77 research outputs found
Minimum time aircraft trajectories between two points in range altitude space
Calculus of variations used to determine minimum time aircraft trajectories between two fixed points in range-altitude spac
Mutual Zonated Interactions of Wnt and Hh Signaling Are Orchestrating the Metabolism of the Adult Liver in Mice and Human
The Hedgehog (Hh) and Wnt/β-Catenin (Wnt) cascades are morphogen pathways whose pronounced influence on adult liver metabolism has been identified in recent years. How both pathways communicate and control liver metabolic functions are largely unknown. Detecting core components of Wnt and Hh signaling and mathematical modeling showed that both pathways in healthy liver act largely complementary to each other in the pericentral (Wnt) and the periportal zone (Hh) and communicate mainly by mutual repression. The Wnt/Hh module inversely controls the spatiotemporal operation of various liver metabolic pathways, as revealed by transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome analyses. Shifting the balance to Wnt (activation) or Hh (inhibition) causes pericentralization and periportalization of liver functions, respectively. Thus, homeostasis of the Wnt/Hh module is essential for maintaining proper liver metabolism and to avoid the development of certain metabolic diseases. With caution due to minor species-specific differences, these conclusions may hold for human liver as well
An Optical Lattice Clock with Spin-polarized 87Sr Atoms
We present a new evaluation of an 87Sr optical lattice clock using spin
polarized atoms. The frequency of the 1S0-3P0 clock transition is found to be
429 228 004 229 873.6 Hz with a fractional accuracy of 2.6 10^{-15}, a value
that is comparable to the frequency difference between the various primary
standards throughout the world. This measurement is in excellent agreement with
a previous one of similar accuracy
Forecasting the SST space-time variability of the Alboran Sea with genetic algorithms
We propose a nonlinear ocean forecasting technique based on a combination of
genetic algorithms and empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis. The method
is used to forecast the space-time variability of the sea surface temperature
(SST) in the Alboran Sea. The genetic algorithm finds the equations that best
describe the behaviour of the different temporal amplitude functions in the EOF
decomposition and, therefore, enables global forecasting of the future
time-variability.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures; latex compiled with agums.st
Turing instabilities in a mathematical model for signaling networks
GTPase molecules are important regulators in cells that continuously run
through an activation/deactivation and membrane-attachment/membrane-detachment
cycle. Activated GTPase is able to localize in parts of the membranes and to
induce cell polarity. As feedback loops contribute to the GTPase cycle and as
the coupling between membrane-bound and cytoplasmic processes introduces
different diffusion coefficients a Turing mechanism is a natural candidate for
this symmetry breaking. We formulate a mathematical model that couples a
reaction-diffusion system in the inner volume to a reaction-diffusion system on
the membrane via a flux condition and an attachment/detachment law at the
membrane. We present a reduction to a simpler non-local reaction-diffusion
model and perform a stability analysis and numerical simulations for this
reduction. Our model in principle does support Turing instabilities but only if
the lateral diffusion of inactivated GTPase is much faster than the diffusion
of activated GTPase.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures; The final publication is available at
http://www.springerlink.com http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00285-011-0495-
On elliptic solutions of the cubic complex one-dimensional Ginzburg-Landau equation
The cubic complex one-dimensional Ginzburg-Landau equation is considered.
Using the Hone's method, based on the use of the Laurent-series solutions and
the residue theorem, we have proved that this equation has neither elliptic
standing wave nor elliptic travelling wave solutions. This result amplifies the
Hone's result, that this equation has no elliptic travelling wave solutions.Comment: LaTeX, 12 page
Dewetting of thin films on heterogeneous substrates: Pinning vs. coarsening
We study a model for a thin liquid film dewetting from a periodic
heterogeneous substrate (template). The amplitude and periodicity of a striped
template heterogeneity necessary to obtain a stable periodic stripe pattern,
i.e. pinning, are computed. This requires a stabilization of the longitudinal
and transversal modes driving the typical coarsening dynamics during dewetting
of a thin film on a homogeneous substrate. If the heterogeneity has a larger
spatial period than the critical dewetting mode, weak heterogeneities are
sufficient for pinning. A large region of coexistence between coarsening
dynamics and pinning is found.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
New Limits on Coupling of Fundamental Constants to Gravity Using Sr Optical Lattice Clocks
The - clock transition frequency
in neutral Sr has been measured relative to the Cs
standard by three independent laboratories in Boulder, Paris, and Tokyo over
the last three years. The agreement on the level makes
the best agreed-upon optical atomic frequency. We combine
periodic variations in the Sr clock frequency with Hg and
H-maser data to test Local Position Invariance by obtaining the strongest
limits to date on gravitational-coupling coefficients for the fine-structure
constant , electron-proton mass ratio and light quark mass.
Furthermore, after Hg, Yb and H, we add Sr as
the fourth optical atomic clock species to enhance constraints on yearly drifts
of and .Comment: Published version. 4 pages, 4 figure
Branch-and-lift algorithm for deterministic global optimization in nonlinear optimal control
This paper presents a branch-and-lift algorithm for solving optimal control problems with smooth nonlinear dynamics and potentially nonconvex objective and constraint functionals to guaranteed global optimality. This algorithm features a direct sequential method and builds upon a generic, spatial branch-and-bound algorithm. A new operation, called lifting, is introduced, which refines the control parameterization via a Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization process, while simultaneously eliminating control subregions that are either infeasible or that provably cannot contain any global optima. Conditions are given under which the image of the control parameterization error in the state space contracts exponentially as the parameterization order is increased, thereby making the lifting operation efficient. A computational technique based on ellipsoidal calculus is also developed that satisfies these conditions. The practical applicability of branch-and-lift is illustrated in a numerical example. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Spatial Modeling of Vesicle Transport and the Cytoskeleton: The Challenge of Hitting the Right Road
The membrane trafficking machinery provides a transport and sorting system for many cellular proteins. We propose a mechanistic agent-based computer simulation to integrate and test the hypothesis of vesicle transport embedded into a detailed model cell. The method tracks both the number and location of the vesicles. Thus both the stochastic properties due to the low numbers and the spatial aspects are preserved. The underlying molecular interactions that control the vesicle actions are included in a multi-scale manner based on the model of Heinrich and Rapoport (2005). By adding motor proteins we can improve the recycling process of SNAREs and model cell polarization. Our model also predicts that coat molecules should have a high turnover at the compartment membranes, while the turnover of motor proteins has to be slow. The modular structure of the underlying model keeps it tractable despite the overall complexity of the vesicle system. We apply our model to receptor-mediated endocytosis and show how a polarized cytoskeleton structure leads to polarized distributions in the plasma membrane both of SNAREs and the Ste2p receptor in yeast. In addition, we can couple signal transduction and membrane trafficking steps in one simulation, which enables analyzing the effect of receptor-mediated endocytosis on signaling
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