after first-line bevacizumab plus oxaliplatin-based therapy: the randomized phase III EAGLE study†

PubMed Central

Iwamoto, S.; Takahashi, T.; Tamagawa, H.; Nakamura, M.; Munemoto, Y.; Kato, T.; Hata, T.; Denda, T.; Morita, Y.; Inukai, M.; Kunieda, K.; Nagata, N.; Kurachi, K.; Ina, K.; Ooshiro, M.; Shimoyama, T.; Baba, H.; Oba, K.; Sakamoto, J.; Mishima, H.

2015-01-01

Background A targeted agent combined with chemotherapy is the standard treatment in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). The present phase III study was conducted to compare two doses of bevacizumab combined with irinotecan, 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin (FOLFIRI) in the second-line setting after first-line therapy with bevacizumab plus oxaliplatin-based therapy. Patients and methods Patients were randomly assigned to receive FOLFIRI plus bevacizumab 5 or 10 mg/kg in 2-week cycles until disease progression. The primary end point was progression-free survival (PFS), and secondary end points included overall survival (OS), time to treatment failure (TTF), and safety. Results Three hundred and eighty-seven patients were randomized between September 2009 and January 2012 from 100 institutions in Japan. Baseline patient characteristics were well balanced between the two groups. Efficacy was evaluated in 369 patients (5 mg/kg, n = 181 and 10 mg/kg, n = 188). Safety was evaluated in 365 patients (5 mg/kg, n = 180 and 10 mg/kg, n = 185). The median PFS was 6.1 versus 6.4 months (hazard ratio, 0.95; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.75–1.21; P = 0.676), and median TTF was 5.2 versus 5.2 months (hazard ratio, 1.01; 95% CI 0.81–1.25; P = 0.967), respectively, for the bevacizumab 5 and 10 mg/kg groups. Follow-up of OS is currently ongoing. Adverse events, including hypertension and hemorrhage, occurred at similar rates in both groups. Conclusion Bevacizumab 10 mg/kg plus FOLFIRI as the second-line treatment did not prolong PFS compared with bevacizumab 5 mg/kg plus FOLFIRI in patients with mCRC. If bevacizumab is continued after first-line therapy in mCRC, a dose of 5 mg/kg is appropriate for use as second-line treatment. Clinical trial identifier UMIN000002557. PMID:25908603

Application of a haematopoetic progenitor cell-targeted adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector established by selection of an AAV random peptide library on a leukaemia cell line

PubMed Central

Stiefelhagen, Marius; Sellner, Leopold; Kleinschmidt, Jürgen A; Jauch, Anna; Laufs, Stephanie; Wenz, Frederik; Zeller, W Jens; Fruehauf, Stefan; Veldwijk, Marlon R

2008-01-01

Background For many promising target cells (e.g.: haematopoeitic progenitors), the susceptibility to standard adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors is low. Advancements in vector development now allows the generation of target cell-selected AAV capsid mutants. Methods To determine its suitability, the method was applied on a chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) cell line (K562) to obtain a CML-targeted vector and the resulting vectors tested on leukaemia, non-leukaemia, primary human CML and CD34+ peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPC); standard AAV2 and a random capsid mutant vector served as controls. Results Transduction of CML (BV173, EM3, K562 and Lama84) and AML (HL60 and KG1a) cell lines with the capsid mutants resulted in an up to 36-fold increase in CML transduction efficiency (K562: 2-fold, 60% ± 2% green fluorescent protein (GFP)+ cells; BV173: 9-fold, 37% ± 2% GFP+ cells; Lama84: 36-fold, 29% ± 2% GFP+ cells) compared to controls. For AML (KG1a, HL60) and one CML cell line (EM3), no significant transduction (<1% GFP+ cells) was observed for any vector. Although the capsid mutant clone was established on a cell line, proof-of-principle experiments using primary human cells were performed. For CML (3.2-fold, mutant: 1.75% ± 0.45% GFP+ cells, p = 0.03) and PBPC (3.5-fold, mutant: 4.21% ± 3.40% GFP+ cells) a moderate increase in gene transfer of the capsid mutant compared to control vectors was observed. Conclusion Using an AAV random peptide library on a CML cell line, we were able to generate a capsid mutant, which transduced CML cell lines and primary human haematopoietic progenitor cells with higher efficiency than standard recombinant AAV vectors. PMID:18789140

Horizontal fields generated by return strokes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cooray, Vernon

1991-01-01

Horizontal fields generated by return strokes play an important role in the interaction of lightning generated electric fields with power lines. In many of the recent investigations on the interaction of lightning electromagnetic fields with power lines, the horizontal field was calculated by employing the expression for the tilt of the electric field of a plane wave propagating over finitely conducting earth. The method is suitable for calculating horizontal fields generated by return strokes at distances as close as 200m. At these close ranges, the use of the wavetilt expression can cause large errors.

Enhancement of Electron Acceleration in Laser Wakefields by Random Fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tataronis, J. A.; Petržílka, V.

1999-11-01

There is increasing evidence that intense laser pulses can accelerate electrons to high energies. The energy appears to increase with the distance over which the electrons are accelerated. This is difficult to explain by electron trapping in a single wakefield wave.^1 We demonstrate that enhanced electron acceleration can arise in inhomogeneous laser wakefields through the effects of spontaneously excited random fields. This acceleration mechanism is analogous to fast electron production by random fields near rf antennae in fusion devices and helicon plasma sources.^2 Electron acceleration in a transverse laser wave due to random field effects was recently found.^3 In the present study we solve numerically the governing equations of an ensemble of test electrons in a longitudinal electric wakefield perturbed by random fields. [1pt] Supported by the Czech grant IGA A1043701 and the U.S. DOE under grant No. DE-FG02-97ER54398. [1pt] 1. A. Pukhov and J. Meyer-ter-Vehn, in Superstrong Fields in Plasmas, AIP Conf. Proc. 426, p. 93 (1997). 2. V. Petržílka, J. A. Tataronis, et al., in Proc. Varenna - Lausanne Fusion Theory Workshop, p. 95 (1998). 3. J. Meyer-ter-Vehn and Z. M. Sheng, Phys. Plasmas 6, 641 (1999).

Characterization of lunar ferromagnetic phases by the effective linewidth method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patton, C. E.; Schmidt, H.

1978-01-01

The effective line-width technique, first developed to study the physics of microwave relaxation in ferrites, has been successfully applied to lunar matter. Effective line-width measurements have been made on two selected samples containing disperse spherical metallic iron particles below 40 microns in diam. The data were obtained for fields from 7 to 12 kOe and a temperature range 125 - 300 K. The effective line width was field-independent and temperature-independent at 650 - 750 Oe. The high-field tails of the ferromagnetic resonance absorption were highly Lorentzian. From the relatively large and temperature-independent high-field effective line widths, it appears that (1) the metallic iron phases in lunar soil are rather impure; (2) the impurities are passive, in that there is no evidence for a temperature peak process; and (3) these samples contain no appreciable magnetite.

New formulae for magnetic relative helicity and field line helicity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aly, Jean-Jacques

2018-01-01

We consider a magnetic field {B} occupying the simply connected domain D and having all its field lines tied to the boundary S of D. We assume here that {B} has a simple topology, i.e., the mapping {M} from positive to negative polarity areas of S associating to each other the two footpoints of any magnetic line, is continuous. We first present new formulae for the helicity H of {B} relative to a reference field {{B}}r having the same normal component {B}n on S, and for its field line helicity h relative to a reference vector potential {{C}}r of {{B}}r. These formulae make immediately apparent the well known invariance of these quantities under all the ideal MHD deformations that preserve the positions of the footpoints on S. They express indeed h and H either in terms of {M} and {B}n, or in terms of the values on S of a pair of Euler potentials of {B}. We next show that, for a specific choice of {{C}}r, the field line helicity h of {B} fully characterizes the magnetic mapping {M} and then the topology of the lines. Finally, we give a formula that describes the rate of change of h in a situation where the plasma moves on the perfectly conducting boundary S without changing {B}n and/or non-ideal processes, described by an unspecified term {N} in Ohm’s law, are at work in some parts of D.

Destruction of Invariant Surfaces and Magnetic Coordinates for Perturbed Magnetic Fields

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

S.R. Hudson

2003-11-20

Straight-field-line coordinates are constructed for nearly integrable magnetic fields. The coordinates are based on the robust, noble-irrational rotational-transform surfaces, whose existence is determined by an application of Greene's residue criterion. A simple method to locate these surfaces is described. Sequences of surfaces with rotational-transform converging to low order rationals maximize the region of straight-field-line coordinates.

Potential environmental effects of 765-kV transmission lines: views before the New York State Public Service Commission, Cases 26529 and 26559, 1976-1978

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

Scott-Walton, B.; Clark, K. M.; Holt, B. R.

1979-11-01

Testimony given before the New York Public Service Commission in two recent cases on the potential environmental effects of 765-kV overhead ac transmission lines is reviewed. The testimony focused on the potential effects of audible noise, on the potential biological effects of the electromagnetic fields, on the potential for electric shocks to people who touch vehicles parked under the proposed lines, on the potential effects of the electromagnetic fields on electronic cardiac pacemakers, and on potential effects of ozone produced by corona discharge from the lines. The testimony fully explored these questions; however, it did not resolve all of them.more » The testimony indicates potential impacts from the audible noise and from the electrostatic shocks that people can receive when they touch a large vehicle parked under the lines. The testimony also indicates that certain cardiac pacemaker and lead combinations may, under certain circumstances, undergo reversion to a fixed rate of pacing in the presence of the fields under the lines, but that little risk to cardiac patients results except possibly for those patients for whom competition between the heart's own rate and the pacemaker rate presents a health risk. The testimony fails to demonstrate biological hazards from the field; further research is necessary to understand better the effects of the fields on biological systems. The testimony indicates that ozone produced by the lines will not significantly affect the environment.« less

Dual-channel in-line digital holographic double random phase encryption

PubMed Central

Das, Bhargab; Yelleswarapu, Chandra S; Rao, D V G L N

2012-01-01

We present a robust encryption method for the encoding of 2D/3D objects using digital holography and virtual optics. Using our recently developed dual-plane in-line digital holography technique, two in-line digital holograms are recorded at two different planes and are encrypted using two different double random phase encryption configurations, independently. The process of using two mutually exclusive encryption channels makes the system more robust against attacks since both the channels should be decrypted accurately in order to get a recognizable reconstruction. Results show that the reconstructed object is unrecognizable even when the portion of the correct phase keys used during decryption is close to 75%. The system is verified against blind decryptions by evaluating the SNR and MSE. Validation of the proposed method and sensitivities of the associated parameters are quantitatively analyzed and illustrated. PMID:23471012

Power in randomized group comparisons: the value of adding a single intermediate time point to a traditional pretest-posttest design.

