8,969 research outputs found
Improved solution of the lidar equation utilizing particle counter measurements
The extraction of particle backscattering from incoherent lidar measurements poses some problems. In the case of measurements of the stratospheric aerosol layer the solution of the lidar equation is based on two assumptions which are necessary to normalize the measured signal and to correct it with the two-way transmission of the laser pulse. Normalization and transmission are tackled by adding the information contained in aerosol particle counter measurements of the University of Wyoming to the ruby lidar measurements at Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Calculated backscattering from height levels above 25 km for the El Chichon period will be compared with lidar measurements and necessary corrections. The calculated backscatter-to-extinction ratios are compared to those, which were derived from a comparison of published extinction values to measured lidar backscattering at Garmisch. These ratios were used to calculate the Garmisch lidar returns. For the period 4 to 12 months after the El Chichon eruption a backscater-to-extinction ratio of 0.026 1/sr was applied with smaller values before and after that time
Metastability of a granular surface in a spinning bucket
The surface shape of a spinning bucket of granular material is studied using
a continuum model of surface flow developed by Bouchaud et al. and Mehta et al.
An experimentally observed central subcritical region is reproduced by the
model. The subcritical region occurs when a metastable surface becomes unstable
via a nonlinear instability mechanism. The nonlinear instability mechanism
destabilizes the surface in large systems while a linear instability mechanism
is relevant for smaller systems. The range of angles in which the granular
surface is metastable vanishes with increasing system size.Comment: 8 pages with postscript figures, RevTex, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Sleep deprivation (SD) on focal brain ischemia in the rat : effects of different SD protocols
Sleep-wake disturbances are frequently observed in stroke patients and are associated with poorer functional outcome. Until now the effects of sleep on stroke evolution are unknown. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of three sleep deprivation (SD) protocols on brain damages after focal cerebral ischemia in a rat model. Permanent occlusion of distal branches of the middle cerebral artery was induced in adult rats. The animals were then subjected to 6h SD, 12h SD or sleep disturbances (SDis) in which 3 x 12h sleep deprivation were performed by gentle handling. Infarct size and brain swelling were assessed by Cresyl violet staining, and the number of damaged cells was measured by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining. Behavioral tests, namely tape removal and cylinder tests, were performed for assessing sensorimotor function.
In the 6h SD protocol, no significant difference (P > 0.05) was found either in infarct size
(42.5 ± 30.4 mm3 in sleep deprived animals vs. 44.5 ± 20.5 mm3 in controls, mean ± s.d.), in brain swelling (10.2 ± 3.8 % in sleep deprived animals vs. 11.3 ± 2.0 % in controls) or in number of TUNEL-positive cells (21.7 ± 2.0/mm2 in sleep deprived animals vs. 23.0 ± 1.1/mm2 in controls). In contrast, 12h sleep deprivation increased infarct size by 40 % (82.8 ± 10.9 mm3 in SD group vs. 59.2 ± 13.9 mm3 in control group, P = 0.008) and number of TUNEL-positive cells by 137 % (46.8 ± 15/mm in SD group vs. 19.7 ± 7.7/mm2 in control group, P = 0.003). There was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in brain swelling (12.9 ± 6.3 % in sleep deprived animals vs. 11.6 ± 6.0 % in controls). The SDis protocol also increased infarct size by 76 % (3 x 12h SD 58.8 ± 20.4 mm3 vs. no SD 33.8 ± 6.3 mm3, P = 0.017) and number of TUNEL-positive cells by 219 % (32.9 ± 13.2/mm2 vs. 10.3 ± 2.5/mm2, P = 0.008). Brain swelling did not show any difference between the two groups (24.5 ± 8.4 % in SD group vs. 16.7 ± 8.9 % in control group, p > 0.05). Both behavioral tests did not show any concluding results.
In summary, we demonstrate that sleep deprivation aggravates brain damages in a rat model of stroke. Further experiments are needed to unveil the mechanisms underlying these effects
Thermal convection in mono-disperse and bi-disperse granular gases: A simulation study
We present results of a simulation study of inelastic hard-disks vibrated in
a vertical container. An Event-Driven Molecular Dynamics method is developed
for studying the onset of convection. Varying the relevant parameters
(inelasticity, number of layers at rest, intensity of the gravity) we are able
to obtain a qualitative agreement of our results with recent hydrodynamical
predictions. Increasing the inelasticity, a first continuous transition from
the absence of convection to one convective roll is observed, followed by a
discontinuous transition to two convective rolls, with hysteretic behavior. At
fixed inelasticity and increasing gravity, a transition from no convection to
one roll can be evidenced. If the gravity is further increased, the roll is
eventually suppressed. Increasing the number of monolayers the system
eventually localizes mostly at the bottom of the box: in this case multiple
convective rolls as well as surface waves appear. We analyze the density and
temperature fields and study the existence of symmetry breaking in these fields
in the direction perpendicular to the injection of energy. We also study a
binary mixture of grains with different properties (inelasticity or diameters).
