49,070 research outputs found
3D MODELING of A COMPLEX BUILDING: From MULTI-VIEW IMAGE FUSION to GOOGLE EARTH PUBLICATION
This paper presents a pipeline that aims at illustrating the procedure to realize a 3D model of a complex building integrating the UAV and terrestrial images and modifying the 3D model in order to publish to Google Earth in an interactive modality so as to provide better available models for visualization and use. The main steps of the procedure are the optimization of the UAV flight, the integration of the different UAV and ground floor images and the optimization of the model to be published to GE. The case study has been identified in a building, The Eremo di Santa Rosalia Convent in Sicily which hash more staggered elevations and located in the hills of the hinterland and of which, the online platform only indicate the position on Google Maps (GM) and Google Earth (GE) with a photo from above and a non-urban road whose GM path is not corresponding with the GE photo. The process highlights the integration of the models and showcases a workflow for the publication of the combined 3D model to the GE platform
Fabrication and wear test of a continuous fiber/particulate composite total surface hip replacement
Continuous fiber woven E-glass composite femoral shells having the ame elastic properties as bone were fabricated. The shells were then encrusted with filled epoxy wear resistant coatings and run dry against ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene acetabular cups in 42,000 and 250,000 cycle were tests on a total hip simulator. The tribological characteristics of these shells atriculating with the acetabular cups are comparable to a vitallium bal articulating with an ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene cup
Tribological characteristics of a composite total-surface hip replacement
Continuous fiber, woven E glass composite femoral shells having the same elastic properties as bone were fabricated. The shells were then encrusted with filled epoxy wear resistant coatings and run dry against ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene acetabular cups in 42,000 and 250,000 cycle wear tests on a total hip simulator. The tribological characteristics of these continuous fiber particulate composite femoral shells articulating with ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene acetabular cups were comparable to those of a vitallium ball articulating with an ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene acetabular cup
Induced encystment improves resistance to preservation and storage of Acanthamoeba castellanii
Several conditions that allow the preservation, storage and rapid, efficient recovery of viable Acanthamoeba castellanii organisms were investigated. The viability of trophozoites (as determined by time to confluence) significantly declined over a period of 12 months when stored at −70°C using dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO; 5 or 10%) as cryopreservant. As A. castellanii are naturally capable of encystment, studies were undertaken to determine whether induced encystment might improve the viability of organisms under a number of storage conditions. A. castellanii cysts stored in the presence of Mg2+ at 4°C remained viable over the study period, although time to confluence was increased from approximately 8 days to approximately 24 days over the 12-month period. Storage of cysts at −70°C with DMSO (5 or 10%) or 40% glycerol, but not 80% glycerol as cryopreservants increased their viability over the 12-month study period compared with those stored at room temperature. Continued presence of Mg2+ in medium during storage had no adverse effects and generally improved recovery of viable organisms. The present study demonstrates that A. castellanii can be stored as a non-multiplicative form inexpensively, without a need for cryopreservation, for at least 12 months, but viability is increased by storage at −70°C
Proper Motions of Ionized Gas at the Galactic Center: Evidence for Unbound Orbiting Gas
We present radio continuum observations of the spiral-shaped ionized feature
(Sgr A West) within the inner pc of the Galactic center at three epochs
spanning 1986 to 1995. The VLA A-configuration was used at 2cm
(resolution of 0\dasec10\dasec2). We detect proper motions of a number
of features in the Northern and Eastern Arms of Sgr A West including the
ionized gas associated with IRS 13 with V(RA)= 113 \pm 10, V(Dec)=150 \pm15
km/s, IRS 2 with V(RA)= 122 \pm 11, V(Dec)=24 \pm 34 km/s and the Norther Arm
V(RA)= 126 \pm 30, V(Dec)=--207 \pm 58 km/s. We also report the detection of
features having transverse velocities > 1000 km/s including a head-tail radio
structure, the ``Bullet'', northwest of Sgr A with V(RA)= 722
\pm 156, V(Dec)=832 \pm 203 km/s, exceeding the escape velocity at the Galactic
center.
