461 research outputs found
A storage and access architecture for efficient query processing in spatial database systems
Due to the high complexity of objects and queries and also due to extremely
large data volumes, geographic database systems impose stringent requirements on their
storage and access architecture with respect to efficient query processing. Performance
improving concepts such as spatial storage and access structures, approximations, object
decompositions and multi-phase query processing have been suggested and analyzed as
single building blocks. In this paper, we describe a storage and access architecture which
is composed from the above building blocks in a modular fashion. Additionally, we incorporate
into our architecture a new ingredient, the scene organization, for efficiently
supporting set-oriented access of large-area region queries. An experimental performance
comparison demonstrates that the concept of scene organization leads to considerable
performance improvements for large-area region queries by a factor of up to 150
Molecular orientational dynamics of the endohedral fullerene ScN@C as probed by C and Sc NMR
We measure 13C and 45Sc NMR lineshapes and spin-lattice relaxation times (T1)
to probe the orientational dynamics of the endohedral metallofullerene
Sc3N@C80. The measurements show an activated behavior for molecular
reorientations over the full temperature range with a similar behavior for the
temperature dependence of the 13C and 45Sc data. Combined with spectral data
from Magic Angle Spinning (MAS) NMR, the measurements can be interpreted to
mean the motion of the encapsulated Sc3N molecule is independent of that of the
C80 cage, although this requires the similar temperature dependence of the 13C
and 45Sc spin-lattice relaxation times to be coincidental. For the Sc3N to be
fixed to the C80 cage, one must overcome the symmetry breaking effect this has
on the Sc3N@C80 system since this would result in more than the observed two
13C lines.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
The Multitude of Molecular Hydrogen Knots in the Helix Nebula
We present HST/NICMOS imaging of the H_2 2.12 \mu m emission in 5 fields in
the Helix Nebula ranging in radial distance from 250-450" from the central
star. The images reveal arcuate structures with their apexes pointing towards
the central star. Comparison of these images with comparable resolution ground
based images reveals that the molecular gas is more highly clumped than the
ionized gas line tracers. From our images, we determine an average number
density of knots in the molecular gas ranging from 162 knots/arcmin^2 in the
denser regions to 18 knots/arcmin^2 in the lower density outer regions. Using
this new number density, we estimate that the total number of knots in the
Helix to be ~23,000 which is a factor of 6.5 larger than previous estimates.
The total neutral gas mass in the Helix is 0.35 M_\odot assuming a mass of
\~1.5x10^{-5} M_\odot for the individual knots. The H_2 intensity, 5-9x10^{-5}
erg s^{-1} cm^{-2} sr^{-1}, remains relatively constant with projected distance
from the central star suggesting a heating mechanism for the molecular gas that
is distributed almost uniformly in the knots throughout the nebula. The
temperature and H_2 2.12 \mu m intensity of the knots can be approximately
explained by photodissociation regions (PDRs) in the individual knots; however,
theoretical PDR models of PN under-predict the intensities of some knots by a
factor of 10.Comment: 26 pages, 3 tables, 10 figures; AJ accepte
Longitudinal Study of Primary HIV-1 Isolates in Drug-Naïve Individuals Reveals the Emergence of Variants Sensitive to Anti-HIV-1 Monoclonal Antibodies
To study how virus evolution affects neutralization sensitivity and to determine changes that occur in and around epitopes, we tested the ability of 13 anti-HIV-1 gp120 (anti-V2, anti-V3, anti-CD4bd and anti-carbohydrate) human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to neutralize sequential viruses obtained from five HIV-1 chronically infected drug naïve individuals. Overall, primary viruses collected from patients at first visit were resistant to neutralization by all anti-HIV-1 mAbs with the exception of one virus sensitive to IgG1b12. Four of the five patients' viruses evolved increased sensitivity to neutralization by anti-V3 mAbs. Virus collected from a patient obtained 31 months later, evolved increased sensitivity to anti-V2, anti-V3, and anti-CD4bd mAbs. Furthermore, the anti-V2 and anti-CD4bd mAbs also exhibited increased neutralization capacities against virus collected from a patient 29 months later. Of the seven anti-V3 mAbs, five showed increased potency to neutralize the evolved virus from a patient collected after 11 months, and three exhibited increased potency against viruses from two patients collected 29 and 36 months later. Anti-V3 mAbs exhibited the most breadth and potency in neutralizing the evolving viruses. Sequence analysis of the envelope regions revealed amino acid conservation within the V3 loop, while most of the changes identified occurred outside the core epitopes and in particular within the C3 region; these may account for increased neutralization sensitivity. These studies demonstrate that in vivo, HIV-1 can evolve increased neutralization sensitivity to mAbs and that the spectrum of neutralization capacities by mAbs can be broader when studied in longitudinal analysis
The effects of magnetic field on the d-density wave order in the cuprates
We consider the effects of a perpendicular magnetic field on the d-density
wave order and conclude that if the pseudogap phase in the cuprates is due to
this order, then it is highly insensitive to the magnetic field in the
underdoped regime, while its sensitivity increases as the gap vanishes in the
overdoped regime. This appears to be consistent with the available experiments
and can be tested further in neutron scattering experiments. We also
investigate the nature of the de Haas- van Alphen effect in the ordered state
