674 research outputs found
Multidimensional Pattern Formation Has an Infinite Number of Constants of Motion
Extending our previous work on 2D growth for the Laplace equation we study
here {\it multidimensional} growth for {\it arbitrary elliptic} equations,
describing inhomogeneous and anisotropic pattern formations processes. We find
that these nonlinear processes are governed by an infinite number of
conservation laws. Moreover, in many cases {\it all dynamics of the interface
can be reduced to the linear time--dependence of only one ``moment" }
which corresponds to the changing volume while {\it all higher moments, ,
are constant in time. These moments have a purely geometrical nature}, and thus
carry information about the moving shape. These conserved quantities (eqs.~(7)
and (8) of this article) are interpreted as coefficients of the multipole
expansion of the Newtonian potential created by the mass uniformly occupying
the domain enclosing the moving interface. Thus the question of how to recover
the moving shape using these conserved quantities is reduced to the classical
inverse potential problem of reconstructing the shape of a body from its
exterior gravitational potential. Our results also suggest the possibility of
controlling a moving interface by appropriate varying the location and strength
of sources and sinks.Comment: CYCLER Paper 93feb00
La pathologie en élevage avicole industriel. Une année d’activité dans un laboratoire de diagnostics
A New Class of Nonsingular Exact Solutions for Laplacian Pattern Formation
We present a new class of exact solutions for the so-called {\it Laplacian
Growth Equation} describing the zero-surface-tension limit of a variety of 2D
pattern formation problems. Contrary to common belief, we prove that these
solutions are free of finite-time singularities (cusps) for quite general
initial conditions and may well describe real fingering instabilities. At long
times the interface consists of N separated moving Saffman-Taylor fingers, with
``stagnation points'' in between, in agreement with numerous observations. This
evolution resembles the N-soliton solution of classical integrable PDE's.Comment: LaTeX, uuencoded postscript file
Attractive Interaction Between Pulses in a Model for Binary-Mixture Convection
Recent experiments on convection in binary mixtures have shown that the
interaction between localized waves (pulses) can be repulsive as well as {\it
attractive} and depends strongly on the relative {\it orientation} of the
pulses. It is demonstrated that the concentration mode, which is characteristic
of the extended Ginzburg-Landau equations introduced recently, allows a natural
understanding of that result. Within the standard complex Ginzburg-Landau
equation this would not be possible.Comment: 7 pages revtex with 3 postscript figures (uuencoded
Scaling Relations of Viscous Fingers in Anisotropic Hele-Shaw Cells
Viscous fingers in a channel with surface tension anisotropy are numerically
studied. Scaling relations between the tip velocity v, the tip radius and the
pressure gradient are investigated for two kinds of boundary conditions of
pressure, when v is sufficiently large. The power-law relations for the
anisotropic viscous fingers are compared with two-dimensional dendritic growth.
The exponents of the power-law relations are theoretically evaluated.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Fluctuations in viscous fingering
Our experiments on viscous (Saffman-Taylor) fingering in Hele-Shaw channels
reveal finger width fluctuations that were not observed in previous
experiments, which had lower aspect ratios and higher capillary numbers Ca.
These fluctuations intermittently narrow the finger from its expected width.
The magnitude of these fluctuations is described by a power law, Ca^{-0.64},
which holds for all aspect ratios studied up to the onset of tip instabilities.
Further, for large aspect ratios, the mean finger width exhibits a maximum as
Ca is decreased instead of the predicted monotonic increase.Comment: Revised introduction, smoothed transitions in paper body, and added a
few additional minor results. (Figures unchanged.) 4 pages, 3 figures.
Submitted to PRE Rapi
Stage at which riluzole treatment prolongs survival in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a retrospective analysis of data from a dose-ranging study
Background
Riluzole is the only drug to prolong survival for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and, at a dose of 100 mg, was associated with a 35% reduction in mortality in a clinical trial. A key question is whether the survival benefit occurs at an early stage of disease, late stage, or is spread throughout the course of the disease. To address this question, we used the King's clinical staging system to do a retrospective analysis of data from the original dose-ranging clinical trial of riluzole.
