Quantum theory for the dynamic structure factor in correlated two-component systems in nonequilibrium: Application to x-ray scattering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vorberger, J.; Chapman, D. A.

2018-01-01

We present a quantum theory for the dynamic structure factors in nonequilibrium, correlated, two-component systems such as plasmas or warm dense matter. The polarization function, which is needed as the input for the calculation of the structure factors, is calculated in nonequilibrium based on a perturbation expansion in the interaction strength. To make our theory applicable for x-ray scattering, a generalized Chihara decomposition for the total electron structure factor in nonequilibrium is derived. Examples are given and the influence of correlations and exchange on the structure and the x-ray-scattering spectrum are discussed for a model nonequilibrium distribution, as often encountered during laser heating of materials, as well as for two-temperature systems.

Linear stable unity-feedback system - Necessary and sufficient conditions for stability under nonlinear plant perturbations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Desoer, C. A.; Kabuli, M. G.

1989-01-01

The authors consider a linear (not necessarily time-invariant) stable unity-feedback system, where the plant and the compensator have normalized right-coprime factorizations. They study two cases of nonlinear plant perturbations (additive and feedback), with four subcases resulting from: (1) allowing exogenous input to Delta P or not; 2) allowing the observation of the output of Delta P or not. The plant perturbation Delta P is not required to be stable. Using the factorization approach, the authors obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for all cases in terms of two pairs of nonlinear pseudostate maps. Simple physical considerations explain the form of these necessary and sufficient conditions. Finally, the authors obtain the characterization of all perturbations Delta P for which the perturbed system remains stable.

Precise MS light-quark masses from lattice QCD in the regularization invariant symmetric momentum-subtraction scheme

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

Gorbahn, Martin; Jaeger, Sebastian; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH

2010-12-01

We compute the conversion factors needed to obtain the MS and renormalization-group-invariant (RGI) up, down, and strange quark masses at next-to-next-to-leading order from the corresponding parameters renormalized in the recently proposed RI/SMOM and RI/SMOM{sub {gamma}{sub {mu}} }renormalization schemes. This is important for obtaining the MS masses with the best possible precision from numerical lattice QCD simulations, because the customary RI{sup (')}/MOM scheme is afflicted with large irreducible uncertainties both on the lattice and in perturbation theory. We find that the smallness of the known one-loop matching coefficients is accompanied by even smaller two-loop contributions. From a study of residual scalemore » dependences, we estimate the resulting perturbative uncertainty on the light-quark masses to be about 2% in the RI/SMOM scheme and about 3% in the RI/SMOM{sub {gamma}{sub {mu}} }scheme. Our conversion factors are given in fully analytic form, for general covariant gauge and renormalization point. We provide expressions for the associated anomalous dimensions.« less

Dynamic postural stability during advancing pregnancy.

PubMed

McCrory, J L; Chambers, A J; Daftary, A; Redfern, M S

2010-08-26

Pregnant women are at an increased risk of experiencing a fall. Numerous anatomical, physiological, and hormonal alterations occur during pregnancy, but the influence of these factors on dynamic postural stability has not been explored. The purpose of this study was to examine dynamic postural stability in pregnant women during their second and third trimesters as well as in a group of non-pregnant control women. Eighty-one women (41 pregnant, 40 controls) participated stood on a force plate that translated anteroposteriorly at small, medium, and large magnitudes. Reaction time and center of pressure (COP) movement during the translations were analyzed. Trimester, perturbation direction, and perturbation magnitude were the independent variables in a mixed-model analysis of variance on each of the following dependent variables: reaction time, initial sway, total sway, and sway velocity. Reaction time to the perturbation was not significantly different between the groups. Initial sway, total sway, and sway velocity were significantly less during the third trimester than during the second trimester and when compared to the non-pregnant controls (P<0.05). No differences were found in any of the measures between the pregnant women in their second trimesters and the control group. Alterations in sway responses to perturbations are seen in the third trimester in healthy women with uncomplicated pregnancies. Further study is needed to examine the biomechanical and physiological reasons behind this altered dynamic postural stability. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nonlinear phenomena in general relativity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allahyari, Alireza; Firouzjaee, Javad T.; Mansouri, Reza

2018-04-01

The perturbation theory plays an important role in studying structure formation in cosmology and post-Newtonian physics, but not all phenomena can be described by the linear perturbation theory. Thus, it is necessary to study exact solutions or higher-order perturbations. Specifically, we study black hole (apparent) horizons and the cosmological event horizon formation in the perturbation theory. We emphasize that in the perturbative regime of the gravitational potential these horizons cannot form in the lower order. Studying the infinite plane metric, we show that, to capture the cosmological constant effect, we need at least a second-order expansion.

Detecting a Weak Association by Testing its Multiple Perturbations: a Data Mining Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lo, Min-Tzu; Lee, Wen-Chung

2014-05-01

Many risk factors/interventions in epidemiologic/biomedical studies are of minuscule effects. To detect such weak associations, one needs a study with a very large sample size (the number of subjects, n). The n of a study can be increased but unfortunately only to an extent. Here, we propose a novel method which hinges on increasing sample size in a different direction-the total number of variables (p). We construct a p-based `multiple perturbation test', and conduct power calculations and computer simulations to show that it can achieve a very high power to detect weak associations when p can be made very large. As a demonstration, we apply the method to analyze a genome-wide association study on age-related macular degeneration and identify two novel genetic variants that are significantly associated with the disease. The p-based method may set a stage for a new paradigm of statistical tests.

Environmental immune disruptors, inflammation and cancer risk

PubMed Central

Thompson, Patricia A.; Khatami, Mahin; Baglole, Carolyn J.; Sun, Jun; Harris, Shelley; Moon, Eun-Yi; Al-Mulla, Fahd; Al-Temaimi, Rabeah; Brown, Dustin; Colacci, Annamaria; Mondello, Chiara; Raju, Jayadev; Ryan, Elizabeth; Woodrick, Jordan; Scovassi, Ivana; Singh, Neetu; Vaccari, Monica; Roy, Rabindra; Forte, Stefano; Memeo, Lorenzo; Salem, Hosni K.; Amedei, Amedeo; Hamid, Roslida A.; Lowe, Leroy; Guarnieri, Tiziana

2015-01-01

An emerging area in environmental toxicology is the role that chemicals and chemical mixtures have on the cells of the human immune system. This is an important area of research that has been most widely pursued in relation to autoimmune diseases and allergy/asthma as opposed to cancer causation. This is despite the well-recognized role that innate and adaptive immunity play as essential factors in tumorigenesis. Here, we review the role that the innate immune cells of inflammatory responses play in tumorigenesis. Focus is placed on the molecules and pathways that have been mechanistically linked with tumor-associated inflammation. Within the context of chemically induced disturbances in immune function as co-factors in carcinogenesis, the evidence linking environmental toxicant exposures with perturbation in the balance between pro- and anti-inflammatory responses is reviewed. Reported effects of bisphenol A, atrazine, phthalates and other common toxicants on molecular and cellular targets involved in tumor-associated inflammation (e.g. cyclooxygenase/prostaglandin E2, nuclear factor kappa B, nitric oxide synthesis, cytokines and chemokines) are presented as example chemically mediated target molecule perturbations relevant to cancer. Commentary on areas of additional research including the need for innovation and integration of systems biology approaches to the study of environmental exposures and cancer causation are presented. PMID:26106141

Role of the evening eastward electric field and the seed perturbations in the sequential occurrence of plasma bubble

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abadi, P.; Otsuka, Y.; Shiokawa, K.; Yamamoto, M.; M Buhari, S.; Abdullah, M.

2017-12-01

We investigate the 3-m ionospheric irregularities and the height variation of equatorial F-region observed by the Equatorial Atmosphere Radar (EAR) at Kototabang (100.3°E, 0.2°S, dip. Lat.: 10.1°S) in Indonesia and ionosondes at Chumphon (99.3°E, 10.7°N, dip. Lat.: 3°N) in Thailand and at Bac Lieu (105.7°E, 9.3°N, dip. Lat.; 1.5°N) in Vietnam, respectively, during March-April from 2011 to 2014. We aim to disclose the relation between pre-reversal enhancement (PRE) of evening eastward electric field and the sequential occurrence of the equatorial plasma bubble (EPB) in the period of 19-22 LT. In summary, (i) we found that the zonal spacing between consecutive EPBs ranges from less than 100 km up to 800 km with a maximum occurrence around 100-300 km as shown in Figure 1(a), and this result is consistent with the previous study [e.g. Makela et al., 2010]; (ii) the probability of the sequential occurrence of the EPB enhances with the increase of PRE strength (see Figure 1(b)); and (iii) Figure 1(c) shows that the zonal spacing between consecutive EPBs is less than 300 km for the weaker PRE (<30 m/s), whereas the zonal spacing is more varied for the stronger PRE (≥30 m/s). Our results remark that the PRE strength is a prominent factor of the sequential occurrence of the EPB. However, we also consider another factor, namely the zonal structure of seed perturbation modulated by gravity wave (GW), and the zonal spacing between consecutive EPBs may fit with the wavelength of the zonal structure of seed perturbation. We particularly attribute the result (iii) to the effects of PRE and seed perturbation on the sequential occurrence of the EPB, that is, we suggest that the weaker PRE could cause the sequential occurrence of the EPB when the zonal structure of seed perturbation has a shorter wavelength. We, however, need a further investigation for confirming the periodic seeding mechanism, and we will use a network of GPS receivers in the western part of Southeast Asia to analyze the zonal wavy structure in the TEC as a manifestation of the seed perturbations.

Transcriptome and membrane fatty acid analyses reveal different strategies for responding to permeating and non-permeating solutes in the bacterium Sphingomonas wittichii

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Sphingomonas wittichii strain RW1 can completely oxidize dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans, which are persistent contaminants of soils and sediments. For successful application in soil bioremediation systems, strain RW1 must cope with fluctuations in water availability, or water potential. Thus far, however, little is known about the adaptive strategies used by Sphingomonas bacteria to respond to changes in water potential. To improve our understanding, strain RW1 was perturbed with either the cell-permeating solute sodium chloride or the non-permeating solute polyethylene glycol with a molecular weight of 8000 (PEG8000). These solutes are assumed to simulate the solute and matric components of the total water potential, respectively. The responses to these perturbations were then assessed and compared using a combination of growth assays, transcriptome profiling, and membrane fatty acid analyses. Results Under conditions producing a similar decrease in water potential but without effect on growth rate, there was only a limited shared response to perturbation with sodium chloride or PEG8000. This shared response included the increased expression of genes involved with trehalose and exopolysaccharide biosynthesis and the reduced expression of genes involved with flagella biosynthesis. Mostly, the responses to perturbation with sodium chloride or PEG8000 were very different. Only sodium chloride triggered the increased expression of two ECF-type RNA polymerase sigma factors and the differential expression of many genes involved with outer membrane and amino acid metabolism. In contrast, only PEG8000 triggered the increased expression of a heat shock-type RNA polymerase sigma factor along with many genes involved with protein turnover and repair. Membrane fatty acid analyses further corroborated these differences. The degree of saturation of membrane fatty acids increased after perturbation with sodium chloride but had the opposite effect and decreased after perturbation with PEG8000. Conclusions A combination of growth assays, transcriptome profiling, and membrane fatty acid analyses revealed that permeating and non-permeating solutes trigger different adaptive responses in strain RW1, suggesting these solutes affect cells in fundamentally different ways. Future work is now needed that connects these responses with the responses observed in more realistic scenarios of soil desiccation. PMID:22082453

Self-determination theory and diminished functioning: the role of interpersonal control and psychological need thwarting.

PubMed

Bartholomew, Kimberley J; Ntoumanis, Nikos; Ryan, Richard M; Bosch, Jos A; Thøgersen-Ntoumani, Cecilie

2011-11-01

Drawing from self-determination theory, three studies explored the social-environmental conditions that satisfy versus thwart psychological needs and, in turn, affect psychological functioning and well-being or ill-being. In cross-sectional Studies 1 and 2, structural equation modeling analyses supported latent factor models in which need satisfaction was predicted by athletes' perceptions of autonomy support, and need thwarting was better predicted by coach control. Athletes' perceptions of need satisfaction predicted positive outcomes associated with sport participation (vitality and positive affect), whereas need thwarting more consistently predicted maladaptive outcomes (disordered eating, burnout, depression, negative affect, and physical symptoms). In addition, athletes' perceptions of psychological need thwarting were significantly associated with perturbed physiological arousal (elevated levels of secretory immunoglobulin A) prior to training. The final study involved the completion of a diary and supported the relations observed in the cross-sectional studies at a daily level. These findings have important implications for the operationalization and measurement of interpersonal styles and psychological needs.

Fluid and microfluidic dielectric measurement using a cavity perturbation method at microwave C-band

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asghari, Aref

The utilization of cavity perturbation technique in dielectric property measurement of fluid and micro-fluid is investigated in this thesis to better assist the ever-growing needs of science and technology for analysis and characterization of such materials in various applications from genetics, MEMS devices, to consumer product industry. Development of different techniques for measuring complex dielectric properties of fluid and micro-fluids at Giga (10 9)-Hz frequencies is of significant importance as their usage is increasingly coupled with infrared and microwave electromagnetic wavelengths. Conventional cavity perturbation method could provide a sensitive and convenient system for measuring fluids of low (e.g., epsilonr <10) permittivity that meets the assumptions of negligible perturbation to the electromagnetic field distribution in the cavity. Developing a methodology that uses conventional cavity perturbation method that is however suitable for a sensitive, accurate, and reliable measurement of high permittivity polar liquids at microwave C-band is the goal in the current work. Systematic studies are carried out, using de-ionic (DI) water as test specimens, to evaluate the influence of sample's container, volume, dimension, and temperature on the sensitivity and reliability of microwave dielectric measurement. The cavity perturbation measurement of DI water in a 1 mm diameter capillary tube showed well-defined temperature dependence of dielectric permittivity and loss coefficients of water. Observation of a permittivity peak in temperature range tested at 4GHz around -10 °C implies an important relaxation in low temperatures at microwave C-band, which corresponds to a critical slowing down of polarization reorientation in crystallized (icy) H2O. Numerical simulations using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) COMSOL suites were conducted to established the optimum amount of liquid water for cavity perturbation testing at microwave C-band (in perfectly conducting condition). The results showed at TE103 mode the tube D4= 4mm diameter (272 muL liquid volume capacity) provides the best measurement sensitivity in terms of resonant shift and low loss while for TE105 the 2mm 68 (muL liquid volume capacity) tube is the most promising. The experimental results yielded a shape factor of around 2 and 1 for epsilon' and epsilon", respectively. The examination of epsilon' and epsilon" interdependence using Kramers-Kronig concept showed the permittivity loss values is 4 times more dependent to the quality factor of resonant peak than permittivity. On the other hand, the dielectric permittivity dependence to resonant frequency was calculated around 2 times bigger than dielectric loss which signifies the importance of epsilon" in high loss liquid measurement by the cavity resonant perturbation method.

A systematic Monte Carlo study of secondary electron fluence perturbation in clinical proton beams (70-250 MeV) for cylindrical and spherical ion chambers.

PubMed

Verhaegen, F; Palmans, H

2001-10-01

Current dosimetry protocols for clinical protons do not take into account any secondary electron fluence perturbation in ion chambers. In this work, we performed a systematic study of secondary electron fluence perturbation factors for spherical and cylindrical ion chambers in proton beams (70-250 MeV). The electron fluence perturbation factor, pe, was calculated using Monte Carlo transport of protons and secondary electrons. The influence of proton energy, cavity wall material (graphite, water, A150, PMMA, polystyrene), cavity radius, cavity wall thickness and positioning depth in water is studied. The influence of inelastic nuclear proton interactions is briefly discussed. It was found that pe depends on wall material; the largest values for pe were obtained for ion chambers with A150 walls (pe=1.009), the smallest values for graphite walls. The perturbation factor was found to be largely independent of proton energy. A slight decrease of pe with cavity radius was obtained, especially for low energy protons. The wall thickness was found to have no effect on pe in the range studied (0.025-0.1 cm). The depth of the cavity in a water phantom was also found to have an insignificant effect on pe. Based on the results in the paper for spherical and cylindrical ion chambers, a method to calculate pe for a thimble ion chamber is presented. The results presented in this paper for cylindrical and spherical ion chambers are in contradiction to the calculated electron fluence perturbation factors for planar ion chambers in the paper by Casnati et al.

The pion form factor from first principles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van der Heide, J.

2004-08-01

We calculate the electromagnetic form factor of the pion in quenched lattice QCD. The non-perturbatively improved Sheikoleslami-Wohlert lattice action is used together with the O(a) improved current. We calculate form factor for pion masses down to mπ = 380 MeV. We compare the mean square radius for the pion extracted from our form factors to the value obtained from the `Bethe Salpeter amplitude'. Using (quenched) chiral perturbation theory, we extrapolate our results towards the physical pion mass.

Effect of a perturbation-based balance training program on compensatory stepping and grasping reactions in older adults: a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Mansfield, Avril; Peters, Amy L; Liu, Barbara A; Maki, Brian E

2010-04-01

Compensatory stepping and grasping reactions are prevalent responses to sudden loss of balance and play a critical role in preventing falls. The ability to execute these reactions effectively is impaired in older adults. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a perturbation-based balance training program designed to target specific age-related impairments in compensatory stepping and grasping balance recovery reactions. This was a double-blind randomized controlled trial. The study was conducted at research laboratories in a large urban hospital. Thirty community-dwelling older adults (aged 64-80 years) with a recent history of falls or self-reported instability participated in the study. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either a 6-week perturbation-based (motion platform) balance training program or a 6-week control program involving flexibility and relaxation training. Features of balance reactions targeted by the perturbation-based program were: (1) multi-step reactions, (2) extra lateral steps following anteroposterior perturbations, (3) foot collisions following lateral perturbations, and (4) time to complete grasping reactions. The reactions were evoked during testing by highly unpredictable surface translation and cable pull perturbations, both of which differed from the perturbations used during training. /b> Compared with the control program, the perturbation-based training led to greater reductions in frequency of multi-step reactions and foot collisions that were statistically significant for surface translations but not cable pulls. The perturbation group also showed significantly greater reduction in handrail contact time compared with the control group for cable pulls and a possible trend in this direction for surface translations. Further work is needed to determine whether a maintenance program is needed to retain the training benefits and to assess whether these benefits reduce fall risk in daily life. Perturbation-based training shows promise as an effective intervention to improve the ability of older adults to prevent themselves from falling when they lose their balance.

Relativistic Positioning Systems and Gravitational Perturbations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gomboc, Andreja; Kostić, Uroš; Horvat, Martin; Carloni, Sante; Delva, Pacôme

2013-11-01

In order to deliver a high accuracy relativistic positioning system, several gravitational perturbations need to be taken into account. We therefore consider a system of satellites, such as the Galileo system, in a space-time described by a background Schwarzschild metric and small gravitational perturbations due to the Earth’s rotation, multipoles and tides, and the gravity of the Moon, the Sun, and planets. We present the status of this work currently carried out in the ESA Slovenian PECS project Relativistic Global Navigation System, give the explicit expressions for the perturbed metric, and briefly outline further steps.

Photon and vector meson exchanges in the production of light meson pairs and elementary atoms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gevorkyan, S. R.; Kuraev, E. A.; Volkov, M. K.

2013-01-01

The production of pseudoscalar and scalar meson pairs ππ, ηη, η‧η‧, σσ as well as bound states in high energy γγ collisions are considered. The exchange by a vector particle in the binary process γ + γ → ha + hb with hadronic states ha, hb in fragmentation regions of the initial particle leads to nondecreasing cross sections with increasing energy, that is a priority of peripheral kinematics. Unlike the photon exchange the vector meson exchange needs a reggeization leading to fall with energy growth. Nevertheless, due to the peripheral kinematics beyond very forward production angles the vector meson exchanges dominate over all possible exchanges. The proposed approach allows one to express the matrix elements of the considered processes through impacting factors, which can be calculated in perturbation models like chiral perturbation theory (ChPT) or the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model. In particular cases the impact factors can be determined from relevant γγ sub-processes or the vector meson radiative decay width. The pionium atom production in the collisions of high energy electrons and pions with protons is considered and the relevant cross sections have been estimated.

Biological adaptive control model: a mechanical analogue of multi-factorial bone density adaptation.

PubMed

Davidson, Peter L; Milburn, Peter D; Wilson, Barry D

2004-03-21

The mechanism of how bone adapts to every day demands needs to be better understood to gain insight into situations in which the musculoskeletal system is perturbed. This paper offers a novel multi-factorial mathematical model of bone density adaptation which combines previous single-factor models in a single adaptation system as a means of gaining this insight. Unique aspects of the model include provision for interaction between factors and an estimation of the relative contribution of each factor. This interacting system is considered analogous to a Newtonian mechanical system and the governing response equation is derived as a linear version of the adaptation process. The transient solution to sudden environmental change is found to be exponential or oscillatory depending on the balance between cellular activation and deactivation frequencies.

Re-examining the effect of low and intermediate mode number perturbations on Ignition Metrics Scaling Laws

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malka, Elad; Shvarts, Dov

2017-10-01

We re-examine the way 2/3D effects on scaling laws for ignition metrics, such as the generalized Lawson Criterion (GLC) and the Ignition Threshold Factor (ITF). These scaling laws were derived for 1D symmetrical case and 2/3D perturbations [Hann et al. PoP 2010; Lindl et al., PoP 2014; Betti et al., PoP 2010]. The main cause for the difference between the 1D and the 2/3D scaling laws in those works, is heat conduction losses from the hot-spot bubbles to the cold shell [Kishony and Shvarts, PoP 2001]. This ``dry out'' of the bubbles is the dominant mechanism for intermediate mode number perturbations (6

Application of Classical and Lie Transform Methods to Zonal Perturbation in the Artificial Satellite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

San-Juan, J. F.; San-Martin, M.; Perez, I.; Lopez-Ochoa, L. M.

2013-08-01

A scalable second-order analytical orbit propagator program is being carried out. This analytical orbit propagator combines modern perturbation methods, based on the canonical frame of the Lie transform, and classical perturbation methods in function of orbit types or the requirements needed for a space mission, such as catalog maintenance operations, long period evolution, and so on. As a first step on the validation of part of our orbit propagator, in this work we only consider the perturbation produced by zonal harmonic coefficients in the Earth's gravity potential, so that it is possible to analyze the behaviour of the perturbation methods involved in the corresponding analytical theories.

SU-E-T-525: Ionization Chamber Perturbation in Flattening Filter Free Beams

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

Czarnecki, D; Voigts-Rhetz, P von; Zink, K

2015-06-15

Purpose: Changing the characteristic of a photon beam by mechanically removing the flattening filter may impact the dose response of ionization chambers. Thus, perturbation factors of cylindrical ionization chambers in conventional and flattening filter free photon beams were calculated by Monte Carlo simulations. Methods: The EGSnrc/BEAMnrc code system was used for all Monte Carlo calculations. BEAMnrc models of nine different linear accelerators with and without flattening filter were used to create realistic photon sources. Monte Carlo based calculations to determine the fluence perturbations due to the presens of the chambers components, the different material of the sensitive volume (air insteadmore » of water) as well as the volume effect were performed by the user code egs-chamber. Results: Stem, central electrode, wall, density and volume perturbation factors for linear accelerators with and without flattening filter were calculated as a function of the beam quality specifier TPR{sub 20/10}. A bias between the perturbation factors as a function of TPR{sub 20/10} for flattening filter free beams and conventional linear accelerators could not be observed for the perturbations caused by the components of the ionization chamber and the sensitive volume. Conclusion: The results indicate that the well-known small bias between the beam quality correction factor as a function of TPR20/10 for the flattening filter free and conventional linear accelerators is not caused by the geometry of the detector but rather by the material of the sensitive volume. This suggest that the bias for flattening filter free photon fields is only caused by the different material of the sensitive volume (air instead of water)« less

The scalar and electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon in dispersively improved Chiral EFT

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

Alarcon, Jose Manuel

We present a method for calculating the nucleon form factors of G-parity-even operators. This method combines chiral effective field theory (χEFT) and dispersion theory. Through unitarity we factorize the imaginary part of the form factors into a perturbative part, calculable with χEFT, and a non-perturbative part, obtained through other methods. We consider the scalar and electromagnetic (EM) form factors of the nucleon. The results show an important improvement compared to standard chiral calculations, and can be used in analysis of the low-energy properties of the nucleon.

Spin-dependent quark beam function at NNLO

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

Boughezal, Radja; Petriello, Frank; Schubert, Ulrich

2017-08-01

We calculate the beam function for longitudinally polarized quarks through next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in QCD perturbation theory. This is the last missing ingredient needed to apply the factorization theorem for the N-jettiness event-shape variable in a variety of polarized collisions through the NNLO level. We present all technical details of our derivation. As a by-product of our calculation we provide the first independent check of the previously obtained unpolarized quark beam function. We anticipate that our result will have phenomenological applications in describing data from polarized collisions.

Effects of heavy sea quarks at low energies.

PubMed

Bruno, Mattia; Finkenrath, Jacob; Knechtli, Francesco; Leder, Björn; Sommer, Rainer

2015-03-13

We present a factorization formula for the dependence of light hadron masses and low energy hadronic scales on the mass M of a heavy quark: apart from an overall mass-independent factor Q, ratios such as r_{0}(M)/r_{0}(0) are computable in perturbation theory at large M. The perturbation theory part is stable concerning different loop orders. Our nonperturbative Monte Carlo results obtained in a model calculation, where a doublet of heavy quarks is decoupled, match quantitatively to the perturbative prediction. Upon taking ratios of different hadronic scales at the same mass, the perturbative function drops out and the ratios are given by the decoupled theory up to M^{-2} corrections. We verify-in the continuum limit-that the sea quark effects of quarks with masses around the charm mass are very small in such ratios.

Environmental immune disruptors, inflammation and cancer risk.

PubMed

Thompson, Patricia A; Khatami, Mahin; Baglole, Carolyn J; Sun, Jun; Harris, Shelley A; Moon, Eun-Yi; Al-Mulla, Fahd; Al-Temaimi, Rabeah; Brown, Dustin G; Colacci, Annamaria; Mondello, Chiara; Raju, Jayadev; Ryan, Elizabeth P; Woodrick, Jordan; Scovassi, A Ivana; Singh, Neetu; Vaccari, Monica; Roy, Rabindra; Forte, Stefano; Memeo, Lorenzo; Salem, Hosni K; Amedei, Amedeo; Hamid, Roslida A; Lowe, Leroy; Guarnieri, Tiziana; Bisson, William H

2015-06-01

An emerging area in environmental toxicology is the role that chemicals and chemical mixtures have on the cells of the human immune system. This is an important area of research that has been most widely pursued in relation to autoimmune diseases and allergy/asthma as opposed to cancer causation. This is despite the well-recognized role that innate and adaptive immunity play as essential factors in tumorigenesis. Here, we review the role that the innate immune cells of inflammatory responses play in tumorigenesis. Focus is placed on the molecules and pathways that have been mechanistically linked with tumor-associated inflammation. Within the context of chemically induced disturbances in immune function as co-factors in carcinogenesis, the evidence linking environmental toxicant exposures with perturbation in the balance between pro- and anti-inflammatory responses is reviewed. Reported effects of bisphenol A, atrazine, phthalates and other common toxicants on molecular and cellular targets involved in tumor-associated inflammation (e.g. cyclooxygenase/prostaglandin E2, nuclear factor kappa B, nitric oxide synthesis, cytokines and chemokines) are presented as example chemically mediated target molecule perturbations relevant to cancer. Commentary on areas of additional research including the need for innovation and integration of systems biology approaches to the study of environmental exposures and cancer causation are presented. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Nonlinear 2D arm dynamics in response to continuous and pulse-shaped force perturbations.

PubMed

Happee, Riender; de Vlugt, Erwin; van Vliet, Bart

2015-01-01

Ample evidence exists regarding the nonlinearity of the neuromuscular system but linear models are widely applied to capture postural dynamics. This study quantifies the nonlinearity of human arm postural dynamics applying 2D continuous force perturbations (0.2-40 Hz) inducing three levels of hand displacement (5, 15, 45 mm RMS) followed by force-pulse perturbations inducing large hand displacements (up to 250 mm) in a position task (PT) and a relax task (RT) recording activity of eight shoulder and elbow muscles. The continuous perturbation data were used to analyze the 2D endpoint dynamics in the frequency domain and to identify reflexive and intrinsic parameters of a linear neuromuscular shoulder-elbow model. Subsequently, it was assessed to what extent the large displacements in response to force pulses could be predicted from the 'small amplitude' linear neuromuscular model. Continuous and pulse perturbation responses with varying amplitudes disclosed highly nonlinear effects. In PT, a larger continuous perturbation induced stiffening with a factor of 1.5 attributed to task adaptation evidenced by increased co-contraction and reflexive activity. This task adaptation was even more profound in the pulse responses where reflexes and displacements were strongly affected by the presence and amplitude of preceding continuous perturbations. In RT, a larger continuous perturbation resulted in yielding with a factor of 3.8 attributed to nonlinear mechanical properties as no significant reflexive activity was found. Pulse perturbations always resulted in yielding where a model fitted to the preceding 5-mm continuous perturbations predicted only 37% of the recorded peak displacements in RT and 79% in PT. This demonstrates that linear neuromuscular models, identified using continuous perturbations with small amplitudes, strongly underestimate displacements in pulse-shaped (e.g., impact) loading conditions. The data will be used to validate neuromuscular models including nonlinear muscular (e.g., Hill and Huxley) and reflexive components.

Structural learning in feedforward and feedback control.

PubMed

Yousif, Nada; Diedrichsen, Jörn

2012-11-01

For smooth and efficient motor control, the brain needs to make fast corrections during the movement to resist possible perturbations. It also needs to adapt subsequent movements to improve future performance. It is important that both feedback corrections and feedforward adaptation need to be made based on noisy and often ambiguous sensory data. Therefore, the initial response of the motor system, both for online corrections and adaptive responses, is guided by prior assumptions about the likely structure of perturbations. In the context of correcting and adapting movements perturbed by a force field, we asked whether these priors are hard wired or whether they can be modified through repeated exposure to differently shaped force fields. We found that both feedback corrections to unexpected perturbations and feedforward adaptation to a new force field changed, such that they were appropriate to counteract the type of force field that participants had experienced previously. We then investigated whether these changes were driven by a common mechanism or by two separate mechanisms. Participants experienced force fields that were either temporally consistent, causing sustained adaptation, or temporally inconsistent, causing little overall adaptation. We found that the consistent force fields modified both feedback and feedforward responses. In contrast, the inconsistent force field modified the temporal shape of feedback corrections but not of the feedforward adaptive response. These results indicate that responses to force perturbations can be modified in a structural manner and that these modifications are at least partly dissociable for feedback and feedforward control.

Structural learning in feedforward and feedback control

PubMed Central

Diedrichsen, Jörn

2012-01-01

For smooth and efficient motor control, the brain needs to make fast corrections during the movement to resist possible perturbations. It also needs to adapt subsequent movements to improve future performance. It is important that both feedback corrections and feedforward adaptation need to be made based on noisy and often ambiguous sensory data. Therefore, the initial response of the motor system, both for online corrections and adaptive responses, is guided by prior assumptions about the likely structure of perturbations. In the context of correcting and adapting movements perturbed by a force field, we asked whether these priors are hard wired or whether they can be modified through repeated exposure to differently shaped force fields. We found that both feedback corrections to unexpected perturbations and feedforward adaptation to a new force field changed, such that they were appropriate to counteract the type of force field that participants had experienced previously. We then investigated whether these changes were driven by a common mechanism or by two separate mechanisms. Participants experienced force fields that were either temporally consistent, causing sustained adaptation, or temporally inconsistent, causing little overall adaptation. We found that the consistent force fields modified both feedback and feedforward responses. In contrast, the inconsistent force field modified the temporal shape of feedback corrections but not of the feedforward adaptive response. These results indicate that responses to force perturbations can be modified in a structural manner and that these modifications are at least partly dissociable for feedback and feedforward control. PMID:22896725

Experimental determination of pCo perturbation factors for plane-parallel chambers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kapsch, R. P.; Bruggmoser, G.; Christ, G.; Dohm, O. S.; Hartmann, G. H.; Schüle, E.

2007-12-01

For plane-parallel chambers used in electron dosimetry, modern dosimetry protocols recommend a cross-calibration against a calibrated cylindrical chamber. The rationale for this is the unacceptably large (up to 3-4%) chamber-to-chamber variations of the perturbation factors (pwall)Co, which have been reported for plane-parallel chambers of a given type. In some recent publications, it was shown that this is no longer the case for modern plane-parallel chambers. The aims of the present study are to obtain reliable information about the variation of the perturbation factors for modern types of plane-parallel chambers, and—if this variation is found to be acceptably small—to determine type-specific mean values for these perturbation factors which can be used for absorbed dose measurements in electron beams using plane-parallel chambers. In an extensive multi-center study, the individual perturbation factors pCo (which are usually assumed to be equal to (pwall)Co) for a total of 35 plane-parallel chambers of the Roos type, 15 chambers of the Markus type and 12 chambers of the Advanced Markus type were determined. From a total of 188 cross-calibration measurements, variations of the pCo values for different chambers of the same type of at most 1.0%, 0.9% and 0.6% were found for the chambers of the Roos, Markus and Advanced Markus types, respectively. The mean pCo values obtained from all measurements are \\bar{p}^Roos_Co = 1.0198, \\bar{p}^Markus_Co = 1.0175 and \\bar{p}^Advanced_Co = 1.0155 ; the relative experimental standard deviation of the individual pCo values is less than 0.24% for all chamber types; the relative standard uncertainty of the mean pCo values is 1.1%.

Final state interactions and the transverse structure of the pion using non-perturbative eikonal methods

DOE PAGES

Gamberg, Leonard; Schlegel, Marc

2010-01-18

In the factorized picture of semi-inclusive hadronic processes the naive time reversal-odd parton distributions exist by virtue of the gauge link which renders it color gauge invariant. The link characterizes the dynamical effect of initial/final-state interactions of the active parton due soft gluon exchanges with the target remnant. Though these interactions are non-perturbative, studies of final-state interaction have been approximated by perturbative one-gluon approximation in Abelian models. We include higher-order contributions by applying non-perturbative eikonal methods incorporating color degrees of freedom in a calculation of the Boer-Mulders function of the pion. Lastly, using this framework we explore under what conditionsmore » the Boer Mulders function can be described in terms of factorization of final state interactions and a spatial distribution in impact parameter space.« less

Perturbation of Large Anti-deSitter Black Holes and AdS/CFT Correspondence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmadzadegan, Aida

As the main goal of this thesis, the canonical form of the perturbation metric of anti-de Sitter black holes in four dimensions is derived by choosing the Regge-Wheeler gauge in the standard Schwarzschild coordinates (t, r, theta, ϕ). By assuming the perturbations to be small, the differential equations governing the perturbations are obtained from the equations deltaRmunu(h ) = 0. Then, by taking the limit of m > > R where R is the radius of AdS space, the perturbation metric and field equations of large AdS black holes are found. Finally, under the shadow of AdS/CFT correspondence, these perturbations can be compared to their corresponding three-dimensional theory of fluid dynamics on the dual space, R x S2. Furthermore, by using the definitions of stress-energy tensor and its perturbation, we can find energy density, pressure and shear viscosity which are the quantities we need to describe the behavior of the fluid on the boundary of the AdS space.

Opposing and following responses in sensorimotor speech control: Why responses go both ways.

PubMed

Franken, Matthias K; Acheson, Daniel J; McQueen, James M; Hagoort, Peter; Eisner, Frank

2018-06-04

When talking, speakers continuously monitor and use the auditory feedback of their own voice to control and inform speech production processes. When speakers are provided with auditory feedback that is perturbed in real time, most of them compensate for this by opposing the feedback perturbation. But some responses follow the perturbation. In the present study, we investigated whether the state of the speech production system at perturbation onset may determine what type of response (opposing or following) is made. The results suggest that whether a perturbation-related response is opposing or following depends on ongoing fluctuations of the production system: The system initially responds by doing the opposite of what it was doing. This effect and the nontrivial proportion of following responses suggest that current production models are inadequate: They need to account for why responses to unexpected sensory feedback depend on the production system's state at the time of perturbation.

Duality between QCD perturbative series and power corrections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Narison, S.; Zakharov, V. I.

2009-08-01

We elaborate on the relation between perturbative and power-like corrections to short-distance sensitive QCD observables. We confront theoretical expectations with explicit perturbative calculations existing in literature. As is expected, the quadratic correction is dual to a long perturbative series and one should use one of them but not both. However, this might be true only for very long perturbative series, with number of terms needed in most cases exceeding the number of terms available. What has not been foreseen, the quartic corrections might also be dual to the perturbative series. If confirmed, this would imply a crucial modification of the dogma. We confront this quadratic correction against existing phenomenology (QCD (spectral) sum rules scales, determinations of light quark masses and of αs from τ-decay). We find no contradiction and (to some extent) better agreement with the data and with recent lattice calculations.

Logic programming reveals alteration of key transcription factors in multiple myeloma.

PubMed

Miannay, Bertrand; Minvielle, Stéphane; Roux, Olivier; Drouin, Pierre; Avet-Loiseau, Hervé; Guérin-Charbonnel, Catherine; Gouraud, Wilfried; Attal, Michel; Facon, Thierry; Munshi, Nikhil C; Moreau, Philippe; Campion, Loïc; Magrangeas, Florence; Guziolowski, Carito

2017-08-23

Innovative approaches combining regulatory networks (RN) and genomic data are needed to extract biological information for a better understanding of diseases, such as cancer, by improving the identification of entities and thereby leading to potential new therapeutic avenues. In this study, we confronted an automatically generated RN with gene expression profiles (GEP) from a cohort of multiple myeloma (MM) patients and normal individuals using global reasoning on the RN causality to identify key-nodes. We modeled each patient by his or her GEP, the RN and the possible automatically detected repairs needed to establish a coherent flow of the information that explains the logic of the GEP. These repairs could represent cancer mutations leading to GEP variability. With this reasoning, unmeasured protein states can be inferred, and we can simulate the impact of a protein perturbation on the RN behavior to identify therapeutic targets. We showed that JUN/FOS and FOXM1 activities are altered in almost all MM patients and identified two survival markers for MM patients. Our results suggest that JUN/FOS-activation has a strong impact on the RN in view of the whole GEP, whereas FOXM1-activation could be an interesting way to perturb an MM subgroup identified by our method.

How to predict community responses to perturbations in the face of imperfect knowledge and network complexity

USGS Publications Warehouse

Aufderheide, Helge; Rudolf, Lars; Gross, Thilo; Lafferty, Kevin D.

2013-01-01

Recent attempts to predict the response of large food webs to perturbations have revealed that in larger systems increasingly precise information on the elements of the system is required. Thus, the effort needed for good predictions grows quickly with the system's complexity. Here, we show that not all elements need to be measured equally well, suggesting that a more efficient allocation of effort is possible. We develop an iterative technique for determining an efficient measurement strategy. In model food webs, we find that it is most important to precisely measure the mortality and predation rates of long-lived, generalist, top predators. Prioritizing the study of such species will make it easier to understand the response of complex food webs to perturbations.

Coupling-parameter expansion in thermodynamic perturbation theory.

PubMed

Ramana, A Sai Venkata; Menon, S V G

2013-02-01

An approach to the coupling-parameter expansion in the liquid state theory of simple fluids is presented by combining the ideas of thermodynamic perturbation theory and integral equation theories. This hybrid scheme avoids the problems of the latter in the two phase region. A method to compute the perturbation series to any arbitrary order is developed and applied to square well fluids. Apart from the Helmholtz free energy, the method also gives the radial distribution function and the direct correlation function of the perturbed system. The theory is applied for square well fluids of variable ranges and compared with simulation data. While the convergence of perturbation series and the overall performance of the theory is good, improvements are needed for potentials with shorter ranges. Possible directions for further developments in the coupling-parameter expansion are indicated.

Technique for Performing Dielectric Property Measurements at Microwave Frequencies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barmatz, Martin B.; Jackson, Henry W.

2010-01-01

A paper discusses the need to perform accurate dielectric property measurements on larger sized samples, particularly liquids at microwave frequencies. These types of measurements cannot be obtained using conventional cavity perturbation methods, particularly for liquids or powdered or granulated solids that require a surrounding container. To solve this problem, a model has been developed for the resonant frequency and quality factor of a cylindrical microwave cavity containing concentric cylindrical samples. This model can then be inverted to obtain the real and imaginary dielectric constants of the material of interest. This approach is based on using exact solutions to Maxwell s equations for the resonant properties of a cylindrical microwave cavity and also using the effective electrical conductivity of the cavity walls that is estimated from the measured empty cavity quality factor. This new approach calculates the complex resonant frequency and associated electromagnetic fields for a cylindrical microwave cavity with lossy walls that is loaded with concentric, axially aligned, lossy dielectric cylindrical samples. In this approach, the calculated complex resonant frequency, consisting of real and imaginary parts, is related to the experimentally measured quantities. Because this approach uses Maxwell's equations to determine the perturbed electromagnetic fields in the cavity with the material(s) inserted, one can calculate the expected wall losses using the fields for the loaded cavity rather than just depending on the value of the fields obtained from the empty cavity quality factor. These additional calculations provide a more accurate determination of the complex dielectric constant of the material being studied. The improved approach will be particularly important when working with larger samples or samples with larger dielectric constants that will further perturb the cavity electromagnetic fields. Also, this approach enables the ability to have a larger sample of interest, such as a liquid or powdered or granulated solid, inside a cylindrical container.

Accounting of fundamental components of the rotation parameters of the Earth in the formation of a high-accuracy orbit of navigation satellites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Markov, Yu. G.; Mikhailov, M. V.; Pochukaev, V. N.

2012-07-01

An analysis of perturbing factors influencing the motion of a navigation satellite (NS) is carried out, and the degree of influence of each factor on the GLONASS orbit is estimated. It is found that fundamental components of the Earth's rotation parameters (ERP) are one substantial factor commensurable with maximum perturbations. Algorithms for the calculation of orbital perturbations caused by these parameters are given; these algorithms can be implemented in a consumer's equipment. The daily prediction of NS coordinates is performed on the basis of real GLONASS satellite ephemerides transmitted to a consumer, using the developed prediction algorithms taking the ERP into account. The obtained accuracy of the daily prediction of GLONASS ephemerides exceeds by tens of times the accuracy of the daily prediction performed using algorithms recommended in interface control documents.

Stable isotopic perturbation at the Ordovician-Silurian transition in NE Poland

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

Hoffman, A.; Gruszczynski, M.; Malkowski, K.

1992-01-01

An interpretation of the time series of stable isotopic proportions of carbon, oxygen, and sulfur in rock samples from subsurface Ordovician-Silurian transition in north-eastern Poland demonstrates a clearcut perturbation that must imply some global scale controlling factors. This perturbation is particularly emphasized by its comparison to the sustained secular Paleozoic trend in isotopic characteristics of the oceanic system. On the other hand, this isotopic perturbation contrasts with unidirectional local changes in geochemical elemental proportions in the same rock samples. The perturbation is most parsimoniously explained as linked to the onset of a major glaciation. Its relationship to the second largestmore » mass extinction in the history of the biosphere still remains to be elucidated.« less

Patterns of Metabolite Changes Identified from Large-Scale Gene Perturbations in Arabidopsis Using a Genome-Scale Metabolic Network1[OPEN

PubMed Central

Kim, Taehyong; Dreher, Kate; Nilo-Poyanco, Ricardo; Lee, Insuk; Fiehn, Oliver; Lange, Bernd Markus; Nikolau, Basil J.; Sumner, Lloyd; Welti, Ruth; Wurtele, Eve S.; Rhee, Seung Y.

2015-01-01

Metabolomics enables quantitative evaluation of metabolic changes caused by genetic or environmental perturbations. However, little is known about how perturbing a single gene changes the metabolic system as a whole and which network and functional properties are involved in this response. To answer this question, we investigated the metabolite profiles from 136 mutants with single gene perturbations of functionally diverse Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) genes. Fewer than 10 metabolites were changed significantly relative to the wild type in most of the mutants, indicating that the metabolic network was robust to perturbations of single metabolic genes. These changed metabolites were closer to each other in a genome-scale metabolic network than expected by chance, supporting the notion that the genetic perturbations changed the network more locally than globally. Surprisingly, the changed metabolites were close to the perturbed reactions in only 30% of the mutants of the well-characterized genes. To determine the factors that contributed to the distance between the observed metabolic changes and the perturbation site in the network, we examined nine network and functional properties of the perturbed genes. Only the isozyme number affected the distance between the perturbed reactions and changed metabolites. This study revealed patterns of metabolic changes from large-scale gene perturbations and relationships between characteristics of the perturbed genes and metabolic changes. PMID:25670818

The nucleon as a test case to calculate vector-isovector form factors at low energies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leupold, Stefan

2018-01-01

Extending a recent suggestion for hyperon form factors to the nucleon case, dispersion theory is used to relate the low-energy vector-isovector form factors of the nucleon to the pion vector form factor. The additionally required input, i.e. the pion-nucleon scattering amplitudes are determined from relativistic next-to-leading-order (NLO) baryon chiral perturbation theory including the nucleons and optionally the Delta baryons. Two methods to include pion rescattering are compared: a) solving the Muskhelishvili-Omnès (MO) equation and b) using an N/D approach. It turns out that the results differ strongly from each other. Furthermore the results are compared to a fully dispersive calculation of the (subthreshold) pion-nucleon amplitudes based on Roy-Steiner (RS) equations. In full agreement with the findings from the hyperon sector it turns out that the inclusion of Delta baryons is not an option but a necessity to obtain reasonable results. The magnetic isovector form factor depends strongly on a low-energy constant of the NLO Lagrangian. If it is adjusted such that the corresponding magnetic radius is reproduced, then the results for the corresponding pion-nucleon scattering amplitude (based on the MO equation) agree very well with the RS results. Also in the electric sector the Delta degrees of freedom are needed to obtain the correct order of magnitude for the isovector charge and the corresponding electric radius. Yet quantitative agreement is not achieved. If the subtraction constant that appears in the solution of the MO equation is not taken from nucleon+Delta chiral perturbation theory but adjusted such that the electric radius is reproduced, then one obtains also in this sector a pion-nucleon scattering amplitude that agrees well with the RS results.

On the initial regime of pre-big bang cosmology

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

Gasperini, M., E-mail: gasperini@ba.infn.it

The production of a background of super-horizon curvature perturbations with the appropriate (red) spectrum needed to trigger the cosmic anisotropies observed on large scales is associated, in the context of pre-big bang inflation, with a phase of growing string coupling. The extension towards the past of such a phase is not limited in time by the dynamical backreaction of the quantum perturbations of the cosmological geometry and of its sources. A viable, slightly red spectrum of scalar perturbations can thus be the output of an asymptotic, perturbative regime which is well compatible with an initial string-vacuum state satisfying the postulatemore » of 'Asymptotic Past Triviality'.« less

Dynamic perturbation effects upon the circular dichroism intensity induced in an aggregate of dye chromophores bound to biopolymers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamiya, Mamoru

1980-11-01

The dynamic perturbation effects of polarizable monomer perturbers upon the circular dichroism intensity arising from absorption transitions of an arbitrary aggregate of dye chromophores bound to a large host polymer are formulated using the linear response theory in the decorrelation approximation, where the interchromophoric retardation phase factors are eliminated by a first-order Taylor expansion which is compatible with the use of the retarded helix selection rules in the long-wavelength approximation. A space-averaged and closed-form formulation of the non-conservative circular dichroism intensity which is perturbed by intensity with the outside perturber transitions is derived in the limit of the weak dynamic perturbation where perturber—perturber interactions are negligible. The relevant formulation is applied in order to investigate the intercalation model dependence of the non-conservative circular dichroism intensity induced at the visible absorption band of proflavine molecules intercalated in either poly(A—T) or poly(G—C).

Renormalization constants for 2-twist operators in twisted mass QCD

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

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

2011-01-01

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

Accuracy and Resolution in Micro-earthquake Tomographic Inversion Studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hutchings, L. J.; Ryan, J.

2010-12-01

Accuracy and resolution are complimentary properties necessary to interpret the results of earthquake location and tomography studies. Accuracy is the how close an answer is to the “real world”, and resolution is who small of node spacing or earthquake error ellipse one can achieve. We have modified SimulPS (Thurber, 1986) in several ways to provide a tool for evaluating accuracy and resolution of potential micro-earthquake networks. First, we provide synthetic travel times from synthetic three-dimensional geologic models and earthquake locations. We use this to calculate errors in earthquake location and velocity inversion results when we perturb these models and try to invert to obtain these models. We create as many stations as desired and can create a synthetic velocity model with any desired node spacing. We apply this study to SimulPS and TomoDD inversion studies. “Real” travel times are perturbed with noise and hypocenters are perturbed to replicate a starting location away from the “true” location, and inversion is performed by each program. We establish travel times with the pseudo-bending ray tracer and use the same ray tracer in the inversion codes. This, of course, limits our ability to test the accuracy of the ray tracer. We developed relationships for the accuracy and resolution expected as a function of the number of earthquakes and recording stations for typical tomographic inversion studies. Velocity grid spacing started at 1km, then was decreased to 500m, 100m, 50m and finally 10m to see if resolution with decent accuracy at that scale was possible. We considered accuracy to be good when we could invert a velocity model perturbed by 50% back to within 5% of the original model, and resolution to be the size of the grid spacing. We found that 100 m resolution could obtained by using 120 stations with 500 events, bu this is our current limit. The limiting factors are the size of computers needed for the large arrays in the inversion and a realistic number of stations and events needed to provide the data.

An integral-factorized implementation of the driven similarity renormalization group second-order multireference perturbation theory

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

Hannon, Kevin P.; Li, Chenyang; Evangelista, Francesco A., E-mail: francesco.evangelista@emory.edu

2016-05-28

We report an efficient implementation of a second-order multireference perturbation theory based on the driven similarity renormalization group (DSRG-MRPT2) [C. Li and F. A. Evangelista, J. Chem. Theory Comput. 11, 2097 (2015)]. Our implementation employs factorized two-electron integrals to avoid storage of large four-index intermediates. It also exploits the block structure of the reference density matrices to reduce the computational cost to that of second-order Møller–Plesset perturbation theory. Our new DSRG-MRPT2 implementation is benchmarked on ten naphthyne isomers using basis sets up to quintuple-ζ quality. We find that the singlet-triplet splittings (Δ{sub ST}) of the naphthyne isomers strongly depend onmore » the equilibrium structures. For a consistent set of geometries, the Δ{sub ST} values predicted by the DSRG-MRPT2 are in good agreements with those computed by the reduced multireference coupled cluster theory with singles, doubles, and perturbative triples.« less

Shock-turbulence interaction in core-collapse supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdikamalov, Ernazar; Zhaksylykov, Azamat; Radice, David; Berdibek, Shapagat

2016-10-01

Nuclear shell burning in the final stages of the lives of massive stars is accompanied by strong turbulent convection. The resulting fluctuations aid supernova explosion by amplifying the non-radial flow in the post-shock region. In this work, we investigate the physical mechanism behind this amplification using a linear perturbation theory. We model the shock wave as a one-dimensional planar discontinuity and consider its interaction with vorticity and entropy perturbations in the upstream flow. We find that, as the perturbations cross the shock, their total turbulent kinetic energy is amplified by a factor of ˜2, while the average linear size of turbulent eddies decreases by about the same factor. These values are not sensitive to the parameters of the upstream turbulence and the nuclear dissociation efficiency at the shock. Finally, we discuss the implication of our results for the supernova explosion mechanism. We show that the upstream perturbations can decrease the critical neutrino luminosity for producing explosion by several per cent.

Regulation of autonomic nervous system in space and magnetic storms.

PubMed

Baevsky, R M; Petrov, V M; Chernikova, A G

1998-01-01

Variations in the earth's magnetic field and magnetic storms are known to be a risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disorders. The main "targets" for geomagnetic perturbations are the central nervous system and the neural regulation of vascular tone and heart rate variability. This paper presents the data about effect of geomagnetic fluctuations on human body in space. As a method for research the analysis of heart rate variability was used, which allows evaluating the state of the sympathetic and parasympathetic parts of the autonomic nervous system, vasomotor center and subcortical neural centers activity. Heart rate variability data were analyzed for 30 cosmonauts at the 2nd day of space flight on transport spaceship Soyuz (32nd orbit). There were formed three groups of cosmonauts: without magnetic storm (n=9), on a day with magnetic storm (n=12) and 1-2 days after magnetic storm (n=9). The present study was the first to demonstrate a specific impact of geomagnetic perturbations on the system of autonomic circulatory control in cosmonauts during space flight. The increasing of highest nervous centers activity was shown for group with magnetic storms, which was more significant on 1-2 days after magnetic storm. The use of discriminate analysis allowed to classify indicated three groups with 88% precision. Canonical variables are suggested to be used as criterions for evaluation of specific and non-specific components of cardiovascular reactions to geomagnetic perturbations. The applied aspect of the findings from the present study should be emphasized. They show, in particular, the need to supplement the medical monitoring of cosmonauts with predictions of probable geomagnetic perturbations in view of the prevention of unfavorable states appearances if the adverse reactions to geomagnetic perturbations are added to the tension experienced by regulatory systems during various stresses situations (such as work in the open space).

The radial electric field as a measure for field penetration of resonant magnetic perturbations

DOE PAGES

Mordijck, Saskia; Moyer, Richard A.; Ferraro, Nathaniel M.; ...

2014-06-18

In this study, we introduce a new indirect method for identifying the radial extent of the stochastic layer due to applying resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) in H-mode plasmas by measuring the spin-up of the plasma near the separatrix. This spin-up is a predicted consequence of enhanced loss of electrons due to magnetic stochastization. We find that in DIII-D H-mode plasmas with n = 3 RMPs applied for edge localized mode (ELM) suppression, the stochastic layer is limited to the outer 5% region in normalized magnetic flux, Ψ N. This is in contrast to vacuum modeling predictions where this layer canmore » penetrate up to 20% in Ψ N. Theoretical predictions of a stochastic red radial electric field, E r component exceed the experimental measurements by about a factor 3 close to the separatrix, suggesting that the outer region of the plasma is weakly stochastic. Linear response calculations with M3D-C1, a resistive two-fluid model, show that in this outer 5% region, plasma response often reduces the resonant magnetic field components by 67% or more in comparison with vacuum calculations. These results for DIII-D are in reasonable agreement with results from the MAST tokamak, where the magnetic field perturbation from vacuum field calculations needed to be reduced by 75% for agreement with experimental measurements of the x-point lobe structures.« less

Systematic Identification of Preferred Orbits for Magnetospheric Missions. 1; Single Satellites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stern, David P.

2000-01-01

This is a systematic attempt to identify and assess near-equatorial, high-eccentricity orbits best suited for studying the Earth's magnetosphere, in particular its most dynamic part, the plasma sheet of the magnetotail. The study was motivated by the design needs of a multi-spacecraft "constellation" mission, stressing low cost, minimal active control and economic launch strategies, and both quantitative and qualitative aspects were investigated. On one hand, by collecting hourly samples throughout the year, accurate estimates were obtained of the coverage of different regions, and of the frequency and duration of long eclipses. On the other hand, an intuitive understanding was developed of the factors which determine the merits of the mission, including long-range factors due to perturbations by the Moon, Sun and the Earth's equatorial bulge.

CP violation in multibody B decays from QCD factorization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klein, Rebecca; Mannel, Thomas; Virto, Javier; Vos, K. Keri

2017-10-01

We test a data-driven approach based on QCD factorization for charmless three-body B-decays by confronting it to measurements of CP violation in B - → π - π + π -. While some of the needed non-perturbative objects can be directly extracted from data, some others can, so far, only be modelled. Although this approach is currently model dependent, we comment on the perspectives to reduce this model dependence. While our model naturally accommodates the gross features of the Dalitz distribution, it cannot quantitatively explain the details seen in the current experimental data on local CP asymmetries. We comment on possible refinements of our simple model and conclude by briefly discussing a possible extension of the model to large invariant masses, where large local CP asymmetries have been measured.

The perturbation correction factors for cylindrical ionization chambers in high-energy photon beams.

PubMed

Yoshiyama, Fumiaki; Araki, Fujio; Ono, Takeshi

2010-07-01

In this study, we calculated perturbation correction factors for cylindrical ionization chambers in high-energy photon beams by using Monte Carlo simulations. We modeled four Farmer-type cylindrical chambers with the EGSnrc/Cavity code and calculated the cavity or electron fluence correction factor, P (cav), the displacement correction factor, P (dis), the wall correction factor, P (wall), the stem correction factor, P (stem), the central electrode correction factor, P (cel), and the overall perturbation correction factor, P (Q). The calculated P (dis) values for PTW30010/30013 chambers were 0.9967 +/- 0.0017, 0.9983 +/- 0.0019, and 0.9980 +/- 0.0019, respectively, for (60)Co, 4 MV, and 10 MV photon beams. The value for a (60)Co beam was about 1.0% higher than the 0.988 value recommended by the IAEA TRS-398 protocol. The P (dis) values had a substantial discrepancy compared to those of IAEA TRS-398 and AAPM TG-51 at all photon energies. The P (wall) values were from 0.9994 +/- 0.0020 to 1.0031 +/- 0.0020 for PTW30010 and from 0.9961 +/- 0.0018 to 0.9991 +/- 0.0017 for PTW30011/30012, in the range of (60)Co-10 MV. The P (wall) values for PTW30011/30012 were around 0.3% lower than those of the IAEA TRS-398. Also, the chamber response with and without a 1 mm PMMA water-proofing sleeve agreed within their combined uncertainty. The calculated P (stem) values ranged from 0.9945 +/- 0.0014 to 0.9965 +/- 0.0014, but they are not considered in current dosimetry protocols. The values were no significant difference on beam qualities. P (cel) for a 1 mm aluminum electrode agreed within 0.3% with that of IAEA TRS-398. The overall perturbation factors agreed within 0.4% with those for IAEA TRS-398.

Application of the generalized Euler series transformation for calculation of vibration-rotation energy levels of diatomic molecules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kruglova, T. V.

2004-01-01

The detailed spectroscope information about highly excited molecules and radicals such us as H+3, H2, HI, H2O, CH2 is needed for a number of applications in the field of laser physics, astrophysics and chemistry. Studies of highly excited molecular vibration-rotation states face several problems connected with slowly convergence or even divergences of perturbation expansions. The physical reason for a perturbation expansion divergence is the large amplitude motion and strong vibration-rotation coupling. In this case one needs to use the special method of series summation. There were a number of papers devoted to this problem: papers 1-10 in the reference list are only example of studies on this topic. The present report is aimed at the application of GET method (Generalized Euler Transformation) to the diatomic molecule. Energy levels of a diatomic molecule is usually represented as Dunham series on rotational J(J+1) and vibrational (V+1/2) quantum numbers (within the perturbation approach). However, perturbation theory is not applicable for highly excited vibration-rotation states because the perturbation expansion in this case becomes divergent. As a consequence one need to use special method for the series summation. The Generalized Euler Transformation (GET) is known to be efficient method for summing of slowly convergent series, it was already used for solving of several quantum problems Refs.13 and 14. In this report the results of Euler transformation of diatomic molecule Dunham series are presented. It is shown that Dunham power series can be represented of functional series that is equivalent to its partial summation. It is also shown that transformed series has the butter convergent properties, than the initial series.

Feedback linearization of singularly perturbed systems based on canonical similarity transformations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kabanov, A. A.

2018-05-01

This paper discusses the problem of feedback linearization of a singularly perturbed system in a state-dependent coefficient form. The result is based on the introduction of a canonical similarity transformation. The transformation matrix is constructed from separate blocks for fast and slow part of an original singularly perturbed system. The transformed singular perturbed system has a linear canonical form that significantly simplifies a control design problem. Proposed similarity transformation allows accomplishing linearization of the system without considering the virtual output (as it is needed for normal form method), a technique of a transition from phase coordinates of the transformed system to state variables of the original system is simpler. The application of the proposed approach is illustrated through example.

Nonlinear spherical perturbations in quintessence models of dark energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pratap Rajvanshi, Manvendra; Bagla, J. S.

2018-06-01

Observations have confirmed the accelerated expansion of the universe. The accelerated expansion can be modelled by invoking a cosmological constant or a dynamical model of dark energy. A key difference between these models is that the equation of state parameter w for dark energy differs from ‑1 in dynamical dark energy (DDE) models. Further, the equation of state parameter is not constant for a general DDE model. Such differences can be probed using the variation of scale factor with time by measuring distances. Another significant difference between the cosmological constant and DDE models is that the latter must cluster. Linear perturbation analysis indicates that perturbations in quintessence models of dark energy do not grow to have a significant amplitude at small length scales. In this paper we study the response of quintessence dark energy to non-linear perturbations in dark matter. We use a fully relativistic model for spherically symmetric perturbations. In this study we focus on thawing models. We find that in response to non-linear perturbations in dark matter, dark energy perturbations grow at a faster rate than expected in linear perturbation theory. We find that dark energy perturbation remains localised and does not diffuse out to larger scales. The dominant drivers of the evolution of dark energy perturbations are the local Hubble flow and a supression of gradients of the scalar field. We also find that the equation of state parameter w changes in response to perturbations in dark matter such that it also becomes a function of position. The variation of w in space is correlated with density contrast for matter. Variation of w and perturbations in dark energy are more pronounced in response to large scale perturbations in matter while the dependence on the amplitude of matter perturbations is much weaker.

Rapid neck muscle adaptation alters the head kinematics of aware and unaware subjects undergoing multiple whiplash-like perturbations.

PubMed

Siegmund, Gunter P; Sanderson, David J; Myers, Barry S; Inglis, J Timothy

2003-04-01

To examine whether habituation confounds the study of whiplash injury using human subjects, we quantified changes in the magnitude and temporal development of the neck muscle electromyogram and peak linear and angular head/torso kinematics of subjects exposed to sequential whiplash-like perturbations. Forty-four seated subjects (23F, 21M) underwent 11 consecutive forward horizontal perturbations (peak sled acceleration=1.5 g). Electromyographic (EMG) activity was recorded over the sternocleidomastoid (SCM) and cervical paraspinal (PARA) muscles with surface electrodes, and head and torso kinematics were measured using linear and angular accelerometers and a 3D motion analysis system. EMG onset occurred at reflex latencies (67-75 ms in SCM) and did not vary with repeated perturbations. EMG amplitude was significantly attenuated by the second perturbation in PARA muscles and by the third perturbation in SCM muscles. The mean decrement in EMG amplitude between the first trial and the mean of the last five trials was between 41% and 64%. Related kinematic changes ranged from a 21% increase in head extension angle to a 29% decrease in forward acceleration at the forehead, and were also significantly different by the second exposure in some variables. Although a wider range of perturbation intensities and inter-perturbation intervals need to be studied, the significant changes observed in both muscle and kinematic variables by the second perturbation indicated that habituation was a potential confounder of whiplash injury studies using repeated perturbations of human subjects.

Landscape evolution (A Review)

PubMed Central

Sharp, Robert P.

1982-01-01

Landscapes are created by exogenic and endogenic processes acting along the interface between the lithosphere and the atmosphere and hydrosphere. Various landforms result from the attack of weathering and erosion upon the highly heterogeneous lithospheric surface. Landscapes are dynamic, acutely sensitive to natural and artificial perturbation. Undisturbed, they can evolve through a succession of stages to a plain of low relief. Often, the progression of an erosion cycle is interrupted by tectonic or environmental changes; thus, many landscapes preserve vestiges of earlier cycles useful in reconstructing the recent history of Earth's surface. Landforms are bounded by slopes, so their evolution is best understood through study of slopes and the complex of factors controlling slope character and development. The substrate, biosphere, climatic environment, and erosive processes are principal factors. Creep of the disintegrated substrate and surface wash by water are preeminent. Some slopes attain a quasisteady form and recede parallel to themselves (backwearing); others become ever gentler with time (downwearing). The lovely convex/rectilinear/concave profile of many debris-mantled slopes reflects an interplay between creep and surface wash. Landscapes of greatest scenic attraction are usually those in which one or two genetic factors have strongly dominated or those perturbed by special events. Nature has been perturbing landscapes for billions of years, so mankind can learn about landscape perturbation from natural examples. Images

Discovering perturbation of modular structure in HIV progression by integrating multiple data sources through non-negative matrix factorization.

PubMed

Ray, Sumanta; Maulik, Ujjwal

2016-12-20

Detecting perturbation in modular structure during HIV-1 disease progression is an important step to understand stage specific infection pattern of HIV-1 virus in human cell. In this article, we proposed a novel methodology on integration of multiple biological information to identify such disruption in human gene module during different stages of HIV-1 infection. We integrate three different biological information: gene expression information, protein-protein interaction information and gene ontology information in single gene meta-module, through non negative matrix factorization (NMF). As the identified metamodules inherit those information so, detecting perturbation of these, reflects the changes in expression pattern, in PPI structure and in functional similarity of genes during the infection progression. To integrate modules of different data sources into strong meta-modules, NMF based clustering is utilized here. Perturbation in meta-modular structure is identified by investigating the topological and intramodular properties and putting rank to those meta-modules using a rank aggregation algorithm. We have also analyzed the preservation structure of significant GO terms in which the human proteins of the meta-modules participate. Moreover, we have performed an analysis to show the change of coregulation pattern of identified transcription factors (TFs) over the HIV progression stages.

Small perturbations in a finger-tapping task reveal inherent nonlinearities of the underlying error correction mechanism.

PubMed

Bavassi, M Luz; Tagliazucchi, Enzo; Laje, Rodrigo

2013-02-01

Time processing in the few hundred milliseconds range is involved in the human skill of sensorimotor synchronization, like playing music in an ensemble or finger tapping to an external beat. In finger tapping, a mechanistic explanation in biologically plausible terms of how the brain achieves synchronization is still missing despite considerable research. In this work we show that nonlinear effects are important for the recovery of synchronization following a perturbation (a step change in stimulus period), even for perturbation magnitudes smaller than 10% of the period, which is well below the amount of perturbation needed to evoke other nonlinear effects like saturation. We build a nonlinear mathematical model for the error correction mechanism and test its predictions, and further propose a framework that allows us to unify the description of the three common types of perturbations. While previous authors have used two different model mechanisms for fitting different perturbation types, or have fitted different parameter value sets for different perturbation magnitudes, we propose the first unified description of the behavior following all perturbation types and magnitudes as the dynamical response of a compound model with fixed terms and a single set of parameter values. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Adaptive Modeling Procedure Selection by Data Perturbation.

PubMed

Zhang, Yongli; Shen, Xiaotong

2015-10-01

Many procedures have been developed to deal with the high-dimensional problem that is emerging in various business and economics areas. To evaluate and compare these procedures, modeling uncertainty caused by model selection and parameter estimation has to be assessed and integrated into a modeling process. To do this, a data perturbation method estimates the modeling uncertainty inherited in a selection process by perturbing the data. Critical to data perturbation is the size of perturbation, as the perturbed data should resemble the original dataset. To account for the modeling uncertainty, we derive the optimal size of perturbation, which adapts to the data, the model space, and other relevant factors in the context of linear regression. On this basis, we develop an adaptive data-perturbation method that, unlike its nonadaptive counterpart, performs well in different situations. This leads to a data-adaptive model selection method. Both theoretical and numerical analysis suggest that the data-adaptive model selection method adapts to distinct situations in that it yields consistent model selection and optimal prediction, without knowing which situation exists a priori. The proposed method is applied to real data from the commodity market and outperforms its competitors in terms of price forecasting accuracy.

A collision history-based approach to Sensitivity/Perturbation calculations in the continuous energy Monte Carlo code SERPENT

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

Giuseppe Palmiotti

In this work, the implementation of a collision history-based approach to sensitivity/perturbation calculations in the Monte Carlo code SERPENT is discussed. The proposed methods allow the calculation of the eects of nuclear data perturbation on several response functions: the eective multiplication factor, reaction rate ratios and bilinear ratios (e.g., eective kinetics parameters). SERPENT results are compared to ERANOS and TSUNAMI Generalized Perturbation Theory calculations for two fast metallic systems and for a PWR pin-cell benchmark. New methods for the calculation of sensitivities to angular scattering distributions are also presented, which adopts fully continuous (in energy and angle) Monte Carlo estimators.

A Monte Carlo and experimental investigation of the dosimetric behavior of low- and medium-perturbation diodes used for entrance in vivo dosimetry in megavoltage photon beams.

PubMed

Mosleh-Shirazi, Mohammad Amin; Karbasi, Sareh; Shahbazi-Gahrouei, Daryoush; Monadi, Shahram

2012-11-08

Full buildup diodes can cause significant dose perturbation if they are used on most or all of radiotherapy fractions. Given the importance of frequent in vivo measurements in complex treatments, using thin buildup (low-perturbation) diodes instead is gathering interest. However, such diodes are strictly unsuitable for high-energy photons; therefore, their use requires evaluation and careful measurement of correction factors (CFs). There is little published data on such factors for low-perturbation diodes, and none on diode characterization for 9 MV X-rays. We report on MCNP4c Monte Carlo models of low-perturbation (EDD5) and medium-perturbation (EDP10) diodes, and a comparison of source-to-surface distance, field size, temperature, and orientation CFs for cobalt-60 and 9 MV beams. Most of the simulation results were within 4% of the measurements. The results suggest against the use of the EDD5 in axial angles beyond ± 50° and exceeding the range 0° to +50° tilt angle at 9 MV. Outside these ranges, although the EDD5 can be used for accurate in vivo dosimetry at 9 MV, its CF variations were found to be 1.5-7.1 times larger than the EDP10 and, therefore, should be applied carefully. Finally, the MCNP diode models are sufficiently reliable tools for independent verification of potentially inaccurate measurements.

Measurements of effective delayed neutron fraction in a fast neutron reactor using the perturbation method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Hao-Jun; Yin, Yan-Peng; Fan, Xiao-Qiang; Li, Zheng-Hong; Pu, Yi-Kang

2016-06-01

A perturbation method is proposed to obtain the effective delayed neutron fraction β eff of a cylindrical highly enriched uranium reactor. Based on reactivity measurements with and without a sample at a specified position using the positive period technique, the reactor reactivity perturbation Δρ of the sample in β eff units is measured. Simulations of the perturbation experiments are performed using the MCNP program. The PERT card is used to provide the difference dk of effective neutron multiplication factors with and without the sample inside the reactor. Based on the relationship between the effective multiplication factor and the reactivity, the equation β eff = dk/Δρ is derived. In this paper, the reactivity perturbations of 13 metal samples at the designable position of the reactor are measured and calculated. The average β eff value of the reactor is given as 0.00645, and the standard uncertainty is 3.0%. Additionally, the perturbation experiments for β eff can be used to evaluate the reliabilities of the delayed neutron parameters. This work shows that the delayed neutron data of 235U and 238U from G.R. Keepin’s publication are more reliable than those from ENDF-B6.0, ENDF-B7.0, JENDL3.3 and CENDL2.2. Supported by Foundation of Key Laboratory of Neutron Physics, China Academy of Engineering Physics (2012AA01, 2014AA01), National Natural Science Foundation (11375158, 91326104)

On Choosing a Rational Flight Trajectory to the Moon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gordienko, E. S.; Khudorozhkov, P. A.

2017-12-01

The algorithm for choosing a trajectory of spacecraft flight to the Moon is discussed. The characteristic velocity values needed for correcting the flight trajectory and a braking maneuver are estimated using the Monte Carlo method. The profile of insertion and flight to a near-circular polar orbit with an altitude of 100 km of an artificial lunar satellite (ALS) is given. The case of two corrections applied during the flight and braking phases is considered. The flight to an ALS orbit is modeled in the geocentric geoequatorial nonrotating coordinate system with the influence of perturbations from the Earth, the Sun, and the Moon factored in. The characteristic correction costs corresponding to corrections performed at different time points are examined. Insertion phase errors, the errors of performing the needed corrections, and the errors of determining the flight trajectory parameters are taken into account.

