Laplace transform analysis of a multiplicative asset transfer model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sokolov, Andrey; Melatos, Andrew; Kieu, Tien

2010-07-01

We analyze a simple asset transfer model in which the transfer amount is a fixed fraction f of the giver’s wealth. The model is analyzed in a new way by Laplace transforming the master equation, solving it analytically and numerically for the steady-state distribution, and exploring the solutions for various values of f∈(0,1). The Laplace transform analysis is superior to agent-based simulations as it does not depend on the number of agents, enabling us to study entropy and inequality in regimes that are costly to address with simulations. We demonstrate that Boltzmann entropy is not a suitable (e.g. non-monotonic) measure of disorder in a multiplicative asset transfer system and suggest an asymmetric stochastic process that is equivalent to the asset transfer model.

Information flow in layered networks of non-monotonic units

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schittler Neves, Fabio; Martim Schubert, Benno; Erichsen, Rubem, Jr.

2015-07-01

Layered neural networks are feedforward structures that yield robust parallel and distributed pattern recognition. Even though much attention has been paid to pattern retrieval properties in such systems, many aspects of their dynamics are not yet well characterized or understood. In this work we study, at different temperatures, the memory activity and information flows through layered networks in which the elements are the simplest binary odd non-monotonic function. Our results show that, considering a standard Hebbian learning approach, the network information content has its maximum always at the monotonic limit, even though the maximum memory capacity can be found at non-monotonic values for small enough temperatures. Furthermore, we show that such systems exhibit rich macroscopic dynamics, including not only fixed point solutions of its iterative map, but also cyclic and chaotic attractors that also carry information.

Impact of kinetic mass transfer on free convection in a porous medium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Chunhui; Shi, Liangsheng; Chen, Yiming; Xie, Yueqing; Simmons, Craig T.

2016-05-01

We investigate kinetic mass transfer effects on unstable density-driven flow and transport processes by numerical simulations of a modified Elder problem. The first-order dual-domain mass transfer model coupled with a variable-density-flow model is employed to describe transport behavior in porous media. Results show that in comparison to the no-mass-transfer case, a higher degree of instability and more unstable system is developed in the mass transfer case due to the reduced effective porosity and correspondingly a larger Rayleigh number (assuming permeability is independent on the mobile porosity). Given a constant total porosity, the magnitude of capacity ratio (i.e., immobile porosity/mobile porosity) controls the macroscopic plume profile in the mobile domain, while the magnitude of mass transfer timescale (i.e., the reciprocal of the mass transfer rate coefficient) dominates its evolution rate. The magnitude of capacity ratio plays an important role on the mechanism driving the mass flux into the aquifer system. Specifically, for a small capacity ratio, solute loading is dominated by the density-driven transport, while with increasing capacity ratio local mass transfer dominated solute loading may occur at later times. At significantly large times, however, both mechanisms contribute comparably to solute loading. Sherwood Number could be a nonmonotonic function of mass transfer timescale due to complicated interactions of solute between source zone, mobile zone and immobile zone in the top boundary layer, resulting in accordingly a similar behavior of the total mass. The initial assessment provides important insights into unstable density-driven flow and transport in the presence of kinetic mass transfer.

Mobility propagation and dynamic facilitation in superionic conductors

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

Annamareddy, Ajay, E-mail: vkannama@ncsu.edu; Eapen, Jacob, E-mail: jacob.eapen@ncsu.edu

2015-11-21

In an earlier work [V. A. Annamareddy et al., Phys. Rev. E 89, 010301(R) (2014)], we showed the manifestation of dynamical heterogeneity (DH)—the presence of clustered mobile and immobile regions—in UO{sub 2}, a model type II superionic conductor. In the current work, we demonstrate the mechanism of dynamic facilitation (DF) in two superionic conductors (CaF{sub 2} and UO{sub 2}) using atomistic simulations. Using the mobility transfer function, DF is shown to vary non-monotonically with temperature with the intensity of DF peaking at temperatures close to the superionic transition temperature (T{sub λ}). Both the metrics quantifying DH and DF show remarkablemore » correspondence implying that DF, in the framework of kinematically constrained models, underpins the heterogeneous dynamics in type II superionic conductors.« less

Influence of disorder on transfer characteristics of organic electrochemical transistors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Friedlein, Jacob T.; Rivnay, Jonathan; Dunlap, David H.; McCulloch, Iain; Shaheen, Sean E.; McLeod, Robert R.; Malliaras, George G.

2017-07-01

Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) are receiving a great deal of attention as transducers of biological signals due to their high transconductance. A ubiquitous property of these devices is the non-monotonic dependence of transconductance on gate voltage. However, this behavior is not described by existing models. Using OECTs made of materials with different chemical and electrical properties, we show that this behavior arises from the influence of disorder on the electronic transport properties of the organic semiconductor and occurs even in the absence of contact resistance. These results imply that the non-monotonic transconductance is an intrinsic property of OECTs and cannot be eliminated by device design or contact engineering. Finally, we present a model based on the physics of electronic conduction in disordered materials. This model fits experimental transconductance curves and describes strategies for rational material design to improve OECT performance in sensing applications.

Looking for the optimal rate of recombination for evolutionary dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saakian, David B.

2018-01-01

We consider many-site mutation-recombination models of evolution with selection. We are looking for situations where the recombination increases the mean fitness of the population, and there is an optimal recombination rate. We found two fitness landscapes supporting such nonmonotonic behavior of the mean fitness versus the recombination rate. The first case is related to the evolution near the error threshold on a neutral-network-like fitness landscape, for moderate genome lengths and large population. The more realistic case is the second one, in which we consider the evolutionary dynamics of a finite population on a rugged fitness landscape (the smooth fitness landscape plus some random contributions to the fitness). We also give the solution to the horizontal gene transfer model in the case of asymmetric mutations. To obtain nonmonotonic behavior for both mutation and recombination, we need a specially designed (ideal) fitness landscape.

U-shaped development: an old but unsolved problem.

PubMed

Pauls, Franz; Macha, Thorsten; Petermann, Franz

2013-01-01

Even today the investigation of U-shaped functions in human development is of considerable importance for different domains of Developmental Psychology. More and more scientific researchers focus their efforts on the challenge to describe and explain the phenomenon by identifying those skills and abilities being affected. The impact of U-shaped functions on diagnostic decision-making and on therapeutic treatment programs highlights the importance of understanding the nature of non-monotonic development. The present article therefore addresses the relevant questions of how U-shaped functions are defined in theory, in which developmental domains such non-monotonic growth curves are suggested to occur, and which implications there are for future methodology and diagnostic practice. Finally, it is recommended to clearly identify those interactions between proximal and distal subcomponents which are expected to contribute to a U-shaped development.

U-Shaped Development: An Old but Unsolved Problem

PubMed Central

Pauls, Franz; Macha, Thorsten; Petermann, Franz

2013-01-01

Even today the investigation of U-shaped functions in human development is of considerable importance for different domains of Developmental Psychology. More and more scientific researchers focus their efforts on the challenge to describe and explain the phenomenon by identifying those skills and abilities being affected. The impact of U-shaped functions on diagnostic decision-making and on therapeutic treatment programs highlights the importance of understanding the nature of non-monotonic development. The present article therefore addresses the relevant questions of how U-shaped functions are defined in theory, in which developmental domains such non-monotonic growth curves are suggested to occur, and which implications there are for future methodology and diagnostic practice. Finally, it is recommended to clearly identify those interactions between proximal and distal subcomponents which are expected to contribute to a U-shaped development. PMID:23750146

Coexistence and local μ-stability of multiple equilibrium points for memristive neural networks with nonmonotonic piecewise linear activation functions and unbounded time-varying delays.

PubMed

Nie, Xiaobing; Zheng, Wei Xing; Cao, Jinde

2016-12-01

In this paper, the coexistence and dynamical behaviors of multiple equilibrium points are discussed for a class of memristive neural networks (MNNs) with unbounded time-varying delays and nonmonotonic piecewise linear activation functions. By means of the fixed point theorem, nonsmooth analysis theory and rigorous mathematical analysis, it is proven that under some conditions, such n-neuron MNNs can have 5 n equilibrium points located in ℜ n , and 3 n of them are locally μ-stable. As a direct application, some criteria are also obtained on the multiple exponential stability, multiple power stability, multiple log-stability and multiple log-log-stability. All these results reveal that the addressed neural networks with activation functions introduced in this paper can generate greater storage capacity than the ones with Mexican-hat-type activation function. Numerical simulations are presented to substantiate the theoretical results. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Electric potential of the moon in the magnetosheath and in the geomagnetic tail

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

Moskalenko, A.M.

1995-03-01

A layer of charged particles near the lunar surface is investigated. It is shown that in the magnetosheath and in the tail lobes, where secondary electronic emission of lunar soil in the plasma sheet is low, the electrostatic potential as a function of the height over the subsolar region of the surface is nonmonotone. As the terminator is approached, the potential becomes a negative monotone function. For most temperatures of the primary electrons that exist in the plasma sheet, secondary electron emission is high. In the case of high secondary electron emission, the electric potential is nonmonotone, and the variationmore » of the potential in the double layer is determined by the secondary electron emission and varies weakly in the passage from the dark side to the bright side.« less

Probing the regional distribution of pulmonary gas exchange through single-breath gas- and dissolved-phase 129Xe MR imaging.

PubMed

Kaushik, S Sivaram; Freeman, Matthew S; Cleveland, Zackary I; Davies, John; Stiles, Jane; Virgincar, Rohan S; Robertson, Scott H; He, Mu; Kelly, Kevin T; Foster, W Michael; McAdams, H Page; Driehuys, Bastiaan

2013-09-01

Although some central aspects of pulmonary function (ventilation and perfusion) are known to be heterogeneous, the distribution of diffusive gas exchange remains poorly characterized. A solution is offered by hyperpolarized 129Xe magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, because this gas can be separately detected in the lung's air spaces and dissolved in its tissues. Early dissolved-phase 129Xe images exhibited intensity gradients that favored the dependent lung. To quantitatively corroborate this finding, we developed an interleaved, three-dimensional radial sequence to image the gaseous and dissolved 129Xe distributions in the same breath. These images were normalized and divided to calculate "129Xe gas-transfer" maps. We hypothesized that, for healthy volunteers, 129Xe gas-transfer maps would retain the previously observed posture-dependent gradients. This was tested in nine subjects: when the subjects were supine, 129Xe gas transfer exhibited a posterior-anterior gradient of -2.00 ± 0.74%/cm; when the subjects were prone, the gradient reversed to 1.94 ± 1.14%/cm (P < 0.001). The 129Xe gas-transfer maps also exhibited significant heterogeneity, as measured by the coefficient of variation, that correlated with subject total lung capacity (r = 0.77, P = 0.015). Gas-transfer intensity varied nonmonotonically with slice position and increased in slices proximal to the main pulmonary arteries. Despite substantial heterogeneity, the mean gas transfer for all subjects was 1.00 ± 0.01 while supine and 1.01 ± 0.01 while prone (P = 0.25), indicating good "matching" between gas- and dissolved-phase distributions. This study demonstrates that single-breath gas- and dissolved-phase 129Xe MR imaging yields 129Xe gas-transfer maps that are sensitive to altered gas exchange caused by differences in lung inflation and posture.

Steady state current fluctuations and dynamical control in a nonequilibrium single-site Bose-Hubbard system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Xu-Min; Wang, Chen; Sun, Ke-Wei

2018-02-01

We investigate nonequilibrium energy transfer in a single-site Bose-Hubbard model coupled to two thermal baths. By including a quantum kinetic equation combined with full counting statistics, we investigate the steady state energy flux and noise power. The influence of the nonlinear Bose-Hubbard interaction on the transfer behaviors is analyzed, and the nonmonotonic features are clearly exhibited. Particularly, in the strong on-site repulsion limit, the results become identical with the nonequilibrium spin-boson model. We also extend the quantum kinetic equation to study the geometric-phase-induced energy pump. An interesting reversal behavior is unraveled by enhancing the Bose-Hubbard repulsion strength.

Nonmonotonous electron mobility due to structurally induced resonant coupling of subband states in an asymmetric double quantum well

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

Nayak, R. K.; Das, S.; Panda, A. K.

We show that sharp nonmonotic variation of low temperature electron mobility μ can be achieved in GaAs/Al{sub x}Ga{sub 1-x}As barrier delta-doped double quantum well structure due to quantum mechanical transfer of subband electron wave functions within the wells. We vary the potential profile of the coupled structure as a function of the doping concentration in order to bring the subbands into resonance such that the subband energy levels anticross and the eigen states of the coupled structure equally share both the wells thereby giving rise to a dip in mobility. When the wells are of equal widths, the dip inmore » mobility occurs under symmetric doping of the side barriers. In case of unequal well widths, the resonance can be obtained by suitable asymmetric variation of the doping concentrations. The dip in mobility becomes sharp and also the wavy nature of mobility takes a rectangular shape by increasing the barrier width. We show that the dip in mobility at resonance is governed by the interface roughness scattering through step like changes in the subband mobilities. It is also gratifying to show that the drop in mobility at the onset of occupation of second subband is substantially supressed through the quantum mechanical transfer of subband wave functions between the wells. Our results can be utilized for performance enhancement of coupled quantum well devices.« less

Specific non-monotonous interactions increase persistence of ecological networks.

PubMed

Yan, Chuan; Zhang, Zhibin

2014-03-22

The relationship between stability and biodiversity has long been debated in ecology due to opposing empirical observations and theoretical predictions. Species interaction strength is often assumed to be monotonically related to population density, but the effects on stability of ecological networks of non-monotonous interactions that change signs have not been investigated previously. We demonstrate that for four kinds of non-monotonous interactions, shifting signs to negative or neutral interactions at high population density increases persistence (a measure of stability) of ecological networks, while for the other two kinds of non-monotonous interactions shifting signs to positive interactions at high population density decreases persistence of networks. Our results reveal a novel mechanism of network stabilization caused by specific non-monotonous interaction types through either increasing stable equilibrium points or reducing unstable equilibrium points (or both). These specific non-monotonous interactions may be important in maintaining stable and complex ecological networks, as well as other networks such as genes, neurons, the internet and human societies.

Semiclassical magnetotransport in strongly spin-orbit coupled Rashba two-dimensional electron systems.

PubMed

Xiao, Cong; Li, Dingping

2016-06-15

Semiclassical magnetoelectric and magnetothermoelectric transport in strongly spin-orbit coupled Rashba two-dimensional electron systems is investigated. In the presence of a perpendicular classically weak magnetic field and short-range impurity scattering, we solve the linearized Boltzmann equation self-consistently. Using the solution, it is found that when Fermi energy E F locates below the band crossing point (BCP), the Hall coefficient is a nonmonotonic function of electron density n e and not inversely proportional to n e. While the magnetoresistance (MR) and Nernst coefficient vanish when E F locates above the BCP, non-zero MR and enhanced Nernst coefficient emerge when E F decreases below the BCP. Both of them are nonmonotonic functions of E F below the BCP. The different semiclassical magnetotransport behaviors between the two sides of the BCP can be helpful to experimental identifications of the band valley regime and topological change of Fermi surface in considered systems.

Semiclassical magnetotransport in strongly spin-orbit coupled Rashba two-dimensional electron systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, Cong; Li, Dingping

2016-06-01

Semiclassical magnetoelectric and magnetothermoelectric transport in strongly spin-orbit coupled Rashba two-dimensional electron systems is investigated. In the presence of a perpendicular classically weak magnetic field and short-range impurity scattering, we solve the linearized Boltzmann equation self-consistently. Using the solution, it is found that when Fermi energy E F locates below the band crossing point (BCP), the Hall coefficient is a nonmonotonic function of electron density n e and not inversely proportional to n e. While the magnetoresistance (MR) and Nernst coefficient vanish when E F locates above the BCP, non-zero MR and enhanced Nernst coefficient emerge when E F decreases below the BCP. Both of them are nonmonotonic functions of E F below the BCP. The different semiclassical magnetotransport behaviors between the two sides of the BCP can be helpful to experimental identifications of the band valley regime and topological change of Fermi surface in considered systems.

Unimodal dynamical systems: Comparison principles, spreading speeds and travelling waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yi, Taishan; Chen, Yuming; Wu, Jianhong

Reaction diffusion equations with delayed nonlinear reaction terms are used as prototypes to motivate an appropriate abstract formulation of dynamical systems with unimodal nonlinearity. For such non-monotone dynamical systems, we develop a general comparison principle and show how this general comparison principle, coupled with some existing results for monotone dynamical systems, can be used to establish results on the asymptotic speeds of spread and travelling waves. We illustrate our main results by an integral equation which includes a nonlocal delayed reaction diffusion equation and a nonlocal delayed lattice differential system in an unbounded domain, with the non-monotone nonlinearities including the Ricker birth function and the Mackey-Glass hematopoiesis feedback.

Estradiol selectively enhances auditory function in avian forebrain neurons

PubMed Central

Caras, Melissa L.; O’Brien, Matthew; Brenowitz, Eliot A.; Rubel, Edwin W

2012-01-01

Sex steroids modulate vertebrate sensory processing, but the impact of circulating hormone levels on forebrain function remains unclear. We tested the hypothesis that circulating sex steroids modulate single-unit responses in the avian telencephalic auditory nucleus, field L. We mimicked breeding or non-breeding conditions by manipulating plasma 17β-estradiol levels in wild-caught female Gambel’s white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii). Extracellular responses of single neurons to tones and conspecific songs presented over a range of intensities revealed that estradiol selectively enhanced auditory function in cells that exhibited monotonic rate-level functions to pure tones. In these cells, estradiol treatment increased spontaneous and maximum evoked firing rates, increased pure tone response strengths and sensitivity, and expanded the range of intensities over which conspecific song stimuli elicited significant responses. Estradiol did not significantly alter the sensitivity or dynamic ranges of cells that exhibited non-monotonic rate-level functions. Notably, there was a robust correlation between plasma estradiol concentrations in individual birds and physiological response properties in monotonic, but not non-monotonic neurons. These findings demonstrate that functionally distinct classes of anatomically overlapping forebrain neurons are differentially regulated by sex steroid hormones in a dose-dependent manner. PMID:23223283

Understanding charge transfer of Li+ and Na+ ions scattered from metal surfaces with high work function

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Lin; Wu, Wen-Bin; Liu, Pin-Yang; Xiao, Yun-Qing; Li, Guo-Peng; Liu, Yi-Ran; Jiang, Hao-Yu; Guo, Yan-Ling; Chen, Xi-Meng

2016-08-01

For Li+ and Na+ ions scattered from high work function metal surfaces, efficient neutralization is observed, and it cannot be explained by the conventional free electron model. In order to explain these experimental data, we investigate the velocity-dependent neutral fraction with the modified Brako-Newns (BN) model. The calculated results are in agreement with the experimental data. We find that the parallel velocity effect plays an important role in neutralizing the Li+ and Na+ ions for large angle scattering. The nonmonotonic velocity behavior of neutral fraction is strongly related to the distance-dependent coupling strength between the atomic level and metal states. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11405078 and 11474140), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China (Grant Nos. lzujbky-2014-169 and lzujbky-2015-244), the Project sponsored by the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, the State Education Ministry, and the National Students’ Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program (Grant Nos. 201410730069 and 201510730078).

A discrete wavelet spectrum approach for identifying non-monotonic trends in hydroclimate data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sang, Yan-Fang; Sun, Fubao; Singh, Vijay P.; Xie, Ping; Sun, Jian

2018-01-01

The hydroclimatic process is changing non-monotonically and identifying its trends is a great challenge. Building on the discrete wavelet transform theory, we developed a discrete wavelet spectrum (DWS) approach for identifying non-monotonic trends in hydroclimate time series and evaluating their statistical significance. After validating the DWS approach using two typical synthetic time series, we examined annual temperature and potential evaporation over China from 1961-2013 and found that the DWS approach detected both the warming and the warming hiatus in temperature, and the reversed changes in potential evaporation. Further, the identified non-monotonic trends showed stable significance when the time series was longer than 30 years or so (i.e. the widely defined climate timescale). The significance of trends in potential evaporation measured at 150 stations in China, with an obvious non-monotonic trend, was underestimated and was not detected by the Mann-Kendall test. Comparatively, the DWS approach overcame the problem and detected those significant non-monotonic trends at 380 stations, which helped understand and interpret the spatiotemporal variability in the hydroclimatic process. Our results suggest that non-monotonic trends of hydroclimate time series and their significance should be carefully identified, and the DWS approach proposed has the potential for wide use in the hydrological and climate sciences.

Non-monotonic changes in performance with eccentricity modeled by multiple eccentricity-dependent limitations.

PubMed

Poirier, Frédéric J A M; Gurnsey, Rick

2005-08-01

Eccentricity-dependent resolution losses are sometimes compensated for in psychophysical experiments by magnifying (scaling) stimuli at each eccentricity. The use of either pre-selected scaling factors or unscaled stimuli sometimes leads to non-monotonic changes in performance as a function of eccentricity. We argue that such non-monotonic changes arise when performance is limited by more than one type of constraint at each eccentricity. Building on current methods developed to investigate peripheral perception [e.g., Watson, A. B. (1987). Estimation of local spatial scale. Journal of the Optical Society of America A, 4 (8), 1579-1582; Poirier, F. J. A. M., & Gurnsey, R. (2002). Two eccentricity dependent limitations on subjective contour discrimination. Vision Research, 42, 227-238; Strasburger, H., Rentschler, I., & Harvey Jr., L. O. (1994). Cortical magnification theory fails to predict visual recognition. European Journal of Neuroscience, 6, 1583-1588], we show how measured scaling can deviate from a linear function of eccentricity in a grating acuity task [Thibos, L. N., Still, D. L., & Bradley, A. (1996). Characterization of spatial aliasing and contrast sensitivity in peripheral vision. Vision Research, 36(2), 249-258]. This framework can also explain the central performance drop [Kehrer, L. (1989). Central performance drop on perceptual segregation tasks. Spatial Vision, 4, 45-62] and a case of "reverse scaling" of the integration window in symmetry [Tyler, C. W. (1999). Human symmetry detection exhibits reverse eccentricity scaling. Visual Neuroscience, 16, 919-922]. These cases of non-monotonic performance are shown to be consistent with multiple sources of resolution loss, each of which increases linearly with eccentricity. We conclude that most eccentricity research, including "oddities", can be explained by multiple-scaling theory as extended here, where the receptive field properties of all underlying mechanisms in a task increase in size with eccentricity, but not necessarily at the same rate.

More data, less information? Potential for nonmonotonic information growth using GEE.

PubMed

Shoben, Abigail B; Rudser, Kyle D; Emerson, Scott S

2017-01-01

Statistical intuition suggests that increasing the total number of observations available for analysis should increase the precision with which parameters can be estimated. Such monotonic growth of statistical information is of particular importance when data are analyzed sequentially, such as in confirmatory clinical trials. However, monotonic information growth is not always guaranteed, even when using a valid, but inefficient estimator. In this article, we demonstrate the theoretical possibility of nonmonotonic information growth when using generalized estimating equations (GEE) to estimate a slope and provide intuition for why this possibility exists. We use theoretical and simulation-based results to characterize situations that may result in nonmonotonic information growth. Nonmonotonic information growth is most likely to occur when (1) accrual is fast relative to follow-up on each individual, (2) correlation among measurements from the same individual is high, and (3) measurements are becoming more variable further from randomization. In situations that may lead to nonmonotonic information growth, study designers should plan interim analyses to avoid situations most likely to result in nonmonotonic information growth.

Dynamics of a network-based SIS epidemic model with nonmonotone incidence rate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Chun-Hsien

2015-06-01

This paper studies the dynamics of a network-based SIS epidemic model with nonmonotone incidence rate. This type of nonlinear incidence can be used to describe the psychological effect of certain diseases spread in a contact network at high infective levels. We first find a threshold value for the transmission rate. This value completely determines the dynamics of the model and interestingly, the threshold is not dependent on the functional form of the nonlinear incidence rate. Furthermore, if the transmission rate is less than or equal to the threshold value, the disease will die out. Otherwise, it will be permanent. Numerical experiments are given to illustrate the theoretical results. We also consider the effect of the nonlinear incidence on the epidemic dynamics.

Non-monotonic course of protein solubility in aqueous polymer-salt solutions can be modeled using the sol-mxDLVO model.

PubMed

Herhut, Marcel; Brandenbusch, Christoph; Sadowski, Gabriele

2016-02-01

Protein purification is often performed using cost-intensive chromatographic steps. To discover economic alternatives (e.g., crystallization), knowledge on protein solubility as a function of temperature, pH, and additives in solution as well as their concentration is required. State-of-the-art models for predicting protein solubility almost exclusively consider aqueous salt systems, whereas "salting-in" and "salting-out" effects induced by the presence of an additional polymer are not considered. Thus, we developed the sol-mxDLVO model. Using this newly developed model, protein solubility in the presence of one salt and one polymer, especially the non-monotonic course of protein solubility, could be predicted. Systems considered included salts (NaCl, Na-p-Ts, (NH(4))(2) SO(4)) and the polymer polyethylene glycol (MW: 2000 g/mol, 12000 g/mol) and proteins lysozyme from chicken egg white (pH 4 to 5.5) and D-xylose ketol-isomerase (pH 7) at 298.15 K. The results show that by using the sol-mxDLVO model, protein solubility in polymer-salt solutions can be modeled in good agreement with the experimental data for both proteins considered. The sol-mxDLVO model can describe the non-monotonic course of protein solubility as a function of polymer concentration and salt concentration, previously not covered by state-of-the-art models. Copyright © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Global stability analysis of two-strain epidemic model with bilinear and non-monotone incidence rates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baba, Isa Abdullahi; Hincal, Evren

2017-05-01

In this article we studied an epidemic model consisting of two strains with different types of incidence rates; bilinear and non-monotone. The model consists of four equilibrium points: disease-free equilibrium, endemic with respect to strain 1, endemic with respect to strain 2, and endemic with respect to both strains. The global stability analysis of the equilibrium points was carried out through the use of Lyapunov functions. Two basic reproduction ratios R 1 0 and R 2 0 are found, and we have shown that if both are less than one, the disease dies out, and if both are greater than one epidemic occurs. Furthermore, epidemics occur with respect to any strain with a basic reproduction ratio greater than one and disease dies out with respect to any strain with a basic reproduction ratio less than one. It was also shown that any strain with highest basic reproduction ratio will automatically outperform the other strain, thereby eliminating it. Numerical simulations were carried out to support the analytic result and to show the effect of the parameter k in the non-monotone incidence rate, which describes the psychological effect of general public towards infection.

The acoustical bright spot and mislocalization of tones by human listeners.

PubMed

Macaulay, Eric J; Hartmann, William M; Rakerd, Brad

2010-03-01

Listeners attempted to localize 1500-Hz sine tones presented in free field from a loudspeaker array, spanning azimuths from 0 degrees (straight ahead) to 90 degrees (extreme right). During this task, the tone levels and phases were measured in the listeners' ear canals. Because of the acoustical bright spot, measured interaural level differences (ILD) were non-monotonic functions of azimuth with a maximum near 55 degrees . In a source-identification task, listeners' localization decisions closely tracked the non-monotonic ILD, and thus became inaccurate at large azimuths. When listeners received training and feedback, their accuracy improved only slightly. In an azimuth-discrimination task, listeners decided whether a first sound was to the left or to the right of a second. The discrimination results also reflected the confusion caused by the non-monotonic ILD, and they could be predicted approximately by a listener's identification results. When the sine tones were amplitude modulated or replaced by narrow bands of noise, interaural time difference (ITD) cues greatly reduced the confusion for most listeners, but not for all. Recognizing the important role of the bright spot requires a reevaluation of the transition between the low-frequency region for localization (mainly ITD) and the high-frequency region (mainly ILD).

Superconductivity under uniaxial compression in β-(BDA-TTP) salts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suzuki, T.; Onari, S.; Ito, H.; Tanaka, Y.

2009-10-01

In order to clarify the mechanism of organic superconductor β-(BDA-TTP) salts. We study the superconductivity under uniaxial compression with non-dimerized two-band Hubbard model. We have calculated the uniaxial compression dependence of T c by solving the Eliashberg’s equation using the fluctuation exchange (FLEX) approximation. The transfer integral under the uniaxial compression was estimated by the extended Huckel method. We have found that non-monotonic behaviors of T c in experimental results under uniaxial compression are understood taking the spin frustration and spin fluctuation into account.

Increasing protein production rates can decrease the rate at which functional protein is produced

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, Ajeet; O'Brien, Edward

The rate at which soluble, functional protein is produced by the ribosome has recently been found to vary in complex and unexplained ways as various translation-associated rates are altered through synonymous codon substitutions. We combine a well-established ribosome-traffic model with a master-equation model of co-translational domain folding to explore the scenarios that are possible for the protein production rate, J, and the functional-nascent protein production rate, F, as the rates associated with translation are altered. We find that while J monotonically increases as the rates of translation-initiation, -elongation and -termination increase, F can either increase or decrease. F exhibits non-monotonic behavior because increasing these rates can cause a protein to be synthesized more rapidly but provide less time for nascent-protein domains to co-translationally fold thereby producing less functional nascent protein immediately after synthesis. We further demonstrate that these non-monotonic changes in Faffect the post-translational, steady-state levels of functional protein in a similar manner. Our results provide a possible explanation for recent experimental observations that the specific activity of enzymatic proteins can decrease with increased synthesis rates and can in principle be used to rationally-design transcripts to maximize the production of functional nascent protein.

Solute-solvent cavity and bridge functions. I. Varying size of the solute

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

Vyalov, I., E-mail: ivan.vyalov@iit.it; Chuev, G., E-mail: genchuev@rambler.ru; Georgi, N., E-mail: georgi@mis.mpg.de

2014-08-21

In this work we present the results of the extensive molecular simulations of solute-solvent cavity and bridge functions. The mixtures of Lennard-Jones solvent with Lennard-Jones solute at infinite dilution are considered for different solute-solvent size ratios—up to 4:1. The Percus-Yevick and hypernetted chain closures deviate substantially from simulation results in the investigated temperature and density ranges. We also find that the behavior of the indirect and cavity correlation functions is non-monotonous within the hard-core region, but the latter can be successfully approximated by mean-field theory if the solute-solvent interaction energy is divided into repulsive and attractive contribution, according to Weeks-Chandler-Andersenmore » theory. Furthermore, in spite of the non-monotonous behavior of logarithm of the cavity function and the indirect correlation function, their difference, i.e., the bridge function remains constant within the hard-core region. Such behavior of the bridge and indirect correlation functions at small distances and for small values of indirect correlation function is well known from the Duh-Haymet plots, where the non-unique relationship results in loops of the bridge function vs. indirect correlation function graphs. We show that the same pathological behavior appears also when distance is small and indirect correlation function is large. We further show that the unique functional behavior of the bridge function can be established when bridge is represented as a function of the renormalized, repulsive indirect correlation function.« less

Spatiotemporal Evolution of Runaway Electron Momentum Distributions in Tokamaks

DOE PAGES

Paz-Soldan, Carlos; Cooper, Christopher M.; Aleynikov, Pavel; ...

2017-06-22

Novel spatial, temporal, and energetically resolved measurements of bremsstrahlung hard-x-ray (HXR) emission from runaway electron (RE) populations in tokamaks reveal nonmonotonic RE distribution functions whose properties depend on the interplay of electric field acceleration with collisional and synchrotron damping. Measurements are consistent with theoretical predictions of momentum-space attractors that accumulate runaway electrons. RE distribution functions are measured to shift to a higher energy when the synchrotron force is reduced by decreasing the toroidal magnetic field strength. Increasing the collisional damping by increasing the electron density (at a fixed magnetic and electric field) reduces the energy of the nonmonotonic feature andmore » reduces the HXR growth rate at all energies. Higher-energy HXR growth rates extrapolate to zero at the expected threshold electric field for RE sustainment, while low-energy REs are anomalously lost. The compilation ofHXR emission from different sight lines into the plasma yields energy and pitch-angle-resolved RE distributions and demonstrates increasing pitch-angle and radial gradients with energy.« less

Diffusion of Brownian particles in a tilted periodic potential under the influence of an external Ornstein-Uhlenbeck noise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bai, Zhan-Wu; Zhang, Wei

2018-01-01

The diffusion behaviors of Brownian particles in a tilted periodic potential under the influence of an internal white noise and an external Ornstein-Uhlenbeck noise are investigated through numerical simulation. In contrast to the case when the bias force is smaller or absent, the diffusion coefficient exhibits a nonmonotonic dependence on the correlation time of the external noise when bias force is large. A mechanism different from locked-to-running transition theory is presented for the diffusion enhancement by a bias force in intermediate to large damping. In the underdamped regime and the presence of external noise, the diffusion coefficient is a monotonically decreasing function of low temperature rather than a nonmonotonic function when external noise is absent. The diffusive process undergoes four regimes when bias force approaches but is less than its critical value and noises intensities are small. These behaviors can be attributed to the locked-to-running transition of particles.

Three-dimensional analytical model for the spatial variation of the foreshock electron distribution function - Systematics and comparisons with ISEE observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fitzenreiter, R. J.; Scudder, J. D.; Klimas, A. J.

1990-01-01

A model which is consistent with the solar wind and shock surface boundary conditions for the foreshock electron distribution in the absence of wave-particle effects is formulated for an arbitrary location behind the magnetic tangent to the earth's bow shock. Variations of the gyrophase-averaged velocity distribution are compared and contrasted with in situ ISEE observations. It is found that magnetic mirroring of solar wind electrons is the most important process by which nonmonotonic reduced electron distributions in the foreshock are produced. Leakage of particles from the magnetosheath is shown to be relatively unimportant in determining reduced distributions that are nonmonotonic. The two-dimensional distribution function off the magnetic field direction is the crucial contribution in producing reduced distributions which have beams. The time scale for modification of the electron velocity distribution in velocity space can be significantly influenced by steady state spatial gradients in the background imposed by the curved shock geometry.

Negotiating on location, timing, duration, and participant in agent-mediated joint activity-travel scheduling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Huiye; Ronald, Nicole; Arentze, Theo A.; Timmermans, Harry J. P.

2013-10-01

Agent-based simulation has become an important modeling approach in activity-travel analysis. Social activities account for a large amount of travel and have an important effect on activity-travel scheduling. Participants in joint activities usually have various options regarding location, participants, and timing and take different approaches to make their decisions. In this context, joint activity participation requires negotiation among agents involved, so that conflicts among the agents can be addressed. Existing mechanisms do not fully provide a solution when utility functions of agents are nonlinear and non-monotonic. Considering activity-travel scheduling in time and space as an application, we propose a novel negotiation approach, which takes into account these properties, such as continuous and discrete issues, and nonlinear and non-monotonic utility functions, by defining a concession strategy and a search mechanism. The results of experiments show that agents having these properties can negotiate efficiently. Furthermore, the negotiation procedure affects individuals’ choices of location, timing, duration, and participants.

Impact of proton transfer phenomena on the electronic structure of model Schiff bases: an AIM/NBO/ELF study.

PubMed

Panek, Jarosław J; Filarowski, Aleksander; Jezierska-Mazzarello, Aneta

2013-10-21

Understanding of the electronic structure evolution due to a proton dynamics is a key issue in biochemistry and material science. This paper reports on density functional theory calculations of Schiff bases containing short, strong intramolecular hydrogen bonds where the bridged proton is located: (i) at the donor site, (ii) strongly delocalized, and (iii) at the acceptor site. The mobility of the bridged proton and its influence on the molecular structure and properties of the chosen Schiff base derivatives have been investigated on the basis of Atoms in Molecules, Natural Bond Orbitals, and Electron Localization Function theories. It has been observed that the extent of the bridged proton delocalization is strongly modified by the steric and inductive effects present in the studied compounds introduced by various substituents. It has been shown that: (i) potential energy profiles for the proton motion are extremely dependent on the substitution of the aromatic ring, (ii) the topology of the free electron pairs present at the donor∕acceptor site, as well as their electron populations, are affected qualitatively by the bridged proton position, (iii) the distortion of the molecular structure due to the bridged proton dynamics includes the atomic charge fluctuations, which are in some cases non-monotonic, and (iv) topology of the ELF recognizes events of proton detachment from the donor and attachment to the acceptor. The quantitative and qualitative results shed light onto molecular consequences of the proton transfer phenomena.

Calculation of electronic coupling matrix elements for ground and excited state electron transfer reactions: Comparison of the generalized Mulliken-Hush and block diagonalization methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cave, Robert J.; Newton, Marshall D.

1997-06-01

Two independent methods are presented for the nonperturbative calculation of the electronic coupling matrix element (Hab) for electron transfer reactions using ab initio electronic structure theory. The first is based on the generalized Mulliken-Hush (GMH) model, a multistate generalization of the Mulliken Hush formalism for the electronic coupling. The second is based on the block diagonalization (BD) approach of Cederbaum, Domcke, and co-workers. Detailed quantitative comparisons of the two methods are carried out based on results for (a) several states of the system Zn2OH2+ and (b) the low-lying states of the benzene-Cl atom complex and its contact ion pair. Generally good agreement between the two methods is obtained over a range of geometries. Either method can be applied at an arbitrary nuclear geometry and, as a result, may be used to test the validity of the Condon approximation. Examples of nonmonotonic behavior of the electronic coupling as a function of nuclear coordinates are observed for Zn2OH2+. Both methods also yield a natural definition of the effective distance (rDA) between donor (D) and acceptor (A) sites, in contrast to earlier approaches which required independent estimates of rDA, generally based on molecular structure data.

Monotonic and Nonmonotonic Lag Effects in Paired-Associate and Recognition Memory Paradigms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glenberg, Arthur M.

1976-01-01

Three experiments are reported investigating the relationship between response recall and the spacing of repetitions as a function of the retention interval. The results of the experiments support the theory which emphasizes the nature of the cues available for retrieval. (Author/RM)

Entropic depletion in colloidal suspensions and polymer liquids: Role of nanoparticle surface topography

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

Banerjee, Debapriya; Yang, Jian; Schweizer, Kenneth S.

2015-01-01

Here, we employ a hybrid Monte Carlo plus integral equation theory approach to study how dense fluids of small nanoparticles or polymer chains mediate entropic depletion interactions between topographically rough particles where all interaction potentials are hard core repulsion. The corrugated particle surfaces are composed of densely packed beads which present variable degrees of controlled topographic roughness and free volume associated with their geometric crevices. This pure entropy problem is characterized by competing ideal translational and (favorable and unfavorable) excess entropic contributions. Surface roughness generically reduces particle depletion aggregation relative to the smooth hard sphere case. However, the competition betweenmore » ideal and excess packing entropy effects in the bulk, near the particle surface and in the crevices, results in a non-monotonic variation of the particle-monomer packing correlation function as a function of the two dimensionless length scale ratios that quantify the effective surface roughness. As a result, the inter-particle potential of mean force (PMF), second virial coefficient, and spinodal miscibility volume fraction vary non-monotonically with the surface bead to monomer diameter and particle core to surface bead diameter ratios. A miscibility window is predicted corresponding to an optimum degree of surface roughness that completely destroys depletion attraction resulting in a repulsive PMF. Variation of the (dense) matrix packing fraction can enhance or suppress particle miscibility depending upon the amount of surface roughness. Connecting the monomers into polymer chains destabilizes the system via enhanced contact depletion attraction, but the non-monotonic variations with surface roughness metrics persist.« less

Samejima Items in Multiple-Choice Tests: Identification and Implications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rahman, Nazia

2013-01-01

Samejima hypothesized that non-monotonically increasing item response functions (IRFs) of ability might occur for multiple-choice items (referred to here as "Samejima items") if low ability test takers with some, though incomplete, knowledge or skill are drawn to a particularly attractive distractor, while very low ability test takers…

Longitudinal data analysis with non-ignorable missing data.

PubMed

Tseng, Chi-hong; Elashoff, Robert; Li, Ning; Li, Gang

2016-02-01

A common problem in the longitudinal data analysis is the missing data problem. Two types of missing patterns are generally considered in statistical literature: monotone and non-monotone missing data. Nonmonotone missing data occur when study participants intermittently miss scheduled visits, while monotone missing data can be from discontinued participation, loss to follow-up, and mortality. Although many novel statistical approaches have been developed to handle missing data in recent years, few methods are available to provide inferences to handle both types of missing data simultaneously. In this article, a latent random effects model is proposed to analyze longitudinal outcomes with both monotone and non-monotone missingness in the context of missing not at random. Another significant contribution of this article is to propose a new computational algorithm for latent random effects models. To reduce the computational burden of high-dimensional integration problem in latent random effects models, we develop a new computational algorithm that uses a new adaptive quadrature approach in conjunction with the Taylor series approximation for the likelihood function to simplify the E-step computation in the expectation-maximization algorithm. Simulation study is performed and the data from the scleroderma lung study are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method. © The Author(s) 2012.

The acoustical bright spot and mislocalization of tones by human listeners

PubMed Central

Macaulay, Eric J.; Hartmann, William M.; Rakerd, Brad

2010-01-01

Listeners attempted to localize 1500-Hz sine tones presented in free field from a loudspeaker array, spanning azimuths from 0° (straight ahead) to 90° (extreme right). During this task, the tone levels and phases were measured in the listeners’ ear canals. Because of the acoustical bright spot, measured interaural level differences (ILD) were non-monotonic functions of azimuth with a maximum near 55°. In a source-identification task, listeners’ localization decisions closely tracked the non-monotonic ILD, and thus became inaccurate at large azimuths. When listeners received training and feedback, their accuracy improved only slightly. In an azimuth-discrimination task, listeners decided whether a first sound was to the left or to the right of a second. The discrimination results also reflected the confusion caused by the non-monotonic ILD, and they could be predicted approximately by a listener’s identification results. When the sine tones were amplitude modulated or replaced by narrow bands of noise, interaural time difference (ITD) cues greatly reduced the confusion for most listeners, but not for all. Recognizing the important role of the bright spot requires a reevaluation of the transition between the low-frequency region for localization (mainly ITD) and the high-frequency region (mainly ILD). PMID:20329844

Marangoni flow in an evaporating water droplet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Xuefeng; Luo, Jianbin

2007-09-01

Marangoni effect has been observed in many liquids, but its existence in pure water is still a debated problem. In the present work, the Marangoni flow in evaporating water droplets has been observed by using fluorescent nanoparticles. Flow patterns indicate that a stagnation point where the surface flow, the surface tension gradient, and the surface temperature gradient change their directions exists at the droplet surface. The deduced nonmonotonic variation of the droplet surface temperature, which is different from that in some previous works, is explained by a heat transfer model considering the adsorbed thin film of the evaporating liquid droplet.

Ballistic near-field heat transport in dense many-body systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Latella, Ivan; Biehs, Svend-Age; Messina, Riccardo; Rodriguez, Alejandro W.; Ben-Abdallah, Philippe

2018-01-01

Radiative heat transport mediated by near-field interactions is known to be superdiffusive in dilute, many-body systems. Here we use a generalized Landauer theory of radiative heat transfer in many-body planar systems to demonstrate a nonmonotonic transition from superdiffusive to ballistic transport in dense systems. We show that such a transition is associated to a change of the polarization of dominant modes. Our findings are complemented by a quantitative study of the relaxation dynamics of the system in the different regimes of heat transport. This result could have important consequences on thermal management at nanoscale of many-body systems.

Functional Heterogeneity in Posterior Parietal Cortex Across Attention and Episodic Memory Retrieval

PubMed Central

Hutchinson, J. Benjamin; Uncapher, Melina R.; Weiner, Kevin S.; Bressler, David W.; Silver, Michael A.; Preston, Alison R.; Wagner, Anthony D.

2014-01-01

While attention is critical for event memory, debate has arisen regarding the extent to which posterior parietal cortex (PPC) activation during episodic retrieval reflects engagement of PPC-mediated mechanisms of attention. Here, we directly examined the relationship between attention and memory, within and across subjects, using functional magnetic resonance imaging attention-mapping and episodic retrieval paradigms. During retrieval, 4 functionally dissociable PPC regions were identified. Specifically, 2 PPC regions positively tracked retrieval outcomes: lateral intraparietal sulcus (latIPS) indexed graded item memory strength, whereas angular gyrus (AnG) tracked recollection. By contrast, 2 other PPC regions demonstrated nonmonotonic relationships with retrieval: superior parietal lobule (SPL) tracked retrieval reaction time, consistent with a graded engagement of top-down attention, whereas temporoparietal junction displayed a complex pattern of below-baseline retrieval activity, perhaps reflecting disengagement of bottom-up attention. Analyses of retrieval effects in PPC topographic spatial attention maps (IPS0-IPS5; SPL1) revealed that IPS5 and SPL1 exhibited a nonmonotonic relationship with retrieval outcomes resembling that in the SPL region, further suggesting that SPL activation during retrieval reflects top-down attention. While demands on PPC attention mechanisms vary during retrieval attempts, the present functional parcellation of PPC indicates that 2 additional mechanisms (mediated by latIPS and AnG) positively track retrieval outcomes. PMID:23019246

An efficient interior-point algorithm with new non-monotone line search filter method for nonlinear constrained programming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Liwei; Liu, Xinggao; Zhang, Zeyin

2017-02-01

An efficient primal-dual interior-point algorithm using a new non-monotone line search filter method is presented for nonlinear constrained programming, which is widely applied in engineering optimization. The new non-monotone line search technique is introduced to lead to relaxed step acceptance conditions and improved convergence performance. It can also avoid the choice of the upper bound on the memory, which brings obvious disadvantages to traditional techniques. Under mild assumptions, the global convergence of the new non-monotone line search filter method is analysed, and fast local convergence is ensured by second order corrections. The proposed algorithm is applied to the classical alkylation process optimization problem and the results illustrate its effectiveness. Some comprehensive comparisons to existing methods are also presented.

Non-monotonic changes in clonogenic cell survival induced by disulphonated aluminum phthalocyanine photodynamic treatment in a human glioma cell line

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Photodynamic therapy (PDT) involves excitation of sensitizer molecules by visible light in the presence of molecular oxygen, thereby generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) through electron/energy transfer processes. The ROS, thus produced can cause damage to both the structure and the function of the cellular constituents resulting in cell death. Our preliminary investigations of dose-response relationships in a human glioma cell line (BMG-1) showed that disulphonated aluminum phthalocyanine (AlPcS2) photodynamically induced loss of cell survival in a concentration dependent manner up to 1 μM, further increases in AlPcS2concentration (>1 μM) were, however, observed to decrease the photodynamic toxicity. Considering the fact that for most photosensitizers only monotonic dose-response (survival) relationships have been reported, this result was unexpected. The present studies were, therefore, undertaken to further investigate the concentration dependent photodynamic effects of AlPcS2. Methods Concentration-dependent cellular uptake, sub-cellular localization, proliferation and photodynamic effects of AlPcS2 were investigated in BMG-1 cells by absorbance and fluorescence measurements, image analysis, cell counting and colony forming assays, flow cytometry and micronuclei formation respectively. Results The cellular uptake as a function of extra-cellular AlPcS2 concentrations was observed to be biphasic. AlPcS2 was distributed throughout the cytoplasm with intense fluorescence in the perinuclear regions at a concentration of 1 μM, while a weak diffuse fluorescence was observed at higher concentrations. A concentration-dependent decrease in cell proliferation with accumulation of cells in G2+M phase was observed after PDT. The response of clonogenic survival after AlPcS2-PDT was non-monotonic with respect to AlPcS2 concentration. Conclusions Based on the results we conclude that concentration-dependent changes in physico-chemical properties of sensitizer such as aggregation may influence intracellular transport and localization of photosensitizer. Consequent modifications in the photodynamic induction of lesions and their repair leading to different modes of cell death may contribute to the observed non-linear effects. PMID:20433757

Stability and bifurcation analysis of three-species predator-prey model with non-monotonic delayed predator response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balilo, Aldrin T.; Collera, Juancho A.

2018-03-01

In this paper, we consider delayed three-species predator-prey model with non-monotonic functional response where two predator populations feed on a single prey population. Response function in both predator populations includes a time delay which represents the gestation period of the predator populations. We call a positive equlibrium solution of the form E*S=(x*,y*,y*) as a symmetric equilibrium. The goal of this paper is to determine the effect of the difference in gestation periods of predator populations to the local dynamics of symmetric equilibria. Our results include conditions on the existence of equilibrium solutions, and stability and bifurcations of symmetric equilibria as the gestation periods of predator populations are varied. A numerical bifurcation analysis tool is also used to illustrate our results. Stability switch occurs at a Hopf bifurcation. Moreover, a branch of stable periodic solutions, obtained using numerical continuation, emerges from the Hopf bifurcation. This shows that the predator population with longer gestation period oscillates higher than the predator population with shorter gestation period.

Holographic entanglement entropy of a 1 + 1 dimensional p-wave superconductor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Das, Sumit R.; Fujita, Mitsutoshi; Kim, Bom Soo

2017-09-01

We examine the behavior of entanglement entropy S A EE of a subsystem A in a fully backreacted holographic model of a 1 + 1 dimensional p wave superconductor across the phase transition. For a given temperature, the system goes to a superconducting phase beyond a critical value of the charge density. The entanglement entropy, considered as a function of the charge density at a given temperature, has a cusp at the critical point. In addition, we find that there are three different behaviors in the condensed phase, depending on the subsystem size. For a subsystem size l smaller than a critical size l c1, S A EE continues to increase as a function of the charge density as we cross the phase transition. When l lies between l c1 and another critical size l c2 the entanglement entropy displays a non-monotonic behavior, while for l > l c2 it decreases monotonically. At large charge densities S A EE appears to saturate. The non-monotonic behavior leads to a novel phase diagram for this system.

Optimal matrix rigidity for stress fiber polarization in stem cells

PubMed Central

Rehfeldt, F.; Brown, A. E. X.; Discher, D. E.; Safran, S. A.

2010-01-01

The shape and differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells is especially sensitive to the rigidity of their environment; the physical mechanisms involved are unknown. A theoretical model and experiments demonstrate here that the polarization/alignment of stress-fibers within stem cells is a non-monotonic function of matrix rigidity. We treat the cell as an active elastic inclusion in a surrounding matrix whose polarizability, unlike dead matter, depends on the feedback of cellular forces that develop in response to matrix stresses. The theory correctly predicts the monotonic increase of the cellular forces with the matrix rigidity and the alignment of stress-fibers parallel to the long axis of cells. We show that the anisotropy of this alignment depends non-monotonically on matrix rigidity and demonstrate it experimentally by quantifying the orientational distribution of stress-fibers in stem cells. These findings offer a first physical insight for the dependence of stem cell differentiation on tissue elasticity. PMID:20563235

Non-monotonic relationships between emotional arousal and memory for color and location.

PubMed

Boywitt, C Dennis

2015-01-01

Recent research points to the decreased diagnostic value of subjective retrieval experience for memory accuracy for emotional stimuli. While for neutral stimuli rich recollective experiences are associated with better context memory than merely familiar memories this association appears questionable for emotional stimuli. The present research tested the implicit assumption that the effect of emotional arousal on memory is monotonic, that is, steadily increasing (or decreasing) with increasing arousal. In two experiments emotional arousal was manipulated in three steps using emotional pictures and subjective retrieval experience as well as context memory were assessed. The results show an inverted U-shape relationship between arousal and recognition memory but for context memory and retrieval experience the relationship was more complex. For frame colour, context memory decreased linearly while for spatial location it followed the inverted U-shape function. The complex, non-monotonic relationships between arousal and memory are discussed as possible explanations for earlier divergent findings.

Non-monotonic resonance in a spatially forced Lengyel-Epstein model

DOE PAGES

Haim, Lev; Hagberg, Aric; Meron, Ehud

2015-06-02

Here, we study resonant spatially periodic solutions of the Lengyel-Epstein model modified to describe the chlorine dioxide-iodine-malonic acid reaction under spatially periodic illumination. Using multiple-scale analysis and numerical simulations, we obtain the stability ranges of 2:1 resonant solutions, i.e., solutions with wavenumbers that are exactly half of the forcing wavenumber. We show that the width of resonant wavenumber response is a non-monotonic function of the forcing strength, and diminishes to zero at sufficiently strong forcing. Furthermore, we show that strong forcing may result in a π/2 phase shift of the resonant solutions, and argue that the nonequilibrium Ising-Bloch front bifurcationmore » can be reversed. Finally, we attribute these behaviors to an inherent property of forcing by periodic illumination, namely, the increase of the mean spatial illumination as the forcing amplitude is increased.« less

Conditional imitation might promote cooperation under high temptations to defect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dai, Qionglin; Li, Haihong; Cheng, Hongyan; Qian, Xiaolan; Zhang, Mei; Yang, Junzhong

2012-07-01

In this paper we introduce a conditional imitation rule into an evolutionary game, in which the imitation probabilities of individuals are determined by a function of payoff difference and two crucial parameters μ and σ. The parameter μ characterizes the most adequate goal for individuals and the parameter σ characterizes the tolerance of individuals. By using the pair approximation method and numerical simulations, we find an anomalous cooperation enhancement in which the cooperation level shows a nonmonotonic variation with the increase of temptation. The parameter μ affects the regime of the payoff parameter which supports the anomalous cooperation enhancement, whereas the parameter σ plays a decisive role on the appearance of the nonmonotonic variation of the cooperation level. Furthermore, to give explicit implications for the parameters μ and σ we present an alterative form of the conditional imitation rule based on the benefit and the cost incurred to individuals during strategy updates. In this way, we also provide a phenomenological interpretation for the nonmonotonic behavior of cooperation with the increase of temptation. The results give a clue that a higher cooperation level could be obtained under adverse environments for cooperation by applying the conditional imitation rule, which is possible to be manipulated in real life. More generally, the results in this work might point out an efficient way to maintain cooperation in the risky environments to cooperators.

A Mathematical Model of Bio-Economic Harvesting of a Nonlinear Prey-Predator System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kar, Tapan Kumar

2006-01-01

The paper reports on studies of the impact of harvesting on a prey-predator system with non-monotonic functional response and intra-specific competition in the predator growth dynamics. The existence of its steady states and their stability are studied using eigenvalue analysis. The possibility of the existence of bionomic equilibria has been…

GABA[subscript A] Receptors Determine the Temporal Dynamics of Memory Retention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McNally, Gavan P.; Augustyn, Katarzyna A.; Richardson, Rick

2008-01-01

Four experiments studied the role of GABA[subscript A] receptors in the temporal dynamics of memory retention. Memory for an active avoidance response was a nonmonotonic function of the retention interval. When rats were tested shortly (2 min) or some time (24 h) after training, retention was excellent, but when they were tested at intermediate…

Dependence of shear wave seismoelectrics on soil textures: a numerical study in the vadose zone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zyserman, F. I.; Monachesi, L. B.; Jouniaux, L.

2017-02-01

In this work, we study seismoelectric conversions generated in the vadose zone, when this region is traversed by a pure SH wave. We assume that the soil is a 1-D partially saturated lossy porous medium and we use the van Genuchten's constitutive model to describe the water saturation profile. Correspondingly, we extend Pride's formulation to deal with partially saturated media. In order to evaluate the influence of different soil textures we perform a numerical analysis considering, among other relevant properties, the electrokinetic coupling, coseismic responses and interface responses (IRs). We propose new analytical transfer functions for the electric and magnetic field as a function of the water saturation, modifying those of Bordes et al. and Garambois & Dietrich, respectively. Further, we introduce two substantially different saturation-dependent functions into the electrokinetic (EK) coupling linking the poroelastic and the electromagnetic wave equations. The numerical results show that the electric field IRs markedly depend on the soil texture and the chosen EK coupling model, and are several orders of magnitude stronger than the electric field coseismic ones. We also found that the IRs of the water table for the silty and clayey soils are stronger than those for the sandy soils, assuming a non-monotonous saturation dependence of the EK coupling, which takes into account the charged air-water interface. These IRs have been interpreted as the result of the jump in the viscous electric current density at the water table. The amplitude of the IR is obtained using a plane SH wave, neglecting both the spherical spreading and the restriction of its origin to the first Fresnel zone, effects that could lower the predicted values. However, we made an estimation of the expected electric field IR amplitudes detectable in the field by means of the analytical transfer functions, accounting for spherical spreading of the SH seismic waves. This prediction yields a value of 15 μV m-1, which is compatible with reported values.

Abnormal Magnetic Field Effects on Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, Haiping; Shen, Yan; Wang, Hongfeng; He, Lei; Hu, Bin

2015-03-01

We report abnormal magnetic field effects on electrogenerated chemiluminescence (MFEECL) based on triplet emission from the Ru(bpy)3Cl2-TPrA electrochemical system: the appearance of MFEECL after magnetic field ceases. In early studies the normal MFEECL have been observed from electrochemical systems during the application of magnetic field. Here, the abnormal MFEECL suggest that the activated charge-transfer [Ru(bpy)33+ … TPrA•] complexes may become magnetized in magnetic field and experience a long magnetic relaxation after removing magnetic field. Our analysis indicates that the magnetic relaxation can gradually increase the density of charge-transfer complexes within reaction region due to decayed magnetic interactions, leading to a positive component in the abnormal MFEECL. On the other hand, the magnetic relaxation facilitates an inverse conversion from triplets to singlets within charge-transfer complexes. The inverse triplet --> singlet conversion reduces the density of triplet light-emitting states through charge-transfer complexes and gives rise to a negative component in the abnormal MFEECL. The combination of positive and negative components can essentially lead to a non-monotonic profile in the abnormal MFEECL after ceasing magnetic field. Nevertheless, our experimental studies may reveal un-usual magnetic behaviors with long magnetic relaxation from the activated charge-transfer [Ru(bpy)33+ … TPrA•] complexes in solution at room temperature.

Parsing Heuristic and Forward Search in First-Graders' Game-Play Behavior

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paz, Luciano; Goldin, Andrea P.; Diuk, Carlos; Sigman, Mariano

2015-01-01

Seventy-three children between 6 and 7 years of age were presented with a problem having ambiguous subgoal ordering. Performance in this task showed reliable fingerprints: (a) a non-monotonic dependence of performance as a function of the distance between the beginning and the end-states of the problem, (b) very high levels of performance when the…

Cross-Diffusion Induced Turing Instability and Amplitude Equation for a Toxic-Phytoplankton-Zooplankton Model with Nonmonotonic Functional Response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Renji; Dai, Binxiang

2017-06-01

The spatiotemporal pattern induced by cross-diffusion of a toxic-phytoplankton-zooplankton model with nonmonotonic functional response is investigated in this paper. The linear stability analysis shows that cross-diffusion is the key mechanism for the formation of spatial patterns. By taking cross-diffusion rate as bifurcation parameter, we derive amplitude equations near the Turing bifurcation point for the excited modes in the framework of a weakly nonlinear theory, and the stability analysis of the amplitude equations interprets the structural transitions and stability of various forms of Turing patterns. Furthermore, we illustrate the theoretical results via numerical simulations. It is shown that the spatiotemporal distribution of the plankton is homogeneous in the absence of cross-diffusion. However, when the cross-diffusivity is greater than the critical value, the spatiotemporal distribution of all the plankton species becomes inhomogeneous in spaces and results in different kinds of patterns: spot, stripe, and the mixture of spot and stripe patterns depending on the cross-diffusivity. Simultaneously, the impact of toxin-producing rate of toxic-phytoplankton (TPP) species and natural death rate of zooplankton species on pattern selection is also explored.

Flagellated bacterial motility in polymer solutions

PubMed Central

Martinez, Vincent A.; Schwarz-Linek, Jana; Reufer, Mathias; Wilson, Laurence G.; Morozov, Alexander N.; Poon, Wilson C. K.

2014-01-01

It is widely believed that the swimming speed, v, of many flagellated bacteria is a nonmonotonic function of the concentration, c, of high-molecular-weight linear polymers in aqueous solution, showing peaked v(c) curves. Pores in the polymer solution were suggested as the explanation. Quantifying this picture led to a theory that predicted peaked v(c) curves. Using high-throughput methods for characterizing motility, we measured v and the angular frequency of cell body rotation, Ω, of motile Escherichia coli as a function of polymer concentration in polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and Ficoll solutions of different molecular weights. We find that nonmonotonic v(c) curves are typically due to low-molecular-weight impurities. After purification by dialysis, the measured v(c) and Ω(c) relations for all but the highest-molecular-weight PVP can be described in detail by Newtonian hydrodynamics. There is clear evidence for non-Newtonian effects in the highest-molecular-weight PVP solution. Calculations suggest that this is due to the fast-rotating flagella seeing a lower viscosity than the cell body, so that flagella can be seen as nano-rheometers for probing the non-Newtonian behavior of high polymer solutions on a molecular scale. PMID:25468981

An Efficient Augmented Lagrangian Method for Statistical X-Ray CT Image Reconstruction.

PubMed

Li, Jiaojiao; Niu, Shanzhou; Huang, Jing; Bian, Zhaoying; Feng, Qianjin; Yu, Gaohang; Liang, Zhengrong; Chen, Wufan; Ma, Jianhua

2015-01-01

Statistical iterative reconstruction (SIR) for X-ray computed tomography (CT) under the penalized weighted least-squares criteria can yield significant gains over conventional analytical reconstruction from the noisy measurement. However, due to the nonlinear expression of the objective function, most exiting algorithms related to the SIR unavoidably suffer from heavy computation load and slow convergence rate, especially when an edge-preserving or sparsity-based penalty or regularization is incorporated. In this work, to address abovementioned issues of the general algorithms related to the SIR, we propose an adaptive nonmonotone alternating direction algorithm in the framework of augmented Lagrangian multiplier method, which is termed as "ALM-ANAD". The algorithm effectively combines an alternating direction technique with an adaptive nonmonotone line search to minimize the augmented Lagrangian function at each iteration. To evaluate the present ALM-ANAD algorithm, both qualitative and quantitative studies were conducted by using digital and physical phantoms. Experimental results show that the present ALM-ANAD algorithm can achieve noticeable gains over the classical nonlinear conjugate gradient algorithm and state-of-the-art split Bregman algorithm in terms of noise reduction, contrast-to-noise ratio, convergence rate, and universal quality index metrics.

Thermal effects on the enhanced ductility in non-monotonic uniaxial tension of DP780 steel sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Majidi, Omid; Barlat, Frederic; Korkolis, Yannis P.; Fu, Jiawei; Lee, Myoung-Gyu

2016-11-01

To understand the material behavior during non-monotonic loading, uniaxial tension tests were conducted in three modes, namely, the monotonic loading, loading with periodic relaxation and periodic loading-unloadingreloading, at different strain rates (0.001/s to 0.01/s). In this study, the temperature gradient developing during each test and its contribution to increasing the apparent ductility of DP780 steel sheets were considered. In order to assess the influence of temperature, isothermal uniaxial tension tests were also performed at three temperatures (298 K, 313 K and 328 K (25 °C, 40 °C and 55 °C)). A digital image correlation system coupled with an infrared thermography was used in the experiments. The results show that the non-monotonic loading modes increased the apparent ductility of the specimens. It was observed that compared with the monotonic loading, the temperature gradient became more uniform when a non-monotonic loading was applied.

Nonmonotonic Dose-Response Curves and Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: Fact or Falderal?**

EPA Science Inventory

Nonmonotonic Dose-Response Curves and Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: Fact or Falderal? The shape of the dose response curve in the low dose region has been debated since the 1940s, originally focusing on linear no threshold (LNT) versus threshold responses for cancer and noncanc...

Concentration Fluctuations and Capacitive Response in Dense Ionic Solutions.