PubMed

Venter, Anre; Maxwell, Scott E; Bolig, Erika

2002-06-01

Adding a pretest as a covariate to a randomized posttest-only design increases statistical power, as does the addition of intermediate time points to a randomized pretest-posttest design. Although typically 5 waves of data are required in this instance to produce meaningful gains in power, a 3-wave intensive design allows the evaluation of the straight-line growth model and may reduce the effect of missing data. The authors identify the statistically most powerful method of data analysis in the 3-wave intensive design. If straight-line growth is assumed, the pretest-posttest slope must assume fairly extreme values for the intermediate time point to increase power beyond the standard analysis of covariance on the posttest with the pretest as covariate, ignoring the intermediate time point.

Estimating the encounter rate variance in distance sampling

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fewster, R.M.; Buckland, S.T.; Burnham, K.P.; Borchers, D.L.; Jupp, P.E.; Laake, J.L.; Thomas, L.

2009-01-01

The dominant source of variance in line transect sampling is usually the encounter rate variance. Systematic survey designs are often used to reduce the true variability among different realizations of the design, but estimating the variance is difficult and estimators typically approximate the variance by treating the design as a simple random sample of lines. We explore the properties of different encounter rate variance estimators under random and systematic designs. We show that a design-based variance estimator improves upon the model-based estimator of Buckland et al. (2001, Introduction to Distance Sampling. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 79) when transects are positioned at random. However, if populations exhibit strong spatial trends, both estimators can have substantial positive bias under systematic designs. We show that poststratification is effective in reducing this bias. ?? 2008, The International Biometric Society.

Page layout analysis and classification for complex scanned documents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erkilinc, M. Sezer; Jaber, Mustafa; Saber, Eli; Bauer, Peter; Depalov, Dejan

2011-09-01

A framework for region/zone classification in color and gray-scale scanned documents is proposed in this paper. The algorithm includes modules for extracting text, photo, and strong edge/line regions. Firstly, a text detection module which is based on wavelet analysis and Run Length Encoding (RLE) technique is employed. Local and global energy maps in high frequency bands of the wavelet domain are generated and used as initial text maps. Further analysis using RLE yields a final text map. The second module is developed to detect image/photo and pictorial regions in the input document. A block-based classifier using basis vector projections is employed to identify photo candidate regions. Then, a final photo map is obtained by applying probabilistic model based on Markov random field (MRF) based maximum a posteriori (MAP) optimization with iterated conditional mode (ICM). The final module detects lines and strong edges using Hough transform and edge-linkages analysis, respectively. The text, photo, and strong edge/line maps are combined to generate a page layout classification of the scanned target document. Experimental results and objective evaluation show that the proposed technique has a very effective performance on variety of simple and complex scanned document types obtained from MediaTeam Oulu document database. The proposed page layout classifier can be used in systems for efficient document storage, content based document retrieval, optical character recognition, mobile phone imagery, and augmented reality.

Influence of stochastic geometric imperfections on the load-carrying behaviour of thin-walled structures using constrained random fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lauterbach, S.; Fina, M.; Wagner, W.

2018-04-01

Since structural engineering requires highly developed and optimized structures, the thickness dependency is one of the most controversially debated topics. This paper deals with stability analysis of lightweight thin structures combined with arbitrary geometrical imperfections. Generally known design guidelines only consider imperfections for simple shapes and loading, whereas for complex structures the lower-bound design philosophy still holds. Herein, uncertainties are considered with an empirical knockdown factor representing a lower bound of existing measurements. To fully understand and predict expected bearable loads, numerical investigations are essential, including geometrical imperfections. These are implemented into a stand-alone program code with a stochastic approach to compute random fields as geometric imperfections that are applied to nodes of the finite element mesh of selected structural examples. The stochastic approach uses the Karhunen-Loève expansion for the random field discretization. For this approach, the so-called correlation length l_c controls the random field in a powerful way. This parameter has a major influence on the buckling shape, and also on the stability load. First, the impact of the correlation length is studied for simple structures. Second, since most structures for engineering devices are more complex and combined structures, these are intensively discussed with the focus on constrained random fields for e.g. flange-web-intersections. Specific constraints for those random fields are pointed out with regard to the finite element model. Further, geometrical imperfections vanish where the structure is supported.

Observational consistency and future predictions for a 3.5 keV ALP to photon line

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

Alvarez, Pedro D.; Conlon, Joseph P.; Day, Francesca V.

Motivated by the possibility of explaining the 3.5 keV line through dark matter decaying to axion-like particles that subsequently convert to photons, we study ALP-photon conversion for sightlines passing within 50 pc of the galactic centre. Conversion depends on the galactic centre magnetic field which is highly uncertain. For fields at low or mid-range of observational estimates (10–100 μG), no observable signal is possible. For fields at the high range of observational estimates (a pervasive poloidal mG field over the central 150 pc) it is possible to generate sufficient signal to explain recent observations of a 3.5 keV line inmore » the galactic centre. In this scenario, the galactic centre line signal comes predominantly from the region with  z > 20 pc, reconciling the results from the Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray telescopes. The dark matter to ALP to photon scenario also naturally predicts the non-observation of the 3.5 keV line in stacked galaxy spectra. We further explore predictions for the line flux in galaxies and suggest a set of galaxies that is optimised for observing the 3.5 keV line in this model.« less

Observational consistency and future predictions for a 3.5 keV ALP to photon line

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

Alvarez, Pedro D.; Conlon, Joseph P.; Day, Francesca V.

Motivated by the possibility of explaining the 3.5 keV line through dark matter decaying to axion-like particles that subsequently convert to photons, we study ALP-photon conversion for sightlines passing within 50 pc of the galactic centre. Conversion depends on the galactic centre magnetic field which is highly uncertain. For fields at low or mid-range of observational estimates (10–100 μG), no observable signal is possible. For fields at the high range of observational estimates (a pervasive poloidal mG field over the central 150 pc) it is possible to generate sufficient signal to explain recent observations of a 3.5 keV line inmore » the galactic centre. In this scenario, the galactic centre line signal comes predominantly from the region with z>20pc, reconciling the results from the Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray telescopes. The dark matter to ALP to photon scenario also naturally predicts the non-observation of the 3.5 keV line in stacked galaxy spectra. We further explore predictions for the line flux in galaxies and suggest a set of galaxies that is optimised for observing the 3.5 keV line in this model.« less

The Effects of Bougie Diameters on Tissue Oxygen Levels After Sleeve Gastrectomy: A Randomized Experimental Trial

PubMed

Konca, Can; Yılmaz, Ali Abbas; Çelik, Süleyman Utku; Kayılıoğlu, Selami Ilgaz; Paşaoğlu, Özge Tuğçe; Ceylan, Halil Arda; Genç, Volkan

2018-05-29

Staple-line leak is the most frightening complication of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy and several predisposing factors such as using improper staple sizes regardless of gastric wall thickness, narrower bougie diameter and ischemia of the staple line are asserted. To evaluate the effects of different bougie diameters on tissue oxygen partial pressure at the esophagogastric junction after sleeve gastrectomy. A randomized and controlled animal experiment with 1:1:1:1 allocation ratio. Thirty-two male Wistar Albino rats were randomly divided into 4 groups of 8 each. While 12-Fr bougies were used in groups 1 and 3, 8-Fr bougies were used in groups 2 and 4. Fibrin sealant application was also carried out around the gastrectomy line after sleeve gastrectomy in groups 3 and 4. Burst pressure of gastrectomy line, tissue oxygen partial pressure and hydroxyproline levels at the esophagogastric junction were measured and compared among groups. Mortality was detected in 2 out of 32 rats (6.25%) and one of them was in group 2 and the cause of this mortality was gastric leak. Gastric leak was detected in 2 out of 32 rats (6.25%). There was no significant difference in terms of burst pressures, tissue oxygen partial pressure and tissue hydroxyproline levels among the 4 groups. The use of narrower bougie along with fibrin sealant has not had a negative effect on tissue perfusion and wound healing.

A pilot randomized controlled trial of on-line interventions to improve sleep quality in adults after mild or moderate traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Theadom, Alice; Barker-Collo, Suzanne; Jones, Kelly; Dudley, Margaret; Vincent, Norah; Feigin, Valery

2018-05-01

To explore feasibility and potential efficacy of on-line interventions for sleep quality following a traumatic brain injury (TBI). A two parallel-group, randomized controlled pilot study. Community-based. In all, 24 participants (mean age: 35.9 ± 11.8 years) who reported experiencing sleep difficulties between 3 and 36 months after a mild or moderate TBI. Participants were randomized to receive either a cognitive behaviour therapy or an education intervention on-line. Both interventions were self-completed for 20-30 minutes per week over a six-week period. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index assessed self-reported sleep quality with actigraphy used as an objective measure of sleep quality. The CNS Vital Signs on-line neuropsychological test assessed cognitive functioning and the Rivermead Post-concussion Symptoms and Quality of Life after Brain Injury questionnaires were completed pre and post intervention. Both programmes demonstrated feasibility for use post TBI, with 83.3% of participants completing the interventions. The cognitive behaviour therapy group experienced significant reductions ( F = 5.47, p = 0.04) in sleep disturbance (mean individual change = -4.00) in comparison to controls post intervention (mean individual change = -1.50) with a moderate effect size of 1.17. There were no significant group differences on objective sleep quality, cognitive functioning, post-concussion symptoms or quality of life. On-line programmes designed to improve sleep are feasible for use for adults following mild-to-moderate TBI. Based on the effect size identified in this pilot study, 128 people (64 per group) would be needed to determine clinical effectiveness.

Efficacy of a smoking quit line in the military: Baseline design and analysis

PubMed Central

Richey, Phyllis A.; Klesges, Robert C.; Talcott, Gerald W.; DeBon, Margaret; Womack, Catherine; Thomas, Fridtjof; Hryshko-Mullen, Ann

2013-01-01

Thirty percent of all military personnel smoke cigarettes. Because of the negative health consequences and their impact on physical fitness, overall health, and military readiness, the Department of Defense has identified the reduction of tobacco use as a priority of US military forces. This study aims to evaluate the one-year efficacy of a proactive versus reactive smoking quit line in the US military with adjunctive nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) in both groups. This paper reports on the baseline variables of the first 1000 participants randomized, the design, and proposed analysis of the randomized two-arm clinical trial “Efficacy of a Tobacco Quit Line in the Military”. Participants are adult smokers who are Armed Forces Active Duty personnel, retirees, Reservist, National Guard and family member healthcare beneficiaries. All participants are randomized to either the Counselor Initiated (proactive) group, receiving 6 counseling sessions in addition to an 8-week supply of NRT, or the Self-Paced (reactive) group, in which they may call the quit line themselves to receive the same counseling sessions, in addition to a 2-week supply of NRT. The primary outcome measure of the study is self-reported smoking abstinence at 1-year follow-up. Results from this study will be the first to provide evidence for the efficacy of an intensive Counselor Initiated quit line with provided NRT in military personnel and could lead to dissemination throughout the US Air Force, the armed forces population as a whole and ultimately to civilian personnel that do not have ready access to preventive health services. PMID:22561390

Evolution of Large-Scale Magnetic Fields and State Transitions in Black Hole X-Ray Binaries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Ding-Xiong; Huang, Chang-Yin; Wang, Jiu-Zhou

2010-04-01

The state transitions of black hole (BH) X-ray binaries are discussed based on the evolution of large-scale magnetic fields, in which the combination of three energy mechanisms are involved: (1) the Blandford-Znajek (BZ) process related to the open field lines connecting a rotating BH with remote astrophysical loads, (2) the magnetic coupling (MC) process related to the closed field lines connecting the BH with its surrounding accretion disk, and (3) the Blandford-Payne (BP) process related to the open field lines connecting the disk with remote astrophysical loads. It turns out that each spectral state of the BH binaries corresponds to each configuration of magnetic field in BH magnetosphere, and the main characteristics of low/hard (LH) state, hard intermediate (HIM) state and steep power law (SPL) state are roughly fitted based on the evolution of large-scale magnetic fields associated with disk accretion.

