616 research outputs found
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Airborne Test of Laser Pump-And-Probe Technique for Assessment of Phytoplankton Photochemical Characteristics
Initial results of the airborne LIDAR measurement of photochemical quantum yield, ΦPo, and functional absorption cross-section, σPS II, of Photosystem II (PS II) are reported. NASA's AOL3 LIDAR was modified to implement short-pulse pump-and-probe (SP-P P) LIDAR measurement protocol. The prototype system is capable of measuring a pump-induced increase in probe-stimulated chlorophyll fluorescence, ΔF/Fsat, along with the acquisition of conventional LIDAR-fluorosensor products from an operational altitude of 150 m. The use of a PS II sub-saturating probe pulse increases the response signal but also results in excessive energy quenching (EEQ) affecting the ΔF/Fsat magnitude. The airborne data indicated up to a 3-fold EEQ-caused decline in ΔF/Fsat, and 2-fold variability in the EEQ rate constant over a spatial scale a few hundred kilometers. Therefore, continuous monitoring of EEQ parameters must be incorporated in the operational SP-P P protocol to provide data correction for the EEQ effect. Simultaneous airborne LIDAR measurements of ΦPo and σPS II with EEQ correction were shown to be feasible and optimal laser excitation parameters were determined. Strong daytime ΔF/Fsat decline under ambient light was found in the near-surface water layer over large aquatic areas. An example of SP-P P LIDAR measurement of phytoplankton photochemical and fluorescent characteristics in the Chesapeake Bay mouth is presented. Prospects for future SP-P P development and related problems are discussed
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Short-Pulse Pump-And-Probe Technique for Airborne Laser Assessment of Photosystem II Photochemical Characteristics
The development of a technique for laser measurement of fPhotosystem II (PS II) photochemical characteristics of phytoplankton and terrestrial vegetation from an airborne platform is described. Results of theoretical analysis and experimental study of pump-and-probe measurement of the PS II functional absorption cross-section and photochemical quantum yield are presented. The use of 10 ns probe pulses of PS II sub-saturating intensity provides a significant, up to 150-fold, increase in the fluorescence signal compared to conventional 'weak-probe' protocol. Little effect on the fluorescence yield from the probe-induced closure of PS II reaction centers is expected over the short pulse duration, and thus a relatively intense probe pulse can be used. On the other hand, a correction must be made for the probe-induced carotenoid triplet quenching and singlet-singlet annihilation. A Stern-Volmer model developed for this correction assumes a linear dependence of the quenching rate on the laser pulse fluence, which was experimentally validated. The PS II saturating pump pulse fluence (532 nm excitation) was found to be 10 and 40 mumol quanta m(-2) for phytoplankton samples and leaves of higher plants, respectively. Thirty mus was determined as the optimal delay in the pump-probe pair. Our results indicate that the short-pulse pump-and-probe measurement of PS II photochemical characteristics can be implemented from an airborne platform using existing laser and LIDAR technologies
Breakdown of scale-invariance in the coarsening of phase-separating binary fluids
We present evidence, based on lattice Boltzmann simulations, to show that the
coarsening of the domains in phase separating binary fluids is not a
scale-invariant process. Moreover we emphasise that the pathway by which phase
separation occurs depends strongly on the relation between diffusive and
hydrodynamic time scales.Comment: 4 pages, Latex, 4 eps Figures included. (higher quality Figures can
be obtained from [email protected]
Lattice Boltzmann Simulation of Non-Ideal Fluids
A lattice Boltzmann scheme able to model the hydrodynamics of phase
separation and two-phase flow is described. Thermodynamic consistency is
ensured by introducing a non-ideal pressure tensor directly into the collision
operator. We also show how an external chemical potential can be used to
supplement standard boundary conditions in order to investigate the effect of
wetting on phase separation and fluid flow in confined geometries. The approach
has the additional advantage of reducing many of the unphysical discretisation
problems common to previous lattice Boltzmann methods.Comment: 11 pages, revtex, 4 Postscript figures, uuencode
3D Spinodal Decomposition in the Inertial Regime
We simulate late-stage coarsening of a 3D symmetric binary fluid using a
