2,857 research outputs found
Atmospheric extinction coefficients in the band for several major international observatories: Results from the BiSON telescopes, 1984 to 2016
Over 30 years of solar data have been acquired by the Birmingham Solar
Oscillations Network (BiSON), an international network of telescopes used to
study oscillations of the Sun. Five of the six BiSON telescopes are located at
major observatories. The observational sites are, in order of increasing
longitude: Mount Wilson (Hale) Observatory (MWO), California, USA; Las Campanas
Observatory (LCO), Chile; Observatorio del Teide, Iza\~{n}a, Tenerife, Canary
Islands; the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), Sutherland, South
Africa; Carnarvon, Western Australia; and the Paul Wild Observatory, Narrabri,
New South Wales, Australia. The BiSON data may be used to measure atmospheric
extinction coefficients in the band (approximately 700-900 nm),
and presented here are the derived atmospheric extinction coefficients from
each site over the years 1984 to 2016.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, 4 tables. Accepted by Astronomical Journal:
2017 July 2
Influence of shock wave propagation on dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator performance
Interest in plasma actuators as active flow control devices is growing rapidly due to their lack of mechanical parts, light weight and high response frequency. Although the flow induced by these actuators has received much attention, the effect that the external flow has on the performance of the actuator itself must also be considered, especially the influence of unsteady high-speed flows which are fast becoming a norm in the operating flight envelopes. The primary objective of this study is to examine the characteristics of a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuator when exposed to an unsteady flow generated by a shock tube. This type of flow, which is often used in different studies, contains a range of flow regimes from sudden pressure and density changes to relatively uniform high-speed flow regions. A small circular shock tube is employed along with the schlieren photography technique to visualize the flow. The voltage and current traces of the plasma actuator are monitored throughout, and using the well-established shock tube theory the change in the actuator characteristics are related to the physical processes which occur inside the shock tube. The results show that not only is the shear layer outside of the shock tube affected by the plasma but the passage of the shock front and high-speed flow behind it also greatly influences the properties of the plasma
Factorization and Lie point symmetries of general Lienard-type equation in the complex plane
We present a variational approach to a general Lienard-type equation in order
to linearize it and, as an example, the Van der Pol oscillator is discussed.
The new equation which is almost linear is factorized. The point symmetries of
the deformed equation are also discussed and the two-dimensional Lie algebraic
generators are obtained
The random case of Conley's theorem: III. Random semiflow case and Morse decomposition
In the first part of this paper, we generalize the results of the author
\cite{Liu,Liu2} from the random flow case to the random semiflow case, i.e. we
obtain Conley decomposition theorem for infinite dimensional random dynamical
systems. In the second part, by introducing the backward orbit for random
semiflow, we are able to decompose invariant random compact set (e.g. global
random attractor) into random Morse sets and connecting orbits between them,
which generalizes the Morse decomposition of invariant sets originated from
Conley \cite{Con} to the random semiflow setting and gives the positive answer
to an open problem put forward by Caraballo and Langa \cite{CL}.Comment: 21 pages, no figur
A transient homotypic interaction model for the influenza A virus NS1 protein effector domain
Influenza A virus NS1 protein is a multifunctional virulence factor consisting of an RNA binding domain (RBD), a short linker, an effector domain (ED), and a C-terminal 'tail'. Although poorly understood, NS1 multimerization may autoregulate its actions. While RBD dimerization seems functionally conserved, two possible apo ED dimers have been proposed (helix-helix and strand-strand). Here, we analyze all available RBD, ED, and full-length NS1 structures, including four novel crystal structures obtained using EDs from divergent human and avian viruses, as well as two forms of a monomeric ED mutant. The data reveal the helix-helix interface as the only strictly conserved ED homodimeric contact. Furthermore, a mutant NS1 unable to form the helix-helix dimer is compromised in its ability to bind dsRNA efficiently, implying that ED multimerization influences RBD activity. Our bioinformatical work also suggests that the helix-helix interface is variable and transient, thereby allowing two ED monomers to twist relative to one another and possibly separate. In this regard, we found a mAb that recognizes NS1 via a residue completely buried within the ED helix-helix interface, and which may help highlight potential different conformational populations of NS1 (putatively termed 'helix-closed' and 'helix-open') in virus-infected cells. 'Helix-closed' conformations appear to enhance dsRNA binding, and 'helix-open' conformations allow otherwise inaccessible interactions with host factors. Our data support a new model of NS1 regulation in which the RBD remains dimeric throughout infection, while the ED switches between several quaternary states in order to expand its functional space. Such a concept may be applicable to other small multifunctional proteins
Experimental Determination of In-Medium Cluster Binding Energies and Mott Points in Nuclear Matter
In medium binding energies and Mott points for , , He and
clusters in low density nuclear matter have been determined at specific
combinations of temperature and density in low density nuclear matter produced
in collisions of 47 MeV Ar and Zn projectiles with Sn
and Sn target nuclei. The experimentally derived values of the in
medium modified binding energies are in good agreement with recent theoretical
predictions based upon the implementation of Pauli blocking effects in a
quantum statistical approach.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
The role of brand loyalty and social media in e-commerce interfaces: survey results and implications for user interfaces
This paper explores the role of brand loyalty and social media in e-commerce interfaces. A survey consisting of 118 respondents was contacted to address the questions relating to online shopping and brand loyalty. Link between the frequency of access and time spent on an e-commerce user interface, and brand loyalty, gender and age profile differences, and the role of social media to branding and on-line shopping was analyzed. It was found that online loyalty differs from offline loyalty and loyalty also differed across genders, showing men were more loyal than women when shopping online. Information shared about products on social media by friends and family played an important role in purchase decision making. Website interface and ease of navigation were also key aspects for online shopping. The research concluded with recommendations to create multimodal websites which are more interactive and targeted so customer experience is enhanced and loyalty is achieved through the use of interactivity and social media
Dynamic compartmentalization of bacteria: accurate division in E. coli
Positioning of the midcell division plane within the bacterium E. coli is
controlled by the min system of proteins: MinC, MinD and MinE. These proteins
coherently oscillate from end to end of the bacterium. We present a
reaction--diffusion model describing the diffusion of min proteins along the
bacterium and their transfer between the cytoplasmic membrane and cytoplasm.
Our model spontaneously generates protein oscillations in good agreement with
experiments. We explore the oscillation stability, frequency and wavelength as
a function of protein concentration and bacterial length.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Latex2e, Revtex
Pole-based approximation of Fermi-Dirac function
Two approaches for the efficient rational approximation of the Fermi-Dirac
function are discussed: one uses the contour integral representation and
conformal mapping and the other is based on a version of the multipole
representation of the Fermi-Dirac function that uses only simple poles. Both
representations have logarithmic computational complexity. They are of great
interest for electronic structure calculations.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, dedicated to Professor Andy Majda on the
occasion of his 60th birthda
A striking correspondence between the dynamics generated by the vector fields and by the scalar parabolic equations
The purpose of this paper is to enhance a correspondence between the dynamics
of the differential equations on and those
of the parabolic equations on a bounded
domain . We give details on the similarities of these dynamics in the
cases , and and in the corresponding cases ,
and dim() respectively. In addition to
the beauty of such a correspondence, this could serve as a guideline for future
research on the dynamics of parabolic equations
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