11,118 research outputs found
Investigation of heatless desorption technology for carbon dioxide control in manned spacecraft
Heatless desorption technology for carbon dioxide control in manned spacecraf
Unlimited simultaneous discrimination intervals in regression Technical report no. 90
Unlimited simultaneous discrimination intervals in linear regression
Temporal Analysis of Activity Patterns of Editors in Collaborative Mapping Project of OpenStreetMap
In the recent years Wikis have become an attractive platform for social
studies of the human behaviour. Containing millions records of edits across the
globe, collaborative systems such as Wikipedia have allowed researchers to gain
a better understanding of editors participation and their activity patterns.
However, contributions made to Geo-wikis_wiki-based collaborative mapping
projects_ differ from systems such as Wikipedia in a fundamental way due to
spatial dimension of the content that limits the contributors to a set of those
who posses local knowledge about a specific area and therefore cross-platform
studies and comparisons are required to build a comprehensive image of online
open collaboration phenomena. In this work, we study the temporal behavioural
pattern of OpenStreetMap editors, a successful example of geo-wiki, for two
European capital cities. We categorise different type of temporal patterns and
report on the historical trend within a period of 7 years of the project age.
We also draw a comparison with the previously observed editing activity
patterns of Wikipedia.Comment: Submitte
Non-adiabatic pumping in an oscillating-piston model
We consider the prototypical "piston pump" operating on a ring, where a
circulating current is induced by means of an AC driving. This can be regarded
as a generalized Fermi-Ulam model, incorporating a finite-height moving wall
(piston) and non trivial topology (ring). The amount of particles transported
per cycle is determined by a layered structure of phase-space. Each layer is
characterized by a different drift velocity. We discuss the differences
compared with the adiabatic and Boltzmann pictures, and highlight the
significance of the "diabatic" contribution that might lead to a
counter-stirring effect.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, improved versio
Electron heating mechanisms in dual frequency capacitive discharges
We discuss electron heating mechanisms in the sheath regions of dual-frequency capacitive discharges, with the twin aims of identifying the dominant mechanisms and supplying closed-form expressions from which the heating power can be estimated. We show that the heating effect produced by either Ohmic or collisionless heating is much larger when the discharge is excited by a superposition of currents at two frequencies than if either current had acted alone. This coupling effect occurs because the lower frequency current, while not directly heating the electrons to any great extent, strongly affects the spatial structure of the discharge in the sheath regions
Riddled-like Basin in Two-Dimensional Map for Bouncing Motion of an Inelastic Particle on a Vibrating Board
Motivated by bouncing motion of an inelastic particle on a vibrating board, a
simple two-dimensional map is constructed and its behavior is studied
numerically. In addition to the typical route to chaos through a periodic
doubling bifurcation, we found peculiar behavior in the parameter region where
two stable periodic attractors coexist. A typical orbit in the region goes
through chaotic motion for an extended transient period before it converges
into one of the two periodic attractors. The basin structure in this parameter
region is almost riddling and the fractal dimension of the basin boundary is
close to two, {\it i.e.}, the dimension of the phase space.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. to be published in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. (2002
Oseledets' Splitting of Standard-like Maps
For the class of differentiable maps of the plane and, in particular, for
standard-like maps (McMillan form), a simple relation is shown between the
directions of the local invariant manifolds of a generic point and its
contribution to the finite-time Lyapunov exponents (FTLE) of the associated
orbit. By computing also the point-wise curvature of the manifolds, we produce
a comparative study between local Lyapunov exponent, manifold's curvature and
splitting angle between stable/unstable manifolds. Interestingly, the analysis
of the Chirikov-Taylor standard map suggests that the positive contributions to
the FTLE average mostly come from points of the orbit where the structure of
the manifolds is locally hyperbolic: where the manifolds are flat and
transversal, the one-step exponent is predominantly positive and large; this
behaviour is intended in a purely statistical sense, since it exhibits large
deviations. Such phenomenon can be understood by analytic arguments which, as a
by-product, also suggest an explicit way to point-wise approximate the
splitting.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figure
