Sample records for physiological steady state

  1. Steady State Condition in the Measurement of VO2and VCO2by Indirect Calorimetry.

    PubMed

    Cadena, M; Sacristan, E; Infante, O; Escalante, B; Rodriguez, F

    2005-01-01

    Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is computed using VO2and VCO2short time 15-minute window measurement with Indirect Calorimetry (IC) instruments designed with mixing chamber. Steady state condition using a 10% variation coefficient criteria is the main objective to achieve metabolic long time prediction reliability. This study address how susceptible is the steady state VO2, VCO2measurement condition to the clino-orthostatic physiological maneuver. 30 young healthy subjects were analyzed. Only 18 passed the 10% variation coefficient inclusive criteria. They were exposed to 10 minutes clino-stage and 10 minutes orthostage. The hypothesis tests show not statistical significance (p< 0.1) in the average and variance analysis. It is concluded that the steady state is not influenced by the patient position IC test, probably because IC mixing chamber instruments are insensitive to detect a mayor physiological dynamics changes that can modify the steady state definition.

  2. Advanced continuous cultivation methods for systems microbiology.

    PubMed

    Adamberg, Kaarel; Valgepea, Kaspar; Vilu, Raivo

    2015-09-01

    Increasing the throughput of systems biology-based experimental characterization of in silico-designed strains has great potential for accelerating the development of cell factories. For this, analysis of metabolism in the steady state is essential as only this enables the unequivocal definition of the physiological state of cells, which is needed for the complete description and in silico reconstruction of their phenotypes. In this review, we show that for a systems microbiology approach, high-resolution characterization of metabolism in the steady state--growth space analysis (GSA)--can be achieved by using advanced continuous cultivation methods termed changestats. In changestats, an environmental parameter is continuously changed at a constant rate within one experiment whilst maintaining cells in the physiological steady state similar to chemostats. This increases the resolution and throughput of GSA compared with chemostats, and, moreover, enables following of the dynamics of metabolism and detection of metabolic switch-points and optimal growth conditions. We also describe the concept, challenge and necessary criteria of the systematic analysis of steady-state metabolism. Finally, we propose that such systematic characterization of the steady-state growth space of cells using changestats has value not only for fundamental studies of metabolism, but also for systems biology-based metabolic engineering of cell factories.

  3. Steady state or non-steady state? Identifying driving mechanisms of oxygen isotope signatures of leaf transpiration in functionally distinct plant species

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dubbert, Maren; Kübert, Angelika; Cuntz, Matthias; Werner, Christiane

    2015-04-01

    Isotope techniques are widely applied in ecosystem studies. For example, isoflux models are used to separate soil evaporation from transpiration in ecosystems. These models often assume that plant transpiration occurs at isotopic steady state, i.e. that the transpired water shows the same isotopic signature as the source water. Yet, several studies found that transpiration did not occur at isotopic steady state, under both controlled and field conditions. Here we focused on identifying the internal and external factors which drive the isotopic signature of leaf transpiration. Using cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS), the effect of both environmental variables and leaf physiological traits on δ18OT was investigated under controlled conditions. Six plant species with distinct leaf physiological traits were exposed to step changes in relative air humidity (RH), their response in δ18OT and gas exchange parameters and their leaf physiological traits were assessed. Moreover, two functionally distinct plant types (tree, i.e. Quercus suber, and grassland) of a semi-arid Mediterranean oak-woodland where observed under natural conditions throughout an entire growth period in the field. The species differed substantially in their leaf physiological traits and their turn-over times of leaf water. They could be grouped in species with fast (<60 min.), intermediate (ca. 120 min.) and slow (>240 min.) turn-over times, mostly due to differences in stomatal conductance, leaf water content or a combination of both. Changes in RH caused an immediate response in δ18OT, which were similarly strong in all species, while leaf physiological traits affected the subsequent response in δ18OT. The turn-over time of leaf water determined the speed of return to the isotopic steady or a stable δ18OT value (Dubbert & Kübert et al., in prep.). Under natural conditions, changes in environmental conditions over the diurnal cycle had a huge impact on the diurnal development of δ18OT in both observed plant functional types. However, in accordance with our findings in the lab, species specific differences in the leaf water turn over time, significantly influenced the amount of time plants transpired at non-steady state during the day (Dubbert et al., 2013, 2014). Our results emphasize the significance of considering isotopic non-steady state of transpiration and specifically to account for the specific differences of plant species resulting from distinct physiological traits of their leaves when applying isoflux models in ecosystem studies. Dubbert, M; Cuntz, M; Piayda, A; Maguas, C; Werner, C: Partitioning evapotranspiration - Testing the Craig and Gordon model with field measurements of oxygen isotope ratios of evaporative fluxes. J Hydrol (2013) Dubbert, M; Piayda, A; Cuntz, M; Correia, AC; Costa e Silva, F; Pereira, JS; Werner, C: Stable oxygen isotope and flux partitioning demonstrates understory of an oak savanna contributes up to half of ecosystem carbon and water exchange, Frontiers in Plant Science (2014a)

  4. Teaching Cardiovascular Physiology with Equivalent Electronic Circuits in a Practically Oriented Teaching Module

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ribaric, Samo; Kordas, Marjan

    2011-01-01

    Here, we report on a new tool for teaching cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology that promotes qualitative as well as quantitative thinking about time-dependent physiological phenomena. Quantification of steady and presteady-state (transient) cardiovascular phenomena is traditionally done by differential equations, but this is time…

  5. Teaching cardiovascular physiology with equivalent electronic circuits in a practically oriented teaching module.

    PubMed

    Ribaric, Samo; Kordas, Marjan

    2011-06-01

    Here, we report on a new tool for teaching cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology that promotes qualitative as well as quantitative thinking about time-dependent physiological phenomena. Quantification of steady and presteady-state (transient) cardiovascular phenomena is traditionally done by differential equations, but this is time consuming and unsuitable for most undergraduate medical students. As a result, quantitative thinking about time-dependent physiological phenomena is often not extensively dealt with in an undergraduate physiological course. However, basic concepts of steady and presteady state can be explained with relative simplicity, without the introduction of differential equation, with equivalent electronic circuits (EECs). We introduced undergraduate medical students to the concept of simulating cardiovascular phenomena with EECs. EEC simulations facilitate the understanding of simple or complex time-dependent cardiovascular physiological phenomena by stressing the analogies between EECs and physiological processes. Student perceptions on using EEC to simulate, study, and understand cardiovascular phenomena were documented over a 9-yr period, and the impact of the course on the students' knowledge of selected basic facts and concepts in cardiovascular physiology was evaluated over a 3-yr period. We conclude that EECs are a valuable tool for teaching cardiovascular physiology concepts and that EECs promote active learning.

  6. Reconstructing metabolic flux vectors from extreme pathways: defining the alpha-spectrum.

    PubMed

    Wiback, Sharon J; Mahadevan, Radhakrishnan; Palsson, Bernhard Ø

    2003-10-07

    The move towards genome-scale analysis of cellular functions has necessitated the development of analytical (in silico) methods to understand such large and complex biochemical reaction networks. One such method is extreme pathway analysis that uses stoichiometry and thermodynamic irreversibly to define mathematically unique, systemic metabolic pathways. These extreme pathways form the edges of a high-dimensional convex cone in the flux space that contains all the attainable steady state solutions, or flux distributions, for the metabolic network. By definition, any steady state flux distribution can be described as a nonnegative linear combination of the extreme pathways. To date, much effort has been focused on calculating, defining, and understanding these extreme pathways. However, little work has been performed to determine how these extreme pathways contribute to a given steady state flux distribution. This study represents an initial effort aimed at defining how physiological steady state solutions can be reconstructed from a network's extreme pathways. In general, there is not a unique set of nonnegative weightings on the extreme pathways that produce a given steady state flux distribution but rather a range of possible values. This range can be determined using linear optimization to maximize and minimize the weightings of a particular extreme pathway in the reconstruction, resulting in what we have termed the alpha-spectrum. The alpha-spectrum defines which extreme pathways can and cannot be included in the reconstruction of a given steady state flux distribution and to what extent they individually contribute to the reconstruction. It is shown that accounting for transcriptional regulatory constraints can considerably shrink the alpha-spectrum. The alpha-spectrum is computed and interpreted for two cases; first, optimal states of a skeleton representation of core metabolism that include transcriptional regulation, and second for human red blood cell metabolism under various physiological, non-optimal conditions.

  7. A fractionation of the physiological burden of the personal protective equipment worn by firefighters.

    PubMed

    Taylor, Nigel A S; Lewis, Michael C; Notley, Sean R; Peoples, Gregory E

    2012-08-01

    Load carriage increases physiological strain, reduces work capacity and elevates the risk of work-related injury. In this project, the separate and combined physiological consequences of wearing the personal protective equipment used by firefighters were evaluated. The overall impact upon performance was first measured in 20 subjects during a maximal, job-related obstacle course trial and an incremental treadmill test to exhaustion (with and without protective equipment). The fractional contributions of the thermal protective clothing, helmet, breathing apparatus and boots were then separately determined during steady-state walking (4.8 km h(-1), 0% gradient) and bench stepping (20 cm at 40 steps min(-1)). The protective equipment reduced exercise tolerance by 56% on a treadmill, with the ambulatory oxygen consumption reserve (peak minus steady-state walking) being 31% lower. For the obstacle course, performance declined by 27%. Under steady-state conditions, the footwear exerted the greatest relative metabolic impact during walking and bench stepping, being 8.7 and 6.4 times greater per unit mass than the breathing apparatus. Indeed, the relative influence of the clothing on oxygen cost was at least three times that of the breathing apparatus. Therefore, the most efficient way to reduce the physiological burden of firefighters' protective equipment, and thereby increase safety, would be to reduce the mass of the boots and thermal protective clothing.

  8. Bistability and State Transition of a Delay Differential Equation Model of Neutrophil Dynamics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ma, Suqi; Zhu, Kaiyi; Lei, Jinzhi

    This paper studies the existence of bistable states and control strategies to induce state transitions of a delay differential equation model of neutrophil dynamics. We seek the conditions that a stable steady state and an oscillatory state coexist in the neutrophil dynamical system. Physiologically, stable steady state represents the healthy state, while oscillatory state is usually associated with diseases such as cyclical neutropenia. We study the control strategies to induce the transitions from the disease state to the healthy state by introducing temporal perturbations to system parameters. This study is valuable in designing clinical protocols for the treatment of cyclical neutropenia.

  9. Isotopic composition of transpiration and rates of change in leaf water isotopologue storage in response to environmental variables.

    PubMed

    Simonin, Kevin A; Roddy, Adam B; Link, Percy; Apodaca, Randy; Tu, Kevin P; Hu, Jia; Dawson, Todd E; Barbour, Margaret M

    2013-12-01

    During daylight hours, the isotope composition of leaf water generally approximates steady-state leaf water isotope enrichment model predictions. However, until very recently there was little direct confirmation that isotopic steady-state (ISS) transpiration in fact exists. Using isotope ratio infrared spectroscopy (IRIS) and leaf gas exchange systems we evaluated the isotope composition of transpiration and the rate of change in leaf water isotopologue storage (isostorage) when leaves were exposed to variable environments. In doing so, we developed a method for controlling the absolute humidity entering the gas exchange cuvette for a wide range of concentrations without changing the isotope composition of water vapour. The measurement system allowed estimation of (18)O enrichment both at the evaporation site and for bulk leaf water, in the steady state and the non-steady state. We show that non-steady-state effects dominate the transpiration isoflux even when leaves are at physiological steady state. Our results suggest that a variable environment likely prevents ISS transpiration from being achieved and that this effect may be exacerbated by lengthy leaf water turnover times due to high leaf water contents. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  10. Software for Teaching Physiology and Biophysics.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Weiss, Thomas F.; And Others

    1992-01-01

    Describes a software library developed to teach biophysics and physiology undergraduates that includes software on (1) the Hodgkin-Huxley model for excitation of action potentials in electrically excitable cells; (2) a random-walk model of diffusion; (3) single voltage-gated ion channels; (4) steady-state chemically mediated transport; and (5)…

  11. Transient-state mechanisms of wind-induced burrow ventilation.

    PubMed

    Turner, J Scott; Pinshow, Berry

    2015-01-15

    Burrows are common animal habitations, yet living in a burrow presents physiological challenges for its inhabitants because the burrow isolates them from sources and sinks for oxygen, carbon dioxide, water vapor and ammonia. Conventionally, the isolation is thought to be overcome by either diffusion gas exchange within the burrow or some means of capturing wind energy to power steady or quasi-steady bulk flows of air through it. Both are examples of what may be called 'DC' models, namely steady to quasi-steady flows powered by steady to quasi-steady winds. Natural winds, however, are neither steady nor quasi-steady, but are turbulent, with a considerable portion of the energy contained in so-called 'AC' (i.e. unsteady) components, where wind velocity varies chaotically and energy to power gas exchange is stored in some form. Existing DC models of burrow gas exchange do not account for this potentially significant source of energy for ventilation. We present evidence that at least two AC mechanisms operate to ventilate both single-opening burrows (of the Cape skink, Trachylepis capensis) and double-opening model burrows (of Sundevall's jird, Meriones crassus). We propose that consideration of the physiological ecology and evolution of the burrowing habit has been blinkered by the long neglect of AC ventilation. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

  12. Fast Virtual Fractional Flow Reserve Based Upon Steady-State Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis: Results From the VIRTU-Fast Study.

    PubMed

    Morris, Paul D; Silva Soto, Daniel Alejandro; Feher, Jeroen F A; Rafiroiu, Dan; Lungu, Angela; Varma, Susheel; Lawford, Patricia V; Hose, D Rodney; Gunn, Julian P

    2017-08-01

    Fractional flow reserve (FFR)-guided percutaneous intervention is superior to standard assessment but remains underused. The authors have developed a novel "pseudotransient" analysis protocol for computing virtual fractional flow reserve (vFFR) based upon angiographic images and steady-state computational fluid dynamics. This protocol generates vFFR results in 189 s (cf >24 h for transient analysis) using a desktop PC, with <1% error relative to that of full-transient computational fluid dynamics analysis. Sensitivity analysis demonstrated that physiological lesion significance was influenced less by coronary or lesion anatomy (33%) and more by microvascular physiology (59%). If coronary microvascular resistance can be estimated, vFFR can be accurately computed in less time than it takes to make invasive measurements.

  13. Use of chemostat cultures mimicking different phases of wine fermentations as a tool for quantitative physiological analysis

    PubMed Central

    2014-01-01

    Background Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the most relevant yeast species conducting the alcoholic fermentation that takes place during winemaking. Although the physiology of this model organism has been extensively studied, systematic quantitative physiology studies of this yeast under winemaking conditions are still scarce, thus limiting the understanding of fermentative metabolism of wine yeast strains and the systematic description, modelling and prediction of fermentation processes. In this study, we implemented and validated the use of chemostat cultures as a tool to simulate different stages of a standard wine fermentation, thereby allowing to implement metabolic flux analyses describing the sequence of metabolic states of S. cerevisae along the wine fermentation. Results Chemostat cultures mimicking the different stages of standard wine fermentations of S. cerevisiae EC1118 were performed using a synthetic must and strict anaerobic conditions. The simulated stages corresponded to the onset of the exponential growth phase, late exponential growth phase and cells just entering stationary phase, at dilution rates of 0.27, 0.04, 0.007 h−1, respectively. Notably, measured substrate uptake and product formation rates at each steady state condition were generally within the range of corresponding conversion rates estimated during the different batch fermentation stages. Moreover, chemostat data were further used for metabolic flux analysis, where biomass composition data for each condition was considered in the stoichiometric model. Metabolic flux distributions were coherent with previous analyses based on batch cultivations data and the pseudo-steady state assumption. Conclusions Steady state conditions obtained in chemostat cultures reflect the environmental conditions and physiological states of S. cerevisiae corresponding to the different growth stages of a typical batch wine fermentation, thereby showing the potential of this experimental approach to systematically study the effect of environmental relevant factors such as temperature, sugar concentration, C/N ratio or (micro) oxygenation on the fermentative metabolism of wine yeast strains. PMID:24928139

  14. Modeling transitions in body composition: the approach to steady state for anthropometric measures and physiological functions in the Minnesota human starvation study

    PubMed Central

    Hargrove, James L; Heinz, Grete; Heinz, Otto

    2008-01-01

    Background This study evaluated whether the changes in several anthropometric and functional measures during caloric restriction combined with walking and treadmill exercise would fit a simple model of approach to steady state (a plateau) that can be solved using spreadsheet software (Microsoft Excel®). We hypothesized that transitions in waist girth and several body compartments would fit a simple exponential model that approaches a stable steady-state. Methods The model (an equation) was applied to outcomes reported in the Minnesota starvation experiment using Microsoft Excel's Solver® function to derive rate parameters (k) and projected steady state values. However, data for most end-points were available only at t = 0, 12 and 24 weeks of caloric restriction. Therefore, we derived 2 new equations that enable model solutions to be calculated from 3 equally spaced data points. Results For the group of male subjects in the Minnesota study, body mass declined with a first order rate constant of about 0.079 wk-1. The fractional rate of loss of fat free mass, which includes components that remained almost constant during starvation, was 0.064 wk-1, compared to a rate of loss of fat mass of 0.103 wk-1. The rate of loss of abdominal fat, as exemplified by the change in the waist girth, was 0.213 wk-1. On average, 0.77 kg was lost per cm of waist girth. Other girths showed rates of loss between 0.085 and 0.131 wk-1. Resting energy expenditure (REE) declined at 0.131 wk-1. Changes in heart volume, hand strength, work capacity and N excretion showed rates of loss in the same range. The group of 32 subjects was close to steady state or had already reached steady state for the variables under consideration at the end of semi-starvation. Conclusion When energy intake is changed to new, relatively constant levels, while physical activity is maintained, changes in several anthropometric and physiological measures can be modeled as an exponential approach to steady state using software that is widely available. The 3 point method for parameter estimation provides a criterion for testing whether change in a variable can be usefully modelled with exponential kinetics within the time range for which data are available. PMID:18840293

  15. Methods for determining the physiological state of a plant

    DOEpatents

    Kramer, David M.; Sacksteder, Colette

    2003-09-23

    The present invention provides methods for measuring a photosynthetic parameter. The methods of the invention include the steps of: (a) illuminating a plant leaf until steady-state photosynthesis is achieved; (b) subjecting the illuminated plant leaf to a period of darkness; (c) using a kinetic spectrophotometer or kinetic spectrophotometer/fluorimeter to collect spectral data from the plant leaf treated in accordance with steps (a) and (b); and (d) determining a photosynthetic parameter from the spectral data. In another aspect, the invention provides methods for determining the physiological state of a plant.

  16. A geophysiologist's thoughts on geoengineering.

    PubMed

    Lovelock, James

    2008-11-13

    The Earth is now recognized as a self-regulating system that includes a reactive biosphere; the system maintains a long-term steady-state climate and surface chemical composition favourable for life. We are perturbing the steady state by changing the land surface from mainly forests to farm land and by adding greenhouse gases and aerosol pollutants to the air. We appear to have exceeded the natural capacity to counter our perturbation and consequently the system is changing to a new and as yet unknown but probably adverse state. I suggest here that we regard the Earth as a physiological system and consider amelioration techniques, geoengineering, as comparable to nineteenth century medicine.

  17. Kinetic mechanism of ATP-sulphurylase from rat chondrosarcoma.

    PubMed Central

    Lyle, S; Geller, D H; Ng, K; Westley, J; Schwartz, N B

    1994-01-01

    ATP-sulphurylase catalyses the production of adenosine 5'-phosphosulphate (APS) from ATP and free sulphate with the release of PPi. APS kinase phosphorylates the APS intermediate to produce adenosine 3'-phosphate 5'-phosphosulphate (PAPS). The kinetic mechanism of rat chondrosarcoma ATP-sulphurylase was investigated by steady-state methods in the physiologically forward direction as well as the reverse direction. The sulphurylase activity was coupled to APS kinase activity in order to overcome the thermodynamic constraints of the sulphurylase reaction in the forward direction. Double-reciprocal initial-velocity plots for the forward sulphurylase intersect to the left of the ordinate for this reaction. KmATP and Kmsulphate were found to be 200 and 97 microM respectively. Chlorate, a competitive inhibitor with respect to sulphate, showed uncompetitive inhibition with respect to ATP with an apparent Ki of 1.97 mM. Steady-state data from experiments in the physiologically reverse direction also yielded double-reciprocal initial-velocity patterns that intersect to the left of the ordinate axis, with a KmAPS of 39 microM and a Kmpyrophosphate of 18 microM. The results of steady-state experiments in which Mg2+ was varied indicated that the true substrate is the MgPPi complex. An analogue of APS, adenosine 5'-[beta-methylene]phosphosulphate, was a linear inhibitor competitive with APS and non-competitive with respect to MgPPi. The simplest formal mechanism that agrees with all the data is an ordered steady-state single displacement with MgATP as the leading substrate in the forward direction and APS as the leading substrate in the reverse direction. PMID:8042976

  18. Dynamical modelling of haematopoiesis: an integrated view over the system in homeostasis and under perturbation.

    PubMed

    Manesso, Erica; Teles, José; Bryder, David; Peterson, Carsten

    2013-03-06

    A very high number of different types of blood cells must be generated daily through a process called haematopoiesis in order to meet the physiological requirements of the organism. All blood cells originate from a population of relatively few haematopoietic stem cells residing in the bone marrow, which give rise to specific progenitors through different lineages. Steady-state dynamics are governed by cell division and commitment rates as well as by population sizes, while feedback components guarantee the restoration of steady-state conditions. In this study, all parameters governing these processes were estimated in a computational model to describe the haematopoietic hierarchy in adult mice. The model consisted of ordinary differential equations and included negative feedback regulation. A combination of literature data, a novel divide et impera approach for steady-state calculations and stochastic optimization allowed one to reduce possible configurations of the system. The model was able to recapitulate the fundamental steady-state features of haematopoiesis and simulate the re-establishment of steady-state conditions after haemorrhage and bone marrow transplantation. This computational approach to the haematopoietic system is novel and provides insight into the dynamics and the nature of possible solutions, with potential applications in both fundamental and clinical research.

  19. Auditory steady state response in sound field.

    PubMed

    Hernández-Pérez, H; Torres-Fortuny, A

    2013-02-01

    Physiological and behavioral responses were compared in normal-hearing subjects via analyses of the auditory steady-state response (ASSR) and conventional audiometry under sound field conditions. The auditory stimuli, presented through a loudspeaker, consisted of four carrier tones (500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz), presented singly for behavioral testing but combined (multiple frequency technique), to estimate thresholds using the ASSR. Twenty normal-hearing adults were examined. The average differences between the physiological and behavioral thresholds were between 17 and 22 dB HL. The Spearman rank correlation between ASSR and behavioral thresholds was significant for all frequencies (p < 0.05). Significant differences were found in the ASSR amplitude among frequencies, and strong correlations between the ASSR amplitude and the stimulus level (p < 0.05). The ASSR in sound field testing was found to yield hearing threshold estimates deemed to be reasonably well correlated with behaviorally assessed thresholds.

  20. Unperturbed vs. post-transplantation hematopoiesis: both in vivo but different.

    PubMed

    Busch, Katrin; Rodewald, Hans-Reimer

    2016-07-01

    Hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation has yielded tremendous information on experimental properties of HSCs. Yet, it remains unclear whether transplantation reflects the physiology of hematopoiesis. A limitation is the difficulty in accessing HSC functions without isolation, in-vitro manipulation and readout for potential. New genetic fate mapping and clonal marking techniques now shed light on hematopoiesis under physiological conditions. Transposon-based genetic marks were introduced across the entire hematopoietic system to follow the clonal dynamics of these tags over time. A polyclonal source downstream from stem cells was found responsible for the production of at least granulocytes. In independent experiments, HSCs were genetically marked in adult mice, and the kinetics of label emergence throughout the system was followed over time. These experiments uncovered that during physiological steady-state hematopoiesis large numbers of HSCs yield differentiated progeny. Individual HSCs were active only rarely, indicating their very slow periodicity of differentiation rather than quiescence. Noninvasive genetic experiments in mice have identified a major role of stem and progenitor cells downstream from HSCs as drivers of adult hematopoiesis, and revealed that post-transplantation hematopoiesis differs quantitatively from normal steady-state hematopoiesis.

  1. Auditory steady-state response in cochlear implant patients.

    PubMed

    Torres-Fortuny, Alejandro; Arnaiz-Marquez, Isabel; Hernández-Pérez, Heivet; Eimil-Suárez, Eduardo

    2018-03-19

    Auditory steady state responses to continuous amplitude modulated tones at rates between 70 and 110Hz, have been proposed as a feasible alternative to objective frequency specific audiometry in cochlear implant subjects. The aim of the present study is to obtain physiological thresholds by means of auditory steady-state response in cochlear implant patients (Clarion HiRes 90K), with acoustic stimulation, on free field conditions and to verify its biological origin. 11 subjects comprised the sample. Four amplitude modulated tones of 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000Hz were used as stimuli, using the multiple frequency technique. The recording of auditory steady-state response was also recorded at 0dB HL of intensity, non-specific stimulus and using a masking technique. The study enabled the electrophysiological thresholds to be obtained for each subject of the explored sample. There were no auditory steady-state responses at either 0dB or non-specific stimulus recordings. It was possible to obtain the masking thresholds. A difference was identified between behavioral and electrophysiological thresholds of -6±16, -2±13, 0±22 and -8±18dB at frequencies of 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000Hz respectively. The auditory steady state response seems to be a suitable technique to evaluate the hearing threshold in cochlear implant subjects. Copyright © 2018 Sociedad Española de Otorrinolaringología y Cirugía de Cabeza y Cuello. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  2. Slow and deep respiration suppresses steady-state sympathetic nerve activity in patients with chronic heart failure: from modeling to clinical application.

    PubMed

    Harada, Daisuke; Asanoi, Hidetsugu; Takagawa, Junya; Ishise, Hisanari; Ueno, Hiroshi; Oda, Yoshitaka; Goso, Yukiko; Joho, Shuji; Inoue, Hiroshi

    2014-10-15

    Influences of slow and deep respiration on steady-state sympathetic nerve activity remain controversial in humans and could vary depending on disease conditions and basal sympathetic nerve activity. To elucidate the respiratory modulation of steady-state sympathetic nerve activity, we modeled the dynamic nature of the relationship between lung inflation and muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) in 11 heart failure patients with exaggerated sympathetic outflow at rest. An autoregressive exogenous input model was utilized to simulate entire responses of MSNA to variable respiratory patterns. In another 18 patients, we determined the influence of increasing tidal volume and slowing respiratory frequency on MSNA; 10 patients underwent a 15-min device-guided slow respiration and the remaining 8 had no respiratory modification. The model predicted that a 1-liter, step increase of lung volume decreased MSNA dynamically; its nadir (-33 ± 22%) occurred at 2.4 s; and steady-state decrease (-15 ± 5%), at 6 s. Actually, in patients with the device-guided slow and deep respiration, respiratory frequency effectively fell from 16.4 ± 3.9 to 6.7 ± 2.8/min (P < 0.0001) with a concomitant increase in tidal volume from 499 ± 206 to 1,177 ± 497 ml (P < 0.001). Consequently, steady-state MSNA was decreased by 31% (P < 0.005). In patients without respiratory modulation, there were no significant changes in respiratory frequency, tidal volume, and steady-state MSNA. Thus slow and deep respiration suppresses steady-state sympathetic nerve activity in patients with high levels of resting sympathetic tone as in heart failure. Copyright © 2014 the American Physiological Society.

  3. Stress Erythropoiesis Model Systems.

    PubMed

    Bennett, Laura F; Liao, Chang; Paulson, Robert F

    2018-01-01

    Bone marrow steady-state erythropoiesis maintains erythroid homeostasis throughout life. This process constantly generates new erythrocytes to replace the senescent erythrocytes that are removed by macrophages in the spleen. In contrast, anemic or hypoxic stress induces a physiological response designed to increase oxygen delivery to the tissues. Stress erythropoiesis is a key component of this response. It is best understood in mice where it is extramedullary occurring in the adult spleen and liver and in the fetal liver during development. Stress erythropoiesis utilizes progenitor cells and signals that are distinct from bone marrow steady-state erythropoiesis. Because of that observation many genes may play a role in stress erythropoiesis despite having no effect on steady-state erythropoiesis. In this chapter, we will discuss in vivo and in vitro techniques to study stress erythropoiesis in mice and how the in vitro culture system can be extended to study human stress erythropoiesis.

  4. Physiological pseudomyopia.

    PubMed

    Jones, R

    1990-08-01

    Objective refraction through plus fogging lenses and base-in prisms revealed that normally accommodation is not completely relaxed when the stimulus to accommodation is zero. The myopic shift in the refractive error due to this focus error of accommodation was defined as physiological pseudomyopia. Two previously established features of accommodation are responsible for this behavior: (1) accommodation acts as a proportional control system for steady-state responses; and (2) the rest focus of accommodation is nonzero. It is proposed that the hyperopic shift in refraction observed in cycloplegia is the result of elimination of physiological pseudomyopia.

  5. Is applicable thermodynamics of negative temperature for living organisms?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Atanasov, Atanas Todorov

    2017-11-01

    During organismal development the moment of sexual maturity can be characterizes by nearly maximum basal metabolic rate and body mass. Once the living organism reaches extreme values of the mass and the basal metabolic rate, it reaches near equilibrium thermodynamic steady state physiological level with maximum organismal complexity. Such thermodynamic systems that reach equilibrium steady state level at maximum mass-energy characteristics can be regarded from the prospective of thermodynamics of negative temperature. In these systems the increase of the internal and free energy is accompanied with decrease of the entropy. In our study we show the possibility the living organisms to regard as thermodynamic system with negative temperature

  6. Unperturbed vs. post-transplantation hematopoiesis: both in vivo but different

    PubMed Central

    Busch, Katrin; Rodewald, Hans-Reimer

    2016-01-01

    Purpose of review Hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation has yielded tremendous information on experimental properties of HSCs. Yet, it remains unclear whether transplantation reflects the physiology of hematopoiesis. A limitation is the difficulty in accessing HSC functions without isolation, in-vitro manipulation and readout for potential. New genetic fate mapping and clonal marking techniques now shed light on hematopoiesis under physiological conditions. Recent findings Transposon-based genetic marks were introduced across the entire hematopoietic system to follow the clonal dynamics of these tags over time. A polyclonal source downstream from stem cells was found responsible for the production of at least granulocytes. In independent experiments, HSCs were genetically marked in adult mice, and the kinetics of label emergence throughout the system was followed over time. These experiments uncovered that during physiological steady-state hematopoiesis large numbers of HSCs yield differentiated progeny. Individual HSCs were active only rarely, indicating their very slow periodicity of differentiation rather than quiescence. Summary Noninvasive genetic experiments in mice have identified a major role of stem and progenitor cells downstream from HSCs as drivers of adult hematopoiesis, and revealed that post-transplantation hematopoiesis differs quantitatively from normal steady-state hematopoiesis. PMID:27213498

  7. The Effects of High Intensity Interval Training vs Steady State Training on Aerobic and Anaerobic Capacity

    PubMed Central

    Foster, Carl; Farland, Courtney V.; Guidotti, Flavia; Harbin, Michelle; Roberts, Brianna; Schuette, Jeff; Tuuri, Andrew; Doberstein, Scott T.; Porcari, John P.

    2015-01-01

    High intensity interval training (HIIT) has become an increasingly popular form of exercise due to its potentially large effects on exercise capacity and small time requirement. This study compared the effects of two HIIT protocols vs steady-state training on aerobic and anaerobic capacity following 8-weeks of training. Fifty-five untrained college-aged subjects were randomly assigned to three training groups (3x weekly). Steady-state (n = 19) exercised (cycle ergometer) 20 minutes at 90% of ventilatory threshold (VT). Tabata (n = 21) completed eight intervals of 20s at 170% VO2max/10s rest. Meyer (n = 15) completed 13 sets of 30s (20 min) @ 100% PVO2 max/ 60s recovery, average PO = 90% VT. Each subject did 24 training sessions during 8 weeks. Results: There were significant (p < 0.05) increases in VO2max (+19, +18 and +18%) and PPO (+17, +24 and +14%) for each training group, as well as significant increases in peak (+8, + 9 and +5%) & mean (+4, +7 and +6%) power during Wingate testing, but no significant differences between groups. Measures of the enjoyment of the training program indicated that the Tabata protocol was significantly less enjoyable (p < 0.05) than the steady state and Meyer protocols, and that the enjoyment of all protocols declined (p < 0.05) across the duration of the study. The results suggest that although HIIT protocols are time efficient, they are not superior to conventional exercise training in sedentary young adults. Key points Steady state training equivalent to HIIT in untrained students Mild interval training presents very similar physiologic challenge compared to steady state training HIIT (particularly very high intensity variants were less enjoyable than steady state or mild interval training Enjoyment of training decreases across the course of an 8 week experimental training program PMID:26664271

  8. The Effects of High Intensity Interval Training vs Steady State Training on Aerobic and Anaerobic Capacity.

    PubMed

    Foster, Carl; Farland, Courtney V; Guidotti, Flavia; Harbin, Michelle; Roberts, Brianna; Schuette, Jeff; Tuuri, Andrew; Doberstein, Scott T; Porcari, John P

    2015-12-01

    High intensity interval training (HIIT) has become an increasingly popular form of exercise due to its potentially large effects on exercise capacity and small time requirement. This study compared the effects of two HIIT protocols vs steady-state training on aerobic and anaerobic capacity following 8-weeks of training. Fifty-five untrained college-aged subjects were randomly assigned to three training groups (3x weekly). Steady-state (n = 19) exercised (cycle ergometer) 20 minutes at 90% of ventilatory threshold (VT). Tabata (n = 21) completed eight intervals of 20s at 170% VO2max/10s rest. Meyer (n = 15) completed 13 sets of 30s (20 min) @ 100% PVO2 max/ 60s recovery, average PO = 90% VT. Each subject did 24 training sessions during 8 weeks. There were significant (p < 0.05) increases in VO2max (+19, +18 and +18%) and PPO (+17, +24 and +14%) for each training group, as well as significant increases in peak (+8, + 9 and +5%) & mean (+4, +7 and +6%) power during Wingate testing, but no significant differences between groups. Measures of the enjoyment of the training program indicated that the Tabata protocol was significantly less enjoyable (p < 0.05) than the steady state and Meyer protocols, and that the enjoyment of all protocols declined (p < 0.05) across the duration of the study. The results suggest that although HIIT protocols are time efficient, they are not superior to conventional exercise training in sedentary young adults. Key pointsSteady state training equivalent to HIIT in untrained studentsMild interval training presents very similar physiologic challenge compared to steady state trainingHIIT (particularly very high intensity variants were less enjoyable than steady state or mild interval trainingEnjoyment of training decreases across the course of an 8 week experimental training program.

  9. Physiological modifications by seston in response to physicochemical gradients within Lake Superior

    EPA Science Inventory

    Lake Superior is a non-steady state and phosphorus (P) depleted ecosystem. In September 2011, the vertical distribution and composition of dissolved and particulate P-pools throughout the Lake were examined. Differences in seston P content were evident with depth, as average sest...

  10. Glucans monomer-exchange dynamics as an open chemical network

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rao, Riccardo; Lacoste, David; Esposito, Massimiliano

    2015-12-01

    We describe the oligosaccharides-exchange dynamics performed by the so-called D-enzymes on polysaccharides. To mimic physiological conditions, we treat this process as an open chemical network by assuming some of the polymer concentrations fixed (chemostatting). We show that three different long-time behaviors may ensue: equilibrium states, nonequilibrium steady states, and continuous growth states. We dynamically and thermodynamically characterize these states and emphasize the crucial role of conservation laws in identifying the chemostatting conditions inducing them.

  11. Glucans monomer-exchange dynamics as an open chemical network

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

    Rao, Riccardo, E-mail: riccardo.rao@uni.lu; Esposito, Massimiliano, E-mail: massimiliano.esposito@uni.lu; Lacoste, David

    2015-12-28

    We describe the oligosaccharides-exchange dynamics performed by the so-called D-enzymes on polysaccharides. To mimic physiological conditions, we treat this process as an open chemical network by assuming some of the polymer concentrations fixed (chemostatting). We show that three different long-time behaviors may ensue: equilibrium states, nonequilibrium steady states, and continuous growth states. We dynamically and thermodynamically characterize these states and emphasize the crucial role of conservation laws in identifying the chemostatting conditions inducing them.

  12. Cardiorespiratory dynamics: sensitivity of the on-transition to endurance-training status.

    PubMed

    Taylor, N A; Osborne, M A; Bube, T L; Stocks, J M

    1999-10-01

    This project investigated the sensitivity of oxygen uptake (VO(2)) dynamics to training-induced physiological changes, across a broad spectrum of endurance-training histories. Forty subjects participated: sedentary (n = 10), active healthy (n = 10), regular runners (n = 10), and competitive distance runners (n = 10). Subjects completed a cycle step-function protocol, to elicit a steady state at 60% maximal work rate. Breath-by-breath data were collected for VO(2) and cardiac frequency (f(c)), and modelled mathematically, and used to determine the average response times to attain 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% of the respective steady states. The between-group comparisons for both VO(2) and f(c) revealed significantly faster response times to 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% of the induced response, for the better trained subjects (P < 0.05). In general, this technique permitted differentiation between the VO(2) and f(c) response dynamics of non-elite subjects from a broad range of endurance-training histories, with differences becoming more pronounced as subjects approached the steady state.

  13. On the physical basis of a theory of human thermoregulation.

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Iberall, A. S.; Schindler, A. M.

    1973-01-01

    Theoretical study of the physical factors which are responsible for thermoregulation in nude resting humans in a physical steady state. The behavior of oxidative metabolism, evaporative and convective thermal fluxes, fluid heat transfer, internal and surface temperatures, and evaporative phase transitions is studied by physiological/physical modeling techniques. The modeling is based on the theories that the body has a vital core with autothermoregulation, that the vital core contracts longitudinally, that the temperature of peripheral regions and extremities decreases towards the ambient, and that a significant portion of the evaporative heat may be lost underneath the skin. A theoretical basis is derived for a consistent modeling of steady-state thermoregulation on the basis of these theories.

  14. The study of dynamic response to acute hemorrhage by pulse spectrum analysis.

    PubMed

    Chang, Yu Hsin; Tsai, Chia I; Lin, Jaung Geng; Lin, Yue Der; Li, Tsai Chung; Su, Yi Chang

    2006-01-01

    Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) holds that blood and qi are fundamental substances in the human body for sustaining normal vital activity. The theory of qi, blood and zang-fu contribute the most important theoretical basis of human physiology in TCM. An animal model using conscious rats was employed in this study to further comprehend how organisms survive during acute hemorrhage by maintaining the functionalities of qi and blood through dynamically regulating visceral physiological conditions. Pulse waves of arterial blood pressure before and after the hemorrhage were taken in parallel to pulse spectrum analysis. Percentage differences of mean arterial blood pressure and harmonics were recorded in subsequent 5-minute intervals following the hemorrhage. Data were analyzed using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Duncan's test for pairwise comparisons. Results showed that, within 30 minutes following the onset of acute hemorrhage,the reduction of mean arterial blood pressure was improved from 62% to 20%. Throughout the process, changes to the pulse spectrum appeared to result in a new balance over time. The percentage differences of the second and third harmonics, which were related to kidney and spleen, both increased significantly than baseline and towards another steady state. Apart from the steady state resulting from the previous stage, the percentage difference of the 4th harmonic decreased significantly to another steady state. The observed change could be attributed to the induction of functional qi, and is a result of qi-blood balancing activity that organisms hold to survive against acute bleeding.

  15. Elementary Mode Analysis: A Useful Metabolic Pathway Analysis Tool for Characterizing Cellular Metabolism

    PubMed Central

    Trinh, Cong T.; Wlaschin, Aaron; Srienc, Friedrich

    2010-01-01

    Elementary Mode Analysis is a useful Metabolic Pathway Analysis tool to identify the structure of a metabolic network that links the cellular phenotype to the corresponding genotype. The analysis can decompose the intricate metabolic network comprised of highly interconnected reactions into uniquely organized pathways. These pathways consisting of a minimal set of enzymes that can support steady state operation of cellular metabolism represent independent cellular physiological states. Such pathway definition provides a rigorous basis to systematically characterize cellular phenotypes, metabolic network regulation, robustness, and fragility that facilitate understanding of cell physiology and implementation of metabolic engineering strategies. This mini-review aims to overview the development and application of elementary mode analysis as a metabolic pathway analysis tool in studying cell physiology and as a basis of metabolic engineering. PMID:19015845

  16. Modeling of the blood rheology in steady-state shear flows

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

    Apostolidis, Alex J.; Beris, Antony N., E-mail: beris@udel.edu

    We undertake here a systematic study of the rheology of blood in steady-state shear flows. As blood is a complex fluid, the first question that we try to answer is whether, even in steady-state shear flows, we can model it as a rheologically simple fluid, i.e., we can describe its behavior through a constitutive model that involves only local kinematic quantities. Having answered that question positively, we then probe as to which non-Newtonian model best fits available shear stress vs shear-rate literature data. We show that under physiological conditions blood is typically viscoplastic, i.e., it exhibits a yield stress thatmore » acts as a minimum threshold for flow. We further show that the Casson model emerges naturally as the best approximation, at least for low and moderate shear-rates. We then develop systematically a parametric dependence of the rheological parameters entering the Casson model on key physiological quantities, such as the red blood cell volume fraction (hematocrit). For the yield stress, we base our description on its critical, percolation-originated nature. Thus, we first determine onset conditions, i.e., the critical threshold value that the hematocrit has to have in order for yield stress to appear. It is shown that this is a function of the concentration of a key red blood cell binding protein, fibrinogen. Then, we establish a parametric dependence as a function of the fibrinogen and the square of the difference of the hematocrit from its critical onset value. Similarly, we provide an expression for the Casson viscosity, in terms of the hematocrit and the temperature. A successful validation of the proposed formula is performed against additional experimental literature data. The proposed expression is anticipated to be useful not only for steady-state blood flow modeling but also as providing the starting point for transient shear, or more general flow modeling.« less

  17. Physiological gain leads to high ISI variability in a simple model of a cortical regular spiking cell.

    PubMed

    Troyer, T W; Miller, K D

    1997-07-01

    To understand the interspike interval (ISI) variability displayed by visual cortical neurons (Softky & Koch, 1993), it is critical to examine the dynamics of their neuronal integration, as well as the variability in their synaptic input current. Most previous models have focused on the latter factor. We match a simple integrate-and-fire model to the experimentally measured integrative properties of cortical regular spiking cells (McCormick, Connors, Lighthall, & Prince, 1985). After setting RC parameters, the post-spike voltage reset is set to match experimental measurements of neuronal gain (obtained from in vitro plots of firing frequency versus injected current). Examination of the resulting model leads to an intuitive picture of neuronal integration that unifies the seemingly contradictory 1/square root of N and random walk pictures that have previously been proposed. When ISIs are dominated by postspike recovery, 1/square root of N arguments hold and spiking is regular; after the "memory" of the last spike becomes negligible, spike threshold crossing is caused by input variance around a steady state and spiking is Poisson. In integrate-and-fire neurons matched to cortical cell physiology, steady-state behavior is predominant, and ISIs are highly variable at all physiological firing rates and for a wide range of inhibitory and excitatory inputs.

  18. Diazatetraester 1H-pyrazole crowns as fluorescent chemosensors for AMPH, METH, MDMA (ecstasy), and dopamine.

    PubMed

    Reviriego, Felipe; Navarro, Pilar; García-España, Enrique; Albelda, M Teresa; Frías, Juan C; Domènech, Antonio; Yunta, Maria J R; Costa, Rubén; Ortí, Enrique

    2008-11-20

    The synthesis and steady-state fluorescence studies on the interaction with AMPH, METH, MDMA, and DA of two diazatetraester pyrazole crowns containing appended N-(9H-fluoren-9-yl) and N-(naphth-2-ylmethyl) functions, in a water/ethanol 70:30 mixture at physiological pH, are described.

  19. Mesoporous silica for drug delivery: Interactions with model fluorescent lipid vesicles and live cells.

    PubMed

    Bardhan, Munmun; Majumdar, Anupa; Jana, Sayantan; Ghosh, Tapas; Pal, Uttam; Swarnakar, Snehasikta; Senapati, Dulal

    2018-01-01

    Formulated mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MSN) systems offer the best possible drug delivery system through the release of drug molecules from the accessible pores. In the present investigation, steady state and time resolved fluorescence techniques along with the fluorescence imaging were applied to investigate the interactions of dye loaded MSN with fluorescent unilamellar vesicles and live cells. Here 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospocholine (DMPC) was used to prepare Small Unilamellar Vesicles (SUVs) as the model membrane with fluorescent 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH) molecule incorporated inside the lipid bilayer. The interaction of DPH incorporated DMPC membrane with Fluorescein loaded MSN lead to the release of Fluorescein (Fl) dye from the interior pores of MSN systems. The extent of release of Fl and spatial distribution of the DPH molecule has been explored by monitoring steady-state fluorescence intensity and fluorescence lifetime at physiological condition. To investigate the fate of drug molecule released from MSN, fluorescence anisotropy has been used. The drug delivery efficiency of the MSN as a carrier for doxorubicin (DOX), a fluorescent chemotherapeutic drug, has also been investigated at physiological conditions. The study gives a definite confirmation for high uptake and steady release of DOX in primary oral mucosal non-keratinized squamous cells in comparison to naked DOX treatment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Optimal weight based on energy imbalance and utility maximization

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sun, Ruoyan

    2016-01-01

    This paper investigates the optimal weight for both male and female using energy imbalance and utility maximization. Based on the difference of energy intake and expenditure, we develop a state equation that reveals the weight gain from this energy gap. We ​construct an objective function considering food consumption, eating habits and survival rate to measure utility. Through applying mathematical tools from optimal control methods and qualitative theory of differential equations, we obtain some results. For both male and female, the optimal weight is larger than the physiologically optimal weight calculated by the Body Mass Index (BMI). We also study the corresponding trajectories to steady state weight respectively. Depending on the value of a few parameters, the steady state can either be a saddle point with a monotonic trajectory or a focus with dampened oscillations.

  1. Chemical-specific screening criteria for interpretation of biomonitoring data for volatile organic compounds (VOCs)--application of steady-state PBPK model solutions.

    PubMed

    Aylward, Lesa L; Kirman, Chris R; Blount, Ben C; Hays, Sean M

    2010-10-01

    The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) generates population-representative biomonitoring data for many chemicals including volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in blood. However, no health or risk-based screening values are available to evaluate these data from a health safety perspective or to use in prioritizing among chemicals for possible risk management actions. We gathered existing risk assessment-based chronic exposure reference values such as reference doses (RfDs), reference concentrations (RfCs), tolerable daily intakes (TDIs), cancer slope factors, etc. and key pharmacokinetic model parameters for 47 VOCs. Using steady-state solutions to a generic physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model structure, we estimated chemical-specific steady-state venous blood concentrations across chemicals associated with unit oral and inhalation exposure rates and with chronic exposure at the identified exposure reference values. The geometric means of the slopes relating modeled steady-state blood concentrations to steady-state exposure to a unit oral dose or unit inhalation concentration among 38 compounds with available pharmacokinetic parameters were 12.0 microg/L per mg/kg-d (geometric standard deviation [GSD] of 3.2) and 3.2 microg/L per mg/m(3) (GSD=1.7), respectively. Chemical-specific blood concentration screening values based on non-cancer reference values for both oral and inhalation exposure range from 0.0005 to 100 microg/L; blood concentrations associated with cancer risk-specific doses at the 1E-05 risk level ranged from 5E-06 to 6E-02 microg/L. The distribution of modeled steady-state blood concentrations associated with unit exposure levels across VOCs may provide a basis for estimating blood concentration screening values for VOCs that lack chemical-specific pharmacokinetic data. The screening blood concentrations presented here provide a tool for risk assessment-based evaluation of population biomonitoring data for VOCs and are most appropriately applied to central tendency estimates for such datasets. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. A cross-bridge based model of force depression: Can a single modification address both transient and steady-state behaviors?

    PubMed

    Corr, David T; Herzog, Walter

    2016-03-21

    Force depression (FD), the reduction of isometric force following active shortening, is a phenomenon of skeletal muscle that has received significant attention in biomechanical and physiological literature, yet the mechanisms underlying FD remain unknown. Recent experiments identified a slower rate of force redevelopment with increasing amounts of steady-state FD, suggesting that FD may be caused, at least in part, by a decrease in cross-bridge binding rate (Corr and Herzog, 2005; Koppes et al., 2014). Herein, we develop a cross-bridge based model of FD in which the binding rate function, f, decreases with the mechanical work performed during shortening. This modification incorporates a direct relationship between steady-state FD and muscle mechanical work (Corr and Herzog, 2005; Herzog et al., 2000; Kosterina et al., 2008), and is consistent with a proposed mechanism attributing FD to stress-induced inhibition of cross-bridge attachments (Herzog, 1998; Maréchal and Plaghki, 1979). Thus, for an increase in mechanical work, the model should predict a slower force redevelopment (decreased attachment rate) to a more depressed steady-state force (fewer attached cross-bridges), and a reduction in contractile element stiffness (Ford et al., 1981). We hypothesized that since this modification affects the cross-bridge kinetics, a corresponding model would be able to account for both transient and steady-state FD behaviors. Comparisons to prior experiments (Corr and Herzog, 2005; Herzog et al., 2000; Kosterina et al., 2008) show that both steady-state and transient aspects of FD, as well as the relationship of FD with respect to speed and amplitude of shortening, are well captured by this model. Thus, this relatively simple cross-bridge based model of FD lends support to a mechanism involving the inhibition of cross-bridge binding, and indicates that cross-bridge kinetics may play a critical role in FD. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Differential equation methods for simulation of GFP kinetics in non-steady state experiments.

    PubMed

    Phair, Robert D

    2018-03-15

    Genetically encoded fluorescent proteins, combined with fluorescence microscopy, are widely used in cell biology to collect kinetic data on intracellular trafficking. Methods for extraction of quantitative information from these data are based on the mathematics of diffusion and tracer kinetics. Current methods, although useful and powerful, depend on the assumption that the cellular system being studied is in a steady state, that is, the assumption that all the molecular concentrations and fluxes are constant for the duration of the experiment. Here, we derive new tracer kinetic analytical methods for non-steady state biological systems by constructing mechanistic nonlinear differential equation models of the underlying cell biological processes and linking them to a separate set of differential equations governing the kinetics of the fluorescent tracer. Linking the two sets of equations is based on a new application of the fundamental tracer principle of indistinguishability and, unlike current methods, supports correct dependence of tracer kinetics on cellular dynamics. This approach thus provides a general mathematical framework for applications of GFP fluorescence microscopy (including photobleaching [FRAP, FLIP] and photoactivation to frequently encountered experimental protocols involving physiological or pharmacological perturbations (e.g., growth factors, neurotransmitters, acute knockouts, inhibitors, hormones, cytokines, and metabolites) that initiate mechanistically informative intracellular transients. When a new steady state is achieved, these methods automatically reduce to classical steady state tracer kinetic analysis. © 2018 Phair. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). Two months after publication it is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

  4. VO2 and VCO2 variabilities through indirect calorimetry instrumentation.

    PubMed

    Cadena-Méndez, Miguel; Escalante-Ramírez, Boris; Azpiroz-Leehan, Joaquín; Infante-Vázquez, Oscar

    2013-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to understand how to measure the VO2 and VCO2 variabilities in indirect calorimetry (IC) since we believe they can explain the high variation in the resting energy expenditure (REE) estimation. We propose that variabilities should be separately measured from the VO2 and VCO2 averages to understand technological differences among metabolic monitors when they estimate the REE. To prove this hypothesis the mixing chamber (MC) and the breath-by-breath (BbB) techniques measured the VO2 and VCO2 averages and their variabilities. Variances and power spectrum energies in the 0-0.5 Hertz band were measured to establish technique differences in steady and non-steady state. A hybrid calorimeter with both IC techniques studied a population of 15 volunteers that underwent the clino-orthostatic maneuver in order to produce the two physiological stages. The results showed that inter-individual VO2 and VCO2 variabilities measured as variances were negligible using the MC while variabilities measured as spectral energies using the BbB underwent 71 and 56% (p < 0.05), increase respectively. Additionally, the energy analysis showed an unexpected cyclic rhythm at 0.025 Hertz only during the orthostatic stage, which is new physiological information, not reported previusly. The VO2 and VCO2 inter-individual averages increased to 63 and 39% by the MC (p < 0.05) and 32 and 40% using the BbB (p < 0.1), respectively, without noticeable statistical differences among techniques. The conclusions are: (a) metabolic monitors should simultaneously include the MC and the BbB techniques to correctly interpret the steady or non-steady state variabilities effect in the REE estimation, (b) the MC is the appropriate technique to compute averages since it behaves as a low-pass filter that minimizes variances, (c) the BbB is the ideal technique to measure the variabilities since it can work as a high-pass filter to generate discrete time series able to accomplish spectral analysis, and (d) the new physiological information in the VO2 and VCO2 variabilities can help to understand why metabolic monitors with dissimilar IC techniques give different results in the REE estimation.

  5. Cerebral vasomotor reactivity: steady-state versus transient changes in carbon dioxide tension.

    PubMed

    Brothers, R Matthew; Lucas, Rebekah A I; Zhu, Yong-Sheng; Crandall, Craig G; Zhang, Rong

    2014-11-01

    Cerebral vasomotor reactivity (CVMR) to changes in arterial carbon dioxide tension (P aCO 2) is assessed during steady-state or transient changes in P aCO 2. This study tested the following two hypotheses: (i) that CVMR during steady-state changes differs from that during transient changes in P aCO 2; and (ii) that CVMR during rebreathing-induced hypercapnia would be blunted when preceded by a period of hyperventilation. For each hypothesis, end-tidal carbon dioxide tension (P ET , CO 2) middle cerebral artery blood velocity (CBFV), cerebrovascular conductance index (CVCI; CBFV/mean arterial pressure) and CVMR (slope of the linear regression between changes in CBFV and CVCI versus P ET , CO 2) were assessed in eight individuals. To address the first hypothesis, measurements were made during the following two conditions (randomized): (i) steady-state increases in P ET , CO 2 of 5 and 10 Torr above baseline; and (ii) rebreathing-induced transient breath-by-breath increases in P ET , CO 2. The linear regression for CBFV versus P ET , CO 2 (P = 0.65) and CVCI versus P ET , CO 2 (P = 0.44) was similar between methods; however, individual variability in CBFV or CVCI responses existed among subjects. To address the second hypothesis, the same measurements were made during the following two conditions (randomized): (i) immediately following a brief period of hypocapnia induced by hyperventilation for 1 min followed by rebreathing; and (ii) during rebreathing only. The slope of the linear regression for CBFV versus P ET , CO 2 (P < 0.01) and CVCI versus P ET , CO 2 (P < 0.01) was reduced during hyperventilation plus rebreathing relative to rebreathing only. These results indicate that cerebral vasomotor reactivity to changes in P aCO 2 is similar regardless of the employed methodology to induce changes in P aCO 2 and that hyperventilation-induced hypocapnia attenuates the cerebral vasodilatory responses during a subsequent period of rebreathing-induced hypercapnia. © 2014 The Authors. Experimental Physiology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Physiological Society.

  6. Balanced Steady-State Free Precession (bSSFP) from an effective field perspective: Application to the detection of chemical exchange (bSSFPX).

    PubMed

    Zhang, Shu; Liu, Zheng; Grant, Aaron; Keupp, Jochen; Lenkinski, Robert E; Vinogradov, Elena

    2017-02-01

    Chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) is a novel contrast mechanism and it is gaining increasing popularity as many promising applications have been proposed and investigated. Fast and quantitative CEST imaging techniques are further needed in order to increase the applicability of CEST for clinical use as well as to derive quantitative physiological and biological information. Steady-state methods for fast CEST imaging have been reported recently. Here, we observe that an extreme case of these methods is a balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) sequence. The bSSFP in itself is sensitive to the exchange processes; hence, no additional saturation or preparation is needed for CEST-like data acquisition. The bSSFP experiment can be regarded as observation during saturation, without separate saturation and acquisition modules as used in standard CEST and similar experiments. One of the differences from standard CEST methods is that the bSSFP spectrum is an XY-spectrum not a Z-spectrum. As the first proof-of-principle step, we have implemented the steady-state bSSFP sequence for chemical exchange detection (bSSFPX) and verified its feasibility in phantom studies. These studies have shown that bSSFPX can achieve exchange-mediated contrast comparable to the standard CEST experiment. Therefore, the bSSFPX method has a potential for fast and quantitative CEST data acquisition. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. The metabolic clearance of progesterone in the pregnant rat: Absence of a physiological role for the lung

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

    Waddell, B.J.; Bruce, N.W.

    1989-06-01

    The metabolic clearance rate (MCR) of progesterone is among the highest for all steroid hormones studied, yet it is difficult to apportion this high MCR to specific organ contributions. The isolated lung has been shown to metabolize progesterone, and since this tissue receives the entire cardiac output, potentially it could make a major contribution to the overall MCR. This possibility was examined in the present study by measuring lung extraction of (3H)progesterone under steady-state conditions in the intact pregnant rat. Anesthetized rats (n = 6) were infused with (3H)progesterone via a femoral vein for 100 min on Day 16 ofmore » pregnancy. After the onset of steady state (40 min), four blood samples were obtained at 20-min intervals from the right ventricle and from the aorta, and the concentrations of (3H)progesterone and its metabolites were determined. Throughout the sampling period, mean arterial pressure and heart rate remained stable (two-way analysis of variance), as did the production rate (3.76 +/- 0.35 mg/day; mean +/- SEM) and the MCR (34.8 +/- 3.5 ml/min) of progesterone. Despite this high rate of clearance, there was no difference between the concentration of (3H)progesterone in arterial and right ventricular blood, indicating no net extraction of progesterone during passage through the lung. Furthermore, there was no change in the concentration of either lipid-soluble or aqueous-soluble (3H)progesterone metabolites during trans-lung passage. These observations demonstrate that the lung does not contribute to the MCR of progesterone when measured under physiological and steady-state conditions. Therefore, the relationship, MCR (ml/min) = whole-body extraction (%) x cardiac output (ml/min), is upheld for progesterone in the rat.« less

  8. Redox homeostasis: The Golden Mean of healthy living

    PubMed Central

    Ursini, Fulvio; Maiorino, Matilde; Forman, Henry Jay

    2016-01-01

    The notion that electrophiles serve as messengers in cell signaling is now widely accepted. Nonetheless, major issues restrain acceptance of redox homeostasis and redox signaling as components of maintenance of a normal physiological steady state. The first is that redox signaling requires sudden switching on of oxidant production and bypassing of antioxidant mechanisms rather than a continuous process that, like other signaling mechanisms, can be smoothly turned up or down. The second is the misperception that reactions in redox signaling involve “reactive oxygen species” rather than reaction of specific electrophiles with specific protein thiolates. The third is that hormesis provides protection against oxidants by increasing cellular defense or repair mechanisms rather than by specifically addressing the offset of redox homeostasis. Instead, we propose that both oxidant and antioxidant signaling are main features of redox homeostasis. As the redox shift is rapidly reversed by feedback reactions, homeostasis is maintained by continuous signaling for production and elimination of electrophiles and nucleophiles. Redox homeostasis, which is the maintenance of nucleophilic tone, accounts for a healthy physiological steady state. Electrophiles and nucleophiles are not intrinsically harmful or protective, and redox homeostasis is an essential feature of both the response to challenges and subsequent feedback. While the balance between oxidants and nucleophiles is preserved in redox homeostasis, oxidative stress provokes the establishment of a new radically altered redox steady state. The popular belief that scavenging free radicals by antioxidants has a beneficial effect is wishful thinking. We propose, instead, that continuous feedback preserves nucleophilic tone and that this is supported by redox active nutritional phytochemicals. These nonessential compounds, by activating Nrf2, mimic the effect of endogenously produced electrophiles (parahormesis). In summary, while hormesis, although globally protective, results in setting up of a new phenotype, parahormesis contributes to health by favoring maintenance of homeostasis. PMID:26820564

  9. Investigations on the interactions of aurintricarboxylic acid with bovine serum albumin: Steady state/time resolved spectroscopic and docking studies.

    PubMed

    Bardhan, Munmun; Chowdhury, Joydeep; Ganguly, Tapan

    2011-01-10

    In this paper, the nature of the interactions between bovine serum albumin (BSA) and aurintricarboxylic acid (ATA) has been investigated by measuring steady state and time-resolved fluorescence, circular dichroism (CD), FT-IR and fluorescence anisotropy in protein environment under physiological conditions. From the analysis of the steady state and time-resolved fluorescence quenching of BSA in aqueous solution in presence of ATA it has been inferred that the nature of the quenching originates from the combined effect of static and dynamic modes. From the determination of the thermodynamic parameters obtained from temperature-dependent changes in K(b) (binding constant) it was apparent that the combined effect of hydrophobic association and electrostatic attraction is responsible for the interaction of ATA with BSA. The effect of ATA on the conformation of BSA has been examined by analyzing CD spectrum. Though the observed results demonstrate some conformational changes in BSA in presence of ATA but the secondary structure of BSA, predominantly of α-helix, is found to retain its identity. Molecular docking of ATA with BSA also indicates that ATA docks through hydrophobic interaction. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. A High-Density EEG Investigation into Steady State Binaural Beat Stimulation

    PubMed Central

    Goodin, Peter; Ciorciari, Joseph; Baker, Kate; Carrey, Anne-Marie; Harper, Michelle; Kaufman, Jordy

    2012-01-01

    Binaural beats are an auditory phenomenon that has been suggested to alter physiological and cognitive processes including vigilance and brainwave entrainment. Some personality traits measured by the NEO Five Factor Model have been found to alter entrainment using pulsing light stimuli, but as yet no studies have examined if this occurs using steady state presentation of binaural beats for a relatively short presentation of two minutes. This study aimed to examine if binaural beat stimulation altered vigilance or cortical frequencies and if personality traits were involved. Thirty-one participants were played binaural beat stimuli designed to elicit a response at either the Theta (7 Hz) or Beta (16 Hz) frequency bands while undertaking a zero-back vigilance task. EEG was recorded from a high-density electrode cap. No significant differences were found in vigilance or cortical frequency power during binaural beat stimulation compared to a white noise control period. Furthermore, no significant relationships were detected between the above and the Big Five personality traits. This suggests a short presentation of steady state binaural beats are not sufficient to alter vigilance or entrain cortical frequencies at the two bands examined and that certain personality traits were not more susceptible than others. PMID:22496862

  11. A high-density EEG investigation into steady state binaural beat stimulation.

    PubMed

    Goodin, Peter; Ciorciari, Joseph; Baker, Kate; Carey, Anne-Marie; Carrey, Anne-Marie; Harper, Michelle; Kaufman, Jordy

    2012-01-01

    Binaural beats are an auditory phenomenon that has been suggested to alter physiological and cognitive processes including vigilance and brainwave entrainment. Some personality traits measured by the NEO Five Factor Model have been found to alter entrainment using pulsing light stimuli, but as yet no studies have examined if this occurs using steady state presentation of binaural beats for a relatively short presentation of two minutes. This study aimed to examine if binaural beat stimulation altered vigilance or cortical frequencies and if personality traits were involved. Thirty-one participants were played binaural beat stimuli designed to elicit a response at either the Theta (7 Hz) or Beta (16 Hz) frequency bands while undertaking a zero-back vigilance task. EEG was recorded from a high-density electrode cap. No significant differences were found in vigilance or cortical frequency power during binaural beat stimulation compared to a white noise control period. Furthermore, no significant relationships were detected between the above and the Big Five personality traits. This suggests a short presentation of steady state binaural beats are not sufficient to alter vigilance or entrain cortical frequencies at the two bands examined and that certain personality traits were not more susceptible than others.

  12. Modeling static and dynamic human cardiovascular responses to exercise.

    PubMed

    Stremel, R W; Bernauer, E M; Harter, L W; Schultz, R A; Walters, R F

    1975-08-01

    A human performance model has been developed and described [9] which portrays the human circulatory, thermo regulatory and energy-exchange systems as an intercoupled set. In this model, steady state or static relationships are used to describe oxygen consumption and blood flow. For example, heart rate (HTRT) is calculated as a function of the oxygen and the thermo-regulatory requirements of each body compartment, using the steady state work values of cardiac output (CO, sum of all compartment blood flows) and stroke volume (SV, assumed maximal after 40% maximal oxygen consumption): HTRT=CO/SV. The steady state model has proven to be an acceptable first approximation, but the inclusion of transient characteristics are essential in describing the overall systems' adjustment to exercise stress. In the present study, the dynamic transient characteristics of heart rate, stroke volume and cardiac output were obtained from experiments utilizing step and sinusoidal forcing of work. The gain and phase relationships reveal a probable first order system with a six minute time constant, and are utilized to model the transient characteristics of these parameters. This approach leads to a more complex model but a more accurate representation of the physiology involved. The instrumentation and programming essential to these experiments are described.

  13. MR fingerprinting using fast imaging with steady state precession (FISP) with spiral readout.

    PubMed

    Jiang, Yun; Ma, Dan; Seiberlich, Nicole; Gulani, Vikas; Griswold, Mark A

    2015-12-01

    This study explores the possibility of using gradient echo-based sequences other than balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) in the magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) framework to quantify the relaxation parameters . An MRF method based on a fast imaging with steady-state precession (FISP) sequence structure is presented. A dictionary containing possible signal evolutions with physiological range of T1 and T2 was created using the extended phase graph formalism according to the acquisition parameters. The proposed method was evaluated in a phantom and a human brain. T1 , T2 , and proton density were quantified directly from the undersampled data by the pattern recognition algorithm. T1 and T2 values from the phantom demonstrate that the results of MRF FISP are in good agreement with the traditional gold-standard methods. T1 and T2 values in brain are within the range of previously reported values. MRF-FISP enables a fast and accurate quantification of the relaxation parameters. It is immune to the banding artifact of bSSFP due to B0 inhomogeneities, which could improve the ability to use MRF for applications beyond brain imaging. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  14. Stochastic simulation of enzyme-catalyzed reactions with disparate timescales.

    PubMed

    Barik, Debashis; Paul, Mark R; Baumann, William T; Cao, Yang; Tyson, John J

    2008-10-01

    Many physiological characteristics of living cells are regulated by protein interaction networks. Because the total numbers of these protein species can be small, molecular noise can have significant effects on the dynamical properties of a regulatory network. Computing these stochastic effects is made difficult by the large timescale separations typical of protein interactions (e.g., complex formation may occur in fractions of a second, whereas catalytic conversions may take minutes). Exact stochastic simulation may be very inefficient under these circumstances, and methods for speeding up the simulation without sacrificing accuracy have been widely studied. We show that the "total quasi-steady-state approximation" for enzyme-catalyzed reactions provides a useful framework for efficient and accurate stochastic simulations. The method is applied to three examples: a simple enzyme-catalyzed reaction where enzyme and substrate have comparable abundances, a Goldbeter-Koshland switch, where a kinase and phosphatase regulate the phosphorylation state of a common substrate, and coupled Goldbeter-Koshland switches that exhibit bistability. Simulations based on the total quasi-steady-state approximation accurately capture the steady-state probability distributions of all components of these reaction networks. In many respects, the approximation also faithfully reproduces time-dependent aspects of the fluctuations. The method is accurate even under conditions of poor timescale separation.

  15. Lack of linear correlation between dynamic and steady-state cerebral autoregulation.

    PubMed

    de Jong, Daan L K; Tarumi, Takashi; Liu, Jie; Zhang, Rong; Claassen, Jurgen A H R

    2017-08-15

    For correct application and interpretation of cerebral autoregulation (CA) measurements in research and in clinical care, it is essential to understand differences and similarities between dynamic and steady-state CA. The present study found no correlation between dynamic and steady-state CA indices in healthy older adults. There was variability between individuals in all (steady-state and dynamic) autoregulatory indices, ranging from low (almost absent) to highly efficient CA in this healthy population. These findings challenge the assumption that assessment of a single CA parameter or a single set of parameters can be generalized to overall CA functioning. Therefore, depending on specific research purposes, the choice for either steady-state or dynamic measures or both should be weighed carefully. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between dynamic (dCA) and steady-state cerebral autoregulation (sCA). In 28 healthy older adults, sCA was quantified by a linear regression slope of proportionate (%) changes in cerebrovascular resistance (CVR) in response to proportionate (%) changes in mean blood pressure (BP) induced by stepwise sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and phenylephrine (PhE) infusion. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) was measured at the internal carotid artery (ICA) and vertebral artery (VA) and CBF velocity at the middle cerebral artery (MCA). With CVR = BP/CBF, Slope-CVR ICA , Slope-CVR VA and Slope-CVRi MCA were derived. dCA was assessed (i) in supine rest, analysed with transfer function analysis (gain and phase) and autoregulatory index (ARI) fit from spontaneous oscillations (ARI Baseline ), and (ii) with transient changes in BP using a bolus injection of SNP (ARI SNP ) and PhE (ARI PhE ). Comparison of sCA and dCA parameters (using Pearson's r for continuous and Spearman's ρ for ordinal parameters) demonstrated a lack of linear correlations between sCA and dCA measures. However, comparisons of parameters within dCA and within sCA were correlated. For sCA slope-CVR VA with Slope-CVRi MCA (r = 0.45, P < 0.03); for dCA ARI SNP with ARI PhE (ρ = 0.50, P = 0.03), ARI Baseline (ρ = 0.57, P = 0.03) and Phase LF (ρ = 0.48, P = 0.03); and for Gain VLF with Gain LF (r = 0.51, P = 0.01). By contrast to the commonly held assumption based on an earlier study, there were no linear correlations between sCA and dCA. As an additional observation, there was strong inter-individual variability, both in dCA and sCA, in this healthy group of elderly, in a range from low to high CA efficiency. © 2017 The Authors. The Journal of Physiology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Physiological Society.

  16. Steady State Fluorescence Spectroscopy for Medical Diagnosis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mahadevan-Jansen, Anita; Gebhart, Steven C.

    Light can react with tissue in different ways and provide information for identifying the physiological state of tissue or detecting the presence of disease. The light used to probe tissue does so in a non-intrusive manner and typically uses very low levels of light far below the requirements for therapeutic applications. The use of fiber optics simplifies the delivery and collection of this light in a minimally invasive manner. Since tissue response is virtually instantaneous, the results are obtained in real-time and the use of data processing techniques and multi-variate statistical analysis allows for automated detection and therefore provides an objective estimation of the tissue state. These then form the fundamental basis for the application of optical techniques for the detection of tissue physiology as well as pathology. These distinct advantages have encouraged many researchers to pursue the development of the different optical interactions for biological and medical detection.