The proper motion measurements when combined with previous H92 radio
recombination line data suggest an unambiguous direction of the flow of ionized
gas orbiting the Galactic center. The measured velocity distribution suggests
that the ionized gas in the Northern Arm is not bound to the Galactic center
assuming a 2.5 million solar mass of dark matter residing at the Galactic
center. This implies that the stellar and ionized gas systems are not
dynamically coupled, thus, supporting a picture in which the gas features in
the Northern Arm and its extensions are the result of an energetic phenomenon
that has externally driven a cloud of gas cloud into the Galactic center.Comment: 11 pages, three figures (one color) and one table. Astrophysical
Journal Letters in pres
Wilson Line Picture of Levin-Wen Partition Functions
Levin and Wen [Phys. Rev. B 71, 045110 (2005)] have recently given a lattice
Hamiltonian description of doubled Chern-Simons theories. We relate the
partition function of these theories to an expectation of Wilson loops that
form a link in 2+1 dimensional spacetime known in the mathematical literature
as Chain-Mail. This geometric construction gives physical interpretation of the
Levin-Wen Hilbert space and Hamiltonian, its topological invariance, exactness
under coarse-graining, and how two opposite chirality sectors of the doubled
theory arise.Comment: Final published version; Appendix adde
Hot Electron Capture Dissociation Distinguishes Leucine from Isoleucine in a Novel Hemoglobin Variant, Hb Askew, β54(D5)Val→Ile
Population migration has led to the global dispersion of human hemoglobinopathies and has precipitated a need for their identification. An effective mass spectrometry-based procedure involves analysis of the intact α- and β-globin chains to determine their mass, followed by location of the variant amino acid residue by direct analysis of the enzymatically digested chains and low-energy collision induced dissociation of the variant peptide. Using this procedure, a variant was identified as either β54Val→Leu or β54Val→Ile, since the amino acids leucine and isoleucine cannot be distinguished using low-energy collisions. Here, we describe how hot electron capture dissociation on a Fourier transform-ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer was used to distinguish isoleucine from leucine and identify the mutation as β54(D5)Val→Ile. This is a novel variant, and we have named it Hb Askew
Regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor bioactivity in patients with acute lung injury
Background: Reduced bioactive vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been demonstrated in
several inflammatory lung conditions including the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). sVEGFR-1,
a soluble form of VEGF-1 receptor, is a potent natural inhibitor of VEGF. We hypothesised that sVEGFR-1
plays an important role in the regulation of the bioactivity of VEGF within the lung in patients with ARDS.
Methods: Forty one patients with ARDS, 12 at risk of developing ARDS, and 16 normal controls were
studied. Bioactive VEGF, total VEGF, and sVEGFR-1 were measured by ELISA in plasma and
bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction for sVEGFR-1 was
performed on BAL cells.
Results: sVEGFR-1 was detectable in the BAL fluid of 48% (20/41) of patients with early ARDS (1.4–
54.8 ng/ml epithelial lining fluid (ELF)) compared with 8% (1/12) at risk patients (p = 0.017) and none of
the normal controls (p = 0.002). By day 4 sVEGFR-1 was detectable in only 2/18 ARDS patients
(p = 0.008). Patients with detectable sVEGFR-1 had lower ELF median (IQR) levels of bioactive VEGF than
those without detectable sVEGFR-1 (1415.2 (474.9–3192) pg/ml v 4761 (1349–7596.6) pg/ml, median
difference 3346 pg/ml (95% CI 305.1 to 14711.9), p = 0.016), but there was no difference in total VEGF
levels. BAL cells expressed mRNA for sVEGFR-1 and produced sVEGFR-1 protein which increased
following incubation with tumour necrosis factor a.
Conclusion: This study shows for the first time the presence of sVEGFR-1 in the BAL fluid of patients with
ARDS. This may explain the presence of reduced bioactive VEGF in patients early in the course of ARDS
Charged sectors, spin and statistics in quantum field theory on curved spacetimes
The first part of this paper extends the Doplicher-Haag-Roberts theory of
superselection sectors to quantum field theory on arbitrary globally hyperbolic
spacetimes. The statistics of a superselection sector may be defined as in flat
spacetime and each charge has a conjugate charge when the spacetime possesses
non-compact Cauchy surfaces. In this case, the field net and the gauge group
can be constructed as in Minkowski spacetime.
The second part of this paper derives spin-statistics theorems on spacetimes
with appropriate symmetries. Two situations are considered: First, if the
spacetime has a bifurcate Killing horizon, as is the case in the presence of
black holes, then restricting the observables to the Killing horizon together
with "modular covariance" for the Killing flow yields a conformally covariant
quantum field theory on the circle and a conformal spin-statistics theorem for
charged sectors localizable on the Killing horizon. Secondly, if the spacetime
has a rotation and PT symmetry like the Schwarzschild-Kruskal black holes,
"geometric modular action" of the rotational symmetry leads to a
spin-statistics theorem for charged covariant sectors where the spin is defined
via the SU(2)-covering of the spatial rotation group SO(3).Comment: latex2e, 73 page
Radio Continuum Observations of the Galactic Center: Photoevaporative Proplyd-like Objects near Sgr A*
We present radio images within 30 of Sgr A* based on recent VLA
observations at 34 GHz with 7.8 microJy sensitivity and resolution
milliarcseconds (mas). We report 44 partially resolved compact
sources clustered in two regions in the E arm of ionized gas that orbits Sgr
A*. These sources have size scales ranging between ~50 and 200 mas (400 to 1600
AUs), and a bow-shock appearance facing the direction of Sgr A*. Unlike the
bow-shock sources previously identified in the near-IR but associated with
massive stars, these 34 GHz sources do not appear to have near-IR counterparts
at 3.8 m. We interpret these sources as a candidate population of
photoevaporative protoplanetary disks (proplyds) that are associated with newly
formed low mass stars with mass loss rates ~10^{-7} - 10^{-6} solar mass per
year and are located at the edge of a molecular cloud outlined by ionized gas.
The disks are externally illuminated by strong Lyman continuum radiation from
the ~100 OB and WR massive stars distributed within 10'' of Sgr A*. The
presence of proplyds implies current in-situ star formation activity near Sgr
A* and opens a window for the first time to study low mass star, planetary and
brown dwarf formations near a supermassive black hole.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, ApJL (in press
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