An Analytical Study of Coupled Two-State Stochastic Resonators

The two-state model of stochastic resonance is extended to a chain of coupled two-state elements governed by the dynamics of Glauber's stochastic Ising model. Appropriate assumptions on the model parameters turn the chain into a prototype system of coupled stochastic resonators. In a weak-signal limit analytical expressions are derived for the spectral power amplification and the signal-to-noise ratio of a two-state element embedded into the chain. The effect of the coupling between the elements on both quantities is analysed and array-enhanced stochastic resonance is established for pure as well as noisy periodic signals. The coupling-induced improvement of the SNR compared to an uncoupled element is shown to be limited by a factor four which is only reached for vanishing input noise.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figure

Coherent Signal Amplification in Bistable Nanomechanical Oscillators by Stochastic Resonance

Stochastic resonance is a counter-intuitive concept[1,2], ; the addition of noise to a noisy system induces coherent amplification of its response. First suggested as a mechanism for the cyclic recurrence of ice ages, stochastic resonance has been seen in a wide variety of macroscopic physical systems: bistable ring lasers[3], SQUIDs[4,5], magnetoelastic ribbons[6], and neurophysiological systems such as the receptors in crickets[7] and crayfish[8]. Although it is fundamentally important as a mechanism of coherent signal amplification, stochastic resonance is yet to be observed in nanoscale systems. Here we report the observation of stochastic resonance in bistable nanomechanical silicon oscillators, which can play an important role in the realization of controllable high-speed nanomechanical memory cells. Our nanomechanical systems were excited into a dynamic bistable state and modulated in order to induce controllable switching; the addition of white noise showed a marked amplification of the signal strength. Stochastic resonance in nanomechanical systems paves the way for exploring macroscopic quantum coherence and tunneling, and controlling nanoscale quantum systems for their eventual use as robust quantum logic devices.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure

Cliophysics: Socio-political Reliability Theory, Polity Duration and African Political (In)stabilities

Quantification of historical sociological processes have recently gained attention among theoreticians in the effort of providing a solid theoretical understanding of the behaviors and regularities present in sociopolitical dynamics. Here we present a reliability theory of polity processes with emphases on individual political dynamics of African countries. We found that the structural properties of polity failure rates successfully capture the risk of political vulnerability and instabilities in which 87.50%, 75%, 71.43%, and 0% of the countries with monotonically increasing, unimodal, U-shaped and monotonically decreasing polity failure rates, respectively, have high level of state fragility indices. The quasi-U-shape relationship between average polity duration and regime types corroborates historical precedents and explains the stability of the autocracies and democracies.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Popularity functions, partisan effects, and support in parliament

This paper analyzes the popularity of the main political entities in Portugal. Estimation results of popularity functions validate the responsibility hypothesis, with unemployment, and to a lesser extent inflation, affecting popularity levels. There is also evidence of personality effects, of popularity erosion over consecutive terms and of honeymoon effects. Finally, we found that voters' evaluations of incumbents' performance regarding unemployment is affected by their support in Parliament when an incumbent faces more opposition in Parliament, voters are less likely to hold him responsible for unemployment increases.(undefined

Maternal Diabetes and Obesity Influence the Fetal Epigenome in a Largely Hispanic Population

BACKGROUND: Obesity and diabetes mellitus are directly implicated in many adverse health consequences in adults as well as in the offspring of obese and diabetic mothers. Hispanic Americans are particularly at risk for obesity, diabetes, and end-stage renal disease. Maternal obesity and/or diabetes through prenatal programming may alter the fetal epigenome increasing the risk of metabolic disease in their offspring. The aims of this study were to determine if maternal obesity or diabetes mellitus during pregnancy results in a change in infant methylation of CpG islands adjacent to targeted genes specific for obesity or diabetes disease pathways in a largely Hispanic population. METHODS: Methylation levels in the cord blood of 69 newborns were determined using the Illumina Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip. Over 850,000 different probe sites were analyzed to determine whether maternal obesity and/or diabetes mellitus directly attributed to differential methylation; epigenome-wide and regional analyses were performed for significant CpG sites. RESULTS: Following quality control, agranular leukocyte samples from 69 newborns (23 normal term (NT), 14 diabetes (DM), 23 obese (OB), 9 DM/OB) were analyzed for over 850,000 different probe sites. Contrasts between the NT, DM, OB, and DM/OB were considered. After correction for multiple testing, 15 CpGs showed differential methylation from the NT, associated with 10 differentially methylated genes between the diabetic and non-diabetic subgroups, CCDC110, KALRN, PAG1, GNRH1, SLC2A9, CSRP2BP, HIVEP1, RALGDS, DHX37, and SCNN1D. The effects of diabetes were partly mediated by the altered methylation of HOOK2, LCE3C, and TMEM63B. The effects of obesity were partly mediated by the differential methylation of LTF and DUSP22. CONCLUSIONS: The presented data highlights the associated altered methylation patterns potentially mediated by maternal diabetes and/or obesity. Larger studies are warranted to investigate the role of both the identified differentially methylated loci and the effects on newborn body composition and future health risk factors for metabolic disease. Additional future consideration should be targeted to the role of Hispanic inheritance. Potential future targeting of transgenerational propagation and developmental programming may reduce population obesity and diabetes risk