  17. Dynamin phosphorylation controls optimization of endocytosis for brief action potential bursts

    PubMed Central

    Armbruster, Moritz; Messa, Mirko; Ferguson, Shawn M; De Camilli, Pietro; Ryan, Timothy A

    2013-01-01

    Modulation of synaptic vesicle retrieval is considered to be potentially important in steady-state synaptic performance. Here we show that at physiological temperature endocytosis kinetics at hippocampal and cortical nerve terminals show a bi-phasic dependence on electrical activity. Endocytosis accelerates for the first 15–25 APs during bursts of action potential firing, after which it slows with increasing burst length creating an optimum stimulus for this kinetic parameter. We show that activity-dependent acceleration is only prominent at physiological temperature and that the mechanism of this modulation is based on the dephosphorylation of dynamin 1. Nerve terminals in which dynamin 1 and 3 have been replaced with dynamin 1 harboring dephospho- or phospho-mimetic mutations in the proline-rich domain eliminate the acceleration phase by either setting endocytosis at an accelerated state or a decelerated state, respectively. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00845.001 PMID:23908769

  18. Do's and don'ts in Fourier analysis of steady-state potentials.

    PubMed

    Bach, M; Meigen, T

    1999-01-01

    Fourier analysis is a powerful tool in signal analysis that can be very fruitfully applied to steady-state evoked potentials (flicker ERG, pattern ERG, VEP, etc.). However, there are some inherent assumptions in the underlying discrete Fourier transform (DFT) that are not necessarily fulfilled in typical electrophysiological recording and analysis conditions. Furthermore, engineering software-packages may be ill-suited and/or may not fully exploit the information of steady-state recordings. Specifically: * In the case of steady-state stimulation we know more about the stimulus than in standard textbook situations (exact frequency, phase stability), so 'windowing' and calculation of the 'periodogram' are not necessary. * It is mandatory to choose an integer relationship between sampling rate and frame rate when employing a raster-based CRT stimulator. * The analysis interval must comprise an exact integer number (e.g., 10) of stimulus periods. * The choice of the number of stimulus periods per analysis interval needs a wise compromise: A high number increases the frequency resolution, but makes artifact removal difficult; a low number 'spills' noise into the response frequency. * There is no need to feel tied to a power-of-two number of data points as required by standard FFT, 'resampling' is an easy and efficient alternative. * Proper estimates of noise-corrected Fourier magnitude and statistical significance can be calculated that take into account the non-linear superposition of signal and noise. These aspects are developed in an intuitive approach with examples using both simulations and recordings. Proper use of Fourier analysis of our electrophysiological records will reduce recording time and/or increase the reliability of physiologic or pathologic interpretations.

  19. Iron losses in sweat

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

    Brune, M.; Magnusson, B.; Persson, H.

    The losses of iron in whole body cell-free sweat were determined in eleven healthy men. A new experimental design was used with a very careful cleaning procedure of the skin and repeated consecutive sampling periods of sweat in a sauna. The purpose was to achieve a steady state of sweat iron losses with minimal influence from iron originating from desquamated cells and iron contaminating the skin. A steady state was reached in the third sauna period (second sweat sampling period). Iron loss was directly related to the volume of sweat lost and amounted to 22.5 micrograms iron/l sweat. The findingsmore » indicate that iron is a physiological constituent of sweat and derived not only from contamination. Present results imply that variations in the amount of sweat lost will have only a marginal effect on the variation in total body iron losses.« less

  20. Quasi-steady state reduction of molecular motor-based models of directed intermittent search.

    PubMed

    Newby, Jay M; Bressloff, Paul C

    2010-10-01

    We present a quasi-steady state reduction of a linear reaction-hyperbolic master equation describing the directed intermittent search for a hidden target by a motor-driven particle moving on a one-dimensional filament track. The particle is injected at one end of the track and randomly switches between stationary search phases and mobile nonsearch phases that are biased in the anterograde direction. There is a finite possibility that the particle fails to find the target due to an absorbing boundary at the other end of the track. Such a scenario is exemplified by the motor-driven transport of vesicular cargo to synaptic targets located on the axon or dendrites of a neuron. The reduced model is described by a scalar Fokker-Planck (FP) equation, which has an additional inhomogeneous decay term that takes into account absorption by the target. The FP equation is used to compute the probability of finding the hidden target (hitting probability) and the corresponding conditional mean first passage time (MFPT) in terms of the effective drift velocity V, diffusivity D, and target absorption rate λ of the random search. The quasi-steady state reduction determines V, D, and λ in terms of the various biophysical parameters of the underlying motor transport model. We first apply our analysis to a simple 3-state model and show that our quasi-steady state reduction yields results that are in excellent agreement with Monte Carlo simulations of the full system under physiologically reasonable conditions. We then consider a more complex multiple motor model of bidirectional transport, in which opposing motors compete in a "tug-of-war", and use this to explore how ATP concentration might regulate the delivery of cargo to synaptic targets.

  1. RPA-mediated unfolding of systematically varying G-quadruplex structures.

    PubMed

    Ray, Sujay; Qureshi, Mohammad H; Malcolm, Dominic W; Budhathoki, Jagat B; Celik, Uğur; Balci, Hamza

    2013-05-21

    G-quadruplex (GQ) is a noncanonical nucleic acid structure that is formed by guanine rich sequences. Unless it is destabilized by proteins such as replication protein A (RPA), GQ could interfere with DNA metabolic functions, such as replication or repair. We studied RPA-mediated GQ unfolding using single-molecule FRET on two groups of GQ structures that have different loop lengths and different numbers of G-tetrad layers. We observed a linear increase in the steady-state stability of the GQ against RPA-mediated unfolding with increasing number of layers or decreasing loop length. The stability demonstrated by different GQ structures varied by at least three orders of magnitude. Those with shorter loops (less than three nucleotides long) or a greater number of layers (more than three layers) maintained a significant folded population even at physiological RPA concentration (≈1 μM), raising the possibility of physiological viability of such GQ structures. Finally, we measured the transition time between the start and end of the RPA-mediated GQ unfolding process to be 0.35 ± 0.10 s for all GQ constructs we studied, despite significant differences in their steady-state stabilities. We propose a two-step RPA-mediated GQ unfolding mechanism that is consistent with our observations. Copyright © 2013 Biophysical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. RPA-Mediated Unfolding of Systematically Varying G-Quadruplex Structures

    PubMed Central

    Ray, Sujay; Qureshi, Mohammad H.; Malcolm, Dominic W.; Budhathoki, Jagat B.; Çelik, Uğur; Balci, Hamza

    2013-01-01

    G-quadruplex (GQ) is a noncanonical nucleic acid structure that is formed by guanine rich sequences. Unless it is destabilized by proteins such as replication protein A (RPA), GQ could interfere with DNA metabolic functions, such as replication or repair. We studied RPA-mediated GQ unfolding using single-molecule FRET on two groups of GQ structures that have different loop lengths and different numbers of G-tetrad layers. We observed a linear increase in the steady-state stability of the GQ against RPA-mediated unfolding with increasing number of layers or decreasing loop length. The stability demonstrated by different GQ structures varied by at least three orders of magnitude. Those with shorter loops (less than three nucleotides long) or a greater number of layers (more than three layers) maintained a significant folded population even at physiological RPA concentration (≈1 μM), raising the possibility of physiological viability of such GQ structures. Finally, we measured the transition time between the start and end of the RPA-mediated GQ unfolding process to be 0.35 ± 0.10 s for all GQ constructs we studied, despite significant differences in their steady-state stabilities. We propose a two-step RPA-mediated GQ unfolding mechanism that is consistent with our observations. PMID:23708363

  3. Toxicokinetic Triage for Environmental Chemicals | Science ...

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Toxicokinetic (TK) models are essential for linking administered doses to blood and tissue concentrations. In vitro-to-in vivo extrapolation (IVIVE) methods have been developed to determine TK from limited in vitro measurements and chemical structure-based property predictions, providing a less resource–intensive alternative to traditional in vivo TK approaches. High throughput TK (HTTK) methods use IVIVE to estimate doses that produce steady-state plasma concentrations equivalent to those producing biological activity in in vitro screening studies (e.g., ToxCast). In this study, the domain of applicability and assumptions of HTTK approaches were evaluated using both in vivo data and simulation analysis. Based on in vivo data for 87 chemicals, specific properties (e.g., in vitro HTTK data, physico-chemical descriptors, chemical structure, and predicted transporter affinities) were identified that correlate with poor HTTK predictive ability. For 350 xenobiotics with literature HTTK data, we then differentiated those xenobiotics for which HTTK approaches are likely to be sufficient, from those that may require additional data. For 272 chemicals we also developed a HT physiologically-based TK (HTPBTK) model that requires somewhat greater information than a steady-state model, but allows non-steady state dynamics and can predict chemical concentration time-courses for a variety of exposure scenarios, tissues, and species. We used this HTPBTK model to show that the

  4. Transcriptome analysis reveals that multidrug efflux genes are upregulated to protect Pseudomonas aeruginosa from pentachlorophenol stress.

    PubMed

    Muller, Jocelyn Fraga; Stevens, Ann M; Craig, Johanna; Love, Nancy G

    2007-07-01

    Through chemical contamination of natural environments, microbial communities are exposed to many different types of chemical stressors; however, research on whole-genome responses to this contaminant stress is limited. This study examined the transcriptome response of a common soil bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, to the common environmental contaminant pentachlorophenol (PCP). Cells were grown in chemostats at a low growth rate to obtain substrate-limited, steady-state, balanced-growth conditions. The PCP stress was administered as a continuous increase in concentration, and samples taken over time were examined for physiological function changes with whole-cell acetate uptake rates (WAURs) and cell viability and for gene expression changes by Affymetrix GeneChip technology and real-time reverse transcriptase PCR. Cell viability, measured by heterotrophic plate counts, showed a moderately steady decrease after exposure to the stressor, but WAURs did not change in response to PCP. In contrast to the physiological data, the microarray data showed significant changes in the expression of several genes. In particular, genes coding for multidrug efflux pumps, including MexAB-OprM, were strongly upregulated. The upregulation of these efflux pumps protected the cells from the potentially toxic effects of PCP, allowing the physiological whole-cell function to remain constant.

  5. Adapting High-Resolution Respirometry to Glucose-Limited Steady State Mycelium of the Filamentous Fungus Penicillium ochrochloron: Method Development and Standardisation

    PubMed Central

    Schinagl, Christoph W.; Vrabl, Pamela; Burgstaller, Wolfgang

    2016-01-01

    Fungal electron transport systems (ETS) are branched, involving alternative NADH dehydrogenases and an alternative terminal oxidase. These alternative respiratory enzymes were reported to play a role in pathogenesis, production of antibiotics and excretion of organic acids. The activity of these alternative respiratory enzymes strongly depends on environmental conditions. Functional analysis of fungal ETS under highly standardised conditions for cultivation, sample processing and respirometric assay are still lacking. We developed a highly standardised protocol to explore in vivo the ETS—and in particular the alternative oxidase—in Penicillium ochrochloron. This included cultivation in glucose-limited chemostat (to achieve a defined and reproducible physiological state), direct transfer without any manipulation of a broth sample to the respirometer (to maintain the physiological state in the respirometer as close as possible to that in the chemostat), and high-resolution respirometry (small sample volume and high measuring accuracy). This protocol was aimed at avoiding any changes in the physiological phenotype due to the high phenotypic plasticity of filamentous fungi. A stable oxygen consumption (< 5% change in 20 minutes) was only possible with glucose limited chemostat mycelium and a direct transfer of a broth sample into the respirometer. Steady state respiration was 29% below its maximum respiratory capacity. Additionally to a rotenone-sensitive complex I and most probably a functioning complex III, the ETS of P. ochrochloron also contained a cyanide-sensitive terminal oxidase (complex IV). Activity of alternative oxidase was present constitutively. The degree of inhibition strongly depended on the sequence of inhibitor addition. This suggested, as postulated for plants, that the alternative terminal oxidase was in dynamic equilibrium with complex IV—independent of the rate of electron flux. This means that the onset of activity does not depend on a complete saturation or inhibition of the cytochrome pathway. PMID:26771937

  6. Effects of shoe cleat position on physiology and performance of competitive cyclists.

    PubMed

    Paton, Carl D

    2009-12-01

    Aerobic economy is an important factor that affects the performance of competitive cyclists. It has been suggested that placing the foot more anteriorly on the bicycle pedals may improve economy over the traditional foot position by improving pedaling efficiency. The current study examines the effects of changing the anterior-posterior pedal foot position on the physiology and performance of well-trained cyclists. In a crossover study, 10 competitive cyclists completed two maximal incremental and two submaximal tests in either their preferred (control) or a forward (arch) foot position. Maximum oxygen consumption and peak power output were determined from the incremental tests for both foot positions. On two further occasions, cyclists also completed a two-part 60-min submaximal test that required them to maintain a constant power output (equivalent to 60% of their incremental peak power) for 30 min, during which respiratory and blood lactate samples were taken at predetermined intervals. Thereafter, subjects completed a 30-min self-paced maximal effort time trial. Relative to the control, the mean changes (+/-90% confidence limits) in the arch condition were as follows: maximum oxygen consumption, -0.5% (+/-2.0%); incremental peak power output, -0.8% (+/-1.3%); steady-state oxygen consumption at 60%, -2.4% (+/-1.1%); steady-state heart rate 60%, 0.4% (+/-1.7%); lactate concentration 60%, 8.7% (+/-14.4%); and mean time trial power, -1.5% (+/-2.9%). We conclude that there was no substantial physiological or performance advantage in this group using an arch-cleat shoe position in comparison with a cyclist's normal preferred condition.

  7. A novel multivariate STeady-state index during general ANesthesia (STAN).

    PubMed

    Castro, Ana; de Almeida, Fernando Gomes; Amorim, Pedro; Nunes, Catarina S

    2017-08-01

    The assessment of the adequacy of general anesthesia for surgery, namely the nociception/anti-nociception balance, has received wide attention from the scientific community. Monitoring systems based on the frontal EEG/EMG, or autonomic state reactions (e.g. heart rate and blood pressure) have been developed aiming to objectively assess this balance. In this study a new multivariate indicator of patients' steady-state during anesthesia (STAN) is proposed, based on wavelet analysis of signals linked to noxious activation. A clinical protocol was designed to analyze precise noxious stimuli (laryngoscopy/intubation, tetanic, and incision), under three different analgesic doses; patients were randomized to receive either remifentanil 2.0, 3.0 or 4.0 ng/ml. ECG, PPG, BP, BIS, EMG and [Formula: see text] were continuously recorded. ECG, PPG and BP were processed to extract beat-to-beat information, and [Formula: see text] curve used to estimate the respiration rate. A combined steady-state index based on wavelet analysis of these variables, was applied and compared between the three study groups and stimuli (Wilcoxon signed ranks, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests). Following institutional approval and signing the informed consent thirty four patients were enrolled in this study (3 excluded due to signal loss during data collection). The BIS index of the EEG, frontal EMG, heart rate, BP, and PPG wave amplitude changed in response to different noxious stimuli. Laryngoscopy/intubation was the stimulus with the more pronounced response [Formula: see text]. These variables were used in the construction of the combined index STAN; STAN responded adequately to noxious stimuli, with a more pronounced response to laryngoscopy/intubation (18.5-43.1 %, [Formula: see text]), and the attenuation provided by the analgesic, detecting steady-state periods in the different physiological signals analyzed (approximately 50 % of the total study time). A new multivariate approach for the assessment of the patient steady-state during general anesthesia was developed. The proposed wavelet based multivariate index responds adequately to different noxious stimuli, and attenuation provided by the analgesic in a dose-dependent manner for each stimulus analyzed in this study.

  8. Exercise-mediated vasodilation in human obesity and metabolic syndrome: effect of acute ascorbic acid infusion.

    PubMed

    Limberg, Jacqueline K; Kellawan, J Mikhail; Harrell, John W; Johansson, Rebecca E; Eldridge, Marlowe W; Proctor, Lester T; Sebranek, Joshua J; Schrage, William G

    2014-09-15

    We tested the hypothesis that infusion of ascorbic acid (AA), a potent antioxidant, would alter vasodilator responses to exercise in human obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetSyn). Forearm blood flow (FBF, Doppler ultrasound) was measured in lean, obese, and MetSyn adults (n = 39, 32 ± 2 yr). A brachial artery catheter was inserted for blood pressure monitoring and local infusion of AA. FBF was measured during dynamic handgrip exercise (15% maximal effort) with and without AA infusion. To account for group differences in blood pressure and forearm size, and to assess vasodilation, forearm vascular conductance (FVC = FBF/mean arterial blood pressure/lean forearm mass) was calculated. We examined the time to achieve steady-state FVC (mean response time, MRT) and the rise in FVC from rest to steady-state exercise (Δ, exercise - rest) before and during acute AA infusion. The MRT (P = 0.26) and steady-state vasodilator responses to exercise (ΔFVC, P = 0.31) were not different between groups. Intra-arterial infusion of AA resulted in a significant increase in plasma total antioxidant capacity (174 ± 37%). AA infusion did not alter MRT or steady-state FVC in any group (P = 0.90 and P = 0.85, respectively). Interestingly, higher levels of C-reactive protein predicted longer MRT (r = 0.52, P < 0.01) and a greater reduction in MRT with AA infusion (r = -0.43, P = 0.02). We concluded that AA infusion during moderate-intensity, rhythmic forearm exercise does not alter the time course or magnitude of exercise-mediated vasodilation in groups of young lean, obese, or MetSyn adults. However, systemic inflammation may limit the MRT to exercise, which can be improved with AA. Copyright © 2014 the American Physiological Society.

  9. The Effects of Crushed Ice Ingestion Prior to Steady State Exercise in the Heat.

    PubMed

    Zimmermann, Matthew; Landers, Grant; Wallman, Karen E; Saldaris, Jacinta

    2017-06-01

    This study examined the physiological effects of crushed ice ingestion before steady state exercise in the heat. Ten healthy males with age (23 ± 3 y), height (176.9 ± 8.7 cm), body-mass (73.5 ± 8.0 kg), VO 2peak (48.5 ± 3.6 mL∙kg∙min -1 ) participated in the study. Participants completed 60 min of cycling at 55% of their VO 2peak preceded by 30 min of precooling whereby 7 g∙kg -1 of thermoneutral water (CON) or crushed ice (ICE) was ingested. The reduction in T c at the conclusion of precooling was greater in ICE (-0.9 ± 0.3 °C) compared with CON (-0.2 ± 0.2 °C) (p ≤ .05). Heat storage capacity was greater in ICE compared with CON after precooling (ICE -29.3 ± 4.8 W∙m -2 ; CON -11.1 ± 7.3 W∙m -2 , p < .05). Total heat storage was greater in ICE compared with CON at the end of the steady state cycle (ICE 62.0 ± 12.5 W∙m-2; CON 49.9 ± 13.4 W∙m -2 , p < .05). Gross efficiency was higher in ICE compared with CON throughout the steady state cycle (ICE 21.4 ± 1.8%; CON 20.4 ± 1.9%, p < .05). Ice ingestion resulted in a lower thermal sensation at the end of precooling and a lower sweat rate during the initial stages of cycling (p < .05). Sweat loss, respiratory exchange ratio, heart rate and ratings of perceived exertion and thirst were similar between conditions (p > .05). Precooling with crushed ice led to improved gross efficiency while cycling due to an increased heat storage capacity, which was the result of a lower core temperature.

  10. Blood flow patterns during incremental and steady-state aerobic exercise.

    PubMed

    Coovert, Daniel; Evans, LeVisa D; Jarrett, Steven; Lima, Carla; Lima, Natalia; Gurovich, Alvaro N

    2017-05-30

    Endothelial shear stress (ESS) is a physiological stimulus for vascular homeostasis, highly dependent on blood flow patterns. Exercise-induced ESS might be beneficial on vascular health. However, it is unclear what type of ESS aerobic exercise (AX) produces. The aims of this study are to characterize exercise-induced blood flow patterns during incremental and steady-state AX. We expect blood flow pattern during exercise will be intensity-dependent and bidirectional. Six college-aged students (2 males and 4 females) were recruited to perform 2 exercise tests on cycleergometer. First, an 8-12-min incremental test (Test 1) where oxygen uptake (VO2), heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), and blood lactate (La) were measured at rest and after each 2-min step. Then, at least 48-hr. after the first test, a 3-step steady state exercise test (Test 2) was performed measuring VO2, HR, BP, and La. The three steps were performed at the following exercise intensities according to La: 0-2 mmol/L, 2-4 mmol/L, and 4-6 mmol/L. During both tests, blood flow patterns were determined by high-definition ultrasound and Doppler on the brachial artery. These measurements allowed to determine blood flow velocities and directions during exercise. On Test 1 VO2, HR, BP, La, and antegrade blood flow velocity significantly increased in an intensity-dependent manner (repeated measures ANOVA, p<0.05). Retrograde blood flow velocity did not significantly change during Test 1. On Test 2 all the previous variables significantly increased in an intensity-dependent manner (repeated measures ANOVA, p<0.05). These results support the hypothesis that exercise induced ESS might be increased in an intensity-dependent way and blood flow patterns during incremental and steady-state exercises include both antegrade and retrograde blood flows.

  11. Redox homeostasis: The Golden Mean of healthy living.

    PubMed

    Ursini, Fulvio; Maiorino, Matilde; Forman, Henry Jay

    2016-08-01

    The notion that electrophiles serve as messengers in cell signaling is now widely accepted. Nonetheless, major issues restrain acceptance of redox homeostasis and redox signaling as components of maintenance of a normal physiological steady state. The first is that redox signaling requires sudden switching on of oxidant production and bypassing of antioxidant mechanisms rather than a continuous process that, like other signaling mechanisms, can be smoothly turned up or down. The second is the misperception that reactions in redox signaling involve "reactive oxygen species" rather than reaction of specific electrophiles with specific protein thiolates. The third is that hormesis provides protection against oxidants by increasing cellular defense or repair mechanisms rather than by specifically addressing the offset of redox homeostasis. Instead, we propose that both oxidant and antioxidant signaling are main features of redox homeostasis. As the redox shift is rapidly reversed by feedback reactions, homeostasis is maintained by continuous signaling for production and elimination of electrophiles and nucleophiles. Redox homeostasis, which is the maintenance of nucleophilic tone, accounts for a healthy physiological steady state. Electrophiles and nucleophiles are not intrinsically harmful or protective, and redox homeostasis is an essential feature of both the response to challenges and subsequent feedback. While the balance between oxidants and nucleophiles is preserved in redox homeostasis, oxidative stress provokes the establishment of a new radically altered redox steady state. The popular belief that scavenging free radicals by antioxidants has a beneficial effect is wishful thinking. We propose, instead, that continuous feedback preserves nucleophilic tone and that this is supported by redox active nutritional phytochemicals. These nonessential compounds, by activating Nrf2, mimic the effect of endogenously produced electrophiles (parahormesis). In summary, while hormesis, although globally protective, results in setting up of a new phenotype, parahormesis contributes to health by favoring maintenance of homeostasis. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Pulsatile and steady-state hemodynamics of the human patella bone by diffuse optical spectroscopy.

    PubMed

    Farzam, Parisa; Zirak, Peyman; Binzoni, Tiziano; Durduran, Turgut

    2013-08-01

    The cardiac cycle related pulsatile behavior of the absorption and scattering coefficients of diffuse light and the corresponding alterations in hemoglobin concentrations in the human patella was studied. The pulsations in scattering is considerably smaller than absorption. The difference in amplitude of absorption coefficient pulsations for different wavelengths was translated to pulsations in oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin, which leads to strong pulsations in the total hemoglobin concentration and oxygen saturation. The physiological origin of the observed signals was confirmed by applying a thigh-cuff. Moreover, we have investigated the optical and physiological properties of the patella bone and their changes in response to arterial cuff occlusion.

  13. Decoding the language of the heart: developing a physiology of inclusion.

    PubMed

    Lynch, J J

    1998-01-01

    Constructs such as homeostasis and fight/flight have supported a scientific approach to physiology that has yielded a vast database of obvious heuristic value. Yet in spite of its value, these constructs have tended to create a mind-set that unwittingly supports what this article has labeled a "physiology of exclusion." Reinforced by the philosophy of René Descartes, this perspective has led investigators to focus on isolated or separate animal organisms that are reflexively wired for self-preservation. It has created a mind-set in which both research investigators and the public at large tend to view the human body as either in a steady state of vigilance, maximally prepared for fight/flight, or in a state of quiescence. Assumptions of the solitary body, and solitary man wired to react for "self" preservation, has made it difficult to incorporate a growing body of evidence that indicates that social support and loving relationships are conducive to good health. It also has made it difficult for investigators to fully understand why human loneliness is a major cause of premature death. This article delineates these trends and offers a new construct, one that suggests that a "physiology of inclusion" be added to the prevailing view of a "physiology of exclusion." Recent cardiovascular research is cited to help underscore the potential heuristic value of this new physiological construct.

  14. Inhibitory control in mind and brain 2.0: Blocked-input models of saccadic countermanding

    PubMed Central

    Logan, Gordon D.; Yamaguchi, Motonori; Schall, Jeffrey D.; Palmeri, Thomas J.

    2015-01-01

    The interactive race model of saccadic countermanding assumes that response inhibition results from an interaction between a go unit, identified with gaze-shifting neurons, and a stop unit, identified with gaze-holding neurons, in which activation of the stop unit inhibits the growth of activation in the go unit to prevent it from reaching threshold. The interactive race model accounts for behavioral data and predicts physiological data in monkeys performing the stop-signal task. We propose an alternative model that assumes that response inhibition results from blocking the input to the go unit. We show that the blocked-input model accounts for behavioral data as accurately as the original interactive race model and predicts aspects of the physiological data more accurately. We extend the models to address the steady-state fixation period before the go stimulus is presented and find that the blocked-input model fits better than the interactive race model. We consider a model in which fixation activity is boosted when a stop signal occurs and find that it fits as well as the blocked input model but predicts very high steady-state fixation activity after the response is inhibited. We discuss the alternative linking propositions that connect computational models to neural mechanisms, the lessons to be learned from model mimicry, and generalization from countermanding saccades to countermanding other kinds of responses. PMID:25706403

  15. Leaf water 18 O and 2 H enrichment along vertical canopy profiles in a broadleaved and a conifer forest tree.

    PubMed

    Bögelein, Rebekka; Thomas, Frank M; Kahmen, Ansgar

    2017-07-01

    Distinguishing meteorological and plant-mediated drivers of leaf water isotopic enrichment is prerequisite for ecological interpretations of stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopes in plant tissue. We measured input and leaf water δ 2 H and δ 18 O as well as micrometeorological and leaf morpho-physiological variables along a vertical gradient in a mature angiosperm (European beech) and gymnosperm (Douglas fir) tree. We used these variables and different enrichment models to quantify the influence of Péclet and non-steady state effects and of the biophysical drivers on leaf water enrichment. The two-pool model accurately described the diurnal variation of leaf water enrichment. The estimated unenriched water fraction was linked to leaf dry matter content across the canopy heights. Non-steady state effects and reduced stomatal conductance caused a higher enrichment of Douglas fir compared to beech leaf water. A dynamic effect analyses revealed that the light-induced vertical gradients of stomatal conductance and leaf temperature outbalanced each other in their effects on evaporative enrichment. We conclude that neither vertical canopy gradients nor the Péclet effect is important for estimates and interpretation of isotopic leaf water enrichment in hypostomatous trees. Contrarily, species-specific non-steady state effects and leaf temperatures as well as the water vapour isotope composition need careful consideration. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  16. Light-Induced resetting of the circadian pacemaker: quantitative analysis of transient versus steady-state phase shifts.

    PubMed

    Watanabe, K; Deboer, T; Meijer, J H

    2001-12-01

    The suprachiasmatic nuclei of the hypothalamus contain the major circadian pacemaker in mammals, driving circadian rhythms in behavioral and physiological functions. This circadian pacemaker's responsiveness to light allows synchronization to the light-dark cycle. Phase shifting by light often involves several transient cycles in which the behavioral activity rhythm gradually shifts to its steady-state position. In this article, the authors investigate in Syrian hamsters whether a phase-advancing light pulse results in immediate shifts of the PRC at the next circadian cycle. In a first series of experiments, the authors aimed a light pulse at CT 19 to induce a phase advance. It appeared that the steady-state phase advances were highly correlated with activity onset in the first and second transient cycle. This enabled them to make a reliable estimate of the steady-state phase shift induced by a phase-advancing light pulse on the basis of activity onset in the first transient cycle. In the next series of experiments, they presented a light pulse at CT 19, which was followed by a second light pulse aimed at the delay zone of the PRC on the next circadian cycle. The immediate and steady-state phase delays induced by the second light pulse were compared with data from a third experiment in which animals received a phase-delaying light pulse only. The authors observed that the waveform of the phase-delay part of the PRC (CT 12-16) obtained in Experiment 2 was virtually identical to the phase-delay part of the PRC for a single light pulse (obtained in Experiment 3). This finding allowed for a quantitative assessment of the data. The analysis indicates that the delay part of the PRC-between CT 12 and CT 16-is rapidly reset following a light pulse at CT 19. These findings complement earlier findings in the hamster showing that after a light pulse at CT 19, the phase-advancing part of the PRC is immediately shifted. Together, the data indicate that the basis for phase advancing involves rapid resetting of both advance and delay components of the PRC.

  17. Comparative Risks of Aldehyde Constituents in Cigarette Smoke Using Transient Computational Fluid Dynamics/Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic Models of the Rat and Human Respiratory Tracts

    PubMed Central

    Corley, Richard A.; Kabilan, Senthil; Kuprat, Andrew P.; Carson, James P.; Jacob, Richard E.; Minard, Kevin R.; Teeguarden, Justin G.; Timchalk, Charles; Pipavath, Sudhakar; Glenny, Robb; Einstein, Daniel R.

    2015-01-01

    Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling is well suited for addressing species-specific anatomy and physiology in calculating respiratory tissue exposures to inhaled materials. In this study, we overcame prior CFD model limitations to demonstrate the importance of realistic, transient breathing patterns for predicting site-specific tissue dose. Specifically, extended airway CFD models of the rat and human were coupled with airway region-specific physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) tissue models to describe the kinetics of 3 reactive constituents of cigarette smoke: acrolein, acetaldehyde and formaldehyde. Simulations of aldehyde no-observed-adverse-effect levels for nasal toxicity in the rat were conducted until breath-by-breath tissue concentration profiles reached steady state. Human oral breathing simulations were conducted using representative aldehyde yields from cigarette smoke, measured puff ventilation profiles and numbers of cigarettes smoked per day. As with prior steady-state CFD/PBPK simulations, the anterior respiratory nasal epithelial tissues received the greatest initial uptake rates for each aldehyde in the rat. However, integrated time- and tissue depth-dependent area under the curve (AUC) concentrations were typically greater in the anterior dorsal olfactory epithelium using the more realistic transient breathing profiles. For human simulations, oral and laryngeal tissues received the highest local tissue dose with greater penetration to pulmonary tissues than predicted in the rat. Based upon lifetime average daily dose comparisons of tissue hot-spot AUCs (top 2.5% of surface area-normalized AUCs in each region) and numbers of cigarettes smoked/day, the order of concern for human exposures was acrolein > formaldehyde > acetaldehyde even though acetaldehyde yields were 10-fold greater than formaldehyde and acrolein. PMID:25858911

  18. Indistinguishable Synaptic Pharmacodynamics of the N-Methyl-d-Aspartate Receptor Channel Blockers Memantine and Ketamine

    PubMed Central

    Emnett, Christine M.; Eisenman, Lawrence N.; Taylor, Amanda M.; Izumi, Yukitoshi; Zorumski, Charles F.

    2013-01-01

    Memantine and ketamine, voltage- and activation-dependent channel blockers of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors (NMDARs), have enjoyed a recent resurgence in clinical interest. Steady-state pharmacodynamic differences between these blockers have been reported, but it is unclear whether the compounds differentially affect dynamic physiologic signaling. In this study, we explored nonequilibrium conditions relevant to synaptic transmission in hippocampal networks in dissociated culture and hippocampal slices. Equimolar memantine and ketamine had indistinguishable effects on the following measures: steady-state NMDA currents, NMDAR excitatory postsynaptic current (EPSC) decay kinetics, progressive EPSC inhibition during repetitive stimulation, and extrasynaptic NMDAR inhibition. Therapeutic drug efficacy and tolerability of memantine have been attributed to fast kinetics and strong voltage dependence. However, pulse depolarization in drug presence revealed a surprisingly slow and similar time course of equilibration for the two compounds, although memantine produced a more prominent fast component (62% versus 48%) of re-equilibration. Simulations predicted that low gating efficacy underlies the slow voltage–dependent relief from block. This prediction was empirically supported by faster voltage-dependent blocker re-equilibration with several experimental manipulations of gating efficacy. Excitatory postsynaptic potential–like voltage commands produced drug differences only with large, prolonged depolarizations unlikely to be attained physiologically. In fact, we found no difference between drugs on measures of spontaneous network activity or acute effects on plasticity in hippocampal slices. Despite indistinguishable synaptic pharmacodynamics, ketamine provided significantly greater neuroprotection from damage induced by oxygen glucose deprivation, consistent with the idea that under extreme depolarizing conditions, the biophysical difference between drugs becomes detectable. We conclude that despite subtle differences in voltage dependence, during physiologic activity, blocker pharmacodynamics are largely indistinguishable and largely voltage independent. PMID:24101301

  19. Role of recoverin in rod photoreceptor light adaptation.

    PubMed

    Morshedian, Ala; Woodruff, Michael L; Fain, Gordon L

    2018-04-15

    Recoverin is a small molecular-weight, calcium-binding protein in rod outer segments that can modulate the rate of rhodopsin phosphorylation. We describe two additional and perhaps more important functions during photoreceptor light adaptation. Recoverin influences the rate of change of adaptation. In wild-type rods, sensitivity and response integration time adapt with similar time constants of 150-200 ms. In Rv-/- rods lacking recoverin, sensitivity declines faster and integration time is already shorter and not significantly altered. During steady light exposure, rod circulating current slowly increases during a time course of tens of seconds, gradually extending the operating range of the rod. In Rv-/- rods, this mechanism is deleted, steady-state currents are already larger and rods saturate at brighter intensities. We propose that recoverin modulates spontaneous and light-activated phophodiesterase-6, the phototransduction effector enzyme, to increase sensitivity in dim light but improve responsiveness to change in brighter illumination. Recoverin is a small molecular-weight, calcium-binding protein in rod outer segments that binds to G-protein receptor kinase 1 and can alter the rate of rhodopsin phosphorylation. A change in phosphorylation should change the lifetime of light-activated rhodopsin and the gain of phototransduction, but deletion of recoverin has little effect on the sensitivity of rods either in the dark or in dim-to-moderate background light. We describe two additional functions perhaps of greater physiological significance. (i) When the ambient intensity increases, sensitivity and integration time decrease in wild-type (WT) rods with similar time constants of 150-200 ms. Recoverin is part of the mechanism controlling this process because, in Rv-/- rods lacking recoverin, sensitivity declines more rapidly and integration time is already shorter and not further altered. (ii) During steady light exposure, WT rod circulating current slowly increases during a time course of tens of seconds, gradually extending the operating range of the rod. In Rv-/- rods, this mechanism is also deleted, steady-state currents are already larger and rods saturate at brighter intensities. We argue that neither (i) nor (ii) can be caused by modulation of rhodopsin phosphorylation but may instead be produced by direct modulation of phophodiesterase-6 (PDE6), the phototransduction effector enzyme. We propose that recoverin in dark-adapted rods keeps the integration time long and the spontaneous PDE6 rate relatively high to improve sensitivity. In background light, the integration time is decreased to facilitate detection of change and motion and the spontaneous PDE6 rate decreases to augment the rod working range. © 2018 The Authors. The Journal of Physiology © 2018 The Physiological Society.

  20. Regulating billions of blood platelets: glycans and beyond

    PubMed Central

    Grozovsky, Renata; Giannini, Silvia; Falet, Hervé

    2015-01-01

    The human body produces and removes 1011 platelets daily to maintain a normal steady state platelet count. Platelet production must be regulated to avoid spontaneous bleeding or arterial occlusion and organ damage. Multifaceted and complex mechanisms control platelet production and removal in physiological and pathological conditions. This review will focus on different mechanisms of platelet senescence and clearance with specific emphasis on the role of posttranslational modifications. It will also briefly address platelet transfusion and the role of glycans in the clearance of stored platelets. PMID:26330242

  1. Mimicking Nonequilibrium Steady States with Time-Periodic Driving

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2016-08-29

    nonequilibrium steady states, and vice versa, within the theoretical framework of discrete-state stochastic thermodynamics . Nonequilibrium steady states...equilibrium [2], spontaneous relaxation towards equilibrium [3], nonequilibrium steady states generated by fixed thermodynamic forces [4], and stochastic pumps...paradigm, a system driven by fixed thermodynamic forces—such as temperature gradients or chemical potential differences— reaches a steady state in

  2. Mimicking Nonequilibrium Steady States with Time-Periodic Driving (Open Source)

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2016-05-18

    nonequilibrium steady states, and vice versa, within the theoretical framework of discrete-state stochastic thermodynamics . Nonequilibrium steady states...equilibrium [2], spontaneous relaxation towards equilibrium [3], nonequilibrium steady states generated by fixed thermodynamic forces [4], and stochastic pumps...paradigm, a system driven by fixed thermodynamic forces—such as temperature gradients or chemical potential differences— reaches a steady state in

  3. Steady-state nutrition of soil grown trembling aspen clones and the potential for gaseous pollutant experiments

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

    Coleman, M.D.; Dickson, R.E.; Isebrands, J.G.

    To assess the interaction of gaseous pollutants and plant nutrition it is desirable to grow plants at a constant growth rate while maintaining constant nutrient status. Once constant, or steady-state, conditions are established relationships between growth, nutrition, physiology and stress responses are simplified. Relative nutrient additions are an effective way to maintain such constant conditions in solution culture; however, few experiments have applied such treatments to soil grown plants. This experiment evaluates the response of two aspen clones (259 and 271) to various relative nutrient addition rates (1,2,3,4,5 % per day) applied to the peat:sand:vermiculite growing media. Although the initialmore » lag phase (adjustment period) lasted up to 50 days, subsequent relative growth rates were uniform and related to treatment. Growth responses among treatments were distinct with final biomass in the higher addition rates (3,4,5% per day) as much as twice that of the next lower treatment. Clone 271 (ozone tolerant) produced only 61% of the biomass that clone 259 (ozone sensitive) produced in the 5% per day treatment. Final leaf nitrogen was 1.5, 2.1, 3.4, 3.8, 4.3% dry weight for 1 to 5% per day addition rate treatments respectively. Concentrations between clones were equal. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of steady-state nutrition in controlling growth and nutrient status of soil grown aspen, enabling more critical control of stress experiments.« less

  4. Pharmacometrics-based dose selection of levofloxacin as a treatment for postexposure inhalational anthrax in children.

    PubMed

    Li, Fang; Nandy, Partha; Chien, Shuchean; Noel, Gary J; Tornoe, Christoffer W

    2010-01-01

    Levofloxacin was recently (May 2008) approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a treatment for children following inhalational exposure to anthrax. Given that no clinical trials to assess the efficacy of a chosen dose was conducted, the basis for the dose recommendation was based upon pharmacometric analyses. The objective of this paper is to describe the basis of the chosen pediatric dose recommended for the label. Pharmacokinetic (PK) data from 90 pediatric patients receiving 7 mg/kg of body weight levofloxacin and two studies of 47 healthy adults receiving 500 and 750 mg/kg levofloxacin were used for the pharmacometric analyses. Body weight was found to be a significant covariate for levofloxacin clearance and the volume of distribution. Consistently with developmental physiology, clearance also was found to be reduced in pediatric patients under 2 years of age due to immature renal function. Different dosing regimens were simulated to match adult exposure (area under the concentration-time curve from 0 to 24 h at steady state, maximum concentration of drug in serum at steady state, and minimum concentration of drug in serum at steady state) following the approved adult dose of 500 mg once a day. The recommended dose of 8 mg/kg twice a day was found to match the exposure of the dose approved for adults in a manner that permitted confidence that this dose in children would achieve efficacy comparable to that of adults.

  5. A Protein Turnover Signaling Motif Controls the Stimulus-Sensitivity of Stress Response Pathways

    PubMed Central

    Loriaux, Paul Michael; Hoffmann, Alexander

    2013-01-01

    Stimulus-induced perturbations from the steady state are a hallmark of signal transduction. In some signaling modules, the steady state is characterized by rapid synthesis and degradation of signaling proteins. Conspicuous among these are the p53 tumor suppressor, its negative regulator Mdm2, and the negative feedback regulator of NFκB, IκBα. We investigated the physiological importance of this turnover, or flux, using a computational method that allows flux to be systematically altered independently of the steady state protein abundances. Applying our method to a prototypical signaling module, we show that flux can precisely control the dynamic response to perturbation. Next, we applied our method to experimentally validated models of p53 and NFκB signaling. We find that high p53 flux is required for oscillations in response to a saturating dose of ionizing radiation (IR). In contrast, high flux of Mdm2 is not required for oscillations but preserves p53 sensitivity to sub-saturating doses of IR. In the NFκB system, degradation of NFκB-bound IκB by the IκB kinase (IKK) is required for activation in response to TNF, while high IKK-independent degradation prevents spurious activation in response to metabolic stress or low doses of TNF. Our work identifies flux pairs with opposing functional effects as a signaling motif that controls the stimulus-sensitivity of the p53 and NFκB stress-response pathways, and may constitute a general design principle in signaling pathways. PMID:23468615

  6. Using biodynamic models to reconcile differences between laboratory toxicity tests and field biomonitoring with aquatic insects

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Buchwalter, D.B.; Cain, D.J.; Clements, W.H.; Luoma, S.N.

    2007-01-01

    Aquatic insects often dominate lotic ecosystems, yet these organisms are under-represented in trace metal toxicity databases. Furthermore, toxicity data for aquatic insects do not appear to reflect their actual sensitivities to metals in nature, because the concentrations required to elicit toxicity in the laboratory are considerably higher than those found to impact insect communities in the field. New approaches are therefore needed to better understand how and why insects are differentially susceptible to metal exposures. Biodynamic modeling is a powerful tool for understanding interspecific differences in trace metal bioaccumulation. Because bioaccumulation alone does not necessarily correlate with toxicity, we combined biokinetic parameters associated with dissolved cadmium exposures with studies of the subcellular compartmentalization of accumulated Cd. This combination of physiological traits allowed us to make predictions of susceptibility differences to dissolved Cd in three aquatic insect taxa: Ephemerella excrucians, Rhithrogena morrisoni, and Rhyacophila sp. We compared these predictions with long-term field monitoring data and toxicity tests with closely related taxa: Ephemerella infrequens, Rhithrogena hageni, and Rhyacophila brunea. Kinetic parameters allowed us to estimate steady-state concentrations, the time required to reach steady state, and the concentrations of Cd projected to be in potentially toxic compartments for different species. Species-specific physiological traits identified using biodynamic models provided a means for better understanding why toxicity assays with insects have failed to provide meaningful estimates for metal concentrations that would be expected to be protective in nature. ?? 2007 American Chemical Society.

  7. Reinvestigation of the Steady-State Kinetics and Physiological Function of the Soluble NiFe-Hydrogenase I of Pyrococcus furiosus▿

    PubMed Central

    van Haaster, Daan J.; Silva, Pedro J.; Hagedoorn, Peter-Leon; Jongejan, Jaap A.; Hagen, Wilfred R.

    2008-01-01

    Pyrococcus furiosus has two types of NiFe-hydrogenases: a heterotetrameric soluble hydrogenase and a multimeric transmembrane hydrogenase. Originally, the soluble hydrogenase was proposed to be a new type of H2 evolution hydrogenase, because, in contrast to all of the then known NiFe-hydrogenases, the hydrogen production activity at 80°C was found to be higher than the hydrogen consumption activity and CO inhibition appeared to be absent. NADPH was proposed to be the electron donor. Later, it was found that the membrane-bound hydrogenase exhibits very high hydrogen production activity sufficient to explain cellular H2 production levels, and this seems to eliminate the need for a soluble hydrogen production activity and therefore leave the soluble hydrogenase without a physiological function. Therefore, the steady-state kinetics of the soluble hydrogenase were reinvestigated. In contrast to previous reports, a low Km for H2 (∼20 μM) was found, which suggests a relatively high affinity for hydrogen. Also, the hydrogen consumption activity was 1 order of magnitude higher than the hydrogen production activity, and CO inhibition was significant (50% inhibition with 20 μM dissolved CO). Since the Km for NADP+ is ∼37 μM, we concluded that the soluble hydrogenase from P. furiosus is likely to function in the regeneration of NADPH and thus reuses the hydrogen produced by the membrane-bound hydrogenase in proton respiration. PMID:18156274

  8. Dynamics and management of stage-structured fish stocks.

    PubMed

    Meng, Xinzhu; Lundström, Niklas L P; Bodin, Mats; Brännström, Åke

    2013-01-01

    With increasing fishing pressures having brought several stocks to the brink of collapse, there is a need for developing efficient harvesting methods that account for factors beyond merely yield or profit. We consider the dynamics and management of a stage-structured fish stock. Our work is based on a consumer-resource model which De Roos et al. (in Theor. Popul. Biol. 73, 47-62, 2008) have derived as an approximation of a physiologically-structured counterpart. First, we rigorously prove the existence of steady states in both models, that the models share the same steady states, and that there exists at most one positive steady state. Furthermore, we carry out numerical investigations which suggest that a steady state is globally stable if it is locally stable. Second, we consider multiobjective harvesting strategies which account for yield, profit, and the recovery potential of the fish stock. The recovery potential is a measure of how quickly a fish stock can recover from a major disturbance and serves as an indication of the extinction risk associated with a harvesting strategy. Our analysis reveals that a small reduction in yield or profit allows for a disproportional increase in recovery potential. We also show that there exists a harvesting strategy with yield close to the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and profit close to that associated with the maximum economic yield (MEY). In offering a good compromise between MSY and MEY, we believe that this harvesting strategy is preferable in most instances. Third, we consider the impact of harvesting on population size structure and analytically determine the most and least harmful harvesting strategies. We conclude that the most harmful harvesting strategy consists of harvesting both adults and juveniles, while harvesting only adults is the least harmful strategy. Finally, we find that a high percentage of juvenile biomass indicates elevated extinction risk and might therefore serve as an early-warning signal of impending stock collapse.

  9. Improved predictive model for n-decane kinetics across species, as a component of hydrocarbon mixtures.

    PubMed

    Merrill, E A; Gearhart, J M; Sterner, T R; Robinson, P J

    2008-07-01

    n-Decane is considered a major component of various fuels and industrial solvents. These hydrocarbon products are complex mixtures of hundreds of components, including straight-chain alkanes, branched chain alkanes, cycloalkanes, diaromatics, and naphthalenes. Human exposures to the jet fuel, JP-8, or to industrial solvents in vapor, aerosol, and liquid forms all have the potential to produce health effects, including immune suppression and/or neurological deficits. A physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model has previously been developed for n-decane, in which partition coefficients (PC), fitted to 4-h exposure kinetic data, were used in preference to measured values. The greatest discrepancy between fitted and measured values was for fat, where PC values were changed from 250-328 (measured) to 25 (fitted). Such a large change in a critical parameter, without any physiological basis, greatly impedes the model's extrapolative abilities, as well as its applicability for assessing the interactions of n-decane or similar alkanes with other compounds in a mixture model. Due to these limitations, the model was revised. Our approach emphasized the use of experimentally determined PCs because many tissues had not approached steady-state concentrations by the end of the 4-h exposures. Diffusion limitation was used to describe n-decane kinetics for the brain, perirenal fat, skin, and liver. Flow limitation was used to describe the remaining rapidly and slowly perfused tissues. As expected from the high lipophilicity of this semivolatile compound (log K(ow) = 5.25), sensitivity analyses showed that parameters describing fat uptake were next to blood:air partitioning and pulmonary ventilation as critical in determining overall systemic circulation and uptake in other tissues. In our revised model, partitioning into fat took multiple days to reach steady state, which differed considerably from the previous model that assumed steady-state conditions in fat at 4 h post dosing with 1200 ppm. Due to these improvements, and particularly the reconciliation between measured and fitted partition coefficients, especially fat, we have greater confidence in using the proposed model for dose, species, and route of exposure extrapolations and as a harmonized model approach for other hydrocarbon components of mixtures.

  10. Elucidating dynamic metabolic physiology through network integration of quantitative time-course metabolomics

    DOE PAGES

    Bordbar, Aarash; Yurkovich, James T.; Paglia, Giuseppe; ...

    2017-04-07

    In this study, the increasing availability of metabolomics data necessitates novel methods for deeper data analysis and interpretation. We present a flux balance analysis method that allows for the computation of dynamic intracellular metabolic changes at the cellular scale through integration of time-course absolute quantitative metabolomics. This approach, termed “unsteady-state flux balance analysis” (uFBA), is applied to four cellular systems: three dynamic and one steady-state as a negative control. uFBA and FBA predictions are contrasted, and uFBA is found to be more accurate in predicting dynamic metabolic flux states for red blood cells, platelets, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Notably, only uFBAmore » predicts that stored red blood cells metabolize TCA intermediates to regenerate important cofactors, such as ATP, NADH, and NADPH. These pathway usage predictions were subsequently validated through 13C isotopic labeling and metabolic flux analysis in stored red blood cells. Utilizing time-course metabolomics data, uFBA provides an accurate method to predict metabolic physiology at the cellular scale for dynamic systems.« less

  11. Elucidating dynamic metabolic physiology through network integration of quantitative time-course metabolomics

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

    Bordbar, Aarash; Yurkovich, James T.; Paglia, Giuseppe

    In this study, the increasing availability of metabolomics data necessitates novel methods for deeper data analysis and interpretation. We present a flux balance analysis method that allows for the computation of dynamic intracellular metabolic changes at the cellular scale through integration of time-course absolute quantitative metabolomics. This approach, termed “unsteady-state flux balance analysis” (uFBA), is applied to four cellular systems: three dynamic and one steady-state as a negative control. uFBA and FBA predictions are contrasted, and uFBA is found to be more accurate in predicting dynamic metabolic flux states for red blood cells, platelets, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Notably, only uFBAmore » predicts that stored red blood cells metabolize TCA intermediates to regenerate important cofactors, such as ATP, NADH, and NADPH. These pathway usage predictions were subsequently validated through 13C isotopic labeling and metabolic flux analysis in stored red blood cells. Utilizing time-course metabolomics data, uFBA provides an accurate method to predict metabolic physiology at the cellular scale for dynamic systems.« less

  12. Physiological responses to unvarying (steady) and 2-2-1 shifts : Miami International Flight Service Station.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1985-02-01

    Two types of shift rotation in the same air traffic facility were investigated in order to determine the relative advantages and disadvantages of nonrotating shift work (steady shift) and rotating shift work. The rotating shift work chosen for compar...

  13. Pseudo Steady-State Free Precession for MR-Fingerprinting.

    PubMed

    Assländer, Jakob; Glaser, Steffen J; Hennig, Jürgen

    2017-03-01

    This article discusses the signal behavior in the case the flip angle in steady-state free precession sequences is continuously varied as suggested for MR-fingerprinting sequences. Flip angle variations prevent the establishment of a steady state and introduce instabilities regarding to magnetic field inhomogeneities and intravoxel dephasing. We show how a pseudo steady state can be achieved, which restores the spin echo nature of steady-state free precession. Based on geometrical considerations, relationships between the flip angle, repetition and echo time are derived that suffice to the establishment of a pseudo steady state. The theory is tested with Bloch simulations as well as phantom and in vivo experiments. A typical steady-state free precession passband can be restored with the proposed conditions. The stability of the pseudo steady state is demonstrated by comparing the evolution of the signal of a single isochromat to one resulting from a spin ensemble. As confirmed by experiments, magnetization in a pseudo steady state can be described with fewer degrees of freedom compared to the original fingerprinting and the pseudo steady state results in more reliable parameter maps. The proposed conditions restore the spin-echo-like signal behavior typical for steady-state free precession in fingerprinting sequences, making this approach more robust to B 0 variations. Magn Reson Med 77:1151-1161, 2017. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

  14. Mechanism for multiplicity of steady states with distinct cell concentration in continuous culture of mammalian cells.

    PubMed

    Yongky, Andrew; Lee, Jongchan; Le, Tung; Mulukutla, Bhanu Chandra; Daoutidis, Prodromos; Hu, Wei-Shou

    2015-07-01

    Continuous culture for the production of biopharmaceutical proteins offers the possibility of steady state operations and thus more consistent product quality and increased productivity. Under some conditions, multiplicity of steady states has been observed in continuous cultures of mammalian cells, wherein with the same dilution rate and feed nutrient composition, steady states with very different cell and product concentrations may be reached. At those different steady states, cells may exhibit a high glycolysis flux with high lactate production and low cell concentration, or a low glycolysis flux with low lactate and high cell concentration. These different steady states, with different cell concentration, also have different productivity. Developing a mechanistic understanding of the occurrence of steady state multiplicity and devising a strategy to steer the culture toward the desired steady state is critical. We establish a multi-scale kinetic model that integrates a mechanistic intracellular metabolic model and cell growth model in a continuous bioreactor. We show that steady state multiplicity exists in a range of dilution rate in continuous culture as a result of the bistable behavior in glycolysis. The insights from the model were used to devise strategies to guide the culture to the desired steady state in the multiple steady state region. The model provides a guideline principle in the design of continuous culture processes of mammalian cells. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  15. Thyroid status modulates glycoxidative and lipoxidative modification of tissue proteins.

    PubMed

    Pamplona, R; Portero-Otín, M; Ruiz, C; Bellmunt, M J; Requena, J R; Thorpe, S R; Baynes, J W; Romero, M; López-Torres, M; Barja, G

    1999-10-01

    Steady state protein modification by carbonyl compounds is related to the rate of carbonyl adduct formation and the half-life of the protein. Thyroid hormones are physiologic modulators of both tissue oxidative stress and protein degradation. The levels of the glycation product N(epsilon)-fructoselysine (FL) and those of the oxidation products, N(epsilon)-(carboxymethyl)lysine (CML) and malondialdehyde-lysine (MDA-lys), identified by GC/MS in liver proteins, decreased significantly in hyperthyroid rats, as well as (less acutely) in hypothyroid animals. Immunoblotting of liver proteins for advanced glycation end-products (AGE) is in agreement with the results obtained by GC/MS. Cytosolic proteolytic activity against carboxymethylated foreign proteins measured in vitro was significantly increased in hypo- and hyperthyroidism. Oxidative damage to DNA, estimated as 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanosine (8oxodG), did not show significant differences between groups. The results suggests that the steady state levels of these markers depend on the levels of thyroid hormones, presumably through their combined effects on the rates of protein degradation and oxidative stress, whereas DNA is more protected from oxidative damage.

  16. Oxygen uptake kinetics of constant-load work - Upright vs. supine exercise

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Convertino, V. A.; Goldwater, D. J.; Sandler, H.

    1984-01-01

    Supine and upright positions were used in a comparitive study of the effects of constant load exercise on oxygen uptake (VO2), O2 deficit, steady-state VO2 and VO2 following recovery from constant load work. Ten male subjects (36-40 yr.) performed one submaximal exercise test in the supine and one test in the upright position consisting of 5 min rest and 5 min cycle ergometer exercise at 700 kg/min followed by ten minutes of recovery. It is found that the significant difference in VO2 kinetics during exercise in the upright compared to supine position resulted from changes in oxygen transport and utilization mechanisms rather than changes in mechanical efficiency. To the extent that data measured in the supine position can be used to estimate physiological responses to zero gravity, it is suggested that limitation of systemic O2 consumption may be the result of slow rates of oxygen uptake during transient periods of muscular work. Significant reductions in the rate of steady-state VO2 attainment at submaximal work intensities may produce an onset of muscle fatigue and exhaustion.

  17. Hydrodynamics of steady state phloem transport with radial leakage of solute

    PubMed Central

    Cabrita, Paulo; Thorpe, Michael; Huber, Gregor

    2013-01-01

    Long-distance phloem transport occurs under a pressure gradient generated by the osmotic exchange of water associated with solute exchange in source and sink regions. But these exchanges also occur along the pathway, and yet their physiological role has almost been ignored in mathematical models of phloem transport. Here we present a steady state model for transport phloem which allows solute leakage, based on the Navier-Stokes and convection-diffusion equations which describe fluid motion rigorously. Sieve tube membrane permeability Ps for passive solute exchange (and correspondingly, membrane reflection coefficient) influenced model results strongly, and had to lie in the bottom range of the values reported for plant cells for the results to be realistic. This smaller permeability reflects the efficient specialization of sieve tube elements, minimizing any diffusive solute loss favored by the large concentration difference across the sieve tube membrane. We also found there can be a specific reflection coefficient for which pressure profiles and sap velocities can both be similar to those predicted by the Hagen-Poiseuille equation for a completely impermeable tube. PMID:24409189

  18. Quasi-steady state conditions in heterogeneous aquifers during pumping tests

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zha, Yuanyuan; Yeh, Tian-Chyi J.; Shi, Liangsheng; Huang, Shao-Yang; Wang, Wenke; Wen, Jet-Chau

    2017-08-01

    Classical Thiem's well hydraulic theory, other aquifer test analyses, and flow modeling efforts often assume the existence of ;quasi-steady; state conditions. That is, while drawdowns due to pumping continue to grow, the hydraulic gradient in the vicinity of the pumping well does not change significantly. These conditions have built upon two-dimensional and equivalent homogeneous conceptual models, but few field data have been available to affirm the existence of these conditions. Moreover, effects of heterogeneity and three-dimensional flow on this quasi-steady state concept have not been thoroughly investigated and discussed before. In this study, we first present a quantitative definition of quasi-steady state (or steady-shape conditions) and steady state conditions based on the analytical solution of two- or three-dimensional flow induced by pumping in unbounded, homogeneous aquifers. Afterward, we use a stochastic analysis to investigate the influence of heterogeneity on the quasi-steady state concept in heterogeneous aquifers. The results of the analysis indicate that the time to reach an approximate quasi-steady state in a heterogeneous aquifer could be quite different from that estimated based on a homogeneous model. We find that heterogeneity of aquifer properties, especially hydraulic conductivity, impedes the development of the quasi-steady state condition before the flow reaching steady state. Finally, 280 drawdown-time data from the hydraulic tomographic survey conducted at a field site corroborate our finding that the quasi-steady state condition likely would not take place in heterogeneous aquifers unless pumping tests last a long period. Research significance (1) Approximate quasi-steady and steady state conditions are defined for two- or three-dimensional flow induced by pumping in unbounded, equivalent homogeneous aquifers. (2) Analysis demonstrates effects of boundary condition, well screen interval, and heterogeneity of parameters on the existence of the quasi-steady, and validity of approximate quasi-steady concept. (3) Temporal evaluation of information content about heterogeneity in head observations are analyzed in heterogeneous aquifer. (4) 280 observed drawdown-time data corroborate the stochastic analysis that quasi-steady is difficult to reach in highly heterogeneous aquifers.

  19. Estimating systemic exposure to levonorgestrel from an oral contraceptive.

    PubMed

    Basaraba, Cale N; Westhoff, Carolyn L; Pike, Malcolm C; Nandakumar, Renu; Cremers, Serge

    2017-04-01

    The gold standard for measuring oral contraceptive (OC) pharmacokinetics is the 24-h steady-state area under the curve (AUC). We conducted this study to assess whether limited sampling at steady state or measurements following use of one or two OCs could provide an adequate proxy in epidemiological studies for the progestin 24-h steady-state AUC of a particular OC. We conducted a 13-sample, 24-h pharmacokinetic study on both day 1 and day 21 of the first cycle of a monophasic OC containing 30-mcg ethinyl estradiol and 150-mcg levonorgestrel (LNG) in 17 normal-weight healthy White women and a single-dose 9-sample study of the same OC after a 1-month washout. We compared the 13-sample steady-state results with several steady-state and single-dose results calculated using parsimonious sampling schemes. The 13-sample steady-state 24-h LNG AUC was highly correlated with the steady-state 24-h trough value [r=0.95; 95% confidence interval (0.85, 0.98)] and with the steady-state 6-, 8-, 12- and 16-h values (0.92≤r≤0.95). The trough values after one or two doses were moderately correlated with the steady-state 24-h AUC value [r=0.70; 95% CI (0.27, 0.90) and 0.77; 95% CI (0.40, 0.92), respectively]. Single time-point concentrations at steady state and after administration of one or two OCs gave highly to moderately correlated estimates of steady-state LNG AUC. Using such measures could facilitate prospective pharmaco-epidemiologic studies of the OC and its side effects. A single time-point LNG concentration at steady state is an excellent proxy for complete and resource-intensive steady-state AUC measurement. The trough level after two single doses is a fair proxy for steady-state AUC. These results provide practical tools to facilitate large studies to investigate the relationship between systemic LNG exposure and side effects in a real-life setting. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. A comparison of a novel testosterone bioadhesive buccal system, striant, with a testosterone adhesive patch in hypogonadal males.

    PubMed

    Korbonits, Márta; Slawik, Marc; Cullen, Derek; Ross, Richard J; Stalla, Günter; Schneider, Harald; Reincke, Martin; Bouloux, Pierre M; Grossman, Ashley B

    2004-05-01

    A novel delivery system has been developed for testosterone replacement. This formulation, COL-1621 (Striant), a testosterone-containing buccal mucoadhesive system, has been shown in preliminary studies to replace testosterone at physiological levels when used twice daily. Therefore, the current study compared the steady-state pharmacokinetics and tolerability of the buccal system with a testosterone-containing skin patch (Andropatch or Androderm) in an international multicenter study of a group of hypogonadal men. Sixty-six patients were randomized into two groups; one applied the buccal system twice daily, whereas the other applied the transdermal patch daily, in each case for 7 d. Serum total testosterone and dihydrotestosterone concentrations were measured at d 1, 3 or 4, and 6, and serially over the last 24 h of the study. Pharmacokinetic parameters for each formulation were calculated, and the two groups were compared. The tolerability of both formulations was also evaluated. Thirty-three patients were treated with the buccal preparation, and 34 were treated with the transdermal patch. The average serum testosterone concentration over 24 h showed a mean of 18.74 nmol/liter (SD =; 5.90) in the buccal system group and 12.15 nmol/liter (SD =; 5.55) in the transdermal patch group (P < 0.01). Of the patients treated with the buccal system, 97% had average steady-state testosterone concentrations within the physiological range (10.41-36.44 nmol/liter), whereas only 56% of the transdermal patch patients achieved physiological total testosterone concentrations (P < 0.001 between groups). Testosterone concentrations were within the physiological range in the buccal system group for a significantly greater portion of the 24-h treatment period than in the transdermal patch group (mean, 84.9% vs. 54.9%; P < 0.001). Testosterone/dihydrotestosterone ratios were physiological and similar in both groups. Few patients experienced major adverse effects from either treatment. No significant local tolerability problems were noted with the buccal system, other than a single patient withdrawal. We conclude that this buccal system is superior to the transdermal patch in achieving testosterone concentrations within the normal range. It may, therefore, be a valuable addition to the range of choices for testosterone replacement therapy.

  1. Measuring subcutaneous temperature and differential rates of rewarming from hibernation and daily torpor in two species of bats.

    PubMed

    Currie, Shannon E; Körtner, Gerhard; Geiser, Fritz

    2015-12-01

    Prolonged and remote measurement of body temperature (Tb) in undisturbed small hibernators was not possible in the past because of technological limitations. Although passive integrated transponders (PITs) have been used previously to measure subcutaneous temperature (Tsub) during daily torpor in a small marsupial, no study has attempted to use these devices at Tbs below 10°C. Therefore, we investigated whether subcutaneous interscapular PITs can be used as a viable tool for measuring Tb in a small hibernating bat (Nyctophilus gouldi; Ng) and compared it with measurements of Tb during daily torpor in a heterothermic bat (Syconycteris australis; Sa). The precision of transponders was investigated as a function of ambient temperature (Ta) and remote Tsub readings enabled us to quantify Tsub-Tb differentials during steady-state torpor and arousal. Transponders functioned well outside the manufacturer's recommended range, down to ~5°C. At rest, Tsub and rectal Tb (Trec) were strongly correlated for both bat species (Ng r(2)=0.88; Sa r(2)=0.95) and this was also true for N. gouldi in steady-state torpor (r(2)=0.93). During induced rewarming Tsub increased faster than Trec in both species. Our results demonstrate that transponders can be used to provide accurate remote measurement of Tb in two species of bats during different physiological states, both during steady-state conditions and throughout dynamic phases such as rewarming from torpor. We show that, at least during rewarming, regional heterothermy common to larger hibernators and other hibernating bats is also present in bats capable of daily torpor. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. A Futile Redox Cycle Involving Neuroglobin Observed at Physiological Temperature.

    PubMed

    Liu, Anyang; Brittain, Thomas

    2015-08-24

    Previous studies identifying the potential anti-apoptotic role of neuroglobin raise the question as to how cells might employ neuroglobin to avoid the apoptotic impact of acute hypoxia whilst also avoiding chronic enhancement of tumour formation. We show that under likely physiological conditions neuroglobin can take part in a futile redox cycle. Determination of the rate constants for each of the steps in the cycle allows us to mathematically model the steady state concentration of the active anti-apoptotic ferrous form of neuroglobin under various conditions. Under likely normal physiological conditions neuroglobin is shown to be present in the ferrous state at approximately 30% of its total cellular concentration. Under hypoxic conditions this rapidly rises to approximately 80%. Temporal analysis of this model indicates that the transition from low concentrations to high concentration of ferrous neuroglobin occurs on the seconds time scale. These findings indicate a potential control model for the anti-apoptotic activity of neuroglobin, under likely physiological conditions, whereby, in normoxic conditions, the anti-apoptotic activity of neuroglobin is maintained at a low level, whilst immediately a transition occurs to a hypoxic situation, as might arise during stroke, the anti-apoptotic activity is drastically increased. In this way the cell avoids unwanted increased oncogenic potential under normal conditions, but the rapid activation of neuroglobin provides anti-apoptotic protection in times of acute hypoxia.

  3. Enhancing emotional-based target prediction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gosnell, Michael; Woodley, Robert

    2008-04-01

    This work extends existing agent-based target movement prediction to include key ideas of behavioral inertia, steady states, and catastrophic change from existing psychological, sociological, and mathematical work. Existing target prediction work inherently assumes a single steady state for target behavior, and attempts to classify behavior based on a single emotional state set. The enhanced, emotional-based target prediction maintains up to three distinct steady states, or typical behaviors, based on a target's operating conditions and observed behaviors. Each steady state has an associated behavioral inertia, similar to the standard deviation of behaviors within that state. The enhanced prediction framework also allows steady state transitions through catastrophic change and individual steady states could be used in an offline analysis with additional modeling efforts to better predict anticipated target reactions.

  4. Steady- and non-steady-state carbonate-silicate controls on atmospheric CO2

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Sundquist, E.T.

    1991-01-01

    Two contrasting hypotheses have recently been proposed for the past long-term relation between atmospheric CO2 and the carbonate-silicate geochemical cycle. One approach (Berner, 1990) suggests that CO2 levels have varied in a manner that has maintained chemical weathering and carbonate sedimentation at a steady state with respect to tectonically controlled decarbonation reactions. A second approach (Raymo et al., 1988), applied specificlly to the late Cenozoic, suggests a decrease in CO2 caused by an uplift-induced increase in chemical weathering, without regard to the rate of decarbonation. According to the steady-state (first) hypothesis, increased weathering and carbonate sedimentation are generally associated with increasing atmospheric CO2, whereas the uplift (second) hypothesis implies decreasing CO2 under the same conditions. An ocean-atmosphere-sediment model has been used to assess the response of atmospheric CO2 and carbonate sedimentation to global perturbations in chemical weathering and decarbonation reactions. Although this assessment is theoretical and cannot yet be related to the geologic record, the model simulations compare steady-state and non-steady-state carbonate-silicate cycle response. The e-fold response time of the 'CO2-weathering' feedback mechanism is between 300 and 400 ka. The response of carbonate sedimentation is much more rapid. These response times provide a measure of the strength of steady-state assumptions, and imply that certain systematic relations are sustained throughout steady-state and non-steady-state scenarios for the carbonate-silicate cycle. The simulations suggest that feedbacks can maintain the system near a steady state, but that non-steady-state effects may contribute to long-term trends. The steady-state and uplift hypotheses are not necessarily incompatible over time scales of a few million years. ?? 1991.

  5. Self selected speed and maximal lactate steady state speed in swimming.

    PubMed

    Baron, B; Dekerle, J; Depretz, S; Lefevre, T; Pelayo, P

    2005-03-01

    The purposes of this study were to ascertain whether physiological and stroking parameters remain stable during a 2-hour exercise performed at self-selected swimming speed (S4) and whether this speed corresponds to those associated with the maximal lactate steady state (SMLSS). Ten well-trained competitive swimmers performed a maximal 400-m front crawl test, 4 30-min swimming tests in order to determine S(MLSS) and a 2-hour test swum at their preferred paces to determine self-selected swimming speed (S4), stroke rate (SR4), and stroke length (SL4) defined as the mean values observed between the 5th and the 15th min of this test. The stroking, metabolic and respiratory parameters, and ratings of perceived exertion (CR10) were reported throughout the 2-hour test. S4 and SMLSS were not significantly different and were highly correlated (r=0.891). S4 and SL4 decreased significantly after a steady state of 68 min and 100 min, respectively, whereas SR4 remained constant. Mean VO2, dioxide output, and heart rate values did not evolve significantly between the 10th and 120th minute of the test whereas capillary blood lactate concentration (La) decreased significantly (p<0.05). Moreover, respiratory CR10 did not evolve significantly between the 10th and the 120th minute of the test whereas general CR10 and muscular CR10 increased significantly. Considering the (La), SL4 and CR10 values variations, muscular parameters and a probably glycogenic depletion seem to be the main limiting factors that prevent maintaining the self selected swimming speed.

  6. The interplay of seven subthreshold conductances controls the resting membrane potential and the oscillatory behavior of thalamocortical neurons

    PubMed Central

    Zagha, Edward; Mato, German; Rudy, Bernardo; Nadal, Marcela S.

    2014-01-01

    The signaling properties of thalamocortical (TC) neurons depend on the diversity of ion conductance mechanisms that underlie their rich membrane behavior at subthreshold potentials. Using patch-clamp recordings of TC neurons in brain slices from mice and a realistic conductance-based computational model, we characterized seven subthreshold ion currents of TC neurons and quantified their individual contributions to the total steady-state conductance at levels below tonic firing threshold. We then used the TC neuron model to show that the resting membrane potential results from the interplay of several inward and outward currents over a background provided by the potassium and sodium leak currents. The steady-state conductances of depolarizing Ih (hyperpolarization-activated cationic current), IT (low-threshold calcium current), and INaP (persistent sodium current) move the membrane potential away from the reversal potential of the leak conductances. This depolarization is counteracted in turn by the hyperpolarizing steady-state current of IA (fast transient A-type potassium current) and IKir (inwardly rectifying potassium current). Using the computational model, we have shown that single parameter variations compatible with physiological or pathological modulation promote burst firing periodicity. The balance between three amplifying variables (activation of IT, activation of INaP, and activation of IKir) and three recovering variables (inactivation of IT, activation of IA, and activation of Ih) determines the propensity, or lack thereof, of repetitive burst firing of TC neurons. We also have determined the specific roles that each of these variables have during the intrinsic oscillation. PMID:24760784

  7. Uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation and ATP synthase reversal within the hyperthermic heart.

    PubMed

    Power, Amelia; Pearson, Nicholas; Pham, Toan; Cheung, Carlos; Phillips, Anthony; Hickey, Anthony

    2014-09-01

    Heart failure is a common cause of death with hyperthermia, and the exact cause of hyperthermic heart failure appears elusive. We hypothesize that the energy supply (ATP) of the heart may become impaired due to increased inner-mitochondrial membrane permeability and inefficient oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). Therefore, we assessed isolated working heart and mitochondrial function. Ex vivo working rat hearts were perfused between 37 and 43.5°C and showed break points in all functional parameters at ~40.5°C. Mitochondrial high-resolution respirometry coupled to fluorometry was employed to determine the effects of hyperthermia on OXPHOS and mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨ) in vitro using a comprehensive metabolic substrate complement with isolated mitochondria. Relative to 37 and 40°C, 43°C elevated Leak O2 flux and depressed OXPHOS O2 flux and ∆Ψ. Measurement of steady-state ATP production from mitochondria revealed decreased ATP synthesis capacity, and a negative steady-state P:O ratio at 43°C. This approach offers a more powerful analysis of the effects of temperature on OXPHOS that cannot be measured using simple measures such as the traditional respiratory control ratio (RCR) or P:O ratio, which, respectively, can only approach 1 or 0 with inner-membrane failure. At 40°C there was only a slight enhancement of the Leak O2 flux and this did not significantly affect ATP production rate. Therefore, during mild hyperthermia (40°C) there is no enhancement of ATP supply by mitochondria, to accompany increasing cardiac energy demands, while between this and critical hyperthermia (43°C), mitochondria become net consumers of ATP. This consumption may contribute to cardiac failure or permanent damage during severe hyperthermia. © 2014 The Authors. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American Physiological Society and The Physiological Society.