Description of a computer program and numerical techniques for developing linear perturbation models from nonlinear systems simulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dieudonne, J. E.

1978-01-01

A numerical technique was developed which generates linear perturbation models from nonlinear aircraft vehicle simulations. The technique is very general and can be applied to simulations of any system that is described by nonlinear differential equations. The computer program used to generate these models is discussed, with emphasis placed on generation of the Jacobian matrices, calculation of the coefficients needed for solving the perturbation model, and generation of the solution of the linear differential equations. An example application of the technique to a nonlinear model of the NASA terminal configured vehicle is included.

The predictability of frequency-altered auditory feedback changes the weighting of feedback and feedforward input for speech motor control.

PubMed

Scheerer, Nichole E; Jones, Jeffery A

2014-12-01

Speech production requires the combined effort of a feedback control system driven by sensory feedback, and a feedforward control system driven by internal models. However, the factors that dictate the relative weighting of these feedback and feedforward control systems are unclear. In this event-related potential (ERP) study, participants produced vocalisations while being exposed to blocks of frequency-altered feedback (FAF) perturbations that were either predictable in magnitude (consistently either 50 or 100 cents) or unpredictable in magnitude (50- and 100-cent perturbations varying randomly within each vocalisation). Vocal and P1-N1-P2 ERP responses revealed decreases in the magnitude and trial-to-trial variability of vocal responses, smaller N1 amplitudes, and shorter vocal, P1 and N1 response latencies following predictable FAF perturbation magnitudes. In addition, vocal response magnitudes correlated with N1 amplitudes, vocal response latencies, and P2 latencies. This pattern of results suggests that after repeated exposure to predictable FAF perturbations, the contribution of the feedforward control system increases. Examination of the presentation order of the FAF perturbations revealed smaller compensatory responses, smaller P1 and P2 amplitudes, and shorter N1 latencies when the block of predictable 100-cent perturbations occurred prior to the block of predictable 50-cent perturbations. These results suggest that exposure to large perturbations modulates responses to subsequent perturbations of equal or smaller size. Similarly, exposure to a 100-cent perturbation prior to a 50-cent perturbation within a vocalisation decreased the magnitude of vocal and N1 responses, but increased P1 and P2 latencies. Thus, exposure to a single perturbation can affect responses to subsequent perturbations. © 2014 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The Millennial model: in search of measurable pools and transformations for modeling soil carbon in the new century

DOE PAGES

Abramoff, Rose; Xu, Xiaofeng; Hartman, Melannie; ...

2017-12-20

Soil organic carbon (SOC) can be defined by measurable chemical and physical pools, such as mineral-associated carbon, carbon physically entrapped in aggregates, dissolved carbon, and fragments of plant detritus. Yet, most soil models use conceptual rather than measurable SOC pools. What would the traditional pool-based soil model look like if it were built today, reflecting the latest understanding of biological, chemical, and physical transformations in soils? We propose a conceptual model—the Millennial model—that defines pools as measurable entities. First, we discuss relevant pool definitions conceptually and in terms of the measurements that can be used to quantify pool size, formation,more » and destabilization. Then, we develop a numerical model following the Millennial model conceptual framework to evaluate against the Century model, a widely-used standard for estimating SOC stocks across space and through time. The Millennial model predicts qualitatively similar changes in total SOC in response to single factor perturbations when compared to Century, but different responses to multiple factor perturbations. Finally, we review important conceptual and behavioral differences between the Millennial and Century modeling approaches, and the field and lab measurements needed to constrain parameter values. Here, we propose the Millennial model as a simple but comprehensive framework to model SOC pools and guide measurements for further model development.« less

The Millennial model: in search of measurable pools and transformations for modeling soil carbon in the new century

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

Abramoff, Rose; Xu, Xiaofeng; Hartman, Melannie

Soil organic carbon (SOC) can be defined by measurable chemical and physical pools, such as mineral-associated carbon, carbon physically entrapped in aggregates, dissolved carbon, and fragments of plant detritus. Yet, most soil models use conceptual rather than measurable SOC pools. What would the traditional pool-based soil model look like if it were built today, reflecting the latest understanding of biological, chemical, and physical transformations in soils? We propose a conceptual model—the Millennial model—that defines pools as measurable entities. First, we discuss relevant pool definitions conceptually and in terms of the measurements that can be used to quantify pool size, formation,more » and destabilization. Then, we develop a numerical model following the Millennial model conceptual framework to evaluate against the Century model, a widely-used standard for estimating SOC stocks across space and through time. The Millennial model predicts qualitatively similar changes in total SOC in response to single factor perturbations when compared to Century, but different responses to multiple factor perturbations. Finally, we review important conceptual and behavioral differences between the Millennial and Century modeling approaches, and the field and lab measurements needed to constrain parameter values. Here, we propose the Millennial model as a simple but comprehensive framework to model SOC pools and guide measurements for further model development.« less

Parameter dependence of ELM loss reduction by magnetic perturbations at low pedestal density and collisionality in ASDEX upgrade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leuthold, N.; Suttrop, W.; Fischer, R.; Kappatou, A.; Kirk, A.; McDermott, R.; Mlynek, A.; Valovič, M.; Willensdorfer, M.; the ASDEX Upgrade Team; the EUROfusion MST1 Team

2017-05-01

ELM mitigation by magnetic perturbations is studied at low pedestal collisionalities down to ITER-like values ({ν }{e,{PED}}* =0.1) in ASDEX Upgrade. A comprehensive database of ELM energy losses for varying plasma density, heating power, edge safety factor and magnetic perturbation structure has been assembled to investigate parameter dependencies of ELM mitigation. It is found that magnetic perturbations with a toroidal mode number n = 2 can reduce the ELM energy loss normalized to the energy stored in the plasma pedestal from about 30% to less than 5%, i.e. by a factor of six, below an electron pedestal collisionality of {ν }{e,{PED}}* =0.4. At this level of ELM mitigation a significant reduction of the pedestal pressure and, therefore, global plasma confinement occurs. This pedestal pressure reduction is mostly due to a reduction of plasma density, the so-called ‘pump-out’ effect. Refueling by neutral beams and in particular by pellet injection is possible and can re-establish confinement, however, the ELM energy loss increases as well with increasing density.

Theory on the Dynamics of Oscillatory Loops in the Transcription Factor Networks

PubMed Central

Murugan, Rajamanickam

2014-01-01

We develop a detailed theoretical framework for various types of transcription factor gene oscillators. We further demonstrate that one can build genetic-oscillators which are tunable and robust against perturbations in the critical control parameters by coupling two or more independent Goodwin-Griffith oscillators through either -OR- or -AND- type logic. Most of the coupled oscillators constructed in the literature so far seem to be of -OR- type. When there are transient perturbations in one of the -OR- type coupled-oscillators, then the overall period of the system remains constant (period-buffering) whereas in case of -AND- type coupling the overall period of the system moves towards the perturbed oscillator. Though there is a period-buffering, the amplitudes of oscillators coupled through -OR- type logic are more sensitive to perturbations in the parameters associated with the promoter state dynamics than -AND- type. Further analysis shows that the period of -AND- type coupled dual-feedback oscillators can be tuned without conceding on the amplitudes. Using these results we derive the basic design principles governing the robust and tunable synthetic gene oscillators without compromising on their amplitudes. PMID:25111803

Dengue Virus Infection of Mast Cells Triggers Endothelial Cell Activation ▿

PubMed Central

Brown, Michael G.; Hermann, Laura L.; Issekutz, Andrew C.; Marshall, Jean S.; Rowter, Derek; Al-Afif, Ayham; Anderson, Robert

2011-01-01

Vascular perturbation is a hallmark of severe forms of dengue disease. We show here that antibody-enhanced dengue virus infection of primary human cord blood-derived mast cells (CBMCs) and the human mast cell-like line HMC-1 results in the release of factor(s) which activate human endothelial cells, as evidenced by increased expression of the adhesion molecules ICAM-1 and VCAM-1. Endothelial cell activation was prevented by pretreatment of mast cell-derived supernatants with a tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-specific blocking antibody, thus identifying TNF as the endothelial cell-activating factor. Our findings suggest that mast cells may represent an important source of TNF, promoting vascular endothelial perturbation following antibody-enhanced dengue virus infection. PMID:21068256

Perturbed angular distributions with LaBr3 detectors: The g factor of the first 10+ state in 110Cd reexamined

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gray, T. J.; Stuchbery, A. E.; Reed, M. W.; Akber, A.; Coombes, B. J.; Dowie, J. T. H.; Eriksen, T. K.; Gerathy, M. S. M.; Kibédi, T.; Lane, G. J.; Mitchell, A. J.; Palazzo, T.; Tornyi, T.

2017-11-01

The time differential perturbed angular distribution technique with LaBr3 detectors has been applied to the Iπ=11/2- isomeric state (Ex=846 keV, τ =107 ns) in 107Cd, which was populated and recoil-implanted into a gadolinium host following the 98Mo(12C, 3 n )107Cd reaction. The static hyperfine field strength of Cd recoil implanted into gadolinium was thus measured, together with the fraction of nuclei implanted into field-free sites, under similar conditions as pertained for a previous implantation perturbed angular distribution g -factor measurement on the Iπ=10+ state in 110Cd. The 110Cdg (10+) value was thereby reevaluated, bringing it into agreement with the value expected for a seniority-two ν h11/2 configuration.

Monte Carlo analysis of uncertainty propagation in a stratospheric model. 2: Uncertainties due to reaction rates

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stolarski, R. S.; Butler, D. M.; Rundel, R. D.

1977-01-01

A concise stratospheric model was used in a Monte-Carlo analysis of the propagation of reaction rate uncertainties through the calculation of an ozone perturbation due to the addition of chlorine. Two thousand Monte-Carlo cases were run with 55 reaction rates being varied. Excellent convergence was obtained in the output distributions because the model is sensitive to the uncertainties in only about 10 reactions. For a 1 ppby chlorine perturbation added to a 1.5 ppby chlorine background, the resultant 1 sigma uncertainty on the ozone perturbation is a factor of 1.69 on the high side and 1.80 on the low side. The corresponding 2 sigma factors are 2.86 and 3.23. Results are also given for the uncertainties, due to reaction rates, in the ambient concentrations of stratospheric species.

Classical stability of sudden and big rip singularities

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

Barrow, John D.; Lip, Sean Z. W.

2009-08-15

We introduce a general characterization of sudden cosmological singularities and investigate the classical stability of homogeneous and isotropic cosmological solutions of all curvatures containing these singularities to small scalar, vector, and tensor perturbations using gauge-invariant perturbation theory. We establish that sudden singularities at which the scale factor, expansion rate, and density are finite are stable except for a set of special parameter values. We also apply our analysis to the stability of Big Rip singularities and find the conditions for their stability against small scalar, vector, and tensor perturbations.

Large-scale galaxy flow from a non-gravitational impulse

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hogan, Craig J.; Kaiser, Nick

1989-01-01

A theory is presented describing linear perturbations of an expanding universe containing multiple, independently perturbed, collisionless, gravitationally coupled constituents. Solutions are found in the limit where one initially unperturbed component dominates the total density. The theory is applied to perturbations generated by a nongravitational process in one or more of the light components, as would occur in explosive or radiation-pressure-instability theories of galaxy formation. The apparent dynamical density parameter and correlations between density and velocity amplitude for various populations, are evaluated as a function of cosmic scale factor.

Cardiac Emergencies in Neurosurgical Patients

PubMed Central

Petropolis, Andrea; Cappellani, Ronald B.

2015-01-01

Perioperative safety concerns are a major area of interest in recent years. Severe cardiac perturbation such as cardiac arrest is one of the most dreaded complications in the intraoperative period; however, little is known about the management of these events in the patients undergoing elective neurosurgery. This special group needs further attention, as it is often neither feasible nor appropriate to apply conventional advanced cardiac life support algorithms in patients undergoing neurosurgery. Factors such as neurosurgical procedure and positioning can also have a significant effect on the occurrence of cardiac arrest. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to describe the various causes and management of cardiac emergencies with special reference to cardiac arrest during elective neurosurgical procedures, including discussion of position-related factors and resuscitative considerations in these situations. This will help to formulate possible guidelines for management of such events. PMID:25692145

Cosmic-string-induced hot dark matter perturbations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Van Dalen, Anthony

1990-01-01

This paper investigates the evolution of initially relativistic matter, radiation, and baryons around cosmic string seed perturbations. A detailed analysis of the linear evolution of spherical perturbations in a universe is carried out, and this formalism is used to study the evolution of perturbations around a sphere of uniform density and fixed radius, approximating a loop of cosmic string. It was found that, on scales less than a few megaparsec, the results agree with the nonrelativistic calculation of previous authors. On greater scales, there is a deviation approaching a factor of 2-3 in the perturbation mass. It is shown that a scenario with cosmic strings, hot dark matter, and a Hubble constant greater than 75 km/sec per Mpc can generally produce structure on the observed mass scales and at the appropriate time: 1 + z = about 4 for galaxies and 1 + z = about 1.5 for Abell clusters.

Cost-benefit analysis model of badger (Meles meles) culling to reduce cattle herd tuberculosis breakdowns in Britain, with particular reference to badger perturbation.

PubMed

Wilkinson, D; Bennett, R; McFarlane, I; Rushton, S; Shirley, M; Smith, G C

2009-10-01

Bovine tuberculosis (TB) is an important economic disease. Badgers (Meles meles) are the wildlife source implicated in many cattle outbreaks of TB in Britain, and extensive badger control is a controversial option to reduce the disease. A badger and cattle population model was developed, simulating TB epidemiology; badger ecology, including postcull social perturbation; and TB-related farm management. An economic cost-benefit module was integrated into the model to assess whether badger control offers economic benefits. Model results strongly indicate that although, if perturbation were restricted, extensive badger culling could reduce rates in cattle, overall an economic loss would be more likely than a benefit. Perturbation of the badger population was a key factor determining success or failure of control. The model highlighted some important knowledge gaps regarding both the spatial and temporal characteristics of perturbation that warrant further research.

Orbit selection of nanosatellite formation in term of fuel consumption

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pimnoo, Ammarin; Hiraki, Koju

In nanosatellite formation mission design, orbit selection is a necessary factor. Fuel consumption is also necessary to maintain the orbit. Therefore, the best orbit should be the one of minimum fuel consumption for nanosatellite formation. The purpose of this paper is to provide a convenient way to estimate fuel consumption for a nanosatellite to keep formation flying. The formation is disturbed by J _{2} perturbation and other perturbing accelerations. Firstly, the Hill-Clohessy-Wiltshire equations are used in the analysis. Gaussian variation of parameters is included into the Hill’s equation to analyze the variation of Kaplerian orbital elements. The J _{2} perturbation and other perturbing accelerations such as atmospheric drag, solar-radiation pressure and third-body perturbations are considered. Thus, a linear model based on Hill’s equation is established to estimate fuel consumption. Finally, an example of the best orbit for formation flying with minimum fuel consumption shall be presented.

Step length after discrete perturbation predicts accidental falls and fall-related injury in elderly people with a range of peripheral neuropathy.

PubMed

Allet, Lara; Kim, Hogene; Ashton-Miller, James; De Mott, Trina; Richardson, James K

2014-01-01

Distal symmetric polyneuropathy increases fall risk due to inability to cope with perturbations. We aimed to 1) identify the frontal plane lower limb sensorimotor functions which are necessary for robustness to a discrete, underfoot perturbation during gait; and 2) determine whether changes in the post-perturbed step parameters could distinguish between fallers and non fallers. Forty-two subjects (16 healthy old and 26 with diabetic PN) participated. Frontal plane lower limb sensorimotor functions were determined using established laboratory-based techniques. The subjects' most extreme alterations in step width or step length in response to a perturbation were measured. In addition, falls and fall-related injuries were prospectively recorded. Ankle proprioceptive threshold (APrT; p=.025) and hip abduction rate of torque generation (RTG; p=.041) independently predicted extreme step length after medial perturbation, with precise APrT and greater hip RTG allowing maintenance of step length. Injured subjects demonstrated greater extreme step length changes after medial perturbation than non-injured subjects (percent change = 18.5 ± 9.2 vs. 11.3 ± 4.57; p = .01). The ability to rapidly generate frontal plane hip strength and/or precisely perceive motion at the ankle is needed to maintain a normal step length after perturbation, a parameter which distinguishes between subjects sustaining a fall-related injury and those who did not. © 2014.

Step length after discrete perturbation predicts accidental falls and fall-related injury in elderly people with a range of peripheral neuropathy

PubMed Central

Allet, L; Kim, H; Ashton-Miller, JA; De Mott, T; Richardson, JK

2013-01-01

Aims Distal symmetric polyneuropathy increases fall risk due to inability to cope with perturbations. We aimed to 1) identify the frontal plane lower limb sensorimotor functions which are necessary for robustness to a discrete, underfoot perturbation during gait; and 2) determine whether changes in the post-perturbed step parameters could distinguish between fallers and non fallers. Methods Forty-two subjects (16 healthy old and 26 with diabetic PN) participated. Frontal plane lower limb sensorimotor functions were determined using established laboratory-based techniques. The subjects' most extreme alterations in step width or step length in response to a perturbation were measured. In addition, falls and fall-related injuries were prospectively recorded. Results Ankle proprioceptive threshold (APrT; p=.025) and hip abduction rate of torque generation (RTG; p=.041) independently predicted extreme step length after medial perturbation, with precise APrT and greater hip RTG allowing maintenance of step length. Fallers demonstrated greater extreme step length changes after medial perturbation than non fallers (percent change = 16.41±8.42 vs 11.0±4.95; p=.06) Conclusions The ability to rapidly generate frontal plane hip strength and/or precisely perceive motion at the ankle is needed to maintain a normal step length after perturbation, a parameter, which distinguishes between fallers and non fallers. PMID:24183899

Orbit Stability of OSIRIS-REx in the Vicinity of Bennu Using a High-Fidelity Solar Radiation Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, Trevor W.; Hughes, Kyle M.; Mashiku, Alinda K.; Longuski, James M.

2015-01-01

Solar radiation pressure is one of the largest perturbing forces on the OSIRISRex trajectory as it orbits the asteroid Bennu. In this work, we investigate how forces due to solar radiation perturb the OSIRIS-REx trajectory in a high-fidelity model. The model accounts for Bennu's non-spherical gravity field, third-body gravity forces from the Sun and Jupiter, as well as solar radiation forces acting on a simplified spacecraft model. Such high-fidelity simulations indicate significant solar radiation pressure perturbations from the nominal orbit. Modifications to the initial design of the nominal orbit are found using a variation of parameters approach that reduce the perturbation in eccentricity by a factor of one-half.

Non-perturbative quark mass renormalisation and running in N_{f}=3 QCD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Campos, I.; Fritzsch, P.; Pena, C.; Preti, D.; Ramos, A.; Vladikas, A.

2018-05-01

We determine from first principles the quark mass anomalous dimension in N_{f}=3 QCD between the electroweak and hadronic scales. This allows for a fully non-perturbative connection of the perturbative and non-perturbative regimes of the Standard Model in the hadronic sector. The computation is carried out to high accuracy, employing massless O (a)-improved Wilson quarks and finite-size scaling techniques. We also provide the matching factors required in the renormalisation of light quark masses from lattice computations with O (a)-improved Wilson fermions and a tree-level Symanzik improved gauge action. The total uncertainty due to renormalisation and running in the determination of light quark masses in the SM is thus reduced to about 1%.

Two-body perturbation theory versus first order perturbation theory: A comparison based on the square-well fluid.

PubMed

Mercier Franco, Luís Fernando; Castier, Marcelo; Economou, Ioannis G

2017-12-07

We show that the Zwanzig first-order perturbation theory can be obtained directly from a truncated Taylor series expansion of a two-body perturbation theory and that such truncation provides a more accurate prediction of thermodynamic properties than the full two-body perturbation theory. This unexpected result is explained by the quality of the resulting approximation for the fluid radial distribution function. We prove that the first-order and the two-body perturbation theories are based on different approximations for the fluid radial distribution function. To illustrate the calculations, the square-well fluid is adopted. We develop an analytical expression for the two-body perturbed Helmholtz free energy for the square-well fluid. The equation of state obtained using such an expression is compared to the equation of state obtained from the first-order approximation. The vapor-liquid coexistence curve and the supercritical compressibility factor of a square-well fluid are calculated using both equations of state and compared to Monte Carlo simulation data. Finally, we show that the approximation for the fluid radial distribution function given by the first-order perturbation theory provides closer values to the ones calculated via Monte Carlo simulations. This explains why such theory gives a better description of the fluid thermodynamic behavior.

Frequency characteristics and far-field effect of gravity perturbation before earthquake

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qiang, Jian-Ke; Lu, Kai; Zhang, Qian-Jiang; Man, Kai-Feng; Li, Jun-Ying; Mao, Xian-Cheng; Lai, Jian-Qing

2017-03-01

We used high-pass filtering and the Fourier transform to analyze tidal gravity data prior to five earthquakes from four superconducting gravity stations around the world. A stable gravitational perturbation signal is received within a few days before the earthquakes. The gravitational perturbation signal before the Wenchuan earthquake on May 12, 2008 has main frequency of 0.1-0.3 Hz, and the other four have frequency bands of 0.12-0.17 Hz and 0.06-0.085 Hz. For earthquakes in continental and oceanic plate fault zones, gravity anomalies often appear on the superconducting gravimeters away from the epicenter, whereas the stations near the epicenter record small or no anomalies. The results suggest that this kind of gravitational perturbation signals correlate with earthquake occurrence, making them potentially useful earthquake predictors. The far-field effect of the gravitational perturbation signals may reveal the interaction mechanisms of the Earth's tectonic plates. However, owing to the uneven distribution of gravity tide stations, the results need to be further confirmed in the future.

Rotation of the cosmic microwave background polarization from weak gravitational lensing.

PubMed

Dai, Liang

2014-01-31

When a cosmic microwave background (CMB) photon travels from the surface of last scatter through spacetime metric perturbations, the polarization vector may rotate about its direction of propagation. This gravitational rotation is distinct from, and occurs in addition to, the lensing deflection of the photon trajectory. This rotation can be sourced by linear vector or tensor metric perturbations and is fully coherent with the curl deflection field. Therefore, lensing corrections to the CMB polarization power spectra as well as the temperature-polarization cross correlations due to nonscalar perturbations are modified. The rotation does not affect lensing by linear scalar perturbations, but needs to be included when calculations go to higher orders. We present complete results for weak lensing of the full-sky CMB power spectra by general linear metric perturbations, taking into account both deflection of the photon trajectory and rotation of the polarization. For the case of lensing by gravitational waves, we show that the B modes induced by the rotation largely cancel those induced by the curl component of deflection.

Controlling cell-free metabolism through physiochemical perturbations.

PubMed

Karim, Ashty S; Heggestad, Jacob T; Crowe, Samantha A; Jewett, Michael C

2018-01-01

Building biosynthetic pathways and engineering metabolic reactions in cells can be time-consuming due to complexities in cellular metabolism. These complexities often convolute the combinatorial testing of biosynthetic pathway designs needed to define an optimal biosynthetic system. To simplify the optimization of biosynthetic systems, we recently reported a new cell-free framework for pathway construction and testing. In this framework, multiple crude-cell extracts are selectively enriched with individual pathway enzymes, which are then mixed to construct full biosynthetic pathways on the time scale of a day. This rapid approach to building pathways aids in the study of metabolic pathway performance by providing a unique freedom of design to modify and control biological systems for both fundamental and applied biotechnology. The goal of this work was to demonstrate the ability to probe biosynthetic pathway performance in our cell-free framework by perturbing physiochemical conditions, using n-butanol synthesis as a model. We carried out three unique case studies. First, we demonstrated the power of our cell-free approach to maximize biosynthesis yields by mapping physiochemical landscapes using a robotic liquid-handler. This allowed us to determine that NAD and CoA are the most important factors that govern cell-free n-butanol metabolism. Second, we compared metabolic profile differences between two different approaches for building pathways from enriched lysates, heterologous expression and cell-free protein synthesis. We discover that phosphate from PEP utilization, along with other physiochemical reagents, during cell-free protein synthesis-coupled, crude-lysate metabolic system operation inhibits optimal cell-free n-butanol metabolism. Third, we show that non-phosphorylated secondary energy substrates can be used to fuel cell-free protein synthesis and n-butanol biosynthesis. Taken together, our work highlights the ease of using cell-free systems to explore physiochemical perturbations and suggests the need for a more controllable, multi-step, separated cell-free framework for future pathway prototyping and enzyme discovery efforts. Copyright © 2017 International Metabolic Engineering Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Monte Carlo and experimental investigation of the dosimetric behavior of low‐ and medium‐perturbation diodes used for entrance in vivo dosimetry in megavoltage photon beams

PubMed Central

Mosleh‐Shirazi, Mohammad Amin; Shahbazi‐Gahrouei, Daryoush; Monadi, Shahram

2012-01-01

Full buildup diodes can cause significant dose perturbation if they are used on most or all of radiotherapy fractions. Given the importance of frequent in vivo measurements in complex treatments, using thin buildup (low‐perturbation) diodes instead is gathering interest. However, such diodes are strictly unsuitable for high‐energy photons; therefore, their use requires evaluation and careful measurement of correction factors (CFs). There is little published data on such factors for low‐perturbation diodes, and none on diode characterization for 9 MV X‐rays. We report on MCNP4c Monte Carlo models of low‐perturbation (EDD5) and medium‐perturbation (EDP10) diodes, and a comparison of source‐to‐surface distance, field size, temperature, and orientation CFs for cobalt‐60 and 9 MV beams. Most of the simulation results were within 4% of the measurements. The results suggest against the use of the EDD5 in axial angles beyond ±50° and exceeding the range 0° to +50° tilt angle at 9 MV. Outside these ranges, although the EDD5 can be used for accurate in vivo dosimetry at 9 MV, its CF variations were found to be 1.5–7.1 times larger than the EDP10 and, therefore, should be applied carefully. Finally, the MCNP diode models are sufficiently reliable tools for independent verification of potentially inaccurate measurements. PACS numbers: 87.10.Rt; 87.50.cm; 87.55.km; 87.56.Fc PMID:23149783

Spectral distribution of particle fluence in small field detectors and its implication on small field dosimetry.

PubMed

Benmakhlouf, Hamza; Andreo, Pedro

2017-02-01

Correction factors for the relative dosimetry of narrow megavoltage photon beams have recently been determined in several publications. These corrections are required because of the several small-field effects generally thought to be caused by the lack of lateral charged particle equilibrium (LCPE) in narrow beams. Correction factors for relative dosimetry are ultimately necessary to account for the fluence perturbation caused by the detector. For most small field detectors the perturbation depends on field size, resulting in large correction factors when the field size is decreased. In this work, electron and photon fluence differential in energy will be calculated within the radiation sensitive volume of a number of small field detectors for 6 MV linear accelerator beams. The calculated electron spectra will be used to determine electron fluence perturbation as a function of field size and its implication on small field dosimetry analyzed. Fluence spectra were calculated with the user code PenEasy, based on the PENELOPE Monte Carlo system. The detectors simulated were one liquid ionization chamber, two air ionization chambers, one diamond detector, and six silicon diodes, all manufactured either by PTW or IBA. The spectra were calculated for broad (10 cm × 10 cm) and narrow (0.5 cm × 0.5 cm) photon beams in order to investigate the field size influence on the fluence spectra and its resulting perturbation. The photon fluence spectra were used to analyze the impact of absorption and generation of photons. These will have a direct influence on the electrons generated in the detector radiation sensitive volume. The electron fluence spectra were used to quantify the perturbation effects and their relation to output correction factors. The photon fluence spectra obtained for all detectors were similar to the spectrum in water except for the shielded silicon diodes. The photon fluence in the latter group was strongly influenced, mostly in the low-energy region, by photoabsorption in the high-Z shielding material. For the ionization chambers and the diamond detector, the electron fluence spectra were found to be similar to that in water, for both field sizes. In contrast, electron spectra in the silicon diodes were much higher than that in water for both field sizes. The estimated perturbations of the fluence spectra for the silicon diodes were 11-21% for the large fields and 14-27% for the small fields. These perturbations are related to the atomic number, density and mean excitation energy (I-value) of silicon, as well as to the influence of the "extracameral"' components surrounding the detector sensitive volume. For most detectors the fluence perturbation was also found to increase when the field size was decreased, in consistency with the increased small-field effects observed for the smallest field sizes. The present work improves the understanding of small-field effects by relating output correction factors to spectral fluence perturbations in small field detectors. It is shown that the main reasons for the well-known small-field effects in silicon diodes are the high-Z and density of the "extracameral" detector components and the high I-value of silicon relative to that of water and diamond. Compared to these parameters, the density and atomic number of the radiation sensitive volume material play a less significant role. © 2016 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

Single bubble perturbation in cavitation proximity of solid glass: hot spot versus distance.

PubMed

Radziuk, Darya; Möhwald, Helmuth; Suslick, Kenneth

2014-02-28

A systematic study of the energy loss of a cavitation bubble in a close proximity of a glass surface is introduced for the first time in a low acoustic field (1.2-2.4 bar). Single bubble sonoluminescence (SBSL) is used as a tool to predict the temperature and pressure decrease of bubble (μm) versus surface distance. A glass as a model system is used to imitate the boundary conditions relevant for nano- or micromaterials. SBSL preequilibrated with 5% argon is perturbed by a glass rod with the tip (Z-perturbation) and with the long axis (X-perturbation) at a defined distance. From 2 mm to 500 μm argon-SBSL lines monotonically narrow and the effective emission temperature decreases from 9000 K to 6800 K comparable to multiple bubbles. The electron density decreases by two orders of magnitude in Z-perturbation and is by a factor of two higher in X-perturbation than the unperturbed cavitating bubble. The perturbed single bubble sonoluminescence pressure decreases from 2700 atm to 1200 atm at 2.4 bar. In water new non-SBSL SiO molecular emission lines are observed and OH emission disappears.

A conservative scheme for electromagnetic simulation of magnetized plasmas with kinetic electrons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bao, J.; Lin, Z.; Lu, Z. X.

2018-02-01

A conservative scheme has been formulated and verified for gyrokinetic particle simulations of electromagnetic waves and instabilities in magnetized plasmas. An electron continuity equation derived from the drift kinetic equation is used to time advance the electron density perturbation by using the perturbed mechanical flow calculated from the parallel vector potential, and the parallel vector potential is solved by using the perturbed canonical flow from the perturbed distribution function. In gyrokinetic particle simulations using this new scheme, the shear Alfvén wave dispersion relation in the shearless slab and continuum damping in the sheared cylinder have been recovered. The new scheme overcomes the stringent requirement in the conventional perturbative simulation method that perpendicular grid size needs to be as small as electron collisionless skin depth even for the long wavelength Alfvén waves. The new scheme also avoids the problem in the conventional method that an unphysically large parallel electric field arises due to the inconsistency between electrostatic potential calculated from the perturbed density and vector potential calculated from the perturbed canonical flow. Finally, the gyrokinetic particle simulations of the Alfvén waves in sheared cylinder have superior numerical properties compared with the fluid simulations, which suffer from numerical difficulties associated with singular mode structures.

SU-E-T-101: Determination and Comparison of Correction Factors Obtained for TLDs in Small Field Lung Heterogenous Phantom Using Acuros XB and EGSnrc

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

Soh, R; Lee, J; Harianto, F

Purpose: To determine and compare the correction factors obtained for TLDs in 2 × 2cm{sup 2} small field in lung heterogenous phantom using Acuros XB (AXB) and EGSnrc. Methods: This study will simulate the correction factors due to the perturbation of TLD-100 chips (Harshaw/Thermoscientific, 3 × 3 × 0.9mm{sup 3}, 2.64g/cm{sup 3}) in small field lung medium for Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT). A physical lung phantom was simulated by a 14cm thick composite cork phantom (0.27g/cm{sup 3}, HU:-743 ± 11) sandwiched between 4cm thick Plastic Water (CIRS,Norfolk). Composite cork has been shown to be a good lung substitute materialmore » for dosimetric studies. 6MV photon beam from Varian Clinac iX (Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA) with field size 2 × 2cm{sup 2} was simulated. Depth dose profiles were obtained from the Eclipse treatment planning system Acuros XB (AXB) and independently from DOSxyznrc, EGSnrc. Correction factors was calculated by the ratio of unperturbed to perturbed dose. Since AXB has limitations in simulating actual material compositions, EGSnrc will also simulate the AXB-based material composition for comparison to the actual lung phantom. Results: TLD-100, with its finite size and relatively high density, causes significant perturbation in 2 × 2cm{sup 2} small field in a low lung density phantom. Correction factors calculated by both EGSnrc and AXB was found to be as low as 0.9. It is expected that the correction factor obtained by EGSnrc wlll be more accurate as it is able to simulate the actual phantom material compositions. AXB have a limited material library, therefore it only approximates the composition of TLD, Composite cork and Plastic water, contributing to uncertainties in TLD correction factors. Conclusion: It is expected that the correction factors obtained by EGSnrc will be more accurate. Studies will be done to investigate the correction factors for higher energies where perturbation may be more pronounced.« less

The influence of Monte Carlo source parameters on detector design and dose perturbation in small field dosimetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Charles, P. H.; Crowe, S. B.; Kairn, T.; Knight, R.; Hill, B.; Kenny, J.; Langton, C. M.; Trapp, J. V.

2014-03-01

To obtain accurate Monte Carlo simulations of small radiation fields, it is important model the initial source parameters (electron energy and spot size) accurately. However recent studies have shown that small field dosimetry correction factors are insensitive to these parameters. The aim of this work is to extend this concept to test if these parameters affect dose perturbations in general, which is important for detector design and calculating perturbation correction factors. The EGSnrc C++ user code cavity was used for all simulations. Varying amounts of air between 0 and 2 mm were deliberately introduced upstream to a diode and the dose perturbation caused by the air was quantified. These simulations were then repeated using a range of initial electron energies (5.5 to 7.0 MeV) and electron spot sizes (0.7 to 2.2 FWHM). The resultant dose perturbations were large. For example 2 mm of air caused a dose reduction of up to 31% when simulated with a 6 mm field size. However these values did not vary by more than 2 % when simulated across the full range of source parameters tested. If a detector is modified by the introduction of air, one can be confident that the response of the detector will be the same across all similar linear accelerators and the Monte Carlo modelling of each machine is not required.

Transverse momentum in double parton scattering: factorisation, evolution and matching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buffing, Maarten G. A.; Diehl, Markus; Kasemets, Tomas

2018-01-01

We give a description of double parton scattering with measured transverse momenta in the final state, extending the formalism for factorisation and resummation developed by Collins, Soper and Sterman for the production of colourless particles. After a detailed analysis of their colour structure, we derive and solve evolution equations in rapidity and renormalisation scale for the relevant soft factors and double parton distributions. We show how in the perturbative regime, transverse momentum dependent double parton distributions can be expressed in terms of simpler nonperturbative quantities and compute several of the corresponding perturbative kernels at one-loop accuracy. We then show how the coherent sum of single and double parton scattering can be simplified for perturbatively large transverse momenta, and we discuss to which order resummation can be performed with presently available results. As an auxiliary result, we derive a simple form for the square root factor in the Collins construction of transverse momentum dependent parton distributions.

Measurement of Hydrodynamic Growth near Peak Velocity in an Inertial Confinement Fusion Capsule Implosion using a Self-Radiography Technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pickworth, L. A.; Hammel, B. A.; Smalyuk, V. A.; MacPhee, A. G.; Scott, H. A.; Robey, H. F.; Landen, O. L.; Barrios, M. A.; Regan, S. P.; Schneider, M. B.; Hoppe, M.; Kohut, T.; Holunga, D.; Walters, C.; Haid, B.; Dayton, M.

2016-07-01

First measurements of hydrodynamic growth near peak implosion velocity in an inertial confinement fusion (ICF) implosion at the National Ignition Facility were obtained using a self-radiographing technique and a preimposed Legendre mode 40, λ =140 μ m , sinusoidal perturbation. These are the first measurements of the total growth at the most unstable mode from acceleration Rayleigh-Taylor achieved in any ICF experiment to date, showing growth of the areal density perturbation of ˜7000 × . Measurements were made at convergences of ˜5 to ˜10 × at both the waist and pole of the capsule, demonstrating simultaneous measurements of the growth factors from both lines of sight. The areal density growth factors are an order of magnitude larger than prior experimental measurements and differed by ˜2 × between the waist and the pole, showing asymmetry in the measured growth factors. These new measurements significantly advance our ability to diagnose perturbations detrimental to ICF implosions, uniquely intersecting the change from an accelerating to decelerating shell, with multiple simultaneous angular views.

Measurement of hydrodynamic growth near peak velocity in an inertial confinement fusion capsule implosion using a self-radiography technique

DOE PAGES

Pickworth, L. A.; Hammel, B. A.; Smalyuk, V. A.; ...

2016-07-11

First measurements of hydrodynamic growth near peak implosion velocity in an inertial confinement fusion (ICF) implosion at the National Ignition Facility were obtained using a self-radiographing technique and a preimposed Legendre mode 40, λ = 140 μm, sinusoidal perturbation. These are the first measurements of the total growth at the most unstable mode from acceleration Rayleigh-Taylor achieved in any ICF experiment to date, showing growth of the areal density perturbation of ~7000×. Measurements were made at convergences of ~5 to ~10× at both the waist and pole of the capsule, demonstrating simultaneous measurements of the growth factors from both linesmore » of sight. The areal density growth factors are an order of magnitude larger than prior experimental measurements and differed by ~2× between the waist and the pole, showing asymmetry in the measured growth factors. As a result, these new measurements significantly advance our ability to diagnose perturbations detrimental to ICF implosions, uniquely intersecting the change from an accelerating to decelerating shell, with multiple simultaneous angular views.« less

Tailored scenarios for streamflow climate change impacts based on the perturbation of precipitation and evapotranspiration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ntegeka, Victor; Willems, Patrick; Baguis, Pierre; Roulin, Emmanuel

2015-04-01

It is advisable to account for a wide range of uncertainty by including the maximum possible number of climate models and scenarios for future impacts. As this is not always feasible, impact assessments are inevitably performed with a limited set of scenarios. The development of tailored scenarios is a challenge that needs more attention as the number of available climate change simulations grows. Whether these scenarios are representative enough for climate change impacts is a question that needs addressing. This study presents a methodology of constructing tailored scenarios for assessing runoff flows including extreme conditions (peak flows) from an ensemble of future climate change signals of precipitation and potential evapotranspiration (ETo) derived from the climate model simulations. The aim of the tailoring process is to formulate scenarios that can optimally represent the uncertainty spectrum of climate scenarios. These tailored scenarios have the advantage of being few in number as well as having a clear description of the seasonal variation of the climate signals, hence allowing easy interpretation of the implications of future changes. The tailoring process requires an analysis of the hydrological impacts from the likely future change signals from all available climate model simulations in a simplified (computationally less expensive) impact model. Historical precipitation and ETo time series are perturbed with the climate change signals based on a quantile perturbation technique that accounts for the changes in extremes. For precipitation, the change in wetday frequency is taken into account using a markov-chain approach. Resulting hydrological impacts from the perturbed time series are then subdivided into high, mean and low hydrological impacts using a quantile change analysis. From this classification, the corresponding precipitation and ETo change factors are back-tracked on a seasonal basis to determine precipitation-ETo covariation. The established precipitation-ETo covariations are used to inform the scenario construction process. Additionally, the back-tracking of extreme flows from driving scenarios allows for a diagnosis of the physical responses to climate change scenarios. The method is demonstrated through the application of scenarios from 10 Regional Climate Models,21 Global Climate Models and selected catchments in central Belgium. Reference Ntegeka, V., Baguis, P., Roulin, E., & Willems, P. (2014). Developing tailored climate change scenarios for hydrological impact assessments. Journal of Hydrology, 508, 307-321.

On the generation of climate model ensembles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haughton, Ned; Abramowitz, Gab; Pitman, Andy; Phipps, Steven J.

2014-10-01

Climate model ensembles are used to estimate uncertainty in future projections, typically by interpreting the ensemble distribution for a particular variable probabilistically. There are, however, different ways to produce climate model ensembles that yield different results, and therefore different probabilities for a future change in a variable. Perhaps equally importantly, there are different approaches to interpreting the ensemble distribution that lead to different conclusions. Here we use a reduced-resolution climate system model to compare three common ways to generate ensembles: initial conditions perturbation, physical parameter perturbation, and structural changes. Despite these three approaches conceptually representing very different categories of uncertainty within a modelling system, when comparing simulations to observations of surface air temperature they can be very difficult to separate. Using the twentieth century CMIP5 ensemble for comparison, we show that initial conditions ensembles, in theory representing internal variability, significantly underestimate observed variance. Structural ensembles, perhaps less surprisingly, exhibit over-dispersion in simulated variance. We argue that future climate model ensembles may need to include parameter or structural perturbation members in addition to perturbed initial conditions members to ensure that they sample uncertainty due to internal variability more completely. We note that where ensembles are over- or under-dispersive, such as for the CMIP5 ensemble, estimates of uncertainty need to be treated with care.

Neutral kaon mixing beyond the Standard Model with n f = 2 + 1 chiral fermions. Part 2: non perturbative renormalisation of the Δ F = 2 four-quark operators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boyle, Peter A.; Garron, Nicolas; Hudspith, Renwick J.; Lehner, Christoph; Lytle, Andrew T.

2017-10-01

We compute the renormalisation factors ( Z-matrices) of the Δ F = 2 four-quark operators needed for Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) kaon mixing. We work with n f = 2+1 flavours of Domain-Wall fermions whose chiral-flavour properties are essential to maintain a continuum-like mixing pattern. We introduce new RI-SMOM renormalisation schemes, which we argue are better behaved compared to the commonly-used corresponding RI-MOM one. We find that, once converted to \\overline{MS} , the Z-factors computed through these RI-SMOM schemes are in good agreement but differ significantly from the ones computed through the RI-MOM scheme. The RI-SMOM Z-factors presented here have been used to compute the BSM neutral kaon mixing matrix elements in the companion paper [1]. We argue that the renormalisation procedure is responsible for the discrepancies observed by different collaborations, we will investigate and elucidate the origin of these differences throughout this work.

Design of high-energy high-current linac with focusing by superconducting solenoids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Batskikh, Guennady I.; Belugin, Vladimir M.; Bondarev, Boris I.; Fedotov, Arkady P.; Durkin, Alexander P.; Ivanov, Yury D.; Mikhailov, Vladimir N.; Murin, Boris P.; Mustafin, Kharis Kh.; Shumakov, Igor V.; Uksusov, Nikolay I.

1995-09-01

The advancement of MRTI design for 1.5 GeV and 250 mA ion CW linac is presented in the report. In new linac version all the way from input to output the ions are focused by magnetic fields of superconducting solenoids. The ion limit current is far beyond the needed value. The linac focusing channel offers major advantages over the more conventional ones. The acceptance is 1.7 times as large for such focusing channel as for quadrupole one. Concurrently, a random perturbation sensitivity for such channel is one order of magnitude smaller than in quadrupole channel. These focusing channel features allow to decrease beam matched radius and increase a linac radiation purity without aperture growth. ``Regotron'' is used as high power generator in linac main part. But D&W cavities need not be divided into sections connected by RF-bridges which denuded them of high coupling factor.

Growth of structure in the Szekeres class-II inhomogeneous cosmological models and the matter-dominated era

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ishak, Mustapha; Peel, Austin

2012-04-01

This study belongs to a series devoted to using the Szekeres inhomogeneous models in order to develop a theoretical framework where cosmological observations can be investigated with a wider range of possible interpretations. While our previous work addressed the question of cosmological distances versus redshift in these models, the current study is a start at looking into the growth rate of large-scale structure. The Szekeres models are exact solutions to Einstein’s equations that were originally derived with no symmetries. We use here a formulation of the Szekeres models that is due to Goode and Wainwright, who considered the models as exact perturbations of a Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) background. Using the Raychaudhuri equation we write, for the two classes of the models, exact growth equations in terms of the under/overdensity and measurable cosmological parameters. The new equations in the overdensity split into two informative parts. The first part, while exact, is identical to the growth equation in the usual linearly perturbed FLRW models, while the second part constitutes exact nonlinear perturbations. We integrate numerically the full exact growth rate equations for the flat and curved cases. We find that for the matter-dominated cosmic era, the Szekeres growth rate is up to a factor of three to five stronger than the usual linearly perturbed FLRW cases, reflecting the effect of exact Szekeres nonlinear perturbations. We also find that the Szekeres growth rate with an Einstein-de Sitter background is stronger than that of the well-known nonlinear spherical collapse model, and the difference between the two increases with time. This highlights the distinction when we use general inhomogeneous models where shear and a tidal gravitational field are present and contribute to the gravitational clustering. Additionally, it is worth observing that the enhancement of the growth found in the Szekeres models during the matter-dominated era could suggest a substitute to the argument that dark matter is needed when using FLRW models to explain the enhanced growth and resulting large-scale structures that we observe today.

Role of Perturbing Ocean Initial Condition in Simulated Regional Sea Level Change

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

Hu, Aixue; Meehl, Gerald; Stammer, Detlef

Multiple lines of observational evidence indicate that the global climate has been getting warmer since the early 20th century. This warmer climate has led to a global mean sea level rise of about 18 cm during the 20th century, and over 6 cm for the first 15 years of the 21st century. Regionally the sea level rise is not uniform due in large part to internal climate variability. To better serve the community, the uncertainties of predicting/projecting regional sea level changes associated with internal climate variability need to be quantified. Previous research on this topic has used single-model large ensemblesmore » with perturbed atmospheric initial conditions (ICs). Here we compare uncertainties associated with perturbing ICs in just the atmosphere and just the ocean using a state-of-the-art coupled climate model. We find that by perturbing the oceanic ICs, the uncertainties in regional sea level changes increase compared to those with perturbed atmospheric ICs. In order for us to better assess the full spectrum of the impacts of such internal climate variability on regional and global sea level rise, approaches that involve perturbing both atmospheric and oceanic initial conditions are thus necessary.« less

Role of Perturbing Ocean Initial Condition in Simulated Regional Sea Level Change

DOE PAGES

Hu, Aixue; Meehl, Gerald; Stammer, Detlef; ...

2017-06-05

Multiple lines of observational evidence indicate that the global climate has been getting warmer since the early 20th century. This warmer climate has led to a global mean sea level rise of about 18 cm during the 20th century, and over 6 cm for the first 15 years of the 21st century. Regionally the sea level rise is not uniform due in large part to internal climate variability. To better serve the community, the uncertainties of predicting/projecting regional sea level changes associated with internal climate variability need to be quantified. Previous research on this topic has used single-model large ensemblesmore » with perturbed atmospheric initial conditions (ICs). Here we compare uncertainties associated with perturbing ICs in just the atmosphere and just the ocean using a state-of-the-art coupled climate model. We find that by perturbing the oceanic ICs, the uncertainties in regional sea level changes increase compared to those with perturbed atmospheric ICs. In order for us to better assess the full spectrum of the impacts of such internal climate variability on regional and global sea level rise, approaches that involve perturbing both atmospheric and oceanic initial conditions are thus necessary.« less

Cognition and balance control: does processing of explicit contextual cues of impending perturbations modulate automatic postural responses?

PubMed

Coelho, Daniel Boari; Teixeira, Luis Augusto

2017-08-01

Processing of predictive contextual cues of an impending perturbation is thought to induce adaptive postural responses. Cueing in previous research has been provided through repeated perturbations with a constant foreperiod. This experimental strategy confounds explicit predictive cueing with adaptation and non-specific properties of temporal cueing. Two experiments were performed to assess those factors separately. To perturb upright balance, the base of support was suddenly displaced backwards in three amplitudes: 5, 10 and 15 cm. In Experiment 1, we tested the effect of cueing the amplitude of the impending postural perturbation by means of visual signals, and the effect of adaptation to repeated exposures by comparing block versus random sequences of perturbation. In Experiment 2, we evaluated separately the effects of cueing the characteristics of an impending balance perturbation and cueing the timing of perturbation onset. Results from Experiment 1 showed that the block sequence of perturbations led to increased stability of automatic postural responses, and modulation of magnitude and onset latency of muscular responses. Results from Experiment 2 showed that only the condition cueing timing of platform translation onset led to increased balance stability and modulation of onset latency of muscular responses. Conversely, cueing platform displacement amplitude failed to induce any effects on automatic postural responses in both experiments. Our findings support the interpretation of improved postural responses via optimized sensorimotor processes, at the same time that cast doubt on the notion that cognitive processing of explicit contextual cues advancing the magnitude of an impending perturbation can preset adaptive postural responses.

Visualizing deceleration-phase instabilities in inertial confinement fusion implosions using an "enhanced self-emission" technique at the National Ignition Facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pickworth, L. A.; Hammel, B. A.; Smalyuk, V. A.; Robey, H. F.; Benedetti, L. R.; Berzak Hopkins, L.; Bradley, D. K.; Field, J. E.; Haan, S. W.; Hatarik, R.; Hartouni, E.; Izumi, N.; Johnson, S.; Khan, S.; Lahmann, B.; Landen, O. L.; Le Pape, S.; MacPhee, A. G.; Meezan, N. B.; Milovich, J.; Nagel, S. R.; Nikroo, A.; Pak, A. E.; Petrasso, R.; Remington, B. A.; Rice, N. G.; Springer, P. T.; Stadermann, M.; Widmann, K.; Hsing, W.

2018-05-01

High-mode perturbations and low-mode asymmetries were measured in the deceleration phase of indirectly driven, deuterium gas filled inertial confinement fusion capsule implosions at convergence ratios of 10 to 15, using a new "enhanced emission" technique at the National Ignition Facility [E. M. Campbell et al., AIP Conf. Proc. 429, 3 (1998)]. In these experiments, a high spatial resolution Kirkpatrick-Baez microscope was used to image the x-ray emission from the inner surface of a high-density-carbon capsule's shell. The use of a high atomic number dopant in the shell enabled time-resolved observations of shell perturbations penetrating into the hot spot. This allowed the effects of the perturbations and asymmetries on degrading neutron yield to be directly measured. In particular, mix induced radiation losses of ˜400 J from the hot spot resulted in a neutron yield reduction of a factor of ˜2. In a subsequent experiment with a significantly increased level of short-mode initial perturbations, shown through the enhanced imaging technique to be highly organized radially, the neutron yield dropped an additional factor of ˜2.

Flight Control System Analysis and Design for a Remotely Piloted Vehicle with Thrust Vectoring Unit.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-12-01

about the X-axis (slug-ft 2) Ixz Product of inertia (slug-ft 2 ) ly Moi,;ent of inertia about Y-axis (slug-ft 2) Iz Moment of inertia about Z-axis (slug...domain n Load factor (g’s) P Roll rate (rad/sec) xi p Perturbation roll rate (rad/sec) Q Pitch rate (rad/sec) q Perturbation pitch rate (rad/sec...was decided to employ a scale factor of 1.75 in increasing the vertical tail area. This choice was somewhat aruitrary since no documentation could be

Accuracy of Spencer-Attix cavity theory and calculations of fluence correction factors for the air kerma formalism

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

La Russa, D. J.; Rogers, D. W. O.

EGSnrc calculations of ion chamber response and Spencer-Attix (SA) restricted stopping-power ratios are used to test the assumptions of the SA cavity theory and to assess the accuracy of this theory as it applies to the air kerma formalism for {sup 60}Co beams. Consistent with previous reports, the EGSnrc calculations show that the SA cavity theory, as it is normally applied, requires a correction for the perturbation of the charged particle fluence (K{sub fl}) by the presence of the cavity. The need for K{sub fl} corrections arises from the fact that the standard prescription for choosing the low-energy threshold {Delta}more » in the SA restricted stopping-power ratio consistently underestimates the values of {Delta} needed if no perturbation to the fluence is assumed. The use of fluence corrections can be avoided by appropriately choosing {Delta}, but it is not clear how {Delta} can be calculated from first principles. Values of {Delta} required to avoid K{sub fl} corrections were found to be consistently higher than {Delta} values obtained using the conventional approach and are also observed to be dependent on the composition of the wall in addition to the cavity size. Values of K{sub fl} have been calculated for many of the graphite-walled ion chambers used by the national metrology institutes around the world and found to be within 0.04% of unity in all cases, with an uncertainty of about 0.02%.« less

Nonperturbative contributions to a resummed leptonic angular distribution in inclusive neutral vector boson production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guzzi, Marco; Nadolsky, Pavel M.; Wang, Bowen

2014-07-01

We present an analysis of nonperturbative contributions to the transverse momentum distribution of Z/γ* bosons produced at hadron colliders. The new data on the angular distribution ϕη* of Drell-Yan pairs measured at the Tevatron are shown to be in excellent agreement with a perturbative QCD prediction based on the Collins-Soper-Sterman (CSS) resummation formalism at next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic (NNLL) accuracy. Using these data, we determine the nonperturbative component of the CSS resummed cross section and estimate its dependence on arbitrary resummation scales and other factors. With the scale dependence included at the NNLL level, a significant nonperturbative component is needed to describe the angular data.

Heavy quarkonium production at collider energies: Factorization and evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, Zhong-Bo; Ma, Yan-Qing; Qiu, Jian-Wei; Sterman, George

2014-08-01

We present a perturbative QCD factorization formalism for inclusive production of heavy quarkonia of large transverse momentum, pT at collider energies, including both leading power (LP) and next-to-leading power (NLP) behavior in pT. We demonstrate that both LP and NLP contributions can be factorized in terms of perturbatively calculable short-distance partonic coefficient functions and universal nonperturbative fragmentation functions, and derive the evolution equations that are implied by the factorization. We identify projection operators for all channels of the factorized LP and NLP infrared safe short-distance partonic hard parts, and corresponding operator definitions of fragmentation functions. For the NLP, we focus on the contributions involving the production of a heavy quark pair, a necessary condition for producing a heavy quarkonium. We evaluate the first nontrivial order of evolution kernels for all relevant fragmentation functions, and discuss the role of NLP contributions.

Mitigate the tent-induced perturbation in ignition capsules by supersonic radiation propagation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dai, Zhensheng; Gu, Jianfa; Zheng, Wudi

2017-10-01

In the inertial confinement fusion (ICF) scheme, to trap the alpha particle products of the D-T reaction, the capsules needs to be imploded and compressed with high symmetry In the laser indirect drive scheme, the capsules are held at the center of high-Z hohlraums by thin membranes (tents). However, the tents are recognized as one of the most important contributors to hot spot asymmetries, areal density perturbations and reduced performance. To improve the capsule implosion performance, various alternatives such as the micro-scale rods, a larger fill-tube and a low-density foam layer around the capsule have been presented. Our simulations show that the radiation propagates supersonically in the low-density foam layer and starts to ablate the capsule before the perturbations induced by the tents reach the ablating fronts. The tent induced perturbations are remarkably weakened when they are propagating in the blow-off plasma.

First Application of the Zeeman Technique to Remotely Measure Auroral Electrojet Intensity From Space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yee, J. H.; Gjerloev, J.; Wu, D.; Schwartz, M. J.

2017-01-01

Using the O2 118 GHz spectral radiance measurements obtained by the Microwave Limb Sounder instrument on board the Aura spacecraft, we demonstrate that the Zeeman effect can be used to remotely measure the magnetic field perturbations produced by the auroral electrojet near the Hall current closure altitudes. Our derived current-induced magnetic field perturbations are found to be highly correlated with those coincidently obtained by ground magnetometers. These perturbations are also found to be linearly correlated with auroral electrojet strength. The statistically derived polar maps of our measured magnetic field perturbation reveal a spatial-temporal morphology consistent with that produced by the Hall current during substorms and storms. With today's technology, a constellation of compact, low-power, high spectral-resolution cubesats would have the capability to provide high precision and spatiotemporal magnetic field samplings needed for auroral electrojet measurements to gain insights into the spatiotemporal behavior of the auroral electrojet system.

Spatio-temporal correlations in models of collective motion ruled by different dynamical laws.

PubMed

Cavagna, Andrea; Conti, Daniele; Giardina, Irene; Grigera, Tomas S; Melillo, Stefania; Viale, Massimiliano

2016-11-15

Information transfer is an essential factor in determining the robustness of biological systems with distributed control. The most direct way to study the mechanisms ruling information transfer is to experimentally observe the propagation across the system of a signal triggered by some perturbation. However, this method may be inefficient for experiments in the field, as the possibilities to perturb the system are limited and empirical observations must rely on natural events. An alternative approach is to use spatio-temporal correlations to probe the information transfer mechanism directly from the spontaneous fluctuations of the system, without the need to have an actual propagating signal on record. Here we test this method on models of collective behaviour in their deeply ordered phase by using ground truth data provided by numerical simulations in three dimensions. We compare two models characterized by very different dynamical equations and information transfer mechanisms: the classic Vicsek model, describing an overdamped noninertial dynamics and the inertial spin model, characterized by an underdamped inertial dynamics. By using dynamic finite-size scaling, we show that spatio-temporal correlations are able to distinguish unambiguously the diffusive information transfer mechanism of the Vicsek model from the linear mechanism of the inertial spin model.

Examining dynamic interactions among experimental factors influencing hydrologic data assimilation with the ensemble Kalman filter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, S.; Huang, G. H.; Baetz, B. W.; Cai, X. M.; Ancell, B. C.; Fan, Y. R.

2017-11-01

The ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) is recognized as a powerful data assimilation technique that generates an ensemble of model variables through stochastic perturbations of forcing data and observations. However, relatively little guidance exists with regard to the proper specification of the magnitude of the perturbation and the ensemble size, posing a significant challenge in optimally implementing the EnKF. This paper presents a robust data assimilation system (RDAS), in which a multi-factorial design of the EnKF experiments is first proposed for hydrologic ensemble predictions. A multi-way analysis of variance is then used to examine potential interactions among factors affecting the EnKF experiments, achieving optimality of the RDAS with maximized performance of hydrologic predictions. The RDAS is applied to the Xiangxi River watershed which is the most representative watershed in China's Three Gorges Reservoir region to demonstrate its validity and applicability. Results reveal that the pairwise interaction between perturbed precipitation and streamflow observations has the most significant impact on the performance of the EnKF system, and their interactions vary dynamically across different settings of the ensemble size and the evapotranspiration perturbation. In addition, the interactions among experimental factors vary greatly in magnitude and direction depending on different statistical metrics for model evaluation including the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency and the Box-Cox transformed root-mean-square error. It is thus necessary to test various evaluation metrics in order to enhance the robustness of hydrologic prediction systems.

Robust penalty method for structural synthesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kamat, M. P.

1983-01-01

The Sequential Unconstrained Minimization Technique (SUMT) offers an easy way of solving nonlinearly constrained problems. However, this algorithm frequently suffers from the need to minimize an ill-conditioned penalty function. An ill-conditioned minimization problem can be solved very effectively by posing the problem as one of integrating a system of stiff differential equations utilizing concepts from singular perturbation theory. This paper evaluates the robustness and the reliability of such a singular perturbation based SUMT algorithm on two different problems of structural optimization of widely separated scales. The report concludes that whereas conventional SUMT can be bogged down by frequent ill-conditioning, especially in large scale problems, the singular perturbation SUMT has no such difficulty in converging to very accurate solutions.

Microgravity effects on different stages of higher plant life cycle and completion of the seed-to-seed cycle.

PubMed

De Micco, V; De Pascale, S; Paradiso, R; Aronne, G

2014-01-01

Human inhabitation of Space requires the efficient realisation of crop cultivation in bioregenerative life-support systems (BLSS). It is well known that plants can grow under Space conditions; however, perturbations of many biological phenomena have been highlighted due to the effect of altered gravity and its possible interactions with other factors. The mechanisms priming plant responses to Space factors, as well as the consequences of such alterations on crop productivity, have not been completely elucidated. These perturbations can occur at different stages of plant life and are potentially responsible for failure of the completion of the seed-to-seed cycle. After brief consideration of the main constraints found in the most recent experiments aiming to produce seeds in Space, we focus on two developmental phases in which the plant life cycle can be interrupted more easily than in others also on Earth. The first regards seedling development and establishment; we discuss reasons for slow development at the seedling stage that often occurs under microgravity conditions and can reduce successful establishment. The second stage comprises gametogenesis and pollination; we focus on male gamete formation, also identifying potential constraints to subsequent fertilisation. We finally highlight how similar alterations at cytological level can not only be common to different processes occurring at different life stages, but can be primed by different stress factors; such alterations can be interpreted within the model of 'stress-induced morphogenic response' (SIMR). We conclude by suggesting that a systematic analysis of all growth and reproductive phases during the plant life cycle is needed to optimise resource use in plant-based BLSS. © 2013 German Botanical Society and The Royal Botanical Society of the Netherlands.

Compensatory effects of recruitment and survival when amphibian populations are perturbed by disease

USGS Publications Warehouse

Muths, E.; Scherer, R. D.; Pilliod, D.S.

2011-01-01

The need to increase our understanding of factors that regulate animal population dynamics has been catalysed by recent, observed declines in wildlife populations worldwide. Reliable estimates of demographic parameters are critical for addressing basic and applied ecological questions and understanding the response of parameters to perturbations (e.g. disease, habitat loss, climate change). However, to fully assess the impact of perturbation on population dynamics, all parameters contributing to the response of the target population must be estimated. We applied the reverse-time model of Pradel in Program mark to 6years of capture-recapture data from two populations of Anaxyrus boreas (boreal toad) populations, one with disease and one without. We then assessed a priori hypotheses about differences in survival and recruitment relative to local environmental conditions and the presence of disease. We further explored the relative contribution of survival probability and recruitment rate to population growth and investigated how shifts in these parameters can alter population dynamics when a population is perturbed. High recruitment rates (0??41) are probably compensating for low survival probability (range 0??51-0??54) in the population challenged by an emerging pathogen, resulting in a relatively slow rate of decline. In contrast, the population with no evidence of disease had high survival probability (range 0??75-0??78) but lower recruitment rates (0??25). Synthesis and applications.We suggest that the relationship between survival and recruitment may be compensatory, providing evidence that populations challenged with disease are not necessarily doomed to extinction. A better understanding of these interactions may help to explain, and be used to predict, population regulation and persistence for wildlife threatened with disease. Further, reliable estimates of population parameters such as recruitment and survival can guide the formulation and implementation of conservation actions such as repatriations or habitat management aimed to improve recruitment. ?? 2011 The Authors. Journal of Applied Ecology ?? 2011 British Ecological Society.

Induced matter brane gravity and Einstein static universe

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

Heydarzade, Y.; Darabi, F., E-mail: heydarzade@azaruniv.edu, E-mail: f.darabi@azaruniv.edu

We investigate stability of the Einstein static universe against the scalar, vector and tensor perturbations in the context of induced matter brane gravity. It is shown that in the framework of this model, the Einstein static universe has a positive spatial curvature. In contrast to the classical general relativity, it is found that a stable Einstein static universe against the scalar perturbations does exist provided that the variation of time dependent geometrical equation of state parameter is proportional to the minus of the variation of the scale factor, δ ω{sub g}(t) = −Cδ a(t). We obtain neutral stability against the vector perturbations, and themore » stability against the tensor perturbations is guaranteed due to the positivity of the spatial curvature of the Einstein static universe in induced matter brane gravity.« less

Superluminality in dilatationally invariant generalized Galileon theories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolevatov, R. S.

2015-12-01

We consider small perturbations about homogeneous backgrounds in dilatationally invariant Galileon models. The issues we address are stability (absence of ghosts and gradient instabilities) and superluminality. We show that in the Minkowski background, it is possible to construct the Lagrangian in such a way that any homogeneous Galileon background solution is stable and small perturbations about it are subluminal. On the other hand, in the case of Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) backgrounds, for any Lagrangian functions there exist homogeneous background solutions to the Galileon equation of motion and time dependence of the scale factor, such that the stability conditions are satisfied, but the Galileon perturbations propagate with superluminal speed.

Challenges in the extraction of TMDs from SIDIS data: perturbative vs non-perturbative aspects

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

Boglione, Mariaelena; Gonzalez Hernandez, Jose O.; Melis, Stefano

We present our recent results on the study of the Semi-Inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering (SIDIS) cross section as a function of the transverse momentum, q T. Using the Collins-Soper-Sterman (CSS) formalism, we study the matching between the region where fixed-order perturbative QCD can successfully be applied and the region where soft gluon resummation is necessary. We find that the commonly used prescription of matching through the so-called Y-factor cannot be applied in the SIDIS kinematical configurations we examine. We comment on the impact that the nonperturbative component has even at relatively high energies.

Transverse momentum dependent parton distribution and fragmentation functions with QCD evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aybat, S. Mert; Rogers, Ted C.

2011-06-01

We assess the current phenomenological status of transverse momentum dependent (TMD) parton distribution functions (PDFs) and fragmentation functions (FFs) and study the effect of consistently including perturbative QCD (pQCD) evolution. Our goal is to initiate the process of establishing reliable, QCD-evolved parametrizations for the TMD PDFs and TMD FFs that can be used both to test TMD factorization and to search for evidence of the breakdown of TMD factorization that is expected for certain processes. In this article, we focus on spin-independent processes because they provide the simplest illustration of the basic steps and can already be used in direct tests of TMD factorization. Our calculations are based on the Collins-Soper-Sterman (CSS) formalism, supplemented by recent theoretical developments which have clarified the precise definitions of the TMD PDFs and TMD FFs needed for a valid TMD-factorization theorem. Starting with these definitions, we numerically generate evolved TMD PDFs and TMD FFs using as input existing parametrizations for the collinear PDFs, collinear FFs, nonperturbative factors in the CSS factorization formalism, and recent fixed-scale fits. We confirm that evolution has important consequences, both qualitatively and quantitatively, and argue that it should be included in future phenomenological studies of TMD functions. Our analysis is also suggestive of extensions to processes that involve spin-dependent functions such as the Boer-Mulders, Sivers, or Collins functions, which we intend to pursue in future publications. At our website [http://projects.hepforge.org/tmd/], we have made available the tables and calculations needed to obtain the TMD parametrizations presented herein.

Acute alcohol intoxication impairs segmental body alignment in upright standing.

PubMed

Hafstrom, A; Patel, M; Modig, F; Magnusson, M; Fransson, P A

2014-01-01

Balance control when standing upright is a complex process requiring input from several partly independent mechanisms such as coordination, feedback and feedforward control, and adaptation. Acute alcohol intoxication from ethanol is recognized as a major contributor to accidental falls requiring medical care. This study aimed to investigate if intoxication at 0.06 and 0.10% blood alcohol concentration affected body alignment. Mean angular positions of the head, shoulder, hip, and knee were measured with 3D-motion analysis and compared with the ankle position in 25 healthy adults during standing with or without perturbations, and with eyes open or closed. Alcohol intoxication had significant effects on body alignment during perturbed and unperturbed stance, and on adaptation to perturbations. It induced a significantly more posterior alignment of the knees and shoulders, and a tendency for a more posterior and left deviated head alignment in perturbed stance than when sober. The impact of alcohol intoxication was most apparent on the knee alignment, where availability of visual information deteriorated the adaptation to perturbations. Thus, acute alcohol intoxication resulted in inadequate balance control strategies with increased postural rigidity and impaired adaptation to perturbations. These factors probably contribute to the increased risk of falling when intoxicated with alcohol.

Resistance and resilience of microbial communities--temporal and spatial insurance against perturbations.

PubMed

Baho, Didier L; Peter, Hannes; Tranvik, Lars J

2012-09-01

Bacteria play fundamental roles for many ecosystem processes; however, little empirical evidence is available on how environmental perturbations affect their composition and function. We investigated how spatial and temporal refuges affect the resistance and resilience of a freshwater bacterioplankton community upon a salinity pulse perturbation in continuous cultures. Attachment to a surface avoided the flushing out of cells and enabled re-colonization of the liquid phase after the perturbation, hence serving as a temporal refuge. A spatial refuge was established by introduction of bacteria from an undisturbed reservoir upstream of the continuous culture vessel, acting analogous to a regional species pool in a metacommunity. The salinity pulse affected bacterial community composition and the rates of respiration and the pattern of potential substrate utilization as well as the correlation between composition and function. Compared with the no-refuge treatment, the temporal refuge shortened return to pre-perturbation conditions, indicating enhanced community resilience. Composition and function were less disturbed in the treatment providing a spatial refuge, suggesting higher resistance. Our results highlight that spatial and temporal dynamics in general and refuges in particular need to be considered for conceptual progress in how microbial metacommunities are shaped by perturbations. © 2012 Society for Applied Microbiology and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Changes in Head Stability Control in Response to a Lateral Perturbation while Walking in Older Adults

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Buccello, Regina R.; Cromwell, Ronita L.; Bloomberg, Jacob J.

2008-01-01

Falling is a main contributor of injury in older adults. The decline in sensory systems associated with aging limits information needed to successfully compensate for unexpected perturbations. Therefore, sensory changes result in older adults having problems maintaining balance stability when experiencing an unexpected lateral perturbation (e.g. slip) in the environment. The goal of this study was to determine head stability movement strategies used by older adults when experiencing an unexpected lateral perturbation during walking. A total of 16 healthy adults, aged 66-81 years, walked across a foam pathway 6 times. One piece of the foam pathway covered a movable platform that translated to the left when the subject stepped on the foam. Three trials were randomized in which the platform shifted. Angular rate sensors were placed on the center of mass for the head and trunk segments to collect head and trunk movement in all three planes of motion. The predominant movement strategies for maintaining head stability were determined from the results of the cross-correlation analyses between the head and trunk segments. The Chi square test of independence was used to evaluate the movement pattern distributions of head-trunk coordination during perturbed and non-perturbed walking. When perturbed, head stabilization was significantly challenged in the yaw and roll planes of motion. Subjects demonstrated a movement pattern of the head leading the trunk in an effort to stabilize the head. The older adult subjects used this head stabilization movement pattern to compensate for sensory changes when experiencing the unexpected lateral perturbation.

Perturbation-free measurement of in situ di-nitrogen emissions from denitrification in nitrate-rich aquatic ecosystems.