lattice Boltzmann method. With reduced lengths and times l and t respectively
(scales set by viscosity, density and surface tension) our data sets cover 1 <
l
100 we find clear evidence of Furukawa's inertial scaling (l ~ t^{2/3}),
although the crossover from the viscous regime (l ~ t) is very broad. Though it
cannot be ruled out, we find no indication that Re is self-limiting (l ~
t^{1/2}) as proposed by M. Grant and K. R. Elder [Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 14
(1999)].Comment: 4 pages, 3 eps figures, RevTex, minor changes to bring in line with
published version. Mobility values added to Table
Scale invariance in coarsening of binary and ternary fluids
Phase separation in binary and ternary fluids is studied using a two
dimensional Lattice Gas Automata. The lengths, given by the the first zero
crossing point of the correlation function and the total interface length is
shown to exhibit power law dependence on time. In binary mixtures, our data
clearly indicate the existence of a regime having more than one length scale
where the coarsening process proceeds through the rupture and reassociation of
domains. In ternary fluids; in the case of symmetric mixtures there exists a
regime with a single length scale having dynamic exponent 1/2, while in
asymmetric mixtures our data establish the break down of scale invariance.Comment: 20 pages, 13 figure
Peptide location fingerprinting reveals modification-associated biomarker candidates of ageing in human tissue proteomes
Dynamics of defect formation
A dynamic symmetry-breaking transition with noise and inertia is analyzed.
Exact solution of the linearized equation that describes the critical region
allows precise calculation (exponent and prefactor) of the number of defects
produced as a function of the rate of increase of the critical parameter. The
procedure is valid in both the overdamped and underdamped limits. In one space
dimension, we perform quantitative comparison with numerical simulations of the
nonlinear nonautonomous stochastic partial differential equation and report on
signatures of underdamped dynamics.Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX, 4 figures. Submitted to Physical Revie
The second and third Sonine coefficients of a freely cooling granular gas revisited
In its simplest statistical-mechanical description, a granular fluid can be
modeled as composed of smooth inelastic hard spheres (with a constant
coefficient of normal restitution ) whose velocity distribution
function obeys the Enskog-Boltzmann equation. The basic state of a granular
fluid is the homogeneous cooling state, characterized by a homogeneous,
isotropic, and stationary distribution of scaled velocities, .
The behavior of in the domain of thermal velocities ()
can be characterized by the two first non-trivial coefficients ( and
) of an expansion in Sonine polynomials. The main goals of this paper are
to review some of the previous efforts made to estimate (and measure in
computer simulations) the -dependence of and , to report new
computer simulations results of and for two-dimensional systems,
and to investigate the possibility of proposing theoretical estimates of
and with an optimal compromise between simplicity and accuracy.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures; v2: minor change
Three-dimensional lattice-Boltzmann simulations of critical spinodal decomposition in binary immiscible fluids
We use a modified Shan-Chen, noiseless lattice-BGK model for binary
immiscible, incompressible, athermal fluids in three dimensions to simulate the
coarsening of domains following a deep quench below the spinodal point from a
symmetric and homogeneous mixture into a two-phase configuration. We find the
average domain size growing with time as , where increases
in the range , consistent with a crossover between
diffusive and hydrodynamic viscous, , behaviour. We find
good collapse onto a single scaling function, yet the domain growth exponents
differ from others' works' for similar values of the unique characteristic
length and time that can be constructed out of the fluid's parameters. This
rebuts claims of universality for the dynamical scaling hypothesis. At early
times, we also find a crossover from to in the scaled structure
function, which disappears when the dynamical scaling reasonably improves at
later times. This excludes noise as the cause for a behaviour, as
proposed by others. We also observe exponential temporal growth of the
structure function during the initial stages of the dynamics and for
wavenumbers less than a threshold value.Comment: 45 pages, 18 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review
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