1,490 research outputs found
Conditioning bounds for traveltime tomography in layered media
This paper revisits the problem of recovering a smooth, isotropic, layered
wave speed profile from surface traveltime information. While it is classic
knowledge that the diving (refracted) rays classically determine the wave speed
in a weakly well-posed fashion via the Abel transform, we show in this paper
that traveltimes of reflected rays do not contain enough information to recover
the medium in a well-posed manner, regardless of the discretization. The
counterpart of the Abel transform in the case of reflected rays is a Fredholm
kernel of the first kind which is shown to have singular values that decay at
least root-exponentially. Kinematically equivalent media are characterized in
terms of a sequence of matching moments. This severe conditioning issue comes
on top of the well-known rearrangement ambiguity due to low velocity zones.
Numerical experiments in an ideal scenario show that a waveform-based model
inversion code fits data accurately while converging to the wrong wave speed
profile
Comparison of geomechanical deformation induced by megatonne-scale CO2 storage at Sleipner, Weyburn, and In Salah
Geological storage of CO2 that has been captured at large, point source emitters represents a key potential method for reduction of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. However, this technology will only be viable if it can be guaranteed that injected CO2 will remain trapped in the subsurface for thousands of years or more. A significant issue for storage security is the geomechanical response of the reservoir. Concerns have been raised that geomechanical deformation induced by CO2 injection will create or reactivate fracture networks in the sealing caprocks, providing a pathway for CO2 leakage. In this paper, we examine three large-scale sites where CO2 is injected at rates of ∼1 megatonne/y or more: Sleipner, Weyburn, and In Salah. We compare and contrast the observed geomechanical behavior of each site, with particular focus on the risks to storage security posed by geomechanical deformation. At Sleipner, the large, high-permeability storage aquifer has experienced little pore pressure increase over 15 y of injection, implying little possibility of geomechanical deformation. At Weyburn, 45 y of oil production has depleted pore pressures before increases associated with CO2 injection. The long history of the field has led to complicated, sometimes nonintuitive geomechanical deformation. At In Salah, injection into the water leg of a gas reservoir has increased pore pressures, leading to uplift and substantial microseismic activity. The differences in the geomechanical responses of these sites emphasize the need for systematic geomechanical appraisal before injection in any potential storage sit
Data on 824 fireballs observed by the digital cameras of the European Fireball Network in 2017-2018. I. Description of the network, data reduction procedures, and the catalog
A catalog of 824 fireballs (bright meteors), observed by a dedicated network
of all-sky digital photographic cameras in central Europe in the years
2017-2018 is presented. The status of the European Fireball Network,
established in 1963, is described. The cameras collect digital images of
meteors brighter than an absolute magnitude of about -2 and radiometric light
curves with a high temporal resolution of those brighter than a magnitude ~ -4.
All meteoroids larger than 5 grams, corresponding to sizes of about 2 cm, are
detected regardless of their entry velocity. High-velocity meteoroids are
detected down to masses of about 0.1 gram. The largest observed meteoroid in
the reported period 2017-2018 had a mass of about 100 kg and a size of about 40
cm. The methods of data analysis are explained and all catalog entries are
described in detail. The provided data include the fireball date and time,
atmospheric trajectory and velocity, the radiant in various coordinate systems,
heliocentric orbital elements, maximum brightness, radiated energy, initial and
terminal masses, maximum encountered dynamic pressure, physical classification,
and possible shower membership. Basic information on the fireball spectrum is
available for some bright fireballs (apparent magnitude < -7). A simple
statistical evaluation of the whole sample is provided. The scientific analysis
is presented in an accompanying paper.Comment: accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysic
Bodies, technologies and action possibilities: when is an affordance?
