3,556 research outputs found
Mechanical Instabilities of Biological Tubes
We study theoretically the shapes of biological tubes affected by various
pathologies. When epithelial cells grow at an uncontrolled rate, the negative
tension produced by their division provokes a buckling instability. Several
shapes are investigated : varicose, enlarged, sinusoidal or sausage-like, all
of which are found in pathologies of tracheal, renal tubes or arteries. The
final shape depends crucially on the mechanical parameters of the tissues :
Young modulus, wall-to-lumen ratio, homeostatic pressure. We argue that since
tissues must be in quasistatic mechanical equilibrium, abnormal shapes convey
information as to what causes the pathology. We calculate a phase diagram of
tubular instabilities which could be a helpful guide for investigating the
underlying genetic regulation
Attribution of the human influence on heavy rainfall associated with flooding events during the 2012, 2016, and 2018 March-April-May seasons in Kenya
The changing probabilities of extreme climate and weather events, in terms of frequency, intensity, spatial extent, duration, and timing is one of the most noticeable and damaging manifestations of human-induced climate change. During the March-April-May (MAM) rainfall season of 2012, 2016 and 2018, Kenya experienced high rainfall that caused both widespread and localised flooding, resulting in human and livestock deaths, destruction of infrastructure and property, bursting of riverbanks, submerging of farmlands and emergence of isolated cases of water-borne diseases. Here, we aim to quantify how the magnitude of heavy rainfall during these seasons may have been altered by human-induced climate change. We undertake a probabilistic attribution analysis using three different approaches utilising two observational datasets and two independent climate model experiment set-ups. We analyse three different seasonal heavy rainfall indices, maximum consecutive 5-day, 10-day, and 20-day rainfall, to compare the magnitude of maxima recorded in MAM 2012, 2016 and 2018 with the magnitude of maxima in a pre-industrial climate (with little or no anthropogenic influence). We find a shift towards intensification of extreme rainfall in today's climate, although these increases are not in all cases statistically distinguishable from our estimates of magnitudes in the preindustrial climate. Although we find no significant anthropogenic climate change influence, the intensification of extreme rainfall amid the observed drying trend and the projected increases in rainfall in the MAM season in Kenya, leave the already vulnerable societies with uncertainties about how to prepare for a changing climate. This study, therefore, provides a basis for an in-depth assessment of current and future trends of extreme rainfall in East Africa in adapting to changing climate risks for sustainable development in the already vulnerable and less resilient society
Magnetic properties of submicron Co islands and their use as artificial pinning centers
We report on the magnetic properties of elongated submicron magnetic islands
and their influence on a superconducting film. The magnetic properties were
studied by magnetization hysteresis loop measurements and scanning-force
microscopy. In the as-grown state, the islands have a magnetic structure
consisting of two antiparallel domains. This stable domain configuration has
been directly visualized as a 2x2-checkerboard pattern by magnetic-force
microscopy. In the remanent state, after magnetic saturation along the easy
axis, all islands have a single-domain structure with the magnetic moment
oriented along the magnetizing field direction. Periodic lattices of these Co
islands act as efficient artificial pinning arrays for the flux lines in a
superconducting Pb film deposited on top of the Co islands. The influence of
the magnetic state of the dots on their pinning efficiency is investigated in
these films, before and after the Co dots are magnetized.Comment: 6 pages including figure
Nonprofit governance: Improving performance in troubled economic times
Nonprofit management is currently pressured to perform effectively in a weak economy. Yet, nonprofit governance continues to suffer from unclear conceptions of the division of labor between board of directors and executive directors. This online survey of 114 executive directors aims to provide clarification and recommendations for social administration
The Higgs Sector and CoGeNT/DAMA-Like Dark Matter in Supersymmetric Models
Recent data from CoGeNT and DAMA are roughly consistent with a very light
dark matter particle with m\sim 4-10\gev and spin-independent cross section
of order \sigma_{SI} \sim (1-3)\times 10^{-4}\pb. An important question is
whether these observations are compatible with supersymmetric models obeying
without violating existing collider constraints and
precision measurements. In this talk, I review the fact the the Minimal
Supersymmetric Model allows insufficient flexibility to achieve such
compatibility, basically because of the highly constrained nature of the MSSM
Higgs sector in relation to LEP limits on Higgs bosons. I then outline the
manner in which the more flexible Higgs sectors of the Next-to-Minimal
Supersymmetric Model and an Extended Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Model allow
large and at low LSP mass without violating
LEP, Tevatron, BaBar and other experimental limits. The relationship of the
required Higgs sectors to the NMSSM "ideal-Higgs" scenarios is discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures. To appear in Proceedings of PASCOS 2010. The
paper is a compilation of talks given at: PASCOS 2010, ORSAY Workshop on
"Higgs Hunting", and SLAC Workshop on "Topologies for Early LHC Searches
Relativistic hydrodynamics on spacelike and null surfaces: Formalism and computations of spherically symmetric spacetimes
