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Diagnosing topographic forcing in an atmospheric dataset: the case of the North American Cordillera
It is well known from modelling studies that surface topography influences the large-scale atmospheric circulation and that several model biases are associated with incorrect representation of topography. The textbook explanation of topographic effects on large-scale circulation appeals to the theoretical relationship between surface forcing and vortex stretching along trajectories in single-layer models. The goal of this study is to design and use a simple diagnostic of the large-scale forcing on the atmosphere when air is passing over topography, directly from atmospheric fields, based on this theoretical relationship. The study examines the interaction of the atmosphere with the North American Cordillera and samples the flow by means of trajectories during Northern Hemisphere winter. We detect a signal of topographic forcing in the atmospheric dataset, which, although much less distinct than in the theoretical relationship, nevertheless exhibits a number of expected properties. Namely, the signal increases with latitude, is usually stronger upslope than downslope, and is enhanced if the flow is more orthogonal to the mountain ridge, for example during periods of positive PNA. Furthermore, a connection is found between an enhanced signal of topographic forcing downslope of the North American Cordillera and periods of more frequent downstream European blocking
Measurement of Electron Trapping in the CESR Storage Ring
The buildup of low-energy electrons has been shown to affect the performance
of a wide variety of particle accelerators. Of particular concern is the
persistence of the cloud between beam bunch passages, which can impose
limitations on the stability of operation at high beam current. We have
obtained measurements of long-lived electron clouds trapped in the field of a
quadrupole magnet in a positron storage ring, with lifetimes much longer than
the revolution period. Based on modeling, we estimate that about 7% of the
electrons in the cloud generated by a 20-bunch train of 5.3 GeV positrons with
16-ns spacing and population survive longer than 2.3 s in a
quadrupole field of gradient 7.4 T/m. We have observed a non-monotonic
dependence of the trapping effect on the bunch spacing. The effect of a witness
bunch on the measured signal provides direct evidence for the existence of
trapped electrons. The witness bunch is also observed to clear the cloud,
demonstrating its effectiveness as a mitigation technique.Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures, 28 citation
VLT Diffraction Limited Imaging and Spectroscopy in the NIR: Weighing the black hole in Centaurus A with NACO
We present high spatial resolution near-infrared spectra and images of the
nucleus of Centaurus A (NGC 5128) obtained with NAOS-CONICA at the VLT. The
adaptive optics corrected data have a spatial resolution of 0.06" (FWHM) in K-
and 0.11" in H-band, four times higher than previous studies. The observed gas
motions suggest a kinematically hot disk which is orbiting a central object and
is oriented nearly perpendicular to the nuclear jet. We model the central
rotation and velocity dispersion curves of the [FeII] gas orbiting in the
combined potential of the stellar mass and the (dominant) black hole. Our
physically most plausible model, a dynamically hot and geometrically thin gas
disk, yields a black hole mass of M_bh = (6.1 +0.6/-0.8) 10^7 M_sun. As the
physical state of the gas is not well understood, we also consider two limiting
cases: first a cold disk model, which completely neglects the velocity
dispersion; it yields an M_bh estimate that is almost two times lower. The
other extreme case is to model a spherical gas distribution in hydrostatic
equilibrium through Jeans equation. Compared to the hot disk model the best-fit
black hole mass increases by a factor of 1.5. This wide mass range spanned by
the limiting cases shows how important the gas physics is even for high
resolution data. Our overall best-fitting black hole mass is a factor of 2-4
lower than previous measurements. With our revised M_bh estimate, Cen A's
offset from the M_bh-sigma relation is significantly reduced; it falls above
this relation by a factor of ~2, which is close to the intrinsic scatter of
this relation. (Abridged)Comment: 12 pages, 14 figures, including minor changes following the referee
report; accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa
An EC-Earth coupled atmosphereâocean single-column model (AOSCM.v1_EC-Earth3) for studying coupled marine and polar processes
Single-column models (SCMs) have been used as tools to help develop numerical
weather prediction and global climate models for several decades. SCMs
decouple small-scale processes from large-scale forcing, which allows the
testing of physical parameterisations in a controlled environment with
reduced computational cost. Typically, either the ocean, sea ice or
atmosphere is fully modelled and assumptions have to be made regarding the
boundary conditions from other subsystems, adding a potential source of
error. Here, we present a fully coupled atmosphereâocean SCM (AOSCM), which
is based on the global climate model EC-Earth3. The initial configuration of
the AOSCM consists of the Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean
(NEMO3.6) (ocean), the Louvain-la-Neuve Sea Ice Model (LIM3) (sea ice), the
Open Integrated Forecasting System (OpenIFS) cycle 40r1 (atmosphere), and
OASIS3-MCT (coupler).Results from the AOSCM are presented at three locations: the tropical
Atlantic, the midlatitude Pacific and the Arctic. At all three locations,
in situ observations are available for comparison. We find that the coupled
AOSCM can capture the observed atmospheric and oceanic evolution based on
comparisons with buoy data, soundings and ship-based observations. The model
evolution is sensitive to the initial conditions and forcing data imposed on
the column. Comparing coupled and uncoupled configurations of the model can
help disentangle model feedbacks. We demonstrate that the AOSCM in the
current set-up is a valuable tool to advance our understanding in marine and
polar boundary layer processes and the interactions between the individual
components of the system (atmosphere, sea ice and ocean).</p
Magnetic-Field-Induced Hybridization of Electron Subbands in a Coupled Double Quantum Well
We employ a magnetocapacitance technique to study the spectrum of the soft
two-subband (or double-layer) electron system in a parabolic quantum well with
a narrow tunnel barrier in the centre. In this system unbalanced by gate
depletion, at temperatures T\agt 30 mK we observe two sets of quantum
oscillations: one originates from the upper electron subband in the
closer-to-the-gate part of the well and the other indicates the existence of
common gaps in the spectrum at integer fillings. For the lowest filling factors
and , both the common gap presence down to the point of one- to
two-subband transition and their non-trivial magnetic field dependences point
to magnetic-field-induced hybridization of electron subbands.Comment: Major changes, added one more figure, the latest version to be
published in JETP Let
State-dependent distributed-delay model of orthogonal cutting
In this paper we present a model of turning
operations with state-dependent distributed time delay.