PubMed

Qin, Shuping; Clough, Timothy; Luo, Jiafa; Wrage-Mönnig, Nicole; Oenema, Oene; Zhang, Yuming; Hu, Chunsheng

2017-02-01

Increased production of reactive nitrogen (Nr) from atmospheric di-nitrogen (N 2 ) has greatly contributed to increased food production. However, enriching the biosphere with Nr has also caused a series of negative effects on global ecosystems, especially aquatic ecosystems. The main pathway converting Nr back into the atmospheric N 2 pool is the last step in the denitrification process. Despite several attempts, there is still a need for perturbation-free methods for measuring in situ N 2 fluxes from denitrification in aquatic ecosystems at the field scale. Such a method is needed to comprehensively quantify the N 2 fluxes from aquatic ecosystems. Here we observed linear relationships between the δ 15 N-N 2 O signatures and the logarithmically transformed N 2 O/(N 2 +N 2 O) emission ratios. Through independent measurements, we verified that the perturbation-free N 2 flux from denitrification in nitrate-rich aquatic ecosystems can be inferred from these linear relationships. Our method allowed the determination of field-scale in situ N 2 fluxes from nitrate-rich aquatic ecosystems both with and without overlaying water. The perturbation-free in situ N 2 fluxes observed by the new method were almost one order of magnitude higher than those by the sediment core method. The ability of aquatic ecosystems to remove Nr may previously have been severely underestimated. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hard matching for boosted tops at two loops

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

Hoang, Andre H.; Pathak, Aditya; Pietrulewicz, Piotr

2015-12-10

Here, cross sections for top quarks provide very interesting physics opportunities, being both sensitive to new physics and also perturbatively tractable due to the large top quark mass. Rigorous factorization theorems for top cross sections can be derived in several kinematic scenarios, including the boosted regime in the peak region that we consider here. In the context of the corresponding factorization theorem for e +e – collisions we extract the last missing ingredient that is needed to evaluate the cross section differential in the jet-mass at two-loop order, namely the matching coefficient at the scale μ≃m t. Our extraction alsomore » yields the final ingredients needed to carry out logarithmic re-summation at next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic order (or N 3LL if we ignore the missing 4-loop cusp anomalous dimension). This coefficient exhibits an amplitude level rapidity logarithm starting at O(α 2 s) due to virtual top quark loops, which we treat using rapidity renormalization group (RG) evolution. Interestingly, this rapidity RG evolution appears in the matching coefficient between two effective theories around the heavy quark mass scale μ ≃ m t.« less

Perturbative corrections to B → D form factors in QCD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yu-Ming; Wei, Yan-Bing; Shen, Yue-Long; Lü, Cai-Dian

2017-06-01

We compute perturbative QCD corrections to B → D form factors at leading power in Λ/ m b , at large hadronic recoil, from the light-cone sum rules (LCSR) with B-meson distribution amplitudes in HQET. QCD factorization for the vacuum-to- B-meson correlation function with an interpolating current for the D-meson is demonstrated explicitly at one loop with the power counting scheme {m}_c˜ O(√{Λ {m}_b}) . The jet functions encoding information of the hard-collinear dynamics in the above-mentioned correlation function are complicated by the appearance of an additional hard-collinear scale m c , compared to the counterparts entering the factorization formula of the vacuum-to- B-meson correction function for the construction of B → π from factors. Inspecting the next-to-leading-logarithmic sum rules for the form factors of B → Dℓν indicates that perturbative corrections to the hard-collinear functions are more profound than that for the hard functions, with the default theory inputs, in the physical kinematic region. We further compute the subleading power correction induced by the three-particle quark-gluon distribution amplitudes of the B-meson at tree level employing the background gluon field approach. The LCSR predictions for the semileptonic B → Dℓν form factors are then extrapolated to the entire kinematic region with the z-series parametrization. Phenomenological implications of our determinations for the form factors f BD +,0 ( q 2) are explored by investigating the (differential) branching fractions and the R( D) ratio of B → Dℓν and by determining the CKM matrix element |V cb | from the total decay rate of B → Dμν μ .

Viable tensor-to-scalar ratio in a symmetric matter bounce

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nath Raveendran, Rathul; Chowdhury, Debika; Sriramkumar, L.

2018-01-01

Matter bounces refer to scenarios wherein the universe contracts at early times as in a matter dominated epoch until the scale factor reaches a minimum, after which it starts expanding. While such scenarios are known to lead to scale invariant spectra of primordial perturbations after the bounce, the challenge has been to construct completely symmetric bounces that lead to a tensor-to-scalar ratio which is small enough to be consistent with the recent cosmological data. In this work, we construct a model involving two scalar fields (a canonical field and a non-canonical ghost field) to drive the symmetric matter bounce and study the evolution of the scalar perturbations in the model. We find that the model can be completely described in terms of a single parameter, viz. the ratio of the scale associated with the bounce to the value of the scale factor at the bounce. We evolve the scalar perturbations numerically across the bounce and evaluate the scalar power spectra after the bounce. We show that, while the scalar and tensor perturbation spectra are scale invariant over scales of cosmological interest, the tensor-to-scalar ratio proves to be much smaller than the current upper bound from the observations of the cosmic microwave background anisotropies by the Planck mission. We also support our numerical analysis with analytical arguments.

SU-F-T-192: Study of Robustness Analysis Method of Multiple Field Optimized IMPT Plans for Head & Neck Patients

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

Li, Y; Wang, X; Li, H

Purpose: Proton therapy is more sensitive to uncertainties than photon treatments due to protons’ finite range depending on the tissue density. Worst case scenario (WCS) method originally proposed by Lomax has been adopted in our institute for robustness analysis of IMPT plans. This work demonstrates that WCS method is sufficient enough to take into account of the uncertainties which could be encountered during daily clinical treatment. Methods: A fast and approximate dose calculation method is developed to calculate the dose for the IMPT plan under different setup and range uncertainties. Effects of two factors, inversed square factor and range uncertainty,more » are explored. WCS robustness analysis method was evaluated using this fast dose calculation method. The worst-case dose distribution was generated by shifting isocenter by 3 mm along x,y and z directions and modifying stopping power ratios by ±3.5%. 1000 randomly perturbed cases in proton range and x, yz directions were created and the corresponding dose distributions were calculated using this approximated method. DVH and dosimetric indexes of all 1000 perturbed cases were calculated and compared with the result using worst case scenario method. Results: The distributions of dosimetric indexes of 1000 perturbed cases were generated and compared with the results using worst case scenario. For D95 of CTVs, at least 97% of 1000 perturbed cases show higher values than the one of worst case scenario. For D5 of CTVs, at least 98% of perturbed cases have lower values than worst case scenario. Conclusion: By extensively calculating the dose distributions under random uncertainties, WCS method was verified to be reliable in evaluating the robustness level of MFO IMPT plans of H&N patients. The extensively sampling approach using fast approximated method could be used in evaluating the effects of different factors on the robustness level of IMPT plans in the future.« less

Improved analysis of SP and CoSaMP under total perturbations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Haifeng

2016-12-01

Practically, in the underdetermined model y= A x, where x is a K sparse vector (i.e., it has no more than K nonzero entries), both y and A could be totally perturbed. A more relaxed condition means less number of measurements are needed to ensure the sparse recovery from theoretical aspect. In this paper, based on restricted isometry property (RIP), for subspace pursuit (SP) and compressed sampling matching pursuit (CoSaMP), two relaxed sufficient conditions are presented under total perturbations to guarantee that the sparse vector x is recovered. Taking random matrix as measurement matrix, we also discuss the advantage of our condition. Numerical experiments validate that SP and CoSaMP can provide oracle-order recovery performance.

Correction factors for ionization chamber measurements with the ‘Valencia’ and ‘large field Valencia’ brachytherapy applicators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gimenez-Alventosa, V.; Gimenez, V.; Ballester, F.; Vijande, J.; Andreo, P.

2018-06-01

Treatment of small skin lesions using HDR brachytherapy applicators is a widely used technique. The shielded applicators currently available in clinical practice are based on a tungsten-alloy cup that collimates the source-emitted radiation into a small region, hence protecting nearby tissues. The goal of this manuscript is to evaluate the correction factors required for dose measurements with a plane-parallel ionization chamber typically used in clinical brachytherapy for the ‘Valencia’ and ‘large field Valencia’ shielded applicators. Monte Carlo simulations have been performed using the PENELOPE-2014 system to determine the absorbed dose deposited in a water phantom and in the chamber active volume with a Type A uncertainty of the order of 0.1%. The average energies of the photon spectra arriving at the surface of the water phantom differ by approximately 10%, being 384 keV for the ‘Valencia’ and 343 keV for the ‘large field Valencia’. The ionization chamber correction factors have been obtained for both applicators using three methods, their values depending on the applicator being considered. Using a depth-independent global chamber perturbation correction factor and no shift of the effective point of measurement yields depth-dose differences of up to 1% for the ‘Valencia’ applicator. Calculations using a depth-dependent global perturbation factor, or a shift of the effective point of measurement combined with a constant partial perturbation factor, result in differences of about 0.1% for both applicators. The results emphasize the relevance of carrying out detailed Monte Carlo studies for each shielded brachytherapy applicator and ionization chamber.

Quasinormal modes of modified gravity (MOG) black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manfredi, Luciano; Mureika, Jonas; Moffat, John

2018-04-01

The Quasinormal modes (QNMs) for gravitational and electromagnetic perturbations are calculated in a Scalar-Tensor-Vector (Modified Gravity) spacetime, which was initially proposed to obtain correct dynamics of galaxies and galaxy clusters without the need for dark matter. It is found that for the increasing model parameter α, both the real and imaginary parts of the QNMs decrease compared to those for a standard Schwarzschild black hole. On the other hand, when taking into account the 1 / (1 + α) mass re-scaling factor present in MOG, Im (ω) matches almost identically that of GR, while Re (ω) is higher. These results can be identified in the ringdown phase of massive compact object mergers, and are thus timely in light of the recent gravitational wave detections by LIGO.

Mobile ankle and knee perturbator.

PubMed

Andersen, Jacob Buus; Sinkjaer, Thomas

2003-10-01

A mobile ankle and knee perturbator has been developed. It consists of a functional joint with an integrated clutch. Four Bowden wires connect the joint to a powerful motor and a double pneumatic cylinder. When needed during any time of the gait cycle, it is possible to impose an ankle rotation by engaging the clutch and rotating the ankle or knee joint with a predefined displacement. The system is designed to investigate electrophysiological and biomechanical features of the human ankle or knee joint during gait.

Semiclassical perturbation Stark widths of singly charged argon spectral lines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamdi, Rafik; Ben Nessib, Nabil; Sahal-Bréchot, Sylvie; Dimitrijević, Milan S.

2018-03-01

Using a semiclassical perturbation approach with the impact approximation, Stark widths for singly charged argon (Ar II) spectral lines have been calculated. Energy levels and oscillator strengths needed for this calculation have been determined using the Hartree-Fock method with relativistic corrections. Our Stark widths are compared with experimental results for 178 spectral lines. Our results may be of interest not only for laboratory plasma, lasers and technological plasmas but also for white dwarfs and A- and B-type stars.

Description of Hydration Water in Protein (Green Fluorescent Protein) Solution

DOE PAGES

Perticaroli, Stefania; Ehlers, Georg; Stanley, Christopher B.; ...

2016-10-26

The structurally and dynamically perturbed hydration shells that surround proteins and biomolecules have a substantial influence upon their function and stability. This makes the extent and degree of water perturbation of practical interest for general biological study and industrial formulation. Here, we present an experimental description of the dynamical perturbation of hydration water around green fluorescent protein in solution. Less than two shells (~5.5 Å) were perturbed, with dynamics a factor of 2–10 times slower than bulk water, depending on their distance from the protein surface and the probe length of the measurement. Furthermore, this dependence on probe length demonstratesmore » that hydration water undergoes subdiffusive motions (τ ∝ q –2.5 for the first hydration shell, τ ∝ q –2.3 for perturbed water in the second shell), an important difference with neat water, which demonstrates diffusive behavior (τ ∝ q –2). Our results help clarify the seemingly conflicting range of values reported for hydration water retardation as a logical consequence of the different length scales probed by the analytical techniques used.« less

Monte Carlo simulated corrections for beam commissioning measurements with circular and MLC shaped fields on the CyberKnife M6 System: a study including diode, microchamber, point scintillator, and synthetic microdiamond detectors.

PubMed

Francescon, P; Kilby, W; Noll, J M; Masi, L; Satariano, N; Russo, S

2017-02-07

Monte Carlo simulation was used to calculate correction factors for output factor (OF), percentage depth-dose (PDD), and off-axis ratio (OAR) measurements with the CyberKnife M6 System. These include the first such data for the InCise MLC. Simulated detectors include diodes, air-filled microchambers, a synthetic microdiamond detector, and point scintillator. Individual perturbation factors were also evaluated. OF corrections show similar trends to previous studies. With a 5 mm fixed collimator the diode correction to convert a measured OF to the corresponding point dose ratio varies between  -6.1% and  -3.5% for the diode models evaluated, while in a 7.6 mm  ×  7.7 mm MLC field these are  -4.5% to  -1.8%. The corresponding microchamber corrections are  +9.9% to  +10.7% and  +3.5% to  +4.0%. The microdiamond corrections have a maximum of  -1.4% for the 7.5 mm and 10 mm collimators. The scintillator corrections are  <1% in all beams. Measured OF showed uncorrected inter-detector differences  >15%, reducing to  <3% after correction. PDD corrections at d  >  d max were  <2% for all detectors except IBA Razor where a maximum 4% correction was observed at 300 mm depth. OAR corrections were smaller inside the field than outside. At the beam edge microchamber OAR corrections were up to 15%, mainly caused by density perturbations, which blurs the measured penumbra. With larger beams and depths, PTW and IBA diode corrections outside the beam were up to 20% while the Edge detector needed smaller corrections although these did vary with orientation. These effects are most noticeable for large field size and depth, where they are dominated by fluence and stopping power perturbations. The microdiamond OAR corrections were  <3% outside the beam. This paper provides OF corrections that can be used for commissioning new CyberKnife M6 Systems and retrospectively checking estimated corrections used previously. We recommend the PDD and OAR corrections are used to guide detector selection and inform the evaluation of results rather than to explicitly correct measurements.

Monte Carlo simulated corrections for beam commissioning measurements with circular and MLC shaped fields on the CyberKnife M6 System: a study including diode, microchamber, point scintillator, and synthetic microdiamond detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Francescon, P.; Kilby, W.; Noll, J. M.; Masi, L.; Satariano, N.; Russo, S.

2017-02-01

Monte Carlo simulation was used to calculate correction factors for output factor (OF), percentage depth-dose (PDD), and off-axis ratio (OAR) measurements with the CyberKnife M6 System. These include the first such data for the InCise MLC. Simulated detectors include diodes, air-filled microchambers, a synthetic microdiamond detector, and point scintillator. Individual perturbation factors were also evaluated. OF corrections show similar trends to previous studies. With a 5 mm fixed collimator the diode correction to convert a measured OF to the corresponding point dose ratio varies between  -6.1% and  -3.5% for the diode models evaluated, while in a 7.6 mm  ×  7.7 mm MLC field these are  -4.5% to  -1.8%. The corresponding microchamber corrections are  +9.9% to  +10.7% and  +3.5% to  +4.0%. The microdiamond corrections have a maximum of  -1.4% for the 7.5 mm and 10 mm collimators. The scintillator corrections are  <1% in all beams. Measured OF showed uncorrected inter-detector differences  >15%, reducing to  <3% after correction. PDD corrections at d  >  d max were  <2% for all detectors except IBA Razor where a maximum 4% correction was observed at 300 mm depth. OAR corrections were smaller inside the field than outside. At the beam edge microchamber OAR corrections were up to 15%, mainly caused by density perturbations, which blurs the measured penumbra. With larger beams and depths, PTW and IBA diode corrections outside the beam were up to 20% while the Edge detector needed smaller corrections although these did vary with orientation. These effects are most noticeable for large field size and depth, where they are dominated by fluence and stopping power perturbations. The microdiamond OAR corrections were  <3% outside the beam. This paper provides OF corrections that can be used for commissioning new CyberKnife M6 Systems and retrospectively checking estimated corrections used previously. We recommend the PDD and OAR corrections are used to guide detector selection and inform the evaluation of results rather than to explicitly correct measurements.

Iso-vector form factors of the delta and nucleon in QCD sum rules

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

Ozpineci, A.

Form factors are important non-perturbative properties of hadrons. They give information about the internal structure of the hadrons. In this work, iso-vector axial-vector and iso-vector tensor form factors of the nucleon and the iso-vector axial-vector {Delta}{yields}N transition form factor calculations in QCD Sum Rules are presented.

Numerical solution of Euler's equation by perturbed functionals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dey, S. K.

1985-01-01

A perturbed functional iteration has been developed to solve nonlinear systems. It adds at each iteration level, unique perturbation parameters to nonlinear Gauss-Seidel iterates which enhances its convergence properties. As convergence is approached these parameters are damped out. Local linearization along the diagonal has been used to compute these parameters. The method requires no computation of Jacobian or factorization of matrices. Analysis of convergence depends on properties of certain contraction-type mappings, known as D-mappings. In this article, application of this method to solve an implicit finite difference approximation of Euler's equation is studied. Some representative results for the well known shock tube problem and compressible flows in a nozzle are given.

First Satellite-detected Perturbations of Outgoing Longwave Radiation Associated with Blowing Snow Events over Antarctica

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yang, Yuekui; Palm, Stephen P.; Marshak, Alexander; Wu, Dong L.; Yu, Hongbin; Fu, Qiang

2014-01-01

We present the first satellite-detected perturbations of the outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) associated with blowing snow events over the Antarctic ice sheet using data from Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization and Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System. Significant cloud-free OLR differences are observed between the clear and blowing snow sky, with the sign andmagnitude depending on season and time of the day. During nighttime, OLRs are usually larger when blowing snow is present; the average difference in OLRs between without and with blowing snow over the East Antarctic Ice Sheet is about 5.2 W/m2 for the winter months of 2009. During daytime, in contrast, the OLR perturbation is usually smaller or even has the opposite sign. The observed seasonal variations and day-night differences in the OLR perturbation are consistent with theoretical calculations of the influence of blowing snow on OLR. Detailed atmospheric profiles are needed to quantify the radiative effect of blowing snow from the satellite observations.

Approximation for limit cycles and their isochrons.

PubMed

Demongeot, Jacques; Françoise, Jean-Pierre

2006-12-01

Local analysis of trajectories of dynamical systems near an attractive periodic orbit displays the notion of asymptotic phase and isochrons. These notions are quite useful in applications to biosciences. In this note, we give an expression for the first approximation of equations of isochrons in the setting of perturbations of polynomial Hamiltonian systems. This method can be generalized to perturbations of systems that have a polynomial integral factor (like the Lotka-Volterra equation).

Causality violations in Lovelock theories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brustein, Ram; Sherf, Yotam

2018-04-01

Higher-derivative gravity theories, such as Lovelock theories, generalize Einstein's general relativity (GR). Modifications to GR are expected when curvatures are near Planckian and appear in string theory or supergravity. But can such theories describe gravity on length scales much larger than the Planck cutoff length scale? Here we find causality constraints on Lovelock theories that arise from the requirement that the equations of motion (EOM) of perturbations be hyperbolic. We find a general expression for the "effective metric" in field space when Lovelock theories are perturbed around some symmetric background solution. In particular, we calculate explicitly the effective metric for a general Lovelock theory perturbed around cosmological Friedman-Robertson-Walker backgrounds and for some specific cases when perturbed around Schwarzschild-like solutions. For the EOM to be hyperbolic, the effective metric needs to be Lorentzian. We find that, unlike for GR, the effective metric is generically not Lorentzian when the Lovelock modifications are significant. So, we conclude that Lovelock theories can only be considered as perturbative extensions of GR and not as truly modified theories of gravity. We compare our results to those in the literature and find that they agree with and reproduce the results of previous studies.

Toward controlling perturbations in robotic sensor networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banerjee, Ashis G.; Majumder, Saikat R.

2014-06-01

Robotic sensor networks (RSNs), which consist of networks of sensors placed on mobile robots, are being increasingly used for environment monitoring applications. In particular, a lot of work has been done on simultaneous localization and mapping of the robots, and optimal sensor placement for environment state estimation1. The deployment of RSNs, however, remains challenging in harsh environments where the RSNs have to deal with significant perturbations in the forms of wind gusts, turbulent water flows, sand storms, or blizzards that disrupt inter-robot communication and individual robot stability. Hence, there is a need to be able to control such perturbations and bring the networks to desirable states with stable nodes (robots) and minimal operational performance (environment sensing). Recent work has demonstrated the feasibility of controlling the non-linear dynamics in other communication networks like emergency management systems and power grids by introducing compensatory perturbations to restore network stability and operation2. In this paper, we develop a computational framework to investigate the usefulness of this approach for RSNs in marine environments. Preliminary analysis shows promising performance and identifies bounds on the original perturbations within which it is possible to control the networks.

Hydrodynamic representation of the Klein-Gordon-Einstein equations in the weak field limit: General formalism and perturbations analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suárez, Abril; Chavanis, Pierre-Henri

2015-07-01

Using a generalization of the Madelung transformation, we derive the hydrodynamic representation of the Klein-Gordon-Einstein equations in the weak field limit. We consider a complex self-interacting scalar field with a λ |φ |4 potential. We study the evolution of the spatially homogeneous background in the fluid representation and derive the linearized equations describing the evolution of small perturbations in a static and in an expanding Universe. We compare the results with simplified models in which the gravitational potential is introduced by hand in the Klein-Gordon equation, and assumed to satisfy a (generalized) Poisson equation. Nonrelativistic hydrodynamic equations based on the Schrödinger-Poisson equations or on the Gross-Pitaevskii-Poisson equations are recovered in the limit c →+∞. We study the evolution of the perturbations in the matter era using the nonrelativistic limit of our formalism. Perturbations whose wavelength is below the Jeans length oscillate in time while perturbations whose wavelength is above the Jeans length grow linearly with the scale factor as in the cold dark matter model. The growth of perturbations in the scalar field model is substantially faster than in the cold dark matter model. When the wavelength of the perturbations approaches the cosmological horizon (Hubble length), a relativistic treatment is mandatory. In that case, we find that relativistic effects attenuate or even prevent the growth of perturbations. This paper exposes the general formalism and provides illustrations in simple cases. Other applications of our formalism will be considered in companion papers.

Linear analysis on the growth of non-spherical perturbations in supersonic accretion flows

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

Takahashi, Kazuya; Yamada, Shoichi, E-mail: ktakahashi@heap.phys.waseda.ac.jp

We analyzed the growth of non-spherical perturbations in supersonic accretion flows. We have in mind an application to the post-bounce phase of core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe). Such non-spherical perturbations have been suggested by a series of papers by Arnett, who has numerically investigated violent convections in the outer layers of pre-collapse stars. Moreover, Couch and Ott demonstrated in their numerical simulations that such perturbations may lead to a successful supernova even for a progenitor that fails to explode without fluctuations. This study investigated the linear growth of perturbations during the infall onto a stalled shock wave. The linearized equations are solvedmore » as an initial and boundary value problem with the use of a Laplace transform. The background is a Bondi accretion flow whose parameters are chosen to mimic the 15 M {sub ☉} progenitor model by Woosley and Heger, which is supposed to be a typical progenitor of CCSNe. We found that the perturbations that are given at a large radius grow as they flow down to the shock radius; the density perturbations can be amplified by a factor of 30, for example. We analytically show that the growth rate is proportional to l, the index of the spherical harmonics. We also found that the perturbations oscillate in time with frequencies that are similar to those of the standing accretion shock instability. This may have an implication for shock revival in CCSNe, which will be investigated in our forthcoming paper in more detail.« less

Neutral kaon mixing beyond the Standard Model with n f = 2 + 1 chiral fermions. Part 2: non perturbative renormalisation of the ΔF = 2 four-quark operators

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

Boyle, Peter A.; Garron, Nicolas; Hudspith, Renwick J.

We compute the renormalisation factors (Z-matrices) of the ΔF = 2 four-quark operators needed for Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) kaon mixing. We work with nf = 2+1 flavours of Domain-Wall fermions whose chiral-flavour properties are essential to maintain a continuum-like mixing pattern. We introduce new RI-SMOM renormalisation schemes, which we argue are better behaved compared to the commonly-used corresponding RI-MOM one. We find that, once converted to MS¯, the Z-factors computed through these RI-SMOM schemes are in good agreement but differ significantly from the ones computed through the RI-MOM scheme. The RI-SMOM Z-factors presented here have been used tomore » compute the BSM neutral kaon mixing matrix elements in the companion paper. In conclusion, we argue that the renormalisation procedure is responsible for the discrepancies observed by different collaborations, we will investigate and elucidate the origin of these differences throughout this work.« less

Neutral kaon mixing beyond the Standard Model with n f = 2 + 1 chiral fermions. Part 2: non perturbative renormalisation of the ΔF = 2 four-quark operators

DOE PAGES

Boyle, Peter A.; Garron, Nicolas; Hudspith, Renwick J.; ...

2017-10-10

We compute the renormalisation factors (Z-matrices) of the ΔF = 2 four-quark operators needed for Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) kaon mixing. We work with nf = 2+1 flavours of Domain-Wall fermions whose chiral-flavour properties are essential to maintain a continuum-like mixing pattern. We introduce new RI-SMOM renormalisation schemes, which we argue are better behaved compared to the commonly-used corresponding RI-MOM one. We find that, once converted to MS¯, the Z-factors computed through these RI-SMOM schemes are in good agreement but differ significantly from the ones computed through the RI-MOM scheme. The RI-SMOM Z-factors presented here have been used tomore » compute the BSM neutral kaon mixing matrix elements in the companion paper. In conclusion, we argue that the renormalisation procedure is responsible for the discrepancies observed by different collaborations, we will investigate and elucidate the origin of these differences throughout this work.« less

Widespread habitat change through paludification as an interactive mechanism in mass extinction events

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klinger, L. F.

1988-01-01

The study of mass extinction events has largely focused on defining an environmental factor or factors that might account for specific patterns of faunal demise. Several hypotheses elaborate on how a given environmental factor might affect fauna directly, but differentially, causing extinction in certain taxa but not others. Yet few studies have considered specific habitat changes that might result from natural vegetation processes or from perturbations of vegetation. The role of large-scale habitat change induced by natural successional change from forest to bog (paludification) is examined and how large perturbations (e.g., volcanism, bolide impacts) might favor increased rates of paludification and consequent mass extinctions is considered. This hypothesis has an advantage over other hypotheses for mass extinctions in that modern day analogs of paludification are common throughout the world, thus allowing for considerable testing.

Lunar heat flow experiments: Science objectives and a strategy for minimizing the effects of lander-induced perturbations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiefer, Walter S.

2012-01-01

Reliable measurements of the Moon's global heat flow would serve as an important diagnostic test for models of lunar thermal evolution and would also help to constrain the Moon's bulk abundance of radioactive elements and its differentiation history. The two existing measurements of lunar heat flow are unlikely to be representative of the global heat flow. For these reasons, obtaining additional heat flow measurements has been recognized as a high priority lunar science objective. In making such measurements, it is essential that the design and deployment of the heat flow probe and of the parent spacecraft do not inadvertently modify the near-surface thermal structure of the lunar regolith and thus perturb the measured heat flow. One type of spacecraft-related perturbation is the shadow cast by the spacecraft and by thermal blankets on some instruments. The thermal effects of these shadows propagate by conduction both downward and outward from the spacecraft into the lunar regolith. Shadows cast by the spacecraft superstructure move over the surface with time and only perturb the regolith temperature in the upper 0.8 m. Permanent shadows, such as from thermal blankets covering a seismometer or other instruments, can modify the temperature to greater depth. Finite element simulations using measured values of the thermal diffusivity of lunar regolith show that the limiting factor for temperature perturbations is the need to measure the annual thermal wave for 2 or more years to measure the thermal diffusivity. The error induced by permanent spacecraft thermal shadows can be kept below 8% of the annual wave amplitude at 1 m depth if the heat flow probe is deployed at least 2.5 m away from any permanent spacecraft shadow. Deploying the heat flow probe 2 m from permanent shadows permits measuring the annual thermal wave for only one year and should be considered the science floor for a heat flow experiment on the Moon. One way to meet this separation requirement would be to deploy the heat flow and seismology experiments on opposite sides of the spacecraft. This result should be incorporated in the design of future lunar geophysics spacecraft experiments. Differences in the thermal environments of the Moon and Mars result in less restrictive separation requirements for heat flow experiments on Mars.

Effects of ageing on adaptation during vibratory stimulation of the calf and neck muscles.

PubMed

Patel, M; Fransson, P A; Magnusson, M

2009-01-01

The ability to adapt and habituate based on prior experiences is important for human movement control, fall prevention and for the ability to enhance performance during various human activities. However, little is known about the ability for the elderly to adapt to balance perturbations in the lateral direction. To determine whether adaptation, i.e., the ability to adjust postural control to handle balance perturbations better over time, differed in the elderly subjects compared with young subjects in the anteroposterior and lateral directions, and whether the site of the balance perturbation or the presence or absence of vision affected the response. Postural stability was measured as anteroposterior and lateral torque variance in a young group (n = 18 (9 female and 9 male), average age = 29.1 years) and an elderly group (n = 16 (5 female and 11 male), average age = 71.5 years) with eyes open and closed during balance perturbations from calf and neck vibrations. After a 30-s period of quiet stance, these vibrations were repeated over a period of 200 s, so the adaptive responses could be analyzed by splitting the data into 50-s periods. The adaptive responses in the anteroposterior and lateral directions were different. Adaptation in the anteroposterior direction occurred to an almost equal extent in the elderly and young, whereas adaptation in the lateral direction was markedly larger in the elderly in all tests except for neck vibration with eyes closed. Age, vision and vibration site were all influential factors for recorded body movements, but no significant combined effects were found. Balance perturbation instigates an adaptive response in the elderly in both the anteroposterior and lateral directions. However, during perturbation, age and vision are both very influential factors for the stability, thus associating the previously documented age-related decline in visual functioning with a higher risk of falls in this age range. (c) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.

BRST quantization of cosmological perturbations

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

Armendariz-Picon, Cristian; Şengör, Gizem

2016-11-08

BRST quantization is an elegant and powerful method to quantize theories with local symmetries. In this article we study the Hamiltonian BRST quantization of cosmological perturbations in a universe dominated by a scalar field, along with the closely related quantization method of Dirac. We describe how both formalisms apply to perturbations in a time-dependent background, and how expectation values of gauge-invariant operators can be calculated in the in-in formalism. Our analysis focuses mostly on the free theory. By appropriate canonical transformations we simplify and diagonalize the free Hamiltonian. BRST quantization in derivative gauges allows us to dramatically simplify the structuremore » of the propagators, whereas Dirac quantization, which amounts to quantization in synchronous gauge, dispenses with the need to introduce ghosts and preserves the locality of the gauge-fixed action.« less

PerSubs: A Graph-Based Algorithm for the Identification of Perturbed Subpathways Caused by Complex Diseases.

PubMed

Vrahatis, Aristidis G; Rapti, Angeliki; Sioutas, Spyros; Tsakalidis, Athanasios

2017-01-01

In the era of Systems Biology and growing flow of omics experimental data from high throughput techniques, experimentalists are in need of more precise pathway-based tools to unravel the inherent complexity of diseases and biological processes. Subpathway-based approaches are the emerging generation of pathway-based analysis elucidating the biological mechanisms under the perspective of local topologies onto a complex pathway network. Towards this orientation, we developed PerSub, a graph-based algorithm which detects subpathways perturbed by a complex disease. The perturbations are imprinted through differentially expressed and co-expressed subpathways as recorded by RNA-seq experiments. Our novel algorithm is applied on data obtained from a real experimental study and the identified subpathways provide biological evidence for the brain aging.

Open charm production and low x gluons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Oliveira, E. G.; Martin, A. D.; Ryskin, M. G.

2018-04-01

We compare the rapidity, y , and the beam energy, √{s } , behaviors of the cross section of the data for D meson production in the forward direction that were measured by the LHCb Collaboration. We describe the observed cross sections using NLO perturbative QCD, and choose the optimal factorization scale for the LO contribution which provides the resummation of the large double logarithms. We emphasize the inconsistency observed in the y and √{s } behaviors of the D meson cross sections. The y behavior indicates a very flat x dependence of the gluon PDF in the unexplored low x region around x ˜1 0-5 . However, to describe the √{s } dependence of the data we need a steeper gluon PDF with decreasing x . Moreover, an even steeper behavior is needed to provide an extrapolation which matches on to the well known gluons found in the global PDF analyses for x ˜1 0-3 . The possible role of nonperturbative effects is briefly discussed.

Design of high-energy high-current linac with focusing by superconducting solenoids

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

Batskikh, Guennady I.; Belugin, Vladimir M.; Bondarev, Boris I.

1995-09-15

The advancement of MRTI design for 1.5 GeV and 250 mA ion CW linac is presented in the report. In new linac version all the way from input to output the ions are focused by magnetic fields of superconducting solenoids. The ion limit current is far beyond the needed value. The linac focusing channel offers major advantages over the more conventional ones. The acceptance is 1.7 times as large for such focusing channel as for quadrupole one. Concurrently, a random perturbation sensitivity for such channel is one order of magnitude smaller than in quadrupole channel. These focusing channel features allowmore » to decrease beam matched radius and increase a linac radiation purity without aperture growth. ''Regotron'' is used as high power generator in linac main part. But D and W cavities need not be divided into sections connected by RF-bridges which denuded them of high coupling factor.« less

Design of high-energy high-current linac with focusing by superconducting solenoids

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

Batskikh, G.I.; Belugin, V.M.; Bondarev, B.I.

1995-10-01

The advancement of MRTI design for 1.5 GeV and 250 mA ion CW linac was presented in a previous report. In this new linac version all the way from input to output the ions are focused by magnetic fields of superconducting solenoids. The ion limit current is far beyond the needed value. The linac focusing channel offers major advantages over the more conventional ones. The acceptance is 1.7 times as large for such focusing channel as for quadrupole one. Concurrently, a random perturbation sensitivity for such channel is one order of magnitude smaller than in quadrupole channel. These focusing channelmore » features allow to decrease beam matched radius and increase a linac radiation purity without aperture growth. {open_quotes}Regotron{close_quotes} is used as high power generator in linac main part. But D&W cavities need not be divided into sections connected by RF-bridges which denuded them of high coupling factor.« less

Third-order perturbative lattice and complex Langevin analyses of the finite-temperature equation of state of nonrelativistic fermions in one dimension

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loheac, Andrew C.; Drut, Joaquín E.

2017-05-01

We analyze the pressure and density equations of state of unpolarized nonrelativistic fermions at finite temperature in one spatial dimension with contact interactions. For attractively interacting regimes, we perform a third-order lattice perturbation theory calculation, assess its convergence properties by comparing with hybrid Monte Carlo results (there is no sign problem in this regime), and demonstrate agreement with real Langevin calculations. For repulsive interactions, we present lattice perturbation theory results as well as complex Langevin calculations, with a modified action to prevent uncontrolled excursions in the complex plane. Although perturbation theory is a common tool, our implementation of it is unconventional; we use a Hubbard-Stratonovich transformation to decouple the system and automate the application of Wick's theorem, thus generating the diagrammatic expansion, including symmetry factors, at any desired order. We also present an efficient technique to tackle nested Matsubara frequency sums without relying on contour integration, which is independent of dimension and applies to both relativistic and nonrelativistic systems, as well as all energy-independent interactions. We find exceptional agreement between perturbative and nonperturbative results at weak couplings, and furnish predictions based on complex Langevin at strong couplings. We additionally present perturbative calculations of up to the fifth-order virial coefficient for repulsive and attractive couplings. Both the lattice perturbation theory and complex Langevin formalisms can easily be extended to a variety of situations including polarized systems, bosons, and higher dimension.

Calculation of periodic flows in a continuously stratified fluid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vasiliev, A.

2012-04-01

Analytic theory of disturbances generated by an oscillating compact source in a viscous continuously stratified fluid was constructed. Exact solution of the internal waves generation problem was constructed taking into account diffusivity effects. This analysis is based on set of fundamental equations of incompressible flows. The linearized problem of periodic flows in a continuously stratified fluid, generated by an oscillating part of the inclined plane was solved by methods of singular perturbation theory. A rectangular or disc placed on a sloping plane and oscillating linearly in an arbitrary direction was selected as a source of disturbances. The solutions include regularly perturbed on dissipative component functions describing internal waves and a family of singularly perturbed functions. One of the functions from the singular components family has an analogue in a homogeneous fluid that is a periodic or Stokes' flow. Its thickness is defined by a universal micro scale depending on kinematics viscosity coefficient and a buoyancy frequency with a factor depending on the wave slope. Other singular perturbed functions are specific for stratified flows. Their thickness are defined the diffusion coefficient, kinematic viscosity and additional factor depending on geometry of the problem. Fields of fluid density, velocity, vorticity, pressure, energy density and flux as well as forces acting on the source are calculated for different types of the sources. It is shown that most effective source of waves is the bi-piston. Complete 3D problem is transformed in various limiting cases that are into 2D problem for source in stratified or homogeneous fluid and the Stokes problem for an oscillating infinite plane. The case of the "critical" angle that is equality of the emitting surface and the wave cone slope angles needs in separate investigations. In this case, the number of singular component is saved. Patterns of velocity and density fields were constructed and analyzed by methods of computational mathematics. Singular components of the solution affect the flow pattern of the inhomogeneous stratified fluid, not only near the source of the waves, but at a large distance. Analytical calculations of the structure of wave beams are matched with laboratory experiments. Some deviations at large distances from the source are formed due to the contribution of background wave field associated with seiches in the laboratory tank. In number of the experiments vortices with closed contours were observed on some distances from the disk. The work was supported by Ministry of Education and Science RF (Goscontract No. 16.518.11.7059), experiments were performed on set up USU "HPC IPMec RAS".

Simulation-based optimization of lattice support structures for offshore wind energy converters with the simultaneous perturbation algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molde, H.; Zwick, D.; Muskulus, M.

2014-12-01

Support structures for offshore wind turbines are contributing a large part to the total project cost, and a cost saving of a few percent would have considerable impact. At present support structures are designed with simplified methods, e.g., spreadsheet analysis, before more detailed load calculations are performed. Due to the large number of loadcases only a few semimanual design iterations are typically executed. Computer-assisted optimization algorithms could help to further explore design limits and avoid unnecessary conservatism. In this study the simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation method developed by Spall in the 1990s was assessed with respect to its suitability for support structure optimization. The method depends on a few parameters and an objective function that need to be chosen carefully. In each iteration the structure is evaluated by time-domain analyses, and joint fatigue lifetimes and ultimate strength utilization are computed from stress concentration factors. A pseudo-gradient is determined from only two analysis runs and the design is adjusted in the direction that improves it the most. The algorithm is able to generate considerably improved designs, compared to other methods, in a few hundred iterations, which is demonstrated for the NOWITECH 10 MW reference turbine.

MS-2 and poliovirus transport in porous media: Hydrophobic effects and chemical perturbations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bales, Roger C.; Li, Shimin; Maguire, Kimberly M.; Yahya, Moyasar T.; Gerba, Charles P.

1993-04-01

In a series of pH 7 continuous-flow column experiments, removal of the bacteriophage MS-2 by attachment to silica beads had a strong, systematic dependence on the amount of hydrophobic surface present on the beads. With no hydrophobic surface, removal of phage at pH 5 was much greater than at pH 7. Release of attached phage at both pH values did occur, but was slow; breakthrough curves exhibited tailing. Poliovirus attached to silica beads at pH 5.5 much more than at pH 7.0, and attachment was also slowly reversible. Time scales for phage and poliovinis attachment were of the order of hours. The sticking efficiency factor (α), reflecting microscaie physicochemical influences on virus attachment, was in the range of 0.0007-0.02. Phage release was small but measurable under steady state conditions. Release was enhanced by lowering ionic strength and by introducing beef extract, a high-ionic-strength protein solution. Results show that viruses experience reversible attachment/detachment (sometimes termed sorption), that large chemical perturbations are needed to induce rapid virus detachment, and that viruses should be quite mobile in sandy porous media. Even small amounts of hydrophobic organic material in the porous media (≥0.001%) can retard virus transport.

Understanding the large-distance behavior of transverse-momentum-dependent parton densities and the Collins-Soper evolution kernel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Collins, John; Rogers, Ted

2015-04-01

There is considerable controversy about the size and importance of nonperturbative contributions to the evolution of transverse-momentum-dependent (TMD) parton distribution functions. Standard fits to relatively high-energy Drell-Yan data give evolution that when taken to lower Q is too rapid to be consistent with recent data in semi-inclusive deeply inelastic scattering. Some authors provide very different forms for TMD evolution, even arguing that nonperturbative contributions at large transverse distance bT are not needed or are irrelevant. Here, we systematically analyze the issues, both perturbative and nonperturbative. We make a motivated proposal for the parametrization of the nonperturbative part of the TMD evolution kernel that could give consistency: with the variety of apparently conflicting data, with theoretical perturbative calculations where they are applicable, and with general theoretical nonperturbative constraints on correlation functions at large distances. We propose and use a scheme- and scale-independent function A (bT) that gives a tool to compare and diagnose different proposals for TMD evolution. We also advocate for phenomenological studies of A (bT) as a probe of TMD evolution. The results are important generally for applications of TMD factorization. In particular, they are important to making predictions for proposed polarized Drell-Yan experiments to measure the Sivers function.

Experimental studies of high-confinement mode plasma response to non-axisymmetric magnetic perturbations in ASDEX Upgrade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suttrop, W.; Kirk, A.; Nazikian, R.; Leuthold, N.; Strumberger, E.; Willensdorfer, M.; Cavedon, M.; Dunne, M.; Fischer, R.; Fietz, S.; Fuchs, J. C.; Liu, Y. Q.; McDermott, R. M.; Orain, F.; Ryan, D. A.; Viezzer, E.; The ASDEX Upgrade Team; The DIII-D Team; The Eurofusion MST1 Team

2017-01-01

The interaction of externally applied small non-axisymmetric magnetic perturbations (MP) with tokamak high-confinement mode (H-mode) plasmas is reviewed and illustrated by recent experiments in ASDEX Upgrade. The plasma response to the vacuum MP field is amplified by stable ideal kink modes with low toroidal mode number n driven by the H-mode edge pressure gradient (and associated bootstrap current) which is experimentally evidenced by an observable shift of the poloidal mode number m away from field alignment (m  =  qn, with q being the safety factor) at the response maximum. A torque scan experiment demonstrates the importance of the perpendicular electron flow for shielding of the resonant magnetic perturbation, as expected from a two-fluid MHD picture. Two significant effects of MP occur in H-mode plasmas at low pedestal collisionality, ν \\text{ped}\\ast≤slant 0.4 : (a) a reduction of the global plasma density by up to 61 % and (b) a reduction of the energy loss associated with edge localised modes (ELMs) by a factor of up to 9. A comprehensive database of ELM mitigation pulses at low {ν\\ast} in ASDEX Upgrade shows that the degree of ELM mitigation correlates with the reduction of pedestal pressure which in turn is limited and defined by the onset of ELMs, i. e. a modification of the ELM stability limit by the magnetic perturbation.

A Green's function formulation of the k→ ·p→ theory in the presence of spin-orbit interaction and magnetic field: Application to the electronic structure and related properties of w-GaN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shadangi, Subrat K.; Mishra, Sambit R.; Tripathi, Gouri S.

2018-01-01

We use a Green's function perturbation formalism in the presence of an applied magnetic field and spin-orbit effects in the effective mass representation (EMR). The lack of lattice translational symmetry of the vector potential in the presence of the magnetic field is considered by redefining the Green's function in terms of the Peierls' phase factor. The equation of motion of the Green's function as a function of a magnetic wave vector was solved using perturbation theory, leading to expressions for the effective mass and the g-factor. We study the electronic structure of wurtzite GaN theoretically using the resulting k→ ·π→ method, where k→ is the electronic wave vector and π→ is the relativistic momentum operator by considering the conduction band edge and three valence bands. The k→ ·π→ Hamiltonians for the conduction band edge and the valence bands are diagonalized, considering the conduction band and one valence band at a time. We obtain electron and hole dispersions. Effects of other bands are considered by using perturbation theory. Resulting dispersions agree with the results of other calculations. In order to study the effective mass and the g-factor, we use the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions obtained after the diagonalization. Our results for the effective masses and the g-factors agree fairly well with available theoretical and experimental results, Temperature dependence of both the electronic effective mass and g-factor is studied and trends obtained agree with the existing experimental data.

Ionization chamber-based reference dosimetry of intensity modulated radiation beams.

PubMed

Bouchard, Hugo; Seuntjens, Jan

2004-09-01

The present paper addresses reference dose measurements using thimble ionization chambers for quality assurance in IMRT fields. In these radiation fields, detector fluence perturbation effects invalidate the application of open-field dosimetry protocol data for the derivation of absorbed dose to water from ionization chamber measurements. We define a correction factor C(Q)IMRT to correct the absorbed dose to water calibration coefficient N(D, w)Q for fluence perturbation effects in individual segments of an IMRT delivery and developed a calculation method to evaluate the factor. The method consists of precalculating, using accurate Monte Carlo techniques, ionization chamber, type-dependent cavity air dose, and in-phantom dose to water at the reference point for zero-width pencil beams as a function of position of the pencil beams impinging on the phantom surface. These precalculated kernels are convolved with the IMRT fluence distribution to arrive at the dose-to-water-dose-to-cavity air ratio [D(a)w (IMRT)] for IMRT fields and with a 10x10 cm2 open-field fluence to arrive at the same ratio D(a)w (Q) for the 10x10 cm2 reference field. The correction factor C(Q)IMRT is then calculated as the ratio of D(a)w (IMRT) and D(a)w (Q). The calculation method was experimentally validated and the magnitude of chamber correction factors in reference dose measurements in single static and dynamic IMRT fields was studied. The results show that, for thimble-type ionization chambers the correction factor in a single, realistic dynamic IMRT field can be of the order of 10% or more. We therefore propose that for accurate reference dosimetry of complete n-beam IMRT deliveries, ionization chamber fluence perturbation correction factors must explicitly be taken into account.

Effect of long-term successive storm flows on water reclamation plant resilience.

PubMed

Zhu, Jun-Jie; Anderson, Paul R

2017-03-15

A water reclamation plant (WRP) needs to be resilient to successfully operate through different kinds of perturbations. Perturbations such as storm events, especially long-term successive storm flows, can adversely affect operations. A better understanding of these effects can provide benefits for plant operation, in terms of effluent quality and energy efficiency. However, the concept of resilience for a WRP has not been widely studied, and we are not aware of any studies specifically related to storm flows. In this work we applied measures of resistance and recovery time to quantify resilience, and used a WRP simulation model to investigate how different storm flow characteristics (flowrate and duration) and the amount of aeration influence resilience. Not surprisingly, increasing storm flowrate leads to decreasing resilience. Although the aeration rate plays an important role in determining resilience, there is an aeration threshold (6 m 3 /s for our WRP model); higher aeration rates do not increase resilience. Results suggest that aeration costs could be reduced by as much as 50% while still maintaining the resilience needed to meet effluent quality permit requirements through the perturbations examined in this study. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Scalar perturbations of Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld braneworld

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Ke; Liu, Yu-Xiao; Guo, Bin; Du, Xiao-Long

2017-09-01

We consider the scalar perturbations of Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld braneworld models in this paper. The dynamical equation for the physical propagating degree of freedom ξ (xμ,y ) is achieved by using the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner decomposition method: F1(y )∂y2ξ +F2(y )∂yξ +∂μ∂μ ξ =0 . We conclude that the solution is tachyonic-free and stable under scalar perturbations for F1(y )>0 but unstable for F1(y )<0 . The stability of a known analytic domain wall solution with the warp factor given by a (y )=sech3/4 p(k y ) is analyzed and it is shown that only the solution for 0

Approximate methods for the fast computation of EPR and ST-EPR spectra. V. Application of the perturbation approach to the problem of anisotropic motion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robinson, B. H.; Dalton, L. R.

1981-01-01

The modulation perturbation treatment of Galloway and Dalton is applied to the solution of the stochastic Liouville equation for the spin density matrix which incorporates an anisotropic rotational diffusion operator. Pseudosecular and saturation terms of the spin hamiltonian are explicitly considered as is the interaction of the electron spins with the applied Zeeman modulation field. The modulation perturbation treatment results in a factor of four improvement in computational speed relative to inversion of the full supermatrix with little or no loss of computational accuracy. The theoretical simulations of EPR and ST-EPR spectra are in nearly quantitative agreement with experimental spectra taken under high resolution conditions.

Modelling gamma-ray light curves of phase-aligned millisecond pulsars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Shan; Zhang, Li; Li, Xiang; Jiang, Zejun

2018-04-01

Three gamma-ray millisecond pulsars (MSPs), PSR J1939+2134, PSR J1959+2048, and PSR J0034-0534, have been confirmed to have a common feature of phase-aligned in radio and gamma-ray bands. With a geometric (two-pole caustic) model and a physical outer gap model (revised 3D outer gap model) in a three dimensional (3D) retarded magnetic dipole with a perturbation magnetic field, the observed features of these MSPs are studied. In order to obtained the best-fitting model parameters, the Markov chain Monte Carlo technique is used and reasonable GeV band light curves for three MSPs are given. Our calculations indicate that MSPs emit high energy photons with smaller inclination angles (α ≈ 10°-50°), larger view angles (ζ ≈ 65°-100°), and smaller perturbation factor (ɛ ≈ -0.15-0.1). Note that the factor ɛ, describing the strength of the perturbed magnetic field, is all less than zero in these two models, so the magnetic field caused by current-induced play a leading role in the pulsed location of MSPs.

LEM-3 is a midbody-tethered DNA nuclease that resolves chromatin bridges during late mitosis.

PubMed

Hong, Ye; Sonneville, Remi; Wang, Bin; Scheidt, Viktor; Meier, Bettina; Woglar, Alexander; Demetriou, Sarah; Labib, Karim; Jantsch, Verena; Gartner, Anton

2018-02-20

Faithful chromosome segregation and genome maintenance requires the removal of all DNA bridges that physically link chromosomes before cells divide. Using C. elegans embryos we show that the LEM-3/Ankle1 nuclease defines a previously undescribed genome integrity mechanism by processing DNA bridges right before cells divide. LEM-3 acts at the midbody, the structure where abscission occurs at the end of cytokinesis. LEM-3 localization depends on factors needed for midbody assembly, and LEM-3 accumulation is increased and prolonged when chromatin bridges are trapped at the cleavage plane. LEM-3 locally processes chromatin bridges that arise from incomplete DNA replication, unresolved recombination intermediates, or the perturbance of chromosome structure. Proper LEM-3 midbody localization and function is regulated by AIR-2/Aurora B kinase. Strikingly, LEM-3 acts cooperatively with the BRC-1/BRCA1 homologous recombination factor to promote genome integrity. These findings provide a molecular basis for the suspected role of the LEM-3 orthologue Ankle1 in human breast cancer.

From star-disc encounters to numerical solutions for a subset of the restricted three-body problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Breslau, Andreas; Vincke, Kirsten; Pfalzner, Susanne

2017-03-01

Various astrophysical processes exist, where the fly-by of a massive object affects matter that is initially supported against gravity by rotation. Examples are perturbations of galaxies, protoplanetary discs, or planetary systems. We approximate such events as a subset of the restricted three-body problem by considering only perturbations of non-interacting low-mass objects that are initially on circular Keplerian orbits. In this paper, we present a new parametrisation of the initial conditions of this problem. Under certain conditions, the initial positions of the low-mass objects can be specified as being largely independent of the initial position of the perturber. In addition, exploiting the known scalings of the problem reduces the parameter space of initial conditions for one specific perturbation to two dimensions. To this two-dimensional initial condition space, we have related the final properties of the perturbed trajectories of the low-mass objects from our numerical simulations. In this way, maps showing the effect of the perturbation on the low-mass objects were created, which provide a new view on the perturbation process. Comparing the maps for different mass-ratios reveals that the perturbations by low- and high-mass perturbers are dominated by different physical processes. The equal-mass case is a complicated mixture of the other two cases. Since the final properties of trajectories with similar initial conditions are also usually similar, the results of the limited number of integrated trajectories can be generalised to the full presented parameter space by interpolation. Since our results are also unique within the accuracy strived for, they constitute general numerical solutions for this subset of the restricted three-body problem. As such, they can be used to predict the evolution of real physical problems by simple transformations, such as scaling, without further simulations. Possible applications are the perturbation of protoplanetary discs or planetary systems by the fly-by of another star. Here, the maps enable us, for example, to quantify the portion of unbound material for any periastron distance without the need for further simulations.

Singlet vs Nonsinglet Perturbative Renormalization factors of Staggered Fermion Bilinears

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Panagopoulos, Haralambos; Spanoudes, Gregoris

2018-03-01

In this paper we present the perturbative computation of the difference between the renormalization factors of flavor singlet (Σfψ¯fΓψf', f : flavor index) and nonsinglet (ψ¯f1Γψf2,f1 ≠ f2) bilinear quark operators (where Γ = 𝟙, γ5, γ µ, γ5 γ µ, γ5 σµv on the lattice. The computation is performed to two loops and to lowest order in the lattice spacing, using Symanzik improved gluons and staggered fermions with twice stout-smeared links. The stout smearing procedure is also applied to the definition of bilinear operators. A significant part of this work is the development of a method for treating some new peculiar divergent integrals stemming from the staggered formalism. Our results can be combined with precise simulation results for the renormalization factors of the nonsinglet operators, in order to obtain an estimate of the renormalization factors for the singlet operators. The results have been published in Physical Review D [1].

Dynamic Considerations for Control of Closed Life Support Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Babcock, P. S.; Auslander, D. M.; Spear, R. C.

1985-01-01

Reliability of closed life support systems depend on their ability to continue supplying the crew's needs during perturbations and equipment failures. The dynamic considerations interact with the basic static design through the sizing of storages, the specification of excess capacities in processors, and the choice of system initial state. A very simple system flow model was used to examine the possibilities for system failures even when there is sufficient storage to buffer the immediate effects of the perturbation. Two control schemes are shown which have different dynamic consequences in response to component failures.

Short-term collisional evolution of a disc perturbed by a giant-planet embryo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Charnoz, S.; Thébault, P.; Brahic, A.

2001-07-01

A simple numerical model has been developed to study the evolution of a disc of planetesimals under mutual inelastic collisions in the potential field of a central body and of an embedded giant-planet embryo. Masses for the latter range from 0.5 to 300 Earth masses. A mass of 15 Moplus is typical of the solid-core model for the formation of giant planets. The initially cold disc consists of a few thousand particles. Those initially present between one and three Hill radii from the perturber's orbit are transferred to very eccentric orbits causing violent collisions throughout the disc. The perturbation propagates far from the perturber, like a heat transfer: a 15 Moplus perturber orbiting at 5.2 a.u. heats up the disc from 2.3 to at least 11 a.u. from the central body in a few 105 to 106 years. Relative velocities are typically increased by a factor of 10 to 100. The extent of the heated region increases with the protoplanet's mass while the propagation timescale decreases. The resulting radial mixing has potential applications for the origin of the Asteroid Belt, in particular for the radial distribution of the asteroid's spectroscopic families.

ProteinAC: a frequency domain technique for analyzing protein dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bozkurt Varolgunes, Yasemin; Demir, Alper

2018-03-01

It is widely believed that the interactions of proteins with ligands and other proteins are determined by their dynamic characteristics as opposed to only static, time-invariant processes. We propose a novel computational technique, called ProteinAC (PAC), that can be used to analyze small scale functional protein motions as well as interactions with ligands directly in the frequency domain. PAC was inspired by a frequency domain analysis technique that is widely used in electronic circuit design, and can be applied to both coarse-grained and all-atom models. It can be considered as a generalization of previously proposed static perturbation-response methods, where the frequency of the perturbation becomes the key. We discuss the precise relationship of PAC to static perturbation-response schemes. We show that the frequency of the perturbation may be an important factor in protein dynamics. Perturbations at different frequencies may result in completely different response behavior while magnitude and direction are kept constant. Furthermore, we introduce several novel frequency dependent metrics that can be computed via PAC in order to characterize response behavior. We present results for the ferric binding protein that demonstrate the potential utility of the proposed techniques.

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

Wright, Bill S.; Winther, Hans A.; Koyama, Kazuya, E-mail: bill.wright@port.ac.uk, E-mail: hans.winther@port.ac.uk, E-mail: kazuya.koyama@port.ac.uk

The effect of massive neutrinos on the growth of cold dark matter perturbations acts as a scale-dependent Newton's constant and leads to scale-dependent growth factors just as we often find in models of gravity beyond General Relativity. We show how to compute growth factors for ΛCDM and general modified gravity cosmologies combined with massive neutrinos in Lagrangian perturbation theory for use in COLA and extensions thereof. We implement this together with the grid-based massive neutrino method of Brandbyge and Hannestad in MG-PICOLA and compare COLA simulations to full N -body simulations of ΛCDM and f ( R ) gravity withmore » massive neutrinos. Our implementation is computationally cheap if the underlying cosmology already has scale-dependent growth factors and it is shown to be able to produce results that match N -body to percent level accuracy for both the total and CDM matter power-spectra up to k ∼< 1 h /Mpc.« less

Quasi-two-body decays B → Kρ → Kππ in perturbative QCD approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Wen-Fei; Li, Hsiang-nan

2016-12-01

We analyze the quasi-two-body decays B → Kρ → Kππ in the perturbative QCD (PQCD) approach, in which final-state interactions between the pions in the resonant regions associated with the P-wave states ρ (770) and ρ‧ (1450) are factorized into two-pion distribution amplitudes. Adopting experimental inputs for the time-like pion form factors involved in two-pion distribution amplitudes, we calculate branching ratios and direct CP asymmetries of the B → Kρ (770) , Kρ‧ (1450) → Kππ modes. It is shown that agreement of theoretical results with data can be achieved, through which Gegenbauer moments of the P-wave two-pion distribution amplitudes are determined. The consistency between the three-body and two-body analyses of the B → Kρ (770) → Kππ decays supports the PQCD factorization framework for exclusive hadronic B meson decays.

COLA with massive neutrinos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wright, Bill S.; Winther, Hans A.; Koyama, Kazuya

2017-10-01

The effect of massive neutrinos on the growth of cold dark matter perturbations acts as a scale-dependent Newton's constant and leads to scale-dependent growth factors just as we often find in models of gravity beyond General Relativity. We show how to compute growth factors for ΛCDM and general modified gravity cosmologies combined with massive neutrinos in Lagrangian perturbation theory for use in COLA and extensions thereof. We implement this together with the grid-based massive neutrino method of Brandbyge and Hannestad in MG-PICOLA and compare COLA simulations to full N-body simulations of ΛCDM and f(R) gravity with massive neutrinos. Our implementation is computationally cheap if the underlying cosmology already has scale-dependent growth factors and it is shown to be able to produce results that match N-body to percent level accuracy for both the total and CDM matter power-spectra up to klesssim 1 h/Mpc.

Substructure Versus Property-Level Dispersed Modes Calculation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stewart, Eric C.; Peck, Jeff A.; Bush, T. Jason; Fulcher, Clay W.

2016-01-01

This paper calculates the effect of perturbed finite element mass and stiffness values on the eigenvectors and eigenvalues of the finite element model. The structure is perturbed in two ways: at the "subelement" level and at the material property level. In the subelement eigenvalue uncertainty analysis the mass and stiffness of each subelement is perturbed by a factor before being assembled into the global matrices. In the property-level eigenvalue uncertainty analysis all material density and stiffness parameters of the structure are perturbed modified prior to the eigenvalue analysis. The eigenvalue and eigenvector dispersions of each analysis (subelement and property-level) are also calculated using an analytical sensitivity approximation. Two structural models are used to compare these methods: a cantilevered beam model, and a model of the Space Launch System. For each structural model it is shown how well the analytical sensitivity modes approximate the exact modes when the uncertainties are applied at the subelement level and at the property level.

Improved perturbative QCD formalism for Bc meson decays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Xin; Li, Hsiang-nan; Xiao, Zhen-Jun

2018-06-01

We derive the kT resummation for doubly heavy-flavored Bc meson decays by including the charm quark mass effect into the known formula for a heavy-light system. The resultant Sudakov factor is employed in the perutrbative QCD study of the "golden channel" Bc+→J /ψ π+. With a reasonable model for the Bc meson distribution amplitude, which maintains approximate on-shell conditions of both the partonic bottom and charm quarks, it is observed that the imaginary piece of the Bc→J /ψ transition form factor appears to be power suppressed, and the Bc+→J /ψ π+ branching ratio is not lower than 10-3. The above improved perturbative QCD formalism is applicable to Bc meson decays to other charmonia and charmed mesons.

Heavy Quark Effective Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manohar, A. V.

2003-02-01

These lecture notes present some of the basic ideas of heavy quark effective theory. The topics covered include the classification of states, the derivation of the HQET Lagrangian at tree level, hadron masses, meson form factors, Luke's theorem, reparameterization invariance and inclusive decays. Radiative corrections are discussed in some detail, including an explicit computation of a matching correction for HQET. Borel summability, renormalons, and their connection with the QCD perturbation series is covered, as well as the use of the upsilon expansion to improve the convergence of the perturbation series.

The butterfly effect: parasite diversity, environment, and emerging disease in aquatic wildlife.

PubMed

Adlard, Robert D; Miller, Terrence L; Smit, Nico J

2015-04-01

Aquatic wildlife is increasingly subjected to emerging diseases often due to perturbations of the existing dynamic balance between hosts and their parasites. Accelerating changes in environmental factors, together with anthropogenic translocation of hosts and parasites, act synergistically to produce hard-to-predict disease outcomes in freshwater and marine systems. These outcomes are further complicated by the intimate links between diseases in wildlife and diseases in humans and domestic animals. Here, we explore the interactions of parasites in aquatic wildlife in terms of their biodiversity, their response to environmental change, their emerging diseases, and the contribution of humans and domestic animals to parasitic disease outcomes. This work highlights the clear need for interdisciplinary approaches to ameliorate disease impacts in aquatic wildlife systems. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Discrete sudden perturbation theory for inelastic scattering. I. Quantum and semiclassical treatment

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

Cross, R.J.

1985-12-01

A double perturbation theory is constructed to treat rotationally and vibrationally inelastic scattering. It uses both the elastic scattering from the spherically averaged potential and the infinite-order sudden (IOS) approximation as the unperturbed solutions. First, a standard perturbation expansion is done to express the radial wave functions in terms of the elastic wave functions. The resulting coupled equations are transformed to the discrete-variable representation where the IOS equations are diagonal. Then, the IOS solutions are removed from the equations which are solved by an exponential perturbation approximation. The results for Ar+N/sub 2/ are very much more accurate than the IOSmore » and somewhat more accurate than a straight first-order exponential perturbation theory. The theory is then converted into a semiclassical, time-dependent form by using the WKB approximation. The result is an integral of the potential times a slowly oscillating factor over the classical trajectory. A method of interpolating the result is given so that the calculation is done at the average velocity for a given transition. With this procedure, the semiclassical version of the theory is more accurate than the quantum version and very much faster. Calculations on Ar+N/sub 2/ show the theory to be much more accurate than the infinite-order sudden (IOS) approximation and the exponential time-dependent perturbation theory.« less

The pattern of parallel edge plasma flows due to pressure gradients, recycling, and resonant magnetic perturbations in DIII-D

DOE PAGES

Frerichs, H.; Schmitz, Oliver; Evans, Todd; ...

2015-07-13

High resolution plasma transport simulations with the EMC3-EIRENE code have been performed to address the parallel plasma flow structure in the boundary of a poloidal divertor configuration with non-axisymmetric perturbations at DIII-D. Simulation results show that a checkerboard pattern of flows with alternating direction is generated inside the separatrix. This pattern is aligned with the position of the main resonances (i.e. where the safety factor is equal to rational values q = m/n for a perturbation field with base mode number n): m pairs of alternating forward and backward flow channel exist for each resonance. The poloidal oscillations are alignedmore » with the subharmonic Melnikov function, which indicates that the plasma flow is generated by parallel pressure gradients along perturbed field lines. Lastly, an additional scrape-off layer-like domain is introduced by the perturbed separatrix which guides field lines from the interior to the divertor targets, resulting in an enhanced outward flow that is consistent with the experimentally observed particle pump-out effect. However, while the lobe structure of the perturbed separatrix is very well reflected in the temperature profile, the same lobes can appear to be smaller in the flow profile due to a competition between high upstream pressure and downstream particle sources driving flows in opposite directions.« less

Fast higher-order MR image reconstruction using singular-vector separation.

PubMed

Wilm, Bertram J; Barmet, Christoph; Pruessmann, Klaas P

2012-07-01

Medical resonance imaging (MRI) conventionally relies on spatially linear gradient fields for image encoding. However, in practice various sources of nonlinear fields can perturb the encoding process and give rise to artifacts unless they are suitably addressed at the reconstruction level. Accounting for field perturbations that are neither linear in space nor constant over time, i.e., dynamic higher-order fields, is particularly challenging. It was previously shown to be feasible with conjugate-gradient iteration. However, so far this approach has been relatively slow due to the need to carry out explicit matrix-vector multiplications in each cycle. In this work, it is proposed to accelerate higher-order reconstruction by expanding the encoding matrix such that fast Fourier transform can be employed for more efficient matrix-vector computation. The underlying principle is to represent the perturbing terms as sums of separable functions of space and time. Compact representations with this property are found by singular-vector analysis of the perturbing matrix. Guidelines for balancing the accuracy and speed of the resulting algorithm are derived by error propagation analysis. The proposed technique is demonstrated for the case of higher-order field perturbations due to eddy currents caused by diffusion weighting. In this example, image reconstruction was accelerated by two orders of magnitude.

Nonlinear ideal magnetohydrodynamics instabilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pfirsch, D.; Sudan, R. N.

1993-07-01

Explosive phenomena such as internal disruptions in toroidal discharges and solar flares are difficult to explain in terms of linear instabilities. A plasma approaching a linear stability limit can, however, become nonlinearly and explosively unstable, with noninfinitesimal perturbations even before the marginal state is reached. For such investigations, a nonlinear extension of the usual MHD (magnetohydrodynamic) energy principle is helpful. (This was obtained by Merkel and Schlüter, Sitzungsberichted. Bayer. Akad. Wiss., Munich, 1976, No. 7, for Cartesian coordinate systems.) A coordinate system independent Eulerian formulation for the Lagrangian allowing for equilibria with flow and with built-in conservation laws for mass, magnetic flux, and entropy is developed in this paper which is similar to Newcomb's Lagrangian method of 1962 [Nucl. Fusion, Suppl., Pt. II, 452 (1962)]. For static equilibria nonlinear stability is completely determined by the potential energy. For a potential energy which contains second- and nth order or some more general contributions only, it is shown in full generality that linearly unstable and marginally stable systems are explosively unstable even for infinitesimal perturbations; linearly absolutely stable systems require finite initial perturbations. For equilibria with Abelian symmetries symmetry breaking initial perturbations are needed, which should be observed in numerical simulations. Nonlinear stability is proved for two simple examples, m=0 perturbations of a Bennet Z-pinch and z-independent perturbations of a θ pinch. The algebra for treating these cases reduces considerably if symmetries are taken into account from the outset, as suggested by M. N. Rosenbluth (private communication, 1992).

Protecting count queries in study design

PubMed Central

Sarwate, Anand D; Boxwala, Aziz A

2012-01-01

Objective Today's clinical research institutions provide tools for researchers to query their data warehouses for counts of patients. To protect patient privacy, counts are perturbed before reporting; this compromises their utility for increased privacy. The goal of this study is to extend current query answer systems to guarantee a quantifiable level of privacy and allow users to tailor perturbations to maximize the usefulness according to their needs. Methods A perturbation mechanism was designed in which users are given options with respect to scale and direction of the perturbation. The mechanism translates the true count, user preferences, and a privacy level within administrator-specified bounds into a probability distribution from which the perturbed count is drawn. Results Users can significantly impact the scale and direction of the count perturbation and can receive more accurate final cohort estimates. Strong and semantically meaningful differential privacy is guaranteed, providing for a unified privacy accounting system that can support role-based trust levels. This study provides an open source web-enabled tool to investigate visually and numerically the interaction between system parameters, including required privacy level and user preference settings. Conclusions Quantifying privacy allows system administrators to provide users with a privacy budget and to monitor its expenditure, enabling users to control the inevitable loss of utility. While current measures of privacy are conservative, this system can take advantage of future advances in privacy measurement. The system provides new ways of trading off privacy and utility that are not provided in current study design systems. PMID:22511018

Protecting count queries in study design.

PubMed

Vinterbo, Staal A; Sarwate, Anand D; Boxwala, Aziz A

2012-01-01

Today's clinical research institutions provide tools for researchers to query their data warehouses for counts of patients. To protect patient privacy, counts are perturbed before reporting; this compromises their utility for increased privacy. The goal of this study is to extend current query answer systems to guarantee a quantifiable level of privacy and allow users to tailor perturbations to maximize the usefulness according to their needs. A perturbation mechanism was designed in which users are given options with respect to scale and direction of the perturbation. The mechanism translates the true count, user preferences, and a privacy level within administrator-specified bounds into a probability distribution from which the perturbed count is drawn. Users can significantly impact the scale and direction of the count perturbation and can receive more accurate final cohort estimates. Strong and semantically meaningful differential privacy is guaranteed, providing for a unified privacy accounting system that can support role-based trust levels. This study provides an open source web-enabled tool to investigate visually and numerically the interaction between system parameters, including required privacy level and user preference settings. Quantifying privacy allows system administrators to provide users with a privacy budget and to monitor its expenditure, enabling users to control the inevitable loss of utility. While current measures of privacy are conservative, this system can take advantage of future advances in privacy measurement. The system provides new ways of trading off privacy and utility that are not provided in current study design systems.

Mission analysis data for inclined geosynchronous orbits, part 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Graf, O. F., Jr.; Wang, K. C.

1980-01-01

Data needed for preliminary design of inclined geosynchronous missions are provided. The inertial and Earth fixed coordinate systems are described, as well as orbit parameters and elements. The complete family of geosynchronous orbits is discussed. It is shown that circular inclined geosynchronous orbits comprise only one set in this family. The major orbit perturbation and their separate effects on the geosynchronous orbit are discussed. Detailed information on the orbit perturbation of inclined circular geosynchronous orbits is given, with emphasis on time history data of certain orbital elements. Orbit maintenance delta velocity (V) requirements to counteract the major orbit perturbations are determined in order to provide order of magnitude estimates and to show the effects of orbit inclination on delta V. Some of the considerations in mission design for a multisatellite system, such as a halo orbit constellation, are discussed.

Playing a 3-Stringed Violin: Innovation via the Joint Evolution of People, Process, and Knowledge Management System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cooper, Lynne P.

2010-01-01

Users continuously evaluate the value and performance of their Knowledge Management Systems (KMS). As suggested by a punctuated socio-technical system process model, today's success can quickly become tomorrow's failure should the KMS fail to meet evolving needs and expectations. The more deeply a tool is embedded in the actual work process, the more vulnerable it is to emergent changes and perturbations. This paper uses the metaphor of a "3-stringed violin" to explore how differing levels of user knowledge about tools and processes can lead to system perturbations and how the active involvement of other actors can dampen the impact of perturbations, i.e., help the system survive the operational equivalent of a broken string. Recommendations suggest ways to increase system resiliency and contribute to incremental innovation.

Using the MCNP Taylor series perturbation feature (efficiently) for shielding problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Favorite, Jeffrey

2017-09-01

The Taylor series or differential operator perturbation method, implemented in MCNP and invoked using the PERT card, can be used for efficient parameter studies in shielding problems. This paper shows how only two PERT cards are needed to generate an entire parameter study, including statistical uncertainty estimates (an additional three PERT cards can be used to give exact statistical uncertainties). One realistic example problem involves a detailed helium-3 neutron detector model and its efficiency as a function of the density of its high-density polyethylene moderator. The MCNP differential operator perturbation capability is extremely accurate for this problem. A second problem involves the density of the polyethylene reflector of the BeRP ball and is an example of first-order sensitivity analysis using the PERT capability. A third problem is an analytic verification of the PERT capability.

Completion of the universal I-Love-Q relations in compact stars including the mass

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reina, Borja; Sanchis-Gual, Nicolas; Vera, Raül; Font, José A.

2017-09-01

In a recent paper, we applied a rigorous perturbed matching framework to show the amendment of the mass of rotating stars in Hartle's model. Here, we apply this framework to the tidal problem in binary systems. Our approach fully accounts for the correction to the Love numbers needed to obtain the universal I-Love-Q relations. We compute the corrected mass versus radius configurations of rotating quark stars, revisiting a classical paper on the subject. These corrections allow us to find a universal relation involving the second-order contribution to the mass δM. We thus complete the set of universal relations for the tidal problem in binary systems, involving four perturbation parameters, namely I, Love, Q and δM. These relations can be used to obtain the perturbation parameters directly from observational data.

Bethe/Gauge correspondence in odd dimension: modular double, non-perturbative corrections and open topological strings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sciarappa, Antonio

2016-10-01

Bethe/Gauge correspondence as it is usually stated is ill-defined in five dimensions and needs a "non-perturbative" completion; a related problem also appears in three dimensions. It has been suggested that this problem, probably due to incompleteness of Omega background regularization in odd dimension, may be solved if we consider gauge theory on compact S 5 and S 3 geometries. We will develop this idea further by giving a full Bethe/Gauge correspondence dictionary on S 5 and S 3 focussing mainly on the eigenfunctions of (open and closed) relativistic 2-particle Toda chain and its quantized spectral curve: these are most properly written in terms of non-perturbatively completed NS open topological strings. A key ingredient is Faddeev's modular double structure which is naturally implemented by the S 5 and S 3 geometries.