PubMed

Uralcan, Betul; Aksay, Ilhan A; Debenedetti, Pablo G; Limmer, David T

2016-07-07

We use molecular dynamics simulations in a constant potential ensemble to study the effects of solution composition on the electrochemical response of a double layer capacitor. We find that the capacitance first increases with ion concentration following its expected ideal solution behavior but decreases upon approaching a pure ionic liquid in agreement with recent experimental observations. The nonmonotonic behavior of the capacitance as a function of ion concentration results from the competition between the independent motion of solvated ions in the dilute regime and solvation fluctuations in the concentrated regime. Mirroring the capacitance, we find that the characteristic decay length of charge density correlations away from the electrode is also nonmonotonic. The correlation length first decreases with ion concentration as a result of better electrostatic screening but increases with ion concentration as a result of enhanced steric interactions. When charge fluctuations induced by correlated ion-solvent fluctuations are large relative to those induced by the pure ionic liquid, such capacitive behavior is expected to be generic.

Roles of inter-SWCNT junctions in resistive humidity response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Kang; Zou, Jianping; Zhang, Qing

2015-11-01

As a promising chemiresistor for gas sensing, the single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) network has not yet been fully utilized for humidity detection. In this work, it is found that as humidity increases from 10% to 85%, the resistance of as-grown SWCNT networks first decreases and then increases. This non-monotonic resistive response to humidity limits their sensing capabilities. The competition between SWCNT resistance and inter-tube junction resistance changes is then found to be responsible for the non-monotonic resistive humidity responses. Moreover, creating sp3 scattering centers on the SWCNT sidewall by monovalent functionalization of four-bromobenzene diazonium tetrafluoroborate is shown to be capable of eliminating the influence from the inter-tube junctions, resulting in a continuous resistance drop as humidity increases from 10% to 85%. Our results revealed the competing resistive humidity sensing process in as-grown SWCNT networks, which could also be helpful in designing and optimizing as-grown SWCNT networks for humidity sensors and other gas sensors.

Phonon effects on the radiative recombination of excitons in double quantum dots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karwat, Paweł; Sitek, Anna; Machnikowski, Paweł

2011-11-01

We study theoretically the radiative recombination of excitons in double quantum dots in the presence of carrier-phonon coupling. We show that the phonon-induced pure dephasing effects and transitions between the exciton states strongly modify the spontaneous emission process and make it sensitive to temperature, which may lead to nonmonotonic temperature dependence of the time-resolved luminescence. We show also that, under specific resonance conditions, the biexcitonic interband polarization can be coherently transferred to the excitonic one, leading to an extended lifetime of the total coherent polarization, which is reflected in the nonlinear optical spectrum of the system. We study the stability of this effect against phonon-induced decoherence.

Thermal gas rectification using a sawtooth channel.

PubMed

Solórzano, S; Araújo, N A M; Herrmann, H J

2017-09-01

We study the rectification of a two-dimensional thermal gas in a channel of asymmetric dissipative walls. For an ensemble of smooth Lennard-Jones particles, our numerical simulations reveal a nonmonotonic dependence of the flux on the thermostat temperature, channel asymmetry, and particle density, with three distinct regimes. Theoretical arguments are developed to shed light on the functional dependence of the flux on the model parameters.

Calculation of electronic coupling matrix elements for ground and excited state electron transfer reactions: Comparison of the generalized Mulliken{endash}Hush and block diagonalization methods

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

Cave, R.J.; Newton, M.D.

1997-06-01

Two independent methods are presented for the nonperturbative calculation of the electronic coupling matrix element (H{sub ab}) for electron transfer reactions using {ital ab initio} electronic structure theory. The first is based on the generalized Mulliken{endash}Hush (GMH) model, a multistate generalization of the Mulliken Hush formalism for the electronic coupling. The second is based on the block diagonalization (BD) approach of Cederbaum, Domcke, and co-workers. Detailed quantitative comparisons of the two methods are carried out based on results for (a) several states of the system Zn{sub 2}OH{sub 2}{sup +} and (b) the low-lying states of the benzene{endash}Cl atom complex andmore » its contact ion pair. Generally good agreement between the two methods is obtained over a range of geometries. Either method can be applied at an arbitrary nuclear geometry and, as a result, may be used to test the validity of the Condon approximation. Examples of nonmonotonic behavior of the electronic coupling as a function of nuclear coordinates are observed for Zn{sub 2}OH{sub 2}{sup +}. Both methods also yield a natural definition of the effective distance (r{sub DA}) between donor (D) and acceptor (A) sites, in contrast to earlier approaches which required independent estimates of r{sub DA}, generally based on molecular structure data. {copyright} {ital 1997 American Institute of Physics.}« less

A mobile-mobile transport model for simulating reactive transport in connected heterogeneous fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Chunhui; Wang, Zhiyuan; Zhao, Yue; Rathore, Saubhagya Singh; Huo, Jinge; Tang, Yuening; Liu, Ming; Gong, Rulan; Cirpka, Olaf A.; Luo, Jian

2018-05-01

Mobile-immobile transport models can be effective in reproducing heavily tailed breakthrough curves of concentration. However, such models may not adequately describe transport along multiple flow paths with intermediate velocity contrasts in connected fields. We propose using the mobile-mobile model for simulating subsurface flow and associated mixing-controlled reactive transport in connected fields. This model includes two local concentrations, one in the fast- and the other in the slow-flow domain, which predict both the concentration mean and variance. The normalized total concentration variance within the flux is found to be a non-monotonic function of the discharge ratio with a maximum concentration variance at intermediate values of the discharge ratio. We test the mobile-mobile model for mixing-controlled reactive transport with an instantaneous, irreversible bimolecular reaction in structured and connected random heterogeneous domains, and compare the performance of the mobile-mobile to the mobile-immobile model. The results indicate that the mobile-mobile model generally predicts the concentration breakthrough curves (BTCs) of the reactive compound better. Particularly, for cases of an elliptical inclusion with intermediate hydraulic-conductivity contrasts, where the travel-time distribution shows bimodal behavior, the prediction of both the BTCs and maximum product concentration is significantly improved. Our results exemplify that the conceptual model of two mobile domains with diffusive mass transfer in between is in general good for predicting mixing-controlled reactive transport, and particularly so in cases where the transfer in the low-conductivity zones is by slow advection rather than diffusion.

Random search optimization based on genetic algorithm and discriminant function

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kiciman, M. O.; Akgul, M.; Erarslanoglu, G.

1990-01-01

The general problem of optimization with arbitrary merit and constraint functions, which could be convex, concave, monotonic, or non-monotonic, is treated using stochastic methods. To improve the efficiency of the random search methods, a genetic algorithm for the search phase and a discriminant function for the constraint-control phase were utilized. The validity of the technique is demonstrated by comparing the results to published test problem results. Numerical experimentation indicated that for cases where a quick near optimum solution is desired, a general, user-friendly optimization code can be developed without serious penalties in both total computer time and accuracy.

Frictional Torque Reduction in Taylor-Couette Flows with Riblet-Textured Rotors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raayai, Shabnam; McKinley, Gareth

2017-11-01

Inspired by the riblets on the denticles of fast swimming shark species, periodic surface microtextures of different shapes have been studied under laminar and turbulent flow conditions to understand their drag reduction mechanism and to offer guides for designing optimized low-friction bio-inspired surfaces. Various reports over the past four decades have suggested that riblet surfaces can reduce the frictional drag force in high Reynolds number laminar and turbulent flow regimes. Here, we investigate the effect of streamwise riblets on torque reduction in steady flow between concentric cylinders, known as Taylor-Couette Flow. Using 3D printed riblet-textured rotors and a custom-built Taylor-Couette cell which can be mounted on a rheometer we measure the torque on the inner rotor as a function of three different dimensionless parameters; the Reynolds number of the flow, the sharpness of the riblets, and the size of the riblets with respect to the scale of the Taylor-Couette cell. Our experimental results in the laminar viscous flow regime show a reduction in torque up to 10% over a wide range of Reynolds numbers, that is a non-monotonic function of the aspect ratio and independent of Re. However, after transition to the Taylor vortex regime, the modification in torque becomes a function of the Reynolds number, while remaining a non-monotonic function of the aspect ratio. Using finite volume modelling of the geometry we discuss the changes in the Taylor-Couette flow in presence of the riblets compared to the case of smooth rotors and the resulting torque reduction as a function of the parameter space defined above.

Nonmonotonic Dose Responses as They Apply to Estrogen, Androgen, and Thyroid Pathways and EPA Testing and Assessment Procedures

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

A state of the science document providing a judgment on the degree to which nonmonotonic dose-responses are evidenced in the scientific literature and to evaluate the extent to which they may impact U.S. EPA’s chemical testing and risk assessment.

Nonmonotonic Logic for Use in Information Retrieval: An Exploratory Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hurt, C. D.

1998-01-01

Monotonic logic requires reexamination of the entire logic string when there is a contradiction. Nonmonotonic logic allows the user to withdraw conclusions in the face of contradiction without harm to the logic string, which has considerable application to the field of information searching. Artificial intelligence models and neural networks based…

Nonmonotonic dose response curves (NMDRCs) are common after Estrogen or Androgen signaling pathway disruption. Fact or Falderal?##

EPA Science Inventory

Nonmonotonic dose response curves (NMDRCs) are common after Estrogen or Androgen signaling pathway disruption. Fact or Falderal? Leon Earl Gray Jr, USEPA, ORD, NHEERL, TAD, RTB. RTP, NC, USA The shape of the dose response curve in the low dose region has been debated since th...

Non-monotonic dynamics of water in its binary mixture with 1,2-dimethoxy ethane: A combined THz spectroscopic and MD simulation study.

PubMed

Das Mahanta, Debasish; Patra, Animesh; Samanta, Nirnay; Luong, Trung Quan; Mukherjee, Biswaroop; Mitra, Rajib Kumar

2016-10-28

A combined experimental (mid- and far-infrared FTIR spectroscopy and THz time domain spectroscopy (TTDS) (0.3-1.6 THz)) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation technique are used to understand the evolution of the structure and dynamics of water in its binary mixture with 1,2-dimethoxy ethane (DME) over the entire concentration range. The cooperative hydrogen bond dynamics of water obtained from Debye relaxation of TTDS data reveals a non-monotonous behaviour in which the collective dynamics is much faster in the low X w region (where X w is the mole fraction of water in the mixture), whereas in X w ∼ 0.8 region, the dynamics gets slower than that of pure water. The concentration dependence of the reorientation times of water, calculated from the MD simulations, also captures this non-monotonous character. The MD simulation trajectories reveal presence of large amplitude angular jumps, which dominate the orientational relaxation. We rationalize the non-monotonous, concentration dependent orientational dynamics by identifying two different physical mechanisms which operate at high and low water concentration regimes.

On the synthesis of resonance lines in dynamical models of structured hot-star winds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Puls, J.; Owocki, S. P.; Fullerton, A. W.

1993-01-01

We examine basic issues involved in synthesizing resonance-line profiles from 1-D, dynamical models of highly structured hot-star winds. Although these models exhibit extensive variations in density as well as velocity, the density scale length is still typically much greater than the Sobolev length. The line transfer is thus treated using a Sobolev approach, as generalized by Rybicki & Hummer (1978) to take proper account of the multiple Sobolev resonances arising from the nonmonotonic velocity field. The resulting reduced-lambda-matrix equation describing nonlocal coupling of the source function is solved by iteration, and line profiles are then derived from formal solution integration using this source function. Two more approximate methods that instead use either a stationary or a structured, local source function yield qualitatively similar line-profiles, but are found to violate photon conservation by 10% or more. The full results suggest that such models may indeed be able to reproduce naturally some of the qualitative properties long noted in observed UV line profiles, such as discrete absorption components in unsaturated lines, or the blue-edge variability in saturated lines. However, these particular models do not yet produce the black absorption troughs commonly observed in saturated lines, and it seems that this and other important discrepancies (e.g., in acceleration time scale of absorption components) may require development of more complete models that include rotation and other 2-D and/or 3-D effects.

Fluctuations at the blue edge of saturated wind lines in IUE spectra of O-type stars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Owocki, Stanley P.; Fullerton, Alex

1993-01-01

We examine basic issues involved in synthesizing resonance-line profiles from 1-D, dynamical models of highly structured hot-star winds. Although these models exhibit extensive variations in density as well as velocity, the density scale length is still typically much greater than the Sobolev length. The line transfer is thus treated using a Sobolev approach, as generalized by Rybicki & Hummer (1978) to take proper account of the multiple Sobolev resonances arising from the nonmonotonic velocity field. The resulting reduced-Lambda-matrix equation describing nonlocal coupling of the source function is solved by iteration, and line profiles and then derived from formal solution integration using this source function. The more appropriate methods that instead use either a stationary or a structured, local source function yield qualitatively similar line-profiles, but are found to violate photon conservation by 10 percent or more. The full results suggest that such models may indeed be able to reproduce naturally some of the qualitative properties long noted in observed UV line profiles, such as discrete absorption components in unsaturated lines, or the blue-edge variability in saturated lines. However, these particular models do not yet produce the black absorption troughs commonly observed in saturated lines, and it seems that this and other important discrepancies (e.g., in acceleration time scale of absorption components) may require development of more complete models that include rotation and other 2-D and/or 3-D effects.

Effects of long-range interactions on curvature energies of viral shells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shojaei, Hamid R.; Božič, Anže Lošdorfer; Muthukumar, Murugappan; Podgornik, Rudolf

2016-05-01

We formulate a theory of the effects of long-range interactions on the surface tension and spontaneous curvature of proteinaceous shells based on the general Deryaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek mesoscale approach to colloid stability. We derive the full renormalization formulas for the elastic properties of the shell and consider in detail the renormalization of the spontaneous curvature as a function of the corresponding Hamaker coefficient, inner and outer capsid charges, and bathing solution properties. The renormalized spontaneous curvature is found to be a nonmonotonic function of several parameters describing the system.

State transition of a non-Ohmic damping system in a corrugated plane.

PubMed

Lü, Kun; Bao, Jing-Dong

2007-12-01

Anomalous transport of a particle subjected to non-Ohmic damping of the power delta in a tilted periodic potential is investigated via Monte Carlo simulation of the generalized Langevin equation. It is found that the system exhibits two relative motion modes: the locked state and the running state. In an environment of sub-Ohmic damping (0=2D_(eff)(delta){t(delta_eff} . Our result shows that the effective power index delta_(eff) can be enhanced and is a nonmonotonic function of the temperature and the driving force. The mixture of the two motion modes also leads to a breakdown of the hysteresis loop of the mobility.

Sell in May and Go Away? Learning and Risk Taking in Nonmonotonic Decision Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frey, Renato; Rieskamp, Jörg; Hertwig, Ralph

2015-01-01

In nonmonotonic decision problems, the magnitude of outcomes can both increase and decrease over time depending on the state of the decision problem. These increases and decreases may occur repeatedly and result in a variety of possible outcome distributions. In many previously investigated sequential decision problems, in contrast, outcomes (or…

On correction of model of stabilization of distribution of concentration of radiation defects in a multilayer structure with account experiment data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pankratov, E. L.

2018-05-01

We introduce a model of redistribution of point radiation defects, their interaction between themselves and redistribution of their simplest complexes (divacancies and diinterstitials) in a multilayer structure. The model gives a possibility to describe qualitatively nonmonotonicity of distributions of concentrations of radiation defects on interfaces between layers of the multilayer structure. The nonmonotonicity was recently found experimentally. To take into account the nonmonotonicity we modify recently used in literature model for analysis of distribution of concentration of radiation defects. To analyze the model we used an approach of solution of boundary problems, which could be used without crosslinking of solutions on interfaces between layers of the considered multilayer structures.

Nonmonotonic Aging and Memory in a Frictional Interface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dillavou, Sam; Rubinstein, Shmuel M.

2018-06-01

We measure the static frictional resistance and the real area of contact between two solid blocks subjected to a normal load. We show that following a two-step change in the normal load the system exhibits nonmonotonic aging and memory effects, two hallmarks of glassy dynamics. These dynamics are strongly influenced by the discrete geometry of the frictional interface, characterized by the attachment and detachment of unique microcontacts. The results are in good agreement with a theoretical model we propose that incorporates this geometry into the framework recently used to describe Kovacs-like relaxation in glasses as well as thermal disordered systems. These results indicate that a frictional interface is a glassy system and strengthen the notion that nonmonotonic relaxation behavior is generic in such systems.

Hormones and Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: Low-Dose Effects and Nonmonotonic Dose Responses

PubMed Central

Colborn, Theo; Hayes, Tyrone B.; Heindel, Jerrold J.; Jacobs, David R.; Lee, Duk-Hee; Shioda, Toshi; Soto, Ana M.; vom Saal, Frederick S.; Welshons, Wade V.; Zoeller, R. Thomas

2012-01-01

For decades, studies of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) have challenged traditional concepts in toxicology, in particular the dogma of “the dose makes the poison,” because EDCs can have effects at low doses that are not predicted by effects at higher doses. Here, we review two major concepts in EDC studies: low dose and nonmonotonicity. Low-dose effects were defined by the National Toxicology Program as those that occur in the range of human exposures or effects observed at doses below those used for traditional toxicological studies. We review the mechanistic data for low-dose effects and use a weight-of-evidence approach to analyze five examples from the EDC literature. Additionally, we explore nonmonotonic dose-response curves, defined as a nonlinear relationship between dose and effect where the slope of the curve changes sign somewhere within the range of doses examined. We provide a detailed discussion of the mechanisms responsible for generating these phenomena, plus hundreds of examples from the cell culture, animal, and epidemiology literature. We illustrate that nonmonotonic responses and low-dose effects are remarkably common in studies of natural hormones and EDCs. Whether low doses of EDCs influence certain human disorders is no longer conjecture, because epidemiological studies show that environmental exposures to EDCs are associated with human diseases and disabilities. We conclude that when nonmonotonic dose-response curves occur, the effects of low doses cannot be predicted by the effects observed at high doses. Thus, fundamental changes in chemical testing and safety determination are needed to protect human health. PMID:22419778

An Analysis of Categorical and Quantitative Methods for Planning Under Uncertainty

PubMed Central

Langlotz, Curtis P.; Shortliffe, Edward H.

1988-01-01

Decision theory and logical reasoning are both methods for representing and solving medical decision problems. We analyze the usefulness of these two approaches to medical therapy planning by establishing a simple correspondence between decision theory and non-monotonic logic, a formalization of categorical logical reasoning. The analysis indicates that categorical approaches to planning can be viewed as comprising two decision-theoretic concepts: probabilities (degrees of belief in planning hypotheses) and utilities (degrees of desirability of planning outcomes). We present and discuss examples of the following lessons from this decision-theoretic view of categorical (nonmonotonic) reasoning: (1) Decision theory and artificial intelligence techniques are intended to solve different components of the planning problem. (2) When considered in the context of planning under uncertainty, nonmonotonic logics do not retain the domain-independent characteristics of classical logical reasoning for planning under certainty. (3) Because certain nonmonotonic programming paradigms (e.g., frame-based inheritance, rule-based planning, protocol-based reminders) are inherently problem-specific, they may be inappropriate to employ in the solution of certain types of planning problems. We discuss how these conclusions affect several current medical informatics research issues, including the construction of “very large” medical knowledge bases.

Narrow sound pressure level tuning in the auditory cortex of the bats Molossus molossus and Macrotus waterhousii.

PubMed

Macías, Silvio; Hechavarría, Julio C; Cobo, Ariadna; Mora, Emanuel C

2014-03-01

In the auditory system, tuning to sound level appears in the form of non-monotonic response-level functions that depict the response of a neuron to changing sound levels. Neurons with non-monotonic response-level functions respond best to a particular sound pressure level (defined as "best level" or level evoking the maximum response). We performed a comparative study on the location and basic functional organization of the auditory cortex in the gleaning bat, Macrotus waterhousii, and the aerial-hawking bat, Molossus molossus. Here, we describe the response-level function of cortical units in these two species. In the auditory cortices of M. waterhousii and M. molossus, the characteristic frequency of the units increased from caudal to rostral. In M. waterhousii, there was an even distribution of characteristic frequencies while in M. molossus there was an overrepresentation of frequencies present within echolocation pulses. In both species, most of the units showed best levels in a narrow range, without an evident topography in the amplitopic organization, as described in other species. During flight, bats decrease the intensity of their emitted pulses when they approach a prey item or an obstacle resulting in maintenance of perceived echo intensity. Narrow level tuning likely contributes to the extraction of echo amplitudes facilitating echo-intensity compensation. For aerial-hawking bats, like M. molossus, receiving echoes within the optimal sensitivity range can help the bats to sustain consistent analysis of successive echoes without distortions of perception caused by changes in amplitude. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Velocity-jump instabilities in Hele-Shaw flow of associating polymer solutions

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

Vlad, D.H.; Ignes-Mullol, J.; Maher, J.V.

We study fracturelike flow instabilities that arise when water is injected into a Hele-Shaw cell filled with aqueous solutions of associating polymers. We explore various polymer architectures, molecular weights, and solution concentrations. Simultaneous measurements of the finger tip velocity and of the pressure at the injection point allow us to describe the dynamics of the finger in terms of the {open_quotes}finger mobility,{close_quotes} which relates the velocity to the pressure gradient. The flow discontinuities, characterized by jumps in the finger tip velocity, which are observed in experiments with some of the polymer solutions, can be modeled by using a nonmonotonic dependencemore » between a characteristic shear stress and the shear rate at the tip of the finger. A simple model, which is based on a viscosity function containing both a Newtonian and a non-Newtonian component, and which predicts nonmonotonic regions when the non-Newtonian component of the viscosity dominates, is shown to agree with the experimental data. {copyright} {ital 1999} {ital The American Physical Society}« less

Nonmonotonic fluctuation spectra of membranes pinned or tethered discretely to a substrate.

PubMed

Merath, Rolf-Jürgen; Seifert, Udo

2006-01-01

The thermal fluctuation spectrum of a fluid membrane coupled harmonically to a solid support by an array of tethers is calculated. For strong tethers, this spectrum exhibits nonmonotonic, anisotropic behavior with a relative maximum at a wavelength about twice the tether distance. The root-mean-square displacement is evaluated to estimate typical membrane displacements. Possible applications cover pillar-supported or polymer-tethered membranes.

Double layer of platinum electrodes: Non-monotonic surface charging phenomena and negative double layer capacitance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Jun; Zhou, Tao; Zhang, Jianbo; Eikerling, Michael

2018-01-01

In this study, a refined double layer model of platinum electrodes accounting for chemisorbed oxygen species, oriented interfacial water molecules, and ion size effects in solution is presented. It results in a non-monotonic surface charging relation and a peculiar capacitance vs. potential curve with a maximum and possibly negative values in the potential regime of oxide-formation.

Stabilization of a system with saturating, non-monotone hysteresis and frequency dependent power losses by a PD controller

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ekanayake, D. B.; Iyer, R. V.

2015-02-01

We prove the closed loop stability of a PD controller for certain systems with saturating, non-monotone hysteresis and frequency dependent power losses. Most controllers use inverse compensators to cancel out actuator hysteresis nonlinearity. We show that we can achieve stability of the closed-loop system without an explicit inverse computation (using least squares minimization or otherwise).

Coherent backscattering of light by complex random media of spherical scatterers: numerical solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muinonen, Karri

2004-07-01

Novel Monte Carlo techniques are described for the computation of reflection coefficient matrices for multiple scattering of light in plane-parallel random media of spherical scatterers. The present multiple scattering theory is composed of coherent backscattering and radiative transfer. In the radiative transfer part, the Stokes parameters of light escaping from the medium are updated at each scattering process in predefined angles of emergence. The scattering directions at each process are randomized using probability densities for the polar and azimuthal scattering angles: the former angle is generated using the single-scattering phase function, whereafter the latter follows from Kepler's equation. For spherical scatterers in the Rayleigh regime, randomization proceeds semi-analytically whereas, beyond that regime, cubic spline presentation of the scattering matrix is used for numerical computations. In the coherent backscattering part, the reciprocity of electromagnetic waves in the backscattering direction allows the renormalization of the reversely propagating waves, whereafter the scattering characteristics are computed in other directions. High orders of scattering (~10 000) can be treated because of the peculiar polarization characteristics of the reverse wave: after a number of scatterings, the polarization state of the reverse wave becomes independent of that of the incident wave, that is, it becomes fully dictated by the scatterings at the end of the reverse path. The coherent backscattering part depends on the single-scattering albedo in a non-monotonous way, the most pronounced signatures showing up for absorbing scatterers. The numerical results compare favourably to the literature results for nonabsorbing spherical scatterers both in and beyond the Rayleigh regime.

Destabilizing geometrical and bimaterial effects in frictional sliding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aldam, M.; Bar Sinai, Y.; Svetlizky, I.; Fineberg, J.; Brener, E.; Xu, S.; Ben-Zion, Y.; Bouchbinder, E.

2017-12-01

Asymmetry of the two blocks forming a fault plane, i.e. the lack of reflection symmetry with respect to the fault plane, either geometrical or material, gives rise to generic destabilizing effects associated with the elastodynamic coupling between slip and normal stress variations. While geometric asymmetry exists in various geophysical contexts, such as thrust faults and landslide systems, its effect on fault dynamics is often overlooked. In the first part of the talk, I will show that geometrical asymmetry alone can destabilize velocity-strengthening faults, which are otherwise stable. I will further show that geometrical asymmetry accounts for a significant weakening effect observed in rupture propagation and present laboratory data that support the theory. In the second part of the talk, I will focus on material asymmetry and discuss an unexpected property of the well-studied frictional bimaterial effect. I will show that while the bimaterial coupling between slip and normal stress variations is a monotonically increasing function of the bimaterial contrast, when it is coupled to interfacial shear stress perturbations through a friction law, various physical quantities exhibit a non-monotonic dependence on the bimaterial contrast. This non-monotonicity is demonstrated for the stability of steady-sliding and for unsteady rupture propagation in faults described by various friction laws (regularized Coulomb, slip-weakening, rate-and-state friction), using analytic and numerical tools. All in all, the importance of bulk asymmetry to interfacial fault dynamics is highlighted. [1] Michael Aldam, Yohai Bar-Sinai, Ilya Svetlizky, Efim A. Brener, Jay Fineberg, and Eran Bouchbinder. Frictional Sliding without Geometrical Reflection Symmetry. Phys. Rev. X, 6(4):041023, 2016. [2] Michael Aldam, Shiqing Xu, Efim A. Brener, Yehuda Ben-Zion, and Eran Bouchbinder. Non-monotonicity of the frictional bimaterial effect. arXiv:1707.01132, 2017.

Nebular dead zone effects on the D/H ratio in chondrites and comets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ali-Dib, Mohamad; Martin, R. G.; Petit, J.-M.; Mousis, O.; Vernazza, P.; Lunine, J. I.

2015-11-01

Comets and chondrites show non-monotonic behaviour of their Deuterium to Hydrogen (D/H) ratio as a function of their formation location from the Sun. This is difficult to explain with a classical protoplanetary disk model that has a decreasing temperature structure with radius from the Sun.We want to understand if a protoplanetary disc with a dead zone, a region of zero or low turbulence, can explain the measured D/H values in comets and chondrites. We use time snapshots of a vertically layered disk model with turbulent surface layers and a dead zone at the midplane. The disc has a non-monotonic temperature structure due to increased heating from self-gravity in the outer parts of the dead zone. We couple this to a D/H ratio evolution model in order to quantify the effect of such thermal profiles on D/H enrichment in the nebula.We find that the local temperature peak in the disk can explain the diversity in the D/H ratios of different chondritic families. This disk temperature profile leads to a non-monotonic D/H enrichment evolution, allowing these families to acquire their different D/H values while forming in close proximity. The formation order we infer for these families is compatible with that inferred from their water abundances. However, we find that even for very young disks, the thermal profile reversal is too close to the Sun to be relevant for comets.[1] Ali-Dib, M., Martin, R. G., Petit, J.-M., Mousis, O., Vernazza, P., and Lunine, J. I. (2015, in press A&A). arXiv:1508.00263.

Dynamics and manipulation of entanglement in coupled harmonic systems with many degrees of freedom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plenio, M. B.; Hartley, J.; Eisert, J.

2004-03-01

We study the entanglement dynamics of a system consisting of a large number of coupled harmonic oscillators in various configurations and for different types of nearest-neighbour interactions. For a one-dimensional chain, we provide compact analytical solutions and approximations to the dynamical evolution of the entanglement between spatially separated oscillators. Key properties such as the speed of entanglement propagation, the maximum amount of transferred entanglement and the efficiency for the entanglement transfer are computed. For harmonic oscillators coupled by springs, corresponding to a phonon model, we observe a non-monotonic transfer efficiency in the initially prepared amount of entanglement, i.e. an intermediate amount of initial entanglement is transferred with the highest efficiency. In contrast, within the framework of the rotating-wave approximation (as appropriate, e.g. in quantum optical settings) one finds a monotonic behaviour. We also study geometrical configurations that are analogous to quantum optical devices (such as beamsplitters and interferometers) and observe characteristic differences when initially thermal or squeezed states are entering these devices. We show that these devices may be switched on and off by changing the properties of an individual oscillator. They may therefore be used as building blocks of large fixed and pre-fabricated but programmable structures in which quantum information is manipulated through propagation. We discuss briefly possible experimental realizations of systems of interacting harmonic oscillators in which these effects may be confirmed experimentally.

Nonmonotonic velocity dependence of atomic friction.

PubMed

Reimann, Peter; Evstigneev, Mykhaylo

2004-12-03

We propose a theoretical model for friction force microscopy experiments with special emphasis on the realistic description of dissipation and inertia effects. Its main prediction is a nonmonotonic dependence of the friction force upon the sliding velocity of the atomic force microscope tip relative to an atomically flat surface. The region around the force maximum can be approximately described by a universal scaling law and should be observable under experimentally realistic conditions.

Responsiveness-informed multiple imputation and inverse probability-weighting in cohort studies with missing data that are non-monotone or not missing at random.

PubMed

Doidge, James C

2018-02-01

Population-based cohort studies are invaluable to health research because of the breadth of data collection over time, and the representativeness of their samples. However, they are especially prone to missing data, which can compromise the validity of analyses when data are not missing at random. Having many waves of data collection presents opportunity for participants' responsiveness to be observed over time, which may be informative about missing data mechanisms and thus useful as an auxiliary variable. Modern approaches to handling missing data such as multiple imputation and maximum likelihood can be difficult to implement with the large numbers of auxiliary variables and large amounts of non-monotone missing data that occur in cohort studies. Inverse probability-weighting can be easier to implement but conventional wisdom has stated that it cannot be applied to non-monotone missing data. This paper describes two methods of applying inverse probability-weighting to non-monotone missing data, and explores the potential value of including measures of responsiveness in either inverse probability-weighting or multiple imputation. Simulation studies are used to compare methods and demonstrate that responsiveness in longitudinal studies can be used to mitigate bias induced by missing data, even when data are not missing at random.

Global asymptotic stability of hybrid bidirectional associative memory neural networks with time delays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arik, Sabri

2006-02-01

This Letter presents a sufficient condition for the existence, uniqueness and global asymptotic stability of the equilibrium point for bidirectional associative memory (BAM) neural networks with distributed time delays. The results impose constraint conditions on the network parameters of neural system independently of the delay parameter, and they are applicable to all bounded continuous non-monotonic neuron activation functions. The results are also compared with the previous results derived in the literature.

Boundary layer charge dynamics in ionic liquid-ionic polymer transducers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davidson, Jacob D.; Goulbourne, N. C.

2011-01-01

Ionic polymer transducers (IPTs), also known as ionic polymer-metal composites, are soft sensors and actuators which operate through a coupling of microscale chemical, electrical, and mechanical interactions. The use of an ionic liquid as solvent for an IPT has been shown to dramatically increase transducer lifetime in free-air use, while also allowing for higher applied voltages without electrolysis. In this work, we apply Nernst-Planck/Poisson theory to model charge transport in an ionic liquid IPT by considering a certain fraction of the ionic liquid ions as mobile charge carriers, a phenomenon which is unique to ionic liquid IPTs compared to their water-based counterparts. Numerical simulations are performed using the finite element method to examine how the introduction of another pair of mobile ions affects boundary layer charge dynamics, concentration, and charge density distributions in the electric double layer, and the overall charge transferred and current response of the IPT. Due to interactions with the Nafion ionomer, not all of the ionic liquid ions will function as mobile charge carriers; only a certain fraction will exist as "free" ions. The presence of mobile ionic liquid ions in the transducer will increase the overall charge transferred when a voltage is applied, and cause the current in the transducer to decay more slowly. The additional mobile ions also cause the ionic concentration profiles to exhibit a nonlinear dynamic response, characterized by nonmonotonic ionic concentration profiles in space and time. Although the presence of mobile ionic liquid ions increases the overall amount of charge transferred, this additional charge transfer occurs in a somewhat symmetric manner. Therefore, the additional charge transferred due to the ionic liquid ions does not greatly increase the net bending moment of the transducer; in fact, it is possible that ionic liquid ion movement actually decreases the observed bending response. This suggests that an optimal electromechanical conversion efficiency for bending actuation is achieved by using an ionic liquid where only a relatively small fraction of the ionic liquid ions exist as free ions. Conversely, if it is desired to increase the overall amount of charge transferred, an ionic liquid with a large fraction of free ions should be used. These theoretical considerations are found to be in good qualitative agreement with recent experimental results.

Numerical modeling of a nonmonotonic separation hydrocyclone curve

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Min'kov, L. L.; Dueck, J. H.

2012-11-01

In the context of the mechanics of interpenetrating continua, numerical modeling of separation of a polydisperse suspension in a hydrocyclone is carried out. The so-called "mixture model" valid for a low volume fraction of particles and low Stokes numbers is used for description of the suspension and particle motion. It is shown that account taken of the interaction between large and small particles can explain the nonmonotonic behavior of the separation curve.

Nonmonotonic diffusion in crowded environments

PubMed Central

Putzel, Gregory Garbès; Tagliazucchi, Mario; Szleifer, Igal

2015-01-01

We study the diffusive motion of particles among fixed spherical crowders. The diffusers interact with the crowders through a combination of a hard-core repulsion and a short-range attraction. The long-time effective diffusion coefficient of the diffusers is found to depend non-monotonically on the strength of their attraction to the crowders. That is, for a given concentration of crowders, a weak attraction to the crowders enhances diffusion. We show that this counterintuitive fact can be understood in terms of the mesoscopic excess chemical potential landscape experienced by the diffuser. The roughness of this excess chemical potential landscape quantitatively captures the nonmonotonic dependence of the diffusion rate on the strength of crowder-diffuser attraction; thus it is a purely static predictor of dynamic behavior. The mesoscopic view given here provides a unified explanation for enhanced diffusion effects that have been found in various systems of technological and biological interest. PMID:25302920

Global robust stability of bidirectional associative memory neural networks with multiple time delays.

PubMed

Senan, Sibel; Arik, Sabri

2007-10-01

This correspondence presents a sufficient condition for the existence, uniqueness, and global robust asymptotic stability of the equilibrium point for bidirectional associative memory neural networks with discrete time delays. The results impose constraint conditions on the network parameters of the neural system independently of the delay parameter, and they are applicable to all bounded continuous nonmonotonic neuron activation functions. Some numerical examples are given to compare our results with the previous robust stability results derived in the literature.

Dual mechanisms in the perceptual processing of click train temporal regularity.

PubMed

Phillips, Dennis P; Dingle, Rachel N; Hall, Susan E; Jang, Moragh

2012-07-01

Two experiments measured human sensitivity to temporal jitter in 25-click trains with inter-click intervals (ICIs) between 5 and 100 ms. In a naturalistic experiment using wideband clicks, jitter thresholds were a nonmonotonic function of ICI, peaking for ICIs near 40-60 ms. In a subsequent experiment, clicks were high-passed and presented against a low-frequency noise masker. Jitter threshold vs ICI functions lost the positive slope over short ICIs but retained the negative slope at long ICIs. The same behavior was seen in click rate discrimination tasks. Different processes mediate regularity analysis for click trains with ICIs above and below 40-60 ms.

Anisotropic mean-square displacements in two-dimensional colloidal crystals of tilted dipoles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Froltsov, V. A.; Likos, C. N.; Löwen, H.; Eisenmann, C.; Gasser, U.; Keim, P.; Maret, G.

2005-03-01

Superparamagnetic colloidal particles confined to a flat horizontal air-water interface in an external magnetic field, which is tilted relative to the interface, form anisotropic two-dimensional crystals resulting from their mutual dipole-dipole interactions. Using real-space experiments and harmonic lattice theory we explore the mean-square displacements of the particles in the directions parallel and perpendicular to the in-plane component of the external magnetic field as a function of the tilt angle. We find that the anisotropy of the mean-square displacement behaves nonmonotonically as a function of the tilt angle and does not correlate with the structural anisotropy of the crystal.

Cortical processing of dynamic sound envelope transitions.

PubMed

Zhou, Yi; Wang, Xiaoqin

2010-12-08

Slow envelope fluctuations in the range of 2-20 Hz provide important segmental cues for processing communication sounds. For a successful segmentation, a neural processor must capture envelope features associated with the rise and fall of signal energy, a process that is often challenged by the interference of background noise. This study investigated the neural representations of slowly varying envelopes in quiet and in background noise in the primary auditory cortex (A1) of awake marmoset monkeys. We characterized envelope features based on the local average and rate of change of sound level in envelope waveforms and identified envelope features to which neurons were selective by reverse correlation. Our results showed that envelope feature selectivity of A1 neurons was correlated with the degree of nonmonotonicity in their static rate-level functions. Nonmonotonic neurons exhibited greater feature selectivity than monotonic neurons in quiet and in background noise. The diverse envelope feature selectivity decreased spike-timing correlation among A1 neurons in response to the same envelope waveforms. As a result, the variability, but not the average, of the ensemble responses of A1 neurons represented more faithfully the dynamic transitions in low-frequency sound envelopes both in quiet and in background noise.

Surfactants non-monotonically modify the onset of Faraday waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strickland, Stephen; Shearer, Michael; Daniels, Karen

2017-11-01

When a water-filled container is vertically vibrated, subharmonic Faraday waves emerge once the driving from the vibrations exceeds viscous dissipation. In the presence of an insoluble surfactant, a viscous boundary layer forms at the contaminated surface to balance the Marangoni and Boussinesq stresses. For linear gravity-capillary waves in an undriven fluid, the surfactant-induced boundary layer increases the amount of viscous dissipation. In our analysis and experiments, we consider whether similar effects occur for nonlinear Faraday (gravity-capillary) waves. Assuming a finite-depth, infinite-breadth, low-viscosity fluid, we derive an analytic expression for the onset acceleration up to second order in ɛ =√{ 1 / Re } . This expression allows us to include fluid depth and driving frequency as parameters, in addition to the Marangoni and Boussinesq numbers. For millimetric fluid depths and driving frequencies of 30 to 120 Hz, our analysis recovers prior numerical results and agrees with our measurements of NBD-PC surfactant on DI water. In both case, the onset acceleration increases non-monotonically as a function of Marangoni and Boussinesq numbers. For shallower systems, our model predicts that surfactants could decrease the onset acceleration. DMS-0968258.

Games of age-dependent prevention of chronic infections by social distancing.

PubMed

Reluga, Timothy C; Li, Jing

2013-06-01

Epidemiological games combine epidemic modelling with game theory to assess strategic choices in response to risks from infectious diseases. In most epidemiological games studied thus-far, the strategies of an individual are represented with a single choice parameter. There are many natural situations where strategies can not be represented by a single dimension, including situations where individuals can change their behavior as they age. To better understand how age-dependent variations in behavior can help individuals deal with infection risks, we study an epidemiological game in an SI model with two life-history stages where social distancing behaviors that reduce exposure rates are age-dependent. When considering a special case of the general model, we show that there is a unique Nash equilibrium when the infection pressure is a monotone function of aggregate exposure rates, but non-monotone effects can appear even in our special case. The non-monotone effects sometimes result in three Nash equilibria, two of which have local invasion potential simultaneously. Returning to a general case, we also describe a game with continuous age-structure using partial-differential equations, numerically identify some Nash equilibria, and conjecture about uniqueness.

Adlayer structure dependent ultrafast desorption dynamics in carbon monoxide adsorbed on Pd (111)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hong, Sung-Young; Xu, Pan; Camillone, Nina R.; White, Michael G.; Camillone, Nicholas

2016-07-01

We report our ultrafast photoinduced desorption investigation of the coverage dependence of substrate-adsorbate energy transfer in carbon monoxide adlayers on the (111) surface of palladium. As the CO coverage is increased, the adsorption site population shifts from all threefold hollows (up to 0.33 ML), to bridge and near bridge (>0.5 to 0.6 ML) and finally to mixed threefold hollow plus top site (at saturation at 0.75 ML). We show that between 0.24 and 0.75 ML this progression of binding site motifs is accompanied by two remarkable features in the ultrafast photoinduced desorption of the adsorbates: (i) the desorption probability increases roughly two orders magnitude, and (ii) the adsorbate-substrate energy transfer rate observed in two-pulse correlation experiments varies nonmonotonically, having a minimum at intermediate coverages. Simulations using a phenomenological model to describe the adsorbate-substrate energy transfer in terms of frictional coupling indicate that these features are consistent with an adsorption-site dependent electron-mediated energy coupling strength, ηel, that decreases with binding site in the order: three-fold hollow > bridge and near bridge > top site. This weakening of ηel largely counterbalances the decrease in the desorption activation energy that accompanies this progression of adsorption site motifs, moderating what would otherwise be a rise of several orders of magnitude in the desorption probability. Within this framework, the observed energy transfer rate enhancement at saturation coverage is due to interadsorbate energy transfer from the copopulation of molecules bound in three-fold hollows to their top-site neighbors.

Adlayer structure dependent ultrafast desorption dynamics in carbon monoxide adsorbed on Pd (111)

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

Hong, Sung -Young; Xu, Pan; Camillone, Nina R.

Here, we report our ultrafast photoinduced desorption investigation of the coverage dependence of substrate–adsorbate energy transfer in carbon monoxide adlayers on the (111) surface of palladium. As the CO coverage is increased, the adsorption site population shifts from all threefold hollows (up to 0.33 ML), to bridge and near bridge (>0.5 to 0.6 ML) and finally to mixed threefold hollow plus top site (at saturation at 0.75 ML). We show that between 0.24 and 0.75 ML this progression of binding site motifs is accompanied by two remarkable features in the ultrafast photoinduced desorption of the adsorbates: (i) the desorption probabilitymore » increases roughly two orders magnitude, and (ii) the adsorbate–substrate energy transfer rate observed in two-pulse correlation experiments varies nonmonotonically, having a minimum at intermediate coverages. Simulations using a phenomenological model to describe the adsorbate–substrate energy transfer in terms of frictional coupling indicate that these features are consistent with an adsorption-site dependent electron-mediated energy coupling strength, η el, that decreases with binding site in the order: three-fold hollow > bridge and near bridge > top site. This weakening of η el largely counterbalances the decrease in the desorption activation energy that accompanies this progression of adsorption site motifs, moderating what would otherwise be a rise of several orders of magnitude in the desorption probability. Within this framework, the observed energy transfer rate enhancement at saturation coverage is due to interadsorbate energy transfer from the copopulation of molecules bound in three-fold hollows to their top-site neighbors.« less

Adlayer structure dependent ultrafast desorption dynamics in carbon monoxide adsorbed on Pd (111)

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

Hong, Sung-Young; Camillone, Nina R.; Camillone, Nicholas, E-mail: nicholas@bnl.gov

We report our ultrafast photoinduced desorption investigation of the coverage dependence of substrate–adsorbate energy transfer in carbon monoxide adlayers on the (111) surface of palladium. As the CO coverage is increased, the adsorption site population shifts from all threefold hollows (up to 0.33 ML), to bridge and near bridge (>0.5 to 0.6 ML) and finally to mixed threefold hollow plus top site (at saturation at 0.75 ML). We show that between 0.24 and 0.75 ML this progression of binding site motifs is accompanied by two remarkable features in the ultrafast photoinduced desorption of the adsorbates: (i) the desorption probability increasesmore » roughly two orders magnitude, and (ii) the adsorbate–substrate energy transfer rate observed in two-pulse correlation experiments varies nonmonotonically, having a minimum at intermediate coverages. Simulations using a phenomenological model to describe the adsorbate–substrate energy transfer in terms of frictional coupling indicate that these features are consistent with an adsorption-site dependent electron-mediated energy coupling strength, η{sub el}, that decreases with binding site in the order: three-fold hollow > bridge and near bridge > top site. This weakening of η{sub el} largely counterbalances the decrease in the desorption activation energy that accompanies this progression of adsorption site motifs, moderating what would otherwise be a rise of several orders of magnitude in the desorption probability. Within this framework, the observed energy transfer rate enhancement at saturation coverage is due to interadsorbate energy transfer from the copopulation of molecules bound in three-fold hollows to their top-site neighbors.« less

Adlayer structure dependent ultrafast desorption dynamics in carbon monoxide adsorbed on Pd (111)

DOE PAGES

Hong, Sung -Young; Xu, Pan; Camillone, Nina R.; ...

2016-07-01

Here, we report our ultrafast photoinduced desorption investigation of the coverage dependence of substrate–adsorbate energy transfer in carbon monoxide adlayers on the (111) surface of palladium. As the CO coverage is increased, the adsorption site population shifts from all threefold hollows (up to 0.33 ML), to bridge and near bridge (>0.5 to 0.6 ML) and finally to mixed threefold hollow plus top site (at saturation at 0.75 ML). We show that between 0.24 and 0.75 ML this progression of binding site motifs is accompanied by two remarkable features in the ultrafast photoinduced desorption of the adsorbates: (i) the desorption probabilitymore » increases roughly two orders magnitude, and (ii) the adsorbate–substrate energy transfer rate observed in two-pulse correlation experiments varies nonmonotonically, having a minimum at intermediate coverages. Simulations using a phenomenological model to describe the adsorbate–substrate energy transfer in terms of frictional coupling indicate that these features are consistent with an adsorption-site dependent electron-mediated energy coupling strength, η el, that decreases with binding site in the order: three-fold hollow > bridge and near bridge > top site. This weakening of η el largely counterbalances the decrease in the desorption activation energy that accompanies this progression of adsorption site motifs, moderating what would otherwise be a rise of several orders of magnitude in the desorption probability. Within this framework, the observed energy transfer rate enhancement at saturation coverage is due to interadsorbate energy transfer from the copopulation of molecules bound in three-fold hollows to their top-site neighbors.« less

Simulation of Charged Systems in Heterogeneous Dielectric Media via a True Energy Functional

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jadhao, Vikram; Solis, Francisco J.; de la Cruz, Monica Olvera

2012-11-01

For charged systems in heterogeneous dielectric media, a key obstacle for molecular dynamics (MD) simulations is the need to solve the Poisson equation in the media. This obstacle can be bypassed using MD methods that treat the local polarization charge density as a dynamic variable, but such approaches require access to a true free energy functional, one that evaluates to the equilibrium electrostatic energy at its minimum. In this Letter, we derive the needed functional. As an application, we develop a Car-Parrinello MD method for the simulation of free charges present near a spherical emulsion droplet separating two immiscible liquids with different dielectric constants. Our results show the presence of nonmonotonic ionic profiles in the dielectric with a lower dielectric constant.

An advanced probabilistic structural analysis method for implicit performance functions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wu, Y.-T.; Millwater, H. R.; Cruse, T. A.

1989-01-01

In probabilistic structural analysis, the performance or response functions usually are implicitly defined and must be solved by numerical analysis methods such as finite element methods. In such cases, the most commonly used probabilistic analysis tool is the mean-based, second-moment method which provides only the first two statistical moments. This paper presents a generalized advanced mean value (AMV) method which is capable of establishing the distributions to provide additional information for reliability design. The method requires slightly more computations than the second-moment method but is highly efficient relative to the other alternative methods. In particular, the examples show that the AMV method can be used to solve problems involving non-monotonic functions that result in truncated distributions.

Nonmonotonic radial distribution of excited atoms in a positive column of pulsed direct currect discharges in helium

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

Barnat, E. V.; Kolobov, V. I.

2013-01-21

Nonmonotonic radial distributions of excited helium atoms have been experimentally observed in a positive column of pulsed helium discharges using planar laser induced fluorescence. Computational analysis of the discharge dynamics with a fluid plasma model confirms the experimental observations over a range of pressures and currents. The observed effect is attributed to the peculiarities of electron population-depopulation of the excited states during the 'dynamic discharge' conditions with strong modulations of the electric field maintaining the plasma.

Neurons sensitive to narrow ranges of repetitive acoustic transients in the medial geniculate body of the cat.

PubMed

Rouiller, E; de Ribaupierre, F

1982-01-01

Neuronal activity was recorded in the medial geniculate body (MGB) of nitrous oxide anaesthetized, paralysed cats in response to click trains. For most cells responding to these stimuli the spike discharges are precisely time locked to individual clicks within the train. The present study has revealed that, apart from the normal "locker" response being characterized by a monotonic decrease in the entrainment as the frequency of the clicks within the train increases, there is a small population of "lockers" which show a non-monotonic response to increasing click frequency. 41% of these non-monotonic cells were not at all entrained by the lowest click rates and had time-locked responses for very restricted frequency ranges. These particular non-monotonic "lockers" were more commonly-found in the posterior part of the pars lateralis and in the suprageniculate nucleus. These cells might be involved in the temporal coding of natural sounds such as animal vocalizations and the cat's purr.

How do people learn from negative evidence? Non-monotonic generalizations and sampling assumptions in inductive reasoning.

PubMed

Voorspoels, Wouter; Navarro, Daniel J; Perfors, Amy; Ransom, Keith; Storms, Gert

2015-09-01

A robust finding in category-based induction tasks is for positive observations to raise the willingness to generalize to other categories while negative observations lower the willingness to generalize. This pattern is referred to as monotonic generalization. Across three experiments we find systematic non-monotonicity effects, in which negative observations raise the willingness to generalize. Experiments 1 and 2 show that this effect emerges in hierarchically structured domains when a negative observation from a different category is added to a positive observation. They also demonstrate that this is related to a specific kind of shift in the reasoner's hypothesis space. Experiment 3 shows that the effect depends on the assumptions that the reasoner makes about how inductive arguments are constructed. Non-monotonic reasoning occurs when people believe the facts were put together by a helpful communicator, but monotonicity is restored when they believe the observations were sampled randomly from the environment. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Increasing accuracy in the interval analysis by the improved format of interval extension based on the first order Taylor series

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Yi; Xu, Yan Long

2018-05-01

When the dependence of the function on uncertain variables is non-monotonic in interval, the interval of function obtained by the classic interval extension based on the first order Taylor series will exhibit significant errors. In order to reduce theses errors, the improved format of the interval extension with the first order Taylor series is developed here considering the monotonicity of function. Two typical mathematic examples are given to illustrate this methodology. The vibration of a beam with lumped masses is studied to demonstrate the usefulness of this method in the practical application, and the necessary input data of which are only the function value at the central point of interval, sensitivity and deviation of function. The results of above examples show that the interval of function from the method developed by this paper is more accurate than the ones obtained by the classic method.

Effect of Pulse Polarity on Thresholds and on Non-monotonic Loudness Growth in Cochlear Implant Users.

PubMed

Macherey, Olivier; Carlyon, Robert P; Chatron, Jacques; Roman, Stéphane

2017-06-01

Most cochlear implants (CIs) activate their electrodes non-simultaneously in order to eliminate electrical field interactions. However, the membrane of auditory nerve fibers needs time to return to its resting state, causing the probability of firing to a pulse to be affected by previous pulses. Here, we provide new evidence on the effect of pulse polarity and current level on these interactions. In experiment 1, detection thresholds and most comfortable levels (MCLs) were measured in CI users for 100-Hz pulse trains consisting of two consecutive biphasic pulses of the same or of opposite polarity. All combinations of polarities were studied: anodic-cathodic-anodic-cathodic (ACAC), CACA, ACCA, and CAAC. Thresholds were lower when the adjacent phases of the two pulses had the same polarity (ACCA and CAAC) than when they were different (ACAC and CACA). Some subjects showed a lower threshold for ACCA than for CAAC while others showed the opposite trend demonstrating that polarity sensitivity at threshold is genuine and subject- or electrode-dependent. In contrast, anodic (CAAC) pulses always showed a lower MCL than cathodic (ACCA) pulses, confirming previous reports. In experiments 2 and 3, the subjects compared the loudness of several pulse trains differing in current level separately for ACCA and CAAC. For 40 % of the electrodes tested, loudness grew non-monotonically as a function of current level for ACCA but never for CAAC. This finding may relate to a conduction block of the action potentials along the fibers induced by a strong hyperpolarization of their central processes. Further analysis showed that the electrodes showing a lower threshold for ACCA than for CAAC were more likely to yield a non-monotonic loudness growth. It is proposed that polarity sensitivity at threshold reflects the local neural health and that anodic asymmetric pulses should preferably be used to convey sound information while avoiding abnormal loudness percepts.

Optimal voltage stimulation parameters for network-mediated responses in wild type and rd10 mouse retinal ganglion cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jalligampala, Archana; Sekhar, Sudarshan; Zrenner, Eberhart; Rathbun, Daniel L.

2017-04-01

To further improve the quality of visual percepts elicited by microelectronic retinal prosthetics, substantial efforts have been made to understand how retinal neurons respond to electrical stimulation. It is generally assumed that a sufficiently strong stimulus will recruit most retinal neurons. However, recent evidence has shown that the responses of some retinal neurons decrease with excessively strong stimuli (a non-monotonic response function). Therefore, it is necessary to identify stimuli that can be used to activate the majority of retinal neurons even when such non-monotonic cells are part of the neuronal population. Taking these non-monotonic responses into consideration, we establish the optimal voltage stimulation parameters (amplitude, duration, and polarity) for epiretinal stimulation of network-mediated (indirect) ganglion cell responses. We recorded responses from 3958 mouse retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in both healthy (wild type, WT) and a degenerating (rd10) mouse model of retinitis pigmentosa—using flat-mounted retina on a microelectrode array. Rectangular monophasic voltage-controlled pulses were presented with varying voltage, duration, and polarity. We found that in 4-5 weeks old rd10 mice the RGC thresholds were comparable to those of WT. There was a marked response variability among mouse RGCs. To account for this variability, we interpolated the percentage of RGCs activated at each point in the voltage-polarity-duration stimulus space, thus identifying the optimal voltage-controlled pulse (-2.4 V, 0.88 ms). The identified optimal voltage pulse can activate at least 65% of potentially responsive RGCs in both mouse strains. Furthermore, this pulse is well within the range of stimuli demonstrated to be safe and effective for retinal implant patients. Such optimized stimuli and the underlying method used to identify them support a high yield of responsive RGCs and will serve as an effective guideline for future in vitro investigations of retinal electrostimulation by establishing standard stimuli for each unique experimental condition.

Thermal transport across metal–insulator interface via electron–phonon interaction.

PubMed

Zhang, Lifa; Lü, Jing-Tao; Wang, Jian-Sheng; Li, Baowen

2013-11-06

The thermal transport across a metal–insulator interface can be characterized by electron–phonon interaction through which an electron lead is coupled to a phonon lead if phonon–phonon coupling at the interface is very weak. We investigate the thermal conductance and rectification between the electron part and the phonon part using the nonequilibrium Green's function method. It is found that the thermal conductance has a nonmonotonic behavior as a function of average temperature or the coupling strength between the phonon leads in the metal part and the insulator part. The metal–insulator interface shows a clear thermal rectification effect, which can be reversed by a change in average temperature or the electron–phonon coupling.

Sign reversals of the output autocorrelation function for the stochastic Bernoulli-Verhulst equation

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

Lumi, N., E-mail: Neeme.Lumi@tlu.ee; Mankin, R., E-mail: Romi.Mankin@tlu.ee

2015-10-28

We consider a stochastic Bernoulli-Verhulst equation as a model for population growth processes. The effect of fluctuating environment on the carrying capacity of a population is modeled as colored dichotomous noise. Relying on the composite master equation an explicit expression for the stationary autocorrelation function (ACF) of population sizes is found. On the basis of this expression a nonmonotonic decay of the ACF by increasing lag-time is shown. Moreover, in a certain regime of the noise parameters the ACF demonstrates anticorrelation as well as related sign reversals at some values of the lag-time. The conditions for the appearance of thismore » highly unexpected effect are also discussed.« less

Stochastic multiresonance for a fractional linear oscillator with time-delayed kernel and quadratic noise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Feng; Wang, Xue-Yuan; Zhu, Cheng-Yin; Cheng, Xiao-Feng; Zhang, Zheng-Yu; Huang, Xu-Hui

2017-12-01

The stochastic resonance for a fractional oscillator with time-delayed kernel and quadratic trichotomous noise is investigated. Applying linear system theory and Laplace transform, the system output amplitude (SPA) for the fractional oscillator is obtained. It is found that the SPA is a periodical function of the kernel delayed-time. Stochastic multiplicative phenomenon appears on the SPA versus the driving frequency, versus the noise amplitude, and versus the fractional exponent. The non-monotonous dependence of the SPA on the system parameters is also discussed.

Energy scale of compositional disorder in Ga(AsBi)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shakfa, M. K.; Jandieri, K.; Wiemer, M.; Ludewig, P.; Volz, K.; Stolz, W.; Baranovskii, S. D.; Koch, M.

2015-10-01

We report on a study of compositional disorder in Ga(AsBi) structures. Temperature-dependent photoluminescence measurements on Ga(AsBi)/GaAs heterostructures with different Bi contents are performed. Experimental observations show an essentially non-monotonous dependence of the energy scale of disorder on the Bi content. Our theoretical analysis concludes that this peculiar behavior is a consequence of an essential bowing of the valence band edge as a function of Bi content and of a specific compositional dependence of the hole effective mass in Ga(AsBi) compounds.

Buoyant Low Stretch Diffusion Flames Beneath Cylindrical PMMA Samples

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Olson, S. L.; Tien, J. S.

1999-01-01

A unique new way to study low gravity flames in normal gravity has been developed. To study flame structure and extinction characteristics in low stretch environments, a normal gravity low-stretch diffusion flame is generated using a cylindrical PMMA sample of varying large radii. Burning rates, visible flame thickness, visible flame standoff distance, temperature profiles in the solid and gas, and radiative loss from the system were measured. A transition from the blowoff side of the flammability map to the quenching side of the flammability map is observed at approximately 6-7/ sec, as determined by curvefits to the non-monotonic trends in peak temperatures, solid and gas-phase temperature gradients, and non-dimensional standoff distances. A surface energy balance reveals that the fraction of heat transfer from the flame that is lost to in-depth conduction and surface radiation increases with decreasing stretch until quenching extinction is observed. This is primarily due to decreased heat transfer from the flame, while the magnitude of the losses remains the same. A unique local extinction flamelet phenomena and associated pre-extinction oscillations are observed at very low stretch. An ultimate quenching extinction limit is found at low stretch with sufficiently high induced heat losses.

Signals of strong electronic correlation in ion scattering processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonetto, F.; Gonzalez, C.; Goldberg, E. C.

2016-05-01

Previous measurements of neutral atom fractions for S r+ scattered by gold polycrystalline surfaces show a singular dependence with the target temperature. There is still not a theoretical model that can properly describe the magnitude and the temperature dependence of the neutralization probabilities found. Here, we applied a first-principles quantum-mechanical theoretical formalism to describe the time-dependent scattering process. Three different electronic correlation approaches consistent with the system analyzed are used: (i) the spinless approach, where two charge channels are considered (S r0 and S r+ ) and the spin degeneration is neglected; (ii) the infinite-U approach, with the same charge channels (S r0 and S r+ ) but considering the spin degeneration; and (iii) the finite-U approach, where the first ionization and second ionization energy levels are considered very, but finitely, separated. Neutral fraction magnitudes and temperature dependence are better described by the finite-U approach, indicating that e -correlation plays a significant role in charge-transfer processes. However, none of them is able to explain the nonmonotonous temperature dependence experimentally obtained. Here, we suggest that small changes in the surface work function introduced by the target heating, and possibly not detected by experimental standard methods, could be responsible for that singular behavior. Additionally, we apply the same theoretical model using the infinite-U approximation for the Mg-Au system, obtaining an excellent description of the experimental neutral fractions measured.

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

Eslami, Babak; López-Guerra, Enrique A.; Raftari, Maryam

Addition of a strong base to Nafion{sup ®} proton exchange membranes is a common practice in industry to increase their overall performance in fuel cells. Here, we investigate the evolution of the nano-rheological properties of Nafion thin films as a function of the casting pH, via characterization with static and dynamic, contact and intermittent-contact atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques. The addition of KOH causes non-monotonic changes in the viscoelastic properties of the films, which behave as highly dissipative, softer materials near neutral pH values, and as harder, more elastic materials at extreme pH values. We quantify this behavior through calculationmore » of the temporal evolution of the compliance and the glassy compliance under static AFM measurements. We complement these observations with dynamic AFM metrics, including dissipated power and virial (for intermittent-contact-mode measurements), and contact resonance frequency and quality factor (for dynamic contact-mode measurements). We explain the non-monotonic material property behavior in terms of the degree of ionic crosslinking and moisture content of the films, which vary with the addition of KOH. This work focuses on the special case study of the addition of strong bases, but the observed mechanical property changes are broadly related to water plasticizing effects and ionic crosslinking, which are also important in other types of films.« less

Dose Response Data for Hormonally Active Chemicals ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The shape of the dose response curve in the low dose region has been debated since the late 1940s. The debate originally focused on linear no threshold (LNT) vs threshold responses in the low dose range for cancer and noncancer related effects. For noncancer effects the default assumption is that noncancer effects generally display threshold rather than LNT responses. More recently, claims have arisen that the chemicals, like endocrine disrupters (EDS), which act via high affinity, low capacity nuclear receptors, may display LNT or nonmonotonic low dose responses: responses that could be missed in multigenerational guideline toxicity testing. This presentation will discuss LNT, threshold and nonmonotonic dose response relationships from case studies of chemicals that disrupt reproductive development and function via the ER, AR and AhR pathways and will include in vitro and in vivo multigenerational data. The in vivo studies in this discussion include only robust, well designed, comprehensive studies that administered the chemical via a relevant route(s) of exposure over a broad dose response range, including low dose(s) in the microgram/kg/d range. The chemicals include ethinyl estradiol, estradiol, genistein, bisphenol a, trenbolone, finasteride, flutamide, phthalate esters and 2,3,7,8 TCDD. The objective is to critically evaluate the data from well done studies in this field to address concerns that current multigenerational reproductive test gui

Evaluating the evidence for non-monotonic dose-response relationships: A systematic literature review and (re-)analysis of in vivo toxicity data in the area of food safety.

PubMed

Varret, C; Beronius, A; Bodin, L; Bokkers, B G H; Boon, P E; Burger, M; De Wit-Bos, L; Fischer, A; Hanberg, A; Litens-Karlsson, S; Slob, W; Wolterink, G; Zilliacus, J; Beausoleil, C; Rousselle, C

2018-01-15

This study aims to evaluate the evidence for the existence of non-monotonic dose-responses (NMDRs) of substances in the area of food safety. This review was performed following the systematic review methodology with the aim to identify in vivo studies published between January 2002 and February 2015 containing evidence for potential NMDRs. Inclusion and reliability criteria were defined and used to select relevant and reliable studies. A set of six checkpoints was developed to establish the likelihood that the data retrieved contained evidence for NMDR. In this review, 49 in vivo studies were identified as relevant and reliable, of which 42 were used for dose-response analysis. These studies contained 179 in vivo dose-response datasets with at least five dose groups (and a control group) as fewer doses cannot provide evidence for NMDR. These datasets were extracted and analyzed using the PROAST software package. The resulting dose-response relationships were evaluated for possible evidence of NMDRs by applying the six checkpoints. In total, 10 out of the 179 in vivo datasets fulfilled all six checkpoints. While these datasets could be considered as providing evidence for NMDR, replicated studies would still be needed to check if the results can be reproduced to rule out that the non-monotonicity was caused by incidental anomalies in that specific study. This approach, combining a systematic review with a set of checkpoints, is new and appears useful for future evaluations of the dose response datasets regarding evidence of non-monotonicity. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Rotating Flow of Magnetite-Water Nanofluid over a Stretching Surface Inspired by Non-Linear Thermal Radiation.