Methods
In the original dose-ranging trial, patients were enrolled between December, 1992, and November, 1993, in Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, the USA, and the UK if they had probable or definite ALS as defined by the El Escorial criteria. The censor date for the riluzole survival data was set as the original study end date of Dec 31, 1994. For this analysis, King's clinical ALS stage was estimated from the electronic case record data of the modified Norris scale, UK Medical Research Council score for muscle strength, El Escorial category, vital capacity, and gastrostomy insertion data. The lowest allocated stage was 2 because the original trial only included patients with probable or definite ALS. We used a χ2 test to assess the independence of stage at trial enrolment and treatment group, Kaplan-Meier product limit distribution to test the transition from each stage to subsequent stages, and Cox regression to confirm an effect of treatment group on time in stage, controlling for covariates. We did sensitivity analyses by combining treatment groups, using alternative strategies to stage, stratifying by stage at trial enrolment, and using multistate outcome analysis of treatments (MOAT).
Findings
We analysed the case records of all 959 participants from the original dose-ranging trial, 237 assigned to 50 mg/day riluzole, 236 to 100 mg/day, 244 to 200 mg/day, and 242 to daily placebo. Clinical stage at enrolment did not significantly differ between treatment groups (p=0·22). Time in stage 4 was longer for patients receiving 100 mg/day riluzole than for those receiving placebo (hazard ratio [HR] 0·55, 95% CI 0·36–0·83; log-rank p=0·037). Combining treatment groups and stratifying by stage at enrolment showed a similar result (HR 0·638, 95% CI 0·464–0·878; p=0·006), as did analysis with MOAT where the mean number of days spent in stage 4 was numerically higher for patients given riluzole at higher doses compared with patients receiving placebo. Time from stages 2 or 3 to subsequent stages or death did not differ between riluzole treatment groups and placebo (p=0·83 for stage 2 and 0·88 for stage 3).
Interpretation
We showed that riluzole prolongs survival in the last clinical stage of ALS; this finding needs to be confirmed in a prospective study, and treatment effects at stage 1 still need to be analysed. The ALS stage at which benefit occurs is important for counselling of patients before starting treatment. Staging should be used in future ALS clinical trials to assess the stage at which survival benefit occurs, and a similar approach could be used for other neurodegenerative diseases
Coexisting Pulses in a Model for Binary-Mixture Convection
We address the striking coexistence of localized waves (`pulses') of
different lengths which was observed in recent experiments and full numerical
simulations of binary-mixture convection. Using a set of extended
Ginzburg-Landau equations, we show that this multiplicity finds a natural
explanation in terms of the competition of two distinct, physical localization
mechanisms; one arises from dispersion and the other from a concentration mode.
This competition is absent in the standard Ginzburg-Landau equation. It may
also be relevant in other waves coupled to a large-scale field.Comment: 5 pages revtex with 4 postscript figures (everything uuencoded
Grain boundary motion in layered phases
We study the motion of a grain boundary that separates two sets of mutually
perpendicular rolls in Rayleigh-B\'enard convection above onset. The problem is
treated either analytically from the corresponding amplitude equations, or
numerically by solving the Swift-Hohenberg equation. We find that if the rolls
are curved by a slow transversal modulation, a net translation of the boundary
follows. We show analytically that although this motion is a nonlinear effect,
it occurs in a time scale much shorter than that of the linear relaxation of
the curved rolls. The total distance traveled by the boundary scales as
, where is the reduced Rayleigh number. We obtain
analytical expressions for the relaxation rate of the modulation and for the
time dependent traveling velocity of the boundary, and especially their
dependence on wavenumber. The results agree well with direct numerical
solutions of the Swift-Hohenberg equation. We finally discuss the implications
of our results on the coarsening rate of an ensemble of differently oriented
domains in which grain boundary motion through curved rolls is the dominant
coarsening mechanism.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure
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