Out-of-equilibrium dynamics driven by localized time-dependent perturbations at quantum phase transitions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pelissetto, Andrea; Rossini, Davide; Vicari, Ettore

2018-03-01

We investigate the quantum dynamics of many-body systems subject to local (i.e., restricted to a limited space region) time-dependent perturbations. If the system crosses a quantum phase transition, an off-equilibrium behavior is observed, even for a very slow driving. We show that, close to the transition, time-dependent quantities obey scaling laws. In first-order transitions, the scaling behavior is universal, and some scaling functions can be computed exactly. For continuous transitions, the scaling laws are controlled by the standard critical exponents and by the renormalization-group dimension of the perturbation at the transition. Our protocol can be implemented in existing relatively small quantum simulators, paving the way for a quantitative probe of the universal off-equilibrium scaling behavior, without the need to manipulate systems close to the thermodynamic limit.

Size consistent formulations of the perturb-then-diagonalize Møller-Plesset perturbation theory correction to non-orthogonal configuration interaction

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

Yost, Shane R.; Head-Gordon, Martin, E-mail: mhg@cchem.berkeley.edu; Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720

2016-08-07

In this paper we introduce two size consistent forms of the non-orthogonal configuration interaction with second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory method, NOCI-MP2. We show that the original NOCI-MP2 formulation [S. R. Yost, T. Kowalczyk, and T. VanVoorh, J. Chem. Phys. 193, 174104 (2013)], which is a perturb-then-diagonalize multi-reference method, is not size consistent. We also show that this causes significant errors in large systems like the linear acenes. By contrast, the size consistent versions of the method give satisfactory results for singlet and triplet excited states when compared to other multi-reference methods that include dynamic correlation. For NOCI-MP2 however, the numbermore » of required determinants to yield similar levels of accuracy is significantly smaller. These results show the promise of the NOCI-MP2 method, though work still needs to be done in creating a more consistent black-box approach to computing the determinants that comprise the many-electron NOCI basis.« less

Perturbation Experiments: Approaches for Metabolic Pathway Analysis in Bioreactors.

PubMed

Weiner, Michael; Tröndle, Julia; Albermann, Christoph; Sprenger, Georg A; Weuster-Botz, Dirk

2016-01-01

In the last decades, targeted metabolic engineering of microbial cells has become one of the major tools in bioprocess design and optimization. For successful application, a detailed knowledge is necessary about the relevant metabolic pathways and their regulation inside the cells. Since in vitro experiments cannot display process conditions and behavior properly, process data about the cells' metabolic state have to be collected in vivo. For this purpose, special techniques and methods are necessary. Therefore, most techniques enabling in vivo characterization of metabolic pathways rely on perturbation experiments, which can be divided into dynamic and steady-state approaches. To avoid any process disturbance, approaches which enable perturbation of cell metabolism in parallel to the continuing production process are reasonable. Furthermore, the fast dynamics of microbial production processes amplifies the need of parallelized data generation. These points motivate the development of a parallelized approach for multiple metabolic perturbation experiments outside the operating production reactor. An appropriate approach for in vivo characterization of metabolic pathways is presented and applied exemplarily to a microbial L-phenylalanine production process on a 15 L-scale.

Multimodal Preception and Multicriterion Control of Nested Systems. 3; A Functional Visual Assessment Test for Human Health Maintenance and Countermeasure Evaluation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Riccio, Gary E.; McDonald, P. Vernon; Bloomberg, Jacob

1999-01-01

Our theoretical and empirical research on the whole-body coordination during locomotion led to a Phase 1 SBIR grant from NASA JSC. The purpose of the SBIR grant was to design an innovative system for evaluating eye-head-trunk coordination during whole-body perturbations that are characteristic of locomotion. The approach we used to satisfy the Phase 1 objectives was based on a structured methodology for the development of human-systems technology. Accordingly the project was broken down into a number of tasks and subtasks. In sequence, the major tasks were: (1) identify needs for functional assessment of visual acuity under conditions involving whole-body perturbation within the NASA Space Medical Monitoring and Countermeasures (SMMaC) program and in other related markets; (2) analyze the needs into the causes and symptoms of impaired visual acuity under conditions involving whole-body perturbation; (3) translate the analyzed needs into technology requirements for the Functional Visual Assessment Test (FVAT); (4) identify candidate technology solutions and implementations of FVAT; and (5) prioritize and select technology solutions. The work conducted in these tasks is described in this final volume of the series on Multimodal Perception and Multicriterion Control of Nested Systems. While prior volumes (1 and 2) in the series focus on theoretical foundations and novel data-analytic techniques, this volume addresses technology that is necessary for minimally intrusive data collection and near-real-time data analysis and display.

Analytic energy gradients for the orbital-optimized third-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bozkaya, Uǧur

2013-09-01

Analytic energy gradients for the orbital-optimized third-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (OMP3) [U. Bozkaya, J. Chem. Phys. 135, 224103 (2011)], 10.1063/1.3665134 are presented. The OMP3 method is applied to problematic chemical systems with challenging electronic structures. The performance of the OMP3 method is compared with those of canonical second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2), third-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP3), coupled-cluster singles and doubles (CCSD), and coupled-cluster singles and doubles with perturbative triples [CCSD(T)] for investigating equilibrium geometries, vibrational frequencies, and open-shell reaction energies. For bond lengths, the performance of OMP3 is in between those of MP3 and CCSD. For harmonic vibrational frequencies, the OMP3 method significantly eliminates the singularities arising from the abnormal response contributions observed for MP3 in case of symmetry-breaking problems, and provides noticeably improved vibrational frequencies for open-shell molecules. For open-shell reaction energies, OMP3 exhibits a better performance than MP3 and CCSD as in case of barrier heights and radical stabilization energies. As discussed in previous studies, the OMP3 method is several times faster than CCSD in energy computations. Further, in analytic gradient computations for the CCSD method one needs to solve λ-amplitude equations, however for OMP3 one does not since λ _{ab}^{ij(1)} = t_{ij}^{ab(1)} and λ _{ab}^{ij(2)} = t_{ij}^{ab(2)}. Additionally, one needs to solve orbital Z-vector equations for CCSD, but for OMP3 orbital response contributions are zero owing to the stationary property of OMP3. Overall, for analytic gradient computations the OMP3 method is several times less expensive than CCSD (roughly ˜4-6 times). Considering the balance of computational cost and accuracy we conclude that the OMP3 method emerges as a very useful tool for the study of electronically challenging chemical systems.

Analytic energy gradients for the orbital-optimized third-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory.

PubMed

Bozkaya, Uğur

2013-09-14

Analytic energy gradients for the orbital-optimized third-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (OMP3) [U. Bozkaya, J. Chem. Phys. 135, 224103 (2011)] are presented. The OMP3 method is applied to problematic chemical systems with challenging electronic structures. The performance of the OMP3 method is compared with those of canonical second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2), third-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP3), coupled-cluster singles and doubles (CCSD), and coupled-cluster singles and doubles with perturbative triples [CCSD(T)] for investigating equilibrium geometries, vibrational frequencies, and open-shell reaction energies. For bond lengths, the performance of OMP3 is in between those of MP3 and CCSD. For harmonic vibrational frequencies, the OMP3 method significantly eliminates the singularities arising from the abnormal response contributions observed for MP3 in case of symmetry-breaking problems, and provides noticeably improved vibrational frequencies for open-shell molecules. For open-shell reaction energies, OMP3 exhibits a better performance than MP3 and CCSD as in case of barrier heights and radical stabilization energies. As discussed in previous studies, the OMP3 method is several times faster than CCSD in energy computations. Further, in analytic gradient computations for the CCSD method one needs to solve λ-amplitude equations, however for OMP3 one does not since λ(ab)(ij(1))=t(ij)(ab(1)) and λ(ab)(ij(2))=t(ij)(ab(2)). Additionally, one needs to solve orbital Z-vector equations for CCSD, but for OMP3 orbital response contributions are zero owing to the stationary property of OMP3. Overall, for analytic gradient computations the OMP3 method is several times less expensive than CCSD (roughly ~4-6 times). Considering the balance of computational cost and accuracy we conclude that the OMP3 method emerges as a very useful tool for the study of electronically challenging chemical systems.

Fidelity under isospectral perturbations: a random matrix study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leyvraz, F.; García, A.; Kohler, H.; Seligman, T. H.

2013-07-01

The set of Hamiltonians generated by all unitary transformations from a single Hamiltonian is the largest set of isospectral Hamiltonians we can form. Taking advantage of the fact that the unitary group can be generated from Hermitian matrices we can take the ones generated by the Gaussian unitary ensemble with a small parameter as small perturbations. Similarly, the transformations generated by Hermitian antisymmetric matrices from orthogonal matrices form isospectral transformations among symmetric matrices. Based on this concept we can obtain the fidelity decay of a system that decays under a random isospectral perturbation with well-defined properties regarding time-reversal invariance. If we choose the Hamiltonian itself also from a classical random matrix ensemble, then we obtain solutions in terms of form factors in the limit of large matrices.

A fast direct solver for boundary value problems on locally perturbed geometries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yabin; Gillman, Adrianna

2018-03-01

Many applications including optimal design and adaptive discretization techniques involve solving several boundary value problems on geometries that are local perturbations of an original geometry. This manuscript presents a fast direct solver for boundary value problems that are recast as boundary integral equations. The idea is to write the discretized boundary integral equation on a new geometry as a low rank update to the discretized problem on the original geometry. Using the Sherman-Morrison formula, the inverse can be expressed in terms of the inverse of the original system applied to the low rank factors and the right hand side. Numerical results illustrate for problems where perturbation is localized the fast direct solver is three times faster than building a new solver from scratch.

The Laplace transformed divide-expand-consolidate resolution of the identity second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation (DEC-LT-RIMP2) theory method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kjærgaard, Thomas

2017-01-01

The divide-expand-consolidate resolution of the identity second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation (DEC-RI-MP2) theory method introduced in Baudin et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 144, 054102 (2016)] is significantly improved by introducing the Laplace transform of the orbital energy denominator in order to construct the double amplitudes directly in the local basis. Furthermore, this paper introduces the auxiliary reduction procedure, which reduces the set of the auxiliary functions employed in the individual fragments. The resulting Laplace transformed divide-expand-consolidate resolution of the identity second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation method is applied to the insulin molecule where we obtain a factor 9.5 speedup compared to the DEC-RI-MP2 method.

Proof of factorization using background field method of QCD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nayak, Gouranga C.

2010-02-01

Factorization theorem plays the central role at high energy colliders to study standard model and beyond standard model physics. The proof of factorization theorem is given by Collins, Soper and Sterman to all orders in perturbation theory by using diagrammatic approach. One might wonder if one can obtain the proof of factorization theorem through symmetry considerations at the lagrangian level. In this paper we provide such a proof.

Proof of factorization using background field method of QCD

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

Nayak, Gouranga C.

Factorization theorem plays the central role at high energy colliders to study standard model and beyond standard model physics. The proof of factorization theorem is given by Collins, Soper and Sterman to all orders in perturbation theory by using diagrammatic approach. One might wonder if one can obtain the proof of factorization theorem through symmetry considerations at the lagrangian level. In this paper we provide such a proof.

A new ultrasonic transducer sample cell for in situ small-angle scattering experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gupta, Sudipta; Bleuel, Markus; Schneider, Gerald J.

2018-01-01

Ultrasound irradiation is a commonly used technique for nondestructive diagnostics or targeted destruction. We report on a new versatile sonication device that fits in a variety of standard sample environments for neutron and X-ray scattering instruments. A piezoelectric transducer permits measuring of the time-dependent response of the sample in situ during or after sonication. We use small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) to demonstrate the effect of a time-dependent perturbation on the structure factor of micelles formed from sodium dodecyl sulfate surfactant molecules. We observe a substantial change in the micellar structure during and after exposure to ultrasonic irradiation. We also observe a time-dependent relaxation to the equilibrium values of the unperturbed system. The strength of the perturbation of the structure factor depends systematically on the duration of sonication. The relaxation behavior can be well reproduced after multiple times of sonication. Accumulation of the recorded intensities of the different sonication cycles improves the signal-to-noise ratio and permits reaching very short relaxation times. In addition, we present SANS data for the micellar form factor on alkyl-poly (ethylene oxide) surfactant molecules irradiated by ultrasound. Due to the flexibility of our new in situ sonication device, different experiments can be performed, e.g., to explore molecular potentials in more detail by introducing a systematic time-dependent perturbation.

Drought on the North American High Plains: Modeling Effects of Vegetation, Temperature, and Rainfall Perturbations on Regional Hydrology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hein, A. E.; Condon, L. E.; Maxwell, R. M.

2017-12-01

Large scale droughts can disrupt the water supply for agriculture, municipalities and industrial use worldwide. For example, the Dustbowl drought of the 1930s severely damaged agriculture on the North American High Plains. The Dustbowl is generally attributed to three major factors: increased temperature, decreased precipitation, and a change from native grasses that might have tolerated these climate perturbations to dryland wheat farming, which did not. This study explores the individual importance of each of these factors and the feedbacks between them. Previous modeling studies have explored how the High Plains system responds to changes in precipitation or temperature, but these models often depend on simplified or lumped parameter approaches. These approaches may not fully represent all the relevant physical processes, especially those related to energy balance changes due to increased temperature. For this study, we built a high-resolution model of the High Plains using ParFlow-CLM, an integrated hydrologic model that solves both energy and water balances from the subsurface to the top of vegetation. Model inputs including geology and climate forcing, together with representative precipitation and temperature changes for a major drought were assembled from public data. Numerical experiments were run to perturb vegetation, precipitation and temperature separately, as well as a baseline scenario with no changes and a worst-case scenario with all three simultaneously. The impact of each factor on High Plains hydrology and water resources was examined by comparing soil moisture, stream flow and water table levels between the runs. The one-factor experiments were used to show which of these outputs was the most sensitive and responded most quickly to each change. The worst-case scenario revealed interactions between the three factors.

Lactulose attenuates METH-induced neurotoxicity by alleviating the impaired autophagy, stabilizing the perturbed antioxidant system and suppressing apoptosis in rat striatum.

PubMed

Xie, Xiao-Li; He, Jie-Tao; Wang, Zheng-Tao; Xiao, Huan-Qin; Zhou, Wen-Tao; Du, Si-Hao; Xue, Ye; Wang, Qi

2018-06-01

Methamphetamine (METH) is a widely abused psychostimulant. Lactulose is a non-absorbable sugar, which effectively decreases METH-induced neurotoxicity in rat. However, the exact mechanisms need further investigation. In this study, 5-week-old male Sprague Dawley rats received METH (15 mg/kg, 8 intraperitoneal injections, 12-h interval) or saline and received lactulose (5.3 g/kg, oral gavage, 12-h interval) or vehicle 2 days prior to the METH administration. Compared to the control group, in the METH alone group, cytoplasmic vacuolar degeneration in hepatocytes, higher levels of alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase and ammonia, overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and increase of superoxide dismutase activity in the blood were observed. Moreover, in rat striatum, expressions of nuclear factor erythroid 2-relatted factor-2 (Nrf2) and heme oxygenase-1 were suppressed in the nucleus, although over-expression of Nrf2 were observed in cytoplasm. Over-expressions of BECN1 and LC3-II indicated initiation of autophagy, while overproduction of p62 might suggest deficient autophagic vesicle turnover and impaired autophagy. Furthermore, accumulation of p62 cloud interact with Keap1 and then aggravate cytoplasmic accumulation of Nrf2. Consistently, over-expressions of cleaved caspase 3 and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 suggested the activation of apoptosis. The pretreatment with lactulose significantly decreased rat hepatic injury, suppressed hyperammonemia and ROS generation, alleviated the impaired autophagy in striatum, rescued the antioxidant system and repressed apoptosis. Taken together, with decreased blood ammonia, lactulose pretreatment reduced METH-induced neurotoxicity through alleviating the impaired autophagy, stabilizing the perturbed antioxidant system and suppressing apoptosis in rat striatum. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Capabilities and challenges in transferring the wavefront-based alignment approach to small aperture multi-element optical systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krappig, Reik; Schmitt, Robert

2017-02-01

Present alignment methods already have an accuracy of some microns, allowing in general the fairly precise assembly of multi element optical systems. Nevertheless, they suffer decisive drawbacks, such as the necessity of an iterative process, stepping through all optical surfaces of the system when using autocollimation telescopes. In contrast to these limitations, the wavefront based alignment offers an elegant approach to potentially reach sub-µm accuracy in the alignment within a highly efficient process, that simultaneously acquires and evaluates the best optical solution possible. However, the practical use of these capabilities in corresponding alignment devices needs to take real sensor behavior into account. This publication will especially elaborate on the influence of the sensor properties in relation to the alignment process. The first dominant requirement is a highly stable measurement, since tiny perturbations in the optical system will have an also tiny influence on the wavefront. Secondly, the lateral sampling of the measured wavefront is supposed to be as high as possible, in order to be able to extract higher order Zernike coefficients reliable. The resulting necessity of using the largest sensor area possible conflicts with the requirement to allow a certain lateral displacement of the measured spot, indicating a perturbation. A movement of the sensor with suitable stages in turn leads to additional uncertainties connected to the actuators. Further factors include the SNR-ratio of the sensor as well as multiple measurements, in order to improve data repeatability. This publication will present a procedure of dealing with these relevant influence factors. Depending on the optical system and its properties the optimal adjustment of these parameters is derived.

Revisiting the contribution of land transport and shipping emissions to tropospheric ozone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mertens, Mariano; Grewe, Volker; Rieger, Vanessa S.; Jöckel, Patrick

2018-04-01

We quantify the contribution of land transport and shipping emissions to tropospheric ozone for the first time with a chemistry-climate model including an advanced tagging method (also known as source apportionment), which considers not only the emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx, NO, and NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and volatile organic compounds (VOC) separately, but also their non-linear interaction in producing ozone. For summer conditions a contribution of land transport emissions to ground-level ozone of up to 18 % in North America and Southern Europe is estimated, which corresponds to 12 and 10 nmol mol-1, respectively. The simulation results indicate a contribution of shipping emissions to ground-level ozone during summer on the order of up to 30 % in the North Pacific Ocean (up to 12 nmol mol-1) and 20 % in the North Atlantic Ocean (12 nmol mol-1). With respect to the contribution to the tropospheric ozone burden, we quantified values of 8 and 6 % for land transport and shipping emissions, respectively. Overall, the emissions from land transport contribute around 20 % to the net ozone production near the source regions, while shipping emissions contribute up to 52 % to the net ozone production in the North Pacific Ocean. To put these estimates in the context of literature values, we review previous studies. Most of them used the perturbation approach, in which the results for two simulations, one with all emissions and one with changed emissions for the source of interest, are compared. For a better comparability with these studies, we also performed additional perturbation simulations, which allow for a consistent comparison of results using the perturbation and the tagging approach. The comparison shows that the results strongly depend on the chosen methodology (tagging or perturbation approach) and on the strength of the perturbation. A more in-depth analysis for the land transport emissions reveals that the two approaches give different results, particularly in regions with large emissions (up to a factor of 4 for Europe). Our estimates of the ozone radiative forcing due to land transport and shipping emissions are, based on the tagging method, 92 and 62 mW m-2, respectively. Compared to our best estimates, previously reported values using the perturbation approach are almost a factor of 2 lower, while previous estimates using NOx-only tagging are almost a factor of 2 larger. Overall our results highlight the importance of differentiating between the perturbation and the tagging approach, as they answer two different questions. In line with previous studies, we argue that only the tagging approach (or source apportionment approaches in general) can estimate the contribution of emissions, which is important to attribute emission sources to climate change and/or extreme ozone events. The perturbation approach, however, is important to investigate the effect of an emission change. To effectively assess mitigation options, both approaches should be combined. This combination allows us to track changes in the ozone production efficiency of emissions from sources which are not mitigated and shows how the ozone share caused by these unmitigated emission sources subsequently increases.

EVALUATING THE IMPORTANCE OF FACTORS IN ANY GIVEN ORDER OF FACTORING.

PubMed

Humphreys, L G; Tucker, L R; Dachler, P

1970-04-01

A methodology has been described and illustrated for obtaining an evaluation of the importance of the factors in a particular order of factoring that does not require faotoring beyond that order. For example, one can estimate the intercorrelations of the original measures with the perturbations of the first-order factor held constant or, the reverse, estimate the contribution to the intercorrelations of the originral measures from the first-order factors alone. Similar operations are possible at higher orders.

Correct definition of color singlet P-wave non-perturbative matrix element of heavy quarkonium production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nayak, Gouranga C.

2017-09-01

Recently we have proved factorization of infrared divergences in NRQCD S-wave heavy quarkonium production at high energy colliders at all orders in coupling constant. One of the problem which still exists in the higher order pQCD calculation of color singlet P-wave heavy quarkonium production/anihillation is the appearance of noncanceling infrared divergences due to real soft gluons exchange, although no such infrared divergences are present in the color singlet S-wave heavy quarkonium. In this paper we find that since the non-perturbative matrix element of the color singlet P-wave heavy quarkonium production contains derivative operators, the gauge links are necessary to make it gauge invariant and be consistent with the factorization of such non-canceling infrared divergences at all orders in coupling constant.

Interlaminar stresses in composite laminates: A perturbation analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hsu, P. W.; Herakovich, C. T.

1976-01-01

A general method of solution for an elastic balanced symmetric composite laminate subject to a uniaxial extension was developed based upon a perturbation analysis of a limiting free body containing an interfacial plane. The solution satisfies more physical requirements and boundary conditions than previous investigations, and predicts smooth continuous interlaminar stresses with no instabilities. It determines the finite maximum intensity for the interlaminar normal stress in all laminates, provides mathematical evidences for the singular stresses in angle-ply laminates, suggests the need for the experimental determination of an important problem parameter, and introduces a viable means for solving related problems of practical interest.

Convergent synaptic and circuit substrates underlying autism genetic risks.

PubMed

McGee, Aaron; Li, Guohui; Lu, Zhongming; Qiu, Shenfeng

2014-02-01

There has been a surge of diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) over the past decade. While large, high powered genome screening studies of children with ASD have identified numerous genetic risk factors, research efforts to understanding how each of these risk factors contributes to the development autism has met with limited success. Revealing the mechanisms by which these genetic risk factors affect brain development and predispose a child to autism requires mechanistic understanding of the neurobiological changes underlying this devastating group of developmental disorders at multifaceted molecular, cellular and system levels. It has been increasingly clear that the normal trajectory of neurodevelopment is compromised in autism, in multiple domains as much as aberrant neuronal production, growth, functional maturation, patterned connectivity, and balanced excitation and inhibition of brain networks. Many autism risk factors identified in humans have been now reconstituted in experimental mouse models to allow mechanistic interrogation of the biological role of the risk gene. Studies utilizing these mouse models have revealed that underlying the enormous heterogeneity of perturbed cellular events, mechanisms directing synaptic and circuit assembly may provide a unifying explanation for the pathophysiological changes and behavioral endophenotypes seen in autism, although synaptic perturbations are far from being the only alterations relevant for ASD. In this review, we discuss synaptic and circuit abnormalities obtained from several prevalent mouse models, particularly those reflecting syndromic forms of ASD that are caused by single gene perturbations. These compiled results reveal that ASD risk genes contribute to proper signaling of the developing gene networks that maintain synaptic and circuit homeostasis, which is fundamental to normal brain development.

Mapping Mammalian Cell-type-specific Transcriptional Regulatory Networks Using KD-CAGE and ChIP-seq Data in the TC-YIK Cell Line

PubMed Central

Lizio, Marina; Ishizu, Yuri; Itoh, Masayoshi; Lassmann, Timo; Hasegawa, Akira; Kubosaki, Atsutaka; Severin, Jessica; Kawaji, Hideya; Nakamura, Yukio; Suzuki, Harukazu; Hayashizaki, Yoshihide; Carninci, Piero; Forrest, Alistair R. R.

2015-01-01

Mammals are composed of hundreds of different cell types with specialized functions. Each of these cellular phenotypes are controlled by different combinations of transcription factors. Using a human non islet cell insulinoma cell line (TC-YIK) which expresses insulin and the majority of known pancreatic beta cell specific genes as an example, we describe a general approach to identify key cell-type-specific transcription factors (TFs) and their direct and indirect targets. By ranking all human TFs by their level of enriched expression in TC-YIK relative to a broad collection of samples (FANTOM5), we confirmed known key regulators of pancreatic function and development. Systematic siRNA mediated perturbation of these TFs followed by qRT-PCR revealed their interconnections with NEUROD1 at the top of the regulation hierarchy and its depletion drastically reducing insulin levels. For 15 of the TF knock-downs (KD), we then used Cap Analysis of Gene Expression (CAGE) to identify thousands of their targets genome-wide (KD-CAGE). The data confirm NEUROD1 as a key positive regulator in the transcriptional regulatory network (TRN), and ISL1, and PROX1 as antagonists. As a complimentary approach we used ChIP-seq on four of these factors to identify NEUROD1, LMX1A, PAX6, and RFX6 binding sites in the human genome. Examining the overlap between genes perturbed in the KD-CAGE experiments and genes with a ChIP-seq peak within 50 kb of their promoter, we identified direct transcriptional targets of these TFs. Integration of KD-CAGE and ChIP-seq data shows that both NEUROD1 and LMX1A work as the main transcriptional activators. In the core TRN (i.e., TF-TF only), NEUROD1 directly transcriptionally activates the pancreatic TFs HSF4, INSM1, MLXIPL, MYT1, NKX6-3, ONECUT2, PAX4, PROX1, RFX6, ST18, DACH1, and SHOX2, while LMX1A directly transcriptionally activates DACH1, SHOX2, PAX6, and PDX1. Analysis of these complementary datasets suggests the need for caution in interpreting ChIP-seq datasets. (1) A large fraction of binding sites are at distal enhancer sites and cannot be directly associated to their targets, without chromatin conformation data. (2) Many peaks may be non-functional: even when there is a peak at a promoter, the expression of the gene may not be affected in the matching perturbation experiment. PMID:26635867

Priors Engaged in Long-Latency Responses to Mechanical Perturbations Suggest a Rapid Update in State Estimation

PubMed Central

Crevecoeur, Frédéric; Scott, Stephen H.

2013-01-01

In every motor task, our brain must handle external forces acting on the body. For example, riding a bike on cobblestones or skating on irregular surface requires us to appropriately respond to external perturbations. In these situations, motor predictions cannot help anticipate the motion of the body induced by external factors, and direct use of delayed sensory feedback will tend to generate instability. Here, we show that to solve this problem the motor system uses a rapid sensory prediction to correct the estimated state of the limb. We used a postural task with mechanical perturbations to address whether sensory predictions were engaged in upper-limb corrective movements. Subjects altered their initial motor response in ∼60 ms, depending on the expected perturbation profile, suggesting the use of an internal model, or prior, in this corrective process. Further, we found trial-to-trial changes in corrective responses indicating a rapid update of these perturbation priors. We used a computational model based on Kalman filtering to show that the response modulation was compatible with a rapid correction of the estimated state engaged in the feedback response. Such a process may allow us to handle external disturbances encountered in virtually every physical activity, which is likely an important feature of skilled motor behaviour. PMID:23966846

Continued-fraction representation of the Kraus map for non-Markovian reservoir damping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Wonderen, A. J.; Suttorp, L. G.

2018-04-01

Quantum dissipation is studied for a discrete system that linearly interacts with a reservoir of harmonic oscillators at thermal equilibrium. Initial correlations between system and reservoir are assumed to be absent. The dissipative dynamics as determined by the unitary evolution of system and reservoir is described by a Kraus map consisting of an infinite number of matrices. For all Laplace-transformed Kraus matrices exact solutions are constructed in terms of continued fractions that depend on the pair correlation functions of the reservoir. By performing factorizations in the Kraus map a perturbation theory is set up that conserves in arbitrary perturbative order both positivity and probability of the density matrix. The latter is determined by an integral equation for a bitemporal matrix and a finite hierarchy for Kraus matrices. In the lowest perturbative order this hierarchy reduces to one equation for one Kraus matrix. Its solution is given by a continued fraction of a much simpler structure as compared to the non-perturbative case. In the lowest perturbative order our non-Markovian evolution equations are applied to the damped Jaynes–Cummings model. From the solution for the atomic density matrix it is found that the atom may remain in the state of maximum entropy for a significant time span that depends on the initial energy of the radiation field.

Cosmological perturbations in the (1 + 3 + 6)-dimensional space-times

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tomita, K.

2014-12-01

Cosmological perturbations in the (1+3+6)-dimensional space-times including photon gas without viscous processes are studied on the basis of Abbott et al.'s formalism [R. B. Abbott, B. Bednarz, and S. D. Ellis, Phys. Rev. D 33, 2147 (1986)]. Space-times consist of outer space (the 3-dimensional expanding section) and inner space (the 6-dimensional section). The inner space expands initially and later contracts. Abbott et al. derived only power-type solutions, which appear at the final stage of the space-times, in the small wave-number limit. In this paper, we derive not only small wave-number solutions, but also large wave-number solutions. It is found that the latter solutions depend on the two wave-numbers k_r and k_R (which are defined in the outer and inner spaces, respectively), and that the k_r-dependent and k_R-dependent parts dominate the total perturbations when (k_r/r(t))/(k_R/R(t)) ≫ 1 or ≪ 1, respectively, where r(t) and R(t) are the scale-factors in the outer and inner spaces. By comparing the behaviors of these perturbations, moreover, changes in the spectrum of perturbations in the outer space with time are discussed.

Planetary period modulations of Saturn's magnetotail current sheet: A simple illustrative mathematical model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cowley, S. W. H.; Provan, G.; Hunt, G. J.; Jackman, C. M.

2017-01-01

We mathematically model the modulation effects on Saturn's equatorial magnetotail and magnetodisk current sheet produced by the combined magnetic field perturbations of the northern and southern planetary period oscillation (PPO) systems, specifically north-south displacements associated with the radial perturbation field and thickness modulations associated with the colatitudinal perturbation field. Since the phasing of the two PPO systems is taken to be related to the radial field perturbations, while the relative phasing of the colatitudinal perturbations is opposite for the two systems, the north-south oscillations reinforce when the two PPO systems are in phase, while the thickening-thinning effects reinforce when they are in antiphase. For intermediate relative phases we show that when the northern PPO system leads the southern the sheet is thicker when moving south to north than when moving north to south, while when the northern PPO system lags the southern the sheet is thicker when moving north to south than when moving south to north, thus leading to sawtooth profiles in the radial field for near-equatorial observers, of opposite senses in the two cases. Given empirically determined modulation amplitudes, the maximum sawtooth effect is found to be small when one system dominates the other, but becomes clear when the amplitude of one system lies within a factor of 2 of the other.

Unified Lambert Tool for Massively Parallel Applications in Space Situational Awareness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woollands, Robyn M.; Read, Julie; Hernandez, Kevin; Probe, Austin; Junkins, John L.

2018-03-01

This paper introduces a parallel-compiled tool that combines several of our recently developed methods for solving the perturbed Lambert problem using modified Chebyshev-Picard iteration. This tool (unified Lambert tool) consists of four individual algorithms, each of which is unique and better suited for solving a particular type of orbit transfer. The first is a Keplerian Lambert solver, which is used to provide a good initial guess (warm start) for solving the perturbed problem. It is also used to determine the appropriate algorithm to call for solving the perturbed problem. The arc length or true anomaly angle spanned by the transfer trajectory is the parameter that governs the automated selection of the appropriate perturbed algorithm, and is based on the respective algorithm convergence characteristics. The second algorithm solves the perturbed Lambert problem using the modified Chebyshev-Picard iteration two-point boundary value solver. This algorithm does not require a Newton-like shooting method and is the most efficient of the perturbed solvers presented herein, however the domain of convergence is limited to about a third of an orbit and is dependent on eccentricity. The third algorithm extends the domain of convergence of the modified Chebyshev-Picard iteration two-point boundary value solver to about 90% of an orbit, through regularization with the Kustaanheimo-Stiefel transformation. This is the second most efficient of the perturbed set of algorithms. The fourth algorithm uses the method of particular solutions and the modified Chebyshev-Picard iteration initial value solver for solving multiple revolution perturbed transfers. This method does require "shooting" but differs from Newton-like shooting methods in that it does not require propagation of a state transition matrix. The unified Lambert tool makes use of the General Mission Analysis Tool and we use it to compute thousands of perturbed Lambert trajectories in parallel on the Space Situational Awareness computer cluster at the LASR Lab, Texas A&M University. We demonstrate the power of our tool by solving a highly parallel example problem, that is the generation of extremal field maps for optimal spacecraft rendezvous (and eventual orbit debris removal). In addition we demonstrate the need for including perturbative effects in simulations for satellite tracking or data association. The unified Lambert tool is ideal for but not limited to space situational awareness applications.

Nonlinear ideal magnetohydrodynamics instabilities

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

Pfirsch, D.; Sudan, R.N.

1993-07-01

Explosive phenomena such as internal disruptions in toroidal discharges and solar flares are difficult to explain in terms of linear instabilities. A plasma approaching a linear stability limit can, however, become nonlinearly and explosively unstable, with noninfinitesimal perturbations even before the marginal state is reached. For such investigations, a nonlinear extension of the usual MHD (magnetohydrodynamic) energy principle is helpful. (This was obtained by Merkel and Schlueter, Sitzungsberichted. Bayer. Akad. Wiss., Munich, 1976, No. 7, for Cartesian coordinate systems.) A coordinate system independent Eulerian formulation for the Lagrangian allowing for equilibria with flow and with built-in conservation laws for mass,more » magnetic flux, and entropy is developed in this paper which is similar to Newcomb's Lagrangian method of 1962 [Nucl. Fusion, Suppl., Pt. II, 452 (1962)]. For static equilibria nonlinear stability is completely determined by the potential energy. For a potential energy which contains second- and [ital n]th order or some more general contributions only, it is shown in full generality that linearly unstable and marginally stable systems are explosively unstable even for infinitesimal perturbations; linearly absolutely stable systems require finite initial perturbations. For equilibria with Abelian symmetries symmetry breaking initial perturbations are needed, which should be observed in numerical simulations. Nonlinear stability is proved for two simple examples, [ital m]=0 perturbations of a Bennet Z-pinch and [ital z]-independent perturbations of a [theta] pinch. The algebra for treating these cases reduces considerably if symmetries are taken into account from the outset, as suggested by M. N. Rosenbluth (private communication, 1992).« less

Interrelated structure of high altitude atmospheric profiles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Engler, N. A.; Goldschmidt, M. A.

1972-01-01

A preliminary development of a mathematical model to compute probabilities of thermodynamic profiles is presented. The model assumes an exponential expression for pressure and utilizes the hydrostatic law and equation of state in the determination of density and temperature. It is shown that each thermodynamic variable can be factored into the produce of steady state and perturbation functions. The steady state functions have profiles similar to those of the 1962 standard atmosphere while the perturbation functions oscillate about 1. Limitations of the model and recommendations for future work are presented.

Hadronic light-by-light scattering contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment from lattice QCD

DOE PAGES

Blum, Thomas; Chowdhury, Saumitra; Hayakawa, Masashi; ...

2015-01-07

The form factor that yields the light-by-light scattering contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment is computed in lattice QCD+QED and QED. A non-perturbative treatment of QED is used and is checked against perturbation theory. The hadronic contribution is calculated for unphysical quark and muon masses, and only the diagram with a single quark loop is computed. Statistically significant signals are obtained. Initial results appear promising, and the prospect for a complete calculation with physical masses and controlled errors is discussed.

Fecal Microbial Therapy – Promises and Pitfalls

PubMed Central

Merenstein, Daniel; El-Nachef, Najwa; Lynch, Susan V.

2015-01-01

A rapidly-expanding range of diverse human diseases are now associated with perturbations to the gastrointestinal microbiome. Fecal microbial transfer (FMT) has been used with high rates of efficacy to treat gastrointestinal microbiome perturbation associated with recurrent Clostridium difficile infection, and is now being considered for other indications. Here we discuss the gut microbiome, review published and on-going studies using FMT as a treatment modality for human disease, consider the regulatory aspects of FMT and outline some factors that should be considered in cases where this therapeutic strategy is being contemplated. PMID:24796803

Balance Training Enhances Motor Coordination During a Perturbed Sidestep Cutting Task.

PubMed

Oliveira, Anderson Souza; Silva, Priscila Brito; Lund, Morten Enemark; Farina, Dario; Kersting, Uwe Gustav

2017-11-01

Study Design Controlled laboratory study. Background Balance training may improve motor coordination. However, little is known about the changes in motor coordination during unexpected perturbations to postural control following balance training. Objectives To study the effects of balance training on motor coordination and knee mechanics during perturbed sidestep cutting maneuvers in healthy adults. Methods Twenty-six healthy men were randomly assigned to a training group or a control group. Before balance training, subjects performed unperturbed, 90° sidestep cutting maneuvers and 1 unexpected perturbed cut (10-cm translation of a movable platform). Participants in the training group participated in a 6-week balance training program, while those in the control group followed their regular activity schedule. Both groups were retested after a 6-week period. Surface electromyography was recorded from 16 muscles of the supporting limb and trunk, as well as kinematics and ground reaction forces. Motor modules were extracted from electromyography by nonnegative matrix factorization. External knee abduction moments were calculated using inverse dynamics equations. Results Balance training reduced the external knee abduction moment (33% ± 25%, P<.03, η p 2 = 0.725) and increased the activation of trunk and proximal hip muscles in specific motor modules during perturbed cutting. Balance training also increased burst duration for the motor module related to landing early in the perturbation phase (23% ± 11%, P<.01, η p 2 = 0.532). Conclusion Balance training resulted in altered motor coordination and a reduction in knee abduction moment during an unexpected perturbation. The previously reported reduction in injury incidence following balance training may be linked to changes in dynamic postural stability and modular neuromuscular control. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2017;47(11):853-862. Epub 23 Sep 2017. doi:10.2519/jospt.2017.6980.

Cell Penetrating Bispecific Antibodies for Targeting Oncogenic Transcription Factors in Advanced Prostate Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-12-01

biochemical and biologic assay systems. The final specific aim was tol examine the ability of the bispecific antibody to perturb the growth of prostate ...designated by other documentation. TITLE: Cell-Penetrating Bispecific Antibodies for Targeting Oncogenic Transcription Factors in Advanced Prostate ...Bispecific Antibodies for Targeting Oncogenic Transcription Factors in Advanced Prostate Cancer Michael Lilly, MD Richard Weisbart, MD Medical

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

Almus, F.E.; Rao, L.V.; Fleck, R.A.

An umbilical vein model was designed in which washed vein segments are filled with a reaction mixture containing factor VIIa, Ca(+)+, and a substrate, either 3H-factor IX or 3H-factor X. The vein wall provides the tissue factor (TF) for factor VIIa/TF complexes that activate the substrates as measured by activation peptide release. The model was developed to study TF induced on venous endothelium in situ. However, unlike previous studies with TF expressed on cultured umbilical vein endothelial cells, factors IX and X were activated without first having to expose the vein wall to a perturbing stimulus. Histologic studies revealed thatmore » washing the vein and mixing the reaction mixture before subsampling had disrupted the endothelium. Immunostaining with anti-TF antibodies revealed no staining of endothelium but intense staining in extensions of Wharton's jelly penetrating fenestrations of the muscularis media of the vein. Thus, the model provided data on factor VIIa/TF formed, not on endothelium, but within the mucoid connective tissue of Wharton's jelly. It is known that factor VIIa/TF formed with TF in suspension or with TF expressed on the surface of cultured cells activates factor X more rapidly than factor IX. In contrast, in the umbilical vein model, when each substrate was present in an 88 nmol/L concentration, factors IX and X were activated at equivalent rates (mean activation rate for factor IX, 18.8 +/- 3.6 nmol/L/h; for factor X, 17.8 +/- 2.9 nmol/L/h; n = 9 paired vein segments). These data strengthen the evidence that factor VIIa/TF activation of factor IX represents a key initial reaction of coagulation in tissues. These results also show that data obtained with factor VIIa/TF complexes formed on the surface of cultured cells need not hold for factor VIIa/TF complexes formed in extracellular matrix.« less

Relative dynamics and motion control of nanosatellite formation flying

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pimnoo, Ammarin; Hiraki, Koju

2016-04-01

Orbit selection is a necessary factor in nanosatellite formation mission design/meanwhile, to keep the formation, it is necessary to consume fuel. Therefore, the best orbit design for nanosatellite formation flying should be one that requires the minimum fuel consumption. The purpose of this paper is to analyse orbit selection with respect to the minimum fuel consumption, to provide a convenient way to estimate the fuel consumption for keeping nanosatellite formation flying and to present a simplified method of formation control. The formation structure is disturbed by J2 gravitational perturbation and other perturbing accelerations such as atmospheric drag. First, Gauss' Variation Equations (GVE) are used to estimate the essential ΔV due to the J2 perturbation and atmospheric drag. The essential ΔV presents information on which orbit is good with respect to the minimum fuel consumption. Then, the linear equations which account for J2 gravitational perturbation of Schweighart-Sedwick are presented and used to estimate the fuel consumption to maintain the formation structure. Finally, the relative dynamics motion is presented as well as a simplified motion control of formation structure by using GVE.

A study on the interplay between perturbative QCD and CSS/TMD formalism in SIDIS processes

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

Boglione, M.; Gonzalez Hernandez, J. O.; Melis, S.

We study the Semi-Inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering (SIDIS) cross section as a function of the transverse momentum, qT. In order to describe it over a wide region of qT, soft gluon resummation has to be performed. Here we will use the original Collins-Soper-Sterman (CSS) formalism; however, the same procedure would hold within the improved Transverse Momentum Dependent (TMD) framework. We study the matching between the region where fixed order perturbative QCD can successfully be applied and the region where soft gluon resummation is necessary. We find that the commonly used prescription of matching through the so-called Y-factor cannot be appliedmore » in the SIDIS kinematical configurations we examine. In particular, the non-perturbative component of the resummed cross section turns out to play a crucial role and should not be overlooked even at relatively high energies. As a result, the perturbative expansion of the resummed cross section in the matching region is not as reliable as it is usually believed and its treatment requires special attention.« less

A study on the interplay between perturbative QCD and CSS/TMD formalism in SIDIS processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boglione, M.; Gonzalez Hernandez, J. O.; Melis, S.; Prokudin, A.

2015-02-01

We study the Semi-Inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering (SIDIS) cross section as a function of the transverse momentum, q T . In order to describe it over a wide region of q T , soft gluon resummation has to be performed. Here we will use the original Collins-Soper-Sterman (CSS) formalism; however, the same procedure would hold within the improved Transverse Momentum Dependent (TMD) framework. We study the matching between the region where fixed order perturbative QCD can successfully be applied and the region where soft gluon resummation is necessary. We find that the commonly used prescription of matching through the so-called Y-factor cannot be applied in the SIDIS kinematical configurations we examine. In particular, the non-perturbative component of the resummed cross section turns out to play a crucial role and should not be overlooked even at relatively high energies. Moreover, the perturbative expansion of the resummed cross section in the matching region is not as reliable as it is usually believed and its treatment requires special attention.

Bottom friction models for shallow water equations: Manning’s roughness coefficient and small-scale bottom heterogeneity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dyakonova, Tatyana; Khoperskov, Alexander

2018-03-01

The correct description of the surface water dynamics in the model of shallow water requires accounting for friction. To simulate a channel flow in the Chezy model the constant Manning roughness coefficient is frequently used. The Manning coefficient nM is an integral parameter which accounts for a large number of physical factors determining the flow braking. We used computational simulations in a shallow water model to determine the relationship between the Manning coefficient and the parameters of small-scale perturbations of a bottom in a long channel. Comparing the transverse water velocity profiles in the channel obtained in the models with a perturbed bottom without bottom friction and with bottom friction on a smooth bottom, we constructed the dependence of nM on the amplitude and spatial scale of perturbation of the bottom relief.

Calculation of TMD Evolution for Transverse Single Spin Asymmetry Measurements

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

Mert Aybat, Ted Rogers, Alexey Prokudin

In this letter, we show that it is necessary to include the full treatment of QCD evolution of Transverse Momentum Dependent parton densities to explain discrepancies between HERMES data and recent COMPASS data on a proton target for the Sivers transverse single spin asymmetry in Semi-Inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering (SIDIS). Calculations based on existing fits to TMDs in SIDIS, and including evolution within the Collins-Soper-Sterman with properly defined TMD PDFs are shown to provide a good explanation for the discrepancy. The non-perturbative input needed for the implementation of evolution is taken from earlier analyses of unpolarized Drell-Yan (DY) scattering atmore » high energy. Its success in describing the Sivers function in SIDIS data at much lower energies is strong evidence in support of the unifying aspect of the QCD TMD-factorization formalism.« less

Lagrangian or Eulerian; real or Fourier? Not all approaches to large-scale structure are created equal

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

Tassev, Svetlin, E-mail: tassev@astro.princeton.edu

We present a pedagogical systematic investigation of the accuracy of Eulerian and Lagrangian perturbation theories of large-scale structure. We show that significant differences exist between them especially when trying to model the Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO). We find that the best available model of the BAO in real space is the Zel'dovich Approximation (ZA), giving an accuracy of ∼<3% at redshift of z = 0 in modelling the matter 2-pt function around the acoustic peak. All corrections to the ZA around the BAO scale are perfectly perturbative in real space. Any attempt to achieve better precision requires calibrating the theorymore » to simulations because of the need to renormalize those corrections. In contrast, theories which do not fully preserve the ZA as their solution, receive O(1) corrections around the acoustic peak in real space at z = 0, and are thus of suspicious convergence at low redshift around the BAO. As an example, we find that a similar accuracy of 3% for the acoustic peak is achieved by Eulerian Standard Perturbation Theory (SPT) at linear order only at z ≈ 4. Thus even when SPT is perturbative, one needs to include loop corrections for z∼<4 in real space. In Fourier space, all models perform similarly, and are controlled by the overdensity amplitude, thus recovering standard results. However, that comes at a price. Real space cleanly separates the BAO signal from non-linear dynamics. In contrast, Fourier space mixes signal from short mildly non-linear scales with the linear signal from the BAO to the level that non-linear contributions from short scales dominate. Therefore, one has little hope in constructing a systematic theory for the BAO in Fourier space.« less

Refactorizing NRQCD short-distance coefficients in exclusive quarkonium production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jia, Yu; Yang, Deshan

2009-06-01

In a typical exclusive quarkonium production process, when the center-of-mass energy, √{s}, is much greater than the heavy quark mass m, large kinematic logarithms of s/m will unavoidably arise at each order of perturbative expansion in the short-distance coefficients of the nonrelativistic QCD (NRQCD) factorization formalism, which may potentially harm the perturbative expansion. This symptom reflects that the hard regime in NRQCD factorization is too coarse and should be further factorized. We suggest that this regime can be further separated into "hard" and "collinear" degrees of freedom, so that the familiar light-cone approach can be employed to reproduce the NRQCD matching coefficients at the zeroth order of m/s and order by order in α. Taking two simple processes, exclusive η+γ production in ee annihilation and Higgs boson radiative decay into ϒ, as examples, we illustrate how the leading logarithms of s/m in the NRQCD matching coefficients are identified and summed to all orders in α with the aid of Brodsky-Lepage evolution equation.

General theory for multiple input-output perturbations in complex molecular systems. 1. Linear QSPR electronegativity models in physical, organic, and medicinal chemistry.

PubMed

González-Díaz, Humberto; Arrasate, Sonia; Gómez-SanJuan, Asier; Sotomayor, Nuria; Lete, Esther; Besada-Porto, Lina; Ruso, Juan M

2013-01-01

In general perturbation methods starts with a known exact solution of a problem and add "small" variation terms in order to approach to a solution for a related problem without known exact solution. Perturbation theory has been widely used in almost all areas of science. Bhor's quantum model, Heisenberg's matrix mechanincs, Feyman diagrams, and Poincare's chaos model or "butterfly effect" in complex systems are examples of perturbation theories. On the other hand, the study of Quantitative Structure-Property Relationships (QSPR) in molecular complex systems is an ideal area for the application of perturbation theory. There are several problems with exact experimental solutions (new chemical reactions, physicochemical properties, drug activity and distribution, metabolic networks, etc.) in public databases like CHEMBL. However, in all these cases, we have an even larger list of related problems without known solutions. We need to know the change in all these properties after a perturbation of initial boundary conditions. It means, when we test large sets of similar, but different, compounds and/or chemical reactions under the slightly different conditions (temperature, time, solvents, enzymes, assays, protein targets, tissues, partition systems, organisms, etc.). However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no QSPR general-purpose perturbation theory to solve this problem. In this work, firstly we review general aspects and applications of both perturbation theory and QSPR models. Secondly, we formulate a general-purpose perturbation theory for multiple-boundary QSPR problems. Last, we develop three new QSPR-Perturbation theory models. The first model classify correctly >100,000 pairs of intra-molecular carbolithiations with 75-95% of Accuracy (Ac), Sensitivity (Sn), and Specificity (Sp). The model predicts probabilities of variations in the yield and enantiomeric excess of reactions due to at least one perturbation in boundary conditions (solvent, temperature, temperature of addition, or time of reaction). The model also account for changes in chemical structure (connectivity structure and/or chirality paterns in substrate, product, electrophile agent, organolithium, and ligand of the asymmetric catalyst). The second model classifies more than 150,000 cases with 85-100% of Ac, Sn, and Sp. The data contains experimental shifts in up to 18 different pharmacological parameters determined in >3000 assays of ADMET (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Elimination, and Toxicity) properties and/or interactions between 31723 drugs and 100 targets (metabolizing enzymes, drug transporters, or organisms). The third model classifies more than 260,000 cases of perturbations in the self-aggregation of drugs and surfactants to form micelles with Ac, Sn, and Sp of 94-95%. The model predicts changes in 8 physicochemical and/or thermodynamics output parameters (critic micelle concentration, aggregation number, degree of ionization, surface area, enthalpy, free energy, entropy, heat capacity) of self-aggregation due to perturbations. The perturbations refers to changes in initial temperature, solvent, salt, salt concentration, solvent, and/or structure of the anion or cation of more than 150 different drugs and surfactants. QSPR-Perturbation Theory models may be useful for multi-objective optimization of organic synthesis, physicochemical properties, biological activity, metabolism, and distribution profiles towards the design of new drugs, surfactants, asymmetric ligands for catalysts, and other materials.

Mars Tumbleweed Simulation Using Singular Perturbation Theory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Raiszadeh, Behzad; Calhoun, Phillip

2005-01-01

The Mars Tumbleweed is a new surface rover concept that utilizes Martian winds as the primary source of mobility. Several designs have been proposed for the Mars Tumbleweed, all using aerodynamic drag to generate force for traveling about the surface. The Mars Tumbleweed, in its deployed configuration, must be large and lightweight to provide the ratio of drag force to rolling resistance necessary to initiate motion from the Martian surface. This paper discusses the dynamic simulation details of a candidate Tumbleweed design. The dynamic simulation model must properly evaluate and characterize the motion of the tumbleweed rover to support proper selection of system design parameters. Several factors, such as model flexibility, simulation run times, and model accuracy needed to be considered in modeling assumptions. The simulation was required to address the flexibility of the rover and its interaction with the ground, and properly evaluate its mobility. Proper assumptions needed to be made such that the simulated dynamic motion is accurate and realistic while not overly burdened by long simulation run times. This paper also shows results that provided reasonable correlation between the simulation and a drop/roll test of a tumbleweed prototype.

Nonlinear oscillations of compact stars in the vicinity of the maximum mass configuration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brillante, A.; Mishustin, I. N.

2015-07-01

We solve the dynamical GR equations for the spherically symmetric evolution of compact stars in the vicinity of the maximum mass, for which instability sets in according to linear perturbation theory. The calculations are done with the analytical Zeldovich-like EOS P=a≤ft(ρ-ρ_0\\right) and with the TM1 parametrisation of the RMF model. The initial configurations for the dynamical calculations are represented by spherical stars with equilibrium density profile, which are perturbed by either i) an artificially added inward velocity field proportional to the radial coordinate, or ii) a rarefaction corresponding to a static and expanded star. These configurations are evolved using a one-dimensional GR hydro code for ideal and barotropic fluids. Depending on the initial conditions we obtain either stable oscillations or the collapse to a black hole. The minimal amplitude of the perturbation, needed to trigger gravitational collapse is evaluated. The approximate independence of this energy on the type of perturbation is pointed out. At the threshold we find type-I critical behaviour for all stellar models considered and discuss the dependence of the time scaling exponent on the baryon mass and EOS.

DRUG-NEM: Optimizing drug combinations using single-cell perturbation response to account for intratumoral heterogeneity

PubMed Central

Anchang, Benedict; Davis, Kara L.; Fienberg, Harris G.; Bendall, Sean C.; Karacosta, Loukia G.; Tibshirani, Robert; Nolan, Garry P.; Plevritis, Sylvia K.

2018-01-01

An individual malignant tumor is composed of a heterogeneous collection of single cells with distinct molecular and phenotypic features, a phenomenon termed intratumoral heterogeneity. Intratumoral heterogeneity poses challenges for cancer treatment, motivating the need for combination therapies. Single-cell technologies are now available to guide effective drug combinations by accounting for intratumoral heterogeneity through the analysis of the signaling perturbations of an individual tumor sample screened by a drug panel. In particular, Mass Cytometry Time-of-Flight (CyTOF) is a high-throughput single-cell technology that enables the simultaneous measurements of multiple (>40) intracellular and surface markers at the level of single cells for hundreds of thousands of cells in a sample. We developed a computational framework, entitled Drug Nested Effects Models (DRUG-NEM), to analyze CyTOF single-drug perturbation data for the purpose of individualizing drug combinations. DRUG-NEM optimizes drug combinations by choosing the minimum number of drugs that produce the maximal desired intracellular effects based on nested effects modeling. We demonstrate the performance of DRUG-NEM using single-cell drug perturbation data from tumor cell lines and primary leukemia samples. PMID:29654148

The Stabilizing Effect of Spacetime Expansion on Relativistic Fluids With Sharp Results for the Radiation Equation of State

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Speck, Jared

2013-07-01

In this article, we study the 1 + 3-dimensional relativistic Euler equations on a pre-specified conformally flat expanding spacetime background with spatial slices that are diffeomorphic to {R}^3. We assume that the fluid verifies the equation of state {p = c2s ρ,} where {0 ≤ cs ≤ √{1/3}} is the speed of sound. We also assume that the reciprocal of the scale factor associated with the expanding spacetime metric verifies a c s -dependent time-integrability condition. Under these assumptions, we use the vector field energy method to prove that an explicit family of physically motivated, spatially homogeneous, and spatially isotropic fluid solutions are globally future-stable under small perturbations of their initial conditions. The explicit solutions corresponding to each scale factor are analogs of the well-known spatially flat Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker family. Our nonlinear analysis, which exploits dissipative terms generated by the expansion, shows that the perturbed solutions exist for all future times and remain close to the explicit solutions. This work is an extension of previous results, which showed that an analogous stability result holds when the spacetime is exponentially expanding. In the case of the radiation equation of state p = (1/3)ρ, we also show that if the time-integrability condition for the reciprocal of the scale factor fails to hold, then the explicit fluid solutions are unstable. More precisely, we show the existence of an open family of initial data such that (i) it contains arbitrarily small smooth perturbations of the explicit solutions' data and (ii) the corresponding perturbed solutions necessarily form shocks in finite time. The shock formation proof is based on the conformal invariance of the relativistic Euler equations when {c2s = 1/3,} which allows for a reduction to a well-known result of Christodoulou.

The dissimilar effect of diacylglycerols on Ca(2+)-induced phosphatidylserine vesicle fusion.

PubMed Central

Sánchez-Migallón, M P; Aranda, F J; Gómez-Fernández, J C

1995-01-01

We have studied the effect of physiological concentrations of different diacylglycerols on Ca(2+)-induced fusion between phosphatidylserine vesicles. We monitored vesicle fusion as mixing of membrane lipids under conditions where the limiting factor was the aggregation and also in conditions where this aggregation was not the limiting factor. We found that diacylglycerols have a different modulating effect on the Ca(2+)-induced fusion: i) depending on their interfacial conformation, so that 1,2-isomers of diacylglycerols containing unsaturated or short saturated acyl chains stimulated fusion and their 1,3-isomers did not, and ii) depending on their specific type of bilayer interior perturbation, so that diacylglycerols containing unsaturated or short chain saturated acyl chains stimulated fusion but those containing long-chain saturated acyl chains did not. These requirements resembled those required for the diacylglycerol activation of protein kinase C, suggesting that diacylglycerol acts in both the specific activation of this enzyme and the induction of membrane fusion through the same perturbation of lipid structure. We found that polylysine affected the stimulatory role of 1,2-dioleoylglycerol differently, depending on whether aggregation was the limiting factor of fusion. When we studied the effect of very low concentrations of diacylglycerols on the bulk structural properties of phosphatidylserine, we found that they neither significantly perturbed the thermotropic transitions of phosphatidylserine nor affected the interaction of Ca2+ with the phosphate group of phosphatidylserine. The underlying mechanism of fusion between phosphatidylserine vesicles is discussed. PMID:7696508

Origins of the changing detector response in small megavoltage photon radiation fields.

PubMed

Fenwick, John D; Georgiou, Georgios; Rowbottom, Carl G; Underwood, Tracy S A; Kumar, Sudhir; Nahum, Alan E

2018-06-08

Differences in detector response between measured small fields, f clin, and wider reference fields, f msr , can be overcome by using correction factors [Formula: see text] or by designing detectors with field-size invariant responses. The changing response in small fields is caused by perturbations of the electron fluence within the detector sensitive volume. For solid-state detectors, it has recently been suggested that these perturbations might be caused by the non-water-equivalent effective atomic numbers Z of detector materials, rather than by their non-water-like densities. Using the EGSnrc Monte Carlo code we have analyzed the response of a PTW 60017 diode detector in a 6 MV beam, calculating the [Formula: see text] correction factor from computed doses absorbed by water and by the detector sensitive volume in 0.5  ×  0.5 and 4  ×  4 cm 2 fields. In addition to the 'real' detector, fully modelled according to the manufacturer's blue-prints, we calculated doses and [Formula: see text] factors for a 'Z  →  water' detector variant in which mass stopping-powers and microscopic interaction coefficients were set to those of water while preserving real material densities, and for a 'density  →  1' variant in which densities were set to 1 g cm -3 , leaving mass stopping-powers and interaction coefficients at real levels. [Formula: see text] equalled 0.910  ±  0.005 (2 standard deviations) for the real detector, was insignificantly different at 0.912  ±  0.005 for the 'Z  →  H 2 O' variant, but equalled 1.012  ±  0.006 for the 'density  →  1' variant. For the 60017 diode in a 6 MV beam, then, [Formula: see text] was determined primarily by the detector's density rather than its atomic composition. Further calculations showed this remained the case in a 15 MV beam. Interestingly, the sensitive volume electron fluence was perturbed more by detector atomic composition than by density; however, the density-dependent perturbation varied with field-size, whereas the Z-dependent perturbation was relatively constant, little affecting [Formula: see text].

Origins of the changing detector response in small megavoltage photon radiation fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fenwick, John D.; Georgiou, Georgios; Rowbottom, Carl G.; Underwood, Tracy S. A.; Kumar, Sudhir; Nahum, Alan E.

2018-06-01

Differences in detector response between measured small fields, f clin, and wider reference fields, f msr , can be overcome by using correction factors or by designing detectors with field-size invariant responses. The changing response in small fields is caused by perturbations of the electron fluence within the detector sensitive volume. For solid-state detectors, it has recently been suggested that these perturbations might be caused by the non-water-equivalent effective atomic numbers Z of detector materials, rather than by their non-water-like densities. Using the EGSnrc Monte Carlo code we have analyzed the response of a PTW 60017 diode detector in a 6 MV beam, calculating the correction factor from computed doses absorbed by water and by the detector sensitive volume in 0.5  ×  0.5 and 4  ×  4 cm2 fields. In addition to the ‘real’ detector, fully modelled according to the manufacturer’s blue-prints, we calculated doses and factors for a ‘Z  →  water’ detector variant in which mass stopping-powers and microscopic interaction coefficients were set to those of water while preserving real material densities, and for a ‘density  →  1’ variant in which densities were set to 1 g cm‑3, leaving mass stopping-powers and interaction coefficients at real levels. equalled 0.910  ±  0.005 (2 standard deviations) for the real detector, was insignificantly different at 0.912  ±  0.005 for the ‘Z  →  H2O’ variant, but equalled 1.012  ±  0.006 for the ‘density  →  1’ variant. For the 60017 diode in a 6 MV beam, then, was determined primarily by the detector’s density rather than its atomic composition. Further calculations showed this remained the case in a 15 MV beam. Interestingly, the sensitive volume electron fluence was perturbed more by detector atomic composition than by density; however, the density-dependent perturbation varied with field-size, whereas the Z-dependent perturbation was relatively constant, little affecting .

Apoptosis in Alzheimer's disease: an understanding of the physiology, pathology and therapeutic avenues.

PubMed

Obulesu, M; Lakshmi, M Jhansi

2014-12-01

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastative neurodegenerative disorder with complex etiology. Apoptosis, a biological process that plays an essential role in normal physiology to oust a few cells and contribute to the normal growth, when impaired or influenced by various factors such as Bcl2, Bax, caspases, amyloid beta, tumor necrosis factor-α, amyloid precursor protein intracellular C-terminal domain, reactive oxygen species, perturbation of enzymes leads to deleterious neurodegenerative disorders like AD. There are diverse pathways that provoke manifold events in mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to execute the process of cell death. This review summarizes the crucial apoptotic mechanisms occurring in both mitochondria and ER. It gives substantial summary of the diverse mechanisms studied in vivo and in vitro. A brief account on neuroprotection of several bioactive components, flavonoids and antioxidants of plants against apoptotic events of both mitochondria and ER in both in vitro and in vivo has been discussed. In light of this, the burgeoning need to develop animal models to study the efficacy of various therapeutic effects has been accentuated.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea Treatment and Atrial Fibrillation: A Need for Definitive Evidence.

PubMed

Nalliah, Chrishan J; Sanders, Prashanthan; Kalman, Jonathan M

2016-08-01

Prevalence rates of atrial fibrillation (AF) and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are rising on a global scale. Epidemiological data have consistently demonstrated an independent association between the 2 conditions. Investigators pose that pathophysiologic features of OSA enable progression of the AF substrate; these features include abnormalities of gas exchange, autonomic remodeling, atrial stretch, and inflammation. Furthermore, many of the mechanistic perturbations that impact the AF substrate in OSA can be substantially attenuated by effective treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). Clear associations of OSA treatment and improved AF control have been observed across multiple clinical contexts. However, the precision and generalizability of these findings are unclear in view of the data's observational nature. Although risk factor management has emerged as a critical component of AF treatment, effective control of many AF risk factors can be challenging in the longer term. In view of the efficacy and sustainability of CPAP therapy, OSA raises its profile as a prime candidate for intervention. However, translation of this strategy to the broader framework for AF management requires robust data from randomized controlled trials. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

What can we learn about treating heart failure from the heart's response to acute exercise? Focus on the coronary microcirculation.

PubMed

Heinonen, Ilkka; Sorop, Oana; de Beer, Vincent J; Duncker, Dirk J; Merkus, Daphne

2015-10-15

Coronary microvascular function and cardiac function are closely related in that proper cardiac function requires adequate oxygen delivery through the coronary microvasculature. Because of the close proximity of cardiomyocytes and coronary microvascular endothelium, cardiomyocytes not only communicate their metabolic needs to the coronary microvasculature, but endothelium-derived factors also directly modulate cardiac function. This review summarizes evidence that the myocardial oxygen balance is disturbed in the failing heart because of increased extravascular compressive forces and coronary microvascular dysfunction. The perturbations in myocardial oxygen balance are exaggerated during exercise and are due to alterations in neurohumoral influences, endothelial function, and oxidative stress. Although there is some evidence from animal studies that the myocardial oxygen balance can partly be restored by exercise training, it is largely unknown to what extent the beneficial effects of exercise training include improvements in endothelial function and/or oxidative stress in the coronary microvasculature and how these improvements are impacted by risk factors such as diabetes, obesity, and hypercholesterolemia. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

A fast and well-conditioned spectral method for singular integral equations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slevinsky, Richard Mikael; Olver, Sheehan

2017-03-01

We develop a spectral method for solving univariate singular integral equations over unions of intervals by utilizing Chebyshev and ultraspherical polynomials to reformulate the equations as almost-banded infinite-dimensional systems. This is accomplished by utilizing low rank approximations for sparse representations of the bivariate kernels. The resulting system can be solved in O (m2 n) operations using an adaptive QR factorization, where m is the bandwidth and n is the optimal number of unknowns needed to resolve the true solution. The complexity is reduced to O (mn) operations by pre-caching the QR factorization when the same operator is used for multiple right-hand sides. Stability is proved by showing that the resulting linear operator can be diagonally preconditioned to be a compact perturbation of the identity. Applications considered include the Faraday cage, and acoustic scattering for the Helmholtz and gravity Helmholtz equations, including spectrally accurate numerical evaluation of the far- and near-field solution. The JULIA software package SingularIntegralEquations.jl implements our method with a convenient, user-friendly interface.

IMF By effects on ground magnetometer response to increased solar wind dynamic pressure derived from global MHD simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozturk, Dogacan Su; Zou, Shasha; Slavin, James A.

2017-05-01

During sudden solar wind dynamic pressure enhancements, the magnetosphere undergoes rapid compression resulting in a reconfiguration of the global current systems, most notably the field-aligned currents (FACs). Ground-based magnetometers are traditionally used to study such compression events. However, factors affecting the polarity and magnitude of the ground-based magnetic perturbations are still not well understood. In particular, interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) By is known to create significant asymmetries in the FAC patterns. We use the University of Michigan Block Adaptive Tree Roe Upwind Scheme (BATS'R'US) magnetohydrodynamic code to investigate the effects of IMF By on the global variations of ground magnetic perturbations during solar wind dynamic pressure enhancements. Using virtual magnetometers in three idealized simulations with varying IMF By, we find asymmetries in the peak amplitude and magnetic local time of the ground magnetic perturbations during the preliminary impulse (PI) and the main impulse (MI) phases. These asymmetries are especially evident at high-latitude ground magnetometer responses where the peak amplitudes differ by 50 nT at different locations. We show that the FACs related with the PI are due to magnetopause deformation, and the FACs related with the MI are generated by vortical flows within the magnetosphere, consistent with other simulation results. The perturbation FACs due to pressure enhancements and their magnetospheric sources do not differ much under different IMF By polarities. However, the conductance profile affected by the superposition of the preexisting FACs and the perturbation FACs including their closure currents is responsible for the magnitude and location asymmetries in the ground magnetic perturbations.

Generalization of treadmill perturbation to overground slip during gait: Effect of different perturbation distances on slip recovery.

PubMed

Lee, Anna; Bhatt, Tanvi; Pai, Yi-Chung

2016-01-25

Treadmill-perturbation training (TM-training) may improve a person׳s fall-resistance, whereby adjusting slip distance can be a simple way to manipulate training intensity. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of different slip distances in TM-training (12-cm vs. 18-cm) on its generalization to the recovery from a novel "free" slip during overground walking. Generalization here means the ability to apply learned skill from TM-training to slip recovery during overground walking. Thirty-six young adults in the TM_12 or the TM_18 group underwent either a 12-cm or an 18-cm slip during the treadmill walking for seven times, or in the control group were not exposed to any perturbation. Their responses were also contrasted with previously reported results from overground-perturbation training (OG-training) in which participants received either a 12-cm or an 18-cm slip during level walking with the same number of repetitions. Everyone was then exposed to the same generalization test during a novel "free" slip in overground walking. Their proactive and reactive control of stability was measured and compared. TM-training displayed a significant training effect in comparison to the control group (p<0.05), while most of the improvements were found in the reactive control of stability and were much-limited in comparison to that of OG-training. Also unlike OG-training, no significant differences were found between the results obtained from the TM_12 and the TM_18 groups (p>0.05). These results underscore the further needs to investigate the potential of the treadmill as a convenient instrument that can effectively deliver perturbation training. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The influence of Stochastic perturbation of Geotechnical media On Electromagnetic tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Lei; Yang, Weihao; Huangsonglei, Jiahui; Li, HaiPeng

2015-04-01

Electromagnetic tomography (CT) are commonly utilized in Civil engineering to detect the structure defects or geological anomalies. CT are generally recognized as a high precision geophysical method and the accuracy of CT are expected to be several centimeters and even to be several millimeters. Then, high frequency antenna with short wavelength are utilized commonly in Civil Engineering. As to the geotechnical media, stochastic perturbation of the EM parameters are inevitably exist in geological scales, in structure scales and in local scales, et al. In those cases, the geometric dimensionings of the target body, the EM wavelength and the accuracy expected might be of the same order. When the high frequency EM wave propagated in the stochastic geotechnical media, the GPR signal would be reflected not only from the target bodies but also from the stochastic perturbation of the background media. To detect the karst caves in dissolution fracture rock, one need to assess the influence of the stochastic distributed dissolution holes and fractures; to detect the void in a concrete structure, one should master the influence of the stochastic distributed stones, et al. In this paper, on the base of stochastic media discrete realizations, the authors try to evaluate quantificationally the influence of the stochastic perturbation of Geotechnical media by Radon/Iradon Transfer through full-combined Monte Carlo numerical simulation. It is found the stochastic noise is related with transfer angle, perturbing strength, angle interval, autocorrelation length, et al. And the quantitative formula of the accuracy of the electromagnetic tomography is also established, which could help on the precision estimation of GPR tomography in stochastic perturbation Geotechnical media. Key words: Stochastic Geotechnical Media; Electromagnetic Tomography; Radon/Iradon Transfer.

Extremal black holes in dynamical Chern-Simons gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McNees, Robert; Stein, Leo C.; Yunes, Nicolás

2016-12-01

Rapidly rotating black hole (BH) solutions in theories beyond general relativity (GR) play a key role in experimental gravity, as they allow us to compute observables in extreme spacetimes that deviate from the predictions of GR. Such solutions are often difficult to find in beyond-general-relativity theories due to the inclusion of additional fields that couple to the metric nonlinearly and non-minimally. In this paper, we consider rotating BH solutions in one such theory, dynamical Chern-Simons (dCS) gravity, where the Einstein-Hilbert action is modified by the introduction of a dynamical scalar field that couples to the metric through the Pontryagin density. We treat dCS gravity as an effective field theory and work in the decoupling limit, where corrections are treated as small perturbations from GR. We perturb about the maximally rotating Kerr solution, the so-called extremal limit, and develop mathematical insight into the analysis techniques needed to construct solutions for generic spin. First we find closed-form, analytic expressions for the extremal scalar field, and then determine the trace of the metric perturbation, giving both in terms of Legendre decompositions. Retaining only the first three and four modes in the Legendre representation of the scalar field and the trace, respectively, suffices to ensure a fidelity of over 99% relative to full numerical solutions. The leading-order mode in the Legendre expansion of the trace of the metric perturbation contains a logarithmic divergence at the extremal Kerr horizon, which is likely to be unimportant as it occurs inside the perturbed dCS horizon. The techniques employed here should enable the construction of analytic, closed-form expressions for the scalar field and metric perturbations on a background with arbitrary rotation.