  8. Ventilatory and Physiological Responses in Swimmers Below and Above Their Maximal Lactate Steady State.

    PubMed

    Espada, Mario C; Reis, Joana F; Almeida, Tiago F; Bruno, Paula M; Vleck, Veronica E; Alves, Francisco B

    2015-10-01

    The purpose of this study was to understand the ventilatory and physiological responses immediately below and above the maximal lactate steady-state (MLSS) velocity and to determine the relationship of oxygen uptake (VO2) kinetics parameters with performance, in swimmers. Competitive athletes (N = 12) completed in random order and on different days a 400-m all-out test, an incremental step test comprising 5 × 250- and 1 × 200-m stages and 30 minutes at a constant swimming velocity (SV) at 87.5, 90, and 92.5% of the maximal aerobic velocity for MLSS velocity (MLSSv) determination. Two square-wave transitions of 500 m, 2.5% above and below the MLSSv were completed to determine VO2 on-kinetics. End-exercise VO2 at 97.5 and 102.5% of MLSSv represented, respectively, 81 and 97% of VO2max; the latter was not significantly different from maximal VO2 (VO2max). The VO2 at MLSSv (49.3 ± 9.2 ml·kg(-1)·min(-1)) was not significantly different from the second ventilatory threshold (VT2) (51.3 ± 7.6 ml·kg(-1)·min(-1)). The velocity associated with MLSS seems to be accurately estimated by the SV at VT2 (vVT2), and vVO2max also seems to be estimated with accuracy from the central 300-m mean velocity of a 400-m trial, indicators that represent a helpful tool for coaches. The 400-m swimming performance (T400) was correlated with the time constant of the primary phase VO2 kinetics (τp) at 97.5% MLSSv, and T800 was correlated with τp in both 97.5 and 102.5% of MLSSv. The assessment of the VO2 kinetics in swimming can help coaches to build training sets according to a swimmer's individual physiological response.

  9. The effects of superimposed tilt and lower body negative pressure on anterior and posterior cerebral circulations.

    PubMed

    Tymko, Michael M; Rickards, Caroline A; Skow, Rachel J; Ingram-Cotton, Nathan C; Howatt, Michael K; Day, Trevor A

    2016-09-01

    Steady-state tilt has no effect on cerebrovascular reactivity to increases in the partial pressure of end-tidal carbon dioxide (PETCO2). However, the anterior and posterior cerebral circulations may respond differently to a variety of stimuli that alter central blood volume, including lower body negative pressure (LBNP). Little is known about the superimposed effects of head-up tilt (HUT; decreased central blood volume and intracranial pressure) and head-down tilt (HDT; increased central blood volume and intracranial pressure), and LBNP on cerebral blood flow (CBF) responses. We hypothesized that (a) cerebral blood velocity (CBV; an index of CBF) responses during LBNP would not change with HUT and HDT, and (b) CBV in the anterior cerebral circulation would decrease to a greater extent compared to posterior CBV during LBNP when controlling PETCO2 In 13 male participants, we measured CBV in the anterior (middle cerebral artery, MCAv) and posterior (posterior cerebral artery, PCAv) cerebral circulations using transcranial Doppler ultrasound during LBNP stress (-50 mmHg) in three body positions (45°HUT, supine, 45°HDT). PETCO2 was measured continuously and maintained at constant levels during LBNP through coached breathing. Our main findings were that (a) steady-state tilt had no effect on CBV responses during LBNP in both the MCA (P = 0.077) and PCA (P = 0.583), and (b) despite controlling for PETCO2, both the MCAv and PCAv decreased by the same magnitude during LBNP in HUT (P = 0.348), supine (P = 0.694), and HDT (P = 0.407). Here, we demonstrate that there are no differences in anterior and posterior circulations in response to LBNP in different body positions. © 2016 The Authors. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American Physiological Society and The Physiological Society.

  10. Steady States, Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorems and Homogenization for Reversible Diffusions in a Random Environment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mathieu, P.; Piatnitski, A.

    2018-04-01

    Prolongating our previous paper on the Einstein relation, we study the motion of a particle diffusing in a random reversible environment when subject to a small external forcing. In order to describe the long time behavior of the particle, we introduce the notions of steady state and weak steady state. We establish the continuity of weak steady states for an ergodic and uniformly elliptic environment. When the environment has finite range of dependence, we prove the existence of the steady state and weak steady state and compute its derivative at a vanishing force. Thus we obtain a complete `fluctuation-dissipation Theorem' in this context as well as the continuity of the effective variance.

  11. Steady state volcanism - Evidence from eruption histories of polygenetic volcanoes

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wadge, G.

    1982-01-01

    Cumulative volcano volume curves are presented as evidence for steady-state behavior at certain volcanoes and to develop a model of steady-state volcanism. A minimum criteria of five eruptions over a year was chosen to characterize a steady-state volcano. The subsequent model features a constant head of magmatic pressure from a reservoir supplied from depth, a sawtooth curve produced by the magma arrivals or discharge from the subvolcanic reservoir, large volume eruptions with long repose periods, and conditions of nonsupply of magma. The behavior of Mts. Etna, Nyamuragira, and Kilauea are described and show continuous levels of plasma output resulting in cumulative volume increases. Further discussion is made of steady-state andesitic and dacitic volcanism, long term patterns of the steady state, and magma storage, and the lack of a sufficient number of steady-state volcanoes in the world is taken as evidence that further data is required for a comprehensive model.

  12. iSCHRUNK--In Silico Approach to Characterization and Reduction of Uncertainty in the Kinetic Models of Genome-scale Metabolic Networks.

    PubMed

    Andreozzi, Stefano; Miskovic, Ljubisa; Hatzimanikatis, Vassily

    2016-01-01

    Accurate determination of physiological states of cellular metabolism requires detailed information about metabolic fluxes, metabolite concentrations and distribution of enzyme states. Integration of fluxomics and metabolomics data, and thermodynamics-based metabolic flux analysis contribute to improved understanding of steady-state properties of metabolism. However, knowledge about kinetics and enzyme activities though essential for quantitative understanding of metabolic dynamics remains scarce and involves uncertainty. Here, we present a computational methodology that allow us to determine and quantify the kinetic parameters that correspond to a certain physiology as it is described by a given metabolic flux profile and a given metabolite concentration vector. Though we initially determine kinetic parameters that involve a high degree of uncertainty, through the use of kinetic modeling and machine learning principles we are able to obtain more accurate ranges of kinetic parameters, and hence we are able to reduce the uncertainty in the model analysis. We computed the distribution of kinetic parameters for glucose-fed E. coli producing 1,4-butanediol and we discovered that the observed physiological state corresponds to a narrow range of kinetic parameters of only a few enzymes, whereas the kinetic parameters of other enzymes can vary widely. Furthermore, this analysis suggests which are the enzymes that should be manipulated in order to engineer the reference state of the cell in a desired way. The proposed approach also sets up the foundations of a novel type of approaches for efficient, non-asymptotic, uniform sampling of solution spaces. Copyright © 2015 International Metabolic Engineering Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Estimating Systemic Exposure to Levonorgestrel from an Oral Contraceptive

    PubMed Central

    Basaraba, Cale N; Westhoff, Carolyn L; Pike, Malcolm C; Nandakumar, Renu; Cremers, Serge

    2017-01-01

    Objective The gold standard for measuring oral contraceptive (OC) pharmacokinetics is the 24-hour steady-state area-under-the-curve (AUC). We conducted this study to assess whether limited sampling at steady state or measurements following use of one or two OCs could provide an adequate proxy in epidemiological studies for the progestin 24-hour steady-state AUC of a particular OC. Study Design We conducted a 13-sample, 24-hour pharmacokinetic study on both day 1 and day 21 of the first cycle of a monophasic OC containing 30 μg ethinyl estradiol and 150 μg levonorgestrel (LNG) in 17 normal-weight healthy white women, and a single-dose 9-sample study of the same OC after a one-month washout. We compared the 13-sample steady-state results with several steady-state and single-dose results calculated using parsimonious sampling schemes. Results The 13-sample steady-state 24-hour LNG AUC was highly correlated with the steady-state 24-hour trough value (r = 0.95; 95% CI [0.85, 0.98]) and with the steady-state 6, 8, 12 and 16-hour values (0.92 ≤ r ≤ 0.95). The trough values after one or two doses were moderately correlated with the steady-state 24-hour AUC value (r = 0.70; 95% CI [0.27, 0.90] and 0.77; 95% CI [0.40, 0.92], respectively). Conclusions Single time-point concentrations at steady-state and after administration of one or two OCs gave highly to moderately correlated estimates of steady-state LNG AUC. Using such measures could facilitate prospective pharmaco-epidemiologic studies of the OC and its side effects. PMID:28041990

  14. Multimode optical fibers: steady state mode exciter.

    PubMed

    Ikeda, M; Sugimura, A; Ikegami, T

    1976-09-01

    The steady state mode power distribution of the multimode graded index fiber was measured. A simple and effective steady state mode exciter was fabricated by an etching technique. Its insertion loss was 0.5 dB for an injection laser. Deviation in transmission characteristics of multimode graded index fibers can be avoided by using the steady state mode exciter.

  15. Illustrating the Steady-State Condition and the Single-Molecule Kinetic Method with the NMDA Receptor

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kosman, Daniel J.

    2009-01-01

    The steady-state is a fundamental aspect of biochemical pathways in cells; indeed, the concept of steady-state is a definition of life itself. In a simple enzyme kinetic scheme, the steady-state condition is easy to define analytically but experimentally often difficult to capture because of its evanescent quality; the initial, constant velocity…

  16. Steady state and a general scale law of deformation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huang, Yan

    2017-07-01

    Steady state deformation has been characterized based on the experimental results for dilute single-phase aluminium alloys. It was found that although characteristic properties such as flow stress and grain size remained constant with time, a continuous loss of grain boundaries occurred as an essential feature at steady state. A physical model, which takes into account the activity of grain boundary dislocations, was developed to describe the kinetics of steady state deformation. According to this model, the steady state as a function of strain rate and temperature defines the limit of the conventional grain size and strength relationship, i.e., the Hall-Petch relation holds when the grain size is larger than that at the steady state, and an inverse Hall-Petch relation takes over if grain size is smaller than the steady state value. The transition between the two relationships relating grain size and strength is a phenomenon that depends on deformation conditions, rather than an intrinsic property as generally perceived. A general scale law of deformation is established accordingly.

  17. Phased array ghost elimination (PAGE) for segmented SSFP imaging with interrupted steady-state.

    PubMed

    Kellman, Peter; Guttman, Michael A; Herzka, Daniel A; McVeigh, Elliot R

    2002-12-01

    Steady-state free precession (SSFP) has recently proven to be valuable for cardiac imaging due to its high signal-to-noise ratio and blood-myocardium contrast. Data acquired using ECG-triggered, segmented sequences during the approach to steady-state, or return to steady-state after interruption, may have ghost artifacts due to periodic k-space distortion. Schemes involving several preparatory RF pulses have been proposed to restore steady-state, but these consume imaging time during early systole. Alternatively, the phased-array ghost elimination (PAGE) method may be used to remove ghost artifacts from the first several frames. PAGE was demonstrated for cardiac cine SSFP imaging with interrupted steady-state using a simple alpha/2 magnetization preparation and storage scheme and a spatial tagging preparation.

  18. Auditory fear conditioning modifies steady-state evoked potentials in the rat inferior colliculus.

    PubMed

    Lockmann, André Luiz Vieira; Mourão, Flávio Afonso Gonçalves; Moraes, Marcio Flávio Dutra

    2017-08-01

    The rat inferior colliculus (IC) is a major midbrain relay for ascending inputs from the auditory brain stem and has been suggested to play a key role in the processing of aversive sounds. Previous studies have demonstrated that auditory fear conditioning (AFC) potentiates transient responses to brief tones in the IC, but it remains unexplored whether AFC modifies responses to sustained periodic acoustic stimulation-a type of response called the steady-state evoked potential (SSEP). Here we used an amplitude-modulated tone-a 10-kHz tone with a sinusoidal amplitude modulation of 53.7 Hz-as the conditioning stimulus (CS) in an AFC protocol (5 CSs per day in 3 consecutive days) while recording local field potentials (LFPs) from the IC. In the preconditioning session ( day 1 ), the CS elicited prominent 53.7-Hz SSEPs. In the training session ( day 2 ), foot shocks occurred at the end of each CS (paired group) or randomized in the inter-CS interval (unpaired group). In the test session ( day 3 ), SSEPs markedly differed from preconditioning in the paired group: in the first two trials the phase to which the SSEP coupled to the CS amplitude envelope shifted ~90°; in the last two trials the SSEP power and the coherence of SSEP with the CS amplitude envelope increased. LFP power decreased in frequency bands other than 53.7 Hz. In the unpaired group, SSEPs did not change in the test compared with preconditioning. Our results show that AFC causes dissociated changes in the phase and power of SSEP in the IC. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Local field potential oscillations in the inferior colliculus follow the amplitude envelope of an amplitude-modulated tone, originating a neural response called the steady-state evoked potential. We show that auditory fear conditioning of an amplitude-modulated tone modifies two parameters of the steady-state evoked potentials in the inferior colliculus: first the phase to which the evoked oscillation couples to the amplitude-modulated tone shifts; subsequently, the evoked oscillation power increases along with its coherence with the amplitude-modulated tone. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

  19. Bioaccumulation factors and the steady state assumption for cesium isotopes in aquatic foodwebs near nuclear facilities.

    PubMed

    Rowan, D J

    2013-07-01

    Steady state approaches, such as transfer coefficients or bioaccumulation factors, are commonly used to model the bioaccumulation of (137)Cs in aquatic foodwebs from routine operations and releases from nuclear generating stations and other nuclear facilities. Routine releases from nuclear generating stations and facilities, however, often consist of pulses as liquid waste is stored, analyzed to ensure regulatory compliance and then released. The effect of repeated pulse releases on the steady state assumption inherent in the bioaccumulation factor approach has not been evaluated. In this study, I examine the steady state assumption for aquatic biota by analyzing data for two cesium isotopes in the same biota, one isotope in steady state (stable (133)Cs) from geologic sources and the other released in pulses ((137)Cs) from reactor operations. I also compare (137)Cs bioaccumulation factors for similar upstream populations from the same system exposed solely to weapon test (137)Cs, and assumed to be in steady state. The steady state assumption appears to be valid for small organisms at lower trophic levels (zooplankton, rainbow smelt and 0+ yellow perch) but not for older and larger fish at higher trophic levels (walleye). Attempts to account for previous exposure and retention through a biokinetics approach had a similar effect on steady state, upstream and non-steady state, downstream populations of walleye, but were ineffective in explaining the more or less constant deviation between fish with steady state exposures and non-steady state exposures of about 2-fold for all age classes of walleye. These results suggest that for large, piscivorous fish, repeated exposure to short duration, pulse releases leads to much higher (137)Cs BAFs than expected from (133)Cs BAFs for the same fish or (137)Cs BAFs for similar populations in the same system not impacted by reactor releases. These results suggest that the steady state approach should be used with caution in any situation where reactor releases are episodic or pulse in nature, even if the magnitude of these releases is small. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  20. Steady shape analysis of tomographic pumping tests for characterization of aquifer heterogeneities

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bohling, Geoffrey C.; Zhan, Xiaoyong; Butler, James J.; Zheng, Li

    2002-01-01

    Hydraulic tomography, a procedure involving the performance of a suite of pumping tests in a tomographic format, provides information about variations in hydraulic conductivity at a level of detail not obtainable with traditional well tests. However, analysis of transient data from such a suite of pumping tests represents a substantial computational burden. Although steady state responses can be analyzed to reduce this computational burden significantly, the time required to reach steady state will often be too long for practical applications of the tomography concept. In addition, uncertainty regarding the mechanisms driving the system to steady state can propagate to adversely impact the resulting hydraulic conductivity estimates. These disadvantages of a steady state analysis can be overcome by exploiting the simplifications possible under the steady shape flow regime. At steady shape conditions, drawdown varies with time but the hydraulic gradient does not. Thus transient data can be analyzed with the computational efficiency of a steady state model. In this study, we demonstrate the value of the steady shape concept for inversion of hydraulic tomography data and investigate its robustness with respect to improperly specified boundary conditions.

  1. Fluid Dynamics of a Novel Micro-Fistula Implant for the Surgical Treatment of Glaucoma.

    PubMed

    Sheybani, Arsham; Reitsamer, Herbert; Ahmed, Iqbal Ike K

    2015-07-01

    The purpose of this study was to describe the fluidics of a novel non-valved glaucoma implant designed to prevent hypotony and compare the fluidics of this device with two commonly used non-valved glaucoma devices. The XEN 45 micro-fistula implant was designed to limit hypotony by virtue of its length and width according to the Hagen-Poiseuille equation. Flow testing was performed using a syringe pump and pressure transducer at multiple flow rates. The pressure differentials across the XEN implant, the Ex-Press implant, and 10 mm of silicone tubing from a Baerveldt implant at a physiologic flow rate (2.5 μL/min) were extrapolated. The XEN 45 achieved a steady-state pressure calculated at 7.56 mm Hg at 2.5 μL/min. At the same flow rate, the Ex-Press device and Baerveldt tubing reached steady-state pressures of 0.09 and 0.01 mm Hg, respectively. Under flow testing, the XEN micro-fistula implant was able to maintain backpressure above numerical hypotony levels without the use of complex valve systems. This is due to the XEN implant's design, derived from the principles that dictate Newtonian fluids.

  2. Field swimming performance of bluegill sunfish, Lepomis macrochirus: implications for field activity cost estimates and laboratory measures of swimming performance.

    PubMed

    Cathcart, Kelsey; Shin, Seo Yim; Milton, Joanna; Ellerby, David

    2017-10-01

    Mobility is essential to the fitness of many animals, and the costs of locomotion can dominate daily energy budgets. Locomotor costs are determined by the physiological demands of sustaining mechanical performance, yet performance is poorly understood for most animals in the field, particularly aquatic organisms. We have used 3-D underwater videography to quantify the swimming trajectories and propulsive modes of bluegills sunfish ( Lepomis macrochirus , Rafinesque) in the field with high spatial (1-3 mm per pixel) and temporal (60 Hz frame rate) resolution. Although field swimming trajectories were variable and nonlinear in comparison to quasi steady-state swimming in recirculating flumes, they were much less unsteady than the volitional swimming behaviors that underlie existing predictive models of field swimming cost. Performance analyses suggested that speed and path curvature data could be used to derive reasonable estimates of locomotor cost that fit within measured capacities for sustainable activity. The distinct differences between field swimming behavior and performance measures obtained under steady-state laboratory conditions suggest that field observations are essential for informing approaches to quantifying locomotor performance in the laboratory.

  3. Cadmium ecophysiology in seven stonefly (Plecoptera) species: Delineating sources and estimating susceptibility

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Martin, C.A.; Luoma, S.N.; Cain, D.J.; Buchwalter, D.B.

    2007-01-01

    A major challenge in ecotoxicology lies in generating data under experimental conditions that are relevant to understanding contaminant effects in nature. Biodynamic modeling combines species-specific physiological traits to make predictions of metal bioaccumulation that fare well when tested in the field. We generated biodynamic models for seven predatory stonefly (Plecoptera) species representing the families Perlidae (5) and Perlodidae (2). Each taxon was exposed to cadmium independently via diet and via solution. Species varied approximately 2.6 fold in predicted steady-state cadmium concentrations. Diet was the predominant source of accumulated cadmium in five of the seven species and averaged 53.2 ?? 9.6% and 90.2 ?? 3.7% of net Cd accumulation in perlids and perlodids, respectively. Differences in Cd bioaccumulation between the two families were largely driven by differences in dissolved accumulation rates, which were considerably slower in perlodids than in perlids. We further examined the subcellular compartmentalization of Cd accumulated from independent aqueous and dietary exposures. Predicted steady-state concentrations were modified to only consider Cd accumulated in metal-sensitive subcellular compartments. These values ranged 5.3 fold. We discuss this variability within a phylogenetic context and its implications for bioassessment. ?? 2007 American Chemical Society.

  4. GM-CSF: An Immune Modulatory Cytokine that can Suppress Autoimmunity

    PubMed Central

    Bhattacharya, Palash; Thiruppathi, Muthusamy; Elshabrawy, Hatem A.; Alharshawi, Khaled; Kumar, Prabhakaran; Prabhakar, Bellur S.

    2015-01-01

    GM-CSF was originally identified as a colony stimulating factor (CSF) because of its ability to induce granulocyte and macrophage populations from precursor cells. Multiple studies have demonstrated that GM-CSF is also an immune-modulatory cytokine, capable of affecting not only the phenotype of myeloid lineage cells, but also T-cell activation through various myeloid intermediaries. This property has been implicated in the sustenance of several autoimmune diseases like arthritis and multiple sclerosis. In contrast, several studies using animal models have shown that GM-CSF is also capable of suppressing many autoimmune diseases like Crohn's disease, Type-1 diabetes, Myasthenia gravis and experimental autoimmune thyroiditis. Knockout mouse studies have suggested that the role of GM-CSF in maintaining granulocyte and macrophage populations in the physiological steady state is largely redundant. Instead, its immune-modulatory role plays a significant role in the development or resolution of autoimmune diseases. This is mediated either through the differentiation of precursor cells into specialized non-steady state granulocytes, macrophages and dendritic cells, or through the modulation of the phenotype of mature myeloid cells. Thus, outside of myelopoiesis, GM-CSF has a profound role in regulating the immune response and maintaining immunological tolerance. PMID:26113402

  5. MR Fingerprinting Using Fast Imaging with Steady State Precession (FISP) with Spiral Readout

    PubMed Central

    Jiang, Yun; Ma, Dan; Seiberlich, Nicole; Gulani, Vikas; Griswold, Mark A.

    2015-01-01

    Purpose This study explores the possibility of using gradient echo based sequences other than bSSFP in the magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) framework to quantify the relaxation parameters. Methods An MRF method based on a fast imaging with steady state precession (FISP) sequence structure is presented. A dictionary containing possible signal evolutions with physiological range of T1 and T2 was created using the extended phase graph (EPG) formalism according to the acquisition parameters. The proposed method was evaluated in a phantom and a human brain. T1, T2 and proton density were quantified directly from the undersampled data by the pattern recognition algorithm. Results T1 and T2 values from the phantom demonstrate that the results of MRF FISP are in good agreement with the traditional gold-standard methods. T1 and T2 values in brain are within the range of previously reported values. Conclusion MRF FISP enables a fast and accurate quantification of the relaxation parameters, while is immune to the banding artifact of bSSFP due to B0 inhomogeneities, which could improve the ability to use MRF for applications beyond brain imaging. PMID:25491018

  6. Steady states and stability in metabolic networks without regulation.

    PubMed

    Ivanov, Oleksandr; van der Schaft, Arjan; Weissing, Franz J

    2016-07-21

    Metabolic networks are often extremely complex. Despite intensive efforts many details of these networks, e.g., exact kinetic rates and parameters of metabolic reactions, are not known, making it difficult to derive their properties. Considerable effort has been made to develop theory about properties of steady states in metabolic networks that are valid for any values of parameters. General results on uniqueness of steady states and their stability have been derived with specific assumptions on reaction kinetics, stoichiometry and network topology. For example, deep results have been obtained under the assumptions of mass-action reaction kinetics, continuous flow stirred tank reactors (CFSTR), concordant reaction networks and others. Nevertheless, a general theory about properties of steady states in metabolic networks is still missing. Here we make a step further in the quest for such a theory. Specifically, we study properties of steady states in metabolic networks with monotonic kinetics in relation to their stoichiometry (simple and general) and the number of metabolites participating in every reaction (single or many). Our approach is based on the investigation of properties of the Jacobian matrix. We show that stoichiometry, network topology, and the number of metabolites that participate in every reaction have a large influence on the number of steady states and their stability in metabolic networks. Specifically, metabolic networks with single-substrate-single-product reactions have disconnected steady states, whereas in metabolic networks with multiple-substrates-multiple-product reactions manifolds of steady states arise. Metabolic networks with simple stoichiometry have either a unique globally asymptotically stable steady state or asymptotically stable manifolds of steady states. In metabolic networks with general stoichiometry the steady states are not always stable and we provide conditions for their stability. In order to demonstrate the biological relevance we illustrate the results on the examples of the TCA cycle, the mevalonate pathway and the Calvin cycle. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor: multitasking in the immune system.

    PubMed

    Stockinger, Brigitta; Di Meglio, Paola; Gialitakis, Manolis; Duarte, João H

    2014-01-01

    The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), for many years almost exclusively studied by the pharmacology/toxicology field for its role in mediating the toxicity of xenobiotics such as 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), has more recently attracted the attention of immunologists. The evolutionary conservation of this transcription factor and its widespread expression in the immune system point to important physiological functions that are slowly being unraveled. In particular, the emphasis is now shifting from the role of AhR in the xenobiotic pathway toward its mode of action in response to physiological ligands. In this article, we review the current understanding of the molecular interactions and functions of AhR in the immune system in steady state and in the presence of infection and inflammation, with a focus on barrier organs such as the skin, the gut, and the lung.

  8. Ubiquitination by the Membrane-associated RING-CH-8 (MARCH-8) Ligase Controls Steady-state Cell Surface Expression of Tumor Necrosis Factor-related Apoptosis Inducing Ligand (TRAIL) Receptor 1*

    PubMed Central

    van de Kooij, Bert; Verbrugge, Inge; de Vries, Evert; Gijsen, Merel; Montserrat, Veronica; Maas, Chiel; Neefjes, Jacques; Borst, Jannie

    2013-01-01

    The eleven members of the membrane-associated RING-CH (MARCH) ubiquitin ligase family are relatively unexplored. Upon exogenous (over)expression, a number of these ligases can affect the trafficking of membrane molecules. However, only for MARCH-1 endogenous functions have been demonstrated. For the other endogenous MARCH proteins, no functions or substrates are known. We report here that TRAIL-R1 is a physiological substrate of the endogenous MARCH-8 ligase. Human TRAIL-R1 and R2 play a role in immunosurveillance and are targets for cancer therapy, because they selectively induce apoptosis in tumor cells. We demonstrate that TRAIL-R1 is down-regulated from the cell surface, with great preference over TRAIL-R2, by exogenous expression of MARCH ligases that are implicated in endosomal trafficking, such as MARCH-1 and -8. MARCH-8 attenuated TRAIL-R1 cell surface expression and apoptosis signaling by virtue of its ligase activity. This suggested that ubiquitination of TRAIL-R1 was instrumental in its down-regulation by MARCH-8. Indeed, in cells with endogenous MARCH expression, TRAIL-R1 was ubiquitinated at steady-state, with the conserved membrane-proximal lysine 273 as one of the potential acceptor sites. This residue was also essential for the interaction of TRAIL-R1 with MARCH-1 and MARCH-8 and its down-regulation by these ligases. Gene silencing identified MARCH-8 as the endogenous ligase that ubiquitinates TRAIL-R1 and attenuates its cell surface expression. These findings reveal that endogenous MARCH-8 regulates the steady-state cell surface expression of TRAIL-R1. PMID:23300075

  9. Self-gated 4D multiphase, steady-state imaging with contrast enhancement (MUSIC) using rotating cartesian K-space (ROCK): Validation in children with congenital heart disease.

    PubMed

    Han, Fei; Zhou, Ziwu; Han, Eric; Gao, Yu; Nguyen, Kim-Lien; Finn, J Paul; Hu, Peng

    2017-08-01

    To develop and validate a cardiac-respiratory self-gating strategy for the recently proposed multiphase steady-state imaging with contrast enhancement (MUSIC) technique. The proposed SG strategy uses the ROtating Cartesian K-space (ROCK) sampling, which allows for retrospective k-space binning based on motion surrogates derived from k-space center line. The k-space bins are reconstructed using a compressed sensing algorithm. Ten pediatric patients underwent cardiac MRI for clinical reasons. The original MUSIC and 2D-CINE images were acquired as a part of the clinical protocol, followed by the ROCK-MUSIC acquisition, all under steady-state intravascular distribution of ferumoxytol. Subjective scores and image sharpness were used to compare the images of ROCK-MUSIC and original MUSIC. All scans were completed successfully without complications. The ROCK-MUSIC acquisition took 5 ± 1 min, compared to 8 ± 2 min for the original MUSIC. Image scores of ROCK-MUSIC were significantly better than original MUSIC at the ventricular outflow tracts (3.9 ± 0.3 vs. 3.3 ± 0.6, P < 0.05). There was a strong trend toward superior image scores for ROCK-MUSIC in the other anatomic locations. ROCK-MUSIC provided images of equal or superior image quality compared to original MUSIC, and this was achievable with 40% savings in scan time and without the need for physiologic signal. Magn Reson Med 78:472-483, 2017. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

  10. Steady-state force-velocity relation in the ATP-dependent sliding movement of myosin-coated beads on actin cables in vitro studied with a centrifuge microscope.

    PubMed Central

    Oiwa, K; Chaen, S; Kamitsubo, E; Shimmen, T; Sugi, H

    1990-01-01

    To eliminate the gap between the biochemistry of actomyosin in solution and the physiology of contracting muscle, we developed an in vitro force-movement assay system in which the steady-state force-velocity relation in the actin-myosin interaction can be studied. The assay system consists of the internodal cells of an alga, Nitellopsis obtusa, containing well-organized actin filament arrays (actin cables); tosyl-activated polystyrene beads (diameter, 2.8 microns; specific gravity, 1.3) coated with skeletal muscle myosin; and a centrifuge microscope equipped with a stroboscopic light source and a video system. The internodal cell preparation was mounted on the rotor of the centrifuge microscope, so that centrifugal forces were applied to the myosin-coated beads moving along the actin cables in the presence of ATP. Under constant centrifugal forces directed opposite to the bead movement ("positive" loads), the beads continued to move with constant velocities, which decreased with increasing centrifugal forces. The steady-state force-velocity curve thus obtained was analogous to the double-hyperbolic force-velocity curve of single muscle fibers. The unloaded velocity of bead movement was 1.6-3.6 microns/s (20-23 degrees C), while the maximum "isometric" force generated by the myosin molecules on the bead was 1.9-39 pN. If, on the other hand, the beads were subjected to constant centrifugal forces in the direction of bead movement ("negative" loads), the bead also moved with constant velocities. Unexpectedly, the velocity of bead movement did not increase with increasing negative loads but first decreased by 20-60% and then increased towards the initial unloaded velocity until the beads were eventually detached from the actin cables. Images PMID:2236007

  11. Steady-state force-velocity relation in the ATP-dependent sliding movement of myosin-coated beads on actin cables in vitro studied with a centrifuge microscope.

    PubMed

    Oiwa, K; Chaen, S; Kamitsubo, E; Shimmen, T; Sugi, H

    1990-10-01

    To eliminate the gap between the biochemistry of actomyosin in solution and the physiology of contracting muscle, we developed an in vitro force-movement assay system in which the steady-state force-velocity relation in the actin-myosin interaction can be studied. The assay system consists of the internodal cells of an alga, Nitellopsis obtusa, containing well-organized actin filament arrays (actin cables); tosyl-activated polystyrene beads (diameter, 2.8 microns; specific gravity, 1.3) coated with skeletal muscle myosin; and a centrifuge microscope equipped with a stroboscopic light source and a video system. The internodal cell preparation was mounted on the rotor of the centrifuge microscope, so that centrifugal forces were applied to the myosin-coated beads moving along the actin cables in the presence of ATP. Under constant centrifugal forces directed opposite to the bead movement ("positive" loads), the beads continued to move with constant velocities, which decreased with increasing centrifugal forces. The steady-state force-velocity curve thus obtained was analogous to the double-hyperbolic force-velocity curve of single muscle fibers. The unloaded velocity of bead movement was 1.6-3.6 microns/s (20-23 degrees C), while the maximum "isometric" force generated by the myosin molecules on the bead was 1.9-39 pN. If, on the other hand, the beads were subjected to constant centrifugal forces in the direction of bead movement ("negative" loads), the bead also moved with constant velocities. Unexpectedly, the velocity of bead movement did not increase with increasing negative loads but first decreased by 20-60% and then increased towards the initial unloaded velocity until the beads were eventually detached from the actin cables.

  12. Comparison of Steroid Modulation of Spontaneous Inhibitory Postsynaptic Currents in Cultured Hippocampal Neurons and Steady-State Single-Channel Currents from Heterologously Expressed α1β2γ2L GABAA Receptors

    PubMed Central

    Chakrabarti, Sampurna; Qian, Mingxing; Krishnan, Kathiresan; Covey, Douglas F.; Mennerick, Steven

    2016-01-01

    Neuroactive steroids are efficacious modulators of γ-aminobutyric acid type A receptor (GABAA) receptor function. The effects of steroids on the GABAA receptor are typically determined by comparing steady-state single-channel open probability or macroscopic peak responses elicited by GABA in the absence and presence of a steroid. Due to differences in activation conditions (exposure duration, concentration of agonist), it is not obvious whether modulation measured using typical experimental protocols can be used to accurately predict the effect of a modulator on native receptors under physiologic conditions. In the present study, we examined the effects of 14 neuroactive steroids and analogs on the properties of spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents (sIPSCs) in cultured rat hippocampal neurons. The goal was to determine whether the magnitude of modulation of the decay time course of sIPSCs correlates with the extent of modulation and kinetic properties of potentiation as determined in previous single-channel studies. The steroids were selected to cover a wide range of efficacy on heterologously expressed rat α1β2γ2L GABAA receptors, ranging from essentially inert to highly efficacious (strong potentiators of single-channel and macroscopic peak responses). The data indicate a strong correlation between prolongation of the decay time course of sIPSCs and potentiation of single-channel open probability. Furthermore, changes in intracluster closed time distributions were the single best predictor of prolongation of sIPSCs. We infer that the information obtained in steady-state single-channel recordings can be used to forecast modulation of synaptic currents. PMID:26769414

  13. Motor unit recruitment and firing rate in medial gastrocnemius muscles during external perturbations in standing in humans.

    PubMed

    Pollock, C L; Ivanova, T D; Hunt, M A; Garland, S J

    2014-10-01

    There is limited investigation of the interaction between motor unit recruitment and rate coding for modulating force during standing or responding to external perturbations. Fifty-seven motor units were recorded from the medial gastrocnemius muscle with intramuscular electrodes in response to external perturbations in standing. Anteriorly directed perturbations were generated by applying loads in 0.45-kg increments at the pelvis every 25-40 s until 2.25 kg was maintained. Motor unit firing rate was calculated for the initial recruitment load and all subsequent loads during two epochs: 1) dynamic response to perturbation directly following each load drop and 2) maintenance of steady state between perturbations. Joint kinematics and surface electromyography (EMG) from lower extremities and force platform measurements were assessed. Application of the external loads resulted in a significant forward progression of the anterior-posterior center of pressure (AP COP) that was accompanied by modest changes in joint angles (<3°). Surface EMG increased more in medial gastrocnemius than in the other recorded muscles. At initial recruitment, motor unit firing rate immediately after the load drop was significantly lower than during subsequent load drops or during the steady state at the same load. There was a modest increase in motor unit firing rate immediately after the load drop on subsequent load drops associated with regaining balance. There was no effect of maintaining balance with increased load and forward progression of the AP COP on steady-state motor unit firing rate. The medial gastrocnemius utilized primarily motor unit recruitment to achieve the increased levels of activation necessary to maintain standing in the presence of external loads. Copyright © 2014 the American Physiological Society.

  14. Computational multiple steady states for enzymatic esterification of ethanol and oleic acid in an isothermal CSTR.

    PubMed

    Ho, Pang-Yen; Chuang, Guo-Syong; Chao, An-Chong; Li, Hsing-Ya

    2005-05-01

    The capacity of complex biochemical reaction networks (consisting of 11 coupled non-linear ordinary differential equations) to show multiple steady states, was investigated. The system involved esterification of ethanol and oleic acid by lipase in an isothermal continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR). The Deficiency One Algorithm and the Subnetwork Analysis were applied to determine the steady state multiplicity. A set of rate constants and two corresponding steady states are computed. The phenomena of bistability, hysteresis and bifurcation are discussed. Moreover, the capacity of steady state multiplicity is extended to the family of the studied reaction networks.

  15. An Intuitive Approach to Steady-State Kinetics.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Raines, Ronald T.; Hansen, David E.

    1988-01-01

    Attempts to provide an intuitive understanding of steady state kinetics. Discusses the meaning of steady state and uses free energy profiles to illustrate and follow complex kinetic and thermodynamic relationships. Provides examples with explanations. (MVL)

  16. Effect of flaw size and temperature on the matrix cracking behavior of a brittle ceramic matrix composite

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

    Anandakumar, U.; Webb, J.E.; Singh, R.N.

    The matrix cracking behavior of a zircon matrix - uniaxial SCS 6 fiber composite was studied as a function of initial flaw size and temperature. The composites were fabricated by a tape casting and hot pressing technique. Surface flaws of controlled size were introduced using a vicker`s indenter. The composite samples were tested in three point flexure at three different temperatures to study the non steady state and steady state matrix cracking behavior. The composite samples exhibited steady state and non steady matrix cracking behavior at all temperatures. The steady state matrix cracking stress and steady state crack size increasedmore » with increasing temperature. The results of the study correlated well with the results predicted by the matrix cracking models.« less

  17. Binaural beat technology in humans: a pilot study to assess neuropsychologic, physiologic, and electroencephalographic effects.

    PubMed

    Wahbeh, Helané; Calabrese, Carlo; Zwickey, Heather; Zajdel, Dan

    2007-03-01

    When two auditory stimuli of different frequency are presented to each ear, binaural beats are perceived by the listener. The binaural beat frequency is equal to the difference between the frequencies applied to each ear. Our primary objective was to assess whether steady-state entrainment of electroencephalographic activity to the binaural beat occurs when exposed to a specific binaural beat frequency as has been hypothesized. Our secondary objective was to gather preliminary data on neuropsychologic and physiologic effects of binaural beat technology. A randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled crossover experiment in 4 healthy adult subjects. Subjects were randomized to experimental auditory stimulus of 30 minutes of binaural beat at 7 Hz (carrier frequencies: 133 Hz L; 140 Hz R) with an overlay of pink noise resembling the sound of rain on one session and control stimuli of the same overlay without the binaural beat carrier frequencies on the other session. Data were collected during two separate sessions 1 week apart. Neuropsychologic and blood pressure data were collected before and after the intervention; electroencephalographic data were collected before, during, and after listening to either binaural beats or control. Neuropsychologic measures included State Trait Anxiety Inventory, Profile of Mood States, Rey Auditory Verbal List Test, Stroop Test, and Controlled Oral Word Association Test. Spectral and coherence analysis was performed on the electroencephalogram (EEG), and all measures were analyzed for changes between sessions with and without binaural beat stimuli. There were no significant differences between the experimental and control conditions in any of the EEG measures. There was an increase of the Profile of Mood States depression subscale in the experimental condition relative to the control condition (p = 0.02). There was also a significant decrease in immediate verbal memory recall (p = 0.03) in the experimental condition compared to control condition. We did not find support for steady-state entrainment of the scalp-recorded EEG while listening to 7-Hz binaural beats. Although our data indicated increased depression and poorer immediate recall after listening to binaural beats, larger studies are needed to confirm these findings.

  18. Differences between automatically detected and steady-state fractional flow reserve.

    PubMed

    Härle, Tobias; Meyer, Sven; Vahldiek, Felix; Elsässer, Albrecht

    2016-02-01

    Measurement of fractional flow reserve (FFR) has become a standard diagnostic tool in the catheterization laboratory. FFR evaluation studies were based on pressure recordings during steady-state maximum hyperemia. Commercially available computer systems detect the lowest Pd/Pa ratio automatically, which might not always be measured during steady-state hyperemia. We sought to compare the automatically detected FFR and true steady-state FFR. Pressure measurement traces of 105 coronary lesions from 77 patients with intermediate coronary lesions or multivessel disease were reviewed. In all patients, hyperemia had been achieved by intravenous adenosine administration using a dosage of 140 µg/kg/min. In 42 lesions (40%) automatically detected FFR was lower than true steady-state FFR. Mean bias was 0.009 (standard deviation 0.015, limits of agreement -0.02, 0.037). In 4 lesions (3.8%) both methods lead to different treatment recommendations, in all 4 cases instantaneous wave-free ratio confirmed steady-state FFR. Automatically detected FFR was slightly lower than steady-state FFR in more than one-third of cases. Consequently, interpretation of automatically detected FFR values closely below the cutoff value requires special attention.

  19. Learning on Jupiter, learning on the Moon: the dark side of the G-force. Effects of gravity changes on neurovascular unit and modulation of learning and memory

    PubMed Central

    Porte, Yves; Morel, Jean-Luc

    2012-01-01

    On earth, gravity vector conditions the development of all living beings by physically imposing an axis along which to build their organism. Thus, during their whole life, they have to fight against this force not only to maintain their architectural organization but also to coordinate the communication between organs and keep their physiology in a balanced steady-state. In space, astronauts show physiological, psychological, and cognitive deregulations, ranging from bone decalcification or decrease of musculature, to depressive-like disorders, and spatial disorientation. Nonetheless, they are confronted to a great amount of physical changes in their environment such as solar radiations, loss of light-dark cycle, lack of spatial landmarks, confinement, and obviously a dramatic decrease of gravity force. It is thus very hard to selectively discriminate the strict role of gravity level alterations on physiological, and particularly cerebral, dysfunction. To this purpose, it is important to design autonomous models and apparatuses for behavioral phenotyping utilizable under modified gravity environments. Our team actually aims at working on this area of research. PMID:23015785

  20. Music and natural sounds in an auditory steady-state response based brain-computer interface to increase user acceptance.

    PubMed

    Heo, Jeong; Baek, Hyun Jae; Hong, Seunghyeok; Chang, Min Hye; Lee, Jeong Su; Park, Kwang Suk

    2017-05-01

    Patients with total locked-in syndrome are conscious; however, they cannot express themselves because most of their voluntary muscles are paralyzed, and many of these patients have lost their eyesight. To improve the quality of life of these patients, there is an increasing need for communication-supporting technologies that leverage the remaining senses of the patient along with physiological signals. The auditory steady-state response (ASSR) is an electro-physiologic response to auditory stimulation that is amplitude-modulated by a specific frequency. By leveraging the phenomenon whereby ASSR is modulated by mind concentration, a brain-computer interface paradigm was proposed to classify the selective attention of the patient. In this paper, we propose an auditory stimulation method to minimize auditory stress by replacing the monotone carrier with familiar music and natural sounds for an ergonomic system. Piano and violin instrumentals were employed in the music sessions; the sounds of water streaming and cicadas singing were used in the natural sound sessions. Six healthy subjects participated in the experiment. Electroencephalograms were recorded using four electrodes (Cz, Oz, T7 and T8). Seven sessions were performed using different stimuli. The spectral power at 38 and 42Hz and their ratio for each electrode were extracted as features. Linear discriminant analysis was utilized to classify the selections for each subject. In offline analysis, the average classification accuracies with a modulation index of 1.0 were 89.67% and 87.67% using music and natural sounds, respectively. In online experiments, the average classification accuracies were 88.3% and 80.0% using music and natural sounds, respectively. Using the proposed method, we obtained significantly higher user-acceptance scores, while maintaining a high average classification accuracy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. On the time to steady state: insights from numerical modeling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Goren, L.; Willett, S.; McCoy, S. W.; Perron, J.

    2013-12-01

    How fast do fluvial landscapes approach steady state after an application of tectonic or climatic perturbation? While theory and some numerical models predict that the celerity of the advective wave (knickpoint) controls the response time for perturbations, experiments and other landscape evolution models demonstrate that the time to steady state is much longer than the theoretically predicted response time. We posit that the longevity of transient features and the time to steady state are controlled by the stability of the topology and geometry of channel networks. Evolution of a channel network occurs by a combination of discrete capture events and continuous migration of water divides, processes, which are difficult to represent accurately in landscape evolution models. We therefore address the question of the time to steady state using the DAC landscape evolution model that solves accurately for the location of water divides, using a combination of analytical solution for hillslopes and low-order channels together with a numerical solution for higher order channels. DAC also includes an explicit capture criterion. We have tested fundamental predictions from DAC and show that modeled networks reproduce natural network characteristics such as the Hack's exponent and coefficient and the fractal dimension. We define two steady-state criteria: a topographic steady state, defined by global, pointwise steady elevation, and a topological steady state defined as the state in which no further reorganization of the drainage network takes place. Analyzing block uplift simulations, we find that the time to achieve either topographic or topological steady state exceeds by an order of magnitude the theoretical response time of the fluvial network. The longevity of the transient state is the result of the area feedback, by which, migration of a divide changes the local contributing area. This change propagates downstream as a slope adjustment, forcing further divide migrations and area change in adjacent tributaries and basins. In order to characterize the evolution of the drainage network on its way to steady state, we define a proxy to steady state elevation, χ, which is also the characteristic parameter of the transient stream power PDE. Through simulations of tectonic tilting we find that reorganization tends to minimize moments of the χ distribution of the landscape and of Δχ across divides.

  2. Quantitative broadband absorption and scattering spectroscopy in turbid media by combined frequency-domain and steady state methodologies

    DOEpatents

    Tromberg, Bruce J [Irvine, CA; Berger, Andrew J [Rochester, NY; Cerussi, Albert E [Lake Forest, CA; Bevilacqua, Frederic [Costa Mesa, CA; Jakubowski, Dorota [Irvine, CA

    2008-09-23

    A technique for measuring broadband near-infrared absorption spectra of turbid media that uses a combination of frequency-domain and steady-state reflectance methods. Most of the wavelength coverage is provided by a white-light steady-state measurement, whereas the frequency-domain data are acquired at a few selected wavelengths. Coefficients of absorption and reduced scattering derived from the frequency-domain data are used to calibrate the intensity of the steady-state measurements and to determine the reduced scattering coefficient at all wavelengths in the spectral window of interest. The absorption coefficient spectrum is determined by comparing the steady-state reflectance values with the predictions of diffusion theory, wavelength by wavelength. Absorption spectra of a turbid phantom and of human breast tissue in vivo, derived with the combined frequency-domain and steady-state technique, agree well with expected reference values.

  3. Steady-state entanglement in levitated optomechanical systems coupled to a higher order excited atomic ensemble

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Aixi; Nie, Wenjie; Li, Ling; Zeng, Wei; Liao, Qinghong; Xiao, Xianbo

    2017-11-01

    We investigate the steady-state entanglement in an optomechanical system with a levitated dielectric nanosphere and a higher order excited atomic ensemble. The single nanosphere is trapped by an external harmonic dipole trap and coupled to the single-mode cavity field by the effective optomechanical coupling, which depends on the steady-state position of the nanosphere. We show that the steady-state optomechanical entanglement can be generated via the effective optomechanical interaction between the mechanical motion and the cavity mode. Further, these exist an optimal effective cavity detuning that maximizes the optomechanical entanglement. We also analyze in detail the influences of the excitation number of atoms, the radius of the nanosphere and the thermal noise strength on the steady-state optomechanical entanglement. It is found that the steady-state entanglement can be enhanced by increasing the excitation number of atoms and the radius of the nanosphere.

  4. Customized Steady-State Constraints for Parameter Estimation in Non-Linear Ordinary Differential Equation Models

    PubMed Central

    Rosenblatt, Marcus; Timmer, Jens; Kaschek, Daniel

    2016-01-01

    Ordinary differential equation models have become a wide-spread approach to analyze dynamical systems and understand underlying mechanisms. Model parameters are often unknown and have to be estimated from experimental data, e.g., by maximum-likelihood estimation. In particular, models of biological systems contain a large number of parameters. To reduce the dimensionality of the parameter space, steady-state information is incorporated in the parameter estimation process. For non-linear models, analytical steady-state calculation typically leads to higher-order polynomial equations for which no closed-form solutions can be obtained. This can be circumvented by solving the steady-state equations for kinetic parameters, which results in a linear equation system with comparatively simple solutions. At the same time multiplicity of steady-state solutions is avoided, which otherwise is problematic for optimization. When solved for kinetic parameters, however, steady-state constraints tend to become negative for particular model specifications, thus, generating new types of optimization problems. Here, we present an algorithm based on graph theory that derives non-negative, analytical steady-state expressions by stepwise removal of cyclic dependencies between dynamical variables. The algorithm avoids multiple steady-state solutions by construction. We show that our method is applicable to most common classes of biochemical reaction networks containing inhibition terms, mass-action and Hill-type kinetic equations. Comparing the performance of parameter estimation for different analytical and numerical methods of incorporating steady-state information, we show that our approach is especially well-tailored to guarantee a high success rate of optimization. PMID:27243005

  5. Customized Steady-State Constraints for Parameter Estimation in Non-Linear Ordinary Differential Equation Models.

    PubMed

    Rosenblatt, Marcus; Timmer, Jens; Kaschek, Daniel

    2016-01-01

    Ordinary differential equation models have become a wide-spread approach to analyze dynamical systems and understand underlying mechanisms. Model parameters are often unknown and have to be estimated from experimental data, e.g., by maximum-likelihood estimation. In particular, models of biological systems contain a large number of parameters. To reduce the dimensionality of the parameter space, steady-state information is incorporated in the parameter estimation process. For non-linear models, analytical steady-state calculation typically leads to higher-order polynomial equations for which no closed-form solutions can be obtained. This can be circumvented by solving the steady-state equations for kinetic parameters, which results in a linear equation system with comparatively simple solutions. At the same time multiplicity of steady-state solutions is avoided, which otherwise is problematic for optimization. When solved for kinetic parameters, however, steady-state constraints tend to become negative for particular model specifications, thus, generating new types of optimization problems. Here, we present an algorithm based on graph theory that derives non-negative, analytical steady-state expressions by stepwise removal of cyclic dependencies between dynamical variables. The algorithm avoids multiple steady-state solutions by construction. We show that our method is applicable to most common classes of biochemical reaction networks containing inhibition terms, mass-action and Hill-type kinetic equations. Comparing the performance of parameter estimation for different analytical and numerical methods of incorporating steady-state information, we show that our approach is especially well-tailored to guarantee a high success rate of optimization.

  6. A Simulator-Assisted Workshop for Teaching Chemostat Cultivation in Academic Classes on Microbial Physiology.

    PubMed

    Hakkaart, Xavier D V; Pronk, Jack T; van Maris, Antonius J A

    2017-01-01

    Understanding microbial growth and metabolism is a key learning objective of microbiology and biotechnology courses, essential for understanding microbial ecology, microbial biotechnology and medical microbiology. Chemostat cultivation, a key research tool in microbial physiology that enables quantitative analysis of growth and metabolism under tightly defined conditions, provides a powerful platform to teach key features of microbial growth and metabolism. Substrate-limited chemostat cultivation can be mathematically described by four equations. These encompass mass balances for biomass and substrate, an empirical relation that describes distribution of consumed substrate over growth and maintenance energy requirements (Pirt equation), and a Monod-type equation that describes the relation between substrate concentration and substrate-consumption rate. The authors felt that the abstract nature of these mathematical equations and a lack of visualization contributed to a suboptimal operative understanding of quantitative microbial physiology among students who followed their Microbial Physiology B.Sc. courses. The studio-classroom workshop presented here was developed to improve student understanding of quantitative physiology by a set of question-guided simulations. Simulations are run on Chemostatus, a specially developed MATLAB-based program, which visualizes key parameters of simulated chemostat cultures as they proceed from dynamic growth conditions to steady state. In practice, the workshop stimulated active discussion between students and with their teachers. Moreover, its introduction coincided with increased average exam scores for questions on quantitative microbial physiology. The workshop can be easily implemented in formal microbial physiology courses or used by individuals seeking to test and improve their understanding of quantitative microbial physiology and/or chemostat cultivation.

  7. Existence and instability of steady states for a triangular cross-diffusion system: A computer-assisted proof

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Breden, Maxime; Castelli, Roberto

    2018-05-01

    In this paper, we present and apply a computer-assisted method to study steady states of a triangular cross-diffusion system. Our approach consist in an a posteriori validation procedure, that is based on using a fixed point argument around a numerically computed solution, in the spirit of the Newton-Kantorovich theorem. It allows to prove the existence of various non homogeneous steady states for different parameter values. In some situations, we obtain as many as 13 coexisting steady states. We also apply the a posteriori validation procedure to study the linear stability of the obtained steady states, proving that many of them are in fact unstable.

  8. Low-dimensional Representation of Error Covariance

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tippett, Michael K.; Cohn, Stephen E.; Todling, Ricardo; Marchesin, Dan

    2000-01-01

    Ensemble and reduced-rank approaches to prediction and assimilation rely on low-dimensional approximations of the estimation error covariances. Here stability properties of the forecast/analysis cycle for linear, time-independent systems are used to identify factors that cause the steady-state analysis error covariance to admit a low-dimensional representation. A useful measure of forecast/analysis cycle stability is the bound matrix, a function of the dynamics, observation operator and assimilation method. Upper and lower estimates for the steady-state analysis error covariance matrix eigenvalues are derived from the bound matrix. The estimates generalize to time-dependent systems. If much of the steady-state analysis error variance is due to a few dominant modes, the leading eigenvectors of the bound matrix approximate those of the steady-state analysis error covariance matrix. The analytical results are illustrated in two numerical examples where the Kalman filter is carried to steady state. The first example uses the dynamics of a generalized advection equation exhibiting nonmodal transient growth. Failure to observe growing modes leads to increased steady-state analysis error variances. Leading eigenvectors of the steady-state analysis error covariance matrix are well approximated by leading eigenvectors of the bound matrix. The second example uses the dynamics of a damped baroclinic wave model. The leading eigenvectors of a lowest-order approximation of the bound matrix are shown to approximate well the leading eigenvectors of the steady-state analysis error covariance matrix.

  9. Contribution of highway capital to industry and national productivity growth

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1973-10-01

    The report contains the authors initial efforts aimed at extending the steady state freeway model for optimizing freeway traffic flow to a non-steady state model. The steady-state model does not allow reaction to continuously changing conditions whic...

  10. Critical threshold behavior for steady-state internal transport barriers in burning plasmas.

    PubMed

    García, J; Giruzzi, G; Artaud, J F; Basiuk, V; Decker, J; Imbeaux, F; Peysson, Y; Schneider, M

    2008-06-27

    Burning tokamak plasmas with internal transport barriers are investigated by means of integrated modeling simulations. The barrier sustainment in steady state, differently from the barrier formation process, is found to be characterized by a critical behavior, and the critical number of the phase transition is determined. Beyond a power threshold, alignment of self-generated and noninductively driven currents occurs and steady state becomes possible. This concept is applied to simulate a steady-state scenario within the specifications of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor.

  11. Proposed law of nature linking impacts, plume volcanism, and Milankovitch cycles to terrestrial vertebrate mass extinctions via greenhouse-embryo death coupling

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mclean, D. M.

    1994-01-01

    A greenhouse-physiological coupling killing mechanism active among mammals, birds, and reptiles has been identified. Operating via environmental thermal effects upon the maternal core-skin blood flow critical to the survival and development of embryos, it reduces the flow of blood to the uterine tract. Today, during hot summers, this phenomena kills embryos on a vast, global scale. Because of sensitivity of many mammals to modern heat, a major modern greenhouse could reduce population numbers on a global scale, and potentially trigger population collapses in the more vulnerable parts of the world. In the geological past, the killing mechanism has likely been triggered into action by greenhouse warming via impact events, plume volcanism, and Earth orbital variations (Milankovitch cycles). Earth's biosphere is maintained and molded by the flow of energy from the solar energy source to Earth and on to the space energy sink (SES). This SES energy flow maintains Earth's biosphere and its living components, as open, intermediate, dissipative, nonequilibrium systems whose states are dependent upon the rate of energy flowing through them. Greenhouse gases such as CO2 in the atmosphere influence the SES energy flow rate. Steady-state flow is necessary for global ecological stability (autopoiesis). Natural fluctuations of the C cycle such as rapid releases of CO2 from the mantle, or oceans, disrupt steady-state SES flow. These fluctuations constantly challenge the biosphere; slowdown of SES energy flow drives it toward thermodynamical equilibrium and stagnation. Fluctuations induced by impact event, mantle plume volcanism, and Milankovitch cycles can grow into structure-breaking waves triggering major perturbations of Earth's C cycle and mass extinctions. A major C cycle perturbation involves readjustment of the outer physiochemical spheres of the Earth: the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere; and by necessity, the biosphere. A greenhouse, one manifestation of a major C cycle perturbation, is the most dangerous natural phenomenon that life on Earth can experience. Greenhouse conditions existed during the KT mass extinctions of 65 m.y. ago, and the Pleistocene-Holocene (P-H) mammalian extinctions of 10,000-12,000 yr ago. Coupling climatology to reproductive physiology via effects of ambient air temperature upon uterine blood flow to developing embryos accounts for the extinctions via established physiological principles.

  12. A Novel Chronic Opioid Monitoring Tool to Assess Prescription Drug Steady State Levels in Oral Fluid.

    PubMed

    Shaparin, Naum; Mehta, Neel; Kunkel, Frank; Stripp, Richard; Borg, Damon; Kolb, Elizabeth

    2017-11-01

    Interpretation limitations of urine drug testing and the invasiveness of blood toxicology have motivated the desire for the development of simpler methods to assess biologically active drug levels on an individualized patient basis. Oral fluid is a matrix well-suited for the challenge because collections are based on simple noninvasive procedures and drug concentrations better correlate to blood drug levels as oral fluid is a filtrate of the blood. Well-established pharmacokinetic models were utilized to generate oral fluid steady state concentration ranges to assess the interpretive value of the alternative matrix to monitor steady state plasma oxycodone levels. Paired oral fluid and plasma samples were collected from patients chronically prescribed oxycodone and quantitatively analyzed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Steady state plasma concentration ranges were calculated for each donor and converted to an equivalent range in oral fluid. Measured plasma and oral fluid oxycodone concentrations were compared with respective matrix-matched steady state ranges, using each plasma steady state classification as the control. A high degree of correlation was observed between matrices when classifying donors according to expected steady state oxycodone concentration. Agreement between plasma and oral fluid steady state classifications was observed in 75.6% of paired samples. This study supports novel application of basic pharmacokinetic knowledge to the pain management industry, simplifying and improving individualized drug monitoring and risk assessment through the use of oral fluid drug testing. Many benefits of established therapeutic drug monitoring in plasma can be realized in oral fluid for patients chronically prescribed oxycodone at steady state. © 2017 American Academy of Pain Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

  13. Efficient robust reconstruction of dynamic PET activity maps with radioisotope decay constraints.

    PubMed

    Gao, Fei; Liu, Huafeng; Shi, Pengcheng

    2010-01-01

    Dynamic PET imaging performs sequence of data acquisition in order to provide visualization and quantification of physiological changes in specific tissues and organs. The reconstruction of activity maps is generally the first step in dynamic PET. State space Hinfinity approaches have been proved to be a robust method for PET image reconstruction where, however, temporal constraints are not considered during the reconstruction process. In addition, the state space strategies for PET image reconstruction have been computationally prohibitive for practical usage because of the need for matrix inversion. In this paper, we present a minimax formulation of the dynamic PET imaging problem where a radioisotope decay model is employed as physics-based temporal constraints on the photon counts. Furthermore, a robust steady state Hinfinity filter is developed to significantly improve the computational efficiency with minimal loss of accuracy. Experiments are conducted on Monte Carlo simulated image sequences for quantitative analysis and validation.

  14. Interaction and photodegradation characteristics of fluorescein dye in presence of ZnO nanoparticles.

    PubMed

    Bardhan, Munmun; Mandal, Gopa; Ganguly, Tapan

    2011-04-01

    The interaction between xanthene dye Fluorescein (Fl) and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles is investigated under physiological conditions. From the analysis of the steady state and time resolved spectroscopic studies in aqueous solution static mode is found to be responsible in the mechanism of fluorescence quenching of the dye Fl in presence of ZnO. ZnO nanoparticles are used as photocatalyst in order to degrade Fl dye. At pH 7, a maximum degradation efficiency of 44.4% of the dye has been achieved in presence of ZnO as a nanophotocatalyst and the photodegradation follows second-order kinetics.

  15. Bioconcentration

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

    Barron, M.G.

    1990-11-01

    Bioconcentration is the process of accumulation of water-borne chemicals by fish and other aquatic animals through nondietary routes. A proportionality constant relating the concentration of a chemical in water to its concentration in the aquatic animal at steady-state equilibrium is the bioconcentration factor (BCF). The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate the hypothesis that hydrophobicity is the principal determinant of bioconcentration in aquatic animals and examine the dependence of bioconcentration on species, body size, and environmental factors. BCFs for a variety of chemical classes are evaluated for their conformity to the hydrophobicity model of bioconcentration, and an alternativemore » conceptual model of bioconcentration incorporating animal physiology is presented.« less

  16. Thermophysiology of Tyrannosaurus rex: Evidence from Oxygen Isotopes.

    PubMed

    Barrick, R E; Showers, W J

    1994-07-08

    The oxygen isotopic composition of vertebrate bone phosphate (delta(p)) is related to ingested water and to the body temperature at which the bone forms. The delta(p) is in equilibrium with the individual's body water, which is at a physiological steady state throughout the body. Therefore, intrabone temperature variation and the mean interbone temperature differences of well-preserved fossil vertebrates can be determined from the deltap variation. Values of delta(p) from a well-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex suggest that this species maintained homeothermy with less than 4 degrees C of variability in body temperature. Maintenance of homeothermy implies a relatively high metabolic rate that is similar to that of endotherms.

  17. A Data Filter for Identifying Steady-State Operating Points in Engine Flight Data for Condition Monitoring Applications

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Simon, Donald L.; Litt, Jonathan S.

    2010-01-01

    This paper presents an algorithm that automatically identifies and extracts steady-state engine operating points from engine flight data. It calculates the mean and standard deviation of select parameters contained in the incoming flight data stream. If the standard deviation of the data falls below defined constraints, the engine is assumed to be at a steady-state operating point, and the mean measurement data at that point are archived for subsequent condition monitoring purposes. The fundamental design of the steady-state data filter is completely generic and applicable for any dynamic system. Additional domain-specific logic constraints are applied to reduce data outliers and variance within the collected steady-state data. The filter is designed for on-line real-time processing of streaming data as opposed to post-processing of the data in batch mode. Results of applying the steady-state data filter to recorded helicopter engine flight data are shown, demonstrating its utility for engine condition monitoring applications.

  18. Representation of Dormant and Active Microbial Dynamics for Ecosystem Modeling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, G.; Mayes, M. A.; Gu, L.; Schadt, C. W.

    2013-12-01

    Experimental observations and modeling efforts have shown that dormancy is likely a common strategy for microorganisms to contend with environmental stress. We review the state-of-the-art in modeling approaches for microbial dormancy and discuss the rationales of these models. We proved that the physiological state index model is not appropriate for describing transformation between active and dormant states. Based on the generally accepted assumptions summarized from ten existing models, we postulated a new synthetic microbial physiology component within the Microbial-ENzyme-mediated Decomposition (MEND) model. Both the steady state active fraction (rss) and substrate saturation level (Øss) positively depend on two physiological indices: α and β. The index α = mR /(μG+ mR), where μG and mR represent the maximum specific growth and maintenance rates, respectively, for active microbes. β denotes the ratio of dormant to active maintenance rate. The rss equals to Øss only under the condition of β→0, and they are identical to α. When substrate availability is the only limiting factor, the maximum rss is ca. 0.5 with α≤0.5 and β ≤0.01. This threshold value (0.5) of rss (not dynamic r) can explain the low active microbial fractions observed in undisturbed soils. The applications of the improved model to a 14C-labeled glucose induced respiration dataset and a batch experimental dataset show satisfactory model performance. We found that the exponential growth respiration rates can only be used to determine μG and initial active microbial biomass (Ba0), thus we suggest using respiration data representing both exponential growth and non-accelerating phases to robustly determine other important parameters such as initial total live microbial biomass (B0), initial active fraction (r0), μG, α, and the half-saturation constant (Ks). Similar improved representations of microbial physiology should be incorporated into existing ecosystem models in order to account for the significance of dormancy in microbially-mediated processes.

  19. Tailored parameter optimization methods for ordinary differential equation models with steady-state constraints.

    PubMed

    Fiedler, Anna; Raeth, Sebastian; Theis, Fabian J; Hausser, Angelika; Hasenauer, Jan

    2016-08-22

    Ordinary differential equation (ODE) models are widely used to describe (bio-)chemical and biological processes. To enhance the predictive power of these models, their unknown parameters are estimated from experimental data. These experimental data are mostly collected in perturbation experiments, in which the processes are pushed out of steady state by applying a stimulus. The information that the initial condition is a steady state of the unperturbed process provides valuable information, as it restricts the dynamics of the process and thereby the parameters. However, implementing steady-state constraints in the optimization often results in convergence problems. In this manuscript, we propose two new methods for solving optimization problems with steady-state constraints. The first method exploits ideas from optimization algorithms on manifolds and introduces a retraction operator, essentially reducing the dimension of the optimization problem. The second method is based on the continuous analogue of the optimization problem. This continuous analogue is an ODE whose equilibrium points are the optima of the constrained optimization problem. This equivalence enables the use of adaptive numerical methods for solving optimization problems with steady-state constraints. Both methods are tailored to the problem structure and exploit the local geometry of the steady-state manifold and its stability properties. A parameterization of the steady-state manifold is not required. The efficiency and reliability of the proposed methods is evaluated using one toy example and two applications. The first application example uses published data while the second uses a novel dataset for Raf/MEK/ERK signaling. The proposed methods demonstrated better convergence properties than state-of-the-art methods employed in systems and computational biology. Furthermore, the average computation time per converged start is significantly lower. In addition to the theoretical results, the analysis of the dataset for Raf/MEK/ERK signaling provides novel biological insights regarding the existence of feedback regulation. Many optimization problems considered in systems and computational biology are subject to steady-state constraints. While most optimization methods have convergence problems if these steady-state constraints are highly nonlinear, the methods presented recover the convergence properties of optimizers which can exploit an analytical expression for the parameter-dependent steady state. This renders them an excellent alternative to methods which are currently employed in systems and computational biology.

  20. 40 CFR 1039.505 - How do I test engines using steady-state duty cycles, including ramped-modal testing?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ...-state duty cycles, including ramped-modal testing? 1039.505 Section 1039.505 Protection of Environment... duty cycles, including ramped-modal testing? This section describes how to test engines under steady-state conditions. In some cases, we allow you to choose the appropriate steady-state duty cycle for an...

  1. The Markov process admits a consistent steady-state thermodynamic formalism

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Peng, Liangrong; Zhu, Yi; Hong, Liu

    2018-01-01

    The search for a unified formulation for describing various non-equilibrium processes is a central task of modern non-equilibrium thermodynamics. In this paper, a novel steady-state thermodynamic formalism was established for general Markov processes described by the Chapman-Kolmogorov equation. Furthermore, corresponding formalisms of steady-state thermodynamics for the master equation and Fokker-Planck equation could be rigorously derived in mathematics. To be concrete, we proved that (1) in the limit of continuous time, the steady-state thermodynamic formalism for the Chapman-Kolmogorov equation fully agrees with that for the master equation; (2) a similar one-to-one correspondence could be established rigorously between the master equation and Fokker-Planck equation in the limit of large system size; (3) when a Markov process is restrained to one-step jump, the steady-state thermodynamic formalism for the Fokker-Planck equation with discrete state variables also goes to that for master equations, as the discretization step gets smaller and smaller. Our analysis indicated that general Markov processes admit a unified and self-consistent non-equilibrium steady-state thermodynamic formalism, regardless of underlying detailed models.

  2. Stabilization of a spatially uniform steady state in two systems exhibiting Turing patterns

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Konishi, Keiji; Hara, Naoyuki

    2018-05-01

    This paper deals with the stabilization of a spatially uniform steady state in two coupled one-dimensional reaction-diffusion systems with Turing instability. This stabilization corresponds to amplitude death that occurs in a coupled system with Turing instability. Stability analysis of the steady state shows that stabilization does not occur if the two reaction-diffusion systems are identical. We derive a sufficient condition for the steady state to be stable for any length of system and any boundary conditions. Our analytical results are supported with numerical examples.

  3. Pseudo-compressibility methods for the incompressible flow equations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Turkel, Eli; Arnone, A.

    1993-01-01

    Preconditioning methods to accelerate convergence to a steady state for the incompressible fluid dynamics equations are considered. The analysis relies on the inviscid equations. The preconditioning consists of a matrix multiplying the time derivatives. Thus the steady state of the preconditioned system is the same as the steady state of the original system. The method is compared to other types of pseudo-compressibility. For finite difference methods preconditioning can change and improve the steady state solutions. An application to viscous flow around a cascade with a non-periodic mesh is presented.

  4. Quantum thermodynamics of nanoscale steady states far from equilibrium

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Taniguchi, Nobuhiko

    2018-04-01

    We develop an exact quantum thermodynamic description for a noninteracting nanoscale steady state that couples strongly with multiple reservoirs. We demonstrate that there exists a steady-state extension of the thermodynamic function that correctly accounts for the multiterminal Landauer-Büttiker formula of quantum transport of charge, energy, or heat via the nonequilibrium thermodynamic relations. Its explicit form is obtained for a single bosonic or fermionic level in the wide-band limit, and corresponding thermodynamic forces (affinities) are identified. Nonlinear generalization of the Onsager reciprocity relations are derived. We suggest that the steady-state thermodynamic function is also capable of characterizing the heat current fluctuations of the critical transport where the thermal fluctuations dominate. Also, the suggested nonequilibrium steady-state thermodynamic relations seemingly persist for a spin-degenerate single level with local interaction.

  5. Integration of Steady-State and Temporal Gene Expression Data for the Inference of Gene Regulatory Networks

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Yi Kan; Hurley, Daniel G.; Schnell, Santiago; Print, Cristin G.; Crampin, Edmund J.

