205 research outputs found
The Formation of Population III Binaries from Cosmological Initial Conditions
Previous high resolution cosmological simulations predict the first stars to
appear in the early universe to be very massive and to form in isolation. Here
we discuss a cosmological simulation in which the central 50 solar mass clump
breaks up into two cores, having a mass ratio of two to one, with one fragment
collapsing to densities of 10^{-8} g/cc. The second fragment, at a distance of
800 astronomical units, is also optically thick to its own cooling radiation
from molecular hydrogen lines, but is still able to cool via collision-induced
emission. The two dense peaks will continue to accrete from the surrounding
cold gas reservoir over a period of 10^5 years and will likely form a binary
star system.Comment: Accepted by Science, first published online on July 9, 2009 in
Science Express. 16 pages, 4 figures, includes supporting online materia
Mechanisms of Toxicity of 3-Alkylpyridinium Polymers from Marine Sponge Reniera sarai
Polymeric 3-alkylpyridinium salts (poly-APS) present in the marine sponge Reniera sarai show a broad spectrum of biological activities. They are lytic to erythrocytes and various other mammalian cells, enabling the transfection of the latter with alien DNA. Furthermore, they show inhibitory effects to marine bacteria and can inhibit fouling of micro- and macroorganisms to submerged surfaces. Finally, poly-APS act as potent cholinesterase inhibitors. The kinetics of acetylcholinesterase inhibition by poly-APS in vitro is complex and comprises several successive phases ending in irreversible inhibition of the enzyme. The latter is accounted for by aggregation and precipitation of the enzyme-inhibitor complexes. Poly-APS are lethal to rats in concentrations above 2.7 mg/kg. Monitoring of the basic vital functions and histopathological analysis showed that the effects directly ascribable to acetylcholinesterase inhibition are only observed after application of lower concentrations of poly-APS. At higher concentrations, such effects were masked by other, more pronounced and faster developing lethal effects of the toxin, such as haemolysis and platelet aggregation
Comparative analysis of deep learning models for automatic music generation
V diplomskem delu smo preizkusili možnosti ustvarjanja samodejno tvorjene glasbe z uporabo različnih vrst nevronskih mrež (RNN, CNN, LSTM, GRU). Uporabili smo orodja Google Magenta, Google Wavenet in GRUV. Za uporabo orodja Google Magenta smo morali zvočne podatke pretvoriti v MIDI in MXL predstavitve zvočnih datotek, medtem ko Wavenet in GRUV sprejmeta surove zvočne podatke. Nevronske mreže smo učili s pomočjo množice podatkov elektronske glasbe ter množice podatkov jazz glasbe. Na koncu je sledila evalvacija rezultatov, izvedli smo slušne teste in analizirali rezultate.The thesis addresses the possibility of the automatic music generation, using a variety of neural network topologies (RNN, CNN, LSTM, GRU). In this thesis, the capabilities of projects Google Magenta, Google Wavenet and GRUV were explored. Google Magenta operates on the MIDI and MXL files, so we had to convert the files from the source datasets to the MIDI and MXL files first, whereas Google Magenta and Google Wavenet operate on the raw audio files. Listed neural networks were trained on a dataset, containing samples of electronic music, and a jazz music samples dataset. Finally, we evaluated the results using an auditory test and analyzed the results
Dwarf Galaxies with Ionizing Radiation Feedback. I: Escape of Ionizing Photons
We describe a new method for simulating ionizing radiation and supernova
feedback in the analogues of low-redshift galactic disks. In this method, which
we call star-forming molecular cloud (SFMC) particles, we use a ray-tracing
technique to solve the radiative transfer equation for ultraviolet photons
emitted by thousands of distinct particles on the fly. Joined with high
numerical resolution of 3.8 pc, the realistic description of stellar feedback
helps to self-regulate star formation. This new feedback scheme also enables us
to study the escape of ionizing photons from star-forming clumps and from a
galaxy, and to examine the evolving environment of star-forming gas clumps. By
simulating a galactic disk in a halo of 2.3e11 Msun, we find that the average
escape fraction from all radiating sources on the spiral arms (excluding the
central 2.5 kpc) fluctuates between 0.08% and 5.9% during a ~20 Myr period with
a mean value of 1.1%. The flux of escaped photons from these sources is not
strongly beamed, but manifests a large opening angle of more than 60 degree
from the galactic pole. Further, we investigate the escape fraction per SFMC
particle, f_esc(i), and how it evolves as the particle ages. We discover that
the average escape fraction f_esc is dominated by a small number of SFMC
particles with high f_esc(i). On average, the escape fraction from a SFMC
particle rises from 0.27% at its birth to 2.1% at the end of a particle
lifetime, 6 Myrs. This is because SFMC particles drift away from the dense gas
clumps in which they were born, and because the gas around the star-forming
clumps is dispersed by ionizing radiation and supernova feedback. The framework
established in this study brings deeper insight into the physics of photon
escape fraction from an individual star-forming clump, and from a galactic
disk.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journal, Image resolution reduced, High-resolution version of this article is
available at http://www.jihoonkim.org/index/research.html#sfm
Dwarf Galaxies with Ionizing Radiation Feedback. II: Spatially-resolved Star Formation Relation
We investigate the spatially-resolved star formation relation using a
galactic disk formed in a comprehensive high-resolution (3.8 pc) simulation.
Our new implementation of stellar feedback includes ionizing radiation as well
as supernova explosions, and we handle ionizing radiation by solving the
radiative transfer equation rather than by a subgrid model. Photoheating by
stellar radiation stabilizes gas against Jeans fragmentation, reducing the star
formation rate. Because we have self-consistently calculated the location of
ionized gas, we are able to make spatially-resolved mock observations of star
formation tracers, such as H-alpha emission. We can also observe how stellar
feedback manifests itself in the correlation between ionized and molecular gas.
