1,051 research outputs found
Thermal radiation dominated heat transfer in nanomechanical silicon nitride drum resonators
Nanomechanical silicon nitride (SiN) drum resonators are currently employed
in various fields of applications that arise from their unprecedented frequency
response to physical quantities. In the present study, we investigate the
thermal transport in nanomechanical SiN drum resonators by analytical
modelling, computational simulations, and experiments for a better
understanding of the underlying heat transfer mechanism causing the thermal
frequency response. Our analysis indicates that radiative heat loss is a
non-negligible heat transfer mechanism in nanomechanical SiN resonators
limiting their thermal responsivity and response time. This finding is
important for optimal resonator designs for thermal sensing applications as
well as cavity optomechanics.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures in main text, 3 figures in supplementar
Satellite Selection Methodology for Horizontal Navigation and Integrity Algorithms
With the new upcoming GNSS constellation in the future it
might no longer be possible to use all satellites in view for
navigation due to limited tracking channels. This is in particular
true in the context of Advanced Receiver Autonomous
Integrity Monitoring (ARAIM), where the use of dual frequency
is favorable to mitigate ionospheric disturbances.
To address the issues of limited channels we propose two
different satellites selection strategies adapted for Horizontal
ARAIM in this paper. First a bare geometric approach
which comes with almost no additional computation effort
at the cost of less stable results. And second a heuristic
optimization which improves selection results significantly
while adding additional computational effort.
Both approaches are compared to brute force selected best
sets in terms of resulting protection levels, computational
cost and achieved ARAIM availability.
Results show the general applicability of both presented
selection methods in Horizontal ARAIM. Using limited sets
instead of all satellites in view can still provide global availability.
Depending on the method more or less satellites are
necessary to ensure sufficiently small and stable protection
levels
The impact of working memory and the "process of process modelling" on model quality: Investigating experienced versus inexperienced modellers
A process model (PM) represents the graphical depiction of a business process, for instance, the entire process from online ordering a book until the parcel is delivered to the customer. Knowledge about relevant factors for creating PMs of high quality is lacking. The present study investigated the role of cognitive processes as well as modelling processes in creating a PM in experienced and inexperienced modellers. Specifically, two working memory (WM) functions (holding and processing of information and relational integration) and three process of process modelling phases (comprehension, modelling, and reconciliation) were related to PM quality. Our results show that the WM function of relational integration was positively related to PM quality in both modelling groups. The ratio of comprehension phases was negatively related to PM quality in inexperienced modellers and the ratio of reconciliation phases was positively related to PM quality in experienced modellers. Our research reveals central cognitive mechanisms in process modelling and has potential practical implications for the development of modelling software and teaching the craft of process modelling
Caspase-8 controls the gut response to microbial challenges by Tnf-alpha-dependent and independent pathways
Objectives: Intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) express toll-like receptors (TLR) that facilitate microbial recognition. Stimulation of TLR ligands induces a transient increase in epithelial cell shedding, a mechanism that serves the antibacterial and antiviral host defence of the epithelium and promotes elimination of intracellular pathogens. Although activation of the extrinsic apoptosis pathway has been described during inflammatory shedding, its functional involvement is currently unclear. Design: We investigated the functional involvement of caspase-8 signalling in microbial-induced intestinal cell shedding by injecting Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to mimic bacterial pathogens and poly(I:C) as a probe for RNA viruses in vivo. Results: TLR stimulation of IEC was associated with a rapid activation of caspase-8 and increased epithelial cell shedding. In mice with an epithelial cell-specific deletion of caspase-8 TLR stimulation caused Rip3-dependent epithelial necroptosis instead of apoptosis. Mortality and tissue damage were more severe in mice in which IECs died by necroptosis than apoptosis. Inhibition of receptor-interacting protein (Rip) kinases rescued the epithelium from TLR-induced gut damage. TLR3-induced necroptosis was directly mediated via TRIF-dependent pathways, independent of Tnf-α and type III interferons, whereas TLR4-induced tissue damage was critically dependent on Tnf-α. Conclusions: Together, our data demonstrate an essential role for caspase-8 in maintaining the gut barrier in response to mucosal pathogens by permitting inflammatory shedding and preventing necroptosis of infected cells. These data suggest that therapeutic strategies targeting the cell death machinery represent a promising new option for the treatment of inflammatory and infective enteropathies
