857 research outputs found

    An investigation into the use of physical modelling for the prediction of various feature types visible from different view points

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    This paper describes a general purpose flexible technique which uses physical modelling techniques for determining the features of a 3D object that are visible from any predefined view. Physical modelling techniques are used to determine which of many different types of features are visible from a complete set of viewpoints. The power of this technique lies in its ability to detect and parameterise object features, regardless of object complexity. Raytracing is used to simulate the physical process by which object features are visible so that surface properties (eg specularity, transparency) as well as object boundaries can be used in the recognition process. Using this technique occluding and non-occluding edge based features are extracted using image processing techniques and then parameterised. Features caused by specularity are also extracted and qualitative descriptions for these are defined

    Microstructure and mineral composition of dystrophic calcification associated with the idiopathic inflammatory myopathies

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    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.This work was supported in part by the intramural research programs of NIEHS (FWM, LGR) and NIDCR (PGR), ADAF (NE), NIST (NE, JS), the Medical Research Council, UK (AB through the provision of the facility for the determination of mineralization density at the microscopic scale from BSE imaging) and the Veterinary Advisory Committee of the Horserace Betting Levy Board, UK (AB via support of M Arora)

    The linker region of breast cancer resistance protein ABCG2 is critical for coupling of ATP-dependent drug transport.

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    The ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters of class G display a different domain organisation than P-glycoprotein/ABCB1 and bacterial homologues with a nucleotide-binding domain preceding the transmembrane domain. The linker region connecting these domains is unique and its function and structure cannot be predicted. Sequence analysis revealed that the human ABCG2 linker contains a LSGGE sequence, homologous to the canonical C-motif/ABC signature present in all ABC nucleotide-binding domains. Predictions of disorder and of secondary structures indicated that this C2-sequence was highly mobile and located between an alpha-helix and a loop similarly to the C-motif. Point mutations of the two first residues of the C2-sequence fully abolished the transport-coupled ATPase activity, and led to the complete loss of cell resistance to mitoxantrone. The interaction with potent, selective and non-competitive, ABCG2 inhibitors was also significantly altered upon mutation. These results suggest an important mechanistic role for the C2-sequence of the ABCG2 linker region in ATP binding and/or hydrolysis coupled to drug efflux

    On Validating an Astrophysical Simulation Code

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    We present a case study of validating an astrophysical simulation code. Our study focuses on validating FLASH, a parallel, adaptive-mesh hydrodynamics code for studying the compressible, reactive flows found in many astrophysical environments. We describe the astrophysics problems of interest and the challenges associated with simulating these problems. We describe methodology and discuss solutions to difficulties encountered in verification and validation. We describe verification tests regularly administered to the code, present the results of new verification tests, and outline a method for testing general equations of state. We present the results of two validation tests in which we compared simulations to experimental data. The first is of a laser-driven shock propagating through a multi-layer target, a configuration subject to both Rayleigh-Taylor and Richtmyer-Meshkov instabilities. The second test is a classic Rayleigh-Taylor instability, where a heavy fluid is supported against the force of gravity by a light fluid. Our simulations of the multi-layer target experiments showed good agreement with the experimental results, but our simulations of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability did not agree well with the experimental results. We discuss our findings and present results of additional simulations undertaken to further investigate the Rayleigh-Taylor instability.Comment: 76 pages, 26 figures (3 color), Accepted for publication in the ApJ

    Orbital Physics in the Perovskite Ti Oxides

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    In the perovskite Ti oxide RTiO3 (R=rare-earth ions), the Ti t2g orbitals and spins in the 3d^1 state couple each other through the strong electron correlations, resulting in a rich variety of orbital-spin phases. The origin and nature of orbital-spin states of these Mott insulators have been intensively studied. In this article, we review the studies on orbital physics in the perovskite titanates. We focus on the following three topics: (1) the origin and nature of the ferromagnetism as well as the orbital ordering in the compounds with relatively small R ions such as GdTiO3 and YTiO3, (2) the origin of the G-type antiferromagnetism and the orbital state in LaTiO3, and (3) the orbital-spin structures in other AFM(G) compounds with relatively large R ions (R=Ce, Pr, Nd and Sm). On the basis of these discussions, we discuss the whole phase diagram together with mechanisms of the magnetic phase transition. We also show that the Ti t2g degeneracy is inherently lifted in the titanates, which allows the single-band descriptions of the ground-state and low-energy electronic structures as a good starting point. Our analyses indicate that these compounds offer touchstone materials described by the single-band Hubbard model on the cubic lattice. From this insight, we also reanalyze the hole-doped titanates. Experimentally revealed filling-dependent and bandwidth-dependent properties and the critical behavior of the metal-insulator transitions are discussed in the light of theories based on the single-band Hubbard models.Comment: Review article, 26 pages, to appear in New Journal of Physic

    A general reaction-diffusion model of acidity in cancer invasion

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    We model the metabolism and behaviour of a developing cancer tumour in the context of its microenvironment, with the aim of elucidating the consequences of altered energy metabolism. Of particular interest is the Warburg Effect, a widespread preference in tumours for cytosolic glycolysis rather than oxidative phosphorylation for glucose breakdown, as yet incompletely understood. We examine a candidate explanation for the prevalence of the Warburg Effect in tumours, the acid-mediated invasion hypothesis, by generalising a canonical non-linear reaction–diffusion model of acid-mediated tumour invasion to consider additional biological features of potential importance. We apply both numerical methods and a non-standard asymptotic analysis in a travelling wave framework to obtain an explicit understanding of the range of tumour behaviours produced by the model and how fundamental parameters govern the speed and shape of invading tumour waves. Comparison with conclusions drawn under the original system—a special case of our generalised system—allows us to comment on the structural stability and predictive power of the modelling framework
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