1,107 research outputs found
Hydrological model calibration for derived flood frequency analysis using stochastic rainfall and probability distributions of peak flows
Derived flood frequency analysis allows the estimation of design floods with
hydrological modeling for poorly observed basins considering change and
taking into account flood protection measures. There are several possible
choices regarding precipitation input, discharge output and consequently
the calibration of the model. The objective of this study is to
compare different calibration strategies for a hydrological model
considering various types of rainfall input and runoff output data sets and
to propose the most suitable approach. Event based and continuous, observed
hourly rainfall data as well as disaggregated daily rainfall and
stochastically generated hourly rainfall data are used as input for the
model. As output, short hourly and longer daily continuous flow time series
as well as probability distributions of annual maximum peak flow series are
employed. The performance of the strategies is evaluated using the obtained
different model parameter sets for continuous simulation of discharge in an
independent validation period and by comparing the model derived flood
frequency distributions with the observed one. The investigations are
carried out for three mesoscale catchments in northern Germany with the
hydrological model HEC-HMS (Hydrologic Engineering Center's Hydrologic Modeling System). The results show that (I) the same type of
precipitation input data should be used for calibration and application of
the hydrological model, (II) a model calibrated using a small sample of
extreme values works quite well for the simulation of continuous time series
with moderate length but not vice versa, and (III) the best performance with
small uncertainty is obtained when stochastic precipitation data and the
observed probability distribution of peak flows are used for model
calibration. This outcome suggests to calibrate a hydrological model
directly on probability distributions of observed peak flows using
stochastic rainfall as input if its purpose is the application for derived
flood frequency analysis
Stem cell biology meets systems biology
Stem cells and their descendents are the building blocks of life. How stem cell populations guarantee their maintenance and/or self-renewal, and how individual stem cells decide to transit from one cell stage to another to generate different cell types are long-standing and fascinating questions in the field. Here, we review the discussions that took place at a recent EMBO conference in Cambridge, UK, in which these questions were placed in the context of the latest advances in stem cell biology in presentations that covered stem cell heterogeneity, cell fate decision-making, induced pluripotency, as well as the mathematical modelling of these phenomena
Spontaneous spin polarization in doped semiconductor quantum wells
We calculate the critical density of the zero-temperature, first-order
ferromagnetic phase transition in n-doped GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells. We find
that the existence of the ferromagnetic transition is dependent upon the choice
of well width. We demonstrate rigorously that this dependence is governed by
the interplay between different components of the exchange interaction and that
there exists an upper limit for the well width beyond which there is no
transition. We predict that some narrow quantum wells could exhibit this
transition at electron densities lower than the ones that have been considered
experimentally thus far. We use a screened Hartree-Fock approximation with a
polarization-dependent effective mass, which is adjusted to match the critical
density predicted by Monte Carlo calculations for the two-dimensional electron
gas.Comment: Submitted to Eur. Phys. Journal
Disorder Effects in Superconductors with Anisotropic Pairing: From Cooper Pairs to Compact Bosons
In the weak coupling BCS-approximation normal impurities do not influence
superconducting T_{c} in significant manner in case of isotropic s-wave
pairing. However, in case of d-wave pairing these are strongly pair-breaking.
This fact is in rather strong contradiction with many experiments on disordered
high-T_{c} superconductors assuming the d-wave nature of pairing in these
systems. With the growth of electron attraction within the Cooper pair the
system smoothly crosses over from BCS-pairs to compact Boson picture of
superconductivity. As pairing strength grows and pairs become compact
significant deviations from universal Abrikosov-Gorkov dependence of T_{c} on
disorder appear in case of d-wave pairing with superconducting state becoming
more stable than in the weak coupling case. As high-T_{c} superconductors are
actually in the intermediate region with Cooper pairs size of the order of few
interatomic lengths, these results can explain the relative stability of d-wave
pairing under rather strong disordering.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, RevTeX 3.0, 1 Postscript figure attached,
submitted to JETP Letter
Exchange Instabilities in Semiconductor Double Quantum Well Systems
We consider various exchange-driven electronic instabilities in semiconductor
double-layer systems in the absence of any external magnetic field. We
establish that there is no exchange-driven bilayer to monolayer charge transfer
instability in the double-layer systems. We show that, within the unrestricted
Hartree-Fock approximation, the low density stable phase (even in the absence
of any interlayer tunneling) is a quantum ``pseudospin rotated'' spontaneous
interlayer phase coherent spin-polarized symmetric state rather than the
