967 research outputs found
Computerized Tomography Reveals Aptian Rudist Species and Taphonomy
Computerized tomographic (CT) scans of cored carbonates from the Lower Aptian Shu’aiba Formation reveal clearly defined rudist profiles. Formation MicroImager (FMI) logs from the equivalent cored wellbore also display images related to the rudist content. Various rudist species can be identified in the cores and provide a key to the identification of the CT and FMI rudist images. As certain rudist species preferentially occupied different environments during the Early Aptian deposition of the Shu’aiba Formation carbonates, their recognition in the cores, CT and FMI images can be used to assist determination of palaeoenvironments, lithofacies and reservoir facies. This new ability to identify rudist images in FMI logs in uncored development wells can be used to extend depositional facies models into uncored parts of the hydrocarbon reservoir models
Rotating black hole orbit functionals in the frequency domain
In many astrophysical problems, it is important to understand the behavior of
functions that come from rotating (Kerr) black hole orbits. It can be
particularly useful to work with the frequency domain representation of those
functions, in order to bring out their harmonic dependence upon the fundamental
orbital frequencies of Kerr black holes. Although, as has recently been shown
by W. Schmidt, such a frequency domain representation must exist, the coupled
nature of a black hole orbit's and motions makes it difficult to
construct such a representation in practice. Combining Schmidt's description
with a clever choice of timelike coordinate suggested by Y. Mino, we have
developed a simple procedure that sidesteps this difficulty. One first Fourier
expands all quantities using Mino's time coordinate . In particular,
the observer's time is decomposed with . The frequency domain
description is then built from the -Fourier expansion and the
expansion of . We have found this procedure to be quite simple to implement,
and to be applicable to a wide class of functionals. We test the procedure
using a simple test function, and then apply it in a particularly interesting
case, the Weyl curvature scalar used in black hole perturbation
theory.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures. Submitted to Phys Rev D. New version gives a
vastly improved algorithm due to Drasco for computing the Fourier transforms.
Drasco has been added as an author. Also fixed some references and
exterminated a small herd of typos; final published versio
Structure-function analysis of the <em>Fusarium oxysporum</em> Avr2 effector allows uncoupling of its immune-suppressing activity from recognition
Plant pathogens employ effector proteins to manipulate their hosts. Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (Fol), the causal agent of tomato wilt disease, produces effector protein Avr2. Besides being a virulence factor, Avr2 triggers immunity in I-2 carrying tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Fol strains that evade I-2 recognition carry point mutations in Avr2 (e.g. Avr2R45H), but retain full virulence. Here we investigate the virulence function of Avr2 and determine its crystal structure. Transgenic tomato and Arabidopsis expressing either wild-type ΔspAvr2 (deleted signal-peptide) or the ΔspAvr2R45H variant become hypersusceptible to fungal, and even bacterial infections, suggesting that Avr2 targets a conserved defense mechanism. Indeed, Avr2 transgenic plants are attenuated in immunity-related readouts, including flg22-induced growth inhibition, ROS production and callose deposition. The crystal structure of Avr2 reveals that the protein shares intriguing structural similarity to ToxA from the wheat pathogen Pyrenophora tritici-repentis and to TRAF proteins. The I-2 resistance-breaking Avr2V41M, Avr2R45H and Avr2R46P variants cluster on a surface-presented loop. Structure-guided mutagenesis enabled uncoupling of virulence from I-2-mediated recognition. We conclude that I-2-mediated recognition is not based on monitoring Avr2 virulence activity, which includes suppression of immune responses via an evolutionarily conserved effector target, but by recognition of a distinct epitope
The significance of work allocation in the professional apprenticeship of solicitors
It is a peculiarity of the solicitors’ profession that it has historically relied on methods of pre-qualification ‘training’ by way of apprenticeship and that an entirely respectable non-graduate route into the profession remains. In a political context, however, where the profession is called upon positively to demonstrate its standards of performance, the professional regulator seeks to attach a competence framework to the existing model; shifting the focus from how the trainee learns to what the trainee learns. This paper will explore the period of traineeship from the perspective of the trainees themselves, drawing on two small qualitative studies, focussing on the fundamental context factor of the allocation and structuring of their work. In the first study the context for this evaluation is the set of outcomes being tested by the professional regulator and in the second, the perceptions of qualified individuals looking back at their apprenticeship, The paper concludes that there remains work for the profession to do not only in fostering supportive and expansive apprenticeships, but in attending, however, supportive the surrounding environment, to the work being carried out by trainees and its relationship with the work carried out by newly qualified solicitors
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The interplay between formal and informal elements in analysing situations of role conflict among construction participants
The interplay of formal and informal factors in construction teams influences the enactment of
roles and the individuals who fulfil those roles. With a specific focus on a phenomenon called role
conflict, the aim is to explore if and how the interaction of formal and informal elements would
lead to situations of role conflict. This phenomenon proved to lead to frustration, tension and
employee burnout. An analytical model of role interaction was developed, which disentangles
formal and informal elements that shape role interactions. Qualitative data was collected through
semi-structured interviews, project documents and observations. Four cases of role conflict are
presented here. Contract, as a formal element, and participant’s values and interests, as informal
elements, appeared to be the most important factor shaping participants’ expectations and