PubMed

Mustafa, M; Mushtaq, A; Hayat, T; Alsaedi, A

2016-01-01

Present study explores the MHD three-dimensional rotating flow and heat transfer of ferrofluid induced by a radiative surface. The base fluid is considered as water with magnetite-Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Novel concept of non-linear radiative heat flux is considered which produces a non-linear energy equation in temperature field. Conventional transformations are employed to obtain the self-similar form of the governing differential system. The arising system involves an interesting temperature ratio parameter which is an indicator of small/large temperature differences in the flow. Numerical simulations with high precision are determined by well-known shooting approach. Both uniform stretching and rotation have significant impact on the solutions. The variation in velocity components with the nanoparticle volume fraction is non-monotonic. Local Nusselt number in Fe3O4-water ferrofluid is larger in comparison to the pure fluid even at low particle concentration.

Size-dependent electronic structure controls activity for ethanol electro-oxidation at Ptn/indium tin oxide (n = 1 to 14).

PubMed

von Weber, Alexander; Baxter, Eric T; Proch, Sebastian; Kane, Matthew D; Rosenfelder, Michael; White, Henry S; Anderson, Scott L

2015-07-21

Understanding the factors that control electrochemical catalysis is essential to improving performance. We report a study of electrocatalytic ethanol oxidation - a process important for direct ethanol fuel cells - over size-selected Pt centers ranging from single atoms to Pt14. Model electrodes were prepared by soft-landing of mass-selected Ptn(+) on indium tin oxide (ITO) supports in ultrahigh vacuum, and transferred to an in situ electrochemical cell without exposure to air. Each electrode had identical Pt coverage, and differed only in the size of Pt clusters deposited. The small Ptn have activities that vary strongly, and non-monotonically with deposited size. Activity per gram Pt ranges up to ten times higher than that of 5 to 10 nm Pt particles dispersed on ITO. Activity is anti-correlated with the Pt 4d core orbital binding energy, indicating that electron rich clusters are essential for high activity.

Controlling periodic ripple microstructure formation on 4H-SiC crystal with three time-delayed femtosecond laser beams of different linear polarizations.

PubMed

He, Wanlin; Yang, Jianjun; Guo, Chunlei

2017-03-06

The control of laser-induced periodic ripple microstructures on 4H-SiC crystal surface is studied using temporally delayed collinear three femtosecond laser pulse trains linearly polarized in different directions. The ripple orientation appears to develop independent of the individual laser polarizations and exhibits non-monotonical change with variable time delays, whose variation tendency is also affected by the polarization intersection angles. Remarkably, the ripple period is observed to transfer from high- to low-spatial-frequency regions, accompanied by distinctly improved morphological uniformity and clearness. The results are satisfactorily interpreted based on a physical model of the surface wave excitation on a transient index metasurface, which is confirmed by further experiments. Our investigations indicate that transient noneqilibrium dynamics of the material surface provides an effective way to manipulate the laser-induced microstructures.

Large Airborne Full Tensor Gradient Data Inversion Based on a Non-Monotone Gradient Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Yong; Meng, Zhaohai; Li, Fengting

2018-03-01

Following the development of gravity gradiometer instrument technology, the full tensor gravity (FTG) data can be acquired on airborne and marine platforms. Large-scale geophysical data can be obtained using these methods, making such data sets a number of the "big data" category. Therefore, a fast and effective inversion method is developed to solve the large-scale FTG data inversion problem. Many algorithms are available to accelerate the FTG data inversion, such as conjugate gradient method. However, the conventional conjugate gradient method takes a long time to complete data processing. Thus, a fast and effective iterative algorithm is necessary to improve the utilization of FTG data. Generally, inversion processing is formulated by incorporating regularizing constraints, followed by the introduction of a non-monotone gradient-descent method to accelerate the convergence rate of FTG data inversion. Compared with the conventional gradient method, the steepest descent gradient algorithm, and the conjugate gradient algorithm, there are clear advantages of the non-monotone iterative gradient-descent algorithm. Simulated and field FTG data were applied to show the application value of this new fast inversion method.

Equilibrium oxygen storage capacity of ultrathin CeO 2-δ depends non-monotonically on large biaxial strain

DOE PAGES

Gopal, Chirranjeevi Balaji; Garcia-Melchor, Max; Lee, Sang Chul; ...

2017-05-18

Elastic strain is being increasingly employed to enhance the catalytic properties of mixed ion–electron conducting oxides. However, its effect on oxygen storage capacity is not well established. Here, we fabricate ultrathin, coherently strained films of CeO 2-δ between 5.6% biaxial compression and 2.1% tension. In situ ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals up to a fourfold enhancement in equilibrium oxygen storage capacity under both compression and tension. This non-monotonic variation with strain departs from the conventional wisdom based on a chemical expansion dominated behaviour. Through depth profiling, film thickness variations and a coupled photoemission–thermodynamic analysis of space-charge effects, we showmore » that the enhanced reducibility is not dominated by interfacial effects. On the basis of ab initio calculations of oxygen vacancy formation incorporating defect interactions and vibrational contributions, we suggest that the non-monotonicity arises from the tetragonal distortion under large biaxial strain. Finally, these results may guide the rational engineering of multilayer and core–shell oxide nanomaterials.« less

Maximizing Submodular Functions under Matroid Constraints by Evolutionary Algorithms.

PubMed

Friedrich, Tobias; Neumann, Frank

2015-01-01

Many combinatorial optimization problems have underlying goal functions that are submodular. The classical goal is to find a good solution for a given submodular function f under a given set of constraints. In this paper, we investigate the runtime of a simple single objective evolutionary algorithm called (1 + 1) EA and a multiobjective evolutionary algorithm called GSEMO until they have obtained a good approximation for submodular functions. For the case of monotone submodular functions and uniform cardinality constraints, we show that the GSEMO achieves a (1 - 1/e)-approximation in expected polynomial time. For the case of monotone functions where the constraints are given by the intersection of K ≥ 2 matroids, we show that the (1 + 1) EA achieves a (1/k + δ)-approximation in expected polynomial time for any constant δ > 0. Turning to nonmonotone symmetric submodular functions with k ≥ 1 matroid intersection constraints, we show that the GSEMO achieves a 1/((k + 2)(1 + ε))-approximation in expected time O(n(k + 6)log(n)/ε.

Theoretical investigation on the magnetostatic interaction between two wire-tube nanostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riveros, A.; Salazar-Aravena, D.; Escrig, J.

2017-04-01

In this paper we have calculated analytically the magnetostatic interaction between two wire-tube nanostructures as a function of their magnetic and geometric parameters. As expected, the interaction energy increases as the nanostructures approach, but interestingly when the nanostructures are close enough, a non-monotonic behavior with the wire-tube portions is reported. Besides, we investigate the hysteresis loop for two interacting Ni81Fe19 wire-tube nanostructures by micromagnetic simulations in order to study how the interaction affects the magnetic properties of these nanostructures. This work allows for the study of magnetostatic interactions between wire-tube nanostructures that have been proposed as an interesting alternative to store information or even perform logic functions, because to their ability to pin a domain wall.

Directed translocation of a flexible polymer through a cone-shaped nano-channel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nikoofard, Narges; Khalilian, Hamidreza; Fazli, Hossein

2013-08-01

Translocation of a flexible polymer through a cone-shaped channel is studied, theoretically and using computer simulations. Our simulations show that the shape of the channel causes the polymer translocation to be a driven process. The effective driving force of entropic origin acting on the polymer is calculated as a function of the length and the apex-angle of the channel, theoretically. It is found that the translocation time is a non-monotonic function of the apex-angle of the channel. By increasing the apex-angle from zero, the translocation time shows a minimum and then a maximum. Also, it is found that regardless of the value of the apex-angle, the translocation time is a uniformly decreasing function of the channel length. The results of the theory and the simulation are in good qualitative agreement.

Global asymptotic stability analysis of bidirectional associative memory neural networks with time delays.

PubMed

Arik, Sabri

2005-05-01

This paper presents a sufficient condition for the existence, uniqueness and global asymptotic stability of the equilibrium point for bidirectional associative memory (BAM) neural networks with distributed time delays. The results impose constraint conditions on the network parameters of neural system independently of the delay parameter, and they are applicable to all continuous nonmonotonic neuron activation functions. It is shown that in some special cases of the results, the stability criteria can be easily checked. Some examples are also given to compare the results with the previous results derived in the literature.

Logical Form as a Determinant of Cognitive Processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Lambalgen, Michiel

We discuss a research program on reasoning patterns in subjects with autism, showing that they fail to engage in certain forms of non-monotonic reasoning that come naturally to neurotypical subjects. The striking reasoning patterns of autists occur both in verbal and in non-verbal tasks. Upon formalising the relevant non-verbal tasks, one sees that their logical form is the same as that of the verbal tasks. This suggests that logical form can play a causal role in cognitive processes, and we suggest that this logical form is actually embodied in the cognitive capacity called 'executive function'.

Sakiadis flow of Maxwell fluid considering magnetic field and convective boundary conditions

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

Mustafa, M., E-mail: meraj-mm@hotmail.com; Khan, Junaid Ahmad; Hayat, T.

2015-02-15

In this paper we address the flow of Maxwell fluid due to constantly moving flat radiative surface with convective condition. The flow is under the influence of non-uniform transverse magnetic field. The velocity and temperature distributions have been evaluated numerically by shooting approach. The solution depends on various interesting parameters including local Deborah number De, magnetic field parameter M, Prandtl number Pr and Biot number Bi. We found that variation in velocity with an increase in local Deborah number De is non-monotonic. However temperature is a decreasing function of local Deborah number De.

Anomalous thermomechanical properties of a self-propelled colloidal fluid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mallory, S. A.; Šarić, A.; Valeriani, C.; Cacciuto, A.

2014-05-01

We use numerical simulations to compute the equation of state of a suspension of spherical self-propelled nanoparticles in two and three dimensions. We study in detail the effect of excluded volume interactions and confinement as a function of the system's temperature, concentration, and strength of the propulsion. We find a striking nonmonotonic dependence of the pressure on the temperature and provide simple scaling arguments to predict and explain the occurrence of such anomalous behavior. We explicitly show how our results have important implications for the effective forces on passive components suspended in a bath of active particles.

Value Iteration Adaptive Dynamic Programming for Optimal Control of Discrete-Time Nonlinear Systems.

PubMed

Wei, Qinglai; Liu, Derong; Lin, Hanquan

2016-03-01

In this paper, a value iteration adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) algorithm is developed to solve infinite horizon undiscounted optimal control problems for discrete-time nonlinear systems. The present value iteration ADP algorithm permits an arbitrary positive semi-definite function to initialize the algorithm. A novel convergence analysis is developed to guarantee that the iterative value function converges to the optimal performance index function. Initialized by different initial functions, it is proven that the iterative value function will be monotonically nonincreasing, monotonically nondecreasing, or nonmonotonic and will converge to the optimum. In this paper, for the first time, the admissibility properties of the iterative control laws are developed for value iteration algorithms. It is emphasized that new termination criteria are established to guarantee the effectiveness of the iterative control laws. Neural networks are used to approximate the iterative value function and compute the iterative control law, respectively, for facilitating the implementation of the iterative ADP algorithm. Finally, two simulation examples are given to illustrate the performance of the present method.

Self-consistent signal-to-noise analysis of the statistical behavior of analog neural networks and enhancement of the storage capacity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shiino, Masatoshi; Fukai, Tomoki

1993-08-01

Based on the self-consistent signal-to-noise analysis (SCSNA) capable of dealing with analog neural networks with a wide class of transfer functions, enhancement of the storage capacity of associative memory and the related statistical properties of neural networks are studied for random memory patterns. Two types of transfer functions with the threshold parameter θ are considered, which are derived from the sigmoidal one to represent the output of three-state neurons. Neural networks having a monotonically increasing transfer function FM, FM(u)=sgnu (||u||>θ), FM(u)=0 (||u||<=θ), are shown to make it impossible for the spin-glass state to coexist with retrieval states in a certain parameter region of θ and α (loading rate of memory patterns), implying the reduction of the number of spurious states. The behavior of the storage capacity with changing θ is qualitatively the same as that of the Ising spin neural networks with varying temperature. On the other hand, the nonmonotonic transfer function FNM, FNM(u)=sgnu (||u||<θ), FNM(u)=0 (||u||>=θ) gives rise to remarkable features in several respects. First, it yields a large enhancement of the storage capacity compared with the Amit-Gutfreund-Sompolinsky (AGS) value: with decreasing θ from θ=∞, the storage capacity αc of such a network is increased from the AGS value (~=0.14) to attain its maximum value of ~=0.42 at θ~=0.7 and afterwards is decreased to vanish at θ=0. Whereas for θ>~1 the storage capacity αc coincides with the value αc~ determined by the SCSNA as the upper bound of α ensuring the existence of retrieval solutions, for θ<~1 the αc is shown to differ from the αc~ with the result that the retrieval solutions claimed by the SCSNA are unstable for αc<α<αc~. Second, in the case of θ<1 the network can exhibit a new type of phase which appears as a result of a phase transition with respect to the non-Gaussian distribution of the local fields of neurons: the standard type of retrieval state with r≠0 (i.e., finite width of the local field distribution), which is implied by the order-parameter equations of the SCSNA, disappears at a certain critical loading rate α0, and for α<=α0 a qualitatively different type of retrieval state comes into existence in which the width of the local field distribution vanishes (i.e., r=0+). As a consequence, memory retrieval without errors becomes possible even in the saturation limit α≠0. Results of the computer simulations on the statistical properties of the novel phase with α<=α0 are shown to be in satisfactory agreement with the theoretical results. The effect of introducing self-couplings on the storage capacity is also analyzed for the two types of networks. It is conspicuous for the networks with FNM, where the self-couplings increase the stability of the retrieval solutions of the SCSNA with small values of θ, leading to a remarkable enhancement of the storage capacity.

Interface failure modes explain non-monotonic size-dependent mechanical properties in bioinspired nanolaminates.

PubMed

Song, Z Q; Ni, Y; Peng, L M; Liang, H Y; He, L H

2016-03-31

Bioinspired discontinuous nanolaminate design becomes an efficient way to mitigate the strength-ductility tradeoff in brittle materials via arresting the crack at the interface followed by controllable interface failure. The analytical solution and numerical simulation based on the nonlinear shear-lag model indicates that propagation of the interface failure can be unstable or stable when the interfacial shear stress between laminae is uniform or highly localized, respectively. A dimensionless key parameter defined by the ratio of two characteristic lengths governs the transition between the two interface-failure modes, which can explain the non-monotonic size-dependent mechanical properties observed in various laminate composites.

On the connection between nonmonotonic taste behavior and molecular conformation in solution: The case of rebaudioside-A.

PubMed

Chopade, Prashant D; Sarma, Bipul; Santiso, Erik E; Simpson, Jeffrey; Fry, John C; Yurttas, Nese; Biermann, Kari L; Chen, Jie; Trout, Bernhardt L; Myerson, Allan S

2015-12-28

The diterpene steviol glycoside, rebaudioside A, is a natural high potency non-caloric sweetener extracted from the leaves of Stevia rebaudiana. This compound shows a parabolic change in sweet taste intensity with temperature which contrasts with the general finding for other synthetic or natural sweeteners whose sweet taste increases with temperature. The nonmonotonic taste behavior was determined by sensory analysis using large taste panels. The conformational landscape of rebaudioside A was established at a range of temperatures by means of nuclear magnetic resonance and molecular dynamics simulation. The relationship between various conformations and the observed sweetness of rebaudioside A is described.

On the connection between nonmonotonic taste behavior and molecular conformation in solution: The case of rebaudioside-A

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chopade, Prashant D.; Sarma, Bipul; Santiso, Erik E.; Simpson, Jeffrey; Fry, John C.; Yurttas, Nese; Biermann, Kari L.; Chen, Jie; Trout, Bernhardt L.; Myerson, Allan S.

2015-12-01

The diterpene steviol glycoside, rebaudioside A, is a natural high potency non-caloric sweetener extracted from the leaves of Stevia rebaudiana. This compound shows a parabolic change in sweet taste intensity with temperature which contrasts with the general finding for other synthetic or natural sweeteners whose sweet taste increases with temperature. The nonmonotonic taste behavior was determined by sensory analysis using large taste panels. The conformational landscape of rebaudioside A was established at a range of temperatures by means of nuclear magnetic resonance and molecular dynamics simulation. The relationship between various conformations and the observed sweetness of rebaudioside A is described.

On the connection between nonmonotonic taste behavior and molecular conformation in solution: The case of rebaudioside-A

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

Chopade, Prashant D.; Sarma, Bipul; Santiso, Erik E.

The diterpene steviol glycoside, rebaudioside A, is a natural high potency non-caloric sweetener extracted from the leaves of Stevia rebaudiana. This compound shows a parabolic change in sweet taste intensity with temperature which contrasts with the general finding for other synthetic or natural sweeteners whose sweet taste increases with temperature. The nonmonotonic taste behavior was determined by sensory analysis using large taste panels. The conformational landscape of rebaudioside A was established at a range of temperatures by means of nuclear magnetic resonance and molecular dynamics simulation. The relationship between various conformations and the observed sweetness of rebaudioside A is described.

Onset of dissolution-driven instabilities in fluids with nonmonotonic density profile

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jafari Raad, Seyed Mostafa; Hassanzadeh, Hassan

2015-11-01

Analog systems have recently been used in several experiments in the context of convective mixing of C O2 . We generalize the nonmonotonic density dependence of the growth of instabilities and provide a scaling relation for the onset of instability. The results of linear stability analysis and direct numerical simulations show that these fluids do not resemble the dynamics of C O2 -water convective instabilities. A typical analog system, such as water-propylene glycol, is found to be less unstable than C O2 -water. These results provide a basis for further research and proper selection of analog systems and are essential to the interpretation of experiments.

Hydrogen ion block of the sodium pore in squid giant axons

PubMed Central

1983-01-01

The block of squid axon sodium channels by H ions was studied using voltage-clamp and internal perfusion techniques. An increase in the concentration of internal permeant ions decreased the block produced by external H ions. The voltage dependence of the block was found to be nonmonotonic: it was reduced by both large positive and large negative potentials. The ability of internal ions to modify the block by external H+ is explained by a competition among these ions for a binding site within the pore. The nonmonotonic voltage dependence is consistent with this picture if the hydrogen ions are allowed to be permeant. PMID:6315859

Probabilistic assessment method of the non-monotonic dose-responses-Part I: Methodological approach.

PubMed

Chevillotte, Grégoire; Bernard, Audrey; Varret, Clémence; Ballet, Pascal; Bodin, Laurent; Roudot, Alain-Claude

2017-08-01

More and more studies aim to characterize non-monotonic dose response curves (NMDRCs). The greatest difficulty is to assess the statistical plausibility of NMDRCs from previously conducted dose response studies. This difficulty is linked to the fact that these studies present (i) few doses tested, (ii) a low sample size per dose, and (iii) the absence of any raw data. In this study, we propose a new methodological approach to probabilistically characterize NMDRCs. The methodology is composed of three main steps: (i) sampling from summary data to cover all the possibilities that may be presented by the responses measured by dose and to obtain a new raw database, (ii) statistical analysis of each sampled dose-response curve to characterize the slopes and their signs, and (iii) characterization of these dose-response curves according to the variation of the sign in the slope. This method allows characterizing all types of dose-response curves and can be applied both to continuous data and to discrete data. The aim of this study is to present the general principle of this probabilistic method which allows to assess the non-monotonic dose responses curves, and to present some results. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nonmonotonic pressure evolution of the upper critical field in superconducting FeSe

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

Kaluarachchi, Udhara S.; Taufour, Valentin; Böhmer, Anna E.

2016-02-01

The pressure dependence of the upper critical field, H c2,c, of single crystalline FeSe was studied using measurements of the interplane resistivity, ρ c, in magnetic fields parallel to tetragonal c axis. H c2,c(T) curves obtained under hydrostatic pressures up to 1.56 GPa, the range over which the superconducting transition temperature, T c, of FeSe exhibits a nonmonotonic dependence with local maximum at p 1 ≈ 0.8 GPa and local minimum at p 2 ≈ 1.2 GPa. The slope of the upper critical field at T c,(dH c2,c/dT)T c, also exhibits a nonmonotonic pressure dependence with distinct changes at pmore » 1 and p 2. For p < p 1 the slope can be described within a multiband orbital model. For both p 1 < p < p 2 and p > p 2 the slope is in good semiquantitative agreement with a single band, orbital Helfand-Werthamer theory with Fermi velocities determined from Shubnikov–de Haas measurements. Lastly, this finding indicates that Fermi surface changes are responsible for the local minimum of T c(p) at p 2 ≈ 1.2 GPa.« less

Inverse-Probability-Weighted Estimation for Monotone and Nonmonotone Missing Data.

PubMed

Sun, BaoLuo; Perkins, Neil J; Cole, Stephen R; Harel, Ofer; Mitchell, Emily M; Schisterman, Enrique F; Tchetgen Tchetgen, Eric J

2018-03-01

Missing data is a common occurrence in epidemiologic research. In this paper, 3 data sets with induced missing values from the Collaborative Perinatal Project, a multisite US study conducted from 1959 to 1974, are provided as examples of prototypical epidemiologic studies with missing data. Our goal was to estimate the association of maternal smoking behavior with spontaneous abortion while adjusting for numerous confounders. At the same time, we did not necessarily wish to evaluate the joint distribution among potentially unobserved covariates, which is seldom the subject of substantive scientific interest. The inverse probability weighting (IPW) approach preserves the semiparametric structure of the underlying model of substantive interest and clearly separates the model of substantive interest from the model used to account for the missing data. However, IPW often will not result in valid inference if the missing-data pattern is nonmonotone, even if the data are missing at random. We describe a recently proposed approach to modeling nonmonotone missing-data mechanisms under missingness at random to use in constructing the weights in IPW complete-case estimation, and we illustrate the approach using 3 data sets described in a companion article (Am J Epidemiol. 2018;187(3):568-575).

Inverse-Probability-Weighted Estimation for Monotone and Nonmonotone Missing Data

PubMed Central

Sun, BaoLuo; Perkins, Neil J; Cole, Stephen R; Harel, Ofer; Mitchell, Emily M; Schisterman, Enrique F; Tchetgen Tchetgen, Eric J

2018-01-01

Abstract Missing data is a common occurrence in epidemiologic research. In this paper, 3 data sets with induced missing values from the Collaborative Perinatal Project, a multisite US study conducted from 1959 to 1974, are provided as examples of prototypical epidemiologic studies with missing data. Our goal was to estimate the association of maternal smoking behavior with spontaneous abortion while adjusting for numerous confounders. At the same time, we did not necessarily wish to evaluate the joint distribution among potentially unobserved covariates, which is seldom the subject of substantive scientific interest. The inverse probability weighting (IPW) approach preserves the semiparametric structure of the underlying model of substantive interest and clearly separates the model of substantive interest from the model used to account for the missing data. However, IPW often will not result in valid inference if the missing-data pattern is nonmonotone, even if the data are missing at random. We describe a recently proposed approach to modeling nonmonotone missing-data mechanisms under missingness at random to use in constructing the weights in IPW complete-case estimation, and we illustrate the approach using 3 data sets described in a companion article (Am J Epidemiol. 2018;187(3):568–575). PMID:29165557

Miscible gravitational instability of initially stable horizontal interface in a porous medium: Non-monotonic density profiles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Min Chan

2014-11-01

To simulate a CO2 sequestration process, some researchers employed a water/propylene glycol (PPG) system which shows a non-monotonic density profile. Motivated by this fact, the stability of the diffusion layer of two miscible fluids saturated in a porous medium is analyzed. For a non-monotonic density profile system, linear stability equations are derived in a global domain, and then transformed into a system of ordinary differential equations in an infinite domain. Initial growth rate analysis is conducted without the quasi-steady state approximation (QSSA) and shows that initially the system is unconditionally stable for the least stable disturbance. For the time evolving case, the ordinary differential equations are solved applying the eigen-analysis and numerical shooting scheme with and without the QSSA. To support these theoretical results, direct numerical simulations are conducted using the Fourier spectral method. The results of theoretical linear stability analyses and numerical simulations validate one another. The present linear and nonlinear analyses show that the water/PPG system is more unstable than the CO2/brine one, and the flow characteristics of these two systems are quite different from each other.

Thermodynamics in the vicinity of a relativistic quantum critical point in 2+1 dimensions.

PubMed

Rançon, A; Kodio, O; Dupuis, N; Lecheminant, P

2013-07-01

We study the thermodynamics of the relativistic quantum O(N) model in two space dimensions. In the vicinity of the zero-temperature quantum critical point (QCP), the pressure can be written in the scaling form P(T)=P(0)+N(T(3)/c(2))F(N)(Δ/T), where c is the velocity of the excitations at the QCP and |Δ| a characteristic zero-temperature energy scale. Using both a large-N approach to leading order and the nonperturbative renormalization group, we compute the universal scaling function F(N). For small values of N (N/~1) regimes, but fails to describe the nonmonotonic behavior of F(N) in the quantum critical regime. We discuss the renormalization-group flows in the various regimes near the QCP and make the connection with the quantum nonlinear sigma model in the renormalized classical regime. We compute the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature in the quantum O(2) model and find that in the vicinity of the QCP the universal ratio T(BKT)/ρ(s)(0) is very close to π/2, implying that the stiffness ρ(s)(T(BKT)(-)) at the transition is only slightly reduced with respect to the zero-temperature stiffness ρ(s)(0). Finally, we briefly discuss the experimental determination of the universal function F(2) from the pressure of a Bose gas in an optical lattice near the superfluid-Mott-insulator transition.

Flame thickness and conditional scalar dissipation rate in a premixed temporal turbulent reacting jet

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

Chaudhuri, Swetaprovo; Kolla, Hemanth; Dave, Himanshu L.

The flame structure corresponding to lean hydrogen–air premixed flames in intense sheared turbulence in the thin reaction zone regime is quantified from flame thickness and conditional scalar dissipation rate statistics, obtained from recent direct numerical simulation data of premixed temporally-evolving turbulent slot jet flames. It is found that, on average, these sheared turbulent flames are thinner than their corresponding planar laminar flames. Extensive analysis is performed to identify the reason for this counter-intuitive thinning effect. The factors controlling the flame thickness are analyzed through two different routes i.e., the kinematic route, and the transport and chemical kinetics route. The kinematicmore » route is examined by comparing the statistics of the normal strain rate due to fluid motion with the statistics of the normal strain rate due to varying flame displacement speed or self-propagation. It is found that while the fluid normal straining is positive and tends to separate iso-scalar surfaces, the dominating normal strain rate due to self-propagation is negative and tends to bring the iso-scalar surfaces closer resulting in overall thinning of the flame. The transport and chemical kinetics route is examined by studying the non-unity Lewis number effect on the premixed flames. The effects from the kinematic route are found to couple with the transport and chemical kinetics route. In addition, the intermittency of the conditional scalar dissipation rate is also examined. It is found to exhibit a unique non-monotonicity of the exponent of the stretched exponential function, conventionally used to describe probability density function tails of such variables. As a result, the non-monotonicity is attributed to the detailed chemical structure of hydrogen-air flames in which heat release occurs close to the unburnt reactants at near free-stream temperatures.« less

Flame thickness and conditional scalar dissipation rate in a premixed temporal turbulent reacting jet

DOE PAGES

Chaudhuri, Swetaprovo; Kolla, Hemanth; Dave, Himanshu L.; ...

2017-07-07

The flame structure corresponding to lean hydrogen–air premixed flames in intense sheared turbulence in the thin reaction zone regime is quantified from flame thickness and conditional scalar dissipation rate statistics, obtained from recent direct numerical simulation data of premixed temporally-evolving turbulent slot jet flames. It is found that, on average, these sheared turbulent flames are thinner than their corresponding planar laminar flames. Extensive analysis is performed to identify the reason for this counter-intuitive thinning effect. The factors controlling the flame thickness are analyzed through two different routes i.e., the kinematic route, and the transport and chemical kinetics route. The kinematicmore » route is examined by comparing the statistics of the normal strain rate due to fluid motion with the statistics of the normal strain rate due to varying flame displacement speed or self-propagation. It is found that while the fluid normal straining is positive and tends to separate iso-scalar surfaces, the dominating normal strain rate due to self-propagation is negative and tends to bring the iso-scalar surfaces closer resulting in overall thinning of the flame. The transport and chemical kinetics route is examined by studying the non-unity Lewis number effect on the premixed flames. The effects from the kinematic route are found to couple with the transport and chemical kinetics route. In addition, the intermittency of the conditional scalar dissipation rate is also examined. It is found to exhibit a unique non-monotonicity of the exponent of the stretched exponential function, conventionally used to describe probability density function tails of such variables. As a result, the non-monotonicity is attributed to the detailed chemical structure of hydrogen-air flames in which heat release occurs close to the unburnt reactants at near free-stream temperatures.« less

Fracture mechanics modeling of popping event during daughter cell separation.

PubMed

Jiang, Yuxuan; Liang, Xudong; Guo, Ming; Cao, Yanping; Cai, Shengqiang

2018-05-10

Most bacteria cells divide by binary fission which is part of a bacteria cell cycle and requires tight regulations and precise coordination. Fast separation of Staphylococcus Aureus (S. Aureus) daughter cells, named as popping event, has been observed in recent experiments. The popping event was proposed to be driven by mechanical crack propagation in the peripheral ring which connected two daughter cells before their separation. It has also been shown that after the fast separation, a small portion of the peripheral ring was left as a hinge. In the article, we develop a fracture mechanics model for the crack growth in the peripheral ring during S. Aureus daughter cell separation. In particular, using finite element analysis, we calculate the energy release rate associated with the crack growth in the peripheral ring, when daughter cells are inflated by a uniform turgor pressure inside. Our results show that with a fixed inflation of daughter cells, the energy release rate depends on the crack length non-monotonically. The energy release rate reaches a maximum value for a crack of an intermediate length. The non-monotonic relationship between the energy release rate and crack length clearly indicates that the crack propagation in the peripheral ring can be unstable. The computed energy release rate as a function of crack length can also be used to explain the existence of a small portion of peripheral ring remained as hinge after the popping event.

Quantum phase transition with dissipative frustration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maile, D.; Andergassen, S.; Belzig, W.; Rastelli, G.

2018-04-01

We study the quantum phase transition of the one-dimensional phase model in the presence of dissipative frustration, provided by an interaction of the system with the environment through two noncommuting operators. Such a model can be realized in Josephson junction chains with shunt resistances and resistances between the chain and the ground. Using a self-consistent harmonic approximation, we determine the phase diagram at zero temperature which exhibits a quantum phase transition between an ordered phase, corresponding to the superconducting state, and a disordered phase, corresponding to the insulating state with localized superconducting charge. Interestingly, we find that the critical line separating the two phases has a nonmonotonic behavior as a function of the dissipative coupling strength. This result is a consequence of the frustration between (i) one dissipative coupling that quenches the quantum phase fluctuations favoring the ordered phase and (ii) one that quenches the quantum momentum (charge) fluctuations leading to a vanishing phase coherence. Moreover, within the self-consistent harmonic approximation, we analyze the dissipation induced crossover between a first and second order phase transition, showing that quantum frustration increases the range in which the phase transition is second order. The nonmonotonic behavior is reflected also in the purity of the system that quantifies the degree of correlation between the system and the environment, and in the logarithmic negativity as an entanglement measure that encodes the internal quantum correlations in the chain.

Gelation And Mechanical Response of Patchy Rods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kazem, Navid; Majidi, Carmel; Maloney, Craig

We perform Brownian Dynamics simulations to study the gelation of suspensions of attractive, rod-like particles. We show that details of the particle-particle interactions can dramatically affect the dynamics of gelation and the structure and mechanics of the networks that form. If the attraction between the rods is perfectly smooth along their length, they will collapse into compact bundles. If the attraction is sufficiently corrugated or patchy, over time, a rigid space spanning network forms. We study the structure and mechanical properties of the networks that form as a function of the fraction of the surface that is allowed to bind. Surprisingly, the structural and mechanical properties are non-monotonic in the surface coverage. At low coverage, there are not a sufficient number of cross-linking sites to form networks. At high coverage, rods bundle and form disconnected clusters. At intermediate coverage, robust networks form. The elastic modulus and yield stress are both non-monotonic in the surface coverage. The stiffest and strongest networks show an essentially homogeneous deformation under strain with rods re-orienting along the extensional axis. Weaker, clumpy networks at high surface coverage exhibit relatively little re-orienting with strong non-affine deformation. These results suggest design strategies for tailoring surface interactions between rods to yield rigid networks with optimal properties. National Science Foundation and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

Elliptic flow in heavy-ion collisions at energies √{sN N}=2.7 - 39 GeV

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ivanov, Yu. B.; Soldatov, A. A.

2015-02-01

The transverse-momentum-integrated elliptic flow of charged particles at midrapidity, v2(charged), and that of identified hadrons from Au +Au collisions are computed in a wide range of incident energies 2.7 ≤√{sN N}≤ 39 GeV. The simulations are performed within a three-fluid model by employing three different equations of state (EoSs): a purely hadronic EoS and two versions of the EoS involving the deconfinement transition—a first-order phase transition and a smooth crossover one. The present simulations demonstrate low sensitivity of v2(charged) to the EoS. All considered scenarios equally well reproduce recent STAR data on v2(charged) for mid-central Au +Au collisions and properly describe its change of sign at the incident energy decrease below √{sN N}≈ 3.5 GeV. The predicted integrated elliptic flow of various species exhibits a stronger dependence on the EoS. A noticeable sensitivity to the EoS is found for antibaryons and, to a lesser extent, for K- mesons. In particular, the v2 excitation functions of antibaryons exhibit a nonmonotonicity within the deconfinement scenarios that was predicted by Kolb, Sollfrank, and Heinz. However, low multiplicities of antibaryons at √{sN N}≤ 10 GeV result in large fluctuations of their v2, which may wash out this nonmonotonicity.

Evolution of nano-rheological properties of Nafion¯ thin films during pH modification by strong base treatment: A static and dynamic force spectroscopy study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eslami, Babak; López-Guerra, Enrique A.; Raftari, Maryam; Solares, Santiago D.

2016-04-01

Addition of a strong base to Nafion® proton exchange membranes is a common practice in industry to increase their overall performance in fuel cells. Here, we investigate the evolution of the nano-rheological properties of Nafion thin films as a function of the casting pH, via characterization with static and dynamic, contact and intermittent-contact atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques. The addition of KOH causes non-monotonic changes in the viscoelastic properties of the films, which behave as highly dissipative, softer materials near neutral pH values, and as harder, more elastic materials at extreme pH values. We quantify this behavior through calculation of the temporal evolution of the compliance and the glassy compliance under static AFM measurements. We complement these observations with dynamic AFM metrics, including dissipated power and virial (for intermittent-contact-mode measurements), and contact resonance frequency and quality factor (for dynamic contact-mode measurements). We explain the non-monotonic material property behavior in terms of the degree of ionic crosslinking and moisture content of the films, which vary with the addition of KOH. This work focuses on the special case study of the addition of strong bases, but the observed mechanical property changes are broadly related to water plasticizing effects and ionic crosslinking, which are also important in other types of films.

Mapping axonal density and average diameter using non-monotonic time-dependent gradient-echo MRI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nunes, Daniel; Cruz, Tomás L.; Jespersen, Sune N.; Shemesh, Noam

2017-04-01

White Matter (WM) microstructures, such as axonal density and average diameter, are crucial to the normal function of the Central Nervous System (CNS) as they are closely related with axonal conduction velocities. Conversely, disruptions of these microstructural features may result in severe neurological deficits, suggesting that their noninvasive mapping could be an important step towards diagnosing and following pathophysiology. Whereas diffusion based MRI methods have been proposed to map these features, they typically entail the application of powerful gradients, which are rarely available in the clinic, or extremely long acquisition schemes to extract information from parameter-intensive models. In this study, we suggest that simple and time-efficient multi-gradient-echo (MGE) MRI can be used to extract the axon density from susceptibility-driven non-monotonic decay in the time-dependent signal. We show, both theoretically and with simulations, that a non-monotonic signal decay will occur for multi-compartmental microstructures - such as axons and extra-axonal spaces, which were here used as a simple model for the microstructure - and that, for axons parallel to the main magnetic field, the axonal density can be extracted. We then experimentally demonstrate in ex-vivo rat spinal cords that its different tracts - characterized by different microstructures - can be clearly contrasted using the MGE-derived maps. When the quantitative results are compared against ground-truth histology, they reflect the axonal fraction (though with a bias, as evident from Bland-Altman analysis). As well, the extra-axonal fraction can be estimated. The results suggest that our model is oversimplified, yet at the same time evidencing a potential and usefulness of the approach to map underlying microstructures using a simple and time-efficient MRI sequence. We further show that a simple general-linear-model can predict the average axonal diameters from the four model parameters, and map these average axonal diameters in the spinal cords. While clearly further modelling and theoretical developments are necessary, we conclude that salient WM microstructural features can be extracted from simple, SNR-efficient multi-gradient echo MRI, and that this paves the way towards easier estimation of WM microstructure in vivo.

Mapping axonal density and average diameter using non-monotonic time-dependent gradient-echo MRI.

PubMed

Nunes, Daniel; Cruz, Tomás L; Jespersen, Sune N; Shemesh, Noam

2017-04-01

White Matter (WM) microstructures, such as axonal density and average diameter, are crucial to the normal function of the Central Nervous System (CNS) as they are closely related with axonal conduction velocities. Conversely, disruptions of these microstructural features may result in severe neurological deficits, suggesting that their noninvasive mapping could be an important step towards diagnosing and following pathophysiology. Whereas diffusion based MRI methods have been proposed to map these features, they typically entail the application of powerful gradients, which are rarely available in the clinic, or extremely long acquisition schemes to extract information from parameter-intensive models. In this study, we suggest that simple and time-efficient multi-gradient-echo (MGE) MRI can be used to extract the axon density from susceptibility-driven non-monotonic decay in the time-dependent signal. We show, both theoretically and with simulations, that a non-monotonic signal decay will occur for multi-compartmental microstructures - such as axons and extra-axonal spaces, which were here used as a simple model for the microstructure - and that, for axons parallel to the main magnetic field, the axonal density can be extracted. We then experimentally demonstrate in ex-vivo rat spinal cords that its different tracts - characterized by different microstructures - can be clearly contrasted using the MGE-derived maps. When the quantitative results are compared against ground-truth histology, they reflect the axonal fraction (though with a bias, as evident from Bland-Altman analysis). As well, the extra-axonal fraction can be estimated. The results suggest that our model is oversimplified, yet at the same time evidencing a potential and usefulness of the approach to map underlying microstructures using a simple and time-efficient MRI sequence. We further show that a simple general-linear-model can predict the average axonal diameters from the four model parameters, and map these average axonal diameters in the spinal cords. While clearly further modelling and theoretical developments are necessary, we conclude that salient WM microstructural features can be extracted from simple, SNR-efficient multi-gradient echo MRI, and that this paves the way towards easier estimation of WM microstructure in vivo. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Charged particle layers in the Debye limit.

PubMed

Golden, Kenneth I; Kalman, Gabor J; Kyrkos, Stamatios

2002-09-01

We develop an equivalent of the Debye-Hückel weakly coupled equilibrium theory for layered classical charged particle systems composed of one single charged species. We consider the two most important configurations, the charged particle bilayer and the infinite superlattice. The approach is based on the link provided by the classical fluctuation-dissipation theorem between the random-phase approximation response functions and the Debye equilibrium pair correlation function. Layer-layer pair correlation functions, screened and polarization potentials, static structure functions, and static response functions are calculated. The importance of the perfect screening and compressibility sum rules in determining the overall behavior of the system, especially in the r--> infinity limit, is emphasized. The similarities and differences between the quasi-two-dimensional bilayer and the quasi-three-dimensional superlattice are highlighted. An unexpected behavior that emerges from the analysis is that the screened potential, the correlations, and the screening charges carried by the individual layers exhibit a marked nonmonotonic dependence on the layer separation.

Electrostatic interaction between dissimilar colloids at fluid interfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Majee, Arghya; Schmetzer, Timo; Bier, Markus

2018-04-01

The electrostatic interaction between two nonidentical, moderately charged colloids situated in close proximity of each other at a fluid interface is studied. By resorting to a well-justified model system, this problem is analytically solved within the framework of linearized Poisson-Boltzmann density functional theory. The resulting interaction comprises a surface and a line part, both of which, as functions of the interparticle separation, show a rich behavior including monotonic as well as nonmonotonic variations. In almost all cases, these variations cannot be captured correctly by using the superposition approximation. Moreover, expressions for the surface tensions, the line tensions and the fluid-fluid interfacial tension, which are all independent of the interparticle separation, are obtained. Our results are expected to be particularly useful for emulsions stabilized by oppositely charged particles.

Method of model reduction and multifidelity models for solute transport in random layered porous media

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

Xu, Zhijie; Tartakovsky, Alexandre M.

This work presents a hierarchical model for solute transport in bounded layered porous media with random permeability. The model generalizes the Taylor-Aris dispersion theory to stochastic transport in random layered porous media with a known velocity covariance function. In the hierarchical model, we represent (random) concentration in terms of its cross-sectional average and a variation function. We derive a one-dimensional stochastic advection-dispersion-type equation for the average concentration and a stochastic Poisson equation for the variation function, as well as expressions for the effective velocity and dispersion coefficient. We observe that velocity fluctuations enhance dispersion in a non-monotonic fashion: the dispersionmore » initially increases with correlation length λ, reaches a maximum, and decreases to zero at infinity. Maximum enhancement can be obtained at the correlation length about 0.25 the size of the porous media perpendicular to flow.« less

Laser induced non-monotonic degradation in short-circuit current of triple-junction solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dou, Peng-Cheng; Feng, Guo-Bin; Zhang, Jian-Min; Song, Ming-Ying; Zhang, Zhen; Li, Yun-Peng; Shi, Yu-Bin

2018-06-01

In order to study the continuous wave (CW) laser radiation effects and mechanism of GaInP/GaAs/Ge triple-junction solar cells (TJSCs), 1-on-1 mode irradiation experiments were carried out. It was found that the post-irradiation short circuit current (ISC) of the TJSCs initially decreased and then increased with increasing of irradiation laser power intensity. To explain this phenomenon, a theoretical model had been established and then verified by post-damage tests and equivalent circuit simulations. Conclusion was drawn that laser induced alterations in the surface reflection and shunt resistance were the main causes for the observed non-monotonic decrease in the ISC of the TJSCs.

Coinductive Logic Programming with Negation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Min, Richard; Gupta, Gopal

We introduce negation into coinductive logic programming (co-LP) via what we term Coinductive SLDNF (co-SLDNF) resolution. We present declarative and operational semantics of co-SLDNF resolution and present their equivalence under the restriction of rationality. Co-LP with co-SLDNF resolution provides a powerful, practical and efficient operational semantics for Fitting's Kripke-Kleene three-valued logic with restriction of rationality. Further, applications of co-SLDNF resolution are also discussed and illustrated where Co-SLDNF resolution allows one to develop elegant implementations of modal logics. Moreover it provides the capability of non-monotonic inference (e.g., predicate Answer Set Programming) that can be used to develop novel and effective first-order modal non-monotonic inference engines.

Nonmonotonic and anisotropic magnetoresistance effect in antiferromagnet CaMn2Bi2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kawaguchi, N.; Urata, T.; Hatano, T.; Iida, K.; Ikuta, H.

2018-04-01

We found a large and unique magnetoresistance (MR) effect for CaMn2Bi2 . When the magnetic field was applied along the crystallographic c axis at low temperatures, the resistivity increased with the magnetic field and the MR ratio reached several hundred percent, but then it decreased with further increasing the applied field. In addition, the angle dependence measurement revealed a strong anisotropy. This compound is an antiferromagnetic semiconductor with a narrow band gap, and Mn atoms form a corrugated honeycomb lattice. Therefore, a frustration among the magnetic moments is expected, and we propose that our observations can be understood by a nonmonotonic modulation of magnetic fluctuation under the magnetic field.

Magnetotransport properties of spin-valve structures with Mg spacer layers

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

Martinez-Boubeta, C., E-mail: cboubeta@gmail.com; Ferrante, Y.; Graduate School of Excellence, Materials Science in Mainz, 55128 Mainz

2015-01-19

A theoretical prediction by Wang et al. [Phys. Rev. B 82, 054405 (2010)] suggests the preferential transmission of majority-spin states with Δ{sub 1} symmetry across a magnesium interlayer in Fe/Mg/MgO/Fe based magnetic tunnel junctions. Here, we report experiments to probe this question in CoFe/Mg/CoFe structures. We find that the strength of the interlayer coupling decays exponentially with increasing the spacer thickness, however, a non-monotonic variation of the magnetoresistance as a function of the Mg layer is observed. These data may help revisit the role of the insertion of a Mg interface layer in MgO-based devices.

Structure, reactivity, and electronic properties of V-doped Co clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Datta, Soumendu; Kabir, Mukul; Saha-Dasgupta, Tanusri; Mookerjee, Abhijit

2009-08-01

Structures and physicochemical properties of V-doped Co13 clusters have been studied in detail using density-functional-theory-based first-principles method. We have found anomalous variation in stability of the doped clusters with increasing V concentration, which has been nicely demonstrated in terms of energetics and electronic properties of the clusters. Our study explains the nonmonotonic variation in reactivity of Co13-mVm clusters toward H2 molecules as reported experimentally [Nonose , J. Phys. Chem. 94, 2744 (1990)]. Moreover, it provides useful insight into the cluster geometry and chemically active sites on the cluster surface, which can help to design better catalytic processes.

Influence of the tempering temperature on the mechanical properties and the phase composition of thin sheet TRIP steel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Terent'ev, V. F.; Eliseev, E. A.; Matyunin, V. M.; Slizov, A. K.; Marchenkov, A. Yu.; Sirotinkin, V. P.; Baikin, A. S.; Seval'nev, G. S.

2017-10-01

The strength and the plasticity properties of sheet high-strength austenitic-martensitic VNS9-Sh TRIP steel (23Kh15N5AM3-Sh) are studied as functions of the tempering temperature in the range 125-600°C. A nonmonotonic decease in the strength and the plasticity properties of the steel has been detected when the tempering temperature increases, and they increase in the range 300-450°C. The influence of aging processes, the precipitation of carbide, and the phase transformations in tempering on the mechanical properties of austenitic-martensitic corrosion-resistant steel is discussed.

Novel self-organization mechanism in ultrathin liquid films: theory and experiment.

PubMed

Trice, Justin; Favazza, Christopher; Thomas, Dennis; Garcia, Hernando; Kalyanaraman, Ramki; Sureshkumar, Radhakrishna

2008-07-04

When an ultrathin metal film of thickness h (<20 nm) is melted by a nanosecond pulsed laser, the film temperature is a nonmonotonic function of h and achieves its maximum at a certain thickness h*. This is a consequence of the h and time dependence of energy absorption and heat flow. Linear stability analysis and nonlinear dynamical simulations that incorporate such intrinsic interfacial thermal gradients predict a characteristic pattern length scale Lambda that decreases for h>h*, in contrast to the classical spinodal dewetting behavior where Lambda increases monotonically as h2. These predictions agree well with experimental observations for Co and Fe films on SiO2.

Soft x-ray-controlled dose deposition in yeast cells: techniques, model, and biological assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milani, Marziale; Batani, Dimitri; Conti, Aldo; Masini, Alessandra; Costato, Michele; Pozzi, Achille; Turcu, I. C. Edmond

1996-12-01

A procedure is presented to release soft x-rays onto yeast cell membrane allegedly damaging the resident enzymatic processes connected with fermentation. The damage is expected to be restricted to regulating fermentation processes without interference with respiration. By this technique fermentation is followed leading to CO2 production, and respiration resulting in global pressure measurements. A solid state pressure sensor system has been developed linked to a data acquisition system. Yeast cells cultures have been investigated at different concentrations and with different nutrients. A non-monotone response in CO2 production as a function of the delivered x-ray dose is observed.

Investigations of putative reproductive toxicity of low-dose exposures to vinclozolin in Wistar rats.

PubMed

Flick, Burkhard; Schneider, Steffen; Melching-Kollmuss, Stephanie; Fussell, Karma C; Gröters, Sibylle; Buesen, Roland; Strauss, Volker; van Ravenzwaay, Bennard

2017-04-01

The current investigation examines whether the fungicide vinclozolin, which has an anti-androgenic mode of action, is capable of disrupting endocrine homeostasis at very low doses. The data generated clarify whether a non-monotonic dose-response relationship exists to enhance the current debate about the regulation of endocrine disruptors. Moreover, it is part of a series of investigations assessing the dose-response relationship of single and combined administration of anti-androgenic substances. A pre-postnatal in vivo study design was chosen which was compliant with regulatory testing protocols. The test design was improved by additional endpoints addressing hormone levels, morphology and histopathological examinations. Doses were chosen to represent an effect level (20 mg/kg bw/d), the current NOAEL (4 mg/kg bw/d), and a dose close to the "ADI" (0.005 mg/kg bw/d) for the detection of a possible non-monotonic dose-response curve. Anti-androgenic changes were observable at the effect level but not at lower exposures. Nipple/areola counts appeared to be the most sensitive measure of effect, followed by male sex organ weights at sexual maturation, and finally gross and histopathological findings. The results indicate the absence of evidence for effects at low or very low dose levels. A non-monotonic dose-response relationship was not evident.

Non-Monotonic Dose Responses in Studies of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: Bisphenol A as a Case Study

PubMed Central

Vandenberg, Laura N.

2014-01-01

Non-monotonic dose response curves (NMDRCs) have been demonstrated for natural hormones and endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in a variety of biological systems including cultured cells, whole organ cultures, laboratory animals and human populations. The mechanisms responsible for these NMDRCs are well known, typically related to the interactions between the ligand (hormone or EDC) and a hormone receptor. Although there are hundreds of examples of NMDRCs in the EDC literature, there are claims that they are not ‘common enough’ to influence the use of high-to-low dose extrapolations in risk assessments. Here, we chose bisphenol A (BPA), a well-studied EDC, to assess the frequency of non-monotonic responses. Our results indicate that NMDRCs are common in the BPA literature, occurring in greater than 20% of all experiments and in at least one endpoint in more than 30% of all studies we examined. We also analyzed the types of endpoints that produce NMDRCs in vitro and factors related to study design that influence the ability to detect these kinds of responses. Taken together, these results provide strong evidence for NMDRCs in the EDC literature, specifically for BPA, and question the current risk assessment practice where ‘safe’ low doses are predicted from high dose exposures. PMID:24910584

Non-monotonic dose responses in studies of endocrine disrupting chemicals: bisphenol a as a case study.

PubMed

Vandenberg, Laura N

2014-05-01

Non-monotonic dose response curves (NMDRCs) have been demonstrated for natural hormones and endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in a variety of biological systems including cultured cells, whole organ cultures, laboratory animals and human populations. The mechanisms responsible for these NMDRCs are well known, typically related to the interactions between the ligand (hormone or EDC) and a hormone receptor. Although there are hundreds of examples of NMDRCs in the EDC literature, there are claims that they are not 'common enough' to influence the use of high-to-low dose extrapolations in risk assessments. Here, we chose bisphenol A (BPA), a well-studied EDC, to assess the frequency of non-monotonic responses. Our results indicate that NMDRCs are common in the BPA literature, occurring in greater than 20% of all experiments and in at least one endpoint in more than 30% of all studies we examined. We also analyzed the types of endpoints that produce NMDRCs in vitro and factors related to study design that influence the ability to detect these kinds of responses. Taken together, these results provide strong evidence for NMDRCs in the EDC literature, specifically for BPA, and question the current risk assessment practice where 'safe' low doses are predicted from high dose exposures.

Effect of inhibitory feedback on correlated firing of spiking neural network.

PubMed

Xie, Jinli; Wang, Zhijie

2013-08-01

Understanding the properties and mechanisms that generate different forms of correlation is critical for determining their role in cortical processing. Researches on retina, visual cortex, sensory cortex, and computational model have suggested that fast correlation with high temporal precision appears consistent with common input, and correlation on a slow time scale likely involves feedback. Based on feedback spiking neural network model, we investigate the role of inhibitory feedback in shaping correlations on a time scale of 100 ms. Notably, the relationship between the correlation coefficient and inhibitory feedback strength is non-monotonic. Further, computational simulations show how firing rate and oscillatory activity form the basis of the mechanisms underlying this relationship. When the mean firing rate holds unvaried, the correlation coefficient increases monotonically with inhibitory feedback, but the correlation coefficient keeps decreasing when the network has no oscillatory activity. Our findings reveal that two opposing effects of the inhibitory feedback on the firing activity of the network contribute to the non-monotonic relationship between the correlation coefficient and the strength of the inhibitory feedback. The inhibitory feedback affects the correlated firing activity by modulating the intensity and regularity of the spike trains. Finally, the non-monotonic relationship is replicated with varying transmission delay and different spatial network structure, demonstrating the universality of the results.

Fundamental Flaws of Hormesis for Public Health Decisions

PubMed Central

Thayer, Kristina A.; Melnick, Ronald; Burns, Kathy; Davis, Devra; Huff, James

2005-01-01

Hormesis (defined operationally as low-dose stimulation, high-dose inhibition) is often used to promote the notion that while high-level exposures to toxic chemicals could be detrimental to human health, low-level exposures would be beneficial. Some proponents claim hormesis is an adaptive, generalizable phenomenon and argue that the default assumption for risk assessments should be that toxic chemicals induce stimulatory (i.e., “beneficial”) effects at low exposures. In many cases, nonmonotonic dose–response curves are called hormetic responses even in the absence of any mechanistic characterization of that response. Use of the term “hormesis,” with its associated descriptors, distracts from the broader and more important questions regarding the frequency and interpretation of nonmonotonic dose responses in biological systems. A better understanding of the biological basis and consequences of nonmonotonic dose–response curves is warranted for evaluating human health risks. The assumption that hormesis is generally adaptive is an oversimplification of complex biological processes. Even if certain low-dose effects were sometimes considered beneficial, this should not influence regulatory decisions to allow increased environmental exposures to toxic and carcinogenic agents, given factors such as interindividual differences in susceptibility and multiplicity in exposures. In this commentary we evaluate the hormesis hypothesis and potential adverse consequences of incorporating low-dose beneficial effects into public health decisions. PMID:16203233

A Comparison of ARTEMIS Observations and Particle-in-cell Modeling of the Lunar Photoelectron Sheath in the Terrestrial Magnetotail

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Poppe, A. R.; Halekas, J. S.; Delory, G. T.; Farrell, W. M.; Angelopoulos, V.; McFadden, J. P.; Bonnell, J. W.; Ergun, R. E.

2012-01-01

As an airless body in space with no global magnetic field, the Moon is exposed to both solar ultraviolet radiation and ambient plasmas. Photoemission from solar UV radiation and collection of ambient plasma are typically opposing charging currents and simple charging current balance predicts that the lunar dayside surface should charge positively; however, the two ARTEMIS probes have observed energydependent loss cones and high-energy, surface-originating electron beams above the dayside lunar surface for extended periods in the magnetosphere, which are indicative of negative surface potentials. In this paper, we compare observations by the ARTEMIS P1 spacecraft with a one dimensional particle-in-cell simulation and show that the energy-dependent loss cones and electron beams are due to the presence of stable, non-monotonic, negative potentials above the lunar surface. The simulations also show that while the magnitude of the non-monotonic potential is mainly driven by the incoming electron temperature, the incoming ion temperature can alter this magnitude, especially for periods in the plasma sheet when the ion temperature is more than twenty times the electron temperature. Finally, we note several other plasma phenomena associated with these non-monotonic potentials, such as broadband electrostatic noise and electron cyclotron harmonic emissions, and offer possible generation mechanisms for these phenomena.

Subtractive, divisive and non-monotonic gain control in feedforward nets linearized by noise and delays.

PubMed

Mejias, Jorge F; Payeur, Alexandre; Selin, Erik; Maler, Leonard; Longtin, André

2014-01-01

The control of input-to-output mappings, or gain control, is one of the main strategies used by neural networks for the processing and gating of information. Using a spiking neural network model, we studied the gain control induced by a form of inhibitory feedforward circuitry-also known as "open-loop feedback"-, which has been experimentally observed in a cerebellum-like structure in weakly electric fish. We found, both analytically and numerically, that this network displays three different regimes of gain control: subtractive, divisive, and non-monotonic. Subtractive gain control was obtained when noise is very low in the network. Also, it was possible to change from divisive to non-monotonic gain control by simply modulating the strength of the feedforward inhibition, which may be achieved via long-term synaptic plasticity. The particular case of divisive gain control has been previously observed in vivo in weakly electric fish. These gain control regimes were robust to the presence of temporal delays in the inhibitory feedforward pathway, which were found to linearize the input-to-output mappings (or f-I curves) via a novel variability-increasing mechanism. Our findings highlight the feedforward-induced gain control analyzed here as a highly versatile mechanism of information gating in the brain.

Subtractive, divisive and non-monotonic gain control in feedforward nets linearized by noise and delays

PubMed Central

Mejias, Jorge F.; Payeur, Alexandre; Selin, Erik; Maler, Leonard; Longtin, André

2014-01-01

The control of input-to-output mappings, or gain control, is one of the main strategies used by neural networks for the processing and gating of information. Using a spiking neural network model, we studied the gain control induced by a form of inhibitory feedforward circuitry—also known as “open-loop feedback”—, which has been experimentally observed in a cerebellum-like structure in weakly electric fish. We found, both analytically and numerically, that this network displays three different regimes of gain control: subtractive, divisive, and non-monotonic. Subtractive gain control was obtained when noise is very low in the network. Also, it was possible to change from divisive to non-monotonic gain control by simply modulating the strength of the feedforward inhibition, which may be achieved via long-term synaptic plasticity. The particular case of divisive gain control has been previously observed in vivo in weakly electric fish. These gain control regimes were robust to the presence of temporal delays in the inhibitory feedforward pathway, which were found to linearize the input-to-output mappings (or f-I curves) via a novel variability-increasing mechanism. Our findings highlight the feedforward-induced gain control analyzed here as a highly versatile mechanism of information gating in the brain. PMID:24616694

Effect of Severe Plastic Deformation on Structure and Properties of Al-Sc-Ta and Al-Sc-Ti Alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berezina, Alla; Monastyrska, Tetiana; Davydenko, Olexandr; Molebny, Oleh; Polishchuk, Sergey

2017-03-01

The comparative analysis of the effect of monotonous and non-monotonous severe plastic deformations (SPD) on the structure and properties of aluminum alloys has been carried out. Conventional hydrostatic extrusion (HE) with a constant deformation direction and equal-channel angular hydroextrusion (ECAH) with an abrupt change in the deformation direction were chosen for the cases of monotonous and non-monotonous SPD, respectively. Model cast hypoeutectic Al-0.3%Sc alloys and hypereutectic Al-0.6%Sc alloys with Ta and Ti additives were chosen for studying. It was demonstrated that SPD of the alloys resulted in the segregation of the material into active and inactive zones which formed a banded structure. The active zones were shown to be bands of localized plastic deformation. The distance between zones was found to be independent of the accumulated strain degree and was in the range of 0.6-1 μm. Dynamic recrystallization in the active zones was observed using TEM. The dynamic recrystallization was accompanied by the formation of disclinations, deformation bands, low-angle, and high-angle boundaries, i.e., rotational deformation modes developed. The dynamic recrystallization was more intense during the non-monotonous deformation as compared with the monotonous one, which was confirmed by the reduction of texture degree in the materials after ECAH.

Time-dependent density functional theory for the charging kinetics of electric double layer containing room-temperature ionic liquids

DOE PAGES

Lian, Cheng; Univ. of California, Riverside, CA; Zhao, Shuangliang; ...

2016-11-29

Understanding the charging kinetics of electric double layers is of fundamental importance for the design and development of novel electrochemical devices such as supercapacitors and field-effect transistors. In this paper, we study the dynamic behavior of room-temperature ionic liquids using a classical time-dependent density functional theory that accounts for the molecular excluded volume effects, the electrostatic correlations, and the dispersion forces. While the conventional models predict a monotonic increase of the surface charge with time upon application of an electrode voltage, our results show that dispersion between ions results in a non-monotonic increase of the surface charge with the durationmore » of charging. Finally and furthermore, we investigate the effects of van der Waals attraction between electrode/ionic-liquid interactions on the charging processes.« less

Numerical investigations of two-phase flow with dynamic capillary pressure in porous media via a moving mesh method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Hong; Zegeling, Paul Andries

2017-09-01

Motivated by observations of saturation overshoot, this paper investigates numerical modeling of two-phase flow in porous media incorporating dynamic capillary pressure. The effects of the dynamic capillary coefficient, the infiltrating flux rate and the initial and boundary values are systematically studied using a traveling wave ansatz and efficient numerical methods. The traveling wave solutions may exhibit monotonic, non-monotonic or plateau-shaped behavior. Special attention is paid to the non-monotonic profiles. The traveling wave results are confirmed by numerically solving the partial differential equation using an accurate adaptive moving mesh solver. Comparisons between the computed solutions using the Brooks-Corey model and the laboratory measurements of saturation overshoot verify the effectiveness of our approach.

Simulation of high-temperature superlocalization of plastic deformation in single-crystals of alloys with an L12 superstructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Solov'eva, Yu. V.; Fakhrutdinova, Ya. D.; Starenchenko, V. A.

2015-01-01

The processes of the superlocalization of plastic deformation in L12 alloys have been studied numerically based on a combination of the model of the dislocation kinetics of the deformation-induced and heat-treatment-induced strengthening of an element of a deformable medium with the model of the mechanics of microplastic deformation described in terms of elastoplastic medium. It has been shown that the superlocalization of plastic deformation is determined by the presence of stress concentrators and by the nonmonotonic strengthening of the elements of the deformable medium. The multiple nonmonotonicity of the process of strengthening of the elementary volume of the medium can be responsible for the multiplicity of bands of microplastic localization of deformation.

Non-monotonicity and divergent time scale in Axelrod model dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vazquez, F.; Redner, S.

2007-04-01

We study the evolution of the Axelrod model for cultural diversity, a prototypical non-equilibrium process that exhibits rich dynamics and a dynamic phase transition between diversity and an inactive state. We consider a simple version of the model in which each individual possesses two features that can assume q possibilities. Within a mean-field description in which each individual has just a few interaction partners, we find a phase transition at a critical value qc between an active, diverse state for q < qc and a frozen state. For q lesssim qc, the density of active links is non-monotonic in time and the asymptotic approach to the steady state is controlled by a time scale that diverges as (q-qc)-1/2.