Three-dimensional photogrammetric measurement of magnetic field lines in the WEGA stellarator

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

Drewelow, Peter; Braeuer, Torsten; Otte, Matthias

2009-12-15

The magnetic confinement of plasmas in fusion experiments can significantly degrade due to perturbations of the magnetic field. A precise analysis of the magnetic field in a stellarator-type experiment utilizes electrons as test particles following the magnetic field line. The usual fluorescent detector for this electron beam limits the provided information to two-dimensional cut views at certain toroidal positions. However, the technique described in this article allows measuring the three-dimensional structure of the magnetic field by means of close-range photogrammetry. After testing and optimizing the main diagnostic components, measurements of the magnetic field lines were accomplished with a spatial resolutionmore » of 5 mm. The results agree with numeric calculations, qualifying this technique as an additional tool to investigate magnetic field configurations in a stellarator. For a possible future application, ways are indicated on how to reduce experimental error sources.« less

LED (660 nm) and laser (670 nm) use on skin flap viability: angiogenesis and mast cells on transition line.

PubMed

Nishioka, Michele A; Pinfildi, Carlos E; Sheliga, Tatiana Rodrigues; Arias, Victor E; Gomes, Heitor C; Ferreira, Lydia M

2012-09-01

Skin flap procedures are commonly used in plastic surgery. Failures can follow, leading to the necrosis of the flap. Therefore, many studies use LLLT to improve flap viability. Currently, the LED has been introduced as an alternative to LLLT. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of LLLT and LED on the viability of random skin flaps in rats. Forty-eight rats were divided into four groups, and a random skin flap (10 × 4 cm) was performed in all animals. Group 1 was the sham group; group 2 was submitted to LLLT 660 nm, 0.14 J; group 3 with LED 630 nm, 2.49 J, and group 4 with LLLT 660 nm, with 2.49 J. Irradiation was applied after surgery and repeated on the four subsequent days. On the 7th postoperative day, the percentage of flap necrosis was calculated and skin samples were collected from the viable area and from the transition line of the flap to evaluate blood vessels and mast cells. The percentage of necrosis was significantly lower in groups 3 and 4 compared to groups 1 and 2. Concerning blood vessels and mast cell numbers, only the animals in group 3 showed significant increase compared to group 1 in the skin sample of the transition line. LED and LLLT with the same total energies were effective in increasing viability of random skin flaps. LED was more effective in increasing the number of mast cells and blood vessels in the transition line of random skin flaps.

Erlotinib 150 mg daily plus chemotherapy in advanced pancreatic cancer: an interim safety analysis of a multicenter, randomized, cross-over phase III trial of the 'Arbeitsgemeinschaft Internistische Onkologie'.

PubMed

Boeck, Stefan; Vehling-Kaiser, Ursula; Waldschmidt, Dirk; Kettner, Erika; Märten, Angela; Winkelmann, Cornelia; Klein, Stefan; Kojouharoff, Georgi; Gauler, Thomas; Fischer von Weikersthal, Ludwig; Clemens, Michael R; Geissler, Michael; Greten, Tim F; Hegewisch-Becker, Susanna; Neugebauer, Sascha; Heinemann, Volker

2010-01-01

To date, only limited toxicity data are available for the combination of erlotinib with either capecitabine or gemcitabine as front-line therapy for advanced pancreatic cancer. Within a randomized phase III trial, 281 treatment-naive patients were randomly assigned between capecitabine (2000 mg/m/day, for 14 days, once every 3 weeks) plus erlotinib (150 mg/day, arm A) and gemcitabine (1000 mg/m as a 30-min infusion) plus erlotinib (150 mg/day, arm B). In case of treatment failure, patients were crossed over to a second-line treatment with the comparator cytostatic drug without erlotinib. The primary study endpoint was the time to treatment failure of second-line therapy (TTF2). This interim analysis of toxicity contains safety data from the first 127 randomized patients. During first-line therapy, patients received a median number of three treatment cycles (range 0-13) in both the arms. Regarding chemotherapy, a treatment delay was observed in 12% of the cycles in arm A and in 22% of the cycles in arm B. Dose reductions of the cytostatic drug were performed in 18 and 27% of treatment cycles, respectively. Erlotinib dose reductions were performed in 6 and 11% of all cycles. Grade 3/4 hematological toxicity was <10% in both the arms; major grade 3/4 toxicities in arms A and B were diarrhea (9 vs. 7%), skin rash (4 vs. 12%), and hand-foot syndrome (7 vs. 0%). No treatment-related death was observed. In conclusion, this interim safety analysis suggests that treatment with erlotinib 150 mg/day is feasible in combination with capecitabine or gemcitabine.

Comparing UV/EUV line parameters and magnetic field in a quiescent prominence with tornadoes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levens, P. J.; Labrosse, N.; Schmieder, B.; López Ariste, A.; Fletcher, L.

2017-10-01

Context. Understanding the relationship between plasma and the magnetic field is important for describing and explaining the observed dynamics of solar prominences. Aims: We determine if a close relationship can be found between plasma and magnetic field parameters, measured at high resolution in a well-observed prominence. Methods: A prominence observed on 15 July 2014 by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), Hinode, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), and the Télescope Héliographique pour l'Étude du Magnétisme et des Instabilités Solaires (THEMIS) is selected. We perform a robust co-alignment of data sets using a 2D cross-correlation technique. Magnetic field parameters are derived from spectropolarimetric measurements of the He I D3 line from THEMIS. Line ratios and line-of-sight velocities from the Mg II h and k lines observed by IRIS are compared with magnetic field strength, inclination, and azimuth. Electron densities are calculated using Fe xii line ratios from the Hinode Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer, which are compared to THEMIS and IRIS data. Results: We find Mg II k/h ratios of around 1.4 everywhere, similar to values found previously in prominences. Also, the magnetic field is strongest ( 30 G) and predominantly horizontal in the tornado-like legs of the prominence. The k3 Doppler shift is found to be between ±10 km s-1 everywhere. Electron densities at a temperature of 1.5 × 106 K are found to be around 109 cm-3. No significant correlations are found between the magnetic field parameters and any of the other plasma parameters inferred from spectroscopy, which may be explained by the large differences in the temperatures of the lines used in this study. Conclusions: This is the first time that a detailed statistical study of plasma and magnetic field parameters has been performed at high spatial resolution in a prominence. Our results provide important constraints on future models of the plasma and magnetic field in these structures.

On open and closed field line regions in Tsyganenko's field model and their possible associations with horse collar auroras

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Birn, J.; Hones, E. W., Jr.; Craven, J. D.; Frank, L. A.; Elphinstone, R. D.; Stern, D. P.

1991-01-01

The boundary between open and closed field lines is investigated in the empirical Tsyganenko (1987) magnetic field model. All field lines extending to distances beyond -70 R(E), the tailward velocity limit of the Tsyganenko model are defined as open, while all other field lines, which cross the equatorial plane earthward of -70 R(E) and are connected with the earth at both ends, are assumed closed. It is found that this boundary at the surface of the earth, identified as the polar cap boundary, can exhibit the arrowhead shape, pointed toward the sun, which is found in horse collar auroras. For increasing activity levels, the polar cap increases in area and becomes rounder, so that the arrowhead shape is less pronounced. The presence of a net B(y) component can also lead to considerable rounding of the open flux region. The arrowhead shape is found to be closely associated with the increase of B(z) from the midnight region to the flanks of the tail, consistent with a similar increase of the plasma sheet thickness.

Study of magnetic fields from power-frequency current on water lines.

PubMed

Lanera, D; Zapotosky, J E; Colby, J A

1997-01-01

The magnetic fields from power-frequency current flowing on water lines were investigated in a new approach that involved an area-wide survey in a small town. Magnetic fields were measured outside the residence under power cables and over water lines, and each residence was characterized as to whether it received water from a private well or the municipal water system. The magnetic field data revealed two statistical modes when they were related to water supply type. The data also showed that in the case of the high mode, the magnetic field remained constant along the line formed by power drop wires, at the back of the house, and the water hookup service, in front of the house, all the way to the street. The patterns are explained by the coincidence of measurement points and the presence of net current flowing on power mains, power drop conductors, residential plumbing, water service hookups, and water mains. These patterns, together with other characteristics of this magnetic field source, such as the gradual spatial fall-off of this field and the presence of a constant component in the time sequence, portray a magnetic field more uniform and constant in the residential environment than has been thought to exist. Such characteristics make up for the weakness of the source and make net current a significant source of exposure in the lives of individuals around the house, when human exposure to magnetic fields is assumed to be a cumulative effect over time. This, together with the bimodal statistical distribution of the residential magnetic field (related to water supply type), presents opportunities for retrospective epidemiological analysis. Water line type and its ability to conduct power-frequency current can be used as the historical marker for a bimodal exposure inference, as Wertheimer et al. have shown.

Markov Random Fields, Stochastic Quantization and Image Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-01-01

Markov random fields based on the lattice Z2 have been extensively used in image analysis in a Bayesian framework as a-priori models for the...of Image Analysis can be given some fundamental justification then there is a remarkable connection between Probabilistic Image Analysis , Statistical Mechanics and Lattice-based Euclidean Quantum Field Theory.

Force-free magnetic fields - The magneto-frictional method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yang, W. H.; Sturrock, P. A.; Antiochos, S. K.

1986-01-01

The problem under discussion is that of calculating magnetic field configurations in which the Lorentz force j x B is everywhere zero, subject to specified boundary conditions. We choose to represent the magnetic field in terms of Clebsch variables in the form B = grad alpha x grad beta. These variables are constant on any field line so that each field line is labeled by the corresponding values of alpha and beta. When the field is described in this way, the most appropriate choice of boundary conditions is to specify the values of alpha and beta on the bounding surface. We show that such field configurations may be calculated by a magneto-frictional method. We imagine that the field lines move through a stationary medium, and that each element of magnetic field is subject to a frictional force parallel to and opposing the velocity of the field line. This concept leads to an iteration procedure for modifying the variables alpha and beta, that tends asymptotically towards the force-free state. We apply the method first to a simple problem in two rectangular dimensions, and then to a problem of cylindrical symmetry that was previously discussed by Barnes and Sturrock (1972). In one important respect, our new results differ from the earlier results of Barnes and Sturrock, and we conclude that the earlier article was in error.