behaviours. The analysis in this study showed that if a participant who faces role conflict is able
to influence the formal elements in favour of his or her informal elements, then he or she may
experience less frustration. At a more general level, the results suggest that increasing formality can increase participants’ frustration, which then would decrease the likelihood of collaboration. As the theoretical contribution, this research extends organizational role theory to deal with informal and formal aspects. Taking into account formal sources enables the study of how roles are institutionally governed while including informal sources allows for the idea that some of the aspects of the role, even in the context of work role, are socially constructed
Towards a global analysis of polarized parton distributions
We present a technique for implementing in a fast way, and without any
approximations, higher-order calculations of partonic cross sections into
global analyses of parton distribution functions. The approach, which is set up
in Mellin-moment space, is particularly suited for analyses of future data from
polarized proton-proton collisions, but not limited to this case. The
usefulness and practicability of this method is demonstrated for the
semi-inclusive production of hadrons in deep-inelastic scattering and the
transverse momentum distribution of ``prompt'' photons in pp collisions, and a
case study for a future global analysis of polarized parton densities is
presented.Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX, 6 eps figures, final version to appear in PRD (minor
changes
Evolution of Microstructure and Texture during Warm Rolling Of a Duplex Steel
The effect of warm rolling on the evolution of microstructure and texture in a duplex stainless steel (DSS) was investigated. For this purpose, a DSS steel was warm rolled up to 90 pct reduction in thickness at 498 K, 698 K, and 898 K (225 °C, 425 °C, and 625 °C). The microstructure with an alternate arrangement of deformed ferrite and austenite bands was observed after warm rolling; however, the microstructure after 90 pct warm rolling at 498 K and 898 K (225 °C and 625 °C) was more lamellar and uniform as compared to the rather fragmented and inhomogeneous structure observed after 90 pct warm rolling at 698 K (425 °C). The texture of ferrite in warm-rolled DSS was characterized by the presence of the RD (〈011〉//RD) and ND (〈111〉//ND) fibers. However, the texture of ferrite in DSS warm rolled at 698 K (425 °C) was distinctly different having much higher fraction of the RD-fiber components than that of the ND-fiber components. The texture and microstructural differences in ferrite in DSS warm rolled at different temperatures could be explained by the interaction of carbon atoms with dislocations. In contrast, the austenite in DSS warm rolled at different temperatures consistently showed pure metal- or copper-type deformation texture which was attributed to the increase in stacking fault energy at the warm-rolling temperatures. It was concluded that the evolution of microstructure and texture of the two constituent phases in DSS was greatly affected by the temperature of warm rolling, but not significantly by the presence of the other phas
The scientific potential of space-based gravitational wave detectors
The millihertz gravitational wave band can only be accessed with a
space-based interferometer, but it is one of the richest in potential sources.
Observations in this band have amazing scientific potential. The mergers
between massive black holes with mass in the range 10 thousand to 10 million
solar masses, which are expected to occur following the mergers of their host
galaxies, produce strong millihertz gravitational radiation. Observations of
these systems will trace the hierarchical assembly of structure in the Universe
in a mass range that is very difficult to probe electromagnetically. Stellar
mass compact objects falling into such black holes in the centres of galaxies
generate detectable gravitational radiation for several years prior to the
final plunge and merger with the central black hole. Measurements of these
systems offer an unprecedented opportunity to probe the predictions of general
relativity in the strong-field and dynamical regime. Millihertz gravitational
waves are also generated by millions of ultra-compact binaries in the Milky
Way, providing a new way to probe galactic stellar populations. ESA has
recognised this great scientific potential by selecting The Gravitational
Universe as its theme for the L3 large satellite mission, scheduled for launch
in ~2034. In this article we will review the likely sources for millihertz
gravitational wave detectors and describe the wide applications that
observations of these sources could have for astrophysics, cosmology and
fundamental physics.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures, contribution to Gravitational Wave Astrophysics,
the proceedings of the 2014 Sant Cugat Forum on Astrophysics; v2 includes one
additional referenc
DT/T beyond linear theory
The major contribution to the anisotropy of the temperature of the Cosmic
Microwave Background (CMB) radiation is believed to come from the interaction
of linear density perturbations with the radiation previous to the decoupling
time. Assuming a standard thermal history for the gas after recombination, only
the gravitational field produced by the linear density perturbations present on
a universe can generate anisotropies at low z (these
anisotropies would manifest on large angular scales). However, secondary
anisotropies are inevitably produced during the nonlinear evolution of matter
at late times even in a universe with a standard thermal history. Two effects
associated to this nonlinear phase can give rise to new anisotropies: the
time-varying gravitational potential of nonlinear structures (Rees-Sciama RS
effect) and the inverse Compton scattering of the microwave photons with hot
electrons in clusters of galaxies (Sunyaev-Zeldovich SZ effect). These two
effects can produce distinct imprints on the CMB temperature anisotropy. We
discuss the amplitude of the anisotropies expected and the relevant angular
scales in different cosmological scenarios. Future sensitive experiments will
be able to probe the CMB anisotropies beyong the first order primary
contribution.Comment: plain tex, 16 pages, 3 figures. Proceedings of the Laredo Advance
School on Astrophysics "The universe at high-z, large-scale structure and the
cosmic microwave background". To be publised by Springer-Verla
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