The effects of Toxoplasma infection on rodent behavior are dependent on dose of the stimulus

PubMed Central

Vyas, Ajai; Kim, Seon-Kyeong; Sapolsky, Robert M

2007-01-01

Parasite Toxoplasma gondii blocks the innate aversion of rats for cat urine, putatively increasing the likelihood of a cat predating a rat. This is thought to reflect an adaptive behavioral manipulation, because Toxoplasma can reproduce only in cat intestines. While it will be adaptive for the parasite to cause an absolute behavioral change, fitness costs associated with the manipulation itself suggest that the change be optimized and not maximized. We investigate these conflicting suggestions in the present report. Furthermore, exposure to cat odor causes long-lasting acquisition of learnt fear in the rodents. If Toxoplasma manipulates emotional valence of cat odor rather than just sensory response, infection should affect learning driven by the aversive properties of the odor. As a second aim of the present study, we investigate this assertion. We demonstrate that behavioral changes in rodents induced by Toxoplasma infection do not represent absolute all-or-none effects. Rather, these effects follow a non-monotonous function dependent on strength of stimulus, roughly resembling an inverted-U curve. Furthermore, infection affects conditioning to cat odor in a manner dependent upon strength of unconditioned stimulus employed. Non-monotonous relationship between behavioral manipulation and strength of cat odor agrees with the suggestion that a dynamic balance exists between benefit obtained and costs incurred by the parasite during the manipulation. This report also demonstrates that Toxoplasma affects emotional valence of the cat odor as indicated by altered learned fear induced by cat odor. PMID:17683872

Heat perturbation spreading in the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-β system with next-nearest-neighbor coupling: Competition between phonon dispersion and nonlinearity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiong, Daxing

2017-06-01

We employ the heat perturbation correlation function to study thermal transport in the one-dimensional Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-β lattice with both nearest-neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor couplings. We find that such a system bears a peculiar phonon dispersion relation, and thus there exists a competition between phonon dispersion and nonlinearity that can strongly affect the heat correlation function's shape and scaling property. Specifically, for small and large anharmoncities, the scaling laws are ballistic and superdiffusive types, respectively, which are in good agreement with the recent theoretical predictions; whereas in the intermediate range of the nonlinearity, we observe an unusual multiscaling property characterized by a nonmonotonic delocalization process of the central peak of the heat correlation function. To understand these multiscaling laws, we also examine the momentum perturbation correlation function and find a transition process with the same turning point of the anharmonicity as that shown in the heat correlation function. This suggests coupling between the momentum transport and the heat transport, in agreement with the theoretical arguments of mode cascade theory.

False Beliefs in Unreliable Knowledge Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ioannidis, Evangelos; Varsakelis, Nikos; Antoniou, Ioannis

2017-03-01

The aims of this work are: (1) to extend knowledge dynamics analysis in order to assess the influence of false beliefs and unreliable communication channels, (2) to investigate the impact of selection rule-policy for knowledge acquisition, (3) to investigate the impact of targeted link attacks ("breaks" or "infections") of certain "healthy" communication channels. We examine the knowledge dynamics analytically, as well as by simulations on both artificial and real organizational knowledge networks. The main findings are: (1) False beliefs have no significant influence on knowledge dynamics, while unreliable communication channels result in non-monotonic knowledge updates ("wild" knowledge fluctuations may appear) and in significant elongation of knowledge attainment. Moreover, false beliefs may emerge during knowledge evolution, due to the presence of unreliable communication channels, even if they were not present initially, (2) Changing the selection rule-policy, by raising the awareness of agents to avoid the selection of unreliable communication channels, results in monotonic knowledge upgrade and in faster knowledge attainment, (3) "Infecting" links is more harmful than "breaking" links, due to "wild" knowledge fluctuations and due to the elongation of knowledge attainment. Moreover, attacking even a "small" percentage of links (≤5%) with high knowledge transfer, may result in dramatic elongation of knowledge attainment (over 100%), as well as in delays of the onset of knowledge attainment. Hence, links of high knowledge transfer should be protected, because in Information Warfare and Disinformation, these links are the "best targets".

Inertial frictional ratchets and their load bearing efficiencies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kharkongor, D.; Reenbohn, W. L.; Mahato, Mangal C.

2018-03-01

We investigate the performance of an inertial frictional ratchet in a sinusoidal potential driven by a sinusoidal external field. The dependence of the performance on the parameters of the sinusoidally varying friction, such as the mean friction coefficient and its phase difference with the potential, is studied in detail. Interestingly, under certain circumstances, the thermodynamic efficiency of the ratchet against an applied load shows a non-monotonic behaviour as a function of the mean friction coefficient. Also, in the large friction ranges, the efficiency is shown to increase with increasing applied load even though the corresponding ratchet current decreases as the applied load increases. These counterintuitive numerical results are explained in the text.

Stabilizing effect of driving and dissipation on quantum metastable states

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valenti, Davide; Carollo, Angelo; Spagnolo, Bernardo

2018-04-01

We investigate how the combined effects of strong Ohmic dissipation and monochromatic driving affect the stability of a quantum system with a metastable state. We find that, by increasing the coupling with the environment, the escape time makes a transition from a regime in which it is substantially controlled by the driving, displaying resonant peaks and dips, to a regime of frequency-independent escape time with a peak followed by a steep falloff. The escape time from the metastable state has a nonmonotonic behavior as a function of the thermal-bath coupling, the temperature, and the frequency of the driving. The quantum noise-enhanced stability phenomenon is observed in the investigated system.

Valley-selective Landau-Zener oscillations in semi-Dirac p -n junctions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saha, K.; Nandkishore, R.; Parameswaran, S. A.

2017-07-01

We study transport across p -n junctions of gapped two-dimensional semi-Dirac materials: nodal semimetals whose energy bands disperse quadratically and linearly along distinct crystal axes. The resulting electronic properties—relevant to materials such as TiO2/VO2 multilayers and α -(BEDT-TTF)2I3 salts—continuously interpolate between those of mono- and bilayer graphene as a function of propagation angle. We demonstrate that tunneling across the junction depends on the orientation of the tunnel barrier relative to the crystalline axes, leading to strongly nonmonotonic current-voltage characteristics, including negative differential conductance in some regimes. In multivalley systems, these features provide a natural route to engineering valley-selective transport.

Stochastic resonance and noise delayed extinction in a model of two competing species

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valenti, D.; Fiasconaro, A.; Spagnolo, B.

2004-01-01

We study the role of the noise in the dynamics of two competing species. We consider generalized Lotka-Volterra equations in the presence of a multiplicative noise, which models the interaction between the species and the environment. The interaction parameter between the species is a random process which obeys a stochastic differential equation with a generalized bistable potential in the presence of a periodic driving term, which accounts for the environment temperature variation. We find noise-induced periodic oscillations of the species concentrations and stochastic resonance phenomenon. We find also a nonmonotonic behavior of the mean extinction time of one of the two competing species as a function of the additive noise intensity.

Nonmonotonic Classical Magnetoconductivity of a Two-Dimensional Electron Gas in a Disordered Array of Obstacles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siboni, N. H.; Schluck, J.; Pierz, K.; Schumacher, H. W.; Kazazis, D.; Horbach, J.; Heinzel, T.

2018-02-01

Magnetotransport measurements in combination with molecular dynamics simulations on two-dimensional disordered Lorentz gases in the classical regime are reported. In quantitative agreement between experiment and simulation, the magnetoconductivity displays a pronounced peak as a function of the perpendicular magnetic field B which cannot be explained by existing kinetic theories. This peak is linked to the onset of a directed motion of the electrons along the contour of the disordered obstacle matrix when the cyclotron radius becomes smaller than the size of the obstacles. This directed motion leads to transient superdiffusive motion and strong scaling corrections in the vicinity of the insulator-to-conductor transitions of the Lorentz gas.

Effect of Severe Plastic Deformation on Structure and Properties of Al-Sc-Ta and Al-Sc-Ti Alloys.

PubMed

Berezina, Alla; Monastyrska, Tetiana; Davydenko, Olexandr; Molebny, Oleh; Polishchuk, Sergey

2017-12-01

The comparative analysis of the effect of monotonous and non-monotonous severe plastic deformations (SPD) on the structure and properties of aluminum alloys has been carried out. Conventional hydrostatic extrusion (HE) with a constant deformation direction and equal-channel angular hydroextrusion (ECAH) with an abrupt change in the deformation direction were chosen for the cases of monotonous and non-monotonous SPD, respectively. Model cast hypoeutectic Al-0.3%Sc alloys and hypereutectic Al-0.6%Sc alloys with Ta and Ti additives were chosen for studying. It was demonstrated that SPD of the alloys resulted in the segregation of the material into active and inactive zones which formed a banded structure. The active zones were shown to be bands of localized plastic deformation. The distance between zones was found to be independent of the accumulated strain degree and was in the range of 0.6-1 μm. Dynamic recrystallization in the active zones was observed using TEM. The dynamic recrystallization was accompanied by the formation of disclinations, deformation bands, low-angle, and high-angle boundaries, i.e., rotational deformation modes developed. The dynamic recrystallization was more intense during the non-monotonous deformation as compared with the monotonous one, which was confirmed by the reduction of texture degree in the materials after ECAH.

A quasi-Newton algorithm for large-scale nonlinear equations.

PubMed

Huang, Linghua

2017-01-01

In this paper, the algorithm for large-scale nonlinear equations is designed by the following steps: (i) a conjugate gradient (CG) algorithm is designed as a sub-algorithm to obtain the initial points of the main algorithm, where the sub-algorithm's initial point does not have any restrictions; (ii) a quasi-Newton algorithm with the initial points given by sub-algorithm is defined as main algorithm, where a new nonmonotone line search technique is presented to get the step length [Formula: see text]. The given nonmonotone line search technique can avoid computing the Jacobian matrix. The global convergence and the [Formula: see text]-order convergent rate of the main algorithm are established under suitable conditions. Numerical results show that the proposed method is competitive with a similar method for large-scale problems.

Does greed help a forager survive?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhat, U.; Redner, S.; Bénichou, O.

2017-06-01

We investigate the role of greed on the lifetime of a random-walking forager on an initially resource-rich lattice. Whenever the forager lands on a food-containing site, all the food there is eaten and the forager can hop S more steps without food before starving. Upon reaching an empty site, the forager comes one time unit closer to starvation. The forager is also greedy—given a choice to move to an empty or to a food-containing site in its local neighborhood, the forager moves preferentially toward food. Surprisingly, the forager lifetime varies nonmonotonically with greed, with different senses of the nonmonotonicity in one and two dimensions. Also unexpectedly, the forager lifetime in one dimension has a huge peak for very negative greed where the forager is food averse.

Investigation on de-trapping mechanisms related to non-monotonic kink pattern in GaN HEMT devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, Chandan; Laishram, Robert; Amit, Rawal, Dipendra Singh; Vinayak, Seema; Singh, Rajendra

2017-08-01

This article reports an experimental approach to analyze the kink effect phenomenon which is usually observed during the GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) operation. De-trapping of charge carriers is one of the prominent reasons behind the kink effect. The commonly observed non-monotonic behavior of kink pattern is analyzed under two different device operating conditions and it is found that two different de-trapping mechanisms are responsible for a particular kink behavior. These different de-trapping mechanisms are investigated through a time delay analysis which shows the presence of traps with different time constants. Further voltage sweep and temperature analysis corroborates the finding that different de-trapping mechanisms play a role in kink behavior under different device operating conditions.

Entanglement dynamics in a non-Markovian environment: An exactly solvable model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilson, Justin H.; Fregoso, Benjamin M.; Galitski, Victor M.

2012-05-01

We study the non-Markovian effects on the dynamics of entanglement in an exactly solvable model that involves two independent oscillators, each coupled to its own stochastic noise source. First, we develop Lie algebraic and functional integral methods to find an exact solution to the single-oscillator problem which includes an analytic expression for the density matrix and the complete statistics, i.e., the probability distribution functions for observables. For long bath time correlations, we see nonmonotonic evolution of the uncertainties in observables. Further, we extend this exact solution to the two-particle problem and find the dynamics of entanglement in a subspace. We find the phenomena of “sudden death” and “rebirth” of entanglement. Interestingly, all memory effects enter via the functional form of the energy and hence the time of death and rebirth is controlled by the amount of noisy energy added into each oscillator. If this energy increases above (decreases below) a threshold, we obtain sudden death (rebirth) of entanglement.

Origins of protein denatured state compactness and hydrophobic clustering in aqueous urea: inferences from nonpolar potentials of mean force.

PubMed

Shimizu, Seishi; Chan, Hue Sun

2002-12-01

Free energies of pairwise hydrophobic association are simulated in aqueous solutions of urea at concentrations ranging from 0-8 M. Consistent with the expectation that hydrophobic interactions are weakened by urea, the association of relatively large nonpolar solutes is destabilized by urea. However, the association of two small methane-sized nonpolar solutes in water has the opposite tendency of being slightly strengthened by the addition of urea. Such size effects and the dependence of urea-induced stability changes on the configuration of nonpolar solutes are not predicted by solvent accessible surface area approaches based on energetic parameters derived from bulk-phase solubilities of model compounds. Thus, to understand hydrophobic interactions in proteins, it is not sufficient to rely solely on transfer experiment data that effectively characterize a single nonpolar solute in an aqueous environment but not the solvent-mediated interactions among two or more nonpolar solutes. We find that the m-values for the rate of change of two-methane association free energy with respect to urea concentration is a dramatically nonmonotonic function of the spatial separation between the two methanes, with a distance-dependent profile similar to the corresponding two-methane heat capacity of association in pure water. Our results rationalize the persistence of residual hydrophobic contacts in some proteins at high urea concentrations and explain why the heat capacity signature (DeltaC(P)) of a compact denatured state can be similar to DeltaC(P) values calculated by assuming an open random-coil-like unfolded state. Copyright 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Quantitative Assessment of the Interplay Between DNA Elasticity and Cooperative Binding of Ligands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siman, L.; Carrasco, I. S. S.; da Silva, J. K. L.; de Oliveira, M. C.; Rocha, M. S.; Mesquita, O. N.

2012-12-01

Binding of ligands to DNA can be studied by measuring the change of the persistence length of the complex formed, in single-molecule assays. We propose a methodology for persistence length data analysis based on a quenched disorder statistical model and describing the binding isotherm by a Hill-type equation. We obtain an expression for the effective persistence length as a function of the total ligand concentration, which we apply to our data of the DNA-cationic β-cyclodextrin and to the DNA-HU protein data available in the literature, determining the values of the local persistence lengths, the dissociation constant, and the degree of cooperativity for each set of data. In both cases the persistence length behaves nonmonotonically as a function of ligand concentration and based on the results obtained we discuss some physical aspects of the interplay between DNA elasticity and cooperative binding of ligands.

Competition between pressure and gravity confinement in Lyman Alpha forest observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Charlton, Jane C.; Salpeter, Edwin E.; Linder, Suzanne M.

1994-01-01

A break in the distribution function of Lyman Alpha clouds (at a typical redshift of 2.5) has been reported by Petit-jean et al. (1993). This feature is what would be expected from a transition between pressure confinement and gravity confinement (as predicted in Charlton, Salpeter & Hogan 1993). The column density at which the feature occurs has been used to determine the external confining pressure approximately 10 per cu cm K, which could be due to a hot, intergalactic medium. For models that provide a good fit to the data, the contribution of the gas in clouds to omega is small. The specific shape of the distribution function at the transition (predicted by models to have a nonmonotonic slope) can serve as a diagnostic of the distribution of dark matter around Lyman Alpha forest clouds, and the present data already eliminate certain models.

Epidemic spreading between two coupled subpopulations with inner structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruan, Zhongyuan; Tang, Ming; Gu, Changgui; Xu, Jinshan

2017-10-01

The structure of underlying contact network and the mobility of agents are two decisive factors for epidemic spreading in reality. Here, we study a model consisting of two coupled subpopulations with intra-structures that emphasizes both the contact structure and the recurrent mobility pattern of individuals simultaneously. We show that the coupling of the two subpopulations (via interconnections between them and round trips of individuals) makes the epidemic threshold in each subnetwork to be the same. Moreover, we find that the interconnection probability between two subpopulations and the travel rate are important factors for spreading dynamics. In particular, as a function of interconnection probability, the epidemic threshold in each subpopulation decreases monotonously, which enhances the risks of an epidemic. While the epidemic threshold displays a non-monotonic variation as travel rate increases. Moreover, the asymptotic infected density as a function of travel rate in each subpopulation behaves differently depending on the interconnection probability.

Using the Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Method for Simulating the Peculiarities in the Temperature Dependence of Liquid Bismuth Properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuryev, A. A.; Gelchinski, B. R.; Vatolin, N. A.

2018-03-01

The specific features pertinent to the temperature dependence of the electronic and atomic properties of liquid bismuth that have been observed in experiments are investigated according to the ab initio molecular dynamics method using the SIESTA open software package. The density of electronic states, the radial distribution function of atoms, and the self-diffusion coefficient are calculated for the temperature range from the melting point equal to 545 K to 1500 K. The calculated data are in good agreement with the experimental data. It is found that the position of the first peak in the radial distribution function of atoms and the self-diffusion coefficient are characterized by a nonmonotonic dependence under the conditions of superheating by approximately 150 K above the melting temperature. In the authors' opinion, this dependence feature is attributed to a change in the liquid short-range order structure.

Negative differential mobility and trapping in active matter systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reichhardt, C.; Reichhardt, C. J. O.

2018-01-01

Using simulations, we examine the average velocity as a function of applied drift force for active matter particles moving through a random obstacle array. We find that for low drift force, there is an initial flow regime where the mobility increases linearly with drive, while for higher drift forces a regime of negative differential mobility appears in which the velocity decreases with increasing drive due to the trapping of active particles behind obstacles. A fully clogged regime exists at very high drift forces when all the particles are permanently trapped behind obstacles. We find for increasing activity that the overall mobility is nonmonotonic, with an enhancement of the mobility for small levels of activity and a decrease in mobility for large activity levels. We show how these effects evolve as a function of disk and obstacle density, active run length, drift force, and motor force.

EPA’s Nonmonotonic Dose Response Curve Workplan

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA’s standard guidelines for reproductive and developmental toxicity testing and risk assessment are needed in order to detect and characterize low-dose adverse effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs).

A difference-differential analogue of the burgers equation: Stability of the two-wave behavior

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henkin, G. M.; Polterovich, V. M.

1994-12-01

We study the Cauchy problem for the difference-differential equation (*) 332_2006_Article_BF02430643_TeX2GIFE1.gif {dF_n }/{dt} = \\varphi left( {F_n } right)left( {F_{n - 1} - F_n } right),n in mathbb{Z}, where ϕ is some positive function on [0, 1], ℤ is a set of integer numbers, and F n=Fn(t) are non-negative functions of time with values in [0, 1], F ∞(t)=0, F ∞(t)=1 for any fixed t. For non-increasing the non-constant ϕ it was shown [V. Polterovich and G. Henkin, Econom. Math. Methods, 24, 1988, pp. 1071 1083 (in Russian)] that the behavior of the trajectories of (*) is similar to the behavior of a solution for the famous Burgers equation; namely, any trajectory of (*) rapidly converging at the initial moment of time to zero as n → -8 and to 1 as n → ∞ converges with the time uniformly in n to a wave-train that moves with constant velocity. On the other hand, (*) is a variant of discretization for the shock-wave equation, and this variant differs from those previously examined by Lax and others. In this paper we study the asymptotic behavior of solutions of the Cauchy problem for the equation (*) with non-monotonic function ϕ of a special form, considering this investigation as a step toward elaboration of the general case. We show that under certain conditions, trajectories of (*) with time convergence to the sum of two wave-trains with different overfalls moving with different velocities. The velocity of the front wave is greater, so that the distance between wave-trains increases linearly. The investigation of (*) with non-monotonic ϕ may have important consequences for studying the Schumpeterian evolution of industries (G. Henkin and V. Polterovich, J. Math. Econom., 20, 1991, 551 590). In the framework of this economic problem, F n(t) is interpreted as the proportion of industrial capacities that have efficiency levels no greater than n at moment t.

Dealing with non-unique and non-monotonic response in particle sizing instruments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosenberg, Phil

2017-04-01

A number of instruments used as de-facto standards for measuring particle size distributions are actually incapable of uniquely determining the size of an individual particle. This is due to non-unique or non-monotonic response functions. Optical particle counters have non monotonic response due to oscillations in the Mie response curves, especially for large aerosol and small cloud droplets. Scanning mobility particle sizers respond identically to two particles where the ratio of particle size to particle charge is approximately the same. Images of two differently sized cloud or precipitation particles taken by an optical array probe can have similar dimensions or shadowed area depending upon where they are in the imaging plane. A number of methods exist to deal with these issues, including assuming that positive and negative errors cancel, smoothing response curves, integrating regions in measurement space before conversion to size space and matrix inversion. Matrix inversion (also called kernel inversion) has the advantage that it determines the size distribution which best matches the observations, given specific information about the instrument (a matrix which specifies the probability that a particle of a given size will be measured in a given instrument size bin). In this way it maximises use of the information in the measurements. However this technique can be confused by poor counting statistics which can cause erroneous results and negative concentrations. Also an effective method for propagating uncertainties is yet to be published or routinely implemented. Her we present a new alternative which overcomes these issues. We use Bayesian methods to determine the probability that a given size distribution is correct given a set of instrument data and then we use Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods to sample this many dimensional probability distribution function to determine the expectation and (co)variances - hence providing a best guess and an uncertainty for the size distribution which includes contributions from the non-unique response curve, counting statistics and can propagate calibration uncertainties.

L-type calcium channels refine the neural population code of sound level

PubMed Central

Grimsley, Calum Alex; Green, David Brian

2016-01-01

The coding of sound level by ensembles of neurons improves the accuracy with which listeners identify how loud a sound is. In the auditory system, the rate at which neurons fire in response to changes in sound level is shaped by local networks. Voltage-gated conductances alter local output by regulating neuronal firing, but their role in modulating responses to sound level is unclear. We tested the effects of L-type calcium channels (CaL: CaV1.1–1.4) on sound-level coding in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICC) in the auditory midbrain. We characterized the contribution of CaL to the total calcium current in brain slices and then examined its effects on rate-level functions (RLFs) in vivo using single-unit recordings in awake mice. CaL is a high-threshold current and comprises ∼50% of the total calcium current in ICC neurons. In vivo, CaL activates at sound levels that evoke high firing rates. In RLFs that increase monotonically with sound level, CaL boosts spike rates at high sound levels and increases the maximum firing rate achieved. In different populations of RLFs that change nonmonotonically with sound level, CaL either suppresses or enhances firing at sound levels that evoke maximum firing. CaL multiplies the gain of monotonic RLFs with dynamic range and divides the gain of nonmonotonic RLFs with the width of the RLF. These results suggest that a single broad class of calcium channels activates enhancing and suppressing local circuits to regulate the sensitivity of neuronal populations to sound level. PMID:27605536

EFFECTS OF LASER RADIATION ON MATTER: Melting and thermocapillary convection under the action of pulsed laser radiation with an inhomogeneous spatial distribution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uglov, A. A.; Smurov, I. Yu; Gus'kov, A. G.; Aksenov, L. V.

1990-08-01

A theoretical study is reported of melting and thermocapillary convection under the action of laser radiation with a nonmonotonic spatial distribution of the power density. An analysis is made of changes in the geometry of the molten bath with time. The transition from a nonmonotonic boundary of a melt, corresponding to the spatial distribution of the radiation, to a monotonic one occurs in a time of the order of 1 ms when the power density of laser radiation is 105 W/cm2. The vortex structure of the flow in the molten bath is governed by the spatial distribution of the laser radiation in such a way that each local power density maximum corresponds to two vortices with oppositely directed velocity components.

Magnetic field gradient driven self-assembly of superparamagnetic nanoparticles using programmable magnetically-recorded templates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ye, L.; Qi, B.; Lawton, T. G.; Mefford, O. T.; Rinaldi, C.; Garzon, S.; Crawford, T. M.

2013-03-01

Using the enormous magnetic field gradients (100 MT/m @ z =20 nm) present near the surface of magnetic recording media, we demonstrate the fabrication of diffraction gratings with lines consisting entirely of magnetic nanoparticles assembled from a colloidal fluid onto a disk drive medium, followed by transfer to a flexible and transparent polymer thin film. These nanomanufactured gratings have line spacings programmed with commercial magnetic recording and are inherently concave with radii of curvature controlled by varying the polymer film thickness. The diffracted intensity increases non-monotonically with the length of time the colloidal fluid remains on the disk surface. In addition to comparing longitudinal and perpendicular magnetic recording, a combination of spectral diffraction efficiency measurements, magnetometry, scanning electron microscopy and inductively coupled plasma atomic emmission spectroscopy of these gratings are employed to understand colloidal nanoparticle dynamics in this extreme gradient limit. Such experiments are necessary to optimize nanoparticle assembly and obtain uniform patterned features. This low-cost and sustainable approach to nanomanufacturing could enable low-cost, high-quality diffraction gratings as well as more complex polymer nanocomposite materials assembled with single-nanometer precision.

The Dual Role of Disorder on the Dissociation of Interfacial Charge Transfer Excitons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Liang; Lee, Chee-Kong; Willard, Adam

In organic-based photovoltaics (OPV), dissociation of neutral photo-excitations (i.e., Frenkel excitons) into free charge carriers requires the excitons to overcome binding energy that can significantly exceed thermal energies. The inability of bound charges to overcome this large binding energy has been implicated as a primary source of efficiency loss in OPVs. Despite the potential impact on the performance of organic solar cells much remains to be understood about the microscopic mechanism of exciton dissociation in OPV materials. Here we explore the role of static molecular disorder in mediating this charge dissociation process. Using a simple lattice model of exciton dynamics we demonstrate that random spatial variations in the energetic landscape can mitigate the effects of the exciton binding energy by lowering the free energy barrier. By considering the competition between this thermodynamic effect and the disorder-induced slowing of dissociation kinetics we demonstrate that exciton dissociation yields are expected to depend non-monotonically on the degree of static disorder. We conclude that a certain amount of molecular-scale disorder is desirable in order to optimize the performance of organic photovoltaic materials.

Theory of the β-Type Organic Superconductivity under Uniaxial Compression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suzuki, Takeo; Onari, Seiichiro; Ito, Hiroshi; Tanaka, Yukio

2011-09-01

We study theoretically the shift of the superconducting transition temperature (Tc) under uniaxial compression in β-type organic superconductors, β-(BEDT-TTF)2I3 and β-(BDA-TTP)2X (X=SbF6, AsF6), in order to clarify the electron correlation, the spin frustration, and the effect of dimerization. The transfer integrals are calculated by the extended Hückel method assuming the uniaxial strain, and the superconducting state mediated by the spin fluctuation is solved using Eliashberg's equation with the fluctuation--exchange approximation. The calculation is carried out on both the dimerized (one-band) and nondimerized (two-band) Hubbard models. We have found that (i) the behavior of Tc in β-(BEDT-TTF)2I3 with a stronger dimerization is well reproduced by the dimer model, while that in weakly dimerized β-BDA-TTP salts is rather well reproduced by the two-band model, and (ii) the competition between the spin frustration and the effect induced by the fluctuation is important in these materials, which causes the nonmonotonic shift of Tc against uniaxial compression.

Long lifetimes of ultrahot particles in interacting Fermi systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bard, M.; Protopopov, I. V.; Mirlin, A. D.

2018-05-01

The energy dependence of the relaxation rate of hot electrons due to interaction with the Fermi sea is studied. We consider 2D and 3D systems, quasi-1D quantum wires with multiple transverse bands, as well as single-channel 1D wires. Our analysis includes both spinful and spin-polarized setups, with short-range and Coulomb interactions. We show that, quite generally, the relaxation rate is a nonmonotonic function of the electron energy and decays as a power law at high energies. In other words, ultrahot electrons regain their coherence with increasing energy. Such a behavior was observed in a recent experiment on multiband quantum wires, J. Reiner et al., Phys. Rev. X 7, 021016 (2017)., 10.1103/PhysRevX.7.021016

Direct Observation of Optical Field Phase Carving in the Vicinity of Plasmonic Metasurfaces.

PubMed

Dagens, B; Février, M; Gogol, P; Blaize, S; Apuzzo, A; Magno, G; Mégy, R; Lerondel, G

2016-07-13

Plasmonic surfaces are mainly used for their optical intensity concentration properties that allow for enhancement of physical interaction like in nonlinear optics, optical sensors, or tweezers. Phase response in plasmonic resonances can also play a major role, especially in a periodic assembly of plasmonic resonators like metasurfaces. Here we show that localized surface plasmons collectively excited by a guided mode in a metallic nanostructure periodic chain present nonmonotonous phase variation along the 1D metasurface, resulting from both selective Bloch mode coupling and dipolar coupling. As shown by near-field measurements, the phase profile of the highly concentrated optical field is carved out in the vicinity of the metallic metasurface, paving the way to unusual local optical functions.

Interaction-induced shift of the cyclotron resonance of graphene using infrared spectroscopy.

PubMed

Henriksen, E A; Cadden-Zimansky, P; Jiang, Z; Li, Z Q; Tung, L-C; Schwartz, M E; Takita, M; Wang, Y-J; Kim, P; Stormer, H L

2010-02-12

We report a study of the cyclotron resonance (CR) transitions to and from the unusual n=0 Landau level (LL) in monolayer graphene. Unexpectedly, we find the CR transition energy exhibits large (up to 10%) and nonmonotonic shifts as a function of the LL filling factor, with the energy being largest at half filling of the n=0 level. The magnitude of these shifts, and their magnetic field dependence, suggests that an interaction-enhanced energy gap opens in the n=0 level at high magnetic fields. Such interaction effects normally have a limited impact on the CR due to Kohn's theorem [W. Kohn, Phys. Rev. 123, 1242 (1961)], which does not apply in graphene as a consequence of the underlying linear band structure.

Fixation probability of a nonmutator in a large population of asexual mutators.

PubMed

Jain, Kavita; James, Ananthu

2017-11-21

In an adapted population of mutators in which most mutations are deleterious, a nonmutator that lowers the mutation rate is under indirect selection and can sweep to fixation. Using a multitype branching process, we calculate the fixation probability of a rare nonmutator in a large population of asexual mutators. We show that when beneficial mutations are absent, the fixation probability is a nonmonotonic function of the mutation rate of the mutator: it first increases sublinearly and then decreases exponentially. We also find that beneficial mutations can enhance the fixation probability of a nonmutator. Our analysis is relevant to an understanding of recent experiments in which a reduction in the mutation rates has been observed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Radial-based tail methods for Monte Carlo simulations of cylindrical interfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goujon, Florent; Bêche, Bruno; Malfreyt, Patrice; Ghoufi, Aziz

2018-03-01

In this work, we implement for the first time the radial-based tail methods for Monte Carlo simulations of cylindrical interfaces. The efficiency of this method is then evaluated through the calculation of surface tension and coexisting properties. We show that the inclusion of tail corrections during the course of the Monte Carlo simulation impacts the coexisting and the interfacial properties. We establish that the long range corrections to the surface tension are the same order of magnitude as those obtained from planar interface. We show that the slab-based tail method does not amend the localization of the Gibbs equimolar dividing surface. Additionally, a non-monotonic behavior of surface tension is exhibited as a function of the radius of the equimolar dividing surface.

Bubble deformations and segmented flows in corrugated microchannels at large capillary numbers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sauzade, Martin; Cubaud, Thomas

2018-03-01

We experimentally investigate the interaction between individual bubble deformations and collective distortions of segmented flows in nonlinear microfluidic geometries. Using highly viscous carrier fluids, we study the evolution of monodisperse trains of gas bubbles from a square to a smoothly corrugated microchannel characterized with a series of extensions and constrictions along the flow path. The hysteresis in the bubble shape between accelerating and decelerating flow fields is shown to increase with the capillary number. Measurements of instantaneous bubble velocities reveal the presence of a capillary pull that produces a nonmonotonic behavior for the front velocity in accelerating flow regions. Functional relationships are developed for predicting the morphology and dynamics of viscous multiphase flow patterns at the pore scale.

Effects of functional group mass variance on vibrational properties and thermal transport in graphene

DOE PAGES

Lindsay, L.; Kuang, Y.

2017-03-13

Intrinsic thermal resistivity critically depends on features of phonon dispersions dictated by harmonic interatomic forces and masses. We present the effects of functional group mass variance on vibrational properties and thermal conductivity (κ ) of functionalized graphene from first principles calculations. We also use graphane, a buckled graphene backbone with covalently bonded Hydrogen atoms on both sides, as the base material and vary the mass of the Hydrogen atoms to simulate the effect of mass variance from other functional groups. We find non-monotonic behavior of κ with increasing mass of the functional group and an unusual cross-over from acoustic-dominated tomore » optic-dominated thermal transport behavior. We connect this cross-over to changes in the phonon dispersion with varying mass which suppress acoustic phonon velocities, but also give unusually high velocity optic modes. Further, we show that out-of-plane acoustic vibrations contribute significantly more to thermal transport than in-plane acoustic modes despite breaking of a reflection symmetry based scattering selection rule responsible for their large contributions in graphene. Our work demonstrates the potential for manipulation and engineering of thermal transport properties in two dimensional materials toward targeted applications.« less

Functional annotation of regulatory pathways.

PubMed

Pandey, Jayesh; Koyutürk, Mehmet; Kim, Yohan; Szpankowski, Wojciech; Subramaniam, Shankar; Grama, Ananth

2007-07-01

Standardized annotations of biomolecules in interaction networks (e.g. Gene Ontology) provide comprehensive understanding of the function of individual molecules. Extending such annotations to pathways is a critical component of functional characterization of cellular signaling at the systems level. We propose a framework for projecting gene regulatory networks onto the space of functional attributes using multigraph models, with the objective of deriving statistically significant pathway annotations. We first demonstrate that annotations of pairwise interactions do not generalize to indirect relationships between processes. Motivated by this result, we formalize the problem of identifying statistically overrepresented pathways of functional attributes. We establish the hardness of this problem by demonstrating the non-monotonicity of common statistical significance measures. We propose a statistical model that emphasizes the modularity of a pathway, evaluating its significance based on the coupling of its building blocks. We complement the statistical model by an efficient algorithm and software, Narada, for computing significant pathways in large regulatory networks. Comprehensive results from our methods applied to the Escherichia coli transcription network demonstrate that our approach is effective in identifying known, as well as novel biological pathway annotations. Narada is implemented in Java and is available at http://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/jpandey/narada/.

Effects of functional group mass variance on vibrational properties and thermal transport in graphene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lindsay, L.; Kuang, Y.

2017-03-01

Intrinsic thermal resistivity critically depends on features of phonon dispersions dictated by harmonic interatomic forces and masses. Here we present the effects of functional group mass variance on vibrational properties and thermal conductivity (κ ) of functionalized graphene from first-principles calculations. We use graphane, a buckled graphene backbone with covalently bonded hydrogen atoms on both sides, as the base material and vary the mass of the hydrogen atoms to simulate the effect of mass variance from other functional groups. We find nonmonotonic behavior of κ with increasing mass of the functional group and an unusual crossover from acoustic-dominated to optic-dominated thermal transport behavior. We connect this crossover to changes in the phonon dispersion with varying mass which suppress acoustic phonon velocities, but also give unusually high velocity optic modes. Further, we show that out-of-plane acoustic vibrations contribute significantly more to thermal transport than in-plane acoustic modes despite breaking of a reflection-symmetry-based scattering selection rule responsible for their large contributions in graphene. This work demonstrates the potential for manipulation and engineering of thermal transport properties in two-dimensional materials toward targeted applications.

Effects of functional group mass variance on vibrational properties and thermal transport in graphene

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

Lindsay, L.; Kuang, Y.

Intrinsic thermal resistivity critically depends on features of phonon dispersions dictated by harmonic interatomic forces and masses. We present the effects of functional group mass variance on vibrational properties and thermal conductivity (κ ) of functionalized graphene from first principles calculations. We also use graphane, a buckled graphene backbone with covalently bonded Hydrogen atoms on both sides, as the base material and vary the mass of the Hydrogen atoms to simulate the effect of mass variance from other functional groups. We find non-monotonic behavior of κ with increasing mass of the functional group and an unusual cross-over from acoustic-dominated tomore » optic-dominated thermal transport behavior. We connect this cross-over to changes in the phonon dispersion with varying mass which suppress acoustic phonon velocities, but also give unusually high velocity optic modes. Further, we show that out-of-plane acoustic vibrations contribute significantly more to thermal transport than in-plane acoustic modes despite breaking of a reflection symmetry based scattering selection rule responsible for their large contributions in graphene. Our work demonstrates the potential for manipulation and engineering of thermal transport properties in two dimensional materials toward targeted applications.« less

Loudness of dynamic stimuli in acoustic and electric hearing.

PubMed

Zhang, C; Zeng, F G

1997-11-01

Traditional loudness models have been based on the average energy and the critical band analysis of steady-state sounds. However, most environmental sounds, including speech, are dynamic stimuli, in which the average level [e.g., the root-mean-square (rms) level] does not account for the large temporal fluctuations. The question addressed here was whether two stimuli of the same rms level but different peak levels would produce an equal loudness sensation. A modern adaptive procedure was used to replicate two classic experiments demonstrating that the sensation of "beats" in a two- or three-tone complex resulted in a louder sensation [E. Zwicker and H. Fastl, Psychoacoustics-Facts and Models (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1990)]. Two additional experiments were conducted to study exclusively the effects of the temporal envelope on the loudness sensation of dynamic stimuli. Loudness balance was performed by normal-hearing listeners between a white noise and a sinusoidally amplitude-modulated noise in one experiment, and by cochlear implant listeners between two harmonic stimuli of the same magnitude spectra, but different phase spectra, in the other experiment. The results from both experiments showed that, for two stimuli of the same rms level, the stimulus with greater temporal fluctuations sometimes produced a significantly louder sensation, depending on the temporal frequency and overall stimulus level. In normal-hearing listeners, the louder sensation was produced for the amplitude-modulated stimuli with modulation frequencies lower than 400 Hz, and gradually disappeared above 400 Hz, resulting in a low-pass filtering characteristic which bore some similarity to the temporal modulation transfer function. The extent to which loudness was greater was a nonmonotonic function of level in acoustic hearing and a monotonically increasingly function in electric hearing. These results suggest that the loudness sensation of a dynamic stimulus is not limited to a 100-ms temporal integration process, and may be determined jointly by a compression process in the cochlea and an expansion process in the brain. A level-dependent compression scheme that may better restore normal loudness of dynamic stimuli in hearing aids and cochlear implants is proposed.

A Report from the Thermal Science Research Center (TSRC)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boyd, Ronald D.

1998-01-01

A vertical flow loop was designed and assembled to determine the local (circumferential and axial) and mean wall temperature distributions for single-phase and two-phase (subcooled and saturated) downward flow in both uniformly-heated and single-side heated vertical channels. Freon-11 was used as the working fluid in order to directly relate and compare the results with a previous experimental campaign which employed this same working fluid. For a given steady-state experiment, the following parameters were held constant: (1) exit pressure, (2) inlet temperature, and (3) mass velocity. For a given configuration of the 2.2 m long cylindrical channel test section, which had a 1.2 m long heated section, the applied heat rate was varied from zero through successive quasi-steady states to a level which corresponded to localized film boiling in the test section. The measurements showed that the boiling curve changes significantly at higher mass velocities with respect to both the circumferential and axial directions. The slope of the boiling curve changes in a non-monotonic fashion with respect to the circumferential directions. The slope of the boiling curve changes in a non-monotonic fashion with respect to the circumferential direction. The measurements point to the existence of a dry-out phenomenon occurring at multiple levels of the applied heat for the single-side heated channel. In comparing the heat transfer for horizontal channel flow with a vertically downward flow, the results show that significantly lower heat transfer occurs in the horizontal flow. However, this trend reverses as both the Reynolds number and the applied heat rate increase. Both the Liu-Winterton and Shah correlations were compared with the experimental data. The Shah correlation predicted the uniformly heated tube data better. When a thermal hydraulic diameter approach was used for the single-side heated case, the data at upstream locations for Z/L less than 0.5 was bounded above by the Liu-Winterton correlation and below by the Shah correlation. At Z/L = 0.5, the Shah correlation bounded the data; and for Z/L greater than 0.5, both correlations overpredicted the data with the Shah correlation being closest to the data. The present results indicate that additional correlational development is needed. In addressing some of the advanced space thermal management objectives concerning accommodating high heat fluxes in non-uniformly heated systems, a large battery of experiments 88 have been completed where local two-dimensional wall temperature variations were measured for both single-phase and two-phase flow in a single-side heated circular tube. As noted above, the results show significant axial and circumferential variations. Accurately accounting for such variations can result in optimized future advanced space, enhanced (high heat flux) thermal management systems.

Non-monotonic temperature dependence of radiation defect dynamics in silicon carbide

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

Bayu Aji, L. B.; Wallace, J. B.; Shao, L.

Understanding response of solids to particle irradiation remains a major materials physics challenge. This applies even to SiC, which is a prototypical nuclear ceramic and wide-band-gap semiconductor material. The lack of predictability is largely related to the complex, dynamic nature of radiation defect formation. Here, we use a novel pulsed-ion-beam method to study dynamic annealing in 4H-SiC ion-bombarded in the temperature range of 25–250 °C. We find that, while the defect recombination efficiency shows an expected monotonic increase with increasing temperature, the defect lifetime exhibits a non-monotonic temperature dependence with a maximum at ~100 °C. This finding indicates a changemore » in the dominant defect interaction mechanism at ~100 °C. As a result, the understanding of radiation defect dynamics may suggest new paths to designing radiation-resistant materials.« less

Stair-Step Particle Flux Spectra on the Lunar Surface: Evidence for Nonmonotonic Potentials?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Collier, Michael R.; Newheart, Anastasia; Poppe, Andrew R.; Hills, H. Kent; Farrell, William M.

2016-01-01

We present examples of unusual "stair-step" differential flux spectra observed by the Apollo 14 Suprathermal Ion Detector Experiment on the lunar dayside surface in Earth's magnetotail. These spectra exhibit a relatively constant differential flux below some cutoff energy and then drop off precipitously, by about an order of magnitude or more, at higher energies. We propose that these spectra result from photoions accelerated on the lunar dayside by nonmonotonic potentials (i.e.,potentials that do not decay to zero monotonically) and present a model for the expected differential flux. The energy of the cutoff and the magnitude of the differential flux are related to the properties of the local space environment and are consistent with the observed flux spectra. If this interpretation is correct, these surface-based ion observations provide a unique perspective that both complements and enhances the conclusions obtained by remote-sensing orbiter observations on the Moon's exospheric and electrostatic properties.

Predicting oscillatory dynamics in the movement of territorial animals.

PubMed

Giuggioli, L; Potts, J R; Harris, S

2012-07-07

Understanding ecological processes relies upon the knowledge of the dynamics of each individual component. In the context of animal population ecology, the way animals move and interact is of fundamental importance in explaining a variety of observed patterns. Here, we present a theoretical investigation on the movement dynamics of interacting scent-marking animals. We study how the movement statistics of territorial animals is responsible for the appearance of damped oscillations in the mean square displacement (MSD) of the animals. This non-monotonicity is shown to depend on one dimensionless parameter, given by the ratio of the correlation distance between successive steps to the size of the territory. As that parameter increases, the time dependence of the animal's MSD displays a transition from monotonic, characteristic of Brownian walks, to non-monotonic, characteristic of highly correlated walks. The results presented here represent a novel way of determining the degree of persistence in animal movement processes within confined regions.

Predicting oscillatory dynamics in the movement of territorial animals

PubMed Central

Giuggioli, L.; Potts, J. R.; Harris, S.

2012-01-01

Understanding ecological processes relies upon the knowledge of the dynamics of each individual component. In the context of animal population ecology, the way animals move and interact is of fundamental importance in explaining a variety of observed patterns. Here, we present a theoretical investigation on the movement dynamics of interacting scent-marking animals. We study how the movement statistics of territorial animals is responsible for the appearance of damped oscillations in the mean square displacement (MSD) of the animals. This non-monotonicity is shown to depend on one dimensionless parameter, given by the ratio of the correlation distance between successive steps to the size of the territory. As that parameter increases, the time dependence of the animal's MSD displays a transition from monotonic, characteristic of Brownian walks, to non-monotonic, characteristic of highly correlated walks. The results presented here represent a novel way of determining the degree of persistence in animal movement processes within confined regions. PMID:22262814

Non-monotonic temperature dependence of radiation defect dynamics in silicon carbide

DOE PAGES

Bayu Aji, L. B.; Wallace, J. B.; Shao, L.; ...

2016-08-03

Understanding response of solids to particle irradiation remains a major materials physics challenge. This applies even to SiC, which is a prototypical nuclear ceramic and wide-band-gap semiconductor material. The lack of predictability is largely related to the complex, dynamic nature of radiation defect formation. Here, we use a novel pulsed-ion-beam method to study dynamic annealing in 4H-SiC ion-bombarded in the temperature range of 25–250 °C. We find that, while the defect recombination efficiency shows an expected monotonic increase with increasing temperature, the defect lifetime exhibits a non-monotonic temperature dependence with a maximum at ~100 °C. This finding indicates a changemore » in the dominant defect interaction mechanism at ~100 °C. As a result, the understanding of radiation defect dynamics may suggest new paths to designing radiation-resistant materials.« less

Non-monotonic spatial distribution of the interstellar dust in astrospheres: finite gyroradius effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Katushkina, O. A.; Alexashov, D. B.; Izmodenov, V. V.; Gvaramadze, V. V.

2017-02-01

High-resolution mid-infrared observations of astrospheres show that many of them have filamentary (cirrus-like) structure. Using numerical models of dust dynamics in astrospheres, we suggest that their filamentary structure might be related to specific spatial distribution of the interstellar dust around the stars, caused by a gyrorotation of charged dust grains in the interstellar magnetic field. Our numerical model describes the dust dynamics in astrospheres under an influence of the Lorentz force and assumption of a constant dust charge. Calculations are performed for the dust grains with different sizes separately. It is shown that non-monotonic spatial dust distribution (viewed as filaments) appears for dust grains with the period of gyromotion comparable with the characteristic time-scale of the dust motion in the astrosphere. Numerical modelling demonstrates that the number of filaments depends on charge-to-mass ratio of dust.

Complex, non-monotonic dose-response curves with multiple maxima: Do we (ever) sample densely enough?

PubMed

Cvrčková, Fatima; Luštinec, Jiří; Žárský, Viktor

2015-01-01

We usually expect the dose-response curves of biological responses to quantifiable stimuli to be simple, either monotonic or exhibiting a single maximum or minimum. Deviations are often viewed as experimental noise. However, detailed measurements in plant primary tissue cultures (stem pith explants of kale and tobacco) exposed to varying doses of sucrose, cytokinins (BA or kinetin) or auxins (IAA or NAA) revealed that growth and several biochemical parameters exhibit multiple reproducible, statistically significant maxima over a wide range of exogenous substance concentrations. This results in complex, non-monotonic dose-response curves, reminiscent of previous reports of analogous observations in both metazoan and plant systems responding to diverse pharmacological treatments. These findings suggest the existence of a hitherto neglected class of biological phenomena resulting in dose-response curves exhibiting periodic patterns of maxima and minima, whose causes remain so far uncharacterized, partly due to insufficient sampling frequency used in many studies.

Nonmonotonic magnetoresistance of a two-dimensional viscous electron-hole fluid in a confined geometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alekseev, P. S.; Dmitriev, A. P.; Gornyi, I. V.; Kachorovskii, V. Yu.; Narozhny, B. N.; Titov, M.

2018-02-01

Ultrapure conductors may exhibit hydrodynamic transport where the collective motion of charge carriers resembles the flow of a viscous fluid. In a confined geometry (e.g., in ultra-high-quality nanostructures), the electronic fluid assumes a Poiseuille-type flow. Applying an external magnetic field tends to diminish viscous effects leading to large negative magnetoresistance. In two-component systems near charge neutrality, the hydrodynamic flow of charge carriers is strongly affected by the mutual friction between the two constituents. At low fields, the magnetoresistance is negative, however, at high fields the interplay between electron-hole scattering, recombination, and viscosity results in a dramatic change of the flow profile: the magnetoresistance changes its sign and eventually becomes linear in very high fields. This nonmonotonic magnetoresistance can be used as a fingerprint to detect viscous flow in two-component conducting systems.

Non-monotonous dependence of the ocean surface drag coefficient on the hurricane wind speed due to the fragmentation of the ocean-atmosphere interface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Troitskaya, Yu. I.; Ermakova, O. S.; Kandaurov, A. A.; Kozlov, D. S.; Sergeev, D. A.; Zilitinkevich, S. S.

2017-11-01

Influence of the spray generation due to the fragmentation of the "bag-breakup" type on momentum exchange in the atmospheric boundary layer above the sea surface at hurricane winds was investigated on the basis of the analysis of the results of laboratory experiments. It was shown that aerodynamic drag is determined by the contribution of three factors: first, the drag of the "bag-breakup" canopies as obstacles; second, acceleration of the spray formed during fragmentation by the air flow; and the third factor is related to the stratification of the near-water atmospheric layer due to the presence of levitated water droplets. Combination of all three factors leads to a non-monotonous dependence of the aerodynamic drag coefficient on wind speed, which confirms the results of the field and laboratory measurements.

Relationships between the decoupled and coupled transfer functions: Theoretical studies and experimental validation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Zengwei; Zhu, Ping; Liu, Zhao

2018-01-01

A generalized method for predicting the decoupled transfer functions based on in-situ transfer functions is proposed. The method allows predicting the decoupled transfer functions using coupled transfer functions, without disassembling the system. Two ways to derive relationships between the decoupled and coupled transfer functions are presented. Issues related to immeasurability of coupled transfer functions are also discussed. The proposed method is validated by numerical and experimental case studies.

Reformulating Non-Monotonic Theories for Inference and Updating

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grosof, Benjamin N.

1992-01-01

We aim to help build programs that do large-scale, expressive non-monotonic reasoning (NMR): especially, 'learning agents' that store, and revise, a body of conclusions while continually acquiring new, possibly defeasible, premise beliefs. Currently available procedures for forward inference and belief revision are exhaustive, and thus impractical: they compute the entire non-monotonic theory, then re-compute from scratch upon updating with new axioms. These methods are thus badly intractable. In most theories of interest, even backward reasoning is combinatoric (at least NP-hard). Here, we give theoretical results for prioritized circumscription that show how to reformulate default theories so as to make forward inference be selective, as well as concurrent; and to restrict belief revision to a part of the theory. We elaborate a detailed divide-and-conquer strategy. We develop concepts of structure in NM theories, by showing how to reformulate them in a particular fashion: to be conjunctively decomposed into a collection of smaller 'part' theories. We identify two well-behaved special cases that are easily recognized in terms of syntactic properties: disjoint appearances of predicates, and disjoint appearances of individuals (terms). As part of this, we also definitionally reformulate the global axioms, one by one, in addition to applying decomposition. We identify a broad class of prioritized default theories, generalizing default inheritance, for which our results especially bear fruit. For this asocially monadic class, decomposition permits reasoning to be localized to individuals (ground terms), and reduced to propositional. Our reformulation methods are implementable in polynomial time, and apply to several other NM formalisms beyond circumscription.

Statistical analysis of nonmonotonic dose-response relationships: research design and analysis of nasal cell proliferation in rats exposed to formaldehyde.

PubMed

Gaylor, David W; Lutz, Werner K; Conolly, Rory B

2004-01-01

Statistical analyses of nonmonotonic dose-response curves are proposed, experimental designs to detect low-dose effects of J-shaped curves are suggested, and sample sizes are provided. For quantal data such as cancer incidence rates, much larger numbers of animals are required than for continuous data such as biomarker measurements. For example, 155 animals per dose group are required to have at least an 80% chance of detecting a decrease from a 20% incidence in controls to an incidence of 10% at a low dose. For a continuous measurement, only 14 animals per group are required to have at least an 80% chance of detecting a change of the mean by one standard deviation of the control group. Experimental designs based on three dose groups plus controls are discussed to detect nonmonotonicity or to estimate the zero equivalent dose (ZED), i.e., the dose that produces a response equal to the average response in the controls. Cell proliferation data in the nasal respiratory epithelium of rats exposed to formaldehyde by inhalation are used to illustrate the statistical procedures. Statistically significant departures from a monotonic dose response were obtained for time-weighted average labeling indices with an estimated ZED at a formaldehyde dose of 5.4 ppm, with a lower 95% confidence limit of 2.7 ppm. It is concluded that demonstration of a statistically significant bi-phasic dose-response curve, together with estimation of the resulting ZED, could serve as a point-of departure in establishing a reference dose for low-dose risk assessment.

Re-analysis of previous laboratory phase curves: 1. Variations of the opposition effect morphology with the textural properties, and an application to planetary surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Déau, Estelle; Flandes, Alberto; Spilker, Linda J.; Petazzoni, Jérôme

2013-11-01

Typical variations in the opposition effect morphology of laboratory samples at optical wavelengths are investigated to probe the role of the textural properties of the surface (roughness, porosity and grain size). A previously published dataset of 34 laboratory phase curves is re-analyzed and fit with several morphological models. The retrieved morphological parameters that characterize the opposition surge, amplitude, width and slope (A, HWHM and S respectively) are correlated to the single scattering albedo, the roughness, the porosity and the grain size of the samples. To test the universality of the laboratory samples’ trends, we use previously published phase curves of planetary surfaces, including the Moon, satellites and rings of the giant planets. The morphological parameters of the surge (A and HWHM) for planetary surfaces are found to have a non-monotonic variation with the single scattering albedo, similar to that observed in asteroids (Belskaya, I.N., Shevchenko, V.G. [2000]. Icarus 147, 94-105), which is unexplained so far. The morphological parameters of the surge (A and HWHM) for laboratory samples seem to exhibit the same non-monotonic variation with single scattering albedo. While the non-monotonic variation with albedo was already observed by Nelson et al. (Nelson, R.M., Hapke, B.W., Smythe, W.D., Hale, A.S., Piatek, J.L. [2004]. Planetary regolith microstructure: An unexpected opposition effect result. In: Mackwell, S., Stansbery, E. (Eds.), Proc. Lunar Sci. Conf. 35, p. 1089), we report here the same variation for the angular width.

Lateral migration of a viscoelastic drop in a Newtonian fluid in a shear flow near a wall

PubMed Central

Mukherjee, Swarnajay; Sarkar, Kausik

2014-01-01

Wall induced lateral migration of a viscoelastic (FENE-MCR) drop in a Newtonian fluid is investigated. Just like a Newtonian drop, a viscoelastic drop reaches a quasi-steady state where the lateral velocity only depends on the instantaneous distance from the wall. The drop migration velocity and the deformation scale inversely with the square and the cube of the distance from the wall, respectively. The migration velocity varies non-monotonically with increasing viscoelasticity (increasing Deborah number); initially increasing and then decreasing. An analytical explanation has been given of the effects by computing the migration velocity as arising from an image stresslet field due to the drop. The semi-analytical expression matches well with the simulated migration velocity away from the wall. It contains a viscoelastic stresslet component apart from those arising from interfacial tension and viscosity ratio. The migration dynamics is a result of the competition between the viscous (interfacial tension and viscosity ratio) and the viscoelastic effects. The viscoelastic stresslet contribution towards the migration velocity steadily increases. But the interfacial stresslet—arising purely from the drop shape—first increases and then decreases with rising Deborah number causing the migration velocity to be non-monotonic. The geometric effect of the interfacial stresslet is caused by a corresponding nonmonotonic variation of the drop inclination. High viscosity ratio is briefly considered to show that the drop viscoelasticity could stabilize a drop against breakup, and the increase in migration velocity due to viscoelasticity is larger compared to the viscosity-matched case. PMID:25378894

Statistical properties of swarms of self-propelled particles with repulsions across the order-disorder transition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romenskyy, Maksym; Lobaskin, Vladimir

2013-03-01

We study dynamic self-organisation and order-disorder transitions in a two-dimensional system of self-propelled particles. Our model is a variation of the Vicsek model, where particles align the motion to their neighbours but repel each other at short distances. We use computer simulations to measure the orientational order parameter for particle velocities as a function of intensity of internal noise or particle density. We show that in addition to the transition to an ordered state on increasing the particle density, as reported previously, there exists a transition into a disordered phase at the higher densities, which can be attributed to the destructive action of the repulsions. We demonstrate that the transition into the ordered phase is accompanied by the onset of algebraic behaviour of the two-point velocity correlation function and by a non-monotonous variation of the velocity relaxation time. The critical exponent for the decay of the velocity correlation function in the ordered phase depends on particle concentration at low densities but assumes a universal value in more dense systems.

E-Index for Differentiating Complex Dynamic Traits

PubMed Central

Qi, Jiandong; Sun, Jianfeng; Wang, Jianxin

2016-01-01

While it is a daunting challenge in current biology to understand how the underlying network of genes regulates complex dynamic traits, functional mapping, a tool for mapping quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), has been applied in a variety of cases to tackle this challenge. Though useful and powerful, functional mapping performs well only when one or more model parameters are clearly responsible for the developmental trajectory, typically being a logistic curve. Moreover, it does not work when the curves are more complex than that, especially when they are not monotonic. To overcome this inadaptability, we therefore propose a mathematical-biological concept and measurement, E-index (earliness-index), which cumulatively measures the earliness degree to which a variable (or a dynamic trait) increases or decreases its value. Theoretical proofs and simulation studies show that E-index is more general than functional mapping and can be applied to any complex dynamic traits, including those with logistic curves and those with nonmonotonic curves. Meanwhile, E-index vector is proposed as well to capture more subtle differences of developmental patterns. PMID:27064292

Brain-Inspired Constructive Learning Algorithms with Evolutionally Additive Nonlinear Neurons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, Le-Heng; Lin, Wei; Luo, Qiang

In this article, inspired partially by the physiological evidence of brain’s growth and development, we developed a new type of constructive learning algorithm with evolutionally additive nonlinear neurons. The new algorithms have remarkable ability in effective regression and accurate classification. In particular, the algorithms are able to sustain a certain reduction of the loss function when the dynamics of the trained network are bogged down in the vicinity of the local minima. The algorithm augments the neural network by adding only a few connections as well as neurons whose activation functions are nonlinear, nonmonotonic, and self-adapted to the dynamics of the loss functions. Indeed, we analytically demonstrate the reduction dynamics of the algorithm for different problems, and further modify the algorithms so as to obtain an improved generalization capability for the augmented neural networks. Finally, through comparing with the classical algorithm and architecture for neural network construction, we show that our constructive learning algorithms as well as their modified versions have better performances, such as faster training speed and smaller network size, on several representative benchmark datasets including the MNIST dataset for handwriting digits.

Hyperexponential and nonmonotonic retention of polyvinylpyrrolidone-coated silver nanoparticles in an Ultisol.

PubMed

Wang, Dengjun; Ge, Liqiang; He, Jianzhou; Zhang, Wei; Jaisi, Deb P; Zhou, Dongmei

2014-08-01

The increasing application of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) has heightened the concern that these ENPs would eventually be released to the environment and may enter into life cycle of living beings. In this regard, it is essential to understand how these ENPs transport and retain in natural soils because they are considered to be a major repository for ENPs. Herein, transport and retention of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-coated silver nanoparticles (PVP-AgNPs) were investigated over a wide range of physicochemical factors in water-saturated columns packed with an Ultisol rich in clay-size particles. Higher mobility of PVP-AgNPs occurred at larger soil grain size, lower solution ionic strength and divalent cation concentration, higher flow rate, and greater PVP concentrations. Most breakthrough curves (BTCs) for PVP-AgNPs exhibited significant amounts of retardation in the soil due to its large surface area and quantity of retention sites. In contrast to colloid filtration theory, the shapes of retention profiles (RPs) for PVP-AgNPs were either hyperexponential or nonmonotonic (a peak in particle retention down-gradient from the column inlet). The BTCs and hyperexponential RPs were successfully described using a 1-species model that considered time- and depth-dependent retention. Conversely, a 2-species model that included reversibility of retained PVP-AgNPs had to be employed to better simulate the BTCs and nonmonotonic RPs. As the retained concentration of species 1 approached the maximum solid-phase concentration, a second mobile species (species 2, i.e., the same PVP-AgNPs that are reversibly retained) was released that could be retained at a different rate than species 1 and thus yielded the nonmonotonic RPs. Some retained PVP-AgNPs were likely to irreversibly deposit in the primary minimum associated with microscopic chemical heterogeneity (favorable sites). Transmission electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis suggested that these favorable sites were positively charged sites on montmorillonite edges and goethite surfaces in the soil. Overall, our study highlights that the transport and especially retention of PVP-AgNPs are highly sensitive to the physicochemical factors, but mathematical modeling can accurately predict the fate of these ENPs in porous media which is important for better understanding the fate of these ENPs in point of exit and in the environment. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

L-type calcium channels refine the neural population code of sound level.

PubMed

Grimsley, Calum Alex; Green, David Brian; Sivaramakrishnan, Shobhana

2016-12-01

The coding of sound level by ensembles of neurons improves the accuracy with which listeners identify how loud a sound is. In the auditory system, the rate at which neurons fire in response to changes in sound level is shaped by local networks. Voltage-gated conductances alter local output by regulating neuronal firing, but their role in modulating responses to sound level is unclear. We tested the effects of L-type calcium channels (Ca L : Ca V 1.1-1.4) on sound-level coding in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICC) in the auditory midbrain. We characterized the contribution of Ca L to the total calcium current in brain slices and then examined its effects on rate-level functions (RLFs) in vivo using single-unit recordings in awake mice. Ca L is a high-threshold current and comprises ∼50% of the total calcium current in ICC neurons. In vivo, Ca L activates at sound levels that evoke high firing rates. In RLFs that increase monotonically with sound level, Ca L boosts spike rates at high sound levels and increases the maximum firing rate achieved. In different populations of RLFs that change nonmonotonically with sound level, Ca L either suppresses or enhances firing at sound levels that evoke maximum firing. Ca L multiplies the gain of monotonic RLFs with dynamic range and divides the gain of nonmonotonic RLFs with the width of the RLF. These results suggest that a single broad class of calcium channels activates enhancing and suppressing local circuits to regulate the sensitivity of neuronal populations to sound level. Copyright © 2016 the American Physiological Society.

Electrocaloric effects in the lead-free Ba (Zr ,Ti )O3 relaxor ferroelectric from atomistic simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Zhijun; Prokhorenko, Sergei; Prosandeev, Sergey; Nahas, Y.; Wang, D.; Íñiguez, Jorge; Defay, E.; Bellaiche, L.

2017-07-01

Atomistic effective Hamiltonian simulations are used to investigate electrocaloric (EC) effects in the lead-free Ba (Zr0.5Ti0.5)O3 (BZT) relaxor ferroelectric. We find that the EC coefficient varies nonmonotonically with the field at any temperature, presenting a maximum that can be traced back to the behavior of BZT's polar nanoregions. We also introduce a simple Landau-based model that reproduces the EC behavior of BZT as a function of field and temperature, and which is directly applicable to other compounds. Finally, we confirm that, for low temperatures (i.e., in nonergodic conditions), the usual indirect approach to measure the EC response provides an estimate that differs quantitatively from a direct evaluation of the field-induced temperature change.

Minimal physical requirements for crystal growth self-poisoning

DOE PAGES

Whitelam, Stephen; Dahal, Yuba Raj; Schmit, Jeremy D.

2016-02-10

Self-poisoning is a kinetic trap that can impair or prevent crystal growth in a wide variety of physical settings. In this paper, we use dynamic mean-field theory and computer simulation to argue that poisoning is ubiquitous because its emergence requires only the notion that a molecule can bind in two (or more) ways to a crystal; that those ways are not energetically equivalent; and that the associated binding events occur with sufficiently unequal probability. If these conditions are met then the steady-state growth rate is in general a non-monotonic function of the thermodynamic driving force for crystal growth, which ismore » the characteristic of poisoning. Finally, our results also indicate that relatively small changes of system parameters could be used to induce recovery from poisoning.« less

Meson properties in asymmetric matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mammarella, Andrea; Mannarelli, Massimo

2018-03-01

In this work we study dynamic and thermodynamic (at T = 0) properties of mesons in asymmetric matter in the framework of Chiral Perturbation Theory. We consider a system at vanishing temperature with nonzero isospin chemical potential and strangeness chemical potential; meson masses and mixing in the normal phase, the pion condensation phase and the kaon condensation phase are described. We find differences with previous works, but the results presented here are supported by both theory group analysis and by direct calculations. Some pion decay channels in the normal and the pion condensation phases are studied, finding a nonmonotonic behavior of the decay width as a function of µ I . Furthermore, pressure, density and equation of state of the system at T = 0 are studied, finding remarkable agreement with analogue studies performed by lattice calculations.

