1,038 research outputs found
Intermittent dislocation flow in viscoplastic deformation
The viscoplastic deformation (creep) of crystalline materials under constant
stress involves the motion of a large number of interacting dislocations.
Analytical methods and sophisticated `dislocation-dynamics' simulations have
proved very effective in the study of dislocation patterning, and have led to
macroscopic constitutive laws of plastic deformation. Yet, a statistical
analysis of the dynamics of an assembly of interacting dislocations has not
hitherto been performed. Here we report acoustic emission measurements on
stressed ice single crystals, the results of which indicate that dislocations
move in a scale-free intermittent fashion. This result is confirmed by
numerical simulations of a model of interacting dislocations that successfully
reproduces the main features of the experiment. We find that dislocations
generate a slowly evolving configuration landscape which coexists with rapid
collective rearrangements. These rearrangements involve a comparatively small
fraction of the dislocations and lead to an intermittent behavior of the net
plastic response. This basic dynamical picture appears to be a generic feature
in the deformation of many other materials. Moreover, it should provide a
framework for discussing fundamental aspects of plasticity, that goes beyond
standard mean-field approaches that see plastic deformation as a smooth laminar
flow
Amino acid substitutions within the heptad repeat domain 1 of murine coronavirus spike protein restrict viral antigen spread in the central nervous system.
Targeted recombination was carried out to select mouse hepatitis viruses (MHVs) in a defined genetic background, containing an MHV-JHM spike gene encoding either three heptad repeat 1 (HR1) substitutions (Q1067H, Q1094H, and L1114R) or L1114R alone. The recombinant virus, which expresses spike with the three substitutions, was nonfusogenic at neutral pH. Its replication was significantly inhibited by lysosomotropic agents, and it was highly neuroattenuated in vivo. In contrast, the recombinant expressing spike with L1114R alone mediated cell-to-cell fusion at neutral pH and replicated efficiently despite the presence of lysosomotropic agents; however, it still caused only subclinical morbidity and no mortality in animals. Thus, both recombinant viruses were highly attenuated and expressed viral antigen which was restricted to the olfactory bulbs and was markedly absent from other regions of the brains at 5 days postinfection. These data demonstrate that amino acid substitutions, in particular L1114R, within HR1 of the JHM spike reduced the ability of MHV to spread in the central nervous system. Furthermore, the requirements for low pH for fusion and viral entry are not prerequisites for the highly attenuated phenotype
Autonomy Infused Teleoperation with Application to BCI Manipulation
Robot teleoperation systems face a common set of challenges including
latency, low-dimensional user commands, and asymmetric control inputs. User
control with Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) exacerbates these problems
through especially noisy and erratic low-dimensional motion commands due to the
difficulty in decoding neural activity. We introduce a general framework to
address these challenges through a combination of computer vision, user intent
inference, and arbitration between the human input and autonomous control
schemes. Adjustable levels of assistance allow the system to balance the
operator's capabilities and feelings of comfort and control while compensating
for a task's difficulty. We present experimental results demonstrating
significant performance improvement using the shared-control assistance
framework on adapted rehabilitation benchmarks with two subjects implanted with
intracortical brain-computer interfaces controlling a seven degree-of-freedom
robotic manipulator as a prosthetic. Our results further indicate that shared
assistance mitigates perceived user difficulty and even enables successful
performance on previously infeasible tasks. We showcase the extensibility of
our architecture with applications to quality-of-life tasks such as opening a
door, pouring liquids from containers, and manipulation with novel objects in
densely cluttered environments
Gemini Planet Imager Observational Calibrations VI: Photometric and Spectroscopic Calibration for the Integral Field Spectrograph
The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a new facility instrument for the Gemini
Observatory designed to provide direct detection and characterization of
planets and debris disks around stars in the solar neighborhood. In addition to
its extreme adaptive optics and corona graphic systems which give access to
high angular resolution and high-contrast imaging capabilities, GPI contains an
integral field spectrograph providing low resolution spectroscopy across five
bands between 0.95 and 2.5 m. This paper describes the sequence of
processing steps required for the spectro-photometric calibration of GPI
science data, and the necessary calibration files. Based on calibration
observations of the white dwarf HD 8049B we estimate that the systematic error
in spectra extracted from GPI observations is less than 5%. The flux ratio of
the occulted star and fiducial satellite spots within coronagraphic GPI
observations, required to estimate the magnitude difference between a target
and any resolved companions, was measured in the -band to be in laboratory measurements and using
on-sky observations. Laboratory measurements for the , , and
filters are also presented. The total throughput of GPI, Gemini South and the
atmosphere of the Earth was also measured in each photometric passband, with a
typical throughput in -band of 18% in the non-coronagraphic mode, with some
variation observed over the six-month period for which observations were
available. We also report ongoing development and improvement of the data cube
extraction algorithm.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures. Proceedings of the SPIE, 9147-30
Scaling laws and vortex profiles in 2D decaying turbulence
We use high resolution numerical simulations over several hundred of turnover
times to study the influence of small scale dissipation onto vortex statistics
in 2D decaying turbulence. A self-similar scaling regime is detected when the
scaling laws are expressed in units of mean vorticity and integral scale, as
predicted by Carnevale et al., and it is observed that viscous effects spoil
this scaling regime. This scaling regime shows some trends toward that of the
Kirchhoff model, for which a recent theory predicts a decay exponent .
In terms of scaled variables, the vortices have a similar profile close to a
Fermi-Dirac distribution.Comment: 4 Latex pages and 4 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Electron Cloud: Observations with LHC-Type Beams in the SPS
In August 1999, strong pressure increases were observed in the SPS in the presence of the new LHC-type beams. This paper reports on observations of the electron cloud phenomenon and the related pressure increase as a function of parameters such as the number of protons per bunch, the number of bunches per batch, the shape of the vacuum chamber and the electron current collected on pick-ups. Results of the observed clean-up, "beam scrubbing" will be presented as well as the consequences of the e-cloud phenomenon on the SPS operation with the LHC nominal beam intensity
Measurement of the electron cloud properties by means of a multi-strip detector in the CERN SPS
Electron cloud effects presently limit the performances of the CERN SPS with LHC type beams [1] and are of concern for the LHC itself [2]. Electron multipacting in the SPS produces dramatic dynamic pressure increases and strong transverse instabilities [3]. In the LHC the electron cloud is expected to significantly increase the heat load in the cryogenics system. Estimates of these effects are based on computer simulations of the electron cloud build-up and of its spatial distribution in field free regions and in strong magnetic fields. The accuracy of such simulations is therefore a key issue for component design and for the definition of the operating strategies for the LHC. In 2001 a multi-strip detector has been installed in the SPS to study the electron cloud and to provide experimental data to validate the models and to better constrain their input parameters. After a description of the monitor characteristics and of its associated electronics an overview of its performance and of the results of the measurements conducted with different proton beam parameters are presented. The measurements are compared with simulation results. Possible monitor upgrades are also discussed
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