37,453 research outputs found
Mobile terminal equipment design utilising split-loop phase-lock techniques
The design and resultant performance of the terminal equipment in a mobile satellite system is vitally important in respect to the overall cost/performance compromise of the whole system. Improvements in system performance which also result in a reduction of the equipment cost are rare. However, this paper details a significant advance in terminal design, utilizing a novel form of 'split-loop' phase locked receiver/downconverter system to enable an accurate, stable and wide coverage terminal to be realized at a reduced cost. The system has the capability of automatically locking onto any carrier within a complete transponder, and can cope with severe amplitude modulation and fading effects
A model-based constraint on CO<sub>2</sub> fertilisation
We derive a constraint on the strength of CO2 fertilisation of the terrestrial biosphere through a âtop-downâ approach, calibrating Earth system model parameters constrained by the post-industrial increase of atmospheric CO2 concentration. We derive a probabilistic prediction for the globally averaged strength of CO2 fertilisation in nature, for the period 1850 to 2000 AD, implicitly net of other limiting factors such as nutrient availability. The approach yields an estimate that is independent of CO2 enrichment experiments. To achieve this, an essential requirement was the incorpo- ration of a land use change (LUC) scheme into the GENIE Earth system model. Using output from a 671-member ensemble of transient GENIE simulations, we build an emulator of the change in atmospheric CO2 concentration change since the preindustrial period. We use this emulator to sample the 28-dimensional input parameter space. A Bayesian calibration of the emulator output suggests that the increase in gross primary productivity (GPP) in response to a doubling of CO2 from preindustrial values is very likely (90 % confidence) to exceed 20 %, with a most likely value of 40â60 %. It is important to note that we do not represent all of the possible contributing mechanisms to the terrestrial sink. The missing processes are subsumed into our calibration of CO2 fertilisation, which therefore represents the combined effect of CO2 fertilisation and additional missing processes. If the missing processes are a net sink then our estimate represents an upper bound. We derive calibrated estimates of carbon fluxes that are consistent with existing estimates. The present-day landâatmosphere flux (1990â2000) is estimated at â0.7 GTC yrâ1 (likely, 66 % confidence, in the range 0.4 to â1.7 GTC yrâ1). The present-day oceanâatmosphere flux (1990â2000) is estimated to be â2.3 GTC yrâ1 (likely in the range â1.8 to â2.7 GTC yrâ1). We estimate cumulative net land emissions over the post-industrial period (land use change emissions net of the CO2 fertilisation and climate sinks) to be 66 GTC, likely to lie in the range 0 to 128 GTC
The role of HER1-HER4 and EGFRvIII in hormone-refractory prostate cancer
<b>Purpose</b>: The role of the type I receptor tyrosine kinase (HER) family in progression of prostate cancer is controversial. Breast cancer studies show that these receptors should be investigated as a family. The current study investigates expression of HER1-HER4 and EGFRvIII in matched hormone-sensitive and hormone-refractory prostate tumors.
<b>Experimental Design</b>: Immunohistochemical analysis was used to investigate protein expression of HER1-HER4, EGFRvIII, and phosphorylated Akt (pAkt) in matched hormone-sensitive and hormone-refractory prostate tumors.
<b>Results</b>: Surprisingly, high HER2 membrane expression in hormone-sensitive tumors was associated with an increased time to biochemical relapse (<i>P</i> = 0.0003), and this translated into longer overall survival (<i>P</i> = 0.0021). Consistent with other studies, HER4 membrane expression in hormone-sensitive tumors was associated with longer time to biochemical relapse (<i>P</i> = 0.042), and EGFRvIII membrane expression was associated with shorter time to biochemical relapse (<i>P</i> = 0.015). An increase in pAkt expression was associated with reduced survival (<i>P</i> = 0.0098). Multivariate analysis showed that HER2 was an independent positive predictive marker of time to relapse in hormone-sensitive prostate tumors (<i>P</i> = 0.014). In contrast, high HER2 expression in hormone-refractory tumors was associated with decreased time to death from biochemical relapse (<i>P</i> = 0.039), and EGFRvIII nuclear expression was associated with decreased time to death from biochemical relapse and decreased overall survival (<i>P</i> = 0.02 and <i>P</i> = 0.005).
<b>Conclusion</b>: These results suggest that the HER family may have multiple roles in prostate cancer, and that expression of the proteins alone is insufficient to predict the biological response that they may elicit
Scattered Lyman-alpha Radiation Around Sources Before Cosmological Reionization
The spectra of the first galaxies and quasars in the Universe should be
strongly absorbed shortward of their rest-frame Lyman-alpha wavelength by
neutral hydrogen (HI) in the intervening intergalactic medium. However, the
Lyman-alpha line photons emitted by these sources are not eliminated but rather
scatter until they redshift out of resonance and escape due to the Hubble
expansion of the surrounding intergalactic HI. We calculate the resulting
brightness distribution and the spectral shape of the diffuse Lyman-alpha line
emission around high redshift sources, before the intergalactic medium was
reionized. Typically, the Lyman-alpha photons emitted by a source at z=10
scatter over a characteristic angular radius of order 15 arcseconds around the
source and compose a line which is broadened and redshifted by about a thousand
km/s relative to the source. The scattered photons are highly polarized.