classical Ising-like charge-transfer phase. The U(1) symmetry of the double
quantum well system is broken spontaneously at this low density quantum phase
transition, and the layer density develops quantum fluctuations even in the
absence of any interlayer tunneling. The phase diagram for the double quantum
well system is calculated in the carrier density--layer separation space, and
the possibility of experimentally observing various quantum phases is
discussed. The situation in the presence of an external electric field is
investigated in some detail using the
spin-polarized-local-density-approximation-based self-consistent technique and
good agreement with existing experimental results is obtained.Comment: 24 pages, figures included. Also available at
http://www-cmg.physics.umd.edu/~lzheng/preprint/ct.uu/ . Revised final
version to appear in PR
Pseudogap in the microwave response of YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-x}
The in-plane and out-of-plane surface impedance and microwave conductivity
components of one and the same YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-x} (0.07\le x\le 0.47) single
crystal are determined in the wide ranges of temperature T and carrier
concentration p in CuO_2 planes. The following features of the superfluid
density n_s(T,p)\propto\lambda_{ab}^{-2}(T,p) are observed at T<Tc/2 and
0.078\le p\le 0.16: (i) n_s(0,p) depends linearly on p, (ii) the derivative
|dn_s(T,p)/dT|_{T\to 0} depends on p slightly in the optimally and moderately
doped regions (0.10<p\le 0.16); however, it rapidly increases with p further
lowering and (iii) the latter finding is accompanied by the linear
low-temperature dependence \Delta n_s(T)\propto(-T) changing to \Delta
n_s(T)\propto(-\sqrt{T}). For optimum oxygen content the temperature dependence
of the normalized imaginary part of the c-axis conductivity
\lambda_c^2(0)/\lambda_c^2(T) is found to be strikingly similar to that of
\lambda_{ab}^2(0)/\lambda_{ab}^2(T) and becomes more convex with p lowering.
\lambda_c^{-2}(0,p) values are roughly proportional to the normal state
conductivities \sigma_c(T_c,p) along the c-axis. All these properties can be
treated in the framework of d-density wave order of pseudogap.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures, presented at EUCAS 2003 (September 14-18),
submitted to SUS
A multi-analytical approach to gold in Ancient Egypt: studies on provenance and corrosion
Recent results from a three-year multi-disciplinary project on Ancient Egyptian gold jewellery revealed that items of jewellery from the Middle Kingdom to the New Kingdom were manufactured using a variety of alluvial gold alloys. These alloys cover a wide range of colours and the majority contain Platinum Group Elements inclusions. However, in all the gold foils analysed, these inclusions were found to be absent. In this work a selection of gilded wood and leather items and gold foil fragments, all from the excavations by John Garstang at Abydos (primarily from Middle Kingdom graves), were examined using Scanning
Electron Microscopy-Energy Disperse Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), X-Ray Fluorescence (µXRF), Particle Induced X-Ray Emission (µPIXE) and Double Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (D2XRF). The work allowed us to
characterise the composition of the base-alloys and also to reveal the presence of Pt at trace levels, confirming the use of alluvial gold deposits. Corrosion products were also investigated in the foils where surface tarnish was visually observed. Results showed that the differences in the colour of corrosion observed for the foils are related not only to the thickness of the corrosion layer but also to a multi-layer structure containing the various corrosion products
The Notch pathway controls fibrotic and regenerative repair in the adult heart.
AIMS: In the adult heart, Notch signalling regulates the response to injury. Notch inhibition leads to increased cardiomyocyte apoptosis, and exacerbates the development of cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis. The role of Notch in the mesenchymal stromal cell fraction, which contains cardiac fibroblasts and cardiac precursor cells, is, however, largely unknown. In the present study, we evaluate, therefore, whether forced activation of the Notch pathway in mesenchymal stromal cells regulates pathological cardiac remodelling.
METHODS AND RESULTS: We generated transgenic mice overexpressing the Notch ligand Jagged1 on the surface of cardiomyocytes to activate Notch signalling in adjacent myocyte and non-myocyte cells. In neonatal transgenic mice, activated Notch sustained cardiac precursor and myocyte proliferation after birth, and led to increased numbers of cardiac myocytes in adult mice. In the adult heart under pressure overload, Notch inhibited the development of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and transforming growth factor-β/connective tissue growth factor-mediated cardiac fibrosis. Most importantly, Notch activation in the stressed adult heart reduced the proliferation of myofibroblasts and stimulated the expansion of stem cell antigen-1-positive cells, and in particular of Nkx2.5-positive cardiac precursor cells.
CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that Notch is pivotal in the healing process of the injured heart. Specifically, Notch regulates key cellular mechanisms in the mesenchymal stromal cell population, and thereby controls the balance between fibrotic and regenerative repair in the adult heart. Altogether, these findings indicate that Notch represents a unique therapeutic target for inducing regeneration in the adult heart via mobilization of cardiac precursor cells
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