Exploration and development of natural gas, Pattani basin, Gulf of Thailand

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

Lian, H.M.; Bradley, K.

The geology of the Gulf of Thailand features a series of north-south-trending ridges and linear, fault-bounded basins with a sedimentary section predominantly of upper Tertiary sediments. The Pattani basin, located near the geographic center of the Gulf of Thailand, contains up to 8 km of almost entirely nonmarine fluvial-deltaic sediments. The gas/condensate fields described in this paper are on the west flank of the Pattani basin. Gas reservoirs are thin, randomly distributed sandstone beds occurring between 1200 and 3000 m below sea level. At greater depths, very high temperatures cause a degradation of reservoir properties. The gas fields occur onmore » intensely faulted structures. The high fault density superimposed on the stratigraphic model limits the size of individual gas accumulations. Extensive three-dimensional seismic surveys were essential for delineating and developing these complex fields. An interactive computer system was used to interpret the 23,000 line-km of three-dimensional data. A new era in Thailand began when gas production commenced from Erawan field in August 1981. Baanpot, Satun, and Platong fields came on production between October 1983 and March 1985. In these four fields, 238 development wells have been drilled from 22 platforms. The wells can presently produce 475 MMCFGD, considerably in excess of Thailand's current requirements. The condensate ratios average 40 bbl/mmcf of gas. The commercial limits of each field have yet to be established. The advent of gas production has created a new industry in Thailand, with significant social and economic benefits to the country.« less

Optimizing the use of intravenous therapy in internal medicine.

PubMed

Champion, Karine; Mouly, Stéphane; Lloret-Linares, Celia; Lopes, Amanda; Vicaut, Eric; Bergmann, Jean-François

2013-10-01

We aimed to evaluate the impact of physicians' educational programs in the reduction of inappropriate intravenous lines in internal medicine. Fifty-six French internal medicine units were enrolled in a nationwide, prospective, blinded, randomized controlled trial. Forms describing the patients with an intravenous line and internal medicine department characteristics were filled out on 2 separate days in January and April 2007. Following the first visit, all units were randomly assigned to either a specific education program on the appropriate indications of an intravenous line, during February and March 2007, or no training (control group). The Investigators' Committee then blindly evaluated the clinical relevance of the intravenous line according to pre-established criteria. The primary outcome was the percentage of inappropriate intravenous lines. During January 2007, intravenous lines were used in 475 (24.9%) of the 1910 hospitalized patients. Of these, 80 (16.8%) were considered inappropriate. In April 2007, 416 (22.8%) of the 1823 hospitalized patients received an intravenous line, which was considered in 10.2% (21/205) of patients managed by trained physicians, versus 16.6% (35/211) of patients in the control group (relative difference 39%; 95% confidence interval, -0.6-13.3; P = .05). Reduced intravenous administration of fluids, antibiotics, and analgesics accounted for the observed decrease. The use of a simple education program reduced the rate of inappropriate intravenous lines by almost 40% in an internal medicine setting (NCT01633307). Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Green's function method for local and non-local parallel transport in general magnetic fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Del-Castillo-Negrete, Diego; Chacón, Luis

2009-11-01

The study of transport in magnetized plasmas is a problem of fundamental interest in controlled fusion and astrophysics research. Three issues make this problem particularly challenging: (i) The extreme anisotropy between the parallel (i.e., along the magnetic field), χ, and the perpendicular, χ, conductivities (χ/χ may exceed 10^10 in fusion plasmas); (ii) Magnetic field lines chaos which in general complicates (and may preclude) the construction of magnetic field line coordinates; and (iii) Nonlocal parallel transport in the limit of small collisionality. Motivated by these issues, we present a Lagrangian Green's function method to solve the local and non-local parallel transport equation applicable to integrable and chaotic magnetic fields. The numerical implementation employs a volume-preserving field-line integrator [Finn and Chac'on, Phys. Plasmas, 12 (2005)] for an accurate representation of the magnetic field lines regardless of the level of stochasticity. The general formalism and its algorithmic properties are discussed along with illustrative analytical and numerical examples. Problems of particular interest include: the departures from the Rochester--Rosenbluth diffusive scaling in the weak magnetic chaos regime, the interplay between non-locality and chaos, and the robustness of transport barriers in reverse shear configurations.

Random isotropic one-dimensional XY-model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gonçalves, L. L.; Vieira, A. P.

1998-01-01

The 1D isotropic s = ½XY-model ( N sites), with random exchange interaction in a transverse random field is considered. The random variables satisfy bimodal quenched distributions. The solution is obtained by using the Jordan-Wigner fermionization and a canonical transformation, reducing the problem to diagonalizing an N × N matrix, corresponding to a system of N noninteracting fermions. The calculations are performed numerically for N = 1000, and the field-induced magnetization at T = 0 is obtained by averaging the results for the different samples. For the dilute case, in the uniform field limit, the magnetization exhibits various discontinuities, which are the consequence of the existence of disconnected finite clusters distributed along the chain. Also in this limit, for finite exchange constants J A and J B, as the probability of J A varies from one to zero, the saturation field is seen to vary from Γ A to Γ B, where Γ A(Γ B) is the value of the saturation field for the pure case with exchange constant equal to J A(J B) .

Polarization of submillimetre lines from interstellar medium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Heshou; Yan, Huirong

2018-04-01

Magnetic fields play important roles in many astrophysical processes. However, there is no universal diagnostic for the magnetic fields in the interstellar medium (ISM) and each magnetic tracer has its limitation. Any new detection method is thus valuable. Theoretical studies have shown that submillimetre fine-structure lines are polarized due to atomic alignment by ultraviolet photon-excitation, which opens up a new avenue to probe interstellar magnetic fields. We will, for the first time, perform synthetic observations on the simulated three-dimensional ISM to demonstrate the measurability of the polarization of submillimetre atomic lines. The maximum polarization for different absorption and emission lines expected from various sources, including star-forming regions are provided. Our results demonstrate that the polarization of submillimetre atomic lines is a powerful magnetic tracer and add great value to the observational studies of the submilimetre astronomy.

The Effects of a History-Based Instructional Material on the Students' Understanding of Field Lines

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pocovi, M. Cecilia

2007-01-01

Many students in physics courses fail to achieve a desired conceptual change because they assign an incorrect ontology to the to-be-learned concept. This situation has been detected in previous research for the case of field lines: many college students assign material properties to the lines and describe them, for example, as tubes that contain…

Magnetization of topological line-node semimetals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mikitik, G. P.; Sharlai, Yu. V.

2018-02-01

Using an approximate expression for the Landau levels of the electrons located near a nodal line of a topological line-node semimetal, we obtain formulas for the magnetization of this semimetal at an arbitrary shape of its line. It is also shown that the dependence of the chemical potential on the magnetic field can be strong in these materials, and this dependence can essentially influence the de Haas-van Alphen oscillations. The obtained results are applied to the rhombohedral graphite, which is one of the line-node semimetals. For this material, we find temperature and magnetic field dependencies of its magnetic susceptibility.

Magnetic reconnection in collisionless plasmas - Prescribed fields

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burkhart, G. R.; Drake, J. F.; Chen, J.

1990-01-01

The structure of the dissipation region during magnetic reconnection in collisionless plasma is investigated by examining a prescribed two-dimensional magnetic x line configuration with an imposed inductive electric field E(y). The calculations represent an extension of recent MHD simulations of steady state reconnection (Biskamp, 1986; Lee and Fu, 1986) to the collisionless kinetic regime. It is shown that the structure of the x line reconnection configuration depends on only two parameters: a normalized inductive field and a parameter R which represents the opening angle of the magnetic x lines.

Polarized radiation diagnostics of stellar magnetic fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mathys, Gautier

The main techniques used to diagnose magnetic fields in stars from polarimetric observations are presented. First, a summary of the physics of spectral line formation in the presence of a magnetic field is given. Departures from the simple case of linear Zeeman effect are briefly considered: partial Paschen-Back effect, contribution of hyperfine structure, and combined Stark and Zeeman effects. Important approximate solutions of the equation of transfer of polarized light in spectral lines are introduced. The procedure for disk-integration of emergent Stokes profiles, which is central to stellar magnetic field studies, is described, with special attention to the treatment of stellar rotation. This formalism is used to discuss the determination of the mean longitudinal magnetic field (through the photographic technique and through Balmer line photopolarimetry). This is done within the specific framework of Ap stars, which, with their unique large-scale organized magnetic fields, are an ideal laboratory for studies of stellar magnetism. Special attention is paid to those Ap stars whose magnetically split line components are resolved in high-dispersion Stokes I spectra, and to the determination of their mean magnetic field modulus. Various techniques of exploitation of the information contained in polarized spectral line profiles are reviewed: the moment technique (in particular, the determination of the crossover and of the mean quadratic field), Zeeman-Doppler imaging, and least-squares deconvolution. The prospects that these methods open for linear polarization studies are sketched. The way in which linear polarization diagnostics complement their Stokes I and V counterparts is emphasized by consideration of the results of broad band linear polarization measurements. Illustrations of the use of various diagnostics to derive properties of the magnetic fields of Ap stars are given. This is used to show the interest of deriving more physically realistic models of the geometric structure of these fields. How this can possibly be achieved is briefly discussed. An overview of the current status of polarimetric studies of magnetic fields in non-degenerate stars of other types is presented. The final section is devoted to magnetic fields of white dwarfs. Current knowledge of magnetic fields of isolated white dwarfs is briefly reviewed. Diagnostic techniques are discussed, with particular emphasis on the variety of physical processes to be considered for understanding of spectral line formation over the broad range of magnetic field strengths encountered in these stars.

Evidence of mass outflow in the low corona over a large sunspot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neupert, W. M.; Brosius, J. W.; Thomas, R. J.; Thompson, W. T.

1994-04-01

An extreme ultraviolet (EUV) imaging spectrograph designed for sounding rocket flight has been used to search for velocity fields in the low solar corona. During a flight in May, 1989, we obtained emission line profile measurements along a chord through an active region on the Sun. Relative Doppler velocities were measured in emission lines of Mg IX, Fe XV, and Fe XVI with a sensitivity of 2-3 km/s at 350 A. The only Doppler shift appreciably greater than this level was observed in the line of Mg IX at 368.1 A over the umbra of the large sunspot. The maximum shift measured at that location corresponded to a velocity toward the observer of 14 plus or minus 3 km/s relative to the mean of measurements in that emission line made elsewhere over the active region. The magnetic field in the low corona was aligned to within 10 deg of the line of sight at the location of maximum Doppler shift. Depending on the magnetic field geometry, this mass outflow could either re-appear as a downflow of material in distant footprints of closed coronal loops or, if along open field lines, could contribute to the solar wind. The site of the sunspot was near a major photospheric magnetic field boundary. Such boundaries have been associated with low-speed solar winds as observed in interplanetary plasmas.

Magnetic fields, stellar feedback, and the geometry of H II regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferland, Gary J.

