367 research outputs found
Smoothing tautologies, hidden dynamics, and sigmoid asymptotics for piecewise smooth systems
Switches in real systems take many forms, such as impacts, electronic relays,
mitosis, and the implementation of decisions or control strategies. To
understand what is lost, and what can be retained, when we model a switch as an
instantaneous event, requires a consideration of so-called hidden terms. These
are asymptotically vanishing outside the switch, but can be encoded in the form
of nonlinear switching terms. A general expression for the switch can be
developed in the form of a series of sigmoid functions. We review the key steps
in extending the Filippov's method of sliding modes to such systems. We show
how even slight nonlinear effects can hugely alter the behaviour of an
electronic control circuit, and lead to `hidden' attractors inside the
switching surface.Comment: 12 page
UTM RTT CWG Concept & Use Cases Package #2
The Concept & Use Cases Package #2: Technical Capability Level 3 document represents the collaborative research efforts between the FAA and NASA as joint members of the Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) Research Transition Team (RTT). Contained in this document are the 1) Terms and Definitions, 2) Foundational Principles, 3) Concept Narratives, 4) Use Cases, 5) Operational Views, and 6) Roles and Responsibilities of actors interacting within what is considered to be encompassed by Technical Capability Level 3 UTM operating environments. The contents of Package #2 should NOT be considered established policy or construed as regulatory in nature. What is presented is meant to communicate the current, agreed upon understanding between the FAA and NASA on particular features of UTM as exemplified through use cases and concept narratives for the purposes of supporting joint NASA/Industry Demonstrations and the UTM Pilot Program. It is also meant to foster discussion and refinement of the concepts and approaches being pursued by the other RTT working groups
The SGLT2 inhibitor Empagliflozin attenuates interleukin-17A-induced human aortic smooth muscle cell proliferation and migration by targeting TRAF3IP2/ROS/NLRP3/Caspase-1-dependent IL-1β and IL-18 secretion
Chronic inflammation and persistent oxidative stress contribute to the development and progression of vascular proliferative diseases. We hypothesized that the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-17A induces oxidative stress and amplifies inflammatory signaling in human aortic smooth muscle cells (SMC) via TRAF3IP2-mediated NLRP3/caspase-1-dependent mitogenic and migratory proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-18. Further, we hypothesized that these maladaptive changes are prevented by empagliflozin (EMPA), an SGLT2 (Sodium/Glucose Cotransporter 2) inhibitor. Supporting our hypotheses, exposure of cultured SMC to IL-17A promoted proliferation and migration via TRAF3IP2, TRAF3IP2-dependent superoxide and hydrogen peroxide production, NLRP3 expression, caspase-1 activation, and IL-1β and IL-18 secretion. Furthermore, NLRP3 knockdown, caspase-1 inhibition, and pretreatment with IL-1β and IL-18 neutralizing antibodies and IL-18BP, each attenuated IL-17A-induced SMC migration and proliferation. Importantly, SMC express SGLT2, and pre-treatment with EMPA attenuated IL-17A/TRAF3IP2-dependent oxidative stress, NLRP3 expression, caspase-1 activation, IL-1β and IL-18 secretion, and SMC proliferation and migration. Importantly, silencing SGLT2 attenuated EMPA-mediated inhibition of IL-17A-induced cytokine secretion and SMC proliferation and migration. EMPA exerted these beneficial antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-mitogenic and anti-migratory effects under normal glucose conditions and without inducing cell death. These results suggest the therapeutic potential of EMPA in vascular proliferative diseases
T Cell LFA-1 Engagement Induces HuR-Dependent Cytokine mRNA Stabilization through a Vav-1, Rac1/2, p38MAPK and MKK3 Signaling Cascade
Engagement of the β2 integrin, lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1), results in stabilization of T cell mRNA transcripts containing AU-rich elements (AREs) by inducing rapid nuclear-to-cytosolic translocation of the RNA-stabilizing protein, HuR. However, little is known regarding integrin-induced signaling cascades that affect mRNA catabolism. This study examines the role of the GTPases, Rac 1 and Rac 2, and their downstream effectors, in the LFA-1-induced effects on mRNA.Engagement of LFA-1 to its ligand, ICAM-1, in human peripheral T cells resulted in rapid activation of Rac1 and Rac2. siRNA-mediated knockdown of either Rac1 or Rac2 prevented LFA-1-stimulated stabilization of the labile transcripts encoding IFN-γ and TNF-α, and integrin mediated IFN-γ mRNA stabilization was absent in T cells obtained from Rac2 gene-deleted mice. LFA-1 engagement-induced translocation of HuR and stabilization of TNF- α mRNA was lost in Jurkat cells deficient in the Rac guanine nucleotide exchange