618 research outputs found
Ices in Star-Forming Regions: First Results from VLT-ISAAC
The first results from a VLT-ISAAC program on L- and M-band infrared
spectroscopy of deeply-embedded young stellar objects are presented. The advent
of 8-m class telescopes allows high S/N spectra of low-luminosity sources to be
obtained. In our first observing run, low- and medium-resolution spectra have
been measured toward a dozen objects, mostly in the Vela and Chamaeleon
molecular clouds. The spectra show strong absorption of H2O and CO ice, as well
as weak features at `3.47' and 4.62 mu. No significant solid CH3OH feature at
3.54 mu is found, indicating that the CH3OH/H2O ice abundance is lower than
toward some massive protostars. Various evolutionary diagnostics are
investigated for a set of sources in Vela.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, to appear in The Origins of Stars and Planets:
the VLT View, eds. J. Alves, M. McCaughrean (Springer Verlag
Algebraic totality, towards completeness
Finiteness spaces constitute a categorical model of Linear Logic (LL) whose
objects can be seen as linearly topologised spaces, (a class of topological
vector spaces introduced by Lefschetz in 1942) and morphisms as continuous
linear maps. First, we recall definitions of finiteness spaces and describe
their basic properties deduced from the general theory of linearly topologised
spaces. Then we give an interpretation of LL based on linear algebra. Second,
thanks to separation properties, we can introduce an algebraic notion of
totality candidate in the framework of linearly topologised spaces: a totality
candidate is a closed affine subspace which does not contain 0. We show that
finiteness spaces with totality candidates constitute a model of classical LL.
Finally, we give a barycentric simply typed lambda-calculus, with booleans
and a conditional operator, which can be interpreted in this
model. We prove completeness at type for
every n by an algebraic method
A Computation of the Maximal Order Type of the Term Ordering on Finite Multisets
We give a sharpening of a recent result of Aschenbrenner and Pong about the maximal order type of the term ordering on the finite multisets over a wpo. Moreover we discuss an approach to compute maximal order types of well-partial orders which are related to tree embeddings
Effective dynamics using conditional expectations
The question of coarse-graining is ubiquitous in molecular dynamics. In this
article, we are interested in deriving effective properties for the dynamics of
a coarse-grained variable , where describes the configuration of
the system in a high-dimensional space , and is a smooth function
with value in (typically a reaction coordinate). It is well known that,
given a Boltzmann-Gibbs distribution on , the equilibrium
properties on are completely determined by the free energy. On the
other hand, the question of the effective dynamics on is much more
difficult to address. Starting from an overdamped Langevin equation on , we propose an effective dynamics for using conditional
expectations. Using entropy methods, we give sufficient conditions for the time
marginals of the effective dynamics to be close to the original ones. We check
numerically on some toy examples that these sufficient conditions yield an
effective dynamics which accurately reproduces the residence times in the
potential energy wells. We also discuss the accuracy of the effective dynamics
in a pathwise sense, and the relevance of the free energy to build a
coarse-grained dynamics
How the Kano model contributes to Kansei engineering in services
Recent studies show that products and services hold great appeal if they are attractively designed to elicit emotional feelings from customers. Kansei engineering (KE) has good potential to provide a competitive advantage to those able to read and translate customer affect and emotion in actual product and services. This study introduces an integrative framework of the Kano model and KE, applied to services. The Kano model was used and inserted into KE to exhibit the relationship between service attribute performance and customer emotional response. Essentially, the Kano model categorises service attribute quality into three major groups (must-be [M], one-dimensional [O] and attractive [A]). The findings of a case study that involved 100 tourists who stayed in luxury 4- and 5-star hotels are presented. As a practical matter, this research provides insight on which service attributes deserve more attention with regard to their significant impact on customer emotional needs.
Statement of Relevance: Apart from cognitive evaluation, emotions and hedonism play a big role in service encounters. Through a focus on delighting qualities of service attributes, this research enables service providers and managers to establish the extent to which they prioritise their improvement efforts and to always satisfy their customer emotions beyond expectation.
