309 research outputs found
Solving the Hamilton-Jacobi Equation for General Relativity
We demonstrate a systematic method for solving the Hamilton-Jacobi equation
for general relativity with the inclusion of matter fields. The generating
functional is expanded in a series of spatial gradients. Each term is
manifestly invariant under reparameterizations of the spatial coordinates
(``gauge-invariant''). At each order we solve the Hamiltonian constraint using
a conformal transformation of the 3-metric as well as a line integral in
superspace. This gives a recursion relation for the generating functional which
then may be solved to arbitrary order simply by functionally differentiating
previous orders. At fourth order in spatial gradients, we demonstrate solutions
for irrotational dust as well as for a scalar field. We explicitly evolve the
3-metric to the same order. This method can be used to derive the Zel'dovich
approximation for general relativity.Comment: 13 pages, RevTeX, DAMTP-R93/2
Aspects of String-Gas Cosmology at Finite Temperature
We study string-gas cosmology in dilaton gravity, inspired by the fact that
it naturally arises in a string theory context. Our main interest is the
thermodynamical treatment of the string-gas and the resulting implications for
the cosmology. Within an adiabatic approximation, thermodynamical equilibrium
and a small, toroidal universe as initial conditions, we numerically solve the
corresponding equations of motions in two different regimes describing the
string-gas thermodynamics: (i) the Hagedorn regime, with a single scale factor,
and (ii) an almost-radiation dominated regime, which includes the leading
corrections due to the lightest Kaluza Klein and winding modes, with two scale
factors. The scale factor in the Hagedorn regime exhibits very slow time
evolution with nearly constant energy and negligible pressure. By contrast, in
case (ii) we find interesting cosmological solutions where the large dimensions
continue to expand and the small ones are kept undetectably small.Comment: 21 pages, 5 eps figure
Adiabatic and Isocurvature Perturbations for Multifield Generalized Einstein Models
Low energy effective field theories motivated by string theory will likely
contain several scalar moduli fields which will be relevant to early Universe
cosmology. Some of these fields are expected to couple with non-standard
kinetic terms to gravity. In this paper, we study the splitting into adiabatic
and isocurvature perturbations for a model with two scalar fields, one of which
has a non-standard kinetic term in the Einstein-frame action. Such actions can
arise, e.g., in the Pre-Big-Bang and Ekpyrotic scenarios. The presence of a
non-standard kinetic term induces a new coupling between adiabatic and
isocurvature perturbations which is non-vanishing when the potential for the
matter fields is nonzero. This coupling is un-suppressed in the long wavelength
limit and thus can lead to an important transfer of power from the entropy to
the adiabatic mode on super-Hubble scales. We apply the formalism to the case
of a previously found exact solution with an exponential potential and study
the resulting mixing of adiabatic and isocurvature fluctuations in this
example. We also discuss the possible relevance of the extra coupling in the
perturbation equations for the process of generating an adiabatic component of
the fluctuations spectrum from isocurvature perturbations without considering a
later decay of the isocurvature component.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, one equation corrected, typos fixed, conclusions
unchange
Inflation and Brane Gases
We investigate a new way of realizing a period of cosmological inflation in
the context of brane gas cosmology. It is argued that a gas of co-dimension one
branes, out of thermal equilibrium with the rest of the matter, has an equation
of state which can - after stabilization of the dilaton - lead to power-law
inflation of the bulk. The most promising implementation of this mechanism
might be in Type IIB superstring theory, with inflation of the three large
spatial dimensions triggered by ``stabilized embedded 2-branes''. Possible
applications and problems with this proposal are discussed.Comment: 7 pages, uses REVTeX, version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Salmonella
Antimicrobial susceptibility was analyzed for 354 typhoidal Salmonella isolates collected during 1999–2012 in the Netherlands. In 16.1% of all isolates and in 23.8% of all isolates that showed increased MICs for ciprofloxacin, the MIC for azithromycin was increased. This resistance may complicate empirical treatment of enteric fever
A Review of the Design Process for Implantable Orthopedic Medical Devices
The design process for medical devices is highly regulated to ensure the safety of patients. This paper will present a review of the design process for implantable orthopedic medical devices. It will cover the main stages of feasibility, design reviews, design, design verification, manufacture, design validation, design transfer and design changes
Developing a predictive modelling capacity for a climate change-vulnerable blanket bog habitat: Assessing 1961-1990 baseline relationships
Aim: Understanding the spatial distribution of high priority habitats and
developing predictive models using climate and environmental variables to
replicate these distributions are desirable conservation goals. The aim of this
study was to model and elucidate the contributions of climate and topography to
the distribution of a priority blanket bog habitat in Ireland, and to examine how
this might inform the development of a climate change predictive capacity for
peat-lands in Ireland.
Methods: Ten climatic and two topographic variables were recorded for grid
cells with a spatial resolution of 1010 km, covering 87% of the mainland
land surface of Ireland. Presence-absence data were matched to these variables
and generalised linear models (GLMs) fitted to identify the main climatic and
terrain predictor variables for occurrence of the habitat. Candidate predictor
variables were screened for collinearity, and the accuracy of the final fitted GLM
was evaluated using fourfold cross-validation based on the area under the curve
(AUC) derived from a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) plot. The GLM
predicted habitat occurrence probability maps were mapped against the actual
distributions using GIS techniques.