2009-04-01

Magnetic pressure has long been known to dominate over gas pressure in atomic and molecular regions of the interstellar medium. Here I review several recent observational studies of the relationships between the H+, H0 and H2 regions in M42 (the Orion complex) and M17. A simple picture results. When stars form they push back surrounding material, mainly through the outward momentum of starlight acting on grains, and field lines are dragged with the gas due to flux freezing. The magnetic field is compressed and the magnetic pressure increases until it is able to resist further expansion and the system comes into approximate magnetostatic equilibrium. Magnetic field lines can be preferentially aligned perpendicular to the long axis of quiescent cloud before stars form. After star formation and pushback occurs ionized gas will be constrained to flow along field lines and escape from the system along directions perpendicular to the long axis. The magnetic field may play other roles in the physics of the H II region and associated PDR. Cosmic rays may be enhanced along with the field and provide additional heating of atomic and molecular material. Wave motions may be associated with the field and contribute a component of turbulence to observed line profiles.

How Well Can the Observed Flux Ropes in the Solar Wind be Fitted by a Uniform-twist Flux Rope Model?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Y.

2015-12-01

In the solar wind, flux ropes, e.g., magnetic clouds (MCs), are a frequently observational phenomenon. Their magnetic field configuration or the way that the field lines wind around the flux rope axis is one of the most important information to understand the formation and evolution of the observed flux ropes. Most MCs are believed to be in the force-free state, and widely modeled by the Lundquist force-free solution, in which the twist of the field line increases from zero at the axis to infinity at the boundary. However, Lundquist solution is not the only form of a force-free magnetic field. Some studies based on suprathermal electron observations and models have shown that MCs may carry magnetic field lines more likely to be uniformly twisted. The nonlinear force-free field extrapolation of solar magnetic field also suggests that the field lines of a flux rope twist limitedly. In this study, we have developed a velocity-modified uniform-twist force-free flux rope model, and fit observed MCs with this model. By using this approach, we test how well the observed MCs can be fitted into a uniform-twist flux rope. Some interesting results will be given in this presentation.

Transgene × Environment Interactions in Genetically Modified Wheat

PubMed Central

Zeller, Simon L.; Kalinina, Olena; Brunner, Susanne; Keller, Beat; Schmid, Bernhard

2010-01-01

Background The introduction of transgenes into plants may cause unintended phenotypic effects which could have an impact on the plant itself and the environment. Little is published in the scientific literature about the interrelation of environmental factors and possible unintended effects in genetically modified (GM) plants. Methods and Findings We studied transgenic bread wheat Triticum aestivum lines expressing the wheat Pm3b gene against the fungus powdery mildew Blumeria graminis f.sp. tritici. Four independent offspring pairs, each consisting of a GM line and its corresponding non-GM control line, were grown under different soil nutrient conditions and with and without fungicide treatment in the glasshouse. Furthermore, we performed a field experiment with a similar design to validate our glasshouse results. The transgene increased the resistance to powdery mildew in all environments. However, GM plants reacted sensitive to fungicide spraying in the glasshouse. Without fungicide treatment, in the glasshouse GM lines had increased vegetative biomass and seed number and a twofold yield compared with control lines. In the field these results were reversed. Fertilization generally increased GM/control differences in the glasshouse but not in the field. Two of four GM lines showed up to 56% yield reduction and a 40-fold increase of infection with ergot disease Claviceps purpurea compared with their control lines in the field experiment; one GM line was very similar to its control. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that, depending on the insertion event, a particular transgene can have large effects on the entire phenotype of a plant and that these effects can sometimes be reversed when plants are moved from the glasshouse to the field. However, it remains unclear which mechanisms underlie these effects and how they may affect concepts in molecular plant breeding and plant evolutionary ecology. PMID:20635001

Transgene x environment interactions in genetically modified wheat.

PubMed

Zeller, Simon L; Kalinina, Olena; Brunner, Susanne; Keller, Beat; Schmid, Bernhard

2010-07-12

The introduction of transgenes into plants may cause unintended phenotypic effects which could have an impact on the plant itself and the environment. Little is published in the scientific literature about the interrelation of environmental factors and possible unintended effects in genetically modified (GM) plants. We studied transgenic bread wheat Triticum aestivum lines expressing the wheat Pm3b gene against the fungus powdery mildew Blumeria graminis f.sp. tritici. Four independent offspring pairs, each consisting of a GM line and its corresponding non-GM control line, were grown under different soil nutrient conditions and with and without fungicide treatment in the glasshouse. Furthermore, we performed a field experiment with a similar design to validate our glasshouse results. The transgene increased the resistance to powdery mildew in all environments. However, GM plants reacted sensitive to fungicide spraying in the glasshouse. Without fungicide treatment, in the glasshouse GM lines had increased vegetative biomass and seed number and a twofold yield compared with control lines. In the field these results were reversed. Fertilization generally increased GM/control differences in the glasshouse but not in the field. Two of four GM lines showed up to 56% yield reduction and a 40-fold increase of infection with ergot disease Claviceps purpurea compared with their control lines in the field experiment; one GM line was very similar to its control. Our results demonstrate that, depending on the insertion event, a particular transgene can have large effects on the entire phenotype of a plant and that these effects can sometimes be reversed when plants are moved from the glasshouse to the field. However, it remains unclear which mechanisms underlie these effects and how they may affect concepts in molecular plant breeding and plant evolutionary ecology.

Spatial Variations of Poloidal and Toroidal Mode Field Line Resonances Observed by MMS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le, G.; Chi, P. J.; Strangeway, R. J.; Russell, C. T.; Slavin, J. A.; Anderson, B. J.; Kepko, L.; Nakamura, R.; Plaschke, F.; Torbert, R. B.

2017-12-01

Field line resonances (FLRs) are magnetosphere's responses to solar wind forcing and internal instabilities generated by solar wind-magnetospheric interactions. They are standing waves along the Earth's magnetic field lines oscillating in either poloidal or toroidal modes. The two types of waves have their unique frequency characteristics. The eigenfrequency of FLRs is determined by the length of the field line and the plasma density, and thus gradually changes with L. For toroidal mode oscillations with magnetic field perturbations in the azimuthal direction, ideal MHD predicts that each field line oscillates independently with its own eigenfrequency. For poloidal mode waves with field lines oscillating radially, their frequency cannot change with L easily as L shells need to oscillate in sync to avoid efficient damping due to phase mixing. Observations, mainly during quiet times, indeed show that poloidal mode waves often exhibit nearly constant frequency across L shells. Our recent observations, on the other hand, reveal a clear L-dependent frequency trend for a long lasting storm-time poloidal wave event, indicating the wave can maintain its power with changing frequencies for an extended period [Le et al., 2017]. The spatial variation of the frequency shows discrete spatial structures. The frequency remains constant within each discrete structure that spans about 1 REalong L, and changes discretely. We present a follow-up study to investigate spatial variations of wave frequencies using the Wigner-Ville distribution. We examine both poloidal and toroidal waves under different geomagnetic conditions using multipoint observations from MMS, and compare their frequency and occurrence characteristics for insights into their generation mechanisms. Reference: Le, G., et al. (2017), Global observations of magnetospheric high-m poloidal waves during the 22 June 2015 magnetic storm, Geophys. Res. Lett., 44, 3456-3464, doi:10.1002/2017GL073048.

Comparison of Precision of Biomass Estimates in Regional Field Sample Surveys and Airborne LiDAR-Assisted Surveys in Hedmark County, Norway

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Naesset, Erik; Gobakken, Terje; Bollandsas, Ole Martin; Gregoire, Timothy G.; Nelson, Ross; Stahl, Goeran

2013-01-01

Airborne scanning LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) has emerged as a promising tool to provide auxiliary data for sample surveys aiming at estimation of above-ground tree biomass (AGB), with potential applications in REDD forest monitoring. For larger geographical regions such as counties, states or nations, it is not feasible to collect airborne LiDAR data continuously ("wall-to-wall") over the entire area of interest. Two-stage cluster survey designs have therefore been demonstrated by which LiDAR data are collected along selected individual flight-lines treated as clusters and with ground plots sampled along these LiDAR swaths. Recently, analytical AGB estimators and associated variance estimators that quantify the sampling variability have been proposed. Empirical studies employing these estimators have shown a seemingly equal or even larger uncertainty of the AGB estimates obtained with extensive use of LiDAR data to support the estimation as compared to pure field-based estimates employing estimators appropriate under simple random sampling (SRS). However, comparison of uncertainty estimates under SRS and sophisticated two-stage designs is complicated by large differences in the designs and assumptions. In this study, probability-based principles to estimation and inference were followed. We assumed designs of a field sample and a LiDAR-assisted survey of Hedmark County (HC) (27,390 km2), Norway, considered to be more comparable than those assumed in previous studies. The field sample consisted of 659 systematically distributed National Forest Inventory (NFI) plots and the airborne scanning LiDAR data were collected along 53 parallel flight-lines flown over the NFI plots. We compared AGB estimates based on the field survey only assuming SRS against corresponding estimates assuming two-phase (double) sampling with LiDAR and employing model-assisted estimators. We also compared AGB estimates based on the field survey only assuming two-stage sampling (the NFI plots being grouped in clusters) against corresponding estimates assuming two-stage sampling with the LiDAR and employing model-assisted estimators. For each of the two comparisons, the standard errors of the AGB estimates were consistently lower for the LiDAR-assisted designs. The overall reduction of the standard errors in the LiDAR-assisted estimation was around 40-60% compared to the pure field survey. We conclude that the previously proposed two-stage model-assisted estimators are inappropriate for surveys with unequal lengths of the LiDAR flight-lines and new estimators are needed. Some options for design of LiDAR-assisted sample surveys under REDD are also discussed, which capitalize on the flexibility offered when the field survey is designed as an integrated part of the overall survey design as opposed to previous LiDAR-assisted sample surveys in the boreal and temperate zones which have been restricted by the current design of an existing NFI.

SESOTHO trial ("Switch Either near Suppression Or THOusand") - switch to second-line versus WHO-guided standard of care for unsuppressed patients on first-line ART with viremia below 1000 copies/mL: protocol of a multicenter, parallel-group, open-label, randomized clinical trial in Lesotho, Southern Africa.

