4,637 research outputs found
Steps toward accurate large-area analyses of Genesis solar wind samples: evaluation of surface cleaning methods using total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry
Total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (TXRF) was used to analyze residual surface contamination on Genesis solar wind samples and to evaluate different cleaning methods. To gauge the suitability of a cleaning method, two samples were analyzed following cleaning by lab-based TXRF. The analysis comprised an overview and a crude manual mapping of the samples by orienting them with respect to the incident X-ray beam in such a way that different regions were covered. The results show that cleaning with concentrated hydrochloric acid and a combination of hydrochloric acid and hydrofluoric acid decreased persistent inorganic contaminants substantially on one sample. The application of CO2 snow for surface cleaning tested on the other sample appears to be effective in removing one persistent Genesis contaminant, namely germanium. Unfortunately, the TXRF analysis results of the second sample were impacted by relatively high background contamination. This was mostly due to the relatively small sample size and that the solar wind collector was already mounted with silver glue for resonance ion mass spectrometry (RIMS) on an aluminium stub. Further studies are planned to eliminate this problem. In an effort to identify the location of very persistent contaminants, selected samples were also subjected to environmental scanning electron microscopy. The results showed excellent agreement with TXRF analysis
The Knudsen temperature jump and the Navier-Stokes hydrodynamics of granular gases driven by thermal walls
Thermal wall is a convenient idealization of a rapidly vibrating plate used
for vibrofluidization of granular materials. The objective of this work is to
incorporate the Knudsen temperature jump at thermal wall in the Navier-Stokes
hydrodynamic modeling of dilute granular gases of monodisperse particles that
collide nearly elastically. The Knudsen temperature jump manifests itself as an
additional term, proportional to the temperature gradient, in the boundary
condition for the temperature. Up to a numerical pre-factor of order unity,
this term is known from kinetic theory of elastic gases. We determine the
previously unknown numerical pre-factor by measuring, in a series of molecular
dynamics (MD) simulations, steady-state temperature profiles of a gas of
elastically colliding hard disks, confined between two thermal walls kept at
different temperatures, and comparing the results with the predictions of a
hydrodynamic calculation employing the modified boundary condition. The
modified boundary condition is then applied, without any adjustable parameters,
to a hydrodynamic calculation of the temperature profile of a gas of inelastic
hard disks driven by a thermal wall. We find the hydrodynamic prediction to be
in very good agreement with MD simulations of the same system. The results of
this work pave the way to a more accurate hydrodynamic modeling of driven
granular gases.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
Stochastic Gene Expression in a Lentiviral Positive Feedback Loop: HIV-1 Tat Fluctuations Drive Phenotypic Diversity
Stochastic gene expression has been implicated in a variety of cellular
processes, including cell differentiation and disease. In this issue of Cell,
Weinberger et al. (2005) take an integrated computational-experimental approach
to study the Tat transactivation feedback loop in HIV-1 and show that
fluctuations in a key regulator, Tat, can result in a phenotypic bifurcation.
This phenomenon is observed in an isogenic population where individual cells
display two distinct expression states corresponding to latent and productive
infection by HIV-1. These findings demonstrate the importance of stochastic
gene expression in molecular "decision-making."Comment: Supplemental data available as q-bio.MN/060800
Simplest cosmological model with the scalar field II. Influence of cosmological constant
Continuing the investigation of the simplest cosmological model with the
massive real scalar non-interacting inflaton field minimally coupled to gravity
we study an influence of the cosmological constant on the behaviour of
trajectories in closed minisuperspace Friedmann-Robertson-Walker model. The
transition from chaotic to regular behaviour for large values of cosmological
constant is discussed. Combining numerical calculations with qualitative
analysis both in configuration and phase space we present a convenient
classification of trajectories.Comment: 12 pages with 2 gif figures and 2 eps figures, mprocl.sty, To appear
in International Journal of Modern Physics
Revisiting critical literacy in the digital age
In an age of environmental crisis, financial instability, widespread migration, and political extremism, the case for critical literacy is pressing. Navigating criticality in the digital age, however, is challenging, not least because digital media, digital devices, and digital architectures are implicated in broader social, cultural, commercial, and political activity. Critical literacy in this context needs to do more than focus on the significance of texts within networks of humans. The authors developed a model designed to support a relational approach to critical literacy, drawing on a sociomaterial perspective to consider how broader social‐material networks help generate meanings that may amplify, undermine, or contradict the activities of individuals and groups. The authors end with questions that provide a starting point for broadening the scope of critical literacy in education to reflect on relationships among people, texts, and materials across time and spaces
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End-user interactions with intelligent and autonomous systems.
Systems that learn from or personalize themselves to users are quickly becoming mainstream yet interaction with these systems is limited and often uninformative for the end user. This workshop focuses on approaches and challenges to explore making these systems transparent, controllable and ultimately trustworthy to end users. The aims of the workshop are to help establish connections among researchers and industrial practitioners using real-world problems as catalysts to facilitate the exchange of approaches, solutions, and ideas about how to better support end users
Precise location of Sagittarius X ray sources with a rocket-borne rotating modulation collimator
Precise location of Sagittarius X ray sources with rocket-borne rotating modulation collimato
Conventional character of the BCS-BEC cross-over in ultra-cold gases of 40K
We use the standard fermionic and boson-fermion Hamiltonians to study the
BCS-BEC cross-over near the 202 G resonance in a two-component mixture of
fermionic 40K atoms employed in the experiment of C.A. Regal et al., Phys. Rev.
Lett. 92, 040403 (2004). Our mean-field analysis of many-body equilibrium
quantities shows virtually no differences between the predictions of the two
approaches, provided they are both implemented in a manner that properly
includes the effect of the highest excited bound state of the background
scattering potential, rather than just the magnetic-field dependence of the
scattering length. Consequently, we rule out the macroscopic occupation of the
molecular field as a mechanism behind the fermionic pair condensation and show
that the BCS-BEC cross-over in ultra-cold 40K gases can be analysed and
understood on the same basis as in the conventional systems of solid state
physics.Comment: 16 pages, 10 eps figures; final versio
Theory of Bose-Einstein condensation for trapped atoms
We outline the general features of the conventional mean-field theory for the
description of Bose-Einstein condensates at near zero temperatures. This
approach, based on a phenomenological model, appears to give excellent
agreement with experimental data. We argue, however, that such an approach is
not rigorous and cannot contain the full effect of collisional dynamics due to
the presence of the mean-field. We thus discuss an alternative microscopic
approach and explain, within our new formalism, the physical origin of these
effects. Furthermore, we discuss the potential formulation of a consistent
finite-temperature mean-field theory, which we claim necessiates an analysis
beyond the conventional treatment.Comment: 12 pages. To appear in Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 355 (1997
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