We introduce a formulation of Eulerian general relativistic hydrodynamics
which is applicable for (perfect) fluid data prescribed on either spacelike or
null hypersurfaces. Simple explicit expressions for the characteristic speeds
and fields are derived in the general case. A complete implementation of the
formalism is developed in the case of spherical symmetry. The algorithm is
tested in a number of different situations, predisposing for a range of
possible applications. We consider the Riemann problem for a polytropic gas,
with initial data given on a retarded/advanced time slice of Minkowski
spacetime. We compute perfect fluid accretion onto a Schwarzschild black hole
spacetime using ingoing null Eddington-Finkelstein coordinates. Tests of fluid
evolution on dynamic background include constant density and TOV stars sliced
along the radial null cones. Finally, we consider the accretion of
self-gravitating matter onto a central black hole and the ensuing increase in
the mass of the black hole horizon.Comment: 23 pages, 13 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Mass transfer dynamics in double degenerate binary systems
We present a numerical study of the mass transfer dynamics prior to the
gravitational wave-driven merger of a double white dwarf system. Recently,
there has been some discussion about the dynamics of these last stages,
different methods seemed to provide qualitatively different results. While
earlier SPH simulations indicated a very quick disruption of the binary on
roughly the orbital time scale, more recent grid-based calculations find
long-lived mass transfer for many orbital periods. Here we demonstrate how
sensitive the dynamics of this last stage is to the exact initial conditions.
We show that, after a careful preparation of the initial conditions, the
reportedly short-lived systems undergo mass transfer for many dozens of orbits.
The reported numbers of orbits are resolution-biased and therefore represent
only lower limits to what is realized in nature. Nevertheless, the study shows
convincingly the convergence of different methods to very similar results.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, for associated movie files, see
http://pandora.jacobs-university.de/~mdan/WD_coalescences.htm, to appear in
Journal of Physics Conference Proceedings for the 16th European White Dwarf
Worksho
The magical realism of body counts: How media credulity and flawed statistics sustain a controversial policy
The drone war in Pakistan poses humanitarian, legal, ethical and political challenges. The tactic is controversial and has been condemned by the United Nations’ special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings. Yet, polls have shown high support for the tactic in the United States (and to a lesser degree in the United Kingdom). Much of this has to do with the media reporting on the war, which consistently underestimates its human toll. Dubious statistics have sustained the image of a surgical war with little collateral damage. But as this article shows, there are reasons to doubt these numbers. The article argues that two interrelated factors have contributed to a flawed accounting of the war’s human toll: (1) rituals of objectivity that privilege ‘official sources’ and (2) fetishizing of statistics as hard facts without regard for the underlying data. The coverage has also been distorted by news values that downplay or ignore deaths in distant places unless they cross an inordinately high threshold
Insights into decadal North Atlantic sea surface temperature and ocean heat content variability from an eddy-permitting coupled climate model
An ocean mixed layer heat budget methodology is used to investigate the physical processes determining subpolar North Atlantic (SPNA) sea surface temperature (SST) and ocean heat content (OHC) variability on decadal-multidecadal timescales using the state-of-the-art climate model HadGEM3-GC2. New elements include development of an equation for evolution of anomalous SST for interannual and longer timescales in a form analogous to that for OHC, parameterization of the diffusive heat flux at the base of the mixed layer and analysis of a composite AMOC event. Contributions to OHC and SST variability from two sources are evaluated i) net ocean-atmosphere heat flux and ii) all other processes, including advection, diffusion and entrainment for SST. Anomalies in OHC tendency propagate anticlockwise around the SPNA on multidecadal timescales with a clear relationship to the phase of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). AMOC anomalies lead SST tendencies which in turn lead OHC tendencies in both the eastern and western SPNA. OHC and SST variations in the SPNA on decadal timescales are dominated by AMOC variability because it controls variability of advection which is shown to be the dominant term in the OHC budget. Lags between OHC and SST is traced to differences between the advection term for OHC and the advection-entrainment term for SST. The new results have implications for interpretation of variations in Atlantic heat uptake in the CMIP6 climate model assessment
Three-dimensional adaptive evolution of gravitational waves in numerical relativity
Adaptive techniques are crucial for successful numerical modeling of
gravitational waves from astrophysical sources such as coalescing compact
binaries, since the radiation typically has wavelengths much larger than the
scale of the sources. We have carried out an important step toward this goal,
the evolution of weak gravitational waves using adaptive mesh refinement in the
Einstein equations. The 2-level adaptive simulation is compared with unigrid
runs at coarse and fine resolution, and is shown to track closely the features
of the fine grid run.Comment: REVTeX, 7 pages, including three figures; submitted to Physical
Review
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