    2013-01-01

    We develop a new regression algorithm, cMIKANA, for inference of gene regulatory networks from combinations of steady-state and time-series gene expression data. Using simulated gene expression datasets to assess the accuracy of reconstructing gene regulatory networks, we show that steady-state and time-series data sets can successfully be combined to identify gene regulatory interactions using the new algorithm. Inferring gene networks from combined data sets was found to be advantageous when using noisy measurements collected with either lower sampling rates or a limited number of experimental replicates. We illustrate our method by applying it to a microarray gene expression dataset from human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) which combines time series data from treatment with growth factor TNF and steady state data from siRNA knockdown treatments. Our results suggest that the combination of steady-state and time-series datasets may provide better prediction of RNA-to-RNA interactions, and may also reveal biological features that cannot be identified from dynamic or steady state information alone. Finally, we consider the experimental design of genomics experiments for gene regulatory network inference and show that network inference can be improved by incorporating steady-state measurements with time-series data. PMID:23967277

  6. Oxidation and Volatilization of Silica-Formers in Water Vapor

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Opila, E. J.; Gray, Hugh R. (Technical Monitor)

    2002-01-01

    At high temperatures SiC and Si3N4 react with water vapor to form a silica scale. Silica scales also react with water vapor to form a volatile Si(OH)4 species. These simultaneous reactions, one forming silica and the other removing silica, are described by paralinear kinetics. A steady state, in which these reactions occur at the same rate, is eventually achieved, After steady state is achieved, the oxide found on the surface is a constant thickness and recession of the underlying material occurs at a linear rate. The steady state oxide thickness, the time to achieve steady state, and the steady state recession rate can all be described in terms of the rate constants for the oxidation and volatilization reactions. In addition, the oxide thickness, the time to achieve steady state, and the recession rate can also be determined from parameters that describe a water vapor-containing environment. Accordingly, maps have been developed to show these steady state conditions as a function of reaction rate constants, pressure, and gas velocity. These maps can be used to predict the behavior of silica formers in water-vapor containing environments such as combustion environments. Finally, these maps are used to explore the limits of the paralinear oxidation model for SiC and Si3N4

  7. X-Ray Spectral Analysis of the Steady States of GRS1915+105

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Peris, Charith S.; Remillard, Ronald A.; Steiner, James F.; Vrtilek, Saeqa D.; Varnière, Peggy; Rodriguez, Jerome; Pooley, Guy

    2016-05-01

    We report on the X-ray spectral behavior within the steady states of GRS1915+105. Our work is based on the full data set of the source obtained using the Proportional Counter Array (PCA) on the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and 15 GHz radio data obtained using the Ryle Telescope. The steady observations within the X-ray data set naturally separated into two regions in the color-color diagram and we refer to these regions as steady-soft and steady-hard. GRS1915+105 displays significant curvature in the coronal component in both the soft and hard data within the RXTE/PCA bandpass. A majority of the steady-soft observations displays a roughly constant inner disk radius ({R}{{in}}), while the steady-hard observations display an evolving disk truncation which is correlated to the mass accretion rate through the disk. The disk flux and coronal flux are strongly correlated in steady-hard observations and very weakly correlated in the steady-soft observations. Within the steady-hard observations, we observe two particular circumstances when there are correlations between the coronal X-ray flux and the radio flux with log slopes η ˜ 0.68+/- 0.35 and η ˜ 1.12+/- 0.13. They are consistent with the upper and lower tracks of Gallo et al. (2012), respectively. A comparison of the model parameters to the state definitions shows that almost all of the steady-soft observations match the criteria of either a thermal or steep power-law state, while a large portion of the steady-hard observations match the hard-state criteria when the disk fraction constraint is neglected.

  8. Toward an MRI-based method to measure non-uniform cartilage deformation: an MRI-cyclic loading apparatus system and steady-state cyclic displacement of articular cartilage under compressive loading.

    PubMed

    Neu, C P; Hull, M L

    2003-04-01

    Recent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques have shown potential for measuring non-uniform deformations throughout the volume (i.e. three-dimensional (3D) deformations) in small orthopedic tissues such as articular cartilage. However, to analyze cartilage deformation using MRI techniques, a system is required which can construct images from multiple acquisitions of MRI signals from the cartilage in both the underformed and deformed states. The objectives of the work reported in this article were to 1) design an apparatus that could apply highly repeatable cyclic compressive loads of 400 N and operate in the bore of an MRI scanner, 2) demonstrate that the apparatus and MRI scanner can be successfully integrated to observe 3D deformations in a phantom material, 3) use the apparatus to determine the load cycle necessary to achieve a steady-state deformation response in normal bovine articular cartilage samples using a flat-surfaced and nonporous indentor in unconfined compression. Composed of electronic and pneumatic components, the apparatus regulated pressure to a double-acting pneumatic cylinder so that (1) load-controlled compression cycles were applied to cartilage samples immersed in a saline bath, (2) loading and recovery periods within a cycle varied in time duration, and (3) load magnitude varied so that the stress applied to cartilage samples was within typical physiological ranges. In addition the apparatus allowed gating for MR image acquisition, and operation within the bore of an MRI scanner without creating image artifacts. The apparatus demonstrated high repeatability in load application with a standard deviation of 1.8% of the mean 400 N load applied. When the apparatus was integrated with an MRI scanner programmed with appropriate pulse sequences, images of a phantom material in both the underformed and deformed states were constructed by assembling data acquired through multiple signal acquisitions. Additionally, the number of cycles to reach a steady-state response in normal bovine articular cartilage was 49 for a total cycle duration of 5 seconds, but decreased to 33 and 27 for increasing total cycle durations of 10 and 15 seconds, respectively. Once the steady-state response was achieved, 95% of all displacements were within +/- 7.42 microns of the mean displacement, indicating that the displacement response to the cyclic loads was highly repeatable. With this performance, the MRI-loading apparatus system meets the requirements to create images of articular cartilage from which 3D deformation can be determined.

  9. In-Situ Characterization of Tissue Blood Flow, Blood Content, and Water State Using New Techniques in Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Conturo, Thomas Edward

    Tissue blood flow, blood content, and water state have been characterized in-situ with new nuclear magnetic resonance imaging techniques. The sensitivities of standard techniques to the physiologic tissue parameters spin density (N_{rm r}) and relaxation times (T_1 and T_2 ) are mathematically defined. A new driven inversion method is developed so that tissue T_1 and T_2 changes produce cooperative intensity changes, yielding high contrast, high signal to noise, and sensitivity to a wider range of tissue parameters. The actual tissue parameters were imaged by automated collection of multiple-echo data having multiple T _1 dependence. Data are simultaneously fit by three-parameters to a closed-form expression, producing lower inter-parameter correlation and parameter noise than in separate T_1 or T_2 methods or pre-averaged methods. Accurate parameters are obtained at different field strengths. Parametric images of pathology demonstrate high sensitivity to tissue heterogeneity, and water content is determined in many tissues. Erythrocytes were paramagnetically labeled to study blood content and relaxation mechanisms. Liver and spleen relaxation were enhanced following 10% exchange of animal blood volumes. Rapid water exchange between intracellular and extracellular compartments was validated. Erythrocytes occupied 12.5% of renal cortex volume, and blood content was uniform in the liver, spleen and kidney. The magnitude and direction of flow velocity was then imaged. To eliminate directional artifacts, a bipolar gradient technique sensitized to flow in different directions was developed. Phase angle was reconstructed instead of intensity since the former has a 2pi -fold higher dynamic range. Images of flow through curves demonstrated secondary flow with a centrifugally-biased laminar profile and stationary velocity peaks along the curvature. Portal vein flow velocities were diminished or reversed in cirrhosis. Image artifacts have been characterized and removed. The foldover in magnified images was eliminated by exciting limited regions with orthogonal pi/2 and pi pulses. Off-midline regions were imaged by tandemly offsetting the phase-encoding and excitation. Artifacts due to non-steady-state conditions were demonstrated. The approach to steady state was defined by operators and vectors, and any repeated series of RF pulses was proven to produce a steady-state. The vector difference between the magnetization and its steady state value is relatively constant during the approach. The repetition time relative to T_1 is the main determinant of approach rate, and off-resonant RF pulses incoherent with the magnetization produce a more rapid approach than on-resonant pulses.

  10. 40 CFR 1048.505 - How do I test engines using steady-state duty cycles, including ramped-modal testing?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ...-state duty cycles, including ramped-modal testing? 1048.505 Section 1048.505 Protection of Environment... SPARK-IGNITION ENGINES Test Procedures § 1048.505 How do I test engines using steady-state duty cycles... some cases, we allow you to choose the appropriate steady-state duty cycle for an engine. In these...

  11. X-ray spectral analysis of the steady states of GRS 1915+105

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Peris, Charith; Remillard, Ronald A.; Steiner, James F.; Vrtilek, Saeqa Dil; Varniere, Peggy; Rodriguez, Jerome; Pooley, Guy G.

    2016-04-01

    Of the black hole binaries (BHBs) discovered thus far, GRS 1915+105 stands out as an exceptional source primarily due to its wild X-ray variability, the diversity of which has not been replicated in any other stellar-mass black hole. Although extreme variability is commonplace in its light-curve, about half of the observations of GRS1915+105 show fairly steady X-ray intensity. We report on the X-ray spectral behavior within these steady observations. Our work is based on a vast RXTE/PCA data set obtained on GRS 1915+105 during the course of its entire mission and 10 years of radio data from the Ryle Telescope, which overlap the X-ray data. We find that the steady observations within the X-ray data set naturally separate into two regions in a color-color diagram, which we refer to as steady-soft and steady-hard. GRS 1915+105 displays significant curvature in the Comptonization component within the PCA band pass suggesting significantly heating from a hot disk present in all states. A new Comptonization model 'simplcut' was developed in order to model this curvature to best effect. A majority of the steady-soft observations display a roughly constant inner disk radius, remarkably reminiscent of canonical soft state black hole binaries. In contrast, the steady-hard observations display a growing disk truncation that is correlated to the mass accretion rate through the disk, which suggests a magnetically truncated disk. A comparison of X-ray model parameters to the canonical state definitions show that almost all steady-soft observations match the criteria of either thermal or steep power law state, while the thermal state observations dominate the constant radius branch. A large portion 80 % of the steady-hard observations matches the hard state criteria when the disk fraction constraint is neglected. These results combine to suggest that within the complexity of this source is a simpler underlying basis of states, which map to those observed in canonical BHBs.

  12. Exploratory Study on VO2 On-kinetics During Treadmill Walking in Women With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

    PubMed Central

    Keyser, Randall E.; Rus, Violeta; Mikdashi, Jamal A.; Handwerger, Barry S.

    2010-01-01

    Objective To determine if oxygen consumption (VO2) on-kinetics differed between groups of women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and sedentary but otherwise healthy controls. Design Exploratory case control study. Setting Medical school exercise physiology laboratory. Participants Convenience samples of 12 women with SLE and 10 sedentary but otherwise healthy controls. Intervention None. Main Outcome Measurements VO2 on-kinetics indices including time to steady state, rate constant, mean response time (MRT), transition constant, and oxygen deficit measured during bouts of treadmill walking at intensities of 3-METS and 5-METS. Results Time to steady state and oxygen deficit were increased and rate constant was decreased in the women with SLE compared to controls. At the 5-MET energy demand, the transition constant was lower and MRT was longer in the women with SLE than in the controls. For a comparable, relative energy expenditure that was slightly lower than the anaerobic threshold, the transition constant was higher in the controls than in the women with SLE. Conclusion VO2 on-kinetics was prolonged in the women with SLE. The prolongation was concomitant with an increase in oxygen deficit and may underlie performance fatigability in women with SLE. PMID:20801259

  13. Regulation of nitrite transport in red blood cells by hemoglobin oxygen fractional saturation.

    PubMed

    Vitturi, Dario A; Teng, Xinjun; Toledo, José C; Matalon, Sadis; Lancaster, Jack R; Patel, Rakesh P

    2009-05-01

    Allosteric regulation of nitrite reduction by deoxyhemoglobin has been proposed to mediate nitric oxide (NO) formation during hypoxia. Nitrite is predominantly an anion at physiological pH, raising questions about the mechanism by which it enters the red blood cell (RBC) and whether this is regulated and coupled to deoxyhemoglobin-mediated reduction. We tested the hypothesis that nitrite transport by RBCs is regulated by fractional saturation. Using human RBCs, nitrite consumption was faster at lower fractional saturations, consistent with faster reactions with deoxyheme. A membrane-based regulation was suggested by slower nitrite consumption with intact versus lysed RBCs. Interestingly, upon nitrite addition, intracellular nitrite concentrations attained a steady state that, despite increased rates of consumption, did not change with decreasing oxygen tensions, suggesting a deoxygenation-sensitive step that either increases nitrite import or decreases the rate of nitrite export. A role for anion exchanger (AE)-1 in the control of nitrite export was suggested by increased intracellular nitrite concentrations in RBCs treated with DIDS. Moreover, deoxygenation decreased steady-state levels of intracellular nitrite in AE-1-inhibited RBCs. Based on these data, we propose a model in which deoxyhemoglobin binding to AE-1 inhibits nitrite export under low oxygen tensions allowing for the coupling between deoxygenation and nitrite reduction to NO along the arterial-to-venous gradient.

  14. Maximally reliable spatial filtering of steady state visual evoked potentials.

    PubMed

    Dmochowski, Jacek P; Greaves, Alex S; Norcia, Anthony M

    2015-04-01

    Due to their high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and robustness to artifacts, steady state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) are a popular technique for studying neural processing in the human visual system. SSVEPs are conventionally analyzed at individual electrodes or linear combinations of electrodes which maximize some variant of the SNR. Here we exploit the fundamental assumption of evoked responses--reproducibility across trials--to develop a technique that extracts a small number of high SNR, maximally reliable SSVEP components. This novel spatial filtering method operates on an array of Fourier coefficients and projects the data into a low-dimensional space in which the trial-to-trial spectral covariance is maximized. When applied to two sample data sets, the resulting technique recovers physiologically plausible components (i.e., the recovered topographies match the lead fields of the underlying sources) while drastically reducing the dimensionality of the data (i.e., more than 90% of the trial-to-trial reliability is captured in the first four components). Moreover, the proposed technique achieves a higher SNR than that of the single-best electrode or the Principal Components. We provide a freely-available MATLAB implementation of the proposed technique, herein termed "Reliable Components Analysis". Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. The Dual Role of Cerebral Autoregulation and Collateral Flow in the Circle of Willis After Major Vessel Occlusion.

    PubMed

    Kennedy McConnell, Flora; Payne, Stephen

    2017-08-01

    Ischaemic stroke is a leading cause of death and disability. Autoregulation and collateral blood flow through the circle of Willis both play a role in preventing tissue infarction. To investigate the interaction of these mechanisms a one-dimensional steady-state model of the cerebral arterial network was created. Structural variants of the circle of Willis that present particular risk of stroke were recreated by using a network model coupled with: 1) a steady-state physiological model of cerebral autoregulation; and 2) one wherein the cerebral vascular bed was modeled as a passive resistance. Simulations were performed in various conditions of internal carotid and vertebral artery occlusion. Collateral flow alone is unable to ensure adequate blood flow ([Formula: see text] normal flow) to the cerebral arteries in several common variants during internal carotid artery occlusion. However, compared to a passive model, cerebral autoregulation is better able to exploit available collateral flow and maintain flows within [Formula: see text] of baseline. This is true for nearly all configurations. Hence, autoregulation is a crucial facilitator of collateral flow through the circle of Willis. Impairment of this response during ischemia will severely impact cerebral blood flows and tissue survival, and hence, autoregulation should be monitored in this situation.

  16. Efficiencies of polychlorinated biphenyl assimilation from water and algal food by the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis)

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

    Bjoerk, M.; Gilek, M.

    1999-04-01

    A novel method was used to estimate assimilation efficiencies (AEs) of dissolved and food associated PCBs (IUPAC 31, 49, and 153) by the Baltic Sea blue mussel (Mytilus edulis). Mussels were exposed to radiolabeled PCBs in a series of short-term toxicokinetic experiments at different algal food concentrations, both at apparent steady-state (ASS) and non-steady-state (NSS) conditions in respect to PCB partitioning between water and algae. The PCB AEs were calculated using a physiologically based bioaccumulation model where experimentally determined uptake and exposure rates at ASS and NSS conditions were combined into linear equation systems, which were solved for PCB AEmore » from water and food. A positive relationship between PCB uptake and algae clearance by the mussels was observed for all three PCBs. The PCB AEs from both water and food increased with congener hydrophobicity (octanol/water partition coefficient [K{sub ow}]), but AEs decreased with increases in water pumping and filtration rate of the mussels, respectively. The average contribution of food-associated PCB to the total uptake also increased with K{sub ow} from approximately 30% for PCB 31 and PCB 49 to 50% for PCB 153, mainly as a consequence of increased sorption to the algal food.« less

  17. Invariant density analysis: modeling and analysis of the postural control system using Markov chains.

    PubMed

    Hur, Pilwon; Shorter, K Alex; Mehta, Prashant G; Hsiao-Wecksler, Elizabeth T

    2012-04-01

    In this paper, a novel analysis technique, invariant density analysis (IDA), is introduced. IDA quantifies steady-state behavior of the postural control system using center of pressure (COP) data collected during quiet standing. IDA relies on the analysis of a reduced-order finite Markov model to characterize stochastic behavior observed during postural sway. Five IDA parameters characterize the model and offer physiological insight into the long-term dynamical behavior of the postural control system. Two studies were performed to demonstrate the efficacy of IDA. Study 1 showed that multiple short trials can be concatenated to create a dataset suitable for IDA. Study 2 demonstrated that IDA was effective at distinguishing age-related differences in postural control behavior between young, middle-aged, and older adults. These results suggest that the postural control system of young adults converges more quickly to their steady-state behavior while maintaining COP nearer an overall centroid than either the middle-aged or older adults. Additionally, larger entropy values for older adults indicate that their COP follows a more stochastic path, while smaller entropy values for young adults indicate a more deterministic path. These results illustrate the potential of IDA as a quantitative tool for the assessment of the quiet-standing postural control system.

  18. Adaptation to Cadmium by Klebsiella aerogenes Growing in Continuous Culture Proceeds Mainly via Formation of Cadmium Sulfide

    PubMed Central

    Aiking, Harry; Kok, Karin; van Heerikhuizen, Harm; van 't Riet, Jan

    1982-01-01

    The adaptation of Klebsiella aerogenes to high levels of cadmium was studied in continuous culture under conditions of glucose limitation. When up to 6 × 10−4 M cadmium was added to a culture in steady state, growth ceased instantaneously but resumed within 5 h (dilution rate, 0.1 h−1). When again in steady state, these adapted cells exhibited a far greater tolerance to cadmium than did unadapted cells (not previously exposed to cadmium) when tested on solid media containing different concentrations of cadmium. This relative insensitivity of adapted cells to cadmium was subsequently lost in continuous culture within 5 days after omitting cadmium from the influent medium. Thus, the phenomenon was an inducible physiological process. Adapted cells contained substantial amounts of cadmium (up to 2.4% of the bacterial dry weight). The cadmium content of the cells was dependent on growth conditions and was found to be proportional to the inorganic sulfide content of the cells in all cases. This suggested that formation of CdS is probably the most important mechanism of detoxification in this organism. The presence of large numbers of electron-dense granules on the cell surface (absent in cultures without added cadmium) provided additional support for this conclusion. Images PMID:16346119

  19. Microbiota of the Small Intestine Is Selectively Engulfed by Phagocytes of the Lamina Propria and Peyer’s Patches

    PubMed Central

    Morikawa, Masatoshi; Tsujibe, Satoshi; Kiyoshima-Shibata, Junko; Watanabe, Yohei; Kato-Nagaoka, Noriko; Shida, Kan; Matsumoto, Satoshi

    2016-01-01

    Phagocytes such as dendritic cells and macrophages, which are distributed in the small intestinal mucosa, play a crucial role in maintaining mucosal homeostasis by sampling the luminal gut microbiota. However, there is limited information regarding microbial uptake in a steady state. We investigated the composition of murine gut microbiota that is engulfed by phagocytes of specific subsets in the small intestinal lamina propria (SILP) and Peyer’s patches (PP). Analysis of bacterial 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequences revealed that: 1) all the phagocyte subsets in the SILP primarily engulfed Lactobacillus (the most abundant microbe in the small intestine), whereas CD11bhi and CD11bhiCD11chi cell subsets in PP mostly engulfed segmented filamentous bacteria (indigenous bacteria in rodents that are reported to adhere to intestinal epithelial cells); and 2) among the Lactobacillus species engulfed by the SILP cell subsets, L. murinus was engulfed more frequently than L. taiwanensis, although both these Lactobacillus species were abundant in the small intestine under physiological conditions. These results suggest that small intestinal microbiota is selectively engulfed by phagocytes that localize in the adjacent intestinal mucosa in a steady state. These observations may provide insight into the crucial role of phagocytes in immune surveillance of the small intestinal mucosa. PMID:27701454

  20. Microbiota of the Small Intestine Is Selectively Engulfed by Phagocytes of the Lamina Propria and Peyer's Patches.

    PubMed

    Morikawa, Masatoshi; Tsujibe, Satoshi; Kiyoshima-Shibata, Junko; Watanabe, Yohei; Kato-Nagaoka, Noriko; Shida, Kan; Matsumoto, Satoshi

    2016-01-01

    Phagocytes such as dendritic cells and macrophages, which are distributed in the small intestinal mucosa, play a crucial role in maintaining mucosal homeostasis by sampling the luminal gut microbiota. However, there is limited information regarding microbial uptake in a steady state. We investigated the composition of murine gut microbiota that is engulfed by phagocytes of specific subsets in the small intestinal lamina propria (SILP) and Peyer's patches (PP). Analysis of bacterial 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequences revealed that: 1) all the phagocyte subsets in the SILP primarily engulfed Lactobacillus (the most abundant microbe in the small intestine), whereas CD11bhi and CD11bhiCD11chi cell subsets in PP mostly engulfed segmented filamentous bacteria (indigenous bacteria in rodents that are reported to adhere to intestinal epithelial cells); and 2) among the Lactobacillus species engulfed by the SILP cell subsets, L. murinus was engulfed more frequently than L. taiwanensis, although both these Lactobacillus species were abundant in the small intestine under physiological conditions. These results suggest that small intestinal microbiota is selectively engulfed by phagocytes that localize in the adjacent intestinal mucosa in a steady state. These observations may provide insight into the crucial role of phagocytes in immune surveillance of the small intestinal mucosa.

  1. 40 CFR 86.1363-2007 - Steady-state testing with a discrete-mode cycle.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 19 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Steady-state testing with a discrete-mode cycle. 86.1363-2007 Section 86.1363-2007 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY... Exhaust Test Procedures § 86.1363-2007 Steady-state testing with a discrete-mode cycle. This section...

  2. AEROSOL GROWTH IN A STEADY-STATE, CONTINUOUS FLOW CHAMBER: APPLICATION TO STUDIES OF SECONDARY AEROSOL FORMATION

    EPA Science Inventory

    An analytical solution for the steady-state aerosol size distribution achieved in a steady-state, continuous flow chamber is derived, where particle growth is occurring by gas-to-particle conversion and particle loss is occurring by deposition to the walls of the chamber. The s...

  3. Analytical Solution of Steady State Equations for Chemical Reaction Networks with Bilinear Rate Laws

    PubMed Central

    Halász, Ádám M.; Lai, Hong-Jian; McCabe, Meghan M.; Radhakrishnan, Krishnan; Edwards, Jeremy S.

    2014-01-01

    True steady states are a rare occurrence in living organisms, yet their knowledge is essential for quasi-steady state approximations, multistability analysis, and other important tools in the investigation of chemical reaction networks (CRN) used to describe molecular processes on the cellular level. Here we present an approach that can provide closed form steady-state solutions to complex systems, resulting from CRN with binary reactions and mass-action rate laws. We map the nonlinear algebraic problem of finding steady states onto a linear problem in a higher dimensional space. We show that the linearized version of the steady state equations obeys the linear conservation laws of the original CRN. We identify two classes of problems for which complete, minimally parameterized solutions may be obtained using only the machinery of linear systems and a judicious choice of the variables used as free parameters. We exemplify our method, providing explicit formulae, on CRN describing signal initiation of two important types of RTK receptor-ligand systems, VEGF and EGF-ErbB1. PMID:24334389

  4. MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS OF STEADY-STATE SOLUTIONS IN COMPARTMENT AND CONTINUUM MODELS OF CELL POLARIZATION

    PubMed Central

    ZHENG, ZHENZHEN; CHOU, CHING-SHAN; YI, TAU-MU; NIE, QING

    2013-01-01

    Cell polarization, in which substances previously uniformly distributed become asymmetric due to external or/and internal stimulation, is a fundamental process underlying cell mobility, cell division, and other polarized functions. The yeast cell S. cerevisiae has been a model system to study cell polarization. During mating, yeast cells sense shallow external spatial gradients and respond by creating steeper internal gradients of protein aligned with the external cue. The complex spatial dynamics during yeast mating polarization consists of positive feedback, degradation, global negative feedback control, and cooperative effects in protein synthesis. Understanding such complex regulations and interactions is critical to studying many important characteristics in cell polarization including signal amplification, tracking dynamic signals, and potential trade-off between achieving both objectives in a robust fashion. In this paper, we study some of these questions by analyzing several models with different spatial complexity: two compartments, three compartments, and continuum in space. The step-wise approach allows detailed characterization of properties of the steady state of the system, providing more insights for biological regulations during cell polarization. For cases without membrane diffusion, our study reveals that increasing the number of spatial compartments results in an increase in the number of steady-state solutions, in particular, the number of stable steady-state solutions, with the continuum models possessing infinitely many steady-state solutions. Through both analysis and simulations, we find that stronger positive feedback, reduced diffusion, and a shallower ligand gradient all result in more steady-state solutions, although most of these are not optimally aligned with the gradient. We explore in the different settings the relationship between the number of steady-state solutions and the extent and accuracy of the polarization. Taken together these results furnish a detailed description of the factors that influence the tradeoff between a single correctly aligned but poorly polarized stable steady-state solution versus multiple more highly polarized stable steady-state solutions that may be incorrectly aligned with the external gradient. PMID:21936604

  5. Controlled cellular energy conversion in brown adipose tissue thermogenesis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Horowitz, J. M.; Plant, R. E.

    1978-01-01

    Brown adipose tissue serves as a model system for nonshivering thermogenesis (NST) since a) it has as a primary physiological function the conversion of chemical energy to heat; and b) preliminary data from other tissues involved in NST (e.g., muscle) indicate that parallel mechanisms may be involved. Now that biochemical pathways have been proposed for brown fat thermogenesis, cellular models consistent with a thermodynamic representation can be formulated. Stated concisely, the thermogenic mechanism in a brown fat cell can be considered as an energy converter involving a sequence of cellular events controlled by signals over the autonomic nervous system. A thermodynamic description for NST is developed in terms of a nonisothermal system under steady-state conditions using network thermodynamics. Pathways simulated include mitochondrial ATP synthesis, a Na+/K+ membrane pump, and ionic diffusion through the adipocyte membrane.

  6. An exact solution for the steady state phase distribution in an array of oscillators coupled on a hexagonal lattice

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pogorzelski, Ronald J.

    2004-01-01

    When electronic oscillators are coupled to nearest neighbors to form an array on a hexagonal lattice, the planar phase distributions desired for excitation of a phased array antenna are not steady state solutions of the governing non-linear equations describing the system. Thus the steady state phase distribution deviates from planar. It is shown to be possible to obtain an exact solution for the steady state phase distribution and thus determine the deviation from the desired planar distribution as a function of beam steering angle.

  7. Preconditioning and the limit to the incompressible flow equations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Turkel, E.; Fiterman, A.; Vanleer, B.

    1993-01-01

    The use of preconditioning methods to accelerate the convergence to a steady state for both the incompressible and compressible fluid dynamic equations are considered. The relation between them for both the continuous problem and the finite difference approximation is also considered. The analysis relies on the inviscid equations. The preconditioning consists of a matrix multiplying the time derivatives. Hence, the steady state of the preconditioned system is the same as the steady state of the original system. For finite difference methods the preconditioning can change and improve the steady state solutions. An application to flow around an airfoil is presented.

  8. Theoretical studies of solar-pumped lasers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Harries, W. L.

    1982-01-01

    Solar-pumped lasers were investigated by comparing experimental results from pulse experiments with steady state calculations. The time varying behavior of an IBr laser is studied. The analysis is only approximate, but indicates that conditions occurring in a pulsed experiment are quite different from those at steady state. The possibility of steady-state lasing in an IBr laser is determined. The effects of high temperatures on the quenching and recombination rates are examined. Although uncertainties in the values of the rate coefficients make it difficult to draw firm conclusions, it seems steady state running may be possible at high temperatures.

  9. Quantification of the memory effect of steady-state currents from interaction-induced transport in quantum systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lai, Chen-Yen; Chien, Chih-Chun

    2017-09-01

    Dynamics of a system in general depends on its initial state and how the system is driven, but in many-body systems the memory is usually averaged out during evolution. Here, interacting quantum systems without external relaxations are shown to retain long-time memory effects in steady states. To identify memory effects, we first show quasi-steady-state currents form in finite, isolated Bose- and Fermi-Hubbard models driven by interaction imbalance and they become steady-state currents in the thermodynamic limit. By comparing the steady-state currents from different initial states or ramping rates of the imbalance, long-time memory effects can be quantified. While the memory effects of initial states are more ubiquitous, the memory effects of switching protocols are mostly visible in interaction-induced transport in lattices. Our simulations suggest that the systems enter a regime governed by a generalized Fick's law and memory effects lead to initial-state-dependent diffusion coefficients. We also identify conditions for enhancing memory effects and discuss possible experimental implications.

  10. 40 CFR Appendix C to Subpart S of... - Steady-State Short Test Standards

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Steady-State Short Test Standards C Appendix C to Subpart S of Part 51 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED.../Maintenance Program Requirements Pt. 51, Subpt. S, App. C Appendix C to Subpart S of Part 51—Steady-State...

  11. 40 CFR Appendix II to Part 1039 - Steady-State Duty Cycles

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 32 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Steady-State Duty Cycles II Appendix... Appendix II to Part 1039—Steady-State Duty Cycles (a) The following duty cycles apply for constant-speed engines: (1) The following duty cycle applies for discrete-mode testing: D2 mode number Engine speed...

  12. 40 CFR Appendix C to Subpart S of... - Steady-State Short Test Standards

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 2 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Steady-State Short Test Standards C Appendix C to Subpart S of Part 51 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED.../Maintenance Program Requirements Pt. 51, Subpt. S, App. C Appendix C to Subpart S of Part 51—Steady-State...

  13. 40 CFR Appendix C to Subpart S of... - Steady-State Short Test Standards

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 2 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Steady-State Short Test Standards C Appendix C to Subpart S of Part 51 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED.../Maintenance Program Requirements Pt. 51, Subpt. S, App. C Appendix C to Subpart S of Part 51—Steady-State...

  14. 40 CFR Appendix II to Part 1039 - Steady-State Duty Cycles

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... Appendix II to Part 1039—Steady-State Duty Cycles (a) The following duty cycles apply for constant-speed engines: (1) The following duty cycle applies for discrete-mode testing: D2 mode number Engine speed...(seconds) Engine speed Torque(percent) 1, 2 1a Steady-state 53 Engine governed 100. 1b Transition 20 Engine...

  15. Steady-state and quench-dependent relaxation of a quantum dot coupled to one-dimensional leads

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nuss, Martin; Ganahl, Martin; Evertz, Hans Gerd; Arrigoni, Enrico; von der Linden, Wolfgang

    2013-07-01

    We study the time evolution and steady state of the charge current in a single-impurity Anderson model, using matrix product states techniques. A nonequilibrium situation is imposed by applying a bias voltage across one-dimensional tight-binding leads. Focusing on particle-hole symmetry, we extract current-voltage characteristics from universal low-bias up to high-bias regimes, where band effects start to play a dominant role. We discuss three quenches, which after strongly quench-dependent transients yield the same steady-state current. Among these quenches we identify those favorable for extracting steady-state observables. The period of short-time oscillations is shown to compare well to real-time renormalization group results for a simpler model of spinless fermions. We find indications that many-body effects play an important role at high-bias voltage and finite bandwidth of the metallic leads. The growth of entanglement entropy after a certain time scale ∝Δ-1 is the major limiting factor for calculating the time evolution. We show that the magnitude of the steady-state current positively correlates with entanglement entropy. The role of high-energy states for the steady-state current is explored by considering a damping term in the time evolution.

  16. Steady-state pattern electroretinogram and short-duration transient visual evoked potentials in glaucomatous and healthy eyes.

    PubMed

    Amarasekera, Dilru C; Resende, Arthur F; Waisbourd, Michael; Puri, Sanjeev; Moster, Marlene R; Hark, Lisa A; Katz, L Jay; Fudemberg, Scott J; Mantravadi, Anand V

    2018-01-01

    This study evaluates two rapid electrophysiological glaucoma diagnostic tests that may add a functional perspective to glaucoma diagnosis. This study aimed to determine the ability of two office-based electrophysiological diagnostic tests, steady-state pattern electroretinogram and short-duration transient visual evoked potentials, to discern between glaucomatous and healthy eyes. This is a cross-sectional study in a hospital setting. Forty-one patients with glaucoma and 41 healthy volunteers participated in the study. Steady-state pattern electroretinogram and short-duration transient visual evoked potential testing was conducted in glaucomatous and healthy eyes. A 64-bar-size stimulus with both a low-contrast and high-contrast setting was used to compare steady-state pattern electroretinogram parameters in both groups. A low-contrast and high-contrast checkerboard stimulus was used to measure short-duration transient visual evoked potential parameters in both groups. Steady-state pattern electroretinogram parameters compared were MagnitudeD, MagnitudeD/Magnitude ratio, and the signal-to-noise ratio. Short-duration transient visual evoked potential parameters compared were amplitude and latency. MagnitudeD was significantly lower in glaucoma patients when using a low-contrast (P = 0.001) and high-contrast (P < 0.001) 64-bar-size steady-state pattern electroretinogram stimulus. MagnitudeD/Magnitude ratio and SNR were significantly lower in the glaucoma group when using a high-contrast 64-bar-size stimulus (P < 0.001 and P = 0.010, respectively). Short-duration transient visual evoked potential amplitude and latency were not significantly different between the two groups. Steady-state pattern electroretinogram was effectively able to discern between glaucomatous and healthy eyes. Steady-state pattern electroretinogram may thus have a role as a clinically useful electrophysiological diagnostic tool. © 2017 Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists.

  17. Time density curve analysis for C-arm FDCT PBV imaging.

    PubMed

    Kamran, Mudassar; Byrne, James V

    2016-04-01

    Parenchymal blood volume (PBV) estimation using C-arm flat detector computed tomography (FDCT) assumes a steady-state contrast concentration in cerebral vasculature for the scan duration. Using time density curve (TDC) analysis, we explored if the steady-state assumption is met for C-arm CT PBV scans, and how consistent the contrast-material dynamics in cerebral vasculature are across patients. Thirty C-arm FDCT datasets of 26 patients with aneurysmal-SAH, acquired as part of a prospective study comparing C-arm CT PBV with MR-PWI, were analysed. TDCs were extracted from the 2D rotational projections. Goodness-of-fit of TDCs to a steady-state horizontal-line-model and the statistical similarity among the individual TDCs were tested. Influence of the differences in TDC characteristics on the agreement of resulting PBV measurements with MR-CBV was calculated. Despite identical scan parameters and contrast-injection-protocol, the individual TDCs were statistically non-identical (p < 0.01). Using Dunn's multiple comparisons test, of the total 435 individual comparisons among the 30 TDCs, 330 comparisons (62%) reached statistical significance for difference. All TDCs deviated significantly (p < 0.01) from the steady-state horizontal-line-model. PBV values of those datasets for which the TDCs showed largest deviations from the steady-state model demonstrated poor agreement and correlation with MR-CBV, compared with the PBV values of those datasets for which the TDCs were closer to steady-state. For clinical C-arm CT PBV examinations, the administered contrast material does not reach the assumed 'ideal steady-state' for the duration of scan. Using a prolonged injection protocol, the degree to which the TDCs approximate the ideal steady-state influences the agreement of resulting PBV measurements with MR-CBV. © The Author(s) 2016.

  18. Prediction of elemental creep. [steady state and cyclic data from regression analysis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Davis, J. W.; Rummler, D. R.

    1975-01-01

    Cyclic and steady-state creep tests were performed to provide data which were used to develop predictive equations. These equations, describing creep as a function of stress, temperature, and time, were developed through the use of a least squares regression analyses computer program for both the steady-state and cyclic data sets. Comparison of the data from the two types of tests, revealed that there was no significant difference between the cyclic and steady-state creep strains for the L-605 sheet under the experimental conditions investigated (for the same total time at load). Attempts to develop a single linear equation describing the combined steady-state and cyclic creep data resulted in standard errors of estimates higher than obtained for the individual data sets. A proposed approach to predict elemental creep in metals uses the cyclic creep equation and a computer program which applies strain and time hardening theories of creep accumulation.

  19. Absolute Steady-State Thermal Conductivity Measurements by Use of a Transient Hot-Wire System.

    PubMed

    Roder, H M; Perkins, R A; Laesecke, A; Nieto de Castro, C A

    2000-01-01

    A transient hot-wire apparatus was used to measure the thermal conductivity of argon with both steady-state and transient methods. The effects of wire diameter, eccentricity of the wire in the cavity, axial conduction, and natural convection were accounted for in the analysis of the steady-state measurements. Based on measurements on argon, the relative uncertainty at the 95 % level of confidence of the new steady-state measurements is 2 % at low densities. Using the same hot wires, the relative uncertainty of the transient measurements is 1 % at the 95 % level of confidence. This is the first report of thermal conductivity measurements made by two different methods in the same apparatus. The steady-state method is shown to complement normal transient measurements at low densities, particularly for fluids where the thermophysical properties at low densities are not known with high accuracy.

  20. Quasi steady-state aerodynamic model development for race vehicle simulations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mohrfeld-Halterman, J. A.; Uddin, M.

    2016-01-01

    Presented in this paper is a procedure to develop a high fidelity quasi steady-state aerodynamic model for use in race car vehicle dynamic simulations. Developed to fit quasi steady-state wind tunnel data, the aerodynamic model is regressed against three independent variables: front ground clearance, rear ride height, and yaw angle. An initial dual range model is presented and then further refined to reduce the model complexity while maintaining a high level of predictive accuracy. The model complexity reduction decreases the required amount of wind tunnel data thereby reducing wind tunnel testing time and cost. The quasi steady-state aerodynamic model for the pitch moment degree of freedom is systematically developed in this paper. This same procedure can be extended to the other five aerodynamic degrees of freedom to develop a complete six degree of freedom quasi steady-state aerodynamic model for any vehicle.

  1. Technical challenges in the construction of the steady-state stellarator Wendelstein 7-X

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bosch, H.-S.; Wolf, R. C.; Andreeva, T.; Baldzuhn, J.; Birus, D.; Bluhm, T.; Bräuer, T.; Braune, H.; Bykov, V.; Cardella, A.; Durodié, F.; Endler, M.; Erckmann, V.; Gantenbein, G.; Hartmann, D.; Hathiramani, D.; Heimann, P.; Heinemann, B.; Hennig, C.; Hirsch, M.; Holtum, D.; Jagielski, J.; Jelonnek, J.; Kasparek, W.; Klinger, T.; König, R.; Kornejew, P.; Kroiss, H.; Krom, J. G.; Kühner, G.; Laqua, H.; Laqua, H. P.; Lechte, C.; Lewerentz, M.; Maier, J.; McNeely, P.; Messiaen, A.; Michel, G.; Ongena, J.; Peacock, A.; Pedersen, T. S.; Riedl, R.; Riemann, H.; Rong, P.; Rust, N.; Schacht, J.; Schauer, F.; Schroeder, R.; Schweer, B.; Spring, A.; Stäbler, A.; Thumm, M.; Turkin, Y.; Wegener, L.; Werner, A.; Zhang, D.; Zilker, M.; Akijama, T.; Alzbutas, R.; Ascasibar, E.; Balden, M.; Banduch, M.; Baylard, Ch.; Behr, W.; Beidler, C.; Benndorf, A.; Bergmann, T.; Biedermann, C.; Bieg, B.; Biel, W.; Borchardt, M.; Borowitz, G.; Borsuk, V.; Bozhenkov, S.; Brakel, R.; Brand, H.; Brown, T.; Brucker, B.; Burhenn, R.; Buscher, K.-P.; Caldwell-Nichols, C.; Cappa, A.; Cardella, A.; Carls, A.; Carvalho, P.; Ciupiński, Ł.; Cole, M.; Collienne, J.; Czarnecka, A.; Czymek, G.; Dammertz, G.; Dhard, C. P.; Davydenko, V. I.; Dinklage, A.; Drevlak, M.; Drotziger, S.; Dudek, A.; Dumortier, P.; Dundulis, G.; Eeten, P. v.; Egorov, K.; Estrada, T.; Faugel, H.; Fellinger, J.; Feng, Y.; Fernandes, H.; Fietz, W. H.; Figacz, W.; Fischer, F.; Fontdecaba, J.; Freund, A.; Funaba, T.; Fünfgelder, H.; Galkowski, A.; Gates, D.; Giannone, L.; García Regaña, J. M.; Geiger, J.; Geißler, S.; Greuner, H.; Grahl, M.; Groß, S.; Grosman, A.; Grote, H.; Grulke, O.; Haas, M.; Haiduk, L.; Hartfuß, H.-J.; Harris, J. H.; Haus, D.; Hein, B.; Heitzenroeder, P.; Helander, P.; Heller, R.; Hidalgo, C.; Hildebrandt, D.; Höhnle, H.; Holtz, A.; Holzhauer, E.; Holzthüm, R.; Huber, A.; Hunger, H.; Hurd, F.; Ihrke, M.; Illy, S.; Ivanov, A.; Jablonski, S.; Jaksic, N.; Jakubowski, M.; Jaspers, R.; Jensen, H.; Jenzsch, H.; Kacmarczyk, J.; Kaliatk, T.; Kallmeyer, J.; Kamionka, U.; Karaleviciu, R.; Kern, S.; Keunecke, M.; Kleiber, R.; Knauer, J.; Koch, R.; Kocsis, G.; Könies, A.; Köppen, M.; Koslowski, R.; Koshurinov, J.; Krämer-Flecken, A.; Krampitz, R.; Kravtsov, Y.; Krychowiak, M.; Krzesinski, G.; Ksiazek, I.; Kubkowska, M.; Kus, A.; Langish, S.; Laube, R.; Laux, M.; Lazerson, S.; Lennartz, M.; Li, C.; Lietzow, R.; Lohs, A.; Lorenz, A.; Louche, F.; Lubyako, L.; Lumsdaine, A.; Lyssoivan, A.; Maaßberg, H.; Marek, P.; Martens, C.; Marushchenko, N.; Mayer, M.; Mendelevitch, B.; Mertens, Ph.; Mikkelsen, D.; Mishchenko, A.; Missal, B.; Mizuuchi, T.; Modrow, H.; Mönnich, T.; Morizaki, T.; Murakami, S.; Musielok, F.; Nagel, M.; Naujoks, D.; Neilson, H.; Neubauer, O.; Neuner, U.; Nocentini, R.; Noterdaeme, J.-M.; Nührenberg, C.; Obermayer, S.; Offermanns, G.; Oosterbeek, H.; Otte, M.; Panin, A.; Pap, M.; Paquay, S.; Pasch, E.; Peng, X.; Petrov, S.; Pilopp, D.; Pirsch, H.; Plaum, B.; Pompon, F.; Povilaitis, M.; Preinhaelter, J.; Prinz, O.; Purps, F.; Rajna, T.; Récsei, S.; Reiman, A.; Reiter, D.; Remmel, J.; Renard, S.; Rhode, V.; Riemann, J.; Rimkevicius, S.; Riße, K.; Rodatos, A.; Rodin, I.; Romé, M.; Roscher, H.-J.; Rummel, K.; Rummel, Th.; Runov, A.; Ryc, L.; Sachtleben, J.; Samartsev, A.; Sanchez, M.; Sano, F.; Scarabosio, A.; Schmid, M.; Schmitz, H.; Schmitz, O.; Schneider, M.; Schneider, W.; Scheibl, L.; Scholz, M.; Schröder, G.; Schröder, M.; Schruff, J.; Schumacher, H.; Shikhovtsev, I. V.; Shoji, M.; Siegl, G.; Skodzik, J.; Smirnow, M.; Speth, E.; Spong, D. A.; Stadler, R.; Sulek, Z.; Szabó, V.; Szabolics, T.; Szetefi, T.; Szökefalvi-Nagy, Z.; Tereshchenko, A.; Thomsen, H.; Thumm, M.; Timmermann, D.; Tittes, H.; Toi, K.; Tournianski, M.; Toussaint, U. v.; Tretter, J.; Tulipán, S.; Turba, P.; Uhlemann, R.; Urban, J.; Urbonavicius, E.; Urlings, P.; Valet, S.; Van Eester, D.; Van Schoor, M.; Vervier, M.; Viebke, H.; Vilbrandt, R.; Vrancken, M.; Wauters, T.; Weissgerber, M.; Weiß, E.; Weller, A.; Wendorf, J.; Wenzel, U.; Windisch, T.; Winkler, E.; Winkler, M.; Wolowski, J.; Wolters, J.; Wrochna, G.; Xanthopoulos, P.; Yamada, H.; Yokoyama, M.; Zacharias, D.; Zajac, J.; Zangl, G.; Zarnstorff, M.; Zeplien, H.; Zoletnik, S.; Zuin, M.

    2013-12-01

    The next step in the Wendelstein stellarator line is the large superconducting device Wendelstein 7-X, currently under construction in Greifswald, Germany. Steady-state operation is an intrinsic feature of stellarators, and one key element of the Wendelstein 7-X mission is to demonstrate steady-state operation under plasma conditions relevant for a fusion power plant. Steady-state operation of a fusion device, on the one hand, requires the implementation of special technologies, giving rise to technical challenges during the design, fabrication and assembly of such a device. On the other hand, also the physics development of steady-state operation at high plasma performance poses a challenge and careful preparation. The electron cyclotron resonance heating system, diagnostics, experiment control and data acquisition are prepared for plasma operation lasting 30 min. This requires many new technological approaches for plasma heating and diagnostics as well as new concepts for experiment control and data acquisition.

  2. Division-Based, Growth Rate Diversity in Bacteria

    PubMed Central

    Gangwe Nana, Ghislain Y.; Ripoll, Camille; Cabin-Flaman, Armelle; Gibouin, David; Delaune, Anthony; Janniere, Laurent; Grancher, Gerard; Chagny, Gaelle; Loutelier-Bourhis, Corinne; Lentzen, Esther; Grysan, Patrick; Audinot, Jean-Nicolas; Norris, Vic

    2018-01-01

    To investigate the nature and origins of growth rate diversity in bacteria, we grew Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis in liquid minimal media and, after different periods of 15N-labeling, analyzed and imaged isotope distributions in individual cells with Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry. We find a striking inter- and intra-cellular diversity, even in steady state growth. This is consistent with the strand-dependent, hyperstructure-based hypothesis that a major function of the cell cycle is to generate coherent, growth rate diversity via the semi-conservative pattern of inheritance of strands of DNA and associated macromolecular assemblies. We also propose quantitative, general, measures of growth rate diversity for studies of cell physiology that include antibiotic resistance. PMID:29867792

  3. Recent Advances in Type-2-Cell-Mediated Immunity: Insights from Helminth Infection.

    PubMed

    Harris, Nicola L; Loke, P'ng

    2017-12-19

    Type-2-cell-mediated immune responses play a critical role in mediating both host-resistance and disease-tolerance mechanisms during helminth infections. Recently, type 2 cell responses have emerged as major regulators of tissue repair and metabolic homeostasis even under steady-state conditions. In this review, we consider how studies of helminth infection have contributed toward our expanding cellular and molecular understanding of type-2-cell-mediated immunity, as well as new areas such as the microbiome. By studying how these successful parasites form chronic infections without overt pathology, we are gaining additional insights into allergic and inflammatory diseases, as well as normal physiology. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Physiologic regulation of body energy storage

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pitts, G. C.

    1978-01-01

    Both new and published data (rats, mice, and human beings) on three parameters - fat mass, fat-free body mass (FFBM), and total body mass in some cases - are evaluated. Steady state values of the parameters are analyzed for changes in response to specific perturbing agents and for their frequency distributions. Temporal sequences of values on individuals are examined for evidence of regulatory responses. The results lead to the hypothesis that the FFBM is regulated, but probably not as a unit, and that mass of fat is regulated with a high priority near the range extremes but with a much lower priority in the mid-range. Properties and advantages of such a mechanism are discussed.

  5. Modifications to the steady-state 41-node thermoregulatory model including validation of the respiratory and diffusional water loss equations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1974-01-01

    After the simplified version of the 41-Node Stolwijk Metabolic Man Model was implemented on the Sigma 3 and UNIVAC 1110 computers in batch mode, it became desirable to make certain revisions. First, the availability of time-sharing terminals makes it possible to provide the capability and flexibility of conversational interaction between user and model. Secondly, recent physiological studies show the need to revise certain parameter values contained in the model. Thirdly, it was desired to make quantitative and accurate predictions of evaporative water loss for humans in an orbiting space station. The result of the first phase of this effort are reported.

  6. Fundamental principles in bacterial physiology—history, recent progress, and the future with focus on cell size control: a review

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jun, Suckjoon; Si, Fangwei; Pugatch, Rami; Scott, Matthew

    2018-05-01

    Bacterial physiology is a branch of biology that aims to understand overarching principles of cellular reproduction. Many important issues in bacterial physiology are inherently quantitative, and major contributors to the field have often brought together tools and ways of thinking from multiple disciplines. This article presents a comprehensive overview of major ideas and approaches developed since the early 20th century for anyone who is interested in the fundamental problems in bacterial physiology. This article is divided into two parts. In the first part (sections 1–3), we review the first ‘golden era’ of bacterial physiology from the 1940s to early 1970s and provide a complete list of major references from that period. In the second part (sections 4–7), we explain how the pioneering work from the first golden era has influenced various rediscoveries of general quantitative principles and significant further development in modern bacterial physiology. Specifically, section 4 presents the history and current progress of the ‘adder’ principle of cell size homeostasis. Section 5 discusses the implications of coarse-graining the cellular protein composition, and how the coarse-grained proteome ‘sectors’ re-balance under different growth conditions. Section 6 focuses on physiological invariants, and explains how they are the key to understanding the coordination between growth and the cell cycle underlying cell size control in steady-state growth. Section 7 overviews how the temporal organization of all the internal processes enables balanced growth. In the final section 8, we conclude by discussing the remaining challenges for the future in the field.

  7. 40 CFR Appendix II to Part 1042 - Steady-State Duty Cycles

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 32 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Steady-State Duty Cycles II Appendix..., App. II Appendix II to Part 1042—Steady-State Duty Cycles (a) The following duty cycles apply as specified in § 1042.505(b)(1): (1) The following duty cycle applies for discrete-mode testing: E3 mode No...

  8. Min-By-Min Respiratory Exchange and Oxygen Uptake Kinetics During Steady-State Exercise in Subjects of High and Low Max VO2

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Weltman, Arthur; Katch, Victor

    1976-01-01

    No statistically meaningful differences in steady-state vo2 uptake for high and low max vo2 groups was indicated in this study, but a clear tendency was observed for the high max vo2 group to reach the steady-state at a faster rate. (MB)

  9. Quantitative controls on submarine slope failure morphology

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Lee, H.J.; Schwab, W.C.; Edwards, B.D.; Kayen, R.E.

    1991-01-01

    The concept of the steady-state of deformation can be applied to predicting the ultimate form a landslide will take. The steady-state condition, defined by a line in void ratio-effective stress space, exists at large levels of strain and remolding. Conceptually, if sediment initially exists with void ratio-effective stress conditions above the steady-state line, the sediment shear strength will decrease during a transient loading event, such as an earthquake or storm. If the reduced shear strength existing at the steady state is less than the downslope shear stress induced by gravity, then large-scale internal deformation, disintegration, and flow will occur. -from Authors

  10. Detection-enhanced steady state entanglement with ions.

    PubMed

    Bentley, C D B; Carvalho, A R R; Kielpinski, D; Hope, J J

    2014-07-25

    Driven dissipative steady state entanglement schemes take advantage of coupling to the environment to robustly prepare highly entangled states. We present a scheme for two trapped ions to generate a maximally entangled steady state with fidelity above 0.99, appropriate for use in quantum protocols. Furthermore, we extend the scheme by introducing detection of our dissipation process, significantly enhancing the fidelity. Our scheme is robust to anomalous heating and requires no sympathetic cooling.

  11. Physiological responses during continuous work in hot dry and hot humid environments in Indians

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sen Gupta, J.; Swamy, Y. V.; Pichan, G.; Dimri, G. P.

    1984-06-01

    Studies have been conducted on six young healthy heat acclimatised Indians to determine the physiological changes in prolonged continuous work in thermally neutral and in hot dry and hot humid environments. Physiological responses in maximal efforts i.e. Vo2 max, VE max and Cf max were noted. In addition, duration in continuous work at three sub-maximal rate of work in three simulated environments were also noted. Physiological responses like Vo2, VE and Cf were noted every 15 minutes of work. Besides these responses, rectal temperature (Tre), mean skin temperature (Ts) and mean sweat rate were also recorded during continuous work. Results indicated a significant decrease in maximum oxygen uptake capacity (Vo2 max) in heat with no change in maximum exercise ventilation (VE max) and maximum cardiac frequency. However, the fall in Vo2 max was more severe in the hot humid environment than in the hot dry climate. Cardiac frequency at fixed oxygen consumption of 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 l/min was distinctly higher in the hot humid environment than in the hot dry and comfortable temperature. The duration in continuous physical effort in various grades of activities decreased in hot dry environment from that in the-comfortable climate and further decreased significantly in hot humid environment. The highest rate of sweating was observed during work in humid heat. The mean skin temperature (Ts) showed a fall in all the three rates of work in comfortable and hot dry conditions whereas in hot humid environment it showed a linear rise during the progress of work. The rectal temperature on the other hand maintained a near steady state while working at 65 and 82 watts in comfortable and hot dry environments but kept on rising during work in hot humid environment. At the highest work rate of 98 watts, the rectal temperature showed a steady increase even in the hot dry condition. It was thus concluded from the study that a hot humid climate imposes more constraints on the thermoregulatory system during work than in the hot dry condition because of less effective heat dissipation so resulting in reduced tolerance to work.

  12. Respiration-to-DNA ratio reflects physiological state of microorganisms in root-free and rhizosphere soil

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Blagodatskaya, E.; Blagodatsky, S.; Kuzyakov, Y.

    2009-04-01

    The double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) content in soil can serve as a measure of microbial biomass under near steady-state conditions and quantitatively reflect the exponential microbial growth initiated by substrate addition. The yield of respired CO2 per microbial biomass unit (expressed as DNA content) could be a valuable physiological indicator reflecting state of soil microbial community. Therefore, investigations combining both analyses of DNA content and respiration of soil microorganisms under steady-state and during periods of rapid growth are needed. We studied the relationship between CO2 evolution and microbial dsDNA content in native and glucose-amended samples of root-free and rhizosphere soil under Beta vulgaris (Cambisol, loamy sand from the field experiment of the Institute of Agroecology FAL, Braunschweig, Germany). Quantity of dsDNA was determined by direct DNA isolation from soil with mechanic and enzymatic disruption of microbial cell walls with following spectrofluorimetric detection with PicoGreen (Blagodatskaya et al., 2003). Microbial biomass and the kinetic parameters of microbial growth were estimated by dynamics of the CO2 emission from soil amended with glucose and nutrients (Blagodatsky et al., 2000). The CO2 production rate was measured hourly at 22оС using an automated infrared-gas analyzer system. The overall increase in microbial biomass, DNA content, maximal specific growth rate and therefore, in the fraction of microorganisms with r-strategy were observed in rhizosphere as compared to bulk soil. The rhizosphere effect for microbial respiration, biomass and specific growth rate was more pronounced for plots with half-rate of N fertilizer compared to full N addition. The DNA content was significantly lower in bulk compared to rhizosphere soil both before and during microbial growth initiated by glucose amendment. Addition of glucose to the soil strongly increased the amount of CO2 respired per DNA unit. Without substrate addition the VCO2-to-total DNA ratios were lower than 0.1 µg CO2-C µg-1 total DNA h-1 whereas during exponential microbial growth these values increased consistently and exceeded 1 µg CO2-C µg-1 DNA h-1. Thus, the VCO2-to-total DNA ratio strongly changes along with the physiological state of soil microorganisms and can be used as valuable physiological parameter. In growing microorganisms the quantity of CO2 evolved per unit of newly formed DNA was identical in rhizosphere and root free soil and averaged for 13.5 ± 1.1 µg CO2-C µg-1 newly formed DNA. The CO2 yield per unit of newly formed DNA allows the estimation of microbial growth efficiency and validation of specific growth rates obtained during kinetic analysis of respiration curves. The study was supported by European Commission (Marie Curie IIF program, project MICROSOM) and by Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. References: Blagodatskaya EV, Blagodatskii SA, Anderson TH. 2003. Quantitative Isolation of Microbial DNA from Different Types of Soils of Natural and Agricultural Ecosystems. Microbiology 72(6):744-749. Blagodatsky SA, Heinemeyer O, Richter J. 2000. Estimating the active and total soil microbial biomass by kinetic respiration analysis. Biology and Fertility of Soils 32(1):73-81.

  13. A neuro-mechanical model of a single leg joint highlighting the basic physiological role of fast and slow muscle fibres of an insect muscle system.

    PubMed

    Toth, Tibor Istvan; Schmidt, Joachim; Büschges, Ansgar; Daun-Gruhn, Silvia

    2013-01-01

    In legged animals, the muscle system has a dual function: to produce forces and torques necessary to move the limbs in a systematic way, and to maintain the body in a static position. These two functions are performed by the contribution of specialized motor units, i.e. motoneurons driving sets of specialized muscle fibres. With reference to their overall contraction and metabolic properties they are called fast and slow muscle fibres and can be found ubiquitously in skeletal muscles. Both fibre types are active during stepping, but only the slow ones maintain the posture of the body. From these findings, the general hypothesis on a functional segregation between both fibre types and their neuronal control has arisen. Earlier muscle models did not fully take this aspect into account. They either focused on certain aspects of muscular function or were developed to describe specific behaviours only. By contrast, our neuro-mechanical model is more general as it allows functionally to differentiate between static and dynamic aspects of movement control. It does so by including both muscle fibre types and separate motoneuron drives. Our model helps to gain a deeper insight into how the nervous system might combine neuronal control of locomotion and posture. It predicts that (1) positioning the leg at a specific retraction angle in steady state is most likely due to the extent of recruitment of slow muscle fibres and not to the force developed in the individual fibres of the antagonistic muscles; (2) the fast muscle fibres of antagonistic muscles contract alternately during stepping, while co-contraction of the slow muscle fibres takes place during steady state; (3) there are several possible ways of transition between movement and steady state of the leg achieved by varying the time course of recruitment of the fibres in the participating muscles.

  14. Sulfur isotopic and proteomic profiles of sulfate reducers grown under differential steady-states

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Leavitt, W.; Venceslau, S.; Waldbauer, J.; Smith, D. A.; Boidi, F. J.; Bradley, A. S.

    2016-12-01

    Microbial sulfate reducers (MSR) drive the Earth's biogeochemical sulfur cycle. At the heart of this energy metabolism is a cascade of redox transformations coupling organic carbon and/or hydrogen oxidation to the dissimilatory reduction of sulfate to sulfide. The product sulfide is depleted in the heavier isotopes of sulfur, relative to the reactant sulfate, consistent with a normal kinetic isotope effect. However, the magnitude of the net fractionation during MSR can range over a range of 70 permil, consistent with a multi-step set of reactions. This range in MSR fractionation has been shown to mainly depend on: i) the cell-specific sulfate reduction rate (csSRR), and ii) the ambient sulfate concentration. However, the fractionation under identical conditions differs among strains (Bradley et al. 2016. Geobio), and so must also be mediated by strain-specific processes, such as the nature and quantity of individual proteins involved in sulfate reduction, electron transport, and growth. In recent work we have examined the influence of electron donor, electron acceptor, and co-limitation under controlled steady-state culture conditions in order better inform models of MSR isotope fractionation, and the physiological and isotopic response to differential environmental forcings (e.g. Leavitt et al. (2013) PNAS). Recent models of the fractionation response to MSR rate (c.f. Bradley 2016; Wing & Halevy, 2016) make specific predictions for the responses of the cellular metabolome and proteome. Here we compare the steady-state S-isotopic fractionation and proteome of `fast' versus `slow' grown D. vulgaris, using replicate chemostats under electron donor limitation. We observe clear and statistically robust changes in some key central MSR and C-metabolism enzymes, though a host of the critical energy-transfer enzymes show no statistically discernable change. We discuss these results in light of recent theoretical advances and their relevance to modern and ancient geochemical records.

  15. PRENATAL ALCOHOL EXPOSURE ALTERS STEADY-STATE AND ACTIVATED GENE EXPRESSION IN THE ADULT RAT BRAIN

    PubMed Central

    Stepien, Katarzyna A.; Lussier, Alexandre A.; Neumann, Sarah M.; Pavlidis, Paul; Kobor, Michael S.; Weinberg, Joanne

    2016-01-01

    Background Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is associated with alterations in numerous physiological systems, including the stress and immune systems . We have previously shown that PAE increases the course and severity of arthritis in an adjuvant-induced arthritis (AA) model. While the molecular mechanisms underlying these effects are not fully known, changes in neural gene expression are emerging as important factors in the etiology of PAE effects. As the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus (HPC) play key roles in neuroimmune function, PAE-induced alterations to their transcriptome may underlie abnormal steady-state functions and responses to immune challenge. The current study examined brains from adult PAE and control females from our recent AA study to determine whether PAE causes long-term alterations in gene expression and whether these mediate the altered severity and course of arthritis in PAE females Methods Adult females from PAE, pair-fed [PF], and ad libitum-fed control [C]) groups were injected with either saline or complete Freund’s adjuvant. Animals were terminated at the peak of inflammation or during resolution (days 16 and 39 post-injection, respectively); cohorts of saline-injected PAE, PF and C females were terminated in parallel. Gene expression was analyzed in the PFC and HPC using whole genome mRNA expression microarrays. Results Significant changes in gene expression in both the PFC and HPC were found in PAE compared to controls in response to ethanol exposure alone (saline-injected females), including genes involved in neurodevelopment, apoptosis, and energy metabolism. Moreover, in response to inflammation (adjuvant-injected females), PAE animals showed unique expression patterns, while failing to exhibit the activation of genes and regulators involved in the immune response observed in control and pair-fed animals. Conclusions These results support the hypothesis that PAE affects neuroimmune function at the level of gene expression, demonstrating long-term effects of PAE on the CNS response under steady-state conditions and following an inflammatory insult. PMID:25684047

  16. Steady-state MR imaging sequences: physics, classification, and clinical applications.

    PubMed

    Chavhan, Govind B; Babyn, Paul S; Jankharia, Bhavin G; Cheng, Hai-Ling M; Shroff, Manohar M

    2008-01-01

    Steady-state sequences are a class of rapid magnetic resonance (MR) imaging techniques based on fast gradient-echo acquisitions in which both longitudinal magnetization (LM) and transverse magnetization (TM) are kept constant. Both LM and TM reach a nonzero steady state through the use of a repetition time that is shorter than the T2 relaxation time of tissue. When TM is maintained as multiple radiofrequency excitation pulses are applied, two types of signal are formed once steady state is reached: preexcitation signal (S-) from echo reformation; and postexcitation signal (S+), which consists of free induction decay. Depending on the signal sampled and used to form an image, steady-state sequences can be classified as (a) postexcitation refocused (only S+ is sampled), (b) preexcitation refocused (only S- is sampled), and (c) fully refocused (both S+ and S- are sampled) sequences. All tissues with a reasonably long T2 relaxation time will show additional signals due to various refocused echo paths. Steady-state sequences have revolutionized cardiac imaging and have become the standard for anatomic functional cardiac imaging and for the assessment of myocardial viability because of their good signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio and increased speed of acquisition. They are also useful in abdominal and fetal imaging and hold promise for interventional MR imaging. Because steady-state sequences are now commonly used in MR imaging, radiologists will benefit from understanding the underlying physics, classification, and clinical applications of these sequences.

  17. Development of a Physiologically Based Computational Kidney Model to Describe the Renal Excretion of Hydrophilic Agents in Rats

    PubMed Central

    Niederalt, Christoph; Wendl, Thomas; Kuepfer, Lars; Claassen, Karina; Loosen, Roland; Willmann, Stefan; Lippert, Joerg; Schultze-Mosgau, Marcus; Winkler, Julia; Burghaus, Rolf; Bräutigam, Matthias; Pietsch, Hubertus; Lengsfeld, Philipp

    2013-01-01

    A physiologically based kidney model was developed to analyze the renal excretion and kidney exposure of hydrophilic agents, in particular contrast media, in rats. In order to study the influence of osmolality and viscosity changes, the model mechanistically represents urine concentration by water reabsorption in different segments of kidney tubules and viscosity dependent tubular fluid flow. The model was established using experimental data on the physiological steady state without administration of any contrast media or drugs. These data included the sodium and urea concentration gradient along the cortico-medullary axis, water reabsorption, urine flow, and sodium as well as urea urine concentrations for a normal hydration state. The model was evaluated by predicting the effects of mannitol and contrast media administration and comparing to experimental data on cortico-medullary concentration gradients, urine flow, urine viscosity, hydrostatic tubular pressures and single nephron glomerular filtration rate. Finally the model was used to analyze and compare typical examples of ionic and non-ionic monomeric as well as non-ionic dimeric contrast media with respect to their osmolality and viscosity. With the computational kidney model, urine flow depended mainly on osmolality, while osmolality and viscosity were important determinants for tubular hydrostatic pressure and kidney exposure. The low diuretic effect of dimeric contrast media in combination with their high intrinsic viscosity resulted in a high viscosity within the tubular fluid. In comparison to monomeric contrast media, this led to a higher increase in tubular pressure, to a reduction in glomerular filtration rate and tubular flow and to an increase in kidney exposure. The presented kidney model can be implemented into whole body physiologically based pharmacokinetic models and extended in order to simulate the renal excretion of lipophilic drugs which may also undergo active secretion and reabsorption. PMID:23355822

  18. Time density curve analysis for C-arm FDCT PBV imaging

    PubMed Central

    Byrne, James V

    2016-01-01

    Introduction Parenchymal blood volume (PBV) estimation using C-arm flat detector computed tomography (FDCT) assumes a steady-state contrast concentration in cerebral vasculature for the scan duration. Using time density curve (TDC) analysis, we explored if the steady-state assumption is met for C-arm CT PBV scans, and how consistent the contrast-material dynamics in cerebral vasculature are across patients. Methods Thirty C-arm FDCT datasets of 26 patients with aneurysmal-SAH, acquired as part of a prospective study comparing C-arm CT PBV with MR-PWI, were analysed. TDCs were extracted from the 2D rotational projections. Goodness-of-fit of TDCs to a steady-state horizontal-line-model and the statistical similarity among the individual TDCs were tested. Influence of the differences in TDC characteristics on the agreement of resulting PBV measurements with MR-CBV was calculated. Results Despite identical scan parameters and contrast-injection-protocol, the individual TDCs were statistically non-identical (p < 0.01). Using Dunn's multiple comparisons test, of the total 435 individual comparisons among the 30 TDCs, 330 comparisons (62%) reached statistical significance for difference. All TDCs deviated significantly (p < 0.01) from the steady-state horizontal-line-model. PBV values of those datasets for which the TDCs showed largest deviations from the steady-state model demonstrated poor agreement and correlation with MR-CBV, compared with the PBV values of those datasets for which the TDCs were closer to steady-state. Conclusion For clinical C-arm CT PBV examinations, the administered contrast material does not reach the assumed ‘ideal steady-state’ for the duration of scan. Using a prolonged injection protocol, the degree to which the TDCs approximate the ideal steady-state influences the agreement of resulting PBV measurements with MR-CBV. PMID:26769736

  19. Pressure Distribution and Performance Impacts of Aerospike Nozzles on Rotating Detonation Engines

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2017-06-01

    design methodology at both on- and off-design conditions anticipated throughout the combustion cycle. Steady-state, non -reacting computational fluid...operation. Therefore, the nozzle contour was designed using a traditional, steady-state design methodology at both on- and off-design conditions...anticipated throughout the combustion cycle. Steady-state, non -reacting computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed on various nozzle

  20. Universal, computer facilitated, steady state oscillator, closed loop analysis theory and some applications to precision oscillators

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Parzen, Benjamin

    1992-01-01

    The theory of oscillator analysis in the immittance domain should be read in conjunction with the additional theory presented here. The combined theory enables the computer simulation of the steady state oscillator. The simulation makes the calculation of the oscillator total steady state performance practical, including noise at all oscillator locations. Some specific precision oscillators are analyzed.

  1. Steady state analysis of Boolean molecular network models via model reduction and computational algebra.

    PubMed

    Veliz-Cuba, Alan; Aguilar, Boris; Hinkelmann, Franziska; Laubenbacher, Reinhard

    2014-06-26

    A key problem in the analysis of mathematical models of molecular networks is the determination of their steady states. The present paper addresses this problem for Boolean network models, an increasingly popular modeling paradigm for networks lacking detailed kinetic information. For small models, the problem can be solved by exhaustive enumeration of all state transitions. But for larger models this is not feasible, since the size of the phase space grows exponentially with the dimension of the network. The dimension of published models is growing to over 100, so that efficient methods for steady state determination are essential. Several methods have been proposed for large networks, some of them heuristic. While these methods represent a substantial improvement in scalability over exhaustive enumeration, the problem for large networks is still unsolved in general. This paper presents an algorithm that consists of two main parts. The first is a graph theoretic reduction of the wiring diagram of the network, while preserving all information about steady states. The second part formulates the determination of all steady states of a Boolean network as a problem of finding all solutions to a system of polynomial equations over the finite number system with two elements. This problem can be solved with existing computer algebra software. This algorithm compares favorably with several existing algorithms for steady state determination. One advantage is that it is not heuristic or reliant on sampling, but rather determines algorithmically and exactly all steady states of a Boolean network. The code for the algorithm, as well as the test suite of benchmark networks, is available upon request from the corresponding author. The algorithm presented in this paper reliably determines all steady states of sparse Boolean networks with up to 1000 nodes. The algorithm is effective at analyzing virtually all published models even those of moderate connectivity. The problem for large Boolean networks with high average connectivity remains an open problem.

  2. Steady state analysis of Boolean molecular network models via model reduction and computational algebra

    PubMed Central

    2014-01-01

    Background A key problem in the analysis of mathematical models of molecular networks is the determination of their steady states. The present paper addresses this problem for Boolean network models, an increasingly popular modeling paradigm for networks lacking detailed kinetic information. For small models, the problem can be solved by exhaustive enumeration of all state transitions. But for larger models this is not feasible, since the size of the phase space grows exponentially with the dimension of the network. The dimension of published models is growing to over 100, so that efficient methods for steady state determination are essential. Several methods have been proposed for large networks, some of them heuristic. While these methods represent a substantial improvement in scalability over exhaustive enumeration, the problem for large networks is still unsolved in general. Results This paper presents an algorithm that consists of two main parts. The first is a graph theoretic reduction of the wiring diagram of the network, while preserving all information about steady states. The second part formulates the determination of all steady states of a Boolean network as a problem of finding all solutions to a system of polynomial equations over the finite number system with two elements. This problem can be solved with existing computer algebra software. This algorithm compares favorably with several existing algorithms for steady state determination. One advantage is that it is not heuristic or reliant on sampling, but rather determines algorithmically and exactly all steady states of a Boolean network. The code for the algorithm, as well as the test suite of benchmark networks, is available upon request from the corresponding author. Conclusions The algorithm presented in this paper reliably determines all steady states of sparse Boolean networks with up to 1000 nodes. The algorithm is effective at analyzing virtually all published models even those of moderate connectivity. The problem for large Boolean networks with high average connectivity remains an open problem. PMID:24965213

  3. Transitions between strongly correlated and random steady-states for catalytic CO-oxidation on surfaces at high-pressure

    DOE PAGES

    Liu, Da -Jiang; Evans, James W.