and discuss the possibility of observing it.Comment: 5 pages, 4 eps figures, RevTex4. Corrected a silly but important typo
in the abstrac
Magnetic field independence of the spin gap in YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-delta}
We report, for magnetic fields of 0, 8.8, and 14.8 Tesla, measurements of the
temperature dependent ^{63}Cu NMR spin lattice relaxation rate for near
optimally doped YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-delta}, near and above T_c. In sharp contrast
with previous work we find no magnetic field dependence. We discuss
experimental issues arising in measurements of this required precision, and
implications of the experiment regarding issues including the spin or pseudo
gap.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, as accepted for publication in Physical Review
Letter
P04-10. Neutralization of Tier 1 and Tier 2 pseudoviruses by human anti-V3 monoclonal antibodies
High-velocity collimated outflows in planetary nebulae: NGC 6337, He 2-186, and K 4-47
We have obtained narrow-band images and high-resolution spectra of the
planetary nebulae NGC 6337, He 2-186, and K 4-47, with the aim of investigating
the relation between their main morphological components and several
low-ionization features present in these nebulae. The data suggest that NGC
6337 is a bipolar PN seen almost pole on, with polar velocities higher than 200
km/s. The bright inner ring of the nebula is interpreted to be the "equatorial"
density enhancement. It contains a number of low-ionization knots and outward
tails that we ascribe to dynamical instabilities leading to fragmentation of
the ring or transient density enhancements due to the interaction of the
ionization front with previous density fluctuations in the ISM. The lobes show
a pronounced point-symmetric morphology and two peculiar low-ionization
filaments whose nature remains unclear. The most notable characteristic of He
2-186 is the presence of two high-velocity (higher than 135 km/s) knots from
which an S-shaped lane of emission departs toward the central star. K 4-47 is
composed of a compact core and two high-velocity, low-ionization blobs. We
interpret the substantial broadening of line emission from the blobs as a
signature of bow shocks, and using the modeling of Hartigan, Raymond, & Hartman
(1987), we derive a shock velocity of 150 km/s and a mild inclination of the
outflow on the plane of the sky. We discuss possible scenarios for the
formation of these nebulae and their low-ionization features. In particular,
the morphology of K 4-47 hardly fits into any of the usually adopted mass-loss
geometries for single AGB stars. Finally, we discuss the possibility that
point-symmetric morphologies in the lobes of NGC 6337 and the knots of He 2-186
are the result of precessing outflows from the central stars.Comment: 16 pages plus 7 figures, ApJ accepted. Also available at
http://www.iac.es/publicaciones/preprints.htm
A New Look At Carbon Abundances In Planetary Nebulae. IV. Implications For Stellar Nucleosynthesis
This paper is the fourth and final report on a project designed to study
carbon abundances in a sample of planetary nebulae representing a broad range
in progenitor mass and metallicity. We present newly acquired optical
spectrophotometric data for three Galactic planetary nebulae IC 418, NGC 2392,
and NGC 3242 and combine them with UV data from the IUE Final Archive for
identical positions in each nebula to determine accurate abundances of He, C,
N, O, and Ne at one or more locations in each object. We then collect
abundances of these elements for the entire sample and compare them with
theoretical predictions of planetary nebula abundances from a grid of
intermediate mass star models. We find some consistency between observations
and theory, lending modest support to our current understanding of
nucleosynthesis in stars below 8 M_o in birth mass. Overall, we believe that
observed abundances agree with theoretical predictions to well within an order
of magnitude but probably not better than within a factor of 2 or 3. But even
this level of consistency between observation and theory enhances the validity
of published intermediate-mass stellar yields of carbon and nitrogen in the
study of the abundance evolution of these elements.Comment: 41 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
Influence of spin fluctuations on the superconducting transition temperature and resistivity in the t-J model at large N
Spin fluctuations enter the calculation of the superconducting transition
temperature T only in the next-to-leading order (i.e., in O(1/N) of the
1/N expansion of the t-J model. We have calculated these terms and show that
they have only little influence on the value of T obtained in the leading
order O(1/N) in the optimal and overdoped region, i.e., for dopings larger than
the instability towards a flux phase. This result disagrees with recent
spin-fluctuation mediated pairing theories. The discrepancies can be traced
back to the fact that in our case the coupling between electrons and spins is
determined by the t-J model and not adjusted and that the spin susceptibility
is rather broad and structureless and not strongly peaked at low energies as in
spin-fluctuation models. Relating T and transport we show that the
effective interactions in the particle-particle and particle-hole channels are
not simply related within the 1/N expansion by different Fermi surface averages
of the same interactin as in the case of phonons or spin fluctuations. As a
result, we find that large values for T and rather small scattering rates
in the normal state as found in the experiments can easily be reconciled with
each other. We also show that correlation effects heavily suppress transport
relaxation rates relative to quasiparticle relaxation rates in the case of
phonons but not in the case of spin fluctuations.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, will appear in Phys. Rev.
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