Key Address on Dynaculture: Progress as a Deadly Contest

My distinguished colleagues have discussed for us t his morning several vast and vital problem areas faced by this state and this nation today. In what follows, I shall offer you a viewpoint of the current world contest and of the factors which will govern its outcome. I hope thus to provides useful background for our further discussion of these state and national problems

Key Address on Dynaculture: Progress as a Deadly Contest

My distinguished colleagues have discussed for us t his morning several vast and vital problem areas faced by this state and this nation today. In what follows, I shall offer you a viewpoint of the current world contest and of the factors which will govern its outcome. I hope thus to provides useful background for our further discussion of these state and national problems

The Electromagnetic Form Factor of the Kaon in the Light-Front Approach

The kaon electromagnetic form factor is calculated within a light-front constituent quark model (LFCQM). The electromagnetic components of the current are extracted from the Feynman triangle diagram within the light-front approach. We also obtain the electroweak decay constant and the charge radius for the kaon in the light-front approach. In this work, the kaon observables are calculated and a fairly good agreement is obtained with a very higher accuracy when compared with the experimental data.Comment: Paper with 4 pages, 1 figure, reference: XII HADRON PHYSICS Conference - to appear in AIP Conference Proceeding

Electromagnetic Structure of the Pion

In this work, we analyze the electromagnetic structure of the pion. We calculate its electromagnetic radius and electromagnetic form factor in low and intermediate momentum range. Such observables are determined by means of a theoretical model that takes into account the constituent quark and antiquark of the pion within the formalism of light-front field theory. In particular, we consider a nonsymmetrical vertex in this model, with which we calculate the electromagnetic form factor of the pion in an optimized way, so that we obtain a value closer to the experimental charge radius of the pion. The theoretical calculations are also compared with the most recent experimental data involving the pion electromagnetic form factor and the results show very good agreement.Comment: Paper with 4 pages, 1 figure, presented in XII HADRON PHYSICS Conference - to appear in AIP Conference Proceeding

A Multisensor Comparison of Ocean Wave Frequency Spectra from a Research Vessel during the Southern Ocean Gas Exchange Experiment

Obtaining accurate measurements of wave statistics from research vessels remains a challenge due to the platform motion. One principal correction is the removal of ship heave and Doppler effects from point measurements. Here, open-ocean wave measurements were collected using a laser altimeter, a Doppler radar microwave sensor, a radar-based system, and inertial measurement units. Multiple instruments were deployed to capture the low- and high-frequency sea surface displacements. Doppler and motion correction algorithms were applied to obtain a full 1D (0.035–1.3 ± 0.2 Hz) wave spectrum. The radar-based system combined with the laser altimeter provided the optimal low- and high-frequency combination, producing a frequency spectrum in the range from 0.035 to 1.2 Hz for cruising speeds ≤3 m s−1 with a spectral rolloff of f−4 Hz and noise floor of −20/−30 dB. While on station, the significant wave height estimates were comparable within 10%–15% among instrumentation. Discrepancies in the total energy and in the spectral shape between instruments arise when the ship is in motion. These differences can be quantified using the spectral behavior of the measurements, accounting for aliasing and Doppler corrections. The inertial sensors provided information on the amplitude of the ship’s modulation transfer function, which was estimated to be ~1.3 ± 0.2 while on station and increased while underway [2.1 at ship-over-ground (SOG) speed; 4.3 m s−1]. The correction scheme presented here is adequate for measurements collected at cruising speeds of 3 m s−1 or less. At speeds greater than 5 m s−1, the motion and Doppler corrections are not sufficient to correct the observed spectral degradation

Sea-to-air fluxes from measurements of the atmospheric gradient of dimethylsulfide and comparison with simultaneous relaxed eddy accumulation measurements

We measured vertical profiles of dimethylsulfide (DMS) in the atmospheric marine boundary layer from R/P FLIP during the 2000 FAIRS cruise. Applying Monin-Obukhov similarity theory to the DMS gradients and simultaneous micrometeorological data, we calculated sea-to-air DMS fluxes for 34 profiles. From the fluxes and measured seawater DMS concentrations, we calculated the waterside gas transfer velocity, kw. Gas transfer velocities from the gradient flux approach are within the range of previous commonly used parameterizations of kw as a function of wind speed but are a factor of 2 smaller than simultaneous determinations of transfer velocity using the relaxed eddy accumulation technique. This is the first field comparison of these different techniques for measuring DMS flux from the ocean; the accuracy of the techniques and possible reasons for the discrepancy are discussed