    2015-04-02

    We explore simple lattice-gas reaction models for CO-oxidation on 1D and 2D periodic arrays of surface adsorption sites. The models are motivated by studies of CO-oxidation on RuO 2(110) at high-pressures. Although adspecies interactions are neglected, the effective absence of adspecies diffusion results in kinetically-induced spatial correlations. A transition occurs from a random mainly CO-populated steady-state at high CO-partial pressure p CO, to a strongly-correlated near-O-covered steady-state for low p CO as noted. In addition, we identify a second transition to a random near-O-covered steady-state at very low p CO.

  4. The steady-state visual evoked potential in vision research: A review

    PubMed Central

    Norcia, Anthony M.; Appelbaum, L. Gregory; Ales, Justin M.; Cottereau, Benoit R.; Rossion, Bruno

    2015-01-01

    Periodic visual stimulation and analysis of the resulting steady-state visual evoked potentials were first introduced over 80 years ago as a means to study visual sensation and perception. From the first single-channel recording of responses to modulated light to the present use of sophisticated digital displays composed of complex visual stimuli and high-density recording arrays, steady-state methods have been applied in a broad range of scientific and applied settings.The purpose of this article is to describe the fundamental stimulation paradigms for steady-state visual evoked potentials and to illustrate these principles through research findings across a range of applications in vision science. PMID:26024451

  5. Changes in physiological and some nutritional, nutraceuticals, chemical-physical, microbiological and sensory quality of minimally processed cactus pears cvs 'Bianca', 'Gialla' and 'Rossa' stored under passive modified atmosphere.

    PubMed

    Palma, Amedeo; Continella, Alberto; La Malfa, Stefano; D'Aquino, Salvatore

    2018-03-01

    The objective of this study was to compare the overall quality changes of minimally processed cactus pears cvs 'Bianca', Gialla' and 'Rossa' stored at 4 °C for 10 days. Periodically in-package CO 2 , O 2 and C 2 H 4 were determined and fruit were assessed for overall quality changes (pH, acidity, sugars, phenolics, betacyanins and betaxanthines, antioxidant capacity, colour, firmness, microbiological population and sensory attributes). In a preliminary study three different polymeric films were tested to select the most suitable to design a package with a short lag time to achieve steady-state conditions. Results showed marked differences between measured in-package CO 2 and O 2 values and those calculated based on respiration of peeled fruit and film permeance to CO 2 and O 2 provided by manufactures. The sensory evaluation of packed fruit indicated in film BBT-Bolphane, which created a steady-state in-package partial pressure for CO 2 of 4.3-4.8 kPa and for O 2 of 4.8-5.5 kPa, as the best film. Results of in-package gas composition with the three cultivars were similar to those achieved in cv. 'Gialla' with the preliminary test. All measured qualitative parameters changed slightly over the storage period for all cultivars and followed the same trend, despite significant differences existing among cultivars. This study clearly showed a similar physiological behavior of minimally processed 'Bianca', 'Gialla' and 'Rossa' cactus pears. Storage conditions optimal for one cultivar fit well for the others; thus mixing fruit of different cultivars in a package designed for one specific cultivar does not lead to relevant deviation from expected results. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

  6. Cross-correlation of instantaneous phase increments in pressure-flow fluctuations: Applications to cerebral autoregulation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Zhi; Hu, Kun; Stanley, H. Eugene; Novak, Vera; Ivanov, Plamen Ch.

    2006-03-01

    We investigate the relationship between the blood flow velocities (BFV) in the middle cerebral arteries and beat-to-beat blood pressure (BP) recorded from a finger in healthy and post-stroke subjects during the quasisteady state after perturbation for four different physiologic conditions: supine rest, head-up tilt, hyperventilation, and CO2 rebreathing in upright position. To evaluate whether instantaneous BP changes in the steady state are coupled with instantaneous changes in the BFV, we compare dynamical patterns in the instantaneous phases of these signals, obtained from the Hilbert transform, as a function of time. We find that in post-stroke subjects the instantaneous phase increments of BP and BFV exhibit well-pronounced patterns that remain stable in time for all four physiologic conditions, while in healthy subjects these patterns are different, less pronounced, and more variable. We propose an approach based on the cross-correlation of the instantaneous phase increments to quantify the coupling between BP and BFV signals. We find that the maximum correlation strength is different for the two groups and for the different conditions. For healthy subjects the amplitude of the cross-correlation between the instantaneous phase increments of BP and BFV is small and attenuates within 3-5 heartbeats. In contrast, for post-stroke subjects, this amplitude is significantly larger and cross-correlations persist up to 20 heartbeats. Further, we show that the instantaneous phase increments of BP and BFV are cross-correlated even within a single heartbeat cycle. We compare the results of our approach with three complementary methods: direct BP-BFV cross-correlation, transfer function analysis, and phase synchronization analysis. Our findings provide insight into the mechanism of cerebral vascular control in healthy subjects, suggesting that this control mechanism may involve rapid adjustments (within a heartbeat) of the cerebral vessels, so that BFV remains steady in response to changes in peripheral BP.

  7. Cross-correlation of instantaneous phase increments in pressure-flow fluctuations: applications to cerebral autoregulation.

    PubMed

    Chen, Zhi; Hu, Kun; Stanley, H Eugene; Novak, Vera; Ivanov, Plamen Ch

    2006-03-01

    We investigate the relationship between the blood flow velocities (BFV) in the middle cerebral arteries and beat-to-beat blood pressure (BP) recorded from a finger in healthy and post-stroke subjects during the quasisteady state after perturbation for four different physiologic conditions: supine rest, head-up tilt, hyperventilation, and CO2 rebreathing in upright position. To evaluate whether instantaneous BP changes in the steady state are coupled with instantaneous changes in the BFV, we compare dynamical patterns in the instantaneous phases of these signals, obtained from the Hilbert transform, as a function of time. We find that in post-stroke subjects the instantaneous phase increments of BP and BFV exhibit well-pronounced patterns that remain stable in time for all four physiologic conditions, while in healthy subjects these patterns are different, less pronounced, and more variable. We propose an approach based on the cross-correlation of the instantaneous phase increments to quantify the coupling between BP and BFV signals. We find that the maximum correlation strength is different for the two groups and for the different conditions. For healthy subjects the amplitude of the cross-correlation between the instantaneous phase increments of BP and BFV is small and attenuates within 3-5 heartbeats. In contrast, for post-stroke subjects, this amplitude is significantly larger and cross-correlations persist up to 20 heartbeats. Further, we show that the instantaneous phase increments of BP and BFV are cross-correlated even within a single heartbeat cycle. We compare the results of our approach with three complementary methods: direct BP-BFV cross-correlation, transfer function analysis, and phase synchronization analysis. Our findings provide insight into the mechanism of cerebral vascular control in healthy subjects, suggesting that this control mechanism may involve rapid adjustments (within a heartbeat) of the cerebral vessels, so that BFV remains steady in response to changes in peripheral BP.

  8. Reliability of time-to-exhaustion and selected psycho-physiological variables during constant-load cycling at the maximal lactate steady-state.

    PubMed

    Faude, Oliver; Hecksteden, Anne; Hammes, Daniel; Schumacher, Franck; Besenius, Eric; Sperlich, Billy; Meyer, Tim

    2017-02-01

    The maximal lactate steady-state (MLSS) is frequently assessed for prescribing endurance exercise intensity. Knowledge of the intra-individual variability of the MLSS is important for practical application. To date, little is known about the reliability of time-to-exhaustion and physiological responses to exercise at MLSS. Twenty-one healthy men (age, 25.2 (SD 3.3) years; height, 1.83 (0.06) m; body mass, 78.9 (8.9) kg; maximal oxygen uptake, 57.1 (10.7) mL·min -1 ·kg -1 ) performed 1 incremental exercise test, and 2 constant-load tests to determine MLSS intensity. Subsequently, 2 open-end constant-load tests (MLSS 1 and 2) at MLSS intensity (3.0 (0.7) W·kg -1 , 76% (10%) maximal oxygen uptake) were carried out. During the tests, blood lactate concentrations, heart rate, ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), variables of gas exchange, and core body temperature were determined. Time-to-exhaustion was 50.8 (14.0) and 48.2 (16.7) min in MLSS 1 and 2 (mean change: -2.6 (95% confidence interval: -7.8, 2.6)), respectively. The coefficient of variation (CV) was high for time-to-exhaustion (24.6%) and for mean (4.8 (1.2) mmol·L -1 ) and end (5.4 (1.7) mmol·L -1 ) blood lactate concentrations (15.7% and 19.3%). The CV of mean exercise values for all other parameters ranged from 1.4% (core temperature) to 8.3% (ventilation). At termination, the CVs ranged from 0.8% (RPE) to 11.8% (breathing frequency). The low reliability of time-to-exhaustion and blood lactate concentration at MLSS indicates that the precise individual intensity prescription may be challenging. Moreover, the obtained data may serve as reference to allow for the separation of intervention effects from random variation in our sample.

  9. Influence of oxygen partial pressure on the characteristics of human hepatocarcinoma cells.

    PubMed

    Trepiana, Jenifer; Meijide, Susana; Navarro, Rosaura; Hernández, M Luisa; Ruiz-Sanz, José Ignacio; Ruiz-Larrea, M Begoña

    2017-08-01

    Most of the in vitro studies using liver cell lines have been performed under atmospheric oxygen partial pressure (21% O 2 ). However, the oxygen concentrations in the liver and cancer cells are far from this value. In the present study, we have evaluated the influence of oxygen on 1) the tumor cell lines features (growth, steady-state ROS levels, GSH content, activities of antioxidant enzymes, p66 Shc and SOD expressions, metalloproteinases secretion, migration, invasion, and adhesion) of human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines, and b) the response of the cells to an oxidant stimulus (aqueous leaf extract of the V. baccifera plant species). For this purpose, three hepatocarcinoma cell lines with different p53 status, HepG2 (wild-type), Huh7 (mutated), and Hep3B (deleted), were cultured (6-30 days) under atmospheric (21%) and more physiological (8%) pO 2 . Results showed that after long-term culturing at 8% versus 21% O 2 , the cellular proliferation rate and the steady-state levels of mitochondrial O 2 - were unaffected. However, the intracellular basal ROS levels were higher independently of the characteristics of the cell line. Moreover, the lower pO 2 was associated with lower glutathione content, the induction of p66 Shc and Mn-SOD proteins, and increased SOD activity only in HepG2. This cell line also showed a higher migration rate, secretion of active metalloproteinases, and a faster invasion. HepG2 cells were more resistant to the oxidative stress induced by V. baccifera. Results suggest that the long-term culturing of human hepatoma cells at a low, more physiological pO 2 induces antioxidant adaptations that could be mediated by p53, and may alter the cellular response to a subsequent oxidant challenge. Data support the necessity of validating outcomes from studies performed with hepatoma cell cultures under ambient O 2 . Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Regulated Extracellular Choline Acetyltransferase Activity— The Plausible Missing Link of the Distant Action of Acetylcholine in the Cholinergic Anti-Inflammatory Pathway

    PubMed Central

    Aeinehband, Shahin; Behbahani, Homira; Grandien, Alf; Nilsson, Bo; Ekdahl, Kristina N.; Lindblom, Rickard P. F.; Piehl, Fredrik; Darreh-Shori, Taher

    2013-01-01

    Acetylcholine (ACh), the classical neurotransmitter, also affects a variety of nonexcitable cells, such as endothelia, microglia, astrocytes and lymphocytes in both the nervous system and secondary lymphoid organs. Most of these cells are very distant from cholinergic synapses. The action of ACh on these distant cells is unlikely to occur through diffusion, given that ACh is very short-lived in the presence of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE), two extremely efficient ACh-degrading enzymes abundantly present in extracellular fluids. In this study, we show compelling evidence for presence of a high concentration and activity of the ACh-synthesizing enzyme, choline-acetyltransferase (ChAT) in human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma. We show that ChAT levels are physiologically balanced to the levels of its counteracting enzymes, AChE and BuChE in the human plasma and CSF. Equilibrium analyses show that soluble ChAT maintains a steady-state ACh level in the presence of physiological levels of fully active ACh-degrading enzymes. We show that ChAT is secreted by cultured human-brain astrocytes, and that activated spleen lymphocytes release ChAT itself rather than ACh. We further report differential CSF levels of ChAT in relation to Alzheimer’s disease risk genotypes, as well as in patients with multiple sclerosis, a chronic neuroinflammatory disease, compared to controls. Interestingly, soluble CSF ChAT levels show strong correlation with soluble complement factor levels, supporting a role in inflammatory regulation. This study provides a plausible explanation for the long-distance action of ACh through continuous renewal of ACh in extracellular fluids by the soluble ChAT and thereby maintenance of steady-state equilibrium between hydrolysis and synthesis of this ubiquitous cholinergic signal substance in the brain and peripheral compartments. These findings may have important implications for the role of cholinergic signaling in states of inflammation in general and in neurodegenerative disease, such as Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis in particular. PMID:23840379

  11. Analysis methods and recent advances in nonlinear pharmacokinetics from in vitro through in loci to in vivo.

    PubMed

    Yamaoka, Kiyoshi; Takakura, Yoshinobu

    2004-12-01

    An attempt has been made to review the nonlinearities in the disposition in vitro, in situ, in loci and in vivo mainly from a theoretical point of view. Parallel Michaelis-Menten and linear (first-order) eliminations are often observed in the cellular uptake, metabolism and efflux of drugs. The well-stirred and parallel-tube models are mainly adopted under steady-state conditions in perfusion experiments, whereas distribution, tank-in-series and dispersion models are often used under nonsteady-state conditions with a pulse input. The analysis of the nonlinear local disposition in loci is reviewed from two points of view, namely an indirect method involving physiologically based pharmacokinetics (PBPK) and a direct (two or three samplings) method using live animals. The nonlinear global pharmacokinetics in vivo is reviewed with regard to absorption, elimination (metabolism and excretion) and distribution.

  12. Symmetry limit theory for cantilever beam-columns subjected to cyclic reversed bending

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Uetani, K.; Nakamura, Tsuneyoshi

    THE BEHAVIOR of a linear strain-hardening cantilever beam-column subjected to completely reversed plastic bending of a new idealized program under constant axial compression consists of three stages: a sequence of symmetric steady states, a subsequent sequence of asymmetric steady states and a divergent behavior involving unbounded growth of an anti-symmetric deflection mode. A new concept "symmetry limit" is introduced here as the smallest critical value of the tip-deflection amplitude at which transition from a symmetric steady state to an asymmetric steady state can occur in the response of a beam-column. A new theory is presented for predicting the symmetry limits. Although this transition phenomenon is phenomenologically and conceptually different from the branching phenomenon on an equilibrium path, it is shown that a symmetry limit may theoretically be regarded as a branching point on a "steady-state path" defined anew. The symmetry limit theory and the fundamental hypotheses are verified through numerical analysis of hysteretic responses of discretized beam-column models.

  13. A general theory of kinetics and thermodynamics of steady-state copolymerization.

    PubMed

    Shu, Yao-Gen; Song, Yong-Shun; Ou-Yang, Zhong-Can; Li, Ming

    2015-06-17

    Kinetics of steady-state copolymerization has been investigated since the 1940s. Irreversible terminal and penultimate models were successfully applied to a number of comonomer systems, but failed for systems where depropagation is significant. Although a general mathematical treatment of the terminal model with depropagation was established in the 1980s, a penultimate model and higher-order terminal models with depropagation have not been systematically studied, since depropagation leads to hierarchically-coupled and unclosed kinetic equations which are hard to solve analytically. In this work, we propose a truncation method to solve the steady-state kinetic equations of any-order terminal models with depropagation in a unified way, by reducing them into closed steady-state equations which give the exact solution of the original kinetic equations. Based on the steady-state equations, we also derive a general thermodynamic equality in which the Shannon entropy of the copolymer sequence is explicitly introduced as part of the free energy dissipation of the whole copolymerization system.

  14. Molecular control of steady-state dendritic cell maturation and immune homeostasis.

    PubMed

    Hammer, Gianna Elena; Ma, Averil

    2013-01-01

    Dendritic cells (DCs) are specialized sentinels responsible for coordinating adaptive immunity. This function is dependent upon coupled sensitivity to environmental signs of inflammation and infection to cellular maturation-the programmed alteration of DC phenotype and function to enhance immune cell activation. Although DCs are thus well equipped to respond to pathogens, maturation triggers are not unique to infection. Given that immune cells are exquisitely sensitive to the biological functions of DCs, we now appreciate that multiple layers of suppression are required to restrict the environmental sensitivity, cellular maturation, and even life span of DCs to prevent aberrant immune activation during the steady state. At the same time, steady-state DCs are not quiescent but rather perform key functions that support homeostasis of numerous cell types. Here we review these functions and molecular mechanisms of suppression that control steady-state DC maturation. Corruption of these steady-state operatives has diverse immunological consequences and pinpoints DCs as potent drivers of autoimmune and inflammatory disease.

  15. Lineage tracing of murine adult hematopoietic stem cells reveals active contribution to steady-state hematopoiesis

    PubMed Central

    Chapple, Richard H.; Tseng, Yu-Jung; Hu, Tianyuan; Kitano, Ayumi; Takeichi, Makiko; Hoegenauer, Kevin A.

    2018-01-01

    Characterization of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) has advanced largely owing to transplantation assays, in which the developmental potential of HSCs is assessed generally in nonhomeostatic conditions. These studies established that adult HSCs extensively contribute to multilineage hematopoietic regeneration upon transplantation. On the contrary, recent studies performing lineage tracing of HSCs under homeostatic conditions have shown that adult HSCs may contribute far less to steady-state hematopoiesis than would be anticipated based on transplantation assays. Here, we used 2 independent HSC-lineage–tracing models to examine the contribution of adult HSCs to steady-state hematopoiesis. We show that adult HSCs contribute robustly to steady-state hematopoiesis, exhibiting faster efflux toward the myeloid lineages compared with lymphoid lineages. Platelets were robustly labeled by HSCs, reaching the same level of labeling as HSCs by 1 year of chase. Our results support the view that adult HSCs contribute to the continuous influx of blood cells during steady-state hematopoiesis. PMID:29848758

  16. Einstein's steady-state theory: an abandoned model of the cosmos

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    O'Raifeartaigh, Cormac; McCann, Brendan; Nahm, Werner; Mitton, Simon

    2014-09-01

    We present a translation and analysis of an unpublished manuscript by Albert Einstein in which he attempted to construct a `steady-state' model of the universe. The manuscript, which appears to have been written in early 1931, demonstrates that Einstein once explored a cosmic model in which the mean density of matter in an expanding universe is maintained constant by the continuous formation of matter from empty space. This model is very different to previously known Einsteinian models of the cosmos (both static and dynamic) but anticipates the later steady-state cosmology of Hoyle, Bondi and Gold in some ways. We find that Einstein's steady-state model contains a fundamental flaw and suggest that it was abandoned for this reason. We also suggest that he declined to explore a more sophisticated version because he found such theories rather contrived. The manuscript is of historical interest because it reveals that Einstein debated between steady-state and evolving models of the cosmos decades before a similar debate took place in the cosmological community.

  17. A Poisson-like closed-form expression for the steady-state wealth distribution in a kinetic model of gambling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Garcia, Jane Bernadette Denise M.; Esguerra, Jose Perico H.

    2017-08-01

    An approximate but closed-form expression for a Poisson-like steady state wealth distribution in a kinetic model of gambling was formulated from a finite number of its moments, which were generated from a βa,b(x) exchange distribution. The obtained steady-state wealth distributions have tails which are qualitatively similar to those observed in actual wealth distributions.

  18. The relationship between skin aging and steady state ultraweak photon emission as an indicator of skin oxidative stress in vivo.

    PubMed

    Gabe, Y; Osanai, O; Takema, Y

    2014-08-01

    Ultraweak photon emission (UPE) is one potential method to evaluate the oxidative status of the skin in vivo. However, little is known about how the daily oxidative stress of the skin is related to skin aging-related alterations in vivo. We characterized the steady state UPE and performed a skin survey. We evaluated the skin oxidative status by UPE, skin elasticity, epidermal thickness and skin color on the inner upper arm, the outer forearm, and the buttock of 70 Japanese volunteers. The steady state UPE at the three skin sites increased with age. Correlation analysis revealed that the steady state UPE only from the buttock was related to skin elasticity, which showed age-dependent changes. Moreover, analysis by age group indicated that b* values of the inner upper arm of subjects in their 20s were inversely correlated with UPE as occurred in buttock skin. In contrast, photoaged skin did not show a clear relationship with steady state UPE because the accumulation of sun-exposure might influence the sensitivity to oxidative stress. These results suggest that steady state UPE reflects not only intrinsic skin aging and cutaneous color but also the current oxidative status independent of skin aging. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  19. Evaporation rate of nucleating clusters.

    PubMed

    Zapadinsky, Evgeni

    2011-11-21

    The Becker-Döring kinetic scheme is the most frequently used approach to vapor liquid nucleation. In the present study it has been extended so that master equations for all cluster configurations are included into consideration. In the Becker-Döring kinetic scheme the nucleation rate is calculated through comparison of the balanced steady state and unbalanced steady state solutions of the set of kinetic equations. It is usually assumed that the balanced steady state produces equilibrium cluster distribution, and the evaporation rates are identical in the balanced and unbalanced steady state cases. In the present study we have shown that the evaporation rates are not identical in the equilibrium and unbalanced steady state cases. The evaporation rate depends on the number of clusters at the limit of the cluster definition. We have shown that the ratio of the number of n-clusters at the limit of the cluster definition to the total number of n-clusters is different in equilibrium and unbalanced steady state cases. This causes difference in evaporation rates for these cases and results in a correction factor to the nucleation rate. According to rough estimation it is 10(-1) by the order of magnitude and can be lower if carrier gas effectively equilibrates the clusters. The developed approach allows one to refine the correction factor with Monte Carlo and molecular dynamic simulations.

  20. Perception of steady-state vowels and vowelless syllables by adults and children

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nittrouer, Susan

    2005-04-01

    Vowels can be produced as long, isolated, and steady-state, but that is not how they are found in natural speech. Instead natural speech consists of almost continuously changing (i.e., dynamic) acoustic forms from which mature listeners recover underlying phonetic form. Some theories suggest that children need steady-state information to recognize vowels (and so learn vowel systems), even though that information is sparse in natural speech. The current study examined whether young children can recover vowel targets from dynamic forms, or whether they need steady-state information. Vowel recognition was measured for adults and children (3, 5, and 7 years) for natural productions of /dæd/, /dUd/ /æ/, /U/ edited to make six stimulus sets: three dynamic (whole syllables; syllables with middle 50-percent replaced by cough; syllables with all but the first and last three pitch periods replaced by cough), and three steady-state (natural, isolated vowels; reiterated pitch periods from those vowels; reiterated pitch periods from the syllables). Adults scored nearly perfectly on all but first/last three pitch period stimuli. Children performed nearly perfectly only when the entire syllable was heard, and performed similarly (near 80%) for all other stimuli. Consequently, children need dynamic forms to perceive vowels; steady-state forms are not preferred.

  1. A stability analysis of the power-law steady state of marine size spectra.

    PubMed

    Datta, Samik; Delius, Gustav W; Law, Richard; Plank, Michael J

    2011-10-01

    This paper investigates the stability of the power-law steady state often observed in marine ecosystems. Three dynamical systems are considered, describing the abundance of organisms as a function of body mass and time: a "jump-growth" equation, a first order approximation which is the widely used McKendrick-von Foerster equation, and a second order approximation which is the McKendrick-von Foerster equation with a diffusion term. All of these yield a power-law steady state. We derive, for the first time, the eigenvalue spectrum for the linearised evolution operator, under certain constraints on the parameters. This provides new knowledge of the stability properties of the power-law steady state. It is shown analytically that the steady state of the McKendrick-von Foerster equation without the diffusion term is always unstable. Furthermore, numerical plots show that eigenvalue spectra of the McKendrick-von Foerster equation with diffusion give a good approximation to those of the jump-growth equation. The steady state is more likely to be stable with a low preferred predator:prey mass ratio, a large diet breadth and a high feeding efficiency. The effects of demographic stochasticity are also investigated and it is concluded that these are likely to be small in real systems.

  2. EEMD-Based Steady-State Indexes and Their Applications to Condition Monitoring and Fault Diagnosis of Railway Axle Bearings

    PubMed Central

    Fan, Wei; Tsui, Kwok-Leung; Lin, Jianhui

    2018-01-01

    Railway axle bearings are one of the most important components used in vehicles and their failures probably result in unexpected accidents and economic losses. To realize a condition monitoring and fault diagnosis scheme of railway axle bearings, three dimensionless steadiness indexes in a time domain, a frequency domain, and a shape domain are respectively proposed to measure the steady states of bearing vibration signals. Firstly, vibration data collected from some designed experiments are pre-processed by using ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD). Then, the coefficient of variation is introduced to construct two steady-state indexes from pre-processed vibration data in a time domain and a frequency domain, respectively. A shape function is used to construct a steady-state index in a shape domain. At last, to distinguish normal and abnormal bearing health states, some guideline thresholds are proposed. Further, to identify axle bearings with outer race defects, a pin roller defect, a cage defect, and coupling defects, the boundaries of all steadiness indexes are experimentally established. Experimental results showed that the proposed condition monitoring and fault diagnosis scheme is effective in identifying different bearing health conditions. PMID:29495446

  3. Bipolar pulse field for magnetic refrigeration

    DOEpatents

    Lubell, Martin S.

    1994-01-01

    A magnetic refrigeration apparatus includes first and second steady state magnets, each having a field of substantially equal strength and opposite polarity, first and second bodies made of magnetocaloric material disposed respectively in the influence of the fields of the first and second steady state magnets, and a pulsed magnet, concentric with the first and second steady state magnets, and having a field which cycles between the fields of the first and second steady state magnets, thereby cyclically magnetizing and demagnetizing and thus heating and cooling the first and second bodies. Heat exchange apparatus of suitable design can be used to expose a working fluid to the first and second bodies of magnetocaloric material. A controller is provided to synchronize the flow of working fluid with the changing states of magnetization of the first and second bodies.

  4. Steady State Advanced Tokamak (SSAT): The mission and the machine

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Thomassen, K.; Goldston, R.; Nevins, B.; Neilson, H.; Shannon, T.; Montgomery, B.

    1992-03-01

    Extending the tokamak concept to the steady state regime and pursuing advances in tokamak physics are important and complementary steps for the magnetic fusion energy program. The required transition away from inductive current drive will provide exciting opportunities for advances in tokamak physics, as well as important impetus to drive advances in fusion technology. Recognizing this, the Fusion Policy Advisory Committee and the U.S. National Energy Strategy identified the development of steady state tokamak physics and technology, and improvements in the tokamak concept, as vital elements in the magnetic fusion energy development plan. Both called for the construction of a steady state tokamak facility to address these plan elements. Advances in physics that produce better confinement and higher pressure limits are required for a similar unit size reactor. Regimes with largely self-driven plasma current are required to permit a steady-state tokamak reactor with acceptable recirculating power. Reliable techniques of disruption control will be needed to achieve the availability goals of an economic reactor. Thus the central role of this new tokamak facility is to point the way to a more attractive demonstration reactor (DEMO) than the present data base would support. To meet the challenges, we propose a new 'Steady State Advanced Tokamak' (SSAT) facility that would develop and demonstrate optimized steady state tokamak operating mode. While other tokamaks in the world program employ superconducting toroidal field coils, SSAT would be the first major tokamak to operate with a fully superconducting coil set in the elongated, divertor geometry planned for ITER and DEMO.

  5. Is steady-state capitalism viable? A review of the issues and an answer in the affirmative.

    PubMed

    Lawn, Philip

    2011-02-01

    Most ecological economists believe that the transition to a steady-state economy is necessary to ensure ecological sustainability and to maximize a nation's economic welfare. While some observers agree with the necessity of the steady-state economy, they are nonetheless critical of the suggestion made by ecological economists-in particular, Herman Daly-that a steady-state economy is compatible with a capitalist system. First, they believe that steady-state capitalism is based on the untenable assumption that growth is an optional rather than in-built element of capitalism. Second, they argue that capitalist notions of efficient resource allocation are too restrictive to facilitate the transition to an "ecological" or steady-state economy. I believe these observers are outright wrong with their first criticism and, because they misunderstand Daly's vision of a steady-state economy, are misplaced with their second criticism. The nature of a capitalist system depends upon the institutional framework that supports and shapes it. Hence, a capitalist system can exist in a wide variety of forms. Unfortunately, many observers fail to recognize that the current "growth imperative" is the result of capitalist systems everywhere being institutionally designed to grow. They need not be designed this way to survive and thrive. Indeed, because continued growth is both existentially undesirable and ecologically unsustainable, redesigning capitalist systems through the introduction of Daly-like institutions would prove to be capitalism's savior. What's more, it would constitute humankind's best hope of achieving sustainable development. © 2011 New York Academy of Sciences.

  6. Understanding emotional transitions: the interpersonal consequences of changing emotions in negotiations.

    PubMed

    Filipowicz, Allan; Barsade, Sigal; Melwani, Shimul

    2011-09-01

    Research on the interpersonal functions of emotions has focused primarily on steady-state emotion rather than on emotional transitions, the movement between emotion states. The authors examined the influence of emotional transitions on social interactions and found that emotional transitions led to consistently different outcomes than their corresponding steady-state emotions. Across 2 computer-mediated negotiations and a face-to-face negotiation, participants negotiating with partners who displayed a "becoming angry" (happy to angry) emotional transition accepted worse negotiation outcomes yet formed better relational impressions of their partners than participants negotiating with partners who displayed steady-state anger. This relationship was mediated through 2 mechanisms: attributional and emotional contagion processes. The "becoming happy" (angry to happy) emotional transition as compared with steady-state happiness was not significantly related to differences in negotiation outcomes but was significantly related to differences in relational impressions, where perceivers of the "becoming happy" emotional transition gave their partners lower relational impression ratings than perceivers of steady-state happiness. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved.

  7. Quantized transport and steady states of Floquet topological insulators

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Esin, Iliya; Rudner, Mark S.; Refael, Gil; Lindner, Netanel H.

    2018-06-01

    Robust electronic edge or surface modes play key roles in the fascinating quantized responses exhibited by topological materials. Even in trivial materials, topological bands and edge states can be induced dynamically by a time-periodic drive. Such Floquet topological insulators (FTIs) inherently exist out of equilibrium; the extent to which they can host quantized transport, which depends on the steady-state population of their dynamically induced edge states, remains a crucial question. In this work, we obtain the steady states of two-dimensional FTIs in the presence of the natural dissipation mechanisms present in solid state systems. We give conditions under which the steady-state distribution resembles that of a topological insulator in the Floquet basis. In this state, the distribution in the Floquet edge modes exhibits a sharp feature akin to a Fermi level, while the bulk hosts a small density of excitations. We determine the regimes where topological edge-state transport persists and can be observed in FTIs.

  8. Endothelial jagged-2 sustains hematopoietic stem and progenitor reconstitution after myelosuppression.

    PubMed

    Guo, Peipei; Poulos, Michael G; Palikuqi, Brisa; Badwe, Chaitanya R; Lis, Raphael; Kunar, Balvir; Ding, Bi-Sen; Rabbany, Sina Y; Shido, Koji; Butler, Jason M; Rafii, Shahin

    2017-12-01

    Angiocrine factors, such as Notch ligands, supplied by the specialized endothelial cells (ECs) within the bone marrow and splenic vascular niche play an essential role in modulating the physiology of adult hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). However, the relative contribution of various Notch ligands, specifically jagged-2, to the homeostasis of HSPCs is unknown. Here, we show that under steady state, jagged-2 is differentially expressed in tissue-specific vascular beds, but its expression is induced in hematopoietic vascular niches after myelosuppressive injury. We used mice with EC-specific deletion of the gene encoding jagged-2 (Jag2) to demonstrate that while EC-derived jagged-2 was dispensable for maintaining the capacity of HSPCs to repopulate under steady-state conditions, by activating Notch2 it did contribute to the recovery of HSPCs in response to myelosuppressive conditions. Engraftment and/or expansion of HSPCs was dependent on the expression of endothelial-derived jagged-2 following myeloablation. Additionally, jagged-2 expressed in bone marrow ECs regulated HSPC cell cycle and quiescence during regeneration. Endothelial-deployed jagged-2 triggered Notch2/Hey1, while tempering Notch2/Hes1 signaling in HSPCs. Collectively, these data demonstrate that EC-derived jagged-2 activates Notch2 signaling in HSPCs to promote hematopoietic recovery and has potential as a therapeutic target to accelerate balanced hematopoietic reconstitution after myelosuppression.

  9. Endothelial jagged-2 sustains hematopoietic stem and progenitor reconstitution after myelosuppression

    PubMed Central

    Guo, Peipei; Poulos, Michael G.; Palikuqi, Brisa; Badwe, Chaitanya R.; Lis, Raphael; Kunar, Balvir; Ding, Bi-Sen; Rabbany, Sina Y.; Butler, Jason M.

    2017-01-01

    Angiocrine factors, such as Notch ligands, supplied by the specialized endothelial cells (ECs) within the bone marrow and splenic vascular niche play an essential role in modulating the physiology of adult hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). However, the relative contribution of various Notch ligands, specifically jagged-2, to the homeostasis of HSPCs is unknown. Here, we show that under steady state, jagged-2 is differentially expressed in tissue-specific vascular beds, but its expression is induced in hematopoietic vascular niches after myelosuppressive injury. We used mice with EC-specific deletion of the gene encoding jagged-2 (Jag2) to demonstrate that while EC-derived jagged-2 was dispensable for maintaining the capacity of HSPCs to repopulate under steady-state conditions, by activating Notch2 it did contribute to the recovery of HSPCs in response to myelosuppressive conditions. Engraftment and/or expansion of HSPCs was dependent on the expression of endothelial-derived jagged-2 following myeloablation. Additionally, jagged-2 expressed in bone marrow ECs regulated HSPC cell cycle and quiescence during regeneration. Endothelial-deployed jagged-2 triggered Notch2/Hey1, while tempering Notch2/Hes1 signaling in HSPCs. Collectively, these data demonstrate that EC-derived jagged-2 activates Notch2 signaling in HSPCs to promote hematopoietic recovery and has potential as a therapeutic target to accelerate balanced hematopoietic reconstitution after myelosuppression. PMID:29058691

  10. Transcriptional up-regulation of the human androgen receptor by androgen in bone cells.

    PubMed

    Wiren, K M; Zhang, X; Chang, C; Keenan, E; Orwoll, E S

    1997-06-01

    Androgen regulation of androgen receptor (AR) expression has been observed in a variety of tissues, generally as inhibition, and is thought to attenuate cellular responses to androgen. AR is expressed in osteoblasts, the bone-forming cell, suggesting direct actions of androgens on bone. Here we characterized the effect of androgen exposure on AR gene expression in human osteoblastic SaOS-2 and U-2 OS cells. Treatment of osteoblastic cells with the nonaromatizable androgen 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone increased AR steady state messenger RNA levels in a time- and dose-dependent fashion. Reporter assays with 2.3 kilobases of the proximal 5'-flanking region of the human AR promoter linked to the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene in transfected cultures showed that up-regulation of AR promoter activity by androgen was time and dose dependent. Treatment with other steroid hormones, including progesterone, 17beta-estradiol, and dexamethasone, was without effect. The antiandrogen hydroxyflutamide completely antagonized androgen up-regulation. Thus, in contrast to many other androgen target tissues, androgen exposure increases steady state AR messenger RNA levels in osteoblasts. This regulation occurs at least partially at the level of transcription, is mediated by the 5'-promoter region of the AR gene, and is dependent on functional AR. These results suggest that physiological concentrations of androgens have significant effects on AR expression in skeletal tissue.

  11. Cardiomyocyte cell cycle control and growth estimation in vivo--an analysis based on cardiomyocyte nuclei.

    PubMed

    Walsh, Stuart; Pontén, Annica; Fleischmann, Bernd K; Jovinge, Stefan

    2010-06-01

    Adult mammalian cardiomyocytes are traditionally viewed as being permanently withdrawn from the cell cycle. Whereas some groups have reported none, others have reported extensive mitosis in adult myocardium under steady-state conditions. Recently, a highly specific assay of 14C dating in humans has suggested a continuous generation of cardiomyocytes in the adult, albeit at a very low rate. Mice represent the most commonly used animal model for these studies, but their short lifespan makes them unsuitable for 14C studies. Herein, we investigate the cellular growth pattern for murine cardiomyocyte growth under steady-state conditions, addressed with new analytical and technical strategies, and we furthermore relate this to gene expression patterns. The observed levels of DNA synthesis in early life were associated with cardiomyocyte proliferation. Mitosis was prolonged into early life, longer than the most conservative previous estimates. DNA synthesis in neonatal life was attributable to bi-nucleation, therefore suggesting that cardiomyocytes withdraw from the cell cycle shortly after birth. No cell cycle activity was observed in adult cardiomyocytes and significant polyploidy was observed in cardiomyocyte nuclei. Gene analyses identified 32 genes whose expression was predicted to be particular to day 3-4 neonatal myocytes, compared with embryonic or adult cells. These cell cycle-associated genes are crucial to the understanding of the mechanisms of bi-nucleation and physiological cellular growth in the neonatal period.

  12. Kinetic mechanism of Escherichia coli isocitrate dehydrogenase and its inhibition by glyoxylate and oxaloacetate.

    PubMed Central

    Nimmo, H G

    1986-01-01

    The inhibition of Escherichia coli isocitrate dehydrogenase by glyoxylate and oxaloacetate was examined. The shapes of the progress curves in the presence of the inhibitors depended on the order of addition of the assay components. When isocitrate dehydrogenase or NADP+ was added last, the rate slowly decreased until a new, inhibited, steady state was obtained. When isocitrate was added last, the initial rate was almost zero, but the rate increased slowly until the same steady-state value was obtained. Glyoxylate and oxaloacetate gave competitive inhibition against isocitrate and uncompetitive inhibition against NADP+. Product-inhibition studies showed that isocitrate dehydrogenase obeys a compulsory-order mechanism, with coenzyme binding first. Glyoxylate and oxaloacetate bind to and dissociate from isocitrate dehydrogenase slowly. These observations can account for the shapes of the progress curves observed in the presence of the inhibitors. Condensation of glyoxylate and oxaloacetate produced an extremely potent inhibitor of isocitrate dehydrogenase. Analysis of the reaction by h.p.l.c. showed that this correlated with the formation of oxalomalate. This compound decomposed spontaneously in assay mixtures, giving 4-hydroxy-2-oxoglutarate, which was a much less potent inhibitor of the enzyme. Oxalomalate inhibited isocitrate dehydrogenase competitively with respect to isocitrate and was a very poor substrate for the enzyme. The data suggest that the inhibition of isocitrate dehydrogenase by glyoxylate and oxaloacetate is not physiologically significant. PMID:3521584

  13. Spurious Numerical Solutions Of Differential Equations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lafon, A.; Yee, H. C.

    1995-01-01

    Paper presents detailed study of spurious steady-state numerical solutions of differential equations that contain nonlinear source terms. Main objectives of this study are (1) to investigate how well numerical steady-state solutions of model nonlinear reaction/convection boundary-value problem mimic true steady-state solutions and (2) to relate findings of this investigation to implications for interpretation of numerical results from computational-fluid-dynamics algorithms and computer codes used to simulate reacting flows.

  14. Electronic transport characterization of silicon wafers by spatially resolved steady-state photocarrier radiometric imaging

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

    Wang, Qian; University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039; Li, Bincheng, E-mail: bcli@ioe.ac.cn

    2015-09-28

    Spatially resolved steady-state photocarrier radiometric (PCR) imaging technique is developed to characterize the electronic transport properties of silicon wafers. Based on a nonlinear PCR theory, simulations are performed to investigate the effects of electronic transport parameters (the carrier lifetime, the carrier diffusion coefficient, and the front surface recombination velocity) on the steady-state PCR intensity profiles. The electronic transport parameters of an n-type silicon wafer are simultaneously determined by fitting the measured steady-state PCR intensity profiles to the three-dimensional nonlinear PCR model. The determined transport parameters are in good agreement with the results obtained by the conventional modulated PCR technique withmore » multiple pump beam radii.« less

  15. A Waved Journal Bearing Concept-Evaluating Steady-State and Dynamic Performance with a Potential Active Control Alternative

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dimofte, Florin

    1993-01-01

    Analysis of the waved journal bearing concept featuring a waved inner bearing diameter for use with a compressible lubricant (gas) is presented. The performance of generic waved bearings having either three or four waves is predicted for air lubricated bearings. Steady-state performance is discussed in terms of bearing load capacity, while the dynamic performance is discussed in terms of fluid film stability and dynamic coefficients. It was found that the bearing wave amplitude has an important influence on both the steady-state and the dynamic performance of the waved journal bearing. For a fixed eccentricity ratio, the bearing steady-state load capacity and direct dynamic stiffness coefficient increase as the wave amplitude increases.

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

    PubMed

    Zotin, A A

    2012-01-01

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

  17. Fabrication and Characterization of Ultrathin-ring Electrodes for Pseudo-steady-state Amperometric Detection.

    PubMed

    Kitazumi, Yuki; Hamamoto, Katsumi; Noda, Tatsuo; Shirai, Osamu; Kano, Kenji

    2015-01-01

    The fabrication of ultrathin-ring electrodes with a diameter of 2 mm and a thickness of 100 nm is established. The ultrathin-ring electrodes provide a large density of pseudo-steady-state currents, and realize pseudo-steady-state amperometry under quiescent conditions without a Faraday cage. Under the limiting current conditions, the current response at the ultrathin-ring electrode can be well explained by the theory of the microband electrode response. Cyclic voltammograms at the ultrathin-ring electrode show sigmoidal characteristics with some hysteresis. Numerical simulation reveals that the hysteresis can be ascribed to the time-dependence of pseudo-steady-state current. The performance of amperometry with the ultrathin-ring electrode has been verified in its application to redox enzyme kinetic measurements.

  18. Dissipative production of a maximally entangled steady state of two quantum bits.

    PubMed

    Lin, Y; Gaebler, J P; Reiter, F; Tan, T R; Bowler, R; Sørensen, A S; Leibfried, D; Wineland, D J

    2013-12-19

    Entangled states are a key resource in fundamental quantum physics, quantum cryptography and quantum computation. Introduction of controlled unitary processes--quantum gates--to a quantum system has so far been the most widely used method to create entanglement deterministically. These processes require high-fidelity state preparation and minimization of the decoherence that inevitably arises from coupling between the system and the environment, and imperfect control of the system parameters. Here we combine unitary processes with engineered dissipation to deterministically produce and stabilize an approximate Bell state of two trapped-ion quantum bits (qubits), independent of their initial states. Compared with previous studies that involved dissipative entanglement of atomic ensembles or the application of sequences of multiple time-dependent gates to trapped ions, we implement our combined process using trapped-ion qubits in a continuous time-independent fashion (analogous to optical pumping of atomic states). By continuously driving the system towards the steady state, entanglement is stabilized even in the presence of experimental noise and decoherence. Our demonstration of an entangled steady state of two qubits represents a step towards dissipative state engineering, dissipative quantum computation and dissipative phase transitions. Following this approach, engineered coupling to the environment may be applied to a broad range of experimental systems to achieve desired quantum dynamics or steady states. Indeed, concurrently with this work, an entangled steady state of two superconducting qubits was demonstrated using dissipation.

  19. Poiseuille flow of soft glasses in narrow channels: from quiescence to steady state.

    PubMed

    Chaudhuri, Pinaki; Horbach, Jürgen

    2014-10-01

    Using numerical simulations, the onset of Poiseuille flow in a confined soft glass is investigated. Starting from the quiescent state, steady flow sets in at a time scale which increases with a decrease in applied forcing. At this onset time scale, a rapid transition occurs via the simultaneous fluidization of regions having different local stresses. In the absence of steady flow at long times, creep is observed even in regions where the local stress is larger than the bulk yielding threshold. Finally, we show that the time scale to attain steady flow depends strongly on the history of the initial state.

  20. Bipolar pulse field for magnetic refrigeration

    DOEpatents

    Lubell, M.S.

    1994-10-25

    A magnetic refrigeration apparatus includes first and second steady state magnets, each having a field of substantially equal strength and opposite polarity, first and second bodies made of magnetocaloric material disposed respectively in the influence of the fields of the first and second steady state magnets, and a pulsed magnet, concentric with the first and second steady state magnets, and having a field which cycles between the fields of the first and second steady state magnets, thereby cyclically magnetizing and demagnetizing and thus heating and cooling the first and second bodies. Heat exchange apparatus of suitable design can be used to expose a working fluid to the first and second bodies of magnetocaloric material. A controller is provided to synchronize the flow of working fluid with the changing states of magnetization of the first and second bodies. 2 figs.

  1. Steady-state kinetic modeling constrains cellular resting states and dynamic behavior.

    PubMed

    Purvis, Jeremy E; Radhakrishnan, Ravi; Diamond, Scott L

    2009-03-01

    A defining characteristic of living cells is the ability to respond dynamically to external stimuli while maintaining homeostasis under resting conditions. Capturing both of these features in a single kinetic model is difficult because the model must be able to reproduce both behaviors using the same set of molecular components. Here, we show how combining small, well-defined steady-state networks provides an efficient means of constructing large-scale kinetic models that exhibit realistic resting and dynamic behaviors. By requiring each kinetic module to be homeostatic (at steady state under resting conditions), the method proceeds by (i) computing steady-state solutions to a system of ordinary differential equations for each module, (ii) applying principal component analysis to each set of solutions to capture the steady-state solution space of each module network, and (iii) combining optimal search directions from all modules to form a global steady-state space that is searched for accurate simulation of the time-dependent behavior of the whole system upon perturbation. Importantly, this stepwise approach retains the nonlinear rate expressions that govern each reaction in the system and enforces constraints on the range of allowable concentration states for the full-scale model. These constraints not only reduce the computational cost of fitting experimental time-series data but can also provide insight into limitations on system concentrations and architecture. To demonstrate application of the method, we show how small kinetic perturbations in a modular model of platelet P2Y(1) signaling can cause widespread compensatory effects on cellular resting states.

  2. Biochemical capacitance of Geobacter sulfurreducens biofilms.

    PubMed

    Bueno, Paulo R; Schrott, Germán D; Bonanni, Pablo S; Simison, Silvia N; Busalmen, Juan P

    2015-08-10

    An electrical model able to decouple the electron pathway from microbial cell machinery impedance terms is introduced. In this context, capacitance characteristics of the biofilm are clearly resolved. In other words, the model allows separating, according to the advantage of frequency and spectroscopic response approach, the different terms controlling the performance of the microbial biofilm respiratory process and thus the directly related electricity production process. The model can be accurately fitted to voltammetry measurements obtained under steady-state conditions and also to biofilm discharge amperometric measurements. The implications of biological aspects of the electrochemical or redox capacitance are discussed theoretically in the context of current knowledge with regard to structure and physiological activity of microbial Geobacter biofilms. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  3. Simulation of blood flow through an artificial heart

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kiris, Cetin; Chang, I-Dee; Rogers, Stuart E.; Kwak, Dochan

    1991-01-01

    A numerical simulation of the incompressible viscous flow through a prosthetic tilting disk heart valve is presented in order to demonstrate the current capability to model unsteady flows with moving boundaries. Both steady state and unsteady flow calculations are done by solving the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in 3-D generalized curvilinear coordinates. In order to handle the moving boundary problems, the chimera grid embedding scheme which decomposes a complex computational domain into several simple subdomains is used. An algebraic turbulence model for internal flows is incorporated to reach the physiological values of Reynolds number. Good agreement is obtained between the numerical results and experimental measurements. It is found that the tilting disk valve causes large regions of separated flow, and regions of high shear.

  4. A descriptive model of resting-state networks using Markov chains.

    PubMed

    Xie, H; Pal, R; Mitra, S

    2016-08-01

    Resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) studies considering pairwise linear correlations have attracted great interests while the underlying functional network structure still remains poorly understood. To further our understanding of RSFC, this paper presents an analysis of the resting-state networks (RSNs) based on the steady-state distributions and provides a novel angle to investigate the RSFC of multiple functional nodes. This paper evaluates the consistency of two networks based on the Hellinger distance between the steady-state distributions of the inferred Markov chain models. The results show that generated steady-state distributions of default mode network have higher consistency across subjects than random nodes from various RSNs.

  5. Time-related changes in firing rates are influenced by recruitment threshold and twitch force potentiation in the first dorsal interosseous.

    PubMed

    Miller, Jonathan D; Herda, Trent J; Trevino, Michael A; Sterczala, Adam J; Ciccone, Anthony B

    2017-08-01

    What is the central question of this study? The influences of motor unit recruitment threshold and twitch force potentiation on the changes in firing rates during steady-force muscular contractions are not well understood. What is the main finding and its importance? The behaviour of motor units during steady force was influenced by recruitment threshold, such that firing rates decreased for lower-threshold motor units but increased for higher-threshold motor units. In addition, individuals with greater changes in firing rates possessed greater twitch force potentiation. There are contradictory reports regarding changes in motor unit firing rates during steady-force contractions. Inconsistencies are likely to be the result of previous studies disregarding motor unit recruitment thresholds and not examining firing rates on a subject-by-subject basis. It is hypothesized that firing rates are manipulated by twitch force potentiation during contractions. Therefore, in this study we examined time-related changes in firing rates at steady force in relationship to motor unit recruitment threshold in the first dorsal interosseous and the influence of twitch force potentiation on such changes in young versus aged individuals. Subjects performed a 12 s steady-force contraction at 50% maximal voluntary contraction, with evoked twitches before and after the contraction to quantify potentiation. Firing rates, in relationship to recruitment thresholds, were determined at the beginning, middle and end of the steady force. There were no firing rate changes for aged individuals. For the young, firing rates decreased slightly for lower-threshold motor units but increased for higher-threshold motor units. Twitch force potentiation was greater for young than aged subjects, and changes in firing rates were correlated with twitch force potentiation. Thus, individuals with greater increases in firing rates of higher-threshold motor units and decreases in lower-threshold motor units possessed greater twitch force potentiation. Overall, changes in firing rates during brief steady-force contractions are dependent on recruitment threshold and explained in part by twitch force potentiation. Given that firing rate changes were measured in relationship to recruitment threshold, this study illustrates a more complete view of firing rate changes during steady-force contractions. © 2017 The Authors. Experimental Physiology © 2017 The Physiological Society.

  6. Results of the ETV-1 breadboard tests under steady-state and transient conditions. [conducted in the NASA-LeRC Road Load Simulator

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sargent, N. B.; Dustin, M. O.

    1981-01-01

    Steady state tests were run to characterize the system and component efficiencies over the complete speed-torque capabilities of the propulsion system in both motoring and regenerative modes of operation. The steady state data were obtained using a battery simulator to separate the effects on efficiency caused by changing battery state-of-charge and component temperature. Transient tests were performed to determine the energy profiles of the propulsion system operating over the SAE J227a driving schedules.

  7. Experimental investigation of cryogenic oscillating heat pipes.

    PubMed

    Jiao, A J; Ma, H B; Critser, J K

    2009-07-01

    A novel cryogenic heat pipe, oscillating heat pipe (OHP), which consists of an 4 × 18.5 cm evaporator, a 6 × 18.5 cm condenser, and 10 cm length of adiabatic section, has been developed and experimental characterization conducted. Experimental results show that the maximum heat transport capability of the OHP reached 380W with average temperature difference of 49 °C between the evaporator and condenser when the cryogenic OHP was charged with liquid nitrogen at 48% (v/v) and operated in a horizontal direction. The thermal resistance decreased from 0.256 to 0.112 while the heat load increased from 22.5 to 321.8 W. When the OHP was operated at a steady state and an incremental heat load was added to it, the OHP operation changed from a steady state to an unsteady state until a new steady state was reached. This process can be divided into three regions: (I) unsteady state; (II) transient state; and (III) new steady state. In the steady state, the amplitude of temperature change in the evaporator is smaller than that of the condenser while the temperature response keeps the same frequency both in the evaporator and the condenser. The experimental results also showed that the amplitude of temperature difference between the evaporator and the condenser decreased when the heat load increased.

  8. Experimental investigation of cryogenic oscillating heat pipes

    PubMed Central

    Jiao, A.J.; Ma, H.B.; Critser, J.K.

    2010-01-01

    A novel cryogenic heat pipe, oscillating heat pipe (OHP), which consists of an 4 × 18.5 cm evaporator, a 6 × 18.5 cm condenser, and 10 cm length of adiabatic section, has been developed and experimental characterization conducted. Experimental results show that the maximum heat transport capability of the OHP reached 380W with average temperature difference of 49 °C between the evaporator and condenser when the cryogenic OHP was charged with liquid nitrogen at 48% (v/v) and operated in a horizontal direction. The thermal resistance decreased from 0.256 to 0.112 while the heat load increased from 22.5 to 321.8 W. When the OHP was operated at a steady state and an incremental heat load was added to it, the OHP operation changed from a steady state to an unsteady state until a new steady state was reached. This process can be divided into three regions: (I) unsteady state; (II) transient state; and (III) new steady state. In the steady state, the amplitude of temperature change in the evaporator is smaller than that of the condenser while the temperature response keeps the same frequency both in the evaporator and the condenser. The experimental results also showed that the amplitude of temperature difference between the evaporator and the condenser decreased when the heat load increased. PMID:20585410

  9. MRI-based three-dimensional thermal physiological characterization of thyroid gland of human body.

    PubMed

    Jin, Chao; He, Zhi Zhu; Yang, Yang; Liu, Jing

    2014-01-01

    This article is dedicated to present a MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) based three-dimensional finite element modeling on the thermal manifestations relating to the pathophysiology of thyroid gland. An efficient approach for identifying the metabolic dysfunctions of thyroid has also been demonstrated through tracking the localized non-uniform thermal distribution or enhanced dynamic imaging. The temperature features over the skin surface and thyroid domain have been characterized using the numerical simulation and experimental measurement which will help better interpret the thermal physiological mechanisms of the thyroid under steady-state or water-cooling condition. Further, parametric simulations on the hypermetabolism symptoms of hyperthyroidism and thermal effects within thyroid domain caused by varying breathing airflow in the trachea and blood-flow in artery and vein were performed. It was disclosed that among all the parameters, the airflow volume has the largest effect on the total heat flux of thyroid surface. However, thermal contributions caused by varying the breathing frequency and blood-flow velocity are negligibly small. The present study suggests a generalized way for simulating the close to reality physiological behavior or process of human thyroid, which is of significance for disease diagnosis and treatment planning. Copyright © 2013 IPEM. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Bringing physiology into PET of the liver.

    PubMed

    Keiding, Susanne

    2012-03-01

    Several physiologic features make interpretation of PET studies of liver physiology an exciting challenge. As with other organs, hepatic tracer kinetics using PET is quantified by dynamic recording of the liver after the administration of a radioactive tracer, with measurements of time-activity curves in the blood supply. However, the liver receives blood from both the portal vein and the hepatic artery, with the peak of the portal vein time-activity curve being delayed and dispersed compared with that of the hepatic artery. The use of a flow-weighted dual-input time-activity curve is of importance for the estimation of hepatic blood perfusion through initial dynamic PET recording. The portal vein is inaccessible in humans, and methods of estimating the dual-input time-activity curve without portal vein measurements are being developed. Such methods are used to estimate regional hepatic blood perfusion, for example, by means of the initial part of a dynamic (18)F-FDG PET/CT recording. Later, steady-state hepatic metabolism can be assessed using only the arterial input, provided that neither the tracer nor its metabolites are irreversibly trapped in the prehepatic splanchnic area within the acquisition period. This is used in studies of regulation of hepatic metabolism of, for example, (18)F-FDG and (11)C-palmitate.

  11. Spatial variability of steady-state infiltration into a two-layer soil system on burned hillslopes

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Kinner, D.A.; Moody, J.A.

    2010-01-01

    Rainfall-runoff simulations were conducted to estimate the characteristics of the steady-state infiltration rate into 1-m2 north- and south-facing hillslope plots burned by a wildfire in October 2003. Soil profiles in the plots consisted of a two-layer system composed of an ash on top of sandy mineral soil. Multiple rainfall rates (18.4-51.2 mm h-1) were used during 14 short-duration (30 min) and 2 long-duration simulations (2-4 h). Steady state was reached in 7-26 min. Observed spatially-averaged steady-state infiltration rates ranged from 18.2 to 23.8 mm h-1 for north-facing and from 17.9 to 36.0 mm h-1 for south-facing plots. Three different theoretical spatial distribution models of steady-state infiltration rate were fit to the measurements of rainfall rate and steady-state discharge to provided estimates of the spatial average (19.2-22.2 mm h-1) and the coefficient of variation (0.11-0.40) of infiltration rates, overland flow contributing area (74-90% of the plot area), and infiltration threshold (19.0-26 mm h-1). Tensiometer measurements indicated a downward moving pressure wave and suggest that infiltration-excess overland flow is the runoff process on these burned hillslope with a two-layer system. Moreover, the results indicate that the ash layer is wettable, may restrict water flow into the underlying layer, and increase the infiltration threshold; whereas, the underlying mineral soil, though coarser, limits the infiltration rate. These results of the spatial variability of steady-state infiltration can be used to develop physically-based rainfall-runoff models for burned areas with a two-layer soil system. ?? 2010 Elsevier B.V.

  12. Steady states of a diode with counterstreaming electron and positron beams

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

    Ender, A. Ya.; Kuznetsov, V. I., E-mail: victor.kuznetsov@mail.ioffe.ru; Gruzdev, A. A.

    2016-10-15

    Steady states of a plasma layer with counterstreaming beams of oppositely charged particles moving without collisions in a self-consistent electric field are analyzed. The study is aimed at clarifying the mechanism of generation and reconstruction of pulsar radiation. Such a layer also models the processes occurring in Knudsen plasma diodes with counterstreaming electron and ion beams. The steady-state solutions are exhaustively classified. The existence of several solutions at the same external parameters is established.

  13. Steady states of a diode with counterstreaming electron and positron beams

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ender, A. Ya.; Kuznetsov, V. I.; Gruzdev, A. A.

    2016-10-01

    Steady states of a plasma layer with counterstreaming beams of oppositely charged particles moving without collisions in a self-consistent electric field are analyzed. The study is aimed at clarifying the mechanism of generation and reconstruction of pulsar radiation. Such a layer also models the processes occurring in Knudsen plasma diodes with counterstreaming electron and ion beams. The steady-state solutions are exhaustively classified. The existence of several solutions at the same external parameters is established.

  14. Transient and steady-state performance of a single turbojet combustor with four different fuel nozzles

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mccafferty, Richard J; Donlon, Richard H

    1955-01-01

    Acceleration and steady-state performance of a tubular combustor was evaluated at two simulated altitudes with four different fuel nozzles. Temperature response lag was observed with all the nozzles. Except for rich-limit blowout, the only combustion failures observed during acceleration were with a fuel nozzle that gave an interrupted flow delivery during the acceleration. This same nozzle, because of superior fuel atomization, gave the highest steady-state combustion efficiencies.

  15. Lactate and Acrylate Metabolism by Megasphaera elsdenii under Batch and Steady-State Conditions

    PubMed Central

    Prabhu, Rupal; Altman, Elliot

    2012-01-01

    The growth of Megasphaera elsdenii on lactate with acrylate and acrylate analogues was studied under batch and steady-state conditions. Under batch conditions, lactate was converted to acetate and propionate, and acrylate was converted into propionate. Acrylate analogues 2-methyl propenoate and 3-butenoate containing a terminal double bond were similarly converted into their respective saturated acids (isobutyrate and butyrate), while crotonate and lactate analogues 3-hydroxybutyrate and (R)-2-hydroxybutyrate were not metabolized. Under carbon-limited steady-state conditions, lactate was converted to acetate and butyrate with no propionate formed. As the acrylate concentration in the feed was increased, butyrate and hydrogen formation decreased and propionate was increasingly generated, while the calculated ATP yield was unchanged. M. elsdenii metabolism differs substantially under batch and steady-state conditions. The results support the conclusion that propionate is not formed during lactate-limited steady-state growth because of the absence of this substrate to drive the formation of lactyl coenzyme A (CoA) via propionyl-CoA transferase. Acrylate and acrylate analogues are reduced under both batch and steady-state growth conditions after first being converted to thioesters via propionyl-CoA transferase. Our findings demonstrate the central role that CoA transferase activity plays in the utilization of acids by M. elsdenii and allows us to propose a modified acrylate pathway for M. elsdenii. PMID:23023753

  16. A critical investigation of post-liquefaction strength and steady-state flow behavior of saturated soils

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

    Jong, H.L.

    1988-01-01

    The first objective was to perform a critical evaluation of the recently proposed steady-state analysis methodology for evaluation of post-liquefaction stability of potentially liquefiable soils. This analysis procedure is based on direct comparison between the in-situ undrained residual (steady state) strength of soils in an embankment or foundation, and the driving shear stresses in these soils. A laboratory investigation was performed to investigate factors affecting steady-state strengths, and also to evaluate the validity of assumptions involved in correcting the results of laboratory steady-state strength tests on undisturbed samples for effects of sampling disturbance in order to estimate in-situ strengths. Next,more » a field case study was performed using the steady-state analysis and testing methodologies to analyze Lower San Fernando Dam, which suffered a liquefaction-induced slope failure as a results of a 1971 earthquake. This leads to the second objective which was to extend the Lower San Fernando Dam case study to consideration of analysis methods used to evaluate the likelihood of triggering liquefaction during an earthquake. Finally, a number of the high quality undisturbed samples were subjected to undrained cyclic testing in order to repeat an earlier (1973) study of the use of cyclic tests data to predict liquefaction behavior at Lower San Fernando Dam.« less

  17. Multiple Steady States of Buoyancy Induced Flow in Cold Water and Their Stability.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    El-Henawy, Ibrahim Mahmoud

    In Chapters 1 and 2 the physical background and the literature related to buoyancy-induced flows are reviewed. An accurate representation, based upon experimental data, of the motion-causing buoyancy force, in the vicinity of maximum density in pure water at low temperatures, is used. This representation is an accurate and quite simple formulation due to Gebhart and Mollendorf (1977). Using the representation, we study, numerically, Chapter 3, a model for the laminar, boundary-layer flow arising from natural convection adjacent to a vertical isothermal flat surface submerged in quiescent cold water. The results demonstrate for the first time the existence of multiple steady-state solutions in a natural convection flow. The existence of these new multiple steady-state solutions led to an investigation of their stability. This is carried out in Chapter 4 by a mathematical method, different from that of the usual hydrodynamic stability approach, Lin (1955) and Razinand and Reid (1982). Three real eigenvalue and eigenvector pairs corresponding to the new steady-state -solutions were found. Each of these eigenvalues changes its algebraic sign at a particular limit point (point of vertical tangency, nose, knee) in the bifurcation diagrams found in Chapter 3. The results indicate that the new steady-state solutions are unstable and that the previously found steady-state solutions, Carey, Gebhart, and Mollendorf (1980), may be stable.

  18. Prospective evaluation of haemoglobin oxygen saturation at rest and after exercise in paediatric sickle cell disease patients

    PubMed Central

    Campbell, Andrew; Minniti, Caterina P.; Nouraie, Mehdi; Arteta, Manuel; Rana, Sohail; Onyekwere, Onyinye; Sable, Craig; Ensing, Gregory; Dham, Niti; Luchtman-Jones, Lori; Kato, Gregory J.; Gladwin, Mark T.; Castro, Oswaldo L.; Gordeuk, Victor R.

    2009-01-01

    Summary Low steady state haemoglobin oxygen saturation in patients with sickle cell anaemia has been associated with the degree of anaemia and haemolysis. How much pulmonary dysfunction contributes to low saturation is not clear. In a prospective study of children and adolescents with sickle cell disease aged 3–20 years at steady state and matched controls, 52% of 391 patients versus 24% of 63 controls had steady state oxygen saturation <99% (P < 0·0001), 9% of patients versus no controls had saturation <95% (P = 0·008) and 8% of patients versus no controls had exercise-induced reduction in saturation ≥3%. Decreasing haemoglobin concentration (P ≤ 0·001) and increasing haemolysis (P ≤ 0·003) but not pulmonary function tests were independent predictors of both lower steady-state saturation and exercise-induced reduction in saturation. Neither history of stroke nor history of acute chest syndrome was significantly associated with lower steady-state oxygen saturation or exercise-induced reduction in saturation. Tricuspid regurgitation velocity was higher in patients with lower steady state haemoglobin oxygen saturation (P = 0·003) and with greater decline in oxygen saturation during the six-minute walk (P = 0·022). In conclusion, lower haemoglobin oxygen saturation is independently associated with increasing degrees of anaemia and haemolysis but not pulmonary function abnormalities among children and adolescents with sickle cell disease. PMID:19694721

  19. Nitrogen Can Alleviate the Inhibition of Photosynthesis Caused by High Temperature Stress under Both Steady-State and Flecked Irradiance.

    PubMed

    Huang, Guanjun; Zhang, Qiangqiang; Wei, Xinghai; Peng, Shaobing; Li, Yong

    2017-01-01

    Nitrogen is one of the most important elements for plants and is closely related to photosynthesis. High temperature stress significantly inhibits photosynthesis under both steady-state and flecked irradiance. However, it is not known whether nitrogen can affect the decrease in photosynthesis caused by high temperature, especially under flecked irradiance. In the present study, a pot experiment was conducted under two nitrogen (N) supplies with rice plants, and the steady-state and dynamic photosynthesis rates were measured under 28 and 40°C. High temperature significantly increased leaf hydraulic conductance ( K leaf ) under high N supply (HN) but not under low N supply (LN). The increased K leaf maintained a constant leaf water potential (Ψ leaf ) and steady-state stomatal conductance ( g s,sat ) under HN, while the Ψ leaf and g s,sat significantly decreased under high temperature in LN conditions. This resulted in a more severe decrease in steady-state photosynthesis ( A sat ) under high temperature in the LN conditions. After shifting from low to high light, high temperature significantly delayed the recovery of photosynthesis, which resulted in more carbon loss under flecked irradiance. These effects were obtained under HN to a lesser extent than under LN supply. Therefore, it is concluded that nitrogen can alleviate the inhibition of photosynthesis caused by high temperature stress under both steady-state and flecked irradiance.

  20. Quasi-steady-state voltammetry of rapid electron transfer reactions at the macroscopic substrate of the scanning electrochemical microscope.

    PubMed

    Nioradze, Nikoloz; Kim, Jiyeon; Amemiya, Shigeru

    2011-02-01

    We report on a novel theory and experiment for scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) to enable quasi-steady-state voltammetry of rapid electron transfer (ET) reactions at macroscopic substrates. With this powerful approach, the substrate potential is cycled widely across the formal potential of a redox couple while the reactant or product of a substrate reaction is amperometrically detected at the tip in the feedback or substrate generation/tip collection mode, respectively. The plot of tip current versus substrate potential features the retraceable sigmoidal shape of a quasi-steady-state voltammogram although a transient voltammogram is obtained at the macroscopic substrate. Finite element simulations reveal that a short tip-substrate distance and a reversible substrate reaction (except under the tip) are required for quasi-steady-state voltammetry. Advantageously, a pair of quasi-steady-state voltammograms is obtained by employing both operation modes to reliably determine all transport, thermodynamic, and kinetic parameters as confirmed experimentally for rapid ET reactions of ferrocenemethanol and 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane at a Pt substrate with ∼0.5 μm-radius Pt tips positioned at 90 nm-1 μm distances. Standard ET rate constants of ∼7 cm/s were obtained for the latter mediator as the largest determined for a substrate reaction by SECM. Various potential applications of quasi-steady-state voltammetry are also proposed.

  1. Role of irregular otolith afferents in the steady-state nystagmus during off-vertical axis rotation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Angelaki, D. E.; Perachio, A. A.; Mustari, M. J.; Strunk, C. L.

    1992-01-01

    1. During constant velocity off-vertical axis rotations (OVAR) in the dark a compensatory ocular nystagmus is present throughout rotation despite the lack of a maintained signal from the semicircular canals. Lesion experiments and canal plugging have attributed the steady-state ocular nystagmus during OVAR to inputs from the otolith organs and have demonstrated that it depends on an intact velocity storage mechanism. 2. To test whether irregularly discharging otolith afferents play a crucial role in the generation of the steady-state eye nystagmus during OVAR, we have used anodal (inhibitory) currents bilaterally to selectively and reversibly block irregular vestibular afferent discharge. During delivery of DC anodal currents (100 microA) bilaterally to both ears, the slow phase eye velocity of the steady-state nystagmus during OVAR was reduced or completely abolished. The disruption of the steady-state nystagmus was transient and lasted only during the period of galvanic stimulation. 3. To distinguish a possible effect of ablation of the background discharge rates of irregular vestibular afferents on the velocity storage mechanism from specific contributions of the dynamic responses from irregular otolith afferents to the circuit responsible for the generation of the steady-state nystagmus, bilateral DC anodal galvanic stimulation was applied during optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) and optokinetic afternystagmus (OKAN). No change in OKN and OKAN was observed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS).

  2. Smooth Approximation l 0-Norm Constrained Affine Projection Algorithm and Its Applications in Sparse Channel Estimation

    PubMed Central

    2014-01-01

    We propose a smooth approximation l 0-norm constrained affine projection algorithm (SL0-APA) to improve the convergence speed and the steady-state error of affine projection algorithm (APA) for sparse channel estimation. The proposed algorithm ensures improved performance in terms of the convergence speed and the steady-state error via the combination of a smooth approximation l 0-norm (SL0) penalty on the coefficients into the standard APA cost function, which gives rise to a zero attractor that promotes the sparsity of the channel taps in the channel estimation and hence accelerates the convergence speed and reduces the steady-state error when the channel is sparse. The simulation results demonstrate that our proposed SL0-APA is superior to the standard APA and its sparsity-aware algorithms in terms of both the convergence speed and the steady-state behavior in a designated sparse channel. Furthermore, SL0-APA is shown to have smaller steady-state error than the previously proposed sparsity-aware algorithms when the number of nonzero taps in the sparse channel increases. PMID:24790588

  3. [Study on balance group in steady-state extraction process of Chinese medicine and experimental verification to Houttuynia cordata].

    PubMed

    Liu, Wenlong; Zhang, Xili; He, Fuyuan; Zhang, Ping; Wang, Haiqin; Wu, Dezhi; Chen, Zuohong

    2011-11-01

    To establish and experimental verification the mathematical model of the balance groups that is the steady-state of traditional Chinese medicine in extraction. Using the entropy and genetic principles of statistics, and taking the coefficient of variation of GC fingerprint which is the naphtha of the Houttuynia cordata between strains in the same GAP place as a pivot to establish and verify the mathematical model was established of the balance groups that is the steady-state of traditional Chinese medicine in extraction. A mathematical model that is suitable for the balance groups of the steady-state of traditional Chinese medicine and preparation in extraction, and the balance groups which is 29 683 strains (approximately 118.7 kg) were gained with the same origin of H. cordata as the model drug. Under the GAP of quality control model, controlling the stability of the quality through further using the Hardy-Weinberg balance groups of the H. cordata between strains, the new theory and experiment foundation is established for the steady-state of traditional Chinese medicine in extraction and quality control.

  4. Modeling of photon migration in the human lung using a finite volume solver

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sikorski, Zbigniew; Furmanczyk, Michal; Przekwas, Andrzej J.