Spin-imbalance in a 2D Fermi-Hubbard system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown, Peter T.; Mitra, Debayan; Guardado-Sanchez, Elmer; Schauß, Peter; Kondov, Stanimir S.; Khatami, Ehsan; Paiva, Thereza; Trivedi, Nandini; Huse, David A.; Bakr, Waseem S.

2017-09-01

The interplay of strong interactions and magnetic fields gives rise to unusual forms of superconductivity and magnetism in quantum many-body systems. Here, we present an experimental study of the two-dimensional Fermi-Hubbard model—a paradigm for strongly correlated fermions on a lattice—in the presence of a Zeeman field and varying doping. Using site-resolved measurements, we revealed anisotropic antiferromagnetic correlations, a precursor to long-range canted order. We observed nonmonotonic behavior of the local polarization with doping for strong interactions, which we attribute to the evolution from an antiferromagnetic insulator to a metallic phase. Our results pave the way to experimentally mapping the low-temperature phase diagram of the Fermi-Hubbard model as a function of both doping and spin polarization, for which many open questions remain.

Frequency dependence of trapped flux sensitivity in SRF cavities

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

Checchin, M.; Martinello, M.; Grassellino, A.

In this paper, we present the frequency dependence of the vortex surface resistance of bulk niobium accelerating cavities as a function of different state-of-the-art surface treatments. Higher flux surface resistance per amount of trapped magnetic field - sensitivity - is observed for higher frequencies, in agreement with our theoretical model. Higher sensitivity is observed for N-doped cavities, which possess an intermediate value of electron mean-free-path, compared to 120° C and EP/BCP cavities. Experimental results from our study showed that the sensitivity has a non-monotonic trend as a function of the mean-free-path, including at frequencies other than 1.3 GHz, and thatmore » the vortex response to the rf field can be tuned from the pinning regime to flux-flow regime by manipulating the frequency and/or the mean-free-path of the resonator, as reported in our previous studies. The frequency dependence of the trapped flux sensitivity to the amplitude of the accelerating gradient is also highlighted.« less

Potential of mean force of DNA guided assemblies past Debye-Hückel regime

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Girard, Martin; Seo, Soyoung; Li, Yaohua; Mirkin, Chad; Olvera de La Cruz, Monica

Many of the bioinspired systems make use of biopolymers such as polypeptides or DNA. The latter is widely used in self-assembled systems, from colloidal crystals to origami construction. In these systems, salt is commonly required to screen the electrostatic repulsion between the strands. In the classical Debye-Hückel picture, salt ions are point particles and the screening distance is a decreasing monotonic function of salt concentration. This picture breaks down at moderate salt concentrations, where the behavior becomes non-monotonic. In this talk, we will show results for potential of mean force of DNA grafted colloids obtained through multiscale molecular dynamics. In this picture, the highly charged DNA causes non-trivial behavior at moderate salt concentrations (c 0 . 3 - 0 . 7 M), namely increase of repulsion for non-complementary DNA strands while repulsion decreases for complementary strands. We will show spatial cluster distribution as function of size and charge as well as implications for experimental systems.

Black-hole solutions with scalar hair in Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet theories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Antoniou, G.; Bakopoulos, A.; Kanti, P.

2018-04-01

In the context of the Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet theory, with a general coupling function between the scalar field and the quadratic Gauss-Bonnet term, we investigate the existence of regular black-hole solutions with scalar hair. Based on a previous theoretical analysis, which studied the evasion of the old and novel no-hair theorems, we consider a variety of forms for the coupling function (exponential, even and odd polynomial, inverse polynomial, and logarithmic) that, in conjunction with the profile of the scalar field, satisfy a basic constraint. Our numerical analysis then always leads to families of regular, asymptotically flat black-hole solutions with nontrivial scalar hair. The solution for the scalar field and the profile of the corresponding energy-momentum tensor, depending on the value of the coupling constant, may exhibit a nonmonotonic behavior, an unusual feature that highlights the limitations of the existing no-hair theorems. We also determine and study in detail the scalar charge, horizon area, and entropy of our solutions.

Entropy production and energy dissipation in symmetric redox supercapacitors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palma-Aramburu, N.; Santamaría-Holek, I.

2017-08-01

In this work we propose a theoretical model that accounts for the main features of the loading-unloading process of a symmetric redox MnO2-based supercapacitor dominated by fast electrochemical reactions at the electrodes. The model is formulated on the basis of nonequilibrium thermodynamics from which we are able to deduce generalized expressions for the electrochemical affinity, the load-voltage and the current-voltage equations that constitute generalizations of the current-overpotential and Butler-Volmer equations, and that are used to describe experimental voltagram data with good agreement. These equations allowed us to derive the behavior of the energy dissipated per cycle showing that it has a nonmonotonic behavior and that in the operation regime it follows a power-law behavior as a function of the frequency. The existence of a maximum for the energy dissipated as a function of the frequency suggests the that the corresponding optimal operation frequency should be similar in value to ωmax.

Frequency dependence of trapped flux sensitivity in SRF cavities

DOE PAGES

Checchin, M.; Martinello, M.; Grassellino, A.; ...

2018-02-13

In this paper, we present the frequency dependence of the vortex surface resistance of bulk niobium accelerating cavities as a function of different state-of-the-art surface treatments. Higher flux surface resistance per amount of trapped magnetic field - sensitivity - is observed for higher frequencies, in agreement with our theoretical model. Higher sensitivity is observed for N-doped cavities, which possess an intermediate value of electron mean-free-path, compared to 120° C and EP/BCP cavities. Experimental results from our study showed that the sensitivity has a non-monotonic trend as a function of the mean-free-path, including at frequencies other than 1.3 GHz, and thatmore » the vortex response to the rf field can be tuned from the pinning regime to flux-flow regime by manipulating the frequency and/or the mean-free-path of the resonator, as reported in our previous studies. The frequency dependence of the trapped flux sensitivity to the amplitude of the accelerating gradient is also highlighted.« less

Community maturity, species saturation and the variant diversity- productivity relationships in grasslands

USGS Publications Warehouse

Guo, Q.; Shaffer, T.; Buhl, T.

2006-01-01

Detailed knowledge of the relationship between plant diversity and productivity is critical for advancing our understanding of ecosystem functioning and for achieving success in habitat restoration efforts. However, effects and interactions of diversity, succession and biotic invasions on productivity remain elusive. We studied newly established communities in relation to preexisting homogeneous vegetation invaded by exotic plants in the northern Great Plains, USA, at four study sites for 3 years. We observed variant diversity-productivity relationships for the seeded communities (generally positive monotonic at three sites and non-monotonic at the other site) but no relationships for the resident community or the seeded and resident communities combined at all sites and all years. Community richness was enhanced by seeding additional species but productivity was not. The optimal diversity (as indicated by maximum productivity) changed among sites and as the community developed. The findings shed new light on ecosystem functioning of biodiversity under different conditions and have important implications for restoration. ?? 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/CNRS.

Effects of interaction strength, doping, and frustration on the antiferromagnetic phase of the two-dimensional Hubbard model

DOE PAGES

Fratino, L.; Charlebois, M.; Sémon, P.; ...

2017-12-19

Recent quantum-gas microscopy of ultracold atoms and scanning tunneling microscopy of the cuprates reveal new detailed information about doped Mott antiferromagnets, which can be compared with calculations. Using cellular dynamical mean-field theory, we map out the antiferromagnetic (AF) phase of the two-dimensional Hubbard model as a function of interaction strength U, hole doping δ, and temperature T . The Néel phase boundary is nonmonotonic as a function of U and δ. Frustration induced by second-neighbor hopping reduces Néel order more effectively at small U. The doped AF is stabilized at large U by kinetic energy and at small U bymore » potential energy. The transition between the AF insulator and the doped metallic AF is continuous. At large U, we find in-gap states similar to those observed in scanning tunneling microscopy. Finally, we predict that, contrary to the Hubbard bands, these states are only slightly spin polarized.« less

Effects of interaction strength, doping, and frustration on the antiferromagnetic phase of the two-dimensional Hubbard model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fratino, L.; Charlebois, M.; Sémon, P.; Sordi, G.; Tremblay, A.-M. S.

2017-12-01

Recent quantum-gas microscopy of ultracold atoms and scanning tunneling microscopy of the cuprates reveal new detailed information about doped Mott antiferromagnets, which can be compared with calculations. Using cellular dynamical mean-field theory, we map out the antiferromagnetic (AF) phase of the two-dimensional Hubbard model as a function of interaction strength U , hole doping δ , and temperature T . The Néel phase boundary is nonmonotonic as a function of U and δ . Frustration induced by second-neighbor hopping reduces Néel order more effectively at small U . The doped AF is stabilized at large U by kinetic energy and at small U by potential energy. The transition between the AF insulator and the doped metallic AF is continuous. At large U , we find in-gap states similar to those observed in scanning tunneling microscopy. We predict that, contrary to the Hubbard bands, these states are only slightly spin polarized.

Microcystins Alter Chemotactic Behavior in Caenorhabditis elegans by Selectively Targeting the AWA Sensory Neuron

PubMed Central

Moore, Caroline E.; Lein, Pamela J.; Puschner, Birgit

2014-01-01

Harmful algal blooms expose humans and animals to microcystins (MCs) through contaminated drinking water. While hepatotoxicity following acute exposure to MCs is well documented, neurotoxicity after sub-lethal exposure is poorly understood. We developed a novel statistical approach using a generalized linear model and the quasibinomial family to analyze neurotoxic effects in adult Caenorhabditis elegans exposed to MC-LR or MC-LF for 24 h. Selective effects of toxin exposure on AWA versus AWC sensory neuron function were determined using a chemotaxis assay. With a non-monotonic response MCs altered AWA but not AWC function, and MC-LF was more potent than MC-LR. To probe a potential role for protein phosphatases (PPs) in MC neurotoxicity, we evaluated the chemotactic response in worms exposed to the PP1 inhibitor tautomycin or the PP2A inhibitor okadaic acid for 24 h. Okadaic acid impaired both AWA and AWC function, while tautomycin had no effect on function of either neuronal cell type at the concentrations tested. These findings suggest that MCs alter the AWA neuron at concentrations that do not cause AWC toxicity via mechanisms other than PP inhibition. PMID:24918360

Stochastic resonance in a time-delayed feedback tristable system and its application in fault diagnosis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Peiming; Yuan, Danzhen; Han, Dongying; Zhang, Ying; Fu, Rongrong

2018-06-01

Stochastic resonance (SR) phenomena in a time-delayed feedback tristable system driven by Gaussian white noise are investigated by simulating the potential function, mean first-passage time (MFPT), and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the system. Through the use of a short delay time, the generalized potential function and stationary probability density function (PDF) are obtained. The delay feedback term has a significant effect on both equations, and that the parameters b, c, and d have different effects on the three wells of the potential function. The MFPT is calculated, which plays an extremely important role in research on particles escape rates. We find that the delay feedback term can affect the noise enhanced stability (NES). In addition, the SR characteristics are studied by the index of SNR. The simulation demonstrates that SNR is a non-monotonic distributed and that the peak SNR value can be attained by adjusting the appropriate parameters. Finally, the proposed theory is combined with a variable step method and applied to the detection of high frequencies in experiments. The result indicates that the fault frequency can be identified, and that the energy of the fault signal can be enhanced under suitable delay feedback parameters.

Developing Software for Pharmacodynamics and Bioassay Studies

DTIC Science & Technology

The objective of the project is to develop a software system to process general pharmacologic, toxicological, or other biomedical research data that...exhibit a non-monotonic dose-response relationship - for which the current parametric models fail. The software will analyze dose-response

Deduction with Uncertain Conditionals

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-04-01

operations but a very different fourth operation, again meant as an implication. As mentioned by Gilio and Scozzafava [19], in 1985 Bruno and Gilio also...nonmonotonic consequence relationships, IEEE Transactions of Systems, Man and Cybernetics 24 (12) (1994) 1724-1740. [19] A. Gilio , R. Scozzafava

Uncertainties in biological responses that influence hazard and risk approaches to the regulation of endocrine active substances

EPA Science Inventory

Endocrine Disrupting Substances (EDSs) may have certain biological effects including delayed effects, multigenerational effects, and non-monotonic dose response relationships (NMDRs) that require careful consideration when determining environmental hazards. The case studies evalu...

SETAC: Uncertainties in biological responses that influence hazard or risk approaches to the regulation of endocrine active substances

EPA Science Inventory

Endocrine Disrupting Substances (EDSs) may have certain biological effects including delayed effects, multigenerational effects, and non-monotonic dose response relationships (NMDRs) that require careful consideration when determining environmental hazards. The case studies evalu...

Hierarchical cluster-based partial least squares regression (HC-PLSR) is an efficient tool for metamodelling of nonlinear dynamic models.

PubMed

Tøndel, Kristin; Indahl, Ulf G; Gjuvsland, Arne B; Vik, Jon Olav; Hunter, Peter; Omholt, Stig W; Martens, Harald

2011-06-01

Deterministic dynamic models of complex biological systems contain a large number of parameters and state variables, related through nonlinear differential equations with various types of feedback. A metamodel of such a dynamic model is a statistical approximation model that maps variation in parameters and initial conditions (inputs) to variation in features of the trajectories of the state variables (outputs) throughout the entire biologically relevant input space. A sufficiently accurate mapping can be exploited both instrumentally and epistemically. Multivariate regression methodology is a commonly used approach for emulating dynamic models. However, when the input-output relations are highly nonlinear or non-monotone, a standard linear regression approach is prone to give suboptimal results. We therefore hypothesised that a more accurate mapping can be obtained by locally linear or locally polynomial regression. We present here a new method for local regression modelling, Hierarchical Cluster-based PLS regression (HC-PLSR), where fuzzy C-means clustering is used to separate the data set into parts according to the structure of the response surface. We compare the metamodelling performance of HC-PLSR with polynomial partial least squares regression (PLSR) and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression on various systems: six different gene regulatory network models with various types of feedback, a deterministic mathematical model of the mammalian circadian clock and a model of the mouse ventricular myocyte function. Our results indicate that multivariate regression is well suited for emulating dynamic models in systems biology. The hierarchical approach turned out to be superior to both polynomial PLSR and OLS regression in all three test cases. The advantage, in terms of explained variance and prediction accuracy, was largest in systems with highly nonlinear functional relationships and in systems with positive feedback loops. HC-PLSR is a promising approach for metamodelling in systems biology, especially for highly nonlinear or non-monotone parameter to phenotype maps. The algorithm can be flexibly adjusted to suit the complexity of the dynamic model behaviour, inviting automation in the metamodelling of complex systems.

Hierarchical Cluster-based Partial Least Squares Regression (HC-PLSR) is an efficient tool for metamodelling of nonlinear dynamic models

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Deterministic dynamic models of complex biological systems contain a large number of parameters and state variables, related through nonlinear differential equations with various types of feedback. A metamodel of such a dynamic model is a statistical approximation model that maps variation in parameters and initial conditions (inputs) to variation in features of the trajectories of the state variables (outputs) throughout the entire biologically relevant input space. A sufficiently accurate mapping can be exploited both instrumentally and epistemically. Multivariate regression methodology is a commonly used approach for emulating dynamic models. However, when the input-output relations are highly nonlinear or non-monotone, a standard linear regression approach is prone to give suboptimal results. We therefore hypothesised that a more accurate mapping can be obtained by locally linear or locally polynomial regression. We present here a new method for local regression modelling, Hierarchical Cluster-based PLS regression (HC-PLSR), where fuzzy C-means clustering is used to separate the data set into parts according to the structure of the response surface. We compare the metamodelling performance of HC-PLSR with polynomial partial least squares regression (PLSR) and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression on various systems: six different gene regulatory network models with various types of feedback, a deterministic mathematical model of the mammalian circadian clock and a model of the mouse ventricular myocyte function. Results Our results indicate that multivariate regression is well suited for emulating dynamic models in systems biology. The hierarchical approach turned out to be superior to both polynomial PLSR and OLS regression in all three test cases. The advantage, in terms of explained variance and prediction accuracy, was largest in systems with highly nonlinear functional relationships and in systems with positive feedback loops. Conclusions HC-PLSR is a promising approach for metamodelling in systems biology, especially for highly nonlinear or non-monotone parameter to phenotype maps. The algorithm can be flexibly adjusted to suit the complexity of the dynamic model behaviour, inviting automation in the metamodelling of complex systems. PMID:21627852

Non-monotonic swelling of surface grafted hydrogels induced by pH and/or salt concentration

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

Longo, Gabriel S.; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208; Chemistry of Life Processes Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208

2014-09-28

We use a molecular theory to study the thermodynamics of a weak-polyacid hydrogel film that is chemically grafted to a solid surface. We investigate the response of the material to changes in the pH and salt concentration of the buffer solution. Our results show that the pH-triggered swelling of the hydrogel film has a non-monotonic dependence on the acidity of the bath solution. At most salt concentrations, the thickness of the hydrogel film presents a maximum when the pH of the solution is increased from acidic values. The quantitative details of such swelling behavior, which is not observed when themore » film is physically deposited on the surface, depend on the molecular architecture of the polymer network. This swelling-deswelling transition is the consequence of the complex interplay between the chemical free energy (acid-base equilibrium), the electrostatic repulsions between charged monomers, which are both modulated by the absorption of ions, and the ability of the polymer network to regulate charge and control its volume (molecular organization). In the absence of such competition, for example, for high salt concentrations, the film swells monotonically with increasing pH. A deswelling-swelling transition is similarly predicted as a function of the salt concentration at intermediate pH values. This reentrant behavior, which is due to the coupling between charge regulation and the two opposing effects triggered by salt concentration (screening electrostatic interactions and charging/discharging the acid groups), is similar to that found in end-grafted weak polyelectrolyte layers. Understanding how to control the response of the material to different stimuli, in terms of its molecular structure and local chemical composition, can help the targeted design of applications with extended functionality. We describe the response of the material to an applied pressure and an electric potential. We present profiles that outline the local chemical composition of the hydrogel, which can be useful information when designing applications that pursue or require the absorption of biomolecules or pH-sensitive molecules within different regions of the film.« less

Bisphenol A Promotes Adiposity and Inflammation in a Nonmonotonic Dose-response Way in 5-week-old Male and Female C57BL/6J Mice Fed a Low-calorie Diet.

PubMed

Yang, Minglan; Chen, Maopei; Wang, Jiqiu; Xu, Min; Sun, Jichao; Ding, Lin; Lv, Xiaofei; Ma, Qinyun; Bi, Yufang; Liu, Ruixin; Hong, Jie; Ning, Guang

2016-06-01

A growing body of epidemiological research show that Bisphenol A (BPA) is positively correlated with obesity and metabolic disorders. However, the mechanisms of BPA on adiposity remain largely unknown. In this study, we found that 5-week-old male and female C57BL/6J mice exposed to four dosages of BPA (5, 50, 500, and 5000 μg/kg/d) by oral intake for 30 days showed significantly increased body weight and fat mass in a nonmonotonic dose-dependent manner when fed a chow diet. The effect occurred even at the lowest concentration (5μg/kg/d), lower than the tolerable daily intake of 50 μg/kg/day for BPA. However, no significant difference in body weight and fat mass was observed in either male or female mice fed a high-fat diet, suggesting that BPA may interact with diet in promoting obesity risk. In vitro study showed that BPA treatment drives the differentiation of white adipocyte progenitors from the stromal vascular fraction, partially through glucocorticoid receptor. BPA exposure increased circulating inflammatory factors and the local inflammation in white adipose tissues in both genders fed a chow diet, but not under high-fat diet. We further found that BPA concentration was associated with increased circulating inflammatory factors, including leptin and TNFα, in lean female subjects (body mass index < 23.0 kg/m(2)) but not in lean male subjects or in both sexes of overweight/obese subjects (body mass index > 25.0 kg/m(2)). In conclusion, we demonstrated the nonmonotonic dose effects of BPA on adiposity and chronic inflammation in 5-week-old mice, which is related to caloric uptake.

Nonmonotonic variation of seawater [sup 87]Sr/[sup 86]Sr across the Ivorian/Chadian boundary (Mississippian, Osagean): Evidence from marine cements within the Irish Waulsortian Limestone

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

Douthit, T.L.; Meyers, W.J.; Hanson, G.N.

1993-05-01

Detailed analysis of compositionally unaltered marine fibrous cements (MFC) from a single core through the Mississippian irish Waulsortian Limestone indicates that the variation of seawater [sup 87]Sr/[sup 86]Sr is nonmonotonic across the Ivorian-Chadian boundary. This nonmonotonic variation has not been recognized by previous studies. Furthermore, marine cement yielded [sup 87]Sr/[sup 86]Sr ratios lower than previously reported values for the Ivorian-Chadian (sagean). Marine fibrous cements are interpreted to be compositionally unaltered on the basis of nonluminescent character and stable isotope (C, O) composition comparable to previous estimates of Mississippian marine calcite. The isotope chemistry (C, O, Sr) and cathodoluminescent character ofmore » the marine fibrous cements therefore remained intact during their conversion from high-Mg calcite to low-Mg calcite + microdolomite, a conversion that probably took place in marine water during precipitation of Zone 1 calcite cement, the oldest non-MFC cement. High stratigraphic resolution was obtained by restricting the sample set to a single core, 429 m long, thereby eliminating chronostratigraphic correlation errors. The core is estimated to represent about 9.8 million years of Waulsortian Limestone deposition. The maximum rate of change in seawater [sup 87]Sr/[sup 86]Sr is [minus]0.00012/Ma, comparable in magnitude to Tertiary values. The authors data document the presence of fine-scale seawater [sup 87]Sr/[sup 86]Sr modulations for the Ivorian/Chadian, in contrast to the previously published monotonic seawater [sup 87]Sr/[sup 86]Sr curve for this interval, and emphasize the importance of well characterized intraformational isotopic baselines.« less

Non-monotonic behavior of electron temperature in argon inductively coupled plasma and its analysis via novel electron mean energy equation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Shu-Xia

2018-03-01

In this work, the behavior of electron temperature against the power in argon inductively coupled plasma is investigated by a fluid model. The model properly reproduces the non-monotonic variation of temperature with power observed in experiments. By means of a novel electron mean energy equation proposed for the first time in this article, this electron temperature behavior is interpreted. In the overall considered power range, the skin effect of radio frequency electric field results in localized deposited power density, responsible for an increase of electron temperature with power by means of one parameter defined as power density divided by electron density. At low powers, the rate fraction of multistep and Penning ionizations of metastables that consume electron energy two times significantly increases with power, which dominates over the skin effect and consequently leads to the decrease of temperature with power. In the middle power regime, a transition region of temperature is given by the competition between the ionizing effect of metastables and the skin effect of electric field. The power location where the temperature alters its trend moves to the low power end as increasing the pressure due to the lack of metastables. The non-monotonic curve of temperature is asymmetric at the short chamber due to the weak role of skin effect in increasing the temperature and tends symmetric when axially prolonging the chamber. Still, the validity of the fluid model in this prediction is estimated and the role of neutral gas heating is guessed. This finding is helpful for people understanding the different trends of temperature with power in the literature.

Modeling the Inhomogeneous Response of Steady and Transient Flows of Entangled Micellar Solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McKinley, Gareth

2008-03-01

Surfactant molecules can self-assemble in solution into long flexible structures known as wormlike micelles. These structures entangle, forming a viscoelastic network similar to those in entangled polymer melts and solutions. However, in contrast to `inert' polymeric networks, wormlike micelles continuously break and reform leading to an additional relaxation mechanism and the name `living polymers'. Observations in both classes of entangled fluids have shown that steady and transient shearing flows of these solutions exhibit spatial inhomogeneities such as `shear-bands' at sufficiently large applied strains. In the present work, we investigate the dynamical response of a class of two-species elastic network models which can capture, in a self-consistent manner, the creation and destruction of elastically-active network segments, as well as diffusive coupling between the microstructural conformations and the local state of stress in regions with large spatial gradients of local deformation. These models incorporate a discrete version of the micellar breakage and reforming dynamics originally proposed by Cates and capture, at least qualitatively, non-affine tube deformation and chain disentanglement. The `flow curves' of stress and apparent shear rate resulting from an assumption of homogeneous deformation is non-monotonic and linear stability analysis shows that the region of non-monotonic response is unstable. Calculation of the full inhomogeneous flow field results in localized shear bands that grow linearly in extent across the gap as the apparent shear rate increases. Time-dependent calculations in step strain, large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS) and in start up of steady shear flow show that the velocity profile in the gap and the total stress measured at the bounding surfaces are coupled and evolve in a complex non-monotonic manner as the shear bands develop and propagate.

Rigorous theory of graded thermoelectric converters including finite heat transfer coefficients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerstenmaier, York Christian; Wachutka, Gerhard

2017-11-01

Maximization of thermoelectric (TE) converter performance with an inhomogeneous material and electric current distribution has been investigated in previous literature neglecting thermal contact resistances to the heat reservoirs. The heat transfer coefficients (HTCs), defined as inverse thermal contact resistances per unit area, are thus infinite, whereas in reality, always parasitic thermal resistances, i.e., finite HTCs, are present. Maximization of the generated electric power and of cooling power in the refrigerator mode with respect to Seebeck coefficients and heat conductivity for a given profile of the material's TE figure of merit Z are mathematically ill-posed problems in the presence of infinite HTCs. As will be shown in this work, a fully self consistent solution is possible for finite HTCs, and in many respects, the results are fundamentally different. A previous theory for 3D devices will be extended to include finite HTCs and is applied to 1D devices. For the heat conductivity profile, an infinite number of solutions exist leading to the same device performance. Cooling power maximization for finite HTCs in 1D will lead to a strongly enhanced corresponding efficiency (coefficient of performance), whereas results with infinite HTCs lead to a non-monotonous temperature profile and coefficient of performance tending to zero for the prescribed heat conductivities. For maximized generated electric power, the corresponding generator efficiency is nearly a constant independent from the finite HTC values. The maximized efficiencies in the generator and cooling mode are equal to the efficiencies for the infinite HTC, provided that the corresponding powers approach zero. These and more findings are condensed in 4 theorems in the conclusions.

Resonant Two-Magnon Raman Scattering in Cuprate Antiferromagnetic Insulators and Superconductors.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blumberg, G.; Abbamonte, P.; Klein, M. V.

1996-03-01

We present results of low-temperature two-magnon resonance Raman excitation profile measurements for single layer Sr_2CuO_2Cl2 and bilayer YBa_2Cu_3O6 + δ antiferromagnets over the excitation region from 1.65 to 3.05 eV. These data reveal composite structure of the B_1g two-magnon line shape peaked at ~ 2.7J and ~ 4J and strong nonmonotonic dependence of the scattering intensity on excitation energy. Resonant magnetic scattering contributes also to A_1g and B_2g channels. We analyze these data using the triple resonance theory of Chubukov and Frenkel(A. Chubukov and D. Frenkel, Phys. Rev. Lett.74), 3057 (1995). and deduce information about magnetic interaction (J and J_⊥) and band parameters (NN hopping t and charge transfer gap 2Δ) in these antiferromagnets.(G. Blumberg et. al.), Preprint cond-mat/9511080. The ~ 3J spin superexchange excitation persists upon hole doping and is present in superconductors, proving the universality of the short wavelength magnetic excitations in the cuprate superconducting metals and the parent antiferromagnetic insulators.(G. Blumberg et. al.), Phys. Rev. B 49, 13 295 (1994).

Inferring Fault Frictional and Reservoir Hydraulic Properties From Injection-Induced Seismicity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jagalur-Mohan, Jayanth; Jha, Birendra; Wang, Zheng; Juanes, Ruben; Marzouk, Youssef

2018-02-01

Characterizing the rheological properties of faults and the evolution of fault friction during seismic slip are fundamental problems in geology and seismology. Recent increases in the frequency of induced earthquakes have intensified the need for robust methods to estimate fault properties. Here we present a novel approach for estimation of aquifer and fault properties, which combines coupled multiphysics simulation of injection-induced seismicity with adaptive surrogate-based Bayesian inversion. In a synthetic 2-D model, we use aquifer pressure, ground displacements, and fault slip measurements during fluid injection to estimate the dynamic fault friction, the critical slip distance, and the aquifer permeability. Our forward model allows us to observe nonmonotonic evolutions of shear traction and slip on the fault resulting from the interplay of several physical mechanisms, including injection-induced aquifer expansion, stress transfer along the fault, and slip-induced stress relaxation. This interplay provides the basis for a successful joint inversion of induced seismicity, yielding well-informed Bayesian posterior distributions of dynamic friction and critical slip. We uncover an inverse relationship between dynamic friction and critical slip distance, which is in agreement with the small dynamic friction and large critical slip reported during seismicity on mature faults.

Excitation of terahertz modes localized on a layered superconductor: Anomalous dispersion and resonant transmission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Apostolov, S. S.; Makarov, N. M.; Yampol'skii, V. A.

2018-01-01

We study theoretically the optic transmission through a slab of layered superconductor separated from two dielectric leads by spatial gaps. Based on the transfer matrix formalism along with the Josephson plasma electrodynamic approach, we derive analytic expressions for the transmittance and identify the conditions for the perfect transmission. The special interest of the study is focused on the resonant transmission, which occurs when the wave does not propagate in the spatial gaps. Far from the resonance, the transmittance is exponentially small due to the total internal reflection from the lead-gap interface. However, the excitation of electromagnetic modes localized on the layered superconductor gives rise to a remarkable resonant enhancement of the transmission. Moreover, this phenomenon is significantly modified for the layered superconductors in comparison with usual dielectrics or conductors. The dispersion curves for the modes localized on the layered superconductor are proved to be nonmonotonic, thus resulting in the specific dependence of the transmittance T on the incidence angle θ . In particular, we predict the onset of two resonant peaks in the T (θ ) dependence and their subsequent merge into the broadened single peak with increasing of the wave frequency. Our analytical results are demonstrated by numerical data.

Uncertainties in biological responses that influence hazard or risk approaches to the regulation of endocrine active substances

EPA Science Inventory

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) may have delayed or transgenerational effects and display non-monotonic dose response relationships (NMDRs) that require careful consideration when determining environmental hazards. The case studies evaluated for the SETAC Pellston Workshop&...

Nonlinear second order evolution inclusions with noncoercive viscosity term

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papageorgiou, Nikolaos S.; Rădulescu, Vicenţiu D.; Repovš, Dušan D.

2018-04-01

In this paper we deal with a second order nonlinear evolution inclusion, with a nonmonotone, noncoercive viscosity term. Using a parabolic regularization (approximation) of the problem and a priori bounds that permit passing to the limit, we prove that the problem has a solution.

Temperature stabilization in dispersed flows of frameless heat removal systems in space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Safronov, A. A.; Filatov, N. I.; Koroteev, A. A.; Bondareva, N. V.

2017-11-01

The temperature profile stabilization is studied at radiation cooling of a dispersed veil of droplet coolers-radiators. The stabilization is shown to be nonmonotonic. The influence of the studied process regularities on the characteristics of the radiating systems is analyzed.

Non-monotonicity of Trace Distance Under Tensor Products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maziero, Jonas

2015-10-01

The trace distance (TD) possesses several of the good properties required for a faithful distance measure in the quantum state space. Despite its importance and ubiquitous use in quantum information science, one of its questionable features, its possible non-monotonicity under taking tensor products of its arguments (NMuTP), has been hitherto unexplored. In this article, we advance analytical and numerical investigations of this issue considering different classes of states living in a discrete and finite dimensional Hilbert space. Our results reveal that although this property of TD does not show up for pure states and for some particular classes of mixed states, it is present in a non-negligible fraction of the regarded density operators. Hence, even though the percentage of quartets of states leading to the NMuTP drawback of TD and its strength decrease as the system's dimension grows, this property of TD must be taken into account before using it as a figure of merit for distinguishing mixed quantum states.

Indium vacancy induced d0 ferromagnetism in Li-doped In2O3 nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Haiming; Xing, Pengfei; Zhou, Wei; Yao, Dongsheng; Wu, Ping

2018-04-01

Li-doped In2O3 nanoparticles with room temperature d0 ferromagnetism were prepared by a sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and photoluminescence were carried out to investigate the effects of Li incorporation on the lattice defects. As the content of Li increases, non-monotonic changes in shifts of XRD peak (2 2 2) and the intensity ratios of indium vacancies related photoluminescence peak (PII) with respect to oxygen vacancies related peak (PI) are observed. Results show that at low doping level (≤2 at.%) Li prefers to occupy In sites, while with further doping the interstitial sites are more favorable for Li. Combined with the consistent non-monotonic change in saturation magnetization, we think that indium vacancies resulting from Li-doping play an important role in inducing d0 ferromagnetism in our Li-doped In2O3 nanoparticles, and the FM coupling is mainly mediated by the LiIn-ONN-VIn-ONN-LiIn chains.

Regulatory Decisions on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Should be Based on the Principles of Endocrinology

PubMed Central

Vandenberg, Laura N.; Colborn, Theo; Hayes, Tyrone B.; Heindel, Jerrold J.; Jacobs, David R.; Lee, Duk-Hee; Myers, John Peterson; Shioda, Toshi; Soto, Ana M.; vom Saal, Frederick S.; Welshons, Wade V.; Zoeller, R. Thomas

2013-01-01

For years, scientists from various disciplines have studied the effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) on the health and wellbeing of humans and wildlife. Some studies have specifically focused on the effects of low doses, i.e. those in the range that are thought to be safe for humans and/or animals. Others have focused on the existence of non-monotonic dose-response curves. These concepts challenge the way that chemical risk assessment is performed for EDCs. Continued discussions have clarified exactly what controversies and challenges remain. We address several of these issues, including why the study and regulation of EDCs should incorporate endocrine principles; what level of consensus there is for low dose effects; challenges to our understanding of non-monotonicity; and whether EDCs have been demonstrated to produce adverse effects. This discussion should result in a better understanding of these issues, and allow for additional dialogue on their impact on risk assessment. PMID:23411111

Simulation study of temperature-dependent diffusion behaviors of Ag/Ag(001) at low substrate temperature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cai, Danyun; Mo, Yunjie; Feng, Xiaofang; He, Yingyou; Jiang, Shaoji

2017-06-01

In this study, a model based on the First Principles calculations and Kinetic Monte Carlo simulation were established to study the growth characteristic of Ag thin film at low substrate temperature. On the basis of the interaction between the adatom and nearest-neighbor atoms, some simplifications and assumptions were made to categorize the diffusion behaviors of Ag adatoms on Ag(001). Then the barriers of all possible diffusion behaviors were calculated using the Climbing Image Nudged Elastic Band method (CI-NEB). Based on the Arrhenius formula, the morphology variation, which is attributed to the surface diffusion behaviors during the growth, was simulated with a temperature-dependent KMC model. With this model, a non-monotonic relation between the surface roughness and the substrate temperature (decreasing from 300 K to 100 K) were discovered. The analysis of the temperature dependence on diffusion behaviors presents a theoretical explanation of diffusion mechanism for the non-monotonic variation of roughness at low substrate temperature.

Nature of superconductor-insulator transition at LaAlO{sub 3}/SrTiO{sub 3} interface

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

Mohanta, N., E-mail: nmohanta@phy.iitkgp.ernet.in; Taraphder, A.; Centre for Theoretical Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, W. B. 721302

2015-05-15

The two-dimensional electron liquid, at the interface between two band insulators LaAlO{sub 3} and SrTiO{sub 3}, exhibits novel, unconventional superconductivity below 200 mK. One of the remarkable properties of the two-dimensional superconductor is its fantastic tunability by external parameters such as gate-voltage or magnetic field. We study the superconductor to insulator transition induced by gate-voltage by employing a self-consistent, mean-field Bogoliubov-de Gennes treatment based on an effective model. We show that the non-monotonic behaviour of the superconductivity with respect to gate-voltage is intrinsically due to the Rashba spin-orbit coupling. With increasing gate-voltage both the electron concentration and Rashba spin-orbit splittingmore » increases. Elevated electron filling boosts superconductivity whereas enhanced spin-orbit splitting annihilates electron-pairing. The non-monotonicity is a result of this competition. The device application of the superconductor-insulator transition in this interface is discussed.« less

Tracking Catalyst Redox States and Reaction Dynamics in Ni-Fe Oxyhydroxide Oxygen Evolution Reaction Electrocatalysts: The Role of Catalyst Support and Electrolyte pH.

PubMed

Görlin, Mikaela; Ferreira de Araújo, Jorge; Schmies, Henrike; Bernsmeier, Denis; Dresp, Sören; Gliech, Manuel; Jusys, Zenonas; Chernev, Petko; Kraehnert, Ralph; Dau, Holger; Strasser, Peter

2017-02-08

Ni-Fe oxyhydroxides are the most active known electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline electrolytes and are therefore of great scientific and technological importance in the context of electrochemical energy conversion. Here we uncover, investigate, and discuss previously unaddressed effects of conductive supports and the electrolyte pH on the Ni-Fe(OOH) catalyst redox behavior and catalytic OER activity, combining in situ UV-vis spectro-electrochemistry, operando electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS), and in situ cryo X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). Supports and pH > 13 strongly enhanced the precatalytic voltammetric charge of the Ni-Fe oxyhydroxide redox peak couple, shifted them more cathodically, and caused a 2-3-fold increase in the catalytic OER activity. Analysis of DEMS-based faradaic oxygen efficiency and electrochemical UV-vis traces consistently confirmed our voltammetric observations, evidencing both a more cathodic O 2 release and a more cathodic onset of Ni oxidation at higher pH. Using UV-vis, which can monitor the amount of oxidized Ni +3/+4 in situ, confirmed an earlier onset of the redox process at high electrolyte pH and further provided evidence of a smaller fraction of Ni +3/+4 in mixed Ni-Fe centers, confirming the unresolved paradox of a reduced metal redox activity with increasing Fe content. A nonmonotonic super-Nernstian pH dependence of the redox peaks with increasing Fe content-displaying Pourbaix slopes as steep as -120 mV/pH-suggested a two proton-one electron transfer. We explain and discuss the experimental pH effects using refined coupled (PCET) and decoupled proton transfer-electron transfer (PT/ET) schemes involving negatively charged oxygenate ligands generated at Fe centers. Together, we offer new insight into the catalytic reaction dynamics and associated catalyst redox chemistry of the most important class of alkaline OER catalysts.

Elastic anisotropy effects on the electrical responses of a thin sample of nematic liquid crystal.

PubMed

Gomes, O A; Yednak, C A R; Ribeiro de Almeida, R R; Teixeira-Souza, R T; Evangelista, L R

2017-03-01

The electrical responses of a nematic liquid crystal cell are investigated by means of the elastic continuum theory. The nematic medium is considered as a parallel circuit of a resistance and a capacitance and the electric current profile across the sample is determined as a function of the elastic constants. In the reorientation process of the nematic director, the resistance and capacitance of the sample are determined by taking into account the elastic anisotropy. A nonmonotonic profile for the current is observed in which a minimum value of the current may be used to estimate the elastic constants values. This scenario suggests a theoretical method to determine the values of the bulk elastic constants in a single planar aligned cell just by changing the direction of applied electrical field and measuring the resulting electrical current.

Boundary-driven anomalous spirals in oscillatory media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kessler, David A.; Levine, Herbert

2017-06-01

We study a heretofore ignored class of spiral patterns in oscillatory media as characterized by the complex Landau-Ginzburg model. These spirals emerge from modulating the growth rate as a function of r, thereby turning off the instability at large r. They are uniquely determined by matching to this outer condition, lifting a degeneracy in the set of steady-state solutions of the original equations. Unlike the well-studied spiral which acts as a wave source, has a simple core structure and is insensitive to the details of the boundary on which no-flux conditions are imposed, these new spirals are wave sinks, have non-monotonic wavefront curvature near the core, and can be patterned by the form of the spatial boundary. We predict that these anomalous spirals could be produced in nonlinear optics experiments via spatially modulating the gain of the medium.

Theoretical analyses of Baroclinic flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Antar, B.

1982-01-01

A stability analysis of a thin horizontal rotating fluid layer which is subjected to arbitrary horizontal and vertical temperature gradients is presented. The basic state is a nonlinear Hadley cell which contains both Ekman and thermal boundary layers; it is given in closed form. The stability analysis is based on the linearized Navier-Stokes equations, and zonally symmetric perturbations in the form of waves propagating in the meridional direction are considered. Numerical methods were used for the stability problem. It was found that the instability sets in when the Richardson number is close to unity and that the critical Richardson number is a non-monotonic function of the Prandtl number. Further, it was found that the critical Richardson number decreases with increasing Ekman number until a critical value of the Ekman number is reached beyond which the fluid is stable.

Ion acoustic turbulence in a 100-A LaB6 hollow cathode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jorns, Benjamin A.; Mikellides, Ioannis G.; Goebel, Dan M.

2014-12-01

The temporal fluctuations in the near plume of a 100-A LaB6 hollow cathode are experimentally investigated. A probe array is employed to measure the amplitude and dispersion of axial modes in the plume, and these properties are examined parametrically as a function of cathode operating conditions. The onset of ion acoustic turbulence is observed at high current and is characterized by a power spectrum that exhibits a cutoff at low frequency and an inverse dependence on frequency at high values. The amplitude of the turbulence is found to decrease with flow rate but to depend nonmonotonically on discharge current. Estimates of the anomalous collision frequency based on experimental measurements indicate that the ion acoustic turbulence collision frequency can exceed the classical rate at high discharge current densities by nearly two orders of magnitude.

Quantum fluctuations in anisotropic triangular lattices with ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic exchange

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmidt, Burkhard; Thalmeier, Peter

2014-05-01

The Heisenberg model on a triangular lattice is a prime example of a geometrically frustrated spin system. However most experimentally accessible compounds have spatially anisotropic exchange interactions. As a function of this anisotropy, ground states with different magnetic properties can be realized. Motivated by recent experimental findings on Cs2CuCl4-xBrx, we discuss the full phase diagram of the anisotropic model with two exchange constants J1 and J2, including possible ferromagnetic exchange. Furthermore a comparison with the related square lattice model is carried out. We discuss the zero-temperature phase diagram, ordering vector, ground-state energy, and ordered moment on a classical level and investigate the effect of quantum fluctuations within the framework of spin-wave theory. The field dependence of the ordered moment is shown to be nonmonotonic with field and control parameter.

Simulations of surfactant effects on the coalescence of drops and bubbles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martin, David; Blanchette, Francois

2012-11-01

We present simulations of coalescence in the presence of surfactant. We assume axial symmetry, and consider a fluid-fluid interface on which surfactant concentration and mass are tracked as functions of arclength. Our model can account for two physically distinct setups: a soap bubble merging with a suspended soap film; and a surfactant covered liquid drop merging with a reservoir. In both cases, we describe the regime in which coalescence is only partial. Along with viscous effects, represented by the Ohnesorge number, the elasticity of the surface tension relative to the surfactant concentration is seen to play a key role, and exhibits a surprising nonmonotonic influence. Effects of gravity are also simulated, along with effects of differing initial conditions, including uneven initial surfactant concentration, as is likely to arise in physical applications. We acknowledge support from NSF grant DMS 0808129.

Stochastic resonance in a fractional oscillator driven by multiplicative quadratic noise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Ruibin; Luo, Maokang; Deng, Ke

2017-02-01

Stochastic resonance of a fractional oscillator subject to an external periodic field as well as to multiplicative and additive noise is investigated. The fluctuations of the eigenfrequency are modeled as the quadratic function of the trichotomous noise. Applying the moment equation method and Shapiro-Loginov formula, we obtain the exact expression of the complex susceptibility and related stability criteria. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulations indicate that the spectral amplification (SPA) depends non-monotonicly both on the external driving frequency and the parameters of the quadratic noise. In addition, the investigations into fractional stochastic systems have suggested that both the noise parameters and the memory effect can induce the phenomenon of stochastic multi-resonance (SMR), which is previously reported and believed to be absent in the case of the multiplicative noise with only a linear term.

Non-scaling behavior of electroosmotic flow in voltage-gated nanopores

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

Lian, Cheng; Gallegos, Alejandro; Liu, Honglai

2017-01-01

Ionic size effects and electrostatic correlations result in the non-monotonic dependence of the electrical conductivity on the pore size. For ion transport at a high gating voltage, the conductivity oscillates with the pore size due to a significant overlap of the electric double layers.

5 CFR 351.303 - Identification of positions with a transferring function.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... transferring function. 351.303 Section 351.303 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT CIVIL SERVICE REGULATIONS REDUCTION IN FORCE Transfer of Function § 351.303 Identification of positions with a transferring function. (a) The competitive area losing the function is responsible for identifying the...

5 CFR 351.303 - Identification of positions with a transferring function.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... transferring function. 351.303 Section 351.303 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT CIVIL SERVICE REGULATIONS REDUCTION IN FORCE Transfer of Function § 351.303 Identification of positions with a transferring function. (a) The competitive area losing the function is responsible for identifying the...

Nonstandard Analysis and Shock Wave Jump Conditions in a One-Dimensional Compressible Gas

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baty, Roy S.; Farassat, Fereidoun; Hargreaves, John

2007-01-01

Nonstandard analysis is a relatively new area of mathematics in which infinitesimal numbers can be defined and manipulated rigorously like real numbers. This report presents a fairly comprehensive tutorial on nonstandard analysis for physicists and engineers with many examples applicable to generalized functions. To demonstrate the power of the subject, the problem of shock wave jump conditions is studied for a one-dimensional compressible gas. It is assumed that the shock thickness occurs on an infinitesimal interval and the jump functions in the thermodynamic and fluid dynamic parameters occur smoothly across this interval. To use conservations laws, smooth pre-distributions of the Dirac delta measure are applied whose supports are contained within the shock thickness. Furthermore, smooth pre-distributions of the Heaviside function are applied which vary from zero to one across the shock wave. It is shown that if the equations of motion are expressed in nonconservative form then the relationships between the jump functions for the flow parameters may be found unambiguously. The analysis yields the classical Rankine-Hugoniot jump conditions for an inviscid shock wave. Moreover, non-monotonic entropy jump conditions are obtained for both inviscid and viscous flows. The report shows that products of generalized functions may be defined consistently using nonstandard analysis; however, physically meaningful products of generalized functions must be determined from the physics of the problem and not the mathematical form of the governing equations.

Emission Depth Distribution Function of Al 2s Photoelectrons in Al2O3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hucek, S.; Zemek, J.; Jablonski, A.; Tilinin, I. S.

The escape probability of Al 2s photoelectrons leaving an aluminum oxide sample (Al2O3) has been studied as a function of depth of origin. It has been found that the escape probability (the so-called emission depth distribution function - DDF) depends strongly on the photoelectron emission direction with respect to that of the incident X-ray beam. In particular, in the emission direction close to that of photon propagation, the DDF differs substantially from the simple Beer-Lambert law and exhibits a nonmonotonic behavior with a maximum in the near-surface region at a depth of about 10 Å. Experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions based on Monte Carlo simulations of the electron transport and with analytical solution of the linearized Boltzmann kinetic equation with appropriate boundary conditions. Both theoretical approaches take into account multiple elastic scattering of photoelectrons on their way out of the sample. It is shown that the commonly used straight line approximation (SLA), which neglects elastic scattering effects, fails to describe adequately experimental data at emission directions close to minima of the differential photoelectric cross section.

Statistics of the relative velocity of particles in turbulent flows: Monodisperse particles.

PubMed

Bhatnagar, Akshay; Gustavsson, K; Mitra, Dhrubaditya

2018-02-01

We use direct numerical simulations to calculate the joint probability density function of the relative distance R and relative radial velocity component V_{R} for a pair of heavy inertial particles suspended in homogeneous and isotropic turbulent flows. At small scales the distribution is scale invariant, with a scaling exponent that is related to the particle-particle correlation dimension in phase space, D_{2}. It was argued [K. Gustavsson and B. Mehlig, Phys. Rev. E 84, 045304 (2011)PLEEE81539-375510.1103/PhysRevE.84.045304; J. Turbul. 15, 34 (2014)1468-524810.1080/14685248.2013.875188] that the scale invariant part of the distribution has two asymptotic regimes: (1) |V_{R}|≪R, where the distribution depends solely on R, and (2) |V_{R}|≫R, where the distribution is a function of |V_{R}| alone. The probability distributions in these two regimes are matched along a straight line: |V_{R}|=z^{*}R. Our simulations confirm that this is indeed correct. We further obtain D_{2} and z^{*} as a function of the Stokes number, St. The former depends nonmonotonically on St with a minimum at about St≈0.7 and the latter has only a weak dependence on St.

Statistics of the relative velocity of particles in turbulent flows: Monodisperse particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhatnagar, Akshay; Gustavsson, K.; Mitra, Dhrubaditya

2018-02-01

We use direct numerical simulations to calculate the joint probability density function of the relative distance R and relative radial velocity component VR for a pair of heavy inertial particles suspended in homogeneous and isotropic turbulent flows. At small scales the distribution is scale invariant, with a scaling exponent that is related to the particle-particle correlation dimension in phase space, D2. It was argued [K. Gustavsson and B. Mehlig, Phys. Rev. E 84, 045304 (2011), 10.1103/PhysRevE.84.045304; J. Turbul. 15, 34 (2014), 10.1080/14685248.2013.875188] that the scale invariant part of the distribution has two asymptotic regimes: (1) | VR|≪R , where the distribution depends solely on R , and (2) | VR|≫R , where the distribution is a function of | VR| alone. The probability distributions in these two regimes are matched along a straight line: | VR|= z*R . Our simulations confirm that this is indeed correct. We further obtain D2 and z* as a function of the Stokes number, St. The former depends nonmonotonically on St with a minimum at about St≈0.7 and the latter has only a weak dependence on St.

Paradoxical psychometric functions (“swan functions”) are explained by dilution masking in four stimulus dimensions

PubMed Central

Baker, Daniel H.; Meese, Tim S.; Georgeson, Mark A.

2013-01-01

The visual system dissects the retinal image into millions of local analyses along numerous visual dimensions. However, our perceptions of the world are not fragmentary, so further processes must be involved in stitching it all back together. Simply summing up the responses would not work because this would convey an increase in image contrast with an increase in the number of mechanisms stimulated. Here, we consider a generic model of signal combination and counter-suppression designed to address this problem. The model is derived and tested for simple stimulus pairings (e.g. A + B), but is readily extended over multiple analysers. The model can account for nonlinear contrast transduction, dilution masking, and signal combination at threshold and above. It also predicts nonmonotonic psychometric functions where sensitivity to signal A in the presence of pedestal B first declines with increasing signal strength (paradoxically dropping below 50% correct in two-interval forced choice), but then rises back up again, producing a contour that follows the wings and neck of a swan. We looked for and found these “swan” functions in four different stimulus dimensions (ocularity, space, orientation, and time), providing some support for our proposal. PMID:23799185

Nonequilibrium quantum solvation with a time-dependent Onsager cavity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirchberg, H.; Nalbach, P.; Thorwart, M.

2018-04-01

We formulate a theory of nonequilibrium quantum solvation in which parameters of the solvent are explicitly depending on time. We assume in a simplest approach a spherical molecular Onsager cavity with a time-dependent radius. We analyze the relaxation properties of a test molecular point dipole in a dielectric solvent and consider two cases: (i) a shrinking Onsager sphere and (ii) a breathing Onsager sphere. Due to the time-dependent solvent, the frequency-dependent response function of the dipole becomes time-dependent. For a shrinking Onsager sphere, the dipole relaxation is in general enhanced. This is reflected in a temporally increasing linewidth of the absorptive part of the response. Furthermore, the effective frequency-dependent response function shows two peaks in the absorptive part which are symmetrically shifted around the eigenfrequency. By contrast, a breathing sphere reduces damping as compared to the static sphere. Interestingly, we find a non-monotonous dependence of the relaxation rate on the breathing rate and a resonant suppression of damping when both rates are comparable. Moreover, the linewidth of the absorptive part of the response function is strongly reduced for times when the breathing sphere reaches its maximal extension.

Nonequilibrium quantum solvation with a time-dependent Onsager cavity.

PubMed

Kirchberg, H; Nalbach, P; Thorwart, M

2018-04-28

We formulate a theory of nonequilibrium quantum solvation in which parameters of the solvent are explicitly depending on time. We assume in a simplest approach a spherical molecular Onsager cavity with a time-dependent radius. We analyze the relaxation properties of a test molecular point dipole in a dielectric solvent and consider two cases: (i) a shrinking Onsager sphere and (ii) a breathing Onsager sphere. Due to the time-dependent solvent, the frequency-dependent response function of the dipole becomes time-dependent. For a shrinking Onsager sphere, the dipole relaxation is in general enhanced. This is reflected in a temporally increasing linewidth of the absorptive part of the response. Furthermore, the effective frequency-dependent response function shows two peaks in the absorptive part which are symmetrically shifted around the eigenfrequency. By contrast, a breathing sphere reduces damping as compared to the static sphere. Interestingly, we find a non-monotonous dependence of the relaxation rate on the breathing rate and a resonant suppression of damping when both rates are comparable. Moreover, the linewidth of the absorptive part of the response function is strongly reduced for times when the breathing sphere reaches its maximal extension.

Contrasting Ohlsson's Resubsumption Theory with Chi's Categorical Shift Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chi, Michelene T. H.; Brem, Sarah K.

2009-01-01

Ohlsson's proposal of resubsumption as the dominant process in conceptual, or nonmonotonic, change presents a worthy challenge to more established theories, such as Chi's theory of ontological shift. The two approaches differ primarily in that Ohlsson's theory emphasizes a process of learning in which narrower, more specific concepts are subsumed…

Answer Set Programming and Other Computing Paradigms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meng, Yunsong

2013-01-01

Answer Set Programming (ASP) is one of the most prominent and successful knowledge representation paradigms. The success of ASP is due to its expressive non-monotonic modeling language and its efficient computational methods originating from building propositional satisfiability solvers. The wide adoption of ASP has motivated several extensions to…

Category Change in the Absence of Cognitive Conflict

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramsburg, Jared T.; Ohlsson, Stellan

2016-01-01

The cognitive conflict hypothesis asserts that information that directly contradicts a prior conception is 1 of the prerequisites for conceptual change and other forms of nonmonotonic learning. There have been numerous attempts to support this hypothesis by adding a conflict intervention to learning scenarios with weak outcomes. Outcomes have been…

Testate amoeba transfer function performance along localised hydrological gradients.

PubMed

Tsyganov, Andrey N; Mityaeva, Olga A; Mazei, Yuri A; Payne, Richard J

2016-09-01

Testate amoeba transfer functions are widely used for reconstruction of palaeo-hydrological regime in peatlands. However, the limitations of this approach have become apparent with increasing attention to validation and assessing sources of uncertainty. This paper investigates effects of peatland type and sampling depth on the performance of a transfer function using an independent test-set from four Sphagnum-dominated sites in European Russia (Penza Region). We focus on transfer function performance along localised hydrological gradients, which is a useful analogue for predictive ability through time. The performance of the transfer function with the independent test-set was generally weaker than for the leave-one-out or bootstrap cross-validations. However, the transfer function was robust for the reconstruction of relative changes in water-table depth, provided the presence of good modern analogues and overlap in water-table depth ranges. When applied to subsurface samples, the performance of the transfer function was reduced due to selective decomposition, the presence of deep-dwelling taxa or vertical transfer of shells. Our results stress the importance of thorough testing of transfer functions, and highlight the role of taphonomic processes in determining results. Further studies of stratification, taxonomy and taphonomy of testate amoebae will be needed to improve the robustness of transfer function output. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Transfer function characteristics of super resolving systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Milster, Tom D.; Curtis, Craig H.

1992-01-01

Signal quality in an optical storage device greatly depends on the optical system transfer function used to write and read data patterns. The problem is similar to analysis of scanning optical microscopes. Hopkins and Braat have analyzed write-once-read-many (WORM) optical data storage devices. Herein, transfer function analysis of magnetooptic (MO) data storage devices is discussed with respect to improving transfer-function characteristics. Several authors have described improving the transfer function as super resolution. However, none have thoroughly analyzed the MO optical system and effects of the medium. Both the optical system transfer function and effects of the medium of this development are discussed.

Function Transfer in Human Operant Experiments: The Role of Stimulus Pairings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tonneau, Francois; Gonzalez, Carmen

2004-01-01

Although function transfer often has been studied in complex operant procedures (such as matching to sample), whether operant reinforcement actually produces function transfer in such settings has not been established. The present experiments, with high school students as subjects, suggest that stimulus pairings can promote function transfer in…

Unconscious perception: a model-based approach to method and evidence.

PubMed

Snodgrass, Michael; Bernat, Edward; Shevrin, Howard

2004-07-01

Unconscious perceptual effects remain controversial because it is hard to rule out alternative conscious perception explanations for them. We present a novel methodological framework, stressing the centrality of specifying the single-process conscious perception model (i.e., the null hypothesis). Various considerations, including those of SDT (Macmillan & Creelman, 1991), suggest that conscious perception functions hierarchically, in such a way that higher level effects (e.g., semantic priming) should not be possible without lower level discrimination (i.e., detection and identification). Relatedly, alternative conscious perception accounts (as well as the exhaustiveness, null sensitivity, and exclusiveness problems-Reingold & Merikle, 1988, 1990) predict positive relationships between direct and indirect measures. Contrariwise, our review suggests that negative and/or nonmonotonic relationships are found, providing strong evidence for unconscious perception and further suggesting that conscious and unconscious perceptual influences are functionally exclusive (cf. Jones, 1987), in such a way that the former typically override the latter when both are present. Consequently, unconscious perceptual effects manifest reliably only when conscious perception is completely absent, which occurs at the objective detection (but not identification) threshold.

Finite-T correlations and free exchange-correlation energy of quasi-one-dimensional electron gas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garg, Vinayak; Sharma, Akariti; Moudgil, R. K.

2018-02-01

We have studied the effect of temperature on static density-density correlations and plasmon excitation spectrum of quasi-one-dimensional electron gas (Q1DEG) using the random phase approximation (RPA). Numerical results for static structure factor, pair-correlation function, static density susceptibility, free exchange-correlation energy and plasmon dispersion are presented over a wide range of temperature and electron density. As an interesting result, we find that the short-range correlations exhibit a non-monotonic dependence on temperature T, initially growing stronger (i.e. the pair-correlation function at small inter-electron spacing assuming relatively smaller values) with increasing T and then weakening above a critical T. The cross-over temperature is found to increase with increasing coupling among electrons. Also, the q = 2kF peak in the static density susceptibility χ(q,ω = 0,T) at T = 0 K smears out with rising T. The free exchange-correlation energy and plasmon dispersion show a significant variation with T, and the trend is qualitatively the same as in higher dimensions.

Investigation of runaway electron dissipation in DIII-D using a gamma ray imager

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lvovskiy, A.; Paz-Soldan, C.; Eidietis, N.; Pace, D.; Taussig, D.

2017-10-01

We report the findings of a novel gamma ray imager (GRI) to study runaway electron (RE) dissipation in the quiescent regime on the DIII-D tokamak. The GRI measures the bremsstrahlung emission by RE providing information on RE energy spectrum and distribution across a poloidal cross-section. It consists of a lead pinhole camera illuminating a matrix of BGO detectors placed in the DIII-D mid-plane. The number of detectors was recently doubled to provide better spatial resolution and additional detector shielding was implemented to reduce un-collimated gamma flux and increase single-to-noise ratio. Under varying loop voltage, toroidal magnetic field and plasma density, a non-monotonic RE distribution function has been revealed as a result of the interplay between electric field, synchrotron radiation and collisional damping. A fraction of the high-energy RE population grows forming a bump at the RE distribution function while synchrotron radiation decreases. A possible destabilizing effect of Parail-Pogutse instability on the RE population will be also discussed. Work supported by the US DOE under DE-FC02-04ER54698.

Symbolic Regression for the Estimation of Transfer Functions of Hydrological Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klotz, D.; Herrnegger, M.; Schulz, K.

2017-11-01

Current concepts for parameter regionalization of spatially distributed rainfall-runoff models rely on the a priori definition of transfer functions that globally map land surface characteristics (such as soil texture, land use, and digital elevation) into the model parameter space. However, these transfer functions are often chosen ad hoc or derived from small-scale experiments. This study proposes and tests an approach for inferring the structure and parametrization of possible transfer functions from runoff data to potentially circumvent these difficulties. The concept uses context-free grammars to generate possible proposition for transfer functions. The resulting structure can then be parametrized with classical optimization techniques. Several virtual experiments are performed to examine the potential for an appropriate estimation of transfer function, all of them using a very simple conceptual rainfall-runoff model with data from the Austrian Mur catchment. The results suggest that a priori defined transfer functions are in general well identifiable by the method. However, the deduction process might be inhibited, e.g., by noise in the runoff observation data, often leading to transfer function estimates of lower structural complexity.

First-and Second-Order Displacement Transfer Functions for Structural Shape Calculations Using Analytically Predicted Surface Strains

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ko, William L.; Fleischer, Van Tran

2012-01-01

New first- and second-order displacement transfer functions have been developed for deformed shape calculations of nonuniform cross-sectional beam structures such as aircraft wings. The displacement transfer functions are expressed explicitly in terms of beam geometrical parameters and surface strains (uniaxial bending strains) obtained at equally spaced strain stations along the surface of the beam structure. By inputting the measured or analytically calculated surface strains into the displacement transfer functions, one could calculate local slopes, deflections, and cross-sectional twist angles of the nonuniform beam structure for mapping the overall structural deformed shapes for visual display. The accuracy of deformed shape calculations by the first- and second-order displacement transfer functions are determined by comparing these values to the analytically predicted values obtained from finite element analyses. This comparison shows that the new displacement transfer functions could quite accurately calculate the deformed shapes of tapered cantilever tubular beams with different tapered angles. The accuracy of the present displacement transfer functions also are compared to those of the previously developed displacement transfer functions.

On Exact Solutions of Rarefaction-Rarefaction Interactions in Compressible Isentropic Flow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jenssen, Helge Kristian

2017-12-01

Consider the interaction of two centered rarefaction waves in one-dimensional, compressible gas flow with pressure function p(ρ )=a^2ρ ^γ with γ >1. The classic hodograph approach of Riemann provides linear 2nd order equations for the time and space variables t, x as functions of the Riemann invariants r, s within the interaction region. It is well known that t( r, s) can be given explicitly in terms of the hypergeometric function. We present a direct calculation (based on works by Darboux and Martin) of this formula, and show how the same approach provides an explicit formula for x( r, s) in terms of Appell functions (two-variable hypergeometric functions). Motivated by the issue of vacuum and total variation estimates for 1-d Euler flows, we then use the explicit t-solution to monitor the density field and its spatial variation in interactions of two centered rarefaction waves. It is found that the variation is always non-monotone, and that there is an overall increase in density variation if and only if γ >3. We show that infinite duration of the interaction is characterized by approach toward vacuum in the interaction region, and that this occurs if and only if the Riemann problem defined by the extreme initial states generates a vacuum. Finally, it is verified that the minimal density in such interactions decays at rate O(1)/ t.

Competition between items in working memory leads to forgetting.