Borrowed from ecological psychology, the concept of affordances is often said to offer the social study of technology a means of re-framing the question of what is, and what is not, ‘social’ about technological artefacts. The concept, many argue, enables us to chart a safe course between the perils of technological determinism and social constructivism. This article questions the sociological adequacy of the concept as conventionally deployed. Drawing on ethnographic work on the ways technological artefacts engage, and are engaged by, disabled bodies, we propose that the ‘affordances’ of technological objects are not reducible to their material constitution but are inextricably bound up with specific, historically situated modes of engagement and ways of life
lncRNA requirements for mouse acute myeloid leukemia and normal differentiation
A substantial fraction of the genome is transcribed in a cell type-specific manner, producing long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), rather than protein-coding transcripts. Here we systematically characterize transcriptional dynamics during hematopoiesis and in hematological malignancies. Our analysis of annotated and de novo assembled lncRNAs showed many are regulated during differentiation and mis-regulated in disease. We assessed lncRNA function via an in vivo RNAi screen in a model of acute myeloid leukemia. This identified several lncRNAs essential for leukemia maintenance, and found that a number act by promoting leukemia stem cell signatures. Leukemia blasts show a myeloid differentiation phenotype when these lncRNAs were depleted, and our data indicates that this effect is mediated via effects on the c-MYC oncogene. Bone marrow reconstitutions showed that a lncRNA expressed across all progenitors was required for the myeloid lineage, whereas the other leukemia-induced lncRNAs were dispensable in the normal setting
Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase kinase 2 regulates hepatic fuel metabolism
Objective
The liver is the primary internal metabolic organ that coordinates whole body energy homeostasis in response to feeding and fasting. Genetic ablation or pharmacological inhibition of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase kinase 2 (CaMKK2) has been shown to significantly improve hepatic health and peripheral insulin sensitivity upon overnutrition with high fat diet. However, the precise molecular underpinnings that explain this metabolic protection have remained largely undefined.
Methods
To characterize the role of CaMKK2 in hepatic metabolism, we developed and challenged liver-specific CaMKK2 knockout (CaMKK2LKO) mice with high fat diet and performed glucose and insulin tolerance tests to evaluate peripheral insulin sensitivity. We used a combination of RNA-Sequencing, glucose and fatty acid istotopic tracer studies, a newly developed Seahorse assay for measuring the oxidative capacity of purified peroxisomes, and a degenerate peptide libarary to identify putative CaMKK2 substrates that mechanistically explain the protective effects of hepatic CaMKK2 ablation.
Results
Consistent with previous findings, we show that hepatic CaMKK2 ablation significantly improves indices of peripheral insulin sensitivity. Mechanistically, we found that CaMKK2 phosphorylates and regulates GAPDH to promote glucose metabolism and PEX3 to blunt peroxisomal fatty acid catabolism in the liver.
Conclusion
CaMKK2 is a central metabolic fuel sensor in the liver that significantly contributes to whole body systems metabolism
Aerodynamic investigations of ventilated brake discs.
The heat dissipation and performance of a ventilated brake disc strongly depends
on the aerodynamic characteristics of the flow through the rotor passages. The
aim of this investigation was to provide an improved understanding of ventilated
brake rotor flow phenomena, with a view to improving heat dissipation, as well
as providing a measurement data set for validation of computational fluid
dynamics methods. The flow fields at the exit of four different brake rotor
geometries, rotated in free air, were measured using a five-hole pressure probe
and a hot-wire anemometry system. The principal measurements were taken using
two-component hot-wire techniques and were used to determine mean and unsteady
flow characteristics at the exit of the brake rotors. Using phase-locked data
processing, it was possible to reveal the spatial and temporal flow variation
within individual rotor passages. The effects of disc geometry and rotational
speed on the mean flow, passage turbulence intensity, and mass flow were
determined. The rotor exit jet and wake flow were clearly observed as
characterized by the passage geometry as well as definite regions of high and
low turbulence. The aerodynamic flow characteristics were found to be reasonably
independent of rotational speed but highly dependent upon rotor geometry
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