    2006-02-01

    The application of the frequency domain and steady-state diffusive optical spectroscopy (DOS) and steady-state near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to diagnosis of the human lung injury challenges many elements of these techniques. These include the DOS/NIRS instrument performance and accurate models of light transport in heterogeneous thorax tissue. The thorax tissue not only consists of different media (e.g. chest wall with ribs, lungs) but its optical properties also vary with time due to respiration and changes in thorax geometry with contusion (e.g. pneumothorax or hemothorax). This paper presents a finite volume solver developed to model photon migration in the diffusion approximation in heterogeneous complex 3D tissues. The code applies boundary conditions that account for Fresnel reflections. We propose an effective diffusion coefficient for the void volumes (pneumothorax) based on the assumption of the Lambertian diffusion of photons entering the pleural cavity and accounting for the local pleural cavity thickness. The code has been validated using the MCML Monte Carlo code as a benchmark. The code environment enables a semi-automatic preparation of 3D computational geometry from medical images and its rapid automatic meshing. We present the application of the code to analysis/optimization of the hybrid DOS/NIRS/ultrasound technique in which ultrasound provides data on the localization of thorax tissue boundaries. The code effectiveness (3D complex case computation takes 1 second) enables its use to quantitatively relate detected light signal to absorption and reduced scattering coefficients that are indicators of the pulmonary physiologic state (hemoglobin concentration and oxygenation).

  5. A computer-based instrumentation system for measurement of breath-by-breath oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production.

    PubMed

    Sharma, C; Gallagher, R R

    1994-01-01

    Improvements are implemented (Version 4) in a Computer-Based Respiratory Measurement System (CBRMS) identified as Version 3. The programming language has been changed from Pascal to C. A Gateway 2000 desktop computer with 486 DX2/50MHz CPU and a plug-in data I/O board (KEITHLEY METRABYTE/ASYST/DAC's DAS-HRES 16-bit Analog and Digital I/O board) replaces an HP 9836 system used in Version 3. The breath-by-breath system consists of a mass spectrometer for measuring fractional concentrations of oxygen and carbon dioxide and the accommodation of a turbine or pneumotachometer for measuring inspiratory and expiratory flows. The temperature of the inspiratory and expiratory gases can be monitored if temperature corrections are necessary for the flow measurement device. These signals are presented to the PC via the data acquisition module. To compare the two Versions, ten significant respiratory parameters were investigated and compared for physiological resting states and steady states obtained during an exercise forcing. Both graphical and statistical (analysis of variance, regression, and correlation) tests were carried out on the data. The results from the two versions compared well for all ten parameters. Also, no evidence of a statistically significant difference was found between the resting and steady-state results of the present CBRMS (Version 4) and the previous CBRMS (Version 3). This evidence suggests that Version 3 (Pascal) has been successfully converted to Version 4 (C). Implementation of the CBRMS in C on a PC has several advantages.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

  6. Fluid dynamic study in a femoral artery branch casting of man with upstream main lumen curvature for steady flow

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cho, Y. I.; Back, L. H.; Back, M. R.

    1985-01-01

    An in-vitro, steady flow investigation was conducted in a hollow, transparent vascular replica of the profunda femoris branch of man for a range of physiological flow conditions. The replica casting tested was obtained from a human cadaver and indicated some plague formation along the main lumen and branch. The flow visualization observations and measured pressure distributions indicated the highly three-dimensional flow characteristics with arterial curvature and branching, and the important role of centrifugal effects in fluid transport mechanisms.

  7. Effect of antacids on predicted steady-state cimetidine concentrations.

    PubMed

    Russell, W L; Lopez, L M; Normann, S A; Doering, P L; Guild, R T

    1984-05-01

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate effects of antacids on predicted steady-state concentrations of cimetidine. Ten healthy volunteers received in random order one week apart, cimetidine and cimetidine and antacid suspension. Blood was obtained at specified times and analyzed for cimetidine. Bioavailability was assessed by comparison of peak concentration, time to peak concentration, area under the curve, and time spent over 0.5 micrograms/ml. Single-dose data were extrapolated to steady-state using computer simulation. Concurrent administration of antacid suspension reduced parameters of bioavailability approximately 30%. When steady-state conditions were simulated, concentrations of cimetidine greater than or equal to 0.5 micrograms/ml were maintained for the entire dosing interval in seven of 10 subjects. These data suggest that temporal separation of cimetidine and antacid suspension may be unnecessary.

  8. Interplay of interaction and disorder in the steady state of an open quantum system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, Xiansong; Guo, Chu; Poletti, Dario

    2018-04-01

    Many types of dissipative processes can be found in nature or be engineered, and their interplay with a system can give rise to interesting phases of matter. Here we study the interplay among interaction, tunneling, and disorder in the steady state of a spin chain coupled to a tailored bath. We consider a dissipation which, in contrast to disorder, tends to generate a homogeneously polarized steady state. We find that the steady state can be highly sensitive even to weak disorder. We also establish that, in the presence of such dissipation, even in the absence of interaction, a finite amount of disorder is needed for localization. Last, we show that for strong disorder the system reveals signatures of localization both in the weakly and strong interacting regimes.

  9. Exact results for Schrödinger cats in driven-dissipative systems and their feedback control

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Minganti, Fabrizio; Bartolo, Nicola; Lolli, Jared; Casteels, Wim; Ciuti, Cristiano

    2016-05-01

    In quantum optics, photonic Schrödinger cats are superpositions of two coherent states with opposite phases and with a significant number of photons. Recently, these states have been observed in the transient dynamics of driven-dissipative resonators subject to engineered two-photon processes. Here we present an exact analytical solution of the steady-state density matrix for this class of systems, including one-photon losses, which are considered detrimental for the achievement of cat states. We demonstrate that the unique steady state is a statistical mixture of two cat-like states with opposite parity, in spite of significant one-photon losses. The transient dynamics to the steady state depends dramatically on the initial state and can pass through a metastable regime lasting orders of magnitudes longer than the photon lifetime. By considering individual quantum trajectories in photon-counting configuration, we find that the system intermittently jumps between two cats. Finally, we propose and study a feedback protocol based on this behaviour to generate a pure cat-like steady state.

  10. Mathematical Analysis of Vehicle Delivery Scale of Bike-Sharing Rental Nodes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhai, Y.; Liu, J.; Liu, L.

    2018-04-01

    Aiming at the lack of scientific and reasonable judgment of vehicles delivery scale and insufficient optimization of scheduling decision, based on features of the bike-sharing usage, this paper analyses the applicability of the discrete time and state of the Markov chain, and proves its properties to be irreducible, aperiodic and positive recurrent. Based on above analysis, the paper has reached to the conclusion that limit state (steady state) probability of the bike-sharing Markov chain only exists and is independent of the initial probability distribution. Then this paper analyses the difficulty of the transition probability matrix parameter statistics and the linear equations group solution in the traditional solving algorithm of the bike-sharing Markov chain. In order to improve the feasibility, this paper proposes a "virtual two-node vehicle scale solution" algorithm which considered the all the nodes beside the node to be solved as a virtual node, offered the transition probability matrix, steady state linear equations group and the computational methods related to the steady state scale, steady state arrival time and scheduling decision of the node to be solved. Finally, the paper evaluates the rationality and accuracy of the steady state probability of the proposed algorithm by comparing with the traditional algorithm. By solving the steady state scale of the nodes one by one, the proposed algorithm is proved to have strong feasibility because it lowers the level of computational difficulty and reduces the number of statistic, which will help the bike-sharing companies to optimize the scale and scheduling of nodes.

  11. Current Pressure Transducer Application of Model-based Prognostics Using Steady State Conditions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Teubert, Christopher; Daigle, Matthew J.

    2014-01-01

    Prognostics is the process of predicting a system's future states, health degradation/wear, and remaining useful life (RUL). This information plays an important role in preventing failure, reducing downtime, scheduling maintenance, and improving system utility. Prognostics relies heavily on wear estimation. In some components, the sensors used to estimate wear may not be fast enough to capture brief transient states that are indicative of wear. For this reason it is beneficial to be capable of detecting and estimating the extent of component wear using steady-state measurements. This paper details a method for estimating component wear using steady-state measurements, describes how this is used to predict future states, and presents a case study of a current/pressure (I/P) Transducer. I/P Transducer nominal and off-nominal behaviors are characterized using a physics-based model, and validated against expected and observed component behavior. This model is used to map observed steady-state responses to corresponding fault parameter values in the form of a lookup table. This method was chosen because of its fast, efficient nature, and its ability to be applied to both linear and non-linear systems. Using measurements of the steady state output, and the lookup table, wear is estimated. A regression is used to estimate the wear propagation parameter and characterize the damage progression function, which are used to predict future states and the remaining useful life of the system.

  12. Experimental demonstration of revival of oscillations from death in coupled nonlinear oscillators.

    PubMed

    Senthilkumar, D V; Suresh, K; Chandrasekar, V K; Zou, Wei; Dana, Syamal K; Kathamuthu, Thamilmaran; Kurths, Jürgen

    2016-04-01

    We experimentally demonstrate that a processing delay, a finite response time, in the coupling can revoke the stability of the stable steady states, thereby facilitating the revival of oscillations in the same parameter space where the coupled oscillators suffered the quenching of oscillation. This phenomenon of reviving of oscillations is demonstrated using two different prototype electronic circuits. Further, the analytical critical curves corroborate that the spread of the parameter space with stable steady state is diminished continuously by increasing the processing delay. Finally, the death state is completely wiped off above a threshold value by switching the stability of the stable steady state to retrieve sustained oscillations in the same parameter space. The underlying dynamical mechanism responsible for the decrease in the spread of the stable steady states and the eventual reviving of oscillation as a function of the processing delay is explained using analytical results.

  13. Pattern Formation in Keller-Segel Chemotaxis Models with Logistic Growth

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jin, Ling; Wang, Qi; Zhang, Zengyan

    In this paper, we investigate pattern formation in Keller-Segel chemotaxis models over a multidimensional bounded domain subject to homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions. It is shown that the positive homogeneous steady state loses its stability as chemoattraction rate χ increases. Then using Crandall-Rabinowitz local theory with χ being the bifurcation parameter, we obtain the existence of nonhomogeneous steady states of the system which bifurcate from this homogeneous steady state. Stability of the bifurcating solutions is also established through rigorous and detailed calculations. Our results provide a selection mechanism of stable wavemode which states that the only stable bifurcation branch must have a wavemode number that minimizes the bifurcation value. Finally, we perform extensive numerical simulations on the formation of stable steady states with striking structures such as boundary spikes, interior spikes, stripes, etc. These nontrivial patterns can model cellular aggregation that develop through chemotactic movements in biological systems.

  14. Experimental demonstration of revival of oscillations from death in coupled nonlinear oscillators

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

    Senthilkumar, D. V., E-mail: skumarusnld@gmail.com; Centre for Nonlinear Science and Engineering, School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, SASTRA University, Thanjavur 613 401; Suresh, K.

    We experimentally demonstrate that a processing delay, a finite response time, in the coupling can revoke the stability of the stable steady states, thereby facilitating the revival of oscillations in the same parameter space where the coupled oscillators suffered the quenching of oscillation. This phenomenon of reviving of oscillations is demonstrated using two different prototype electronic circuits. Further, the analytical critical curves corroborate that the spread of the parameter space with stable steady state is diminished continuously by increasing the processing delay. Finally, the death state is completely wiped off above a threshold value by switching the stability of themore » stable steady state to retrieve sustained oscillations in the same parameter space. The underlying dynamical mechanism responsible for the decrease in the spread of the stable steady states and the eventual reviving of oscillation as a function of the processing delay is explained using analytical results.« less

  15. Electrophysiology of connection current spikes.

    PubMed

    Fish, Raymond M; Geddes, Leslie A

    2008-12-01

    Connection to a 60-Hz or other voltage source can result in cardiac dysrhythmias, a startle reaction, muscle contractions, and a variety of other physiological responses. Such responses can lead to injury, especially if significant ventricular cardiac dysrhythmias occur, or if a person is working at some height above ground and falls as a result of a musculoskeletal response. Physiological reactions are known to relate to intensity and duration of current exposure. The connection current that flows is a function of the applied voltage at the instant of connection, and the electrical impedance encountered by the voltage source in contact with the skin or other body tissues. In this article we describe a rarely investigated phenomenon, namely a contact, or connection, current spike that is many times higher than the steady-state current. This current spike occurs when an electrical connection is made at a non-zero voltage time in a sine wave or other waveform. Such current spikes may occur when electronic or manual switching or connecting of conductors occurs in electronic instrumentation connected to a patient. These findings are relevant to medical devices and instrumentation and to electrical safety in general.

  16. Determination of the Steady State Leakage Current in Structures with Ferroelectric Ceramic Films

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Podgornyi, Yu. V.; Vorotilov, K. A.; Sigov, A. S.

    2018-03-01

    Steady state leakage currents have been investigated in capacitor structures with ferroelectric solgel films of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) formed on silicon substrates with a lower Pt electrode. It is established that Pt/PZT/Hg structures, regardless of the PZT film thickness, are characterized by the presence of a rectifying contact similar to p-n junction. The steady state leakage current in the forward direction increases with a decrease in the film thickness and is determined by the ferroelectric bulk conductivity.

  17. Revelations of X-ray spectral analysis of the enigmatic black hole binary GRS 1915+105

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Peris, Charith; Remillard, Ronald A.; Steiner, James; Vrtilek, Saeqa Dil; Varniere, Peggy; Rodriguez, Jerome; Pooley, Guy

    2016-01-01

    Of the black hole binaries discovered thus far, GRS 1915+105 stands out as an exceptional source primarily due to its wild X-ray variability, the diversity of which has not been replicated in any other stellar-mass black hole. Although extreme variability is commonplace in its light-curve, about half of the observations of GRS1915+105 show fairly steady X-ray intensity. We report on the X-ray spectral behavior within these steady observations. Our work is based on a vast RXTE/PCA data set obtained on GRS 1915+105 during the course of its entire mission and 10 years of radio data from the Ryle Telescope, which overlap the X-ray data. We find that the steady observations within the X-ray data set naturally separate into two regions in a color-color diagram, which we refer to as steady-soft and steady-hard. GRS 1915+105 displays significant curvature in the Comptonization component within the PCA band pass suggesting significantly heating from a hot disk present in all states. A new Comptonization model 'simplcut' was developed in order to model this curvature to best effect. A majority of the steady-soft observations display a roughly constant inner radius; remarkably reminiscent of canonical soft state black hole binaries. In contrast, the steady-hard observations display a growing disk truncation that is correlated to the mass accretion rate through the disk, which suggests a magnetically truncated disk. A comparison of X-ray model parameters to the canonical state definitions show that almost all steady-soft observations match the criteria of either thermal or steep power law state, while the thermal state observations dominate the constant radius branch. A large portion (80%) of the steady-hard observations matches the hard state criteria when the disk fraction constraint is neglected. These results suggest that within the complexity of this source is a simpler underlying basis of states, which map to those observed in canonical black hole binaries. When represented in a color-color diagram, state assignments appear to map to ``A, B and C'' (Belloni et al. 2000) regions that govern fast variability cycles in GRS 1915+105 demonstrating a compelling link between short and long time scales in its phenomenology.

  18. ESTIMATING SYSTEMIC EXPOSURE TO ETHINYL ESTRADIOL FROM AN ORAL CONTRACEPTIVE

    PubMed Central

    WESTHOFF, Carolyn L.; PIKE, Malcolm C.; TANG, Rosalind; DINAPOLI, Marianne N.; SULL, Monica; CREMERS, Serge

    2015-01-01

    Objectives This study was conducted to compare single-dose pharmacokinetics of ethinyl estradiol in an oral contraceptive to steady-state values, and to assess whether any simpler measures could provide an adequate proxy of the ‘gold standard’ 24-hour steady-state area-under-the-curve. Identifying a simple, less expensive, measure of systemic ethinyl estradiol exposure would be useful for larger studies designed to assess the relationship between an individual’s ethinyl estradiol exposure and her side effects. Study Design We conducted a 13 samples over 24 hours pharmacokinetic analysis on day 1 and day 21 of the first cycle of a monophasic oral contraceptive containing 30 mcg ethinyl estradiol and 150 mcg levonorgestrel in 17 non-obese healthy white women. We also conducted an abbreviated single dose 9-sample pharmacokinetic analysis after a month washout. Ethinyl estradiol was measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. We compared results of full 13-sample steady-state pharmacokinetic analysis with results calculated using fewer samples (9 or 5) and following the single doses. We calculated Pearson correlation coefficients to evaluate the relationships between these estimates of systemic ethinyl estradiol exposure. Results The area-under-the-curve, maximum (Cmax), and 24-hour (C24) values were similar following the two single oral contraceptive doses (area-under-the-curve, r = 0.92). The steady-state 13-sample 24-hour area-under-the-curve was highly correlated with the average 9-sample area-under-the-curve after the two single doses (r = 0.81, p = 0.0002). This correlation remained the same if the number of samples was reduced to 4, taken at time 1, 2.5, 4 and 24 hours. The C24 at steady-state was highly correlated with the 24-hour steady-state area-under-the-curve (r = 0.92, p < 0.0001). The average of the C24 values following the two single doses was also quite highly correlated with the steady-state area-under-the-curve (r = 0.72, p = 0.0026). Conclusions Limited blood sampling, including results from two single doses, gave highly correlated estimates of an oral contraceptive user’s steady-state ethinyl estradiol exposure. PMID:25511238

  19. Estimating systemic exposure to ethinyl estradiol from an oral contraceptive.

    PubMed

    Westhoff, Carolyn L; Pike, Malcolm C; Tang, Rosalind; DiNapoli, Marianne N; Sull, Monica; Cremers, Serge

    2015-05-01

    This study was conducted to compare single-dose pharmacokinetics of ethinyl estradiol in an oral contraceptive with steady-state values and to assess whether any simpler measures could provide an adequate proxy of the "gold standard" 24-hour steady-state area under the curve (AUC) value. Identification of a simple, less expensive measure of systemic ethinyl estradiol exposure would be useful for larger studies that are designed to assess the relationship between an individual's ethinyl estradiol exposure and side-effects. We collected 13 samples over 24 hours for pharmacokinetic analysis on days 1 and 21 of the first cycle of a monophasic oral contraceptive that contained 30 μg ethinyl estradiol and 150 μg levonorgestrel in 17 nonobese healthy white women. We also conducted an abbreviated single-dose 9-sample pharmacokinetic analysis after a month washout. Ethinyl estradiol was measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. We compared results of a full 13-sample steady-state pharmacokinetic analysis with results that had been calculated with the use of fewer samples (9 or 5) and after the single doses. We calculated Pearson correlation coefficients to evaluate the relationships between these estimates of systemic ethinyl estradiol exposure. The AUC, maximum, and 24-hour values were similar after the 2 single oral contraceptive doses (AUC; r=0.92). The steady-state 13-sample 24-hour AUC value was correlated highly with the average 9-sample AUC value after the 2 single doses (r=0.81; P=.0002). This correlation remained the same if the number of single-dose samples was reduced to 4, taken at time 1, 2.5, 4, and 24 hours. The 24-hour value at steady-state was correlated highly with the 24-hour steady-state AUC value (r=0.92; P<.0001). The average of the 24-hour values after the 2 single doses was also correlated quite highly with the steady-state AUC value (r=0.72; P=.0026). Limited blood sampling, including results from 2 single doses, gave highly correlated estimates of an oral contraceptive user's steady-state ethinyl estradiol exposure. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Properties of an intermediate-duration inactivation process of the voltage-gated sodium conductance in rat hippocampal CA1 neurons.

    PubMed

    French, Christopher R; Zeng, Zhen; Williams, David A; Hill-Yardin, Elisa L; O'Brien, Terence J

    2016-02-01

    Rapid transmembrane flow of sodium ions produces the depolarizing phase of action potentials (APs) in most excitable tissue through voltage-gated sodium channels (NaV). Macroscopic currents display rapid activation followed by fast inactivation (IF) within milliseconds. Slow inactivation (IS) has been subsequently observed in several preparations including neuronal tissues. IS serves important physiological functions, but the kinetic properties are incompletely characterized, especially the operative timescales. Here we present evidence for an "intermediate inactivation" (II) process in rat hippocampal CA1 neurons with time constants of the order of 100 ms. The half-inactivation potentials (V0.5) of steady-state inactivation curves were hyperpolarized by increasing conditioning pulse duration from 50 to 500 ms and could be described by a sum of Boltzmann relations. II state transitions were observed after opening as well as subthreshold potentials. Entry into II after opening was relatively insensitive to membrane potential, and recovery of II became more rapid at hyperpolarized potentials. Removal of fast inactivation with cytoplasmic papaine revealed time constants of INa decay corresponding to II and IS with long depolarizations. Dynamic clamp revealed attenuation of trains of APs over the 10(2)-ms timescale, suggesting a functional role of II in repetitive firing accommodation. These experimental findings could be reproduced with a five-state Markov model. It is likely that II affects important aspects of hippocampal neuron response and may provide a drug target for sodium channel modulation. Copyright © 2016 the American Physiological Society.

  1. A diffusion based long-range and steady chemical gradient generator on a microfluidic device for studying bacterial chemotaxis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Murugesan, Nithya; Singha, Siddhartha; Panda, Tapobrata; Das, Sarit K.

    2016-03-01

    Studies on chemotaxis in microfluidics device have become a major area of research to generate physiologically similar environment in vitro. In this work, a novel micro-fluidic device has been developed to study chemo-taxis of cells in near physiological condition which can create controllable, steady and long-range chemical gradients using various chemo-effectors in a micro-channel. Hydrogels like agarose, collagen, etc, can be used in the device to maintain exclusive diffusive flux of various chemical species into the micro-channel under study. Variations of concentrations and flow rates of Texas Red dextran in the device revealed that an increase in the concentration of the dye in the feed from 6 to 18 μg ml-1, causes a steeper chemical gradient in the device, whereas the flow rate of the dye has practically no effect on the chemical gradient in the device. This observation confirms that a diffusion controlled chemical gradient is generated in the micro-channel. Chemo-taxis of E. coli cells were studied under the steady gradient of a chemo-attractant and a chemo-repellent separately in the same chemical gradient generator. For sorbitol and NiSO4·6H2O, the bacterial cells exhibit a steady distribution in the micro channel after 1 h and 30 min, respectively. From the distribution of bacterial population chemo-tactic strength of the chemo-effectors was estimated for E. coli. In a long microfluidic channel, migration behavior of bacterial cells under diffusion controlled chemical gradient showed chemotaxis, random movement, aggregation, and concentration dependent reverse chemotaxis.

  2. Propulsion System Simulation Using the Toolbox for the Modeling and Analysis of Thermodynamic System T-MATS

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chapman, Jeffryes W.; Lavelle, Thomas M.; May, Ryan D.; Litt, Jonathan S.; Guo, Ten-Huei

    2014-01-01

    A simulation toolbox has been developed for the creation of both steady-state and dynamic thermodynamic software models. This paper describes the Toolbox for the Modeling and Analysis of Thermodynamic Systems (T-MATS), which combines generic thermodynamic and controls modeling libraries with a numerical iterative solver to create a framework for the development of thermodynamic system simulations, such as gas turbine engines. The objective of this paper is to present an overview of T-MATS, the theory used in the creation of the module sets, and a possible propulsion simulation architecture. A model comparison was conducted by matching steady-state performance results from a T-MATS developed gas turbine simulation to a well-documented steady-state simulation. Transient modeling capabilities are then demonstrated when the steady-state T-MATS model is updated to run dynamically.

  3. Propulsion System Simulation Using the Toolbox for the Modeling and Analysis of Thermodynamic Systems (T-MATS)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chapman, Jeffryes W.; Lavelle, Thomas M.; May, Ryan D.; Litt, Jonathan S.; Guo, Ten-Huei

    2014-01-01

    A simulation toolbox has been developed for the creation of both steady-state and dynamic thermodynamic software models. This paper describes the Toolbox for the Modeling and Analysis of Thermodynamic Systems (T-MATS), which combines generic thermodynamic and controls modeling libraries with a numerical iterative solver to create a framework for the development of thermodynamic system simulations, such as gas turbine engines. The objective of this paper is to present an overview of T-MATS, the theory used in the creation of the module sets, and a possible propulsion simulation architecture. A model comparison was conducted by matching steady-state performance results from a T-MATS developed gas turbine simulation to a well-documented steady-state simulation. Transient modeling capabilities are then demonstrated when the steady-state T-MATS model is updated to run dynamically.

  4. Coherent quantum dynamics in steady-state manifolds of strongly dissipative systems.

    PubMed

    Zanardi, Paolo; Campos Venuti, Lorenzo

    2014-12-12

    Recently, it has been realized that dissipative processes can be harnessed and exploited to the end of coherent quantum control and information processing. In this spirit, we consider strongly dissipative quantum systems admitting a nontrivial manifold of steady states. We show how one can enact adiabatic coherent unitary manipulations, e.g., quantum logical gates, inside this steady-state manifold by adding a weak, time-rescaled, Hamiltonian term into the system's Liouvillian. The effective long-time dynamics is governed by a projected Hamiltonian which results from the interplay between the weak unitary control and the fast relaxation process. The leakage outside the steady-state manifold entailed by the Hamiltonian term is suppressed by an environment-induced symmetrization of the dynamics. We present applications to quantum-computation in decoherence-free subspaces and noiseless subsystems and numerical analysis of nonadiabatic errors.

  5. Fluctuations, Stratification and Stability in a Liquid Fluidized Bed at Low Reynolds Number

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Segre, P. N.; McClymer, J. P.

    2004-01-01

    The sedimentation dynamics of extremely low polydispersity, non-colloidal, particles are studied in a liquid fluidized bed at low Reynolds number, Re much less than 1. When fluidized, the system reaches a steady state, defined where the local average volume fraction does not vary in time. In steady state, the velocity fluctuations and the particle concentrations are found to strongly depend on height. Using our results, we test a recently developed stability model for steady state sedimentation. The model describes the data well, and shows that in steady state there is a balancing of particle fluxes due to the fluctuations and the concentration gradient. Some results are also presented for the dependence of the concentration gradient in fluidized beds on particle size; the gradients become smaller as the particles become larger and fewer in number.

  6. Acetylcholine-activated ionic currents in parasympathetic neurons of bullfrog heart.

    PubMed

    Tateishi, N; Kim, D K; Akaike, N

    1990-05-01

    1. The electrical and pharmacologic properties of acetylcholine (ACh)-induced current (IACh) were studied in the parasympathetic neurons isolated from bullfrog heart with the use of the concentration-clamp technique, which allows intracellular perfusion and rapid change of external solution within 2 ms under the single-electrode voltage-clamp condition. 2. The IACh consisted of an initial transient peak component and a successive steady-state plateau component. Both currents increased in a sigmoidal fashion with increasing ACh concentration. The dissociation constant (Kd value) and the Hill coefficient for each component were 2.2 X 10(-5) M and 1.6, respectively. 3. In the K(+)-free solution, the reversal potential (EACh) of IACh was close to the Na+ equilibrium potential (ENa). The current-voltage (I-V) relation showed inward rectification at positive potentials. 4. Nicotine mimicked only the peak component of IACh. However both peak and steady-state components were blocked nonselectively by the nicotinic blockers d-tubocurarine and hexamethonium. 5. Carbamylcholine (CCh) mimicked the steady-state component of IACh. The steady-state component was selectively inhibited by atropine at concentrations 1,000 times lower than that required for inhibition of the peak component. The steady state was blocked equally by either pirenzepine (M1 blocker) or AF-DX-116 (M2 blocker). 6. It was concluded that the IACh consisted of a peak component having double exponential activation and inactivation, mediated through the nicotinic actions, and a steady-state component having no inactivation, mediated through the muscarinic action.

  7. Single-dose and steady-state pharmacokinetics of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate in human immunodeficiency virus-infected children.

    PubMed

    Hazra, Rohan; Balis, Frank M; Tullio, Antonella N; DeCarlo, Ellen; Worrell, Carol J; Steinberg, Seth M; Flaherty, John F; Yale, Kitty; Poblenz, Marianne; Kearney, Brian P; Zhong, Lijie; Coakley, Dion F; Blanche, Stephane; Bresson, Jean Louis; Zuckerman, Judith A; Zeichner, Steven L

    2004-01-01

    Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (DF) is a potent nucleotide analog reverse transcriptase inhibitor approved for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected adults. The single-dose and steady-state pharmacokinetics of tenofovir were evaluated following administration of tenofovir DF in treatment-experienced HIV-infected children requiring a change in antiretroviral therapy. Using increments of tenofovir DF 75-mg tablets, the target dose was 175 mg/m(2); the median administered dose was 208 mg/m(2). Single-dose pharmacokinetics were evaluated in 18 subjects, and the geometric mean area under the concentration-time curve from 0 h to infinity (AUC(0- infinity )) was 2,150 ng. h/ml and the geometric mean maximum concentration (C(max)) was 266 ng/ml. Subsequently, other antiretrovirals were added to each patient's regimen based upon treatment history and baseline viral resistance results. Steady-state pharmacokinetics were evaluated in 16 subjects at week 4. The steady-state, geometric mean AUC for the 24-h dosing interval was 2,920 ng. h/ml and was significantly higher than the AUC(0- infinity ) after the first dose (P = 0.0004). The geometric mean C(max) at steady state was 302 ng/ml. Tenofovir DF was generally very well tolerated. Steady-state tenofovir exposures in children receiving tenofovir DF-containing combination antiretroviral therapy approached values seen in HIV-infected adults (AUC, approximately 3,000 ng. h/ml; C(max), approximately 300 ng/ml) treated with tenofovir DF at 300 mg.

  8. Ultrafiltration technology with a ceramic membrane for reactive dye removal: optimization of membrane performance.

    PubMed

    Alventosa-deLara, E; Barredo-Damas, S; Alcaina-Miranda, M I; Iborra-Clar, M I

    2012-03-30

    An ultrafiltration (UF) ceramic membrane was used to decolorize Reactive Black 5 (RB5) solutions at different dye concentrations (50 and 500 mg/L). Transmembrane pressure (TMP) and cross-flow velocity (CFV) were modified to study their influence on initial and steady-state permeate flux (J(p)) and dye rejection (R). Generally, J(p) increased with higher TMP and CFV and lower feed concentration, up to a maximum steady-state J(p) of 266.81 L/(m(2)h), obtained at 3 bar, 3m/s and 50mg/L. However, there was a TMP value (which changed depending on operating CFV and concentration) beyond which slight or no further increase in steady-state J(p) was observed. Similarly, the higher the CFV was, the more slightly the steady-state J(p) increased. Furthermore, the effectiveness of ultrafiltration treatment was evaluated through dye rejection coefficient. The results showed significant dye removals, regardless of the tested conditions, with steady-state R higher than 79.8% for the 50mg/L runs and around 73.2% for the 500 mg/L runs. Finally response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize membrane performance. At 50mg/L, a TMP of 4 bar and a CFV of 2.53 m/s were found to be the conditions giving the highest steady-state J(p), 255.86 L/(m(2)h), and the highest R, 95.2% simultaneously. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Basin stability measure of different steady states in coupled oscillators

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rakshit, Sarbendu; Bera, Bidesh K.; Majhi, Soumen; Hens, Chittaranjan; Ghosh, Dibakar

    2017-04-01

    In this report, we investigate the stabilization of saddle fixed points in coupled oscillators where individual oscillators exhibit the saddle fixed points. The coupled oscillators may have two structurally different types of suppressed states, namely amplitude death and oscillation death. The stabilization of saddle equilibrium point refers to the amplitude death state where oscillations are ceased and all the oscillators converge to the single stable steady state via inverse pitchfork bifurcation. Due to multistability features of oscillation death states, linear stability theory fails to analyze the stability of such states analytically, so we quantify all the states by basin stability measurement which is an universal nonlocal nonlinear concept and it interplays with the volume of basins of attractions. We also observe multi-clustered oscillation death states in a random network and measure them using basin stability framework. To explore such phenomena we choose a network of coupled Duffing-Holmes and Lorenz oscillators which are interacting through mean-field coupling. We investigate how basin stability for different steady states depends on mean-field density and coupling strength. We also analytically derive stability conditions for different steady states and confirm by rigorous bifurcation analysis.

  10. An optimizing start-up strategy for a bio-methanator.

    PubMed

    Sbarciog, Mihaela; Loccufier, Mia; Vande Wouwer, Alain

    2012-05-01

    This paper presents an optimizing start-up strategy for a bio-methanator. The goal of the control strategy is to maximize the outflow rate of methane in anaerobic digestion processes, which can be described by a two-population model. The methodology relies on a thorough analysis of the system dynamics and involves the solution of two optimization problems: steady-state optimization for determining the optimal operating point and transient optimization. The latter is a classical optimal control problem, which can be solved using the maximum principle of Pontryagin. The proposed control law is of the bang-bang type. The process is driven from an initial state to a small neighborhood of the optimal steady state by switching the manipulated variable (dilution rate) from the minimum to the maximum value at a certain time instant. Then the dilution rate is set to the optimal value and the system settles down in the optimal steady state. This control law ensures the convergence of the system to the optimal steady state and substantially increases its stability region. The region of attraction of the steady state corresponding to maximum production of methane is considerably enlarged. In some cases, which are related to the possibility of selecting the minimum dilution rate below a certain level, the stability region of the optimal steady state equals the interior of the state space. Aside its efficiency, which is evaluated not only in terms of biogas production but also from the perspective of treatment of the organic load, the strategy is also characterized by simplicity, being thus appropriate for implementation in real-life systems. Another important advantage is its generality: this technique may be applied to any anaerobic digestion process, for which the acidogenesis and methanogenesis are, respectively, characterized by Monod and Haldane kinetics.

  11. Pharmacokinetic Steady-States Highlight Interesting Target-Mediated Disposition Properties.

    PubMed

    Gabrielsson, Johan; Peletier, Lambertus A

    2017-05-01

    In this paper, we derive explicit expressions for the concentrations of ligand L, target R and ligand-target complex RL at steady state for the classical model describing target-mediated drug disposition, in the presence of a constant-rate infusion of ligand. We demonstrate that graphing the steady-state values of ligand, target and ligand-target complex, we obtain striking and often singular patterns, which yield a great deal of insight and understanding about the underlying processes. Deriving explicit expressions for the dependence of L, R and RL on the infusion rate, and displaying graphs of the relations between L, R and RL, we give qualitative and quantitive information for the experimentalist about the processes involved. Understanding target turnover is pivotal for optimising these processes when target-mediated drug disposition (TMDD) prevails. By a combination of mathematical analysis and simulations, we also show that the evolution of the three concentration profiles towards their respective steady-states can be quite complex, especially for lower infusion rates. We also show how parameter estimates obtained from iv bolus studies can be used to derive steady-state concentrations of ligand, target and complex. The latter may serve as a template for future experimental designs.

  12. STEADY-STATE MODEL OF SOLAR WIND ELECTRONS REVISITED

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

    Yoon, Peter H.; Kim, Sunjung; Choe, G. S., E-mail: yoonp@umd.edu

    2015-10-20

    In a recent paper, Kim et al. put forth a steady-state model for the solar wind electrons. The model assumed local equilibrium between the halo electrons, characterized by an intermediate energy range, and the whistler-range fluctuations. The basic wave–particle interaction is assumed to be the cyclotron resonance. Similarly, it was assumed that a dynamical steady state is established between the highly energetic superhalo electrons and high-frequency Langmuir fluctuations. Comparisons with the measured solar wind electron velocity distribution function (VDF) during quiet times were also made, and reasonable agreements were obtained. In such a model, however, only the steady-state solution for themore » Fokker–Planck type of electron particle kinetic equation was considered. The present paper complements the previous analysis by considering both the steady-state particle and wave kinetic equations. It is shown that the model halo and superhalo electron VDFs, as well as the assumed wave intensity spectra for the whistler and Langmuir fluctuations, approximately satisfy the quasi-linear wave kinetic equations in an approximate sense, thus further validating the local equilibrium model constructed in the paper by Kim et al.« less

  13. Noncontrast-enhanced renal angiography using multiple inversion recovery and alternating TR balanced steady-state free precession.

    PubMed

    Dong, Hattie Z; Worters, Pauline W; Wu, Holden H; Ingle, R Reeve; Vasanawala, Shreyas S; Nishimura, Dwight G

    2013-08-01

    Noncontrast-enhanced renal angiography techniques based on balanced steady-state free precession avoid external contrast agents, take advantage of high inherent blood signal from the T 2 / T 1 contrast mechanism, and have short steady-state free precession acquisition times. However, background suppression is limited; inflow times are inflexible; labeling region is difficult to define when tagging arterial flow; and scan times are long. To overcome these limitations, we propose the use of multiple inversion recovery preparatory pulses combined with alternating pulse repetition time balanced steady-state free precession to produce renal angiograms. Multiple inversion recovery uses selective spatial saturation followed by four nonselective inversion recovery pulses to concurrently null a wide range of background T 1 species while allowing for adjustable inflow times; alternating pulse repetition time steady-state free precession maintains vessel contrast and provides added fat suppression. The high level of suppression enables imaging in three-dimensional as well as projective two-dimensional formats, the latter of which has a scan time as short as one heartbeat. In vivo studies at 1.5 T demonstrate the superior vessel contrast of this technique. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  14. Hybrid Cascading Outage Analysis of Extreme Events with Optimized Corrective Actions

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

    Vallem, Mallikarjuna R.; Vyakaranam, Bharat GNVSR; Holzer, Jesse T.

    2017-10-19

    Power system are vulnerable to extreme contingencies (like an outage of a major generating substation) that can cause significant generation and load loss and can lead to further cascading outages of other transmission facilities and generators in the system. Some cascading outages are seen within minutes following a major contingency, which may not be captured exclusively using the dynamic simulation of the power system. The utilities plan for contingencies either based on dynamic or steady state analysis separately which may not accurately capture the impact of one process on the other. We address this gap in cascading outage analysis bymore » developing Dynamic Contingency Analysis Tool (DCAT) that can analyze hybrid dynamic and steady state behavior of the power system, including protection system models in dynamic simulations, and simulating corrective actions in post-transient steady state conditions. One of the important implemented steady state processes is to mimic operator corrective actions to mitigate aggravated states caused by dynamic cascading. This paper presents an Optimal Power Flow (OPF) based formulation for selecting corrective actions that utility operators can take during major contingency and thus automate the hybrid dynamic-steady state cascading outage process. The improved DCAT framework with OPF based corrective actions is demonstrated on IEEE 300 bus test system.« less

  15. Modified fluctuation-dissipation and Einstein relation at nonequilibrium steady states

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chaudhuri, Debasish; Chaudhuri, Abhishek

    2012-02-01

    Starting from the pioneering work of Agarwal [G. S. Agarwal, Zeitschrift für PhysikEPJAFV1434-600110.1007/BF01391621 252, 25 (1972)], we present a unified derivation of a number of modified fluctuation-dissipation relations (MFDR) that relate response to small perturbations around nonequilibrium steady states to steady-state correlations. Using this formalism we show the equivalence of velocity forms of MFDR derived using continuum Langevin and discrete master equation dynamics. The resulting additive correction to the Einstein relation is exemplified using a flashing ratchet model of molecular motors.

  16. Steady-state entanglement activation in optomechanical cavities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Farace, Alessandro; Ciccarello, Francesco; Fazio, Rosario; Giovannetti, Vittorio

    2014-02-01

    Quantum discord, and related indicators, are raising a relentless interest as a novel paradigm of nonclassical correlations beyond entanglement. Here, we discover a discord-activated mechanism yielding steady-state entanglement production in a realistic continuous-variable setup. This comprises two coupled optomechanical cavities, where the optical modes (OMs) communicate through a fiber. We first use a simplified model to highlight the creation of steady-state discord between the OMs. We show next that such discord improves the level of stationary optomechanical entanglement attainable in the system, making it more robust against temperature and thermal noise.

  17. In vivo behavior of the human soleus muscle with increasing walking and running speeds.

    PubMed

    Lai, Adrian; Lichtwark, Glen A; Schache, Anthony G; Lin, Yi-Chung; Brown, Nicholas A T; Pandy, Marcus G

    2015-05-15

    The interaction between the muscle fascicle and tendon components of the human soleus (SO) muscle influences the capacity of the muscle to generate force and mechanical work during walking and running. In the present study, ultrasound-based measurements of in vivo SO muscle fascicle behavior were combined with an inverse dynamics analysis to investigate the interaction between the muscle fascicle and tendon components over a broad range of steady-state walking and running speeds: slow-paced walking (0.7 m/s) through to moderate-paced running (5.0 m/s). Irrespective of a change in locomotion mode (i.e., walking vs. running) or an increase in steady-state speed, SO muscle fascicles were found to exhibit minimal shortening compared with the muscle-tendon unit (MTU) throughout stance. During walking and running, the muscle fascicles contributed only 35 and 20% of the overall MTU length change and shortening velocity, respectively. Greater levels of muscle activity resulted in increasingly shorter SO muscle fascicles as locomotion speed increased, both of which facilitated greater tendon stretch and recoil. Thus the elastic tendon contributed the majority of the MTU length change during walking and running. When transitioning from walking to running near the preferred transition speed (2.0 m/s), greater, more economical ankle torque development is likely explained by the SO muscle fascicles shortening more slowly and operating on a more favorable portion (i.e., closer to the plateau) of the force-length curve. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

  18. Human erythrocytes transport dehydroascorbic acid and sugars using the same transporter complex.

    PubMed

    Sage, Jay M; Carruthers, Anthony

    2014-05-15

    GLUT1, the primary glucose transport protein in human erythrocytes [red blood cells (RBCs)], also transports oxidized vitamin C [dehydroascorbic acid (DHA)]. A recent study suggests that RBC GLUT1 transports DHA as its primary substrate and that only a subpopulation of GLUT1 transports sugars. This conclusion is based on measurements of cellular glucose and DHA equilibrium spaces, rather than steady-state transport rates. We have characterized RBC transport of DHA and 3-O-methylglucose (3-OMG), a transported, nonmetabolizable sugar. Steady-state 3-OMG and DHA uptake in the absence of intracellular substrate are characterized by similar Vmax (0.16 ± 0.01 and 0.13 ± 0.02 mmol·l(-1)·min(-1), respectively) and apparent Km (1.4 ± 0.2 and 1.6 ± 0.7 mM, respectively). 3-OMG and DHA compete for uptake, with Ki(app) of 0.7 ± 0.4 and 1.1 ± 0.1 mM, respectively. Uptake measurements using RBC inside-out-membrane vesicles demonstrate that 3-OMG and DHA compete at the cytoplasmic surface of the membrane, with Ki(app) of 0.7 ± 0.1 and 0.6 ± 0.1 mM, respectively. Intracellular 3-OMG stimulates unidirectional uptake of 3-OMG and DHA. These findings indicate that DHA and 3-OMG bind at mutually exclusive sites at exo- and endofacial surfaces of GLUT1 and are transported via the same GLUT1 complex. Copyright © 2014 the American Physiological Society.

  19. The quantitation of buffering action II. Applications of the formal & general approach.

    PubMed

    Schmitt, Bernhard M

    2005-03-16

    The paradigm of "buffering" originated in acid-base physiology, but was subsequently extended to other fields and is now used for a wide and diverse set of phenomena. In the preceding article, we have presented a formal and general approach to the quantitation of buffering action. Here, we use that buffering concept for a systematic treatment of selected classical and other buffering phenomena. H+ buffering by weak acids and "self-buffering" in pure water represent "conservative buffered systems" whose analysis reveals buffering properties that contrast in important aspects from classical textbook descriptions. The buffering of organ perfusion in the face of variable perfusion pressure (also termed "autoregulation") can be treated in terms of "non-conservative buffered systems", the general form of the concept. For the analysis of cytoplasmic Ca++ concentration transients (also termed "muffling"), we develop a related unit that is able to faithfully reflect the time-dependent quantitative aspect of buffering during the pre-steady state period. Steady-state buffering is shown to represent the limiting case of time-dependent muffling, namely for infinitely long time intervals and infinitely small perturbations. Finally, our buffering concept provides a stringent definition of "buffering" on the level of systems and control theory, resulting in four absolute ratio scales for control performance that are suited to measure disturbance rejection and setpoint tracking, and both their static and dynamic aspects. Our concept of buffering provides a powerful mathematical tool for the quantitation of buffering action in all its appearances.

  20. A mechanical energy analysis of gait initiation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Miller, C. A.; Verstraete, M. C.

    1999-01-01

    The analysis of gait initiation (the transient state between standing and walking) is an important diagnostic tool to study pathologic gait and to evaluate prosthetic devices. While past studies have quantified mechanical energy of the body during steady-state gait, to date no one has computed the mechanical energy of the body during gait initiation. In this study, gait initiation in seven normal male subjects was studied using a mechanical energy analysis to compute total body energy. The data showed three separate states: quiet standing, gait initiation, and steady-state gait. During gait initiation, the trends in the energy data for the individual segments were similar to those seen during steady-state gait (and in Winter DA, Quanbury AO, Reimer GD. Analysis of instantaneous energy of normal gait. J Biochem 1976;9:253-257), but diminished in amplitude. However, these amplitudes increased to those seen in steady-state during the gait initiation event (GIE), with the greatest increase occurring in the second step due to the push-off of the foundation leg. The baseline level of mechanical energy was due to the potential energy of the individual segments, while the cyclic nature of the data was indicative of the kinetic energy of the particular leg in swing phase during that step. The data presented showed differences in energy trends during gait initiation from those of steady state, thereby demonstrating the importance of this event in the study of locomotion.

  1. Dispersion of a Nanoliter Bolus in Microfluidic Co-Flow.

    PubMed

    Conway, A J; Saadi, W M; Sinatra, F L; Kowalski, G; Larson, D; Fiering, J

    2014-03-01

    Microfluidic systems enable reactions and assays on the scale of nanoliters. However, at this scale nonuniformities in sample delivery become significant. To determine the fundamental minimum sample volume required for a particular device, a detailed understanding of mass transport is required. Co-flowing laminar streams are widely used in many devices, but typically only in the steady-state. Because establishing the co-flow steady-state consumes excess sample volume and time, there is a benefit to operating devices in the transient state, which predominates as the volume of the co-flow reactor decreases. Analysis of the co-flow transient has been neglected thus far. In this work we describe the fabrication of a pneumatically controlled microfluidic injector constructed to inject a discrete 50nL bolus into one side of a two-stream co-flow reactor. Using dye for image analysis, injections were performed at a range of flow rates from 0.5-10μL/min, and for comparison we collected the co-flow steady-state data for this range. The results of the image analysis were also compared against theory and simulations for device validation. For evaluation, we established a metric that indicates how well the mass distribution in the bolus injection approximates steady-state co-flow. Using such analysis, transient-state injections can approximate steady-state conditions within predefined errors, allowing straight forward measurements to be performed with reduced reagent consumption.

  2. Effect of Steady-State Faldaprevir on the Pharmacokinetics of Steady-State Methadone and Buprenorphine-Naloxone in Subjects Receiving Stable Addiction Management Therapy

    PubMed Central

    Joseph, David; Schobelock, Michael J.; Riesenberg, Robert R.; Vince, Bradley D.; Webster, Lynn R.; Adeniji, Abidemi; Elgadi, Mabrouk

    2014-01-01

    The effects of steady-state faldaprevir on the safety, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of steady-state methadone and buprenorphine-naloxone were assessed in 34 healthy male and female subjects receiving stable addiction management therapy. Subjects continued receiving a stable oral dose of either methadone (up to a maximum dose of 180 mg per day) or buprenorphine-naloxone (up to a maximum dose of 24 mg-6 mg per day) and also received oral faldaprevir (240 mg) once daily (QD) for 8 days following a 480-mg loading dose. Serial blood samples were taken for pharmacokinetic analysis. The pharmacodynamics of the opioid maintenance regimens were evaluated by the objective and subjective opioid withdrawal scales. Coadministration of faldaprevir with methadone or buprenorphine-naloxone resulted in geometric mean ratios for the steady-state area under the concentration-time curve from 0 to 24 h (AUC0–24,ss), the steady-state maximum concentration of the drug in plasma (Cmax,ss), and the steady-state concentration of the drug in plasma at 24 h (C24,ss) of 0.92 to 1.18 for (R)-methadone, (S)-methadone, buprenorphine, norbuprenorphine, and naloxone, with 90% confidence intervals including, or very close to including, 1.00 (no effect), suggesting a limited overall effect of faldaprevir. Although individual data showed moderate variability in the exposures between subjects and treatments, there was no evidence of symptoms of opiate overdose or withdrawal either during the coadministration of faldaprevir with methadone or buprenorphine-naloxone or after faldaprevir dosing was stopped. Similar faldaprevir exposures were observed in the methadone- and buprenorphine-naloxone-treated subjects. In conclusion, faldaprevir at 240 mg QD can be coadministered with methadone or buprenorphine-naloxone without dose adjustment, although given the relatively narrow therapeutic windows of these agents, monitoring for opiate overdose and withdrawal may still be appropriate. (This study has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov under registration no. NCT01637922.) PMID:25385094

  3. A nodally condensed SUPG formulation for free-surface computation of steady-state flows constrained by unilateral contact - Application to rolling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arora, Shitij; Fourment, Lionel

    2018-05-01

    In the context of the simulation of industrial hot forming processes, the resultant time-dependent thermo-mechanical multi-field problem (v →,p ,σ ,ɛ ) can be sped up by 10-50 times using the steady-state methods while compared to the conventional incremental methods. Though the steady-state techniques have been used in the past, but only on simple configurations and with structured meshes, and the modern-days problems are in the framework of complex configurations, unstructured meshes and parallel computing. These methods remove time dependency from the equations, but introduce an additional unknown into the problem: the steady-state shape. This steady-state shape x → can be computed as a geometric correction t → on the domain X → by solving the weak form of the steady-state equation v →.n →(t →)=0 using a Streamline Upwind Petrov Galerkin (SUPG) formulation. There exists a strong coupling between the domain shape and the material flow, hence, a two-step fixed point iterative resolution algorithm was proposed that involves (1) the computation of flow field from the resolution of thermo-mechanical equations on a prescribed domain shape and (2) the computation of steady-state shape for an assumed velocity field. The contact equations are introduced in the penalty form both during the flow computation as well as during the free-surface correction. The fact that the contact description is inhomogeneous, i.e., it is defined in the nodal form in the former, and in the weighted residual form in the latter, is assumed to be critical to the convergence of certain problems. Thus, the notion of nodal collocation is invoked in the weak form of the surface correction equation to homogenize the contact coupling. The surface correction algorithm is tested on certain analytical test cases and the contact coupling is tested with some hot rolling problems.

  4. Higher Accuracy of the Lactate Minimum Test Compared to Established Threshold Concepts to Determine Maximal Lactate Steady State in Running.

    PubMed

    Wahl, Patrick; Zwingmann, Lukas; Manunzio, Christian; Wolf, Jacob; Bloch, Wilhelm

    2018-05-18

    This study evaluated the accuracy of the lactate minimum test, in comparison to a graded-exercise test and established threshold concepts (OBLA and mDmax) to determine running speed at maximal lactate steady state. Eighteen subjects performed a lactate minimum test, a graded-exercise test (2.4 m·s -1 start,+0.4 m·s -1 every 5 min) and 2 or more constant-speed tests of 30 min to determine running speed at maximal lactate steady state. The lactate minimum test consisted of an initial lactate priming segment, followed by a short recovery phase. Afterwards, the initial load of the subsequent incremental segment was individually determined and was increased by 0.1 m·s -1 every 120 s. Lactate minimum was determined by the lowest measured value (LM abs ) and by a third-order polynomial (LM pol ). The mean difference to maximal lactate steady state was+0.01±0.14 m·s -1 (LM abs ), 0.04±0.15 m·s -1 (LM pol ), -0.06±0.31 m·s 1 (OBLA) and -0.08±0.21 m·s 1 (mDmax). The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) between running velocity at maximal lactate steady state and LM abs was highest (ICC=0.964), followed by LM pol (ICC=0.956), mDmax (ICC=0.916) and OBLA (ICC=0.885). Due to the higher accuracy of the lactate minimum test to determine maximal lactate steady state compared to OBLA and mDmax, we suggest the lactate minimum test as a valid and meaningful concept to estimate running velocity at maximal lactate steady state in a single session for moderately up to well-trained athletes. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  5. Effect of ion implantation on the tribology of metal-on-metal hip prostheses.

    PubMed

    Bowsher, John G; Hussain, Azad; Williams, Paul; Nevelos, Jim; Shelton, Julia C

    2004-12-01

    Nitrogen ion implantation (which considerably hardens the surface of the bearing) may represent one possible method of reducing the wear of metal-on-metal (MOM) hip bearings. Currently there are no ion-implanted MOM bearings used clinically. Therefore a physiological hip simulator test was undertaken using standard test conditions, and the results compared to previous studies using the same methods. N2-ion implantation of high carbon cast Co-Cr-Mo-on-Co-Cr-Mo hip prostheses increased wear by 2-fold during the aggressive running-in phase compared to untreated bearing surfaces, plus showing no wear reductions during steady-state conditions. Although 2 specimens were considered in the current study, it would appear that ion implantation has no clinical benefit for MOM.

  6. Analysis of the binding interaction in uric acid - Human hemoglobin system by spectroscopic techniques

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Makarska-Bialokoz, Magdalena

    2017-05-01

    The binding interaction between human hemoglobin and uric acid has been studied for the first time, by UV-vis absorption and steady-state, synchronous and three-dimensional fluorescence techniques. Characteristic effects observed for human hemoglobin intrinsic fluorescence during interaction with uric acid at neutral pH point at the formation of stacking non-covalent and non-fluorescent complexes. All the calculated parameters, the binding, fluorescence quenching and bimolecular quenching rate constants, as well as Förster resonance energy transfer parameters confirm the existence of static quenching. The results of synchronous fluorescence measurements indicate that the fluorescence quenching of human hemoglobin originates both from Trp and Tyr residues and that the addition of uric acid could significantly hinder the physiological functions of human hemoglobin.

  7. An Operational Definition of the Steady State in Enzyme Kinetics.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barnsley, E. A.

    1990-01-01

    The Briggs-Haldane assumption is used as the basis for the development of a kinetic model for enzyme catalysis. An alternative definition of the steady state and examples of realistic mechanisms are provided. (KR)

  8. Vibration testing and analysis using holography

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1971-01-01

    Time average holography is useful in recording steady state vibrational mode patterns. Phase relationships under steady state conditions are measured with real time holography and special phase shifting techniques. Data from Michelson interferometer verify vibration amplitudes from holographic data.

  9. Limiting Forces on Transit Trucks in Steady-State Curving

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1981-05-01

    This study develops conservative bounds on wheel/rail forces and flange forces for several types of rigid and flexible trucks in steady-state curving conditions. The approximate analysis presented provides closed-form relations for estimating forces,...

  10. Bifurcations in the theory of current transfer to cathodes of DC discharges and observations of transitions between different modes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bieniek, M. S.; Santos, D. F. N.; Almeida, P. G. C.; Benilov, M. S.

    2018-04-01

    General scenarios of transitions between different spot patterns on electrodes of DC gas discharges and their relation to bifurcations of steady-state solutions are analyzed. In the case of cathodes of arc discharges, it is shown that any transition between different modes of current transfer is related to a bifurcation of steady-state solutions. In particular, transitions between diffuse and spot modes on axially symmetric cathodes, frequently observed in the experiment, represent an indication of the presence of pitchfork or fold bifurcations of steady-state solutions. Experimental observations of transitions on cathodes of DC glow microdischarges are analyzed and those potentially related to bifurcations of steady-state solutions are identified. The relevant bifurcations are investigated numerically and the computed patterns are found to conform to those observed in the course of the corresponding transitions in the experiment.

  11. The effect of solute additions on the steady-state creep behavior of dispersion-strengthened aluminum.

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Reynolds, G. H.; Lenel, F. V.; Ansell, G. S.

    1971-01-01

    The effect of solute additions on the steady-state creep behavior of coarse-grained dispersion-strengthened aluminum alloys was studied. Recrystallized dispersion-strengthened solid solutions were found to have stress and temperature sensitivities quite unlike those observed in single-phase solid solutions having the same composition and grain size. The addition of magnesium or copper to the matrix of a recrystallized dispersion-strengthened aluminum causes a decrease in the steady-state creep rate which is much smaller than that caused by similar amounts of solute in single-phase solid solutions. All alloys exhibited essentially a 4.0 power stress exponent in agreement with the model of Ansell and Weertman. The activation energy for steady-state creep in dispersion-strengthened Al-Mg alloys, as well as the stress dependence, was in agreement with the physical model of dislocation climb over the dispersed particles.

  12. Steady-state performance analysis of fiber-optic ring resonator

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Seraji, Faramarz E.

    2009-01-01

    This paper presents a full steady-state analysis of a fiber-optic ring resonator (FORR). Although in the literature the steady-state response of the FORR has been described, a detailed description of the same is not available. As an understanding of the different steady-state characteristics of the FORR is required to appreciate its characteristic response, in this paper, the expressions for the output and loop intensities, phase angles of the fields, conditions for resonance, output and loop intensities at resonance and off-resonance, finesse, and group delay of the FORR are given for different ideal and practical operating conditions of the resonator. Graphical plots of all the above characteristics are given, by highlighting the important results. The information presented in this paper will be helpful in explaining and understanding the pulse response of the resonator used in different applications of FORR.

  13. Poissonian steady states: from stationary densities to stationary intensities.

    PubMed

    Eliazar, Iddo

    2012-10-01

    Markov dynamics are the most elemental and omnipresent form of stochastic dynamics in the sciences, with applications ranging from physics to chemistry, from biology to evolution, and from economics to finance. Markov dynamics can be either stationary or nonstationary. Stationary Markov dynamics represent statistical steady states and are quantified by stationary densities. In this paper, we generalize the notion of steady state to the case of general Markov dynamics. Considering an ensemble of independent motions governed by common Markov dynamics, we establish that the entire ensemble attains Poissonian steady states which are quantified by stationary Poissonian intensities and which hold valid also in the case of nonstationary Markov dynamics. The methodology is applied to a host of Markov dynamics, including Brownian motion, birth-death processes, random walks, geometric random walks, renewal processes, growth-collapse dynamics, decay-surge dynamics, Ito diffusions, and Langevin dynamics.

  14. Reduction of Simulation Times for High-Q Structures using the Resonance Equation

    DOE PAGES

    Hall, Thomas Wesley; Bandaru, Prabhakar R.; Rees, Daniel Earl

    2015-11-17

    Simulating steady state performance of high quality factor (Q) resonant RF structures is computationally difficult for structures with sizes on the order of more than a few wavelengths because of the long times (on the order of ~ 0.1 ms) required to achieve steady state in comparison with maximum time step that can be used in the simulation (typically, on the order of ~ 1 ps). This paper presents analytical and computational approaches that can be used to accelerate the simulation of the steady state performance of such structures. The basis of the proposed approach is the utilization of amore » larger amplitude signal at the beginning to achieve steady state earlier relative to the nominal input signal. Finally, the methodology for finding the necessary input signal is then discussed in detail, and the validity of the approach is evaluated.« less

  15. Steady-state solutions of a diffusive energy-balance climate model and their stability

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ghil, M.

    1975-01-01

    A diffusive energy-balance climate model, governed by a nonlinear parabolic partial differential equation, was studied. Three positive steady-state solutions of this equation are found; they correspond to three possible climates of our planet: an interglacial (nearly identical to the present climate), a glacial, and a completely ice-covered earth. Models similar to the main one are considered, and the number of their steady states was determined. All the models have albedo continuously varying with latitude and temperature, and entirely diffusive horizontal heat transfer. The stability under small perturbations of the main model's climates was investigated. A stability criterion is derived, and its application shows that the present climate and the deep freeze are stable, whereas the model's glacial is unstable. The dependence was examined of the number of steady states and of their stability on the average solar radiation.

  16. SUPRATHERMAL SOLAR WIND ELECTRONS AND LANGMUIR TURBULENCE

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

    Kim, Sunjung; Yoon, Peter H.; Choe, G. S.

    2016-09-01

    The steady-state model recently put forth for the solar wind electron velocity distribution function during quiet time conditions, was originally composed of three population electrons (core, halo, and superhalo) with the core remaining nonresonant with any plasma waves while the halo and superhalo separately maintained steady-state resonance with whistler- and Langmuir-frequency range fluctuations, respectively. However, a recent paper demonstrates that whistler-range fluctuations in fact have no significant contribution. The present paper represents a consummation of the model in that a self-consistent model of the suprathermal electron population, which encompasses both the halo and the superhalo, is constructed solely on themore » basis of the Langmuir fluctuation spectrum. Numerical solutions to steady-state particle and wave kinetic equations are obtained on the basis of an initial trial electron distribution and Langmuir wave spectrum. Such a finding offers a self-consistent explanation for the observed steady-state electron distribution in the solar wind.« less

  17. Poissonian steady states: From stationary densities to stationary intensities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Eliazar, Iddo

    2012-10-01

    Markov dynamics are the most elemental and omnipresent form of stochastic dynamics in the sciences, with applications ranging from physics to chemistry, from biology to evolution, and from economics to finance. Markov dynamics can be either stationary or nonstationary. Stationary Markov dynamics represent statistical steady states and are quantified by stationary densities. In this paper, we generalize the notion of steady state to the case of general Markov dynamics. Considering an ensemble of independent motions governed by common Markov dynamics, we establish that the entire ensemble attains Poissonian steady states which are quantified by stationary Poissonian intensities and which hold valid also in the case of nonstationary Markov dynamics. The methodology is applied to a host of Markov dynamics, including Brownian motion, birth-death processes, random walks, geometric random walks, renewal processes, growth-collapse dynamics, decay-surge dynamics, Ito diffusions, and Langevin dynamics.

  18. The Effect of Impeller Type on Floc Size and Structure during Shear-Induced Flocculation

    PubMed

    Spicer; Keller; Pratsinis

    1996-12-01

    The effect of impeller type and shear rate on the evolution of floc size and structure during shear-induced flocculation of polystyrene particles with aluminum sulfate is investigated by image analysis. One radial flow (six-blade Rushton turbine) and two axial flow (three-blade fluid foil, four-blade 45° pitch) impeller configurations are examined. The steady state average floc size is shown to depend on the frequency of recirculation to the impeller zone and its characteristic velocity gradient. The concepts of fractal geometry are used to characterize the floc structure. For all impellers, the two-dimensional floc fractal dimension, Dpf, increases during floc growth, indicating formation of more open structures. Later on, Dpf levels off at a steady state value as breakage becomes significant and the floc size distribution approaches steady state. The shear rate does not affect the steady state Dpf of the flocs within experimental uncertainty.

  19. Topological properties of a self-assembled electrical network via ab initio calculation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stephenson, C.; Lyon, D.; Hübler, A.

    2017-02-01

    Interacting electrical conductors self-assemble to form tree like networks in the presence of applied voltages or currents. Experiments have shown that the degree distribution of the steady state networks are identical over a wide range of network sizes. In this work we develop a new model of the self-assembly process starting from the underlying physical interaction between conductors. In agreement with experimental results we find that for steady state networks, our model predicts that the fraction of endpoints is a constant of 0.252, and the fraction of branch points is 0.237. We find that our model predicts that these scaling properties also hold for the network during the approach to the steady state as well. In addition, we also reproduce the experimental distribution of nodes with a given Strahler number for all steady state networks studied.

  20. The Steady-State Transport of Oxygen through Hemoglobin Solutions

    PubMed Central

    Keller, K. H.; Friedlander, S. K.

    1966-01-01

    The steady-state transport of oxygen through hemoglobin solutions was studied to identify the mechanism of the diffusion augmentation observed at low oxygen tensions. A novel technique employing a platinum-silver oxygen electrode was developed to measure the effective diffusion coefficient of oxygen in steady-state transport. The measurements were made over a wider range of hemoglobin and oxygen concentrations than previously reported. Values of the Brownian motion diffusion coefficient of oxygen in hemoglobin solution were obtained as well as measurements of facilitated transport at low oxygen tensions. Transport rates up to ten times greater than ordinary diffusion rates were found. Predictions of oxygen flux were made assuming that the oxyhemoglobin transport coefficient was equal to the Brownian motion diffusivity which was measured in a separate set of experiments. The close correlation between prediction and experiment indicates that the diffusion of oxyhemoglobin is the mechanism by which steady-state oxygen transport is facilitated. PMID:5943608

  1. Realizing steady-state tokamak operation for fusion energy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Luce, T. C.

    2011-03-01

    Continuous operation of a tokamak for fusion energy has clear engineering advantages but requires conditions beyond those sufficient for a burning plasma. The fusion reactions and external sources must support both the pressure and the current equilibrium without inductive current drive, leading to demands on stability, confinement, current drive, and plasma-wall interactions that exceed those for pulsed tokamaks. These conditions have been met individually, and significant progress has been made in the past decade to realize scenarios where the required conditions are obtained simultaneously. Tokamaks are operated routinely without disruptions near pressure limits, as needed for steady-state operation. Fully noninductive sustainment with more than half of the current from intrinsic currents has been obtained for a resistive time with normalized pressure and confinement approaching those needed for steady-state conditions. One remaining challenge is handling the heat and particle fluxes expected in a steady-state tokamak without compromising the core plasma performance.

  2. Pre-Steady-State Kinetic Analysis of Single-Nucleotide Incorporation by DNA Polymerases

    PubMed Central

    Su, Yan; Guengerich, F. Peter

    2016-01-01

    Pre-steady-state kinetic analysis is a powerful and widely used method to obtain multiple kinetic parameters. This protocol provides a step-by-step procedure for pre-steady-state kinetic analysis of single-nucleotide incorporation by a DNA polymerase. It describes the experimental details of DNA substrate annealing, reaction mixture preparation, handling of the RQF-3 rapid quench-flow instrument, denaturing polyacrylamide DNA gel preparation, electrophoresis, quantitation, and data analysis. The core and unique part of this protocol is the rationale for preparation of the reaction mixture (the ratio of the polymerase to the DNA substrate) and methods for conducting pre-steady-state assays on an RQF-3 rapid quench-flow instrument, as well as data interpretation after analysis. In addition, the methods for the DNA substrate annealing and DNA polyacrylamide gel preparation, electrophoresis, quantitation and analysis are suitable for use in other studies. PMID:27248785

  3. Efficient steady-state solver for hierarchical quantum master equations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Hou-Dao; Qiao, Qin; Xu, Rui-Xue; Zheng, Xiao; Yan, YiJing

    2017-07-01

    Steady states play pivotal roles in many equilibrium and non-equilibrium open system studies. Their accurate evaluations call for exact theories with rigorous treatment of system-bath interactions. Therein, the hierarchical equations-of-motion (HEOM) formalism is a nonperturbative and non-Markovian quantum dissipation theory, which can faithfully describe the dissipative dynamics and nonlinear response of open systems. Nevertheless, solving the steady states of open quantum systems via HEOM is often a challenging task, due to the vast number of dynamical quantities involved. In this work, we propose a self-consistent iteration approach that quickly solves the HEOM steady states. We demonstrate its high efficiency with accurate and fast evaluations of low-temperature thermal equilibrium of a model Fenna-Matthews-Olson pigment-protein complex. Numerically exact evaluation of thermal equilibrium Rényi entropies and stationary emission line shapes is presented with detailed discussion.

  4. Marginal states in a cubic autocatalytic reaction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Das, Debojyoti; Ghosh, Pushpita; Ray, Deb Shankar

    2011-09-01

    Marginal steady state belongs to a special class of states in nonlinear dynamics. To realize this state we consider a cubic autocatalytic reaction A + 2B → 3B in a continuous-stirred-tank-reactor, where the flow rate of the reactant A can be controlled to manipulate the dynamical behavior of the open system. We demonstrate that when the flow rate is weakly noisy the autocatalytic reaction admits of a steady state which is marginal in nature and is surrounded by infinite number of periodic trajectories. When the uncatalyzed reaction A → B is included in the reaction scheme, there exists a marginal steady state which is a critical state corresponding to the point of transition between the flow branch and the equilibrium branch, similar to gas-liquid critical point of transition. This state loses its stability in the weak noise limit.

  5. Influence of the hypercycle on the error threshold: a stochastic approach.

    PubMed

    García-Tejedor, A; Sanz-Nuño, J C; Olarrea, J; Javier de la Rubia, F; Montero, F

    1988-10-21

    The role of fluctuations on the error threshold of the hypercycle has been studied by a stochastic approach on a very simplified model. For this model, the master equation was derived and its unique steady state calculated. This state implies the extinction of the system. But the actual time necessary to reach the steady state may be astronomically long whereas for times of experimental interest the system could be near some quasi-stationary states. In order to explore this possibility a Gillespie simulation of the stochastic process has been carried out. These quasi-stationary states correspond to the deterministic steady states of the system. The error threshold shifts towards higher values of the quality factor Q. Moreover, information about the fluctuations around the quasi-stationary states is obtained. The results are discussed in relation to the deterministic states.

  6. A Steady State and Quasi-Steady Interface Between the Generalized Fluid System Simulation Program and the SINDA/G Thermal Analysis Program

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Schallhorn, Paul; Majumdar, Alok; Tiller, Bruce

    2001-01-01

    A general purpose, one dimensional fluid flow code is currently being interfaced with the thermal analysis program SINDA/G. The flow code, GFSSP, is capable of analyzing steady state and transient flow in a complex network. The flow code is capable of modeling several physical phenomena including compressibility effects, phase changes, body forces (such as gravity and centrifugal) and mixture thermodynamics for multiple species. The addition of GFSSP to SINDA/G provides a significant improvement in convective heat transfer modeling for SINDA/G. The interface development is conducted in multiple phases. This paper describes the first phase of the interface which allows for steady and quasisteady (unsteady solid, steady fluid) conjugate heat transfer modeling.

  7. Traveling waves in actin dynamics and cell motility

    PubMed Central

    Allard, Jun; Mogilner, Alex

    2012-01-01

    Much of current understanding of cell motility arose from studying steady treadmilling of actin arrays. Recently, there have been a growing number of observations of a more complex, non-steady, actin behavior, including self-organized waves. It is becoming clear that these waves result from activation and inhibition feedbacks in actin dynamics acting on different scales, but the exact molecular nature of these feedbacks and respective roles of biomechanics and biochemistry are still unclear. Here, we review recent advances achieved in experimental and theoretical studies of actin waves and discuss mechanisms and physiological significance of wavy protrusions. PMID:22985541

  8. Steady-state entanglement and thermalization of coupled qubits in two common heat baths

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hu, Li-Zhen; Man, Zhong-Xiao; Xia, Yun-Jie

    2018-03-01

    In this work, we study the steady-state entanglement and thermalization of two coupled qubits embedded in two common baths with different temperatures. The common bath is relevant when the two qubits are difficult to be isolated to only contact with their local baths. With the quantum master equation constructed in the eigenstate representation of the coupled qubits, we have demonstrated the variations of steady-state entanglement with respect to various parameters of the qubits' system in both equilibrium and nonequilibrium cases of the baths. The coupling strength and energy detuning of the qubits as well as the temperature gradient of the baths are found to be beneficial to the enhancement of the entanglement. We note a dark state of the qubits that is free from time-evolution and its initial population can greatly influence the steady-state entanglement. By virtues of effective temperatures, we also study the thermalization of the coupled qubits and their variations with energy detuning.

  9. Steady state numerical solutions for determining the location of MEMS on projectile

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Abiprayu, K.; Abdigusna, M. F. F.; Gunawan, P. H.

