4,188 research outputs found
Going nuclear: gene family evolution and vertebrate phylogeny reconciled
Gene duplications have been common throughout vertebrate evolution, introducing paralogy and so complicating phylogenctic inference from nuclear genes. Reconciled trees are one method capable of dealing with paralogy, using the relationship between a gene phylogeny and the phylogeny of the organisms containing those genes to identify gene duplication events. This allows us to infer phylogenies from gene families containing both orthologous and paralogous copies. Vertebrate phylogeny is well understood from morphological and palaeontological data, but studies using mitochondrial sequence data have failed to reproduce this classical view. Reconciled tree analysis of a database of 118 vertebrate gene families supports a largely classical vertebrate phylogeny
Plate-impact loading of cellular structures formed by selective laser melting
Porous materials are of great interest because of improved energy absorption over their solid counterparts. Their properties, however, have been difficult to optimize. Additive manufacturing has emerged as a potential technique to closely define the structure and properties of porous components, i.e. density, strut width and pore size; however, the behaviour of these materials at very high impact energies remains largely unexplored. We describe an initial study of the dynamic compression response of lattice materials fabricated through additive manufacturing. Lattices consisting of an array of intersecting stainless steel rods were fabricated into discs using selective laser melting. The resulting discs were impacted against solid stainless steel targets at velocities ranging from 300 to 700 m s-1 using a gas gun. Continuum CTH simulations were performed to identify key features in the measured wave profiles, while 3D simulations, in which the individual cells were modelled, revealed details of microscale deformation during collapse of the lattice structure. The validated computer models have been used to provide an understanding of the deformation processes in the cellular samples. The study supports the optimization of cellular structures for application as energy absorbers. © 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd
90GHz and 150GHz observations of the Orion M42 region. A sub-millimeter to radio analysis
We have used the new 90GHz MUSTANG camera on the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank
Telescope (GBT) to map the bright Huygens region of the star-forming region M42
with a resolution of 9" and a sensitivity of 2.8mJy/beam. 90GHz is an
interesting transition frequency, as MUSTANG detects both the free-free
emission characteristic of the HII region created by the Trapezium stars,
normally seen at lower frequencies, and thermal dust emission from the
background OMC1 molecular cloud, normally mapped at higher frequencies. We also
present similar data from the 150GHz GISMO camera taken on the IRAM telescope.
This map has 15" resolution. By combining the MUSTANG data with 1.4, 8, and
21GHz radio data from the VLA and GBT, we derive a new estimate of the emission
measure (EM) averaged electron temperature of Te = 11376K by an original method
relating free-free emission intensities at optically thin and optically thick
frequencies. Combining ISO-LWS data with our data, we derive a new estimate of
the dust temperature and spectral emissivity index within the 80" ISO-LWS beam
toward OrionKL/BN, Td = 42K and Beta=1.3. We show that both Td and Beta
decrease when going from the HII region and excited OMC1 interface to the
denser UV shielded part of OMC1 (OrionKL/BN, Orion S). With a model consisting
of only free-free and thermal dust emission we are able to fit data taken at
frequencies from 1.5GHz to 854GHz.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, submitted to the Astrophysical Journa
The Einstein 3-form G_a and its equivalent 1-form L_a in Riemann-Cartan space
The definition of the Einstein 3-form G_a is motivated by means of the
contracted 2nd Bianchi identity. This definition involves at first the complete
curvature 2-form. The 1-form L_a is defined via G_a = L^b \wedge #(o_b \wedge
o_a). Here # denotes the Hodge-star, o_a the coframe, and \wedge the exterior
product. The L_a is equivalent to the Einstein 3-form and represents a certain
contraction of the curvature 2-form. A variational formula of Salgado on
quadratic invariants of the L_a 1-form is discussed, generalized, and put into
proper perspective.Comment: LaTeX, 13 Pages. To appear in Gen. Rel. Gra
Using Geospatial Information Technologies to Identify Factors Affecting Grazing Distribution on Grasslands
The relationship between environmental and management factors and grazing livestock distribution is fundamental to understanding and improving grazing systems. With the advent of geospatial information technologies, global positioning systems (GPS) and geographic information systems (GIS) have been used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of quantifying the distribution of livestock grazing in response to various independent variables (Bailey et al., 2001). The specific objective of this project was to develop a tool that enables managers and students to identify and study the effect of management and environmental factors on grazing livestock distribution
MUSTANG: 90 GHz Science with the Green Bank Telescope
MUSTANG is a 90 GHz bolometer camera built for use as a facility instrument
on the 100 m Robert C. Byrd Green Bank radio telescope (GBT). MUSTANG has an 8
by 8 focal plane array of transition edge sensor bolometers read out using
time-domain multiplexed SQUID electronics. As a continuum instrument on a large
single dish MUSTANG has a combination of high resolution (8") and good
sensitivity to extended emission which make it very competitive for a wide
range of galactic and extragalactic science. Commissioning finished in January
2008 and some of the first science data have been collected.Comment: 9 Pages, 5 figures, Presented at the SPIE conference on astronomical
instrumentation in 200
Microphase separation in Pr0.67Ca0.33MnO3 by small angle neutron scattering
We have evidenced by small angle neutron scattering at low temperature the
coexistence of ferromagnetism (F) and antiferromagnetism (AF) in
Pr0.67Ca0.33MnO3. The results are compared to those obtained in
Pr0.80Ca0.20MnO3 and Pr0.63Ca0.37MnO3, which are F and AF respectively.
Quantitative analysis shows that the small angle scattering is not due to a
mesoscopic mixing but to a nanoscopic electronic and magnetic ''red cabbage''
structure, in which the ferromagnetic phase exists in form of thin layers in
the AF matrix (stripes or 2D ''sheets'').Comment: 4 figure
Phases saturation control on mixing driven reactions in 3D porous media
Transported chemical reactions in unsaturated porous media are relevant
across a range of environmental and industrial applications. Continuum scale
dispersive models are often based on equivalent parameters derived from analogy
with saturated conditions, and cannot appropriately account for processes such
as incomplete mixing. It is also unclear how the third dimension controls
mixing and reactions in unsaturated conditions. We obtain 3 experimental
images of the phases distribution and of transported chemical reaction by
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) using an immiscible non-wetting liquid as a
second phase and a fast irreversible bimolecular reaction. Keeping the P\'eclet
number (Pe) constant, we study the impact of phases saturation on the dynamics
of mixing and the reaction front. By measuring the local concentration of the
reaction product, we quantify temporally resolved effective reaction rate
(). We describe the temporal evolution of using the lamellar theory of
mixing, which explains faster than Fickian () rate of product
formation by accounting for the deformation of mixing interface between the two
reacting fluids. For a given Pe, although stretching and folding of the
reactive front are enhanced as saturation decreases, enhancing the product
formation, this is larger as saturation increases, i.e., volume controlled.
After breakthrough, the extinction of the reaction takes longer as saturation
decreases because of the larger non-mixed volume behind the front. These
results are the basis for a general model to better predict reactive transport
in unsaturated porous media not achievable by the current continuum paradigm
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