PubMed

Lewis-Peacock, Jarrod A; Norman, Kenneth A

2014-12-18

Switching attention from one thought to the next propels our mental lives forward. However, it is unclear how this thought-juggling affects our ability to remember these thoughts. Here we show that competition between the neural representations of pictures in working memory can impair subsequent recognition of those pictures. We use pattern classifiers to decode functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from a retro-cueing task where participants juggle two pictures in working memory. Trial-by-trial fluctuations in neural dynamics are predictive of performance on a surprise recognition memory test: trials that elicit similar levels of classifier evidence for both pictures (indicating close competition) are associated with worse memory performance than trials where participants switch decisively from thinking about one picture to the other. This result is consistent with the non-monotonic plasticity hypothesis, which predicts that close competition can trigger weakening of memories that lose the competition, leading to subsequent forgetting.

Effect of matrix chemical heterogeneity on effective filler interactions in model polymer nanocomposites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hall, Lisa; Schweizer, Kenneth

2010-03-01

The microscopic Polymer Reference Interaction Site Model theory has been applied to spherical and rodlike fillers dissolved in three types of chemically heterogeneous polymer melts: alternating AB copolymer, random AB copolymers, and an equimolar blend of two homopolymers. In each case, one monomer species adsorbs more strongly on the filler mimicking a specific attraction, while all inter-monomer potentials are hard core which precludes macrophase or microphase separation. Qualitative differences in the filler potential-of-mean force are predicted relative to the homopolymer case. The adsorbed bound layer for alternating copolymers exhibits a spatial moduluation or layering effect but is otherwise similar to that of the homopolymer system. Random copolymers and the polymer blend mediate a novel strong, long-range bridging interaction between fillers at moderate to high adsorption strengths. The bridging strength is a non-monotonic function of random copolymer composition, reflecting subtle competing enthalpic and entropic considerations.

Belief state representation in the dopamine system.

PubMed

Babayan, Benedicte M; Uchida, Naoshige; Gershman, Samuel J

2018-05-14

Learning to predict future outcomes is critical for driving appropriate behaviors. Reinforcement learning (RL) models have successfully accounted for such learning, relying on reward prediction errors (RPEs) signaled by midbrain dopamine neurons. It has been proposed that when sensory data provide only ambiguous information about which state an animal is in, it can predict reward based on a set of probabilities assigned to hypothetical states (called the belief state). Here we examine how dopamine RPEs and subsequent learning are regulated under state uncertainty. Mice are first trained in a task with two potential states defined by different reward amounts. During testing, intermediate-sized rewards are given in rare trials. Dopamine activity is a non-monotonic function of reward size, consistent with RL models operating on belief states. Furthermore, the magnitude of dopamine responses quantitatively predicts changes in behavior. These results establish the critical role of state inference in RL.

Magnetic quantization in monolayer bismuthene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Szu-Chao; Chiu, Chih-Wei; Lin, Hui-Chi; Lin, Ming-Fa

The magnetic quantization in monolayer bismuthene is investigated by the generalized tight-binding model. The quite large Hamiltonian matrix is built from the tight-binding functions of the various sublattices, atomic orbitals and spin states. Due to the strong spin orbital coupling and sp3 bonding, monolayer bismuthene has the diverse low-lying energy bands such as the parabolic, linear and oscillating energy bands. The main features of band structures are further reflected in the rich magnetic quantization. Under a uniform perpendicular magnetic field (Bz) , three groups of Landau levels (LLs) with distinct features are revealed near the Fermi level. Their Bz-dependent energy spectra display the linear, square-root and non-monotonous dependences, respectively. These LLs are dominated by the combinations of the 6pz orbital and (6px,6py) orbitals as a result of strong sp3 bonding. Specifically, the LL anti-crossings only occur between LLs originating from the oscillating energy band.

Magnetic field dependent atomic tunneling in non-magnetic glasses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ludwig, S.; Enss, C.; Hunklinger, S.

2003-05-01

The low-temperature properties of insulating glasses are governed by atomic tunneling systems (TSs). Recently, strong magnetic field effects in the dielectric susceptibility have been discovered in glasses at audio frequencies at very low temperatures. Moreover, it has been found that the amplitude of two-pulse polarization echoes generated in non-magnetic multi-component glasses at radio frequencies and at very low temperatures shows a surprising non-monotonic magnetic field dependence. The magnitude of the latter effect indicates that virtually all TSs are affected by the magnetic field, not only a small subset of systems. We have studied the variation of the magnetic field dependence of the echo amplitude as a function of the delay time between the two excitation pulses and at different frequencies. Our results indicate that the evolution of the phase of resonant TSs is changed by the magnetic field.

Microfluidic breakups of confined droplets against a linear obstacle: The importance of the viscosity contrast

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salkin, Louis; Courbin, Laurent; Panizza, Pascal

2012-09-01

Combining experiments and theory, we investigate the break-up dynamics of deformable objects, such as drops and bubbles, against a linear micro-obstacle. Our experiments bring the role of the viscosity contrast Δη between dispersed and continuous phases to light: the evolution of the critical capillary number to break a drop as a function of its size is either nonmonotonic (Δη>0) or monotonic (Δη≤0). In the case of positive viscosity contrasts, experiments and modeling reveal the existence of an unexpected critical object size for which the critical capillary number for breakup is minimum. Using simple physical arguments, we derive a model that well describes observations, provides diagrams mapping the four hydrodynamic regimes identified experimentally, and demonstrates that the critical size originating from confinement solely depends on geometrical parameters of the obstacle.

Spies in the minority game

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, You-Yang; Xu, Chen; Gu, Guo-Qing; Hui, Pak Ming

2008-01-01

We study the effects of the existence of another type of agents, called spies, in the minority game (MG). Unlike the normal agents in the MG, the spies do not carry any strategy. Instead, they decide their action by scouting some normal agents and take the minority action of the spied group. For a few spies and when there is useful information in the normal agents’ actions, the spies can avoid the crowd effect of the normal agents and win more readily. When information becomes less useful and when more spies are present, the spies’ crowd effect hurts the success rate of the spies themselves, and the normal agents could have a higher success rate than the spies. More spies actually assist more normal agents to win, as the spies also provide more winning quotas. This leads to a nonmonotonic behavior in the total success rate of the population as a function of the fraction of spies.

Chemical potential and compressibility of quantum Hall bilayer excitons,.

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

Skinner, Brian

2016-02-25

I consider a system of two parallel quantum Hall layers with total filling factor 0 or 1. When the distance between the layers is small enough, electrons and holes in opposite layers can form inter-layer excitons, which have a finite effective mass and interact via a dipole-dipole potential. I present results for the chemical potential u of the resulting bosonic system as a function of the exciton concentration n and the interlayer separation d. I show that both u and the interlayer capacitance have an unusual nonmonotonic dependence on d, owing to the interplay between an increasing dipole moment andmore » an increasing effective mass with increasing d. Finally, I discuss the transition between the superfluid and Wigner crystal phases, which is shown to occur at d x n-1/10. Results are derived first via simple intuitive arguments, and then verified with more careful analytic derivations and numeric calculations.« less

Stochastic Multiresonance for a Fractional Linear Oscillator with Quadratic Trichotomous Noise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Jian-Qu; Jin, Wei-Dong; Zheng, Gao; Guo, Feng

2017-11-01

The stochastic multiresonance behavior for a fractional linear oscillator with random system frequency is investigated. The fluctuation of the system frequency is a quadratic trichotomous noise, the memory kernel of the fractional oscillator is modeled as a Mittag-Leffler function. Based on linear system theory, applying Laplace transform and the definition of fractional derivative, the expression of the system output amplitude (SPA) is obtained. Stochastic multiresonance phenomenon is found on the curves of SPA versus the memory time and the memory exponent of the fractional oscillator, as well as versus the trichotomous noise amplitude. The SPA depends non-monotonically on the stationary probability of the trichotomous noise, on the viscous damping coefficient and system characteristic frequency of the oscillator, as well as on the driving frequency of external force. Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 61134002

Analysis of Long-Range Interaction in Lithium-Ion Battery Electrodes

DOE PAGES

Mistry, Aashutosh; Juarez-Robles, Daniel; Stein, Malcolm; ...

2016-12-01

The lithium-ion battery (LIB) electrode represents a complex porous composite, consisting of multiple phases including active material (AM), conductive additive, and polymeric binder. This study proposes a mesoscale model to probe the effects of the cathode composition, e.g., the ratio of active material, conductive additive, and binder content, on the electrochemical properties and performance. The results reveal a complex nonmonotonic behavior in the effective electrical conductivity as the amount of conductive additive is increased. Insufficient electronic conductivity of the electrode limits the cell operation to lower currents. Once sufficient electron conduction (i.e., percolation) is achieved, the rate performance can bemore » a strong function of ion-blockage effect and pore phase transport resistance. In conclusion, even for the same porosity, different arrangements of the solid phases may lead to notable difference in the cell performance, which highlights the need for accurate microstructural characterization and composite electrode preparation strategies.« less

Analysis of Long-Range Interaction in Lithium-Ion Battery Electrodes

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

Mistry, Aashutosh; Juarez-Robles, Daniel; Stein, Malcolm

The lithium-ion battery (LIB) electrode represents a complex porous composite, consisting of multiple phases including active material (AM), conductive additive, and polymeric binder. This study proposes a mesoscale model to probe the effects of the cathode composition, e.g., the ratio of active material, conductive additive, and binder content, on the electrochemical properties and performance. The results reveal a complex nonmonotonic behavior in the effective electrical conductivity as the amount of conductive additive is increased. Insufficient electronic conductivity of the electrode limits the cell operation to lower currents. Once sufficient electron conduction (i.e., percolation) is achieved, the rate performance can bemore » a strong function of ion-blockage effect and pore phase transport resistance. In conclusion, even for the same porosity, different arrangements of the solid phases may lead to notable difference in the cell performance, which highlights the need for accurate microstructural characterization and composite electrode preparation strategies.« less

Hybrid Natural Inflation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ross, Graham G.; Germán, Gabriel; Vázquez, J. Alberto

2016-05-01

We construct two simple effective field theory versions of Hybrid Natural Inflation (HNI) that illustrate the range of its phenomenological implications. The resulting inflationary sector potential, V = Δ4(1 + acos( ϕ/f)), arises naturally, with the inflaton field a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson. The end of inflation is triggered by a waterfall field and the conditions for this to happen are determined. Also of interest is the fact that the slow-roll parameter ɛ (and hence the tensor r) is a non-monotonic function of the field with a maximum where observables take universal values that determines the maximum possible tensor to scalar ratio r. In one of the models the inflationary scale can be as low as the electroweak scale. We explore in detail the associated HNI phenomenology, taking account of the constraints from Black Hole production, and perform a detailed fit to the Planck 2015 temperature and polarisation data.

A characteristic length scale causes anomalous size effects and boundary programmability in mechanical metamaterials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coulais, Corentin; Kettenis, Chris; van Hecke, Martin

2018-01-01

The architecture of mechanical metamaterials is designed to harness geometry, nonlinearity and topology to obtain advanced functionalities such as shape morphing, programmability and one-way propagation. Although a purely geometric framework successfully captures the physics of small systems under idealized conditions, large systems or heterogeneous driving conditions remain essentially unexplored. Here we uncover strong anomalies in the mechanics of a broad class of metamaterials, such as auxetics, shape changers or topological insulators; a non-monotonic variation of their stiffness with system size, and the ability of textured boundaries to completely alter their properties. These striking features stem from the competition between rotation-based deformations--relevant for small systems--and ordinary elasticity, and are controlled by a characteristic length scale which is entirely tunable by the architectural details. Our study provides new vistas for designing, controlling and programming the mechanics of metamaterials.

Dimensional crossover of the charge density wave transition in thin exfoliated VSe2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pásztor, Árpád; Scarfato, Alessandro; Barreteau, Céline; Giannini, Enrico; Renner, Christoph

2017-12-01

Isolating single unit-cell thin layers from the bulk matrix of layered compounds offers tremendous opportunities to design novel functional electronic materials. However, a comprehensive thickness dependence study is paramount to harness the electronic properties of such atomic foils and their stacking into synthetic heterostructures. Here we show that a dimensional crossover and quantum confinement with reducing thickness result in a striking non-monotonic evolution of the charge density wave transition temperature in VSe2. Our conclusion is drawn from a direct derivation of the local order parameter and transition temperature from the real space charge modulation amplitude imaged by scanning tunnelling microscopy. This study lifts the disagreement of previous independent transport measurements. We find that thickness can be a non-trivial tuning parameter and demonstrate the importance of considering a finite thickness range to accurately characterize its influence.

Competition between items in working memory leads to forgetting

PubMed Central

Lewis-Peacock, Jarrod A.; Norman, Kenneth A.

2014-01-01

Switching attention from one thought to the next propels our mental lives forward. However, it is unclear how this thought-juggling affects our ability to remember these thoughts. Here we show that competition between the neural representations of pictures in working memory can impair subsequent recognition of those pictures. We use pattern classifiers to decode functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from a retro-cueing task where participants juggle two pictures in working memory. Trial-by-trial fluctuations in neural dynamics are predictive of performance on a surprise recognition memory test: trials that elicit similar levels of classifier evidence for both pictures (indicating close competition) are associated with worse memory performance than trials where participants switch decisively from thinking about one picture to the other. This result is consistent with the non-monotonic plasticity hypothesis, which predicts that close competition can trigger weakening of memories that lose the competition, leading to subsequent forgetting. PMID:25519874

Perturbed cooperative-state feedback strategy for model predictive networked control of interconnected systems.

PubMed

Tran, Tri; Ha, Q P

2018-01-01

A perturbed cooperative-state feedback (PSF) strategy is presented for the control of interconnected systems in this paper. The subsystems of an interconnected system can exchange data via the communication network that has multiple connection topologies. The PSF strategy can resolve both issues, the sensor data losses and the communication network breaks, thanks to the two components of the control including a cooperative-state feedback and a perturbation variable, e.g., u i =K ij x j +w i . The PSF is implemented in a decentralized model predictive control scheme with a stability constraint and a non-monotonic storage function (ΔV(x(k))≥0), derived from the dissipative systems theory. Numerical simulation for the automatic generation control problem in power systems is studied to illustrate the effectiveness of the presented PSF strategy. Copyright © 2017 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Event-by-event fluctuations of the mean transverse momentum in 40, 80, and 158 A GeV/c PbAu collisions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adamová, D.; Agakichiev, G.; Appelshäuser, H.; Belaga, V.; Braun-Munzinger, P.; Campagnolo, R.; Castillo, A.; Cherlin, A.; Damjanović, S.; Dietel, T.; Dietrich, L.; Drees, A.; Esumi, S.; Filimonov, K.; Fomenko, K.; Fraenkel, Z.; Garabatos, C.; Glässel, P.; Hering, G.; Holeczek, J.; Kushpil, V.; Lenkeit, B.; Ludolphs, W.; Maas, A.; MaríN, A.; Milošević, J.; Milov, A.; Miśkowiec, D.; Musa, L.; Panebrattsev, Yu.; Petchenova, O.; Petráček, V.; Pfeiffer, A.; Rak, J.; Ravinovich, I.; Rehak, P.; Richter, M.; Sako, H.; Schmitz, W.; Schukraft, J.; Sedykh, S.; Seipp, W.; Sharma, A.; Shimansky, S.; SlíVová, J.; Specht, H. J.; Stachel, J.; Šumbera, M.; Tilsner, H.; Tserruya, I.; Wessels, J. P.; Wienold, T.; Windelband, B.; Wurm, J. P.; Xie, W.; Yurevich, S.; Yurevich, V.; Ceres Collaboration

2003-11-01

Measurements of event-by-event fluctuations of the mean transverse momentum in PbAu collisions at 40, 80, and 158 A GeV/c are presented. A significant excess of mean pT fluctuations at mid-rapidity is observed over the expectation from statistically independent particle emission. The results are somewhat smaller than recent measurements at RHIC. A possible non-monotonic behavior of the mean pT fluctuations as function of collision energy, which may have indicated that the system has passed the critical point of the QCD phase diagram in the range of μB under investigation, has not been observed. The centrality dependence of mean pT fluctuations in PbAu is consistent with an extrapolation from pp collisions assuming that the non-statistical fluctuations scale with multiplicity. The results are compared to calculations by the RQMD and URQMD event generators.

Application of nonlocal plasma technology for controlling plasma conductivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Chengxun; Demidov, V. I.; Kudryavtsev, A. A.; Kurlyandskaya, I. P.; Rudakova, T. V.; Zhou, Z. X.

2017-10-01

A promising approach for better control of the plasma parameters involves the exploitation of peculiarities of plasmas with a nonlocal electron energy distribution. Nonlocal plasma technology (NLP-technology) is based on the effect of energetic electrons in the plasma volume. In this work, an experimental study of influence of the chemo-ionization processes on non-stationary plasma conductivity has been conducted. Due to energetic, supra-thermal electrons, which appear in the chemo-ionization reactions, the highly non-equilibrium and time dependent nonlocal electron energy distribution function is formed. In such a plasma thermal electrons always have positive conductivity (mobility), while supra-thermal, energetic electrons may have negative conductivity in heavy (argon, krypton and xenon) noble gases dependently on conditions. Experiments demonstrate that this effect may lead to the non-monotonic temporal behavior of plasma conductivity and may potentially create the negative electron mobility.

System-size and beam energy dependence of the space-time extent of the pion emission source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pak, Robert; Phenix Collaboration

2014-09-01

Two-pion interferometry measurements are used to extract the Gaussian source radii Rout ,Rside and Rlong , of the pion emission sources produced in d + Au, Cu +Cu and Au +Au collisions for several beam collision energies at PHENIX experiment. The extracted radii, which are compared to recent STAR and ALICE data, show characteristic scaling patterns as a function of the initial transverse geometric size of the collision system, and the transverse mass of the emitted pion pairs. These scaling patterns indicate a linear dependence of Rside on the initial transverse size, as well as a smaller freeze-out size for the d + Au system. Mathematical combinations of the extracted radii generally associated with the emission source duration and expansion rate exhibit non-monotonic behavior, suggesting a change in the expansion dynamics over this beam energy range.

Nonparametric Transfer Function Models

PubMed Central

Liu, Jun M.; Chen, Rong; Yao, Qiwei

2009-01-01

In this paper a class of nonparametric transfer function models is proposed to model nonlinear relationships between ‘input’ and ‘output’ time series. The transfer function is smooth with unknown functional forms, and the noise is assumed to be a stationary autoregressive-moving average (ARMA) process. The nonparametric transfer function is estimated jointly with the ARMA parameters. By modeling the correlation in the noise, the transfer function can be estimated more efficiently. The parsimonious ARMA structure improves the estimation efficiency in finite samples. The asymptotic properties of the estimators are investigated. The finite-sample properties are illustrated through simulations and one empirical example. PMID:20628584

Health-Wealth Association among Older Americans: Racial and Ethnic Differences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lum, Terry

2004-01-01

Using five-year longitudinal data from the AHEAD survey, this study investigated the direction of association between health and wealth among elderly people. In particular, it focused on how this association varied across racial and ethnic groups. The study found that there was a significant nonmonotonic association between health and wealth and…

Charged Particle Distribution near the Shock Front in a Glow Discharge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baryshnikov, A. S.; Basargin, I. V.; Bezverkhnii, N. O.; Bobashev, S. V.; Monakhov, N. A.; Popov, P. A.; Sakharov, V. A.; Chistyakova, M. V.

2018-02-01

The charged particle distribution near the front of a shock wave propagating in the glow discharge plasma has been investigated. It has been found that the ion concentration before the front varies nonmonotonically. Behind the shock front, the charged particle concentration varies smoothly in contrast to the neutral component density.

Income Elasticities of Educational Expenditure by Income Class: The Case of Japanese Households.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hashimoto, Keiji; Heath, Julia A.

1995-01-01

Uses data from Japanese households to calculate the income elasticities of educational expenditure, allowing elasticities to vary nonmonotonically with household income. Explores whether income elasticities for education peak in the middle-income categories and diminish for the lower and upper ends of income distribution. Income elasticities do…

NONMONOTONIC DOSE RESPONSE CURVES (NMDRCS) ARE COMMON AFTER ESTROGEN OR ANDROGEN SIGNALING PATHWAY DISRUPTION. FACT OR FALDERAL?

EPA Science Inventory

ABSTRACT BODY: The shape of the dose response curve in the low dose region has been debated since the 1940s, originally focusing on linear no threshold (LNT) versus threshold responses for cancer and noncancer effects. Recently, it has been claimed that endocrine disrupters (EDCs...

The effect of presentation rate on foreign-language vocabulary learning.

PubMed

Zeelenberg, René; de Jonge, Mario; Tabbers, Huib K; Pecher, Diane

2015-01-01

The present study examined the effect of presentation rate on foreign-language vocabulary learning. Experiment 1 varied presentation rates from 1 s to 16 s per pair while keeping the total study time per pair constant. Speakers of English studied Dutch-English translation pairs (e.g., kikker-frog) for 16 × 1 s, 8 × 2 s, 4 × 4 s, 2 × 8 s, or 1 × 16 s. The results showed a nonmonotonic relationship between presentation rate and recall performance for both translation directions (Dutch → English and English → Dutch). Performance was best for intermediate presentation rates and dropped off for short (1 s) or long (16 s) presentation rates. Experiment 2 showed that the nonmonotonic relationship between presentation rate and recall performance was still present after a 1-day retention interval for both translation directions. Our results suggest that a presentation rate in the order of 4 s results in optimal learning of foreign-language vocabulary.

Friction law and hysteresis in granular materials

PubMed Central

Wyart, M.

2017-01-01

The macroscopic friction of particulate materials often weakens as the flow rate is increased, leading to potentially disastrous intermittent phenomena including earthquakes and landslides. We theoretically and numerically study this phenomenon in simple granular materials. We show that velocity weakening, corresponding to a nonmonotonic behavior in the friction law, μ(I), is present even if the dynamic and static microscopic friction coefficients are identical, but disappears for softer particles. We argue that this instability is induced by endogenous acoustic noise, which tends to make contacts slide, leading to faster flow and increased noise. We show that soft spots, or excitable regions in the materials, correspond to rolling contacts that are about to slide, whose density is described by a nontrivial exponent θs. We build a microscopic theory for the nonmonotonicity of μ(I), which also predicts the scaling behavior of acoustic noise, the fraction of sliding contacts χ, and the sliding velocity, in terms of θs. Surprisingly, these quantities have no limit when particles become infinitely hard, as confirmed numerically. Our analysis rationalizes previously unexplained observations and makes experimentally testable predictions. PMID:28811373

Friction law and hysteresis in granular materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeGiuli, E.; Wyart, M.

2017-08-01

The macroscopic friction of particulate materials often weakens as the flow rate is increased, leading to potentially disastrous intermittent phenomena including earthquakes and landslides. We theoretically and numerically study this phenomenon in simple granular materials. We show that velocity weakening, corresponding to a nonmonotonic behavior in the friction law, μ(I), is present even if the dynamic and static microscopic friction coefficients are identical, but disappears for softer particles. We argue that this instability is induced by endogenous acoustic noise, which tends to make contacts slide, leading to faster flow and increased noise. We show that soft spots, or excitable regions in the materials, correspond to rolling contacts that are about to slide, whose density is described by a nontrivial exponent θs. We build a microscopic theory for the nonmonotonicity of μ(I), which also predicts the scaling behavior of acoustic noise, the fraction of sliding contacts χ, and the sliding velocity, in terms of θs. Surprisingly, these quantities have no limit when particles become infinitely hard, as confirmed numerically. Our analysis rationalizes previously unexplained observations and makes experimentally testable predictions.

Marangoni instability in a thin film heated from below: Effect of nonmonotonic dependence of surface tension on temperature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarma, Rajkumar; Mondal, Pranab Kumar

2018-04-01

We investigate Marangoni instability in a thin liquid film resting on a substrate of low thermal conductivity and separated from the surrounding gas phase by a deformable free surface. Considering a nonmonotonic variation of surface tension with temperature, here we analytically derive the neutral stability curve for the monotonic and oscillatory modes of instability (for both the long-wave and short-wave perturbations) under the framework of linear stability analysis. For the long-wave instability, we derive a set of amplitude equations using the scaling k ˜(Bi) 1 /2 , where k is the wave number and Bi is the Biot number. Through this investigation, we demonstrate that for such a fluid layer upon heating from below, both monotonic and oscillatory instability can appear for a certain range of the dimensionless parameters, viz., Biot number (Bi ) , Galileo number (Ga ) , and inverse capillary number (Σ ) . Moreover, we unveil, through this study, the influential role of the above-mentioned parameters on the stability of the system and identify the critical values of these parameters above which instability initiates in the liquid layer.

Generation of multiple toroidal dust vortices by a non-monotonic density gradient in a direct current glow discharge plasma

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

Kaur, Manjit, E-mail: manjit@ipr.res.in; Bose, Sayak; Chattopadhyay, P. K.

2015-09-15

Observation of two well-separated dust vortices in an unmagnetized parallel plate DC glow discharge plasma is reported in this paper. A non-monotonic radial density profile, achieved by an especially designed cathode structure using a concentric metallic disk and ring of different radii, is observed to produce double dust tori between cathode and anode. PIV analysis of the still images of the double tori shows oppositely rotating dust structures between the central disk and the ring. Langmuir probe measurements of background plasma shows a non-uniform plasma density profile between the disk and the ring. Location and sense of rotation of themore » dust vortices coincides with the location and direction of the radial gradient in the ion drag force caused by the radial density gradient. The experimentally observed dust vorticity matches well with the calculated one using hydrodynamic formulations with shear in ion drag dominating over the dust charge gradient. These results corroborate that a radial gradient in the ion drag force directed towards cathode is the principal cause of dust rotation.« less

Topologically nontrivial Fermi regions and their novel electromagnetic response properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Ching Hua; Zhang, Xiao

In the last decade, there has been a surge of interest in the application of topology to condensed matter physics. So far, most studies have been concerned with the novel properties that arise due to nontrivial band topology, i.e Quantum Anomalous Hall and Z2 topological insulators (TIs). In this talk, I shall describe another context where nontrivial topology also leads to interesting, measurable effects. Within the semi-classical Boltzmann approach, it can be shown that a topologically nontrivial Fermi sea region generically exhibits a non-monotonic nonlinear electromagnetic response in the limit of low chemical potential. Such topologically nontrivial regions of filled states can arise in experimentally realized TI heterostructures or materials with large Rashba splitting, i.e. BiTeI, where the Fermi sea is not simply connected. A non-monotonic electromagnetic response implies regimes of negative differential resistance, which have important applications in technologies involving microwave generation, like motion sensing and radio astronomy. We hope that nontrivial Fermi sea topology will hence provide another route for the realization of such technologies.

Effect of toroidal rotation on resistive magnetohydrodynamic instability with a nonmonotonic q profile in cylindrical geometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, J. Q.; Peng, X. D.

2018-04-01

The effect of plasma rotation on the linear stability of the resistive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities with a nonmonotonic q profile is investigated numerically in the cylindrical geometry. The results have shown that the plasma rotation has a stabilization effect on the double tearing modes (DTMs) depending on the magnitude of the velocity, while the velocity shear has a relatively weak effect. The effect of rotation on DTMs is determined by the velocity at each rational surface. A toroidal velocity imposed on the innermost rational surface has a weak effect on m > 1 DTMs. When the velocity is imposed on the outboard resonant surface, the growth rates of the DTMs are reduced for m > 1 modes; however, it has an obvious destabilizing effect on both m = 1 (with m the poloidal mode number) DTM and single tearing mode branches if the distance between the two rational surfaces is sufficiently small. It is shown that the effect of plasma rotation on the growth rates of the MHD instabilities is in phase with the integrated value of the coupling between potential fluctuation and magnetic flux perturbation.

Nonmonotonic trajectories to a partially penetrating well in a semiconfined aquifer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bruggeman, G. A.; Veling, E. J. M.

2006-02-01

The flow path to a partially penetrating well in a semiconfined aquifer with finite thickness can exhibit nonmonotonic behavior. Water particles entering a semiconfined aquifer far away from a well through the confining layer go downward, and closer to the well they move upward, while under certain circumstances they rise so high that they come down again to finally be captured by the well. An approximative problem is solved analytically under the assumptions that the aquifer is of infinite thickness and that the screen may be represented as a point. It is shown that this phenomenon will occur for particular values of parameters Kc/a > 1.283, where a is the position of the point extraction in the aquifer with respect to the top of the aquifer, K is the hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer, and c is the hydraulic resistance of the covering layer. Such upward bending groundwater path lines have ecological implications in the sense that water from far away will come close to the top of the aquifer in the neighborhood of the well.

Minimally inconsistent reasoning in Semantic Web.

PubMed

Zhang, Xiaowang

2017-01-01

Reasoning with inconsistencies is an important issue for Semantic Web as imperfect information is unavoidable in real applications. For this, different paraconsistent approaches, due to their capacity to draw as nontrivial conclusions by tolerating inconsistencies, have been proposed to reason with inconsistent description logic knowledge bases. However, existing paraconsistent approaches are often criticized for being too skeptical. To this end, this paper presents a non-monotonic paraconsistent version of description logic reasoning, called minimally inconsistent reasoning, where inconsistencies tolerated in the reasoning are minimized so that more reasonable conclusions can be inferred. Some desirable properties are studied, which shows that the new semantics inherits advantages of both non-monotonic reasoning and paraconsistent reasoning. A complete and sound tableau-based algorithm, called multi-valued tableaux, is developed to capture the minimally inconsistent reasoning. In fact, the tableaux algorithm is designed, as a framework for multi-valued DL, to allow for different underlying paraconsistent semantics, with the mere difference in the clash conditions. Finally, the complexity of minimally inconsistent description logic reasoning is shown on the same level as the (classical) description logic reasoning.

Minimally inconsistent reasoning in Semantic Web

PubMed Central

Zhang, Xiaowang

2017-01-01

Reasoning with inconsistencies is an important issue for Semantic Web as imperfect information is unavoidable in real applications. For this, different paraconsistent approaches, due to their capacity to draw as nontrivial conclusions by tolerating inconsistencies, have been proposed to reason with inconsistent description logic knowledge bases. However, existing paraconsistent approaches are often criticized for being too skeptical. To this end, this paper presents a non-monotonic paraconsistent version of description logic reasoning, called minimally inconsistent reasoning, where inconsistencies tolerated in the reasoning are minimized so that more reasonable conclusions can be inferred. Some desirable properties are studied, which shows that the new semantics inherits advantages of both non-monotonic reasoning and paraconsistent reasoning. A complete and sound tableau-based algorithm, called multi-valued tableaux, is developed to capture the minimally inconsistent reasoning. In fact, the tableaux algorithm is designed, as a framework for multi-valued DL, to allow for different underlying paraconsistent semantics, with the mere difference in the clash conditions. Finally, the complexity of minimally inconsistent description logic reasoning is shown on the same level as the (classical) description logic reasoning. PMID:28750030

Closed-loop spontaneous baroreflex transfer function is inappropriate for system identification of neural arc but partly accurate for peripheral arc: predictability analysis

PubMed Central

Kamiya, Atsunori; Kawada, Toru; Shimizu, Shuji; Sugimachi, Masaru

2011-01-01

Abstract Although the dynamic characteristics of the baroreflex system have been described by baroreflex transfer functions obtained from open-loop analysis, the predictability of time-series output dynamics from input signals, which should confirm the accuracy of system identification, remains to be elucidated. Moreover, despite theoretical concerns over closed-loop system identification, the accuracy and the predictability of the closed-loop spontaneous baroreflex transfer function have not been evaluated compared with the open-loop transfer function. Using urethane and α-chloralose anaesthetized, vagotomized and aortic-denervated rabbits (n = 10), we identified open-loop baroreflex transfer functions by recording renal sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) while varying the vascularly isolated intracarotid sinus pressure (CSP) according to a binary random (white-noise) sequence (operating pressure ± 20 mmHg), and using a simplified equation to calculate closed-loop-spontaneous baroreflex transfer function while matching CSP with systemic arterial pressure (AP). Our results showed that the open-loop baroreflex transfer functions for the neural and peripheral arcs predicted the time-series SNA and AP outputs from measured CSP and SNA inputs, with r2 of 0.8 ± 0.1 and 0.8 ± 0.1, respectively. In contrast, the closed-loop-spontaneous baroreflex transfer function for the neural arc was markedly different from the open-loop transfer function (enhanced gain increase and a phase lead), and did not predict the time-series SNA dynamics (r2; 0.1 ± 0.1). However, the closed-loop-spontaneous baroreflex transfer function of the peripheral arc partially matched the open-loop transfer function in gain and phase functions, and had limited but reasonable predictability of the time-series AP dynamics (r2, 0.7 ± 0.1). A numerical simulation suggested that a noise predominantly in the neural arc under resting conditions might be a possible mechanism responsible for our findings. Furthermore, the predictabilities of the neural arc transfer functions obtained in open-loop and closed-loop conditions were validated by closed-loop pharmacological (phenylephrine and nitroprusside infusions) pressure interventions. Time-series SNA responses to drug-induced AP changes predicted by the open-loop transfer function matched closely the measured responses (r2, 0.9 ± 0.1), whereas SNA responses predicted by closed-loop-spontaneous transfer function deviated greatly and were the inverse of measured responses (r, −0.8 ± 0.2). These results indicate that although the spontaneous baroreflex transfer function obtained by closed-loop analysis has been believed to represent the neural arc function, it is inappropriate for system identification of the neural arc but is essentially appropriate for the peripheral arc under resting conditions, when compared with open-loop analysis. PMID:21486839

Tolerable hearing-aid delays: IV. effects on subjective disturbance during speech production by hearing-impaired subjects.

PubMed

Stone, Michael A; Moore, Brian C J

2005-04-01

We assessed the effects of time delay in a hearing aid on subjective disturbance and reading rates while the user of the aid was speaking, using hearing-impaired subjects and real-time processing. The time delay was constant across frequency. A digital signal processor was programmed as a four-channel, fast-acting, wide-dynamic-range compression hearing aid. One of four delays could be selected on the aid to produce a total delay of 13, 21, 30, or 40 msec between microphone and receiver. Twenty-five subjects, mostly with near-symmetric hearing impairment of cochlear origin, were fitted bilaterally with behind-the-ear aids connected to the processor. The aids were programmed with insertion gains prescribed by the CAMEQ loudness equalization procedure for each subject and ear. Subjects were asked to read aloud from scripts: speech production rates were measured and subjective ratings of the disturbance of the delay were obtained. Subjects required some training to recognize the effects of the delay to rate it consistently. Subjective disturbance increased progressively with increasing delay and was a nonmonotonic function of low-frequency hearing loss. Subjects with mild or severe low-frequency hearing loss were generally less disturbed by the delay than those with moderate loss. Disturbance ratings tended to decrease over successive tests. Word production rates were not significantly affected by delay over the range of delays tested. The results follow a pattern similar to those presented in , obtained using a simulation of hearing loss and normally hearing subjects, except for the nonmonotonic variation of disturbance with low-frequency hearing loss. We hypothesize that disturbance is maximal when the levels in the ear canal of the low-frequency components are similar for the unaided and aided sounds. A rating of 3, which is probably just acceptable, was obtained for delays ranging from 14 to 30 msec, depending on the hearing loss. Some acclimatization to the subjective disturbance occurred over a time scale of about 1 hour.

Structural transformations, composition anomalies and a dramatic collapse of linear polymer chains in dilute ethanol-water mixtures.

PubMed

Banerjee, Saikat; Ghosh, Rikhia; Bagchi, Biman

2012-03-29

Water-ethanol mixtures exhibit many interesting anomalies, such as negative excess partial molar volume of ethanol, excess sound absorption coefficient at low concentrations, and positive deviation from Raoult's law for vapor pressure, to mention a few. These anomalies have been attributed to different, often contradictory origins, but a quantitative understanding is still lacking. We show by computer simulation and theoretical analyses that these anomalies arise from the sudden emergence of a bicontinuous phase that occurs at a relatively low ethanol concentration of x(eth) ≈ 0.06-0.10 (that amounts to a volume fraction of 0.17-0.26, which is a significant range!). The bicontinuous phase is formed by aggregation of ethanol molecules, resulting in a weak phase transition whose nature is elucidated. We find that the microheterogeneous structure of the mixture gives rise to a pronounced nonmonotonic composition dependence of local compressibility and nonmonotonic dependence in the peak value of the radial distribution function of ethyl groups. A multidimensional free energy surface of pair association is shown to provide a molecular explanation of the known negative excess partial volume of ethanol in terms of parallel orientation and hence better packing of the ethyl groups in the mixture due to hydrophobic interactions. The energy distribution of the ethanol molecules indicates additional energy decay channels that explain the excess sound attenuation coefficient in aqueous alcohol mixtures. We studied the dependence of the solvation of a linear polymer chain on the composition of the water-ethanol solvent. We find that there is a sudden collapse of the polymer at x(eth) ≈ 0.05-a phenomenon which we attribute to the formation of the microheterogeneous structures in the binary mixture at low ethanol concentrations. Together with recent single molecule pulling experiments, these results provide new insight into the behavior of polymer chain and foreign solutes, such as enzymes, in aqueous binary mixtures.

Transfer of function and prior derived-relations testing.

PubMed

Doughty, Adam H; Best, Lauren

2017-10-01

This experiment assessed transfer of function through equivalence relations with and without prior derived-stimulus-relations (DSR) testing. In a DSR-Testing Group, eight college students learned A-B and A-C discriminations in baseline. They then derived the B-C and C-B equivalence relations before being exposed to a transfer-of-function manipulation and test. Eight participants in a No-DSR Testing Group were exposed to the transfer-of-function manipulation and test immediately after learning the baseline discriminations (i.e., B-C and C-B testing were omitted). In the transfer-of-function manipulation, participants learned to respond differently in the presence of B1 and B2 to avoid money loss. In the transfer-of-function test, responding in the presence of C1 and C2 was measured in the absence of differential consequences. Transfer of function occurred reliably only in the DSR-Testing Group (i.e., participants responding to C1 and C2 in the manner they learned to respond to B1 and B2, respectively). These findings support the notion that prior DSR testing can be critical to observing transfer of function. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

System and method of active vibration control for an electro-mechanically cooled device

DOEpatents

Lavietes, Anthony D.; Mauger, Joseph; Anderson, Eric H.

2000-01-01

A system and method of active vibration control of an electro-mechanically cooled device is disclosed. A cryogenic cooling system is located within an environment. The cooling system is characterized by a vibration transfer function, which requires vibration transfer function coefficients. A vibration controller generates the vibration transfer function coefficients in response to various triggering events. The environments may differ by mounting apparatus, by proximity to vibration generating devices, or by temperature. The triggering event may be powering on the cooling system, reaching an operating temperature, or a reset action. A counterbalance responds to a drive signal generated by the vibration controller, based on the vibration signal and the vibration transfer function, which adjusts vibrations. The method first places a cryogenic cooling system within a first environment and then generates a first set of vibration transfer function coefficients, for a vibration transfer function of the cooling system. Next, the cryogenic cooling system is placed within a second environment and a second set of vibration transfer function coefficients are generated. Then, a counterbalance is driven, based on the vibration transfer function, to reduce vibrations received by a vibration sensitive element.

Transfer Function Identification Using Orthogonal Fourier Transform Modeling Functions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morelli, Eugene A.

2013-01-01

A method for transfer function identification, including both model structure determination and parameter estimation, was developed and demonstrated. The approach uses orthogonal modeling functions generated from frequency domain data obtained by Fourier transformation of time series data. The method was applied to simulation data to identify continuous-time transfer function models and unsteady aerodynamic models. Model fit error, estimated model parameters, and the associated uncertainties were used to show the effectiveness of the method for identifying accurate transfer function models from noisy data.

The response of a simulated mesoscale convective system to increased aerosol pollution: Part II: Derecho characteristics and intensity in response to increased pollution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clavner, Michal; Grasso, Lewis D.; Cotton, William R.; van den Heever, Susan C.

2018-01-01

Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCS) are important contributors to rainfall as well as producers of severe weather such as hail, tornados, and straight-line wind events known as derechos. In this study, different aerosol concentrations and their effects on a derecho event are examined by simulating a case study, the 8 May 2009 "Super-Derecho", using the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS), a cloud-resolving model with sophisticated aerosol and cloud microphysics. Three simulations were conducted that differed in the initial aerosol concentrations, spatial distribution and chemical composition as derived from output of GEOS-Chem, a 3D chemical transport model. In order to understand the impact of changes in aerosol concentrations on the derecho characteristics, the dynamical processes that produced the strong surface wind were determined by performing back-trajectory analysis during two periods of the simulated storm: the development and the onset of dissipation. A time dependent and non-monotonic trend was found between the intensity of the derecho and the increased aerosol concentrations that served as cloud condensation nuclei. During the formation period of the MCS, the non-monotonic trend was attributed to the microphysical impact of aerosol loading on the intensity of the cold pool; that is, the impact of aerosols on both the melting and evaporation rates of hydrometeors. The subsequent intensity changes within the cold pool modified the balance between the horizontal vorticity generated by the cold pool and that of the environment, thereby impacting the orientation of the convective updraft at the leading line. This, in turn, altered the primary flow that contributed to the formation of the derecho-strength surface winds. The simulation with no anthropogenic aerosols exhibited the strongest cold pool and the primary flow was associated with a descending rear inflow jet that produced the derecho winds over a larger region. The simulation with the highest amount of anthropogenic aerosols featured a stronger mesovortex and the derecho winds were primarily due to stronger convective downbursts. As the simulated storm matured, the changes in the derecho winds were found to be associated with the strength of the mesovortex at the gust front. During the period when the simulated storm began to dissipate, the non-monotonic trend in derecho intensity was associated with a non-monotonic response in mesovortex strength to increased aerosol concentrations. A moderate increase in aerosol concentrations led to the formation of a weaker mesovortex while a greater increase in aerosol concentration led to the formation of a stronger mesovortex. The formation of a stronger mesovortex was found to increase the contribution of the derecho winds following a convective downburst associated with an "up-down" downdraft trajectory.

Multiconfiguration Pair-Density Functional Theory Outperforms Kohn-Sham Density Functional Theory and Multireference Perturbation Theory for Ground-State and Excited-State Charge Transfer.

PubMed

Ghosh, Soumen; Sonnenberger, Andrew L; Hoyer, Chad E; Truhlar, Donald G; Gagliardi, Laura

2015-08-11

The correct description of charge transfer in ground and excited states is very important for molecular interactions, photochemistry, electrochemistry, and charge transport, but it is very challenging for Kohn-Sham (KS) density functional theory (DFT). KS-DFT exchange-correlation functionals without nonlocal exchange fail to describe both ground- and excited-state charge transfer properly. We have recently proposed a theory called multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MC-PDFT), which is based on a combination of multiconfiguration wave function theory with a new type of density functional called an on-top density functional. Here we have used MC-PDFT to study challenging ground- and excited-state charge-transfer processes by using on-top density functionals obtained by translating KS exchange-correlation functionals. For ground-state charge transfer, MC-PDFT performs better than either the PBE exchange-correlation functional or CASPT2 wave function theory. For excited-state charge transfer, MC-PDFT (unlike KS-DFT) shows qualitatively correct behavior at long-range with great improvement in predicted excitation energies.

Complex Terahertz and Direct Current Inverse Spin Hall Effect in YIG/Cu1-xIrx Bilayers Across a Wide Concentration Range.

PubMed

Cramer, Joel; Seifert, Tom; Kronenberg, Alexander; Fuhrmann, Felix; Jakob, Gerhard; Jourdan, Martin; Kampfrath, Tobias; Kläui, Mathias

2018-02-14

We measure the inverse spin Hall effect of Cu 1-x Ir x thin films on yttrium iron garnet over a wide range of Ir concentrations (0.05 ⩽ x ⩽ 0.7). Spin currents are triggered through the spin Seebeck effect, either by a continuous (dc) temperature gradient or by ultrafast optical heating of the metal layer. The spin Hall current is detected by electrical contacts or measurement of the emitted terahertz radiation. With both approaches, we reveal the same Ir concentration dependence that follows a novel complex, nonmonotonous behavior as compared to previous studies. For small Ir concentrations a signal minimum is observed, whereas a pronounced maximum appears near the equiatomic composition. We identify this behavior as originating from the interplay of different spin Hall mechanisms as well as a concentration-dependent variation of the integrated spin current density in Cu 1-x Ir x . The coinciding results obtained for dc and ultrafast stimuli provide further support that the spin Seebeck effect extends to terahertz frequencies, thus enabling a transfer of established spintronic measurement schemes into the terahertz regime. Our findings also show that the studied material allows for efficient spin-to-charge conversion even on ultrafast time scales.

Many-body effects and ultraviolet renormalization in three-dimensional Dirac materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Throckmorton, Robert E.; Hofmann, Johannes; Barnes, Edwin; Das Sarma, S.

2015-09-01

We develop a theory for electron-electron interaction-induced many-body effects in three-dimensional Weyl or Dirac semimetals, including interaction corrections to the polarizability, electron self-energy, and vertex function, up to second order in the effective fine-structure constant of the Dirac material. These results are used to derive the higher-order ultraviolet renormalization of the Fermi velocity, effective coupling, and quasiparticle residue, revealing that the corrections to the renormalization group flows of both the velocity and coupling counteract the leading-order tendencies of velocity enhancement and coupling suppression at low energies. This in turn leads to the emergence of a critical coupling above which the interaction strength grows with decreasing energy scale. In addition, we identify a range of coupling strengths below the critical point in which the Fermi velocity varies nonmonotonically as the low-energy, noninteracting fixed point is approached. Furthermore, we find that while the higher-order correction to the flow of the coupling is generally small compared to the leading order, the corresponding correction to the velocity flow carries an additional factor of the Dirac cone flavor number (the multiplicity of electron species, e.g. ground-state valley degeneracy arising from the band structure) relative to the leading-order result. Thus, for materials with a larger multiplicity, the regime of velocity nonmonotonicity is reached for modest values of the coupling strength. This is in stark contrast to an approach based on a large-N expansion or the random phase approximation (RPA), where higher-order corrections are strongly suppressed for larger values of the Dirac cone multiplicity. This suggests that perturbation theory in the coupling constant (i.e., the loop expansion) and the RPA/large-N expansion are complementary in the sense that they are applicable in different parameter regimes of the theory. We show how our results for the ultraviolet renormalization of quasiparticle properties can be tested experimentally through measurements of quantities such as the optical conductivity or dielectric function (with carrier density or temperature acting as the scale being varied to induce the running coupling). Although experiments typically access the finite-density regime, we show that our zero-density results still capture clear many-body signatures that should be visible at higher temperatures even in real systems with disorder and finite doping.

Computer method for identification of boiler transfer functions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miles, J. H.

1971-01-01

An iterative computer method is described for identifying boiler transfer functions using frequency response data. An objective penalized performance measure and a nonlinear minimization technique are used to cause the locus of points generated by a transfer function to resemble the locus of points obtained from frequency response measurements. Different transfer functions can be tried until a satisfactory empirical transfer function to the system is found. To illustrate the method, some examples and some results from a study of a set of data consisting of measurements of the inlet impedance of a single tube forced flow boiler with inserts are given.

Learning of Monotonic and Nonmonotonic Sequences in Domesticated Horses ("Equus Callabus") and Chickens ("Gallus Domesticus")

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kundey, Shannon M. A.; Strandell, Brittany; Mathis, Heather; Rowan, James D.

2010-01-01

(Hulse and Dorsky, 1977) and (Hulse and Dorsky, 1979) found that rats, like humans, learn sequences following a simple rule-based structure more quickly than those lacking a rule-based structure. Through two experiments, we explored whether two additional species--domesticated horses ("Equus callabus") and chickens ("Gallus domesticus")--would…

Nonmonotonic dose response curves (NMDRCs) are common after Estrogen or Androgen signaling pathway disruption. Fact or Falderal? ###SETAC

EPA Science Inventory

The shape of the dose response curve in the low dose region has been debated since the late 1940s. The debate originally focused on linear no threshold (LNT) vs threshold responses in the low dose range for cancer and noncancer related effects. Recently, claims have arisen tha...

Modeling the sssociation between 25[OH]D and all-cause mortality in a representative US population sample

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Vitamin D has been identified as a potential key risk factor for several chronic diseases and mortality. The association between all-cause mortality and circulating levels of 25-ydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) has been described as non-monotonic with excess mortality at both low and high levels (1). Howev...

Critical band masking reveals the effects of optical distortions on the channel mediating letter identification.

PubMed

Young, Laura K; Smithson, Hannah E

2014-01-01

There is evidence that letter identification is mediated by only a narrow band of spatial frequencies and that the center frequency of the neural channel thought to underlie this selectivity is related to the size of the letters. When letters are spatially filtered (at a fixed size) the channel tuning characteristics change according to the properties of the spatial filter (Majaj et al., 2002). Optical aberrations in the eye act to spatially filter the image formed on the retina-their effect is generally to attenuate high frequencies more than low frequencies but often in a non-monotonic way. We might expect the change in the spatial frequency spectrum caused by the aberration to predict the shift in channel tuning observed for aberrated letters. We show that this is not the case. We used critical-band masking to estimate channel-tuning in the presence of three types of aberration-defocus, coma and secondary astigmatism. We found that the maximum masking was shifted to lower frequencies in the presence of an aberration and that this result was not simply predicted by the spatial-frequency-dependent degradation in image quality, assessed via metrics that have previously been shown to correlate well with performance loss in the presence of an aberration. We show that if image quality effects are taken into account (using visual Strehl metrics), the neural channel required to model the data is shifted to lower frequencies compared to the control (no-aberration) condition. Additionally, we show that when spurious resolution (caused by π phase shifts in the optical transfer function) in the image is masked, the channel tuning properties for aberrated letters are affected, suggesting that there may be interference between visual channels. Even in the presence of simulated aberrations, whose properties change from trial-to-trial, observers exhibit flexibility in selecting the spatial frequencies that support letter identification.

Consistent Parameter and Transfer Function Estimation using Context Free Grammars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klotz, Daniel; Herrnegger, Mathew; Schulz, Karsten

2017-04-01

This contribution presents a method for the inference of transfer functions for rainfall-runoff models. Here, transfer functions are defined as parametrized (functional) relationships between a set of spatial predictors (e.g. elevation, slope or soil texture) and model parameters. They are ultimately used for estimation of consistent, spatially distributed model parameters from a limited amount of lumped global parameters. Additionally, they provide a straightforward method for parameter extrapolation from one set of basins to another and can even be used to derive parameterizations for multi-scale models [see: Samaniego et al., 2010]. Yet, currently an actual knowledge of the transfer functions is often implicitly assumed. As a matter of fact, for most cases these hypothesized transfer functions can rarely be measured and often remain unknown. Therefore, this contribution presents a general method for the concurrent estimation of the structure of transfer functions and their respective (global) parameters. Note, that by consequence an estimation of the distributed parameters of the rainfall-runoff model is also undertaken. The method combines two steps to achieve this. The first generates different possible transfer functions. The second then estimates the respective global transfer function parameters. The structural estimation of the transfer functions is based on the context free grammar concept. Chomsky first introduced context free grammars in linguistics [Chomsky, 1956]. Since then, they have been widely applied in computer science. But, to the knowledge of the authors, they have so far not been used in hydrology. Therefore, the contribution gives an introduction to context free grammars and shows how they can be constructed and used for the structural inference of transfer functions. This is enabled by new methods from evolutionary computation, such as grammatical evolution [O'Neill, 2001], which make it possible to exploit the constructed grammar as a search space for equations. The parametrization of the transfer functions is then achieved through a second optimization routine. The contribution explores different aspects of the described procedure through a set of experiments. These experiments can be divided into three categories: (1) The inference of transfer functions from directly measurable parameters; (2) The estimation of global parameters for given transfer functions from runoff data; and (3) The estimation of sets of completely unknown transfer functions from runoff data. The conducted tests reveal different potentials and limits of the procedure. In concrete it is shown that example (1) and (2) work remarkably well. Example (3) is much more dependent on the setup. In general, it can be said that in that case much more data is needed to derive transfer function estimations, even for simple models and setups. References: - Chomsky, N. (1956): Three Models for the Description of Language. IT IRETr. 2(3), p 113-124 - O'Neil, M. (2001): Grammatical Evolution. IEEE ToEC, Vol.5, No. 4 - Samaniego, L.; Kumar, R.; Attinger, S. (2010): Multiscale parameter regionalization of a grid-based hydrologic model at the mesoscale. WWR, Vol. 46, W05523, doi:10.1029/2008WR007327

Artificial Neural Network with Hardware Training and Hardware Refresh

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Duong, Tuan A. (Inventor)

2003-01-01

A neural network circuit is provided having a plurality of circuits capable of charge storage. Also provided is a plurality of circuits each coupled to at least one of the plurality of charge storage circuits and constructed to generate an output in accordance with a neuron transfer function. Each of a plurality of circuits is coupled to one of the plurality of neuron transfer function circuits and constructed to generate a derivative of the output. A weight update circuit updates the charge storage circuits based upon output from the plurality of transfer function circuits and output from the plurality of derivative circuits. In preferred embodiments, separate training and validation networks share the same set of charge storage circuits and may operate concurrently. The validation network has a separate transfer function circuits each being coupled to the charge storage circuits so as to replicate the training network s coupling of the plurality of charge storage to the plurality of transfer function circuits. The plurality of transfer function circuits may be constructed each having a transconductance amplifier providing differential currents combined to provide an output in accordance with a transfer function. The derivative circuits may have a circuit constructed to generate a biased differential currents combined so as to provide the derivative of the transfer function.

Multiple metals predict prolactin and thyrotropin (TSH) levels in men

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

Meeker, John D., E-mail: meekerj@umich.edu; Rossano, Mary G.; Protas, Bridget

2009-10-15

Exposure to a number of metals can affect neuroendocrine and thyroid signaling, which can result in adverse effects on development, behavior, metabolism, reproduction, and other functions. The present study assessed the relationship between metal concentrations in blood and serum prolactin (PRL) and thyrotropin (TSH) levels, markers of dopaminergic, and thyroid function, respectively, among men participating in a study of environmental influences on male reproductive health. Blood samples from 219 men were analyzed for concentrations of 11 metals and serum levels of PRL and TSH. In multiple linear regression models adjusted for age, BMI and smoking, PRL was inversely associated withmore » arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, manganese, molybdenum, and zinc, but positively associated with chromium. Several of these associations (Cd, Pb, Mo) are consistent with limited studies in humans or animals, and a number of the relationships (Cr, Cu, Pb, Mo) remained when additionally considering multiple metals in the model. Lead and copper were associated with non-monotonic decrease in TSH, while arsenic was associated with a dose-dependent increase in TSH. For arsenic these findings were consistent with recent experimental studies where arsenic inhibited enzymes involved in thyroid hormone synthesis and signaling. More research is needed for a better understanding of the role of metals in neuroendocrine and thyroid function and related health implications.« less

Architecture of Allosteric Materials and Edge Modes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Le; Ravasio, Riccardo; Brito, Carolina; Wyart, Matthieu

Allostery, a long-range elasticity-mediated interaction, remains the biggest mystery decades after its discovery in proteins. We introduce a numerical scheme to evolve functional materials that can accomplish a specified mechanical task. In this scheme, the number of solutions, their spatial architectures and the correlations among them can be computed. As an example, we consider an ``allosteric'' task, which requires the material to respond specifically to a stimulus at a distant active site. We find that functioning materials evolve a less-constrained trumpet-shaped region connecting the stimulus and active sites and that the amplitude of the elastic response varies non-monotonically along the trumpet. As previously shown for some proteins, we find that correlations appearing during evolution alone are sufficient to identify key aspects of this design. Finally, we show that the success of this architecture stems from the emergence of soft edge modes recently found to appear near the surface of marginally connected materials. Overall, our in silico evolution experiment offers a new window to study the relationship between structure, function, and correlations emerging during evolution. L.Y. was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. NSF PHY11-25915. M.W. thanks the Swiss National Science Foundation for support under Grant No. 200021-165509 and the Simons Foundation Grant (#454953 Matthieu Wyart).

Indications for a critical point in the phase diagram for hot and dense nuclear matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lacey, Roy A.

2016-12-01

Two-pion interferometry measurements are studied for a broad range of collision centralities in Au+Au (√{sNN} = 7.7- 200 GeV) and Pb+Pb (√{sNN} = 2.76 TeV) collisions. They indicate non-monotonic excitation functions for the Gaussian emission source radii difference (Rout -Rside), suggestive of reaction trajectories which spend a fair amount of time near a soft point in the equation of state (EOS) that coincides with the critical end point (CEP). A Finite-Size Scaling (FSS) analysis of these excitation functions, provides further validation tests for the CEP. It also indicates a second order phase transition at the CEP, and the values Tcep ∼ 165 MeV and μBcep ∼ 95 MeV for its location in the (T ,μB)-plane of the phase diagram. The static critical exponents (ν ≈ 0.66 and γ ≈ 1.2) extracted via the same FSS analysis, place this CEP in the 3D Ising model (static) universality class. A Dynamic Finite-Size Scaling analysis of the excitation functions, gives the estimate z ∼ 0.87 for the dynamic critical exponent, suggesting that the associated critical expansion dynamics is dominated by the hydrodynamic sound mode.

An ultra-low-voltage electronic implementation of inertial neuron model with nonmonotonous Liao's activation function.

PubMed

Kant, Nasir Ali; Dar, Mohamad Rafiq; Khanday, Farooq Ahmad

2015-01-01

The output of every neuron in neural network is specified by the employed activation function (AF) and therefore forms the heart of neural networks. As far as the design of artificial neural networks (ANNs) is concerned, hardware approach is preferred over software one because it promises the full utilization of the application potential of ANNs. Therefore, besides some arithmetic blocks, designing AF in hardware is the most important for designing ANN. While attempting to design the AF in hardware, the designs should be compatible with the modern Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) design techniques. In this regard, the implemented designs should: only be in Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) technology in order to be compatible with the digital designs, provide electronic tunability feature, and be able to operate at ultra-low voltage. Companding is one of the promising circuit design techniques for achieving these goals. In this paper, 0.5 V design of Liao's AF using sinh-domain technique is introduced. Furthermore, the function is tested by implementing inertial neuron model. The performance of the AF and inertial neuron model have been evaluated through simulation results, using the PSPICE software with the MOS transistor models provided by the 0.18-μm Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturer Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (TSM CMOS) process.

Identification of boiler inlet transfer functions and estimation of system parameters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miles, J. H.

1972-01-01

An iterative computer method is described for identifying boiler transfer functions using frequency response data. An objective penalized performance measure and a nonlinear minimization technique are used to cause the locus of points generated by a transfer function to resemble the locus of points obtained from frequency response measurements. Different transfer functions can be tried until a satisfactory empirical transfer function of the system is found. To illustrate the method, some examples and some results from a study of a set of data consisting of measurements of the inlet impedance of a single tube forced flow boiler with inserts are given.

Effect of Coulomb friction on orientational correlation and velocity distribution functions in a sheared dilute granular gas.

PubMed

Gayen, Bishakhdatta; Alam, Meheboob

2011-08-01

From particle simulations of a sheared frictional granular gas, we show that the Coulomb friction can have dramatic effects on orientational correlation as well as on both the translational and angular velocity distribution functions even in the Boltzmann (dilute) limit. The dependence of orientational correlation on friction coefficient (μ) is found to be nonmonotonic, and the Coulomb friction plays a dual role of enhancing or diminishing the orientational correlation, depending on the value of the tangential restitution coefficient (which characterizes the roughness of particles). From the sticking limit (i.e., with no sliding contact) of rough particles, decreasing the Coulomb friction is found to reduce the density and spatial velocity correlations which, together with diminished orientational correlation for small enough μ, are responsible for the transition from non-gaussian to gaussian distribution functions in the double limit of small friction (μ→0) and nearly elastic particles (e→1). This double limit in fact corresponds to perfectly smooth particles, and hence the maxwellian (gaussian) is indeed a solution of the Boltzmann equation for a frictional granular gas in the limit of elastic collisions and zero Coulomb friction at any roughness. The high-velocity tails of both distribution functions seem to follow stretched exponentials even in the presence of Coulomb friction, and the related velocity exponents deviate strongly from a gaussian with increasing friction.

Computer method for identification of boiler transfer functions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miles, J. H.

1972-01-01

Iterative computer aided procedure was developed which provides for identification of boiler transfer functions using frequency response data. Method uses frequency response data to obtain satisfactory transfer function for both high and low vapor exit quality data.

Proceedings and findings of the 1976 Workshop on Ride Quality. [passenger acceptance of transportation systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kuhlthau, A. R. (Editor)

1976-01-01

The workshop was organized around the study of the three basic transfer functions required to evaluate and/or predict passenger acceptance of transportation systems: These are the vehicle, passenger, and value transfer functions. For the purpose of establishing working groups corresponding to the basic transfer functions, it was decided to split the vehicle transfer function into two distinct groups studying surface vehicles and air/marine vehicles, respectively.

5 CFR 351.302 - Transfer of employees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... is not identified with an operating function specifically authorized at the time of transfer to... 5 Administrative Personnel 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Transfer of employees. 351.302 Section... FORCE Transfer of Function § 351.302 Transfer of employees. (a) Before a reduction in force is made in...

5 CFR 351.302 - Transfer of employees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... is not identified with an operating function specifically authorized at the time of transfer to... 5 Administrative Personnel 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Transfer of employees. 351.302 Section... FORCE Transfer of Function § 351.302 Transfer of employees. (a) Before a reduction in force is made in...

5 CFR 351.302 - Transfer of employees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... is not identified with an operating function specifically authorized at the time of transfer to... 5 Administrative Personnel 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Transfer of employees. 351.302 Section... FORCE Transfer of Function § 351.302 Transfer of employees. (a) Before a reduction in force is made in...

5 CFR 351.302 - Transfer of employees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... is not identified with an operating function specifically authorized at the time of transfer to... 5 Administrative Personnel 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Transfer of employees. 351.302 Section... FORCE Transfer of Function § 351.302 Transfer of employees. (a) Before a reduction in force is made in...

5 CFR 351.302 - Transfer of employees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... is not identified with an operating function specifically authorized at the time of transfer to... 5 Administrative Personnel 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Transfer of employees. 351.302 Section... FORCE Transfer of Function § 351.302 Transfer of employees. (a) Before a reduction in force is made in...

Nerve transfers in tetraplegia I: Background and technique

PubMed Central

Brown, Justin M.

2011-01-01

Background: The recovery of hand function is consistently rated as the highest priority for persons with tetraplegia. Recovering even partial arm and hand function can have an enormous impact on independence and quality of life of an individual. Currently, tendon transfers are the accepted modality for improving hand function. In this procedure, the distal end of a functional muscle is cut and reattached at the insertion site of a nonfunctional muscle. The tendon transfer sacrifices the function at a lesser location to provide function at a more important location. Nerve transfers are conceptually similar to tendon transfers and involve cutting and connecting a healthy but less critical nerve to a more important but paralyzed nerve to restore its function. Methods: We present a case of a 28-year-old patient with a C5-level ASIA B (international classification level 1) injury who underwent nerve transfers to restore arm and hand function. Intact peripheral innervation was confirmed in the paralyzed muscle groups corresponding to finger flexors and extensors, wrist flexors and extensors, and triceps bilaterally. Volitional control and good strength were present in the biceps and brachialis muscles, the deltoid, and the trapezius. The patient underwent nerve transfers to restore finger flexion and extension, wrist flexion and extension, and elbow extension. Intraoperative motor-evoked potentials and direct nerve stimulation were used to identify donor and recipient nerve branches. Results: The patient tolerated the procedure well, with a preserved function in both elbow flexion and shoulder abduction. Conclusions: Nerve transfers are a technically feasible means of restoring the upper extremity function in tetraplegia in cases that may not be amenable to tendon transfers. PMID:21918736

Distortion product otoacoustic emission (2f1-f2) amplitude growth in human adults and neonates.