factor Vav-1 (J.Vav1). The transfection of J.Vav1 cells with constitutively active Rac1 or Rac2 stabilized a labile β-globin reporter mRNA, in a HuR-dependent manner. Furthermore, LFA-1-mediated mRNA stabilization and HuR translocation in mouse splenic T cells was dependent on the phosphorylation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase, MKK3, and its target MAP kinase p38MAPK, and lost in T cells obtained from MKK3 gene-deleted mice.Collectively, these results demonstrate that LFA-1-induced stabilization of ARE-containing mRNAs in T cells is dependent on HuR, and occurs through the Vav-1, Rac1/2, MKK3 and p38MAPK signaling cascade. This pathway constitutes a molecular switch that enhances immune and pro-inflammatory gene expression in T cells undergoing adhesion at sites of activation and effector function
The T=0 random-field Ising model on a Bethe lattice with large coordination number: hysteresis and metastable states
In order to elucidate the relationship between rate-independent hysteresis
and metastability in disordered systems driven by an external field, we study
the Gaussian RFIM at T=0 on regular random graphs (Bethe lattice) of finite
connectivity z and compute to O(1/z) (i.e. beyond mean-field) the quenched
complexity associated with the one-spin-flip stable states with magnetization m
as a function of the magnetic field H. When the saturation hysteresis loop is
smooth in the thermodynamic limit, we find that it coincides with the envelope
of the typical metastable states (the quenched complexity vanishes exactly
along the loop and is positive everywhere inside). On the other hand, the
occurence of a jump discontinuity in the loop (associated with an infinite
avalanche) can be traced back to the existence of a gap in the magnetization of
the metastable states for a range of applied field, and the envelope of the
typical metastable states is then reentrant. These findings confirm and
complete earlier analytical and numerical studies.Comment: 29 pages, 9 figure
Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) Research Transition Team (RTT) Concept Working Group - Concept & Use Cases Package #2 Addendum: Technical Capability Level 3
This document is a product of the joint NASA and FAA Research Transition Team's (RTT) Concept Working Group (CWG) as part of the UAS Traffic Management (UTM) project. The scope of the document covers Technical Capability Level (TCL) 3 of the UTM research path and presents the 1) Terms and Definitions, 2) Foundational Principles, 3) Concept Narratives, 4) Use Cases, 5) Operational Views (OVs), and 6) Roles and Responsibilities of actors interacting within a TCL3 environment. The document includes additional use cases to accompany the RTT CWG Package #2 document
TOI-150: A transiting hot Jupiter in the TESS southern CVZ
We report the detection of a hot Jupiter ($M_{p}=1.75_{-0.17}^{+0.14}\
M_{J}R_{p}=1.38\pm0.04\ R_{J}\log
g=4.152^{+0.030}_{-0.043}\beta=-79.59^{\circ}$). We confirm the
planetary nature of the candidate TOI-150.01 using radial velocity observations
from the APOGEE-2 South spectrograph and the Carnegie Planet Finder
Spectrograph, ground-based photometric observations from the robotic
Three-hundred MilliMeter Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, and Gaia
distance estimates. Large-scale spectroscopic surveys, such as APOGEE/APOGEE-2,
now have sufficient radial velocity precision to directly confirm the signature
of giant exoplanets, making such data sets valuable tools in the TESS era.
Continual monitoring of TOI-150 by TESS can reveal additional planets and
subsequent observations can provide insights into planetary system
architectures involving a hot Jupiter around a star about halfway through its
main-sequence life.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, accepted to ApJ
Early-type galaxies in the SDSS. I. The sample
A sample of nearly 9000 early-type galaxies, in the redshift range 0.01 < z <
0.3, was selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey using morphological and
spectral criteria. This paper describes how the sample was selected, presents
examples of images and seeing corrected fits to the observed surface brightness
profiles, describes our method for estimating K-corrections, and shows that the
SDSS spectra are of sufficiently high quality to measure velocity dispersions
accurately. It also provides catalogs of the measured photometric and
spectroscopic parameters. In related papers, these data are used to study how
early-type galaxy observables, including luminosity, effective radius, surface
brightness, color, and velocity dispersion, are correlated with one another.Comment: 63 pages, 21 figures. Accepted by AJ (scheduled for April 2003). This
paper is part I of a revised version of astro-ph/0110344. The full version of
Tables 2 and 3, i.e. the tables listing the photometric and spectroscopic
parameters of ~ 9000 galaxies, are available at
http://astrophysics.phys.cmu.edu/~bernardi/SDSS/Etypes/TABLE
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