Applying our techniques to the disk in a galactic halo of 2.3e11 Msun, we find
that the correlation between star formation rate density (estimated from mock
H-alpha emission) and molecular hydrogen density shows large scatter,
especially at high resolutions of <~ 75 pc that are comparable to the size of
giant molecular clouds (GMCs). This is because an aperture of GMC size captures
only particular stages of GMC evolution, and because H-alpha traces hot gas
around star-forming regions and is displaced from the molecular hydrogen peaks
themselves. By examining the evolving environment around star clusters, we
speculate that the breakdown of the traditional star formation laws of the
Kennicutt-Schmidt type at small scales is further aided by a combination of
stars drifting from their birthplaces, and molecular clouds being dispersed via
stellar feedback.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures, Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journal, Image resolution greatly reduced, High-resolution version of this
article is available at http://www.jihoonkim.org/index/research.html#sfm
Biological Activities of Aqueous and Organic Extracts from Tropical Marine Sponges
We report on screening tests of 66 extracts obtained from 35 marine sponge species from the Caribbean Sea (Curaçao) and from eight species from the Great Barrier Reef (Lizard Island). Extracts were prepared in aqueous and organic solvents and were tested for hemolytic, hemagglutinating, antibacterial and anti-acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activities, as well as their ability to inhibit or activate cell protein phosphatase 1 (PP1). The most interesting activities were obtained from extracts of Ircinia felix, Pandaros acanthifolium, Topsentia ophiraphidites, Verongula rigida and Neofibularia nolitangere. Aqueous and organic extracts of I. felix and V. rigida showed strong antibacterial activity. Topsentia aqueous and some organic extracts were strongly hemolytic, as were all organic extracts from I. felix. The strongest hemolytic activity was observed in aqueous extracts from P. acanthifolium. Organic extracts of N. nolitangere and I. felix inhibited PP1. The aqueous extract from Myrmekioderma styx possessed the strongest hemagglutinating activity, whilst AChE inhibiting activity was found only in a few sponges and was generally weak, except in the methanolic extract of T. ophiraphidites
The Birth of a Galaxy - III. Propelling reionisation with the faintest galaxies
Starlight from galaxies plays a pivotal role throughout the process of cosmic
reionisation. We present the statistics of dwarf galaxy properties at z > 7 in
haloes with masses up to 10^9 solar masses, using a cosmological radiation
hydrodynamics simulation that follows their buildup starting with their
Population III progenitors. We find that metal-enriched star formation is not
restricted to atomic cooling ( K) haloes, but can occur
in haloes down to masses ~10^6 solar masses, especially in neutral regions.
Even though these smallest galaxies only host up to 10^4 solar masses of stars,
they provide nearly 30 per cent of the ionising photon budget. We find that the
galaxy luminosity function flattens above M_UV ~ -12 with a number density that
is unchanged at z < 10. The fraction of ionising radiation escaping into the
intergalactic medium is inversely dependent on halo mass, decreasing from 50 to
5 per cent in the mass range . Using our galaxy
statistics in a semi-analytic reionisation model, we find a Thomson scattering
optical depth consistent with the latest Planck results, while still being
consistent with the UV emissivity constraints provided by Ly forest
observations at z = 4-6.Comment: 21 pages, 15 figures, 4 tables. Accepted in MNRA
Biological activities of ethanolic extracts from deep-sea antarctic marine sponges
We report on the screening of ethanolic extracts from 33 deep-sea Antarctic marine sponges for different biological activities. We monitored hemolysis, inhibition of acetylcholinesterase, cytotoxicity towards normal and transformed cells and growth inhibition of laboratory, commensal and clinically and ecologically relevant bacteria. The most prominent activities were associated with the extracts from sponges belonging to the genus Latrunculia, which show all of these activities. While most of these activities are associated to already known secondary metabolites, the extremely strong acetylcholinesterase inhibitory potential appears to be related to a compound unknown to date. Extracts from Tetilla leptoderma, Bathydorus cf. spinosus, Xestospongia sp., Rossella sp., Rossella cf. racovitzae and Halichondria osculum were hemolytic, with the last two also showing moderate cytotoxic potential. The antibacterial tests showed significantly greater activities of the extracts of these Antarctic sponges towards ecologically relevant bacteria from sea water and from Arctic ice. This indicates their ecological relevance for inhibition of bacterial microfouling
Magnetic Fields in Population III Star Formation
We study the buildup of magnetic fields during the formation of Population
III star-forming regions, by conducting cosmological simulations from realistic
initial conditions and varying the Jeans resolution. To investigate this in
detail, we start simulations from identical initial conditions, mandating 16,
32 and 64 zones per Jeans length, and studied the variation in their magnetic
field amplification. We find that, while compression results in some
amplification, turbulent velocity fluctuations driven by the collapse can
further amplify an initially weak seed field via dynamo action, provided there
is sufficient numerical resolution to capture vortical motions (we find this
requirement to be 64 zones per Jeans length, slightly larger than, but
consistent with previous work run with more idealized collapse scenarios). We
explore saturation of amplification of the magnetic field, which could
potentially become dynamically important in subsequent, fully-resolved
calculations. We have also identified a relatively surprising phenomena that is
purely hydrodynamic: the higher-resolved simulations possess substantially
different characteristics, including higher infall-velocity, increased
temperatures inside 1000 AU, and decreased molecular hydrogen content in the
innermost region. Furthermore, we find that disk formation is suppressed in
higher-resolution calculations, at least at the times that we can follow the
calculation. We discuss the effect this may have on the buildup of disks over
the accretion history of the first clump to form as well as the potential for
gravitational instabilities to develop and induce fragmentation.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
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