Study of outgoing longwave radiation anomalies associated with Haiti earthquake

The paper presents an analysis by using the methods of Eddy field calculation mean and wavelet maxima to detect seismic anomalies within the outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) data based on time and space. The distinguishing feature of the method of Eddy field calculation mean is that we can calculate "the total sum of the difference value" of "the measured value" between adjacent points, which could highlight the singularity within data. The identified singularities are further validated by wavelet maxima, which using wavelet transformations as data mining tools by computing the maxima that can be used to identify obvious anomalies within OLR data. The two methods has been applied to carry out a comparative analysis of OLR data associated with the earthquake recently occurred in Haiti on 12 January 2010. Combining with the tectonic explanation of spatial and temporal continuity of the abnormal phenomena, the analyzed results have indicated a number of singularities associated with the possible seismic anomalies of the earthquake and from the comparative experiments and analyses by using the two methods, which follow the same time and space, we conclude that the singularities observed from 19 to 24 December 2009 could be the earthquake precursor of Haiti earthquake

Probing quark gluon plasma with jets

We study multiple scatterings of jets on constituents of quark gluon plasma and introduce energy--energy correlations to quantify their effects. The effects from a longitudinally expanding plasma on medium as well as high energy jets are found to be significant at both RHIC and LHC energies. Because jets escape from the plasma long before the completion of mixed phase, these effects are free from complications of final state hadronic interactions and decays. These suggest that jets can be used to probe the plasma that might be created in future high energy heavy ion collisions.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures in 5 ps files included, McGill/94-1

Surface modification of Ti-6Al-4V alloy for biomineralization and specific biological response: Part I, inorganic modification

Titanium and its alloys represent the gold standard for orthopaedic and dental prosthetic devices, because of their good mechanical properties and biocompatibility. Recent research has been focused on surface treatments designed to promote their rapid osteointegration also in case of poor bone quality. A new surface treatment has been investigated in this research work, in order to improve tissue integration of titanium based implants. The surface treatment is able to induce a bioactive behaviour, without the introduction of a coating, and preserving mechanical properties of Ti6Al4V substrates (fatigue resistance). The application of the proposed technique results in a complex surface topography, characterized by the combination of a micro-roughness and a nanotexture, which can be coupled with the conventional macroroughness induced by blasting. Modified metallic surfaces are rich in hydroxyls groups: this feature is extremely important for inorganic bioactivity (in vitro and in vivo apatite precipitation) and also for further functionalization procedures (grafting of biomolecules). Modified Ti6Al4V induced hydroxyapatite precipitation after 15 days soaking in simulated body fluid (SBF). The process was optimised in order to not induce cracks or damages on the surface. The surface oxide layer presents high scratch resistance

Electron correlation energy in confined two-electron systems

Radial, angular and total correlation energies are calculated for four two-electron systems with atomic numbers Z=0-3 confined within an impenetrable sphere of radius R. We report accurate results for the non-relativistic, restricted Hartree-Fock and radial limit energies over a range of confinement radii from 0.05 - 10 a0. At small R, the correlation energies approach limiting values that are independent of Z while at intermediate R, systems with Z > 1 exhibit a characteristic maximum in the correlation energy resulting from an increase in the angular correlation energy which is offset by a decrease in the radial correlation energy

Investigation of a two-phase flow natural circulation loop with divergent microchannel evaporator

Paper presented to the 10th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Florida, 14-16 July 2014.The development of microelectronics is toward high performance, high efficiency and yet small size. Thermal management of microelectronics is of critical concern and significant interest. Microchannel boiling is an advanced cooling technology for high heat flux devices. The present study explores heat removal capability of a two-phase natural circulation loop with divergent microchannel evaporator. Our previous studies revealed that a diverging cross section design significantly could stabilize and enhance the heat transfer of flow boiling. The temperatures at the inlet and outlet of both evaporator and condensing units are measured to evaluate the heat removal capability of the loop. Moreover, the pressure changes through the downcomer and lower horizontal tube are both measured to deduce the flow rate through the loop based on the relationship between flow rate and pressure drop. This study uses the high speed video camera to capture the flow patterns in the evaporator and riser. The working fluid employed in the present study is ethanol, as its boiling temperature at atmospheric pressure is 78.4 ℃, which is below the temperature limit of the most microelectronic materials. The results show that the loop mass flow rate increases monotonically with increasing the heating power of the evaporator after boiling incipience. The current experimental results indicate that the highest base heat flux could achieve is about 105 kWm-2 with no sign of dry-out and it has great potential to reach a higher heat flux. Moreover, it is found that the loop instability appears at low heating powers after boiling begins, while it can be suppressed if the input power is higher than 20W. Indeed, the present two-phase natural circulation loop with divergent microchannel evaporator demonstrates stable circulation with high heat transfer capability.dc201

The fermion dynamical symmetry model for the even--even and even--odd nuclei in the Xe--Ba region

The even--even and even--odd nuclei $^{126}$Xe-$^{132}$Xe and $^{131}$Ba-$^{137}$Ba are shown to have a well-realized $SO_8 \supset SO_6 \supset SO_3$ fermion dynamical symmetry. Their low-lying energy levels can be described by a unified analytical expression with two (three) adjustable parameters for even--odd (even--even) nuclei that is derived from the fermion dynamical symmetry model. Analytical expressions are given for wavefunctions and for $E2$ transition rates that agree well with data. The distinction between the FDSM and IBM $SO_6$ limits is discussed. The experimentally observed suppression of the the energy levels with increasing $SO_5$ quantum number $\tau$ can be explained as a perturbation of the pairing interaction on the $SO_6$ symmetry, which leads to an $SO_5$ Pairing effect for $SO_6$ nuclei.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev. C, LaTeX, 31 pages, 8 figures with postscript files available on request at [email protected]