We apply the theory of regenerative machine tool chat-
ter and describe the dynamics of the tool-workpiece sys-
tem during cutting by delay-diferential equations. We
model the cutting-force as the resultant of a force sys-
tem distributed along the rake face of the tool, which
results in a short distributed delay in the governing
equation superimposed on the large regenerative de-
lay. According to the literature on stress distribution
along the rake face, the length of the chip-tool inter-
face, where the distributed cutting-force system is act-
ing, is function of the chip thickness, which depends on
the vibrations of the tool-workpiece system due to the
regenerative efect. Therefore, the additional short de-
lay is state-dependent. It is shown that involving state-
dependent delay in the model does not afect linear sta-
bility properties, but does afect the nonlinear dynamics
of the cutting process. Namely, the sense of the Hopf bi-
furcation along the stability boundaries may turn from
sub- to supercritical at certain spindle speed regions
Probing Stereoselectivity in Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization Mediated by Cyclometalated Ruthenium-Based Catalysts: A Combined Experimental and Computational Study
The microstructures of polymers produced by ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) with cyclometalated Ru-carbene metathesis catalysts were investigated. A strong bias for a cis,syndiotactic microstructure with minimal head-to-tail bias was observed. In instances where trans errors were introduced, it was determined that these regions were also syndiotactic. Furthermore, hypothetical reaction intermediates and transition structures were analyzed computationally. Combined experimental and computational data support a reaction mechanism in which cis,syndio-selectivity is a result of stereogenic metal control, while microstructural errors are predominantly due to alkylidene isomerization via rotation about the RuâC double bond
Manifestation of the bulk phase transition in the edge energy spectrum in a two dimensional bilayer electron system
We use a quasi-Corbino sample geometry with independent contacts to different
edge states in the quantum Hall effect regime to investigate the edge energy
spectrum of a bilayer electron system at total filling factor . By
analyzing non-linear curves in normal and tilted magnetic fields we
conclude that the edge energy spectrum is in a close connection with the bulk
one. At the bulk phase transition spin-singlet - canted antiferromagnetic phase
curve becomes to be linear, indicating the disappearance or strong
narrowing of the incompressible strip at the edge of the sample.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
International Guillain-Barré Syndrome Outcome Study (IGOS): protocol of a prospective observational cohort study on clinical and biological predictors of disease course and outcome in Guillain-Barré syndrome
Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is an acute polyradiculoneuropathy with a highly variable clinical presentation, course, and outcome. The factors that determine the clinical variation of GBS are poorly understood which complicates the care and treatment of individual patients. The protocol of the ongoing International GBS Outcome Study (IGOS), a prospective, observational, multi-centre cohort study that aims to identify the clinical and biological determinants and predictors of disease onset, subtype, course and outcome of GBS is presented here. Patients fulfilling the diagnostic criteria for GBS, regardless of age, disease severity, variant forms, or treatment, can participate if included within two weeks after onset of weakness. Information about demography, preceding infections, clinical features, diagnostic findings, treatment, course and outcome is collected. In addition, cerebrospinal fluid and serial blood samples for serum and DNA is collected at standard time points. The original aim was to include at least 1000 patients with a follow-up of 1-3 years. Data are collected via a web-based data entry system and stored anonymously. IGOS started in May 2012 and by January 2017 included more than 1400 participants from 143 active centres in 19 countries across 5 continents. The IGOS data/biobank is available for research projects conducted by expertise groups focusing on specific topics including epidemiology, diagnostic criteria, clinimetrics, electrophysiology, antecedent events, antibodies, genetics, prognostic modelling, treatment effects and long-term outcome of GBS. The IGOS will help to standardize the international collection of data and biosamples for future research of GBS. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01582763
Placebo-controlled study in neuromyelitis optica : ethical and design considerations
BACKGROUND: To date, no treatment for neuromyelitis optica (NMO) has been granted regulatory approval, and no controlled clinical studies have been reported. OBJECTIVE: To design a placebo-controlled study in NMO that appropriately balances patient safety and clinical-scientific integrity. METHODS: We assessed the "standard of care" for NMO to establish the ethical framework for a placebo-controlled trial. We implemented measures that balance the need for scientific robustness while mitigating the risks associated with a placebo-controlled study. The medical or scientific community, patient organizations, and regulatory authorities were engaged early in discussions on this placebo-controlled study, and their input contributed to the final study design. RESULTS: The N-MOmentum study (NCT02200770) is a clinical trial that randomizes NMO patients to receive MEDI-551, a monoclonal antibody that depletes CD19+ B-cells, or placebo. The study design has received regulatory, ethical, clinical, and patient approval in over 100 clinical sites in more than 20 countries worldwide. CONCLUSION: The approach we took in the design of the N-MOmentum trial might serve as a roadmap for other rare severe diseases when there is no proven therapy and no established clinical development path
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