    2018-03-01

    This paper is devoted to compare the numerical solutions for the steady and unsteady state heat distribution model on projectile. Here, the best location for installing of the MEMS on the projectile based on the surface temperature is investigated. Numerical iteration methods, Jacobi and Gauss-Seidel have been elaborated to solve the steady state heat distribution model on projectile. The results using Jacobi and Gauss-Seidel are shown identical but the discrepancy iteration cost for each methods is gained. Using Jacobi’s method, the iteration cost is 350 iterations. Meanwhile, using Gauss-Seidel 188 iterations are obtained, faster than the Jacobi’s method. The comparison of the simulation by steady state model and the unsteady state model by a reference is shown satisfying. Moreover, the best candidate for installing MEMS on projectile is observed at pointT(10, 0) which has the lowest temperature for the other points. The temperature using Jacobi and Gauss-Seidel for scenario 1 and 2 atT(10, 0) are 307 and 309 Kelvin respectively.

  10. Using steady-state equations for transient flow calculation in natural gas pipelines

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

    Maddox, R.N.; Zhou, P.

    1984-04-02

    Maddox and Zhou have extended their technique for calculating the unsteady-state behavior of straight gas pipelines to complex pipeline systems and networks. After developing the steady-state flow rate and pressure profile for each pipe in the network, analysts can perform the transient-state analysis in the real-time step-wise manner described for this technique.

  11. Simultaneous measurement of glucose transport and utilization in the human brain

    PubMed Central

    Shestov, Alexander A.; Emir, Uzay E.; Kumar, Anjali; Henry, Pierre-Gilles; Seaquist, Elizabeth R.

    2011-01-01

    Glucose is the primary fuel for brain function, and determining the kinetics of cerebral glucose transport and utilization is critical for quantifying cerebral energy metabolism. The kinetic parameters of cerebral glucose transport, KMt and Vmaxt, in humans have so far been obtained by measuring steady-state brain glucose levels by proton (1H) NMR as a function of plasma glucose levels and fitting steady-state models to these data. Extraction of the kinetic parameters for cerebral glucose transport necessitated assuming a constant cerebral metabolic rate of glucose (CMRglc) obtained from other tracer studies, such as 13C NMR. Here we present new methodology to simultaneously obtain kinetic parameters for glucose transport and utilization in the human brain by fitting both dynamic and steady-state 1H NMR data with a reversible, non-steady-state Michaelis-Menten model. Dynamic data were obtained by measuring brain and plasma glucose time courses during glucose infusions to raise and maintain plasma concentration at ∼17 mmol/l for ∼2 h in five healthy volunteers. Steady-state brain vs. plasma glucose concentrations were taken from literature and the steady-state portions of data from the five volunteers. In addition to providing simultaneous measurements of glucose transport and utilization and obviating assumptions for constant CMRglc, this methodology does not necessitate infusions of expensive or radioactive tracers. Using this new methodology, we found that the maximum transport capacity for glucose through the blood-brain barrier was nearly twofold higher than maximum cerebral glucose utilization. The glucose transport and utilization parameters were consistent with previously published values for human brain. PMID:21791622

  12. Prediction of dendrite arm spacings in unsteady-and steady-state heat flow of unidirectionally solidified binary alloys

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bouchard, Dominique; Kirkaldy, John S.

    1997-08-01

    Various theoretical dendrite and cell spacing formulas have been tested against experimental data obtained in unsteady- and steady-state heat flow conditions. An iterative assessment strategy satisfactorily overcomes the circumstances that certain constitutive parameters are inadequately established and/or highly variable and that many of the data sets, in terms of gradients, velocities, and/or cooling rates, are unreliable. The accessed unsteady- and steady-state observations on near-terminal binary alloys for primary and secondary spacings were first examined within conventional power law representations, the deduced exponents and confidence limits for each alloy being tabularly recorded. Through this analysis, it became clear that to achieve predictive generality the many constitutive parameters must be included in a rational way, this being achievable only through extant or new theoretical formulations. However, in the case of primary spacings, all formulas, including our own, failed within the unsteady heat flow algorithm while performing adequately within their steady-state context. An earlier untested, heuristically derived steady-state formula after modification, λ _1 = 120 ( {{16X_0^{{1/2}} G_0 (\\varepsilon σ )T_M D}/{(1 - k)mΔ H G R}} )^{{1/2}} ultimately proved its utility in the unsteady regime, and so it is recommended for purposes of predictions for general terminal alloys. For secondary spacings, a Mullins and Sekerka type formula proved from the start to be adequate in both unsteady- and steady-state heat flows, and so it recommends itself in calibrated form, λ _2 = 12π ( {{4σ }/{X_0 (1 - k)^2 Δ H}( {D/R} )^2 } )^{{1/3}}

  13. Energy cost of walking: solving the paradox of steady state in the presence of variable walking speed.

    PubMed

    Plasschaert, Frank; Jones, Kim; Forward, Malcolm

    2009-02-01

    Measurement of the energy cost of walking in children with cerebral palsy is used for baseline and outcome assessment. However, such testing relies on the establishment of steady state that is deemed present when oxygen consumption is stable. This is often assumed when walking speed is constant but in practice, speed can and does vary naturally. Whilst constant speed is achievable on a treadmill, this is often impractical clinically, thus rendering an energy cost test to an element of subjectivity. This paper attempts to address this issue by presenting a new method for calculating energy cost of walking that automatically applies a mathematically defined threshold for steady state within a (non-treadmill) walking trial and then strips out all of the non-steady state events within that trial. The method is compared with a generic approach that does not remove non-steady state data but rather uses an average value over a complete walking trial as is often used in the clinical environment. Both methods were applied to the calculation of several energy cost of walking parameters of self-selected walking speed in a cohort of unimpaired subjects and children with cerebral palsy. The results revealed that both methods were strongly correlated for each parameter but showed systematic significant differences. It is suggested that these differences are introduced by the rejection of non-steady state data that would otherwise have incorrectly been incorporated into the calculation of the energy cost of walking indices during self-selected walking with its inherent speed variation.

  14. An Adaptive Nonlinear Basal-Bolus Calculator for Patients With Type 1 Diabetes

    PubMed Central

    Boiroux, Dimitri; Aradóttir, Tinna Björk; Nørgaard, Kirsten; Poulsen, Niels Kjølstad; Madsen, Henrik; Jørgensen, John Bagterp

    2016-01-01

    Background: Bolus calculators help patients with type 1 diabetes to mitigate the effect of meals on their blood glucose by administering a large amount of insulin at mealtime. Intraindividual changes in patients physiology and nonlinearity in insulin-glucose dynamics pose a challenge to the accuracy of such calculators. Method: We propose a method based on a continuous-discrete unscented Kalman filter to continuously track the postprandial glucose dynamics and the insulin sensitivity. We augment the Medtronic Virtual Patient (MVP) model to simulate noise-corrupted data from a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). The basal rate is determined by calculating the steady state of the model and is adjusted once a day before breakfast. The bolus size is determined by optimizing the postprandial glucose values based on an estimate of the insulin sensitivity and states, as well as the announced meal size. Following meal announcements, the meal compartment and the meal time constant are estimated, otherwise insulin sensitivity is estimated. Results: We compare the performance of a conventional linear bolus calculator with the proposed bolus calculator. The proposed basal-bolus calculator significantly improves the time spent in glucose target (P < .01) compared to the conventional bolus calculator. Conclusion: An adaptive nonlinear basal-bolus calculator can efficiently compensate for physiological changes. Further clinical studies will be needed to validate the results. PMID:27613658

  15. Calibration of steady-state car-following models using macroscopic loop detector data.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-05-01

    The paper develops procedures for calibrating the steady-state component of various car following models using : macroscopic loop detector data. The calibration procedures are developed for a number of commercially available : microscopic traffic sim...

  16. 40 CFR Appendix A to Subpart S of... - Calibrations, Adjustments and Quality Control

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... average of the pre-test and post-test ambient background levels shall be compared to the permissible...—Calibrations, Adjustments and Quality Control (I) Steady-State Test Equipment States may opt to use transient emission test equipment for steady-state tests and follow the quality control requirements in paragraph (II...

  17. 40 CFR Appendix A to Subpart S of... - Calibrations, Adjustments and Quality Control

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... average of the pre-test and post-test ambient background levels shall be compared to the permissible...—Calibrations, Adjustments and Quality Control (I) Steady-State Test Equipment States may opt to use transient emission test equipment for steady-state tests and follow the quality control requirements in paragraph (II...

  18. 40 CFR Appendix A to Subpart S of... - Calibrations, Adjustments and Quality Control

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... average of the pre-test and post-test ambient background levels shall be compared to the permissible...—Calibrations, Adjustments and Quality Control (I) Steady-State Test Equipment States may opt to use transient emission test equipment for steady-state tests and follow the quality control requirements in paragraph (II...

  19. 40 CFR Appendix A to Subpart S of... - Calibrations, Adjustments and Quality Control

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... average of the pre-test and post-test ambient background levels shall be compared to the permissible...—Calibrations, Adjustments and Quality Control (I) Steady-State Test Equipment States may opt to use transient emission test equipment for steady-state tests and follow the quality control requirements in paragraph (II...

  20. 40 CFR Appendix A to Subpart S of... - Calibrations, Adjustments and Quality Control

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... average of the pre-test and post-test ambient background levels shall be compared to the permissible...—Calibrations, Adjustments and Quality Control (I) Steady-State Test Equipment States may opt to use transient emission test equipment for steady-state tests and follow the quality control requirements in paragraph (II...

  1. Space-time least-squares finite element method for convection-reaction system with transformed variables

    PubMed Central

    Nam, Jaewook

    2011-01-01

    We present a method to solve a convection-reaction system based on a least-squares finite element method (LSFEM). For steady-state computations, issues related to recirculation flow are stated and demonstrated with a simple example. The method can compute concentration profiles in open flow even when the generation term is small. This is the case for estimating hemolysis in blood. Time-dependent flows are computed with the space-time LSFEM discretization. We observe that the computed hemoglobin concentration can become negative in certain regions of the flow; it is a physically unacceptable result. To prevent this, we propose a quadratic transformation of variables. The transformed governing equation can be solved in a straightforward way by LSFEM with no sign of unphysical behavior. The effect of localized high shear on blood damage is shown in a circular Couette-flow-with-blade configuration, and a physiological condition is tested in an arterial graft flow. PMID:21709752

  2. Effect of mild atherosclerosis on flow resistance in a coronary artery casting of man

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Back, L. H.; Cho, Y. I.; Crawford, D. W.; Cuffel, R. F.

    1984-01-01

    An in-vitro flow study was conducted in a mildly atherosclerotic main coronary artery casting of man using sugar-water solutions simulating blood viscosity. Steady flow results indicated substantial increases in pressure drop, and thus flow resistance at the same Reynolds number, above those for Poiseuille flow by 30 to 100 percent in the physiological Reynolds number range from about 100 to 400. Time-averaged pulsatile flow data showed additional 5 percent increases in flow resistance above the steady flow results. Both pulsatile and steady flow data from the casting were found to be nearly equal to those from a straight, axisymmetric model of the casting up to a Reynolds number of about 200, above which the flow resistance of the casting became gradually larger than the corresponding values from the axisymmetric model.

  3. Regimes of radiative and nonradiative transitions in transport through an electronic system in a photon cavity reaching a steady state

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gudmundsson, Vidar; Jonsson, Thorsteinn H.; Bernodusson, Maria Laura; Abdullah, Nzar Rauf; Sitek, Anna; Goan, Hsi-Sheng; Tang, Chi-Shung; Manolescu, Andrei

    2017-01-01

    We analyze how a multilevel many-electron system in a photon cavity approaches the steady state when coupled to external leads. When a plunger gate is used to lower cavity photon dressed one- and two-electron states below the bias window defined by the external leads, we can identify one regime with nonradiative transitions dominating the electron transport, and another regime with radiative transitions. Both transitions trap the electrons in the states below the bias bringing the system into a steady state. The order of the two regimes and their relative strength depends on the location of the bias window in the energy spectrum of the system and the initial conditions.

  4. CLASSICAL AREAS OF PHENOMENOLOGY: Temporal behaviour of open-circuit photovoltaic solitons

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Mei-Zhi; Lu, Ke-Qing; Cheng, Guang-Hua; Li, Ke-Hao; Zhang, Yi-Qi; Zhang, Yu-Hong; Zhang, Yan-Peng

    2009-07-01

    Based on the time-dependent band-transport model in a photorefractive medium, dark open-circuit photovoltaic (PV) solitons are investigated both theoretically and experimentally. Compared with those of the time-independent models, our theoretical results revealed that quasi-steady-state and steady-state PV solitons can both be obtained. Our results also revealed that when r < 1 (r is the normalized intensity at infinity), the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of solitons decreases monotonically to a constant value; when r > 1, however, the FWHM of solitons first decreases to a minimum before it increases to a constant value. Moreover, the FWHM of steady solitons decreases with increasing intensity ratio for r < 1, and increases with increasing intensity ratio for r > 1. We further observed dark PV solitons in experiments, and recorded their evolution. These results indicated that steady solitons can be observed at low optical power, while quasi-steady-state solitons can only be generated at higher optical power. Good agreement is found between theory and experiment.

  5. Differential utilization of enzyme-substrate interactions for acylation but not deacylation during the catalytic cycle of Kex2 protease.

    PubMed

    Rockwell, N C; Fuller, R S

    2001-10-19

    Kex2 protease from Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the prototype for a family of eukaryotic proprotein processing proteases belonging to the subtilase superfamily of serine proteases. Kex2 can be distinguished from degradative subtilisins on the basis of stringent substrate specificity and distinct pre-steady-state behavior. To better understand these mechanistic differences, we have examined the effects of substrate residues at P(1) and P(4) on individual steps in the Kex2 catalytic cycle with a systematic series of isosteric peptidyl amide and ester substrates. The results demonstrate that substrates based on known, physiological cleavage sites exhibit high acylation rates (> or =550 s(-1)) with Kex2. Substitution of Lys for the physiologically correct Arg at P(1) resulted in a > or =200-fold drop in acylation rate with almost no apparent effect on binding or deacylation. In contrast, substitution of the physiologically incorrect Ala for Nle at P(4) resulted in a much smaller defect in acylation and a modest but significant effect on binding with Lys at P(1). This substitution also had no effect on deacylation. These results demonstrate that Kex2 utilizes enzyme-substrate interactions in different ways at different steps in the catalytic cycle, with the S(1)-P(1) contact providing a key specificity determinant at the acylation step.

  6. Physiological artifacts in scalp EEG and ear-EEG.

    PubMed

    Kappel, Simon L; Looney, David; Mandic, Danilo P; Kidmose, Preben

    2017-08-11

    A problem inherent to recording EEG is the interference arising from noise and artifacts. While in a laboratory environment, artifacts and interference can, to a large extent, be avoided or controlled, in real-life scenarios this is a challenge. Ear-EEG is a concept where EEG is acquired from electrodes in the ear. We present a characterization of physiological artifacts generated in a controlled environment for nine subjects. The influence of the artifacts was quantified in terms of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) deterioration of the auditory steady-state response. Alpha band modulation was also studied in an open/closed eyes paradigm. Artifacts related to jaw muscle contractions were present all over the scalp and in the ear, with the highest SNR deteriorations in the gamma band. The SNR deterioration for jaw artifacts were in general higher in the ear compared to the scalp. Whereas eye-blinking did not influence the SNR in the ear, it was significant for all groups of scalps electrodes in the delta and theta bands. Eye movements resulted in statistical significant SNR deterioration in both frontal, temporal and ear electrodes. Recordings of alpha band modulation showed increased power and coherence of the EEG for ear and scalp electrodes in the closed-eyes periods. Ear-EEG is a method developed for unobtrusive and discreet recording over long periods of time and in real-life environments. This study investigated the influence of the most important types of physiological artifacts, and demonstrated that spontaneous activity, in terms of alpha band oscillations, could be recorded from the ear-EEG platform. In its present form ear-EEG was more prone to jaw related artifacts and less prone to eye-blinking artifacts compared to state-of-the-art scalp based systems.

  7. The Politics of the Steady State

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Taylor, Charles

    1978-01-01

    A steady state society has limits pertaining to population size, non-renewable resources, and production which emits heat or substances into soil, water, or the atmosphere. Respecting these limits means renouncing exponential quantitative growth and accepting a universally available consumption standard. (SW)

  8. Information on estimating local government highway bonds

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1973-06-01

    The theory of traffic flow following a lane blockage on a multi-lane freeway has been developed. Numerical results have been obtained and are presented both for the steady state case where the traffic density remains constant and the non-steady state...

  9. Mapping current fluctuations of stochastic pumps to nonequilibrium steady states.

    PubMed

    Rotskoff, Grant M

    2017-03-01

    We show that current fluctuations in a stochastic pump can be robustly mapped to fluctuations in a corresponding time-independent nonequilibrium steady state. We thus refine a recently proposed mapping so that it ensures equivalence of not only the averages, but also optimal representation of fluctuations in currents and density. Our mapping leads to a natural decomposition of the entropy production in stochastic pumps similar to the "housekeeping" heat. As a consequence of the decomposition of entropy production, the current fluctuations in weakly perturbed stochastic pumps are shown to satisfy a universal bound determined by the steady state entropy production.

  10. Efficiency trade-offs of steady-state methods using FEM and FDM. [iterative solutions for nonlinear flow equations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gartling, D. K.; Roache, P. J.

    1978-01-01

    The efficiency characteristics of finite element and finite difference approximations for the steady-state solution of the Navier-Stokes equations are examined. The finite element method discussed is a standard Galerkin formulation of the incompressible, steady-state Navier-Stokes equations. The finite difference formulation uses simple centered differences that are O(delta x-squared). Operation counts indicate that a rapidly converging Newton-Raphson-Kantorovitch iteration scheme is generally preferable over a Picard method. A split NOS Picard iterative algorithm for the finite difference method was most efficient.

  11. Arbitrary Steady-State Solutions with the K-epsilon Model

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rumsey, Christopher L.; Pettersson Reif, B. A.; Gatski, Thomas B.

    2006-01-01

    Widely-used forms of the K-epsilon turbulence model are shown to yield arbitrary steady-state converged solutions that are highly dependent on numerical considerations such as initial conditions and solution procedure. These solutions contain pseudo-laminar regions of varying size. By applying a nullcline analysis to the equation set, it is possible to clearly demonstrate the reasons for the anomalous behavior. In summary, the degenerate solution acts as a stable fixed point under certain conditions, causing the numerical method to converge there. The analysis also suggests a methodology for preventing the anomalous behavior in steady-state computations.

  12. Response of a small-turboshaft-engine compression system to inlet temperature distortion

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Biesiadny, T. J.; Klann, G. A.; Little, J. K.

    1984-01-01

    An experimental investigation was conducted into the response of a small-turboshaft-engine compression system to steady-state and transient inlet temperature distortions. Transient temperature ramps range from less than 100 K/sec to above 610 K/sec and generated instantaneous temperatures to 420 K above ambient. Steady-state temperature distortion levels were limited by the engine hardware temperature list. Simple analysis of the steady-state distortion data indicated that a particle separator at the engine inlet permitted higher levels of temperature distortion before onset of compressor surge than would be expected without the separator.

  13. Mean field treatment of heterogeneous steady state kinetics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Geva, Nadav; Vaissier, Valerie; Shepherd, James; Van Voorhis, Troy

    2017-10-01

    We propose a method to quickly compute steady state populations of species undergoing a set of chemical reactions whose rate constants are heterogeneous. Using an average environment in place of an explicit nearest neighbor configuration, we obtain a set of equations describing a single fluctuating active site in the presence of an averaged bath. We apply this Mean Field Steady State (MFSS) method to a model of H2 production on a disordered surface for which the activation energy for the reaction varies from site to site. The MFSS populations quantitatively reproduce the KMC results across the range of rate parameters considered.

  14. Nonthermal steady states after an interaction quench in the Falicov-Kimball model.

    PubMed

    Eckstein, Martin; Kollar, Marcus

    2008-03-28

    We present the exact solution of the Falicov-Kimball model after a sudden change of its interaction parameter using nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory. For different interaction quenches between the homogeneous metallic and insulating phases the system relaxes to a nonthermal steady state on time scales on the order of variant Planck's over 2pi/bandwidth, showing collapse and revival with an approximate period of h/interaction if the interaction is large. We discuss the reasons for this behavior and provide a statistical description of the final steady state by means of generalized Gibbs ensembles.

  15. Steady state phosphorus mass balance model during hemodialysis based on a pseudo one-compartment kinetic model.

    PubMed

    Leypoldt, John K; Agar, Baris U; Akonur, Alp; Gellens, Mary E; Culleton, Bruce F

    2012-11-01

    Mathematical models of phosphorus kinetics and mass balance during hemodialysis are in early development. We describe a theoretical phosphorus steady state mass balance model during hemodialysis based on a novel pseudo one-compartment kinetic model. The steady state mass balance model accounted for net intestinal absorption of phosphorus and phosphorus removal by both dialysis and residual kidney function. Analytical mathematical solutions were derived to describe time-dependent intradialytic and interdialytic serum phosphorus concentrations assuming hemodialysis treatments were performed symmetrically throughout a week. Results from the steady state phosphorus mass balance model are described for thrice weekly hemodialysis treatment prescriptions only. The analysis predicts 1) a minimal impact of dialyzer phosphorus clearance on predialysis serum phosphorus concentration using modern, conventional hemodialysis technology, 2) variability in the postdialysis-to-predialysis phosphorus concentration ratio due to differences in patient-specific phosphorus mobilization, and 3) the importance of treatment time in determining the predialysis serum phosphorus concentration. We conclude that a steady state phosphorus mass balance model can be developed based on a pseudo one-compartment kinetic model and that predictions from this model are consistent with previous clinical observations. The predictions from this mass balance model are theoretical and hypothesis-generating only; additional prospective clinical studies will be required for model confirmation.

  16. Can high fields save the tokamak? The challenge of steady-state operation for low cost compact reactors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Freidberg, Jeffrey; Dogra, Akshunna; Redman, William; Cerfon, Antoine

    2016-10-01

    The development of high field, high temperature superconductors is thought to be a game changer for the development of fusion power based on the tokamak concept. We test the validity of this assertion for pilot plant scale reactors (Q 10) for two different but related missions: pulsed operation and steady-state operation. Specifically, we derive a set of analytic criteria that determines the basic design parameters of a given fusion reactor mission. As expected there are far more constraints than degrees of freedom in any given design application. However, by defining the mission of the reactor under consideration, we have been able to determine the subset of constraints that drive the design, and calculate the values for the key parameters characterizing the tokamak. Our conclusions are as follows: 1) for pulsed reactors, high field leads to more compact designs and thus cheaper reactors - high B is the way to go; 2) steady-state reactors with H-mode like transport are large, even with high fields. The steady-state constraint is hard to satisfy in compact designs - high B helps but is not enough; 3) I-mode like transport, when combined with high fields, yields relatively compact steady-state reactors - why is there not more research on this favorable transport regime?

  17. Steady-state hydrodynamic instabilities of active liquid crystals: hybrid lattice Boltzmann simulations.

    PubMed

    Marenduzzo, D; Orlandini, E; Cates, M E; Yeomans, J M

    2007-09-01

    We report hybrid lattice Boltzmann (HLB) simulations of the hydrodynamics of an active nematic liquid crystal sandwiched between confining walls with various anchoring conditions. We confirm the existence of a transition between a passive phase and an active phase, in which there is spontaneous flow in the steady state. This transition is attained for sufficiently "extensile" rods, in the case of flow-aligning liquid crystals, and for sufficiently "contractile" ones for flow-tumbling materials. In a quasi-one-dimensional geometry, deep in the active phase of flow-aligning materials, our simulations give evidence of hysteresis and history-dependent steady states, as well as of spontaneous banded flow. Flow-tumbling materials, in contrast, rearrange themselves so that only the two boundary layers flow in steady state. Two-dimensional simulations, with periodic boundary conditions, show additional instabilities, with the spontaneous flow appearing as patterns made up of "convection rolls." These results demonstrate a remarkable richness (including dependence on anchoring conditions) in the steady-state phase behavior of active materials, even in the absence of external forcing; they have no counterpart for passive nematics. Our HLB methodology, which combines lattice Boltzmann for momentum transport with a finite difference scheme for the order parameter dynamics, offers a robust and efficient method for probing the complex hydrodynamic behavior of active nematics.

  18. Stable long-term blood formation by stem cells in murine steady-state hematopoiesis.

    PubMed

    Zavidij, Oksana; Ball, Claudia R; Herbst, Friederike; Oppel, Felix; Fessler, Sylvia; Schmidt, Manfred; von Kalle, Christof; Glimm, Hanno

    2012-09-01

    Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) generate all mature blood cells during the whole lifespan of an individual. However, the clonal contribution of individual HSC and progenitor cells in steady-state hematopoiesis is poorly understood. To investigate the activity of HSCs under steady-state conditions, murine HSC and progenitor cells were genetically marked in vivo by integrating lentiviral vectors (LVs) encoding green fluorescent protein (GFP). Hematopoietic contribution of individual marked clones was monitored by determination of lentiviral integration sites using highly sensitive linear amplification-mediated-polymerase chain reaction. A remarkably stable small proportion of hematopoietic cells expressed GFP in LV-injected animals for up to 24 months, indicating stable marking of murine steady-state hematopoiesis. Analysis of the lentiviral integration sites revealed that multiple hematopoietic clones with both myeloid and lymphoid differentiation potential contributed to long-term hematopoiesis. In contrast to intrafemoral vector injection, intravenous administration of LV preferentially targeted short-lived progenitor cells. Myelosuppressive treatment of mice prior to LV-injection did not affect the marking efficiency. Our study represents the first continuous analysis of clonal behavior of genetically marked hematopoietic cells in an unmanipulated system, providing evidence that multiple clones are simultaneously active in murine steady-state hematopoiesis. Copyright © 2012 AlphaMed Press.

  19. High fidelity quasi steady-state aerodynamic model effects on race vehicle performance predictions using multi-body simulation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mohrfeld-Halterman, J. A.; Uddin, M.

    2016-07-01

    We described in this paper the development of a high fidelity vehicle aerodynamic model to fit wind tunnel test data over a wide range of vehicle orientations. We also present a comparison between the effects of this proposed model and a conventional quasi steady-state aerodynamic model on race vehicle simulation results. This is done by implementing both of these models independently in multi-body quasi steady-state simulations to determine the effects of the high fidelity aerodynamic model on race vehicle performance metrics. The quasi steady state vehicle simulation is developed with a multi-body NASCAR Truck vehicle model, and simulations are conducted for three different types of NASCAR race tracks, a short track, a one and a half mile intermediate track, and a higher speed, two mile intermediate race track. For each track simulation, the effects of the aerodynamic model on handling, maximum corner speed, and drive force metrics are analysed. The accuracy of the high-fidelity model is shown to reduce the aerodynamic model error relative to the conventional aerodynamic model, and the increased accuracy of the high fidelity aerodynamic model is found to have realisable effects on the performance metric predictions on the intermediate tracks resulting from the quasi steady-state simulation.

  20. System and method for generating steady state confining current for a toroidal plasma fusion reactor

    DOEpatents

    Fisch, Nathaniel J.

    1981-01-01

    A system for generating steady state confining current for a toroidal plasma fusion reactor providing steady-state generation of the thermonuclear power. A dense, hot toroidal plasma is initially prepared with a confining magnetic field with toroidal and poloidal components. Continuous wave RF energy is injected into said plasma to establish a spectrum of traveling waves in the plasma, where the traveling waves have momentum components substantially either all parallel, or all anti-parallel to the confining magnetic field. The injected RF energy is phased to couple to said traveling waves with both a phase velocity component and a wave momentum component in the direction of the plasma traveling wave components. The injected RF energy has a predetermined spectrum selected so that said traveling waves couple to plasma electrons having velocities in a predetermined range .DELTA.. The velocities in the range are substantially greater than the thermal electron velocity of the plasma. In addition, the range is sufficiently broad to produce a raised plateau having width .DELTA. in the plasma electron velocity distribution so that the plateau electrons provide steady-state current to generate a poloidal magnetic field component sufficient for confining the plasma. In steady state operation of the fusion reactor, the fusion power density in the plasma exceeds the power dissipated in the plasma.

  1. System and method for generating steady state confining current for a toroidal plasma fusion reactor

    DOEpatents

    Bers, Abraham

    1981-01-01

    A system for generating steady state confining current for a toroidal plasma fusion reactor providing steady-state generation of the thermonuclear power. A dense, hot toroidal plasma is initially prepared with a confining magnetic field with toroidal and poloidal components. Continuous wave RF energy is injected into said plasma to estalish a spectrum of traveling waves in the plasma, where the traveling waves have momentum components substantially either all parallel, or all anti-parallel to the confining magnetic field. The injected RF energy is phased to couple to said traveling waves with both a phase velocity component and a wave momentum component in the direction of the plasma traveling wave components. The injected RF energy has a predetermined spectrum selected so that said traveling waves couple to plasma electrons having velocities in a predetermined range .DELTA.. The velocities in the range are substantially greater than the thermal electron velocity of the plasma. In addition, the range is sufficiently broad to produce a raised plateau having width .DELTA. in the plasma electron velocity distribution so that the plateau electrons provide steady-state current to generate a poloidal magnetic field component sufficient for confining the plasma. In steady state operation of the fusion reactor, the fusion power density in the plasma exceeds the power dissipated inthe plasma.

  2. Visual and auditory steady-state responses in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

    PubMed

    Khaleghi, Ali; Zarafshan, Hadi; Mohammadi, Mohammad Reza

    2018-05-22

    We designed a study to investigate the patterns of the steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) and auditory steady-state response (ASSR) in adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) when performing a motor response inhibition task. Thirty 12- to 18-year-old adolescents with ADHD and 30 healthy control adolescents underwent an electroencephalogram (EEG) examination during steady-state stimuli when performing a stop-signal task. Then, we calculated the amplitude and phase of the steady-state responses in both visual and auditory modalities. Results showed that adolescents with ADHD had a significantly poorer performance in the stop-signal task during both visual and auditory stimuli. The SSVEP amplitude of the ADHD group was larger than that of the healthy control group in most regions of the brain, whereas the ASSR amplitude of the ADHD group was smaller than that of the healthy control group in some brain regions (e.g., right hemisphere). In conclusion, poorer task performance (especially inattention) and neurophysiological results in ADHD demonstrate a possible impairment in the interconnection of the association cortices in the parietal and temporal lobes and the prefrontal cortex. Also, the motor control problems in ADHD may arise from neural deficits in the frontoparietal and occipitoparietal systems and other brain structures such as cerebellum.

  3. Is the catalytic activity of triosephosphate isomerase fully optimized? An investigation based on maximization of entropy production.

    PubMed

    Bonačić Lošić, Željana; Donđivić, Tomislav; Juretić, Davor

    2017-03-01

    Triosephosphate isomerase (TIM) is often described as a fully evolved housekeeping enzyme with near-maximal possible reaction rate. The assumption that an enzyme is perfectly evolved has not been easy to confirm or refute. In this paper, we use maximization of entropy production within known constraints to examine this assumption by calculating steady-state cyclic flux, corresponding entropy production, and catalytic activity in a reversible four-state scheme of TIM functional states. The maximal entropy production (MaxEP) requirement for any of the first three transitions between TIM functional states leads to decreased total entropy production. Only the MaxEP requirement for the product (R-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate) release step led to a 30% increase in enzyme activity, specificity constant k cat /K M , and overall entropy production. The product release step, due to the TIM molecular machine working in the physiological direction of glycolysis, has not been identified before as the rate-limiting step by using irreversible thermodynamics. Together with structural studies, our results open the possibility for finding amino acid substitutions leading to an increased frequency of loop six opening and product release.

  4. Single cell active force generation under dynamic loading - Part I: AFM experiments.

    PubMed

    Weafer, P P; Reynolds, N H; Jarvis, S P; McGarry, J P

    2015-11-01

    A novel series of experiments are performed on single cells using a bespoke AFM system where the response of cells to dynamic loading at physiologically relevant frequencies is uncovered. Measured forces for the untreated cells are dramatically different to cytochalasin-D (cyto-D) treated cells, indicating that the contractile actin cytoskeleton plays a critical role in the response of cells to dynamic loading. Following a change in applied strain magnitude, while maintaining a constant applied strain rate, the compression force for contractile cells recovers to 88.9±7.8% of the steady state force. In contrast, cyto-D cell compression forces recover to only 38.0±6.7% of the steady state force. Additionally, untreated cells exhibit strongly negative (pulling) forces during unloading half-cycles when the probe is retracted. In comparison, negligible pulling forces are measured for cyto-D cells during probe retraction. The current study demonstrates that active contractile forces, generated by actin-myosin cross-bridge cycling, dominate the response of single cells to dynamic loading. Such active force generation is shown to be independent of applied strain magnitude. Passive forces generated by the applied deformation are shown to be of secondary importance, exhibiting a high dependence on applied strain magnitude, in contrast to the active forces in untreated cells. A novel series of experiments are performed on single cells using a bespoke AFM system where the response of cells to dynamic loading at physiologically relevant frequencies is uncovered. Contractile cells, which contain the active force generation machinery of the actin cytoskeleton, are shown to be insensitive to applied strain magnitude, exhibiting high resistance to dynamic compression and stretching. Such trends are not observed for cells in which the actin cytoskeleton has been chemically disrupted. These biomechanical insights have not been previously reported. This detailed characterisation of single cell active and passive stress during dynamic loading has important implications for tissue engineering strategies, where applied deformation has been reported to significantly affect cell mechanotransduction and matrix synthesis. Copyright © 2015 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Analysis of the early heterocyst Cys-proteome in the multicellular cyanobacterium Nostoc punctiforme reveals novel insights into the division of labor within diazotrophic filaments.

    PubMed

    Sandh, Gustaf; Ramström, Margareta; Stensjö, Karin

    2014-12-04

    In the filamentous cyanobacterium Nostoc punctiforme ATCC 29133, removal of combined nitrogen induces the differentiation of heterocysts, a cell-type specialized in N2 fixation. The differentiation involves genomic, structural and metabolic adaptations. In cyanobacteria, changes in the availability of carbon and nitrogen have also been linked to redox regulated posttranslational modifications of protein bound thiol groups. We have here employed a thiol targeting strategy to relatively quantify the putative redox proteome in heterocysts as compared to N2-fixing filaments, 24 hours after combined nitrogen depletion. The aim of the study was to expand the coverage of the cell-type specific proteome and metabolic landscape of heterocysts. Here we report the first cell-type specific proteome of newly formed heterocysts, compared to N2-fixing filaments, using the cysteine-specific selective ICAT methodology. The data set defined a good quantitative accuracy of the ICAT reagent in complex protein samples. The relative abundance levels of 511 proteins were determined and 74% showed a cell-type specific differential abundance. The majority of the identified proteins have not previously been quantified at the cell-type specific level. We have in addition analyzed the cell-type specific differential abundance of a large section of proteins quantified in both newly formed and steady-state diazotrophic cultures in N. punctiforme. The results describe a wide distribution of members of the putative redox regulated Cys-proteome in the central metabolism of both vegetative cells and heterocysts of N. punctiforme. The data set broadens our understanding of heterocysts and describes novel proteins involved in heterocyst physiology, including signaling and regulatory proteins as well as a large number of proteins with unknown function. Significant differences in cell-type specific abundance levels were present in the cell-type specific proteomes of newly formed diazotrophic filaments as compared to steady-state cultures. Therefore we conclude that by using our approach we are able to analyze a synchronized fraction of newly formed heterocysts, which enabled a better detection of proteins involved in the heterocyst specific physiology.

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

    Wadge, G.

    Some volcanoes erupt magma at average rates which are constant over periods of many years, even through this magma may appear in a complex series of eruptions. This constancy of output is tested by construction of a curve of cumulative volume of erupted magma, which is linear for steady state volcanism, and whose gradient defines the steady state rate Q/sub s/s. The assumption is made that Q/sub s/s is the rate at which magma is supplied to these polygenetic volcanoes. Five general types of eruptive behavior can be distinguished from the cumulative volume studied. These types are interpreted in termsmore » of a simple model of batches of magma rising buoyantly through the crust and interacting with a small-capacity subvolcanic magma reservoir. Recognition of previous steady state behavior at a volcano may enable the cumulative volume curve to be used empirically as a constraint on the timing and volume of the next eruption. The steady state model thus has a limited predictive capability. With the exception of Kilauea (O/sub s/s = 4m/sup 3/ s/sup -1/) all the identified steady state volcanoes have values of Q/sub s/s of a few tenths of one cubic meter per second. These rates are consistent with the minimum flux rates required by theoretical cooling models of batches of magma traversing the crust. The similarity of these Q/sub s/s values of volcanoes (producing basalt, andesite, and dacite magmas) in very different tectonic settings suggests that the common factors of crustal buoyancy forces and the geotherm-controlled cooling rates control the dynamics of magma supply through the crust. Long-term dormancy at active volcanoes may be a manifestation of the steady accumulation of magma in large crustal reservoirs, a process that complements the intermittent periods of steady state output at the surface. This possibility has several implications, the most important of which is that it provides a constraint on the supply rate of new magma to the bases of plutons.« less

  7. FORMULATION OF NON-STEADY-STATE DUST FORMATION PROCESS IN ASTROPHYSICAL ENVIRONMENTS

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

    Nozawa, Takaya; Kozasa, Takashi, E-mail: takaya.nozawa@ipmu.jp

    2013-10-10

    The non-steady-state formation of small clusters and the growth of grains accompanied by chemical reactions are formulated under the consideration that the collision of key gas species (key molecule) controls the kinetics of dust formation process. The formula allows us to evaluate the size distribution and condensation efficiency of dust formed in astrophysical environments. We apply the formulation to the formation of C and MgSiO{sub 3} grains in the ejecta of supernovae, as an example, to investigate how the non-steady effect influences the formation process, condensation efficiency f{sub con,{sub ∞}}, and average radius a{sub ave,{sub ∞}} of newly formed grainsmore » in comparison with the results calculated with the steady-state nucleation rate. We show that the steady-state nucleation rate is a good approximation if the collision timescale of key molecule τ{sub coll} is much smaller than the timescale τ{sub sat} with which the supersaturation ratio increases; otherwise the effect of the non-steady state becomes remarkable, leading to a lower f{sub con,{sub ∞}} and a larger a{sub ave,{sub ∞}}. Examining the results of calculations, we reveal that the steady-state nucleation rate is applicable if the cooling gas satisfies Λ ≡ τ{sub sat}/τ{sub coll} ∼> 30 during the formation of dust, and find that f{sub con,{sub ∞}} and a{sub ave,{sub ∞}} are uniquely determined by Λ{sub on} at the onset time t{sub on} of dust formation. The approximation formulae for f{sub con,{sub ∞}} and a{sub ave,{sub ∞}} as a function of Λ{sub on} could be useful in estimating the mass and typical size of newly formed grains from observed or model-predicted physical properties not only in supernova ejecta but also in mass-loss winds from evolved stars.« less

  8. Some Considerations on the Fundamentals of Chemical Kinetics: Steady State, Quasi-Equilibrium, and Transition State Theory

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Perez-Benito, Joaquin F.

    2017-01-01

    The elementary reaction sequence A ? I ? Products is the simplest mechanism for which the steady-state and quasi-equilibrium kinetic approximations can be applied. The exact integrated solutions for this chemical system allow inferring the conditions that must fulfill the rate constants for the different approximations to hold. A graphical…

  9. The negative regulation of red cell mass by neocytolysis: physiologic and pathophysiologic manifestations.

    PubMed

    Rice, Lawrence; Alfrey, Clarence P

    2005-01-01

    We have uncovered a physiologic process which negatively regulates the red cell mass by selectively hemolyzing young circulating red blood cells. This allows fine control of the number of circulating red blood cells under steady-state conditions and relatively rapid adaptation to new environments. Neocytolysis is initiated by a fall in erythropoietin levels, so this hormone remains the major regulator of red cell mass both with anemia and with red cell excess. Physiologic situations in which there is increased neocytolysis include the emergence of newborns from the hypoxic uterine environment and the descent of polycythemic high-altitude dwellers to sea level. The process first became apparent while investigating the mechanism of the anemia that invariably occurs after spaceflight. Astronauts experience acute central plethora on entering microgravity resulting in erythropoietin suppression and neocytolysis, but the reduced blood volume and red cell mass become suddenly maladaptive on re-entry to earth's gravity. The pathologic erythropoietin deficiency of renal disease precipitates neocytolysis, which explains the prolongation of red cell survival consistently resulting from erythropoietin therapy and points to optimally efficient erythropoietin dosing schedules. Implications should extend to a number of other physiologic and pathologic situations including polycythemias, hemolytic anemias, 'blood-doping' by elite athletes, and oxygen therapy. It is likely that erythropoietin influences endothelial cells which in turn signal reticuloendothelial phagocytes to destroy or permit the survival of young red cells marked by surface molecules. Ongoing studies to identify the molecular targets and cytokine intermediaries should facilitate detection, dissection and eventual therapeutic manipulation of the process. Copyright (c) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  10. Crisis Management.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hore, Terry

    1978-01-01

    Problems of "steady state" institutions and techniques of management that have implications for Monash University, Australia are considered. The term "steady state" is used to indicate a lack of additional funds being injected into the system to promote growth and/or development. A trend toward public accountability in higher…

  11. Nonlinear Mechanisms for the Generation of Nearshore Wave Phenomena.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1988-04-01

    Kadomtsev - Petviashvili equation . Numerical solutions of this equation indicate that steady state is reached only if dispersion is negative; otherwise...leads to a forced Kadomtsev - Petviashvili equation . Numerical solutions of this equation indicate that steady state is reached only if dispersion is

  12. Steady-state inductive spheromak operation

    DOEpatents

    Janos, A.C.; Jardin, S.C.; Yamada, M.

    1985-02-20

    The inductively formed spheromak configuration (S-1) can be maintained in a highly stable and controlled fashion. The method described eliminates the restriction to pulsed spheromak plasmas or the use of electrodes for steady-state operation, and, therefore, is a reactor-relevant formation and sustainment method.

  13. Steady-State Fluorescence Anisotropy to Investigate Flavonoids Binding to Proteins

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ingersoll, Christine M.; Strollo, Christen M.

    2007-01-01

    The steady-state fluorescence anisotropy is employed to study the binding of protein of a model protein, human serum albumin, to a commonly used flavonoid, quercetin. The experiment describes the thermodynamics, as well as the biochemical interactions of such binding effectively.

  14. SAMPLING DURATION DEPENDENCE OF SEMI-CONTINUOUS ORGANIC CARBON MEASUREMENTS ON STEADY STATE SECONDARY ORGANIC AEROSOLS

    EPA Science Inventory

    Semi-continuous organic carbon concentrations were measured through several experiments of statically generated secondary organic aerosol formed by hydrocarbon + NOx irradiations. Repeated, randomized measurements of these steady state aerosols reveal decreases in the observed c...

  15. 78 FR 65161 - Airworthiness Directives; Agusta S.p.A. (Type Certificate Currently Held by AgustaWestland S.p.A...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-10-31

    ... engine speeds during steady-state operations. These actions are intended to alert pilots to avoid certain... alert pilots to avoid certain engine speeds during steady-state operations, prevent failure of the third...

  16. An adaptive and generalizable closed-loop system for control of medically induced coma and other states of anesthesia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Yuxiao; Shanechi, Maryam M.

    2016-12-01

    Objective. Design of closed-loop anesthetic delivery (CLAD) systems is an important topic, particularly for medically induced coma, which needs to be maintained for long periods. Current CLADs for medically induced coma require a separate offline experiment for model parameter estimation, which causes interruption in treatment and is difficult to perform. Also, CLADs may exhibit bias due to inherent time-variation and non-stationarity, and may have large infusion rate variations at steady state. Finally, current CLADs lack theoretical performance guarantees. We develop the first adaptive CLAD for medically induced coma, which addresses these limitations. Further, we extend our adaptive system to be generalizable to other states of anesthesia. Approach. We designed general parametric pharmacodynamic, pharmacokinetic and neural observation models with associated guidelines, and derived a novel adaptive controller. We further penalized large steady-state drug infusion rate variations in the controller. We derived theoretical guarantees that the adaptive system has zero steady-state bias. Using simulations that resembled real time-varying and noisy environments, we tested the closed-loop system for control of two different anesthetic states, burst suppression in medically induced coma and unconsciousness in general anesthesia. Main results. In 1200 simulations, the adaptive system achieved precise control of both anesthetic states despite non-stationarity, time-variation, noise, and no initial parameter knowledge. In both cases, the adaptive system performed close to a baseline system that knew the parameters exactly. In contrast, a non-adaptive system resulted in large steady-state bias and error. The adaptive system also resulted in significantly smaller steady-state infusion rate variations compared to prior systems. Significance. These results have significant implications for clinically viable CLAD design for a wide range of anesthetic states, with potential cost-saving and therapeutic benefits.

  17. An adaptive and generalizable closed-loop system for control of medically induced coma and other states of anesthesia.

    PubMed

    Yang, Yuxiao; Shanechi, Maryam M

    2016-12-01

    Design of closed-loop anesthetic delivery (CLAD) systems is an important topic, particularly for medically induced coma, which needs to be maintained for long periods. Current CLADs for medically induced coma require a separate offline experiment for model parameter estimation, which causes interruption in treatment and is difficult to perform. Also, CLADs may exhibit bias due to inherent time-variation and non-stationarity, and may have large infusion rate variations at steady state. Finally, current CLADs lack theoretical performance guarantees. We develop the first adaptive CLAD for medically induced coma, which addresses these limitations. Further, we extend our adaptive system to be generalizable to other states of anesthesia. We designed general parametric pharmacodynamic, pharmacokinetic and neural observation models with associated guidelines, and derived a novel adaptive controller. We further penalized large steady-state drug infusion rate variations in the controller. We derived theoretical guarantees that the adaptive system has zero steady-state bias. Using simulations that resembled real time-varying and noisy environments, we tested the closed-loop system for control of two different anesthetic states, burst suppression in medically induced coma and unconsciousness in general anesthesia. In 1200 simulations, the adaptive system achieved precise control of both anesthetic states despite non-stationarity, time-variation, noise, and no initial parameter knowledge. In both cases, the adaptive system performed close to a baseline system that knew the parameters exactly. In contrast, a non-adaptive system resulted in large steady-state bias and error. The adaptive system also resulted in significantly smaller steady-state infusion rate variations compared to prior systems. These results have significant implications for clinically viable CLAD design for a wide range of anesthetic states, with potential cost-saving and therapeutic benefits.

  18. Current Pulses Momentarily Enhance Thermoelectric Cooling

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Snyder, G. Jeffrey; Fleurial, Jean-Pierre; Caillat, Thierry; Chen, Gang; Yang, Rong Gui

    2004-01-01

    The rates of cooling afforded by thermoelectric (Peltier) devices can be increased for short times by applying pulses of electric current greater than the currents that yield maximum steady-state cooling. It has been proposed to utilize such momentary enhancements of cooling in applications in which diode lasers and other semiconductor devices are required to operate for times of the order of milliseconds at temperatures too low to be easily obtainable in the steady state. In a typical contemplated application, a semiconductor device would be in contact with the final (coldest) somewhat taller stage of a multistage thermoelectric cooler. Steady current would be applied to the stages to produce steady cooling. Pulsed current would then be applied, enhancing the cooling of the top stage momentarily. The principles of operation are straightforward: In a thermoelectric device, the cooling occurs only at a junction at one end of the thermoelectric legs, at a rate proportional to the applied current. However, Joule heating occurs throughout the device at a rate proportional to the current squared. Hence, in the steady state, the steady temperature difference that the device can sustain increases with current only to the point beyond which the Joule heating dominates. If a pulse of current greater than the optimum current (the current for maximum steady cooling) is applied, then the junction becomes momentarily cooled below its lowest steady temperature until thermal conduction brings the resulting pulse of Joule heat to the junction and thereby heats the junction above its lowest steady temperature. A theoretical and experimental study of such transient thermoelectric cooling followed by transient Joule heating in response to current pulses has been performed. The figure presents results from one of the experiments. The study established the essential parameters that characterize the pulse cooling effect, including the minimum temperature achieved, the maximum temperature overshoot, the time to reach minimum temperature, the time while cooled, and the time between pulses. It was found that at large pulse amplitude, the amount of pulse supercooling is about a fourth of the maximum steady-state temperature difference. For the particular thermoelectric device used in one set of the experiments, the practical optimum pulse amplitude was found to be about 3 times the optimum steady-state current. In a further experiment, a pulse cooler was integrated into a small commercial thermoelectric threestage cooler and found to provide several degrees of additional cooling for a time long enough to operate a semiconductor laser in a gas sensor.

  19. Detonation propagation in annular arcs of condensed phase explosives

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ioannou, Eleftherios; Schoch, Stefan; Nikiforakis, Nikolaos; Michael, Louisa

    2017-11-01

    We present a numerical study of detonation propagation in unconfined explosive charges shaped as an annular arc (rib). Steady detonation in a straight charge propagates at constant speed, but when it enters an annular section, it goes through a transition phase and eventually reaches a new steady state of constant angular velocity. This study examines the speed of the detonation wave along the annular charge during the transition phase and at steady state, as well as its dependence on the dimensions of the annulus. The system is modeled using a recently proposed diffuse-interface formulation which allows for the representation of a two-phase explosive and of an additional inert material. The explosive considered is the polymer-bonded TATB-based LX-17 and is modeled using two Jones-Wilkins-Lee (JWL) equations of state and the ignition and growth reaction rate law. Results show that steady state speeds are in good agreement with experiment. In the transition phase, the evolution of outer detonation speed deviates from the exponential bounded growth function suggested by previous studies. We propose a new description of the transition phase which consists of two regimes. The first regime is caused by local effects at the outer edge of the annulus and leads to a dependence of the outer detonation speed on the angular position along the arc. The second regime is induced by effects originating from the inner edge of the annular charge and leads to the deceleration of the outer detonation until steady state is reached. The study concludes with a parametric study where the dependence of the steady state and the transition phase on the dimensions of the annulus is investigated.

  20. Simultaneous measurement of glucose transport and utilization in the human brain.

    PubMed

    Shestov, Alexander A; Emir, Uzay E; Kumar, Anjali; Henry, Pierre-Gilles; Seaquist, Elizabeth R; Öz, Gülin

    2011-11-01

    Glucose is the primary fuel for brain function, and determining the kinetics of cerebral glucose transport and utilization is critical for quantifying cerebral energy metabolism. The kinetic parameters of cerebral glucose transport, K(M)(t) and V(max)(t), in humans have so far been obtained by measuring steady-state brain glucose levels by proton ((1)H) NMR as a function of plasma glucose levels and fitting steady-state models to these data. Extraction of the kinetic parameters for cerebral glucose transport necessitated assuming a constant cerebral metabolic rate of glucose (CMR(glc)) obtained from other tracer studies, such as (13)C NMR. Here we present new methodology to simultaneously obtain kinetic parameters for glucose transport and utilization in the human brain by fitting both dynamic and steady-state (1)H NMR data with a reversible, non-steady-state Michaelis-Menten model. Dynamic data were obtained by measuring brain and plasma glucose time courses during glucose infusions to raise and maintain plasma concentration at ∼17 mmol/l for ∼2 h in five healthy volunteers. Steady-state brain vs. plasma glucose concentrations were taken from literature and the steady-state portions of data from the five volunteers. In addition to providing simultaneous measurements of glucose transport and utilization and obviating assumptions for constant CMR(glc), this methodology does not necessitate infusions of expensive or radioactive tracers. Using this new methodology, we found that the maximum transport capacity for glucose through the blood-brain barrier was nearly twofold higher than maximum cerebral glucose utilization. The glucose transport and utilization parameters were consistent with previously published values for human brain.

  1. Repopulating hematopoietic stem cells from steady-state blood before and after ex vivo culture are enriched in CD34+CD133+CXCR4low fraction.

    PubMed

    Lapostolle, Véronique; Chevaleyre, Jean; Duchez, Pascale; Rodriguez, Laura; Vlaski-Lafarge, Marija; Sandvig, Ioanna; Brunet de la Grange, Philippe; Ivanovic, Zoran

    2018-06-01

    Feasibility of ex vivo expansion allows us to consider the steady-state peripheral blood as an alternative source of hematopoietic stem progenitor cells for transplantation when growth factor-induced cell mobilization is contraindicated or inapplicable. Ex vivo expansion dramatically enhances the in vivo reconstituting cell population from steady-state blood. In order to investigate phenotype and the expression of homing molecules, CD34, CD133, CD90, CD45RA, CD26 and CD9 expression was determined on sorted CD34+ cells according to CXCR4 (neg, low, bright) and CD133 expression before and after ex vivo expansion. Hematopoietic stem cell activity was determined in vivo on the basis of hematopoietic repopulation of primary and secondary recipients - NSG immuno-deficient mice. In vivo reconstituting cells in steady-state blood CD34+ cell fraction before expansion belong to the CD133+ population and are CXCR4low or, to a lesser extent, CXCR4neg, while after ex vivo expansion they are contained in only the CD133+CXCR4low cells. The failure of CXCR4bright population to engraft is probably due to the exclusive expression of CD26 by these cells. The limiting-dilution analysis showed that both repopulating cell number and individual proliferative capacity were enhanced by ex vivo expansion. Thus, steady-state peripheral blood cells exhibit a different phenotype compared to mobilized and cord blood ones, as well as to those issued from the bone marrow. This data represent the first phenotypic characterization of steady-state blood cells exhibiting short and long term hematopoietic reconstituting potential, which can be expanded ex vivo, a sine qua non for their subsequent use for transplantation. Copyright © 2018, Ferrata Storti Foundation.

  2. A surface renewal model for unsteady-state mass transfer using the generalized Danckwerts age distribution function.

    PubMed

    Horvath, Isabelle R; Chatterjee, Siddharth G

    2018-05-01

    The recently derived steady-state generalized Danckwerts age distribution is extended to unsteady-state conditions. For three different wind speeds used by researchers on air-water heat exchange on the Heidelberg Aeolotron, calculations reveal that the distribution has a sharp peak during the initial moments, but flattens out and acquires a bell-shaped character with process time, with the time taken to attain a steady-state profile being a strong and inverse function of wind speed. With increasing wind speed, the age distribution narrows significantly, its skewness decreases and its peak becomes larger. The mean eddy renewal time increases linearly with process time initially but approaches a final steady-state value asymptotically, which decreases dramatically with increased wind speed. Using the distribution to analyse the transient absorption of a gas into a large body of liquid, assuming negligible gas-side mass-transfer resistance, estimates are made of the gas-absorption and dissolved-gas transfer coefficients for oxygen absorption in water at 25°C for the three different wind speeds. Under unsteady-state conditions, these two coefficients show an inverse behaviour, indicating a heightened accumulation of dissolved gas in the surface elements, especially during the initial moments of absorption. However, the two mass-transfer coefficients start merging together as the steady state is approached. Theoretical predictions of the steady-state mass-transfer coefficient or transfer velocity are in fair agreement (average absolute error of prediction = 18.1%) with some experimental measurements of the same for the nitrous oxide-water system at 20°C that were made in the Heidelberg Aeolotron.

  3. Pure Gaussian state generation via dissipation: a quantum stochastic differential equation approach.

    PubMed

    Yamamoto, Naoki

    2012-11-28

    Recently, the complete characterization of a general Gaussian dissipative system having a unique pure steady state was obtained. This result provides a clear guideline for engineering an environment such that the dissipative system has a desired pure steady state such as a cluster state. In this paper, we describe the system in terms of a quantum stochastic differential equation (QSDE) so that the environment channels can be explicitly dealt with. Then, a physical meaning of that characterization, which cannot be seen without the QSDE representation, is clarified; more specifically, the nullifier dynamics of any Gaussian system generating a unique pure steady state is passive. In addition, again based on the QSDE framework, we provide a general and practical method to implement a desired dissipative Gaussian system, which has a structure of quantum state transfer.

  4. Steady state compact toroidal plasma production

    DOEpatents

    Turner, William C.

    1986-01-01

    Apparatus and method for maintaining steady state compact toroidal plasmas. A compact toroidal plasma is formed by a magnetized coaxial plasma gun and held in close proximity to the gun electrodes by applied magnetic fields or magnetic fields produced by image currents in conducting walls. Voltage supply means maintains a constant potential across the electrodes producing an increasing magnetic helicity which drives the plasma away from a minimum energy state. The plasma globally relaxes to a new minimum energy state, conserving helicity according to Taylor's relaxation hypothesis, and injecting net helicity into the core of the compact toroidal plasma. Controlling the voltage so as to inject net helicity at a predetermined rate based on dissipative processes maintains or increases the compact toroidal plasma in a time averaged steady state mode.

  5. Polaron effects on the performance of light-harvesting systems: a quantum heat engine perspective

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, Dazhi; Wang, Chen; Zhao, Yang; Cao, Jianshu

    2016-02-01

    We explore energy transfer in a generic three-level system, which is coupled to three non-equilibrium baths. Built on the concept of quantum heat engine, our three-level model describes non-equilibrium quantum processes including light-harvesting energy transfer, nano-scale heat transfer, photo-induced isomerization, and photovoltaics in double quantum-dots. In the context of light-harvesting, the excitation energy is first pumped up by sunlight, then is transferred via two excited states which are coupled to a phonon bath, and finally decays to the reaction center. The efficiency of this process is evaluated by steady state analysis via a polaron-transformed master equation; thus the entire range of the system-phonon coupling strength can be covered. We show that the coupling with the phonon bath not only modifies the steady state, resulting in population inversion, but also introduces a finite steady state coherence which optimizes the energy transfer flux and efficiency. In the strong coupling limit, the steady state coherence disappears and the efficiency recovers the heat engine limit given by Scovil and Schultz-Dubois (1959 Phys. Rev. Lett. 2 262).

  6. Charge carrier thermalization in organic diodes

    PubMed Central

    van der Kaap, N. J.; Koster, L. J. A.

    2016-01-01

    Charge carrier mobilities of organic semiconductors are often characterized using steady-state measurements of space charge limited diodes. These measurements assume that charge carriers are in a steady-state equilibrium. In reality, however, energetically hot carriers are introduces by photo-excitation and injection into highly energetic sites from the electrodes. These carriers perturb the equilibrium density of occupied states, and therefore change the overall charge transport properties. In this paper, we look into the effect of energetically hot carriers on the charge transport in organic semiconductors using steady state kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. For injected hot carriers in a typical organic semiconductor, rapid energetic relaxation occurs in the order of tens of nanoseconds, which is much faster than the typical transit time of a charge carrier throught the device. Furthermore, we investigate the impact of photo-generated carriers on the steady-state mobility. For a typical organic voltaic material, an increase in mobility of a factor of 1.1 is found. Therefore, we conclude that the impact of energetically hot carriers on normal device operation is limited. PMID:26791095

  7. Dynamic elementary mode modelling of non-steady state flux data.

    PubMed

    Folch-Fortuny, Abel; Teusink, Bas; Hoefsloot, Huub C J; Smilde, Age K; Ferrer, Alberto

    2018-06-18

    A novel framework is proposed to analyse metabolic fluxes in non-steady state conditions, based on the new concept of dynamic elementary mode (dynEM): an elementary mode activated partially depending on the time point of the experiment. Two methods are introduced here: dynamic elementary mode analysis (dynEMA) and dynamic elementary mode regression discriminant analysis (dynEMR-DA). The former is an extension of the recently proposed principal elementary mode analysis (PEMA) method from steady state to non-steady state scenarios. The latter is a discriminant model that permits to identify which dynEMs behave strongly different depending on the experimental conditions. Two case studies of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with fluxes derived from simulated and real concentration data sets, are presented to highlight the benefits of this dynamic modelling. This methodology permits to analyse metabolic fluxes at early stages with the aim of i) creating reduced dynamic models of flux data, ii) combining many experiments in a single biologically meaningful model, and iii) identifying the metabolic pathways that drive the organism from one state to another when changing the environmental conditions.

  8. Orbit Transfer Vehicle (OTV) advanced expander cycle engine point design study. Volume 3: Engine data summary

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1981-01-01

    The engine operating characteristics were examined. Inlet pressure effects, tank pressurization effects, steady-state specific impulse, and the steady-state cycle were studied. The propellant flow schematic and operating sequence are presented. Engine hardware drawings are included.

  9. CONTROL OF CRYPTOSPORIDIUM OOCYSTS BY STEADY-STATE CONVENTIONAL TREATMENT

    EPA Science Inventory

    Pilot-scale experiments have been performed to assess the ability of conventional treatment to control Cryptosporidium oocysts under steady-state conditions. The work was performed with a pilot plant that was designed to minimize flow rates and, as a result, the number of oocyst...

  10. Analysis of early thrombus dynamics in a humanized mouse laser injury model.

    PubMed

    Wang, Weiwei; Lindsey, John P; Chen, Jianchun; Diacovo, Thomas G; King, Michael R

    2014-01-01

    Platelet aggregation and thrombus formation at the site of injury is a dynamic process that involves the continuous addition of new platelets as well as thrombus rupture. In the early stages of hemostasis (within minutes after vessel injury) this process can be visualized by transfusing fluorescently labeled human platelets and observing their deposition and detachment. These two counterbalancing events help the developing thrombus reach a steady-state morphology, where it is large enough to cover the injured vessel surface but not too large to form a severe thrombotic occlusion. In this study, the spatial and temporal aspects of early stage thrombus dynamics which result from laser-induced injury on arterioles of cremaster muscle in the humanized mouse were visualized using fluorescent microscopy. It was found that rolling platelets show preference for the upstream region while tethering/detaching platelets were primarily found downstream. It was also determined that the platelet deposition rate is relatively steady, whereas the effective thrombus coverage area does not increase at a constant rate. By introducing a new method to graphically represent the real time in vivo physiological shear stress environment, we conclude that the thrombus continuously changes shape by regional growth and decay, and neither dominates in the high shear stress region.

  11. Minimization of a free-energy-like potential for non-equilibrium flow systems at steady state

    PubMed Central

    Niven, Robert K.

    2010-01-01

    This study examines a new formulation of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, which gives a conditional derivation of the ‘maximum entropy production’ (MEP) principle for flow and/or chemical reaction systems at steady state. The analysis uses a dimensionless potential function ϕst for non-equilibrium systems, analogous to the free energy concept of equilibrium thermodynamics. Spontaneous reductions in ϕst arise from increases in the ‘flux entropy’ of the system—a measure of the variability of the fluxes—or in the local entropy production; conditionally, depending on the behaviour of the flux entropy, the formulation reduces to the MEP principle. The inferred steady state is also shown to exhibit high variability in its instantaneous fluxes and rates, consistent with the observed behaviour of turbulent fluid flow, heat convection and biological systems; one consequence is the coexistence of energy producers and consumers in ecological systems. The different paths for attaining steady state are also classified. PMID:20368250

  12. On the measurement of 15N-{1H} nuclear Overhauser effects. 2. Effects of the saturation scheme and water signal suppression

    PubMed Central

    Ferrage, Fabien; Reichel, Amy; Battacharya, Shibani; Cowburn, David; Ghose, Ranajeet

    2013-01-01

    Measurement of steady-state 15N-{1H} nuclear Overhauser effects forms a cornerstone of most methods to determine protein backbone dynamics from spin-relaxation data, since it is the most reliable probe of very fast motions on the ps-ns timescale. We have, in two previous publications (J. Magn. Reson. 192 (2008), 302-313; J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131 (2009), 6048-6049) reevaluated spin-dynamics during steady-state (or “saturated”) and reference experiments, both of which are required to determine the NOE ratio. Here we assess the performance of several windowed and windowless sequences to achieve effective saturation of protons in steady-state experiments. We also evaluate the influence of the residual water signal due to radiation damping on the NOE ratio. We suggest a recipe that allows one to determine steady-state 15N-{1H} NOE's without artifacts and with the highest possible accuracy. PMID:20951618

  13. Arc plasma generator of atomic driver for steady-state negative ion source.

    PubMed

    Ivanov, A A; Belchenko, Yu I; Davydenko, V I; Ivanov, I A; Kolmogorov, V V; Listopad, A A; Mishagin, V V; Putvinsky, S V; Shulzhenko, G I; Smirnov, A

    2014-02-01

    The paper reviews the results of development of steady-state arc-discharge plasma generator with directly heated LaB6 cathode. This arc-discharge plasma generator produces a plasma jet which is to be converted into an atomic one after recombination on a metallic plate. The plate is electrically biased relative to the plasma in order to control the atom energies. Such an intensive jet of hydrogen atoms can be used in negative ion sources for effective production of negative ions on a cesiated surface of plasma grid. All elements of the plasma generator have an augmented water cooling to operate in long pulse mode or in steady state. The thermo-mechanical stresses and deformations of the most critical elements of the plasma generator were determined by simulations. Magnetic field inside the discharge chamber was optimized to reduce the local power loads. The first tests of the steady-state arc plasma generator prototype have performed in long-pulse mode.

  14. Experimental and analytical dynamic flow characteristics of an axial-flow fan from an air cushion landing system model

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Thompson, W. C.; Boghani, A. B.; Leland, T. J. W.

    1977-01-01

    An investigation was conducted to compare the steady-state and dynamic flow characteristics of an axial-flow fan which had been used previously as the air supply fan for some model air cushion landing system studies. Steady-state flow characteristics were determined in the standard manner by using differential orifice pressures for the flow regime from free flow to zero flow. In this same regime, a correlative technique was established so that fan inlet and outlet pressures could be used to measure dynamic flow as created by a rotating damper. Dynamic tests at damper frequencies up to 5 Hz showed very different flow characteristics when compared with steady-state flow, particularly with respect to peak pressures and the pressure-flow relationship at fan stall and unstall. A generalized, rational mathematical fan model was developed based on physical fan parameters and a steady-state flow characteristic. The model showed good correlation with experimental tests at damper frequencies up to 5 Hz.

  15. Torque shudder protection device and method

    DOEpatents

    King, Robert D.; De Doncker, Rik W. A. A.; Szczesny, Paul M.

    1997-01-01

    A torque shudder protection device for an induction machine includes a flux command generator for supplying a steady state flux command and a torque shudder detector for supplying a status including a negative status to indicate a lack of torque shudder and a positive status to indicate a presence of torque shudder. A flux adapter uses the steady state flux command and the status to supply a present flux command identical to the steady state flux command for a negative status and different from the steady state flux command for a positive status. A limiter can receive the present flux command, prevent the present flux command from exceeding a predetermined maximum flux command magnitude, and supply the present flux command to a field oriented controller. After determining a critical electrical excitation frequency at which a torque shudder occurs for the induction machine, a flux adjuster can monitor the electrical excitation frequency of the induction machine and adjust a flux command to prevent the monitored electrical excitation frequency from reaching the critical electrical excitation frequency.

  16. Torque shudder protection device and method

    DOEpatents

    King, R.D.; Doncker, R.W.A.A. De.; Szczesny, P.M.

    1997-03-11

    A torque shudder protection device for an induction machine includes a flux command generator for supplying a steady state flux command and a torque shudder detector for supplying a status including a negative status to indicate a lack of torque shudder and a positive status to indicate a presence of torque shudder. A flux adapter uses the steady state flux command and the status to supply a present flux command identical to the steady state flux command for a negative status and different from the steady state flux command for a positive status. A limiter can receive the present flux command, prevent the present flux command from exceeding a predetermined maximum flux command magnitude, and supply the present flux command to a field oriented controller. After determining a critical electrical excitation frequency at which a torque shudder occurs for the induction machine, a flux adjuster can monitor the electrical excitation frequency of the induction machine and adjust a flux command to prevent the monitored electrical excitation frequency from reaching the critical electrical excitation frequency. 5 figs.

  17. Steady-state and transient analysis of a squeeze film damper bearing for rotor stability

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Barrett, L. E.; Gunter, E. J.

    1975-01-01

    A study of the steady-state and transient response of the squeeze film damper bearing is presented. Both the steady-state and transient equations for the hydrodynamic bearing forces are derived. The bearing equivalent stiffness and damping coefficients are determined by steady-state equations. These coefficients are used to find the bearing configuration which will provide the optimum support characteristics based on a stability analysis of the rotor-bearing system. The transient analysis of rotor-bearing systems is performed by coupling the bearing and journal equations and integrating forward in time. The effects of unbalance, cavitation, and retainer springs are included in the analysis. Methods of determining the stability of a rotor-bearing system under the influence of aerodynamic forces and internal shaft friction are discussed with emphasis on solving the system characteristic frequency equation and on producing stability maps. It is shown that for optimum stability and low force transmissability the squeeze bearing should operate at an eccentricity ratio epsilon 0.4.

  18. Comparison of NACA 0012 Laminar Flow Solutions: Structured and Unstructured Grid Methods

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Swanson, R. C.; Langer, S.

    2016-01-01

    In this paper we consider the solution of the compressible Navier-Stokes equations for a class of laminar airfoil flows. The principal objective of this paper is to demonstrate that members of this class of laminar flows have steady-state solutions. These laminar airfoil flow cases are often used to evaluate accuracy, stability and convergence of numerical solution algorithms for the Navier-Stokes equations. In recent years, such flows have also been used as test cases for high-order numerical schemes. While generally consistent steady-state solutions have been obtained for these flows using higher order schemes, a number of results have been published with various solutions, including unsteady ones. We demonstrate with two different numerical methods and a range of meshes with a maximum density that exceeds 8 × 106 grid points that steady-state solutions are obtained. Furthermore, numerical evidence is presented that even when solving the equations with an unsteady algorithm, one obtains steady-state solutions.

  19. Effect of external fields in Axelrod's model of social dynamics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Peres, Lucas R.; Fontanari, José F.

    2012-09-01

    The study of the effects of spatially uniform fields on the steady-state properties of Axelrod's model has yielded plenty of counterintuitive results. Here, we reexamine the impact of this type of field for a selection of parameters such that the field-free steady state of the model is heterogeneous or multicultural. Analyses of both one- and two-dimensional versions of Axelrod's model indicate that the steady state remains heterogeneous regardless of the value of the field strength. Turning on the field leads to a discontinuous decrease on the number of cultural domains, which we argue is due to the instability of zero-field heterogeneous absorbing configurations. We find, however, that spatially nonuniform fields that implement a consensus rule among the neighborhood of the agents enforce homogenization. Although the overall effects of the fields are essentially the same irrespective of the dimensionality of the model, we argue that the dimensionality has a significant impact on the stability of the field-free homogeneous steady state.

  20. A diagonal algorithm for the method of pseudocompressibility. [for steady-state solution to incompressible Navier-Stokes equation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rogers, S. E.; Kwak, D.; Chang, J. L. C.

    1986-01-01

    The method of pseudocompressibility has been shown to be an efficient method for obtaining a steady-state solution to the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. Recent improvements to this method include the use of a diagonal scheme for the inversion of the equations at each iteration. The necessary transformations have been derived for the pseudocompressibility equations in generalized coordinates. The diagonal algorithm reduces the computing time necessary to obtain a steady-state solution by a factor of nearly three. Implicit viscous terms are maintained in the equations, and it has become possible to use fourth-order implicit dissipation. The steady-state solution is unchanged by the approximations resulting from the diagonalization of the equations. Computed results for flow over a two-dimensional backward-facing step and a three-dimensional cylinder mounted normal to a flat plate are presented for both the old and new algorithms. The accuracy and computing efficiency of these algorithms are compared.