Keywords:
Kansei engineering, emotional feelings, Kano model, service
In Vitro HIV-1 Evolution in Response to Triple Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors & In Silico Phenotypic Analysis
Background Effectiveness of ART regimens strongly depends upon complex
interactions between the selective pressure of drugs and the evolution of
mutations that allow or restrict drug resistance. Methods Four clinical
isolates from NRTI-exposed, NNRTI-naive subjects were passaged in increasing
concentrations of NVP in combination with 1 µM 3 TC and 2 µM ADV to assess
selective pressures of multi-drug treatment. A novel parameter inference
procedure, based on a stochastic viral growth model, was used to estimate
phenotypic resistance and fitness from in vitro combination passage
experiments. Results Newly developed mathematical methods estimated key
phenotypic parameters of mutations arising through selective pressure exerted
by 3 TC and NVP. Concentrations of 1 µM 3 TC maintained the M184V mutation,
which was associated with intrinsic fitness deficits. Increasing NVP
concentrations selected major NNRTI resistance mutations. The evolutionary
pathway of NVP resistance was highly dependent on the viral genetic
background, epistasis as well as stochasticity. Parameter estimation indicated
that the previously unrecognized mutation L228Q was associated with NVP
resistance in some isolates. Conclusion Serial passage of viruses in the
presence of multiple drugs may resemble the selection of mutations observed
among treated individuals and populations in vivo and indicate evolutionary
preferences and restrictions. Phenotypic resistance estimated here “in silico”
from in vitro passage experiments agreed well with previous knowledge,
suggesting that the unique combination of “wet-” and “dry-lab” experimentation
may improve our understanding of HIV-1 resistance evolution in the future
Tackling Exascale Software Challenges in Molecular Dynamics Simulations with GROMACS
GROMACS is a widely used package for biomolecular simulation, and over the
last two decades it has evolved from small-scale efficiency to advanced
heterogeneous acceleration and multi-level parallelism targeting some of the
largest supercomputers in the world. Here, we describe some of the ways we have
been able to realize this through the use of parallelization on all levels,
combined with a constant focus on absolute performance. Release 4.6 of GROMACS
uses SIMD acceleration on a wide range of architectures, GPU offloading
acceleration, and both OpenMP and MPI parallelism within and between nodes,
respectively. The recent work on acceleration made it necessary to revisit the
fundamental algorithms of molecular simulation, including the concept of
neighborsearching, and we discuss the present and future challenges we see for
exascale simulation - in particular a very fine-grained task parallelism. We
also discuss the software management, code peer review and continuous
integration testing required for a project of this complexity.Comment: EASC 2014 conference proceedin
Exploring the conformational dynamics of alanine dipeptide in solution subjected to an external electric field: A nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulation
In this paper, we investigate the conformational dynamics of alanine
dipeptide under an external electric field by nonequilibrium molecular dynamics
simulation. We consider the case of a constant and of an oscillatory field. In
this context we propose a procedure to implement the temperature control, which
removes the irrelevant thermal effects of the field. For the constant field
different time-scales are identified in the conformational, dipole moment, and
orientational dynamics. Moreover, we prove that the solvent structure only
marginally changes when the external field is switched on. In the case of
oscillatory field, the conformational changes are shown to be as strong as in
the previous case, and non-trivial nonequilibrium circular paths in the
conformation space are revealed by calculating the integrated net probability
fluxes.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figure
A weak characterization of slow variables in stochastic dynamical systems
We present a novel characterization of slow variables for continuous Markov
processes that provably preserve the slow timescales. These slow variables are
known as reaction coordinates in molecular dynamical applications, where they
play a key role in system analysis and coarse graining. The defining
characteristics of these slow variables is that they parametrize a so-called
transition manifold, a low-dimensional manifold in a certain density function
space that emerges with progressive equilibration of the system's fast
variables. The existence of said manifold was previously predicted for certain
classes of metastable and slow-fast systems. However, in the original work, the
existence of the manifold hinges on the pointwise convergence of the system's
transition density functions towards it. We show in this work that a
convergence in average with respect to the system's stationary measure is
sufficient to yield reaction coordinates with the same key qualities. This
allows one to accurately predict the timescale preservation in systems where
the old theory is not applicable or would give overly pessimistic results.
Moreover, the new characterization is still constructive, in that it allows for
the algorithmic identification of a good slow variable. The improved
characterization, the error prediction and the variable construction are
demonstrated by a small metastable system
Fermion-Boson Interactions and Quantum Algebras
Quantum Algebras (q-algebras) are used to describe interactions between
fermions and bosons. Particularly, the concept of a su_q(2) dynamical symmetry
is invoked in order to reproduce the ground state properties of systems of
fermions and bosons interacting via schematic forces. The structure of the
proposed su_q(2) Hamiltonians, and the meaning of the corresponding deformation
parameters, are discussed.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures. Physical Review C (in press
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