PubMed

Abdala, C

2000-01-01

Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) are thought to be by-products of an active amplification process in the cochlea and thus serve as a metric for evaluating the integrity of this process. Because the cochlear amplifier functions in a level-dependent fashion, DPOAEs recorded as a function of stimulus level (i.e., a DPOAE growth function) may provide important information about the range and operational characteristics of the cochlear amplifier. The DPOAE growth functions recorded in human adults and neonates may provide information about the maturation of these active cochlear processes. Two experiments were conducted. Experiment I included normal-hearing adults and term-born neonates. The 2f1-f2 DPOAE growth functions were recorded for both age groups at three f2 frequencies. Experiment II was an extension of the first experiment but added a subject group of premature neonates. The results of these studies indicate that DPOAE growth functions most often show amplitude saturation and nonmonotonic growth for all age groups. However, premature neonates show monotonic growth and the absence of amplitude saturation more often than adults. Those premature neonates who do show saturation also show an elevated threshold for amplitude saturation relative to adults. In contrast, term neonates are adultlike for most measures except that they show a larger percentage of nonsaturating growth functions than adults. These results may indicate immaturity in cochlear amplifier function prior to term birth in humans. Outer hair cell function and/or efferent regulation of outer hair cell function are hypothesized sources of this immaturity, although some contribution from the immature middle ear cannot be ruled out.

Efficient sampling of reversible cross-linking polymers: Self-assembly of single-chain polymeric nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oyarzún, Bernardo; Mognetti, Bortolo Matteo

2018-03-01

We present a new simulation technique to study systems of polymers functionalized by reactive sites that bind/unbind forming reversible linkages. Functionalized polymers feature self-assembly and responsive properties that are unmatched by the systems lacking selective interactions. The scales at which the functional properties of these materials emerge are difficult to model, especially in the reversible regime where such properties result from many binding/unbinding events. This difficulty is related to large entropic barriers associated with the formation of intra-molecular loops. In this work, we present a simulation scheme that sidesteps configurational costs by dedicated Monte Carlo moves capable of binding/unbinding reactive sites in a single step. Cross-linking reactions are implemented by trial moves that reconstruct chain sections attempting, at the same time, a dimerization reaction between pairs of reactive sites. The model is parametrized by the reaction equilibrium constant of the reactive species free in solution. This quantity can be obtained by means of experiments or atomistic/quantum simulations. We use the proposed methodology to study the self-assembly of single-chain polymeric nanoparticles, starting from flexible precursors carrying regularly or randomly distributed reactive sites. We focus on understanding differences in the morphology of chain nanoparticles when linkages are reversible as compared to the well-studied case of irreversible reactions. Intriguingly, we find that the size of regularly functionalized chains, in good solvent conditions, is non-monotonous as a function of the degree of functionalization. We clarify how this result follows from excluded volume interactions and is peculiar of reversible linkages and regular functionalizations.

Transfer function concept for ultrasonic characterization of material microstructures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vary, A.; Kautz, H. E.

1986-01-01

The approach given depends on treating material microstructures as elastomechanical filters that have analytically definable transfer functions. These transfer functions can be defined in terms of the frequency dependence of the ultrasonic attenuation coefficient. The transfer function concept provides a basis for synthesizing expressions that characterize polycrystalline materials relative to microstructural factors such as mean grain size, grain-size distribution functions, and grain boundary energy transmission. Although the approach is nonrigorous, it leads to a rational basis for combining the previously mentioned diverse and fragmented equations for ultrasonic attenuation coefficients.

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

Zhang, Z. D.; Wang, J.; Department of Chemistry, SUNY Stony Brook, New York 11794

We established a theoretical framework in terms of the curl flux, population landscape, and coherence for non-equilibrium quantum systems at steady state, through exploring the energy and charge transport in molecular processes. The curl quantum flux plays the key role in determining transport properties and the system reaches equilibrium when flux vanishes. The novel curl quantum flux reflects the degree of non-equilibriumness and the time-irreversibility. We found an analytical expression for the quantum flux and its relationship to the environmental pumping (non-equilibriumness quantified by the voltage away from the equilibrium) and the quantum tunneling. Furthermore, we investigated another quantum signature,more » the coherence, quantitatively measured by the non-zero off diagonal element of the density matrix. Populations of states give the probabilities of individual states and therefore quantify the population landscape. Both curl flux and coherence depend on steady state population landscape. Besides the environment-assistance which can give dramatic enhancement of coherence and quantum flux with high voltage at a fixed tunneling strength, the quantum flux is promoted by the coherence in the regime of small tunneling while reduced by the coherence in the regime of large tunneling, due to the non-monotonic relationship between the coherence and tunneling. This is in contrast to the previously found linear relationship. For the systems coupled to bosonic (photonic and phononic) reservoirs the flux is significantly promoted at large voltage while for fermionic (electronic) reservoirs the flux reaches a saturation after a significant enhancement at large voltage due to the Pauli exclusion principle. In view of the system as a quantum heat engine, we studied the non-equilibrium thermodynamics and established the analytical connections of curl quantum flux to the transport quantities such as energy (charge) transfer efficiency, chemical reaction efficiency, energy dissipation, heat and electric currents observed in the experiments. We observed a perfect transfer efficiency in chemical reactions at high voltage (chemical potential difference). Our theoretical predicted behavior of the electric current with respect to the voltage is in good agreements with the recent experiments on electron transfer in single molecules.« less

The influence of sub-grid scale motions on particle collision in homogeneous isotropic turbulence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiong, Yan; Li, Jing; Liu, Zhaohui; Zheng, Chuguang

2018-02-01

The absence of sub-grid scale (SGS) motions leads to severe errors in particle pair dynamics, which represents a great challenge to the large eddy simulation of particle-laden turbulent flow. In order to address this issue, data from direct numerical simulation (DNS) of homogenous isotropic turbulence coupled with Lagrangian particle tracking are used as a benchmark to evaluate the corresponding results of filtered DNS (FDNS). It is found that the filtering process in FDNS will lead to a non-monotonic variation of the particle collision statistics, including radial distribution function, radial relative velocity, and the collision kernel. The peak of radial distribution function shifts to the large-inertia region due to the lack of SGS motions, and the analysis of the local flowstructure characteristic variable at particle position indicates that the most effective interaction scale between particles and fluid eddies is increased in FDNS. Moreover, this scale shifting has an obvious effect on the odd-order moments of the probability density function of radial relative velocity, i.e. the skewness, which exhibits a strong correlation to the variance of radial distribution function in FDNS. As a whole, the radial distribution function, together with radial relative velocity, can compensate the SGS effects for the collision kernel in FDNS when the Stokes number based on the Kolmogorov time scale is greater than 3.0. However, it still leaves considerable errors for { St}_k <3.0.

Deep transcriptome sequencing provides new insights into the structural and functional organization of the wheat genome.

PubMed

Pingault, Lise; Choulet, Frédéric; Alberti, Adriana; Glover, Natasha; Wincker, Patrick; Feuillet, Catherine; Paux, Etienne

2015-02-10

Because of its size, allohexaploid nature, and high repeat content, the bread wheat genome is a good model to study the impact of the genome structure on gene organization, function, and regulation. However, because of the lack of a reference genome sequence, such studies have long been hampered and our knowledge of the wheat gene space is still limited. The access to the reference sequence of the wheat chromosome 3B provided us with an opportunity to study the wheat transcriptome and its relationships to genome and gene structure at a level that has never been reached before. By combining this sequence with RNA-seq data, we construct a fine transcriptome map of the chromosome 3B. More than 8,800 transcription sites are identified, that are distributed throughout the entire chromosome. Expression level, expression breadth, alternative splicing as well as several structural features of genes, including transcript length, number of exons, and cumulative intron length are investigated. Our analysis reveals a non-monotonic relationship between gene expression and structure and leads to the hypothesis that gene structure is determined by its function, whereas gene expression is subject to energetic cost. Moreover, we observe a recombination-based partitioning at the gene structure and function level. Our analysis provides new insights into the relationships between gene and genome structure and function. It reveals mechanisms conserved with other plant species as well as superimposed evolutionary forces that shaped the wheat gene space, likely participating in wheat adaptation.

VALIDATION OF BENEFIT-TRANSFER FUNCTIONS

EPA Science Inventory

1. Identification of benefit-transfer functions that are the most credible. 2. Identification of benefit-transfer issues that are related to transfer method and those related to data limitations. 3. Clarification of issues t...

Nonlocal approach to the analysis of the stress distribution in granular systems. II. Application to experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scott, J. E.; Kenkre, V. M.; Hurd, A. J.

1998-05-01

A theory of stress propagation in granular materials developed recently [Kenkre, Scott, Pease, and Hurd, preceding paper, Phys. Rev. E 57, 5841 (1998)] is applied to the compaction of ceramic and metal powders in pipes with previously unexplained experimental features such as nonmonotonic density and stress variation along the axis of cylindrical compacts.

Degenerate Power in Multilevel Mediation: The Non-Monotonic Relationship between Power & Effect Size

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelcey, Ben

2015-01-01

Like studies focused on the detection of a main or total effect, a principal consideration in the design of studies examining mediation is the power with which mediation effects can be detected if they exist (e.g., Raudenbush, 1997). However, unlike studies concerning the detection of main effects, literature has not established power formulas for…

Temporal Reasoning and Default Logics.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-10-01

Aritificial Intelligence ", Computer Science Research Report, Yale University, forthcoming (1985). . 74 .-, A Axioms for Describing Persistences and Clipping...34Circumscription - A Form of Non-Monotonic Reasoning", Artificial Intelligence , vol. 13 (1980), pp. 27-39. [13] McCarthy, John, "Applications of...and P. J. Hayes, "Some philosophical problems from the standpoint of artificial intelligence ", in: B. Meltzer and D. Michie (eds.), Machine

Shear flow of angular grains: acoustic effects and nonmonotonic rate dependence of volume.

PubMed

Lieou, Charles K C; Elbanna, Ahmed E; Langer, J S; Carlson, J M

2014-09-01

Naturally occurring granular materials often consist of angular particles whose shape and frictional characteristics may have important implications on macroscopic flow rheology. In this paper, we provide a theoretical account for the peculiar phenomenon of autoacoustic compaction-nonmonotonic variation of shear band volume with shear rate in angular particles-recently observed in experiments. Our approach is based on the notion that the volume of a granular material is determined by an effective-disorder temperature known as the compactivity. Noise sources in a driven granular material couple its various degrees of freedom and the environment, causing the flow of entropy between them. The grain-scale dynamics is described by the shear-transformation-zone theory of granular flow, which accounts for irreversible plastic deformation in terms of localized flow defects whose density is governed by the state of configurational disorder. To model the effects of grain shape and frictional characteristics, we propose an Ising-like internal variable to account for nearest-neighbor grain interlocking and geometric frustration and interpret the effect of friction as an acoustic noise strength. We show quantitative agreement between experimental measurements and theoretical predictions and propose additional experiments that provide stringent tests on the new theoretical elements.

Temperature of maximum density and excess thermodynamics of aqueous mixtures of methanol

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

González-Salgado, D.; Zemánková, K.; Noya, E. G.

In this work, we present a study of representative excess thermodynamic properties of aqueous mixtures of methanol over the complete concentration range, based on extensive computer simulation calculations. In addition to test various existing united atom model potentials, we have developed a new force-field which accurately reproduces the excess thermodynamics of this system. Moreover, we have paid particular attention to the behavior of the temperature of maximum density (TMD) in dilute methanol mixtures. The presence of a temperature of maximum density is one of the essential anomalies exhibited by water. This anomalous behavior is modified in a non-monotonous fashion bymore » the presence of fully miscible solutes that partly disrupt the hydrogen bond network of water, such as methanol (and other short chain alcohols). In order to obtain a better insight into the phenomenology of the changes in the TMD of water induced by small amounts of methanol, we have performed a new series of experimental measurements and computer simulations using various force fields. We observe that none of the force-fields tested capture the non-monotonous concentration dependence of the TMD for highly diluted methanol solutions.« less

Effect of vanadium doping on structural and magnetic properties of defective nano-nickel ferrite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heiba, Zein K.; Mohamed, Mohamed Bakr; Wahba, Adel Maher; Almalowi, M. I.

2018-04-01

Nano-nickel ferrites defected by vanadium doping (NiV x Fe2-1.67 x O4, 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.25) were prepared using a simple sol gel method. Rietveld analysis revealed a nonmonotonic change in lattice parameter, oxygen parameter and magnetization upon doping with vanadium. Cation distributions suggested from either Rietveld analysis or from experimental magnetic moments were in a good agreement. For low doping values ( x = 0.05), vanadium was residing mainly in octahedral sites, while for samples with vanadium content ( x ≥ 0.1) a significant part of vanadium ions resided at tetrahedral sites; a result which has been confirmed by the analysis of Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrums obtained for the samples. The transmission electron microscope (TEM) image showed fine spherical particles with size of ˜ 11 nm. All samples showed a superparamagnetic nature with a nonmonotonic change of either magnetization ( M S) or coercivity (H C) with the content of nonmagnetic V5+. The cation occupancies indicated presence of an enormous number of vacancies through doping with high valence cation V5+, making present samples potential electrodes for Li- or Na-ion batteries.

Influence of Composition on the Thermoelectric Properties of Bi1- x Sb x Thin Films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rogacheva, E. I.; Nashchekina, O. N.; Orlova, D. S.; Doroshenko, A. N.; Dresselhaus, M. S.

2017-07-01

Bi1- x Sb x solid solutions have attracted much attention as promising thermoelectric (TE) materials for cooling devices at temperatures below ˜200 K and as unique model materials for solid-state science because of a high sensitivity of their band structure to changes in composition, temperature, pressure, etc. Earlier, we revealed a non-monotonic behavior of the concentration dependences of TE properties for polycrystalline Bi1- x Sb x solid solutions and attributed these anomalies to percolation effects in the solid solution, transition to a gapless state, and to a semimetal-semiconductor transition. The goal of the present work is to find out whether the non-monotonic behavior of the concentration dependences of TE properties is observed in the thin film state as well. The objects of the study are Bi1- x Sb x thin films with thicknesses in the range d = 250-300 nm prepared by thermal evaporation of Bi1- x Sb x crystals ( x = 0-0.09) onto mica substrates. It was shown that the anomalies in the dependence of the TE properties on Bi1- x Sb x crystal composition are reproduced in thin films.

Model test of anchoring effect on zonal disintegration in deep surrounding rock masses.

PubMed

Chen, Xu-Guang; Zhang, Qiang-Yong; Wang, Yuan; Liu, De-Jun; Zhang, Ning

2013-01-01

The deep rock masses show a different mechanical behavior compared with the shallow rock masses. They are classified into alternating fractured and intact zones during the excavation, which is known as zonal disintegration. Such phenomenon is a great disaster and will induce the different excavation and anchoring methodology. In this study, a 3D geomechanics model test was conducted to research the anchoring effect of zonal disintegration. The model was constructed with anchoring in a half and nonanchoring in the other half, to compare with each other. The optical extensometer and optical sensor were adopted to measure the displacement and strain changing law in the model test. The displacement laws of the deep surrounding rocks were obtained and found to be nonmonotonic versus the distance to the periphery. Zonal disintegration occurs in the area without anchoring and did not occur in the model under anchoring condition. By contrasting the phenomenon, the anchor effect of restraining zonal disintegration was revealed. And the formation condition of zonal disintegration was decided. In the procedure of tunnel excavation, the anchor strain was found to be alternation in tension and compression. It indicates that anchor will show the nonmonotonic law during suppressing the zonal disintegration.

Nonequilibrium localization and the interplay between disorder and interactions.

PubMed

Mascarenhas, Eduardo; Bragança, Helena; Drumond, R; Aguiar, M C O; França Santos, M

2016-05-18

We study the nonequilibrium interplay between disorder and interactions in a closed quantum system. We base our analysis on the notion of dynamical state-space localization, calculated via the Loschmidt echo. Although real-space and state-space localization are independent concepts in general, we show that both perspectives may be directly connected through a specific choice of initial states, namely, maximally localized states (ML-states). We show numerically that in the noninteracting case the average echo is found to be monotonically increasing with increasing disorder; these results are in agreement with an analytical evaluation in the single particle case in which the echo is found to be inversely proportional to the localization length. We also show that for interacting systems, the length scale under which equilibration may occur is upper bounded and such bound is smaller the greater the average echo of ML-states. When disorder and interactions, both being localization mechanisms, are simultaneously at play the echo features a non-monotonic behaviour indicating a non-trivial interplay of the two processes. This interplay induces delocalization of the dynamics which is accompanied by delocalization in real-space. This non-monotonic behaviour is also present in the effective integrability which we show by evaluating the gap statistics.

A Bayesian Dose-finding Design for Oncology Clinical Trials of Combinational Biological Agents

PubMed Central

Cai, Chunyan; Yuan, Ying; Ji, Yuan

2013-01-01

Treating patients with novel biological agents is becoming a leading trend in oncology. Unlike cytotoxic agents, for which efficacy and toxicity monotonically increase with dose, biological agents may exhibit non-monotonic patterns in their dose-response relationships. Using a trial with two biological agents as an example, we propose a dose-finding design to identify the biologically optimal dose combination (BODC), which is defined as the dose combination of the two agents with the highest efficacy and tolerable toxicity. A change-point model is used to reflect the fact that the dose-toxicity surface of the combinational agents may plateau at higher dose levels, and a flexible logistic model is proposed to accommodate the possible non-monotonic pattern for the dose-efficacy relationship. During the trial, we continuously update the posterior estimates of toxicity and efficacy and assign patients to the most appropriate dose combination. We propose a novel dose-finding algorithm to encourage sufficient exploration of untried dose combinations in the two-dimensional space. Extensive simulation studies show that the proposed design has desirable operating characteristics in identifying the BODC under various patterns of dose-toxicity and dose-efficacy relationships. PMID:24511160

Starvation dynamics of a greedy forager

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhat, U.; Redner, S.; Bénichou, O.

2017-07-01

We investigate the dynamics of a greedy forager that moves by random walking in an environment where each site initially contains one unit of food. Upon encountering a food-containing site, the forager eats all the food there and can subsequently hop an additional S steps without food before starving to death. Upon encountering an empty site, the forager goes hungry and comes one time unit closer to starvation. We investigate the new feature of forager greed; if the forager has a choice between hopping to an empty site or to a food-containing site in its nearest neighborhood, it hops preferentially towards food. If the neighboring sites all contain food or are all empty, the forager hops equiprobably to one of these neighbors. Paradoxically, the lifetime of the forager can depend non-monotonically on greed, and the sense of the non-monotonicity is opposite in one and two dimensions. Even more unexpectedly, the forager lifetime in one dimension is substantially enhanced when the greed is negative; here the forager tends to avoid food in its local neighborhood. We also determine the average amount of food consumed at the instant when the forager starves. We present analytic, heuristic, and numerical results to elucidate these intriguing phenomena.

On low temperature glide of dissociated <1 1 0> dislocations in strontium titanate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ritterbex, Sebastian; Hirel, Pierre; Carrez, Philippe

2018-05-01

An elastic interaction model is presented to quantify low temperature plasticity of SrTiO3 via glide of dissociated <1 1 0>{1 1 0} screw dislocations. Because <1 1 0> dislocations are dissociated, their glide, controlled by the kink-pair mechanism at T < 1050 K, involves the formation of kink-pairs on partial dislocations, either simultaneously or sequentially. Our model yields results in good quantitative agreement with the observed non-monotonic mechanical behaviour of SrTiO3. This agreement allows to explain the experimental results in terms of a (progressive) change in <1 1 0>{1 1 0} glide mechanism, from simultaneous nucleation of two kink-pairs along both partials at low stress, towards nucleation of single kink-pairs on individual partials if resolved shear stress exceeds a critical value of 95 MPa. High resolved shear stress allows thus for the activation of extra nucleation mechanisms on dissociated dislocations impossible to occur under the sole action of thermal activation. We suggest that stress condition in conjunction with core dissociation is key to the origin of non-monotonic plastic behaviour of SrTiO3 at low temperatures.

Stability of miscible displacements across stratified porous media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shariati, Maryam; Yortsos, Yanis C.

2001-08-01

We consider the stability of miscible displacements across stratified porous media, where the heterogeneity is along the direction of displacement. Asymptotic results for long and short wavelengths are derived. It is found that heterogeneity has a long-wave effect on the instability, which, in the absence of gravity, becomes nontrivial when the viscosity profiles are nonmonotonic. In the latter case, profiles with end-point viscosities, predicted to be stable using the Saffman-Taylor criterion, can become unstable, if the permeability contrast in the direction of displacement is sufficiently large. Conversely, profiles with end-point viscosities predicted to be unstable, can become stable, if the permeability decrease in the direction of displacement is sufficiently large. Analogous results are found in the presence of gravity, but without the nonmonotonic restriction on the viscosity profile. The increase or decrease in the propensity for instability as the permeability increases or decreases, respectively, reflects the variation of the two different components of the effective fluid mobility. While permeability remains frozen in space, viscosity varies following the concentration field. Thus, the condition for instability does not solely depend on the overall fluid mobility, as in the case of displacements in homogeneous media, but it is additionally dependent on the permeability variation.

Atomic force microscopy of chromatin arrays reveal non-monotonic salt dependence of array compaction in solution

PubMed Central

Krzemien, Katarzyna M.; Beckers, Maximilian; Quack, Salina; Michaelis, Jens

2017-01-01

Compaction of DNA in chromatin is a hallmark of the eukaryotic cell and unravelling its structure is required for an understanding of DNA involving processes. Despite strong experimental efforts, many questions concerning the DNA packing are open. In particular, it is heavily debated whether an ordered structure referred to as the “30 nm fibre” exist in vivo. Scanning probe microscopy has become a cutting edge technology for the high-resolution imaging of DNA- protein complexes. Here, we perform high-resolution atomic force microscopy of non-cross-linked chromatin arrays in liquid, under different salt conditions. A statistical analysis of the data reveals that array compaction is salt dependent in a non-monotonic fashion. A simple physical model can qualitatively explain the observed findings due to the opposing effects of salt dependent stiffening of DNA, nucleosome stability and histone-histone interactions. While for different salt concentrations different compaction states are observed, our data do not provide support for the existence of regular chromatin fibres. Our studies add new insights into chromatin structure, and with that contribute to a further understanding of the DNA condensation. PMID:28296908

Model Test of Anchoring Effect on Zonal Disintegration in Deep Surrounding Rock Masses

PubMed Central

Chen, Xu-Guang; Zhang, Qiang-Yong; Wang, Yuan; Liu, De-Jun; Zhang, Ning

2013-01-01

The deep rock masses show a different mechanical behavior compared with the shallow rock masses. They are classified into alternating fractured and intact zones during the excavation, which is known as zonal disintegration. Such phenomenon is a great disaster and will induce the different excavation and anchoring methodology. In this study, a 3D geomechanics model test was conducted to research the anchoring effect of zonal disintegration. The model was constructed with anchoring in a half and nonanchoring in the other half, to compare with each other. The optical extensometer and optical sensor were adopted to measure the displacement and strain changing law in the model test. The displacement laws of the deep surrounding rocks were obtained and found to be nonmonotonic versus the distance to the periphery. Zonal disintegration occurs in the area without anchoring and did not occur in the model under anchoring condition. By contrasting the phenomenon, the anchor effect of restraining zonal disintegration was revealed. And the formation condition of zonal disintegration was decided. In the procedure of tunnel excavation, the anchor strain was found to be alternation in tension and compression. It indicates that anchor will show the nonmonotonic law during suppressing the zonal disintegration. PMID:23997683

Gossip spread in social network Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johansson, Tobias

2017-04-01

Gossip almost inevitably arises in real social networks. In this article we investigate the relationship between the number of friends of a person and limits on how far gossip about that person can spread in the network. How far gossip travels in a network depends on two sets of factors: (a) factors determining gossip transmission from one person to the next and (b) factors determining network topology. For a simple model where gossip is spread among people who know the victim it is known that a standard scale-free network model produces a non-monotonic relationship between number of friends and expected relative spread of gossip, a pattern that is also observed in real networks (Lind et al., 2007). Here, we study gossip spread in two social network models (Toivonen et al., 2006; Vázquez, 2003) by exploring the parameter space of both models and fitting them to a real Facebook data set. Both models can produce the non-monotonic relationship of real networks more accurately than a standard scale-free model while also exhibiting more realistic variability in gossip spread. Of the two models, the one given in Vázquez (2003) best captures both the expected values and variability of gossip spread.

Thermal transport in the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam model with long-range interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bagchi, Debarshee

2017-03-01

We study the thermal transport properties of the one-dimensional Fermi-Pasta-Ulam model (β type) with long-range interactions. The strength of the long-range interaction decreases with the (shortest) distance between the lattice sites as distance-δ, where δ ≥0 . Two Langevin heat baths at unequal temperatures are connected to the ends of the one-dimensional lattice via short-range harmonic interactions that drive the system away from thermal equilibrium. In the nonequilibrium steady state the heat current, thermal conductivity, and temperature profiles are computed by solving the equations of motion numerically. It is found that the conductivity κ has an interesting nonmonotonic dependence with δ with a maximum at δ =2.0 for this model. Moreover, at δ =2.0 ,κ diverges almost linearly with system size N and the temperature profile has a negligible slope, as one expects in ballistic transport for an integrable system. We demonstrate that the nonmonotonic behavior of the conductivity and the nearly ballistic thermal transport at δ =2.0 obtained under nonequilibrium conditions can be explained consistently by studying the variation of largest Lyapunov exponent λmax with δ , and excess energy diffusion in the equilibrium microcanonical system.

Comparing Pearson, Spearman and Hoeffding's D measure for gene expression association analysis.

PubMed

Fujita, André; Sato, João Ricardo; Demasi, Marcos Angelo Almeida; Sogayar, Mari Cleide; Ferreira, Carlos Eduardo; Miyano, Satoru

2009-08-01

DNA microarrays have become a powerful tool to describe gene expression profiles associated with different cellular states, various phenotypes and responses to drugs and other extra- or intra-cellular perturbations. In order to cluster co-expressed genes and/or to construct regulatory networks, definition of distance or similarity between measured gene expression data is usually required, the most common choices being Pearson's and Spearman's correlations. Here, we evaluate these two methods and also compare them with a third one, namely Hoeffding's D measure, which is used to infer nonlinear and non-monotonic associations, i.e. independence in a general sense. By comparing three different variable association approaches, namely Pearson's correlation, Spearman's correlation and Hoeffding's D measure, we aimed at assessing the most appropriate one for each purpose. Using simulations, we demonstrate that the Hoeffding's D measure outperforms Pearson's and Spearman's approaches in identifying nonlinear associations. Our results demonstrate that Hoeffding's D measure is less sensitive to outliers and is a more powerful tool to identify nonlinear and non-monotonic associations. We have also applied Hoeffding's D measure in order to identify new putative genes associated with tp53. Therefore, we propose the Hoeffding's D measure to identify nonlinear associations between gene expression profiles.

Preservation of Quantum Fisher Information and Geometric Phase of a Single Qubit System in a Dissipative Reservoir Through the Addition of Qubits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Y. N.; Tian, Q. L.; Mo, Y. F.; Zhang, G. L.; Zeng, K.

2018-04-01

In this paper, we have investigated the preservation of quantum Fisher information (QFI) of a single-qubit system coupled to a common zero temperature reservoir through the addition of noninteracting qubits. The results show that, the QFI is completely protected in both Markovian and non-Markovian regimes by increasing the number of additional qubits. Besides, the phenomena of QFI display monotonic decay or non-monotonic with revival oscillations depending on the number of additional qubits N - 1 in a common dissipative reservoir. If N < N c (a critical number depending on the reservoirs parameters), the behavior of QFI with monotonic decay occurs. However, if N ≥ N c , QFI exhibits non-monotonic behavior with revival oscillations. Moreover, we extend this model to investigate the effect of additional qubits and the initial conditions of the system on the geometric phase (GP). It is found that, the robustness of GP against the dissipative reservoir has been demonstrated by increasing gradually the number of additional qubits N - 1. Besides, the GP is sensitive to the initial parameter 𝜃, and possesses symmetric in a range regime [0,2 π].

Concentration-Induced Association in a Protein System Caused by a Highly Directional Patch Attraction.

PubMed

Li, Weimin; Persson, Björn A; Lund, Mikael; Bergenholtz, Johan; Zackrisson Oskolkova, Malin

2016-09-01

Self-association of the protein lactoferrin is studied in solution using small-angle X-ray scattering techniques. Effective static structure factors have been shown to exhibit either a monotonic or a nonmonotonic dependence on protein concentration in the small wavevector limit, depending on salt concentration. The behavior correlates with a nonmonotonic dependence of the second virial coefficient on salt concentration, such that a maximum appears in the structure factor at a low protein concentration when the second virial coefficient is negative and close to a minimum. The results are interpreted in terms of an integral equation theory with explicit dimers, formulated by Wertheim, which provides a consistent framework able to explain the behavior in terms of a monomer-dimer equilibrium that appears because of a highly directional patch attraction. Short attraction ranges preclude trimer formation, which explains why the protein system behaves as if it were subject to a concentration-dependent isotropic protein-protein attraction. Superimposing an isotropic interaction, comprising screened Coulomb repulsion and van der Waals attraction, on the patch attraction allows for a semiquantitative modeling of the complete transition pathway from monomers in the dilute limit to monomer-dimer systems at somewhat higher protein concentrations.

Hot Electrons Regain Coherence in Semiconducting Nanowires

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reiner, Jonathan; Nayak, Abhay Kumar; Avraham, Nurit; Norris, Andrew; Yan, Binghai; Fulga, Ion Cosma; Kang, Jung-Hyun; Karzig, Toesten; Shtrikman, Hadas; Beidenkopf, Haim

2017-04-01

The higher the energy of a particle is above equilibrium, the faster it relaxes because of the growing phase space of available electronic states it can interact with. In the relaxation process, phase coherence is lost, thus limiting high-energy quantum control and manipulation. In one-dimensional systems, high relaxation rates are expected to destabilize electronic quasiparticles. Here, we show that the decoherence induced by relaxation of hot electrons in one-dimensional semiconducting nanowires evolves nonmonotonically with energy such that above a certain threshold hot electrons regain stability with increasing energy. We directly observe this phenomenon by visualizing, for the first time, the interference patterns of the quasi-one-dimensional electrons using scanning tunneling microscopy. We visualize the phase coherence length of the one-dimensional electrons, as well as their phase coherence time, captured by crystallographic Fabry-Pèrot resonators. A remarkable agreement with a theoretical model reveals that the nonmonotonic behavior is driven by the unique manner in which one-dimensional hot electrons interact with the cold electrons occupying the Fermi sea. This newly discovered relaxation profile suggests a high-energy regime for operating quantum applications that necessitate extended coherence or long thermalization times, and may stabilize electronic quasiparticles in one dimension.

Mitochondrial Retroprocessing Promoted Functional Transfers of rpl5 to the Nucleus in Grasses.

PubMed

Wu, Zhiqiang; Sloan, Daniel B; Brown, Colin W; Rosenblueth, Mónica; Palmer, Jeffrey D; Ong, Han Chuan

2017-09-01

Functional gene transfers from the mitochondrion to the nucleus are ongoing in angiosperms and have occurred repeatedly for all 15 ribosomal protein genes, but it is not clear why some of these genes are transferred more often than others nor what the balance is between DNA- and RNA-mediated transfers. Although direct insertion of mitochondrial DNA into the nucleus occurs frequently in angiosperms, case studies of functional mitochondrial gene transfer have implicated an RNA-mediated mechanism that eliminates introns and RNA editing sites, which would otherwise impede proper expression of mitochondrial genes in the nucleus. To elucidate the mechanisms that facilitate functional gene transfers and the evolutionary dynamics of the coexisting nuclear and mitochondrial gene copies that are established during these transfers, we have analyzed rpl5 genes from 90 grasses (Poaceae) and related monocots. Multiple lines of evidence indicate that rpl5 has been functionally transferred to the nucleus at least three separate times in the grass family and that at least seven species have intact and transcribed (but not necessarily functional) copies in both the mitochondrion and nucleus. In two grasses, likely functional nuclear copies of rpl5 have been subject to recent gene conversion events via secondarily transferred mitochondrial copies in what we believe are the first described cases of mitochondrial-to-nuclear gene conversion. We show that rpl5 underwent a retroprocessing event within the mitochondrial genome early in the evolution of the grass family, which we argue predisposed the gene towards successful, DNA-mediated functional transfer by generating a "pre-edited" sequence. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Fast computation of the electrolyte-concentration transfer function of a lithium-ion cell model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodríguez, Albert; Plett, Gregory L.; Trimboli, M. Scott

2017-08-01

One approach to creating physics-based reduced-order models (ROMs) of battery-cell dynamics requires first generating linearized Laplace-domain transfer functions of all cell internal electrochemical variables of interest. Then, the resulting infinite-dimensional transfer functions can be reduced by various means in order to find an approximate low-dimensional model. These methods include Padé approximation or the Discrete-Time Realization algorithm. In a previous article, Lee and colleagues developed a transfer function of the electrolyte concentration for a porous-electrode pseudo-two-dimensional lithium-ion cell model. Their approach used separation of variables and Sturm-Liouville theory to compute an infinite-series solution to the transfer function, which they then truncated to a finite number of terms for reasons of practicality. Here, we instead use a variation-of-parameters approach to arrive at a different representation of the identical solution that does not require a series expansion. The primary benefits of the new approach are speed of computation of the transfer function and the removal of the requirement to approximate the transfer function by truncating the number of terms evaluated. Results show that the speedup of the new method can be more than 3800.

The transfer functions of cardiac tissue during stochastic pacing.

PubMed

de Lange, Enno; Kucera, Jan P

2009-01-01

The restitution properties of cardiac action potential duration (APD) and conduction velocity (CV) are important factors in arrhythmogenesis. They determine alternans, wavebreak, and the patterns of reentrant arrhythmias. We developed a novel approach to characterize restitution using transfer functions. Transfer functions relate an input and an output quantity in terms of gain and phase shift in the complex frequency domain. We derived an analytical expression for the transfer function of interbeat intervals (IBIs) during conduction from one site (input) to another site downstream (output). Transfer functions can be efficiently obtained using a stochastic pacing protocol. Using simulations of conduction and extracellular mapping of strands of neonatal rat ventricular myocytes, we show that transfer functions permit the quantification of APD and CV restitution slopes when it is difficult to measure APD directly. We find that the normally positive CV restitution slope attenuates IBI variations. In contrast, a negative CV restitution slope (induced by decreasing extracellular [K(+)]) amplifies IBI variations with a maximum at the frequency of alternans. Hence, it potentiates alternans and renders conduction unstable, even in the absence of APD restitution. Thus, stochastic pacing and transfer function analysis represent a powerful strategy to evaluate restitution and the stability of conduction.

Nematic-driven anisotropic electronic properties of underdoped detwinned Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 revealed by optical spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Degiorgi, L.

2015-03-01

We collect optical reflectivity data as a function of temperature across the structural tetragonal-to-orthorhombic phase transition at Ts on Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 for x = 0, 2.5% and 4.5%, with uniaxial and in-situ tunable applied pressure in order to detwin the sample and to exert on it an external symmetry breaking field. At T =Ts . Moreover, the optical anisotropy gets progressively depleted with increasing Co-content in the underdoped regime, consistent with the doping dependence of the orthorhombicity but contrary to the non-monotonic behavior observed for the dc anisotropy. Our findings bear testimony for an important anisotropy of the electronic structure and thus underscore an electronic polarization upon (pressure) inducing and entering the nematic phase. Work in collaboration with: A. Dusza, C. Mirri, S. Bastelberger, A. Lucarelli (ETH Zurich) and J.H. Chu, H.H. Kuo, I.R. Fisher (Stanford University).

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

Adare, A.; Afanasiev, S.; Aidala, C.

Our report presents the measurement of cumulants (C n,n=1,...,4) of the net-charge distributions measured within pseudorapidity (|η|<0.35) in Au+Au collisions at √s NN=7.7–200GeV with the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The ratios of cumulants (e.g., C 1/C 2, C 3/C 1) of the net-charge distributions, which can be related to volume independent susceptibility ratios, are studied as a function of centrality and energy. These quantities are important to understand the quantum-chromodynamics phase diagram and possible existence of a critical end point. The measured values are very well described by expectation from negative binomial distributions. We do notmore » observe any nonmonotonic behavior in the ratios of the cumulants as a function of collision energy. These measured values of C 1/C 2 and C 3/C 1 can be directly compared to lattice quantum-chromodynamics calculations and thus allow extraction of both the chemical freeze-out temperature and the baryon chemical potential at each center-of-mass energy. Moreover, the extracted baryon chemical potentials are in excellent agreement with a thermal-statistical analysis model.« less

Volatility of the catalytic hydrogenation products of 1,4 bis(phenylethynyl)benzene [The effects of hydrogenation on the volatility of organic hydrogen getters

DOE PAGES

Sharma, Hom N.; Sangalang, Elizabeth A.; Saw, Cheng K.; ...

2017-11-15

Measurements of equilibrium vapor pressures by effusion thermogravimetry and melting points by differential scanning calorimetry reveal that the melting temperature and equilibrium vapor pressures of 1,4-bis(phenylethynyl)benzene (DEB) do not vary monotonically with the hydrogenation extent. Contrary to intuition which suggests increasing volatility with hydrogenation, results indicate decreasing volatility for the first two hydrogenation steps before a non-monotonic upward trend, in which trans-isomers are less volatile. Insights on structural packing and functional groups were obtained from x-ray diffraction and infrared studies to shed light on the observed variation in the volatility of DEB with hydrogenation. Density functional theory calculations were performedmore » to obtain molecular level information and to establish the thermodynamics of DEB hydrogenation reactions. A major factor influencing the observed melting points and volatility of the hydrogenated intermediate species is identified as the local attractive or repulsive carbon-hydrogen (CH) dipole interactions among the getter molecules in their respective crystal structures. As a result, such collective CH dipole interactions can be used to predict the trends in the volatilities of catalytic hydrogenation processes.« less

Optical characterization of chemistry in shocked nitromethane with time-dependent density functional theory.

PubMed

Pellouchoud, Lenson A; Reed, Evan J

2013-11-27

We compute the optical properties of the liquid-phase energetic material nitromethane (CH3NO2) for the first 100 ps behind the front of a simulated shock at 6.5 km/s, close to the experimentally observed detonation shock speed of the material. We utilize molecular dynamics trajectories computed using the multiscale shock technique (MSST) for time-resolved optical spectrum calculations based on both linear response time-dependent DFT (TDDFT) and the Kubo-Greenwood formula with Kohn-Sham DFT wave functions. We find that the TDDFT method predicts an optical conductivity 25-35% lower than the Kubo-Greenwood calculation and provides better agreement with the experimentally measured index of refraction of unreacted nitromethane. We investigate the influence of electronic temperature on the Kubo-Greenwood spectra and find no significant effect at optical wavelengths. In both Kubo-Greenwood and TDDFT, the spectra evolve nonmonotonically in time as shock-induced chemistry takes place. We attribute the time-resolved absorption at optical wavelengths to time-dependent populations of molecular decomposition products, including NO, CNO, CNOH, H2O, and larger molecules. These calculations offer direction for guiding and interpreting ultrafast optical measurements on reactive materials.

Psychometric functions for informational masking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lutfi, Robert A.; Kistler, Doris J.; Callahan, Michael R.; Wightman, Frederic L.

2003-04-01

The method of constant stimuli was used to obtain complete psychometric functions (PFs) from 44 normal-hearing listeners in conditions known to produce varying amounts of informational masking. The task was to detect a pure-tone signal in the presence of a broadband noise and in the presence of multitone maskers with frequencies and amplitudes that varied at random from one presentation to the next. Relative to the broadband noise condition, significant reductions were observed in both the slope and the upper asymptote of the PF for multitone maskers producing large amounts of informational masking. Slope was affected more for some listeners while asymptote was affected more for others. Mean slopes and asymptotes varied nonmonotonically with the number of masker components in much the same manner as mean thresholds. The results are consistent with a model that assumes trial-by-trial judgments are based on a weighted sum of dB levels at the output of independent auditory filters. For many listeners, however, the weights appear to reflect how often a nonsignal auditory filter is mistaken for the signal filter. For these listeners adaptive procedures may produce a significant bias in the estimates of threshold for conditions of informational masking. [Work supported by NIDCD.

Volatility of the catalytic hydrogenation products of 1,4 bis(phenylethynyl)benzene [The effects of hydrogenation on the volatility of organic hydrogen getters

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

Sharma, Hom N.; Sangalang, Elizabeth A.; Saw, Cheng K.

Measurements of equilibrium vapor pressures by effusion thermogravimetry and melting points by differential scanning calorimetry reveal that the melting temperature and equilibrium vapor pressures of 1,4-bis(phenylethynyl)benzene (DEB) do not vary monotonically with the hydrogenation extent. Contrary to intuition which suggests increasing volatility with hydrogenation, results indicate decreasing volatility for the first two hydrogenation steps before a non-monotonic upward trend, in which trans-isomers are less volatile. Insights on structural packing and functional groups were obtained from x-ray diffraction and infrared studies to shed light on the observed variation in the volatility of DEB with hydrogenation. Density functional theory calculations were performedmore » to obtain molecular level information and to establish the thermodynamics of DEB hydrogenation reactions. A major factor influencing the observed melting points and volatility of the hydrogenated intermediate species is identified as the local attractive or repulsive carbon-hydrogen (CH) dipole interactions among the getter molecules in their respective crystal structures. As a result, such collective CH dipole interactions can be used to predict the trends in the volatilities of catalytic hydrogenation processes.« less

Nonlinear electron transport mobility in asymmetric wide quantum well structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nayak, Rasmita K.; Das, Sudhakar; Panda, Ajit K.; Sahu, Trinath

2018-05-01

The nonlinearity of multisubband electron mobility µ in a GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs wide quantum well structure is studied by varying the well width w and doping concentration Nd b (Nd t ) lying in the bottom (top) barrier. The electrons diffuse into the well and accumulate near the interfaces forming two sheets of coupled two dimensional electron gases equivalent to a double quantum well structure. We show that interchange of doping concentrations N db and N dt lead to the enhancement of µ as a function of w as long as N dt > N db , even though the surface electron density remains unaltered. Further, keeping Nd b unchanged, variation of Nd t leads to nonlinearity in µ near the resonance of subband states at Nd t = Nd b at which the subband energy levels exhibit anticrossing. The variation of µ becomes prominent by increasing the well width and resonant doping concentration. The nonlinearity in µ is mostly because of the change in the interface roughness scattering potential through intersubband effects due to the substantial changes in the distributions of the subband wave functions around resonance. Our results of nonmonotonic variation of µ can be utilized for low temperature coupled quantum well devices.

Low temperature structural transitions in dipolar hard spheres: The influence on magnetic properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ivanov, A. O.; Kantorovich, S. S.; Rovigatti, L.; Tavares, J. M.; Sciortino, F.

2015-06-01

We investigate the structural chain-to-ring transition at low temperature in a gas of dipolar hard spheres (DHS). Due to the weakening of entropic contribution, ring formation becomes noticeable when the effective dipole-dipole magnetic interaction increases. It results in the redistribution of particles from usually observed flexible chains into flexible rings. The concentration (ρ) of DHS plays a crucial part in this transition: at a very low ρ only chains and rings are observed, whereas even a slight increase of the volume fraction leads to the formation of branched or defect structures. As a result, the fraction of DHS aggregated in defect-free rings turns out to be a non-monotonic function of ρ. The average ring size is found to be a slower increasing function of ρ when compared to that of chains. Both theory and computer simulations confirm the dramatic influence of the ring formation on the ρ-dependence of the initial magnetic susceptibility (χ) when the temperature decreases. The rings due to their zero total dipole moment are irresponsive to a weak magnetic field and drive to the strong decrease of the initial magnetic susceptibility.

Measurement of higher cumulants of net-charge multiplicity distributions in Au +Au collisions at √{sN N}=7.7 -200 GeV

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adare, A.; Afanasiev, S.; Aidala, C.; Ajitanand, N. N.; Akiba, Y.; Akimoto, R.; Al-Bataineh, H.; Alexander, J.; Al-Ta'Ani, H.; Angerami, A.; Aoki, K.; Apadula, N.; Aramaki, Y.; Asano, H.; Aschenauer, E. C.; Atomssa, E. T.; Averbeck, R.; Awes, T. C.; Azmoun, B.; Babintsev, V.; Bai, M.; Baksay, G.; Baksay, L.; Bannier, B.; Barish, K. N.; Bassalleck, B.; Basye, A. T.; Bathe, S.; Baublis, V.; Baumann, C.; Baumgart, S.; Bazilevsky, A.; Belikov, S.; Belmont, R.; Bennett, R.; Berdnikov, A.; Berdnikov, Y.; Bickley, A. A.; Black, D.; Blau, D. S.; Bok, J. S.; Boyle, K.; Brooks, M. L.; Bryslawskyj, J.; Buesching, H.; Bumazhnov, V.; Bunce, G.; Butsyk, S.; Camacho, C. M.; Campbell, S.; Castera, P.; Chen, C.-H.; Chi, C. Y.; Chiu, M.; Choi, I. J.; Choi, J. B.; Choi, S.; Choudhury, R. K.; Christiansen, P.; Chujo, T.; Chung, P.; Chvala, O.; Cianciolo, V.; Citron, Z.; Cole, B. A.; Connors, M.; Constantin, P.; Cronin, N.; Crossette, N.; Csanád, M.; Csörgő, T.; Dahms, T.; Dairaku, S.; Danchev, I.; Das, K.; Datta, A.; Daugherity, M. S.; David, G.; Dehmelt, K.; Denisov, A.; Deshpande, A.; Desmond, E. J.; Dharmawardane, K. V.; Dietzsch, O.; Ding, L.; Dion, A.; Do, J. H.; Donadelli, M.; D'Orazio, L.; Drapier, O.; Drees, A.; Drees, K. A.; Durham, J. M.; Durum, A.; Dutta, D.; Edwards, S.; Efremenko, Y. V.; Ellinghaus, F.; Engelmore, T.; Enokizono, A.; En'yo, H.; Esumi, S.; Eyser, K. O.; Fadem, B.; Fields, D. E.; Finger, M.; Finger, M.; Fleuret, F.; Fokin, S. L.; Fraenkel, Z.; Frantz, J. E.; Franz, A.; Frawley, A. D.; Fujiwara, K.; Fukao, Y.; Fusayasu, T.; Gainey, K.; Gal, C.; Garg, P.; Garishvili, A.; Garishvili, I.; Giordano, F.; Glenn, A.; Gong, H.; Gong, X.; Gonin, M.; Goto, Y.; Granier de Cassagnac, R.; Grau, N.; Greene, S. V.; Grosse Perdekamp, M.; Gu, Y.; Gunji, T.; Guo, L.; Gustafsson, H.-Å.; Hachiya, T.; Haggerty, J. S.; Hahn, K. I.; Hamagaki, H.; Hamblen, J.; Han, R.; Hanks, J.; Hartouni, E. P.; Hashimoto, K.; Haslum, E.; Hayano, R.; Hayashi, S.; He, X.; Heffner, M.; Hemmick, T. K.; Hester, T.; Hill, J. C.; Hohlmann, M.; Hollis, R. S.; Holzmann, W.; Homma, K.; Hong, B.; Horaguchi, T.; Hori, Y.; Hornback, D.; Huang, S.; Ichihara, T.; Ichimiya, R.; Ide, J.; Iinuma, H.; Ikeda, Y.; Imai, K.; Imazu, Y.; Imrek, J.; Inaba, M.; Iordanova, A.; Isenhower, D.; Ishihara, M.; Isinhue, A.; Isobe, T.; Issah, M.; Isupov, A.; Ivanishchev, D.; Jacak, B. V.; Javani, M.; Jia, J.; Jiang, X.; Jin, J.; Johnson, B. M.; Joo, K. S.; Jouan, D.; Jumper, D. S.; Kajihara, F.; Kametani, S.; Kamihara, N.; Kamin, J.; Kaneti, S.; Kang, B. H.; Kang, J. H.; Kang, J. S.; Kapustinsky, J.; Karatsu, K.; Kasai, M.; Kawall, D.; Kawashima, M.; Kazantsev, A. V.; Kempel, T.; Key, J. A.; Khandai, P. K.; Khanzadeev, A.; Kijima, K. M.; Kim, B. I.; Kim, C.; Kim, D. H.; Kim, D. J.; Kim, E.; Kim, E.-J.; Kim, H. J.; Kim, K.-B.; Kim, S. H.; Kim, Y.-J.; Kim, Y. K.; Kinney, E.; Kiriluk, K.; Kiss, Á.; Kistenev, E.; Klatsky, J.; Kleinjan, D.; Kline, P.; Kochenda, L.; Komatsu, Y.; Komkov, B.; Konno, M.; Koster, J.; Kotchetkov, D.; Kotov, D.; Kozlov, A.; Král, A.; Kravitz, A.; Krizek, F.; Kunde, G. J.; Kurita, K.; Kurosawa, M.; Kwon, Y.; Kyle, G. S.; Lacey, R.; Lai, Y. S.; Lajoie, J. G.; Lebedev, A.; Lee, B.; Lee, D. M.; Lee, J.; Lee, K.; Lee, K. B.; Lee, K. S.; Lee, S. H.; Lee, S. R.; Leitch, M. J.; Leite, M. A. L.; Leitgab, M.; Leitner, E.; Lenzi, B.; Lewis, B.; Li, X.; Liebing, P.; Lim, S. H.; Linden Levy, L. A.; Liška, T.; Litvinenko, A.; Liu, H.; Liu, M. X.; Love, B.; Luechtenborg, R.; Lynch, D.; Maguire, C. F.; Makdisi, Y. I.; Makek, M.; Malakhov, A.; Malik, M. D.; Manion, A.; Manko, V. I.; Mannel, E.; Mao, Y.; Maruyama, T.; Masui, H.; Masumoto, S.; Matathias, F.; McCumber, M.; McGaughey, P. L.; McGlinchey, D.; McKinney, C.; Means, N.; Meles, A.; Mendoza, M.; Meredith, B.; Miake, Y.; Mibe, T.; Midori, J.; Mignerey, A. C.; Mikeš, P.; Miki, K.; Milov, A.; Mishra, D. K.; Mishra, M.; Mitchell, J. T.; Miyachi, Y.; Miyasaka, S.; Mohanty, A. K.; Mohapatra, S.; Moon, H. J.; Morino, Y.; Morreale, A.; Morrison, D. P.; Moskowitz, M.; Motschwiller, S.; Moukhanova, T. V.; Murakami, T.; Murata, J.; Mwai, A.; Nagae, T.; Nagamiya, S.; Nagle, J. L.; Naglis, M.; Nagy, M. I.; Nakagawa, I.; Nakamiya, Y.; Nakamura, K. R.; Nakamura, T.; Nakano, K.; Nattrass, C.; Nederlof, A.; Netrakanti, P. K.; Newby, J.; Nguyen, M.; Nihashi, M.; Niida, T.; Nouicer, R.; Novitzky, N.; Nukariya, A.; Nyanin, A. S.; Obayashi, H.; O'Brien, E.; Oda, S. X.; Ogilvie, C. A.; Oka, M.; Okada, K.; Onuki, Y.; Oskarsson, A.; Ouchida, M.; Ozawa, K.; Pak, R.; Pantuev, V.; Papavassiliou, V.; Park, B. H.; Park, I. H.; Park, J.; Park, S.; Park, S. K.; Park, W. J.; Pate, S. F.; Patel, L.; Pei, H.; Peng, J.-C.; Pereira, H.; Perepelitsa, D. V.; Peresedov, V.; Peressounko, D. Yu.; Petti, R.; Pinkenburg, C.; Pisani, R. P.; Proissl, M.; Purschke, M. L.; Purwar, A. K.; Qu, H.; Rak, J.; Rakotozafindrabe, A.; Ravinovich, I.; Read, K. F.; Reygers, K.; Reynolds, D.; Riabov, V.; Riabov, Y.; Richardson, E.; Riveli, N.; Roach, D.; Roche, G.; Rolnick, S. D.; Rosati, M.; Rosen, C. A.; Rosendahl, S. S. E.; Rosnet, P.; Rukoyatkin, P.; Ružička, P.; Ryu, M. S.; Sahlmueller, B.; Saito, N.; Sakaguchi, T.; Sakashita, K.; Sako, H.; Samsonov, V.; Sano, M.; Sano, S.; Sarsour, M.; Sato, S.; Sato, T.; Sawada, S.; Sedgwick, K.; Seele, J.; Seidl, R.; Semenov, A. Yu.; Sen, A.; Seto, R.; Sett, P.; Sharma, D.; Shein, I.; Shibata, T.-A.; Shigaki, K.; Shimomura, M.; Shoji, K.; Shukla, P.; Sickles, A.; Silva, C. L.; Silvermyr, D.; Silvestre, C.; Sim, K. S.; Singh, B. K.; Singh, C. P.; Singh, V.; Skolnik, M.; Slunečka, M.; Solano, S.; Soltz, R. A.; Sondheim, W. E.; Sorensen, S. P.; Sourikova, I. V.; Sparks, N. A.; Stankus, P. W.; Steinberg, P.; Stenlund, E.; Stepanov, M.; Ster, A.; Stoll, S. P.; Sugitate, T.; Sukhanov, A.; Sun, J.; Sziklai, J.; Takagui, E. M.; Takahara, A.; Taketani, A.; Tanabe, R.; Tanaka, Y.; Taneja, S.; Tanida, K.; Tannenbaum, M. J.; Tarafdar, S.; Taranenko, A.; Tarján, P.; Tennant, E.; Themann, H.; Thomas, T. L.; Todoroki, T.; Togawa, M.; Toia, A.; Tomášek, L.; Tomášek, M.; Torii, H.; Towell, R. S.; Tserruya, I.; Tsuchimoto, Y.; Tsuji, T.; Vale, C.; Valle, H.; van Hecke, H. W.; Vargyas, M.; Vazquez-Zambrano, E.; Veicht, A.; Velkovska, J.; Vértesi, R.; Vinogradov, A. A.; Virius, M.; Voas, B.; Vossen, A.; Vrba, V.; Vznuzdaev, E.; Wang, X. R.; Watanabe, D.; Watanabe, K.; Watanabe, Y.; Watanabe, Y. S.; Wei, F.; Wei, R.; Wessels, J.; Whitaker, S.; White, S. N.; Winter, D.; Wolin, S.; Wood, J. P.; Woody, C. L.; Wright, R. M.; Wysocki, M.; Xia, B.; Xie, W.; Yamaguchi, Y. L.; Yamaura, K.; Yang, R.; Yanovich, A.; Ying, J.; Yokkaichi, S.; You, Z.; Young, G. R.; Younus, I.; Yushmanov, I. E.; Zajc, W. A.; Zelenski, A.; Zhang, C.; Zhou, S.; Zolin, L.; Phenix Collaboration

2016-01-01

We report the measurement of cumulants (Cn,n =1 ,...,4 ) of the net-charge distributions measured within pseudorapidity (|η |<0.35 ) in Au +Au collisions at √{sNN}=7.7 -200 GeV with the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The ratios of cumulants (e.g., C1/C2 , C3/C1 ) of the net-charge distributions, which can be related to volume independent susceptibility ratios, are studied as a function of centrality and energy. These quantities are important to understand the quantum-chromodynamics phase diagram and possible existence of a critical end point. The measured values are very well described by expectation from negative binomial distributions. We do not observe any nonmonotonic behavior in the ratios of the cumulants as a function of collision energy. The measured values of C1/C2 and C3/C1 can be directly compared to lattice quantum-chromodynamics calculations and thus allow extraction of both the chemical freeze-out temperature and the baryon chemical potential at each center-of-mass energy. The extracted baryon chemical potentials are in excellent agreement with a thermal-statistical analysis model.

Is the Reaction Equilibrium Composition in Non-ideal Mixtures Uniquely Determined by the Initial Composition?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sefcik, Jan

1998-05-01

Reaction equilibrium can be mathematically described by the equilibrium equation and the reaction equilibrium composition can be calculated by solving this equation. It can be proved by non-elementary thermodynamic arguments that for a generic system with given initial composition, temperature and pressure there is a unique stable equilibrium state corresponding to the global minimum of the Gibbs free energy function. However, when the concept of equilibrium is introduced in undergraduate chemistry and chemical engineering courses, such arguments are generally not accessible. When there is a single reaction equilibrium among mixture components and the components form an ideal mixture, it has been demonstrated by a simple, elegant mathematical argument that there is a unique composition satisfying the equilibrium equation. It has been also suggested that this particular argument extends to non-ideal mixtures by simply incorporating activity coefficients. We show that the argument extension to non-ideal systems is not generally valid. Increasing non-ideality can result in non-monotonicity of the function crucial for the simple uniqueness argument, and only later it leads to non-uniqueness and hence phase separation. The main feature responsible for this is a composition dependence of activity coefficients in non-ideal mixtures.

Noise in ecosystems: a short review.

PubMed

Spagnolo, B; Valenti, D; Fiasconaro, A

2004-06-01

Noise, through its interaction with the nonlinearity of the living systems, can give rise to counter-intuitive phenomena such as stochastic resonance, noise-delayed extinction, temporal oscillations, and spatial patterns. In this paper we briefly review the noise-induced effects in three different ecosystems: (i) two competing species; (ii) three interacting species, one predator and two preys, and (iii) N-interacting species. The transient dynamics of these ecosystems are analyzed through generalized Lotka-Volterra equations in the presence of multiplicative noise, which models the interaction between the species and the environment. The interaction parameter between the species is random in cases (i) and (iii), and a periodical function, which accounts for the environmental temperature, in case (ii). We find noise-induced phenomena such as quasi-deterministic oscillations, stochastic resonance, noise-delayed extinction, and noise-induced pattern formation with nonmonotonic behaviors of patterns areas and of the density correlation as a function of the multiplicative noise intensity. The asymptotic behavior of the time average of the i(th) population when the ecosystem is composed of a great number of interacting species is obtained and the effect of the noise on the asymptotic probability distributions of the populations is discussed.

Axisymmetric Self-Consistent Model of the Solar Wind Interaction with the Lism: Basic Results and Possible Ways of Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baranov, V. B.; Malama, Yu. G.

1996-10-01

We analyze the main results of the axisymmetric self-consistent model of the solar wind (SW) and supersonic local interstellar medium (LISM) interaction proposed by Baranov and Malama (1993, hereafter BM93, 1995) for an interstellar flow assumed to be composed of protons, electrons and hydrogen atoms. Here, in addition to the resonant charge exchange we also take into account the photoionization and the ionization by electron impact. The characteristics of the plasma in the interface region and inside the heliosphere depend strongly on the ionization degree of the LISM. The distribution function of the H atoms which penetrate the solar system from the LISM is non-Maxwellian, which implies that a pure hydrodynamic description of their motion is not appropriate. The H atom number density is a non-monotonic function of the heliocentric distance and the existence of a “hydrogen wall” in the vicinity of the heliopause is important for the interpretation of solar Lyman-alpha scattering experiments. The influence of the interface plasma structure on the interstellar oxygen penetration into the solar system is also illustrated. Possible ways of development of the model are analyzed.

Treatment of peroneal nerve injuries with simultaneous tendon transfer and nerve exploration.

PubMed

Ho, Bryant; Khan, Zubair; Switaj, Paul J; Ochenjele, George; Fuchs, Daniel; Dahl, William; Cederna, Paul; Kung, Theodore A; Kadakia, Anish R

2014-08-06

Common peroneal nerve palsy leading to foot drop is difficult to manage and has historically been treated with extended bracing with expectant waiting for return of nerve function. Peroneal nerve exploration has traditionally been avoided except in cases of known traumatic or iatrogenic injury, with tendon transfers being performed in a delayed fashion after exhausting conservative treatment. We present a new strategy for management of foot drop with nerve exploration and concomitant tendon transfer. We retrospectively reviewed a series of 12 patients with peroneal nerve palsies that were treated with tendon transfer from 2005 to 2011. Of these patients, seven were treated with simultaneous peroneal nerve exploration and repair at the time of tendon transfer. Patients with both nerve repair and tendon transfer had superior functional results with active dorsiflexion in all patients, compared to dorsiflexion in 40% of patients treated with tendon transfers alone. Additionally, 57% of patients treated with nerve repair and tendon transfer were able to achieve enough function to return to running, compared to 20% in patients with tendon transfer alone. No patient had full return of native motor function resulting in excessive dorsiflexion strength. The results of our limited case series for this rare condition indicate that simultaneous nerve repair and tendon transfer showed no detrimental results and may provide improved function over tendon transfer alone.

Causal transfer function analysis to describe closed loop interactions between cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory variability signals.

PubMed

Faes, L; Porta, A; Cucino, R; Cerutti, S; Antolini, R; Nollo, G

2004-06-01

Although the concept of transfer function is intrinsically related to an input-output relationship, the traditional and widely used estimation method merges both feedback and feedforward interactions between the two analyzed signals. This limitation may endanger the reliability of transfer function analysis in biological systems characterized by closed loop interactions. In this study, a method for estimating the transfer function between closed loop interacting signals was proposed and validated in the field of cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory variability. The two analyzed signals x and y were described by a bivariate autoregressive model, and the causal transfer function from x to y was estimated after imposing causality by setting to zero the model coefficients representative of the reverse effects from y to x. The method was tested in simulations reproducing linear open and closed loop interactions, showing a better adherence of the causal transfer function to the theoretical curves with respect to the traditional approach in presence of non-negligible reverse effects. It was then applied in ten healthy young subjects to characterize the transfer functions from respiration to heart period (RR interval) and to systolic arterial pressure (SAP), and from SAP to RR interval. In the first two cases, the causal and non-causal transfer function estimates were comparable, indicating that respiration, acting as exogenous signal, sets an open loop relationship upon SAP and RR interval. On the contrary, causal and traditional transfer functions from SAP to RR were significantly different, suggesting the presence of a considerable influence on the opposite causal direction. Thus, the proposed causal approach seems to be appropriate for the estimation of parameters, like the gain and the phase lag from SAP to RR interval, which have a large clinical and physiological relevance.

Nerve Transfers for Improved Hand Function Following Cervical Spinal Cord Injury

DTIC Science & Technology

the cervical spine resulting in diminished or complete loss of arm and/or hand function. Cervical SCI patients consistently rank hand function as the...most desired function above bowel and bladder function, sexual function, standing, and pain control. The overall goal of the proposed study is to...evaluate the efficacy of nerve transfers to treat patients with cervical SCIs. Over the last decade, nerve transfers have been used with increasing

Influence of acoustic impedance of multilayer acoustic systems on the transfer function of ultrasonic airborne transducers.

PubMed

Gudra, Tadeusz; Opieliński, Krzysztof J

2002-05-01

In different solutions of ultrasonic transducers radiating acoustic energy into the air there occurs the problem of the proper selection of the acoustic impedance of one or more matching layers. The goal of this work was a computer analysis of the influence of acoustic impedance on the transfer function of piezoceramic transducers equipped with matching layers. Cases of resonance and non-resonance matching impedance in relation to the transfer function and the energy transmission coefficient for solid state-air systems were analysed. With stable thickness of matching layers the required shape of the transfer function can be obtained through proper choice of acoustic impedance were built (e.g. maximal flat function). The proper choice of acoustic impedance requires an elaboration of precise methods of synthesis of matching systems. Using the known matching criteria (Chebyshev's, DeSilets', Souquet's), the transfer function characteristics of transducers equipped with one, two, and three matching layers as well as the optimisation methods of the energy transmission coefficient were presented. The influence of the backside load of the transducer on the shape of transfer function was also analysed. The calculation results of this function for different loads of the transducer backside without and with the different matching layers were presented. The proper load selection allows us to obtain the desired shape of the transfer function, which determines the pulse shape generated by the transducer.

