Alignment of cD-galaxies with their surroundings

For a sample of 122 rich Abell clusters the authors find a strong correlation of the position angle (orientation) of the first-ranked galaxy and its parent cluster. This alignment effect is strongest for cD-galaxies. Formation scenarios for cD galaxies, like the merging scenario, must produce such a strong alignment effect. The authors show some N-body simulations done for this purpose

Simulator Centered Design: Abstracting the Operating Environment on Radio Controlled Airplane Autopilot Development

Software development for applications used in high-risk and high-reliability environments is a difficult task. Testing in areas where failure could mean loss of equipment or damage to the environment becomes an implausible option. Testing in a simulated environment presents itself as a viable solution to this problem. One issue found when using simulators is they often have complex communication interfaces. After the simulator is no longer needed, the time spent developing the interface is lost. Simulator Centered Design addresses this by re-using simulator interfaces to make the real environment appear the same to the application as the simulator makes the environment appear. This thesis tests this theory by supplying an interface platform for a radio controlled airplane based around the X-Plane simulator interface

Potential biomedical applications of ion beam technology

Electron bombardment ion thrusters used as ion sources have demonstrated a unique capability to vary the surface morphology of surgical implant materials. The microscopically rough surface texture produced by ion beam sputtering of these materials may result in improvements in the biological response and/or performance of implanted devices. Control of surface roughness may result in improved attachment of the implant to soft tissue, hard tissue, bone cement, or components deposited from blood. Potential biomedical applications of ion beam texturing discussed include: vascular prostheses, artificial heart pump diaphragms, pacemaker fixation, percutaneous connectors, orthopedic pros-thesis fixtion, and dental implants

Stochastic theory of large-scale enzyme-reaction networks: Finite copy number corrections to rate equation models

Chemical reactions inside cells occur in compartment volumes in the range of atto- to femtolitres. Physiological concentrations realized in such small volumes imply low copy numbers of interacting molecules with the consequence of considerable fluctuations in the concentrations. In contrast, rate equation models are based on the implicit assumption of infinitely large numbers of interacting molecules, or equivalently, that reactions occur in infinite volumes at constant macroscopic concentrations. In this article we compute the finite-volume corrections (or equivalently the finite copy number corrections) to the solutions of the rate equations for chemical reaction networks composed of arbitrarily large numbers of enzyme-catalyzed reactions which are confined inside a small sub-cellular compartment. This is achieved by applying a mesoscopic version of the quasi-steady state assumption to the exact Fokker-Planck equation associated with the Poisson Representation of the chemical master equation. The procedure yields impressively simple and compact expressions for the finite-volume corrections. We prove that the predictions of the rate equations will always underestimate the actual steady-state substrate concentrations for an enzyme-reaction network confined in a small volume. In particular we show that the finite-volume corrections increase with decreasing sub-cellular volume, decreasing Michaelis-Menten constants and increasing enzyme saturation. The magnitude of the corrections depends sensitively on the topology of the network. The predictions of the theory are shown to be in excellent agreement with stochastic simulations for two types of networks typically associated with protein methylation and metabolism.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures; published in The Journal of Chemical Physic

A Nonequilibrium Thermodynamic Approach to Generalized Statistics for Brownian Motion

We analyze the dynamics of a Brownian gas in contact with a heat bath in which large temperature fluctuations occur. There are two distinct time scales present, one describes the decay of the fluctuations in the temperature and the other one is associated with the establishment of local equilibrium. Although the gas has reached local equilibrium, there exist large fluctuations in an intensive parameter (temperature) which break the thermodynamic equilibrium with the heat bath. Thus the decay of the fluctuations in the intensive parameter is larger than the characteristic time for the establishment of local equilibrium. We show that the dynamics of such large and intensive fluctuations may be described by adopting a nonequilibrium thermodynamics approach with an adequate formulation of local equilibrium. A coarsening procedure is then used to contract the space of mesoscopic variables needed to describe the dynamics of the gas and the extensive character of the description is lost. This procedure allows us to derive an effective Maxwell-Boltzmann factor (EMBF) for the Brownian gas, as has been recently proposed in the literature. Furthermore, we use this local equilibrium distribution and an entropy functional to derive a nonequilibrium probability distribution and a hydrodynamic description for the Brownian gas which contains fluctuating transport coefficients. The ensuing description is nonextensive and our analysis shows that the coarse-graining procedure is responsible for the nonextensivity property.Comment: 13 page

Weak noise approach to the logistic map

Using a nonperturbative weak noise approach we investigate the interference of noise and chaos in simple 1D maps. We replace the noise-driven 1D map by an area-preserving 2D map modelling the Poincare sections of a conserved dynamical system with unbounded energy manifolds. We analyze the properties of the 2D map and draw conclusions concerning the interference of noise on the nonlinear time evolution. We apply this technique to the standard period-doubling sequence in the logistic map. From the 2D area-preserving analogue we, in addition to the usual period-doubling sequence, obtain a series of period doubled cycles which are elliptic in nature. These cycles are spinning off the real axis at parameters values corresponding to the standard period doubling events.Comment: 22 pages in revtex and 8 figures in ep

Independent Skills Improve! Results of the Transition Planning Inventory

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the Friendship House roommates with disabilities believed that they have grown in their independent living skills. The Friendship House is a unique living situation where individuals with cognitive disabilities live side-by-side with university/college students. For this study, the residents with disabilities were surveyed using the assessment entitled the Transition Planning Inventory (TPI). The questions queried about these individuals’ employment, further education/training, daily living, leisure activities, community participation, health, self-determination, communication, and inter-personal relationships. Results from the TPI show that these roommates with disabilities believed that they improved in the areas of community, self-determination and communication. Overall, the Friendship House has shown a positive effect on these residents with disabilities in terms of improving their transition skills