2,662 research outputs found
The structure of borders in a small world
Geographic borders are not only essential for the effective functioning of
government, the distribution of administrative responsibilities and the
allocation of public resources, they also influence the interregional flow of
information, cross-border trade operations, the diffusion of innovation and
technology, and the spatial spread of infectious diseases. However, as growing
interactions and mobility across long distances, cultural, and political
borders continue to amplify the small world effect and effectively decrease the
relative importance of local interactions, it is difficult to assess the
location and structure of effective borders that may play the most significant
role in mobility-driven processes. The paradigm of spatially coherent
communities may no longer be a plausible one, and it is unclear what structures
emerge from the interplay of interactions and activities across spatial scales.
Here we analyse a multi-scale proxy network for human mobility that
incorporates travel across a few to a few thousand kilometres. We determine an
effective system of geographically continuous borders implicitly encoded in
multi-scale mobility patterns. We find that effective large scale boundaries
define spatially coherent subdivisions and only partially coincide with
administrative borders. We find that spatial coherence is partially lost if
only long range traffic is taken into account and show that prevalent models
for multi-scale mobility networks cannot account for the observed patterns.
These results will allow for new types of quantitative, comparative analyses of
multi-scale interaction networks in general and may provide insight into a
multitude of spatiotemporal phenomena generated by human activity.Comment: 9 page
An IoT System that Combines Externally Sourced and Public Sensor Data with Internal Enterprise Sensor Data for Action Determination
Currently business users rely a lot on their digital calendars and personal data to coordinate their schedules with co workers as well as business contacts outside of the enterprise where they work. For many other work tasks oriented around communication, collaboration, information gathering and productivity, there are a myriad of software tools and applications. Such tools and applications now include enterprise social networking applications and public sensor data, which allow business users to connect and share information with colleagues in new and more timely ways
Sulfur cycling and metabolism of phototrophic and filamentous sulfur bacteria
Phototrophic sulfur bacteria taken from different habitate (Alum Rock State Park, Palo Alto salt marsh, and Big Soda Lake) were grown on selective media, characterized by morphological and pigment analysis, and compared with bacteria maintained in pure culture. A study was made of the anaerobic reduction of intracellular sulfur globules by a phototrophic sulfur bacterium (Chromatium vinosum) and a filamentous aerobic sulfur bacterium (Beggiatoa alba). Buoyant densities of different bacteria were measured in Percoll gradients. This method was also used to separate different chlorobia in mixed cultures and to assess the relative homogeneity of cultures taken directly or enriched from natural samples (including the purple bacterial layer found at a depth of 20 meters at Big Soda Lake.) Interactions between sulfide oxidizing bacteria were studied
On Quantum Mechanical Aspects of Microtubules
We discuss possible quantum mechanical aspects of MicroTubules (MT), based on
recent developments in quantum physics.We focus on potential mechanisms for
`energy-loss-free' transport along the microtubules, which could be considered
as realizations of Fr\"ohlich's ideas on the r\^ole of solitons for
superconductivity and/or biological matter. By representing the MT arrangements
as cavities,we present a novel scenario on the formation of macroscopic (or
mesoscopic) quantum-coherent states, as a result of the
(quantum-electromagnetic) interactions of the MT dimers with the surrounding
molecules of the ordered water in the interior of the MT cylinders. We suggest
specific experiments to test the above-conjectured quantum nature of the
microtubular arrangements inside the cell. These experiments are similar in
nature to those in atomic physics, used in the detection of the Rabi-Vacuum
coupling between coherent cavity modes and atoms. Our conjecture is that a
similar Rabi-Vacuum-splitting phenomenon occurs in the MT case.Comment: 26 pages LATEX (minor typos corrected no effect on conclusions
Parameter evaluation in Michaelis-menten kinetics.
Parameter estimation reliability in enzyme kinetics depends upon the substrate range concentrations under assay. An inappropriate concentration set may lead to spurious values of km and Vmax in the Michaelis-Menten approach. In this paper, the theoretical arguments for a practical criterium concerning the best work range of substrate concentration are discussed on a velocity ratio basis (V1/Vn) as response to the pertinent substrate concentration ratio (S1/Sn)
Anticipatory Product Development Using Design Suggestions
Generally, the present disclosure is directed to determining an optimal solution for building and/or designing a multi-dimensional product. In particular, in some implementations, the systems and methods of the present disclosure can include or otherwise leverage one or more machine-learned models to predict an optimal design solution for building and/or designing a product based on design characteristics and information relating to existing designs
Complexity of energy release during the Imperial Valley, California, earthquake of 1940
The pattern of energy release during the Imperial Valley, California, earthquake of 1940 is studied by analyzing the El Centro strong motion seismograph record and records from the Tinemaha seismograph station, 546 km from the epicenter. The earthquake was a multiple event sequence with at least 4 events recorded at El Centro in the first 25 seconds, followed by 9 events recorded in the next 5 minutes. Clear P, S, and surface waves were observed on the strong motion record. Although the main part of the earthquake energy was released during the first 15 seconds, some of the later events were as large as M = 5.8 and thus are important for earthquake engineering studies. The moment calculated using Fourier analysis of surface waves agrees with the moment estimated from field measurements of fault offset after the earthquake. The earthquake engineering significance of the complex pattern of energy release is discussed. It is concluded that a cumulative increase in amplitudes of building vibration resulting from the present sequence of shocks would be significant only for structures with relatively long natural period of vibration. However, progressive weakening effects may also lead to greater damage for multiple event earthquakes
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