8,055 research outputs found
Noise-induced phase transitions: Effects of the noises' statistics and spectrum
The local, uncorrelated multiplicative noises driving a second-order, purely
noise-induced, ordering phase transition (NIPT) were assumed to be Gaussian and
white in the model of [Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{73}, 3395 (1994)]. The
potential scientific and technological interest of this phenomenon calls for a
study of the effects of the noises' statistics and spectrum. This task is
facilitated if these noises are dynamically generated by means of stochastic
differential equations (SDE) driven by white noises. One such case is that of
Ornstein--Uhlenbeck noises which are stationary, with Gaussian pdf and a
variance reduced by the self-correlation time (\tau), and whose effect on the
NIPT phase diagram has been studied some time ago. Another such case is when
the stationary pdf is a (colored) Tsallis' (q)--\emph{Gaussian} which, being a
\emph{fat-tail} distribution for (q>1) and a \emph{compact-support} one for
(q<1), allows for a controlled exploration of the effects of the departure from
Gaussian statistics. As done before with stochastic resonance and other
phenomena, we now exploit this tool to study--within a simple mean-field
approximation and with an emphasis on the \emph{order parameter} and the
``\emph{susceptibility}''--the combined effect on NIPT of the noises'
statistics and spectrum. Even for relatively small (\tau), it is shown that
whereas fat-tail noise distributions ((q>1)) counteract the effect of
self-correlation, compact-support ones ((q<1)) enhance it. Also, an interesting
effect on the susceptibility is seen in the last case.Comment: 6 pages, 10 figures, uses aipproc.cls, aip-8s.clo and aipxfm.sty. To
appear in AIP Conference Proceedings. Invited talk at MEDYFINOL'06 (XV
Conference on Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics and Nonlinear Physics
ApuA, a multifunctional x-glucan-degrading enzyme of Streptococcus suis, mediates adhesion to porcine epithelium and mucus
We have identified apuA in Streptococcus suis, which encodes a bifunctional amylopullulanase with conserved -amylase and pullulanase substrate-binding domains and catalytic motifs. ApuA exhibited properties typical of a Gram-positive surface protein, with a putative signal sequence and LPKTGE cell-wall-anchoring motif. A recombinant protein containing the predicted N-terminal -amylase domain of ApuA was shown to have -(1,4) glycosidic activity. Additionally, an apuA mutant of S. suis lacked the pullulanase -(1,6) glycosidic activity detected in a cell-surface protein extract of wild-type S. suis. ApuA was required for normal growth in complex medium containing pullulan as the major carbon source, suggesting that this enzyme plays a role in nutrient acquisition in vivo via the degradation of glycogen and food-derived starch in the nasopharyngeal and oral cavities. ApuA was shown to promote adhesion to porcine epithelium and mucus in vitro, highlighting a link between carbohydrate utilization and the ability of S. suis to colonize and infect the host
Spectroscopic Signatures of Electronic Excitations in Raman Scattering in Thin Films of Rhombohedral Graphite
Rhombohedral graphite features peculiar electronic properties, including
persistence of low-energy surface bands of a topological nature. Here, we study
the contribution of electron-hole excitations towards inelastic light
scattering in thin films of rhombohedral graphite. We show that, in contrast to
the featureless electron-hole contribution towards Raman spectrum of graphitic
films with Bernal stacking, the inelastic light scattering accompanied by
electron-hole excitations in crystals with rhombohedral stacking produces
distinct features in the Raman signal which can be used both to identify the
stacking and to determine the number of layers in the film.Comment: 15 pages in preprint format, 4 figures, accepted versio
Stochastic Resonance: influence of a noise spectrum
Here, in order to study \textit{stochastic resonance} (SR) in a double-well
potential when the noise source has a spectral density of the form
with varying , we have extended a procedure, introduced
by Kaulakys et al (Phys. Rev. E \textbf{70}, 020101 (2004)). In order to have
an analytical understanding of the results, we have obtained an effective
Markovian approximation, that allows us to make a systematic study of the
effect of such kind of noises on the SR phenomenon. The comparison of numerical
and analytical results shows an excellent qualitative agreement indicating that
the effective Markovian approximation is able to correctly describe the general
trends.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Euro.Phys.J.
Meta-model Pruning
Large and complex meta-models such as those of Uml and its profiles are growing due to modelling and inter-operability needs of numerous\ud
stakeholders. The complexity of such meta-models has led to coining\ud
of the term meta-muddle. Individual users often exercise only a small\ud
view of a meta-muddle for tasks ranging from model creation to construction\ud
of model transformations. What is the effective meta-model that represents\ud
this view? We present a flexible meta-model pruning algorithm and\ud
tool to extract effective meta-models from a meta-muddle. We use\ud
the notion of model typing for meta-models to verify that the algorithm\ud
generates a super-type of the large meta-model representing the meta-muddle.\ud
This implies that all programs written using the effective meta-model\ud
will work for the meta-muddle hence preserving backward compatibility.\ud
All instances of the effective meta-model are also instances of the\ud
meta-muddle. We illustrate how pruning the original Uml metamodel\ud
produces different effective meta-models
Fuzzy Inference System for VOLT/VAR control in distribution substations in isolated power systems
This paper presents a fuzzy inference system for voltage/reactive power
control in distribution substations. The purpose is go forward to automation
distribution and its implementation in isolated power systems where control
capabilities are limited and it is common using the same applications as in
continental power systems. This means that lot of functionalities do not apply
and computational burden generates high response times. A fuzzy controller,
with logic guidelines embedded based upon heuristic rules resulting from
operators at dispatch control center past experience, has been designed.
Working as an on-line tool, it has been tested under real conditions and it has
managed the operation during a whole day in a distribution substation. Within
the limits of control capabilities of the system, the controller maintained
successfully an acceptable voltage profile, power factor values over 0,98 and
it has ostensibly improved the performance given by an optimal power flow based
automation system
Spin-1/2 geometric phase driven by decohering quantum fields
We calculate the geometric phase of a spin-1/2 system driven by a one and two
mode quantum field subject to decoherence. Using the quantum jump approach, we
show that the corrections to the phase in the no-jump trajectory are different
when considering an adiabatic and non-adiabatic evolution. We discuss the
implications of our results from both the fundamental as well as quantum
computational perspective.Comment: 4 page
Seeding hESCs to achieve optimal colony clonality
Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have promising clinical applications which often rely on clonally-homogeneous cell populations. To achieve this, it is important to ensure that each colony originates from a single founding cell and to avoid subsequent merging of colonies during their growth. Clonal homogeneity can be obtained with low seeding densities; however, this leads to low yield and viability. It is therefore important to quantitatively assess how seeding density affects clonality loss so that experimental protocols can be optimised to meet the required standards. Here we develop a quantitative framework for modelling the growth of hESC colonies from a given seeding density based on stochastic exponential growth. This allows us to identify the timescales for colony merges and over which colony size no longer predicts the number of founding cells. We demonstrate the success of our model by applying it to our own experiments of hESC colony growth; while this is based on a particular experimental set-up, the model can be applied more generally to other cell lines and experimental conditions to predict these important timescales
- …