Hypomethylation of MB-COMT promoter is a major risk factor for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

The variability in phenotypic presentations and the lack of consistency of genetic associations in mental illnesses remain a major challenge in molecular psychiatry. Recently, it has become increasingly clear that altered promoter DNA methylation could play a critical role in mediating differential regulation of genes and in facilitating short-term adaptation in response to the environment. Here, we report the investigation of the differential activity of membrane-bound catechol-O-methyltransferase (MB - COMT) due to altered promoter methylation and the nature of the contribution of COMT Val158Met polymorphism as risk factors for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder by analyzing 115 post-mortem brain samples from the frontal lobe. These studies are the first to reveal that the MB - COMT promoter DNA is frequently hypomethylated in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder patients, compared with the controls (methylation rate: 26 and 29 versus 60; P = 0.004 and 0.008, respectively), particularly in the left frontal lobes (methylation rate: 29 and 30 versus 81; P = 0.003 and 0.002, respectively). Quantitative gene-expression analyses showed a corresponding increase in transcript levels of MB - COMT in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder patients compared with the controls (P = 0.02) with an accompanying inverse correlation between MB - COMT and DRD1 expression. Furthermore, there was a tendency for the enrichment of the Val allele of the COMT Val158Met polymorphism with MB - COMT hypomethylation in the patients. These findings suggest that MB - COMT over-expression due to promoter hypomethylation and/or hyperactive allele of COMT may increase dopamine degradation in the frontal lobe providing a molecular basis for the shared symptoms of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. © Copyright 2006 Oxford University Press

Nicotine-activated descending facilitation on spinal NMDA-dependent reflex potentiation from pontine tegmentum in rats

This study was conducted to investigate the possible neurotransmitter that activates the descending pathways coming from the dorsolateral pontine tegmentum (DPT) to modulate spinal pelvic-urethra reflex potentiation. External urethra sphincter electromyogram (EUSE) activity in response to test stimulation (TS, 1/30 Hz) and repetitive stimulation (RS, 1 Hz) on the pelvic afferent nerve of 63 anesthetized rats were recorded with or without microinjection of nicotinic cholinergic receptor (nAChR) agonists, ACh and nicotine, to the DPT. TS evoked a baseline reflex activity with a single action potential (1.00 +/- 0.00 spikes/stimulation, n = 40), whereas RS produced a long-lasting reflex potentiation (16.14 +/- 0.96 spikes/stimulation, n = 40) that was abolished by D-2-amino-5-phosphonovaleric acid (1.60 +/- 0.89 spikes/stimulation, n = 40) and was attenuated by 2,3-dihydroxy-6-nitro-7sulfamoyl-benzo (F) quinoxaline (7.10 +/- 0.84 spikes/stimulation, n = 40). ACh and nicotine microinjections to DPT both produced facilitation on the RS-induced reflex potentiation (23.57 +/- 2.23 and 28.29 +/- 2.36 spikes/stimulation, P = 0.01, n = 10 and 20, respectively). Pretreatment of selective nicotinic receptor antagonist, chlorisondamine, reversed the facilitation on RS-induced reflex potentiation caused by nicotine (19.41 +/- 1.21 spikes/stimulation, P = 0.01, n = 10) Intrathecal WAY-100635 and spinal transection at the T(1) level both abolished the facilitation on reflex potentiation resulting from the DPT nicotine injection (12.86 +/- 3.13 and 15.57 +/- 1.72 spikes/stimulation, P < 0.01, n = 10 each). Our findings suggest that activation of nAChR at DPT may modulate N-methyl-D-aspartic acid-dependent reflex potentiation via descending serotonergic neurotransmission. This descending modulation may have physiological/pathological relevance in the neural controls of urethral closure

Hamiltonian theory of gaps, masses and polarization in quantum Hall states: full disclosure

I furnish details of the hamiltonian theory of the FQHE developed with Murthy for the infrared, which I subsequently extended to all distances and apply it to Jain fractions \nu = p/(2ps + 1). The explicit operator description in terms of the CF allows one to answer quantitative and qualitative issues, some of which cannot even be posed otherwise. I compute activation gaps for several potentials, exhibit their particle hole symmetry, the profiles of charge density in states with a quasiparticles or hole, (all in closed form) and compare to results from trial wavefunctions and exact diagonalization. The Hartree-Fock approximation is used since much of the nonperturbative physics is built in at tree level. I compare the gaps to experiment and comment on the rough equality of normalized masses near half and quarter filling. I compute the critical fields at which the Hall system will jump from one quantized value of polarization to another, and the polarization and relaxation rates for half filling as a function of temperature and propose a Korringa like law. After providing some plausibility arguments, I explore the possibility of describing several magnetic phenomena in dirty systems with an effective potential, by extracting a free parameter describing the potential from one data point and then using it to predict all the others from that sample. This works to the accuracy typical of this theory (10 -20 percent). I explain why the CF behaves like free particle in some magnetic experiments when it is not, what exactly the CF is made of, what one means by its dipole moment, and how the comparison of theory to experiment must be modified to fit the peculiarities of the quantized Hall problem