568 research outputs found
The development of a program analysis environment for Ada
A unit level, Ada software module testing system, called Query Utility Environment for Software Testing of Ada (QUEST/Ada), is described. The project calls for the design and development of a prototype system. QUEST/Ada design began with a definition of the overall system structure and a description of component dependencies. The project team was divided into three groups to resolve the preliminary designs of the parser/scanner: the test data generator, and the test coverage analyzer. The Phase 1 report is a working document from which the system documentation will evolve. It provides history, a guide to report sections, a literature review, the definition of the system structure and high level interfaces, descriptions of the prototype scope, the three major components, and the plan for the remainder of the project. The appendices include specifications, statistics, two papers derived from the current research, a preliminary users' manual, and the proposal and work plan for Phase 2
A Conserved DNA Repeat Promotes Selection of a Diverse Repertoire of Trypanosoma brucei Surface Antigens from the Genomic Archive.
African trypanosomes are mammalian pathogens that must regularly change their protein coat to survive in the host bloodstream. Chronic trypanosome infections are potentiated by their ability to access a deep genomic repertoire of Variant Surface Glycoprotein (VSG) genes and switch from the expression of one VSG to another. Switching VSG expression is largely based in DNA recombination events that result in chromosome translocations between an acceptor site, which houses the actively transcribed VSG, and a donor gene, drawn from an archive of more than 2,000 silent VSGs. One element implicated in these duplicative gene conversion events is a DNA repeat of approximately 70 bp that is found in long regions within each BES and short iterations proximal to VSGs within the silent archive. Early observations showing that 70-bp repeats can be recombination boundaries during VSG switching led to the prediction that VSG-proximal 70-bp repeats provide recombinatorial homology. Yet, this long held assumption had not been tested and no specific function for the conserved 70-bp repeats had been demonstrated. In the present study, the 70-bp repeats were genetically manipulated under conditions that induce gene conversion. In this manner, we demonstrated that 70-bp repeats promote access to archival VSGs. Synthetic repeat DNA sequences were then employed to identify the length, sequence, and directionality of repeat regions required for this activity. In addition, manipulation of the 70-bp repeats allowed us to observe a link between VSG switching and the cell cycle that had not been appreciated. Together these data provide definitive support for the long-standing hypothesis that 70-bp repeats provide recombinatorial homology during switching. Yet, the fact that silent archival VSGs are selected under these conditions suggests the 70-bp repeats also direct DNA pairing and recombination machinery away from the closest homologs (silent BESs) and toward the rest of the archive
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Speaking out about gender imbalance in invited speakers improves diversity.
Omissions of qualified women scientists from major meeting programs continue to occur despite a surge in articles indicating persistent gender-discriminatory practices in hiring and promotion, and calls for gender balance in conference organizing committees
The management of extensor mechanism complications in total knee arthroplasty: AAOS Exhibit selection
Parametric Forcing of Waves with Non-Monotonic Dispersion Relation: Domain Structures in Ferrofluids?
Surface waves on ferrofluids exposed to a dc-magnetic field exhibit a
non-monotonic dispersion relation. The effect of a parametric driving on such
waves is studied within suitable coupled Ginzburg-Landau equations. Due to the
non-monotonicity the neutral curve for the excitation of standing waves can
have up to three minima. The stability of the waves with respect to long-wave
perturbations is determined a phase-diffusion equation. It shows that the
band of stable wave numbers can split up into two or three sub-bands. The
resulting competition between the wave numbers corresponding to the respective
sub-bands leads quite naturally to patterns consisting of multiple domains of
standing waves which differ in their wave number. The coarsening dynamics of
such domain structures is addressed.Comment: 23 pages, 6 postscript figures, composed using RevTeX. Submitted to
PR
Scarred Patterns in Surface Waves
Surface wave patterns are investigated experimentally in a system geometry
that has become a paradigm of quantum chaos: the stadium billiard. Linear waves
in bounded geometries for which classical ray trajectories are chaotic are
known to give rise to scarred patterns. Here, we utilize parametrically forced
surface waves (Faraday waves), which become progressively nonlinear beyond the
wave instability threshold, to investigate the subtle interplay between
boundaries and nonlinearity. Only a subset (three main types) of the computed
linear modes of the stadium are observed in a systematic scan. These correspond
to modes in which the wave amplitudes are strongly enhanced along paths
corresponding to certain periodic ray orbits. Many other modes are found to be
suppressed, in general agreement with a prediction by Agam and Altshuler based
on boundary dissipation and the Lyapunov exponent of the associated orbit.
Spatially asymmetric or disordered (but time-independent) patterns are also
found even near onset. As the driving acceleration is increased, the
time-independent scarred patterns persist, but in some cases transitions
between modes are noted. The onset of spatiotemporal chaos at higher forcing
amplitude often involves a nonperiodic oscillation between spatially ordered
and disordered states. We characterize this phenomenon using the concept of
pattern entropy. The rate of change of the patterns is found to be reduced as
the state passes temporarily near the ordered configurations of lower entropy.
We also report complex but highly symmetric (time-independent) patterns far
above onset in the regime that is normally chaotic.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures (low resolution gif files). Updated and added
references and text. For high resolution images:
http://physics.clarku.edu/~akudrolli/stadium.htm
Wound-up phase turbulence in the Complex Ginzburg-Landau equation
We consider phase turbulent regimes with nonzero winding number in the
one-dimensional Complex Ginzburg-Landau equation. We find that phase turbulent
states with winding number larger than a critical one are only transients and
decay to states within a range of allowed winding numbers. The analogy with the
Eckhaus instability for non-turbulent waves is stressed. The transition from
phase to defect turbulence is interpreted as an ergodicity breaking transition
which occurs when the range of allowed winding numbers vanishes. We explain the
states reached at long times in terms of three basic states, namely
quasiperiodic states, frozen turbulence states, and riding turbulence states.
Justification and some insight into them is obtained from an analysis of a
phase equation for nonzero winding number: rigidly moving solutions of this
equation, which correspond to quasiperiodic and frozen turbulence states, are
understood in terms of periodic and chaotic solutions of an associated system
of ordinary differential equations. A short report of some of our results has
been published in [Montagne et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 267 (1996)].Comment: 22 pages, 15 figures included. Uses subfigure.sty (included) and
epsf.tex (not included). Related research in
http://www.imedea.uib.es/Nonlinea
Amplitude equations and pattern selection in Faraday waves
We present a systematic nonlinear theory of pattern selection for parametric
surface waves (Faraday waves), not restricted to fluids of low viscosity. A
standing wave amplitude equation is derived from the Navier-Stokes equations
that is of gradient form. The associated Lyapunov function is calculated for
different regular patterns to determine the selected pattern near threshold.
For fluids of large viscosity, the selected wave pattern consists of parallel
stripes. At lower viscosity, patterns of square symmetry are obtained in the
capillary regime (large frequencies). At lower frequencies (the mixed
gravity-capillary regime), a sequence of six-fold (hexagonal), eight-fold, ...
patterns are predicted. The regions of stability of the various patterns are in
quantitative agreement with recent experiments conducted in large aspect ratio
systems.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, Revte
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