650 research outputs found
CODEWEAVE: exploring fine-grained mobility of code
This paper is concerned with an abstract exploration of code mobility constructs designed for use in settings where the level of granularity associated with the mobile units exhibits significant variability. Units of mobility that are both finer and coarser grained than the unit of execution are examined. To accomplish this, we take the extreme view that every line of code and every variable declaration are potentially mobile, i.e., it may be duplicated or moved from one program context to another on the same host or across the network. We also assume that complex code assemblies may move with equal ease. The result is CODEWEAVE, a model that shows how to develop new forms of code mobility, assign them precise meaning, and facilitate formal verification of programs employing them. The design of CODEWEAVE relies greatly on Mobile UNITY, a notation and proof logic for mobile computing. Mobile UNITY offers a computational milieu for examining a wide range of constructs and semantic alternatives in a clean abstract setting, i.e., unconstrained by compilation and performance considerations traditionally associated with programming language design. Ultimately, the notation offered by CODEWEAVE is given exact semantic definition by means of a direct mapping to the underlying Mobile UNITY model. The abstract and formal treatment of code mobility offered by CODEWEAVE establishes a technical foundation for examining competing proposals and for subsequent integration of some of the mobility constructs both at the language level and within middleware for mobility
Modulation by internal protons of native cyclic nucleotide-gated channels from retinal rods
Ion channels directly activated by cyclic nucleotides are present in the plasma membrane of retinal rod outer segments. These channels can be modulated by several factors including internal pH (pH(i)). Native cyclic nucleotide-gated channels were studied in excised membrane patches from the outer segment of retinal rods of the salamander. Channels were activated by cGMP or cAMP and currents as a function of voltage and cyclic nucleotide concentrations were measured as pH(i) was varied between 7.6 and 5.0. Increasing internal proton concentrations reduced the current activated by cGMP without modifying the concentration (K(1/2)) of cGMP necessary for half-activation of the maximal current. This effect could be well described as a reduction of single-channel current by protonation of a single acidic residue with a pK(1) of 5.1. When channels were activated by cAMP a more complex phenomenon was observed. K(1/2) for cAMP decreased by increasing internal proton concentration whereas maximal currents activated by cAMP increased by lowering pH(i) from 7.6 to 5.7-5.5 and then decreased from pH(i) 5.5 to 5.0. This behavior was attributed both to a reduction in single-channel current as measured with cGMP and to an increase in channel open probability induced by the binding of three protons to sites with a pK(2) of 6
3_D modeling using TLS and GPR techniques to characterize above and below-ground wood distribution in pyroclastic deposits along the Blanco River (Chilean Patagonia)
To date, the study of in-stream wood in rivers has been focused mainly on quantifying wood pieces deposited above
the ground. However, in some particular river systems, the presence of buried dead wood can also represent an
important component of wood recruitment and budgeting dynamics. This is the case of the Blanco River (Southern
Chile) severely affected by the eruption of Chait\ue9n Volcano occurred between 2008 and 2009. The high pyroclastic
sediment deposition and transport affected the channel and the adjacent forest, burying wood logs and standing
trees. The aim of this contribution is to assess the presence and distribution of wood in two study areas (483 m2 and
1989 m2, respectively) located along the lower streambank of the Blanco River, and covered by thick pyroclastic
deposition up to 5 m. The study areas were surveyed using two different devices, a Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS)
and a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). The first was used to scan the above surface achieving a high point cloud
density ( 48 2000 points m-2) which allowed us to identify and measure the wood volume. The second, was used
to characterize the internal morphology of the volcanic deposits and to detect the presence and spatial distribution
of buried wood up to a depth of 4 m. Preliminary results have demonstrated differences in the numerousness and
volume of above wood between the two study areas. In the first one, there were 43 wood elements, 33 standing
trees and 10 logs, with a total volume of 2.96 m3 (109.47 m3 km-1), whereas the second one was characterized
by the presence of just 7 standing trees and 11 wood pieces, for a total amount of 0.77 m3 (7.73 m3 km-1). The
dimensions of the wood elements vary greatly according to the typology, standing trees show the higher median
values in diameter and length (0.15 m and 2.91 m, respectively), whereas the wood logs were smaller (0.06 m and
1.12 m, respectively). The low dimensions of deposited wood can be probably connected to their origin, suggesting
that these elements were generated by toppling and breaking of surrounding dead trees. Results obtained with the
GPR confirm the ability of this instrument to localize the presence and distribution of buried wood. From the 3-
D analysis it was possible to assess the spatial distribution and to estimate, as first approach, the volume of the
buried wood which represents approximately 0.04% of the entire volcanic deposit. Further analysis will focus on
additional GPR calibration with different wood sizes for a more accurate estimation of the volume. The knowledge
of the overall wood amount stored in a fluvial system that can be remobilized over time, represent an essential
factor to ensure better forest and river management actions
Cluster derivation of Parisi's RSB solution for disordered systems
We propose a general scheme in which disordered systems are allowed to
sacrifice energy equi-partitioning and separate into a hierarchy of ergodic
sub-systems (clusters) with different characteristic time-scales and
temperatures. The details of the break-up follow from the requirement of
stationarity of the entropy of the slower cluster, at every level in the
hierarchy. We apply our ideas to the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model, and show
how the Parisi solution can be {\it derived} quantitatively from plausible
physical principles. Our approach gives new insight into the physics behind
Parisi's solution and its relations with other theories, numerical experiments,
and short range models.Comment: 7 pages 5 figure
Temperature Chaos, Rejuvenation and Memory in Migdal-Kadanoff Spin Glasses
We use simulations within the Migdal-Kadanoff real space renormalization
approach to probe the scales relevant for rejuvenation and memory in spin
glasses. One of the central questions concerns the role of temperature chaos.
