738 research outputs found
Silicon-on ceramic process: Silicon sheet growth and device development for the large-area silicon sheet task of the low-cost solar array project
The technical feasibility of producing solar-cell-quality sheet silicon to meet the Department of Energy (DOE) 1986 overall price goal of $0.70/watt was investigated. With the silicon-on-ceramic (SOC) approach, a low-cost ceramic substrate is coated with large-grain polycrystalline silicon by unidirectional solidification of molten silicon. This effort was divided into several areas of investigation in order to most efficiently meet the goals of the program. These areas include: (1) dip-coating; (2) continuous coating designated SCIM-coating, and acronym for Silicon Coating by an Inverted Meniscus (SCIM); (3) material characterization; (4) cell fabrication and evaluation; and (5) theoretical analysis. Both coating approaches were successful in producing thin layers of large grain, solar-cell-quality silicon. The dip-coating approach was initially investigated and considerable effort was given to this technique. The SCIM technique was adopted because of its scale-up potential and its capability to produce more conventiently large areas of SOC
A First Comparison of Millimeter Continuum and Mg II Ultraviolet Line Emission from the Solar Chromosphere
We present joint observations of the Sun by the Atacama Large
Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Interface Region Imaging
Spectrograph (IRIS). The observations were made of a solar active region on
2015 December 18 as part of the ALMA science verification effort. A map of the
Sun's continuum emission of size was obtained by ALMA at a
wavelength of 1.25 mm (239 GHz) using mosaicing techniques. A contemporaneous
map of size was obtained in the Mg II h doublet line at
2803.5\AA\ by IRIS. Both mm/submm continuum emission and ultraviolet
(UV) line emission are believed to originate from the solar chromosphere and
both have the potential to serve as powerful and complementary diagnostics of
physical conditions in this poorly understood layer of the solar atmosphere.
While a clear correlation between mm- brightness temperature and
the Mg II h line radiation temperature is observed the slope is ,
perhaps as a result of the fact that these diagnostics are sensitive to
different parts of the chromosphere and/or the Mg II h line source function
includes a scattering component. There is a significant offset between the mean
(1.25 mm) and mean (Mg II), the former being
greater than the latter. Partitioning the maps into "sunspot", "quiet regions",
and "plage regions" we find that the slope of the scatter plots between the
IRIS Mg II h line and the ALMA brightness temperature is 0.4
(sunspot), 0.56 (quiet regions), and 0.66 (plage regions). We suggest that this
change may be caused by the regional dependence of the formation heights of the
IRIS and ALMA diagnostics, and/or the increased degree of coupling between the
UV source function and the local gas temperature in the hotter, denser gas in
plage regions.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure
Silicon-on-ceramic process: Silicon sheet growth and device development for the large-area silicon sheet task of the low-cost solar array project
The technical feasibility of producing solar cell quality sheet silicon to meet the DOE 1986 cost goal of 70 cents/watt was investigated. The silicon on ceramic approach is to coat a low cost ceramic substrate with large grain polycrystalline silicon by unidirectional solidification of molten silicon. Results and accomplishments are summarized
Random wave functions and percolation
Recently it was conjectured that nodal domains of random wave functions are
adequately described by critical percolation theory. In this paper we
strengthen this conjecture in two respects. First, we show that, though wave
function correlations decay slowly, a careful use of Harris' criterion confirms
that these correlations are unessential and nodal domains of random wave
functions belong to the same universality class as non critical percolation.