Development of a High Efficiency Ceiling Fan

The potential of ceiling fans to improve comfort during the cooling season is well documented (Rohles et al.. 1983; Fairey et al.. 1986). There are at least two cases: In the first where air conditioning is unavailable, adding ceiling fans may significantly improve building comfort and health although actually increasing energy use. However, the more common circumstance is where ceiling fans are used with the objective of providing a higher cooling system thermostat set point with acceptable comfort. Fans can also potentially avoid the use of air conditioning during "swing" seasons. Although studies commonly suggest a 2-6OF increase in the thermostat set point, data from 386 surveyed Central Florida households suggests that although fans are used an average of 13.4 hours per day, no statistically valid difference can be observed in thermostat settings between households using fans and those without them (James et al., 1996). Part of this may be due to the lack of sufficiently wide air distribution coverage within rooms (Rohles et al, 1983; Sonne and Parker, 1998). Studies touting potential cooling savings of up to 40% have usually been sponsored by fan manufacturers (eg. A.D. Little, 1981). These often make unrealistic assumptions such as presuming that occupants are within four feet of a fan with only one fan in use and a 6°F elevation of the thermostat setting. An environmental chamber study by Consumer Reports showed that the long-reported de-stratification benefits when heating are largely unsubstantiated (Consumer Reports. 1993). Thus. benefits from ceiling fans are only to reduce cooling needs and this is completely contingent on sufficient changes in interior comfort to warrant raising of the cooling thermostat. Two other factors must be taken into account in assessing the benefits of fans: their actual energy use and the added internal heat gains produced by the fans during operation. The measured electrical demand of ceiling fans varies between 5 and 115 Watts depending on model and speed selection. A power demand of 40 W at medium speed is probably typical (Chandra, 1985). Thus, a fan used for six months of the year would use 175 kwh. With 4.3 ceiling fans in an average Florida home, this amounts to about 800 kwh of fan energy consumption --about 5% of total electricity use. Also, all of the energy use of fans is eventually converted to heat within the home which must eventually be removed by ventilation air or the cooling system

Neutral beam injector oxygen impurity measurements and concentration reduction via gettering processes. Revision 1

We have measured the reduction of oxygen impurity levels by means of gettering within the arc chambers of the TMX-U neutral-beam injectors using the TMX-U neutral-beam test stand. Our analysis incorporated silicon surface-probe measurements and optical Doppler-shift measurements of the hydrogen alpha spectra of deuterium atoms with energies appropriate for D/sub 2/O parentage. Without gettering, the Auger electron spectroscopy analysis of an exposed silicon sample showed a large oxygen peak below the surface peak with a concentration equivalence of approximately 2% for an accelerated beam. After gettering, with either titanium or chromium getters, optical monochromator data indicated a reduction in the oxygen concentration of at least a factor of 10 whereas Auger spectroscopy data showed at least a factor-of-eight reduction. Other metallic impurities remained below the level of detection even after gettering. Additional effects observed during this study include a change in the accelerated deuterium species concentrations, loss of gettering activity, loss of arc operation, and a change in arc performance due to arc chamber gas absorption during operation

Neutral beam injector oxygen impurity measurements and concentration reduction via gettering processes

The reduction of oxygen impurity levels by means of gettering within the arc chambers of the TMX-U neutral beam injectors has been measured. The TMX-U Neutral Beam Test Stand was used for this experiment. Analysis incorporated silicon surface probes and optical Doppler-shift measurements of the Lyman alpha spectra of deuterium atoms with energies appropriate for D/sub 2/O parentage. Without gettering, the Auger electron spectroscopy analysis of an exposed silicon sample showed a large oxygen peak below the surface peak with a concentration equivalent of approximately 2% for an accelerated beam. After gettering, with either titanium or chromium getters, the oxygen concentration was reduced by at least a factor of 10 according to optical monochromator data, and at least a factor of 8 from Auger spectroscopy data. Simultaneously, other metallic impurities were not increased substantially as a result of gettering. Additional effects observed during this study include a change in the accelerated deuterium species concentrations, loss of gettering activity and arc operation, and a change in arc performance from arc chamber gas absorption during operation

Thermal Resonance in Signal Transmission

We use temperature tuning to control signal propagation in simple one-dimensional arrays of masses connected by hard anharmonic springs and with no local potentials. In our numerical model a sustained signal is applied at one site of a chain immersed in a thermal environment and the signal-to-noise ratio is measured at each oscillator. We show that raising the temperature can lead to enhanced signal propagation along the chain, resulting in thermal resonance effects akin to the resonance observed in arrays of bistable systems.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev.