359 research outputs found
Manufacturing consensus in a diverse field of scholarly opinions: A comment on Bushman, Gollwitzer, and Cruz (2015).
We appreciate the efforts of Bushman and Cruz to provide new data describing parents’ and professionals’ opinions regarding effects of media violence. Unfortunately, we feel it is necessary to call attention to apparent errors and inaccuracies in the way those data are interpreted and represented in their article. The article overstates the extent to which there is agreement that media violence has meaningful negative societal effects and misrepresents the relevance of the study to an understanding of the effects of media violence on societal violence. In contrast, we call for a climate of research on media violence that better recognizes the diversity of findings and conclusions in an active and growing research agenda and eschews unwarranted insinuations about effects on criminal violence from research focused on aggression-related measures not assessing violent crime
Nonlinear analysis of a simple model of temperature evolution in a satellite
We analyse a simple model of the heat transfer to and from a small satellite
orbiting round a solar system planet. Our approach considers the satellite
isothermal, with external heat input from the environment and from internal
energy dissipation, and output to the environment as black-body radiation. The
resulting nonlinear ordinary differential equation for the satellite's
temperature is analysed by qualitative, perturbation and numerical methods,
which show that the temperature approaches a periodic pattern (attracting limit
cycle). This approach can occur in two ways, according to the values of the
parameters: (i) a slow decay towards the limit cycle over a time longer than
the period, or (ii) a fast decay towards the limit cycle over a time shorter
than the period. In the first case, an exactly soluble average equation is
valid. We discuss the consequences of our model for the thermal stability of
satellites.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures (5 EPS files
Lattice-Boltzmann Method for Geophysical Plastic Flows
We explore possible applications of the Lattice-Boltzmann Method for the
simulation of geophysical flows. This fluid solver, while successful in other
fields, is still rarely used for geotechnical applications. We show how the
standard method can be modified to represent free-surface realization of
mudflows, debris flows, and in general any plastic flow, through the
implementation of a Bingham constitutive model. The chapter is completed by an
example of a full-scale simulation of a plastic fluid flowing down an inclined
channel and depositing on a flat surface. An application is given, where the
fluid interacts with a vertical obstacle in the channel.Comment: in W. Wu, R.I. Borja (Edts.) Recent advances in modelling landslides
and debris flow, Springer Series in Geomechanics and Geoengineering (2014),
ISBN 978-3-319-11052-3, pp. 131-14
Nonlinear analysis of spacecraft thermal models
We study the differential equations of lumped-parameter models of spacecraft
thermal control. Firstly, we consider a satellite model consisting of two
isothermal parts (nodes): an outer part that absorbs heat from the environment
as radiation of various types and radiates heat as a black-body, and an inner
part that just dissipates heat at a constant rate. The resulting system of two
nonlinear ordinary differential equations for the satellite's temperatures is
analyzed with various methods, which prove that the temperatures approach a
steady state if the heat input is constant, whereas they approach a limit cycle
if it varies periodically. Secondly, we generalize those methods to study a
many-node thermal model of a spacecraft: this model also has a stable steady
state under constant heat inputs that becomes a limit cycle if the inputs vary
periodically. Finally, we propose new numerical analyses of spacecraft thermal
models based on our results, to complement the analyses normally carried out
with commercial software packages.Comment: 29 pages, 4 figure
A Quantum-Bayesian Route to Quantum-State Space
In the quantum-Bayesian approach to quantum foundations, a quantum state is
viewed as an expression of an agent's personalist Bayesian degrees of belief,
or probabilities, concerning the results of measurements. These probabilities
obey the usual probability rules as required by Dutch-book coherence, but
quantum mechanics imposes additional constraints upon them. In this paper, we
explore the question of deriving the structure of quantum-state space from a
set of assumptions in the spirit of quantum Bayesianism. The starting point is
the representation of quantum states induced by a symmetric informationally
complete measurement or SIC. In this representation, the Born rule takes the
form of a particularly simple modification of the law of total probability. We
show how to derive key features of quantum-state space from (i) the requirement
that the Born rule arises as a simple modification of the law of total
probability and (ii) a limited number of additional assumptions of a strong
Bayesian flavor.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, to appear in Foundations of Physics; this is a
condensation of the argument in arXiv:0906.2187v1 [quant-ph], with special
attention paid to making all assumptions explici
Detection of Supernova Neutrinos by Neutrino-Proton Elastic Scattering
We propose that neutrino-proton elastic scattering, ,
can be used for the detection of supernova neutrinos in scintillator detectors.
Though the proton recoil kinetic energy spectrum is soft, with , and the scintillation light output from slow, heavily ionizing
protons is quenched, the yield above a realistic threshold is nearly as large
as that from . In addition, the measured proton
spectrum is related to the incident neutrino spectrum, which solves a
long-standing problem of how to separately measure the total energy and
temperature of , , , and .
The ability to detect this signal would give detectors like KamLAND and
Borexino a crucial and unique role in the quest to detect supernova neutrinos.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, revtex
Combined chemical genetics and data-driven bioinformatics approach identifies receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors as host-directed antimicrobials
Immunogenetics and cellular immunology of bacterial infectious disease
Asymmetric Hapln1a drives regionalized cardiac ECM expansion and promotes heart morphogenesis in zebrafish development
Aims
Vertebrate heart development requires the complex morphogenesis of a linear tube to form the mature organ, a process essential for correct cardiac form and function, requiring coordination of embryonic laterality, cardiac growth, and regionalized cellular changes. While previous studies have demonstrated broad requirements for extracellular matrix (ECM) components in cardiac morphogenesis, we hypothesized that ECM regionalization may fine tune cardiac shape during heart development.
Methods and results
Using live in vivo light sheet imaging of zebrafish embryos, we describe a left-sided expansion of the ECM between the myocardium and endocardium prior to the onset of heart looping and chamber ballooning. Analysis using an ECM sensor revealed the cardiac ECM is further regionalized along the atrioventricular axis. Spatial transcriptomic analysis of gene expression in the heart tube identified candidate genes that may drive ECM expansion. This approach identified regionalized expression of hapln1a, encoding an ECM cross-linking protein. Validation of transcriptomic data by in situ hybridization confirmed regionalized hapln1a expression in the heart, with highest levels of expression in the future atrium and on the left side of the tube, overlapping with the observed ECM expansion. Analysis of CRISPR-Cas9-generated hapln1a mutants revealed a reduction in atrial size and reduced chamber ballooning. Loss-of-function analysis demonstrated that ECM expansion is dependent upon Hapln1a, together supporting a role for Hapln1a in regionalized ECM modulation and cardiac morphogenesis. Analysis of hapln1a expression in zebrafish mutants with randomized or absent embryonic left–right asymmetry revealed that laterality cues position hapln1a-expressing cells asymmetrically in the left side of the heart tube.
Conclusion
We identify a regionalized ECM expansion in the heart tube which promotes correct heart development, and propose a novel model whereby embryonic laterality cues orient the axis of ECM asymmetry in the heart, suggesting these two pathways interact to promote robust cardiac morphogenesis
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