PubMed

Amstutz, Alain; Nsakala, Bienvenu Lengo; Vanobberghen, Fiona; Muhairwe, Josephine; Glass, Tracy Renée; Achieng, Beatrice; Sepeka, Mamorena; Tlali, Katleho; Sao, Lebohang; Thin, Kyaw; Klimkait, Thomas; Battegay, Manuel; Labhardt, Niklaus Daniel

2018-02-12

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends viral load (VL) measurement as the preferred monitoring strategy for HIV-infected individuals on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in resource-limited settings. The new WHO guidelines 2016 continue to define virologic failure as two consecutive VL ≥1000 copies/mL (at least 3 months apart) despite good adherence, triggering switch to second-line therapy. However, the threshold of 1000 copies/mL for defining virologic failure is based on low-quality evidence. Observational studies have shown that individuals with low-level viremia (measurable but below 1000 copies/mL) are at increased risk for accumulation of resistance mutations and subsequent virologic failure. The SESOTHO trial assesses a lower threshold for switch to second-line ART in patients with sustained unsuppressed VL. In this multicenter, parallel-group, open-label, randomized controlled trial conducted in Lesotho, patients on first-line ART with two consecutive unsuppressed VL measurements ≥100 copies/mL, where the second VL is between 100 and 999 copies/mL, will either be switched to second-line ART immediately (intervention group) or not be switched (standard of care, according to WHO guidelines). The primary endpoint is viral resuppression (VL < 50 copies/mL) 9 months after randomization. We will enrol 80 patients, giving us 90% power to detect a difference of 35% in viral resuppression between the groups (assuming two-sided 5% alpha error). For our primary analysis, we will use a modified intention-to-treat set, with those lost to care, death, or crossed over considered failure to resuppress, and using logistic regression models adjusted for the prespecified stratification variables. The SESOTHO trial challenges the current WHO guidelines, assessing an alternative, lower VL threshold for patients with unsuppressed VL on first-line ART. This trial will provide data to inform future WHO guidelines on VL thresholds to recommend switch to second-line ART. ClinicalTrials.gov ( NCT03088241 ), registered May 05, 2017.

Potential Measurements of Coronal Magnetic Field Strengths Using Line Ratios in EUV and X-ray Spectra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beiersdorfer, Peter; Scofield, J. H.; Lepson, J. K.; Osten, R.; Smith, R. K.

2006-09-01

We will discuss a class of lines from highly charged ions that are sensitive to the strength of the ambient magnetic field. Calculations show that the magnitude of field strengths that can be measured ranges from a few hundred gauss to several tens of kilogauss depending on the particular ion emitting the line. These calculations have been verified in the laboratory by studying the spectra of S VII, Ar IX, and Fe XVII. As an example of the diagnostic utility, the possibility of using these lines to determine the coronal magnetic field strength of Prox Cen will be presented. This work was supported by NASA Astronomy and Physics Research and Analysis program work order NNH04AA751, and was performed under the auspices of the Department of Energy by the University of California Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No. W-7405-ENG-48.

Photoelectrons in the Quiet Polar Wind

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Glocer, A.; Khazanov, G.; Liemohn, M.

2017-01-01

This study presents a newly coupled model capable of treating the superthermal electron population in the global polar wind solution. The model combines the hydrodynamic Polar Wind Outflow Model (PWOM) with the kinetic SuperThermal Electron Transport (STET) code. The resulting PWOM-STET coupled model is described and then used to investigate the role of photoelectrons in the polar wind. We present polar wind results along single stationary field lines under dayside and nightside conditions, as well as the global solution reconstructed from nearly 1000 moving field lines. The model results show significant day-night asymmetries in the polar wind solution owing to the higher ionization and photoelectron fluxes on the dayside compared to the nightside. Field line motion is found to modify this dependence and create global structure by transporting field lines through different conditions of illumination and through the localized effects of Joule heating.

Magnetic Field Lines on the Sun

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-01-28

Scientists have developed a way to produce models of where the magnetic field lines are several times each day. Here we have created a time-lapse version of these models over four days (2-3 each day) to give you a peek at how these change over time. The spiraling arcs of magnetic field lines emerge from active regions and connect back to areas with the opposite polarity. The field lines are more concentrated where regions are more magnetically intense. And of course, they rotate with the rotation of the Sun. Credit: NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory NASA image use policy. 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

Effect of polarized radiative transfer on the Hanle magnetic field determination in prominences: Analysis of hydrogen H alpha line observations at Pic-du-Midi

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bommier, V.; Deglinnocenti, E. L.; Leroy, J. L.; Sahal-Brechot, S.

1985-01-01

The linear polarization of the Hydrogen H alpha line of prominences has been computed, taking into account the effect of a magnetic field (Hanle effect), of the radiative transfer in the prominence, and of the depolarization due to collisions with the surrounding electrons and protons. The corresponding formalisms are developed in a forthcoming series of papers. In this paper, the main features of the computation method are summarized. The results of computation have been used for interpretation in terms of magnetic field vector measurements from H alpha polarimetric observations in prominences performed at Pic-du-Midi coronagraph-polarimeter. Simultaneous observations in one optically thin line (He I D(3)) and one optically thick line (H alpha) give an opportunity for solving the ambiguity on the field vector determination.

Magnetic field generator

DOEpatents

Krienin, Frank

1990-01-01

A magnetic field generating device provides a useful magnetic field within a specific retgion, while keeping nearby surrounding regions virtually field free. By placing an appropriate current density along a flux line of the source, the stray field effects of the generator may be contained. One current carrying structure may support a truncated cosine distribution, and it may be surrounded by a current structure which follows a flux line that would occur in a full coaxial double cosine distribution. Strong magnetic fields may be generated and contained using superconducting cables to approximate required current surfaces.

On the consequences of bi-Maxwellian plasma distributions for parallel electric fields

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Olsen, Richard C.

1992-01-01

The objective is to use the measurements of the equatorial particle distributions to obtain the parallel electric field structure and the evolution of the plasma distribution function along the field line. Appropriate uses of kinetic theory allows us to use the measured ( and inferred) particle distributions to obtain the electric field, and hence the variation on plasma density along the magnetic field line. The approach, here, is to utilize the adiabatic invariants, and assume the plasma distributions are in equilibrium.

New Transition in the Vortex Liquid State: intrinsic limit of the irreversibility line

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kwok, Wai-Kwong; Paulius, Lisa; Figueras, Jordi

2005-03-01

We have carried out angular dependent magneto-transport measurements on optimally doped, untwinned YBCO crystals irradiated with high energy heavy ions to determine the onset of vortex line tension in the vortex liquid state. The matching field was controlled and kept at a low level to partially preserve the first order vortex lattice melting transition. A Bose glass transition is observed below the lower critical point which then transforms into a first order phase transition near 5 Tesla. The locus of points which indicate the onset of vortex line tension overlaps with the Bose glass transition line at low fields and then deviates at higher fields, indicating a new transition line in the vortex liquid state. This new line in the vortex liquid phase extends beyond the upper critical point.This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, BES, Materials Science under Contract No. W-31-109-ENG-38 at Argonne National Laboratory.

Mapping magnetic field lines between the Sun and Earth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, B.; Cairns, Iver H.; Gosling, J. T.; Steward, G.; Francis, M.; Neudegg, D.; Schulte in den Bäumen, H.; Player, P. R.; Milne, A. R.

2016-02-01

Magnetic field topologies between the Sun and Earth are important for the connectivity to Earth of solar suprathermal particles, e.g., solar energetic particles and beam electrons in type III solar radio bursts. An approach is developed for mapping large-scale magnetic field lines near the solar equatorial plane, using near-Earth observations and a solar wind model with nonzero azimuthal magnetic field at the source surface. Unlike Parker's spiral model, which restricts the in-ecliptic angle ΦB in the Geocentric Solar Ecliptic coordinates to (90°-180°, 270°-360°) and so is unable to predict field configurations for the other ΦB values frequently observed in the solar wind, our approach can account for all the observed ΦB values. A set of predicted maps shows that near both minimal and maximal solar activity the field lines are typically open and that loops with both ends either connected to or disconnected from the Sun are relatively rare. The open field lines, nonetheless, often do not closely follow the Parker spiral, being less or more tightly wound, or strongly azimuthally or radially oriented, or inverted. The time-varying classes, e.g., bidirectional electrons, of suprathermal electron pitch angle distributions (PADs) at 1 AU are predicted from the mapped field line configurations and compared with Wind observations for two solar rotations, one each near solar minimum and solar maximum. PAD predictions by our approach agree quantitatively (≈90%) with the PAD observations and outperform (by ≈20%) PAD predictions using Parker's model.

Study of Two Successive Three-ribbon Solar Flares on 2012 July 6

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Haimin; Liu, Chang; Deng, Na; Zeng, Zhicheng; Xu, Yan; Jing, Ju; Cao, Wenda

2014-01-01

This Letter reports two rarely observed three-ribbon flares (M1.9 and C9.2) on 2012 July 6 in NOAA AR 11515, which we found using Hα observations of 0.''1 resolution from the New Solar Telescope and Ca II H images from Hinode. The flaring site is characterized by an intriguing "fish-bone-like" morphology evidenced by both Hα images and a nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) extrapolation, where two semi-parallel rows of low-lying, sheared loops connect an elongated, parasitic negative field with the sandwiching positive fields. The NLFFF model also shows that the two rows of loops are asymmetric in height and have opposite twists, and are enveloped by large-scale field lines including open fields. The two flares occurred in succession within half an hour and are located at the two ends of the flaring region. The three ribbons of each flare run parallel to the magnetic polarity inversion line, with the outer two lying in the positive field and the central one in the negative field. Both flares show surge-like flows in Hα apparently toward the remote region, while the C9.2 flare is also accompanied by EUV jets possibly along the open field lines. Interestingly, the 12-25 keV hard X-ray sources of the C9.2 flare first line up with the central ribbon then shift to concentrate on the top of the higher branch of loops. These results are discussed in favor of reconnection along the coronal null line, producing the three flare ribbons and the associated ejections.

Study of Two Successive Three-ribbon Solar Flares Using BBSO/NST Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Haimin; Liu, Chang; Deng, Na; Zeng, Zhicheng; Xu, Yan; Jing, Ju; Cao, Wenda

2014-06-01

We studied two rarely observed three-ribbon flares (M1.9 and C9.2) on 2012 July 6 in NOAA AR 11515, which we found using Hα observations of 0.1 arcsec resolution from the New Solar Telescope and Ca II H images from Hinode. The flaring site is characterized by an intriguing "fish-bone-like" morphology evidenced by both Halpha images and a nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) extrapolation, where two semi-parallel rows of low-lying, sheared loops connect an elongated, parasitic negative field with the sandwiching positive fields. The NLFFF model also shows that the two rows of loops are asymmetric in height and have opposite twists, and are enveloped by large-scale field lines including open fields. The two flares occurred in succession within half an hour and are located at the two ends of the flaring region. The three ribbons of each flare run parallel to the magnetic polarity inversion line, with the outer two lying in the positive field and the central one in the negative field. Both flares show surge-like flows in Halpha apparently toward the remote region, while the C9.2 flare is also accompanied by EUV jets possibly along the open field lines. Interestingly, the 12-25 keV hard X-ray sources of the C9.2 flare first line up with the central ribbon then shift to concentrate on the top of the higher branch of loops. These results are discussed in favor of reconnection along the coronal null line, producing the three flare ribbons and the associated ejections.

