2,789 research outputs found
Enhanced Parallel Generation of Tree Structures for the Recognition of 3D Images
Segmentations of a digital object based on a connectivity
criterion at n-xel or sub-n-xel level are useful tools in image topological
analysis and recognition. Working with cell complex analogous of digital
objects, an example of this kind of segmentation is that obtained from
the combinatorial representation so called Homological Spanning Forest
(HSF, for short) which, informally, classifies the cells of the complex as
belonging to regions containing the maximal number of cells sharing the
same homological (algebraic homology with coefficient in a field) information.
We design here a parallel method for computing a HSF (using
homology with coefficients in Z/2Z) of a 3D digital object. If this object
is included in a 3D image of m1 × m2 × m3 voxels, its theoretical time
complexity order is near O(log(m1 + m2 + m3)), under the assumption
that a processing element is available for each voxel. A prototype implementation
validating our results has been written and several synthetic,
random and medical tridimensional images have been used for testing.
The experiments allow us to assert that the number of iterations in which
the homological information is found varies only to a small extent from
the theoretical computational time.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad MTM2016-81030-
Gating-induced large aqueous volumetric remodeling and aspartate tolerance in the voltage sensor domain of Shaker K+ channels
Indexación: Scopus.ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We thank Chris Lingle and Yu Zhou (Washington University) for critical reading of the manuscript and Victoria Prado for Xenopus care and oocyte preparation. We also thank Millennium Scientific Initiative P029-022-F. This work was supported by Fondecyt Postdoctoral Grants 3170599 (to I.D.-F.) and 3160321 (to H.M.).Neurons encode electrical signals with critically tuned voltage-gated ion channels and enzymes. Dedicated voltage sensor domains (VSDs) in these membrane proteins activate coordinately with an unresolved structural change. Such change conveys the transmembrane translocation of four positively charged arginine side chains, the voltage-sensing residues (VSRs; R1–R4). Countercharges and lipid phosphohead groups likely stabilize these VSRs within the low-dielectric core of the protein. However, the role of hydration, a sign-independent charge stabilizer, remains unclear. We replaced all VSRs and their neighboring residues with negatively charged aspartates in a voltage-gated potassium channel. The ensuing mild functional effects indicate that hydration is also important in VSR stabilization. The voltage dependency of the VSR aspartate variants approached the expected arithmetic summation of charges at VSR positions, as if negative and positive side chains faced similar pathways. In contrast, aspartates introduced between R2 and R3 did not affect voltage dependence as if the side chains moved outside the electric field or together with it, undergoing a large displacement and volumetric remodeling. Accordingly, VSR performed osmotic work at both internal and external aqueous interfaces. Individual VSR contributions to volumetric works approached arithmetical additivity but were largely dissimilar. While R1 and R4 displaced small volumes, R2 and R3 volumetric works were massive and vectorially opposed, favoring large aqueous remodeling during VSD activation. These diverse volumetric works are, at least for R2 and R3, not compatible with VSR translocation across a unique stationary charge transfer center. Instead, VSRs may follow separated pathways across a fluctuating low-dielectric septum. © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.https://www.pnas.org/content/115/32/820
Kinematics of gas and stars in circumnuclear star-forming regions of early type spirals
(Abbr.) We present high resolution (R~20000) spectra in the blue and the far
red of cicumnuclear star-forming regions (CNSFRs) in three early type spirals
(NGC3351, NGC2903 and NGC3310) which have allowed the study of the kinematics
of stars and ionized gas in these structures and, for the first time, the
derivation of their dynamical masses for the first two. In some cases these
regions, about 100 to 150 pc in size, are seen to be composed of several
individual star clusters with sizes between 1.5 and 4.9 pc estimated from
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images. The stellar dispersions have been obtained
from the Calcium triplet (CaT) lines at 8494,8542,8662 \AA,
while the gas velocity dispersions have been measured by Gaussian fits to the
H and [OIII] 5007 \AA lines on the high dispersion
spectra. Values of the stellar velocity dispersions are between 30 and 68 km/s.