Detection of the diffuse Lyman-alpha halos around high redshift sources would
provide a unique tool for probing the neutral intergalactic medium before the
epoch of reionization. On sufficiently large scales where the Hubble flow is
smooth and the gas is neutral, the Lyman-alpha brightness distribution can be
used to determine the cosmological mass densities of baryons and matter.Comment: 21 pages, 5 Postscript figures, accepted by ApJ; figures 1--3
corrected; new section added on the detectability of Lyman alpha halos;
conclusions update
Approach to the Continuum Limit of the Quenched Hermitian Wilson-Dirac Operator
We investigate the approach to the continuum limit of the spectrum of the
Hermitian Wilson-Dirac operator in the supercritical mass region for pure gauge
SU(2) and SU(3) backgrounds. For this we study the spectral flow of the
Hermitian Wilson-Dirac operator in the range . We find that the
spectrum has a gap for and that the spectral density at zero,
, is non-zero for . We find that and, for
(exponential in the lattice spacing) as one goes to
the continuum limit. We also compute the topological susceptibility and the
size distribution of the zero modes. The topological susceptibility scales well
in the lattice spacing for both SU(2) and SU(3). The size distribution of the
zero modes does not appear to show a peak at a physical scale.Comment: 19 pages revtex with 9 postscript figures included by eps
Normalised Root Mean Square and Amplitude of Sidebands of Vibration Response as Tools for Gearbox Diagnosis
Quick assessment of the condition of gearboxes used in helicopters is a safety requirement. One of the most widely used helicopter on-board-mounted condition monitoring system these days is the Health and Usage Monitoring System. It has been specifically designed to monitor the condition of all safety-critical components operating in the helicopter through calculation of so-called condition indicators (CIs) - signal processing routines designed to output a single number that represents the condition of the monitored component. Among number of available parameters, there is a couple of CIs that over the years of testing have earned a reputation of being the most reliable measures of the gear tooth condition. At the same time, however, it has been observed that in some cases, those techniques do not properly indicate the deteriorating condition with the propagation of a gear tooth fault with the period of operation. Hence, three more robust methods have been suggested, which are discussed in this article
End to end distance on contour loops of random gaussian surfaces
A self consistent field theory that describes a part of a contour loop of a
random Gaussian surface as a trajectory interacting with itself is constructed.
The exponent \nu characterizing the end to end distance is obtained by a Flory
argument. The result is compared with different previuos derivations and is
found to agree with that of Kondev and Henley over most of the range of the
roughening exponent of the random surface.Comment: 7 page
The doubling of the frame - Visual art and discourse
Natalie Edwards, Ben McCann and Peter Poian
The Sub-Luminal Parsec-scale Jet of Mkn 501
We have combined Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) data from several
programs in order to resolve differences in reported parsec-scale jet speeds
for the TeV gamma-ray source Mkn501. Data from the VLBA 2cm survey, and 8 and
15 GHz data from the Radio Reference Frame Image Database, have been combined
with data from a 5 GHz VSOP Space VLBI observation to determine the apparent
motions of jet components in this source. The combined data set consists of 12
observations between April 1995 and July 1999. Four jet components are detected
at most epochs, all of which are clearly sub-luminal (i.e. with apparent speeds
< c), and two of which appear stationary. The established TeV gamma-ray sources
Mkn 501 and Mkn 421 thus both have sub-luminal parsec-scale jets, in contrast
to the apparently super-luminal jets of the majority of >100 MeV sources
detected by EGRET. No new VLBI component has emerged from the core following
the extended TeV high-state in 1997, again in contrast to the general behavior
of >100 MeV gamma-ray sources.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, in press at ApJ
Force balance in canonical ensembles of static granular packings
We investigate the role of local force balance in the transition from a
microcanonical ensemble of static granular packings, characterized by an
invariant stress, to a canonical ensemble. Packings in two dimensions admit a
reciprocal tiling, and a collective effect of force balance is that the area of
this tiling is also invariant in a microcanonical ensemble. We present
analytical relations between stress, tiling area and tiling area fluctuations,
and show that a canonical ensemble can be characterized by an intensive
thermodynamic parameter conjugate to one or the other. We test the equivalence
of different ensembles through the first canonical simulations of the force
network ensemble, a model system.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, submitted to JSTA
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