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Customized design of hearing aids using statistical shape learning
3D shape modeling is a crucial component of rapid prototyping systems
that customize shapes of implants and prosthetic devices to a patient’s
anatomy. In this paper, we present a solution to the problem of customized 3D
shape modeling using a statistical shape analysis framework. We design a novel
method to learn the relationship between two classes of shapes, which are related
by certain operations or transformation. The two associated shape classes are
represented in a lower dimensional manifold, and the reduced set of parameters
obtained in this subspace is utilized in an estimation, which is exemplified by a
multivariate regression in this paper.We demonstrate our method with a felicitous
application to estimation of customized hearing aid devices
The inexorable resistance of inertia determines the initial regime of drop coalescence
Drop coalescence is central to diverse processes involving dispersions of
drops in industrial, engineering and scientific realms. During coalescence, two
drops first touch and then merge as the liquid neck connecting them grows from
initially microscopic scales to a size comparable to the drop diameters. The
curvature of the interface is infinite at the point where the drops first make
contact, and the flows that ensue as the two drops coalesce are intimately
coupled to this singularity in the dynamics. Conventionally, this process has
been thought to have just two dynamical regimes: a viscous and an inertial
regime with a crossover region between them. We use experiments and simulations
to reveal that a third regime, one that describes the initial dynamics of
coalescence for all drop viscosities, has been missed. An argument based on
force balance allows the construction of a new coalescence phase diagram
Development of Collembolans after coversion towards organic farming
In Northern Germany, a diverse and complex experimental farm of the Federal Agricultural Research Centre (FAL) was set-up in 2001 covering all main aspects of organic farming. Previously, the 600 ha farm had been managed conventionally. Adjacent conventional farms were used as reference. The aim of this project was to study collembolans, microbial biomass and soil organic carbon in six organically farmed fields managed as a crop rotation of six different crops compared with an adjacent conventionally managed field. We hypothesised that the specific management in organic farming promotes soil biota. Soil samples were taken during the growing season in 2004. Collembolan abundances and microbial biomass were lower under organic management, but, generally, collembolan diversity was higher in organically farmed fields combined with a shifting in the dominance structure of the species. This result reveals that, even after three years, the soil biota is still changing with management conversion
Dynamic behavior of magnetic avalanches in the spin-ice compound DyTiO
Avalanches of the magnetization, that is to say an abrupt reversal of the
magnetization at a given field, have been previously reported in the spin-ice
compound DyTiO. This out-of-equilibrium process, induced by
magneto-thermal heating, is quite usual in low temperature magnetization
studies. A key point is to determine the physical origin of the avalanche
process. In particular, in spin-ice compounds, the origin of the avalanches
might be related to the monopole physics inherent to the system. We have
performed a detailed study of the avalanche phenomena in three single crystals,
with the field oriented along the [111] direction, perpendicular to [111] and
along the [100] directions. We have measured the changing magnetization during
the avalanches and conclude that avalanches in spin ice are quite slow compared
to the avalanches reported in other systems such as molecular magnets. Our
measurements show that the avalanches trigger after a delay of about 500 ms and
that the reversal of the magnetization then occurs in a few hundreds of
milliseconds. These features suggest an unusual propagation of the reversal,
which might be due to the monopole motion. The avalanche fields seem to be
reproducible in a given direction for different samples, but they strongly
depend on the initial state of magnetization and on how the initial state was
achieved.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figure
Surface Display of Complex Enzymes by in Situ SpyCatcher-SpyTag Interaction
The display of complex proteins on the surface of cells is of great importance for protein engineering and other fields of biotechnology. Herein, we describe a modular approach, in which the membrane anchor protein Lpp-OmpA and a protein of interest (passenger) are expressed independently as genetically fused SpyCatcher and SpyTag units and assembled in situ by post-translational coupling. Using fluorescent proteins, we first demonstrate that this strategy allows the construct to be installed on the surface of E. coli cells. The scope of our approach was then demonstrated by using three different functional enzymes, the stereoselective ketoreductase Gre2p, the homotetrameric glucose 1-dehydrogenase GDH, and the bulky heme- and diflavin-containing cytochrome P450 BM3 (BM3). In all cases, the SpyCatcher-SpyTag method enabled the generation of functional whole-cell biocatalysts, even for the bulky BM3, which could not be displayed by conventional fusion with Lpp-OmpA. Furthermore, by using a GDH variant carrying an internal SpyTag, the system could be used to display an enzyme with unmodified N- and C-termini
Delta-like and gtl2 are reciprocally expressed, differentially methylated linked imprinted genes on mouse chromosome 12