Magnetohydrodynamic Modeling of Solar Coronal Dynamics with an Initial Non-force-free Magnetic Field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prasad, A.; Bhattacharyya, R.; Kumar, Sanjay

2017-05-01

The magnetic fields in the solar corona are generally neither force-free nor axisymmetric and have complex dynamics that are difficult to characterize. Here we simulate the topological evolution of solar coronal magnetic field lines (MFLs) using a magnetohydrodynamic model. The simulation is initialized with a non-axisymmetric non-force-free magnetic field that best correlates with the observed vector magnetograms of solar active regions (ARs). To focus on these ideas, simulations are performed for the flaring AR 11283 noted for its complexity and well-documented dynamics. The simulated dynamics develops as the initial Lorentz force pushes the plasma and facilitates successive magnetic reconnections at the two X-type null lines present in the initial field. Importantly, the simulation allows for the spontaneous development of mass flow, unique among contemporary works, that preferentially reconnects field lines at one of the X-type null lines. Consequently, a flux rope consisting of low-lying twisted MFLs, which approximately traces the major polarity inversion line, undergoes an asymmetric monotonic rise. The rise is attributed to a reduction in the magnetic tension force at the region overlying the rope, resulting from the reconnection. A monotonic rise of the rope is in conformity with the standard scenario of flares. Importantly, the simulated dynamics leads to bifurcations of the flux rope, which, being akin to the observed filament bifurcation in AR 11283, establishes the appropriateness of the initial field in describing ARs.

Magnetohydrodynamic Modeling of Solar Coronal Dynamics with an Initial Non-force-free Magnetic Field

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

Prasad, A.; Bhattacharyya, R.; Kumar, Sanjay

The magnetic fields in the solar corona are generally neither force-free nor axisymmetric and have complex dynamics that are difficult to characterize. Here we simulate the topological evolution of solar coronal magnetic field lines (MFLs) using a magnetohydrodynamic model. The simulation is initialized with a non-axisymmetric non-force-free magnetic field that best correlates with the observed vector magnetograms of solar active regions (ARs). To focus on these ideas, simulations are performed for the flaring AR 11283 noted for its complexity and well-documented dynamics. The simulated dynamics develops as the initial Lorentz force pushes the plasma and facilitates successive magnetic reconnections atmore » the two X-type null lines present in the initial field. Importantly, the simulation allows for the spontaneous development of mass flow, unique among contemporary works, that preferentially reconnects field lines at one of the X-type null lines. Consequently, a flux rope consisting of low-lying twisted MFLs, which approximately traces the major polarity inversion line, undergoes an asymmetric monotonic rise. The rise is attributed to a reduction in the magnetic tension force at the region overlying the rope, resulting from the reconnection. A monotonic rise of the rope is in conformity with the standard scenario of flares. Importantly, the simulated dynamics leads to bifurcations of the flux rope, which, being akin to the observed filament bifurcation in AR 11283, establishes the appropriateness of the initial field in describing ARs.« less

Voltages induced on a power distribution line by overhead cloud lightning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yacoub, Ziad; Rubinstein, Marcos; Uman, Martin A.; Thomson, Ewen M.; Medelius, Pedro J.

1991-01-01

Voltages induced by overhead cloud lightning on a 448 m open circuited power distribution line and the corresponding north-south component of the lightning magnetic field were simultaneously measured at the NASA Kennedy Space Center during the summer of 1986. The incident electric field was calculated from the measured magnetic field. The electric field was then used as an input to the computer program, EMPLIN, that calculated the voltages at the two ends of the power line. EMPLIN models the frequency domain field/power coupling theory found, for example, in Ianoz et al. The direction of the source, which is also one of the inputs to EMPLIN, was crudely determined from a three station time delay technique. The authors found reasonably good agreement between calculated and measured waveforms.

Control of spontaneous emission from a microwave-field-driven four-level atom in an anisotropic photonic crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Duo; Li, Jiahua; Ding, Chunling; Yang, Xiaoxue

2012-05-01

The spontaneous emission properties of a microwave-field-driven four-level atom embedded in anisotropic double-band photonic crystals (PCs) are investigated. We discuss the influences of the band-edge positions, Rabi frequency and detuning of the microwave field on the emission spectrum. It is found that several interesting features such as spectral-line enhancement, spectral-line suppression, spectral-line overlap, and multi-peak structures can be observed in the spectra. The proposed scheme can be achieved by use of a microwave-coupled field into hyperfine levels in rubidium atom confined in a photonic crystal. These theoretical investigations may provide more degrees of freedom to manipulate the atomic spontaneous emission.

Current-sheet formation in two-dimensional coronal fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Billinghurst, M. N.; Craig, I. J. D.; Sneyd, A. D.

1993-11-01

The formation of current sheets by shearing motions in line-tied twin-lobed fields is examined. A general analytic argument shows that current sheets form along the fieldline bounding the two lobes in the case of both symmetric and asymmetric footpoint motions. In the case of strictly antisymmetric motions however no current sheets can form. These findings are reinforced by magnetic relaxation experiments involving sheared two-lobed fields represented by Clebsh variables. It is pointed out that, although current singularites cannot be expected to form when the line-tying assumption is relaxed, the two-lobed geometry is still consistent with the formation of highly localised currents - and strong resistive dissipation - along field lines close to the bounding fieldline.

Analytical and experimental investigation on a multiple-mass-element pendulum impact damper for vibration mitigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Egger, Philipp; Caracoglia, Luca

2015-09-01

Impact dampers are often used in the field of civil, mechanical and aerospace engineering for reducing structural vibrations. The behavior of this type of passive control device has been investigated for several decades. In this research a distributed-mass impact damper, similar to the "chain damper" used in wind engineering, has been examined and applied to the vibration reduction on a slender line-like structural element (stay-cable). This study is motivated by a practical problem and describes the derivation of a reduced-order model for explaining the behavior, observed during a field experiment on a prototype system. In its simplest form, the dynamics of the apparatus is modeled as a "resilient damper", composed of mass-spring-dashpot secondary elements, attached to the primary structure. Various sources of excitation are analyzed: free vibration, external harmonic force and random excitation. The proposed model is general and potentially applicable to the analysis of several structural systems. The study also shows that the model can adequately describe and explain the experimentally observed behavior.

Large scale structure in universes dominated by cold dark matter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bond, J. Richard

1986-01-01

The theory of Gaussian random density field peaks is applied to a numerical study of the large-scale structure developing from adiabatic fluctuations in models of biased galaxy formation in universes with Omega = 1, h = 0.5 dominated by cold dark matter (CDM). The angular anisotropy of the cross-correlation function demonstrates that the far-field regions of cluster-scale peaks are asymmetric, as recent observations indicate. These regions will generate pancakes or filaments upon collapse. One-dimensional singularities in the large-scale bulk flow should arise in these CDM models, appearing as pancakes in position space. They are too rare to explain the CfA bubble walls, but pancakes that are just turning around now are sufficiently abundant and would appear to be thin walls normal to the line of sight in redshift space. Large scale streaming velocities are significantly smaller than recent observations indicate. To explain the reported 700 km/s coherent motions, mass must be significantly more clustered than galaxies with a biasing factor of less than 0.4 and a nonlinear redshift at cluster scales greater than one for both massive neutrino and cold models.

Irreversibility Line Measurement and Vortex Dynamics in High Magnetic Fields in Ni- and Co-Doped Iron Pnictide Bulk Superconductors

DOE PAGES

Nikolo, Martin; Singleton, John; Zapf, Vivien S.; ...

2016-07-20

The de-pinning or irreversibility lines were determined by ac susceptibility, magnetization, radio-frequency proximity detector oscillator (PDO), and resistivity methods in Ba(Fe 0.92Co 0.08) 2As 2 ( T c = 23.2 K), Ba(Fe 0.95Ni 0.05) 2As 2 ( T c = 20.4 K), and Ba(Fe 0.94Ni 0.06) 2As 2 ( T c = 18.5 K) bulk superconductors in ac, dc, and pulsed magnetic fields up to 65 T. A new method of extracting the irreversibility fields from the radio-frequency proximity detector oscillator induction technique is described. Wide temperature broadening of the irreversibility lines, for any given combination of ac and dcmore » fields, is dependent on the time frame of measurement. Increasing the magnetic field sweep rate (dH/dt) shifts the irreversibility lines to higher temperatures up to about dH/d t = 40,000 Oe/s; for higher dH/dt, there is little impact on the irreversibility line. There is an excellent data match between the irreversibility fields obtained from magnetization hysteresis loops, PDO, and ac susceptibility measurements, but not from resistivity measurements in these materials. Lower critical field vs. temperature phase diagrams are measured. Their very low values near 0 T indicate that these materials are in mixed state in nonzero magnetic fields, and yet the strength of the vortex pinning enables very high irreversibility fields, as high as 51 T at 1.5 K for the Ba(Fe 0.92Co 0.08) 2As 2 polycrystalline sample, showing a promise for liquid helium temperature applications.« less

Force-free field modeling of twist and braiding-induced magnetic energy in an active-region corona

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

Thalmann, J. K.; Tiwari, S. K.; Wiegelmann, T., E-mail: julia.thalmann@uni-graz.at

2014-01-01

The theoretical concept that braided magnetic field lines in the solar corona may dissipate a sufficient amount of energy to account for the brightening observed in the active-region (AR) corona has only recently been substantiated by high-resolution observations. From the analysis of coronal images obtained with the High Resolution Coronal Imager, first observational evidence of the braiding of magnetic field lines was reported by Cirtain et al. (hereafter CG13). We present nonlinear force-free reconstructions of the associated coronal magnetic field based on Solar Dynamics Observatory/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager vector magnetograms. We deliver estimates of the free magnetic energy associated withmore » a braided coronal structure. Our model results suggest (∼100 times) more free energy at the braiding site than analytically estimated by CG13, strengthening the possibility of the AR corona being heated by field line braiding. We were able to appropriately assess the coronal free energy by using vector field measurements and we attribute the lower energy estimate of CG13 to the underestimated (by a factor of 10) azimuthal field strength. We also quantify the increase in the overall twist of a flare-related flux rope that was noted by CG13. From our models we find that the overall twist of the flux rope increased by about half a turn within 12 minutes. Unlike another method to which we compare our results, we evaluate the winding of the flux rope's constituent field lines around each other purely based on their modeled coronal three-dimensional field line geometry. To our knowledge, this is done for the first time here.« less

[Prospect and Current Situation of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors 
in First-line Treatment in Advanced Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Patients].

PubMed

Wang, Haiyang; Yu, Xiaoqing; Fan, Yun

2017-06-20

With the breakthroughs achieved of programmed death-1 (PD-1)/PD-L1 inhibitors monotherapy as first-line and second-line treatment in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the treatment strategy is gradually evolving and optimizing. Immune combination therapy expands the benefit population and improves the curative effect. A series of randomized phase III trials are ongoing. In this review, we discuss the prospect and current situation of immune checkpoint inhibitors in first-line treatment in advanced NSCLC patients.

RANDOM EVOLUTIONS, MARKOV CHAINS, AND SYSTEMS OF PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

PubMed Central

Griego, R. J.; Hersh, R.

