3,963 research outputs found
Kinetic equations for Stark line shapes
The BBGKY formalism is revisited in the framework of plasma spectroscopy. We
address the issue of Stark line shape modeling by using kinetic transport
equations. In the most simplified treatment of these equations, triple
correlations between an emitter and the perturbing charged particles are
neglected and a collisional description of Stark effect is obtained. Here we
relax this assumption and retain triple correlations using a generalization of
the Kirkwood truncature hypothesis to quantum operator. An application to
hydrogen lines is done in the context of plasma diagnostic, and indicates that
the neglect of triple correlations can lead to a significant overestimate of
the line width.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figur
The Inferred Cardiogenic Gene Regulatory Network in the Mammalian Heart
Cardiac development is a complex, multiscale process encompassing cell fate adoption, differentiation and morphogenesis. To elucidate pathways underlying this process, a recently developed algorithm to reverse engineer gene regulatory networks was applied to time-course microarray data obtained from the developing mouse heart. Approximately 200 genes of interest were input into the algorithm to generate putative network topologies that are capable of explaining the experimental data via model simulation. To cull specious network interactions, thousands of putative networks are merged and filtered to generate scale-free, hierarchical networks that are statistically significant and biologically relevant. The networks are validated with known gene interactions and used to predict regulatory pathways important for the developing mammalian heart. Area under the precision-recall curve and receiver operator characteristic curve are 9% and 58%, respectively. Of the top 10 ranked predicted interactions, 4 have already been validated. The algorithm is further tested using a network enriched with known interactions and another depleted of them. The inferred networks contained more interactions for the enriched network versus the depleted network. In all test cases, maximum performance of the algorithm was achieved when the purely data-driven method of network inference was combined with a data-independent, functional-based association method. Lastly, the network generated from the list of approximately 200 genes of interest was expanded using gene-profile uniqueness metrics to include approximately 900 additional known mouse genes and to form the most likely cardiogenic gene regulatory network. The resultant network supports known regulatory interactions and contains several novel cardiogenic regulatory interactions. The method outlined herein provides an informative approach to network inference and leads to clear testable hypotheses related to gene regulation
Waveform Library for Chinch Bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Blissidae): Characterization of Electrical Penetration Graph Waveforms at Multiple Input Impedances
Electrical penetration graph (EPG) monitoring has been used extensively to elucidate mechanisms of resistance in plants to insect herbivores with piercing-sucking mouthparts. Characterization of waveforms produced by insects during stylet probing is essential to the application of this technology. In the studies described herein, a four-channel Backus and Bennett AC-DC monitor was used to characterize EPG waveforms produced by adults of two economically important chinch bug species: southern chinch bug, Blissus insularis Barber, feeding on St. Augustinegrass, and western chinch bug, Blissus occiduus Barber, feeding on buffalograss. This is only the third time a heteropterans species has been recorded by using EPG; it is also the first recording of adult heteropterans, and the first of Blissidae. Probing of chinch bugs was recorded with either AC or DC applied voltage, no applied voltage, or voltage switched between AC and DC mid-recording, at input impedances ranging from 106 to 1010Ω, plus 1013 Ω, to develop a waveform library. Waveforms exhibited by western and southern chinch bugs were similar, and both showed long periods of putative pathway and ingestion phases (typical of salivary sheath feeders) interspersed with shorter phases, termed transitional J wave and interruption. The J wave is suspected to be an X wave, that is, in EPG parlance, a stereotypical transition waveform that marks contact with a preferred ingestion tissue. The flexibility of using multiple input impedances with the AC-DC monitor was valuable for determining the electrical origin (resistance vs. electromotive force components) of the chinch bug waveforms. It was concluded that an input impedance of 107Ω, with either DC or AC applied voltage, is optimal to detect all resistance- and electromotive force–component waveforms produced during chinch bug probing. Knowledge of electrical origins suggested hypothesized biological meanings of the waveforms, before time-intensive future correlation experiments by using histology, microscopy, and other techniques
Hot electron driven enhancement of spin-lattice coupling in 4f ferromagnets observed by femtosecond x-ray magnetic circular dichroism
Femtosecond x-ray magnetic circular dichroism was used to study the
time-dependent magnetic moment of 4 fs electrons in the ferromagnets Gd and Tb,
which are known for their different spin-lattice coupling. We observe a
two-step demagnetization with an ultrafast demagnetization time of 750 fs
identical for both systems and slower times which differ sizeably with 40 ps
for Gd and 8 ps for Tb. We conclude that spin-lattice coupling in the
electronically excited state is enhanced up to orders of magnitude compared to
equilibrium.Comment: added reference 24, clarified the meaning of photo-induced,
emphasized that XMCD probes the magnetic moment localized at 4f electron
Imperfect Homoclinic Bifurcations
Experimental observations of an almost symmetric electronic circuit show
complicated sequences of bifurcations. These results are discussed in the light
of a theory of imperfect global bifurcations. It is shown that much of the
dynamics observed in the circuit can be understood by reference to imperfect
homoclinic bifurcations without constructing an explicit mathematical model of
the system.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figures, submitted to PR
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