Lack of Intestinal Epithelial Atg7 Affects Paneth Cell Granule Formation but Does Not Compromise Immune Homeostasis in the Gut
Genetic polymorphisms of autophagy-related genes have been associated with an increased risk to develop inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Autophagy is an elementary process participating in several cellular events such as cellular clearance and nonapoptotic programmed cell death. Furthermore, autophagy may be involved in intestinal immune homeostasis due to its participation in the digestion of intracellular pathogens and in antigen presentation. In the present study, the role of autophagy in the intestinal epithelial layer was investigated. The intestinal epithelium is essential to maintain gut homeostasis, and defects within this barrier have been associated with the pathogenesis of IBD. Therefore, mice with intestinal epithelial deletion of Atg7 were generated and investigated in different mouse models. Knockout mice showed reduced size of granules and decreased levels of lysozyme in Paneth cells. However, this was dispensable for gut immune homeostasis and had no effect on susceptibility in mouse models of experimentally induced colitis
Characterization of the Positivity of the Density Matrix in Terms of the Coherence Vector Representation
A parameterization of the density operator, a coherence vector
representation, which uses a basis of orthogonal, traceless, Hermitian matrices
is discussed. Using this parameterization we find the region of permissible
vectors which represent a density operator. The inequalities which specify the
region are shown to involve the Casimir invariants of the group. In particular
cases, this allows the determination of degeneracies in the spectrum of the
operator. The identification of the Casimir invariants also provides a method
of constructing quantities which are invariant under {\it local} unitary
operations. Several examples are given which illustrate the constraints
provided by the positivity requirements and the utility of the coherence vector
parameterization.Comment: significantly rewritten and submitted for publicatio
Lost in Time and Space: States of High Arousal Disrupt Implicit Acquisition of Spatial and Sequential Context Information
Biased cognition during high arousal states is a relevant phenomenon in a variety of topics: from the development of post-traumatic stress disorders or stress-triggered addictive behaviors to forensic considerations regarding crimes of passion. Recent evidence indicates that arousal modulates the engagement of a hippocampus-based “cognitive” system in favor of a striatum-based “habit” system in learning and memory, promoting a switch from flexible, contextualized to more rigid, reflexive responses. Existing findings appear inconsistent, therefore it is unclear whether and which type of context processing is disrupted by enhanced arousal. In this behavioral study, we investigated such arousal-triggered cognitive-state shifts in human subjects. We validated an arousal induction procedure (three experimental conditions: violent scene, erotic scene, neutral control scene) using pupillometry (Preliminary Experiment, n = 13) and randomly administered this method to healthy young adults to examine whether high arousal states affect performance in two core domains of contextual processing, the acquisition of spatial (spatial discrimination paradigm; Experiment 1, n = 66) and sequence information (learned irrelevance paradigm; Experiment 2, n = 84). In both paradigms, spatial location and sequences were encoded incidentally and both displacements when retrieving spatial position as well as the predictability of the target by a cue in sequence learning changed stepwise. Results showed that both implicit spatial and sequence learning were disrupted during high arousal states, regardless of valence. Compared to the control group, participants in the arousal conditions showed impaired discrimination of spatial positions and abolished learning of associative sequences. Furthermore, Bayesian analyses revealed evidence against the null models. In line with recent models of stress effects on cognition, both experiments provide evidence for decreased engagement of flexible, cognitive systems supporting encoding of context information in active cognition during acute arousal, promoting reduced sensitivity for contextual details. We argue that arousal fosters cognitive adaptation towards less demanding, more present-oriented information processing, which prioritizes a current behavioral response set at the cost of contextual cues. This transient state of behavioral perseverance might reduce reliance on context information in unpredictable environments and thus represent an adaptive response in certain situations
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