Generalization of treadmill perturbation to overground slip during gait: Effect of different perturbation distances on slip recovery

PubMed Central

Lee, Anna; Bhatt, Tanvi; Pai, Yi-Chung

2016-01-01

Treadmill-perturbation training (TM-training) may improve a person’s fall-resistance, whereby adjusting slip distance can be a simple way to manipulate training intensity. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of different slip distances in TM-training (12-cm vs. 18-cm) on its generalization to the recovery from a novel “free” slip during overground walking. Generalization here means the ability to apply learned skill from TM-training to slip recovery during overground walking. Thirty-six young adults in the TM_12 or the TM_18 group underwent either a 12-cm or an 18-cm slip during the treadmill walking for seven times, or in the control group were not exposed to any perturbation. Their responses were also contrasted with previously reported results from overground-perturbation training (OG-training) in which participants received either a 12-cm or an 18-cm slip during level walking with the same number of repetitions. Everyone was then exposed to the same generalization test during a novel “free” slip in overground walking. Their proactive and reactive control of stability was measured and compared. TM-training displayed a significant training effect in comparison to the control group (p<0.05), while most of the improvements were found in the reactive control of stability and were much-limited in comparison to that of OG-training. Also unlike OG-training, no significant differences were found between the results obtained from the TM_12 and the TM_18 groups (p>0.05). These results underscore the further needs to investigate the potential of the treadmill as a convenient instrument that can effectively deliver perturbation training. PMID:26653674

Measurements of Reduced Hydrodynamic Instability Growth in Adiabat Shaped Implosions at the NIF

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casey, Daniel; Macphee, Andrew; Milovich, Jose; Smalyuk, Vladimir; Clark, Dan; Robey, Harry; Peterson, Luc; Baker, Kevin; Weber, Chris

2015-11-01

Hydrodynamic instabilities can cause capsule defects and other perturbations to grow and degrade implosion performance in ignition experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Radiographic measurements of ablation front perturbation growth were performed using adiabat-shaped drives which are shown to have lower ablation front growth than the low foot drive. This is partly due to faster Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) oscillations during the shock transit phase of the implosion moving the node in the growth factor spectrum to lower mode numbers reducing the peak growth amplitude. This is demonstrated experimentally by a reversal of the perturbation phase at higher mode numbers (120-160). These results show that the ablation front growth and fuel adiabat can be controlled somewhat-independently and are providing insight into new, more stable, ignition designs. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.

Experimental studies of high-confinement mode plasma response to non-axisymmetric magnetic perturbations in ASDEX Upgrade

DOE PAGES

Suttrop, Wolfgang; Kirk, A.; Nazikian, R.; ...

2016-11-22

Here, the interaction of externally applied small non-axisymmetric magnetic perturbations (MP) with tokamak high-confinement mode (H-mode) plasmas is reviewed and illustrated by recent experiments in ASDEX Upgrade. The plasma response to the vacuum MP field is amplified by stable ideal kink modes with low toroidal mode number n driven by the H-mode edge pressure gradient (and associated bootstrap current) which is experimentally evidenced by an observable shift of the poloidal mode number m away from field alignment (m = qn, with q being the safety factor) at the response maximum. A torque scan experiment demonstrates the importance of the perpendicular electron flow for shielding of the resonant magnetic perturbation, as expected from a two-fluid MHD picture. Two significant effects of MP occur in H-mode plasmas at low pedestal collisionality,more » $$\

Regularization of the big bang singularity with random perturbations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belbruno, Edward; Xue, BingKan

2018-03-01

We show how to regularize the big bang singularity in the presence of random perturbations modeled by Brownian motion using stochastic methods. We prove that the physical variables in a contracting universe dominated by a scalar field can be continuously and uniquely extended through the big bang as a function of time to an expanding universe only for a discrete set of values of the equation of state satisfying special co-prime number conditions. This result significantly generalizes a previous result (Xue and Belbruno 2014 Class. Quantum Grav. 31 165002) that did not model random perturbations. This result implies that the extension from a contracting to an expanding universe for the discrete set of co-prime equation of state is robust, which is a surprising result. Implications for a purely expanding universe are discussed, such as a non-smooth, randomly varying scale factor near the big bang.

System-Wide Quantitative Proteomics of the Metabolic Syndrome in Mice: Genotypic and Dietary Effects.

PubMed

Terfve, Camille; Sabidó, Eduard; Wu, Yibo; Gonçalves, Emanuel; Choi, Meena; Vaga, Stefania; Vitek, Olga; Saez-Rodriguez, Julio; Aebersold, Ruedi

2017-02-03

Advances in mass spectrometry have made the quantitative measurement of proteins across multiple samples a reality, allowing for the study of complex biological systems such as the metabolic syndrome. Although the deregulation of lipid metabolism and increased hepatic storage of triacylglycerides are known to play a part in the onset of the metabolic syndrome, its molecular basis and dependency on dietary and genotypic factors are poorly characterized. Here, we used an experimental design with two different mouse strains and dietary and metabolic perturbations to generate a compendium of quantitative proteome data using three mass spectrometric techniques. The data reproduce known properties of the metabolic system and indicate differential molecular adaptation of the two mouse strains to perturbations, contributing to a better understanding of the metabolic syndrome. We show that high-quality, high-throughput proteomic data sets provide an unbiased broad overview of the behavior of complex systems after perturbation.

Extended hierarchical solvent perturbations from curved surfaces of mesoporous silica particles in a deep eutectic solvent.

PubMed

Hammons, Joshua A; Zhang, Fan; Ilavsky, Jan

2018-06-15

Many applications of deep eutectic solvents (DES) rely on exploitation of their unique yet complex liquid structures. Due to the ionic nature of the DES components, their diffuse structures are perturbed in the presence of a charged surface. We hypothesize that it is possible to perturb the bulk DES structure far (>100 nm) from a curved, charged surface with mesoscopic dimensions. We performed in situ, synchrotron-based ultra-small angle X-ray scattering (USAXS) experiments to study the solvent distribution near the surface of charged mesoporous silica particles (MPS) (≈0.5 µm in diameter) suspended in both water and a common type of DES (1:2 choline Cl-:ethylene glycol). A careful USAXS analysis reveals that the perturbation of electron density distribution within the DES extends ≈1 μm beyond the particle surface, and that this perturbation can be manipulated by the addition of salt ions (AgCl). The concentration of the pore-filling fluid is greatly reduced in the DES. Notably, we extracted the real-space structures of these fluctuations from the USAXS data using a simulated annealing approach that does not require a priori knowledge about the scattering form factor, and can be generalized to a wide range of complex small-angle scattering problems. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Jeziorski-Monkhorst fully uncontracted multi-reference perturbative treatment. I. Principles, second-order versions, and tests on ground state potential energy curves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giner, Emmanuel; Angeli, Celestino; Garniron, Yann; Scemama, Anthony; Malrieu, Jean-Paul

2017-06-01

The present paper introduces a new multi-reference perturbation approach developed at second order, based on a Jeziorski-Mokhorst expansion using individual Slater determinants as perturbers. Thanks to this choice of perturbers, an effective Hamiltonian may be built, allowing for the dressing of the Hamiltonian matrix within the reference space, assumed here to be a CAS-CI. Such a formulation accounts then for the coupling between the static and dynamic correlation effects. With our new definition of zeroth-order energies, these two approaches are strictly size-extensive provided that local orbitals are used, as numerically illustrated here and formally demonstrated in the Appendix. Also, the present formalism allows for the factorization of all double excitation operators, just as in internally contracted approaches, strongly reducing the computational cost of these two approaches with respect to other determinant-based perturbation theories. The accuracy of these methods has been investigated on ground-state potential curves up to full dissociation limits for a set of six molecules involving single, double, and triple bond breaking together with an excited state calculation. The spectroscopic constants obtained with the present methods are found to be in very good agreement with the full configuration interaction results. As the present formalism does not use any parameter or numerically unstable operation, the curves obtained with the two methods are smooth all along the dissociation path.

Surface oxygen micropatterns on glow discharge polymer targets by photo irradiation

DOE PAGES

Reynolds, Hannah; Baxamusa, Salmaan; Haan, Steven W.; ...

2016-02-24

Recent simulations predict surface oxygen may be a significant source of disruptive perturbations in the implosion process of glow-discharge polymers (GDP) ablators at the National Ignition Facility. GDP material held in ambient atmospheric conditions showed an increase in mass when stored in light transparent containers, which suggests that photo exposure is a driving force for oxygen absorption. To investigate if surface oxygen is a contributing factor of disruptive perturbations during implosion, we developed a method to imprint a periodic micropattern of oxygen on the surface of GDP and used it to fabricate a flat sample for empirical testing.

Study of diatomic molecules. 2: Intensities. [optical emission spectroscopy of ScO

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Femenias, J. L.

1978-01-01

The theory of perturbations, giving the diatomic effective Hamiltonian, is used for calculating actual molecular wave functions and intensity factors involved in transitions between states arising from Hund's coupling cases a,b, intermediate a-b, and c tendency. The Herman and Wallis corrections are derived, without any knowledge of the analytical expressions of the wave functions, and generalized to transitions between electronic states with whatever symmetry and multiplicity. A general method for studying perturbed intensities is presented using primarily modern spectroscopic numerical approaches. The method is used in the study of the ScO optical emission spectrum.

First moments of nucleon generalized parton distributions

DOE PAGES

Wang, P.; Thomas, A. W.

2010-06-01

We extrapolate the first moments of the generalized parton distributions using heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory. The calculation is based on the one loop level with the finite range regularization. The description of the lattice data is satisfactory, and the extrapolated moments at physical pion mass are consistent with the results obtained with dimensional regularization, although the extrapolation in the momentum transfer to t=0 does show sensitivity to form factor effects, which lie outside the realm of chiral perturbation theory. We discuss the significance of the results in the light of modern experiments as well as QCD inspired models.

Cosmic microwave background probes models of inflation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davis, Richard L.; Hodges, Hardy M.; Smoot, George F.; Steinhardt, Paul J.; Turner, Michael S.

1992-01-01

Inflation creates both scalar (density) and tensor (gravity wave) metric perturbations. We find that the tensor-mode contribution to the cosmic microwave background anisotropy on large-angular scales can only exceed that of the scalar mode in models where the spectrum of perturbations deviates significantly from scale invariance. If the tensor mode dominates at large-angular scales, then the value of DeltaT/T predicted on 1 deg is less than if the scalar mode dominates, and, for cold-dark-matter models, bias factors greater than 1 can be made consistent with Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) DMR results.

A tidal explanation for the sunrise/sunset anomaly in HALOE low-latitude nitric oxide observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marsh, Daniel R.; Russell, James M., III

2000-10-01

The difference in sunrise and sunset low-latitude nitric oxide (NO) mixing ratios in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) is shown to be consistent with a perturbation induced by the migrating diurnal tide. The vertical wind of the tide can induce factor of 2 changes over 12 hours at the equator. The vertical, latitudinal and temporal structure of NO perturbations closely matches the structure of vertical winds from a tidal model. In addition, previous observations of the seasonal and interannual variation in the tidal wind appear to correlate with NO variations.

Spatial distribution of volcanic ash deposits of 2011 Puyehue-Cordón Caulle eruption in Patagonia as measured by a perturbation in NDVI temporal dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Easdale, M. H.; Bruzzone, O.

2018-03-01

Volcanic ash fallout is a recurrent environmental disturbance in forests, arid and semi-arid rangelands of Patagonia, South America. The ash deposits over large areas are responsible for several impacts on ecological processes, agricultural production and health of local communities. Public policy decision making needs monitoring information of the affected areas by ash fallout, in order to better orient social, economic and productive aids. The aim of this study was to analyze the spatial distribution of volcanic ash deposits from the eruption of Puyehue-Cordón Caulle in 2011, by identifying a sudden change in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) temporal dynamics, defined as a perturbation located in the time series. We applied a sparse-wavelet transform using the Basis Pursuit algorithm to NDVI time series obtained from the Moderate Resolution Image Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor, to identify perturbations at a pixel level. The spatial distribution of the perturbation promoted by ash deposits in Patagonia was successfully identified and characterized by means of a perturbation in NDVI temporal dynamics. Results are encouraging for the future development of a new platform, in combination with data from forecasting models and tracking of ash cloud trajectories and dispersion, to inform stakeholders to mitigate impact of volcanic ash on agricultural production and to orient public intervention strategies after a volcanic eruption followed by ash fallout over a wide region.

Ion distributions, exclusion coefficients, and separation factors of electrolytes in a charged cylindrical nanopore: a partially perturbative density functional theory study.

PubMed

Peng, Bo; Yu, Yang-Xin

2009-10-07

The structural and thermodynamic properties for charge symmetric and asymmetric electrolytes as well as mixed electrolyte system inside a charged cylindrical nanopore are investigated using a partially perturbative density functional theory. The electrolytes are treated in the restricted primitive model and the internal surface of the cylindrical nanopore is considered to have a uniform charge density. The proposed theory is directly applicable to the arbitrary mixed electrolyte solution containing ions with the equal diameter and different valences. Large amount of simulation data for ion density distributions, separation factors, and exclusion coefficients are used to determine the range of validity of the partially perturbative density functional theory for monovalent and multivalent counterion systems. The proposed theory is found to be in good agreement with the simulations for both mono- and multivalent counterion systems. In contrast, the classical Poisson-Boltzmann equation only provides reasonable descriptions of monovalent counterion system at low bulk density, and is qualitatively and quantitatively wrong in the prediction for the multivalent counterion systems due to its neglect of the strong interionic correlations in these systems. The proposed density functional theory has also been applied to an electrolyte absorbed into a pore that is a model of the filter of a physiological calcium channel.

A two-beam acoustic system for tissue analysis.

PubMed

Sachs, T D; Janney, C D

1977-03-01

In the 'thermo-acoustic sensing technique' (TAST), a burst of sound, called the 'thermometer' beam is passed through tissue and its transit time is measured. A focused sound field, called the heating field, then warms a small volume in the path of the therometer beam, in proportion to the absorption. Finally, the therometer beam burst is repeated and its transit time subtracted from that of the initial thermometer burst. This difference measures the velocity perturbation in the tissue produced by the heating field. The transit time difference is td = K integral of infinity-infinity IP dchi where K is the instrument constant, I the heating field intensity, and P a perturbation factor which characterizes the tissues. The integration is carried out along the path of the thermometer beam. The perturbation factor is P = (formula: see text) where C is the specific heat, rho the denisty, V the velocity of sound, (formula: see text) the temperature coefficient of velocity and alpha the heating field absorption coefficient which is apparently sensitive to tissue structure and condition. Experiments on a fixed human brain showed an ability to distinguish between various tissue types combined with a spatial resolution of better than 3 mm. Should predictions based on the data and theory prove correct, TAST may become a non-invasive alternative to biopsy.

High Throughput Screening of Toxicity Pathways Perturbed by Environmental Chemicals

EPA Science Inventory

Toxicology, a field largely unchanged over the past several decades, is undergoing a significant transformation driven by a number of forces – the increasing number of chemicals needing assessment, changing legal requirements, advances in biology and computer science, and concern...

Developing and applying adverse outcome pathways: What you need to know

EPA Science Inventory

Adverse outcome pathways (AOPs) are a conceptual framework for organizing existing information concerning the predictive linkages between the initiation or early progression of a biological perturbation in an organism and the adverse outcome(s) of regulatory relevance (e.g., impa...

Simulating highly nonlocal Hamiltonians with less nonlocal Hamiltonians

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Subasi, Yigit; Jarzynski, Christopher

The need for Hamiltonians with many-body interactions arises in various applications of quantum computing. However, interactions beyond two-body are difficult to realize experimentally. Perturbative gadgets were introduced to obtain arbitrary many-body effective interactions using Hamiltonians with two-body interactions only. Although valid for arbitrary k-body interactions, their use is limited to small k because the strength of interaction is k'th order in perturbation theory. Here we develop a nonperturbative technique for obtaining effective k-body interactions using Hamiltonians consisting of at most l-body interactions with l < k . This technique works best for Hamiltonians with a few interactions with very large k and can be used together with perturbative gadgets to embed Hamiltonians of considerable complexity in proper subspaces of two-local Hamiltonians. We describe how our technique can be implemented in a hybrid (gate-based and adiabatic) as well as solely adiabatic quantum computing scheme. We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Lockheed Martin Corporation under Contract U12001C.

A new scheme for perturbative triples correction to (0,1) sector of Fock space multi-reference coupled cluster method: theory, implementation, and examples.

PubMed

Dutta, Achintya Kumar; Vaval, Nayana; Pal, Sourav

2015-01-28

We propose a new elegant strategy to implement third order triples correction in the light of many-body perturbation theory to the Fock space multi-reference coupled cluster method for the ionization problem. The computational scaling as well as the storage requirement is of key concerns in any many-body calculations. Our proposed approach scales as N(6) does not require the storage of triples amplitudes and gives superior agreement over all the previous attempts made. This approach is capable of calculating multiple roots in a single calculation in contrast to the inclusion of perturbative triples in the equation of motion variant of the coupled cluster theory, where each root needs to be computed in a state-specific way and requires both the left and right state vectors together. The performance of the newly implemented scheme is tested by applying to methylene, boron nitride (B2N) anion, nitrogen, water, carbon monoxide, acetylene, formaldehyde, and thymine monomer, a DNA base.

'Constraint consistency' at all orders in cosmological perturbation theory

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

Nandi, Debottam; Shankaranarayanan, S., E-mail: debottam@iisertvm.ac.in, E-mail: shanki@iisertvm.ac.in

2015-08-01

We study the equivalence of two—order-by-order Einstein's equation and Reduced action—approaches to cosmological perturbation theory at all orders for different models of inflation. We point out a crucial consistency check which we refer to as 'Constraint consistency' condition that needs to be satisfied in order for the two approaches to lead to identical single variable equation of motion. The method we propose here is quick and efficient to check the consistency for any model including modified gravity models. Our analysis points out an important feature which is crucial for inflationary model building i.e., all 'constraint' inconsistent models have higher ordermore » Ostrogradsky's instabilities but the reverse is not true. In other words, one can have models with constraint Lapse function and Shift vector, though it may have Ostrogradsky's instabilities. We also obtain single variable equation for non-canonical scalar field in the limit of power-law inflation for the second-order perturbed variables.« less

In Situ Rates of Sulfate Reduction in Response to Geochemical Perturbations

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kneeshaw, T.A.; McGuire, J.T.; Cozzarelli, I.M.; Smith, E.W.

2011-01-01

Rates of in situ microbial sulfate reduction in response to geochemical perturbations were determined using Native Organism Geochemical Experimentation Enclosures (NOGEEs), a new in situ technique developed to facilitate evaluation of controls on microbial reaction rates. NOGEEs function by first trapping a native microbial community in situ and then subjecting it to geochemical perturbations through the introduction of various test solutions. On three occasions, NOGEEs were used at the Norman Landfill research site in Norman, Oklahoma, to evaluate sulfate-reduction rates in wetland sediments impacted by landfill leachate. The initial experiment, in May 2007, consisted of five introductions of a sulfate test solution over 11 d. Each test stimulated sulfate reduction with rates increasing until an apparent maximum was achieved. Two subsequent experiments, conducted in October 2007 and February 2008, evaluated the effects of concentration on sulfate-reduction rates. Results from these experiments showed that faster sulfate-reduction rates were associated with increased sulfate concentrations. Understanding variability in sulfate-reduction rates in response to perturbations may be an important factor in predicting rates of natural attenuation and bioremediation of contaminants in systems not at biogeochemical equilibrium. Copyright ?? 2011 The Author(s). Journal compilation ?? 2011 National Ground Water Association.

Nonautonomous solitons for an extended forced Korteweg-de Vries equation with variable coefficients in the fluid or plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yong-Yan; Su, Chuan-Qi; Liu, Xue-Qing; Li, Jian-Guang

2018-07-01

Under investigation in this paper is an extended forced Korteweg-de Vries equation with variable coefficients in the fluid or plasma. Lax pair, bilinear forms, and bilinear Bäcklund transformations are derived. Based on the bilinear forms, the first-, second-, and third-order nonautonomous soliton solutions are derived. Propagation and interaction of the nonautonomous solitons are investigated and influence of the variable coefficients is also discussed: Amplitude of the first-order nonautonomous soliton is determined by the spectral parameter and perturbed factor; there exist two kinds of the solitons, namely the elevation and depression solitons, depending on the sign of the spectral parameter; the background where the nonautonomous soliton exists is influenced by the perturbed factor and external force coefficient; breather solutions can be constructed under the conjugate condition, and period of the breather is related to the dispersive and nonuniform coefficients.

Experimental verification of a real-time tuning method of a model-based controller by perturbations to its poles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kajiwara, Itsuro; Furuya, Keiichiro; Ishizuka, Shinichi

2018-07-01

Model-based controllers with adaptive design variables are often used to control an object with time-dependent characteristics. However, the controller's performance is influenced by many factors such as modeling accuracy and fluctuations in the object's characteristics. One method to overcome these negative factors is to tune model-based controllers. Herein we propose an online tuning method to maintain control performance for an object that exhibits time-dependent variations. The proposed method employs the poles of the controller as design variables because the poles significantly impact performance. Specifically, we use the simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation (SPSA) to optimize a model-based controller with multiple design variables. Moreover, a vibration control experiment of an object with time-dependent characteristics as the temperature is varied demonstrates that the proposed method allows adaptive control and stably maintains the closed-loop characteristics.

Robust permanence for ecological equations with internal and external feedbacks.

PubMed

Patel, Swati; Schreiber, Sebastian J

2018-07-01

Species experience both internal feedbacks with endogenous factors such as trait evolution and external feedbacks with exogenous factors such as weather. These feedbacks can play an important role in determining whether populations persist or communities of species coexist. To provide a general mathematical framework for studying these effects, we develop a theorem for coexistence for ecological models accounting for internal and external feedbacks. Specifically, we use average Lyapunov functions and Morse decompositions to develop sufficient and necessary conditions for robust permanence, a form of coexistence robust to large perturbations of the population densities and small structural perturbations of the models. We illustrate how our results can be applied to verify permanence in non-autonomous models, structured population models, including those with frequency-dependent feedbacks, and models of eco-evolutionary dynamics. In these applications, we discuss how our results relate to previous results for models with particular types of feedbacks.

CGC factorization for forward particle production in proton-nucleus collisions at next-to-leading order

DOE PAGES

Iancu, E.; Mueller, A. H.; Triantafyllopoulos, D. N.

2016-12-13

Within the Color Glass Condensate effective theory, we reconsider the next-to-leading order (NLO) calculation of the single inclusive particle production at forward rapidities in proton-nucleus collisions at high energy. Focusing on quark production for definiteness, we establish a new factorization scheme, perturbatively correct through NLO, in which there is no ‘rapidity subtraction’. That is, the NLO correction to the impact factor is not explicitly separated from the high-energy evolution. Our construction exploits the skeleton structure of the (NLO) Balitsky-Kovchegov equation, in which the first step of the evolution is explicitly singled out. The NLO impact factor is included by computingmore » this first emission with the exact kinematics for the emitted gluon, rather than by using the eikonal approximation. This particular calculation has already been presented in the literature, but the reorganization of the perturbation theory that we propose is new. As compared to the proposal in, our scheme is free of the fine-tuning inherent in the rapidity subtraction, which might be the origin of the negativity of the NLO cross-section observed in previous studies.« less

An efficient HZETRN (a galactic cosmic ray transport code)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shinn, Judy L.; Wilson, John W.

1992-01-01

An accurate and efficient engineering code for analyzing the shielding requirements against the high-energy galactic heavy ions is needed. The HZETRN is a deterministic code developed at Langley Research Center that is constantly under improvement both in physics and numerical computation and is targeted for such use. One problem area connected with the space-marching technique used in this code is the propagation of the local truncation error. By improving the numerical algorithms for interpolation, integration, and grid distribution formula, the efficiency of the code is increased by a factor of eight as the number of energy grid points is reduced. The numerical accuracy of better than 2 percent for a shield thickness of 150 g/cm(exp 2) is found when a 45 point energy grid is used. The propagating step size, which is related to the perturbation theory, is also reevaluated.

Evaluation of 3-D graphics software: A case study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lores, M. E.; Chasen, S. H.; Garner, J. M.

1984-01-01

An efficient 3-D geometry graphics software package which is suitable for advanced design studies was developed. The advanced design system is called GRADE--Graphics for Advanced Design. Efficiency and ease of use are gained by sacrificing flexibility in surface representation. The immediate options were either to continue development of GRADE or to acquire a commercially available system which would replace or complement GRADE. Test cases which would reveal the ability of each system to satisfy the requirements were developed. A scoring method which adequately captured the relative capabilities of the three systems was presented. While more complex multi-attribute decision methods could be used, the selected method provides all the needed information without being so complex that it is difficult to understand. If the value factors are modestly perturbed, system Z is a clear winner based on its overall capabilities. System Z is superior in two vital areas: surfacing and ease of interface with application programs.

NNLO QCD corrections to production of a spin-2 particle with nonuniversal couplings in the Drell-Yan process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banerjee, Pulak; Dhani, Prasanna K.; Kumar, M. C.; Mathews, Prakash; Ravindran, V.

2018-05-01

We study the phenomenological impact of the interaction of spin-2 fields with those of the Standard Model in a model independent framework up to next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative quantum chromodynamics. We use the invariant mass distribution of the pair of leptons produced at the Large Hadron Collider to demonstrate this. A minimal scenario where the spin-2 fields couple to two gauge invariant operators with different coupling strengths has been considered. These operators not being conserved show very different ultraviolet behavior increasing the searches options of spin-2 particles at the colliders. We find that our results using the higher order quantum corrections stabilize the predictions with respect to renormalization and factorization scales. We also find that corrections are appreciable which need to be taken into account in such searches at the colliders.

Near-Optimal Operation of Dual-Fuel Launch Vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ardema, M. D.; Chou, H. C.; Bowles, J. V.

1996-01-01

A near-optimal guidance law for the ascent trajectory from earth surface to earth orbit of a fully reusable single-stage-to-orbit pure rocket launch vehicle is derived. Of interest are both the optimal operation of the propulsion system and the optimal flight path. A methodology is developed to investigate the optimal throttle switching of dual-fuel engines. The method is based on selecting propulsion system modes and parameters that maximize a certain performance function. This function is derived from consideration of the energy-state model of the aircraft equations of motion. Because the density of liquid hydrogen is relatively low, the sensitivity of perturbations in volume need to be taken into consideration as well as weight sensitivity. The cost functional is a weighted sum of fuel mass and volume; the weighting factor is chosen to minimize vehicle empty weight for a given payload mass and volume in orbit.

Glycolytic reliance promotes anabolism in photoreceptors

PubMed Central

Chinchore, Yashodhan; Begaj, Tedi; Wu, David; Drokhlyansky, Eugene; Cepko, Constance L

2017-01-01

Vertebrate photoreceptors are among the most metabolically active cells, exhibiting a high rate of ATP consumption. This is coupled with a high anabolic demand, necessitated by the diurnal turnover of a specialized membrane-rich organelle, the outer segment, which is the primary site of phototransduction. How photoreceptors balance their catabolic and anabolic demands is poorly understood. Here, we show that rod photoreceptors in mice rely on glycolysis for their outer segment biogenesis. Genetic perturbations targeting allostery or key regulatory nodes in the glycolytic pathway impacted the size of the outer segments. Fibroblast growth factor signaling was found to regulate glycolysis, with antagonism of this pathway resulting in anabolic deficits. These data demonstrate the cell autonomous role of the glycolytic pathway in outer segment maintenance and provide evidence that aerobic glycolysis is part of a metabolic program that supports the biosynthetic needs of a normal neuronal cell type. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.25946.001 PMID:28598329

Recent Progress in the Development of a Multi-Layer Green's Function Code for Ion Beam Transport

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tweed, John; Walker, Steven A.; Wilson, John W.; Tripathi, Ram K.

2008-01-01

To meet the challenge of future deep space programs, an accurate and efficient engineering code for analyzing the shielding requirements against high-energy galactic heavy radiation is needed. To address this need, a new Green's function code capable of simulating high charge and energy ions with either laboratory or space boundary conditions is currently under development. The computational model consists of combinations of physical perturbation expansions based on the scales of atomic interaction, multiple scattering, and nuclear reactive processes with use of the Neumann-asymptotic expansions with non-perturbative corrections. The code contains energy loss due to straggling, nuclear attenuation, nuclear fragmentation with energy dispersion and downshifts. Previous reports show that the new code accurately models the transport of ion beams through a single slab of material. Current research efforts are focused on enabling the code to handle multiple layers of material and the present paper reports on progress made towards that end.

Collisional perturbation of radio-frequency E1 transitions in an atomic beam of dysprosium

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

Cingoez, A.; Lapierre, Alain; Nguyen, A.-T.

2005-12-15

We have studied collisional perturbations of radio-frequency (rf) electric-dipole (E1) transitions between the nearly degenerate opposite-parity levels in atomic dysprosium (Dy) in the presence of 10 to 80 {mu}Torr of H{sub 2}, N{sub 2}, He, Ar, Ne, Kr, and Xe. Collisional broadening and shift of the resonance, as well as the attenuation of the signal amplitude are observed to be proportional to the foreign-gas density with the exception of H{sub 2} and Ne, for which no shifts were observed. Corresponding rates and cross sections are presented. In addition, rates and cross sections for O{sub 2} are extracted from measurements usingmore » air as foreign gas. The primary motivation for this study is the need for accurate determination of the shift rates, which are needed in a laboratory search for the temporal variation of the fine-structure constant [A. T. Nguyen, D. Budker, S. K. Lamoreaux, and J. R. Torgerson, Phys. Rev. A 69, 22105 (2004)].« less

Analysis of orbit determination from Earth-based tracking for relay satellites in a perturbed areostationary orbit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romero, P.; Pablos, B.; Barderas, G.

2017-07-01

Areostationary satellites are considered a high interest group of satellites to satisfy the telecommunications needs of the foreseen missions to Mars. An areostationary satellite, in an areoequatorial circular orbit with a period of 1 Martian sidereal day, would orbit Mars remaining at a fixed location over the Martian surface, analogous to a geostationary satellite around the Earth. This work addresses an analysis of the perturbed orbital motion of an areostationary satellite as well as a preliminary analysis of the aerostationary orbit estimation accuracy based on Earth tracking observations. First, the models for the perturbations due to the Mars gravitational field, the gravitational attraction of the Sun and the Martian moons, Phobos and Deimos, and solar radiation pressure are described. Then, the observability from Earth including possible occultations by Mars of an areostationary satellite in a perturbed areosynchronous motion is analyzed. The results show that continuous Earth-based tracking is achievable using observations from the three NASA Deep Space Network Complexes in Madrid, Goldstone and Canberra in an occultation-free scenario. Finally, an analysis of the orbit determination accuracy is addressed considering several scenarios including discontinuous tracking schedules for different epochs and different areoestationary satellites. Simulations also allow to quantify the aerostationary orbit estimation accuracy for various tracking series durations and observed orbit arc-lengths.

Timescales of isotropic and anisotropic cluster collapse

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bartelmann, M.; Ehlers, J.; Schneider, P.

1993-12-01

From a simple estimate for the formation time of galaxy clusters, Richstone et al. have recently concluded that the evidence for non-virialized structures in a large fraction of observed clusters points towards a high value for the cosmological density parameter Omega0. This conclusion was based on a study of the spherical collapse of density perturbations, assumed to follow a Gaussian probability distribution. In this paper, we extend their treatment in several respects: first, we argue that the collapse does not start from a comoving motion of the perturbation, but that the continuity equation requires an initial velocity perturbation directly related to the density perturbation. This requirement modifies the initial condition for the evolution equation and has the effect that the collapse proceeds faster than in the case where the initial velocity perturbation is set to zero; the timescale is reduced by a factor of up to approximately equal 0.5. Our results thus strengthens the conclusion of Richstone et al. for a high Omega0. In addition, we study the collapse of density fluctuations in the frame of the Zel'dovich approximation, using as starting condition the analytically known probability distribution of the eigenvalues of the deformation tensor, which depends only on the (Gaussian) width of the perturbation spectrum. Finally, we consider the anisotropic collapse of density perturbations dynamically, again with initial conditions drawn from the probability distribution of the deformation tensor. We find that in both cases of anisotropic collapse, in the Zel'dovich approximation and in the dynamical calculations, the resulting distribution of collapse times agrees remarkably well with the results from spherical collapse. We discuss this agreement and conclude that it is mainly due to the properties of the probability distribution for the eigenvalues of the Zel'dovich deformation tensor. Hence, the conclusions of Richstone et al. on the value of Omega0 can be verified and strengthened, even if a more general approach to the collapse of density perturbations is employed. A simple analytic formula for the cluster redshift distribution in an Einstein-deSitter universe is derived.

Unique Fock quantization of scalar cosmological perturbations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernández-Méndez, Mikel; Mena Marugán, Guillermo A.; Olmedo, Javier; Velhinho, José M.

2012-05-01

We investigate the ambiguities in the Fock quantization of the scalar perturbations of a Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker model with a massive scalar field as matter content. We consider the case of compact spatial sections (thus avoiding infrared divergences), with the topology of a three-sphere. After expanding the perturbations in series of eigenfunctions of the Laplace-Beltrami operator, the Hamiltonian of the system is written up to quadratic order in them. We fix the gauge of the local degrees of freedom in two different ways, reaching in both cases the same qualitative results. A canonical transformation, which includes the scaling of the matter-field perturbations by the scale factor of the geometry, is performed in order to arrive at a convenient formulation of the system. We then study the quantization of these perturbations in the classical background determined by the homogeneous variables. Based on previous work, we introduce a Fock representation for the perturbations in which: (a) the complex structure is invariant under the isometries of the spatial sections and (b) the field dynamics is implemented as a unitary operator. These two properties select not only a unique unitary equivalence class of representations, but also a preferred field description, picking up a canonical pair of field variables among all those that can be obtained by means of a time-dependent scaling of the matter field (completed into a linear canonical transformation). Finally, we present an equivalent quantization constructed in terms of gauge-invariant quantities. We prove that this quantization can be attained by a mode-by-mode time-dependent linear canonical transformation which admits a unitary implementation, so that it is also uniquely determined.

The semi-classical expansion and resurgence in gauge theories: new perturbative, instanton, bion, and renormalon effects

DOE PAGES

Argyres, Philip C.; Uensal, Mithat

2012-08-10

We study the dynamics of four dimensional gauge theories with adjoint fermions for all gauge groups, both in perturbation theory and non-perturbatively, by using circle compactification with periodic boundary conditions for the fermions. There are new gauge phenomena. We show that, to all orders in perturbation theory, many gauge groups are Higgsed by the gauge holonomy around the circle to a product of both abelian and nonabelian gauge group factors. Non-perturbatively there are monopole-instantons with fermion zero modes and two types of monopole-anti-monopole molecules, called bions. One type are magnetic bions which carry net magnetic charge and induce a massmore » gap for gauge fluctuations. Another type are neutral bions which are magnetically neutral, and their understanding requires a generalization of multi-instanton techniques in quantum mechanics — which we refer to as the Bogomolny-Zinn-Justin (BZJ) prescription — to compactified field theory. The BZJ prescription applied to bion-anti-bion topological molecules predicts a singularity on the positive real axis of the Borel plane (i.e., a divergence from summing large orders in peturbation theory) which is of order N times closer to the origin than the leading 4-d BPST instanton-anti-instanton singularity, where N is the rank of the gauge group. The position of the bion-anti-bion singularity is thus qualitatively similar to that of the 4-d IR renormalon singularity, and we conjecture that they are continuously related as the compactification radius is changed. By making use of transseries and Écalle’s resurgence theory we argue that a non-perturbative continuum definition of a class of field theories which admit semi-classical expansions may be possible.« less

Effect of a relative phase of waves constituting the initial perturbation and the wave interference on the dynamics of strong-shock-driven Richtmyer-Meshkov flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pandian, Arun; Stellingwerf, Robert F.; Abarzhi, Snezhana I.

2017-07-01

While it is a common wisdom that initial conditions influence the evolution of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI), the research in this area is focused primarily on the effects of the wavelength and amplitude of the interface perturbation. The information has hitherto largely ignored the influences on RMI dynamics of the relative phase of waves constituting a multiwave initial perturbation and the interference of the perturbation waves. In this work we systematically study the influence of the relative phase and the interference of waves constituting a multiwave initial perturbation on a strong-shock-driven Richtmyer-Meshkov unstable interface separating ideal fluids with contrast densities. We apply group theory analysis and smoothed particle hydrodynamics numerical simulations. For verification and validation of the simulations, qualitative and quantitative comparisons are performed with rigorous zeroth-order, linear, and nonlinear theories as well as with gas dynamics experiments achieving good agreement. For a sample case of a two-wave (two-mode) initial perturbation we select the first-wave amplitude enabling the maximum initial growth rate of the RMI and we vary the second-wave amplitude from 1% to 100% of the first-wave amplitude. We also vary the relative phase of the first and second waves and consider the in-phase, the antiphase and the random-phase cases. We find that the relative phase and the interference of waves are important factors of RMI dynamics influencing qualitatively and quantitatively the symmetry, morphology, and growth rate of the Richtmyer-Meshkov unstable interface, as well as the order and disorder in strong-shock-driven RMI.

Uncertainties in climate assessment for the case of aviation NO

PubMed Central

Holmes, Christopher D.; Tang, Qi; Prather, Michael J.

2011-01-01

Nitrogen oxides emitted from aircraft engines alter the chemistry of the atmosphere, perturbing the greenhouse gases methane (CH4) and ozone (O3). We quantify uncertainties in radiative forcing (RF) due to short-lived increases in O3, long-lived decreases in CH4 and O3, and their net effect, using the ensemble of published models and a factor decomposition of each forcing. The decomposition captures major features of the ensemble, and also shows which processes drive the total uncertainty in several climate metrics. Aviation-specific factors drive most of the uncertainty for the short-lived O3 and long-lived CH4 RFs, but a nonaviation factor dominates for long-lived O3. The model ensemble shows strong anticorrelation between the short-lived and long-lived RF perturbations (R2 = 0.87). Uncertainty in the net RF is highly sensitive to this correlation. We reproduce the correlation and ensemble spread in one model, showing that processes controlling the background tropospheric abundance of nitrogen oxides are likely responsible for the modeling uncertainty in climate impacts from aviation. PMID:21690364

Spin-1 Particles and Perturbative QCD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Melo, J. P. B. C.; Frederico, T.; Ji, Chueng-Ryong

2018-07-01

Due to the angular condition in the light-front dynamics (LFD), the extraction of the electromagnetic form factors for spin-1 particles can be uniquely determined taking into account implicitly non-valence and/or the zero-mode contributions to the matrix elements of the electromagnetic current. No matter which matrix elements of the electromagnetic current is used to extract the electromagnetic form factors, the same unique result is obtained. As physical observables, the electromagnetic form factors obtained from matrix elements of the current in LFD must be equal to those obtained in the instant form calculations. Recently, the Babar collaboration (Phys Rev D 78:071103, 2008) has analyzed the reaction e^+ + e^-→ ρ ^+ + ρ ^- at √{s}=10.58 GeV to measure the cross section as well as the ratios of the helicity amplitudes F_{λ 'λ }. We present our recent analysis of the Babar data for the rho meson considering the angular condition in LFD to put a stringent test on the onset of asymptotic perturbative QCD and predict the energy regime where the subleading contributions are still considerable.

Role of a naturally varying flow regime in Everglades restoration

USGS Publications Warehouse

Harvey, Judson; Wetzel, Paul R.; Lodge, Thomas E.; Engel, Victor C.; Ross, Michael S.

2017-01-01

The Everglades is a low-gradient floodplain predominantly on organic soil that undergoes seasonally pulsing sheetflow through a network of deepwater sloughs separated by slightly higher elevation ridges. The seasonally pulsing flow permitted the coexistence of ridge and slough vegetation, including the persistence of productive, well-connected sloughs that seasonally concentrated prey and supported wading bird nesting success. Here we review factors contributing to the origin and to degradation of the ridge and slough ecosystem in an attempt to answer “How much flow is needed to restore functionality”? A key restoration objective is to increase sheetflow lost during the past century to reestablish interactions between flow, water depth, vegetation production and decomposition, and transport of flocculent organic sediment that build and maintain ridge and slough distinctions. Our review finds broad agreement that perturbations of water level depth and its fluctuations were primary in the degradation of landscape functions, with critical contributions from perturbed water quality, and flow velocity and direction. Whereas water levels are expected to be improved on average across a range of restoration scenarios that replace between 79 and 91% of predrainage flows, the diminished microtopography substantially decreases the probability of timely improvements in some areas whereas others that retain microtopographic differences are poised for restoration benefits. New advances in predicting restoration outcomes are coming from biophysical modeling of ridge–slough dynamics, system-wide measurements of landscape functionality, and large-scale flow restoration experiments, including active management techniques to kick-start slough regeneration.

A continuation of base-line studies for environmentally monitoring space transportation systems at John F. Kennedy Space Center. Executive summary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stout, I. J.

1980-01-01

Studies conducted in and around John F. Kennedy Space Center, Merrit Island, Florida were designed to establish baseline conditions for various attributes of the biotic and abiotic environment. Features were described and quantitatively measured. Certain condition were found to be appropriate for the detection and assessment of possible environmental perturbations caused by future NASA activities. These include plant communities, mammal populations, rainfall chemistry, fish populations, and the status of rare and endangered species. On the basis of statistical analysis of quantitative data and logistic considerations, it was possible to refine the kinds and amounts of measurements needed to evaluate perturbations in selected environmental components.

ELF/VLF Perturbations Above the Haarp Transmitter Recorded by the Demeter Satellite in the Upper Ionosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Titova, E. E.; Demekhov, A. G.; Mochalov, A. A.; Gvozdevsky, B. B.; Mogilevsky, M. M.; Parrot, M.

2015-08-01

In the studies of the data received from DEMETER (orbit altitude above the Earth is about 700 km), we detected for the first time electromagnetic perturbations, which are due to the ionospheric modification by HAARP, a high-power high-frequency transmitter, simultaneously in the extremely low-frequency (ELF, below 1200 Hz) and very low-frequency (VLF, below 20 kHz) ranges. Of the thirteen analyzed flybys of the satellite above the heated area, the ELF/VLF signals were detected in three cases in the daytime (LT = 11-12 h), when the minimum distance between the geomagnetic projections of the satellite and the heated area center on the Earth's surface did not exceed 31 km. During the nighttime flybys, the ELF/VLF perturbations were not detected. The size of the perturbed region was about 100 km. The amplitude, spectrum, and polarization of the ELF perturbations were analyzed, and their comparison with the characteristics of natural ELF noise above the HAARP transmitter was performed. In particular, it was shown that in the daytime the ELF perturbation amplitude above the heated area can exceed by a factor of 3 to 8 the amplitude of natural ELF noise. The absence of the nighttime records of artificial ELF/VLF perturbations above the heated area can be due to both the lower frequency of the heating signal, at which the heating occurs in the lower ionosphere, and the higher level of natural noise. The spectrum of the VLF signals related to the HAARP transmitter operation had two peaks at frequencies of 8 to 10 kHz and 15 to 18 kHz, which are close to the first and second harmonics of the lower-hybrid resonance in the heated area. The effect of the whistler wave propagation near the lower-hybrid resonance region on the perturbation spectrum recorded in the upper ionosphere for these signals has been demonstrated. In particular, some of the spectrum features can be explained by assuming that the VLF signals propagate in quasiresonance, rather than quasilongitudinal, regime. It is noted that the profile and dynamics of the ELF perturbation frequency spectrum conform to the assumption of their connection with quasistatic small-scale electron-density inhomogeneities occurring in the heated region and having lifetimes of a few seconds or more. The possible mechanisms of the ELF/VLF perturbation formation in the ionospheric plasma above the high-latitude HAARP facility at the DEMETER flyby altitudes are discussed.

Constraints on the ωπ Form Factor from Analyticity and Unitarity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ananthanarayan, B.; Caprini, Irinel; Kubis, Bastian

Form factors are important low-energy quantities and an accurate knowledge of these sheds light on the strong interactions. A variety of methods based on general principles have been developed to use information known in different energy regimes to constrain them in regions where experimental information needs to be tested precisely. Here we review our recent work on the electromagnetic ωπ form factor in a model-independent framework known as the method of unitarity bounds, partly motivated by the discre-pancies noted recently between the theoretical calculations of the form factor based on dispersion relations and certain experimental data measured from the decay ω → π0γ*. We have applied a modified dispersive formalism, which uses as input the discontinuity of the ωπ form factor calculated by unitarity below the ωπ threshold and an integral constraint on the square of its modulus above this threshold. The latter constraint was obtained by exploiting unitarity and the positivity of the spectral function of a QCD correlator, computed on the spacelike axis by operator product expansion and perturbative QCD. An alternative constraint is obtained by using data available at higher energies for evaluating an integral of the modulus squared with a suitable weight function. From these conditions we derived upper and lower bounds on the modulus of the ωπ form factor in the region below the ωπ threshold. The results confirm the existence of a disagreement between dispersion theory and experimental data on the ωπ form factor around 0:6 GeV, including those from NA60 published in 2016.

Constraints on the ωπ form factor from analyticity and unitarity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ananthanarayan, B.; Caprini, Irinel; Kubis, Bastian

2016-05-01

Form factors are important low-energy quantities and an accurate knowledge of these sheds light on the strong interactions. A variety of methods based on general principles have been developed to use information known in different energy regimes to constrain them in regions where experimental information needs to be tested precisely. Here we review our recent work on the electromagnetic ωπ form factor in a model-independent framework known as the method of unitarity bounds, partly motivated by the discrepancies noted recently between the theoretical calculations of the form factor based on dispersion relations and certain experimental data measured from the decay ω → π0γ∗. We have applied a modified dispersive formalism, which uses as input the discontinuity of the ωπ form factor calculated by unitarity below the ωπ threshold and an integral constraint on the square of its modulus above this threshold. The latter constraint was obtained by exploiting unitarity and the positivity of the spectral function of a QCD correlator, computed on the spacelike axis by operator product expansion and perturbative QCD. An alternative constraint is obtained by using data available at higher energies for evaluating an integral of the modulus squared with a suitable weight function. From these conditions we derived upper and lower bounds on the modulus of the ωπ form factor in the region below the ωπ threshold. The results confirm the existence of a disagreement between dispersion theory and experimental data on the ωπ form factor around 0.6 GeV, including those from NA60 published in 2016.

Ideas for a pattern-oriented approach towards a VERA analysis ensemble

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gorgas, T.; Dorninger, M.

2010-09-01

Ideas for a pattern-oriented approach towards a VERA analysis ensemble For many applications in meteorology and especially for verification purposes it is important to have some information about the uncertainties of observation and analysis data. A high quality of these "reference data" is an absolute necessity as the uncertainties are reflected in verification measures. The VERA (Vienna Enhanced Resolution Analysis) scheme includes a sophisticated quality control tool which accounts for the correction of observational data and provides an estimation of the observation uncertainty. It is crucial for meteorologically and physically reliable analysis fields. VERA is based on a variational principle and does not need any first guess fields. It is therefore NWP model independent and can also be used as an unbiased reference for real time model verification. For downscaling purposes VERA uses an a priori knowledge on small-scale physical processes over complex terrain, the so called "fingerprint technique", which transfers information from rich to data sparse regions. The enhanced Joint D-PHASE and COPS data set forms the data base for the analysis ensemble study. For the WWRP projects D-PHASE and COPS a joint activity has been started to collect GTS and non-GTS data from the national and regional meteorological services in Central Europe for 2007. Data from more than 11.000 stations are available for high resolution analyses. The usage of random numbers as perturbations for ensemble experiments is a common approach in meteorology. In most implementations, like for NWP-model ensemble systems, the focus lies on error growth and propagation on the spatial and temporal scale. When defining errors in analysis fields we have to consider the fact that analyses are not time dependent and that no perturbation method aimed at temporal evolution is possible. Further, the method applied should respect two major sources of analysis errors: Observation errors AND analysis or interpolation errors. With the concept of an analysis ensemble we hope to get a more detailed sight on both sources of analysis errors. For the computation of the VERA ensemble members a sample of Gaussian random perturbations is produced for each station and parameter. The deviation of perturbations is based on the correction proposals by the VERA QC scheme to provide some "natural" limits for the ensemble. In order to put more emphasis on the weather situation we aim to integrate the main synoptic field structures as weighting factors for the perturbations. Two widely approved approaches are used for the definition of these main field structures: The Principal Component Analysis and a 2D-Discrete Wavelet Transform. The results of tests concerning the implementation of this pattern-supported analysis ensemble system and a comparison of the different approaches are given in the presentation.

Elucidating the genotype-phenotype relationships and network perturbations of human shared and specific disease genes from an evolutionary perspective.

PubMed

Begum, Tina; Ghosh, Tapash Chandra

2014-10-05

To date, numerous studies have been attempted to determine the extent of variation in evolutionary rates between human disease and nondisease (ND) genes. In our present study, we have considered human autosomal monogenic (Mendelian) disease genes, which were classified into two groups according to the number of phenotypic defects, that is, specific disease (SPD) gene (one gene: one defect) and shared disease (SHD) gene (one gene: multiple defects). Here, we have compared the evolutionary rates of these two groups of genes, that is, SPD genes and SHD genes with respect to ND genes. We observed that the average evolutionary rates are slow in SHD group, intermediate in SPD group, and fast in ND group. Group-to-group evolutionary rate differences remain statistically significant regardless of their gene expression levels and number of defects. We demonstrated that disease genes are under strong selective constraint if they emerge through edgetic perturbation or drug-induced perturbation of the interactome network, show tissue-restricted expression, and are involved in transmembrane transport. Among all the factors, our regression analyses interestingly suggest the independent effects of 1) drug-induced perturbation and 2) the interaction term of expression breadth and transmembrane transport on protein evolutionary rates. We reasoned that the drug-induced network disruption is a combination of several edgetic perturbations and, thus, has more severe effect on gene phenotypes. © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

Bifurcation-based approach reveals synergism and optimal combinatorial perturbation.

PubMed

Liu, Yanwei; Li, Shanshan; Liu, Zengrong; Wang, Ruiqi

2016-06-01

Cells accomplish the process of fate decisions and form terminal lineages through a series of binary choices in which cells switch stable states from one branch to another as the interacting strengths of regulatory factors continuously vary. Various combinatorial effects may occur because almost all regulatory processes are managed in a combinatorial fashion. Combinatorial regulation is crucial for cell fate decisions because it may effectively integrate many different signaling pathways to meet the higher regulation demand during cell development. However, whether the contribution of combinatorial regulation to the state transition is better than that of a single one and if so, what the optimal combination strategy is, seem to be significant issue from the point of view of both biology and mathematics. Using the approaches of combinatorial perturbations and bifurcation analysis, we provide a general framework for the quantitative analysis of synergism in molecular networks. Different from the known methods, the bifurcation-based approach depends only on stable state responses to stimuli because the state transition induced by combinatorial perturbations occurs between stable states. More importantly, an optimal combinatorial perturbation strategy can be determined by investigating the relationship between the bifurcation curve of a synergistic perturbation pair and the level set of a specific objective function. The approach is applied to two models, i.e., a theoretical multistable decision model and a biologically realistic CREB model, to show its validity, although the approach holds for a general class of biological systems.

Statistics of Smoothed Cosmic Fields in Perturbation Theory. I. Formulation and Useful Formulae in Second-Order Perturbation Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matsubara, Takahiko

2003-02-01

We formulate a general method for perturbative evaluations of statistics of smoothed cosmic fields and provide useful formulae for application of the perturbation theory to various statistics. This formalism is an extensive generalization of the method used by Matsubara, who derived a weakly nonlinear formula of the genus statistic in a three-dimensional density field. After describing the general method, we apply the formalism to a series of statistics, including genus statistics, level-crossing statistics, Minkowski functionals, and a density extrema statistic, regardless of the dimensions in which each statistic is defined. The relation between the Minkowski functionals and other geometrical statistics is clarified. These statistics can be applied to several cosmic fields, including three-dimensional density field, three-dimensional velocity field, two-dimensional projected density field, and so forth. The results are detailed for second-order theory of the formalism. The effect of the bias is discussed. The statistics of smoothed cosmic fields as functions of rescaled threshold by volume fraction are discussed in the framework of second-order perturbation theory. In CDM-like models, their functional deviations from linear predictions plotted against the rescaled threshold are generally much smaller than that plotted against the direct threshold. There is still a slight meatball shift against rescaled threshold, which is characterized by asymmetry in depths of troughs in the genus curve. A theory-motivated asymmetry factor in the genus curve is proposed.

Representing high throughput expression profiles via perturbation barcodes reveals compound targets.

PubMed

Filzen, Tracey M; Kutchukian, Peter S; Hermes, Jeffrey D; Li, Jing; Tudor, Matthew

2017-02-01

High throughput mRNA expression profiling can be used to characterize the response of cell culture models to perturbations such as pharmacologic modulators and genetic perturbations. As profiling campaigns expand in scope, it is important to homogenize, summarize, and analyze the resulting data in a manner that captures significant biological signals in spite of various noise sources such as batch effects and stochastic variation. We used the L1000 platform for large-scale profiling of 978 representative genes across thousands of compound treatments. Here, a method is described that uses deep learning techniques to convert the expression changes of the landmark genes into a perturbation barcode that reveals important features of the underlying data, performing better than the raw data in revealing important biological insights. The barcode captures compound structure and target information, and predicts a compound's high throughput screening promiscuity, to a higher degree than the original data measurements, indicating that the approach uncovers underlying factors of the expression data that are otherwise entangled or masked by noise. Furthermore, we demonstrate that visualizations derived from the perturbation barcode can be used to more sensitively assign functions to unknown compounds through a guilt-by-association approach, which we use to predict and experimentally validate the activity of compounds on the MAPK pathway. The demonstrated application of deep metric learning to large-scale chemical genetics projects highlights the utility of this and related approaches to the extraction of insights and testable hypotheses from big, sometimes noisy data.

Representing high throughput expression profiles via perturbation barcodes reveals compound targets

PubMed Central

Kutchukian, Peter S.; Li, Jing; Tudor, Matthew

2017-01-01

High throughput mRNA expression profiling can be used to characterize the response of cell culture models to perturbations such as pharmacologic modulators and genetic perturbations. As profiling campaigns expand in scope, it is important to homogenize, summarize, and analyze the resulting data in a manner that captures significant biological signals in spite of various noise sources such as batch effects and stochastic variation. We used the L1000 platform for large-scale profiling of 978 representative genes across thousands of compound treatments. Here, a method is described that uses deep learning techniques to convert the expression changes of the landmark genes into a perturbation barcode that reveals important features of the underlying data, performing better than the raw data in revealing important biological insights. The barcode captures compound structure and target information, and predicts a compound’s high throughput screening promiscuity, to a higher degree than the original data measurements, indicating that the approach uncovers underlying factors of the expression data that are otherwise entangled or masked by noise. Furthermore, we demonstrate that visualizations derived from the perturbation barcode can be used to more sensitively assign functions to unknown compounds through a guilt-by-association approach, which we use to predict and experimentally validate the activity of compounds on the MAPK pathway. The demonstrated application of deep metric learning to large-scale chemical genetics projects highlights the utility of this and related approaches to the extraction of insights and testable hypotheses from big, sometimes noisy data. PMID:28182661

Leg preference associated with protective stepping responses in older adults.

PubMed

Young, Patricia M; Whitall, Jill; Bair, Woei-Nan; Rogers, Mark W

2013-10-01

Asymmetries in dynamic balance stability have been previously observed. The goal of this study was to determine whether leg preference influenced the stepping response to a waist-pull perturbation in older adult fallers and non-fallers. 39 healthy, community-dwelling, older adult (>65 years) volunteers participated. Participants were grouped into non-faller and faller cohorts based on fall history in the 12 months prior to the study. Participants received 60 lateral waist-pull perturbations of varying magnitude towards their preferred and non-preferred sides during quiet standing. Outcome measures included balance tolerance limit, number of recovery steps taken and type of recovery step taken for perturbations to each side. No significant differences in balance tolerance limit (P ≥ 0.102) or number of recovery steps taken (η(2)partial ≤ 0.027; P ≥ 0.442) were observed between perturbations towards the preferred and non-preferred legs. However, non-faller participants more frequently responded with a medial step when pulled towards their non-preferred side and cross-over steps when pulled towards their preferred side (P=0.015). Leg preference may influence the protective stepping response to standing balance perturbations in older adults at risk for falls, particularly with the type of recovery responses used. Such asymmetries in balance stability recovery may represent a contributing factor for falls among older individuals and should be considered for rehabilitation interventions aimed at improving balance stability and reducing fall risk. © 2013.

Biomechanical influences on balance recovery by stepping.

PubMed

Hsiao, E T; Robinovitch, S N

1999-10-01

Stepping represents a common means for balance recovery after a perturbation to upright posture. Yet little is known regarding the biomechanical factors which determine whether a step succeeds in preventing a fall. In the present study, we developed a simple pendulum-spring model of balance recovery by stepping, and used this to assess how step length and step contact time influence the effort (leg contact force) and feasibility of balance recovery by stepping. We then compared model predictions of step characteristics which minimize leg contact force to experimentally observed values over a range of perturbation strengths. At all perturbation levels, experimentally observed step execution times were higher than optimal, and step lengths were smaller than optimal. However, the predicted increase in leg contact force associated with these deviations was substantial only for large perturbations. Furthermore, increases in the strength of the perturbation caused subjects to take larger, quicker steps, which reduced their predicted leg contact force. We interpret these data to reflect young subjects' desire to minimize recovery effort, subject to neuromuscular constraints on step execution time and step length. Finally, our model predicts that successful balance recovery by stepping is governed by a coupling between step length, step execution time, and leg strength, so that the feasibility of balance recovery decreases unless declines in one capacity are offset by enhancements in the others. This suggests that one's risk for falls may be affected more by small but diffuse neuromuscular impairments than by larger impairment in a single motor capacity.

Leg preference associated with protective stepping responses in older adults

PubMed Central

Young, Patricia M.; Whitall, Jill; Bair, Woei-Nan; Rogers, Mark W.

2014-01-01

Background Asymmetries in dynamic balance stability have been previously observed. The goal of this study was to determine whether leg preference influenced the stepping response to a waist-pull perturbation in older adult fallers and non-fallers. Methods 39 healthy, community-dwelling, older adult (>65 years) volunteers participated. Participants were grouped into non-faller and faller cohorts based on fall history in the 12 months prior to the study. Participants received 60 lateral waist-pull perturbations of varying magnitude towards their preferred and non-preferred sides during quiet standing. Outcome measures included balance tolerance limit, number of recovery steps taken and type of recovery step taken for perturbations to each side. Findings No significant differences in balance tolerance limit (P ≥ 0.102) or number of recovery steps taken (η2partial ≤ 0.027; P ≥ 0.442) were observed between perturbations towards the preferred and non-preferred legs. However, non-faller participants more frequently responded with a medial step when pulled towards their non-preferred side and cross-over steps when pulled towards their preferred side (P = 0.015). Interpretation Leg preference may influence the protective stepping response to standing balance perturbations in older adults at risk for falls, particularly with the type of recovery responses used. Such asymmetries in balance stability recovery may represent a contributing factor for falls among older individuals and should be considered for rehabilitation interventions aimed at improving balance stability and reducing fall risk. PMID:23962655

ASR Application in Climate Change Adaptation: The Need, Issues and Research Focus

EPA Science Inventory

This presentation will focus on four key points: (a) Aquifer storage and recovery: a long-held practice offering a potential tool for climate change adaptation, (b) The drivers: 1) hydrological perturbations related to climate change, 2) water imbalance in both Qand Vbetween wat...

Can nudging be used to quantify model sensitivities in precipitation and cloud forcing?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Guangxing; Wan, Hui; Zhang, Kai; Qian, Yun; Ghan, Steven J.

2016-09-01

Efficient simulation strategies are crucial for the development and evaluation of high-resolution climate models. This paper evaluates simulations with constrained meteorology for the quantification of parametric sensitivities in the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5). Two parameters are perturbed as illustrating examples: the convection relaxation time scale (TAU), and the threshold relative humidity for the formation of low-level stratiform clouds (rhminl). Results suggest that the fidelity of the constrained simulations depends on the detailed implementation of nudging and the mechanism through which the perturbed parameter affects precipitation and cloud. The relative computational costs of nudged and free-running simulations are determined by the magnitude of internal variability in the physical quantities of interest, as well as the magnitude of the parameter perturbation. In the case of a strong perturbation in convection, temperature, and/or wind nudging with a 6 h relaxation time scale leads to nonnegligible side effects due to the distorted interactions between resolved dynamics and parameterized convection, while 1 year free-running simulations can satisfactorily capture the annual mean precipitation and cloud forcing sensitivities. In the case of a relatively weak perturbation in the large-scale condensation scheme, results from 1 year free-running simulations are strongly affected by natural noise, while nudging winds effectively reduces the noise, and reasonably reproduces the sensitivities. These results indicate that caution is needed when using nudged simulations to assess precipitation and cloud forcing sensitivities to parameter changes in general circulation models. We also demonstrate that ensembles of short simulations are useful for understanding the evolution of model sensitivities.

Footwear width and balance-recovery reactions: A new approach to improving lateral stability in older adults.

PubMed

Yamaguchi, Takeshi; Cheng, Kenneth C; McKay, Sandra M; Maki, Brian E

Age-related difficulty in controlling lateral stability is of crucial importance because lateral falls increase risk of debilitating hip-fracture injury. This study examined whether a small increase in footwear sole width can improve ability of older adults to regain lateral stability subsequent to balance perturbation. The study involved sixteen healthy, ambulatory, community-dwelling older adults (aged 65-78). Widened base-of-support (WBOS) footwear was simulated by affixing polystyrene-foam blocks (20mm wide) on the medial and lateral sides of rubber overshoes; unaltered overshoes were worn in normal (NBOS) trials. Balance perturbations were applied using a motion platform. Gait, mobility and agility tests revealed no adverse effects of wearing the WBOS footwear. Lateral-perturbation tests showed that the WBOS footwear improved ability to stabilize the body without stepping (p=0.002). Depending on the perturbation magnitude, the frequency of stepping was reduced by up to 25% (64% of NBOS trials vs 39% of WBOS trials). In addition, the WBOS footwear appeared to improve ability to maintain lateral stability during forward-step reactions, as evidenced by reduced incidence of additional lateral steps (p=0.04) after stepping over an obstacle in response to a forward-fall perturbation. A small increase in sole width can improve certain aspects of lateral stability in older adults, without compromising mobility and agility. This finding supports the viability of WBOS footwear as an intervention to improve balance. Further research is needed to test populations with more severe balance impairments, examine user compliance, and determine if WBOS footwear actually reduces falling risk in daily life.

Comparing the effects of mechanical perturbation training with a compliant surface and manual perturbation training on joints kinematics after ACL-rupture.

PubMed

Nawasreh, Zakariya; Failla, Mathew; Marmon, Adam; Logerstedt, David; Snyder-Mackler, Lynn

2018-05-23

Performing physical activities on a compliant surface alters joint kinematics and increases joints stiffness. However, the effect of compliant surface on joint kinematics after ACL-rupture is yet unknown. To compare the effects of mechanical perturbation training with a compliant surface to manual perturbation training on joint kinematics after ACL-rupture. Sixteen level I/II athletes with ACL-rupture participated in this preliminary study. Eight patients received mechanical perturbation with compliant surface (Mechanical) and 8 patients received manual perturbation training (Manual). Patients completed standard gait analysis before (Pre) and after (Post) training. Significant group-by-time interactions were found for knee flexion angle at initial contact (IC) and peak knee flexion (PKF) (p<0.004), with manual group significantly increased knee flexion angle at IC and PKF (p<0.03). Main effects of group were found for hip flexion angle at IC (Manual:34.34+3.51°, Mechanical:27.68+4.08°, p = 0.011), hip rotation angle at PKE (Manual:-3.40+4.78°, Mechanical:5.43+4.78°, p < 0.0001), and knee adduction angle at PKE (Manual:-2.00+2.23°, Mechanical:0.55+2.23°, p = 0.039). Main effects of time were found for hip adduction angle at PKE (Pre:6.98+4.48°, Post:8.41+4.91°, p = 0.04), knee adduction angle at IC (Pre:-2.90+3.50°, Post:-0.62+2.58°, p = 0.03), ankle adduction angle at IC (Pre:2.16+3.54, Post:3.8+3.68, p = 0.008), and ankle flexion angle at PKF (Pre:-4.55+2.77°, Post:-2.39+3.48°, p = 0.01). Training on a compliant surface induces different effects on joint kinematics compared to manual perturbation training after ACL-rupture. Manual perturbation improved hip alignment and increased knee flexion angles, while mechanical training decreased knee flexion angles throughout the stance phase. Administering training on a compliant surface after ACL-rupture may help improving dynamic knee stability, however, long-term effects on knee health needs to be determined. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An Efficient Algorithm for Perturbed Orbit Integration Combining Analytical Continuation and Modified Chebyshev Picard Iteration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elgohary, T.; Kim, D.; Turner, J.; Junkins, J.

2014-09-01

Several methods exist for integrating the motion in high order gravity fields. Some recent methods use an approximate starting orbit, and an efficient method is needed for generating warm starts that account for specific low order gravity approximations. By introducing two scalar Lagrange-like invariants and employing Leibniz product rule, the perturbed motion is integrated by a novel recursive formulation. The Lagrange-like invariants allow exact arbitrary order time derivatives. Restricting attention to the perturbations due to the zonal harmonics J2 through J6, we illustrate an idea. The recursively generated vector-valued time derivatives for the trajectory are used to develop a continuation series-based solution for propagating position and velocity. Numerical comparisons indicate performance improvements of ~ 70X over existing explicit Runge-Kutta methods while maintaining mm accuracy for the orbit predictions. The Modified Chebyshev Picard Iteration (MCPI) is an iterative path approximation method to solve nonlinear ordinary differential equations. The MCPI utilizes Picard iteration with orthogonal Chebyshev polynomial basis functions to recursively update the states. The key advantages of the MCPI are as follows: 1) Large segments of a trajectory can be approximated by evaluating the forcing function at multiple nodes along the current approximation during each iteration. 2) It can readily handle general gravity perturbations as well as non-conservative forces. 3) Parallel applications are possible. The Picard sequence converges to the solution over large time intervals when the forces are continuous and differentiable. According to the accuracy of the starting solutions, however, the MCPI may require significant number of iterations and function evaluations compared to other integrators. In this work, we provide an efficient methodology to establish good starting solutions from the continuation series method; this warm start improves the performance of the MCPI significantly and will likely be useful for other applications where efficiently computed approximate orbit solutions are needed.

An adaptive scale factor based MPPT algorithm for changing solar irradiation levels in outer space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kwan, Trevor Hocksun; Wu, Xiaofeng

2017-03-01

Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) techniques are popularly used for maximizing the output of solar panels by continuously tracking the maximum power point (MPP) of their P-V curves, which depend both on the panel temperature and the input insolation. Various MPPT algorithms have been studied in literature, including perturb and observe (P&O), hill climbing, incremental conductance, fuzzy logic control and neural networks. This paper presents an algorithm which improves the MPP tracking performance by adaptively scaling the DC-DC converter duty cycle. The principle of the proposed algorithm is to detect the oscillation by checking the sign (ie. direction) of the duty cycle perturbation between the current and previous time steps. If there is a difference in the signs then it is clear an oscillation is present and the DC-DC converter duty cycle perturbation is subsequently scaled down by a constant factor. By repeating this process, the steady state oscillations become negligibly small which subsequently allows for a smooth steady state MPP response. To verify the proposed MPPT algorithm, a simulation involving irradiances levels that are typically encountered in outer space is conducted. Simulation and experimental results prove that the proposed algorithm is fast and stable in comparison to not only the conventional fixed step counterparts, but also to previous variable step size algorithms.

Connectivity constraints on cortical reorganization of neural circuits involved in object naming.

PubMed

Papagno, Costanza; Gallucci, Marcello; Casarotti, Alessandra; Castellano, Antonella; Falini, Andrea; Fava, Enrica; Giussani, Carlo; Carrabba, Giorgio; Bello, Lorenzo; Caramazza, Alfonso

2011-04-01

The brain's plasticity in response to sensory deprivation and other perturbations is well established. While the functional properties of the reorganized areas are under vigorous investigation, the factors that constrain cortical reorganization remain poorly understood. One factor constraining such reorganization may be long-distance subcortical connectivity between relevant cortical regions-reorganization attempts to preserve the functionality of subcortical connections. Here we provide human neurophysiological evidence for the role of the subcortical connections in shaping cortical reorganization of the networks involved in object naming following perturbation of normal function. We used direct electrical stimulation (DES) during surgical removal of gliomas to identify the sites that are involved in naming different categories of objects. The sites that were selectively inhibited in naming either living or non-living objects were displaced relative to those observed with other subject populations, possibly reflecting cortical reorganization due to slowly evolving brain damage. Subcortical DES applied to the white matter underlying these regions also led to category-specific naming deficits. The existence of these subcortical fiber pathways was confirmed using diffusion tensor tractography. These results constitute the first neurophysiological evidence for the critical role of subcortical pathways as part of the neural circuits that are involved in object naming; they also highlight the importance of subcortical connectivity in shaping cortical reorganization following perturbations of normal function. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Bounded noise induced first-order phase transitions in a baseline non-spatial model of gene transcription

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

d'Onofrio, Alberto; Caravagna, Giulio; de Franciscis, Sebastiano

2018-02-01

In this work we consider, from a statistical mechanics point of view, the effects of bounded stochastic perturbations of the protein decay rate for a bistable biomolecular network module. Namely, we consider the perturbations of the protein decay/binding rate constant (DBRC) in a circuit modeling the positive feedback of a transcription factor (TF) on its own synthesis. The DBRC models both the spontaneous degradation of the TF and its linking to other unknown biomolecular factors or drugs. We show that bounded perturbations of the DBRC preserve the positivity of the parameter value (and also its limited variation), and induce effects of interest. First, the noise amplitude induces a first-order phase transition. This is of interest since the system in study has neither spatial components nor it is composed by multiple interacting networks. In particular, we observe that the system passes from two to a unique stochastic attractor, and vice-versa. This behavior is different from noise-induced transitions (also termed phenomenological bifurcations), where a unique stochastic attractor changes its shape depending on the values of a parameter. Moreover, we observe irreversible jumps as a consequence of the above-mentioned phase transition. We show that the illustrated mechanism holds for general models with the same deterministic hysteresis bifurcation structure. Finally, we illustrate the possible implications of our findings to the intracellular pharmacodynamics of drugs delivered in continuous infusion.

The spatial range of protein hydration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Persson, Filip; Söderhjelm, Pär; Halle, Bertil

2018-06-01

Proteins interact with their aqueous surroundings, thereby modifying the physical properties of the solvent. The extent of this perturbation has been investigated by numerous methods in the past half-century, but a consensus has still not emerged regarding the spatial range of the perturbation. To a large extent, the disparate views found in the current literature can be traced to the lack of a rigorous definition of the perturbation range. Stating that a particular solvent property differs from its bulk value at a certain distance from the protein is not particularly helpful since such findings depend on the sensitivity and precision of the technique used to probe the system. What is needed is a well-defined decay length, an intrinsic property of the protein in a dilute aqueous solution, that specifies the length scale on which a given physical property approaches its bulk-water value. Based on molecular dynamics simulations of four small globular proteins, we present such an analysis of the structural and dynamic properties of the hydrogen-bonded solvent network. The results demonstrate unequivocally that the solvent perturbation is short-ranged, with all investigated properties having exponential decay lengths of less than one hydration shell. The short range of the perturbation is a consequence of the high energy density of bulk water, rendering this solvent highly resistant to structural perturbations. The electric field from the protein, which under certain conditions can be long-ranged, induces a weak alignment of water dipoles, which, however, is merely the linear dielectric response of bulk water and, therefore, should not be thought of as a structural perturbation. By decomposing the first hydration shell into polarity-based subsets, we find that the hydration structure of the nonpolar parts of the protein surface is similar to that of small nonpolar solutes. For all four examined proteins, the mean number of water-water hydrogen bonds in the nonpolar subset is within 1% of the value in bulk water, suggesting that the fragmentation and topography of the nonpolar protein-water interface has evolved to minimize the propensity for protein aggregation by reducing the unfavorable free energy of hydrophobic hydration.