AbstractThe distal portion of mouse chromosome 12 is imprinted. To date, however, Gtl2 is the only imprinted gene identified on chromosome 12. Gtl2 encodes multiple alternatively spliced transcripts with no apparent open reading frame. Using conceptuses with maternal or paternal uniparental disomy for chromosome 12 (UPD12), we found that Gtl2 is expressed from the maternal allele and methylated at the 5′ end of the silent paternal allele. A reciprocally imprinted gene, Delta-like (Dlk), with homology to genes involved in the Notch signalling pathway was identified 80kb upstream of Gtl2. Dlk was expressed exclusively from the paternal allele in both the embryo and placenta, but the CpG-island promoter of Dlk was completely unmethylated on both parental alleles. Rather, a paternally methylated region was identified in the last exon of the active Dlk allele. The proximity, reciprocal imprinting and methylation in this domain are reminiscent of the co-ordinately regulated Igf2–H19 imprinted domain on mouse chromosome 7. Like H19 and Igf2, Gtl2 and Dlk were found to be co-expressed in the same tissues throughout development, though not after birth. These results have implications for the regulation, function and evolution of imprinted domains
Fracture Logging of the AND-2A Core, ANDRILL Southern McMurdo Sound Project, Antarctica
Fractures in AND-2A drillcore were documented in this study. Over 4100 fractures of all
types were logged. A population of 510 steeply-dipping, petal, petal-centreline and core-edge induced
fractures is present, reaching a maximum density of c. 10 fractures/metre. Subhorizontal induced
extension fractures are also abundant. There are 1008 natural fractures in the core, including faults,
brecciated zones, veins and sedimentary intrusions. Kinematic indicators document dominant normal
faulting, although reverse faults are also present. The natural fractures occur in strata ranging in age
from the Miocene to the Plio-Pleistocene
Borehole breakout analysis: results from the AND-2A Well
To define the present-day stress field in the upper crust and to understand the recent tectonic activity in Antarctica, a study of breakout measurements along AND-2A well was performed. The borehole breakout is an important indicator of horizontal stress orientation and occurs when the stresses around the borehole exceed that required to cause compressive failure of the borehole wall (Bell and Gough, 1979; Zoback et al., 1985, Bell, 1990). The enlargement of the wellbore is caused by the development of intersecting conjugate shear planes that cause pieces of the borehole wall to spall off. Around a vertical borehole, stress concentration is greatest in the direction of the minimum horizontal stress (Shmin), hence, the long axes of borehole breakouts are oriented approximately perpendicular to the maximum horizontal stress orientation (SHmax). The orientation of breakouts along the AND-2A well was measured using acoustic (BHTV) and mechanical (Four-Arm Caliper) tools. Borehole televiewer (BHTV) provides an
acoustic "image" of the borehole wall (360 degree coverage) and gives detailed information for investigation
of fractures and stress analysis. The four-arm caliper is the oldest technique for borehole breakout identification and it is included in routine dipmeter logs. A quality value has been assigned to the well results
in agreement with the World Stress Map quality ranking scheme (Zoback, 1992; Heidback et al., 2010) based mainly on the number, accuracy, and length of breakout measurements. The result is presented
as rose diagram of the breakout directions where the length of each peak is proportional to the frequency and the width to the variance of its gaussian curve. We have analyzed the following curves to recognize the breakout: the azimuth of Pad 1 (P1az), the drift azimuth (HAZI), the two calipers with respect to the bit size (BZ) curve and the curve relative to the deviation of the well. The AND-2A Four-Arm Caliper data cover a depth interval between 637 down to 997 mbsl, that corresponds to 360 m of logged interval.
We have distinguished breakouts and some washouts only in the interval from 753 to 825 mbsl. From borehole televiewer images, we have data from 398 mbsl down to 1136 mbsl. The BHTV worked well showing a lot of interesting features such as many bedding, lamination and fractures (natural and induced) but poor breakouts. The rare breakouts have also a small size (called protobreakouts) but they are consistent
with induced features. Considering the breakout result from caliper and BHTV, the AND-2A borehole is unfortunately classified as D quality. This means that to obtain a reliable active stress field of the area it
is necessary to compare this result with other available data
Dynamics and thermalization of the nuclear spin bath in the single-molecule magnet Mn12-ac: test for the theory of spin tunneling
The description of the tunneling of a macroscopic variable in the presence of
a bath of localized spins is a subject of great fundamental and practical
interest, and is relevant for many solid-state qubit designs. Instead of
focusing on the the "central spin" (as is most often done), here we present a
detailed study of the dynamics of the nuclear spin bath in the Mn12-ac
single-molecule magnet, probed by NMR experiments down to very low temperatures
(T = 20 mK). We find that the longitudinal relaxation rate of the 55Mn nuclei
in Mn12-ac becomes roughly T-independent below T = 0.8 K, and can be strongly
suppressed with a longitudinal magnetic field. This is consistent with the
nuclear relaxation being caused by quantum tunneling of the molecular spin, and
we attribute the tunneling fluctuations to the minority of fast-relaxing
molecules present in the sample. The transverse nuclear relaxation is also
T-independent for T < 0.8 K, and can be explained qualitatively and
quantitatively by the dipolar coupling between like nuclei in neighboring
molecules. We also show that the isotopic substitution of 1H by 2H leads to a
slower nuclear longitudinal relaxation, consistent with the decreased tunneling
probability of the molecular spin. Finally, we demonstrate that, even at the
lowest temperatures, the nuclear spins remain in thermal equilibrium with the
lattice phonons, and we investigate the timescale for their thermal
equilibration. After a review of the theory of macroscopic spin tunneling in
the presence of a spin bath, we argue that most of our experimental results are
consistent with that theory, but the thermalization of the nuclear spins is
not.Comment: 24 pages, 18 figures. Experimental study of the spin bath dynamics in
quantum nanomagnets, plus an extensive review and application of the theor
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