Results: Despite the apparent parsimony of the initial GLM using only climatic
variables, further testing indicated collinearity among temperature and precipitation
variables for example. Subsequent elimination of the collinear variables and
inclusion of elevation data produced an excellent performance based on the AUC
scores of the final GLM. Mean annual temperature and total mean annual
precipitation in combination with elevation range were the most powerful
explanatory variable group among those explored for the presence of blanket
bog habitat.
Main conclusions: The results confirm that this habitat distribution in general
can be modelled well using the non-collinear climatic and terrain variables tested
at the grid resolution used. Mapping the GLM-predicted distribution to the
observed distribution produced useful results in replicating the projected
occurrence of the habitat distribution over an extensive area. The methods
developed will usefully inform future climate change predictive modelling for
Irelan
The BRIDGE HadCM3 family of climate models: HadCM3@Bristol v1.0
Understanding natural and anthropogenic climate change processes involves using computational models that represent the main components of the Earth system: the atmosphere, ocean, sea ice, and land surface. These models have become increasingly computationally expensive as resolution is increased and more complex process representations are included. However, to gain robust insight into how climate may respond to a given forcing, and to meaningfully quantify the associated uncertainty, it is often required to use either or both ensemble approaches and very long integrations. For this reason, more computationally efficient models can be very valuable tools. Here we provide a comprehensive overview of the suite of climate models based around the HadCM3 coupled general circulation model. This model was developed at the UK Met Office and has been heavily used during the last 15 years for a range of future (and past) climate change studies, but has now been largely superseded for many scientific studies by more recently developed models. However, it continues to be extensively used by various institutions, including the BRIDGE (Bristol Research Initiative for the Dynamic Global Environment) research group at the University of Bristol, who have made modest adaptations to the base HadCM3 model over time. These adaptations mean that the original documentation is not entirely representative, and several other relatively undocumented configurations are in use. We therefore describe the key features of a number of configurations of the HadCM3 climate model family, which together make up HadCM3@Bristol version 1.0. In order to differentiate variants that have undergone development at BRIDGE, we have introduced the letter B into the model nomenclature. We include descriptions of the atmosphere- only model (HadAM3B), the coupled model with a low-resolution ocean (HadCM3BL), the high-resolution atmosphere- only model (HadAM3BH), and the regional model (HadRM3B). These also include three versions of the land surface scheme. By comparing with observational datasets, we show that these models produce a good representation of many aspects of the climate system, including the land and sea surface temperatures, precipitation, ocean circulation, and vegetation. This evaluation, combined with the relatively fast computational speed (up to 1000 times faster than some CMIP6 models), motivates continued development and scientific use of the HadCM3B family of coupled climate models, predominantly for quantifying uncertainty and for long multi-millennial-scale simulations
Hypersurface-Invariant Approach to Cosmological Perturbations
Using Hamilton-Jacobi theory, we develop a formalism for solving
semi-classical cosmological perturbations which does not require an explicit
choice of time-hypersurface. The Hamilton-Jacobi equation for gravity
interacting with matter (either a scalar or dust field) is solved by making an
Ansatz which includes all terms quadratic in the spatial curvature.
Gravitational radiation and scalar perturbations are treated on an equal
footing. Our technique encompasses linear perturbation theory and it also
describes some mild nonlinear effects. As a concrete example of the method, we
compute the galaxy-galaxy correlation function as well as large-angle microwave
background fluctuations for power-law inflation, and we compare with recent
observations.Comment: 51 pages, Latex 2.09 ALBERTA THY/20-94, DAMTP R94/25 To appear in
Phys. Rev.
The chemical compound 'Heatin' stimulates hypocotyl elongation and interferes with the Arabidopsis NIT1-subfamily of nitrilases
Temperature passively affects biological processes involved in plant growth. Therefore, it is challenging to study the dedicated temperature signalling pathways that orchestrate thermomorphogenesis, a suite of elongation growth-based adaptations that enhance leaf-cooling capacity. We screened a chemical library for compounds that restored hypocotyl elongation in the pif4-2-deficient mutant background at warm temperature conditions in Arabidopsis thaliana to identify modulators of thermomorphogenesis. The small aromatic compound 'Heatin', containing 1-iminomethyl-2-naphthol as a pharmacophore, was selected as an enhancer of elongation growth. We show that ARABIDOPSIS ALDEHYDE OXIDASES redundantly contribute to Heatin-mediated hypocotyl elongation. Following a chemical proteomics approach, the members of the NITRILASE1-subfamily of auxin biosynthesis enzymes were identified among the molecular targets of Heatin. Our data reveal that nitrilases are involved in promotion of hypocotyl elongation in response to high temperature and Heatin-mediated hypocotyl elongation requires the NITRILASE1-subfamily members, NIT1 and NIT2. Heatin inhibits NIT1-subfamily enzymatic activity in vitro and the application of Heatin accordingly results in the accumulation of NIT1-subfamily substrate indole-3-acetonitrile in vivo. However, levels of the NIT1-subfamily product, bioactive auxin (indole-3-acetic acid), were also significantly increased. It is likely that the stimulation of hypocotyl elongation by Heatin might be independent of its observed interaction with NITRILASE1-subfamily members. However, nitrilases may contribute to the Heatin response by stimulating indole-3-acetic acid biosynthesis in an indirect way. Heatin and its functional analogues present novel chemical entities for studying auxin biology
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