Orbitally invariant internally contracted multireference unitary coupled cluster theory and its perturbative approximation: theory and test calculations of second order approximation.

PubMed

Chen, Zhenhua; Hoffmann, Mark R

2012-07-07

A unitary wave operator, exp (G), G(+) = -G, is considered to transform a multiconfigurational reference wave function Φ to the potentially exact, within basis set limit, wave function Ψ = exp (G)Φ. To obtain a useful approximation, the Hausdorff expansion of the similarity transformed effective Hamiltonian, exp (-G)Hexp (G), is truncated at second order and the excitation manifold is limited; an additional separate perturbation approximation can also be made. In the perturbation approximation, which we refer to as multireference unitary second-order perturbation theory (MRUPT2), the Hamiltonian operator in the highest order commutator is approximated by a Mo̸ller-Plesset-type one-body zero-order Hamiltonian. If a complete active space self-consistent field wave function is used as reference, then the energy is invariant under orbital rotations within the inactive, active, and virtual orbital subspaces for both the second-order unitary coupled cluster method and its perturbative approximation. Furthermore, the redundancies of the excitation operators are addressed in a novel way, which is potentially more efficient compared to the usual full diagonalization of the metric of the excited configurations. Despite the loss of rigorous size-extensivity possibly due to the use of a variational approach rather than a projective one in the solution of the amplitudes, test calculations show that the size-extensivity errors are very small. Compared to other internally contracted multireference perturbation theories, MRUPT2 only needs reduced density matrices up to three-body even with a non-complete active space reference wave function when two-body excitations within the active orbital subspace are involved in the wave operator, exp (G). Both the coupled cluster and perturbation theory variants are amenable to large, incomplete model spaces. Applications to some widely studied model systems that can be problematic because of geometry dependent quasidegeneracy, H4, P4, and BeH(2), are performed in order to test the new methods on problems where full configuration interaction results are available.

Comparison of traditional and recent approaches in the promotion of balance and strength in older adults.

PubMed

Granacher, Urs; Muehlbauer, Thomas; Zahner, Lukas; Gollhofer, Albert; Kressig, Reto W

2011-05-01

Demographic change in industrialized countries produced an increase in the proportion of elderly people in our society, resulting in specific healthcare challenges. One such challenge is how to effectively deal with the increased risk of sustaining a fall and fall-related injuries in old age. Deficits in postural control and muscle strength represent important intrinsic fall risk factors. Thus, adequate training regimens need to be designed and applied that have the potential to reduce the rate of falling in older adults by countering these factors. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to compare traditional and recent approaches in the promotion of balance and strength in older adults. Traditionally, balance and resistance training programmes proved to be effective in improving balance and strength, and in reducing the number of falls. Yet, it was argued that these training protocols are not specific enough to induce adaptations in neuromuscular capacities that are specifically needed in actual balance-threatening situations (e.g. abilities to recover balance and to produce force explosively). Recent studies indicated that perturbation-based or multitask balance training and power/high-velocity resistance training have the potential to improve these specific capacities because they comply with the principle of training specificity. In fact, there is evidence that these specifically tailored training programmes are more effective in improving balance recovery mechanisms and muscle power than traditional training protocols. A few pilot studies have even shown that these recently designed training protocols have an impact on the reduction of fall incidence rate in older adults. Further research is needed to confirm these results and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms responsible for the adaptive processes.

Regulatory coding of lymphoid lineage choice by hematopoietic transcription factors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Warren, Luigi A.; Rothenberg, Ellen V.

2003-01-01

During lymphopoiesis, precursor cells negotiate a complex regulatory space, defined by the levels of several competing and cross-regulating transcription factors, before arriving at stable states of commitment to the B-, T- and NK-specific developmental programs. Recent perturbation experiments provide evidence that this space has three major axes, corresponding to the PU.1 versus GATA-1 balance, the intensity of Notch signaling through the CSL pathway, and the ratio of E-box transcription factors to their Id protein antagonists.

Alternative Analysis of the Michaelis-Menten Equations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krogstad, Harald E.; Dawed, Mohammed Yiha; Tegegne, Tadele Tesfa

2011-01-01

Courses in mathematical modelling are always in need of simple, illustrative examples. The Michaelis-Menten reaction kinetics equations have been considered to be a basic example of scaling and singular perturbation. However, the leading order approximations do not easily show the expected behaviour, and this note proposes a different perturbation…

Vibration exciting mechanisms induced by flow in turbomachine stages

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thompson, W. E.

1980-01-01

The quasisteady computer analysis of the perturbated centrifugal impeller passage flow was reviewed. A total of 115 stage calculations were used to define the fluid damping coefficient, delta sub fluid. Results indicate that the average total damping coefficient per stage needed for stability is delta sub total 1.85.

Does phloem loading strategy and capacity alter plant response to elevated atmospheric [CO2]?

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A better understanding of the interactions between photosynthesis, photoassimilate translocation and sink activity is necessary to improve crop productivity. Rising atmospheric [CO2] perturbs source-sink balance which needs to be addressed to adapt crops to future growing conditions. This project ta...

Current limitations and a path forward to improve testing for the environmental assessment of endocrine active substances-presentation

EPA Science Inventory

To assess the hazards and risks of possible endocrine active chemicals (EACs), there is a need for robust, validated test methods that detect perturbations of endocrine pathways and provide reliable information for evaluating potential adverse effects on apical endpoints. One iss...

An Efficient System for Gene Perturbation in Embryonic Hippocampal Progenitors Using Ex Vivo Electroporation Followed by In Vitro Dissociated Cell Culture

PubMed Central

Muralidharan, Bhavana

2018-01-01

We established an efficient cell culture assay that permits combinatorial genetic perturbations in hippocampal progenitors to examine cell-autonomous mechanisms of fate specification. The procedure begins with ex vivo electroporation of isolated, intact embryonic brains, in a manner similar to in utero electroporation but with greatly improved access and targeting. The electroporated region is then dissected and transiently maintained in organotypic explant culture, followed by dissociation and plating of cells on coverslips for in vitro culture. This assay recapitulates data obtained in vivo with respect to the neuron-glia cell fate switch and can be effectively used to test intrinsic or extrinsic factors that regulate this process. The advantages of this ex vivo procedure over in utero electroporation include the fact that distinct combinations of perturbative reagents can be introduced in different embryos from a single litter, and issues related to embryonic lethality of transgenic animals can be circumvented. PMID:29760561

Non-Abelian integrable hierarchies: matrix biorthogonal polynomials and perturbations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ariznabarreta, Gerardo; García-Ardila, Juan C.; Mañas, Manuel; Marcellán, Francisco

2018-05-01

In this paper, Geronimus–Uvarov perturbations for matrix orthogonal polynomials on the real line are studied and then applied to the analysis of non-Abelian integrable hierarchies. The orthogonality is understood in full generality, i.e. in terms of a nondegenerate continuous sesquilinear form, determined by a quasidefinite matrix of bivariate generalized functions with a well-defined support. We derive Christoffel-type formulas that give the perturbed matrix biorthogonal polynomials and their norms in terms of the original ones. The keystone for this finding is the Gauss–Borel factorization of the Gram matrix. Geronimus–Uvarov transformations are considered in the context of the 2D non-Abelian Toda lattice and noncommutative KP hierarchies. The interplay between transformations and integrable flows is discussed. Miwa shifts, τ-ratio matrix functions and Sato formulas are given. Bilinear identities, involving Geronimus–Uvarov transformations, first for the Baker functions, then secondly for the biorthogonal polynomials and its second kind functions, and finally for the τ-ratio matrix functions, are found.

Discovering causal pathways linking genomic events to transcriptional states using Tied Diffusion Through Interacting Events (TieDIE).

PubMed

Paull, Evan O; Carlin, Daniel E; Niepel, Mario; Sorger, Peter K; Haussler, David; Stuart, Joshua M

2013-11-01

Identifying the cellular wiring that connects genomic perturbations to transcriptional changes in cancer is essential to gain a mechanistic understanding of disease initiation, progression and ultimately to predict drug response. We have developed a method called Tied Diffusion Through Interacting Events (TieDIE) that uses a network diffusion approach to connect genomic perturbations to gene expression changes characteristic of cancer subtypes. The method computes a subnetwork of protein-protein interactions, predicted transcription factor-to-target connections and curated interactions from literature that connects genomic and transcriptomic perturbations. Application of TieDIE to The Cancer Genome Atlas and a breast cancer cell line dataset identified key signaling pathways, with examples impinging on MYC activity. Interlinking genes are predicted to correspond to essential components of cancer signaling and may provide a mechanistic explanation of tumor character and suggest subtype-specific drug targets. Software is available from the Stuart lab's wiki: https://sysbiowiki.soe.ucsc.edu/tiedie. jstuart@ucsc.edu. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

An Efficient System for Gene Perturbation in Embryonic Hippocampal Progenitors Using Ex Vivo Electroporation Followed by In Vitro Dissociated Cell Culture.

PubMed

Muralidharan, Bhavana; D'Souza, Leora; Tole, Shubha

2018-01-01

We established an efficient cell culture assay that permits combinatorial genetic perturbations in hippocampal progenitors to examine cell-autonomous mechanisms of fate specification. The procedure begins with ex vivo electroporation of isolated, intact embryonic brains, in a manner similar to in utero electroporation but with greatly improved access and targeting. The electroporated region is then dissected and transiently maintained in organotypic explant culture, followed by dissociation and plating of cells on coverslips for in vitro culture. This assay recapitulates data obtained in vivo with respect to the neuron-glia cell fate switch and can be effectively used to test intrinsic or extrinsic factors that regulate this process. The advantages of this ex vivo procedure over in utero electroporation include the fact that distinct combinations of perturbative reagents can be introduced in different embryos from a single litter, and issues related to embryonic lethality of transgenic animals can be circumvented.

Diversified Control Paths: A Significant Way Disease Genes Perturb the Human Regulatory Network

PubMed Central

Wang, Bingbo; Gao, Lin; Zhang, Qingfang; Li, Aimin; Deng, Yue; Guo, Xingli

2015-01-01

Background The complexity of biological systems motivates us to use the underlying networks to provide deep understanding of disease etiology and the human diseases are viewed as perturbations of dynamic properties of networks. Control theory that deals with dynamic systems has been successfully used to capture systems-level knowledge in large amount of quantitative biological interactions. But from the perspective of system control, the ways by which multiple genetic factors jointly perturb a disease phenotype still remain. Results In this work, we combine tools from control theory and network science to address the diversified control paths in complex networks. Then the ways by which the disease genes perturb biological systems are identified and quantified by the control paths in a human regulatory network. Furthermore, as an application, prioritization of candidate genes is presented by use of control path analysis and gene ontology annotation for definition of similarities. We use leave-one-out cross-validation to evaluate the ability of finding the gene-disease relationship. Results have shown compatible performance with previous sophisticated works, especially in directed systems. Conclusions Our results inspire a deeper understanding of molecular mechanisms that drive pathological processes. Diversified control paths offer a basis for integrated intervention techniques which will ultimately lead to the development of novel therapeutic strategies. PMID:26284649

The effect of cane use on the compensatory step following posterior perturbations.

PubMed

Hall, Courtney D; Jensen, Jody L

2004-08-01

The compensatory step is a critical component of the balance response and is impaired in older fallers. The purpose of this research was to examine whether utilization of a cane modified the compensatory step response following external posterior perturbations. Single subject withdrawal design was employed. Single subject statistical analysis--the standard deviation bandwidth-method--supplemented visual analysis of the data. Four older adults (range: 73-83 years) with balance impairment who habitually use a cane completed this study. Subjects received a series of sudden backward pulls that were large enough to elicit compensatory stepping. We examined the following variables both with and without cane use: timing of cane loading relative to step initiation and center of mass acceleration, stability margin, center of mass excursion and velocity, step length and width. No participant loaded the cane prior to initiation of the first compensatory step. There was no effect of cane use on the stability margin, nor was there an effect of cane use on center of mass excursion or velocity, or step length or width. These data suggest that cane use does not necessarily improve balance recovery following an external posterior perturbation when the individual is forced to rely on compensatory stepping. Instead these data suggest that the strongest factor in modifying step characteristics is experience with the perturbation.

CRISPR Perturbation of Gene Expression Alters Bacterial Fitness under Stress and Reveals Underlying Epistatic Constraints.

PubMed

Otoupal, Peter B; Erickson, Keesha E; Escalas-Bordoy, Antoni; Chatterjee, Anushree

2017-01-20

The evolution of antibiotic resistance has engendered an impending global health crisis that necessitates a greater understanding of how resistance emerges. The impact of nongenetic factors and how they influence the evolution of resistance is a largely unexplored area of research. Here we present a novel application of CRISPR-Cas9 technology for investigating how gene expression governs the adaptive pathways available to bacteria during the evolution of resistance. We examine the impact of gene expression changes on bacterial adaptation by constructing a library of deactivated CRISPR-Cas9 synthetic devices to tune the expression of a set of stress-response genes in Escherichia coli. We show that artificially inducing perturbations in gene expression imparts significant synthetic control over fitness and growth during stress exposure. We present evidence that these impacts are reversible; strains with synthetically perturbed gene expression regained wild-type growth phenotypes upon stress removal, while maintaining divergent growth characteristics under stress. Furthermore, we demonstrate a prevailing trend toward negative epistatic interactions when multiple gene perturbations are combined simultaneously, thereby posing an intrinsic constraint on gene expression underlying adaptive trajectories. Together, these results emphasize how CRISPR-Cas9 can be employed to engineer gene expression changes that shape bacterial adaptation, and present a novel approach to synthetically control the evolution of antimicrobial resistance.

On the kinetics of dendritic sidebranching: A three dimensional phase field study

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

Shang, Shan; Guo, Zhipeng; Han, Zhiqiang, E-mail: zqhan@tsinghua.edu.cn

2016-04-28

The underlying mechanism for dendritic sidebranching was studied using 3-D phase field modeling. Results showed that in 3-D the requirement of applying the random thermal noise to induce dendritic sidebranching (i.e., normally the case for 2-D phase field simulations) was fully relaxed. The stretching of the secondary or higher order arms occurred spontaneously and symmetrically as the growth of the dendrite. With periodic external perturbation and if the stimulating frequency was lower than a critical value, both tip velocity and sidebranching would get completely synchronized with the perturbation. Whereas if the perturbation frequency was higher than the critical value, rathermore » than increasing, the sidebranching frequency would become stable and maintain at the same magnitude as that of the natural sidebranching, i.e., when no external perturbation was applied. It was shown that the underlying mechanism for sidebranching was deterministic rather than stochastic, and anisotropy tendency and curvature effect were shown to be the most important influence factors. Moreover, the difference of the anisotropy tendency would lead to an uneven distribution of curvature on the solid/liquid interface, i.e., formation of concave and convex geometries. The growth of these geometries would subsequently break the initial spherical structure of solid seed and lead to further sidebranching.« less

Driven similarity renormalization group: Third-order multireference perturbation theory.

PubMed

Li, Chenyang; Evangelista, Francesco A

2017-03-28

A third-order multireference perturbation theory based on the driven similarity renormalization group (DSRG-MRPT3) approach is presented. The DSRG-MRPT3 method has several appealing features: (a) it is intruder free, (b) it is size consistent, (c) it leads to a non-iterative algorithm with O(N 6 ) scaling, and (d) it includes reference relaxation effects. The DSRG-MRPT3 scheme is benchmarked on the potential energy curves of F 2 , H 2 O 2 , C 2 H 6 , and N 2 along the F-F, O-O, C-C, and N-N bond dissociation coordinates, respectively. The nonparallelism errors of DSRG-MRPT3 are consistent with those of complete active space third-order perturbation theory and multireference configuration interaction with singles and doubles and show significant improvements over those obtained from DSRG second-order multireference perturbation theory. Our efficient implementation of the DSRG-MRPT3 based on factorized electron repulsion integrals enables studies of medium-sized open-shell organic compounds. This point is demonstrated with computations of the singlet-triplet splitting (Δ ST =E T -E S ) of 9,10-anthracyne. At the DSRG-MRPT3 level of theory, our best estimate of the adiabatic Δ ST is 3.9 kcal mol -1 , a value that is within 0.1 kcal mol -1 from multireference coupled cluster results.

Three-Dimensional Hydrodynamic Simulations of the Effects of Laser Imprint in OMEGA Implosions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Igumenshchev, I. V.; Campbell, E. M.; Goncharov, V. N.; Regan, S. P.; Shvydky, A.; Schmitt, A. J.

2017-10-01

Illumination of direct-drive implosion targets by the OMEGA laser introduces large-amplitude broadband modulations in the absorbed energy from the largest (target size 900- μm) to smallest (speckle size 2- μm) spatial scales. These modulations ``imprint'' perturbations into a target that are amplified because of the secular and Rayleigh-Taylor growths during acceleration and deceleration of the target. The degradation of performance of room-temperature and cryogenic OMEGA implosions caused by these perturbations were simulated in three dimensions using the code ASTER. The highest-resolution simulations resolve perturbation modes as high as l 200 . The high modes l 50to 100 dominate in the perturbation spectrum during the linear growth, while the late-time nonlinear evolution results in domination of modes with l 30to 50 . Smoothing by spectral dispersion reduces the linear-phase mode amplitudes by a factor of 4 and results in substantial improvements in implosion performance that is in good agreement with measurements. The effects of imprint on implosion performance are compared with the effects of other implosion asymmetries, such as those induced because of laser beam imbalance, mistiming and mispointing, and target offset. This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration under Award Number DE-NA0001944.

Experimental study on the crack detection with optimized spatial wavelet analysis and windowing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghanbari Mardasi, Amir; Wu, Nan; Wu, Christine

2018-05-01

In this paper, a high sensitive crack detection is experimentally realized and presented on a beam under certain deflection by optimizing spatial wavelet analysis. Due to the crack existence in the beam structure, a perturbation/slop singularity is induced in the deflection profile. Spatial wavelet transformation works as a magnifier to amplify the small perturbation signal at the crack location to detect and localize the damage. The profile of a deflected aluminum cantilever beam is obtained for both intact and cracked beams by a high resolution laser profile sensor. Gabor wavelet transformation is applied on the subtraction of intact and cracked data sets. To improve detection sensitivity, scale factor in spatial wavelet transformation and the transformation repeat times are optimized. Furthermore, to detect the possible crack close to the measurement boundaries, wavelet transformation edge effect, which induces large values of wavelet coefficient around the measurement boundaries, is efficiently reduced by introducing different windowing functions. The result shows that a small crack with depth of less than 10% of the beam height can be localized with a clear perturbation. Moreover, the perturbation caused by a crack at 0.85 mm away from one end of the measurement range, which is covered by wavelet transform edge effect, emerges by applying proper window functions.

Linear ideal MHD predictions for n = 2 non-axisymmetric magnetic perturbations on DIII-D

DOE PAGES

Haskey, Shaun R.; Lanctot, Matthew J.; Liu, Y. Q.; ...

2014-02-05

Here, an extensive examination of the plasma response to dominantly n = 2 non-axisymmetric magnetic perturbations (MPs) on the DIII-D tokamak shows the potential to control 3D field interactions by varying the poloidal spectrum of the radial magnetic field. The plasma response is calculated as a function of the applied magnetic field structure and plasma parameters, using the linear magnetohydrodynamic code MARS-F. The ideal, single fluid plasma response is decomposed into two main components: a local pitch-resonant response occurring at rational magnetic flux surfaces, and a global kink response. The efficiency with which the field couples to the total plasmamore » response is determined by the safety factor and the structure of the applied field. In many cases, control of the applied field has a more significant effect than control of plasma parameters, which is of particular interest since it can be modified at will throughout a shot to achieve a desired effect. The presence of toroidal harmonics, other than the dominant n = 2 component, is examined revealing a significant n = 4 component in the perturbations applied by the DIII-D MP coils; however, modeling shows the plasma responses to n = 4 perturbations are substantially smaller than the dominant n = 2 responses in most situations.« less

Assessment of radiative feedback in climate models using satellite observations of annual flux variation.

PubMed

Tsushima, Yoko; Manabe, Syukuro

2013-05-07

In the climate system, two types of radiative feedback are in operation. The feedback of the first kind involves the radiative damping of the vertically uniform temperature perturbation of the troposphere and Earth's surface that approximately follows the Stefan-Boltzmann law of blackbody radiation. The second kind involves the change in the vertical lapse rate of temperature, water vapor, and clouds in the troposphere and albedo of the Earth's surface. Using satellite observations of the annual variation of the outgoing flux of longwave radiation and that of reflected solar radiation at the top of the atmosphere, this study estimates the so-called "gain factor," which characterizes the strength of radiative feedback of the second kind that operates on the annually varying, global-scale perturbation of temperature at the Earth's surface. The gain factor is computed not only for all sky but also for clear sky. The gain factor of so-called "cloud radiative forcing" is then computed as the difference between the two. The gain factors thus obtained are compared with those obtained from 35 models that were used for the fourth and fifth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment. Here, we show that the gain factors obtained from satellite observations of cloud radiative forcing are effective for identifying systematic biases of the feedback processes that control the sensitivity of simulated climate, providing useful information for validating and improving a climate model.

Nonleptonic decays of B →(f1(1285 ),f1(1420 ))V in the perturbative QCD approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Xin; Xiao, Zhen-Jun; Zou, Zhi-Tian

2016-12-01

We investigate the branching ratios, the polarization fractions, the direct C P -violating asymmetries, and the relative phases in 20 nonleptonic decay modes of B →f1V within the framework of the perturbative QCD approach at leading order with f1 including two 3P1-axial-vector states f1(1285 ) and f1(1420 ) . Here, B denotes B+, B0, and Bs0 mesons and V stands for the lightest vector mesons ρ , K*, ω , and ϕ , respectively. The Bs0→f1V decays are studied theoretically for the first time in the literature. Together with the angle ϕf1≈(24-2.7+3.2)∘ extracted from the measurement through Bd /s→J /ψ f1(1285 ) modes for the f1(1285 )-f1(1420 ) mixing system, it is of great interest to find phenomenologically some modes such as the tree-dominated B+→f1ρ+ and the penguin-dominated B+,0→f1K*+,0 , Bs0→f1ϕ with large branching ratios around O (10-6) or even O (10-5), which are expected to be measurable at the LHCb and/or the Belle-II experiments in the near future. The good agreement (sharp contrast) of branching ratios and decay pattern for B+→f1ρ+ , B+,0→f1(1285 )K*+,0[B+,0→f1(1420 )K*+,0] decays between QCD factorization and perturbative QCD factorization predictions can help us to distinguish these two rather different factorization approaches via precision measurements, which would also be helpful for us in exploring the annihilation decay mechanism through its important roles for the considered B →f1V decays.

[The reasons for the «space» of gerontology: the impact of the movements of the Earth and Moon on the performance of the human environment].

PubMed

Shapovalov, S N

2016-01-01

For future gerontological research specific interest are the research results obtained at the junction of Geophysics, astronomy, and biology, and existing links pointing to indicators of living objects with cosmophysical factors. The paper presents data on basic astronomical factors, potentially on a regular basis may cause gravitational effects on the biosphere as a living environment. Among these factors are movement of the Earth and Moon described is known in astronomy equations: the equation of the equinoxes, equation of time, as well as major perturbations from the Sun (evection, variation and annual inequality) inferred from the theory of lunar motion. Based on the amount of major perturbations from the Sun, the so-called λD-functions that are carried out to study the relationship between fluctuations of the so-called «computer time», the energy of solar radiation in the range of 605-607 nm, and the concentration of hemoglobin and red blood cells with major perturbations from the Sun. The resulting conclusion about the universal nature of the impact of the movements of the Moon and the Earth on the biosphere. The tables for the period from 01.01.2015 to 31.12.2016, with the calculated values λD functions that are potentially important for analyzing their association with temporal changes of various indicators of the body. The regularities obtained in the comparison of changes in various biomarkers with the course of values λD functions from tables, can be predictive in the study of the functioning of humans and the biosphere for astronomical periods. The research was carried out in Antarctica, where excluded the influence of artificial electromagnetic fields, st. Vostok (1998-1999) and st. Novolazarevskaya (2003-2004).

Balance and gait in older electroconvulsive therapy recipients: a pilot study

PubMed Central

Plakiotis, Chris; Barson, Fay; Vengadasalam, Bharathi; Haines, Terry P; O’Connor, Daniel W

2013-01-01

Background Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is commonly used to treat depression in older adults. Despite its efficacy in this regard, an associated increase in the risk of falls in this population is a downside of treatment. ECT research has focused on the incidence of falls, but its effect on balance and gait – intrinsic factors in instability and falls – has not been studied. Our aim was to examine changes in balance and gait among older adults before and after a single ECT session and explore the effect of patient-related and treatment factors on any changes found. Methods Participants were 21 older adults requiring ECT for depression in public psychiatric services. Patients with clinically overt mobility problems (impairing test participation or increasing the risk of falls) were excluded. Balance and gait testing 1 hour pre-ECT and 1, 2 and 3 hours post-ECT included: (1) steady standing test; (2) perturbation of standing balance by self-initiated movements; (3) perturbation of standing balance by an external perturbation; and (4) timed up and go test. Results No deterioration in test performance was found, using one-way repeated measures analysis of variance. Conclusion Balance and gait did not deteriorate immediately after ECT. Exclusion of participants with clinically overt mobility problems and falls being better attributable to factors unrelated to balance and gait (such as post-ECT confusion) may account for our findings. This research does not repudiate the occurrence of ECT-related falls but calls into question the utility of introducing routine balance and gait assessment among older ECT recipients without pre-existing mobility problems as a means of preventing them. PMID:23766650

The analysis of harmonic generation coefficients in the ablative Rayleigh-Taylor instability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Yan; Fan, Zhengfeng; Lu, Xinpei; Ye, Wenhua; Zou, Changlin; Zhang, Ziyun; Zhang, Wen

2017-10-01

In this research, we use the numerical simulation method to investigate the generation coefficients of the first three harmonics and the zeroth harmonic in the Ablative Rayleigh-Taylor Instability. It is shown that the interface shifts to the low temperature side during the ablation process. In consideration of the third-order perturbation theory, the first three harmonic amplitudes of the weakly nonlinear regime are calculated and then the harmonic generation coefficients are obtained by curve fitting. The simulation results show that the harmonic generation coefficients changed with time and wavelength. Using the higher-order perturbation theory, we find that more and more harmonics are generated in the later weakly nonlinear stage, which is caused by the negative feedback of the later higher harmonics. Furthermore, extending the third-order theory to the fifth-order theory, we find that the second and the third harmonics coefficients linearly depend on the wavelength, while the feedback coefficients are almost constant. Further analysis also shows that when the fifth-order theory is considered, the normalized effective amplitudes of second and third harmonics can reach about 25%-40%, which are only 15%-25% in the frame of the previous third-order theory. Therefore, the third order perturbation theory is needed to be modified by the higher-order theory when ηL reaches about 20% of the perturbation wavelength.

How the songbird brain listens to its own songs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hahnloser, Richard

2010-03-01

Songbirds are capable of vocal learning and communication and are ideally suited to the study of neural mechanisms of auditory feedback processing. When a songbird is deafened in the early sensorimotor phase after tutoring, it fails to imitate the song of its tutor and develops a highly aberrant song. It is also known that birds are capable of storing a long-term memory of tutor song and that they need intact auditory feedback to match their own vocalizations to the tutor's song. Based on these behavioral observations, we investigate feedback processing in single auditory forebrain neurons of juvenile zebra finches that are in a late developmental stage of song learning. We implant birds with miniature motorized microdrives that allow us to record the electrical activity of single neurons while birds are freely moving and singing in their cages. Occasionally, we deliver a brief sound through a loudspeaker to perturb the auditory feedback the bird experiences during singing. These acoustic perturbations of auditory feedback reveal complex sensitivity that cannot be predicted from passive playback responses. Some neurons are highly feedback sensitive in that they respond vigorously to song perturbations, but not to unperturbed songs or perturbed playback. These findings suggest that a computational function of forebrain auditory areas may be to detect errors between actual feedback and mirrored feedback deriving from an internal model of the bird's own song or that of its tutor.

The potential management of oral candidiasis using anti-biofilm therapies.

PubMed

Chanda, Warren; Joseph, Thomson P; Wang, Wendong; Padhiar, Arshad A; Zhong, Mintao

2017-09-01

Candida albicans is a minor component of the oral microbiota and an opportunistic pathogen that takes advantage of the immunocompromised host and causes oral mucositis and oral candidiasis. This organism is able to undergo phenotypic modification from a yeast to hyphae growth phase, one of the key arsenals for immune cell evasion, tissue invasion and biofilm formation. The latter property coupled with overgrowth and immune compromising factors such as HIV/AIDS, cancer treatments, organ transplantation, diabetes, corticosteroid use, dentures, and broad-spectrum antibiotic use have modified the fungus from a normal component of the microflora to a foe of an oral cavity and resulting in reduced sensitivity towards commonly utilised antifungal agents. Hence, the need for alternative therapy to curb this plight is of importance. Making use of biomolecules produced by Streptococcus mutans, application of lactoferrin which is a nonspecific host defense factor found in saliva with metal chelating and broader antimicrobial properties, use of probiotics which have the capacity to boost the host immunity through eliciting Immunoglobulin A synthesis, and perturbing the pathogen's environment via competition of space and food, and application of photodynamic therapy can help to manage the burden of oral candidiasis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Genetic and flow anomalies in congenital heart disease.

PubMed

Rugonyi, Sandra

2016-01-01

Congenital heart defects are the most common malformations in humans, affecting approximately 1% of newborn babies. While genetic causes of congenital heart disease have been studied, only less than 20% of human cases are clearly linked to genetic anomalies. The cause for the majority of the cases remains unknown. Heart formation is a finely orchestrated developmental process and slight disruptions of it can lead to severe malformations. Dysregulation of developmental processes leading to heart malformations are caused by genetic anomalies but also environmental factors including blood flow. Intra-cardiac blood flow dynamics plays a significant role regulating heart development and perturbations of blood flow lead to congenital heart defects in animal models. Defects that result from hemodynamic alterations, however, recapitulate those observed in human babies, even those due to genetic anomalies and toxic teratogen exposure. Because important cardiac developmental events, such as valve formation and septation, occur under blood flow conditions while the heart is pumping, blood flow regulation of cardiac formation might be a critical factor determining cardiac phenotype. The contribution of flow to cardiac phenotype, however, is frequently ignored. More research is needed to determine how blood flow influences cardiac development and the extent to which flow may determine cardiac phenotype.

Mitochondrial dysfunction and sarcopenia of aging: from signaling pathways to clinical trials

PubMed Central

Marzetti, Emanuele; Calvani, Riccardo; Cesari, Matteo; Buford, Thomas W.; Lorenzi, Maria; Behnke, Bradley J.; Leeuwenburgh, Christiaan

2013-01-01

Sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle mass and function, imposes a dramatic burden on individuals and society. The development of preventive and therapeutic strategies against sarcopenia is therefore perceived as an urgent need by health professionals and has instigated intensive research on the pathophysiology of this syndrome. The pathogenesis of sarcopenia is multifaceted and encompasses lifestyle habits, systemic factors (e.g., chronic inflammation and hormonal alterations), local environment perturbations (e.g., vascular dysfunction), and intramuscular specific processes. In this scenario, derangements in skeletal myocyte mitochondrial function are recognized as major factors contributing to the age-dependent muscle degeneration. In this review, we summarize prominent findings and controversial issues on the contribution of specific mitochondrial processes – including oxidative stress, quality control mechanisms and apoptotic signaling – on the development of sarcopenia. Extramuscular alterations accompanying the aging process with a potential impact on myocyte mitochondrial function are also discussed. We conclude with presenting methodological and safety considerations for the design of clinical trials targeting mitochondrial dysfunction to treat sarcopenia. Special emphasis is placed on the importance of monitoring the effects of an intervention on muscle mitochondrial function and identifying the optimal target population for the trial. PMID:23845738

Higher order approximation to the Hill problem dynamics about the libration points

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lara, Martin; Pérez, Iván L.; López, Rosario

2018-06-01

An analytical solution to the Hill problem Hamiltonian expanded about the libration points has been obtained by means of perturbation techniques. In order to compute the higher orders of the perturbation solution that are needed to capture all the relevant periodic orbits originated from the libration points within a reasonable accuracy, the normalization is approached in complex variables. The validity of the solution extends to energy values considerably far away from that of the libration points and, therefore, can be used in the computation of Halo orbits as an alternative to the classical Lindstedt-Poincaré approach. Furthermore, the theory correctly predicts the existence of the two-lane bridge of periodic orbits linking the families of planar and vertical Lyapunov orbits.

Asymptotic formulae for the zeros of orthogonal polynomials

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

Badkov, V M

2012-09-30

Let p{sub n}(t) be an algebraic polynomial that is orthonormal with weight p(t) on the interval [-1, 1]. When p(t) is a perturbation (in certain limits) of the Chebyshev weight of the first kind, the zeros of the polynomial p{sub n}( cos {tau}) and the differences between pairs of (not necessarily consecutive) zeros are shown to satisfy asymptotic formulae as n{yields}{infinity}, which hold uniformly with respect to the indices of the zeros. Similar results are also obtained for perturbations of the Chebyshev weight of the second kind. First, some preliminary results on the asymptotic behaviour of the difference between twomore » zeros of an orthogonal trigonometric polynomial, which are needed, are established. Bibliography: 15 titles.« less

Plasma Effects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Armstrong, J. W.

1983-01-01

Radio communication with space probes requires sending signals through the Earth's ionosphere and usually the solar wind. During planetary flybys, the signal may also pass through the ionosphere of another planet. These ionized media can perturb the radio signal in a variety of ways. Examples of these perturbations are variations in the electrical length between the spacecraft and the ground station, Faraday rotation of linearly polarized signals, amplitude and phase scintillations, and spectral and angular broadening. These plasma effects can have undesirable influences on telemetry performance and thus need to be understood from a communications engineering viewpoint. The plasma effects are, however, useful from a scientific viewpoint, since the effects on the communications link can often be inverted to estimate the physical conditions in the plasma.

Evolution of Rotor Wake in Swirling Flow

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

El-Haldidi, Basman; Atassi, Hafiz; Envia, Edmane; Podboy, Gary

2000-01-01

A theory is presented for modeling the evolution of rotor wakes as a function of axial distance in swirling mean flows. The theory, which extends an earlier work to include arbitrary radial distributions of mean swirl, indicates that swirl can significantly alter the wake structure of the rotor especially at large downstream distances (i.e., for moderate to large rotor-stator spacings). Using measured wakes of a representative scale model fan stage to define the mean swirl and initial wake perturbations, the theory is used to predict the subsequent evolution of the wakes. The results indicate the sensitivity of the wake evolution to the initial profile and the need to have complete and consistent initial definition of both velocity and pressure perturbations.

Feedback from Arctic charr: Feed flavour stimulation and re-feeding after feed deprivation stimulate genes encoding both orexigenic and anorexigenic neuropeptides.

PubMed

Striberny, Anja; Jørgensen, Even H

2017-05-15

Despite vast research attention, the knowledge about central mechanisms of appetite regulation in teleost remains inconclusive. A common strategy in studies on appetite regulating mechanisms is to measure the response to feed restriction or - deprivation, but responses vary between fish species and between experiments, and are also likely dependent on the degree of energy perturbation. The anadromous Arctic charr is an interesting model for studying appetite regulation as its feeding cycle comprises months of winter anorexia, and hyperphagia during summer. Here we studied how the gene expression of putative hypothalamic appetite regulators were affected by two days, one week and one month feed deprivation during summer, and subsequent re-feeding and exposure to feed flavour. Short-term feed deprivation caused only a minor reduction in condition factor and had no effect on hypothalamic gene expression. Long-term feed-deprivation caused a marked reduction in weight and condition factor which contrasted the increase in weight and condition factor seen in ad libitum fed controls. A marked energy perturbation by feed deprivation was also indicated by a lower hypothalamic expression of the genes encoding insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) and IGF1 binding protein 5 in the feed deprived charr compared to fed controls. Surprisingly, long-term feed deprivation and energy perturbation did not induce changes in hypothalamic appetite regulators. Unexpectedly, re-feeding and exposure to feed flavour caused an increase in the expression of the genes encoding the orexigenic agouti-related peptide and the anorexigenic melanocortin receptor 4 and cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript. Our study gives strong evidence for a role of these in appetite regulation in Arctic charr, but their mechanisms of action remain unknown. We suggest that changes in gene expression are more likely to be registered during transition phases, e.g. from fasting to feeding and upon stimulatory inputs such as feed flavour. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Postural perturbations: new insights for treatment of balance disorders

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Horak, F. B.; Henry, S. M.; Shumway-Cook, A.; Peterson, B. W. (Principal Investigator)

1997-01-01

This article reviews the neural control of posture as understood through studies of automatic responses to mechanical perturbations. Recent studies of responses to postural perturbations have provided a new view of how postural stability is controlled, and this view has profound implications for physical therapy practice. We discuss the implications for rehabilitation of balance disorders and demonstrate how an understanding of the specific systems underlying postural control can help to focus and enrich our therapeutic approaches. By understanding the basic systems underlying control of balance, such as strategy selection, rapid latencies, coordinated temporal spatial patterns, force control, and context-specific adaptations, therapists can focus their treatment on each patient's specific impairments. Research on postural responses to surface translations has shown that balance is not based on a fixed set of equilibrium reflexes but on a flexible, functional motor skill that can adapt with training and experience. More research is needed to determine the extent to which quantification of automatic postural responses has practical implications for predicting falls in patients with constraints in their postural control system.

Impact of intermediate and high energy nuclear data on the neutronic safety parameters of MYRRHA accelerator driven system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stankovskiy, Alexey; Çelik, Yurdunaz; Eynde, Gert Van den

2017-09-01

Perturbation of external neutron source can cause significant local power changes transformed into undesired safety-related events in an accelerator driven system. Therefore for the accurate design of MYRRHA sub-critical core it is important to evaluate the uncertainty of power responses caused by the uncertainties in nuclear reaction models describing the particle transport from primary proton energy down to the evaluated nuclear data table range. The calculations with a set of models resulted in quite low uncertainty on the local power caused by significant perturbation of primary neutron yield from proton interactions with lead and bismuth isotopes. The considered accidental event of prescribed proton beam shape loss causes drastic increase in local power but does not practically change the total core thermal power making this effect difficult to detect. In the same time the results demonstrate a correlation between perturbed local power responses in normal operation and misaligned beam conditions indicating that generation of covariance data for proton and neutron induced neutron multiplicities for lead and bismuth isotopes is needed to obtain reliable uncertainties for local power responses.

Perturbative triples correction for local pair natural orbital based explicitly correlated CCSD(F12*) using Laplace transformation techniques.

PubMed

Schmitz, Gunnar; Hättig, Christof

2016-12-21

We present an implementation of pair natural orbital coupled cluster singles and doubles with perturbative triples, PNO-CCSD(T), which avoids the quasi-canonical triples approximation (T0) where couplings due to off-diagonal Fock matrix elements are neglected. A numerical Laplace transformation of the canonical expression for the perturbative (T) triples correction is used to avoid an I/O and storage bottleneck for the triples amplitudes. Results for a test set of reaction energies show that only very few Laplace grid points are needed to obtain converged energy differences and that PNO-CCSD(T) is a more robust approximation than PNO-CCSD(T0) with a reduced mean absolute deviation from canonical CCSD(T) results. We combine the PNO-based (T) triples correction with the explicitly correlated PNO-CCSD(F12*) method and investigate the use of specialized F12-PNOs in the conventional triples correction. We find that no significant additional errors are introduced and that PNO-CCSD(F12*)(T) can be applied in a black box manner.

Numerical simulations of the convective flame in white dwarfs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Livne, Eli

1993-01-01

A first step toward better understanding of the mechanism driving convective flames in exploding white dwarfs is presented. The propagation of the convective flame is examined using a two-dimensional implicit hydrodynamical code. The large scales of the instability are captured by the grid while the scales that are smaller than the grid resolution are approximated by a mixing-length approximation. It is found that largescale perturbations (of order of the pressure scale height) do grow significantly during the expansion, leading to a very nonspherical burning front. The combustion rate is strongly enhanced (compared to the unperturbed case) during the first second, but later the expansion of the star suppresses the flame speed, leading to only partial incineration of the nuclear fuel. Our results imply that large-scale perturbations by themselves are not enough to explain the mechanism by which convective flames are driven, and a study of the whole spectrum of relevant perturbations is needed. The implications of these preliminary results on future simulations, in the context of current models for Type Ia supernovae, are discussed.

A Generalized Perturbation Theory Solver In Rattlesnake Based On PETSc With Application To TREAT Steady State Uncertainty Quantification

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

Schunert, Sebastian; Wang, Congjian; Wang, Yaqi

Rattlesnake and MAMMOTH are the designated TREAT analysis tools currently being developed at the Idaho National Laboratory. Concurrent with development of the multi-physics, multi-scale capabilities, sensitivity analysis and uncertainty quantification (SA/UQ) capabilities are required for predicitive modeling of the TREAT reactor. For steady-state SA/UQ, that is essential for setting initial conditions for the transients, generalized perturbation theory (GPT) will be used. This work describes the implementation of a PETSc based solver for the generalized adjoint equations that constitute a inhomogeneous, rank deficient problem. The standard approach is to use an outer iteration strategy with repeated removal of the fundamental modemore » contamination. The described GPT algorithm directly solves the GPT equations without the need of an outer iteration procedure by using Krylov subspaces that are orthogonal to the operator’s nullspace. Three test problems are solved and provide sufficient verification for the Rattlesnake’s GPT capability. We conclude with a preliminary example evaluating the impact of the Boron distribution in the TREAT reactor using perturbation theory.« less

Force Modeling and State Propagation for Navigation and Maneuver Planning for the Proximity Operations Nano-Satellite Flight Demonstration Mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roscoe, C.; Griesbach, J.; Westphal, J.; Hawes, D.; Carrico, J.

2013-09-01

The state propagation accuracy resulting from different choices of gravitational force models and orbital perturbations is investigated for a pair of CubeSats flying in formation in low Earth orbit (LEO). Accurate on-board state propagation is necessary to autonomously plan maneuvers and perform proximity operations and docking safely. The ability to perform high-precision navigation is made especially challenging by the limited computer processing power available on-board the spacecraft. Propagation accuracy is investigated both in terms of the absolute (chief) state and the relative (deputy relative to chief) state. Different perturbing effects are quantified and related directly to important mission factors such as maneuver accuracy, fuel use (mission lifetime), and collision prediction/avoidance (mission safety). The Proximity Operations Nano-Satellite Flight Demonstration (PONSFD) program is to demonstrate rendezvous proximity operations (RPO), formation flying, and docking with a pair of 3U CubeSats. The program is sponsored by NASA Ames via the Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT) in support of its Small Spacecraft Technology Program (SSTP). The goal of the mission is to demonstrate complex RPO and docking operations with a pair of low-cost 3U CubeSat satellites using passive navigation sensors. The primary orbital perturbation affecting spacecraft in low Earth orbit (LEO) is the Earth oblateness, or J2, perturbation. Provided that a spacecraft does not have an extremely high area-to-mass ratio or is not flying at a very low altitude, the effect of J2 will usually be greater than that of atmospheric drag, which will typically be the next largest perturbing force in LEO. After these perturbations, factors such as higher-order Earth gravitational parameters, third-body perturbations, and solar radiation pressure will follow in magnitude but will have much less noticeable effects than J2 and drag. For spacecraft formations, where relative dynamics and not absolute dynamics are of primary importance, J2 will still be significant but drag effects become highly dependent on differences in the ballistic coefficients of the spacecraft in the formation. The PONSFD program uses a pair of 3U CubeSats with protruding solar panels, which means that inertial attitude differences between the two spacecraft will result in large differences in presented cross-sectional area. However, on-board prediction of drag effects may not be practical in all circumstances because it requires accurate knowledge of the Earth's atmospheric density as well as of the attitude of both spacecraft. This paper investigates the accuracy of performing long-term state propagation using different choices of gravitational force models and orbital perturbations for a wide range of orbit altitude and inclination possibilities. Propagation accuracy is affected by a number of orbit parameters and force model parameters which makes performing such a study with uncertain orbit knowledge a challenging prospect. However, much intuition can be gained by breaking the study down in terms of each of these parameters to see the effect of each one individually. The results of this study will be used to select a propagation method for the on-board navigation system for the mission.

The effects of forced small-wavelength, finite-bandwidth initial perturbations and miscibility on the turbulent Rayleigh–Taylor instability

DOE PAGES

Roberts, M. S.; Jacobs, J. W.

2015-12-07

Rayleigh–Taylor instability experiments are performed using both immiscible and miscible incompressible liquid combinations having a relatively large Atwood number ofmore » $$A\\equiv ({\\it\\rho}_{2}-{\\it\\rho}_{1})/({\\it\\rho}_{2}+{\\it\\rho}_{1})=0.48$$. The liquid-filled tank is attached to a test sled that is accelerated downwards along a vertical rail system using a system of weights and pulleys producing approximately$1g$$net acceleration. The tank is backlit and images are digitally recorded using a high-speed video camera. The experiments are either initiated with forced initial perturbations or are left unforced. The forced experiments have an initial perturbation imposed by vertically oscillating the liquid-filled tank to produce Faraday waves at the interface. The unforced experiments rely on random interfacial fluctuations, resulting from background noise, to seed the instability. The main focus of this study is to determine the effects of forced initial perturbations and the effects of miscibility on the growth parameter,$${\\it\\alpha}$$. Measurements of the mixing-layer width,$$h$$, are acquired, from which$${\\it\\alpha}$$is determined. It is found that initial perturbations of the form used in this study do not affect measured$${\\it\\alpha}$$values. However, miscibility is observed to strongly affect$${\\it\\alpha}$$, resulting in a factor of two reduction in its value, a finding not previously observed in past experiments. In addition, all measured$${\\it\\alpha}$values are found to be smaller than those obtained in previous experimental studies.« less

A perturbation-based balance training program for older adults: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

PubMed Central

Mansfield, Avril; Peters, Amy L; Liu, Barbara A; Maki, Brian E

2007-01-01

Background Previous research investigating exercise as a means of falls prevention in older adults has shown mixed results. Lack of specificity of the intervention may be an important factor contributing to negative results. Change-in-support (CIS) balance reactions, which involve very rapid stepping or grasping movements of the limbs, play a critical role in preventing falls; hence, a training program that improves ability to execute effective CIS reactions could potentially have a profound effect in reducing risk of falling. This paper describes: 1) the development of a perturbation-based balance training program that targets specific previously-reported age-related impairments in CIS reactions, and 2) a study protocol to evaluate the efficacy of this new training program. Methods/Design The training program involves use of unpredictable, multi-directional moving-platform perturbations to evoke stepping and grasping reactions. Perturbation magnitude is gradually increased over the course of the 6-week program, and concurrent cognitive and movement tasks are included during later sessions. The program was developed in accordance with well-established principles of motor learning, such as individualisation, specificity, overload, adaptation-progression and variability. Specific goals are to reduce the frequency of multiple-step responses, reduce the frequency of collisions between the stepping foot and stance leg, and increase the speed of grasping reactions. A randomised control trial will be performed to evaluate the efficacy of the training program. A total of 30 community-dwelling older adults (age 64–80) with a recent history of instability or falling will be assigned to either the perturbation-based training or a control group (flexibility/relaxation training), using a stratified randomisation that controls for gender, age and baseline stepping/grasping performance. CIS reactions will be tested immediately before and after the six weeks of training, using platform perturbations as well as a distinctly different method of perturbation (waist pulls) in order to evaluate the generalisability of the training effects. Discussion This study will determine whether perturbation-based balance training can help to reverse specific age-related impairments in balance-recovery reactions. These results will help to guide the development of more effective falls prevention programs, which may ultimately lead to reduced health-care costs and enhanced mobility, independence and quality of life. PMID:17540020

A perturbation-based balance training program for older adults: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

PubMed

Mansfield, Avril; Peters, Amy L; Liu, Barbara A; Maki, Brian E

2007-05-31

Previous research investigating exercise as a means of falls prevention in older adults has shown mixed results. Lack of specificity of the intervention may be an important factor contributing to negative results. Change-in-support (CIS) balance reactions, which involve very rapid stepping or grasping movements of the limbs, play a critical role in preventing falls; hence, a training program that improves ability to execute effective CIS reactions could potentially have a profound effect in reducing risk of falling. This paper describes: 1) the development of a perturbation-based balance training program that targets specific previously-reported age-related impairments in CIS reactions, and 2) a study protocol to evaluate the efficacy of this new training program. The training program involves use of unpredictable, multi-directional moving-platform perturbations to evoke stepping and grasping reactions. Perturbation magnitude is gradually increased over the course of the 6-week program, and concurrent cognitive and movement tasks are included during later sessions. The program was developed in accordance with well-established principles of motor learning, such as individualisation, specificity, overload, adaptation-progression and variability. Specific goals are to reduce the frequency of multiple-step responses, reduce the frequency of collisions between the stepping foot and stance leg, and increase the speed of grasping reactions. A randomised control trial will be performed to evaluate the efficacy of the training program. A total of 30 community-dwelling older adults (age 64-80) with a recent history of instability or falling will be assigned to either the perturbation-based training or a control group (flexibility/relaxation training), using a stratified randomisation that controls for gender, age and baseline stepping/grasping performance. CIS reactions will be tested immediately before and after the six weeks of training, using platform perturbations as well as a distinctly different method of perturbation (waist pulls) in order to evaluate the generalisability of the training effects. This study will determine whether perturbation-based balance training can help to reverse specific age-related impairments in balance-recovery reactions. These results will help to guide the development of more effective falls prevention programs, which may ultimately lead to reduced health-care costs and enhanced mobility, independence and quality of life.

Cytokines as endogenous pyrogens.

PubMed

Dinarello, C A

1999-03-01

Cytokines are pleiotropic molecules mediating several pathologic processes. Long before the discovery of cytokines as immune system growth factors or as bone marrow stimulants, investigators learned a great deal about cytokines when they studied them as the endogenous mediators of fever. The terms "granulocytic" or "endogenous pyrogen" were used to describe substances with the biologic property of fever induction. Today, we recognize that pyrogenicity is a fundamental biologic property of several cytokines and hence the clinically recognizeable property of fever links host perturbations during disease with fundamental perturbations in cell biology. In this review, the discoveries made on endogenous pyrogens are revisited, with insights into the importance of the earlier work to the present-day understanding of cytokines in health and in disease.

Development and evaluation of a hybrid averaged orbit generator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcclain, W. D.; Long, A. C.; Early, L. W.

1978-01-01

A rapid orbit generator based on a first-order application of the Generalized Method of Averaging has been developed for the Research and Development (R&D) version of the Goddard Trajectory Determination System (GTDS). The evaluation of the averaged equations of motion can use both numerically averaged and recursively evaluated, analytically averaged perturbation models. These equations are numerically integrated to obtain the secular and long-period motion. Factors affecting efficient orbit prediction are discussed and guidelines are presented for treatment of each major perturbation. Guidelines for obtaining initial mean elements compatible with the theory are presented. An overview of the orbit generator is presented and comparisons with high precision methods are given.

Improved Training Method for Rapid Rehabilitation of Amputees

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-01

crowded environments, stairs , ramps, and hills. The key factor that limits the ability of amputees to achieve maximum functional capabilities is falls...Method for evoking a trip response using a treadmill based perturbation during locomotion”, has been submitted to the Journal of Biomechanics o

EXTRAPOLATION FROM IN VITRO MECHANISMS TO IN VIVO EFFECTS FOR DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROTOXICOLOGY.

EPA Science Inventory

Processes that are critical to development of the nervous system can be altered by both genetic and epigenetic factors. Developmental exposure to neurotoxicants can alter these processes and lead to perturbation of normal neural development. As numerous processes occur in tande...

The Homeobox Protein CEH-23 Mediates Prolonged Longevity in Response to Impaired Mitochondrial Electron Transport Chain in C. elegans

PubMed Central

Walter, Ludivine; Baruah, Aiswarya; Chang, Hsin-Wen; Pace, Heather Mae; Lee, Siu Sylvia

2011-01-01

Recent findings indicate that perturbations of the mitochondrial electron transport chain (METC) can cause extended longevity in evolutionarily diverse organisms. To uncover the molecular basis of how altered METC increases lifespan in C. elegans, we performed an RNAi screen and revealed that three predicted transcription factors are specifically required for the extended longevity of mitochondrial mutants. In particular, we demonstrated that the nuclear homeobox protein CEH-23 uniquely mediates the longevity but not the slow development, reduced brood size, or resistance to oxidative stress associated with mitochondrial mutations. Furthermore, we showed that ceh-23 expression levels are responsive to altered METC, and enforced overexpression of ceh-23 is sufficient to extend lifespan in wild-type background. Our data point to mitochondria-to-nucleus communications to be key for longevity determination and highlight CEH-23 as a novel longevity factor capable of responding to mitochondrial perturbations. These findings provide a new paradigm for how mitochondria impact aging and age-dependent diseases. PMID:21713031

BV Quantization of the Rozansky-Witten Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, Kwokwai; Leung, Naichung Conan; Li, Qin

2017-10-01

We investigate the perturbative aspects of Rozansky-Witten's 3d {σ}-model (Rozansky and Witten in Sel Math 3(3):401-458, 1997) using Costello's approach to the Batalin-Vilkovisky (BV) formalism (Costello in Renormalization and effective field theory, American Mathematical Society, Providence, 2011). We show that the BV quantization (in Costello's sense) of the model, which produces a perturbative quantum field theory, can be obtained via the configuration space method of regularization due to Kontsevich (First European congress of mathematics, Paris, 1992) and Axelrod-Singer (J Differ Geom 39(1):173-213, 1994). We also study the factorization algebra structure of quantum observables following Costello-Gwilliam (Factorization algebras in quantum field theory, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2017). In particular, we show that the cohomology of local quantum observables on a genus g handle body is given by {H^*(X, (\\wedge^*T_X)^{⊗ g})} (where X is the target manifold), and we prove that the partition function reproduces the Rozansky-Witten invariants.

Decision strategies of hearing-impaired listeners in spectral shape discrimination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lentz, Jennifer J.; Leek, Marjorie R.

2002-03-01

The ability to discriminate between sounds with different spectral shapes was evaluated for normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners. Listeners detected a 920-Hz tone added in phase to a single component of a standard consisting of the sum of five tones spaced equally on a logarithmic frequency scale ranging from 200 to 4200 Hz. An overall level randomization of 10 dB was either present or absent. In one subset of conditions, the no-perturbation conditions, the standard stimulus was the sum of equal-amplitude tones. In the perturbation conditions, the amplitudes of the components within a stimulus were randomly altered on every presentation. For both perturbation and no-perturbation conditions, thresholds for the detection of the 920-Hz tone were measured to compare sensitivity to changes in spectral shape between normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners. To assess whether hearing-impaired listeners relied on different regions of the spectrum to discriminate between sounds, spectral weights were estimated from the perturbed standards by correlating the listener's responses with the level differences per component across two intervals of a two-alternative forced-choice task. Results showed that hearing-impaired and normal-hearing listeners had similar sensitivity to changes in spectral shape. On average, across-frequency correlation functions also were similar for both groups of listeners, suggesting that as long as all components are audible and well separated in frequency, hearing-impaired listeners can use information across frequency as well as normal-hearing listeners. Analysis of the individual data revealed, however, that normal-hearing listeners may be better able to adopt optimal weighting schemes. This conclusion is only tentative, as differences in internal noise may need to be considered to interpret the results obtained from weighting studies between normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners.

Footwear width and balance-recovery reactions: A new approach to improving lateral stability in older adults

PubMed Central

Yamaguchi, Takeshi; Cheng, Kenneth C.; McKay, Sandra M.; Maki, Brian E.

2016-01-01

Background Age-related difficulty in controlling lateral stability is of crucial importance because lateral falls increase risk of debilitating hip-fracture injury. This study examined whether a small increase in footwear sole width can improve ability of older adults to regain lateral stability subsequent to balance perturbation. Methods The study involved sixteen healthy, ambulatory, community-dwelling older adults (aged 65–78). Widened base-of-support (WBOS) footwear was simulated by affixing polystyrene-foam blocks (20mm wide) on the medial and lateral sides of rubber overshoes; unaltered overshoes were worn in normal (NBOS) trials. Balance perturbations were applied using a motion platform. Results Gait, mobility and agility tests revealed no adverse effects of wearing the WBOS footwear. Lateral-perturbation tests showed that the WBOS footwear improved ability to stabilize the body without stepping (p=0.002). Depending on the perturbation magnitude, the frequency of stepping was reduced by up to 25% (64% of NBOS trials vs 39% of WBOS trials). In addition, the WBOS footwear appeared to improve ability to maintain lateral stability during forward-step reactions, as evidenced by reduced incidence of additional lateral steps (p=0.04) after stepping over an obstacle in response to a forward-fall perturbation. Conclusions A small increase in sole width can improve certain aspects of lateral stability in older adults, without compromising mobility and agility. This finding supports the viability of WBOS footwear as an intervention to improve balance. Further research is needed to test populations with more severe balance impairments, examine user compliance, and determine if WBOS footwear actually reduces falling risk in daily life. PMID:27099603

Asteroid mass estimation with Markov-chain Monte Carlo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siltala, Lauri; Granvik, Mikael

2017-10-01

Estimates for asteroid masses are based on their gravitational perturbations on the orbits of other objects such as Mars, spacecraft, or other asteroids and/or their satellites. In the case of asteroid-asteroid perturbations, this leads to a 13-dimensional inverse problem at minimum where the aim is to derive the mass of the perturbing asteroid and six orbital elements for both the perturbing asteroid and the test asteroid by fitting their trajectories to their observed positions. The fitting has typically been carried out with linearized methods such as the least-squares method. These methods need to make certain assumptions regarding the shape of the probability distributions of the model parameters. This is problematic as these assumptions have not been validated. We have developed a new Markov-chain Monte Carlo method for mass estimation which does not require an assumption regarding the shape of the parameter distribution. Recently, we have implemented several upgrades to our MCMC method including improved schemes for handling observational errors and outlier data alongside the option to consider multiple perturbers and/or test asteroids simultaneously. These upgrades promise significantly improved results: based on two separate results for (19) Fortuna with different test asteroids we previously hypothesized that simultaneous use of both test asteroids would lead to an improved result similar to the average literature value for (19) Fortuna with substantially reduced uncertainties. Our upgraded algorithm indeed finds a result essentially equal to the literature value for this asteroid, confirming our previous hypothesis. Here we show these new results for (19) Fortuna and other example cases, and compare our results to previous estimates. Finally, we discuss our plans to improve our algorithm further, particularly in connection with Gaia.

Impact of Complex-Valued Energy Function Singularities on the Behaviour of RAYLEIGH-SCHRöDINGER Perturbation Series. H_2CO Molecule Vibrational Energy Spectrum.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duchko, Andrey; Bykov, Alexandr

2015-06-01

Nowadays the task of spectra processing is as relevant as ever in molecular spectroscopy. Nevertheless, existing techniques of vibrational energy levels and wave functions computation often come to a dead-lock. Application of standard quantum-mechanical approaches often faces inextricable difficulties. Variational method requires unimaginable computational performance. On the other hand perturbational approaches beat against divergent series. That's why this problem faces an urgent need in application of specific resummation techniques. In this research Rayleigh-Schrödinger perturbation theory is applied to vibrational energy levels calculation of excited vibrational states of H_2CO. It is known that perturbation series diverge in the case of anharmonic resonance coupling between vibrational states [1]. Nevertheless, application of advanced divergent series summation techniques makes it possible to calculate the value of energy with high precision (more than 10 true digits) even for highly excited states of the molecule [2]. For this purposes we have applied several summation techniques based on high-order Pade-Hermite approximations. Our research shows that series behaviour completely depends on the singularities of complex energy function inside unit circle. That's why choosing an approximation function modelling this singularities allows to calculate the sum of divergent series. Our calculations for formaldehyde molecule show that the efficiency of each summation technique depends on the resonant type. REFERENCES 1. J. Cizek, V. Spirko, and O. Bludsky, ON THE USE OF DIVERGENT SERIES IN VIBRATIONAL SPECTROSCOPY. TWO- AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL OSCILLATORS, J. Chem. Phys. 99, 7331 (1993). 2. A. V. Sergeev and D. Z. Goodson, SINGULARITY ANALYSIS OF FOURTH-ORDER MöLLER-PLESSET PERTURBATION THEORY, J. Chem. Phys. 124, 4111 (2006).

MHD Wave Propagation at the Interface Between Solar Chromosphere and Corona

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Y.; Song, P.; Vasyliunas, V. M.

2017-12-01

We study the electromagnetic and momentum constraints at the solar transition region which is a sharp layer interfacing between the solar chromosphere and corona. When mass transfer between the two domains is neglected, the transition region can be treated as a contact discontinuity across which the magnetic flux is conserved and the total forces are balanced. We consider an Alfvénic perturbation that propagates along the magnetic field incident onto the interface from one side. In order to satisfy the boundary conditions at the transition region, only part of the incident energy flux is transmitted through and the rest is reflected. Taking into account the highly anisotropic propagation of waves in magnetized plasmas, we generalize the law of reflection and specify Snell's law for each of the three wave MHD modes: incompressible Alfvén mode and compressible fast and slow modes. Unlike conventional optical systems, the interface between two magnetized plasmas is not rigid but can be deformed by the waves, allowing momentum and energy to be transferred by compression. With compressible modes included, the Fresnel conditions need substantial modification. We derive Fresnel conditions, reflectivities and transmittances, and mode conversion for incident waves propagating along the background magnetic field. The results are well organized when the incident perturbation is decomposed into components in and normal to the incident plane (containing the background magnetic field and the normal direction of the interface). For a perturbation normal to the incident plane, both transmitted and reflected perturbations are incompressible Alfvén mode waves. For a perturbation in the incident plane, they can be compressible slow and fast mode waves which may produce ripples on the transition region.

Climateprediction.com: Public Involvement, Multi-Million Member Ensembles and Systematic Uncertainty Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stainforth, D. A.; Allen, M.; Kettleborough, J.; Collins, M.; Heaps, A.; Stott, P.; Wehner, M.

2001-12-01

The climateprediction.com project is preparing to carry out the first systematic uncertainty analysis of climate forecasts using large ensembles of GCM climate simulations. This will be done by involving schools, businesses and members of the public, and utilizing the novel technology of distributed computing. Each participant will be asked to run one member of the ensemble on their PC. The model used will initially be the UK Met Office's Unified Model (UM). It will be run under Windows and software will be provided to enable those involved to view their model output as it develops. The project will use this method to carry out large perturbed physics GCM ensembles and thereby analyse the uncertainty in the forecasts from such models. Each participant/ensemble member will therefore have a version of the UM in which certain aspects of the model physics have been perturbed from their default values. Of course the non-linear nature of the system means that it will be necessary to look not just at perturbations to individual parameters in specific schemes, such as the cloud parameterization, but also to the many combinations of perturbations. This rapidly leads to the need for very large, perhaps multi-million member ensembles, which could only be undertaken using the distributed computing methodology. The status of the project will be presented and the Windows client will be demonstrated. In addition, initial results will be presented from beta test runs using a demo release for Linux PCs and Alpha workstations. Although small by comparison to the whole project, these pilot results constitute a 20-50 member perturbed physics climate ensemble with results indicating how climate sensitivity can be substantially affected by individual parameter values in the cloud scheme.

Determination of Spatio-Temporal Characteristics of D-region Electron Density during Annular Solar Eclipse from VLF Network Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basak, T.; Hobara, Y.

2015-12-01

A major part of the path of the annular solar eclipse of May 20, 2012 (magnitude 0.9439) was over southern Japan. The D-region ionospheric changes associated with that eclipse, led to several degree of observable perturbations of sub-ionospheric very low frequency (VLF) radio signal. The University of Electro-Communications (UEC) operates VLF observation network over Japan. The solar eclipse associated signal changes were recorded in several receiving stations (Rx) simultaneously for the VLF signals coming from NWC/19.8kHz, JJI/22.2kHz, JJY/40.0kHz, NLK/24.8kHz and other VLF transmitters (Tx). These temporal dependences of VLF signal perturbation have been analyzed and the spatio-temporal characteristics of respective sub-ionospheric perturbations has already been studied by earlier workers using 2D-Finite Difference Time Domain method of simulation. In this work, we determine the spatial scale, depth and temporal dependence of lower ionospheric perturbation in consistence with umbral and penumbral motion. We considered the 2-parameter D-region ionospheric model with exponential electron density profile. To model the solar obscuration effect over it, we assumed a generalized space-time dependent 2-dimensional elliptical Gaussian distribution for ionospheric parameters, such as, effective reflection height (h') and sharpness factor (β). The depth (△hmax, △βmax), center of shadow (lato(t), lono(t)) and spatial scale (σlat,lon) of that Gaussian distribution are used as model parameters. In the vicinity of the eclipse zone, we compute the VLF signal perturbations using Long Wave Propagation Capability (LWPC) code for several signal propagation paths. The propagation path characteristics, such as, ground and water conductivity and geomagnetic effect on ionosphere are considered from standard LWPC prescriptions. The model parameters are tuned to set an optimum agreement between our computation and observed positive and negative type of VLF perturbations. Thus, appropriate set of parameters lead us to the possible determination of spatial scale, depth and temporal dependence of eclipse associated D-region electron density perturbation solely from the VLF-network observations coupled with theoretical modeling.

Robin problems with a general potential and a superlinear reaction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

2017-09-01

We consider semilinear Robin problems driven by the negative Laplacian plus an indefinite potential and with a superlinear reaction term which need not satisfy the Ambrosetti-Rabinowitz condition. We prove existence and multiplicity theorems (producing also an infinity of smooth solutions) using variational tools, truncation and perturbation techniques and Morse theory (critical groups).

Current limitations and a path forward to improve testing for the environmental assessment of endocrine active substances

EPA Science Inventory

To assess the hazards and risks of possible endocrine active chemicals (EACs) there is a need for robust, validated test methods that detect perturbation of endocrine pathways of concern and provide insights reliable information as to assess to potential adverse effects on apical...

The pan-cancer pathological regulatory landscape

PubMed Central

Falco, Matias M.; Bleda, Marta; Carbonell-Caballero, José; Dopazo, Joaquín

2016-01-01

Dysregulation of the normal gene expression program is the cause of a broad range of diseases, including cancer. Detecting the specific perturbed regulators that have an effect on the generation and the development of the disease is crucial for understanding the disease mechanism and for taking decisions on efficient preventive and curative therapies. Moreover, detecting such perturbations at the patient level is even more important from the perspective of personalized medicine. We applied the Transcription Factor Target Enrichment Analysis, a method that detects the activity of transcription factors based on the quantification of the collective transcriptional activation of their targets, to a large collection of 5607 cancer samples covering eleven cancer types. We produced for the first time a comprehensive catalogue of altered transcription factor activities in cancer, a considerable number of them significantly associated to patient’s survival. Moreover, we described several interesting TFs whose activity do not change substantially in the cancer with respect to the normal tissue but ultimately play an important role in patient prognostic determination, which suggest they might be promising therapeutic targets. An additional advantage of this method is that it allows obtaining personalized TF activity estimations for individual patients. PMID:28000771

Detecting regulatory gene-environment interactions with unmeasured environmental factors.

PubMed

Fusi, Nicoló; Lippert, Christoph; Borgwardt, Karsten; Lawrence, Neil D; Stegle, Oliver

2013-06-01

Genomic studies have revealed a substantial heritable component of the transcriptional state of the cell. To fully understand the genetic regulation of gene expression variability, it is important to study the effect of genotype in the context of external factors such as alternative environmental conditions. In model systems, explicit environmental perturbations have been considered for this purpose, allowing to directly test for environment-specific genetic effects. However, such experiments are limited to species that can be profiled in controlled environments, hampering their use in important systems such as human. Moreover, even in seemingly tightly regulated experimental conditions, subtle environmental perturbations cannot be ruled out, and hence unknown environmental influences are frequent. Here, we propose a model-based approach to simultaneously infer unmeasured environmental factors from gene expression profiles and use them in genetic analyses, identifying environment-specific associations between polymorphic loci and individual gene expression traits. In extensive simulation studies, we show that our method is able to accurately reconstruct environmental factors and their interactions with genotype in a variety of settings. We further illustrate the use of our model in a real-world dataset in which one environmental factor has been explicitly experimentally controlled. Our method is able to accurately reconstruct the true underlying environmental factor even if it is not given as an input, allowing to detect genuine genotype-environment interactions. In addition to the known environmental factor, we find unmeasured factors involved in novel genotype-environment interactions. Our results suggest that interactions with both known and unknown environmental factors significantly contribute to gene expression variability. and implementation: Software available at http://pmbio.github.io/envGPLVM/. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Calculation of neutral weak nucleon form factors with the AdS/QCD correspondence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lohmann, Mark

The AdS/QCD (Anti-de Sitter/Quantum Chromodynamics) is a mathematical formalism applied to a theory based on the original AdS/CFT (Anti-de Sitter/ Conformal Field Theory) correspondence. The aim is to describe properties of the strong force in an essentially non-perturbative way. AdS/QCD theories break the conformal symmetry of the AdS metric (a sacrifice) to arrive at a boundary theory which is QCD-like (a payoff). This correspondence has been used to calculate well-known quantities in nucleon spectra and structure like Regge trajectories, form factors, and many others within an error of less than 20% from experiment. This is impressive considering that ordinary perturbation theory in QCD applied to the strongly interacting domain usually obtains an error of about 30%. In this thesis, the AdS/QCD correspondence method of light-front holography established by Brodsky and de Teramond is used in an attempt to calculate the Dirac and Pauli neutral weak form factors, FZ1 (Q2) and FZ2 (Q 2) respectively, for both the proton and the neutron. With this approach, we were able to determine the neutral weak Dirac form factor for both nucleons and the Pauli form factor for the proton, while the method did not succeed at determining the neutral weak Pauli form factor for the neutron. With these we were also able to extract the proton's strange electric and magnetic form factor, which addresses important questions in nucleon sub-structure that are currently being investigated through experiments at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility.

Gene expression analysis of Drosophilaa Manf mutants reveals perturbations in membrane traffic and major metabolic changes.

PubMed

Palgi, Mari; Greco, Dario; Lindström, Riitta; Auvinen, Petri; Heino, Tapio I

2012-04-11

MANF and CDNF are evolutionarily conserved neurotrophic factors that specifically support dopaminergic neurons. To date, the receptors and signalling pathways of this novel MANF/CDNF family have remained unknown. Independent studies have showed upregulation of MANF by unfolded protein response (UPR). To enlighten the role of MANF in multicellular organism development we carried out a microarray-based analysis of the transcriptional changes induced by the loss and overexpression of Drosophila Manf. The most dramatic change of expression was observed with genes coding membrane transport proteins and genes related to metabolism. When evaluating in parallel the ultrastructural data and transcriptome changes of maternal/zygotic and only zygotic Manf mutants, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and membrane traffic alterations were evident. In Drosophila Manf mutants the expression of several genes involved in Parkinson's disease (PD) was altered as well. We conclude that besides a neurotrophic factor, Manf is an important cellular survival factor needed to overcome the UPR especially in tissues with high secretory function. In the absence of Manf, the expression of genes involved in membrane transport, particularly exocytosis and endosomal recycling pathway was altered. In neurodegenerative diseases, such as PD, correct protein folding and proteasome function as well as neurotransmitter synthesis and uptake are crucial for the survival of neurons. The degeneration of dopaminergic neurons is the hallmark for PD and our work provides a clue on the mechanisms by which the novel neurotrophic factor MANF protects these neurons.