My heart is racing! Psychophysiological dynamics of skilled racecar drivers

Our purpose was to test the multi-action plan (MAP) model assumptions in which athletes’ psychophysiological patterns differ among optimal and suboptimal performance experiences. Nine professional drivers competing in premier race categories (e.g., Formula 3, Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge) completed the study. Data collection involved monitoring the drivers’ perceived hedonic tone, accuracy on core components of action, posture, skin temperature, respiration rate, and heart rate responses during a 40-lap simulated race. Time marks, gathered at three standardized sectors, served as the performance variable. The A1GP racing simulator (Allinsport, Modena) established a realistic race platform. Specifically, the Barcelona track was chosen due to its inherently difficult nature characterized by intermittent deceleration points. Idiosyncratic analyses showed large individual differences in the drivers’ psychophysiological profile, as well as distinct patterns in regards to optimal and suboptimal performance experiences. Limitations and future research avenues are discussed. Action (e.g., attentional control) and emotion (e.g., biofeedback training) centered applied sport psychology implications are advanced

Coastal mixing and optics experiment moored array data report

To investigate vertical mixing processes influencing the evolution of the stratification over continental shelves a moored array was deployed on the New England shelf from August 1996 to June 1997 as part of the Office of Naval Research's Coastal Mixing and Optics program. The array consisted of four mid-shelf sites instrumented to measure oceanic (currents, temperature, salinity, pressure, and surface gravity wave spectra) and meteorological (winds, surface heat flux, precipitation) variables. This report presents a description of the moored array, a summary of the data processing, and statistics and time-series plots summarizing the data. A report on the mooring recovery cruise and a summary of shipboard CTD surveys taken during the mooring deployment are also included.Funding was provided by the Office of Naval Research under Contract No. N00014-95-1-0339

Pion and kaon elastic form factors in a refined light-front model

Within the framework of light-front field theory, we reassess the electromagnetic form factors of the pion and kaon. Comparison with experiment is made for the full range of momentum transfer, q^2<0, including recent data. The light-front model's single regulator mass, m_R, of the \bar qq bound-state vertex function is initially adjusted to reproduce the weak decay constants, f_\pi\ and f_K, and both meson's charge radii, r_\pi\ and r_K. We study the behavior of these observables under variation of the quark masses and find an optimized parameter set, m_u=m_d, m_s and m_R, for which they are in sensibly better agreement with experiment than in a previous analysis; a feature also observed for the elastic form factors, in particular at small q^2. This model refinement is important in view of an extension to vector and heavy-light mesons.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures; minor corrections, version published in PRC C86, 038202 (2012

SIMBA: a web tool for managing bacterial genome assembly generated by Ion PGM sequencing technology

Background The evolution of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) has considerably reduced the cost per sequenced-base, allowing a significant rise of sequencing projects, mainly in prokaryotes. However, the range of available NGS platforms requires different strategies and software to correctly assemble genomes. Different strategies are necessary to properly complete an assembly project, in addition to the installation or modification of various software. This requires users to have significant expertise in these software and command line scripting experience on Unix platforms, besides possessing the basic expertise on methodologies and techniques for genome assembly. These difficulties often delay the complete genome assembly projects. Results In order to overcome this, we developed SIMBA (SImple Manager for Bacterial Assemblies), a freely available web tool that integrates several component tools for assembling and finishing bacterial genomes. SIMBA provides a friendly and intuitive user interface so bioinformaticians, even with low computational expertise, can work under a centralized administrative control system of assemblies managed by the assembly center head. SIMBA guides the users to execute assembly process through simple and interactive pages. SIMBA workflow was divided in three modules: (i) projects: allows a general vision of genome sequencing projects, in addition to data quality analysis and data format conversions; (ii) assemblies: allows de novo assemblies with the software Mira, Minia, Newbler and SPAdes, also assembly quality validations using QUAST software; and (iii) curation: presents methods to finishing assemblies through tools for scaffolding contigs and close gaps. We also presented a case study that validated the efficacy of SIMBA to manage bacterial assemblies projects sequenced using Ion Torrent PGM. Conclusion Besides to be a web tool for genome assembly, SIMBA is a complete genome assemblies project management system, which can be useful for managing of several projects in laboratories. SIMBA source code is available to download and install in local webservers at http://ufmg-simba.sourceforge.net