1969-01-01

Several authors have considered Markov processes defined by the motion of a particle on a fixed line with a random velocity1, 6, 8, 10 or a random diffusivity.5, 12 A “random evolution” is a natural but apparently new generalization of this notion. In this note we hope to show that this concept leads to simple and powerful applications of probabilistic tools to initial-value problems of both parabolic and hyperbolic type. We obtain existence theorems, representation theorems, and asymptotic formulas, both old and new. PMID:16578690

Transgenic miR156 switchgrass in the field: growth, recalcitrance and rust susceptibility

DOE PAGES

Baxter, Holly L.; Mazarei, Mitra; Dumitrache, Alexandru; ...

2017-04-24

Sustainable utilization of lignocellulosic perennial grass feedstocks will be enabled by high biomass production and optimized cell wall chemistry for efficient conversion into biofuels. MicroRNAs are regulatory elements that modulate the expression of genes involved in various biological functions in plants, including growth and development. In greenhouse studies, overexpressing a microRNA (miR156) gene in switchgrass had dramatic effects on plant architecture and flowering, which appeared to be driven by transgene expression levels. High expressing lines were extremely dwarfed, whereas low and moderate-expressing lines had higher biomass yields, improved sugar release and delayed flowering. Four lines with moderate or low miR156more » overexpression from the prior greenhouse study were selected for a field experiment to assess the relationship between miR156 expression and biomass production over three years. We also analysed important bioenergy feedstock traits such as flowering, disease resistance, cell wall chemistry and biofuel production. Phenotypes of the transgenic lines were inconsistent between the greenhouse and the field as well as among different field growing seasons. One low expressing transgenic line consistently produced more biomass (25%–56%) than the control across all three seasons, which translated to the production of 30% more biofuel per plant during the final season. The other three transgenic lines produced less biomass than the control by the final season, and the two lines with moderate expression levels also exhibited altered disease susceptibilities. Results of this study emphasize the importance of performing multiyear field studies for plants with altered regulatory transgenes that target plant growth and development.« less

Transgenic miR156 switchgrass in the field: growth, recalcitrance and rust susceptibility

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

Baxter, Holly L.; Mazarei, Mitra; Dumitrache, Alexandru

Sustainable utilization of lignocellulosic perennial grass feedstocks will be enabled by high biomass production and optimized cell wall chemistry for efficient conversion into biofuels. MicroRNAs are regulatory elements that modulate the expression of genes involved in various biological functions in plants, including growth and development. In greenhouse studies, overexpressing a microRNA (miR156) gene in switchgrass had dramatic effects on plant architecture and flowering, which appeared to be driven by transgene expression levels. High expressing lines were extremely dwarfed, whereas low and moderate-expressing lines had higher biomass yields, improved sugar release and delayed flowering. Four lines with moderate or low miR156more » overexpression from the prior greenhouse study were selected for a field experiment to assess the relationship between miR156 expression and biomass production over three years. We also analysed important bioenergy feedstock traits such as flowering, disease resistance, cell wall chemistry and biofuel production. Phenotypes of the transgenic lines were inconsistent between the greenhouse and the field as well as among different field growing seasons. One low expressing transgenic line consistently produced more biomass (25%–56%) than the control across all three seasons, which translated to the production of 30% more biofuel per plant during the final season. The other three transgenic lines produced less biomass than the control by the final season, and the two lines with moderate expression levels also exhibited altered disease susceptibilities. Results of this study emphasize the importance of performing multiyear field studies for plants with altered regulatory transgenes that target plant growth and development.« less

Magnetic fluorescent lamp

DOEpatents

Berman, S.M.; Richardson R.W.

1983-12-29

The radiant emission of a mercury-argon discharge in a fluorescent lamp assembly is enhanced by providing means for establishing a magnetic field with lines of force along the path of electron flow through the bulb of the lamp assembly, to provide Zeeman splitting of the ultraviolet spectral line. Optimum results are obtained when the magnetic field strength causes a Zeeman splitting of approximately 1.7 times the thermal line width.

Contribution functions for Zeeman-split lines, and line formation in photospheric faculae

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vanballegooijen, A. A.

1985-01-01

The transfer of polarized light in an inhomogeneous stellar atmosphere, and the formation of magnetically sensitive spectral lines, are discussed. A new method for the solution of the transfer equations is proposed. The method gives a natural definition of the contribution functions for Stokes' parameters, i.e., functions describing the contributions from different parts along the line-of-sight (LOS). The formalism includes all magneto-optical effects, and allows for an arbitrary variation of magnetic field, velocity field, temperature, density, etc., along the LOS. The formation of FeI lambda 5250.2 in photospheric faculae is described. A potential-field model of a facular element is presented, and spectra profiles and contribution functions are computed for the Stokes parameters I, Q, and V.

Recent advances in enhancing the sensitivity of electrophoresis and electrochromatography in capillaries and microchips (2014-2016).

PubMed

Breadmore, Michael C; Wuethrich, Alain; Li, Feng; Phung, Sui Ching; Kalsoom, Umme; Cabot, Joan M; Tehranirokh, Masoomeh; Shallan, Aliaa I; Abdul Keyon, Aemi S; See, Hong Heng; Dawod, Mohamed; Quirino, Joselito P

2017-01-01

One of the most cited limitations of capillary (and microchip) electrophoresis is the poor sensitivity. This review continues to update this series of biennial reviews, first published in Electrophoresis in 2007, on developments in the field of on-line/in-line concentration methods in capillaries and microchips, covering the period July 2014-June 2016. It includes developments in the field of stacking, covering all methods from field amplified sample stacking and large volume sample stacking, through to isotachophoresis, dynamic pH junction, and sweeping. Attention is also given to on-line or in-line extraction methods that have been used for electrophoresis. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Entanglement entropy in integrable field theories with line defects II. Non-topological defect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Yunfeng

2017-08-01

This is the second part of two papers where we study the effect of integrable line defects on bipartite entanglement entropy in integrable field theories. In this paper, we consider non-topological line defects in Ising field theory. We derive an infinite series expression for the entanglement entropy and show that both the UV and IR limits of the bulk entanglement entropy are modified by the line defect. In the UV limit, we give an infinite series expression for the coefficient in front of the logarithmic divergence and the exact defect g-function. By tuning the defect to be purely transmissive and reflective, we recover correctly the entanglement entropy of the bulk and with integrable boundary respectively.

Investigation of the line arrangement of 2D resistivity surveys for 3D inversion*

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Inoue, Keisuke; Nakazato, Hiroomi; Takeuchi, Mutsuo; Sugimoto, Yoshihiro; Kim, Hee Joon; Yoshisako, Hiroshi; Konno, Michiaki; Shoda, Daisuke

2018-03-01

We have conducted numerical and field experiments to investigate the applicability of electrode configurations and line layouts commonly used for two-dimensional (2D) resistivity surveys to 3D inversion. We examined three kinds of electrode configurations and two types of line arrangements, for 16 resistivity models of a conductive body in a homogeneous half-space. The results of the numerical experiment revealed that the parallel-line arrangement was effective in identifying the approximate location of the conductive body. The orthogonal-line arrangement was optimal for identifying a target body near the line intersection. As a result, we propose that parallel lines are useful to highlight areas of particular interest where further detailed work with an intersecting line could be carried out. In the field experiment, 2D resistivity data were measured on a loam layer with a backfilled pit. The reconstructed resistivity image derived from parallel-line data showed a low-resistivity portion near the backfilled pit. When an orthogonal line was added to the parallel lines, the newly estimated location of the backfilled pit coincided well with the actual location. In a further field application, we collected several 2D resistivity datasets in the Nojima Fault area in Awaji Island. The 3D inversion of these datasets provided a resistivity distribution corresponding to the geological structure. In particular, the Nojima Fault was imaged as the western boundary of a low-resistivity belt, from only two orthogonal lines.

Effect of Alignment on Transport Properties of Carbon Nanotube/Metallic Junctions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wincheski, Buzz; Namkung, Min; Smits, Jan; Williams, Phillip; Harvey, Robert

2003-01-01

Ballistic and spin coherent transport in single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) are predicted to enable high sensitivity single-nanotube devices for strain and magnetic field sensing. Based upon these phenomena, electron beam lithography procedures have been developed to study the transport properties of purified HiPCO single walled carbon nanotubes for development into sensory materials for nondestructive evaluation. Purified nanotubes are dispersed in solvent suspension and then deposited on the device substrate before metallic contacts are defined and deposited through electron beam lithography. This procedure produces randomly dispersed ropes, typically 2 - 20 nm in diameter, of single walled carbon nanotubes. Transport and scanning probe microscopy studies have shown a good correlation between the junction resistance and tube density, alignment, and contact quality. In order to improve transport properties of the junctions a technique has been developed to align and concentrate nanotubes at specific locations on the substrate surface. Lithographic techniques are used to define local areas where high frequency electric fields are to be concentrated. Application of the fields while the substrate is exposed to nanotube-containing solution results in nanotube arrays aligned with the electric field lines. A second electron beam lithography layer is then used to deposit metallic contacts across the aligned tubes. Experimental measurements are presented showing the increased tube alignment and improvement in the transport properties of the junctions.

Solar polarimetry through the K I lines at 770 nm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quintero Noda, C.; Uitenbroek, H.; Katsukawa, Y.; Shimizu, T.; Oba, T.; Carlsson, M.; Orozco Suárez, D.; Ruiz Cobo, B.; Kubo, M.; Anan, T.; Ichimoto, K.; Suematsu, Y.

2017-09-01

We characterize the K I D1 & D2 lines in order to determine whether they could complement the 850 nm window, containing the Ca II infrared triplet lines and several Zeeman sensitive photospheric lines, that was studied previously. We investigate the effect of partial redistribution on the intensity profiles, their sensitivity to changes in different atmospheric parameters, and the spatial distribution of Zeeman polarization signals employing a realistic magnetohydrodynamic simulation. The results show that these lines form in the upper photosphere at around 500 km, and that they are sensitive to the line-of-sight velocity and magnetic field strength at heights where neither the photospheric lines nor the Ca II infrared lines are. However, at the same time, we found that their sensitivity to the temperature essentially comes from the photosphere. Then, we conclude that the K I lines provide a complement to the lines in the 850 nm window for the determination of atmospheric parameters in the upper photosphere, especially for the line-of-sight velocity and the magnetic field.

Development of a Handheld Line Information Reader and Generator for Efficient Management of Optical Communication Lines

PubMed Central

Lee, Jaeyul; Kwon, Hyungwoo; Song, Jaewon; Jeon, Mansik; Kim, Jeehyun

2017-01-01

A handheld line information reader and a line information generator were developed for the efficient management of optical communication lines. The line information reader consists of a photo diode, trans-impedance amplifier, voltage amplifier, microcontroller unit, display panel, and communication modules. The line information generator consists of a laser diode, laser driving circuits, microcontroller unit, and communication modules. The line information reader can detect the optical radiation field of the test line by bending the optical fiber. To enhance the sensitivity of the line information reader, an additional lens was used with a focal length of 4.51 mm. Moreover, the simulation results obtained through BeamPROP® software from Synopsys, Inc. demonstrated a stronger optical radiation field of the fiber due to a longer transmission wavelength and larger bending angle of the fiber. Therefore, the developed devices can be considered as useful tools for the efficient management of optical communication lines. PMID:28837058