Visualization of the Interaction between the Precursors of VPg, the Viral Protein Linked to the Genome of Turnip Mosaic Virus, and the Translation Eukaryotic Initiation Factor iso 4E In Planta▿

PubMed Central

Beauchemin, Chantal; Boutet, Nathalie; Laliberté, Jean-François

2007-01-01

The RNA genome of Turnip mosaic virus is covalently linked at its 5′ end to a viral protein known as VPg. This protein binds to the translation eukaryotic initiation factor iso 4E [eIF(iso)4E]. This interaction has been shown to be important for virus infection, although its exact biological function(s) has not been elucidated. In this study, we investigated the subcellular site of the VPg-eIF(iso)4E interaction using bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC). As a first step, eIF(iso)4E, 6K-VPg-Pro, and VPg-Pro were expressed as full-length green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusions in Nicotiana benthamiana, and their subcellular localizations were visualized by confocal microscopy. eIF(iso)4E was predominantly associated with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), and VPg-Pro was observed in the nucleus and possibly the nucleolus, while 6K-VPg-Pro-GFP induced the formation of cytoplasmic vesicles budding from the ER. In BiFC experiments, reconstituted green fluorescence was observed throughout the nucleus, with a preferential accumulation in subnuclear structures when the GFP split fragments were fused to VPg-Pro and eIF(iso)4E. On the other hand, the interaction of 6K-VPg-Pro with eIF(iso)4E was observed in cytoplasmic vesicles embedded in the ER. These data suggest that the association of VPg with the translation factor might be needed for two different functions, depending of the VPg precursor involved in the interaction. VPg-Pro interaction with eIF(iso)4E may be involved in perturbing normal cellular functions, while 6K-VPg-Pro interaction with the translation factor may be needed for viral RNA translation and/or replication. PMID:17079311

Understanding the rapidity of subsurface storm flow response from a fracture-oriented shallow vadose through a new perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Peng; Zhao, Pei; Liang, Chuan; Li, Tianyang; Zhou, Baojia

2017-01-01

Velocity and celerity in hydrologic systems are controlled by different mechanisms. Efforts were made through joint sample collection and the use of hydrographs and tracers to understand the rapidity of the subsurface flow response to rainstorms on hourly time scales. Three deep subsurface flows during four natural rainstorm events were monitored. The results show that (1) deeper discharge was observed early in responding rainfall events and yielded a high hydrograph amplitude; (2) a ratio index, k, reflecting the dynamic change of the rainfall perturbation intensity in subsurface flow, might reveal inner causal relationships between the flow index and the tracer signal index. Most values of k were larger than 1 at the perturbation stage but approximated 1 at the no-perturbation stage; and (3) for statistical analysis of tracer signals in subsurface flows, the total standard deviation was 17.2, 11.9, 7.4 and 3.5 at perturbation stages and 4.4, 2.5, 1.1, and 0.95 at the non-perturbation stage for observed events. These events were 3-7 times higher in the former rather than the later, reflecting that the variation of tracer signals primarily occurred under rainfall perturbation. Thus, we affirmed that the dynamic features of rainfall have a key effect on rapid processes because, besides the gravity, mechanical waves originating from dynamic rainfall features are another driving factor for conversion between different types of rainfall mechanical energy. A conceptual model for pressure wave propagation was proposed, in which virtual subsurface flow processes in a heterogeneous vadose zone under rainfall are analogous to the water hammer phenomenon in complex conduit systems. Such an analogy can allow pressure in a shallow vadose to increase and decrease and directly influence the velocity and celerity of the flow reflecting a mechanism for rapid subsurface hydrologic response processes in the shallow vadose zone.

Modeling In-Vehicle Reaches Perturbed by Ride Motion

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-03-14

Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Denver, CO. 13. Schmidt, R.A. (1987) Motor control and learning: A behavioral emphasis, 2nd ed. Human ... Kinetics : Champaign, IL. 14. Sokal, R.R., Rohlf, F.J. (1981) Biometry, Freeman: San Francisco, CA. CONTACT Please use the following contact regarding

Breakdown of Bragg-Gray behaviour for low-density detectors under electronic disequilibrium conditions in small megavoltage photon fields.

PubMed

Kumar, Sudhir; Fenwick, John D; Underwood, Tracy S A; Deshpande, Deepak D; Scott, Alison J D; Nahum, Alan E

2015-10-21

In small photon fields ionisation chambers can exhibit large deviations from Bragg-Gray behaviour; the EGSnrc Monte Carlo (MC) code system has been employed to investigate this 'Bragg-Gray breakdown'. The total electron (+positron) fluence in small water and air cavities in a water phantom has been computed for a full linac beam model as well as for a point source spectrum for 6 MV and 15 MV qualities for field sizes from 0.25  ×  0.25 cm(2) to 10  ×  10 cm(2). A water-to-air perturbation factor has been derived as the ratio of total electron (+positron) fluence, integrated over all energies, in a tiny water volume to that in a 'PinPoint 3D-chamber-like' air cavity; for the 0.25  ×  0.25 cm(2) field size the perturbation factors are 1.323 and 2.139 for 6 MV and 15 MV full linac geometries respectively. For the 15 MV full linac geometry for field sizes of 1  ×  1 cm(2) and smaller not only the absolute magnitude but also the 'shape' of the total electron fluence spectrum in the air cavity is significantly different to that in the water 'cavity'. The physics of this 'Bragg-Gray breakdown' is fully explained, making reference to the Fano theorem. For the 15 MV full linac geometry in the 0.25  ×  0.25 cm(2) field the directly computed MC dose ratio, water-to-air, differs by 5% from the product of the Spencer-Attix stopping-power ratio (SPR) and the perturbation factor; this 'difference' is explained by the difference in the shapes of the fluence spectra and is also formulated theoretically. We show that the dimensions of an air-cavity with a perturbation factor within 5% of unity would have to be impractically small in these highly non-equilibrium photon fields. In contrast the dose to water in a 0.25  ×  0.25 cm(2) field derived by multiplying the dose in the single-crystal diamond dosimeter (SCDDo) by the Spencer-Attix ratio is within 2.9% of the dose computed directly in the water voxel for full linac geometry at both 6 and 15 MV, thereby demonstrating that this detector exhibits quasi Bragg-Gray behaviour over a wide range of field sizes and beam qualities.

Development of a quantum mechanics-based free-energy perturbation method: use in the calculation of relative solvation free energies.

PubMed

Reddy, M Rami; Singh, U C; Erion, Mark D

2004-05-26

Free-energy perturbation (FEP) is considered the most accurate computational method for calculating relative solvation and binding free-energy differences. Despite some success in applying FEP methods to both drug design and lead optimization, FEP calculations are rarely used in the pharmaceutical industry. One factor limiting the use of FEP is its low throughput, which is attributed in part to the dependence of conventional methods on the user's ability to develop accurate molecular mechanics (MM) force field parameters for individual drug candidates and the time required to complete the process. In an attempt to find an FEP method that could eventually be automated, we developed a method that uses quantum mechanics (QM) for treating the solute, MM for treating the solute surroundings, and the FEP method for computing free-energy differences. The thread technique was used in all transformations and proved to be essential for the successful completion of the calculations. Relative solvation free energies for 10 structurally diverse molecular pairs were calculated, and the results were in close agreement with both the calculated results generated by conventional FEP methods and the experimentally derived values. While considerably more CPU demanding than conventional FEP methods, this method (QM/MM-based FEP) alleviates the need for development of molecule-specific MM force field parameters and therefore may enable future automation of FEP-based calculations. Moreover, calculation accuracy should be improved over conventional methods, especially for calculations reliant on MM parameters derived in the absence of experimental data.

Monocarboxylate transporters in temporal lobe epilepsy: roles of lactate and ketogenic diet.

PubMed

Lauritzen, Fredrik; Eid, Tore; Bergersen, Linda H

2015-01-01

Epilepsy is a serious neurological disorder that affects approximately 1 % of the general population, making it one of the most common disorders of the central nervous system. Furthermore, up to 40 % of all patients with epilepsy cannot control their seizures with current medications. More efficacious treatments for medication refractory epilepsy are therefore needed. A better understanding of the mechanisms that cause this disorder is likely to facilitate the discovery of such treatments. Impairment in cerebral energy metabolism has been proposed as a possible causative factor in the pathogenesis of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), which is one of the most common types of medication-refractory epilepsies in adults. In this review, we will discuss some of the current hypotheses regarding the possible causal relationship between brain energy metabolism and TLE. Emphasis will be placed on the role of energy substrates (lactate and ketone bodies) and their transporter molecules, particularly monocarboxylate transporters 1 and 2 (MCT1 and MCT2). We recently reported that the cellular distribution of MCT1 and MCT2 is perturbed in the hippocampus in patients with TLE. The changes may be an adaptive response aimed at keeping high levels of lactate in the epileptic tissue, which may serve to counteract epileptic activity by downregulating cAMP levels through the lactate receptor GPR81, newly discovered in hippocampus. We propose that the perturbation of MCTs may be further involved in the pathophysiology of TLE by influencing brain energy homeostasis, mitochondrial function, GABA-ergic and glutamatergic neurotransmission, and flux of lactate through the brain.

SU-D-19A-01: Can Farmer-Type Ionization Chambers Be Used to Improve the Accuracy of Low-Energy Electron Beam Reference Dosimetry?

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

Muir, B R; McEwen, M R

2014-06-01

Purpose: To investigate the use of cylindrical Farmer-type ionization chambers to improve the accuracy of low-energy electron beam calibration. Historically, these chamber types have not been used in beams with incident energies less than 10 MeV (R{sub 5} {sub 0} < 4.3 cm) because early investigations suggested large (up to 5 %) fluence perturbation factors in these beams, implying that a significant component of uncertainty would be introduced if used for calibration. More recently, the assumptions used to determine perturbation corrections for cylindrical chambers have been questioned. Methods: Measurements are made with cylindrical chambers in Elekta Precise 4, 8 andmore » 18 MeV electron beams. Several chamber types are investigated that employ graphite walls and aluminum electrodes with very similar specifications (NE2571, NE2505/3, FC65-G). Depth-ionization scans are measured in water in the 8 and 18 MeV beams. To reduce uncertainty from chamber positioning, measurements in the 4 MeV beam are made at the reference depth in Virtual Water™. The variability of perturbation factors is quantified by comparing normalized response of various chambers. Results: Normalized ion chamber response varies by less than 0.7 % for similar chambers at average electron energies corresponding to that at the reference depth from 4 or 6 MeV beams. Similarly, normalized measurements made with similar chambers at the reference depth in the 4 MeV beam vary by less than 0.4 %. Absorbed dose calibration coefficients derived from these results are stable within 0.1 % on average over a period of 6 years. Conclusion: These results indicate that the uncertainty associated with differences in fluence perturbations for cylindrical chambers with similar specifications is only 0.2 %. The excellent long-term stability of these chambers in both photon and electron beams suggests that these chambers might offer the best performance for all reference dosimetry applications.« less

Precession relaxation of viscoelastic oblate rotators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frouard, Julien; Efroimsky, Michael

2018-01-01

Perturbations of all sorts destabilize the rotation of a small body and leave it in a non-principal spin state. In such a state, the body experiences alternating stresses generated by the inertial forces. This yields nutation relaxation, i.e. evolution of the spin towards the principal rotation about the maximal-inertia axis. Knowledge of the time-scales needed to damp the nutation is crucial in studies of small bodies' dynamics. In the literature hitherto, nutation relaxation has always been described with aid of an empirical quality factor Q introduced to parametrize the energy dissipation rate. Among the drawbacks of this approach was its inability to describe the dependence of the relaxation rate upon the current nutation angle. This inability stemmed from our lack of knowledge of the quality factor's dependence on the forcing frequency. In this article, we derive our description of nutation damping directly from the rheological law obeyed by the material. This renders us the nutation damping rate as a function of the current nutation angle, as well as of the shape and the rheological parameters of the body. In contradistinction from the approach based on an empirical Q factor, our development gives a zero damping rate in the spherical-shape limit. Our method is generic and applicable to any shape and to any linear rheological law. However, to simplify the developments, here we consider a dynamically oblate rotator with a Maxwell rheology.

Estimating adolescent sleep need using dose-response modeling.

PubMed

Short, Michelle A; Weber, Nathan; Reynolds, Chelsea; Coussens, Scott; Carskadon, Mary A

2018-04-01

This study will (1) estimate the nightly sleep need of human adolescents, (2) determine the time course and severity of sleep-related deficits when sleep is reduced below this optimal quantity, and (3) determine whether sleep restriction perturbs the circadian system as well as the sleep homeostat. Thirty-four adolescents aged 15 to 17 years spent 10 days and nine nights in the sleep laboratory. Between two baseline nights and two recovery nights with 10 hours' time in bed (TIB) per night, participants experienced either severe sleep restriction (5-hour TIB), moderate sleep restriction (7.5-hour TIB), or no sleep restriction (10-hour TIB) for five nights. A 10-minute psychomotor vigilance task (PVT; lapse = response after 500 ms) and the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale were administered every 3 hours during wake. Salivary dim-light melatonin onset was calculated at baseline and after four nights of each sleep dose to estimate circadian phase. Dose-dependent deficits to sleep duration, circadian phase timing, lapses of attention, and subjective sleepiness occurred. Less TIB resulted in less sleep, more lapses of attention, greater subjective sleepiness, and larger circadian phase delays. Sleep need estimated from 10-hour TIB sleep opportunities was approximately 9 hours, while modeling PVT lapse data suggested that 9.35 hours of sleep is needed to maintain optimal sustained attention performance. Sleep restriction perturbs homeostatic and circadian systems, leading to dose-dependent deficits to sustained attention and sleepiness. Adolescents require more sleep for optimal functioning than typically obtained.

Dissipative axial inflation

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

Notari, Alessio; Tywoniuk, Konrad, E-mail: notari@ffn.ub.es, E-mail: konrad.tywoniuk@cern.ch

2016-12-01

We analyze in detail the background cosmological evolution of a scalar field coupled to a massless abelian gauge field through an axial term φ/ f {sub γ} F ∼ F , such as in the case of an axion. Gauge fields in this case are known to experience tachyonic growth and therefore can backreact on the background as an effective dissipation into radiation energy density ρ{sub R}, which can lead to inflation without the need of a flat potential. We analyze the system, for momenta k smaller than the cutoff f {sub γ}, including the backreaction numerically. We consider themore » evolution from a given static initial condition and explicitly show that, if f {sub γ} is smaller than the field excursion φ{sub 0} by about a factor of at least O (20), there is a friction effect which turns on before the field can fall down and which can then lead to a very long stage of inflation with a generic potential. In addition we find superimposed oscillations, which would get imprinted on any kind of perturbations, scalars and tensors. Such oscillations have a period of 4–5 efolds and an amplitude which is typically less than a few percent and decreases linearly with f {sub γ}. We also stress that the curvature perturbation on uniform density slices should be sensitive to slow-roll parameters related to ρ{sub R} rather than φ-dot {sup 2}/2 and we discuss the existence of friction terms acting on the perturbations, although we postpone a calculation of the power spectrum and of non-gaussianity to future work and we simply define and compute suitable slow roll parameters. Finally we stress that this scenario may be realized in the axion case, if the coupling 1/ f {sub γ} to U(1) (photons) is much larger than the coupling 1/ f {sub G} to non-abelian gauge fields (gluons), since the latter sets the range of the potential and therefore the maximal allowed φ{sub 0∼} f {sub G}.« less

Experimental cosmic statistics - I. Variance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Colombi, Stéphane; Szapudi, István; Jenkins, Adrian; Colberg, Jörg

2000-04-01

Counts-in-cells are measured in the τCDM Virgo Hubble Volume simulation. This large N-body experiment has 109 particles in a cubic box of size 2000h-1Mpc. The unprecedented combination of size and resolution allows, for the first time, a realistic numerical analysis of the cosmic errors and cosmic correlations of statistics related to counts-in-cells measurements, such as the probability distribution function PN itself, its factorial moments Fk and the related cumulants ψ and SNs. These statistics are extracted from the whole simulation cube, as well as from 4096 subcubes of size 125h-1Mpc, each representing a virtual random realization of the local universe. The measurements and their scatter over the subvolumes are compared to the theoretical predictions of Colombi, Bouchet & Schaeffer for P0, and of Szapudi & Colombi and Szapudi, Colombi & Bernardeau for the factorial moments and the cumulants. The general behaviour of experimental variance and cross-correlations as functions of scale and order is well described by theoretical predictions, with a few per cent accuracy in the weakly non-linear regime for the cosmic error on factorial moments. On highly non-linear scales, however, all variants of the hierarchical model used by SC and SCB to describe clustering appear to become increasingly approximate, which leads to a slight overestimation of the error, by about a factor of two in the worst case. Because of the needed supplementary perturbative approach, the theory is less accurate for non-linear estimators, such as cumulants, than for factorial moments. The cosmic bias is evaluated as well, and, in agreement with SCB, is found to be insignificant compared with the cosmic variance in all regimes investigated. While higher order statistics were previously evaluated in several simulations, this work presents textbook quality measurements of SNs, 3<=N<=10, in an unprecedented dynamic range of 0.05 <~ ψ <~ 50. In the weakly non-linear regime the results confirm previous findings and agree remarkably well with perturbation theory predictions including the one-loop corrections based on spherical collapse by Fosalba & Gaztañaga. Extended perturbation theory is confirmed on all scales.

Spectral perturbations from silicon diode detector encapsulation and shielding in photon fields.

PubMed

Eklund, Karin; Ahnesjö, Anders

2010-11-01

Silicon diodes are widely used as detectors for relative dose measurements in radiotherapy. The common manufacturing practice is to encapsulate the diodes in plastic for protection and to facilitate mounting in scanning devices. Diodes intended for use in photon fields commonly also have a shield of a high atomic number material (usually tungsten) integrated into the encapsulation to selectively absorb low-energy photons to which silicon diodes would otherwise over-response. However, new response models based on cavity theories and spectra calculations have been proposed for direct correction of the readout from unshielded (e.g., "electron") diodes used in photon fields. This raises the question whether it is correct to assume that the spectrum in a water phantom at the location of the detector cavity is not perturbed by the detector encapsulation materials. The aim of this work is to investigate the spectral effects of typical encapsulations, including shielding, used for clinical diodes. The effects of detector encapsulation of an unshielded and a shielded commercial diode on the spectra at the detector cavity location are studied through Monte Carlo simulations with PENELOPE-2005. Variance reduction based on correlated sampling is applied to reduce the CPU time needed for the simulations. The use of correlated sampling is found to be efficient and to not introduce any significant bias to the results. Compared to reference spectra calculated in water, the encapsulation for an unshielded diode is demonstrated to not perturb the spectrum, while a tungsten shielded diode caused not only the desired decrease in low-energy scattered photons but also a large increase of the primary electron fluence. Measurements with a shielded diode in a 6 MV photon beam proved that the shielding does not completely remove the field-size dependence of the detector response caused by the over-response from low-energy photons. Response factors of a properly corrected unshielded diode were shown to give comparable, or better, results than the traditionally used shielded diode. Spectra calculated for photon fields in water can be directly used for modeling the response of unshielded silicon diodes with plastic encapsulations. Unshielded diodes used together with appropriate corrections can replace shielded diodes in photon dose measurements.

Generalized hydromechanical model for stomatal responses to hydraulic perturbations.

PubMed

Kwon, H W; Choi, M Y

2014-01-07

Stomata respond in a common pattern to various hydraulic perturbations on any part of the 'soil-plant-air' system: initial transient 'wrong-way' responses and final stationary 'right-way' responses. In order to describe this pattern on the basis of statistical physics, we propose a simple model where turgor pressure of a cell is taken to be a power function of its volume, and obtain results in qualitative agreement with experimental data for responses to a variety of hydraulic perturbations: Firstly, stationary stomatal conductance as a function of the vapor pressure deficit divides into three regimes characterized by sensitivities of the stomatal conductance and the transpiration rate with respect to vapor pressure deficit; secondly, for every hydraulic perturbation, the initial transient 'wrong-way' responses always appear; thirdly, on condition that water is supplied insufficiently, stomatal oscillations are often observed; finally, stomatal responses following leaf excision exhibit, after the initial transient wrong-way responses, slow relaxation to stomatal closing. In particular, comparison of areoles having different numbers of stomata demonstrates that areoles with small numbers of stomata tend to provoke lack of water in the soil as well as in the plant. In addition, our model also describes well dependence of the stomatal conductance on temperature. It may be extended further to describe stomatal responses to other environmental factors such as carbon dioxide, light, and temperature. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of new platforms for hydrodynamic instability and asymmetry measurements in deceleration phase of indirectly-driven implosions on NIF

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pickworth, Louisa

2017-10-01

Hydrodynamic instabilities and asymmetries are a major obstacle in the quest to achieve ignition as they cause pre-existing capsule perturbations to grow and ultimately quench the fusion burn in experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). This talk will review recent developments of the experimental platforms and techniques to measure high-mode instabilities and low-mode asymmetries in the deceleration phase of implosions. These new platforms provide a natural link between the acceleration-phase experiments and neutron performance of layered deuterium-tritium implosions. In one innovative technique, self-emission from the hot spot was enhanced with argon dopant to ``self-backlight'' the shell in-flight around peak compression. Experiments with pre-imposed 2-D perturbations measured instability growth factors, while experiments with 3-D, ``native-roughness'' perturbations measured shell integrity in the deceleration phase of implosions. In a complimentary technique, the inner surface of the shell, along with its low-mode asymmetries and high-mode perturbations were visualized in implosions using x-ray emission of a high-Z dopant added to the inner surface of the capsule. These new measurements were instrumental in revealing unexpected surprises and providing improved understanding of the role of instabilities and asymmetries on implosion performance. This work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.

Primordial perturbations from dilaton-induced gauge fields

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

Choi, Kiwoon; Choi, Ki-Young; Kim, Hyungjin

2015-10-01

We study the primordial scalar and tensor perturbations in inflation scenario involving a spectator dilaton field. In our setup, the rolling spectator dilaton causes a tachyonic instability of gauge fields, leading to a copious production of gauge fields in the superhorizon regime, which generates additional scalar and tensor perturbations through gravitational interactions. Our prime concern is the possibility to enhance the tensor-to-scalar ratio r relative to the standard result, while satisfying the observational constraints. To this end, we allow the dilaton field to be stabilized before the end of inflation, but after the CMB scales exit the horizon. We showmore » that for the inflaton slow roll parameter ε ∼> 10{sup −3}, the tensor-to-scalar ratio in our setup can be enhanced only by a factor of O(1) compared to the standard result. On the other hand, for smaller ε corresponding to a lower inflation energy scale, a much bigger enhancement can be achieved, so that our setup can give rise to an observably large r∼> 10{sup −2} even when ε|| 10{sup −3}. The tensor perturbation sourced by the spectator dilaton can have a strong scale dependence, and is generically red-tilted. We also discuss a specific model to realize our scenario, and identify the parameter region giving an observably large r for relatively low inflation energy scales.« less

Selected Topics in Light Front Field Theory and Applications to the High Energy Phenomena

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kundu, Rajen

1999-10-01

In this thesis, we have presented some of the aspects of light-front (LF) field theory through their successful application in the Deep Inelastic Scattering (DIS). We have developed a LFQCD Hamiltonian description of the DIS structure functions starting from Bjorken-Johnson-Low limit of virtual forward Compton scattering amplitude and using LF current commutators. We worked in the LF gauge A^+=0 and used the old-fashioned LFQCD perturbation theory in our calculations. The importance of our work are summarized below. Our approach shares the intution of parton model and addresses directly the structure functions, which are experimental objects, instead of its moments as in OPE method. Moreover, it can potentially incorporate the non-perturbative contents of the structure functions as we have demonstrated by introducing a new factorization scheme. In the context of nucleonic helicity structure, the well known gauge fixed LF helicity operator is shown to provide consistent physical information and helps us defining new relevant structure functions. The anomalous dimensions relevant for the Q^2-evolution of such structure functions are calculated. Our study is important in establishing the equivalance of LF field theory and the usual equal-time one through perturbative calculations of the dressed parton structure functions reproducing the well known results. Also the importance of Gallilean boost symmetry in understanding the correctness of any higher order calculation using (x^+)-ordered LFQCD perturbation theory are emphasized.

Multiple spacecraft configuration designs for coordinated flight missions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fumenti, Federico; Theil, Stephan

2018-06-01

Coordinated flight allows the replacement of a single monolithic spacecraft with multiple smaller ones, based on the principle of distributed systems. According to the mission objectives and to ensure a safe relative motion, constraints on the relative distances need to be satisfied. Initially, differential perturbations are limited by proper orbit design. Then, the induced differential drifts can be properly handled through corrective maneuvers. In this work, several designs are surveyed, defining the initial configuration of a group of spacecraft while counteracting the differential perturbations. For each of the investigated designs, focus is placed upon the number of deployable spacecraft and on the possibility to ensure safe relative motion through station keeping of the initial configuration, with particular attention to the required Δ V budget and the constraints violations.

Nonlinear modulation of the HI power spectrum on ultra-large scales. I

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

Umeh, Obinna; Maartens, Roy; Santos, Mario, E-mail: umeobinna@gmail.com, E-mail: roy.maartens@gmail.com, E-mail: mgrsantos@uwc.ac.za

2016-03-01

Intensity mapping of the neutral hydrogen brightness temperature promises to provide a three-dimensional view of the universe on very large scales. Nonlinear effects are typically thought to alter only the small-scale power, but we show how they may bias the extraction of cosmological information contained in the power spectrum on ultra-large scales. For linear perturbations to remain valid on large scales, we need to renormalize perturbations at higher order. In the case of intensity mapping, the second-order contribution to clustering from weak lensing dominates the nonlinear contribution at high redshift. Renormalization modifies the mean brightness temperature and therefore the evolutionmore » bias. It also introduces a term that mimics white noise. These effects may influence forecasting analysis on ultra-large scales.« less

How proteins modify water dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Persson, Filip; Söderhjelm, Pär; Halle, Bertil

2018-06-01

Much of biology happens at the protein-water interface, so all dynamical processes in this region are of fundamental importance. Local structural fluctuations in the hydration layer can be probed by 17O magnetic relaxation dispersion (MRD), which, at high frequencies, measures the integral of a biaxial rotational time correlation function (TCF)—the integral rotational correlation time. Numerous 17O MRD studies have demonstrated that this correlation time, when averaged over the first hydration shell, is longer than in bulk water by a factor 3-5. This rotational perturbation factor (RPF) has been corroborated by molecular dynamics simulations, which can also reveal the underlying molecular mechanisms. Here, we address several outstanding problems in this area by analyzing an extensive set of molecular dynamics data, including four globular proteins and three water models. The vexed issue of polarity versus topography as the primary determinant of hydration water dynamics is resolved by establishing a protein-invariant exponential dependence of the RPF on a simple confinement index. We conclude that the previously observed correlation of the RPF with surface polarity is a secondary effect of the correlation between polarity and confinement. Water rotation interpolates between a perturbed but bulk-like collective mechanism at low confinement and an exchange-mediated orientational randomization (EMOR) mechanism at high confinement. The EMOR process, which accounts for about half of the RPF, was not recognized in previous simulation studies, where only the early part of the TCF was examined. Based on the analysis of the experimentally relevant TCF over its full time course, we compare simulated and measured RPFs, finding a 30% discrepancy attributable to force field imperfections. We also compute the full 17O MRD profile, including the low-frequency dispersion produced by buried water molecules. Computing a local RPF for each hydration shell, we find that the perturbation decays exponentially with a decay "length" of 0.3 shells and that the second and higher shells account for a mere 3% of the total perturbation measured by 17O MRD. The only long-range effect is a weak water alignment in the electric field produced by an electroneutral protein (not screened by counterions), but this effect is negligibly small for 17O MRD. By contrast, we find that the 17O TCF is significantly more sensitive to the important short-range perturbations than the other two TCFs examined here.

The Helium Atom and Isoelectronic Ions in Two Dimensions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patil, S. H.

2008-01-01

The energy levels of the helium atom and isoelectronic ions in two dimensions are considered. The difficulties encountered in the analytical evaluation of the perturbative and variational expressions for the ground state, promote an interesting factorization of the inter-electronic interaction, leading to simple expressions for the energy. This…

Cortical Volume and Developmental Instability Are Independent Predictors of General Intellectual Ability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thoma, Robert J.; Yeo, Ronald A.; Gangestad, Steven W.; Halgren, Eric; Sanchez, Natalie M.; Lewine, Jeffrey D.

2005-01-01

Measures of developmental instability (DI) reflect developmental disruptions due to genetic and environmental perturbations during normal development. DI might be expected to influence the developmental course of brain development and hence intelligence, and several studies indicate this to be the case. The factors that mediate this relationship…

The Relative Impact of Warming and Removing Top Predators on the Northeast US Large Marine Biotic Community

EPA Science Inventory

Ecosystem-based fisheries management necessitates that we take a more holistic view of the many factors affecting ecosystems. All too often, perturbations to fisheries ecosystems are studied in isolation even though there may be important interactions among them that yield unexpe...

RNA-seq analysis of an nsdC mutant in Aspergillus flavus

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The C2H2-type transcription factor NsdC (Never in Sexual Development C) has been shown to play a role in asexual development and secondary metabolite production in Aspergillus flavus, an agriculturally relevant, aflatoxin-producing species. The nsdC knoackout mutant demonstrates perturbed morphologi...

Approximate non-linear multiparameter inversion for multicomponent single and double P-wave scattering in isotropic elastic media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ouyang, Wei; Mao, Weijian

2018-03-01

An asymptotic quadratic true-amplitude inversion method for isotropic elastic P waves is proposed to invert medium parameters. The multicomponent P-wave scattered wavefield is computed based on a forward relationship using second-order Born approximation and corresponding high-frequency ray theoretical methods. Within the local double scattering mechanism, the P-wave transmission factors are elaborately calculated, which results in the radiation pattern for P-waves scattering being a quadratic combination of the density and Lamé's moduli perturbation parameters. We further express the elastic P-wave scattered wavefield in a form of generalized Radon transform (GRT). After introducing classical backprojection operators, we obtain an approximate solution of the inverse problem by solving a quadratic non-linear system. Numerical tests with synthetic data computed by finite-differences scheme demonstrate that our quadratic inversion can accurately invert perturbation parameters for strong perturbations, compared with the P-wave single-scattering linear inversion method. Although our inversion strategy here is only syncretized with P-wave scattering, it can be extended to invert multicomponent elastic data containing both P-wave and S-wave information.

Cosmological perturbations in the entangled inflationary universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robles-Pérez, Salvador J.

2018-03-01

In this paper, the model of a multiverse made up of universes that are created in entangled pairs that conserve the total momentum conjugated to the scale factor is presented. For the background spacetime, assumed is a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric with a scalar field with mass m minimally coupled to gravity. For the fields that propagate in the entangled spacetimes, the perturbations of the spacetime and the scalar field, whose quantum states become entangled too, are considered. They turn out to be in a quasithermal state, and the corresponding thermodynamical magnitudes are computed. Three observables are expected to be caused by the creation of the universes in entangled pairs: a modification of the Friedmann equation because of the entanglement of the spacetimes, a modification of the effective value of the potential of the scalar field by the backreaction of the perturbation modes, and a modification of the spectrum of fluctuations because the thermal distribution is induced by the entanglement of the partner universes. The later would be a distinctive feature of the creation of universes in entangled pairs.

Approximate nonlinear multiparameter inversion for multicomponent single and double P-wave scattering in isotropic elastic media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ouyang, Wei; Mao, Weijian

2018-07-01

An asymptotic quadratic true-amplitude inversion method for isotropic elastic P waves is proposed to invert medium parameters. The multicomponent P-wave scattered wavefield is computed based on a forward relationship using second-order Born approximation and corresponding high-frequency ray theoretical methods. Within the local double scattering mechanism, the P-wave transmission factors are elaborately calculated, which results in the radiation pattern for P-wave scattering being a quadratic combination of the density and Lamé's moduli perturbation parameters. We further express the elastic P-wave scattered wavefield in a form of generalized Radon transform. After introducing classical backprojection operators, we obtain an approximate solution of the inverse problem by solving a quadratic nonlinear system. Numerical tests with synthetic data computed by finite-differences scheme demonstrate that our quadratic inversion can accurately invert perturbation parameters for strong perturbations, compared with the P-wave single-scattering linear inversion method. Although our inversion strategy here is only syncretized with P-wave scattering, it can be extended to invert multicomponent elastic data containing both P- and S-wave information.

Coherent infrared radiation from the ALS generated via femtosecond laser modulation of the electron beam

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

Byrd, J.M.; Hao, Z.; Martin, M.C.

2004-07-01

Interaction of an electron beam with a femtosecond laser pulse co-propagating through a wiggler at the ALS produces large modulation of the electron energies within a short {approx}100 fs slice of the electron bunch. Propagating around the storage ring, this bunch develops a longitudinal density perturbation due to the dispersion of electron trajectories. The length of the perturbation evolves with a distance from the wiggler but is much shorter than the electron bunch length. This perturbation causes the electron bunch to emit short pulses of temporally and spatially coherent infrared light which are automatically synchronized to the modulating laser. Themore » intensity and spectra of the infrared light were measured in two storage ring locations for a nominal ALS lattice and for an experimental lattice with the higher momentum compaction factor. The onset of instability stimulated by laser e-beam interaction had been discovered. The infrared signal is now routinely used as a sensitive monitor for a fine tuning of the laser beam alignment during data accumulation in the experiments with femtosecond x-ray pulses.« less

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

Kanazawa, Koichi; Pitonyak, Daniel; Koike, Yuji

We investigate the behavior under Lorentz transformations of perturbative coefficient functions in a collinear twist-3 formalism relevant for high-energy observables including transverse polarization of hadrons. We argue that those perturbative coefficient functions can, a priori, acquire quite different yet Lorentz-invariant forms in various frames. This somewhat surprising difference can be traced back to a general dependence of the perturbative coefficient functions on light cone vectors which are introduced by the twist-3 factorization formulas and which are frame-dependent. One can remove this spurious frame dependence by invoking so-called Lorentz invariance relations (LIRs) between twist-3 parton correlation functions. Some of those relationsmore » for twist-3 distribution functions were discussed in the literature before. In this paper we derive the corresponding LIRs for twist-3 fragmentation functions. We explicitly demonstrate that these LIRs remove the light cone vector dependence by considering transverse spin observables in the single-inclusive production of hadrons in lepton-nucleon collisions, ℓN→hX. Furthermore, with the LIRs in hand, we also show that twist-3 observables in general can be written solely in terms of three-parton correlation functions.« less

Effects of prenatal maternal stress on serotonin and fetal development.

PubMed

St-Pierre, Joey; Laurent, Laetitia; King, Suzanne; Vaillancourt, Cathy

2016-12-01

Fetuses are exposed to many environmental perturbations that can influence their development. These factors can be easily identifiable such as drugs, chronic diseases or prenatal maternal stress. Recently, it has been demonstrated that the serotonin synthetized by the placenta was crucial for fetal brain development. Moreover, many studies show the involvement of serotonin system alteration in psychiatric disease during childhood and adulthood. This review summarizes existing studies showing that prenatal maternal stress, which induces alteration of serotonin systems (placenta and fetal brain) during a critical window of early development, could lead to alteration of fetal development and increase risks of psychiatric diseases later in life. This phenomenon, termed fetal programming, could be moderated by the sex of the fetus. This review highlights the need to better understand the modification of the maternal, placental and fetal serotonin systems induced by prenatal maternal stress in order to find early biomarkers of psychiatric disorders. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Discrimination and quantification of Fe and Ni abundances in Genesis solar wind implanted collectors using X-ray standing wave fluorescence yield depth profiling with internal referencing

DOE PAGES

Choi, Y.; Eng, P.; Stubbs, J.; ...

2016-08-21

In this paper, X-ray standing wave fluorescence yield depth profiling was used to determine the solar wind implanted Fe and Ni fluences in a silicon-on-sapphire (SoS) Genesis collector (60326). An internal reference standardization method was developed based on fluorescence from Si and Al in the collector materials. Measured Fe fluence agreed well with that measured previously by us on a sapphire collector (50722) as well as SIMS results by Jurewicz et al. Measured Ni fluence was higher than expected by a factor of two; neither instrumental errors nor solar wind fractionation effects are considered significant perturbations to this value. Impuritymore » Ni within the epitaxial Si layer, if present, could explain the high Ni fluences and therefore needs further investigation. As they stand, these results are consistent with minor temporally-variable Fe and Ni fractionation on the timescale of a year.« less

Cachexia and protein-energy wasting in children with chronic kidney disease.

PubMed

Mak, Robert H; Cheung, Wai W; Zhan, Jian-Ying; Shen, Qian; Foster, Bethany J

2012-02-01

Children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at risk for "cachexia" or "protein-energy wasting" (PEW). These terms describe a pathophysiologic process resulting in the loss of muscle, with or without loss of fat, and involving maladaptive responses, including anorexia and elevated metabolic rate. PEW has been defined specifically in relation to CKD. We review the diagnostic criteria for cachexia and PEW in CKD and consider the limitations and applicability of these criteria to children with CKD. In addition, we present an overview of the manifestations and mechanisms of cachexia and PEW. A host of pathogenetic factors are considered, including systemic inflammation, endocrine perturbations, and abnormal neuropeptide signaling, as well as poor nutritional intake. Mortality risk, which is 100- to 200-fold higher in patients with end-stage renal disease than in the general population, is strongly correlated with the components of cachexia/PEW. Further research into the causes and consequences of wasting and growth retardation is needed in order to improve the survival and quality of life for children with CKD.

Desorption of Benzene, 1,3,5-Trifluorobenzene, and Hexafluorobenzene from a Graphene Surface: The Effect of Lateral Interactions on the Desorption Kinetics.

PubMed

Smith, R Scott; Kay, Bruce D

2018-05-17

The desorption of benzene, 1,3,5-trifluorobenzene (TFB), and hexafluorobenzene (HFB) from a graphene covered Pt(111) substrate was investigated using temperature-programmed desorption (TPD). All three species have well-resolved monolayer and second-layer desorption peaks. The desorption spectra for submonolayer coverages of benzene and HFB are consistent with first-order desorption kinetics. In contrast, the submonolayer TPD spectra for TFB align on a common leading-edge, which is indicative of zero-order desorption kinetics. The desorption behavior of the three molecules can be correlated with the strength of the quadrupole moments. Calculations (second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation and density functional theory) show that the potential minimum for coplanar TFB dimers is more than a factor of 2 greater than that for either benzene or HFB dimers. The calculations support the interpretation that benzene and HFB are less likely to form the two-dimensional islands that are needed for submonolayer zero-order desorption kinetics.

Middle Holocene humidity increase in Florida: climate or sea-level?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Donders, Timme H.

2014-11-01

Florida climate in highly sensitive to both high and low latitude climate perturbations due to its latitudinal position surrounded by water masses that transport heat northward. A well-studied aspect is that middle Holocene conditions became significantly wetter in Florida, initiating widespread peat accumulation in the Everglades. This environmental change has been attributed to various climate forcings, such as migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), increases in tropical storm intensity, position of the Bermuda High, intensification of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and post glacial sea level rise (SLR). Discerning between these forcings is only possible with quantitative reconstructions from a transect of sites that are affected differentially. Application of a transfer function on a north-to-south gradient of pollen records from Florida lakes here shows that the pattern of increasing precipitation during the middle Holocene cannot be explained by SLR, but that ENSO intensification is an important contributing factor. Seasonal-resolved proxy records with improved age models are urgently needed to further solve these issues.

The "Gut Feeling": Breaking Down the Role of Gut Microbiome in Multiple Sclerosis.

PubMed

Freedman, Samantha N; Shahi, Shailesh K; Mangalam, Ashutosh K

2018-01-01

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neuroinflammatory disease of the central nervous system with unknown etiology. Recently, the gut microbiota has emerged as a potential factor in the development of MS, with a number of studies having shown that patients with MS exhibit gut dysbiosis. The gut microbiota helps the host remain healthy by regulating various functions, including food metabolism, energy homeostasis, maintenance of the intestinal barrier, inhibition of colonization by pathogenic organisms, and shaping of both mucosal and systemic immune responses. Alteration of the gut microbiota, and subsequent changes in its metabolic network that perturb this homeostasis, may lead to intestinal and systemic disorders such as MS. Here we discuss the findings of recent MS microbiome studies and potential mechanisms through which gut microbiota can predispose to, or protect against, MS. These findings highlight the need of an improved understanding of the interactions between the microbiota and host for developing therapies based on gut commensals with which to treat MS.

Discrimination and quantification of Fe and Ni abundances in Genesis solar wind implanted collectors using X-ray standing wave fluorescence yield depth profiling with internal referencing

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

Choi, Y.; Eng, P.; Stubbs, J.

In this paper, X-ray standing wave fluorescence yield depth profiling was used to determine the solar wind implanted Fe and Ni fluences in a silicon-on-sapphire (SoS) Genesis collector (60326). An internal reference standardization method was developed based on fluorescence from Si and Al in the collector materials. Measured Fe fluence agreed well with that measured previously by us on a sapphire collector (50722) as well as SIMS results by Jurewicz et al. Measured Ni fluence was higher than expected by a factor of two; neither instrumental errors nor solar wind fractionation effects are considered significant perturbations to this value. Impuritymore » Ni within the epitaxial Si layer, if present, could explain the high Ni fluences and therefore needs further investigation. As they stand, these results are consistent with minor temporally-variable Fe and Ni fractionation on the timescale of a year.« less

Emerging therapies for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive age-related disease

PubMed Central

Mora, Ana L.; Rojas, Mauricio; Pardo, Annie; Selman, Moises

2018-01-01

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a fatal age-associated disease that is characterized by progressive and irreversible scarring of the lung. The pathogenesis of IPF is not completely understood and current therapies are limited to those that reduce the rate of functional decline in patients with mild-to-moderate disease. In this context, new therapeutic approaches that substantially improve the survival time and quality of life of these patients are urgently needed. Our incomplete understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms of IPF and the lack of appropriate experimental models that reproduce the key characteristics of the human disease are major challenges. As ageing is a major risk factor for IPF, age-related cell perturbations such as telomere attrition, senescence, epigenetic drift, stem cell exhaustion, loss of proteostasis and mitochondrial dysfunction are becoming targets of interest for IPF therapy. In this Review, we discuss current and emerging therapies for IPF, particularly those targeting age-related mechanisms, and discuss future therapeutic approaches. PMID:29081515

Global adiabaticity and non-Gaussianity consistency condition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romano, Antonio Enea; Mooij, Sander; Sasaki, Misao

2016-10-01

In the context of single-field inflation, the conservation of the curvature perturbation on comoving slices, Rc, on super-horizon scales is one of the assumptions necessary to derive the consistency condition between the squeezed limit of the bispectrum and the spectrum of the primordial curvature perturbation. However, the conservation of Rc holds only after the perturbation has reached the adiabatic limit where the constant mode of Rc dominates over the other (usually decaying) mode. In this case, the non-adiabatic pressure perturbation defined in the thermodynamic sense, δPnad ≡ δP - cw2 δρ where cw2 = P ˙ / ρ ˙ , usually becomes also negligible on superhorizon scales. Therefore one might think that the adiabatic limit is the same as thermodynamic adiabaticity. This is in fact not true. In other words, thermodynamic adiabaticity is not a sufficient condition for the conservation of Rc on super-horizon scales. In this paper, we consider models that satisfy δPnad = 0 on all scales, which we call global adiabaticity (GA), which is guaranteed if cw2 = cs2, where cs is the phase velocity of the propagation of the perturbation. A known example is the case of ultra-slow-roll (USR) inflation in which cw2 = cs2 = 1. In order to generalize USR we develop a method to find the Lagrangian of GA K-inflation models from the behavior of background quantities as functions of the scale factor. Applying this method we show that there indeed exists a wide class of GA models with cw2 = cs2, which allows Rc to grow on superhorizon scales, and hence violates the non-Gaussianity consistency condition.

Dosimetric perturbations due to an implanted cardiac pacemaker in MammoSite{sup Registered-Sign} treatment

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

Sung, Wonmo; Kim, Siyong; Kim, Jung-in

2012-10-15

Purpose: To investigate dose perturbations for pacemaker-implanted patients in partial breast irradiation using high dose rate (HDR) balloon brachytherapy. Methods: Monte Carlo (MC) simulations were performed to calculate dose distributions involving a pacemaker in Ir-192 HDR balloon brachytherapy. Dose perturbations by varying balloon-to-pacemaker distances (BPD = 50 or 100 mm) and concentrations of iodine contrast medium (2.5%, 5.0%, 7.5%, and 10.0% by volume) in the balloon were investigated for separate parts of the pacemaker (i.e., battery and substrate). Relative measurements using an ion-chamber were also performed to confirm MC results. Results: The MC and measured results in homogeneous media withoutmore » a pacemaker agreed with published data within 2% from the balloon surface to 100 mm BPD. Further their dose distributions with a pacemaker were in a comparable agreement. The MC results showed that doses over the battery were increased by a factor of 3, compared to doses without a pacemaker. However, there was no significant dose perturbation in the middle of substrate but up to 70% dose increase in the substrate interface with the titanium capsule. The attenuation by iodine contrast medium lessened doses delivered to the pacemaker by up to 9%. Conclusions: Due to inhomogeneity of pacemaker and contrast medium as well as low-energy photons in Ir-192 HDR balloon brachytherapy, the actual dose received in a pacemaker is different from the homogeneous medium-based dose and the external beam-based dose. Therefore, the dose perturbations should be considered for pacemaker-implanted patients when evaluating a safe clinical distance between the balloon and pacemaker.« less

Theoretical and experimental indicators of falls during pregnancy as assessed by postural perturbations.

PubMed

Ersal, Tulga; McCrory, Jean L; Sienko, Kathleen H

2014-01-01

Throughout pregnancy, women experience physical, physiological, and hormonal alterations that are often accompanied by decreased postural control. According to one study, nearly 27% of pregnant women fell while pregnant. This study had two objectives: (1) to characterize the postural responses of pregnant fallers, nonfallers, and controls to surface perturbations, and (2) to develop a mathematical model to gain insights into the postural control strategies of each group. This retrospective analysis used experimental data obtained from 15 women with a fall history during pregnancy, 14 women without a fall history during pregnancy, and 40 nonpregnant controls. Small, medium, and large translational support surface perturbations in the anterior and posterior directions were performed during the pregnant participants' second and third trimesters. A two-segmented mathematical model of bipedal stance was developed and parameterized, and optimization tools were used to identify ankle and hip stiffness, viscosity, and the feedback time delay by searching for the best fits to experimental COP data. The peak differences between the center of pressure and center of gravity (COP-COG) values were significantly smaller for the pregnant fallers compared with the pregnant nonfallers and controls (p<0.01). Perturbation magnitude was a significant factor (p<0.01), but perturbation direction was not (p=0.24). Model fits were obtained with a mean goodness of fit value of R(2)=0.92. Theoretical results indicated that pregnant nonfallers had higher ankle stiffness compared with the pregnant fallers and the controls, which suggests that ankle stiffness itself may be the dominant reason for the different dynamic response characteristics (e.g., peak COP-COG) observed. We conclude that increasing ankle stiffness could be an important strategy to prevent falling by pregnant women. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Gravitational Wave in Linear General Relativity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cubillos, D. J.

2017-07-01

General relativity is the best theory currently available to describe the interaction due to gravity. Within Albert Einstein's field equations this interaction is described by means of the spatiotemporal curvature generated by the matter-energy content in the universe. Weyl worked on the existence of perturbations of the curvature of space-time that propagate at the speed of light, which are known as Gravitational Waves, obtained to a first approximation through the linearization of the field equations of Einstein. Weyl's solution consists of taking the field equations in a vacuum and disturbing the metric, using the Minkowski metric slightly perturbed by a factor ɛ greater than zero but much smaller than one. If the feedback effect of the field is neglected, it can be considered as a weak field solution. After introducing the disturbed metric and ignoring ɛ terms of order greater than one, we can find the linearized field equations in terms of the perturbation, which can then be expressed in terms of the Dalambertian operator of the perturbation equalized to zero. This is analogous to the linear wave equation in classical mechanics, which can be interpreted by saying that gravitational effects propagate as waves at the speed of light. In addition to this, by studying the motion of a particle affected by this perturbation through the geodesic equation can show the transversal character of the gravitational wave and its two possible states of polarization. It can be shown that the energy carried by the wave is of the order of 1/c5 where c is the speed of light, which explains that its effects on matter are very small and very difficult to detect.

Sprites and Early ionospheric VLF perturbations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haldoupis, Christos; Amvrosiadi, Nino; Cotts, Ben; van der Velde, Oscar; Chanrion, Olivier; Neubert, Torsten

2010-05-01

Past studies have shown a correlation between sprites and early VLF perturbations, but the reported correlation varies widely from ~ 50% to 100%. The present study resolves these large discrepancies by analyzing several case studies of sprite and narrowband VLF observations, in which multiple transmitter-receiver VLF links with great circle paths (GCPs) passing near a sprite-producing thunderstorm were available. In this setup, the multiple links act in a complementary way that makes the detection of early VLF perturbations much more probable compared to a single VLF link that can miss several of them, a fact that was overlooked in past studies. The evidence shows that sprites are accompanied by early VLF perturbations in a one-to-one correspondence. This implies that the sprite generation mechanism may cause also sub-ionospheric conductivity disturbances that produce early VLF events. However, the one-to-one "sprite to early" event relationship, if viewed conversely as "early to sprite", appears not to be always reciprocal. This is because the number of early events detected in some cases was considerably larger than the number of sprites. Since the great majority of the early events not accompanied by sprites was caused by positive cloud to ground (+CG) lightning discharges, it is possible that sprites or sprite halos were concurrently present in these events as well but were missed by the sprite-watch detection system. In order for this option to be resolved we need more studies using highly sensitive optical systems capable of detecting weaker sprites, sprite halos and elves.

Individual responses to alignment perturbations in socket reaction moments while walking in transtibial prostheses.

PubMed

Kobayashi, Toshiki; Orendurff, Michael S; Zhang, Ming; Boone, David A

2014-05-01

The alignment of transtibial prostheses has a systematic effect on the mean socket reaction moments in amputees. However, understanding their individual differences in response to alignment perturbations is also important for prosthetists to fully utilize the socket reaction moments for dynamic alignment in each unique patient. The aim of this study was to investigate individual responses to alignment perturbations in transtibial prostheses with solid-ankle-cushion-heel feet. A custom instrumented prosthesis alignment component was used to measure the socket reaction moments while walking in 11 amputees with transtibial prostheses under 17 alignment conditions, including 3° and 6° of flexion, extension, abduction, and adduction of the socket, 5mm and 10mm of anterior, posterior, lateral, and medial translation of the socket, and an initial baseline alignment. Coronal moments at 30% of stance and maximum sagittal moments were extracted for comparisons from each amputee. In the coronal plane, varus moment at 30% of stance was generally reduced by adduction or medial translation of the socket in all the amputees. In the sagittal plane, extension moment was generally increased by posterior translation or flexion of the socket; however, this was not necessarily the case for all the amputees. Individual responses to alignment perturbations are not always consistent, and prosthetists would need to be aware of this variance when addressing individual socket reaction moments during dynamic alignment in clinical setting. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sensitivity of Fit Indices to Fake Perturbation of Ordinal Data: A Sample by Replacement Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lombardi, Luigi; Pastore, Massimiliano

2012-01-01

In many psychological questionnaires the need to analyze empirical data raises the fundamental problem of possible fake or fraudulent observations in the data. This aspect is particularly relevant for researchers working on sensitive topics such as, for example, risky sexual behaviors and drug addictions. Our contribution presents a new…

Gravity with a cosmological constant from rational curves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adamo, Tim

2015-11-01

We give a new formula for all tree-level correlators of boundary field insertions in gauged N=8 supergravity in AdS4; this is an analogue of the tree-level S-matrix in anti-de Sitter space. The formula is written in terms of rational maps from the Riemann sphere to twistor space, with no reference to bulk perturbation theory. It is polynomial in the cosmological constant, and equal to the classical scattering amplitudes of supergravity in the flat space limit. The formula is manifestly supersymmetric, independent of gauge choices on twistor space, and equivalent to expressions computed via perturbation theory at 3-point overline{MHV} and n-point MHV. We also show that the formula factorizes and obeys BCFW recursion in twistor space.

Non-perturbative determination of cV, ZV and ZS/ZP in Nf = 3 lattice QCD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heitger, Jochen; Joswig, Fabian; Vladikas, Anastassios; Wittemeier, Christian

2018-03-01

We report on non-perturbative computations of the improvement coefficient cV and the renormalization factor ZV of the vector current in three-flavour O(a) improved lattice QCD with Wilson quarks and tree-level Symanzik improved gauge action. To reduce finite quark mass effects, our improvement and normalization conditions exploit massive chiral Ward identities formulated in the Schrödinger functional setup, which also allow deriving a new method to extract the ratio ZS/ZP of scalar to pseudoscalar renormalization constants. We present preliminary results of a numerical evaluation of ZV and cV along a line of constant physics with gauge couplings corresponding to lattice spacings of about 0:09 fm and below, relevant for phenomenological applications.

Feynman perturbation expansion for the price of coupon bond options and swaptions in quantum finance. I. Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baaquie, Belal E.

2007-01-01

European options on coupon bonds are studied in a quantum field theory model of forward interest rates. Swaptions are briefly reviewed. An approximation scheme for the coupon bond option price is developed based on the fact that the volatility of the forward interest rates is a small quantity. The field theory for the forward interest rates is Gaussian, but when the payoff function for the coupon bond option is included it makes the field theory nonlocal and nonlinear. A perturbation expansion using Feynman diagrams gives a closed form approximation for the price of coupon bond option. A special case of the approximate bond option is shown to yield the industry standard one-factor HJM formula with exponential volatility.

Concentrated dark matter: Enhanced small-scale structure from codecaying dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dror, Jeff A.; Kuflik, Eric; Melcher, Brandon; Watson, Scott

2018-03-01

We study the cosmological consequences of codecaying dark matter—a recently proposed mechanism for depleting the density of dark matter through the decay of nearly degenerate particles. A generic prediction of this framework is an early dark matter dominated phase in the history of the Universe, that results in the enhanced growth of dark matter perturbations on small scales. We compute the duration of the early matter dominated phase and show that the perturbations are robust against washout from free streaming. The enhanced small-scale structure is expected to survive today in the form of compact microhalos and can lead to significant boost factors for indirect-detection experiments, such as FERMI, where dark matter would appear as point sources.

Feynman perturbation expansion for the price of coupon bond options and swaptions in quantum finance. I. Theory.

PubMed

Baaquie, Belal E

2007-01-01

European options on coupon bonds are studied in a quantum field theory model of forward interest rates. Swaptions are briefly reviewed. An approximation scheme for the coupon bond option price is developed based on the fact that the volatility of the forward interest rates is a small quantity. The field theory for the forward interest rates is Gaussian, but when the payoff function for the coupon bond option is included it makes the field theory nonlocal and nonlinear. A perturbation expansion using Feynman diagrams gives a closed form approximation for the price of coupon bond option. A special case of the approximate bond option is shown to yield the industry standard one-factor HJM formula with exponential volatility.

Synchrotron-radiation based perturbed angular correlations from 119Sn

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strohm, C.; Sergueev, I.; van Bürck, U.

2008-03-01

We report the observation of γ-γ-correlations from 119Sn using nuclear resonant scattering of synchrotron radiation, extending nuclear resonant spectroscopy with 119Sn to vanishing recoilless fractions and new applications. The 23.87 keV M1 (+E2) Ig:1/2→Ie:3/2 Mössbauer transition was excited from the ground state, and the time differential correlations between the incident and the scattered photons were recorded for different angles in the plane perpendicular to the incident beam. The experiments were performed on samples of tributyltin-fluoride, which has a very low Lamb-Mössbauer factor at ambient temperature. In the time spectra we observed quantum beats from the static perturbation through electric quadrupole interaction.

Do recreational activities affect coastal biodiversity?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riera, Rodrigo; Menci, Cristiano; Sanabria-Fernández, José Antonio; Becerro, Mikel A.

2016-09-01

Human activities are largely affecting coastal communities worldwide. Recreational perturbations have been overlooked in comparison to other perturbations, yet they are potential threats to marine biodiversity. They affect coastal communities in different ways, underpinning consistent shifts in fish and invertebrates assemblages. Several sites were sampled subjected to varying effects by recreational fishermen (low and high pressure) and scuba divers (low and high) in an overpopulated Atlantic island. Non-consistent differences in ecological, trophic and functional diversity were found in coastal communities, considering both factors (;diving; and ;fishing;). Multivariate analyses only showed significant differences in benthic invertebrates between intensively-dived and non-dived sites. The lack of clear trends may be explained by the depletion of coastal resources in the study area, an extensively-affected island by overfishing.

Scheme dependence and transverse momentum distribution interpretation of Collins-Soper-Sterman resummation

DOE PAGES

Prokudin, Alexei; Sun, Peng; Yuan, Feng

2015-10-01

Following an earlier derivation by Catani-de Florian-Grazzini (2000) on the scheme dependence in the Collins-Soper- Sterman (CSS) resummation formalism in hard scattering processes, we investigate the scheme dependence of the Transverse Momentum Distributions (TMDs) and their applications. By adopting a universal C-coefficient function associated with the integrated parton distributions, the difference between various TMD schemes can be attributed to a perturbative calculable function depending on the hard momentum scale. Thus, we further apply several TMD schemes to the Drell-Yan process of lepton pair production in hadronic collisions, and find that the constrained non-perturbative form factors in different schemes are remarkablymore » consistent with each other and with that of the standard CSS formalism.« less

Scheme dependence and transverse momentum distribution interpretation of Collins-Soper-Sterman resummation

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

Prokudin, Alexei; Sun, Peng; Yuan, Feng

Following an earlier derivation by Catani-de Florian-Grazzini (2000) on the scheme dependence in the Collins-Soper- Sterman (CSS) resummation formalism in hard scattering processes, we investigate the scheme dependence of the Transverse Momentum Distributions (TMDs) and their applications. By adopting a universal C-coefficient function associated with the integrated parton distributions, the difference between various TMD schemes can be attributed to a perturbative calculable function depending on the hard momentum scale. Thus, we further apply several TMD schemes to the Drell-Yan process of lepton pair production in hadronic collisions, and find that the constrained non-perturbative form factors in different schemes are remarkablymore » consistent with each other and with that of the standard CSS formalism.« less

Scheme dependence and transverse momentum distribution interpretation of Collins-Soper-Sterman resummation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prokudin, Alexei; Sun, Peng; Yuan, Feng

2015-11-01

Following an earlier derivation by Catani, de Florian and Grazzini (2000) on the scheme dependence in the Collins-Soper-Sterman (CSS) resummation formalism in hard scattering processes, we investigate the scheme dependence of the Transverse Momentum Distributions (TMDs) and their applications. By adopting a universal C-coefficient function associated with the integrated parton distributions, the difference between various TMD schemes can be attributed to a perturbative calculable function depending on the hard momentum scale. We further apply several TMD schemes to the Drell-Yan process of lepton pair production in hadronic collisions, and find that the constrained non-perturbative form factors in different schemes are consistent with each other and with that of the standard CSS formalism.

Data consistency checks for Jefferson Lab Experiment E00-002

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Telfeyan, John; Niculescu, Gabriel; Niculescu, Ioana

2006-10-01

Jefferson Lab experiment E00-002 aims to measure inclusive electron-proton and electron-deuteron scattering cross section at low Q squared and moderately low Bjorken x. Data in this kinematic region will further our understanding of the transition between the perturbative and non-perturbative regimes of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). As part of the data analysis effort underway at James Madison University (JMU) a comprehensive set of checks and tests was implemented. These tests ensure the quality and consistency of the experimental data, as well as providing, where appropriate, correction factors between the experimental apparatus as used and its idealized computer-simulated representation. This contribution will outline this testing procedure as implemented in the JMU analysis, highlighting the most important features/results.

Bone matrix to growth factors: location, location, location

PubMed Central

Todorovic, Vesna

2010-01-01

The demonstration that fibrillin-1 mutations perturb transforming growth factor (TGF)–β bioavailability/signaling in Marfan syndrome (MFS) changed the view of the extracellular matrix as a passive structural support to a dynamic modulator of cell behavior. In this issue, Nistala et al. (2010. J. Cell Biol. doi: 10.1083/jcb.201003089) advance this concept by demonstrating how fibrillin-1 and -2 regulate TGF-β and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) action during osteoblast maturation. PMID:20855500

First order perturbations of the Einstein-Straus and Oppenheimer-Snyder models

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

Mars, Marc; Mena, Filipe C.; Vera, Rauel

We derive the linearly perturbed matching conditions between a Schwarzschild spacetime region with stationary and axially symmetric perturbations and a Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) spacetime with arbitrary perturbations. The matching hypersurface is also perturbed arbitrarily and, in all cases, the perturbations are decomposed into scalars using the Hodge operator on the sphere. This allows us to write down the matching conditions in a compact way. In particular, we find that the existence of a perturbed (rotating, stationary, and vacuum) Schwarzschild cavity in a perturbed FLRW universe forces the cosmological perturbations to satisfy constraints that link rotational and gravitational wave perturbations. We alsomore » prove that if the perturbation on the FLRW side vanishes identically, then the vacuole must be perturbatively static and hence Schwarzschild. By the dual nature of the problem, the first result translates into links between rotational and gravitational wave perturbations on a perturbed Oppenheimer-Snyder model, where the perturbed FLRW dust collapses in a perturbed Schwarzschild environment which rotates in equilibrium. The second result implies, in particular, that no region described by FLRW can be a source of the Kerr metric.« less

Reactive Balance in Individuals With Chronic Stroke: Biomechanical Factors Related to Perturbation-Induced Backward Falling.

PubMed

Salot, Pooja; Patel, Prakruti; Bhatt, Tanvi

2016-03-01

An effective compensatory stepping response is the first line of defense for preventing a fall during sudden large external perturbations. The biomechanical factors that contribute to heightened fall risk in survivors of stroke, however, are not clearly understood. It is known that impending sensorimotor and balance deficits poststroke predispose these individuals to a risk of fall during sudden external perturbations. The purpose of this study was to examine the mechanism of fall risk in survivors of chronic stroke when exposed to sudden, slip-like forward perturbations in stance. This was a cross-sectional study. Fourteen individuals with stroke, 14 age-matched controls (AC group), and 14 young controls (YC group) were exposed to large-magnitude forward stance perturbations. Postural stability was computed as center of mass (COM) position (XCOM/BOS) and velocity (ẊCOM/BOS) relative to the base of support (BOS) at first step lift-off (LO) and touch-down (TD) and at second step TD. Limb support was quantified as vertical hip descent (Zhip) from baseline after perturbation onset. All participants showed a backward balance loss, with 71% of the stroke group experiencing a fall compared with no falls in the control groups (AC and YC groups). At first step LO, no between-group differences in XCOM/BOS and ẊCOM/BOS were noted. At first step TD, however, the stroke group had a significantly posterior XCOM/BOS and backward ẊCOM/BOS compared with the control groups. At second step TD, individuals with stroke were still more unstable (more posterior XCOM/BOS and backward ẊCOM/BOS) compared with the AC group. Individuals with stroke also showed greater peak Zhip compared with the control groups. Furthermore, the stroke group took a larger number of steps with shorter step length and delayed step initiation compared with the control groups. Although the study highlights the reactive balance deficits increasing fall risk in survivors of stroke compared with healthy adults, the study was restricted to individuals with chronic stroke only. It is likely that comparing compensatory stepping responses across different stages of recovery would enable clinicians to identify reactive balance deficits related to a specific stage of recovery. These findings suggest the inability of the survivors of stroke to regain postural stability with one or more compensatory steps, unlike their healthy counterparts. Such a response may expose them to a greater fall risk resulting from inefficient compensatory stepping and reduced vertical limb support. Therapeutic interventions for fall prevention, therefore, should focus on improving both reactive stepping and limb support. © 2016 American Physical Therapy Association.

Parallel methodology to capture cyclic variability in motored engines

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

Ameen, Muhsin M.; Yang, Xiaofeng; Kuo, Tang-Wei

2016-07-28

Numerical prediction of of cycle-to-cycle variability (CCV) in SI engines is extremely challenging for two key reasons: (i) high-fidelity methods such as large eddy simulation (LES) are require to accurately capture the in-cylinder turbulent flowfield, and (ii) CCV is experienced over long timescales and hence the simulations need to be performed for hundreds of consecutive cycles. In this study, a new methodology is proposed to dissociate this long time-scale problem into several shorter time-scale problems, which can considerably reduce the computational time without sacrificing the fidelity of the simulations. The strategy is to perform multiple single-cycle simulations in parallel bymore » effectively perturbing the simulation parameters such as the initial and boundary conditions. It is shown that by perturbing the initial velocity field effectively based on the intensity of the in-cylinder turbulence, the mean and variance of the in-cylinder flowfield is captured reasonably well. Adding perturbations in the initial pressure field and the boundary pressure improves the predictions. It is shown that this new approach is able to give accurate predictions of the flowfield statistics in less than one-tenth of time required for the conventional approach of simulating consecutive engine cycles.« less

Analysis of the Effect of Electron Density Perturbations Generated by Gravity Waves on HF Communication Links

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fagre, M.; Elias, A. G.; Chum, J.; Cabrera, M. A.

2017-12-01

In the present work, ray tracing of high frequency (HF) signals in ionospheric disturbed conditions is analyzed, particularly in the presence of electron density perturbations generated by gravity waves (GWs). The three-dimensional numerical ray tracing code by Jones and Stephenson, based on Hamilton's equations, which is commonly used to study radio propagation through the ionosphere, is used. An electron density perturbation model is implemented to this code based upon the consideration of atmospheric GWs generated at a height of 150 km in the thermosphere and propagating up into the ionosphere. The motion of the neutral gas at these altitudes induces disturbances in the background plasma which affects HF signals propagation. To obtain a realistic model of GWs in order to analyze the propagation and dispersion characteristics, a GW ray tracing method with kinematic viscosity and thermal diffusivity was applied. The IRI-2012, HWM14 and NRLMSISE-00 models were incorporated to assess electron density, wind velocities, neutral temperature and total mass density needed for the ray tracing codes. Preliminary results of gravity wave effects on ground range and reflection height are presented for low-mid latitude ionosphere.

MiR-204 down-regulation elicited perturbation of a gene target signature common to human cholangiocarcinoma and gastric cancer.

PubMed

Canu, Valeria; Sacconi, Andrea; Lorenzon, Laura; Biagioni, Francesca; Lo Sardo, Federica; Diodoro, Maria Grazia; Muti, Paola; Garofalo, Alfredo; Strano, Sabrina; D'Errico, Antonietta; Grazi, Gian Luca; Cioce, Mario; Blandino, Giovanni

2017-05-02

There is high need of novel diagnostic and prognostic tools for tumors of the digestive system, such as gastric cancer and cholangiocarcinoma. We recently found that miR-204 was deeply downregulated in gastric cancer tissues. Here we investigated whether this was common to other tumors of the digestive system and whether this elicited a miR-204-dependent gene target signature, diagnostically and therapeutically relevant. Finally, we assessed the contribution of the identified target genes to the cell cycle progression and clonogenicity of gastric cancer and cholangiocarcinoma cell lines. We employed quantitative PCR and Affymetrix profiling for gene expression studies. In silico analysis aided us to identifying a miR-204 target signature in publicly available databases (TGCA). We employed transient transfection experiments, clonogenic assays and cell cycle profiling to evaluate the biological consequences of miR-204 perturbation. We identified a novel miR-204 gene target signature perturbed in gastric cancer and in cholangiocarcinoma specimens. We validated its prognostic relevance and mechanistically addressed its biological relevance in GC and CC cell lines. We suggest that restoring the physiological levels of miR-204 in some gastrointestinal cancers might be exploited therapeutically.

A general theory of linear cosmological perturbations: scalar-tensor and vector-tensor theories

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

Lagos, Macarena; Baker, Tessa; Ferreira, Pedro G.

We present a method for parametrizing linear cosmological perturbations of theories of gravity, around homogeneous and isotropic backgrounds. The method is sufficiently general and systematic that it can be applied to theories with any degrees of freedom (DoFs) and arbitrary gauge symmetries. In this paper, we focus on scalar-tensor and vector-tensor theories, invariant under linear coordinate transformations. In the case of scalar-tensor theories, we use our framework to recover the simple parametrizations of linearized Horndeski and ''Beyond Horndeski'' theories, and also find higher-derivative corrections. In the case of vector-tensor theories, we first construct the most general quadratic action for perturbationsmore » that leads to second-order equations of motion, which propagates two scalar DoFs. Then we specialize to the case in which the vector field is time-like (à la Einstein-Aether gravity), where the theory only propagates one scalar DoF. As a result, we identify the complete forms of the quadratic actions for perturbations, and the number of free parameters that need to be defined, to cosmologically characterize these two broad classes of theories.« less

Short relaxation times but long transient times in both simple and complex reaction networks

PubMed Central

Henry, Adrien; Martin, Olivier C.

2016-01-01

When relaxation towards an equilibrium or steady state is exponential at large times, one usually considers that the associated relaxation time τ, i.e. the inverse of the decay rate, is the longest characteristic time in the system. However, that need not be true, other times such as the lifetime of an infinitesimal perturbation can be much longer. In the present work, we demonstrate that this paradoxical property can arise even in quite simple systems such as a linear chain of reactions obeying mass action (MA) kinetics. By mathematical analysis of simple reaction networks, we pin-point the reason why the standard relaxation time does not provide relevant information on the potentially long transient times of typical infinitesimal perturbations. Overall, we consider four characteristic times and study their behaviour in both simple linear chains and in more complex reaction networks taken from the publicly available database ‘Biomodels’. In all these systems, whether involving MA rates, Michaelis–Menten reversible kinetics, or phenomenological laws for reaction rates, we find that the characteristic times corresponding to lifetimes of tracers and of concentration perturbations can be significantly longer than τ. PMID:27411726

AlloPred: prediction of allosteric pockets on proteins using normal mode perturbation analysis.

PubMed

Greener, Joe G; Sternberg, Michael J E

2015-10-23

Despite being hugely important in biological processes, allostery is poorly understood and no universal mechanism has been discovered. Allosteric drugs are a largely unexplored prospect with many potential advantages over orthosteric drugs. Computational methods to predict allosteric sites on proteins are needed to aid the discovery of allosteric drugs, as well as to advance our fundamental understanding of allostery. AlloPred, a novel method to predict allosteric pockets on proteins, was developed. AlloPred uses perturbation of normal modes alongside pocket descriptors in a machine learning approach that ranks the pockets on a protein. AlloPred ranked an allosteric pocket top for 23 out of 40 known allosteric proteins, showing comparable and complementary performance to two existing methods. In 28 of 40 cases an allosteric pocket was ranked first or second. The AlloPred web server, freely available at http://www.sbg.bio.ic.ac.uk/allopred/home, allows visualisation and analysis of predictions. The source code and dataset information are also available from this site. Perturbation of normal modes can enhance our ability to predict allosteric sites on proteins. Computational methods such as AlloPred assist drug discovery efforts by suggesting sites on proteins for further experimental study.

Effects of sudden walking perturbations on neuromuscular reflex activity and three-dimensional motion of the trunk in healthy controls and back pain symptomatic subjects.