First we investigate scaling laws of equilibrium temperature chaos, finding
super-exponential decay of correlations but no chaos for the total free energy.
Then we perform out of equilibrium simulations that follow experimental
protocols. We find that: (1) rejuvenation arises at a length scale smaller than
the ``overlap length'' l(T,T'); (2) memory survives even if equilibration goes
out to length scales much larger than l(T,T').Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, added references, slightly changed content,
modified Fig.
Blind ocean acoustic tomography: experimental results on the INTIFANTE'00 data set
Blind Ocean Acoustic Tomography (BOAT) is an ocean remote exploration concept similar to acoustic tomography but where both the emitted signal waveform and the source osition are unknown. BOAT consists of a minimal environmental model of the area, a broadband matched- eld processor and a genetic algorithm search procedure. This paper presents the results obtained with BOAT on part of the data set acquired during the INTIFANTE'00 sea trial, where an acoustic source was towed along both range independent and range dependent paths, with source-receiver ranges varying from 500 m up to 5.5 km and water depths varying from 70 to 120 m. The results obtained on several hours of data, show that source range and depth can be used as focalizing parameters, together with the Bartlett power to indicate model tness. Using this three parameters it becomes clear when the environment is \in focus" and when it is \out of focus" leading to realiable estimates of the geometric and
environmental parameters under estimation.This work was supported by programe
PRAXIS XXI of FCT, Portugal, under
projects INTIMATE and ATOMS and under
project TOMPACO, CNR, Italy. The authors
are also in debt of SACLANTCEN for equipment
loan and to the crew of NRP D.Carlos
I of IH, that made the sea trial successful
Genetic programs driving oncogenic transformation: Lessons from in vitro models
Cancer complexity relies on the intracellular pleiotropy of oncogenes/tumor suppressors and in the strong interplay between tumors and micro- and macro-environments. Here we followed a reductionist approach, by analyzing the transcriptional adaptations induced by three oncogenes (RAS, MYC, and HDAC4) in an isogenic transformation process. Common pathways, in place of common genes became dysregulated. From our analysis it emerges that, during the process of transformation, tumor cells cultured in vitro prime some signaling pathways suitable for coping with the blood supply restriction, metabolic adaptations, infiltration of immune cells, and for acquiring the morphological plasticity needed during the metastatic phase. Finally, we identified two signatures of genes commonly regulated by the three oncogenes that successfully predict the outcome of patients affected by different cancer types. These results emphasize that, in spite of the heterogeneous mutational burden among different cancers and even within the same tumor, some common hubs do exist. Their location, at the intersection of the various signaling pathways, makes a therapeutic approach exploitable
Non-compact local excitations in spin glasses
We study numerically the local low-energy excitations in the 3-d
Edwards-Anderson model for spin glasses. Given the ground state, we determine
the lowest-lying connected cluster of flipped spins with a fixed volume
containing one given spin. These excitations are not compact, having a fractal
dimension close to two, suggesting an analogy with lattice animals. Also, their
energy does not grow with their size; the associated exponent is slightly
negative whereas the one for compact clusters is positive. These findings call
for a modification of the basic hypotheses underlying the droplet model.Comment: 7 pages, LaTex, discussion on stability clarifie
Critical interfaces of the Ashkin-Teller model at the parafermionic point
We present an extensive study of interfaces defined in the Z_4 spin lattice
representation of the Ashkin-Teller (AT) model. In particular, we numerically
compute the fractal dimensions of boundary and bulk interfaces at the
Fateev-Zamolodchikov point. This point is a special point on the self-dual
critical line of the AT model and it is described in the continuum limit by the
Z_4 parafermionic theory. Extending on previous analytical and numerical
studies [10,12], we point out the existence of three different values of
fractal dimensions which characterize different kind of interfaces. We argue
that this result may be related to the classification of primary operators of
the parafermionic algebra. The scenario emerging from the studies presented
here is expected to unveil general aspects of geometrical objects of critical
AT model, and thus of c=1 critical theories in general.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure
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