3,824 research outputs found
Liquid oil painting: Free and forced convection in an enclosure with mechanical and thermal forcing
A fluid dynamics video is linked to this article, which have been submitted
to the Gallery of Fluid Motion as part of the 65th American Physical Society
meeting of the Division of Fluid Dynamics, held in San Diego, California, USA,
over 17-20 November 2012. The video serves to visualize flows generated in a
rectangular enclosure that are subjected to both mechanical and thermal forcing
through a common horizontal boundary. This system exhibits features consistent
with either horizontal convection or lid-driven cavity flows depending on the
ratio between thermal and mechanical stirring, and three different cases are
visualized in the linked videos.Comment: 2 video files attached, 4 pages, 1 figure. This article is submitted
accompanying a video submitted to the Gallery of Fluid Motion as part of the
65th Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting of the American Physical Society
(17-20 November, San Diego, CA, USA
Compositional strategy of the book of Judges: an inductive, rhetorical study
Under historical critical scholarship, the book of Judges is generally
considered a composite work comprising three distinct and essentially unrelated
sections. The central section (2:6-16:31), redacted out of traditional source material,
is believed to be originally a part of the larger Deuteronomistic History that runs
from Deuteronomy to Kings. The prologue (1:1-2:5) and epilogue (17:1-21:25), on
the other hand, are seen as independent compositions that are only artificially
appended onto the central section at a later stage of the book's redactional history.In the last two decades, there has been an increasing tendency for the book to
be read synchronically as an integrated whole. Although synchronic scholars have
drawn attention to the presence of thematic links that connect the different sections
of the book, they have yet to justify their integrative approach by exploring whether
such links are established by design, and if so, whether they imply compositional
unity for the book as a whole in its current canonical form. The present thesis thus
seeks to remedy this lack.In Chapter 1, the present thesis is placed in its historical context as
scholarship on Judges in the past century is critically surveyed. In Chapters 2-4,
rhetorical links between the prologue and the epilogue, the epilogue and central
section, and the prologue and central sections are respectively examined in detail. As
the evidence seems to suggest that such links are established by conscious design, the
implication is that at the compositional level, a closer relationship than has been
recognised thus far may indeed exist between the three sections.Recognising that any claim of compositional unity for Judges would
inevitably have to answer questions regarding apparent discrepancies in viewpoints
within the book, in Chapter 5, the issue of kingship, concerning which critical
scholars have discerned divergent voices within the book, is explored. Specifically,
it is argued that the "king" referred to in the allegedly pro-monarchic refrain cannot
be a reference to the Israelite monarchy to come, but is more likely a reference to
YHWH's kingship over His people. Such an understanding would therefore
eliminate the problem of divergent viewpoints within the bookIn the final chapter, the various observations and conclusions drawn in
previous chapters are brought together, and a case is put forth that the person
responsible for the selection and arrangement of the material in the central section
must have been the very same person who composed the prologue and epilogue of
Judges. This means that the current canonical form of Judges may indeed be a
unified piece of composition that can justifiably be read as an integrative whole.
Moreover, based on the rhetorical concerns discernible through the various links, it is
also possible to identify the implied rhetorical agenda of the book as a call for the rerecognition
of the kingly authority of YHWH. This would constitute an implied
solution to the progressive deterioration witnessed throughout the book, both at the
national and leadership level
Non-invasive molecular imaging of inflammatory macrophages in allograft rejection.