Second, we argue that level domains of random wave functions are described by
the non-critical percolation model.Comment: 13 page
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A bed nucleus of stria terminalis microcircuit regulating inflammation-associated modulation of feeding
Loss of appetite or anorexia associated with inflammation impairs quality of life and increases morbidity in many diseases. However, the exact neural mechanism that mediates inflammation-associated anorexia is still poorly understood. Here we identified a population of neurons, marked by the expression of protein kinase C-delta, in the oval region of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), which are activated by various inflammatory signals. Silencing of these neurons attenuates the anorexia caused by these inflammatory signals. Our results demonstrate that these neurons mediate bidirectional control of general feeding behaviors. These neurons inhibit the lateral hypothalamus-projecting neurons in the ventrolateral part of BNST to regulate feeding, receive inputs from the canonical feeding regions of arcuate nucleus and parabrachial nucleus. Our data therefore define a BNST microcircuit that might coordinate canonical feeding centers to regulate food intake, which could offer therapeutic targets for feeding-related diseases such as anorexia and obesity.NARSAD Young Investigator Award from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation; Bio5 Institute at the University of ArizonaOpen access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]
Survey-propagation decimation through distributed local computations
We discuss the implementation of two distributed solvers of the random K-SAT
problem, based on some development of the recently introduced
survey-propagation (SP) algorithm. The first solver, called the "SP diffusion
algorithm", diffuses as dynamical information the maximum bias over the system,
so that variable nodes can decide to freeze in a self-organized way, each
variable making its decision on the basis of purely local information. The
second solver, called the "SP reinforcement algorithm", makes use of
time-dependent external forcing messages on each variable, which let the
variables get completely polarized in the direction of a solution at the end of
a single convergence. Both methods allow us to find a solution of the random
3-SAT problem in a range of parameters comparable with the best previously
described serialized solvers. The simulated time of convergence towards a
solution (if these solvers were implemented on a distributed device) grows as
log(N).Comment: 18 pages, 10 figure
Tests for Gene-Environment Interactions and Joint Effects with Exposure Misclassification
The number of methods for genome-wide testing of gene-environment interactions (GEI) continues to increase with the hope of discovering new genetic risk factors and obtaining insight into the disease-gene-environment relationship. The relative performance of these methods based on family-wise type 1 error rate and power depends on underlying disease-gene-environment associations, estimates of which may be biased in the presence of exposure misclassification. This simulation study expands on a previously published simulation study of methods for detecting GEI by evaluating the impact of exposure misclassification. We consider seven single step and modular screening methods for identifying GEI at a genome-wide level and seven joint tests for genetic association and GEI, for which the goal is to discover new genetic susceptibility loci by leveraging GEI when present. In terms of statistical power, modular methods that screen based on the marginal disease-gene relationship are more robust to exposure misclassification. Joints tests that include main/marginal effects of a gene display a similar robustness, confirming results from earlier studies. Our results offer an increased understanding of the strengths and limitations of methods for genome-wide search for GEI and joint tests in presence of exposure misclassification. KEY WORDS: case-control; genome-wide association; gene discovery, gene-environment independence; modular methods; multiple testing; screening test; weighted hypothesis test. Abbreviations: CC, case-control; CC(EXP), CC in the exposed subgroup; CO, case-only; CT, cocktail; DF, degree of freedom; D-G, disease-gene; EB, empirical Bayes; EB(EXP), EB in the exposed subgroup; EDGxE, joint marginal/association screening; FWER, family-wise error rate; G-E, gene-environment; GEI, gene-environment interaction; GEWIS, Gene Environment Wide Interaction Study; H2, hybrid two-step; LR, likelihood ratio; MA, marginal; OR, odds ratio; SE, sensitivity; SP, specificity; TS, two-step gene-environment screening
Diffusion limited reactions in confined environments
We study the effect of confinement on diffusion limited bimolecular reactions
within a lattice model where a small number of reactants diffuse amongst a much
larger number of inert particles. When the number of inert particles is held
constant the rate of the reaction is slow for small reaction volumes due to
limited mobility from crowding, and for large reaction volumes due to the
reduced concentration of the reactants. The reaction rate proceeds fastest at
an intermediate confinement corresponding to volume fraction near 1/2 and 1/3
in two and three dimensions, respectively. We generalize the model to
off-lattice systems with hydrodynamic coupling and predict that the optimal
reaction rate for monodisperse colloidal systems occurs when the volume
fraction is ~0.18. Finally, we discuss the application of our model to
bimolecular reactions inside cells as well as the dynamics of confined
polymers.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Uniform approximation for diffractive contributions to the trace formula in billiard systems
We derive contributions to the trace formula for the spectral density
accounting for the role of diffractive orbits in two-dimensional billiard
systems with corners. This is achieved by using the exact Sommerfeld solution
for the Green function of a wedge. We obtain a uniformly valid formula which
interpolates between formerly separate approaches (the geometrical theory of
diffraction and Gutzwiller's trace formula). It yields excellent numerical
agreement with exact quantum results, also in cases where other methods fail.Comment: LaTeX, 41 pages including 12 PostScript figures, submitted to Phys.
Rev.
Spectral statistics of chaotic systems with a point-like scatterer
The statistical properties of a Hamiltonian perturbed by a localized
scatterer are considered. We prove that when describes a bounded chaotic
motion, the universal part of the spectral statistics are not changed by the
perturbation. This is done first within the random matrix model. Then it is
shown by semiclassical techniques that the result is due to a cancellation
between diagonal diffractive and off-diagonal periodic-diffractive
contributions. The compensation is a very general phenomenon encoding the
semiclassical content of the optical theorem.Comment: 11 pages, no figure
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