We apply the virial theorem to estimate dynamical masses of the clusters,
assuming that systems are gravitationally bounded and spherically symmetric,
and using previously measured sizes. The measured values of the stellar
velocity dispersions yield dynamical masses of the order of 10 to 10
solar masses for the whole CNSFRs. Stellar and gas velocity dispersions are
found to differ by about 20 to 30 km/s with the H emission lines being
narrower than both the stellar lines and the [OIII] 5007 \AA
lines. The twice ionized oxygen, on the other hand, shows velocity dispersions
comparable to those shown by stars, in some cases, even larger. We have found
indications of the presence of two different kinematical components in the
ionized gas of the regions...Comment: 4 pages, proceeding of the meeting "Young massive star clusters -
Initial conditions and environments", Granada, Spain, 200
Simulation Platform for Coordinated Charging of Electric Vehicles
EMERALD is a project funded by the European Commission under the FP7 program focusing on energy use optimization on the integration of the FEVs into the transport and energy infrastructure. Between the objectives of EMERALD, enhanced power demand prediction and power flow support management system uses the power flow demand simulation platform considered in this paper. The power flow demand simulation platform is a software tool that defines the estimation of FEVs power demand according to different conditions as, arrival and departure curves, the estimation of power production based on renewable energy sources and the electricity cost. The tool coordinates scheduling for charging of FEVs in order to minimize the recharging cost, considering the energy balance between the generation and demand powerEuropean commission's FP
Cooperative Simulation Tool with the Energy Management System for the Storage of Electricity Surplus through Hydrogen
The INGRID project aims at demonstrating the effective usage of safe, high-density, solid-state hydrogen storage systems for power supply and demand balancing within active power distribution grids with high penetration of intermittent Distributed Generation (Renewable Energy Sources in particular.) The INGRID simulator is divided in two main blocks: the first one represents the Energy Management System, the second one includes the Green Energy Storage System (water electrolyzer, hydrogen solid-storage systems and fuel cell) created to simulate the plant. This paper describes the modules of INGRID simulator and the transient responses of the system for an energy management system virtual according to the power prediction of renewable energy sources, hydrogen demand and the power demand of electric vehiclesEuropean Commission's FP
Bound states of scalar particles in the presence of a short range potential
We analyze the behavior of the energy spectrum of the Klein-Gordon equation
in the presence of a truncated hyperbolic tangent potential. From our analysis
we obtain that, for some values of the potential there is embedding of the
bound states into the negative energy continuum, showing that, in opposition to
the general belief, relativistic scalar particles in one-dimensional short
range potentials can exhibit resonant behavior and not only the Schiff-Snyder
effect.Comment: To appear in Modern Physics Letters
The Big Trip and Wheeler-DeWitt equation
Of all the possible ways to describe the behavior of the universe that has
undergone a big trip the Wheeler-DeWitt equation should be the most accurate --
provided, of course, that we employ the correct formulation. In this article we
start by discussing the standard formulation introduced by Gonz\'alez-D\'iaz
and Jimenez-Madrid, and show that it allows for a simple yet efficient method
of the solution's generation, which is based on the Moutard transformation.
Next, by shedding the unnecessary restrictions, imposed on aforementioned
standard formulation we introduce a more general form of the Wheeler-DeWitt
equation. One immediate prediction of this new formula is that for the universe
the probability to emerge right after the big trip in a state with will
be maximal if and only if .Comment: accepted in Astrophysics and Space Scienc
A graceful multiversal link of particle physics to cosmology
In this paper we work out a multiverse scenario whose physical
characteristics enable us to advance the following the conjecture that whereas
the physics of particles and fields is confined to live in the realm of the
whole multiverse formed by finite-time single universes, that for our
observable universe must be confined just in one of the infinite number of
universes of the multiverse when such a universe is consistently referred to an
infinite cosmic time. If this conjecture is adopted then some current
fundamental problems that appear when one tries to make compatible particle
physics and cosmology- such as that for the cosmological constant, the arrow of
time and the existence of a finite proper size of the event horizon- can be
solved.Comment: 10 pages, LaTe
Soil and water pollution in a banana production region in tropical Mexico
The effects of abundant Mancozeb (Mn, Zn— bisdithiocarbamate) applications (2.5 kg ha-1week-1 for 10 years) on soil and surface-, subsurface- and groundwater pollution were monitored in a banana production region of tropical Mexico. In soils, severe manganese accumulation was observed, wheras the main metabolite ethylenethiourea was near the detection limit. Surface and subsurface water was highly polluted with ethylenethiourea, the main metabolite of Mancozeb (22.5 and 4.3 lg L-1, respectively), but not with manganese. In deep ground water, no ethylenethiourea was detected. The level of pollution in the region presents a worrisome risk for aquatic life and for human health
Astronomical bounds on future big freeze singularity
Recently it was found that dark energy in the form of phantom generalized
Chaplygin gas may lead to a new form of the cosmic doomsday, the big freeze
singularity. Like the big rip singularity, the big freeze singularity would
also take place at a finite future cosmic time, but unlike the big rip
singularity it happens for a finite scale factor.Our goal is to test if a
universe filled with phantom generalized Chaplygin gas can conform to the data
of astronomical observations. We shall see that if the universe is only filled
with generalized phantom Chaplygin gas with equation of state
with , then such a model cannot be matched
to the data of astronomical observations. To construct matched models one
actually need to add dark matter. This procedure results in cosmological
scenarios which do not contradict the data of astronomical observations and
allows one to estimate how long we are now from the future big freeze doomsday.Comment: 8 page
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