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Integration of the Head and Forelimb in Bipedal Hominids
Integration, a fundamental property of organisms, occurs via multiple mechanisms and for diverse reasons. Although there has been substantial work on the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms by which developmental integration occurs, we have less of an understanding of the evolutionary relationships between functional and developmental integration. In this respect, human evolution provides an interesting test case. In quadrupedal mammals, there is considerable functional integration among and between the limbs, but little functional integration between the limbs and the skull. The evolution of bipedalism in hominids, however, provided new opportunities for novel forms of integration by emancipating the forelimbs from any major role in locomotion. Here we consider how the forelimb and head become increasingly integrated in the genus Homo because of the biomechanical challenges of running. While the arm and the head interact little during walking, we have found that, during running, the stance side arm acts as a counterbalance to the head, stabilizing it against impulsive pitching forces generated by the heel strike transient. Moreover, the functional properties of this linkage may have driven several developmental changes in the proportions of the arm and the anatomy of the shoulder girdle during human evolution. Thus, evolutionary changes in arm and head morphology during human evolution may be more integrated than previously considered.AnthropologyHuman Evolutionary Biolog
Testosterone Influence on Gene Expression in Lacrimal Glands of Mouse Models of Sjögren Syndrome
Purpose:
Sjögren syndrome is an autoimmune disorder that occurs almost exclusively in women and is associated with extensive inflammation in lacrimal tissue, an immune-mediated destruction and/or dysfunction of glandular epithelial cells, and a significant decrease in aqueous tear secretion. We discovered that androgens suppress the inflammation in, and enhance the function of, lacrimal glands in female mouse models (e.g., MRL/MpJ-Tnfrsf6lpr [MRL/lpr]) of Sjögren syndrome. In contrast, others have reported that androgens induce an anomalous immunopathology in lacrimal glands of nonobese diabetic/LtJ (NOD) mice. We tested our hypothesis that these hormone actions reflect unique, strain- and tissue-specific effects, which involve significant changes in the expression of immune-related glandular genes.
Methods:
Lacrimal glands were obtained from age-matched, adult, female MRL/lpr and NOD mice after treatment with vehicle or testosterone for up to 3 weeks. Tissues were processed for analysis of differentially expressed mRNAs using CodeLink Bioarrays and Affymetrix GeneChips. Data were analyzed with bioinformatics and statistical software.
Results:
Testosterone significantly influenced the expression of numerous immune-related genes, ontologies, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways in lacrimal glands of MRL/lpr and NOD mice. The nature of this hormone-induced immune response was dependent upon the autoimmune strain, and was not duplicated within lacrimal tissues of nonautoimmune BALB/c mice. The majority of immune-response genes regulated by testosterone were of the inflammatory type.
Conclusions:
Our findings support our hypothesis and indicate a major role for the lacrimal gland microenvironment in mediating androgen effects on immune gene expression
Energy balance in a low pressure capacitive discharge driven by a double-saddle antenna
A radio frequency (rf) plasma is created at low pressure (∼1 mTorr) in the source tube of a “helicon” excited diffusion system in the absence of a dc magnetic field. The coupling is capacitive for the low source power of 160 W at 13.56 MHz considered here. Temperature measurements of the glass source tube yield a plasma power deposition of ∼35 W. The plasma parameters (density, potential, electron temperature) were measured using a retarding field energy analyzer. An analytical model based on the measuredplasma parameters and on additional external parameters measured in the matching box (rf voltages and phase, rf current) is developed. The model takes into account the geometry of the double saddle rf antenna. It is found that the inside of the glass wall adjacent to the antenna wire charges negatively. Ion acceleration into the glass along the antenna and fast electrons escaping the plasma account for most of the power deposition to the walls (∼16.8 W). Secondary electrons liberated by ions impinging onto the glass along the antenna contribute a power of ∼4.6 W. Adding the power of 3.7 W deposited to the part of the tube not affected by the antenna, the total power deposition responsible for the temperature rise of the tube is found to be about 25 W. The model shows that the power deposition is strongly nonuniform along the tube as a result of the antenna geometry. An estimate of the power deposited into the electrons by stochastic heating yields ∼1.4 W, compared to an estimate of 5.8 W for the measured power loss from electrons
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