Significance of a Recurring Function in Energy Transfer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mishra, Subodha

2017-05-01

The appearance of a unique function in the energy transfer from one system to the other in different physical situations such as electrical, mechanical, optical, and quantum mechanical processes is established in this work. Though the laws governing the energy transformation and its transfer from system to system are well known, here we notice a unity in diversity; a unique function appears in various cases of energy transfer whether it is a classical or a quantum mechanical process. We consider four examples, well known in elementary physics, from the fields of electricity, mechanics, optics, and quantum mechanics. We find that this unique function is in fact the transfer function corresponding to all these physical situations, and the interesting and intriguing finding is that the inverse Laplace transform of this transfer function, which is the impulse-response function of the systems when multiplied by a factor of -½, is the solution of a linear differential equation for an "instantly forced critically damped harmonic oscillator." It is important to note that though the physical phenomena considered are quite distinct, the underlying process in the language of impulse-response of the system in the time domain is a unique one. To the best of our knowledge we have not seen anywhere the above analysis of determining the unique function or its description as a transfer function in literature.

Using nerve transfer to restore prehension and grasp 12 years following spinal cord injury: a case report.

PubMed

Fox, Ida K; Novak, Christine B; Kahn, Lorna C; Mackinnon, Susan E; Ruvinskaya, Rimma; Juknis, Neringa

2018-01-01

Nerve transfers are used routinely for reconstruction of hand function following lower motor neuron lesions. In people with cervical spinal cord injury (SCI), this novel and alternate reconstruction option may be useful to restore prehension and grasp, and improve hand function. A 34-year-old male presented 12 years post-mid-cervical SCI. Pre-operative electrodiagnostic studies revealed intact lower motor neurons below the SCI level. He elected to undergo nerve transfer surgery to restore hand function. Intraoperative evaluation led to the transfer of a brachialis nerve to several median nerve recipient branches. Post surgery, he was discharged home and resumed activities of daily living. He achieved independent thumb and finger flexion function and continued to exhibit functional improvement at 4 years post surgery. These results should prompt referral for consideration of nerve transfer surgery-an exciting alternative to tendon transfer and neuroprostheses.

Experimental Waterflow Determination of the Dynamic Hydraulic Transfer Function for the J-2X Oxidizer Turbopump. Part Two; Results and Interpretation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zoladz, Tom; Patel, Sandeep; Lee, Erik; Karon, Dave

2011-01-01

Experimental results describing the hydraulic dynamic pump transfer matrix (Yp) for a cavitating J-2X oxidizer turbopump inducer+impeller tested in subscale waterflow are presented. The transfer function is required for integrated vehicle pogo stability analysis as well as optimization of local inducer pumping stability. Dynamic transfer functions across widely varying pump hydrodynamic inlet conditions are extracted from measured data in conjunction with 1D-model based corrections. Derived Dynamic transfer functions are initially interpreted relative to traditional Pogo pump equations. Water-to-liquid oxygen scaling of measured cavitation characteristics are discussed. Comparison of key dynamic transfer matrix terms derived from waterflow testing are made with those implemented in preliminary Ares Upper Stage Pogo stability modeling. Alternate cavitating pump hydraulic dynamic equations are suggested which better reflect frequency dependencies of measured transfer matrices.

Development of a Dynamic Visco-elastic Vehicle-Soil Interaction Model for Rut Depth, and Power Determinations

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-06

Presentation Outline A) Review of Soil Model governing equations B) Development of pedo -transfer functions (terrain database to engineering properties) C...lateral earth pressure) UNCLASSIFIED B) Development of pedo -transfer functions Engineering parameters needed by soil model - compression index - rebound...inches, RCI for fine- grained soils, CI for coarse-grained soils. UNCLASSIFIED Pedo -transfer function • Need to transfer existing terrain database

Adaptive Same Frequency Repeater (SFR) Study

DTIC Science & Technology

1976-03-01

Formulation 13 (2) Evaluation of the Steady State Weights!.’.’.’!.*!!."!! 21 (3) Evaluation of the Composite Transfer Function.... 2^ (4) Simplified...well as possible the amplitude and phase of the composite coupling path. Because the coupling paths have frequency-dependent transfer functions...34), (35) and the notch filter and channel transfer .’unctions (3fi) and (39). The composite transfer function Hc(f ’ ^’.f) is then found and

Image Processing, Coding, and Compression with Multiple-Point Impulse Response Functions.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stossel, Bryan Joseph

1995-01-01

Aspects of image processing, coding, and compression with multiple-point impulse response functions are investigated. Topics considered include characterization of the corresponding random-walk transfer function, image recovery for images degraded by the multiple-point impulse response, and the application of the blur function to image coding and compression. It is found that although the zeros of the real and imaginary parts of the random-walk transfer function occur in continuous, closed contours, the zeros of the transfer function occur at isolated spatial frequencies. Theoretical calculations of the average number of zeros per area are in excellent agreement with experimental results obtained from computer counts of the zeros. The average number of zeros per area is proportional to the standard deviations of the real part of the transfer function as well as the first partial derivatives. Statistical parameters of the transfer function are calculated including the mean, variance, and correlation functions for the real and imaginary parts of the transfer function and their corresponding first partial derivatives. These calculations verify the assumptions required in the derivation of the expression for the average number of zeros. Interesting results are found for the correlations of the real and imaginary parts of the transfer function and their first partial derivatives. The isolated nature of the zeros in the transfer function and its characteristics at high spatial frequencies result in largely reduced reconstruction artifacts and excellent reconstructions are obtained for distributions of impulses consisting of 25 to 150 impulses. The multiple-point impulse response obscures original scenes beyond recognition. This property is important for secure transmission of data on many communication systems. The multiple-point impulse response enables the decoding and restoration of the original scene with very little distortion. Images prefiltered by the random-walk transfer function yield greater compression ratios than are obtained for the original scene. The multiple-point impulse response decreases the bit rate approximately 40-70% and affords near distortion-free reconstructions. Due to the lossy nature of transform-based compression algorithms, noise reduction measures must be incorporated to yield acceptable reconstructions after decompression.

Description, Analysis and Simulation of a New Realization of Digital Filters.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-09-01

together with its staircase representation h,.(t) . ..... .. ... ... .. 79 6.3 The-RDC LPF transfer function when Td includes 2 zeroes of hc(t) 81 6.4 The...RDC LPF transfer function when Td includes 6 zeroes of hc(t) 82 6.5 The RDC LPF transfer function when Td includes 8 zeroes of h,(t) 83 6.6 The RDC LPF...transfer function when Td includes 6 zeroes of h,(t) and when rectangular and Hamming windows are used ........ ... 84 6.7 The input z(t) and its

a Middle-Ear Reverse Transfer Function Computed from Vibration Measurements of Otoacoustic Emissions on the Ear Drum of the Guinea PIG

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dalhoff, Ernst; Turcanu, Diana; Gummer, Anthony W.

2009-02-01

Using distortion products measured as vibration of the umbo and as sound pressure in the ear canal of guinea pigs, we calculated the corresponding reverse transfer function. We compare the measurements with a middle-ear model taken from the literature and adapted to the guinea pig. A reasonable fit could be achieved. We conclude that the reverse transfer function will be useful to aid fitting a middle-ear model to measured transfer functions of human subjects.

Transfer Function Bounds for Partial-unit-memory Convolutional Codes Based on Reduced State Diagram

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, P. J.

1984-01-01

The performance of a coding system consisting of a convolutional encoder and a Viterbi decoder is analytically found by the well-known transfer function bounding technique. For the partial-unit-memory byte-oriented convolutional encoder with m sub 0 binary memory cells and (k sub 0 m sub 0) inputs, a state diagram of 2(K) (sub 0) was for the transfer function bound. A reduced state diagram of (2 (m sub 0) +1) is used for easy evaluation of transfer function bounds for partial-unit-memory codes.

Determining A Purely Symbolic Transfer Function from Symbol Streams: Theory and Algorithms

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

Griffin, Christopher H

Transfer function modeling is a \\emph{standard technique} in classical Linear Time Invariant and Statistical Process Control. The work of Box and Jenkins was seminal in developing methods for identifying parameters associated with classicalmore » $(r,s,k)$$ transfer functions. Discrete event systems are often \\emph{used} for modeling hybrid control structures and high-level decision problems. \\emph{Examples include} discrete time, discrete strategy repeated games. For these games, a \\emph{discrete transfer function in the form of} an accurate hidden Markov model of input-output relations \\emph{could be used to derive optimal response strategies.} In this paper, we develop an algorithm \\emph{for} creating probabilistic \\textit{Mealy machines} that act as transfer function models for discrete event dynamic systems (DEDS). Our models are defined by three parameters, $$(l_1, l_2, k)$ just as the Box-Jenkins transfer function models. Here $$l_1$$ is the maximal input history lengths to consider, $$l_2$$ is the maximal output history lengths to consider and $k$ is the response lag. Using related results, We show that our Mealy machine transfer functions are optimal in the sense that they maximize the mutual information between the current known state of the DEDS and the next observed input/output pair.« less

Digital control algorithms for microgravity isolation systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sinha, Alok; Wang, Yung-Peng

1992-01-01

New digital control algorithms were developed to achieve the desired acceleration transmissibility function. The attractive electromagnets have been taken as actuators. The relative displacement and the acceleration of the mass were used as feedback signals. Two approaches were developed to find that controller transfer function in Z-domain, which yields the desired transmissibility at each frequency. In the first approach, the controller transfer function is obtained by assuming that the desired transmissibility is known in Z-domain. Since the desired transmissibility H sub d(S) = 1/(tauS+1)(exp 2) is given in S-domain, the first task is to obtain the desired transmissibility in Z-domain. There are three methods to perform this task: bilinear transformation, and backward and forward rectangular rules. The bilinear transformation and backward rectangular rule lead to improper controller transfer functions, which are physically not realizable. The forward rectangular rule does lead to a physically realizable controller. However, this controller is found to be marginally stable because of a pole at Z=1. In order to eliminate this pole, a hybrid control structure is proposed. Here the control input is composed of two parts: analog and digital. The analog input simply represents the velocity (or the integral of acceleration) feedback; and the digital controller which uses only relative displacement signal, is then obtained to achieve the desired closed-loop transfer function. The stability analysis indicates that the controller transfer function is stable for typical values of sampling period. In the second approach, the aforementioned hybrid control structure is again used. First, an analog controller transfer function corresponding to relative displacement feedback is obtained to achieve the transmissibility as 1/(tauS+1)(exp 2). Then the transfer function for the digital control input is obtained by discretizing this analog controller transfer function via bilinear transformation. The stability of the resulting Z-domain closed loop system is analyzed. Also, the frequency response of the Z-domain closed-loop transfer function is determined to evaluate the performance of the control system.

Rehabilitation, Using Guided Cerebral Plasticity, of a Brachial Plexus Injury Treated with Intercostal and Phrenic Nerve Transfers.

PubMed

Dahlin, Lars B; Andersson, Gert; Backman, Clas; Svensson, Hampus; Björkman, Anders

2017-01-01

Recovery after surgical reconstruction of a brachial plexus injury using nerve grafting and nerve transfer procedures is a function of peripheral nerve regeneration and cerebral reorganization. A 15-year-old boy, with traumatic avulsion of nerve roots C5-C7 and a non-rupture of C8-T1, was operated 3 weeks after the injury with nerve transfers: (a) terminal part of the accessory nerve to the suprascapular nerve, (b) the second and third intercostal nerves to the axillary nerve, and (c) the fourth to sixth intercostal nerves to the musculocutaneous nerve. A second operation-free contralateral gracilis muscle transfer directly innervated by the phrenic nerve-was done after 2 years due to insufficient recovery of the biceps muscle function. One year later, electromyography showed activation of the biceps muscle essentially with coughing through the intercostal nerves, and of the transferred gracilis muscle by deep breathing through the phrenic nerve. Voluntary flexion of the elbow elicited clear activity in the biceps/gracilis muscles with decreasing activity in intercostal muscles distal to the transferred intercostal nerves (i.e., corresponding to eighth intercostal), indicating cerebral plasticity, where neural control of elbow flexion is gradually separated from control of breathing. To restore voluntary elbow function after nerve transfers, the rehabilitation of patients operated with intercostal nerve transfers should concentrate on transferring coughing function, while patients with phrenic nerve transfers should focus on transferring deep breathing function.

Nonequilibrium Casimir-Polder plasmonic interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bartolo, Nicola; Messina, Riccardo; Dalvit, Diego A. R.; Intravaia, Francesco

2016-04-01

We investigate how the combination of nonequilibrium effects and material properties impacts on the Casimir-Polder interaction between an atom and a surface. By addressing systems with temperature inhomogeneities and laser interactions, we show that nonmonotonous energetic landscapes can be produced where barriers and minima appear. Our treatment provides a self-consistent quantum theoretical framework for investigating the properties of a class of nonequilibrium atom-surface interactions.

The Verhulst Model with Remedy and Its Application in Forecasting Quantity of Student Taking Entrance Examination to College

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Bin; Bi, Qing-sheng

2010-01-01

The Verhulst model can be used to forecast the sequence, which is characterized as non-monotone and fluctuant sequence or saturated S-form sequence. According to the situation of national enrollment scale of college, this paper forecasts the quantity of students taking entrance examination to college with a Verhulst model with remedy based on data…

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SEMICONDUCTOR INJECTION LASERS SELCO-87: Line width of a single longitudinal mode emitted by an AlGaAs heterojunction laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bogatov, Alexandr P.; Eliseev, P. G.; Luk'yanov, S. A.; Pak, G. T.; Petrakova, T. V.

1988-11-01

A nonmonotonic dependence of the emission line width on the power was observed for a single longitudinal mode of an AlGaAs heterojunction laser. This behavior could be due to the dependence of the waveguide coefficient of the amplitude-phase coupling on the nature of operation of the laser.

Nonequilibrium Casimir-Polder plasmonic interactions

DOE PAGES

Bartolo, Nicola; Messina, Riccardo; Dalvit, Diego Alejandro Roberto; ...

2016-04-18

Here we investigate how the combination of nonequilibrium effects and material properties impacts on the Casimir-Polder interaction between an atom and a surface. By addressing systems with temperature inhomogeneities and laser interactions, we show that nonmonotonous energetic landscapes can be produced where barriers and minima appear. Lastly, our treatment provides a self-consistent quantum theoretical framework for investigating the properties of a class of nonequilibrium atom-surface interactions.

The Relationship of Age to Personal Network Size, Relational Multiplexity, and Proximity to Alters in the Western United States

PubMed Central

Smith, Emily J.; Marcum, Christopher S.; Boessen, Adam; Almquist, Zack W.; Hipp, John R.; Nagle, Nicholas N.

2015-01-01

Objectives. This study examines the association of age and other sociodemographic variables with properties of personal networks; using samples of individuals residing in the rural western United States and the City of Los Angeles, we evaluate the degree to which these associations vary with geographical context. For both samples, we test the hypothesis that age is negatively associated with network size (i.e., degree) and positively associated with network multiplexity (the extent of overlap) on 6 different relations: core discussion members, social activity participants, emergency contacts, neighborhood safety contacts, job informants, and kin. We also examine the relationship between age and spatial proximity to alters. Method. Our data consist of a large-scale, spatially stratified egocentric network survey containing information about respondents and those to whom they are tied. We use Poisson regression to test our hypothesis regarding degree while adjusting for covariates, including education, gender, race, and self-reported sense of neighborhood belonging. We use multiple linear regression to test our hypotheses on multiplexity and distance to alters. Results. For both rural and urban populations, we find a nonmonotone association between age and numbers of core discussants and emergency contacts, with rural populations also showing nonmonotone associations for social activity partners and kin. These nonmonotone relationships show a peak in expected degree at midlife, followed by an eventual decline. We find a decline in degree among the elderly for all relations in both populations. Age is positively associated with distance to nonhousehold alters for the rural population, although residential tenure is associated with shorter ego-alter distances in both rural and urban settings. Additionally, age is negatively associated with network multiplexity for both populations. Discussion. Although personal network size ultimately declines with age, we find that increases for some relations extend well into late-midlife and most elders still maintain numerous contacts across diverse relations. The evidence we present suggests that older people tap into an wider variety of different network members for different types of relations than do younger people. This is true even for populations in rural settings, for whom immediate access to potential alters is more limited. PMID:25324292

Differential dynamic microscopy of bidisperse colloidal suspensions.

PubMed

Safari, Mohammad S; Poling-Skutvik, Ryan; Vekilov, Peter G; Conrad, Jacinta C

2017-01-01

Research tasks in microgravity include monitoring the dynamics of constituents of varying size and mobility in processes such as aggregation, phase separation, or self-assembly. We use differential dynamic microscopy, a method readily implemented with equipment available on the International Space Station, to simultaneously resolve the dynamics of particles of radius 50 nm and 1 μm in bidisperse aqueous suspensions. Whereas traditional dynamic light scattering fails to detect a signal from the larger particles at low concentrations, differential dynamic microscopy exhibits enhanced sensitivity in these conditions by accessing smaller wavevectors where scattering from the large particles is stronger. Interference patterns due to scattering from the large particles induce non-monotonic decay of the amplitude of the dynamic correlation function with the wavevector. We show that the position of the resulting minimum contains information on the vertical position of the particles. Together with the simple instrumental requirements, the enhanced sensitivity of differential dynamic microscopy makes it an appealing alternative to dynamic light scattering to characterize samples with complex dynamics.

Current in nanojunctions: Effects of reservoir coupling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yadalam, Hari Kumar; Harbola, Upendra

2018-07-01

We study the effect of system reservoir coupling on currents flowing through quantum junctions. We consider two simple double-quantum dot configurations coupled to two external fermionic reservoirs and study the net current flowing between the two reservoirs. The net current is partitioned into currents carried by the eigenstates of the system and by the coherences between the eigenstates induced due to coupling with the reservoirs. We find that current carried by populations is always positive whereas current carried by coherences are negative for large couplings. This results in a non-monotonic dependence of the net current on the coupling strength. We find that in certain cases, the net current can vanish at large couplings due to cancellation between currents carried by the eigenstates and by the coherences. These results provide new insights into the non-trivial role of system-reservoir couplings on electron transport through quantum dot junctions. In the presence of weak coulomb interactions, net current as a function of system reservoir coupling strength shows similar trends as for the non-interacting case.

The trading time risks of stock investment in stock price drop

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jiang-Cheng; Tang, Nian-Sheng; Mei, Dong-Cheng; Li, Yun-Xian; Zhang, Wan

2016-11-01

This article investigates the trading time risk (TTR) of stock investment in the case of stock price drop of Dow Jones Industrial Average (ˆDJI) and Hushen300 data (CSI300), respectively. The escape time of stock price from the maximum to minimum in a data window length (DWL) is employed to measure the absolute TTR, the ratio of the escape time to data window length is defined as the relative TTR. Empirical probability density functions of the absolute and relative TTRs for the ˆDJI and CSI300 data evidence that (i) whenever the DWL increases, the absolute TTR increases, the relative TTR decreases otherwise; (ii) there is the monotonicity (or non-monotonicity) for the stability of the absolute (or relative) TTR; (iii) there is a peak distribution for shorter trading days and a two-peak distribution for longer trading days for the PDF of ratio; (iv) the trading days play an opposite role on the absolute (or relative) TTR and its stability between ˆDJI and CSI300 data.

Multivalent-Ion-Activated Protein Adsorption Reflecting Bulk Reentrant Behavior.

PubMed

Fries, Madeleine R; Stopper, Daniel; Braun, Michal K; Hinderhofer, Alexander; Zhang, Fajun; Jacobs, Robert M J; Skoda, Maximilian W A; Hansen-Goos, Hendrik; Roth, Roland; Schreiber, Frank

2017-12-01

Protein adsorption at the solid-liquid interface is an important phenomenon that often can be observed as a first step in biological processes. Despite its inherent importance, still relatively little is known about the underlying microscopic mechanisms. Here, using multivalent ions, we demonstrate the control of the interactions and the corresponding adsorption of net-negatively charged proteins (bovine serum albumin) at a solid-liquid interface. This is demonstrated by ellipsometry and corroborated by neutron reflectivity and quartz-crystal microbalance experiments. We show that the reentrant condensation observed within the rich bulk phase behavior of the system featuring a nonmonotonic dependence of the second virial coefficient on salt concentration c_{s} is reflected in an intriguing way in the protein adsorption d(c_{s}) at the interface. Our findings are successfully described and understood by a model of ion-activated patchy interactions within the framework of the classical density functional theory. In addition to the general challenge of connecting bulk and interface behavior, our work has implications for, inter alia, nucleation at interfaces.

Finite size induces crossover temperature in growing spin chains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sienkiewicz, Julian; Suchecki, Krzysztof; Hołyst, Janusz A.

2014-01-01

We introduce a growing one-dimensional quenched spin model that bases on asymmetrical one-side Ising interactions in the presence of external field. Numerical simulations and analytical calculations based on Markov chain theory show that when the external field is smaller than the exchange coupling constant J there is a nonmonotonous dependence of the mean magnetization on the temperature in a finite system. The crossover temperature Tc corresponding to the maximal magnetization decays with system size, approximately as the inverse of the Lambert W function. The observed phenomenon can be understood as an interplay between the thermal fluctuations and the presence of the first cluster determined by initial conditions. The effect exists also when spins are not quenched but fully thermalized after the attachment to the chain. By performing tests on real data we conceive the model is in part suitable for a qualitative description of online emotional discussions arranged in a chronological order, where a spin in every node conveys emotional valence of a subsequent post.

Where does fitness fit in theories of perception?

PubMed

Anderson, Barton L

2015-12-01

Interface theory asserts that neither our perceptual experience of the world nor the scientific constructs used to describe the world are veridical. The primary argument used to uphold this claim is that (1) evolution is driven by a process of natural selection that favors fitness over veridicality, and (2) payoffs do not vary monotonically with truth. I argue that both the arguments used to bolster this claim and the conclusions derived from it are flawed. Interface theory assumes that perception evolved to directly track fitness but fails to consider the role of adaptation on ontogenetic time scales. I argue that the ubiquity of nonmonotonic payoff functions requires that (1) perception tracks "truth" for species that adapt on ontogenetic time scales and (2) that perception should be distinct from utility. These conditions are required to pursue an adaptive strategy to mitigate homeostatic imbalances. I also discuss issues with the interface metaphor, the particular formulation of veridicality that is considered, and the relationship of interface theory to the history of ideas on these topics.

Electrical and Optical Studies of Deep Levels in Nominally Undoped Thallium Bromide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Holland M.; Haegel, Nancy M.; Phillips, David J.; Cirignano, Leonard; Ciampi, Guido; Kim, Hadong; Chrzan, Daryl C.; Haller, Eugene E.

2014-02-01

Photo-induced conductivity transient spectroscopy (PICTS) and cathodoluminescence (CL) measurements were performed on nominally undoped detector grade samples of TlBr. In PICTS measurements, nine traps were detected in the temperature range 80-250 K using four-gate analysis. Five of the traps are tentatively identified as electron traps, and four as hole traps. CL measurements yielded two broad peaks common to all samples and most likely associated with defects. Correlations between the optically and electrically detected deep levels are considered. Above 250 K, the photoconductivity transients measured in the PICTS experiments exhibited anomalous transient behavior, indicated by non-monotonic slope variations as a function of time. The origin of the transients is under further investigation, but their presence precludes the accurate determination of trap parameters in TlBr above 250 K with traditional PICTS analysis. Their discovery was made possible by the use of a PICTS system that records whole photoconductivity transients, as opposed to reduced and processed signals.

Active motion assisted by correlated stochastic torques.

PubMed

Weber, Christian; Radtke, Paul K; Schimansky-Geier, Lutz; Hänggi, Peter

2011-07-01

The stochastic dynamics of an active particle undergoing a constant speed and additionally driven by an overall fluctuating torque is investigated. The random torque forces are expressed by a stochastic differential equation for the angular dynamics of the particle determining the orientation of motion. In addition to a constant torque, the particle is supplemented by random torques, which are modeled as an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process with given correlation time τ(c). These nonvanishing correlations cause a persistence of the particles' trajectories and a change of the effective spatial diffusion coefficient. We discuss the mean square displacement as a function of the correlation time and the noise intensity and detect a nonmonotonic dependence of the effective diffusion coefficient with respect to both correlation time and noise strength. A maximal diffusion behavior is obtained if the correlated angular noise straightens the curved trajectories, interrupted by small pirouettes, whereby the correlated noise amplifies a straightening of the curved trajectories caused by the constant torque.

Multivalent-Ion-Activated Protein Adsorption Reflecting Bulk Reentrant Behavior

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fries, Madeleine R.; Stopper, Daniel; Braun, Michal K.; Hinderhofer, Alexander; Zhang, Fajun; Jacobs, Robert M. J.; Skoda, Maximilian W. A.; Hansen-Goos, Hendrik; Roth, Roland; Schreiber, Frank

2017-12-01

Protein adsorption at the solid-liquid interface is an important phenomenon that often can be observed as a first step in biological processes. Despite its inherent importance, still relatively little is known about the underlying microscopic mechanisms. Here, using multivalent ions, we demonstrate the control of the interactions and the corresponding adsorption of net-negatively charged proteins (bovine serum albumin) at a solid-liquid interface. This is demonstrated by ellipsometry and corroborated by neutron reflectivity and quartz-crystal microbalance experiments. We show that the reentrant condensation observed within the rich bulk phase behavior of the system featuring a nonmonotonic dependence of the second virial coefficient on salt concentration cs is reflected in an intriguing way in the protein adsorption d (cs) at the interface. Our findings are successfully described and understood by a model of ion-activated patchy interactions within the framework of the classical density functional theory. In addition to the general challenge of connecting bulk and interface behavior, our work has implications for, inter alia, nucleation at interfaces.

Collective coordinates theory for discrete soliton ratchets in the sine-Gordon model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sánchez-Rey, Bernardo; Quintero, Niurka R.; Cuevas-Maraver, Jesús; Alejo, Miguel A.

2014-10-01

A collective coordinate theory is developed for soliton ratchets in the damped discrete sine-Gordon model driven by a biharmonic force. An ansatz with two collective coordinates, namely the center and the width of the soliton, is assumed as an approximated solution of the discrete nonlinear equation. The dynamical equations of these two collective coordinates, obtained by means of the generalized travelling wave method, explain the mechanism underlying the soliton ratchet and capture qualitatively all the main features of this phenomenon. The numerical simulation of these equations accounts for the existence of a nonzero depinning threshold, the nonsinusoidal behavior of the average velocity as a function of the relative phase between the harmonics of the driver, the nonmonotonic dependence of the average velocity on the damping, and the existence of nontransporting regimes beyond the depinning threshold. In particular, it provides a good description of the intriguing and complex pattern of subspaces corresponding to different dynamical regimes in parameter space.

Collective coordinates theory for discrete soliton ratchets in the sine-Gordon model.

PubMed

Sánchez-Rey, Bernardo; Quintero, Niurka R; Cuevas-Maraver, Jesús; Alejo, Miguel A

2014-10-01

A collective coordinate theory is developed for soliton ratchets in the damped discrete sine-Gordon model driven by a biharmonic force. An ansatz with two collective coordinates, namely the center and the width of the soliton, is assumed as an approximated solution of the discrete nonlinear equation. The dynamical equations of these two collective coordinates, obtained by means of the generalized travelling wave method, explain the mechanism underlying the soliton ratchet and capture qualitatively all the main features of this phenomenon. The numerical simulation of these equations accounts for the existence of a nonzero depinning threshold, the nonsinusoidal behavior of the average velocity as a function of the relative phase between the harmonics of the driver, the nonmonotonic dependence of the average velocity on the damping, and the existence of nontransporting regimes beyond the depinning threshold. In particular, it provides a good description of the intriguing and complex pattern of subspaces corresponding to different dynamical regimes in parameter space.

Temperature dependent exchange bias training effect in single-crystalline BiFeO{sub 3}/Co bilayers

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

He, M. C.; You, B.; Tu, H. Q.

2015-05-07

Single-crystalline BiFeO{sub 3} (BFO)/Co bilayers were prepared by combined pulsed laser deposition and magnetron sputtering on (001) SrTiO{sub 3} substrates. Exchange bias (EB) and accompanying training effect have been studied as a function of temperature (T) between 5 K and 300 K. A non-monotonic exchange field variation with sharp increase below 100 K has been observed. In the meanwhile, strong training effect was recorded when T < 100 K and it weakens monotonically with increasing T up to 300 K. These temperature dependent EB and training effect may be caused by the uncompensated spins in both the interfacial spin-glass (SG) phase at low temperature and the antiferromagneticmore » BFO layer at higher temperature. The low temperature EB training results can be well fitted by a modified Binek's model considering asymmetric changes of the pinning SG spins at the descending and the ascending branches.« less

Finite size induces crossover temperature in growing spin chains.

PubMed

Sienkiewicz, Julian; Suchecki, Krzysztof; Hołyst, Janusz A

2014-01-01

We introduce a growing one-dimensional quenched spin model that bases on asymmetrical one-side Ising interactions in the presence of external field. Numerical simulations and analytical calculations based on Markov chain theory show that when the external field is smaller than the exchange coupling constant J there is a nonmonotonous dependence of the mean magnetization on the temperature in a finite system. The crossover temperature Tc corresponding to the maximal magnetization decays with system size, approximately as the inverse of the Lambert W function. The observed phenomenon can be understood as an interplay between the thermal fluctuations and the presence of the first cluster determined by initial conditions. The effect exists also when spins are not quenched but fully thermalized after the attachment to the chain. By performing tests on real data we conceive the model is in part suitable for a qualitative description of online emotional discussions arranged in a chronological order, where a spin in every node conveys emotional valence of a subsequent post.

Micromagnetic evaluation of the dissipated heat in cylindrical magnetic nanowires

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernandez-Roldan, Jose Angel; Serantes, David; del Real, Rafael P.; Vazquez, Manuel; Chubykalo-Fesenko, Oksana

2018-05-01

Magnetic nanowires (NWs) are promising candidates for heat generation under AC-field application due to their large shape anisotropy. They may be used for catalysis, hyperthermia, or water purification treatments. In the present work, we theoretically evaluate the heat dissipated by a single magnetic nanowire, originated from the domain wall (DW) dynamics under the action of an AC-field. We compare the Permalloy NWs (which demagnetize via the transverse wall propagation) with the Co fcc NWs whose reversal mode is via a vortex domain wall. The average hysteresis loop areas—which are proportional to the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR)—as a function of the field frequency have a pronounced maximum in the range 200 MHz-1 GHz. This maximum frequency is smaller in Permalloy than that in Co and depends on the nanowire length. A simple model related to the nucleation and propagation time and DW velocity (higher for the vortex than for the transverse domain wall) is proposed to explain the non-monotonic SAR dependence on the frequency.

Robust numerical solution of the reservoir routing equation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fiorentini, Marcello; Orlandini, Stefano

2013-09-01

The robustness of numerical methods for the solution of the reservoir routing equation is evaluated. The methods considered in this study are: (1) the Laurenson-Pilgrim method, (2) the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method, and (3) the fixed order Cash-Karp method. Method (1) is unable to handle nonmonotonic outflow rating curves. Method (2) is found to fail under critical conditions occurring, especially at the end of inflow recession limbs, when large time steps (greater than 12 min in this application) are used. Method (3) is computationally intensive and it does not solve the limitations of method (2). The limitations of method (2) can be efficiently overcome by reducing the time step in the critical phases of the simulation so as to ensure that water level remains inside the domains of the storage function and the outflow rating curve. The incorporation of a simple backstepping procedure implementing this control into the method (2) yields a robust and accurate reservoir routing method that can be safely used in distributed time-continuous catchment models.

Mutation load and the extinction of large populations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernardes, A. T.

1996-02-01

In the time evolution of finite populations, the accumulation of harmful mutations in further generations might lead to a temporal decay in the mean fitness of the whole population that, after sufficient time, would reduce population size and so lead to extinction. This joint action of mutation load and population reduction is called Mutational Meltdown and is usually considered only to occur in small asexual or very small sexual populations. However, the problem of extinction cannot be discussed in a proper way if one previously assumes the existence of an equilibrium state, as initially discussed in this paper. By performing simulations in a genetically inspired model for time-changing populations, we show that mutational meltdown also occurs in large asexual populations and that the mean time to extinction is a nonmonotonic function of the selection coefficient. The stochasticity of the extinction process is also discussed. The extinction of small sexual N ∼ 700 populations is shown and our results confirm the assumption that the existence of recombination might be a powerful mechanism to avoid extinction.

Shear-stress fluctuations and relaxation in polymer glasses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kriuchevskyi, I.; Wittmer, J. P.; Meyer, H.; Benzerara, O.; Baschnagel, J.

2018-01-01

We investigate by means of molecular dynamics simulation a coarse-grained polymer glass model focusing on (quasistatic and dynamical) shear-stress fluctuations as a function of temperature T and sampling time Δ t . The linear response is characterized using (ensemble-averaged) expectation values of the contributions (time averaged for each shear plane) to the stress-fluctuation relation μsf for the shear modulus and the shear-stress relaxation modulus G (t ) . Using 100 independent configurations, we pay attention to the respective standard deviations. While the ensemble-averaged modulus μsf(T ) decreases continuously with increasing T for all Δ t sampled, its standard deviation δ μsf(T ) is nonmonotonic with a striking peak at the glass transition. The question of whether the shear modulus is continuous or has a jump singularity at the glass transition is thus ill posed. Confirming the effective time-translational invariance of our systems, the Δ t dependence of μsf and related quantities can be understood using a weighted integral over G (t ) .

Unraveling the Dynamics of Aminopolymer/Silica Composites

DOE PAGES

Carrillo, Jan-Michael Y.; Sakwa-Novak, Miles A.; Holewinski, Adam; ...

2016-02-25

Branched poly(ethylenimine) (PEI) encapsulated within mesoporous silica (SBA-15), has proven to be an eective sorbent for developing carbon capture technologies. However, the structure-property correlations which govern their adsorptive properties is not well understood. By combining coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations and neutron scattering experiments we are able to construct, and validate, a detailed model of the dynamics and morphology of the conned polymer within the mesoporous support. By varying the simulation properties we are able to probe, for the rst time, the direct relationship between the structure of the polymer and the non-monotonic dynamics of the polymer as a function ofmore » monomer concentration within an adsorbing cylindrical pore. Overall the simulation results are in good agreement with quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) studies, suggesting an approach that can be a useful guide for understanding how to tune porous polymer composites for enhancing desired dynamical and structural behavior targeting enhanced carbon dioxide adsorption.« less

Analysis of light emitting diode array lighting system based on human vision: normal and abnormal uniformity condition.

PubMed

Qin, Zong; Ji, Chuangang; Wang, Kai; Liu, Sheng

2012-10-08

In this paper, condition for uniform lighting generated by light emitting diode (LED) array was systematically studied. To take human vision effect into consideration, contrast sensitivity function (CSF) was novelly adopted as critical criterion for uniform lighting instead of conventionally used Sparrow's Criterion (SC). Through CSF method, design parameters including system thickness, LED pitch, LED's spatial radiation distribution and viewing condition can be analytically combined. In a specific LED array lighting system (LALS) with foursquare LED arrangement, different types of LEDs (Lambertian and Batwing type) and given viewing condition, optimum system thicknesses and LED pitches were calculated and compared with those got through SC method. Results show that CSF method can achieve more appropriate optimum parameters than SC method. Additionally, an abnormal phenomenon that uniformity varies with structural parameters non-monotonically in LALS with non-Lambertian LEDs was found and analyzed. Based on the analysis, a design method of LALS that can bring about better practicability, lower cost and more attractive appearance was summarized.

Rheology of dense granular flows for elongated particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagy, Dániel B.; Claudin, Philippe; Börzsönyi, Tamás; Somfai, Ellák

2017-12-01

We study the rheology of dense granular flows for frictionless spherocylinders by means of 3D numerical simulations. As in the case of spherical particles, the effective friction μ is an increasing function of the inertial number I , and we systematically investigate the dependence of μ on the particle aspect ratio Q , as well as that of the normal stress differences, the volume fraction, and the coordination number. We show in particular that the quasistatic friction coefficient is nonmonotonic with Q : from the spherical case Q =1 , it first sharply increases, reaches a maximum around Q ≃1.05 , and then gently decreases until Q =3 , passing its initial value at Q ≃2 . We provide a microscopic interpretation for this unexpected behavior through the analysis of the distribution of dissipative contacts around the particles: as compared to spheres, slightly elongated grains enhance contacts in their central cylindrical band, whereas at larger aspect ratios particles tend to align and dissipate by preferential contacts at their hemispherical caps.

The schedule effect: can recurrent peak infections be reduced without vaccines, quarantines or school closings?

PubMed

Diedrichs, Danilo R; Isihara, Paul A; Buursma, Doeke D

2014-02-01

Using a basic, two transmission level seasonal SIR model, we introduce mathematical evidence for the schedule effect which asserts that major recurring peak infections can be significantly reduced by modification of the traditional school calendar. The schedule effect is observed first in simulated time histories of the infectious population. Schedules with higher average transmission rate may exhibit reduced peak infections. Splitting vacations changes the period of the oscillating transmission function and can confine limit cycles in the proportion susceptible/proportion infected phase plane. Numerical analysis of the phase plane shows the relationship between the transmission period and the maximum recurring infection peaks and period of the response. For certain transmission periods, this response may exhibit period-doubling and chaos, leading to increased peaks. Non-monotonic infectious response is also observed in conjunction with changing birth rate. We discuss how to take these effects into consideration to design an optimum school schedule with particular reference to a hypothetical developing world context. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sensing Size through Clustering in Non-Equilibrium Membranes and the Control of Membrane-Bound Enzymatic Reactions

PubMed Central

Vagne, Quentin; Turner, Matthew S.; Sens, Pierre

2015-01-01

The formation of dynamical clusters of proteins is ubiquitous in cellular membranes and is in part regulated by the recycling of membrane components. We show, using stochastic simulations and analytic modeling, that the out-of-equilibrium cluster size distribution of membrane components undergoing continuous recycling is strongly influenced by lateral confinement. This result has significant implications for the clustering of plasma membrane proteins whose mobility is hindered by cytoskeletal “corrals” and for protein clustering in cellular organelles of limited size that generically support material fluxes. We show how the confinement size can be sensed through its effect on the size distribution of clusters of membrane heterogeneities and propose that this could be regulated to control the efficiency of membrane-bound reactions. To illustrate this, we study a chain of enzymatic reactions sensitive to membrane protein clustering. The reaction efficiency is found to be a non-monotonic function of the system size, and can be optimal for sizes comparable to those of cellular organelles. PMID:26656912

Attractors for non-dissipative irrotational von Karman plates with boundary damping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bociu, Lorena; Toundykov, Daniel

Long-time behavior of solutions to a von Karman plate equation is considered. The system has an unrestricted first-order perturbation and a nonlinear damping acting through free boundary conditions only. This model differs from those previously considered (e.g. in the extensive treatise (Chueshov and Lasiecka, 2010 [11])) because the semi-flow may be of a non-gradient type: the unique continuation property is not known to hold, and there is no strict Lyapunov function on the natural finite-energy space. Consequently, global bounds on the energy, let alone the existence of an absorbing ball, cannot be a priori inferred. Moreover, the free boundary conditions are not recognized by weak solutions and some helpful estimates available for clamped, hinged or simply-supported plates cannot be invoked. It is shown that this non-monotone flow can converge to a global compact attractor with the help of viscous boundary damping and appropriately structured restoring forces acting only on the boundary or its collar.

Transport properties of elastically coupled fractional Brownian motors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lv, Wangyong; Wang, Huiqi; Lin, Lifeng; Wang, Fei; Zhong, Suchuan

2015-11-01

Under the background of anomalous diffusion, which is characterized by the sub-linear or super-linear mean-square displacement in time, we proposed the coupled fractional Brownian motors, in which the asymmetrical periodic potential as ratchet is coupled mutually with elastic springs, and the driving source is the external harmonic force and internal thermal fluctuations. The transport mechanism of coupled particles in the overdamped limit is investigated as the function of the temperature of baths, coupling constant and natural length of the spring, the amplitude and frequency of driving force, and the asymmetry of ratchet potential by numerical stimulations. The results indicate that the damping force involving the information of historical velocity leads to the nonlocal memory property and blocks the traditional dissipative motion behaviors, and it even plays a cooperative role of driving force in drift motion of the coupled particles. Thus, we observe various non-monotonic resonance-like behaviors of collective directed transport in the mediums with different diffusion exponents.

Effects of High-Rate Pulse Trains on Electrode Discrimination in Cochlear Implant Users

PubMed Central

Runge-Samuelson, Christina L.

2009-01-01

Overcoming issues related to abnormally high neural synchrony in response to electrical stimulation is one aspect in improving hearing with a cochlear implant. Desynchronization of electrical stimuli have shown benefits in neural encoding of electrical signals and improvements in psychophysical tasks. In the present study, 10 participants with either CII or HiRes 90k Advanced Bionics devices were tested for the effects of desynchronizing constant-amplitude high-rate (5,000 Hz) pulse trains on electrode discrimination of sinusoidal stimuli (1,000 Hz). When averaged across the sinusoidal dynamic range, overall improvements in electrode discrimination with high-rate pulses were found for 8 of 10 participants. This effect was significant for the group (p = .003). Nonmonotonic patterns of electrode discrimination as a function of sinusoidal stimulation level were observed. By providing additional spectral channels, it is possible that clinical implementation of constant-amplitude high-rate pulse trains in a signal processing strategy may improve performance with the device. PMID:19447763

The Fysics of Filopodia (or The Physics of Philopodia)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwarz, Jen; Gopinathan, Ajay; Lee, Kun-Chun; Liu, Andrea; Yang, Louise

2006-03-01

Cell motility is driven by the dynamic reorganization of the cellular cytoskeleton which is composed of actin. Monomeric actin assembles into filaments that grow, shrink, branch and bundle. Branching generates new filaments that form a mesh-like structure that protrudes outward allowing the cell to move somewhere. But how does it know where to move? It has been proposed that filopodia serve as scouts for the cell. Filopodia are bundles of actin filaments that extend out ahead of the rest of the cell to probe its upcoming environment. Recent in vitro experiments [Vignjevic et al., J. Ce ll Bio. 160, 951 (2003)] determine the minimal ingredients required for such a process. We model these experiments analytically and via Monte Carlo simulations to estimate the typical bundle size and length. We also estimate the size of the mesh-like structure from which the filopodia emerge and explain the observed nonmonotonicity of this size as a function of capping protein concentration, which inhibits filament growth.

Charge ordering in ionic fluids mediate repulsive surface interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dasbiswas, Kinjal; Ludwig, Nicholas B.; Zhang, Hao; Talapin, Dmitri; Vaikuntanathan, Suri

Recent experiments on ionic fluids, such as surface force measurements in organic ionic liquids and the observation of colloidal stability in inorganic molten salts, suggest the presence of long-ranged repulsive forces. These cannot be explained within the classical Debye-Hückel theory for dilute electrolytes. We argue that such repulsive interactions can arise from long-range (several nm) charge density oscillations induced by a surface that preferentially binds one of the ionic species in an ionic fluid. We present a continuum theory that accounts for such charge layering based on a frustrated Ising model that incorporates both long-range Coulombic and short-range steric interactions. The mean-field analytic treatment qualitatively matches results from molecular simulations. A careful analysis of the ionic correlation functions arising from such charge ordering may also explain the long electrostatic screening lengths observed in various ionic fluids and their non-monotonic dependence on the electrolyte concentration. We acknowledge the University of Chicago for support.

Non-Genomic Effects of Xenoestrogen Mixtures

PubMed Central

Viñas, René; Jeng, Yow-Jiun; Watson, Cheryl S.

2012-01-01

Xenoestrogens (XEs) are chemicals derived from a variety of natural and anthropogenic sources that can interfere with endogenous estrogens by either mimicking or blocking their responses via non-genomic and/or genomic signaling mechanisms. Disruption of estrogens’ actions through the less-studied non-genomic pathway can alter such functional end points as cell proliferation, peptide hormone release, catecholamine transport, and apoptosis, among others. Studies of potentially adverse effects due to mixtures and to low doses of endocrine-disrupting chemicals have recently become more feasible, though few so far have included actions via the non-genomic pathway. Physiologic estrogens and XEs evoke non-monotonic dose responses, with different compounds having different patterns of actions dependent on concentration and time, making mixture assessments all the more challenging. In order to understand the spectrum of toxicities and their mechanisms, future work should focus on carefully studying individual and mixture components across a range of concentrations and cellular pathways in a variety of tissue types. PMID:23066391

Dynamical Characteristics Common to Neuronal Competition Models

PubMed Central

Shpiro, Asya; Curtu, Rodica; Rinzel, John; Rubin, Nava

2009-01-01

Models implementing neuronal competition by reciprocally inhibitory populations are widely used to characterize bistable phenomena such as binocular rivalry. We find common dynamical behavior in several models of this general type, which differ in their architecture in the form of their gain functions, and in how they implement the slow process that underlies alternating dominance. We focus on examining the effect of the input strength on the rate (and existence) of oscillations. In spite of their differences, all considered models possess similar qualitative features, some of which we report here for the first time. Experimentally, dominance durations have been reported to decrease monotonically with increasing stimulus strength (such as Levelt's “Proposition IV”). The models predict this behavior; however, they also predict that at a lower range of input strength dominance durations increase with increasing stimulus strength. The nonmonotonic dependency of duration on stimulus strength is common to both deterministic and stochastic models. We conclude that additional experimental tests of Levelt's Proposition IV are needed to reconcile models and perception. PMID:17065254

Enhancements to the SSME transfer function modeling code

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Irwin, R. Dennis; Mitchell, Jerrel R.; Bartholomew, David L.; Glenn, Russell D.

1995-01-01

This report details the results of a one year effort by Ohio University to apply the transfer function modeling and analysis tools developed under NASA Grant NAG8-167 (Irwin, 1992), (Bartholomew, 1992) to attempt the generation of Space Shuttle Main Engine High Pressure Turbopump transfer functions from time domain data. In addition, new enhancements to the transfer function modeling codes which enhance the code functionality are presented, along with some ideas for improved modeling methods and future work. Section 2 contains a review of the analytical background used to generate transfer functions with the SSME transfer function modeling software. Section 2.1 presents the 'ratio method' developed for obtaining models of systems that are subject to single unmeasured excitation sources and have two or more measured output signals. Since most of the models developed during the investigation use the Eigensystem Realization Algorithm (ERA) for model generation, Section 2.2 presents an introduction of ERA, and Section 2.3 describes how it can be used to model spectral quantities. Section 2.4 details the Residue Identification Algorithm (RID) including the use of Constrained Least Squares (CLS) and Total Least Squares (TLS). Most of this information can be found in the report (and is repeated for convenience). Section 3 chronicles the effort of applying the SSME transfer function modeling codes to the a51p394.dat and a51p1294.dat time data files to generate transfer functions from the unmeasured input to the 129.4 degree sensor output. Included are transfer function modeling attempts using five methods. The first method is a direct application of the SSME codes to the data files and the second method uses the underlying trends in the spectral density estimates to form transfer function models with less clustering of poles and zeros than the models obtained by the direct method. In the third approach, the time data is low pass filtered prior to the modeling process in an effort to filter out high frequency characteristics. The fourth method removes the presumed system excitation and its harmonics in order to investigate the effects of the excitation on the modeling process. The fifth method is an attempt to apply constrained RID to obtain better transfer functions through more accurate modeling over certain frequency ranges. Section 4 presents some new C main files which were created to round out the functionality of the existing SSME transfer function modeling code. It is now possible to go from time data to transfer function models using only the C codes; it is not necessary to rely on external software. The new C main files and instructions for their use are included. Section 5 presents current and future enhancements to the XPLOT graphics program which was delivered with the initial software. Several new features which have been added to the program are detailed in the first part of this section. The remainder of Section 5 then lists some possible features which may be added in the future. Section 6 contains the conclusion section of this report. Section 6.1 is an overview of the work including a summary and observations relating to finding transfer functions with the SSME code. Section 6.2 contains information relating to future work on the project.

Noise, sampling, and the number of projections in cone-beam CT with a flat-panel detector

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

Zhao, Z.; Gang, G. J.; Siewerdsen, J. H., E-mail: jeff.siewerdsen@jhu.edu

2014-06-15

Purpose: To investigate the effect of the number of projection views on image noise in cone-beam CT (CBCT) with a flat-panel detector. Methods: This fairly fundamental consideration in CBCT system design and operation was addressed experimentally (using a phantom presenting a uniform medium as well as statistically motivated “clutter”) and theoretically (using a cascaded systems model describing CBCT noise) to elucidate the contributing factors of quantum noise (σ{sub Q}), electronic noise (σ{sub E}), and view aliasing (σ{sub view}). Analysis included investigation of the noise, noise-power spectrum, and modulation transfer function as a function of the number of projections (N{sub proj}),more » dose (D{sub tot}), and voxel size (b{sub vox}). Results: The results reveal a nonmonotonic relationship between image noise andN{sub proj} at fixed total dose: for the CBCT system considered, noise decreased with increasing N{sub proj} due to reduction of view sampling effects in the regime N{sub proj} <∼200, above which noise increased with N{sub proj} due to increased electronic noise. View sampling effects were shown to depend on the heterogeneity of the object in a direct analytical relationship to power-law anatomical clutter of the form κ/f {sup β}—and a general model of individual noise components (σ{sub Q}, σ{sub E}, and σ{sub view}) demonstrated agreement with measurements over a broad range in N{sub proj}, D{sub tot}, and b{sub vox}. Conclusions: The work elucidates fairly basic elements of CBCT noise in a manner that demonstrates the role of distinct noise components (viz., quantum, electronic, and view sampling noise). For configurations fairly typical of CBCT with a flat-panel detector (FPD), the analysis reveals a “sweet spot” (i.e., minimum noise) in the rangeN{sub proj} ∼ 250–350, nearly an order of magnitude lower in N{sub proj} than typical of multidetector CT, owing to the relatively high electronic noise in FPDs. The analysis explicitly relates view aliasing and quantum noise in a manner that includes aspects of the object (“clutter”) and imaging chain (including nonidealities of detector blur and electronic noise) to provide a more rigorous basis for commonly held intuition and heurism in CBCT system design and operation.« less

SAR Processing Based On Two-Dimensional Transfer Function

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chang, Chi-Yung; Jin, Michael Y.; Curlander, John C.

1994-01-01

Exact transfer function, ETF, is two-dimensional transfer function that constitutes basis of improved frequency-domain-convolution algorithm for processing synthetic-aperture-radar, SAR data. ETF incorporates terms that account for Doppler effect of motion of radar relative to scanned ground area and for antenna squint angle. Algorithm based on ETF outperforms others.

Dynamics of self-sustained asynchronous-irregular activity in random networks of spiking neurons with strong synapses

PubMed Central

Kriener, Birgit; Enger, Håkon; Tetzlaff, Tom; Plesser, Hans E.; Gewaltig, Marc-Oliver; Einevoll, Gaute T.

2014-01-01

Random networks of integrate-and-fire neurons with strong current-based synapses can, unlike previously believed, assume stable states of sustained asynchronous and irregular firing, even without external random background or pacemaker neurons. We analyze the mechanisms underlying the emergence, lifetime and irregularity of such self-sustained activity states. We first demonstrate how the competition between the mean and the variance of the synaptic input leads to a non-monotonic firing-rate transfer in the network. Thus, by increasing the synaptic coupling strength, the system can become bistable: In addition to the quiescent state, a second stable fixed-point at moderate firing rates can emerge by a saddle-node bifurcation. Inherently generated fluctuations of the population firing rate around this non-trivial fixed-point can trigger transitions into the quiescent state. Hence, the trade-off between the magnitude of the population-rate fluctuations and the size of the basin of attraction of the non-trivial rate fixed-point determines the onset and the lifetime of self-sustained activity states. During self-sustained activity, individual neuronal activity is moreover highly irregular, switching between long periods of low firing rate to short burst-like states. We show that this is an effect of the strong synaptic weights and the finite time constant of synaptic and neuronal integration, and can actually serve to stabilize the self-sustained state. PMID:25400575

Dynamics of self-sustained asynchronous-irregular activity in random networks of spiking neurons with strong synapses.

PubMed

Kriener, Birgit; Enger, Håkon; Tetzlaff, Tom; Plesser, Hans E; Gewaltig, Marc-Oliver; Einevoll, Gaute T

2014-01-01

Random networks of integrate-and-fire neurons with strong current-based synapses can, unlike previously believed, assume stable states of sustained asynchronous and irregular firing, even without external random background or pacemaker neurons. We analyze the mechanisms underlying the emergence, lifetime and irregularity of such self-sustained activity states. We first demonstrate how the competition between the mean and the variance of the synaptic input leads to a non-monotonic firing-rate transfer in the network. Thus, by increasing the synaptic coupling strength, the system can become bistable: In addition to the quiescent state, a second stable fixed-point at moderate firing rates can emerge by a saddle-node bifurcation. Inherently generated fluctuations of the population firing rate around this non-trivial fixed-point can trigger transitions into the quiescent state. Hence, the trade-off between the magnitude of the population-rate fluctuations and the size of the basin of attraction of the non-trivial rate fixed-point determines the onset and the lifetime of self-sustained activity states. During self-sustained activity, individual neuronal activity is moreover highly irregular, switching between long periods of low firing rate to short burst-like states. We show that this is an effect of the strong synaptic weights and the finite time constant of synaptic and neuronal integration, and can actually serve to stabilize the self-sustained state.

Solid-gate control of insulator to 2D metal transition at SrTiO3 surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schulman, Alejandro; Stoliar, Pablo; Kitoh, Ai; Rozenberg, Marcelo; Inoue, Isao H.

As miniaturization of the semiconductor transistor approaches its limit, semiconductor industries are facing a major challenge to extend information processing beyond what can be attainable by conventional Si-based transistors. Innovative combinations of new materials and new processing platforms are desired. Recent discovery of the 2D electron gas (2DEG) at the surface of SrTiO3 (STO) and its electrostatic control, have carried it to the top of promising materials to be utilized in innovative devices. We report an electrostatic control of the carrier density of the 2DEG formed at the channel of bilayer-gated STO field-effect devices. By applying a gate electric field at room temperature, its highly insulating channel exhibits a transition to metallic one. This transition is accompanied by non-monotonic voltage-gain transfer characteristic with both negative and positive slope regions and unexpected enhancement of the sheet carrier density. We will introduce a numerical model to rationalize the observed features in terms of the established physics of field-effect transistors and the physics of percolation. Furthermore, we have found a clear signature of a Kondo effect that arises due to the interaction between the dilute 2DEG and localized Ti 3d orbitals originated by oxygen vacancies near the channel. On leave from CIC nanoGUNE, Spain.

Propagation of eigenmodes and transfer functions in waveguide WDM structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mashkov, Vladimir A.; Francoeur, S.; Geuss, U.; Neiser, K.; Temkin, Henryk

1998-02-01

A method of propagation functions and transfer amplitudes suitable for the design of integrated optical circuits is presented. The method is based on vectorial formulation of electrodynamics: the distributions and propagation of electromagnetic fields in optical circuits is described by equivalent surface sources. This approach permits a division of complex optical waveguide structures into sets of primitive blocks and to separately calculate the transfer function and the transfer amplitude for each block. The transfer amplitude of the entire optical system is represented by a convolution of transfer amplitudes of its primitive blocks. The eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of arbitrary waveguide structure are obtained in the WKB approximation and compared with other methods. The general approach is illustrated with the transfer amplitude calculations for Dragone's star coupler and router.

Spatially Controlled Noncovalent Functionalization of 2D Materials Based on Molecular Architecture.

PubMed

Bang, Jae Jin; Porter, Ashlin G; Davis, Tyson C; Hayes, Tyler R; Claridge, Shelley A

2018-05-15

Polymerizable amphiphiles can be assembled into lying-down phases on 2D materials such as graphite and graphene to create chemically orthogonal surface patterns at 5-10 nm scales, locally modulating functionality of the 2D basal plane. Functionalization can be carried out through Langmuir-Schaefer conversion, in which a subset of molecules is transferred out of a standing phase film on water onto the 2D substrate. Here, we leverage differences in molecular structure to spatially control transfer at both nanoscopic and microscopic scales. We compare transfer properties of five different single- and dual-chain amphiphiles, demonstrating that those with strong lateral interactions (e.g., hydrogen-bonding networks) exhibit the lowest transfer efficiencies. Since molecular structures also influence microscopic domain morphologies in Langmuir films, we show that it is possible to transfer such microscale patterns, taking advantage of variations in the local transfer rates based on the structural heterogeneity in Langmuir films. Nanoscale domain morphologies also vary in ways that are consistent with predicted relative transfer and diffusion rates. These results suggest strategies to tailor noncovalent functionalization of 2D substrates through controlled LS transfer.

The influence of a wall function on turbine blade heat transfer prediction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Whitaker, Kevin W.

1989-01-01

The second phase of a continuing investigation to improve the prediction of turbine blade heat transfer coefficients was completed. The present study specifically investigated how a numeric wall function in the turbulence model of a two-dimensional boundary layer code, STAN5, affected heat transfer prediction capabilities. Several sources of inaccuracy in the wall function were identified and then corrected or improved. Heat transfer coefficient predictions were then obtained using each one of the modifications to determine its effect. Results indicated that the modifications made to the wall function can significantly affect the prediction of heat transfer coefficients on turbine blades. The improvement in accuracy due the modifications is still inconclusive and is still being investigated.

Performance of Frozen Density Embedding for Modeling Hole Transfer Reactions.

PubMed

Ramos, Pablo; Papadakis, Markos; Pavanello, Michele

2015-06-18

We have carried out a thorough benchmark of the frozen density-embedding (FDE) method for calculating hole transfer couplings. We have considered 10 exchange-correlation functionals, 3 nonadditive kinetic energy functionals, and 3 basis sets. Overall, we conclude that with a 7% mean relative unsigned error, the PBE and PW91 functionals coupled with the PW91k nonadditive kinetic energy functional and a TZP basis set constitute the most stable and accurate levels of theory for hole transfer coupling calculations. The FDE-ET method is found to be an excellent tool for computing diabatic couplings for hole transfer reactions.

Number statistics for β-ensembles of random matrices: Applications to trapped fermions at zero temperature.

PubMed

Marino, Ricardo; Majumdar, Satya N; Schehr, Grégory; Vivo, Pierpaolo

2016-09-01

Let P_{β}^{(V)}(N_{I}) be the probability that a N×Nβ-ensemble of random matrices with confining potential V(x) has N_{I} eigenvalues inside an interval I=[a,b] on the real line. We introduce a general formalism, based on the Coulomb gas technique and the resolvent method, to compute analytically P_{β}^{(V)}(N_{I}) for large N. We show that this probability scales for large N as P_{β}^{(V)}(N_{I})≈exp[-βN^{2}ψ^{(V)}(N_{I}/N)], where β is the Dyson index of the ensemble. The rate function ψ^{(V)}(k_{I}), independent of β, is computed in terms of single integrals that can be easily evaluated numerically. The general formalism is then applied to the classical β-Gaussian (I=[-L,L]), β-Wishart (I=[1,L]), and β-Cauchy (I=[-L,L]) ensembles. Expanding the rate function around its minimum, we find that generically the number variance var(N_{I}) exhibits a nonmonotonic behavior as a function of the size of the interval, with a maximum that can be precisely characterized. These analytical results, corroborated by numerical simulations, provide the full counting statistics of many systems where random matrix models apply. In particular, we present results for the full counting statistics of zero-temperature one-dimensional spinless fermions in a harmonic trap.

A note on monotonicity of item response functions for ordered polytomous item response theory models.

PubMed

Kang, Hyeon-Ah; Su, Ya-Hui; Chang, Hua-Hua

2018-03-08

A monotone relationship between a true score (τ) and a latent trait level (θ) has been a key assumption for many psychometric applications. The monotonicity property in dichotomous response models is evident as a result of a transformation via a test characteristic curve. Monotonicity in polytomous models, in contrast, is not immediately obvious because item response functions are determined by a set of response category curves, which are conceivably non-monotonic in θ. The purpose of the present note is to demonstrate strict monotonicity in ordered polytomous item response models. Five models that are widely used in operational assessments are considered for proof: the generalized partial credit model (Muraki, 1992, Applied Psychological Measurement, 16, 159), the nominal model (Bock, 1972, Psychometrika, 37, 29), the partial credit model (Masters, 1982, Psychometrika, 47, 147), the rating scale model (Andrich, 1978, Psychometrika, 43, 561), and the graded response model (Samejima, 1972, A general model for free-response data (Psychometric Monograph no. 18). Psychometric Society, Richmond). The study asserts that the item response functions in these models strictly increase in θ and thus there exists strict monotonicity between τ and θ under certain specified conditions. This conclusion validates the practice of customarily using τ in place of θ in applied settings and provides theoretical grounds for one-to-one transformations between the two scales. © 2018 The British Psychological Society.

Accounting for nonmonotonic precursor duration effects with gain reduction in the temporal window model.

PubMed

Roverud, Elin; Strickland, Elizabeth A

2014-03-01

The mechanisms of forward masking are not clearly understood. The temporal window model (TWM) proposes that masking occurs via a neural mechanism that integrates within a temporal window. The medial olivocochlear reflex (MOCR), a sound-evoked reflex that reduces cochlear amplifier gain, may also contribute to forward masking if the preceding sound reduces gain for the signal. Psychophysical evidence of gain reduction can be observed using a growth of masking (GOM) paradigm with an off-frequency forward masker and a precursor. The basilar membrane input/output (I/O) function is estimated from the GOM function, and the I/O function gain is reduced by the precursor. In this study, the effect of precursor duration on this gain reduction effect was examined for on- and off-frequency precursors. With on-frequency precursors, thresholds increased with increasing precursor duration, then decreased (rolled over) for longer durations. Thresholds with off-frequency precursors continued to increase with increasing precursor duration. These results are not consistent with solely neural masking, but may reflect gain reduction that selectively affects on-frequency stimuli. The TWM was modified to include history-dependent gain reduction to simulate the MOCR, called the temporal window model-gain reduction (TWM-GR). The TWM-GR predicted rollover and the differences with on- and off-frequency precursors whereas the TWM did not.

Improved Displacement Transfer Functions for Structure Deformed Shape Predictions Using Discretely Distributed Surface Strains

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ko, William L.; Fleischer, Van Tran

2012-01-01

In the formulations of earlier Displacement Transfer Functions for structure shape predictions, the surface strain distributions, along a strain-sensing line, were represented with piecewise linear functions. To improve the shape-prediction accuracies, Improved Displacement Transfer Functions were formulated using piecewise nonlinear strain representations. Through discretization of an embedded beam (depth-wise cross section of a structure along a strain-sensing line) into multiple small domains, piecewise nonlinear functions were used to describe the surface strain distributions along the discretized embedded beam. Such piecewise approach enabled the piecewise integrations of the embedded beam curvature equations to yield slope and deflection equations in recursive forms. The resulting Improved Displacement Transfer Functions, written in summation forms, were expressed in terms of beam geometrical parameters and surface strains along the strain-sensing line. By feeding the surface strains into the Improved Displacement Transfer Functions, structural deflections could be calculated at multiple points for mapping out the overall structural deformed shapes for visual display. The shape-prediction accuracies of the Improved Displacement Transfer Functions were then examined in view of finite-element-calculated deflections using different tapered cantilever tubular beams. It was found that by using the piecewise nonlinear strain representations, the shape-prediction accuracies could be greatly improved, especially for highly-tapered cantilever tubular beams.