PubMed

Mueller, Juliane; Engel, Tilman; Mueller, Steffen; Stoll, Josefine; Baur, Heiner; Mayer, Frank

2017-01-01

Back pain patients (BPP) show delayed muscle onset, increased co-contractions, and variability as response to quasi-static sudden trunk loading in comparison to healthy controls (H). However, it is unclear whether these results can validly be transferred to suddenly applied walking perturbations, an automated but more functional and complex movement pattern. There is an evident need to develop research-based strategies for the rehabilitation of back pain. Therefore, the investigation of differences in trunk stability between H and BPP in functional movements is of primary interest in order to define suitable intervention regimes. The purpose of this study was to analyse neuromuscular reflex activity as well as three-dimensional trunk kinematics between H and BPP during walking perturbations. Eighty H (31m/49f;29±9yrs;174±10cm;71±13kg) and 14 BPP (6m/8f;30±8yrs;171±10cm;67±14kg) walked (1m/s) on a split-belt treadmill while 15 right-sided perturbations (belt decelerating, 40m/s2, 50ms duration; 200ms after heel contact) were randomly applied. Trunk muscle activity was assessed using a 12-lead EMG set-up. Trunk kinematics were measured using a 3-segment-model consisting of 12 markers (upper thoracic (UTA), lower thoracic (LTA), lumbar area (LA)). EMG-RMS ([%],0-200ms after perturbation) was calculated and normalized to the RMS of unperturbed gait. Latency (TON;ms) and time to maximum activity (TMAX;ms) were analysed. Total motion amplitude (ROM;[°]) and mean angle (Amean;[°]) for extension-flexion, lateral flexion and rotation were calculated (whole stride cycle; 0-200ms after perturbation) for each of the three segments during unperturbed and perturbed gait. For ROM only, perturbed was normalized to unperturbed step [%] for the whole stride as well as the 200ms after perturbation. Data were analysed descriptively followed by a student´s t-test to account for group differences. Co-contraction was analyzed between ventral and dorsal muscles (V:R) as well as side right:side left ratio (Sright:Sleft). The coefficient of variation (CV;%) was calculated (EMG-RMS;ROM) to evaluate variability between the 15 perturbations for all groups. With respect to unequal distribution of participants to groups, an additional matched-group analysis was conducted. Fourteen healthy controls out of group H were sex-, age- and anthropometrically matched (group Hmatched) to the BPP. No group differences were observed for EMG-RMS or CV analysis (EMG/ROM) (p>0.025). Co-contraction analysis revealed no differences for V:R and Srigth:Sleft between the groups (p>0.025). BPP showed an increased TON and TMAX, being significant for Mm. rectus abdominus (p = 0.019) and erector spinae T9/L3 (p = 0.005/p = 0.015). ROM analysis over the unperturbed stride cycle revealed no differences between groups (p>0.025). Normalization of perturbed to unperturbed step lead to significant differences for the lumbar segment (LA) in lateral flexion with BPP showing higher normalized ROM compared to Hmatched (p = 0.02). BPP showed a significant higher flexed posture (UTA (p = 0.02); LTA (p = 0.004)) during normal walking (Amean). Trunk posture (Amean) during perturbation showed higher trunk extension values in LTA segments for H/Hmatched compared to BPP (p = 0.003). Matched group (BPP vs. Hmatched) analysis did not show any systematic changes of all results between groups. BPP present impaired muscle response times and trunk posture, especially in the sagittal and transversal planes, compared to H. This could indicate reduced trunk stability and higher loading during gait perturbations.

Effects of sudden walking perturbations on neuromuscular reflex activity and three-dimensional motion of the trunk in healthy controls and back pain symptomatic subjects

PubMed Central

Mueller, Juliane; Engel, Tilman; Mueller, Steffen; Stoll, Josefine; Baur, Heiner; Mayer, Frank

2017-01-01

Background Back pain patients (BPP) show delayed muscle onset, increased co-contractions, and variability as response to quasi-static sudden trunk loading in comparison to healthy controls (H). However, it is unclear whether these results can validly be transferred to suddenly applied walking perturbations, an automated but more functional and complex movement pattern. There is an evident need to develop research-based strategies for the rehabilitation of back pain. Therefore, the investigation of differences in trunk stability between H and BPP in functional movements is of primary interest in order to define suitable intervention regimes. The purpose of this study was to analyse neuromuscular reflex activity as well as three-dimensional trunk kinematics between H and BPP during walking perturbations. Methods Eighty H (31m/49f;29±9yrs;174±10cm;71±13kg) and 14 BPP (6m/8f;30±8yrs;171±10cm;67±14kg) walked (1m/s) on a split-belt treadmill while 15 right-sided perturbations (belt decelerating, 40m/s2, 50ms duration; 200ms after heel contact) were randomly applied. Trunk muscle activity was assessed using a 12-lead EMG set-up. Trunk kinematics were measured using a 3-segment-model consisting of 12 markers (upper thoracic (UTA), lower thoracic (LTA), lumbar area (LA)). EMG-RMS ([%],0-200ms after perturbation) was calculated and normalized to the RMS of unperturbed gait. Latency (TON;ms) and time to maximum activity (TMAX;ms) were analysed. Total motion amplitude (ROM;[°]) and mean angle (Amean;[°]) for extension-flexion, lateral flexion and rotation were calculated (whole stride cycle; 0-200ms after perturbation) for each of the three segments during unperturbed and perturbed gait. For ROM only, perturbed was normalized to unperturbed step [%] for the whole stride as well as the 200ms after perturbation. Data were analysed descriptively followed by a student´s t-test to account for group differences. Co-contraction was analyzed between ventral and dorsal muscles (V:R) as well as side right:side left ratio (Sright:Sleft). The coefficient of variation (CV;%) was calculated (EMG-RMS;ROM) to evaluate variability between the 15 perturbations for all groups. With respect to unequal distribution of participants to groups, an additional matched-group analysis was conducted. Fourteen healthy controls out of group H were sex-, age- and anthropometrically matched (group Hmatched) to the BPP. Results No group differences were observed for EMG-RMS or CV analysis (EMG/ROM) (p>0.025). Co-contraction analysis revealed no differences for V:R and Srigth:Sleft between the groups (p>0.025). BPP showed an increased TON and TMAX, being significant for Mm. rectus abdominus (p = 0.019) and erector spinae T9/L3 (p = 0.005/p = 0.015). ROM analysis over the unperturbed stride cycle revealed no differences between groups (p>0.025). Normalization of perturbed to unperturbed step lead to significant differences for the lumbar segment (LA) in lateral flexion with BPP showing higher normalized ROM compared to Hmatched (p = 0.02). BPP showed a significant higher flexed posture (UTA (p = 0.02); LTA (p = 0.004)) during normal walking (Amean). Trunk posture (Amean) during perturbation showed higher trunk extension values in LTA segments for H/Hmatched compared to BPP (p = 0.003). Matched group (BPP vs. Hmatched) analysis did not show any systematic changes of all results between groups. Conclusion BPP present impaired muscle response times and trunk posture, especially in the sagittal and transversal planes, compared to H. This could indicate reduced trunk stability and higher loading during gait perturbations. PMID:28319133

An Earth system view on boundaries for human perturbation of the N and P cycles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cornell, Sarah; de Vries, Wim

2015-04-01

The appropriation and transformation of land, water, and living resources can alter Earth system functioning, and potentially undermine the basis for the sustainability of our societies. Human activities have greatly increased the flows of reactive forms of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in the Earth system. These non-substitutable nutrient elements play a fundamental role in the human food system. Furthermore, the current mode of social and economic globalization, and its effect on the present-day energy system, also has large effects including large NOx-N emissions through combustion. Until now, this perturbation of N and P cycles has been treated largely as a local/regional issue, and managed in terms of direct impacts (water, land or air pollution). However, anthropogenic N and P cycle changes affect physical Earth system feedbacks (through greenhouse gas and aerosol changes) and biogeochemical feedbacks (via ecosystem changes, links to the carbon cycle, and altered nutrient limitation) with impacts that can be far removed from the direct sources. While some form of N and P management at the global level seems likely to be needed for continued societal development, the current local-level and sectorial management is often problematically simplistic, as seen in the tensions between divergent N management needs for climate change mitigation, air pollution control, food production, and ecosystem conservation. We require a step change in understanding complex biogeochemical, physical and socio-economic interactions in order to analyse these effects together, and inform policy trade-offs to minimize emergent systemic risks. Planetary boundaries for N and P cycle perturbation have recently been proposed. We discuss the current status of these precautionary boundaries and how we may improve on these preliminary assessments. We present an overview of the human perturbation of the global biogeochemical cycles of N and P and its interaction with the functioning of the Earth system. There are various N and P impacts, which vary in space and time and are associated with multiple human drivers. There are multiple possible constraints that need to be considered; for P there is an issue with absolute availability, but not for N. The societal benefits (e.g. food production) and environmental impacts (e.g. eutrophication) are linked through stoichiometry, which differs in terrestrial and aquatic systems, presenting challenges for any global optimization approach. By setting out these features, we can better assess how to apply and improve our current analytic frameworks, models, and data for safer navigation of the biogeochemical complexities of global sustainability.

g factors of coexisting isomeric states in {sup 188}Pb

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

Ionescu-Bujor, M.; Iordachescu, A.; Marginean, N.

2010-02-15

The g factors of the 12{sup +}, 11{sup -}, and 8{sup -} isomeric states in {sup 188}Pb were measured using the time-differential perturbed angular distribution method as g(12{sup +})=-0.179(6), g(11{sup -})=+1.03(3), and g(8{sup -})=-0.037(7). The g factor of the 12{sup +} state follows the observed slight down-sloping evolution of the g factors of the i{sub 13/2}{sup 2} neutron spherical states with decreasing N. The g factors of the 11{sup -} and 8{sup -} isomers proposed as oblate and prolate deformed states, respectively, were interpreted within the rotational model, using calculated and empirical g factor values for the involved single-particle orbitals.

Improvement and performance evaluation of the perturbation source method for an exact Monte Carlo perturbation calculation in fixed source problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sakamoto, Hiroki; Yamamoto, Toshihiro

2017-09-01

This paper presents improvement and performance evaluation of the "perturbation source method", which is one of the Monte Carlo perturbation techniques. The formerly proposed perturbation source method was first-order accurate, although it is known that the method can be easily extended to an exact perturbation method. A transport equation for calculating an exact flux difference caused by a perturbation is solved. A perturbation particle representing a flux difference is explicitly transported in the perturbed system, instead of in the unperturbed system. The source term of the transport equation is defined by the unperturbed flux and the cross section (or optical parameter) changes. The unperturbed flux is provided by an "on-the-fly" technique during the course of the ordinary fixed source calculation for the unperturbed system. A set of perturbation particle is started at the collision point in the perturbed region and tracked until death. For a perturbation in a smaller portion of the whole domain, the efficiency of the perturbation source method can be improved by using a virtual scattering coefficient or cross section in the perturbed region, forcing collisions. Performance is evaluated by comparing the proposed method to other Monte Carlo perturbation methods. Numerical tests performed for a particle transport in a two-dimensional geometry reveal that the perturbation source method is less effective than the correlated sampling method for a perturbation in a larger portion of the whole domain. However, for a perturbation in a smaller portion, the perturbation source method outperforms the correlated sampling method. The efficiency depends strongly on the adjustment of the new virtual scattering coefficient or cross section.

Estimation of geopotential from satellite-to-satellite range rate data: Numerical results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thobe, Glenn E.; Bose, Sam C.

1987-01-01

A technique for high-resolution geopotential field estimation by recovering the harmonic coefficients from satellite-to-satellite range rate data is presented and tested against both a controlled analytical simulation of a one-day satellite mission (maximum degree and order 8) and then against a Cowell method simulation of a 32-day mission (maximum degree and order 180). Innovations include: (1) a new frequency-domain observation equation based on kinetic energy perturbations which avoids much of the complication of the usual Keplerian element perturbation approaches; (2) a new method for computing the normalized inclination functions which unlike previous methods is both efficient and numerically stable even for large harmonic degrees and orders; (3) the application of a mass storage FFT to the entire mission range rate history; (4) the exploitation of newly discovered symmetries in the block diagonal observation matrix which reduce each block to the product of (a) a real diagonal matrix factor, (b) a real trapezoidal factor with half the number of rows as before, and (c) a complex diagonal factor; (5) a block-by-block least-squares solution of the observation equation by means of a custom-designed Givens orthogonal rotation method which is both numerically stable and tailored to the trapezoidal matrix structure for fast execution.

Using Perturbed QR Factorizations To Solve Linear Least-Squares Problems

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

Avron, Haim; Ng, Esmond G.; Toledo, Sivan

2008-03-21

We propose and analyze a new tool to help solve sparse linear least-squares problems min{sub x} {parallel}Ax-b{parallel}{sub 2}. Our method is based on a sparse QR factorization of a low-rank perturbation {cflx A} of A. More precisely, we show that the R factor of {cflx A} is an effective preconditioner for the least-squares problem min{sub x} {parallel}Ax-b{parallel}{sub 2}, when solved using LSQR. We propose applications for the new technique. When A is rank deficient we can add rows to ensure that the preconditioner is well-conditioned without column pivoting. When A is sparse except for a few dense rows we canmore » drop these dense rows from A to obtain {cflx A}. Another application is solving an updated or downdated problem. If R is a good preconditioner for the original problem A, it is a good preconditioner for the updated/downdated problem {cflx A}. We can also solve what-if scenarios, where we want to find the solution if a column of the original matrix is changed/removed. We present a spectral theory that analyzes the generalized spectrum of the pencil (A*A,R*R) and analyze the applications.« less

A Global Genomic Screening Strategy Reveals Genetic and Chemical Activators ofPeroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor alpha (PPARalpha)

EPA Science Inventory

A comprehensive survey of chemical, diet and genetic perturbations that activate PPARalpha in the mouse liver has not been carried out but would be useful to identify the factors that may contribute to PPARalpha-dependent liver tumors. A gene signature dependent on PPARalpha ac...

RNA sequencing of an nsdC mutant reveals global regulation of secondary metabolic gene clusters in Aspergillus flavus

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The zinc finger transcription factor nsdC is required for both sexual development and aflatoxin production in the saprophytic fungus Aspergillus flavus. While previous work with an nsdC knockout mutant was conducted in Aspergillus nidulans and A. flavus strain 3357, here we demonstrate perturbations...

Interactions between the colonic transcriptome, metabolome and microbiome in mouse models of obesity-induced intestinal cancer

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Obesity is a significant risk factor for colorectal cancer (CRC); however, the relative contribution of high-fat consumption and excess adiposity remains unclear. It is becoming apparent that obesity perturbs both the intestinal microbiome and gut metabolome, and each has the potential to induce pro...

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: Important Underrecognised Cardiometabolic Risk Factor in Reproductive-Age Women

PubMed Central

Baldani, Dinka Pavicic; Skrgatic, Lana; Ougouag, Roya

2015-01-01

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder amongst women of reproductive age. Although PCOS is diagnosed exclusively based on reproductive criteria, it is also a metabolic disorder. Insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity, and dyslipidemia are more common in women with PCOS than in age-comparable women without PCOS. Many of the metabolic abnormalities that manifest in PCOS are worsened by the concurrent incidence of obesity. However, some of these metabolic perturbations occur even in lean women with PCOS and therefore are rightfully recognized as intrinsic to PCOS. The intrinsic factors that produce these metabolic disturbances are reviewed in this paper. The consequences of obesity and the other metabolic aberrations are also discussed. The metabolic perturbations in PCOS patients lead to chronic low-grade inflammation and to cardiovascular impairments that heighten the risk of having cardiovascular disease. Even though many studies have shown an elevation in surrogate biomarkers of cardiovascular disease in PCOS women, it is still not clear to what extent and magnitude the elevation precipitates more frequent and earlier events. PMID:26124830

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: Important Underrecognised Cardiometabolic Risk Factor in Reproductive-Age Women.

PubMed

Baldani, Dinka Pavicic; Skrgatic, Lana; Ougouag, Roya

2015-01-01

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder amongst women of reproductive age. Although PCOS is diagnosed exclusively based on reproductive criteria, it is also a metabolic disorder. Insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity, and dyslipidemia are more common in women with PCOS than in age-comparable women without PCOS. Many of the metabolic abnormalities that manifest in PCOS are worsened by the concurrent incidence of obesity. However, some of these metabolic perturbations occur even in lean women with PCOS and therefore are rightfully recognized as intrinsic to PCOS. The intrinsic factors that produce these metabolic disturbances are reviewed in this paper. The consequences of obesity and the other metabolic aberrations are also discussed. The metabolic perturbations in PCOS patients lead to chronic low-grade inflammation and to cardiovascular impairments that heighten the risk of having cardiovascular disease. Even though many studies have shown an elevation in surrogate biomarkers of cardiovascular disease in PCOS women, it is still not clear to what extent and magnitude the elevation precipitates more frequent and earlier events.

Multiple and exact soliton solutions of the perturbed Korteweg-de Vries equation of long surface waves in a convective fluid via Painlevé analysis, factorization, and simplest equation methods.

PubMed

Selima, Ehab S; Yao, Xiaohua; Wazwaz, Abdul-Majid

2017-06-01

In this research, the surface waves of a horizontal fluid layer open to air under gravity field and vertical temperature gradient effects are studied. The governing equations of this model are reformulated and converted to a nonlinear evolution equation, the perturbed Korteweg-de Vries (pKdV) equation. We investigate the latter equation, which includes dispersion, diffusion, and instability effects, in order to examine the evolution of long surface waves in a convective fluid. Dispersion relation of the pKdV equation and its properties are discussed. The Painlevé analysis is applied not only to check the integrability of the pKdV equation but also to establish the Bäcklund transformation form. In addition, traveling wave solutions and a general form of the multiple-soliton solutions of the pKdV equation are obtained via Bäcklund transformation, the simplest equation method using Bernoulli, Riccati, and Burgers' equations as simplest equations, and the factorization method.

Biofluid metabotyping of occupationally exposed subjects to air pollution demonstrates high oxidative stress and deregulated amino acid metabolism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pradhan, Surya Narayan; Das, Aleena; Meena, Ramovatar; Nanda, Ranjan Kumar; Rajamani, Paulraj

2016-10-01

Occupational exposure to air pollution induces oxidative stress and prolonged exposure increases susceptibility to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in several working groups. Biofluid of these subjects may reflect perturbed metabolic phenotypes. In this study we carried out a comparative molecular profiling study using parallel biofluids collected from subjects (n = 85) belonging to auto rickshaw drivers (ARD), traffic cops (TC) and office workers (OW). Higher levels of oxidative stress and inflammation markers in serum of ARD subjects were observed as compared to OW and TC. Uni and multivariate analyses of metabolites identified in urine by 1H NMR revealed 11 deregulated molecules in ARD subjects and involved in phenylalanine, histidine, arginine and proline metabolism. Despite contribution of confounding factors like exposure period, dietary factors including smoking and alcohol status, our results demonstrate existence of exposure specific metabotypes in biofluids of ARD, OW and TC groups. Monitoring serum oxidative stress and inflammation markers and urine metabolites by NMR may be useful to characterize perturbed metabolic phenotypes in populations exposed to urban traffic air pollution.

Conformational Response of 30S-bound IF3 to A-Site Binders Streptomycin and Kanamycin

PubMed Central

Chulluncuy, Roberto; Espiche, Carlos; Nakamoto, Jose Alberto; Fabbretti, Attilio; Milón, Pohl

2016-01-01

Aminoglycoside antibiotics are widely used to treat infectious diseases. Among them, streptomycin and kanamycin (and derivatives) are of importance to battle multidrug-resistant (MDR) Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Both drugs bind the small ribosomal subunit (30S) and inhibit protein synthesis. Genetic, structural, and biochemical studies indicate that local and long-range conformational rearrangements of the 30S subunit account for this inhibition. Here, we use intramolecular FRET between the C- and N-terminus domains of the flexible IF3 to monitor real-time perturbations of their binding sites on the 30S platform. Steady and pre-steady state binding experiments show that both aminoglycosides bring IF3 domains apart, promoting an elongated state of the factor. Binding of Initiation Factor IF1 triggers closure of IF3 bound to the 30S complex, while both aminoglycosides revert the IF1-dependent conformation. Our results uncover dynamic perturbations across the 30S subunit, from the A-site to the platform, and suggest that both aminoglycosides could interfere with prokaryotic translation initiation by modulating the interaction between IF3 domains with the 30S platform. PMID:27983590

Dissecting Immune Circuits by Linking CRISPR-Pooled Screens with Single-Cell RNA-Seq.

PubMed

Jaitin, Diego Adhemar; Weiner, Assaf; Yofe, Ido; Lara-Astiaso, David; Keren-Shaul, Hadas; David, Eyal; Salame, Tomer Meir; Tanay, Amos; van Oudenaarden, Alexander; Amit, Ido

2016-12-15

In multicellular organisms, dedicated regulatory circuits control cell type diversity and responses. The crosstalk and redundancies within these circuits and substantial cellular heterogeneity pose a major research challenge. Here, we present CRISP-seq, an integrated method for massively parallel single-cell RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-pooled screens. We show that profiling the genomic perturbation and transcriptome in the same cell enables us to simultaneously elucidate the function of multiple factors and their interactions. We applied CRISP-seq to probe regulatory circuits of innate immunity. By sampling tens of thousands of perturbed cells in vitro and in mice, we identified interactions and redundancies between developmental and signaling-dependent factors. These include opposing effects of Cebpb and Irf8 in regulating the monocyte/macrophage versus dendritic cell lineages and differential functions for Rela and Stat1/2 in monocyte versus dendritic cell responses to pathogens. This study establishes CRISP-seq as a broadly applicable, comprehensive, and unbiased approach for elucidating mammalian regulatory circuits. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

RANK/RANKL/OPG Signalization Implication in Periodontitis: New Evidence from a RANK Transgenic Mouse Model

PubMed Central

Sojod, Bouchra; Chateau, Danielle; Mueller, Christopher G.; Babajko, Sylvie; Berdal, Ariane; Lézot, Frédéric; Castaneda, Beatriz

2017-01-01

Periodontitis is based on a complex inflammatory over-response combined with possible genetic predisposition factors. The RANKL/RANK/OPG signaling pathway is implicated in bone resorption through its key function in osteoclast differentiation and activation, as well as in the inflammatory response. This central element of osteo-immunology has been suggested to be perturbed in several diseases, including periodontitis, as it is a predisposing factor for this disease. The aim of the present study was to validate this hypothesis using a transgenic mouse line, which over-expresses RANK (RTg) and develops a periodontitis-like phenotype at 5 months of age. RTg mice exhibited severe alveolar bone loss, an increased number of TRAP positive cells, and disorganization of periodontal ligaments. This phenotype was more pronounced in females. We also observed dental root resorption lacunas. Hyperplasia of the gingival epithelium, including Malassez epithelial rests, was visible as early as 25 days, preceding any other symptoms. These results demonstrate that perturbations of the RANKL/RANK/OPG system constitute a core element of periodontitis, and more globally, osteo-immune diseases. PMID:28596739

Potential mechanisms of hepatitis B virus induced liver injury

PubMed Central

Suhail, Mohd; Abdel-Hafiz, Hany; Ali, Ashraf; Fatima, Kaneez; Damanhouri, Ghazi A; Azhar, Esam; Chaudhary, Adeel GA; Qadri, Ishtiaq

2014-01-01

Chronic active hepatitis (CAH) is acknowledged as an imperative risk factor for the development of liver injury and hepatocellular carcinoma. The histological end points of CAH are chronic inflammation, fibrosis and cirrhosis which are coupled with increased DNA synthesis in cirrhotic vs healthy normal livers. The potential mechanism involved in CAH includes a combination of processes leading to liver cell necrosis, inflammation and cytokine production and liver scaring (fibrosis). The severity of liver damage is regulated by Hepatitis B virus genotypes and viral components. The viral and cellular factors that contribute to liver injury are discussed in this article. Liver injury caused by the viral infection affects many cellular processes such as cell signaling, apoptosis, transcription, DNA repair which in turn induce radical effects on cell survival, growth, transformation and maintenance. The consequence of such perturbations is resulted in the alteration of bile secretion, gluconeogenesis, glycolysis, detoxification and metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins, fat and balance of nutrients. The identification and elucidation of the molecular pathways perturbed by the viral proteins are important in order to design effective strategy to minimize and/or restore the hepatocytes injury. PMID:25253946

Common multifractality in the heart rate variability and brain activity of healthy humans

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, D. C.; Sharif, A.

2010-06-01

The influence from the central nervous system on the human multifractal heart rate variability (HRV) is examined under the autonomic nervous system perturbation induced by the head-up-tilt body maneuver. We conducted the multifractal factorization analysis to factor out the common multifractal factor in the joint fluctuation of the beat-to-beat heart rate and electroencephalography data. Evidence of a central link in the multifractal HRV was found, where the transition towards increased (decreased) HRV multifractal complexity is associated with a stronger (weaker) multifractal correlation between the central and autonomic nervous systems.

Development & Characterization of a Whole Plant Chamber for the Investigation of Environmental Perturbations on Biogenic VOC Emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holder, J.; Riches, M.; Abeleira, A.; Farmer, D.

2017-12-01

Accurate prediction of both climate and air quality under a changing earth system requires a full understanding of the sources, feedbacks, and ultimate fate of all atmospherically relevant chemical species, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Biogenic VOCs (BVOC) from plant emissions are the main source of VOCs to the atmosphere. However, the impact of global change on BVOC emissions is poorly understood. For example, while short-term increases in temperature are typically associated with increased BVOC emissions, the impact of long-term temperature increases are less clear. Our study aims to investigate the effects of long-term, singular and combined environmental perturbations on plant BVOC emissions through the use of whole plant chambers in order to better understand the effects of global change on BVOC-climate-air quality feedbacks. To fill this knowledge gap and provide a fundamental understanding of how BVOC emissions respond to environmental perturbations, specifically elevated temperature, CO2, and drought, whole citrus trees were placed in home-built chambers and monitored for monoterpene and other BVOC emissions utilizing thermal desorption gas chromatography mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS). Designing and building a robust whole plant chamber to study atmospherically relevant chemical species while accommodating the needs of live plants over timescales of days to weeks is not a trivial task. The environmental conditions within the chamber must be carefully controlled and monitored. The inter-plant and chamber variability must be characterized. Finally, target BVOCs need to be sampled and detected from the chamber. Thus, the chamber design, control and characterization considerations along with preliminary BVOC results will be presented and discussed.

A dynamical stabilizer in the climate system: a mechanism suggested by a simple model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bates, J. R.

1999-05-01

A simple zonally averaged hemispheric model of the climate system is constructed, based on energy equations for two ocean basins separated at 30° latitude with the surface fluxes calculated explicitly. A combination of empirical input and theoretical calculation is used to determine an annual mean equilibrium climate for the model and to study its stability with respect to small perturbations. The insolation, the mean albedos and the equilibrium temperatures for the two model zones are prescribed from observation. The principal agent of interaction between the zones is the vertically integrated poleward transport of atmospheric angular momentum across their common boundary. This is parameterized using an empirical formula derived from a multiyear atmospheric data set. The surface winds are derived from the angular momentum transport assuming the atmosphere to be in a state of dynamic balance on the climatic timescales of interest. A further assumption that the air sea temperature difference and low level relative humidity remain fixed at their mean observed values then allows the surface fluxes of latent and sensible heat to be calculated. Results from a radiative model, which show a positive lower tropospheric water vapour/infrared radiative feedback on SST perturbations in both zones, are used to calculate the net upward infrared radiative fluxes at the surface. In the model's equilibrium climate, the principal processes balancing the solar radiation absorbed at the surface are evaporation in the tropical zone and net infrared radiation in the extratropical zone. The stability of small perturbations about the equilibrium is studied using a linearized form of the ocean energy equations. Ice-albedo and cloud feedbacks are omitted and attention is focussed on the competing effects of the water vapour/infrared radiative feedback and the turbulent surface flux and oceanic heat transport feedbacks associated with the angular momentum cycle. The perturbation equations involve inter-zone coupling and have coefficients dependent on the values of the equilibrium fluxes and the sensitivity of the angular momentum transport. Analytical solutions for the perturbations are obtained. These provide criteria for the stability of the equilibrium climate. If the evaporative feedback on SST perturbations is omitted, the equilibrium climate is unstable due to the influence of the water vapour/infrared radiative feedback, which dominates over the effects of the sensible heat and ocean heat transport feedbacks. The inclusion of evaporation gives a negative feedback which is of sufficient strength to stabilize the system. The stabilizing mechanism involves wind and humidity factors in the evaporative fluxes that are of comparable magnitude. Both factors involve the angular momentum transport. In including angular momentum and calculating the surface fluxes explicitly, the model presented here differs from the many simple climate models based on the Budyko Sellers formulation. In that formulation, an atmospheric energy balance equation is used to eliminate surface fluxes in favour of top-of-the-atmosphere radiative fluxes and meridional atmospheric energy transports. In the resulting models, infrared radiation appears as a stabilizing influence on SST perturbations and the dynamical stabilizing mechanism found here cannot be identified.

From transient to steady-state response of ecosystems to atmospheric CO2-enrichment and global climate change: conceptual challenges and need for an integrated approach

Treesearch

Lindsey E. Rustad

2006-01-01

Evidence continues to accumulate that humans are significantly increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations, resulting in unprecedented changes in the global climate system. Experimental manipulations of terrestrial ecosystems and their components have greatly increased our understanding of short-term responses to these global perturbations and have...

Orbits of the inner satellites of Neptune

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brozovic, Marina; Showalter, Mark R.; Jacobson, Robert Arthur; French, Robert S.; de Pater, Imke; Lissauer, Jack

2018-04-01

We report on the numerically integrated orbits of seven inner satellites of Neptune, including S/2004 N1, the last moon of Neptune to be discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The dataset includes Voyager imaging data as well as the HST and Earth-based astrometric data. The observations span time period from 1989 to 2016. Our orbital model accounts for the equatorial bulge of Neptune, perturbations from the Sun and the planets, and perturbations from Triton. The initial orbital integration assumed that the satellites are massless, but the residuals improved significantly as the masses adjusted toward values that implied that the density of the satellites is in the realm of 1 g/cm3. We will discuss how the integrated orbits compare to the precessing ellipses fits, mean orbital elements, current orbital uncertainties, and the need for future observations.

Novel Hybrid Adaptive Controller for Manipulation in Complex Perturbation Environments

PubMed Central

Smith, Alex M. C.; Yang, Chenguang; Ma, Hongbin; Culverhouse, Phil; Cangelosi, Angelo; Burdet, Etienne

2015-01-01

In this paper we present a hybrid control scheme, combining the advantages of task-space and joint-space control. The controller is based on a human-like adaptive design, which minimises both control effort and tracking error. Our novel hybrid adaptive controller has been tested in extensive simulations, in a scenario where a Baxter robot manipulator is affected by external disturbances in the form of interaction with the environment and tool-like end-effector perturbations. The results demonstrated improved performance in the hybrid controller over both of its component parts. In addition, we introduce a novel method for online adaptation of learning parameters, using the fuzzy control formalism to utilise expert knowledge from the experimenter. This mechanism of meta-learning induces further improvement in performance and avoids the need for tuning through trial testing. PMID:26029916

Cross Talk in HEK293 Cells Between Nrf2, HIF, and NF-κB Activities upon Challenges with Redox Therapeutics Characterized with Single-Cell Resolution.

PubMed

Johansson, Katarina; Cebula, Marcus; Rengby, Olle; Dreij, Kristian; Carlström, Karl E; Sigmundsson, Kristmundur; Piehl, Fredrik; Arnér, Elias S J

2017-02-20

Many transcription factors with importance in health and disease are redox regulated. However, how their activities may be intertwined in responses to redox-perturbing stimuli is poorly understood. To enable in-depth characterization of this aspect, we here developed a methodology for simultaneous determination of nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), and nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cell (NF-κB) activation at single-cell resolution, using a new tool named pTRAF (plasmid for transcription factor reporter activation based upon fluorescence). The pTRAF allowed determination of Nrf2, HIF, and NF-κB activities in a high-resolution and high-throughput manner, and we here assessed how redox therapeutics affected the activities of these transcription factors in human embryonic kidney cells (HEK293). Cross talk was detected between the three signaling pathways upon some types of redox therapeutics, also by using inducers typically considered specific for Nrf2, such as sulforaphane or auranofin, hypoxia for HIF activation, or tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) for NF-κB stimulation. Doxorubicin, at low nontoxic doses, potentiated TNFα-induced activation of NF-κB and HIF, without effects in stand-alone treatment. Stochastic activation patterns in cell cultures were also considerable upon challenges with several redox stimuli. A novel strategy was here used to study simultaneous activation of Nrf2, HIF, and NF-κB in single cells. The method can also be adapted for studies of other transcription factors. The pTRAF provides new opportunities for in-depth studies of transcription factor activities. In this study, we found that upon challenges of cells with several redox-perturbing conditions, Nrf2, HIF, and NF-κB are uniquely responsive to separate stimuli, but can also display marked cross talk to each other within single cells. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 26, 229-246.

Application of adenylate energy charge to problems of environmental impact assessment in aquatic organisms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ivanovici, A. M.

1980-03-01

Various physiological and biochemical methods have been proposed for assessing the effects of environmental perturbation on aquatic organisms. The success of these methods as diagnostic tools has, however, been limited. This paper proposes that adenylate energy charge overcomes some of these limitations. The adenylate energy charge (AEC) is calculated from concentrations of adenine nucleotides ([ATP+½ADP]/[ATP+ADP+AMP]), and is a reflection of metabolic potential available to an organism. Several features of this method are: correlation of specific values with physiological condition or growth state, a defined range of values, fast response times and high precision. Several examples from laboratory and field experiments are given to demonstrate these features. The test organisms used (mollusc species) were exposed to a variety of environmental perturbations, including salinity reduction, hydrocarbons and low doses of heavy metal. The studies performed indicate that the energy charge may be a useful measure in the assessment of environmental impact. Its use is restricted, however, as several limitations exist which need to be fully evaluated. Further work relating values to population characteristics of multicellular organisms needs to be completed before the method can become a predictive tool for management.

Rate of recovery from perturbations as a means to forecast future stability of living systems.

PubMed

Ghadami, Amin; Gourgou, Eleni; Epureanu, Bogdan I

2018-06-18

Anticipating critical transitions in complex ecological and living systems is an important need because it is often difficult to restore a system to its pre-transition state once the transition occurs. Recent studies demonstrate that several indicators based on changes in ecological time series can indicate that the system is approaching an impending transition. An exciting question is, however, whether we can predict more characteristics of the future system stability using measurements taken away from the transition. We address this question by introducing a model-less forecasting method to forecast catastrophic transition of an experimental ecological system. The experiment is based on the dynamics of a yeast population, which is known to exhibit a catastrophic transition as the environment deteriorates. By measuring the system's response to perturbations prior to transition, we forecast the distance to the upcoming transition, the type of the transition (i.e., catastrophic/non-catastrophic) and the future equilibrium points within a range near the transition. Experimental results suggest a strong potential for practical applicability of this approach for ecological systems which are at risk of catastrophic transitions, where there is a pressing need for information about upcoming thresholds.

Here and now: the intersection of computational science, quantum-mechanical simulations, and materials science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marzari, Nicola

The last 30 years have seen the steady and exhilarating development of powerful quantum-simulation engines for extended systems, dedicated to the solution of the Kohn-Sham equations of density-functional theory, often augmented by density-functional perturbation theory, many-body perturbation theory, time-dependent density-functional theory, dynamical mean-field theory, and quantum Monte Carlo. Their implementation on massively parallel architectures, now leveraging also GPUs and accelerators, has started a massive effort in the prediction from first principles of many or of complex materials properties, leading the way to the exascale through the combination of HPC (high-performance computing) and HTC (high-throughput computing). Challenges and opportunities abound: complementing hardware and software investments and design; developing the materials' informatics infrastructure needed to encode knowledge into complex protocols and workflows of calculations; managing and curating data; resisting the complacency that we have already reached the predictive accuracy needed for materials design, or a robust level of verification of the different quantum engines. In this talk I will provide an overview of these challenges, with the ultimate prize being the computational understanding, prediction, and design of properties and performance for novel or complex materials and devices.

Comparing the impact of ultrafine particles from petrodiesel and biodiesel combustion to bacterial metabolism by targeted HPLC-MS/MS metabolic profiling.

PubMed

Zhong, Fanyi; Xu, Mengyang; Schelli, Katie; Rutowski, Joshua; Holmén, Britt A; Zhu, Jiangjiang

2017-08-01

Alterations of gut bacterial metabolism play an important role in their host metabolism, and can result in diseases such as obesity and diabetes. While many factors were discovered influencing the gut bacterial metabolism, exposure to ultrafine particles (UFPs) from engine combustions were recently proposed to be a potential risk factor for the perturbation of gut bacterial metabolism, and consequentially to obesity and diabetes development. This study focused on evaluation of how UFPs from diesel engine combustions impact gut bacterial metabolism. We hypothesize that UFPs from different type of diesel (petrodiesel vs. biodiesel) will both impact bacterial metabolism, and the degree of impact is also diesel type-dependent. Targeted metabolic profiling of 221 metabolites were applied to three model gut bacteria in vitro, Streptococcus salivarius, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus fermentum. UFPs from two types of fuels, petrodiesel (B0) and a biodiesel blend (B20: 20% soy biodiesel/80% B0 by volume), were exposed to the bacteria and their metabolic changes were compared. For each bacterial strain, metabolites with significantly changed abundance were observed in both perturbations, and all three strains have increased number of altered metabolites detected from B20 UFPs perturbation in comparison to B0 UFPs. Multivariate statistical analysis further confirmed that the metabolic profiles were clearly different between testing groups. Metabolic pathway analyses also demonstrated several important metabolic pathways, including pathways involves amino acids biosynthesis and sugar metabolism, were significantly impacted by UFPs exposure. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Beam quality corrections for parallel-plate ion chambers in electron reference dosimetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zink, K.; Wulff, J.

2012-04-01

Current dosimetry protocols (AAPM, IAEA, IPEM, DIN) recommend parallel-plate ionization chambers for dose measurements in clinical electron beams. This study presents detailed Monte Carlo simulations of beam quality correction factors for four different types of parallel-plate chambers: NACP-02, Markus, Advanced Markus and Roos. These chambers differ in constructive details which should have notable impact on the resulting perturbation corrections, hence on the beam quality corrections. The results reveal deviations to the recommended beam quality corrections given in the IAEA TRS-398 protocol in the range of 0%-2% depending on energy and chamber type. For well-guarded chambers, these deviations could be traced back to a non-unity and energy-dependent wall perturbation correction. In the case of the guardless Markus chamber, a nearly energy-independent beam quality correction is resulting as the effects of wall and cavity perturbation compensate each other. For this chamber, the deviations to the recommended values are the largest and may exceed 2%. From calculations of type-B uncertainties including effects due to uncertainties of the underlying cross-sectional data as well as uncertainties due to the chamber material composition and chamber geometry, the overall uncertainty of calculated beam quality correction factors was estimated to be <0.7%. Due to different chamber positioning recommendations given in the national and international dosimetry protocols, an additional uncertainty in the range of 0.2%-0.6% is present. According to the IAEA TRS-398 protocol, the uncertainty in clinical electron dosimetry using parallel-plate ion chambers is 1.7%. This study may help to reduce this uncertainty significantly.

A study of the b-quark fragmentation function with the DELPHI detector at LEP I and an averaged distribution obtained at the Z Pole

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdallah, J.; Abreu, P.; Adam, W.; Adzic, P.; Albrecht, T.; Alemany-Fernandez, R.; Allmendinger, T.; Allport, P. P.; Amaldi, U.; Amapane, N.; Amato, S.; Anashkin, E.; Andreazza, A.; Andringa, S.; Anjos, N.; Antilogus, P.; Apel, W.-D.; Arnoud, Y.; Ask, S.; Asman, B.; Augustin, J. E.; Augustinus, A.; Baillon, P.; Ballestrero, A.; Bambade, P.; Barbier, R.; Bardin, D.; Barker, G. J.; Baroncelli, A.; Battaglia, M.; Baubillier, M.; Becks, K.-H.; Begalli, M.; Behrmann, A.; Ben-Haim, E.; Benekos, N.; Benvenuti, A.; Berat, C.; Berggren, M.; Bertrand, D.; Besancon, M.; Besson, N.; Bloch, D.; Blom, M.; Bluj, M.; Bonesini, M.; Boonekamp, M.; Booth, P. S. L.; Borisov, G.; Botner, O.; Bouquet, B.; Bowcock, T. J. V.; Boyko, I.; Bracko, M.; Brenner, R.; Brodet, E.; Bruckman, P.; Brunet, J. M.; Buschbeck, B.; Buschmann, P.; Calvi, M.; Camporesi, T.; Canale, V.; Carena, F.; Castro, N.; Cavallo, F.; Chapkin, M.; Charpentier, Ph.; Checchia, P.; Chierici, R.; Chliapnikov, P.; Chudoba, J.; Chung, S. U.; Cieslik, K.; Collins, P.; Contri, R.; Cosme, G.; Cossutti, F.; Costa, M. J.; Crennell, D.; Cuevas, J.; D'Hondt, J.; da Silva, T.; Da Silva, W.; Della Ricca, G.; De Angelis, A.; De Boer, W.; De Clercq, C.; De Lotto, B.; De Maria, N.; De Min, A.; de Paula, L.; Di Ciaccio, L.; Di Simone, A.; Doroba, K.; Drees, J.; Eigen, G.; Ekelof, T.; Ellert, M.; Elsing, M.; Espirito Santo, M. C.; Fanourakis, G.; Fassouliotis, D.; Feindt, M.; Fernandez, J.; Ferrer, A.; Ferro, F.; Flagmeyer, U.; Foeth, H.; Fokitis, E.; Fulda-Quenzer, F.; Fuster, J.; Gandelman, M.; Garcia, C.; Gavillet, Ph.; Gazis, E.; Gokieli, R.; Golob, B.; Gomez-Ceballos, G.; Goncalves, P.; Graziani, E.; Grosdidier, G.; Grzelak, K.; Guy, J.; Haag, C.; Hallgren, A.; Hamacher, K.; Hamilton, K.; Haug, S.; Hauler, F.; Hedberg, V.; Hennecke, M.; Hoffman, J.; Holmgren, S.-O.; Holt, P. J.; Houlden, M. A.; Jackson, J. N.; Jarlskog, G.; Jarry, P.; Jeans, D.; Johansson, E. K.; Jonsson, P.; Joram, C.; Jungermann, L.; Kapusta, F.; Katsanevas, S.; Katsoufis, E.; Kernel, G.; Kersevan, B. P.; Kerzel, U.; King, B. T.; Kjaer, N. J.; Kluit, P.; Kokkinias, P.; Kourkoumelis, C.; Kouznetsov, O.; Krumstein, Z.; Kucharczyk, M.; Lamsa, J.; Leder, G.; Ledroit, F.; Leinonen, L.; Leitner, R.; Lemonne, J.; Lepeltier, V.; Lesiak, T.; Liebig, W.; Liko, D.; Lipniacka, A.; Lopes, J. H.; Lopez, J. M.; Loukas, D.; Lutz, P.; Lyons, L.; MacNaughton, J.; Malek, A.; Maltezos, S.; Mandl, F.; Marco, J.; Marco, R.; Marechal, B.; Margoni, M.; Marin, J.-C.; Mariotti, C.; Markou, A.; Martinez-Rivero, C.; Masik, J.; Mastroyiannopoulos, N.; Matorras, F.; Matteuzzi, C.; Mazzucato, F.; Mazzucato, M.; Mc Nulty, R.; Meroni, C.; Migliore, E.; Mitaroff, W.; Mjoernmark, U.; Moa, T.; Moch, M.; Moenig, K.; Monge, R.; Montenegro, J.; Moraes, D.; Moreno, S.; Morettini, P.; Mueller, U.; Muenich, K.; Mulders, M.; Mundim, L.; Murray, W.; Muryn, B.; Myatt, G.; Myklebust, T.; Nassiakou, M.; Navarria, F.; Nawrocki, K.; Nemecek, S.; Nicolaidou, R.; Nikolenko, M.; Oblakowska-Mucha, A.; Obraztsov, V.; Olshevski, A.; Onofre, A.; Orava, R.; Osterberg, K.; Ouraou, A.; Oyanguren, A.; Paganoni, M.; Paiano, S.; Palacios, J. P.; Palka, H.; Papadopoulou, Th. D.; Pape, L.; Parkes, C.; Parodi, F.; Parzefall, U.; Passeri, A.; Passon, O.; Peralta, L.; Perepelitsa, V.; Perrotta, A.; Petrolini, A.; Piedra, J.; Pieri, L.; Pierre, F.; Pimenta, M.; Piotto, E.; Podobnik, T.; Poireau, V.; Pol, M. E.; Polok, G.; Pozdniakov, V.; Pukhaeva, N.; Pullia, A.; Radojicic, D.; Rebecchi, P.; Rehn, J.; Reid, D.; Reinhardt, R.; Renton, P.; Richard, F.; Ridky, J.; Rivero, M.; Rodriguez, D.; Romero, A.; Ronchese, P.; Roudeau, P.; Rovelli, T.; Ruhlmann-Kleider, V.; Ryabtchikov, D.; Sadovsky, A.; Salmi, L.; Salt, J.; Sander, C.; Savoy-Navarro, A.; Schwickerath, U.; Sekulin, R.; Siebel, M.; Sisakian, A.; Smadja, G.; Smirnova, O.; Sokolov, A.; Sopczak, A.; Sosnowski, R.; Spassov, T.; Stanitzki, M.; Stocchi, A.; Strauss, J.; Stugu, B.; Szczekowski, M.; Szeptycka, M.; Szumlak, T.; Tabarelli, T.; Tegenfeldt, F.; Timmermans, J.; Tkatchev, L.; Tobin, M.; Todorovova, S.; Tome, B.; Tonazzo, A.; Tortosa, P.; Travnicek, P.; Treille, D.; Tristram, G.; Trochimczuk, M.; Troncon, C.; Turluer, M.-L.; Tyapkin, I. A.; Tyapkin, P.; Tzamarias, S.; Uvarov, V.; Valenti, G.; Van Dam, P.; Van Eldik, J.; van Remortel, N.; Van Vulpen, I.; Vegni, G.; Veloso, F.; Venus, W.; Verdier, P.; Verzi, V.; Vilanova, D.; Vitale, L.; Vrba, V.; Wahlen, H.; Washbrook, A. J.; Weiser, C.; Wicke, D.; Wickens, J.; Wilkinson, G.; Winter, M.; Witek, M.; Yushchenko, O.; Zalewska, A.; Zalewski, P.; Zavrtanik, D.; Zhuravlov, V.; Zimin, N. I.; Zintchenko, A.; Zupan, M.

2011-02-01

The nature of b-quark jet hadronisation has been investigated using data taken at the Z peak by the DELPHI detector at LEP. Two complementary methods are used to reconstruct the energy of weakly decaying b-hadrons, EB^{weak}. The average value of x^{weak}B = EB^{weak}/E_{beam} is measured to be 0.699±0.011. The resulting x^{weak}B distribution is then analysed in the framework of two choices for the perturbative contribution (parton shower and Next to Leading Log QCD calculation) in order to extract measurements of the non-perturbative contribution to be used in studies of b-hadron production in other experimental environments than LEP. In the parton shower framework, data favour the Lund model ansatz and corresponding values of its parameters have been determined within PYTHIA 6.156 from DELPHI data: a= 1.84^{+0.23}_{-0.21}quadandquad b=0.642^{+0.073}_{-0.063} GeV^{-2}, with a correlation factor ρ=92.2%. Combining the data on the b-quark fragmentation distributions with those obtained at the Z peak by ALEPH, OPAL and SLD, the average value of x^{weak}B is found to be 0.7092±0.0025 and the non-perturbative fragmentation component is extracted. Using the combined distribution, a better determination of the Lund parameters is also obtained: a= 1.48^{+0.11}_{-0.10}quadandquad b=0.509^{+0.024}_{-0.023} GeV^{-2}, with a correlation factor ρ=92.6%.

Non-axisymmetric line-driven disc winds - I. Disc perturbations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dyda, Sergei; Proga, Daniel

2018-04-01

We study mass outflows driven from accretion discs by radiation pressure due to spectral lines. To investigate non-axisymmetric effects, we use the ATHENA++ code and develop a new module to account for radiation pressure driving. In 2D, our new simulations are consistent with previous 2D axisymmetric solutions by Proga et al., who used the ZEUS 2D code. Specifically, we find that the disc winds are time dependent, characterized by a dense stream confined to ˜45° relative to the disc mid-plane and bounded on the polar side by a less dense, fast stream. In 3D, we introduce a vertical, ϕ-dependent, subsonic velocity perturbation in the disc mid-plane. The perturbation does not change the overall character of the solution but global outflow properties such as the mass, momentum, and kinetic energy fluxes are altered by up to 100 per cent. Non-axisymmetric density structures develop and persist mainly at the base of the wind. They are relatively small, and their densities can be a few times higher than the azimuthal average. The structure of the non-axisymmetric and axisymmetric solutions differ also in other ways. Perhaps most importantly from the observational point of view are the differences in the so-called clumping factors, that serve as a proxy for emissivity due to two body processes. In particular, the spatially averaged clumping factor over the entire fast stream, while it is of a comparable value in both solutions, it varies about 10 times faster in the non-axisymmetric case.

Control of trunk motion following sudden stop perturbations during cart pushing.

PubMed

Lee, Yun-Ju; Hoozemans, Marco J M; van Dieën, Jaap H

2011-01-04

External perturbations during pushing tasks have been suggested to be a risk factor for low-back symptoms. An experiment was designed to investigate whether self-induced and externally induced sudden stops while pushing a high inertia cart influence trunk motions, and how flexor and extensor muscles counteract these perturbations. Twelve healthy male participants pushed a 200 kg cart at shoulder height and hip height. Pushing while walking was compared to situations in which participants had to stop the cart suddenly (self-induced stop) or in which the wheels of the cart were unexpectedly blocked (externally induced stop). For the perturbed conditions, the peak values and the maximum changes from the reference condition (pushing while walking) of the external moment at L5/S1, trunk inclination and electromyographic amplitudes of trunk muscles were determined. In the self-induced stop, a voluntary trunk extension occurred. Initial responses in both stops consisted of flexor and extensor muscle cocontraction. In self-induced stops this was followed by sustained extensor activity. In the externally induced stops, an external extension moment caused a decrease in trunk inclination. The opposite directions of the internal moment and trunk motion in the externally induced stop while pushing at shoulder height may indicate insufficient active control of trunk posture. Consequently, sudden blocking of the wheels in pushing at shoulder height may put the low back at risk of mechanical injury. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Higgs-stoponium mixing near the stop-antistop threshold

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

Bodwin, Geoffrey T.; Chung, Hee Sok; Wagner, Carlos E. M.

Supersymmetric extensions of the standard model contain additional heavy neutral Higgs bosons that are coupled to heavy scalar top quarks (stops). This system exhibits interesting field theoretic phenomena when the Higgs mass is close to the stop-antistop production threshold. Existing work in the literature has examined the digluon-to-diphoton cross section near threshold and has focused on enhancements in the cross section that might arise either from the perturbative contributions to the Higgs-to-digluon and Higgs-to-diphoton form factors or from mixing of the Higgs boson with stoponium states. Near threshold, enhancements in the relevant amplitudes that go as inverse powers of themore » stop-antistop relative velocity require resummations of perturbation theory and/or nonperturbative treatments. We present a complete formulation of threshold effects at leading order in the stop-antistop relative velocity in terms of nonrelativistic effective field theory. We give detailed numerical calculations for the case in which the stop-antistop Green’s function is modeled with a Coulomb-Schr¨odinger Green’s function. We find several general effects that do not appear in a purely perturbative treatment. Higgs-stop-antistop mixing effects displace physical masses from the threshold region, thereby rendering the perturbative threshold enhancements inoperative. In the case of large Higgs-stop-antistop couplings, the displacement of a physical state above threshold substantially increases its width, owing to its decay width to a stop-antistop pair, and greatly reduces its contribution to the cross section.« less

A new approach for modeling gravitational radiation from the inspiral of two neutron stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luke, Stephen A.

In this dissertation, a new method of applying the ADM formalism of general relativity to model the gravitational radiation emitted from the realistic inspiral of a neutron star binary is described. A description of the conformally flat condition (CFC) is summarized, and the ADM equations are solved by use of the CFC approach for a neutron star binary. The advantages and limitations of this approach are discussed, and the need for a more accurate improvement to this approach is described. To address this need, a linearized perturbation of the CFC spatial three metric is then introduced. The general relativistic hydrodynamic equations are then allowed to evolve against this basis under the assumption that the first-order corrections to the hydrodynamic variables are negligible compared to their CFC values. As a first approximation, the linear corrections to the conformal factor, lapse function, and shift vector are also assumed to be small compared to the extrinsic curvature and the three metric. A boundary matching method is then introduced as a way of computing the gravitational radiation of this relativistic system without use of the multipole expansion as employed by earlier applications of the CFC approach. It is assumed that at a location far from the source, the three metric is accurately described by a linear correction to Minkowski spacetime. The two polarizations of gravitational radiation can then be computed at that point in terms of the linearized correction to the metric. The evolution equations obtained from the linearized perturbative correction to the CFC approach and the method for recovery of the gravity wave signal are then tested by use of a three-dimensional numerical simulation. This code is used to compute the gravity wave signal emitted a pair of equal mass neutron stars in quasi-stable circular orbits at a point early in their inspiral phase. From this simple numerical analysis, the correct general trend of gravitational radiation is recovered. Comparisons with (5/2) post-Newtonian solutions show a similar gravitational waveform, although inaccuracies are still found to exist from this computation. Finally, several areas for improvement and potential future applications of this technique are discussed.

Regularization and computational methods for precise solution of perturbed orbit transfer problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woollands, Robyn Michele

The author has developed a suite of algorithms for solving the perturbed Lambert's problem in celestial mechanics. These algorithms have been implemented as a parallel computation tool that has broad applicability. This tool is composed of four component algorithms and each provides unique benefits for solving a particular type of orbit transfer problem. The first one utilizes a Keplerian solver (a-iteration) for solving the unperturbed Lambert's problem. This algorithm not only provides a "warm start" for solving the perturbed problem but is also used to identify which of several perturbed solvers is best suited for the job. The second algorithm solves the perturbed Lambert's problem using a variant of the modified Chebyshev-Picard iteration initial value solver that solves two-point boundary value problems. This method converges over about one third of an orbit and does not require a Newton-type shooting method and thus no state transition matrix needs to be computed. The third algorithm makes use of regularization of the differential equations through the Kustaanheimo-Stiefel transformation and extends the domain of convergence over which the modified Chebyshev-Picard iteration two-point boundary value solver will converge, from about one third of an orbit to almost a full orbit. This algorithm also does not require a Newton-type shooting method. The fourth algorithm uses the method of particular solutions and the modified Chebyshev-Picard iteration initial value solver to solve the perturbed two-impulse Lambert problem over multiple revolutions. The method of particular solutions is a shooting method but differs from the Newton-type shooting methods in that it does not require integration of the state transition matrix. The mathematical developments that underlie these four algorithms are derived in the chapters of this dissertation. For each of the algorithms, some orbit transfer test cases are included to provide insight on accuracy and efficiency of these individual algorithms. Following this discussion, the combined parallel algorithm, known as the unified Lambert tool, is presented and an explanation is given as to how it automatically selects which of the three perturbed solvers to compute the perturbed solution for a particular orbit transfer. The unified Lambert tool may be used to determine a single orbit transfer or for generating of an extremal field map. A case study is presented for a mission that is required to rendezvous with two pieces of orbit debris (spent rocket boosters). The unified Lambert tool software developed in this dissertation is already being utilized by several industrial partners and we are confident that it will play a significant role in practical applications, including solution of Lambert problems that arise in the current applications focused on enhanced space situational awareness.

Infrared singularities of scattering amplitudes in perturbative QCD

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

Becher, Thomas; Neubert, Matthias

2013-11-01

An exact formula is derived for the infrared singularities of dimensionally regularized scattering amplitudes in massless QCD with an arbitrary number of legs, valid at any number of loops. It is based on the conjecture that the anomalous-dimension matrix of n-jet operators in soft-collinear effective theory contains only a single non-trivial color structure, whose coefficient is the cusp anomalous dimension of Wilson loops with light-like segments. Its color-diagonal part is characterized by two anomalous dimensions, which are extracted to three-loop order from known perturbative results for the quark and gluon form factors. This allows us to predict the three-loop coefficientsmore » of all 1/epsilon^k poles for an arbitrary n-parton scattering amplitudes, generalizing existing two-loop results.« less

Left-right spin asymmetry in ℓ N ↑ → h X

DOE PAGES

Gamberg, Leonard; Kang, Zhong -Bo; Metz, Andreas; ...

2014-10-09

In this study, we consider the inclusive production of hadrons in lepton-nucleon scattering. For a transversely polarized nucleon this reaction shows a left-right azimuthal asymmetry, which we compute in twist-3 collinear factorization at leading order in perturbation theory. All non-perturbative parton correlators of the calculation are fixed through information from other hard processes. Our results for the left-right asymmetry agree in sign with recent data for charged pion production from the HERMES Collaboration and from Jefferson Lab. However, the magnitude of the computed asymmetries tends to be larger than the data. Potential reasons for this outcome are identified. We alsomore » give predictions for future experiments and highlight in particular the unique opportunities at an Electron Ion Collider.« less

Left-right spin asymmetry in ℓ N ↑ → h X

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

Gamberg, Leonard; Kang, Zhong -Bo; Metz, Andreas

In this study, we consider the inclusive production of hadrons in lepton-nucleon scattering. For a transversely polarized nucleon this reaction shows a left-right azimuthal asymmetry, which we compute in twist-3 collinear factorization at leading order in perturbation theory. All non-perturbative parton correlators of the calculation are fixed through information from other hard processes. Our results for the left-right asymmetry agree in sign with recent data for charged pion production from the HERMES Collaboration and from Jefferson Lab. However, the magnitude of the computed asymmetries tends to be larger than the data. Potential reasons for this outcome are identified. We alsomore » give predictions for future experiments and highlight in particular the unique opportunities at an Electron Ion Collider.« less

Threshold resummation of the rapidity distribution for Higgs production at NNLO +NNLL

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banerjee, Pulak; Das, Goutam; Dhani, Prasanna K.; Ravindran, V.

2018-03-01

We present a formalism that resums threshold-enhanced logarithms to all orders in perturbative QCD for the rapidity distribution of any colorless particle produced in hadron colliders. We achieve this by exploiting the factorization properties and K +G equations satisfied by the soft and virtual parts of the cross section. We compute for the first time compact and most general expressions in two-dimensional Mellin space for the resummed coefficients. Using various state-of-the-art multiloop and multileg results, we demonstrate the numerical impact of our resummed results up to next-to-next-to-leading order for the rapidity distribution of the Higgs boson at the LHC. We find that inclusion of these threshold logs through resummation improves the reliability of perturbative predictions.

Observation of a new coherent transient in NMR -- nutational two-pulse stimulated echo in the angular distribution of γ-radiation from oriented nuclei

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shakhmuratova, L. N.; Hutchison, W. D.; Isbister, D. J.; Chaplin, D. H.

1997-07-01

A new coherent transient in pulsed NMR, the two-pulse nutational stimulated echo, is reported for the ferromagnetic system 60CoFe using resonant perturbations on the directional emission of anisotropic γ-radiation from thermally oriented nuclei. The new spin echo is a result of non-linear nuclear spin dynamics due to large Larmor inhomogeneity active during radiofrequency pulse application. It is made readily observable through the gross detuning between NMR radiofrequency excitation and gamma radiation detection, and inhomogeneity in the Rabi frequency caused by metallic skin-effect. The method of concatenation of perturbation factors in a statistical tensor formalism is quantitatively applied to successfully predict and then fit in detail the experimental time-domain data.

A non-additive repulsive contribution in an equation of state: The development for homonuclear square well chains equation of state validated against Monte Carlo simulation

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

Trinh, Thi-Kim-Hoang; Laboratoire de Science des Procédés et des Matériaux; Passarello, Jean-Philippe, E-mail: Jean-Philippe.Passarello@lspm.cnrs.fr

This work consists of the adaptation of a non-additive hard sphere theory inspired by Malakhov and Volkov [Polym. Sci., Ser. A 49(6), 745–756 (2007)] to a square-well chain. Using the thermodynamic perturbation theory, an additional term is proposed that describes the effect of perturbing the chain of square well spheres by a non-additive parameter. In order to validate this development, NPT Monte Carlo simulations of thermodynamic and structural properties of the non-additive square well for a pure chain and a binary mixture of chains are performed. Good agreements are observed between the compressibility factors originating from the theory and thosemore » from molecular simulations.« less

A Cane Improves Postural Recovery From an Unpracticed Slip During Walking in People With Parkinson Disease

PubMed Central

Saengsirisuwan, Vitoon; Carlson-Kuhta, Patricia; Horak, Fay B.

2012-01-01

Background Little is known about the effects of use of a cane on balance during perturbed gait or whether people with Parkinson disease (PD) benefit from using a cane. Objectives The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of cane use on postural recovery from a slip due to repeated surface perturbations in individuals with PD compared with age- and sex-matched individuals who were healthy. Design This was a prospective study with 2 groups of participants. Methods Fourteen individuals with PD (PD group) and 11 individuals without PD (control group) walked across a platform that translated 15 cm rightward at 30 cm/s during the single-limb support phase of the right foot. Data from 15 trials in 2 conditions (ie, with and without an instrumented cane in the right hand) were collected in random order. Outcome measures included lateral displacement of body center of mass (COM) due to the slip and compensatory step width and length after the perturbation. Results Cane use improved postural recovery from the first untrained slip, characterized by smaller lateral COM displacement, in the PD group but not in the control group. The beneficial effect of cane use, however, occurred only during the first perturbation, and those individuals in the PD group who demonstrated the largest COM displacement without a cane benefited the most from use of a cane. Both PD and control groups gradually decreased lateral COM displacement across slip exposures, but a slower learning rate was evident in the PD group participants, who required 6, rather than 3, trials for adapting balance recovery. Limitations Future studies are needed to examine the long-term effects of repeated slip training in people with PD. Conclusions Use of a cane improved postural recovery from an unpracticed slip in individuals with PD. Balance in people with PD can be improved by training with repeated exposures to perturbations. PMID:22628583

A Perturbation Analysis of Harmonics Generation from Saturated Elements in Power Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumano, Teruhisa

Nonlinear phenomena such as saturation in magnetic flux give considerable effects in power system analysis. It is reported that a failure in a real 500kV system triggered islanding operation, where resultant even harmonics caused malfunctions in protective relays. It is also reported that the major origin of this wave distortion is nothing but unidirectional magnetization of the transformer iron core. Time simulation is widely used today to analyze this type of phenomena, but it has basically two shortcomings. One is that the time simulation takes two much computing time in the vicinity of inflection points in the saturation characteristic curve because certain iterative procedure such as N-R (Newton-Raphson) should be used and such methods tend to be caught in an ill conditioned numerical hunting. The other is that such simulation methods sometimes do not help intuitive understanding of the studied phenomenon because the whole nonlinear equations are treated in a matrix form and not properly divided into understandable parts as done in linear systems. This paper proposes a new computation scheme which is based on so called perturbation method. Magnetic saturation in iron cores in a generator and a transformer are taken into account. The proposed method has a special feature against the first shortcoming of the N-R based time simulation method stated above. In the proposed method no iterative process is used to reduce the equation residue but uses perturbation series, which means free from the ill condition problem. Users have only to calculate each perturbation terms one by one until he reaches necessary accuracy. In a numerical example treated in the present paper the first order perturbation can make reasonably high accuracy, which means very fast computing. In numerical study three nonlinear elements are considered. Calculated results are almost identical to the conventional Newton-Raphson based time simulation, which shows the validity of the method. The proposed method would be effectively used in a screening where many case studies are needed.

A cane improves postural recovery from an unpracticed slip during walking in people with Parkinson disease.

PubMed

Boonsinsukh, Rumpa; Saengsirisuwan, Vitoon; Carlson-Kuhta, Patricia; Horak, Fay B

2012-09-01

Little is known about the effects of use of a cane on balance during perturbed gait or whether people with Parkinson disease (PD) benefit from using a cane. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of cane use on postural recovery from a slip due to repeated surface perturbations in individuals with PD compared with age- and sex-matched individuals who were healthy. This was a prospective study with 2 groups of participants. Fourteen individuals with PD (PD group) and 11 individuals without PD (control group) walked across a platform that translated 15 cm rightward at 30 cm/s during the single-limb support phase of the right foot. Data from 15 trials in 2 conditions (ie, with and without an instrumented cane in the right hand) were collected in random order. Outcome measures included lateral displacement of body center of mass (COM) due to the slip and compensatory step width and length after the perturbation. Cane use improved postural recovery from the first untrained slip, characterized by smaller lateral COM displacement, in the PD group but not in the control group. The beneficial effect of cane use, however, occurred only during the first perturbation, and those individuals in the PD group who demonstrated the largest COM displacement without a cane benefited the most from use of a cane. Both PD and control groups gradually decreased lateral COM displacement across slip exposures, but a slower learning rate was evident in the PD group participants, who required 6, rather than 3, trials for adapting balance recovery. Future studies are needed to examine the long-term effects of repeated slip training in people with PD. Use of a cane improved postural recovery from an unpracticed slip in individuals with PD. Balance in people with PD can be improved by training with repeated exposures to perturbations.

Online damage detection using recursive principal component analysis and recursive condition indicators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krishnan, M.; Bhowmik, B.; Tiwari, A. K.; Hazra, B.

2017-08-01

In this paper, a novel baseline free approach for continuous online damage detection of multi degree of freedom vibrating structures using recursive principal component analysis (RPCA) in conjunction with online damage indicators is proposed. In this method, the acceleration data is used to obtain recursive proper orthogonal modes in online using the rank-one perturbation method, and subsequently utilized to detect the change in the dynamic behavior of the vibrating system from its pristine state to contiguous linear/nonlinear-states that indicate damage. The RPCA algorithm iterates the eigenvector and eigenvalue estimates for sample covariance matrices and new data point at each successive time instants, using the rank-one perturbation method. An online condition indicator (CI) based on the L2 norm of the error between actual response and the response projected using recursive eigenvector matrix updates over successive iterations is proposed. This eliminates the need for offline post processing and facilitates online damage detection especially when applied to streaming data. The proposed CI, named recursive residual error, is also adopted for simultaneous spatio-temporal damage detection. Numerical simulations performed on five-degree of freedom nonlinear system under white noise and El Centro excitations, with different levels of nonlinearity simulating the damage scenarios, demonstrate the robustness of the proposed algorithm. Successful results obtained from practical case studies involving experiments performed on a cantilever beam subjected to earthquake excitation, for full sensors and underdetermined cases; and data from recorded responses of the UCLA Factor building (full data and its subset) demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed methodology as an ideal candidate for real-time, reference free structural health monitoring.

Directed Differentiation of Human Embryonic Stem Cells into Prostate Organoids In Vitro and its Perturbation by Low-Dose Bisphenol A Exposure.

PubMed

Calderon-Gierszal, Esther L; Prins, Gail S

2015-01-01

Studies using rodent and adult human prostate stem-progenitor cell models suggest that developmental exposure to the endocrine disruptor Bisphenol-A (BPA) can predispose to prostate carcinogenesis with aging. Unknown at present is whether the embryonic human prostate is equally susceptible to BPA during its natural developmental window. To address this unmet need, we herein report the construction of a pioneer in vitro human prostate developmental model to study the effects of BPA. The directed differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) into prostatic organoids in a spatial system was accomplished with precise temporal control of growth factors and steroids. Activin-induced definitive endoderm was driven to prostate specification by combined exposure to WNT10B and FGF10. Matrigel culture for 20-30 days in medium containing R-Spondin-1, Noggin, EGF, retinoic acid and testosterone was sufficient for mature prostate organoid development. Immunofluorescence and gene expression analysis confirmed that organoids exhibited cytodifferentiation and functional properties of the human prostate. Exposure to 1 nM or 10 nM BPA throughout differentiation culture disturbed early morphogenesis in a dose-dependent manner with 1 nM BPA increasing and 10 nM BPA reducing the number of branched structures formed. While differentiation of branched structures to mature organoids seemed largely unaffected by BPA exposure, the stem-like cell population increased, appearing as focal stem cell nests that have not properly entered lineage commitment rather than the rare isolated stem cells found in normally differentiated structures. These findings provide the first direct evidence that low-dose BPA exposure targets hESC and perturbs morphogenesis as the embryonic cells differentiate towards human prostate organoids, suggesting that the developing human prostate may be susceptible to disruption by in utero BPA exposures.

A tale of two risks: smoking, diabetes and the subgingival microbiome

PubMed Central

Ganesan, Sukirth M; Joshi, Vinayak; Fellows, Megan; Dabdoub, Shareef M; Nagaraja, Haikady N; O'Donnell, Benjamin; Deshpande, Neeta Rohit; Kumar, Purnima S

2017-01-01

Although smoking and diabetes have been established as the only two risk factors for periodontitis, their individual and synergistic impacts on the periodontal microbiome are not well studied. The present investigation analyzed 2.7 million 16S sequences from 175 non-smoking normoglycemic individuals (controls), smokers, diabetics and diabetic smokers with periodontitis as well as periodontally healthy controls, smokers and diabetics to assess subgingival bacterial biodiversity and co-occurrence patterns. The microbial signatures of periodontally healthy smokers, but not diabetics, were highly aligned with the disease-associated microbiomes of their respective cohorts. Diabetics were dominated by species belonging to Fusobacterium, Parvimonas, Peptostreptococcus, Gemella, Streptococcus, Leptotrichia, Filifactor, Veillonella, TM7 and Terrahemophilus. These microbiomes exhibited significant clustering based on HbA1c levels (pre-diabetic (<6.5%), diabetic (6.5–9.9%), diabetics >10%). Smokers with periodontitis evidenced a robust core microbiome (species identified in at least 80% of individuals) dominated by anaerobes, with inter-individual differences attributable largely to the ‘rare biosphere’. Diabetics and diabetic smokers, on the other hand, were microbially heterogeneous and enriched for facultative species. In smokers, microbial co-occurrence networks were sparse and predominantly congeneric, while robust inter-generic networks were observed in diabetics and diabetic smokers. Smoking and hyperglycemia impact the subgingival microbiome in distinct ways, and when these perturbations intersect, their synergistic effect is greater than what would be expected from the sum of each effect separately. Thus, this study underscores the importance of early intervention strategies in maintaining health-compatible microbiomes in high-risk individuals, as well as the need to personalize these interventions based on the environmental perturbation. PMID:28534880

Aseismic and seismic slip induced by fluid injection from poroelastic and rate-state friction modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Y.; Deng, K.; Harrington, R. M.; Clerc, F.

2016-12-01

Solid matrix stress change and pore pressure diffusion caused by fluid injection has been postulated as key factors for inducing earthquakes and aseismic slip on pre-existing faults. In this study, we have developed a numerical model that simulates aseismic and seismic slip in a rate-and-state friction framework with poroelastic stress perturbations from multi-stage hydraulic fracturing scenarios. We apply the physics-based model to the 2013-2015 earthquake sequences near Fox Creek, Alberta, Canada, where three magnitude 4.5 earthquakes were potentially induced by nearby hydraulic fracturing activity. In particular, we use the relocated December 2013 seismicity sequence to approximate the fault orientation, and find the seismicity migration spatiotemporally correlate with the positive Coulomb stress changes calculated from the poroelastic model. When the poroelastic stress changes are introduced to the rate-state friction model, we find that slip on the fault evolves from aseismic to seismic in a manner similar to the onset of seismicity. For a 15-stage hydraulic fracturing that lasted for 10 days, modeled fault slip rate starts to accelerate after 3 days of fracking, and rapidly develops into a seismic event, which also temporally coincides with the onset of induced seismicity. The poroelastic stress perturbation and consequently fault slip rate continue to evolve and remain high for several weeks after hydraulic fracturing has stopped, which may explain the continued seismicity after shut-in. In a comparison numerical experiment, fault slip rate quickly decreases to the interseismic level when stress perturbations are instantaneously returned to zero at shut-in. Furthermore, when stress perturbations are removed just a few hours after the fault slip rate starts to accelerate (that is, hydraulic fracturing is shut down prematurely), only aseismic slip is observed in the model. Our preliminary results thus suggest the design of fracturing duration and flow-back strategy, either allowing stress perturbations to passively dissipate in the medium or actively dropping to the pre-perturbation level, is essential to inducing seismic versus aseismic slip on pre-existing faults.