368 research outputs found
Semi-active tuned mass damper building systems: Design
Passive and semi-active tuned mass damper (PTMD and SATMD) building systems are proposed to mitigate structural response due to seismic loads. The structure's upper portion self plays a role either as a tuned mass passive damper or a semi-active resetable device is adopted as a control feature for the PTMD, creating a SATMD system. Two-degree-of-freedom analytical studies are employed to design the prototype structural system, specify its element characteristics and effectiveness for seismic responses, including defining the resetable device dynamics. The optimal parameters are derived for the large mass ratio by numerical analysis. For the SATMD building system the stiffness of the resetable device design is combined with rubber bearing stiffness. From parametric studies, effective practical control schemes can be derived for the SATMD system. To verify the principal efficacy of the conceptual system, the controlled system response is compared with the response spectrum of the earthquake suites used. The control ability of the SATMD scheme is compared with that of an uncontrolled (No TMD) and an ideal PTMD building systems for multi-level seismic intensity. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Lt
Marine reserve effects on fishery profit
Some studies suggest that fishery yields can be higher with reserves than under conventional management. However, the economic performance of fisheries depends on economic profit, not fish yield. The predictions of higher yields with reserves rely on intensive fishing pressures between reserves; the exorbitant costs of harvesting low-density populations erode profits. We incorporated this effect into a bioeconomic model to evaluate the economic performance of reserve-based management. Our results indicate that reserves can still benefit fisheries, even those targeting species that are expensive to harvest. However, in contrast to studies focused on yield, only a moderate proportion of the coast in reserves (with moderate harvest pressures outside reserves) is required to maximize profit. Furthermore, reserve area and harvest intensity can be traded off with little impact on profits, allowing for management flexibility while still providing higher profit than attainable under conventional management
Primordial black holes in braneworld cosmologies: astrophysical constraints
In two recent papers we explored the modifications to primordial black hole
physics when one moves to the simplest braneworld model, Randall--Sundrum type
II. Both the evaporation law and the cosmological evolution of the population
can be modified, and additionally accretion of energy from the background can
be dominant over evaporation at high energies. In this paper we present a
detailed study of how this impacts upon various astrophysical constraints,
analyzing constraints from the present density, from the present high-energy
photon background radiation, from distortion of the microwave background
spectrum, and from processes affecting light element abundances both during and
after nucleosynthesis. Typically, the constraints on the formation rate of
primordial black holes weaken as compared to the standard cosmology if black
hole accretion is unimportant at high energies, but can be strengthened in the
case of efficient accretion.Comment: 17 pages RevTeX4 file with three figures incorporated; final paper in
series astro-ph/0205149 and astro-ph/0208299. Minor changes to match version
accepted by Physical Review
Constraining the primordial spectrum of metric perturbations from gravitino and moduli production
We consider the production of gravitinos and moduli fields from quantum
vacuum fluctuations induced by the presence of scalar metric perturbations at
the end of inflation. We obtain the corresponding occupation numbers, up to
first order in perturbation theory, in terms of the power spectrum of the
metric perturbations. We compute the limits imposed by nucleosynthesis on the
spectral index for different models with constant . The results show
that, in certain cases, such limits can be as strong as , which is
more stringent than those coming from primordial black hole production.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, 5 figures. Corrected figures, new references
included. Final version to appear in Phys. Rev.
On Quantum Control via Encoded Dynamical Decoupling
I revisit the ideas underlying dynamical decoupling methods within the
framework of quantum information processing, and examine their potential for
direct implementations in terms of encoded rather than physical degrees of
freedom. The usefulness of encoded decoupling schemes as a tool for engineering
both closed- and open-system encoded evolutions is investigated based on simple
examples.Comment: 12 pages, no figures; REVTeX style. This note collects various
theoretical considerations complementing/motivated by the experimental
demonstration of encoded control by Fortunato et a
Stability and collapse of localized solutions of the controlled three-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation
On the basis of recent investigations, a newly developed analytical procedure
is used for constructing a wide class of localized solutions of the controlled
three-dimensional (3D) Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE) that governs the
dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). The controlled 3D GPE is
decomposed into a two-dimensional (2D) linear Schr\"{o}dinger equation and a
one-dimensional (1D) nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equation, constrained by a
variational condition for the controlling potential. Then, the above class of
localized solutions are constructed as the product of the solutions of the
transverse and longitudinal equations. On the basis of these exact 3D
analytical solutions, a stability analysis is carried out, focusing our
attention on the physical conditions for having collapsing or non-collapsing
solutions.Comment: 21 pages, 14 figure
Sedimentation processes in a coral reef embayment : Hanalei Bay, Kauai
This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. The definitive version was published in Marine Geology 264 (2009): 140-151, doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2009.05.002.Oceanographic measurements and sediment samples were collected during the summer of 2006 as part of a multi-year study of coastal circulation and the fate of terrigenous sediment on coral reefs in Hanalei Bay, Kauai. The goal of this study was to better understand sediment dynamics in a coral reef-lined embayment where winds, ocean surface waves, and river floods are important processes. During a summer period that was marked by two wave events and one river flood, we documented significant differences in sediment trap collection rates and the composition, grain size, and magnitude of sediment transported in the bay. Sediment trap collection rates were well correlated with combined wave-current near-bed shear stresses during the non-flood periods but were not correlated during the flood. The flood's delivery of fine-grained sediment to the bay initially caused high turbidity and sediment collection rates off the river mouth but the plume dispersed relatively quickly. Over the next month, the flood deposit was reworked by mild waves and currents and the fine-grained terrestrial sediment was advected around the bay and collected in sediment traps away from the river mouth, long after the turbid surface plume was gone. The reworked flood deposits, due to their longer duration of influence and proximity to the seabed, appear to pose a greater long-term impact to benthic coral reef communities than the flood plumes themselves. The results presented here display how spatial and temporal differences in hydrodynamic processes, which result from variations in reef morphology and orientation, cause substantial variations in the deposition, residence time, resuspension, and advection of both reef-derived and fluvial sediment over relatively short spatial scales in a coral reef embayment
A recurrent de novo MAX p.Arg60Gln variant causes a syndromic overgrowth disorder through differential expression of c-Myc target genes
Cyclin D2 (CCND2) stabilization underpins a range of macrocephaly-associated disorders through mutation of CCND2 or activating mutations in upstream genes encoding PI3K-AKT pathway components. Here, we describe three individuals with overlapping macrocephaly-associated phenotypes who carry the same recurrent de novo c.179G>A (p.Arg60Gln) variant in Myc-associated factor X (MAX). The mutation, located in the b-HLH-LZ domain, causes increased intracellular CCND2 through increased transcription but it does not cause stabilization of CCND2. We show that the purified b-HLH-LZ domain of MAXArg60Gln (Max∗Arg60Gln) binds its target E-box sequence with a lower apparent affinity. This leads to a more efficient heterodimerization with c-Myc resulting in an increase in transcriptional activity of c-Myc in individuals carrying this mutation. The recent development of Omomyc-CPP, a cell-penetrating b-HLH-LZ-domain c-Myc inhibitor, provides a possible therapeutic option for MAXArg60Gln individuals, and others carrying similar germline mutations resulting in dysregulated transcriptional c-Myc activity
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