BackgroundMacrophages represent a critical cell type in host defense, development and homeostasis. The ability to image non-invasively pro-inflammatory macrophage infiltrate into a transplanted organ may provide an additional tool for the monitoring of the immune response of the recipient against the donor graft. We therefore decided to image in vivo sialoadhesin (Sn, Siglec 1 or CD169) using anti-Sn mAb (SER-4) directly radiolabelled with (99m)Tc pertechnetate.MethodsWe used a heterotopic heart transplantation model where allogeneic or syngeneic heart grafts were transplanted into the abdomen of recipients. In vivo nanosingle-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT/CT) imaging was performed 7 days post transplantation followed by biodistribution and histology.ResultsIn wild-type mice, the majority of (99m)Tc-SER-4 monoclonal antibody cleared from the blood with a half-life of 167 min and was located predominantly on Sn(+) tissues in the spleen, liver and bone marrow. The biodistribution in the transplantation experiments confirmed data derived from the non-invasive SPECT/CT images, with significantly higher levels of (99m)Tc-SER-4 observed in allogeneic grafts (9.4 (±2.7) %ID/g) compared to syngeneic grafts (4.3 (±10.3) %ID/g) (p = 0.0022) or in mice which received allogeneic grafts injected with (99m)Tc-IgG isotype control (5.9 (±0.6) %ID/g) (p = 0.0185). The transplanted heart to blood ratio was also significantly higher in recipients with allogeneic grafts receiving (99m)Tc-SER-4 as compared to recipients with syngeneic grafts (p = 0.000004) or recipients with allogeneic grafts receiving (99m)Tc-IgG isotype (p = 0.000002).ConclusionsHere, we demonstrate that imaging of Sn(+) macrophages in inflammation may provide an important additional and non-invasive tool for the monitoring of the pathophysiology of cellular immunity in a transplant model
Revealing hidden scenes by photon-efficient occlusion-based opportunistic active imaging
The ability to see around corners, i.e., recover details of a hidden scene
from its reflections in the surrounding environment, is of considerable
interest in a wide range of applications. However, the diffuse nature of light
reflected from typical surfaces leads to mixing of spatial information in the
collected light, precluding useful scene reconstruction. Here, we employ a
computational imaging technique that opportunistically exploits the presence of
occluding objects, which obstruct probe-light propagation in the hidden scene,
to undo the mixing and greatly improve scene recovery. Importantly, our
technique obviates the need for the ultrafast time-of-flight measurements
employed by most previous approaches to hidden-scene imaging. Moreover, it does
so in a photon-efficient manner based on an accurate forward model and a
computational algorithm that, together, respect the physics of three-bounce
light propagation and single-photon detection. Using our methodology, we
demonstrate reconstruction of hidden-surface reflectivity patterns in a
meter-scale environment from non-time-resolved measurements. Ultimately, our
technique represents an instance of a rich and promising new imaging modality
with important potential implications for imaging science.Comment: Related theory in arXiv:1711.0629
Microorganisms in the Stratosphere (MIST): In-flight Sterilization with UVC Leds
The stratosphere (10 km to 50 km above sea level) is a unique place on Earth for astrobiological studies of microbes in extreme environments due to the combination of harsh conditions (high ultraviolet radiation, low pressure, desiccation, and low temperatures). Microorganisms in the Stratosphere (MIST) will attempt to characterize the diversity of microbes at these altitudes using a balloon collection device on a meteorological weather balloon. A major challenge of such an aerobiology study is the potential for ground contamination that makes it difficult to distinguish between collected microbes and contaminants. One solution is to use germicidal ultraviolet light emitting diodes (UV LEDs) to sterilize the collection strip. To use this solution, an optimal spatial arrangement of the lights had to be determined to ensure the greatest chance of complete sterilization within the 30 to 60 minute time of balloon ascent. A novel, 3D-printed test stand was developed to experimentally determine viable Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032 spore reduction after exposure to ultraviolet radiation at various times, angles, and distances. Taken together, the experimental simulations suggested that the UV LEDs on the MIST flight hardware should be active for at least 15 minutes and mounted within 4 cm of the illuminated surface at any angle to achieve optimal sterilization. These findings will aid in the production of the balloon collection device to ensure pristine stratospheric microbial samples are collected. Flight hardware capable of in-flight self-sterilization will enable future life detection missions to minimize both forward contamination and false positives
Precise B, B_s and B_c meson spectroscopy from full lattice QCD
We give the first accurate results for and meson masses from
lattice QCD including the effect of , and sea quarks, and we improve
an earlier value for the meson mass. By using the Highly Improved
Staggered Quark action for , and quarks and NRQCD for the
quarks, we are able to achieve an accuracy in the masses of around 10 MeV. Our
results are: = 5.291(18) GeV, = 5.363(11) GeV and =
6.280(10) GeV. Note that all QCD parameters here are tuned from other
calculations, so these are parameter free tests of QCD against experiment. We
also give scalar, , and axial vector, , meson masses. We find
these to be slightly below threshold for decay to and respectively.Comment: 22 pages, 19 figure
Cooperativity and Frustration in Protein-Mediated Parallel Actin Bundles
We examine the mechanism of bundling of cytoskeletal actin filaments by two
representative bundling proteins, fascin and espin. Small-angle X-ray studies
show that increased binding from linkers drives a systematic \textit{overtwist}
of actin filaments from their native state, which occurs in a linker-dependent
fashion. Fascin bundles actin into a continuous spectrum of intermediate twist
states, while espin only allows for untwisted actin filaments and
fully-overtwisted bundles. Based on a coarse-grained, statistical model of
protein binding, we show that the interplay between binding geometry and the
intrinsic \textit{flexibility} of linkers mediates cooperative binding in the
bundle. We attribute the respective continuous/discontinous bundling mechanisms
of fascin/espin to differences in the stiffness of linker bonds themselves.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, figure file has been corrected in v
- …