The effect of changing the properties of one of the components is analyzed,
together with density, temperature and temperature ratio fields.
Finally, the presence of a low-fraction of quasi-elastic impurities is shown
to determine a sharp transition between convective and non-convective steady
states.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication on Physical Review
Memory effects in vibrated granular systems
Granular materials present memory effects when submitted to tapping
processes. These effects have been observed experimentally and are discussed
here in the context of a general kind of model systems for compaction
formulated at a mesoscopic level. The theoretical predictions qualitatively
agree with the experimental results. As an example, a particular simple model
is used for detailed calculations.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures; to appear in Journal of Physics: Condensed
Matter (Special Issue: Proceedings of ESF SPHINX Workshop on ``Glassy
behaviour of kinetically constrained models.''
Hierarchical Temporal Representation in Linear Reservoir Computing
Recently, studies on deep Reservoir Computing (RC) highlighted the role of
layering in deep recurrent neural networks (RNNs). In this paper, the use of
linear recurrent units allows us to bring more evidence on the intrinsic
hierarchical temporal representation in deep RNNs through frequency analysis
applied to the state signals. The potentiality of our approach is assessed on
the class of Multiple Superimposed Oscillator tasks. Furthermore, our
investigation provides useful insights to open a discussion on the main aspects
that characterize the deep learning framework in the temporal domain.Comment: This is a pre-print of the paper submitted to the 27th Italian
Workshop on Neural Networks, WIRN 201
On the Shape of the Tail of a Two Dimensional Sand Pile
We study the shape of the tail of a heap of granular material. A simple
theoretical argument shows that the tail adds a logarithmic correction to the
slope given by the angle of repose. This expression is in good agreement with
experiments. We present a cellular automaton that contains gravity, dissipation
and surface roughness and its simulation also gives the predicted shape.Comment: LaTeX file 4 pages, 4 PS figures, also available at
http://pmmh.espci.fr
A Model for Force Fluctuations in Bead Packs
We study theoretically the complex network of forces that is responsible for
the static structure and properties of granular materials. We present detailed
calculations for a model in which the fluctuations in the force distribution
arise because of variations in the contact angles and the constraints imposed
by the force balance on each bead of the pile. We compare our results for force
distribution function for this model, including exact results for certain
contact angle probability distributions, with numerical simulations of force
distributions in random sphere packings. This model reproduces many aspects of
the force distribution observed both in experiment and in numerical simulations
of sphere packings
Volume fluctuations and geometrical constraints in granular packs
Structural organization and correlations are studied in very large packings
of equally sized acrylic spheres, reconstructed in three-dimensions by means of
X-ray computed tomography. A novel technique, devised to analyze correlations
among more than two spheres, shows that the structural organization can be
conveniently studied in terms of a space-filling packing of irregular
tetrahedra. The study of the volume distribution of such tetrahedra reveals an
exponential decay in the region of large volumes; a behavior that is in very
good quantitative agreement with theoretical prediction. I argue that the
system's structure can be described as constituted of two phases: 1) an
`unconstrained' phase which freely shares the volume; 2) a `constrained' phase
which assumes configurations accordingly with the geometrical constraints
imposed by the condition of non-overlapping between spheres and mechanical
stability. The granular system exploits heterogeneity maximizing freedom and
entropy while constraining mechanical stability.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Damage-cluster distributions and size effect on strength in compressive failure
We investigate compressive failure of heterogeneous materials on the basis of
a continuous progressive damage model. The model explicitely accounts for
tensile and shear local damage and reproduces the main features of compressive
failure of brittle materials like rocks or ice. We show that the size
distribution of damage-clusters, as well as the evolution of an order
parameter, the size of the largest damage-cluster, argue for a critical
interpretation of fracture. The compressive failure strength follows a normal
distribution with a very small size effect on the mean strength, in good
agreement with experiments
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