  1. Microfluidic circuit analysis II: implications of ion conservation for microchannels connected in series.

    PubMed

    Biscombe, Christian J C; Davidson, Malcolm R; Harvie, Dalton J E

    2012-01-01

    A mathematical framework for analysing electrokinetic flow in microchannel networks is outlined. The model is based on conservation of volume and total charge at network junctions, but in contrast to earlier theories also incorporates conservation of ion charge there. The model is applied to mixed pressure-driven/electro-osmotic flows of binary electrolytes through homogeneous microchannels as well as a 4:1:4 contraction-expansion series network. Under conditions of specified volumetric flow rate and ion currents, non-linear steady-state phenomena may arise: when the direction of the net co-ion flux is opposite to the direction of the net volumetric flow, two different fully developed, steady-state flow solutions may be obtained. Model predictions are compared with two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. For systems where two steady states are realisable, the ultimate steady behaviour is shown to depend in part upon the initial state of the system. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Steady states of OQBM: Central Limit Theorem, Gaussian and non-Gaussian behavior

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Petruccione, Francesco; Sinayskiy, Ilya

    Open Quantum Brownian Motion (OQBM) describes a Brownian particle with an additional internal quantum degree of freedom. Originally, it was introduced as a scaling limit of Open Quantum Walks (OQWs). Recently, it was noted, that for the model of free OQBM with a two-level system as an internal degree of freedom and decoherent coupling to a dissipative environment, one could use weak external driving of the internal degree of freedom to manipulate the steady-state position of the walker. This observation establishes a useful connection between controllable parameters of the OQBM, e.g. driving strengths and magnitude of detuning, and its steady state properties. Although OQWs satisfy a central limit theorem (CLT), it is known, that OQBM, in general, does not. The aim of this work is to derive steady states for some particular OQBMs and observe possible transitions from Gaussian to non-Gaussian behavior depending on the choice of quantum coin and as a function of diffusion coefficient and dissipation strength.

  3. A fission-fusion hybrid reactor in steady-state L-mode tokamak configuration with natural uranium

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Reed, Mark; Parker, Ronald R.; Forget, Benoit

    2012-06-01

    This work develops a conceptual design for a fusion-fission hybrid reactor operating in steady-state L-mode tokamak configuration with a subcritical natural or depleted uranium pebble bed blanket. A liquid lithium-lead alloy breeds enough tritium to replenish that consumed by the D-T fusion reaction. The fission blanket augments the fusion power such that the fusion core itself need not have a high power gain, thus allowing for fully non-inductive (steady-state) low confinement mode (L-mode) operation at relatively small physical dimensions. A neutron transport Monte Carlo code models the natural uranium fission blanket. Maximizing the fission power gain while breeding sufficient tritium allows for the selection of an optimal set of blanket parameters, which yields a maximum prudent fission power gain of approximately 7. A 0-D tokamak model suffices to analyze approximate tokamak operating conditions. This fission blanket would allow the fusion component of a hybrid reactor with the same dimensions as ITER to operate in steady-state L-mode very comfortably with a fusion power gain of 6.7 and a thermal fusion power of 2.1 GW. Taking this further can determine the approximate minimum scale for a steady-state L-mode tokamak hybrid reactor, which is a major radius of 5.2 m and an aspect ratio of 2.8. This minimum scale device operates barely within the steady-state L-mode realm with a thermal fusion power of 1.7 GW. Basic thermal hydraulic analysis demonstrates that pressurized helium could cool the pebble bed fission blanket with a flow rate below 10 m/s. The Brayton cycle thermal efficiency is 41%. This reactor, dubbed the Steady-state L-mode non-Enriched Uranium Tokamak Hybrid (SLEUTH), with its very fast neutron spectrum, could be superior to pure fission reactors in terms of breeding fissile fuel and transmuting deleterious fission products. It would likely function best as a prolific plutonium breeder, and the plutonium it produces could actually be more proliferation-resistant than that bred by conventional fast reactors. Furthermore, it can maintain constant total hybrid power output as burnup proceeds by varying the neutron source strength.

  4. Achieving Shared Situational Awareness During Steady-State Operations in New York State: A Model for Success

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-03-01

    steady-state conditions, state forest rangers and DEC firefighters monitor seasonal weather conditions and provide open-source reports to several state...NYS Forest Rangers ; NYS Corrections), but the NYSP is the state’s largest direct policing and investigative agency. Given the extensive number of...hole before the spaceship falls close enough to be destroyed. Once mankind figures out how to travel through great distances around the galaxy , this

  5. Model-independent plot of dynamic PET data facilitates data interpretation and model selection.

    PubMed

    Munk, Ole Lajord

    2012-02-21

    When testing new PET radiotracers or new applications of existing tracers, the blood-tissue exchange and the metabolism need to be examined. However, conventional plots of measured time-activity curves from dynamic PET do not reveal the inherent kinetic information. A novel model-independent volume-influx plot (vi-plot) was developed and validated. The new vi-plot shows the time course of the instantaneous distribution volume and the instantaneous influx rate. The vi-plot visualises physiological information that facilitates model selection and it reveals when a quasi-steady state is reached, which is a prerequisite for the use of the graphical analyses by Logan and Gjedde-Patlak. Both axes of the vi-plot have direct physiological interpretation, and the plot shows kinetic parameter in close agreement with estimates obtained by non-linear kinetic modelling. The vi-plot is equally useful for analyses of PET data based on a plasma input function or a reference region input function. The vi-plot is a model-independent and informative plot for data exploration that facilitates the selection of an appropriate method for data analysis. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Steady-states for shear flows of a liquid-crystal model: Multiplicity, stability, and hysteresis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dorn, Tim; Liu, Weishi

    In this work, we study shear flows of a fluid layer between two solid blocks via a liquid-crystal type model proposed in [C.H.A. Cheng, L.H. Kellogg, S. Shkoller, D.L. Turcotte, A liquid-crystal model for friction, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 21 (2007) 1-5] for an understanding of frictions. A characterization on the existence and multiplicity of steady-states is provided. Stability issue of the steady-states is examined mainly focusing on bifurcations of zero eigenvalues. The stability result suggests that this simple model exhibits hysteresis, and it is supported by a numerical simulation.

  7. Longtime dynamics of the PDE model for the motion toward light of bacterial colonies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Taranets, R.; Chugunova, M.

    2018-03-01

    We study stationary solutions and longtime dynamics of the PDE model for cyanobacteria motion, which was recently proposed by Chavy-Waddy and Kolokolnikov (2016 Nonlinearity 29 3174). For different values of the parameter α, which controls the extent of the aggregate, we analyse a family of corresponding steady states and their stability (considering symmetric and non-symmetric cases separately). We derive the rate of convergence toward steady states, show existence of weak nonnegative solutions, and we also discover that the value α = 3 is a special case for this PDE model. Using numerical simulations we compare different regimes and illustrate convergence toward steady states.

  8. Mapping current fluctuations of stochastic pumps to nonequilibrium steady states.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rotskoff, Grant

    We show that current fluctuations in stochastic pumps can be robustly mapped to fluctuations in a corresponding time-independent non-equilibrium steady state. We thus refine a recently proposed mapping so that it ensures equivalence of not only the averages, but also the optimal representation of fluctuations in currents and density. Our mapping leads to a natural decomposition of the entropy production in stochastic pumps, similar to the ``housekeeping'' heat. As a consequence of the decomposition of entropy production, the current fluctuations in weakly perturbed stochastic pumps satisfy a universal bound determined by the steady state entropy production. National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

  9. A model for predicting aortic dynamic response to -G sub z impact acceleration.

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Advani, S. H.; Tarnay, T. J.; Byars, E. F.; Love, J. S.

    1972-01-01

    A steady state dynamic response model for the radial motion of the aorta is developed from in vivo pressure-displacement and nerve stimulation experiments on canines. The model represented by a modified Van der Pol wave motion oscillator closely predicts steady state and perturbed response results. The applicability of the steady state canine aortic model to tailward acting impact forces is studied by means of the perturbed phase plane of the oscillator. The backflow through the aortic arch resulting from a specified acceleration-time profile is computed and an analysis for predicting the forced motion aortic response is presented.

  10. The creep properties of dispersion-strengthened silver-gallium oxide alloys.

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lenel, F. V.; Ansell, G. S.; Nazmy, M. Y.

    1971-01-01

    Steady-state creep rates were measured for two preparations of a dispersion-strengthened alloy of silver with 1 mol % gallium oxide. One preparation, an internally-oxidized type, had a grain size 40 times that of the other preparation, which was a consolidated-powder type of alloy. The temperature and stress dependence of the steady-state creep rate differs widely for the two alloys and must be attributed to the difference in grain size. The activation energy for steady-state creep of the internally-oxidized coarse grained material is near that for self-diffusion of silver, which strongly indicates a creep process controlled by dislocation climb.

  11. A stability theorem for energy-balance climate models

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cahalan, R. F.; North, G. R.

    1979-01-01

    The paper treats the stability of steady-state solutions of some simple, latitude-dependent, energy-balance climate models. For north-south symmetric solutions of models with an ice-cap-type albedo feedback, and for the sum of horizontal transport and infrared radiation given by a linear operator, it is possible to prove a 'slope stability' theorem, i.e., if the local slope of the steady-state iceline latitude versus solar constant curve is positive (negative) the steady-state solution is stable (unstable). Certain rather weak restrictions on the albedo function and on the heat transport are required for the proof, and their physical basis is discussed.

  12. Global stability of steady states in the classical Stefan problem for general boundary shapes

    PubMed Central

    Hadžić, Mahir; Shkoller, Steve

    2015-01-01

    The classical one-phase Stefan problem (without surface tension) allows for a continuum of steady-state solutions, given by an arbitrary (but sufficiently smooth) domain together with zero temperature. We prove global-in-time stability of such steady states, assuming a sufficient degree of smoothness on the initial domain, but without any a priori restriction on the convexity properties of the initial shape. This is an extension of our previous result (Hadžić & Shkoller 2014 Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 68, 689–757 (doi:10.1002/cpa.21522)) in which we studied nearly spherical shapes. PMID:26261359

  13. Descriptive Linear modeling of steady-state visual evoked response

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Levison, W. H.; Junker, A. M.; Kenner, K.

    1986-01-01

    A study is being conducted to explore use of the steady state visual-evoke electrocortical response as an indicator of cognitive task loading. Application of linear descriptive modeling to steady state Visual Evoked Response (VER) data is summarized. Two aspects of linear modeling are reviewed: (1) unwrapping the phase-shift portion of the frequency response, and (2) parsimonious characterization of task-loading effects in terms of changes in model parameters. Model-based phase unwrapping appears to be most reliable in applications, such as manual control, where theoretical models are available. Linear descriptive modeling of the VER has not yet been shown to provide consistent and readily interpretable results.

  14. ANALYZING NUMERICAL ERRORS IN DOMAIN HEAT TRANSPORT MODELS USING THE CVBEM.

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hromadka, T.V.

    1987-01-01

    Besides providing an exact solution for steady-state heat conduction processes (Laplace-Poisson equations), the CVBEM (complex variable boundary element method) can be used for the numerical error analysis of domain model solutions. For problems where soil-water phase change latent heat effects dominate the thermal regime, heat transport can be approximately modeled as a time-stepped steady-state condition in the thawed and frozen regions, respectively. The CVBEM provides an exact solution of the two-dimensional steady-state heat transport problem, and also provides the error in matching the prescribed boundary conditions by the development of a modeling error distribution or an approximate boundary generation.

  15. Temperature field of dielectric films under continuous ion-beam irradiation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Salikhov, T. Kh.; Abdurahmonov, A. A.

    2017-11-01

    In the present study, we theoretically examine the formation process of the steady-state temperature field in dielectrics under irradiation with a continuous ion beam in air with allowance for the temperature dependence of thermophysical quantities. Analytical expressions for the temperature field were obtained. An interconnected system of nonlinear algebraic equations for the steady-state temperatures at the front (irradiated) and rear surfaces of the sample, and the steady-state temperature at the interface between the ion-damaged and non-damaged region was obtained; by numerical solution of this system, a nonlinear dependence of the mentioned temperatures on the characteristics of incident ion flux was revealed.

  16. Progress and prospect of true steady state operation with RF

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jacquinot, Jean

    2017-10-01

    Operation of fusion confinement experiments in full steady state is a major challenge for the development towards fusion energy. Critical to achieving this goal is the availability of actively cooled plasma facing components and auxiliary systems withstanding the very harsh plasma environment. Equally challenging are physics issues related to achieving plasma conditions and current drive efficiency required by reactor plasmas. RF heating and current drive systems have been key instruments for obtaining the progress made until today towards steady state. They hold all the records of long pulse plasma operation both in tokamaks and in stellarators. Nevertheless much progress remains to be made in particular for integrating all the requirements necessary for maintaining in steady state the density and plasma pressure conditions of a reactor. This is an important stated aim of ITER and of devices equipped with superconducting magnets. After considering the present state of the art, this review will address the key issues which remain to be solved both in physics and technology for reaching this goal. They constitute very active subjects of research which will require much dedicated experimentation in the new generation of superconducting devices which are now in operation or becoming close to it.

  17. A controls engineering approach for analyzing airplane input-output characteristics

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Arbuckle, P. Douglas

    1991-01-01

    An engineering approach for analyzing airplane control and output characteristics is presented. State-space matrix equations describing the linear perturbation dynamics are transformed from physical coordinates into scaled coordinates. The scaling is accomplished by applying various transformations to the system to employ prior engineering knowledge of the airplane physics. Two different analysis techniques are then explained. Modal analysis techniques calculate the influence of each system input on each fundamental mode of motion and the distribution of each mode among the system outputs. The optimal steady state response technique computes the blending of steady state control inputs that optimize the steady state response of selected system outputs. Analysis of an example airplane model is presented to demonstrate the described engineering approach.

  18. Quantum spatial propagation of squeezed light in a degenerate parametric amplifier

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Deutsch, Ivan H.; Garrison, John C.

    1992-01-01

    Differential equations which describe the steady state spatial evolution of nonclassical light are established using standard quantum field theoretic techniques. A Schroedinger equation for the state vector of the optical field is derived using the quantum analog of the slowly varying envelope approximation (SVEA). The steady state solutions are those that satisfy the time independent Schroedinger equation. The resulting eigenvalue problem then leads to the spatial propagation equations. For the degenerate parametric amplifier this method shows that the squeezing parameter obey nonlinear differential equations coupled by the amplifier gain and phase mismatch. The solution to these differential equations is equivalent to one obtained from the classical three wave mixing steady state solution to the parametric amplifier with a nondepleted pump.

  19. Nintendo Wii Fit-Based Sleepiness Testing is Not Impaired by Contagious Sleepiness.

    PubMed

    Tietäväinen, Aino; Kuvaldina, Maria; Hæggström, Edward

    2018-06-01

    Sleep deprivation may cause accidents, and it has deteriorating effects on health. A measurement of postural steadiness by a portable and affordable Nintendo Wii Fit balance board can be used to quantify a person's alertness. At work, people are under the influence of their environment-often other people-that may affect their alertness. This work investigates whether sleep deprivation among people is "contagious," as quantified by sway measures. We measured 21 volunteers' postural steadiness while alert and sleep deprived. During the measurements, a screen placed in front of the participants showed a footage of either alert or sleep-deprived faces. We found a significant difference between the day time and night time steadiness, but found no effect resulting from watching footage of sleep-deprived people. This finding shows that a posturographic sleepiness tester quantifies physiological sleep deprivation, and is insensitive to the influence of social factors.

  20. Performance Assessment of Communication Enhancement Devices TEA HI Threat Headset

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2015-08-01

    while mitigating hearing loss and tinnitus caused by exposure to loud, steady-state and impulsive noise. Active devices should theoretically have...mitigating hearing loss and tinnitus caused by exposure to loud, steady-state and impulsive noise. The general approach for this assessment was to use

  1. TRANSIENT AND STEADY STATE STUDY OF PURE AND MIXED REFRIGERANTS IN A RESIDENTIAL HEAT PUMP

    EPA Science Inventory

    The report gives results of an experimental and theoretical investigation of the transient and steady state performance of a residential air-conditioning/heat pump (AC/HP) operating with different refrigerants. (NOTE: The project was motivated by environmental concerns related to...

  2. Automatic simplification of systems of reaction-diffusion equations by a posteriori analysis.

    PubMed

    Maybank, Philip J; Whiteley, Jonathan P

    2014-02-01

    Many mathematical models in biology and physiology are represented by systems of nonlinear differential equations. In recent years these models have become increasingly complex in order to explain the enormous volume of data now available. A key role of modellers is to determine which components of the model have the greatest effect on a given observed behaviour. An approach for automatically fulfilling this role, based on a posteriori analysis, has recently been developed for nonlinear initial value ordinary differential equations [J.P. Whiteley, Model reduction using a posteriori analysis, Math. Biosci. 225 (2010) 44-52]. In this paper we extend this model reduction technique for application to both steady-state and time-dependent nonlinear reaction-diffusion systems. Exemplar problems drawn from biology are used to demonstrate the applicability of the technique. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Geometrical Effects on Nonlinear Electrodiffusion in Cell Physiology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cartailler, J.; Schuss, Z.; Holcman, D.

    2017-12-01

    We report here new electrical laws, derived from nonlinear electrodiffusion theory, about the effect of the local geometrical structure, such as curvature, on the electrical properties of a cell. We adopt the Poisson-Nernst-Planck equations for charge concentration and electric potential as a model of electrodiffusion. In the case at hand, the entire boundary is impermeable to ions and the electric field satisfies the compatibility condition of Poisson's equation. We construct an asymptotic approximation for certain singular limits to the steady-state solution in a ball with an attached cusp-shaped funnel on its surface. As the number of charge increases, they concentrate at the end of cusp-shaped funnel. These results can be used in the design of nanopipettes and help to understand the local voltage changes inside dendrites and axons with heterogeneous local geometry.

  4. SOCS3

    PubMed Central

    White, Christine A; Nicola, Nicos A

    2013-01-01

    SOCS3 is an inducible negative feedback inhibitor of cytokine signaling. Conditional deletion of SOCS3 in mice using the Cre-lox system has now been applied to a range of cell types in the steady-state and under inflammatory, pathogenic, or tumorigenic stress, with the resulting phenotypes demonstrating the effects of SOCS3 in physiological and disease contexts. Together with recent structural and biochemical studies on the mechanisms of SOCS3 binding to cytokine receptors and associated kinases, we now have a better understanding of the non-redundant roles of SOCS3 in the inhibition of cytokine signaling via the receptors gp130, G-CSFR, leptinR, and IL-12Rβ. This review discusses the known functional activities of SOCS3 in fertility and development, inflammation, innate and adaptive immunity, and malignancy as determined by genetic studies in mice. PMID:24416642

  5. Steady bipartite coherence induced by non-equilibrium environment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huangfu, Yong; Jing, Jun

    2018-01-01

    We study the steady state of two coupled two-level atoms interacting with a non-equilibrium environment that consists of two heat baths at different temperatures. Specifically, we analyze four cases with respect to the configuration about the interactions between atoms and heat baths. Using secular approximation, the conventional master equation usually neglects steady-state coherence, even when the system is coupled with a non-equilibrium environment. When employing the master equation with no secular approximation, we find that the system coherence in our model, denoted by the off-diagonal terms in the reduced density matrix spanned by the eigenvectors of the system Hamiltonian, would survive after a long-time decoherence evolution. The absolute value of residual coherence in the system relies on different configurations of interaction channels between the system and the heat baths. We find that a large steady quantum coherence term can be achieved when the two atoms are resonant. The absolute value of quantum coherence decreases in the presence of additional atom-bath interaction channels. Our work sheds new light on the mechanism of steady-state coherence in microscopic quantum systems in non-equilibrium environments.

  6. Effect of humoral immunity on HIV-1 dynamics with virus-to-target and infected-to-target infections

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Elaiw, A. M.; Raezah, A. A.; Alofi, A. S.

    2016-08-01

    We consider an HIV-1 dynamics model by incorporating (i) two routes of infection via, respectively, binding of a virus to a receptor on the surface of a target cell to start genetic reactions (virus-to-target infection), and the direct transmission from infected cells to uninfected cells through the concept of virological synapse in vivo (infected-to-target infection); (ii) two types of distributed-time delays to describe the time between the virus or infected cell contacts an uninfected CD4+ T cell and the emission of new active viruses; (iii) humoral immune response, where the HIV-1 particles are attacked by the antibodies that are produced from the B lymphocytes. The existence and stability of all steady states are completely established by two bifurcation parameters, R 0 (the basic reproduction number) and R 1 (the viral reproduction number at the chronic-infection steady state without humoral immune response). By constructing Lyapunov functionals and using LaSalle's invariance principle, we have proven that, if R 0 ≤ 1 , then the infection-free steady state is globally asymptotically stable, if R 1 ≤ 1 < R 0 , then the chronic-infection steady state without humoral immune response is globally asymptotically stable, and if R 1 > 1 , then the chronic-infection steady state with humoral immune response is globally asymptotically stable. We have performed numerical simulations to confirm our theoretical results.

  7. Refined elasticity sampling for Monte Carlo-based identification of stabilizing network patterns.

    PubMed

    Childs, Dorothee; Grimbs, Sergio; Selbig, Joachim

    2015-06-15

    Structural kinetic modelling (SKM) is a framework to analyse whether a metabolic steady state remains stable under perturbation, without requiring detailed knowledge about individual rate equations. It provides a representation of the system's Jacobian matrix that depends solely on the network structure, steady state measurements, and the elasticities at the steady state. For a measured steady state, stability criteria can be derived by generating a large number of SKMs with randomly sampled elasticities and evaluating the resulting Jacobian matrices. The elasticity space can be analysed statistically in order to detect network positions that contribute significantly to the perturbation response. Here, we extend this approach by examining the kinetic feasibility of the elasticity combinations created during Monte Carlo sampling. Using a set of small example systems, we show that the majority of sampled SKMs would yield negative kinetic parameters if they were translated back into kinetic models. To overcome this problem, a simple criterion is formulated that mitigates such infeasible models. After evaluating the small example pathways, the methodology was used to study two steady states of the neuronal TCA cycle and the intrinsic mechanisms responsible for their stability or instability. The findings of the statistical elasticity analysis confirm that several elasticities are jointly coordinated to control stability and that the main source for potential instabilities are mutations in the enzyme alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

  8. Effect of age and single versus multiple dose pharmacokinetics of letrozole (Femara) in breast cancer patients.

    PubMed

    Pfister, C U; Martoni, A; Zamagni, C; Lelli, G; De Braud, F; Souppart, C; Duval, M; Hornberger, U

    2001-07-01

    Letrozole (trademark Femara) is a new orally active, potent and selective aromatase inhibitor for the hormonal treatment of advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women. The pharmacokinetics of letrozole and the suppression of peripheral estrogens were studied in 28 breast cancer patients after a single dose and at steady state. The pharmacokinetics of two distinct age groups (> or =50, < or =65, N=15 and > or =70 years old, N=9) were compared. There were no significant differences in area under the curve (AUC) or terminal half-life between the two age groups neither after a single dose nor at steady state. However, when comparing steady state to single dose kinetics, half-life and AUC increased significantly by 42% (90% CI: 1.13, 1.78) and 28% (90% CI: 1.12, 1.47), respectively. This deviation from linearity was probably due to a partial saturation or auto-inhibition of the dominant metabolic clearance mechanism of letrozole. At steady state, approximately 70% of the administered dose was excreted in urine as unchanged letrozole (6.0+/-3.8%) or as the glucuronide of the major, pharmacologically inactive metabolite CGP44645 (64.2+/-22.7%). A single dose of letrozole caused suppression of serum estrogen levels close to the quantification limit of the assay. No difference between single dose suppression and suppression at steady state could be detected. Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  9. Efficient Decoding With Steady-State Kalman Filter in Neural Interface Systems

    PubMed Central

    Malik, Wasim Q.; Truccolo, Wilson; Brown, Emery N.; Hochberg, Leigh R.

    2011-01-01

    The Kalman filter is commonly used in neural interface systems to decode neural activity and estimate the desired movement kinematics. We analyze a low-complexity Kalman filter implementation in which the filter gain is approximated by its steady-state form, computed offline before real-time decoding commences. We evaluate its performance using human motor cortical spike train data obtained from an intracortical recording array as part of an ongoing pilot clinical trial. We demonstrate that the standard Kalman filter gain converges to within 95% of the steady-state filter gain in 1.5 ± 0.5 s (mean ± s.d.). The difference in the intended movement velocity decoded by the two filters vanishes within 5 s, with a correlation coefficient of 0.99 between the two decoded velocities over the session length. We also find that the steady-state Kalman filter reduces the computational load (algorithm execution time) for decoding the firing rates of 25 ± 3 single units by a factor of 7.0 ± 0.9. We expect that the gain in computational efficiency will be much higher in systems with larger neural ensembles. The steady-state filter can thus provide substantial runtime efficiency at little cost in terms of estimation accuracy. This far more efficient neural decoding approach will facilitate the practical implementation of future large-dimensional, multisignal neural interface systems. PMID:21078582

  10. Computing the structural influence matrix for biological systems.

    PubMed

    Giordano, Giulia; Cuba Samaniego, Christian; Franco, Elisa; Blanchini, Franco

    2016-06-01

    We consider the problem of identifying structural influences of external inputs on steady-state outputs in a biological network model. We speak of a structural influence if, upon a perturbation due to a constant input, the ensuing variation of the steady-state output value has the same sign as the input (positive influence), the opposite sign (negative influence), or is zero (perfect adaptation), for any feasible choice of the model parameters. All these signs and zeros can constitute a structural influence matrix, whose (i, j) entry indicates the sign of steady-state influence of the jth system variable on the ith variable (the output caused by an external persistent input applied to the jth variable). Each entry is structurally determinate if the sign does not depend on the choice of the parameters, but is indeterminate otherwise. In principle, determining the influence matrix requires exhaustive testing of the system steady-state behaviour in the widest range of parameter values. Here we show that, in a broad class of biological networks, the influence matrix can be evaluated with an algorithm that tests the system steady-state behaviour only at a finite number of points. This algorithm also allows us to assess the structural effect of any perturbation, such as variations of relevant parameters. Our method is applied to nontrivial models of biochemical reaction networks and population dynamics drawn from the literature, providing a parameter-free insight into the system dynamics.

  11. Analysis of Operating Principles with S-system Models

    PubMed Central

    Lee, Yun; Chen, Po-Wei; Voit, Eberhard O.

    2011-01-01

    Operating principles address general questions regarding the response dynamics of biological systems as we observe or hypothesize them, in comparison to a priori equally valid alternatives. In analogy to design principles, the question arises: Why are some operating strategies encountered more frequently than others and in what sense might they be superior? It is at this point impossible to study operation principles in complete generality, but the work here discusses the important situation where a biological system must shift operation from its normal steady state to a new steady state. This situation is quite common and includes many stress responses. We present two distinct methods for determining different solutions to this task of achieving a new target steady state. Both methods utilize the property of S-system models within Biochemical Systems Theory (BST) that steady-states can be explicitly represented as systems of linear algebraic equations. The first method uses matrix inversion, a pseudo-inverse, or regression to characterize the entire admissible solution space. Operations on the basis of the solution space permit modest alterations of the transients toward the target steady state. The second method uses standard or mixed integer linear programming to determine admissible solutions that satisfy criteria of functional effectiveness, which are specified beforehand. As an illustration, we use both methods to characterize alternative response patterns of yeast subjected to heat stress, and compare them with observations from the literature. PMID:21377479

  12. Chemostat studies of bacteriophage M13 infected Escherichia coli JM109 for continuous ssDNA production.

    PubMed

    Kick, Benjamin; Behler, Karl Lorenz; Severin, Timm Steffen; Weuster-Botz, Dirk

    2017-09-20

    Steady state studies in a chemostat enable the control of microbial growth rate at defined reaction conditions. The effects of bacteriophage M13 infection on maximum growth rate of Escherichia coli JM109 were studied in parallel operated chemostats on a milliliter-scale to analyze the steady state kinetics of phage production. The bacteriophage infection led to a decrease in maximum specific growth rate of 15% from 0.74h -1 to 0.63h -1 . Under steady state conditions, a constant cell specific ssDNA formation rate of 0.15±0.004 mg ssDNA g CDW -1 h -1 was observed, which was independent of the growth rate. Using the estimated kinetic parameters for E. coli infected with bacteriophage M13, the ssDNA concentration in the steady state could be predicted as function of the dilution rate and the glucose concentration in the substrate. Scalability of milliliter-scale data was approved by steady state studies on a liter-scale at a selected dilution rate. An ssDNA space-time yield of 5.7mgL -1 h -1 was achieved with increased glucose concentration in the feed at a dilution rate of 0.3h -1 , which is comparable to established fed-batch fermentation with bacteriophage M13 for ssDNA production. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Universal Poisson Statistics of mRNAs with Complex Decay Pathways.

    PubMed

    Thattai, Mukund

    2016-01-19

    Messenger RNA (mRNA) dynamics in single cells are often modeled as a memoryless birth-death process with a constant probability per unit time that an mRNA molecule is synthesized or degraded. This predicts a Poisson steady-state distribution of mRNA number, in close agreement with experiments. This is surprising, since mRNA decay is known to be a complex process. The paradox is resolved by realizing that the Poisson steady state generalizes to arbitrary mRNA lifetime distributions. A mapping between mRNA dynamics and queueing theory highlights an identifiability problem: a measured Poisson steady state is consistent with a large variety of microscopic models. Here, I provide a rigorous and intuitive explanation for the universality of the Poisson steady state. I show that the mRNA birth-death process and its complex decay variants all take the form of the familiar Poisson law of rare events, under a nonlinear rescaling of time. As a corollary, not only steady-states but also transients are Poisson distributed. Deviations from the Poisson form occur only under two conditions, promoter fluctuations leading to transcriptional bursts or nonindependent degradation of mRNA molecules. These results place severe limits on the power of single-cell experiments to probe microscopic mechanisms, and they highlight the need for single-molecule measurements. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Coherence enhanced quantum metrology in a nonequilibrium optical molecule

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Zhihai; Wu, Wei; Cui, Guodong; Wang, Jin

    2018-03-01

    We explore the quantum metrology in an optical molecular system coupled to two environments with different temperatures, using a quantum master equation beyond secular approximation. We discover that the steady-state coherence originating from and sustained by the nonequilibrium condition can enhance quantum metrology. We also study the quantitative measures of the nonequilibrium condition in terms of the curl flux, heat current and entropy production at the steady state. They are found to grow with temperature difference. However, an apparent paradox arises considering the contrary behaviors of the steady-state coherence and the nonequilibrium measures in relation to the inter-cavity coupling strength. This paradox is resolved by decomposing the heat current into a population part and a coherence part. Only the latter, the coherence part of the heat current, is tightly connected to the steady-state coherence and behaves similarly with respect to the inter-cavity coupling strength. Interestingly, the coherence part of the heat current flows from the low-temperature reservoir to the high-temperature reservoir, opposite to the direction of the population heat current. Our work offers a viable way to enhance quantum metrology for open quantum systems through steady-state coherence sustained by the nonequilibrium condition, which can be controlled and manipulated to maximize its utility. The potential applications go beyond quantum metrology and extend to areas such as device designing, quantum computation and quantum technology in general.

  15. Proteome analysis of the Escherichia coli heat shock response under steady-state conditions

    PubMed Central

    Lüders, Svenja; Fallet, Claas; Franco-Lara, Ezequiel

    2009-01-01

    In this study a proteomic approach was used to investigate the steady-state response of Escherichia coli to temperature up-shifts in a cascade of two continuously operated bioreactors. The first reactor served as cell source with optimal settings for microbial growth, while in the second chemostat the cells were exposed to elevated temperatures. By using this reactor configuration, which has not been reported to be used for the study of bacterial stress responses so far, it is possible to study temperature stress under well-defined, steady-state conditions. Specifically the effect on the cellular adaption to temperature stress using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis was examined and compared at the cultivation temperatures of 37°C and 47.5°C. As expected, the steady-state study with the double bioreactor configuration delivered a different protein spectrum compared to that obtained with standard batch experiments in shaking flasks and bioreactors. Setting a high cut-out spot-to-spot size ratio of 5, proteins involved in defence against oxygen stress, functional cell envelope proteins, chaperones and proteins involved in protein biosynthesis, the energy metabolism and the amino acid biosynthesis were found to be differently expressed at high cultivation temperatures. The results demonstrate the complexity of the stress response in a steady-state culture not reported elsewhere to date. PMID:19772559

  16. Evaluation of diffusion coefficients by means of an approximate steady-state condition in sedimentation velocity distributions.

    PubMed

    Scott, David J; Harding, Stephen E; Winzor, Donald J

    2015-12-01

    This investigation examined the feasibility of manipulating the rotor speed in sedimentation velocity experiments to spontaneously generate an approximate steady-state condition where the extent of diffusional spreading is matched exactly by the boundary sharpening arising from negative s-c dependence. Simulated sedimentation velocity distributions based on the sedimentation characteristics for a purified mucin preparation were used to illustrate a simple procedure for determining the diffusion coefficient from such steady-state distributions in situations where the concentration dependence of the sedimentation coefficient, s = s(0)/(1 + Kc), was quantified in terms of the limiting sedimentation coefficient as c → 0 (s(0)) and the concentration coefficient (K). Those simulations established that spontaneous generation of the approximate steady state could well be a feature of sedimentation velocity distributions for many unstructured polymer systems because the requirement that Kcoω(2)s(0)/D be between 46 and 183 cm(-2) is not unduly restrictive. Although spontaneous generation of the approximate steady state is also a theoretical prediction for structured macromolecular solutes exhibiting linear concentration dependence of the sedimentation coefficient, s = s(0)(1 - kc), the required value of k is far too large for any practical advantage to be taken of this approach with globular proteins. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. The number statistics and optimal history of non-equilibrium steady states of mortal diffusing particles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Meerson, Baruch

    2015-05-01

    Suppose that a point-like steady source at x = 0 injects particles into a half-infinite line. The particles diffuse and die. At long times a non-equilibrium steady state sets in, and we assume that it involves many particles. If the particles are non-interacting, their total number N in the steady state is Poisson-distributed with mean \\bar{N} predicted from a deterministic reaction-diffusion equation. Here we determine the most likely density history of this driven system conditional on observing a given N. We also consider two prototypical examples of interacting diffusing particles: (i) a family of mortal diffusive lattice gases with constant diffusivity (as illustrated by the simple symmetric exclusion process with mortal particles), and (ii) random walkers that can annihilate in pairs. In both examples we calculate the variances of the (non-Poissonian) stationary distributions of N.

  18. Start Up of a Nb-1%Zr Potassium Heat Pipe From the Frozen State

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Glass, David E.; Merrigan, Michael A.; Sena, J. Tom

    1998-01-01

    The start up of a liquid metal heat pipe from the frozen state was evaluated experimentally with a Nb-1%Zr heat pipe with potassium as the working fluid. The heat pipe was fabricated and tested at Los Alamos National Laboratory. RF induction heating was used to heat 13 cm of the 1-m-long heat pipe. The heat pipe and test conditions are well characterized so that the test data may be used for comparison with numerical analyses. An attempt was made during steady state tests to calibrate the heat input so that the heat input would be known during the transient cases. The heat pipe was heated to 675 C with a throughput of 600 W and an input heat flux of 6 W/cm(exp 2). Steady state tests, start up from the frozen state, and transient variations from steady state were performed.

  19. A multiple disk centrifugal pump as a blood flow device.

    PubMed

    Miller, G E; Etter, B D; Dorsi, J M

    1990-02-01

    A multiple disk, shear force, valveless centrifugal pump was studied to determine its suitability as a blood flow device. A pulsatile version of the Tesla viscous flow turbine was designed by modifying the original steady flow pump concept to produce physiological pressures and flows with the aid of controlling circuitry. Pressures and flows from this pump were compared to a Harvard Apparatus pulsatile piston pump. Both pumps were connected to an artificial circulatory system. Frequency and systolic duration were varied over a range of physiological conditions for both pumps. The results indicated that the Tesla pump, operating in a pulsatile mode, is capable of producing physiologic pressures and flows similar to the Harvard pump and other pulsatile blood pumps.

  20. Laboratory longitudinal diffusion tests: 1. Dimensionless formulations and validity of simplified solutions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Takeda, M.; Nakajima, H.; Zhang, M.; Hiratsuka, T.

    2008-04-01

    To obtain reliable diffusion parameters for diffusion testing, multiple experiments should not only be cross-checked but the internal consistency of each experiment should also be verified. In the through- and in-diffusion tests with solution reservoirs, test interpretation of different phases often makes use of simplified analytical solutions. This study explores the feasibility of steady, quasi-steady, equilibrium and transient-state analyses using simplified analytical solutions with respect to (i) valid conditions for each analytical solution, (ii) potential error, and (iii) experimental time. For increased generality, a series of numerical analyses are performed using unified dimensionless parameters and the results are all related to dimensionless reservoir volume (DRV) which includes only the sorptive parameter as an unknown. This means the above factors can be investigated on the basis of the sorption properties of the testing material and/or tracer. The main findings are that steady, quasi-steady and equilibrium-state analyses are applicable when the tracer is not highly sorptive. However, quasi-steady and equilibrium-state analyses become inefficient or impractical compared to steady state analysis when the tracer is non-sorbing and material porosity is significantly low. Systematic and comprehensive reformulation of analytical models enables the comparison of experimental times between different test methods. The applicability and potential error of each test interpretation can also be studied. These can be applied in designing, performing, and interpreting diffusion experiments by deducing DRV from the available information for the target material and tracer, combined with the results of this study.

  1. Regulated traffic of anion transporters in mammalian Brunner's glands: a role for water and fluid transport.

    PubMed

    Collaco, Anne M; Jakab, Robert L; Hoekstra, Nadia E; Mitchell, Kisha A; Brooks, Amos; Ameen, Nadia A

    2013-08-01

    The Brunner's glands of the proximal duodenum exert barrier functions through secretion of glycoproteins and antimicrobial peptides. However, ion transporter localization, function, and regulation in the glands are less clear. Mapping the subcellular distribution of transporters is an important step toward elucidating trafficking mechanisms of fluid transport in the gland. The present study examined 1) changes in the distribution of intestinal anion transporters and the aquaporin 5 (AQP5) water channel in rat Brunner's glands following second messenger activation and 2) anion transporter distribution in Brunner's glands from healthy and disease-affected human tissues. Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), AQP5, sodium-potassium-coupled chloride cotransporter 1 (NKCC1), sodium-bicarbonate cotransporter (NBCe1), and the proton pump vacuolar ATPase (V-ATPase) were localized to distinct membrane domains and in endosomes at steady state. Carbachol and cAMP redistributed CFTR to the apical membrane. cAMP-dependent recruitment of CFTR to the apical membrane was accompanied by recruitment of AQP5 that was reversed by a PKA inhibitor. cAMP also induced apical trafficking of V-ATPase and redistribution of NKCC1 and NBCe1 to the basolateral membranes. The steady-state distribution of AQP5, CFTR, NBCe1, NKCC1, and V-ATPase in human Brunner's glands from healthy controls, cystic fibrosis, and celiac disease resembled that of rat; however, the distribution profiles were markedly attenuated in the disease-affected duodenum. These data support functional transport of chloride, bicarbonate, water, and protons by second messenger-regulated traffic in mammalian Brunner's glands under physiological and pathophysiological conditions.

  2. Hydrogen concentrations as an indicator of the predominant terminal electron-accepting reactions in aquatic sediments

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Lovley, D.R.; Goodwin, S.

    1988-01-01

    Factors controlling the concentration of dissolved hydrogen gas in anaerobic sedimentary environments were investigated. Results, presented here or previously, demonstrated that, in sediments, only microorganisms catalyze the oxidation of H2 coupled to the reduction of nitrate, Mn(IV), Fe(III), sulfate, or carbon dioxide. Theoretical considerations suggested that, at steady-state conditions, H2 concentrations are primarily dependent upon the physiological characteristics of the microorganism(s) consuming the H2 and that organisms catalyzing H2 oxidation, with the reduction of a more electrochemically positive electron acceptor, can maintain lower H2 concentrations than organisms using electron acceptors which yield less energy from H2 oxidation. The H2 concentrations associated with the specified predominant terminal electron-accepting reactions in bottom sediments of a variety of surface water environments were: methanogenesis, 7-10 nM; sulfate reduction, 1-1.5 nM; Fe(III) reduction, 0.2 nM; Mn(IV) or nitrate reduction, less than 0.05 nM. Sediments with the same terminal electron acceptor for organic matter oxidation had comparable H2 concentrations, despite variations in the rate of organic matter decomposition, pH, and salinity. Thus, each terminal electron-accepting reaction had a unique range of steady-state H2 concentrations associated with it. Preliminary studies in a coastal plain aquifer indicated that H2 concentrations also vary in response to changes in the predominant terminal electron-accepting process in deep subsurface environments. These studies suggest that H2 measurements may aid in determining which terminal electron-accepting reactions are taking place in surface and subsurface sedimentary environments. ?? 1988.

  3. Brain Levels of the Neurotoxic Pyridinium Metabolite HPP+ and Extrapyramidal Symptoms in Haloperidol-Treated Mice

    PubMed Central

    Crowley, James J.; Ashraf-Khorassani, Mehdi; Castagnoli, Neal; Sullivan, Patrick F.

    2013-01-01

    The typical antipsychotic haloperidol is a highly effective treatment for schizophrenia but its use is limited by a number of serious, and often irreversible, motor side effects. These adverse drug reactions, termed extrapyramidal syndromes (EPS), result from an unknown pathophysiological mechanism. One theory relates to the observation that the haloperidol metabolite HPP+ (4-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-[4-(4-fluorophenyl)-4-oxobutyl]-pyridinium) is structurally similar to MPP+ (1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium), a neurotoxin responsible for an irreversible neurodegenerative condition similar to Parkinson's disease. To determine whether HPP+ contributes to haloperidol-induced EPS, we measured brain HPP+ and haloperidol levels in strains of mice at high (C57BL/6J and NZO/HILtJ) and low (BALB/cByJ and PWK/PhJ) liability to haloperidol-induced EPS following chronic treatment (7–10 adult male mice per strain). Brain levels of HPP+ and the ratio of HPP+ to haloperidol were not significantly different between the haloperidol-sensitive and haloperidol-resistant strain groups (P = 0.50). Within each group, however, strain differences were seen (P < 0.01), indicating that genetic variation regulating steady-state HPP+ levels exists. Since the HPP+ levels that we observed in mouse brain overlap the range of those detected in post-mortem human brains following chronic haloperidol treatment, the findings from this study are physiologically relevant to humans. The results suggest that strain differences in steady-state HPP+ levels do not explain sensitivity to haloperidol-induced EPS in the mice we studied. PMID:24107597

  4. Determination of Anaerobic Threshold by Heart Rate or Heart Rate Variability using Discontinuous Cycle Ergometry.

    PubMed

    Park, Sung Wook; Brenneman, Michael; Cooke, William H; Cordova, Alberto; Fogt, Donovan

    The purpose was to determine if heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) responses would reflect anaerobic threshold (AT) using a discontinuous, incremental, cycle test. AT was determined by ventilatory threshold (VT). Cyclists (30.6±5.9y; 7 males, 8 females) completed a discontinuous cycle test consisting of 7 stages (6 min each with 3 min of rest between). Three stages were performed at power outputs (W) below those corresponding to a previously established AT, one at W corresponding to AT, and 3 at W above those corresponding to AT. The W at the intersection of the trend lines was considered each metric's "threshold". The averaged stage data for Ve, HR, and time- and frequency-domain HRV metrics were plotted versus W. The W at the "threshold" for the metrics of interest were compared using correlation analysis and paired-sample t -test. In all, several heart rate-related parameters accurately reflected AT with significant correlations (p≤0.05) were observed between AT W and HR, mean RR interval (MRR), low and high frequency spectral energy (LF and HR, respectively), high frequency peak (fHF), and HFxfHF metrics' threshold W (i.e., MRRTW, etc.). Differences in HR or HRV metric threshold W and AT for all subjects were less than 14 W. The steady state data from discontinuous protocols may allow for a true indication of steady-state physiologic stress responses and corresponding W at AT, compared to continuous protocols using 1-2 min exercise stages.

  5. A steady-state stomatal model of balanced leaf gas exchange, hydraulics and maximal source-sink flux.

    PubMed

    Hölttä, Teemu; Lintunen, Anna; Chan, Tommy; Mäkelä, Annikki; Nikinmaa, Eero

    2017-07-01

    Trees must simultaneously balance their CO2 uptake rate via stomata, photosynthesis, the transport rate of sugars and rate of sugar utilization in sinks while maintaining a favourable water and carbon balance. We demonstrate using a numerical model that it is possible to understand stomatal functioning from the viewpoint of maximizing the simultaneous photosynthetic production, phloem transport and sink sugar utilization rate under the limitation that the transpiration-driven hydrostatic pressure gradient sets for those processes. A key feature in our model is that non-stomatal limitations to photosynthesis increase with decreasing leaf water potential and/or increasing leaf sugar concentration and are thus coupled to stomatal conductance. Maximizing the photosynthetic production rate using a numerical steady-state model leads to stomatal behaviour that is able to reproduce the well-known trends of stomatal behaviour in response to, e.g., light, vapour concentration difference, ambient CO2 concentration, soil water status, sink strength and xylem and phloem hydraulic conductance. We show that our results for stomatal behaviour are very similar to the solutions given by the earlier models of stomatal conductance derived solely from gas exchange considerations. Our modelling results also demonstrate how the 'marginal cost of water' in the unified stomatal conductance model and the optimal stomatal model could be related to plant structural and physiological traits, most importantly, the soil-to-leaf hydraulic conductance and soil moisture. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  6. Locomotor-respiratory coupling patterns and oxygen consumption during walking above and below preferred stride frequency.

    PubMed

    O'Halloran, Joseph; Hamill, Joseph; McDermott, William J; Remelius, Jebb G; Van Emmerik, Richard E A

    2012-03-01

    Locomotor respiratory coupling patterns in humans have been assessed on the basis of the interaction between different physiological and motor subsystems; these interactions have implications for movement economy. A complex and dynamical systems framework may provide more insight than entrainment into the variability and adaptability of these rhythms and their coupling. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between steady state locomotor-respiratory coordination dynamics and oxygen consumption [Formula: see text] of the movement by varying walking stride frequency from preferred. Twelve male participants walked on a treadmill at a self-selected speed. Stride frequency was varied from -20 to +20% of preferred stride frequency (PSF) while respiratory airflow, gas exchange variables, and stride kinematics were recorded. Discrete relative phase and return map techniques were used to evaluate the strength, stability, and variability of both frequency and phase couplings. Analysis of [Formula: see text] during steady-state walking showed a U-shaped response (P = 0.002) with a minimum at PSF and PSF - 10%. Locomotor-respiratory frequency coupling strength was not greater (P = 0.375) at PSF than any other stride frequency condition. The dominant coupling across all conditions was 2:1 with greater occurrences at the lower stride frequencies. Variability in coupling was the greatest during PSF, indicating an exploration of coupling strategies to search for the coupling frequency strategy with the least oxygen consumption. Contrary to the belief that increased strength of frequency coupling would decrease oxygen consumption; these results conclude that it is the increased variability of frequency coupling that results in lower oxygen consumption.

  7. Bounds on internal state variables in viscoplasticity

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Freed, Alan D.

    1993-01-01

    A typical viscoplastic model will introduce up to three types of internal state variables in order to properly describe transient material behavior; they are as follows: the back stress, the yield stress, and the drag strength. Different models employ different combinations of these internal variables--their selection and description of evolution being largely dependent on application and material selection. Under steady-state conditions, the internal variables cease to evolve and therefore become related to the external variables (stress and temperature) through simple functional relationships. A physically motivated hypothesis is presented that links the kinetic equation of viscoplasticity with that of creep under steady-state conditions. From this hypothesis one determines how the internal variables relate to one another at steady state, but most importantly, one obtains bounds on the magnitudes of stress and back stress, and on the yield stress and drag strength.

  8. ROLE OF NMDA, NICOTINIC, AND GABA RECEPTORS IN THE STEADY STATE VISUAL EVOKED POTENTIAL IN RATS.

    EPA Science Inventory

    This manuscript characterizes the receptor pathways involved in pattern-evoked potential generation in rats

    " NMDA and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors appear to be involved in the generation of the steady-state pattern evoked response in vivo.

    " The pattern evok...

  9. Steady-State Multiplicity Features of Chemically Reacting Systems.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Luss, Dan

    1986-01-01

    Analyzes steady-state multiplicity in chemical reactors, focusing on the use of two mathematical tools, namely, the catastrophe theory and the singularity theory with a distinguished parameter. These tools can be used to determine the maximum number of possible solutions and the different types of bifurcation diagrams. (JN)

  10. How Cosmology Became a Science.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brush, Stephen G.

    1992-01-01

    Describes the origin of the science of cosmology and the competing theories to explain the beginning of the universe. The big bang theory for the creation of the universe is contrasted with the steady state theory. The author details discoveries that led to the demise of the steady state theory. (PR)

  11. D-3He Spherical Torus Fusion Reactor System Study

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1992-04-01

    assumed as a reasonable range. A.6 Steady-State Particle Balance The steady-state densities of the various species present in a burning plasma are...determined by a detailed particle balance calculation. In addition to the con- sumption and production of various species in a burning plasma , a

  12. STEADY STATE FLAMMABLE GAS RELEASE RATE CALCULATION AND LOWER FLAMMABILITY LEVEL EVALUATION FOR HANFORD TANK WASTE

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

    HU TA

    2009-10-26

    Assess the steady-state flammability level at normal and off-normal ventilation conditions. The hydrogen generation rate was calculated for 177 tanks using the rate equation model. Flammability calculations based on hydrogen, ammonia, and methane were performed for 177 tanks for various scenarios.

  13. Steady-State Pharmacokinetics of Bupropion SR in Juvenile Patients

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Daviss, W. Burleson; Perel, James M.; Rudolph, George R.; Axelson, David A.; Gilchrist, Richard; Nuss, Sharon; Birmaher, Boris; Brent, David A.

    2005-01-01

    Objective: To examine the steady-state pharmacokinetic properties of bupropion sustained release (SR) and their potential developmental differences in youths. Method: Eleven boys and eight girls aged 11 to 17 years old were prescribed bupropion SR monotherapy for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (n = 16) and/or depressive disorders (n =…

  14. User's instructions for the 41-node thermoregulatory model (steady state version)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Leonard, J. I.

    1974-01-01

    A user's guide for the steady-state thermoregulatory model is presented. The model was modified to provide conversational interaction on a remote terminal, greater flexibility for parameter estimation, increased efficiency of convergence, greater choice of output variable and more realistic equations for respiratory and skin diffusion water losses.

  15. Steady-state inductive spheromak operation

    DOEpatents

    Janos, Alan C.; Jardin, Stephen C.; Yamada, Masaaki

    1987-01-01

    The inductively formed spheromak plasma can be maintained in a highly stable and controlled fashion. Steady-state operation is obtained by forming the plasma in the linked mode, then oscillating the poloidal and toroidal fields such that they have different phases. Preferably, the poloidal and magnetic fields are 90.degree. out of phase.

  16. Steady fall of isothermal, resistive-viscous, compressible fluid across magnetic field

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

    Low, B. C., E-mail: low@ucar.edu; Egan, A. K., E-mail: andrea.egan@colorado.edu

    This is a basic MHD study of the steady fall of an infinite, vertical slab of isothermal, resistive-viscous, compressible fluid across a dipped magnetic field in uniform gravity. This double-diffusion steady flow in unbounded space poses a nonlinear but numerically tractable, one-dimensional (1D) free-boundary problem, assuming constant coefficients of resistivity and viscosity. The steady flow is determined by a dimensionless number μ{sub 1} proportional to the triple product of the two diffusion coefficients and the square of the linear total mass. For a sufficiently large μ{sub 1}, the Lorentz, viscous, fluid-pressure, and gravitational forces pack and collimate the fluid intomore » a steady flow of a finite width defined by the two zero-pressure free-boundaries of the slab with vacuum. The viscous force is essential in this collimation effect. The study conjectures that in the regime μ{sub 1}→0, the 1D steady state exists only for μ{sub 1}∈Ω, a spectrum of an infinite number of discrete values, including μ{sub 1} = 0 that corresponds to two steady states, the classical zero-resistivity static slab of Kippenhahn and Schlüter [R. Kippenhahn and A. Schlüter, Z. Astrophys. 43, 36 (1957)] and its recent generalization [B. C. Low et al., Astrophys. J. 755, 34 (2012)] to admit an inviscid resistive flow. The pair of zero-pressure boundaries of each of the μ{sub 1}→0 steady-state slabs are located at infinity. Computational evidence suggests that the Ω steady-states are densely distributed around μ{sub 1} = 0, as an accumulation point, but are sparsely separated by open intervals of μ{sub 1}-values for which the slab must be either time-dependent or spatially multi-dimensional. The widths of these intervals are vanishingly small as μ{sub 1}→0. This topological structure of physical states is similar to that described by Landau and Liftshitz [L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshitz, Fluid Mechanics (Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1959)] to explain the onset of hydrodynamic turbulence. The implications of this MHD study are discussed, with an interest in the prominences in the solar atmosphere and the interstellar clouds in the Galaxy.« less

  17. A surface renewal model for unsteady-state mass transfer using the generalized Danckwerts age distribution function

    PubMed Central

    Horvath, Isabelle R.

    2018-01-01

    The recently derived steady-state generalized Danckwerts age distribution is extended to unsteady-state conditions. For three different wind speeds used by researchers on air–water heat exchange on the Heidelberg Aeolotron, calculations reveal that the distribution has a sharp peak during the initial moments, but flattens out and acquires a bell-shaped character with process time, with the time taken to attain a steady-state profile being a strong and inverse function of wind speed. With increasing wind speed, the age distribution narrows significantly, its skewness decreases and its peak becomes larger. The mean eddy renewal time increases linearly with process time initially but approaches a final steady-state value asymptotically, which decreases dramatically with increased wind speed. Using the distribution to analyse the transient absorption of a gas into a large body of liquid, assuming negligible gas-side mass-transfer resistance, estimates are made of the gas-absorption and dissolved-gas transfer coefficients for oxygen absorption in water at 25°C for the three different wind speeds. Under unsteady-state conditions, these two coefficients show an inverse behaviour, indicating a heightened accumulation of dissolved gas in the surface elements, especially during the initial moments of absorption. However, the two mass-transfer coefficients start merging together as the steady state is approached. Theoretical predictions of the steady-state mass-transfer coefficient or transfer velocity are in fair agreement (average absolute error of prediction = 18.1%) with some experimental measurements of the same for the nitrous oxide–water system at 20°C that were made in the Heidelberg Aeolotron. PMID:29892429

  18. Transient competitive complexation in biological kinetic isotope fractionation explains non-steady isotopic effects: Theory and application to denitrification in soils

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

    Maggi, F.M.; Riley, W.J.

    2009-06-01

    The theoretical formulation of biological kinetic reactions in isotopic applications often assume first-order or Michaelis-Menten-Monod kinetics under the quasi-steady-state assumption to simplify the system kinetics. However, isotopic e ects have the same order of magnitude as the potential error introduced by these simpli cations. Both formulations lead to a constant fractionation factor which may yield incorrect estimations of the isotopic effect and a misleading interpretation of the isotopic signature of a reaction. We have analyzed the isotopic signature of denitri cation in biogeochemical soil systems by Menyailo and Hungate [2006], where high {sup 15}N{sub 2}O enrichment during N{sub 2}O productionmore » and inverse isotope fractionation during N{sub 2}O consumption could not be explained with first-order kinetics and the Rayleigh equation, or with the quasi-steady-state Michaelis-Menten-Monod kinetics. When the quasi-steady-state assumption was relaxed, transient Michaelis-Menten-Monod kinetics accurately reproduced the observations and aided in interpretation of experimental isotopic signatures. These results may imply a substantial revision in using the Rayleigh equation for interpretation of isotopic signatures and in modeling biological kinetic isotope fractionation with first-order kinetics or quasi-steady-state Michaelis-Menten-Monod kinetics.« less

  19. A series RCL circuit theory for analyzing non-steady-state water uptake of maize plants.

    PubMed

    Zhuang, Jie; Yu, Gui-Rui; Nakayama, Keiichi

    2014-10-22

    Understanding water uptake and transport through the soil-plant continuum is vital for ecosystem management and agricultural water use. Plant water uptake under natural conditions is a non-steady transient flow controlled by root distribution, plant configuration, soil hydraulics, and climatic conditions. Despite significant progress in model development, a mechanistic description of transient water uptake has not been developed or remains incomplete. Here, based on advanced electrical network theory (RLC circuit theory), we developed a non-steady state biophysical model to mechanistically analyze the fluctuations of uptake rates in response to water stress. We found that the non-steady-state model captures the nature of instantaneity and hysteresis of plant water uptake due to the considerations of water storage in plant xylem and coarse roots (capacitance effect), hydraulic architecture of leaf system (inductance effect), and soil-root contact (fuse effect). The model provides insights into the important role of plant configuration and hydraulic heterogeneity in helping plants survive an adverse environment. Our tests against field data suggest that the non-steady-state model has great potential for being used to interpret the smart water strategy of plants, which is intrinsically determined by stem size, leaf size/thickness and distribution, root system architecture, and the ratio of fine-to-coarse root lengths.

  20. How should we understand non-equilibrium many-body steady states?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maghrebi, Mohammad; Gorshkov, Alexey

    : Many-body systems with both coherent dynamics and dissipation constitute a rich class of models which are nevertheless much less explored than their dissipationless counterparts. The advent of numerous experimental platforms that simulate such dynamics poses an immediate challenge to systematically understand and classify these models. In particular, nontrivial many-body states emerge as steady states under non-equilibrium dynamics. In this talk, I use a field-theoretic approach based on the Keldysh formalism to study nonequilibrium phases and phase transitions in such models. I show that an effective temperature generically emerges as a result of dissipation, and the universal behavior including the dynamics near the steady state is described by a thermodynamic universality class. In the end, I will also discuss possibilities that go beyond the paradigm of an effective thermodynamic behavior.

  1. Steady state whistler turbulence and stability of thermal barriers in tandem mirrors

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

    Litwin, C.; Sudan, R.N.

    The effect of the whistler turbulence on anisotropic electrons in a thermal barrier is examined. The electron distribution function is derived self-consistently by solving the steady state quasilinear diffusion equation. Saturated amplitudes are computed using the resonance broadening theory or convective stabilization. Estimated power levels necessary for sustaining the steady state of a strongly anisotropic electron population are found to exceed by orders of magnitude the estimates based on Fokker--Planck calculations for the range of parameters of tandem mirror (TMX-U and MFTF-B) experiments (Nucl. Fusion 25, 1205 (1985)). Upper limits on the allowed degree of anisotropy for existing power densitiesmore » are calculated.« less

  2. Comparing Interval Management Control Laws for Steady-State Errors and String Stability

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Weitz, Lesley A.; Swieringa, Kurt A.

    2018-01-01

    Interval Management (IM) is a future airborne spacing concept that leverages avionics to provide speed guidance to an aircraft to achieve and maintain a specified spacing interval from another aircraft. The design of a speed control law to achieve the spacing goal is a key aspect in the research and development of the IM concept. In this paper, two control laws that are used in much of the contemporary IM research are analyzed and compared to characterize steady-state errors and string stability. Numerical results are used to illustrate how the choice of control laws gains impacts the size of steady-state errors and string performance and the potential trade-offs between those performance characteristics.

  3. Characterization of the space shuttle reaction control system engine

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wilson, M. S.; Stechman, R. C.; Edelman, R. B.; Fortune, O. F.; Economos, C.

    1972-01-01

    A computer program was developed and written in FORTRAN 5 which predicts the transient and steady state performance and heat transfer characteristics of a pulsing GO2/GH2 rocket engine. This program predicts the dynamic flow and ignition characteristics which, when combined in a quasi-steady state manner with the combustion and mixing analysis program, will provide the thrust and specific impulse of the engine as a function of time. The program also predicts the transient and steady state heat transfer characteristics of the engine using various cooling concepts. The computer program, test case, and documentation are presented. The program is applicable to any system capable of utilizing the FORTRAN 4 or FORTRAN 5 language.

  4. A far-field non-reflecting boundary condition for two-dimensional wake flows

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Danowitz, Jeffrey S.; Abarbanel, Saul A.; Turkel, Eli

    1995-01-01

    Far-field boundary conditions for external flow problems have been developed based upon long-wave perturbations of linearized flow equations about a steady state far field solution. The boundary improves convergence to steady state in single-grid temporal integration schemes using both regular-time-stepping and local-time-stepping. The far-field boundary may be near the trailing edge of the body which significantly reduces the number of grid points, and therefore the computational time, in the numerical calculation. In addition the solution produced is smoother in the far-field than when using extrapolation conditions. The boundary condition maintains the convergence rate to steady state in schemes utilizing multigrid acceleration.

  5. An improved VSS NLMS algorithm for active noise cancellation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sun, Yunzhuo; Wang, Mingjiang; Han, Yufei; Zhang, Congyan

    2017-08-01

    In this paper, an improved variable step size NLMS algorithm is proposed. NLMS has fast convergence rate and low steady state error compared to other traditional adaptive filtering algorithm. But there is a contradiction between the convergence speed and steady state error that affect the performance of the NLMS algorithm. Now, we propose a new variable step size NLMS algorithm. It dynamically changes the step size according to current error and iteration times. The proposed algorithm has simple formulation and easily setting parameters, and effectively solves the contradiction in NLMS. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm has a good tracking ability, fast convergence rate and low steady state error simultaneously.

  6. Transport of a decay chain in homogenous porous media: analytical solutions.

    PubMed

    Bauer, P; Attinger, S; Kinzelbach, W

    2001-06-01

    With the aid of integral transforms, analytical solutions for the transport of a decay chain in homogenous porous media are derived. Unidirectional steady-state flow and radial steady-state flow in single and multiple porosity media are considered. At least in Laplace domain, all solutions can be written in closed analytical formulae. Partly, the solutions can also be inverted analytically. If not, analytical calculation of the steady-state concentration distributions, evaluation of temporal moments and numerical inversion are still possible. Formulae for several simple boundary conditions are given and visualized in this paper. The derived novel solutions are widely applicable and are very useful for the validation of numerical transport codes.

  7. Effect of chronic unpredictable stress on short term dietary restriction and its modulation by multivitamin-mineral supplementation.

    PubMed

    Hasan, Shirin; Fatima, Naureen; Bilal, Nayeem; Suhail, Nida; Fatima, Sabiha; Morgan, Enas N; Aldebasy, Yousef; Alzohairy, Mohammad A; Banu, Naheed

    2013-06-01

    Dietary restriction (DR) lowers steady-state levels of oxidative stress and alters behavioral, physiological and biochemical responses in mammals. However, various factors effect its application in humans like socio-cultural, appetite and the daily life stress. Physiological and psychological stress owing to fast-paced lifestyles, translates into oxidative stress. In this work, the role of chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) on the effects of short term DR in mice in terms of biochemical and oxidative stress parameters was investigated. Further, the modulatory role of multivitamin-mineral supplement (MVM) on CUS and DR induced biochemical changes was studied to delineate the role of micronutrient supplementation. DR treatment increased the antioxidant status in the circulation and liver of mice but in the presence of chronic stressors there was a significant shift towards the pro-oxidant state. A decrease was found in the activities of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione-S-transferase and glutathione reductase in the rats exposed to CUS with DR (CUS+DR), with an increased malondialdehyde and a decreased glutathione (GSH) levels as compared to the controls. Liver function enzymes-glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase and glutamate pyruvate transaminase were increased and a significant DNA damage was observed. Oral MVM supplement significantly improved this oxidative deterioration. Hence, MVM supplementation appears to potentially offer an effective intervention in the DR regimen to combat daily life physical and mental stress. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Steady-state LPO is not always reached in high-strain shear zones

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kumamoto, K. M.; Warren, J. M.

    2017-12-01

    Seismic anisotropy in the upper mantle results from the alignment of olivine crystal lattices during flow by dislocation creep. Experiments on the evolution of olivine lattice preferred orientation (LPO) as a function of shear strain have found that high strains (>10) are necessary to achieve a steady-state LPO (i.e., the dominant slip system does not change appreciably with further strain) when a pre-existing LPO is present. At lower strain ( 2), a pseudo-steady-state fabric is reached, in which the [100] axes of olivine reach a steady orientation relative to the deformation kinematics, but the [010] and [001] axes continue to evolve (e.g. Hansen et al., 2014). To constrain LPO evolution at mantle conditions, we looked at the LPO variation across three high temperature mantle shear zones in the Josephine Peridotite of SW Oregon. These shear zones provide a rare opportunity to examine LPO evolution in natural samples as a function of shear strain, due to the presence of a pyroxene foliation that serves as a strain marker. Observations of two of these shear zones are consistent with experimental observations (Warren et al., 2008; Skemer et al., 2010). Shear Zone G reaches a steady-state LPO at a strain of >20. Shear Zone P reaches a pseudo-steady-state LPO, with a consistent [100] axis orientation, at a strain of 3.5. However, a steady-state orientation is not reached in the [010] or [001] axes at the maximum strain of 5.25. The third shear zone, Shear Zone A, does not appear to reach even a pseudo-steady-state LPO, despite reaching strains >20 at its center. Instead, the dominant slip plane switches back and forth between the (010) and (001) planes with increasing strain, while the [100] axis orientations continue to evolve. Unusually, at peak strain, the [100] axes are oriented 40° past the shear plane. In contrast, the other two shear zones, along with other natural and experimental examples, have the [100] axes oriented approximately parallel to the shear direction at very high strain. The high angle of the [100] axes to the shear direction at high strain in SZA may explain angular offsets between plate motion and fast seismic direction, for instance as seen in the MELT experiment (Wolfe and Solomon, 1998). Hansen et al., 2014, EPSLSkemer et al., 2010, J. Pet. Warren et al., 2008, EPSLWolfe and Solomon, 1998, Science

  9. Stochastic pumping of non-equilibrium steady-states: how molecules adapt to a fluctuating environment.

    PubMed

    Astumian, R D

    2018-01-11

    In the absence of input energy, a chemical reaction in a closed system ineluctably relaxes toward an equilibrium state governed by a Boltzmann distribution. The addition of a catalyst to the system provides a way for more rapid equilibration toward this distribution, but the catalyst can never, in and of itself, drive the system away from equilibrium. In the presence of external fluctuations, however, a macromolecular catalyst (e.g., an enzyme) can absorb energy and drive the formation of a steady state between reactant and product that is not determined solely by their relative energies. Due to the ubiquity of non-equilibrium steady states in living systems, the development of a theory for the effects of external fluctuations on chemical systems has been a longstanding focus of non-equilibrium thermodynamics. The theory of stochastic pumping has provided insight into how a non-equilibrium steady-state can be formed and maintained in the presence of dissipation and kinetic asymmetry. This effort has been greatly enhanced by a confluence of experimental and theoretical work on synthetic molecular machines designed explicitly to harness external energy to drive non-equilibrium transport and self-assembly.

  10. Application of quasi-steady state methods to molecular motor transport on microtubules in fungal hyphae.

    PubMed

    Dauvergne, Duncan; Edelstein-Keshet, Leah

    2015-08-21

    We consider bidirectional transport of cargo by molecular motors dynein and kinesin that walk along microtubules, and/or diffuse in the cell. The motors compete to transport cargo in opposite directions with respect to microtubule polarity (towards the plus or minus end of the microtubule). In recent work, Gou et al. (2014) used a hierarchical set of models, each consisting of continuum transport equations to track the evolution of motors and their cargo (early endosomes) in the specific case of the fungus Ustilago maydis. We complement their work using a framework of quasi-steady state analysis developed by Newby and Bressloff (2010) and Bressloff and Newby (2013) to reduce the models to an approximating steady state Fokker-Plank equation. This analysis allows us to find analytic approximations to the steady state solutions in many cases where the full models are not easily solved. Consequently, we can make predictions about parameter dependence of the resulting spatial distributions. We also characterize the overall rates of bulk transport and diffusion, and how these are related to state transition parameters, motor speeds, microtubule polarity distribution, and specific assumptions made. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. A Steady State Visually Evoked Potential Investigation of Memory and Ageing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Macpherson, Helen; Pipingas, Andrew; Silberstein, Richard

    2009-01-01

    Old age is generally accompanied by a decline in memory performance. Specifically, neuroimaging and electrophysiological studies have revealed that there are age-related changes in the neural correlates of episodic and working memory. This study investigated age-associated changes in the steady state visually evoked potential (SSVEP) amplitude and…

  12. Performance Assessment of Hearing Protection and Communication Enhancement Devices: Peltor Comtac III and IV

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2015-07-01

    providing a hear-thru, or active capability while mitigating hearing loss and tinnitus caused by exposure to loud, steady-state and impulse noise. Active...loss and tinnitus caused by exposure to loud, steady-state and impulse noise. The general approach was to use ANSI standard measurement procedures

  13. Steady States of the Parametric Rotator and Pendulum

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bouzas, Antonio O.

    2010-01-01

    We discuss several steady-state rotation and oscillation modes of the planar parametric rotator and pendulum with damping. We consider a general elliptic trajectory of the suspension point for both rotator and pendulum, for the latter at an arbitrary angle with gravity, with linear and circular trajectories as particular cases. We treat the…

  14. Stream network and stream segment temperature models software

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bartholow, John

    2010-01-01

    This set of programs simulates steady-state stream temperatures throughout a dendritic stream network handling multiple time periods per year. The software requires a math co-processor and 384K RAM. Also included is a program (SSTEMP) designed to predict the steady state stream temperature within a single stream segment for a single time period.

  15. The Cost Structure of Higher Education: Implications for Governmental Policy in Steady State.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lyell, Edward H.

    The historical pattern of resource allocation in American higher education as exemplified by public colleges in Colorado was examined. The reliance upon average cost information in making resource allocation decisions was critiqued for the special problems that arise from student enrollment decline or steady state. A model of resource allocation…

  16. 46 CFR 160.174-3 - Incorporation by reference.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... by reference in this subpart are: American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) 100 Barr Harbor Drive, West Conshohocken, PA 19428-2959. ASTM C 177-85 (1993), Standard Test Method for Steady-State...—160.174-17 ASTM C 518-91, Standard Test Method for Steady-State Heat Flux Measurements and Thermal...

  17. Steady-State Squeezing in the Micromaser Cavity Field

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nayak, N.

    1996-01-01

    It is shown that the radiation field in the presently operated micromaser cavity may be squeezed when pumped with polarized atoms. The squeezing is in the steady state field corresponding to the action similar to that of the conventional micromaser, with the effect of cavity dissipation during entire t(sub c) = tau + t(sub cav).

  18. Numerical Modeling of One-Dimensional Steady-State Flow and Contaminant Transport in a Horizontally Heterogeneous Unconfined Aquifer with an Uneven Base

    EPA Science Inventory

    Algorithms and a short description of the D1_Flow program for numerical modeling of one-dimensional steady-state flow in horizontally heterogeneous aquifers with uneven sloping bases are presented. The algorithms are based on the Dupuit-Forchheimer approximations. The program per...

  19. Dynamic variation in sapwood specific conductivity in six woody species.

    Treesearch

    J.C. Domec; F.C. Meinzer; B.L. Gartner; J. Housset

    2007-01-01

    Relationships between pressure gradients and flow rates in the xylem are incompletely understood because steady-state conductivity coefficients are inadequate for predicting and interpreting flow under the non-steady-state conditions more prevalent in intact trees. The goal of this study was to determine the magnitude of deviation of trunk sapwood specific conductivity...

  20. Introducing Michaelis-Menten Kinetics through Simulation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Halkides, Christopher J.; Herman, Russell

    2007-01-01

    We describe a computer tutorial that introduces the concept of the steady state in enzyme kinetics. The tutorial allows students to produce graphs of the concentrations of free enzyme, enzyme-substrate complex, and product versus time in order to learn about the approach to steady state. By using a range of substrate concentrations and rate…

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