356 research outputs found
3D modelling of geological and anthropogenic deposits at the World Heritage Site of Bryggen in Bergen, Norway
The landscape of many historic cities and the character of their shallow subsurface environments are
defined by a legacy of interaction between anthropogenic and geological processes. Anthropogenic
deposits and excavations result from processes ranging from archaeological activities to modern urban
development. Hence, in heritage cities, any geological investigation should acknowledge the role of past
and ongoing human activities, while any archaeological investigation should be conducted with geological
processes in mind. In this paper it is shown that 3D geological and anthropogenic models at different scales
can provide a holistic system for the management of the subsurface. It provides a framework for the
integration of other spatial and processmodels to help assess the preservationpotential for buried heritage.
Such an integrated framework model is thus contributing to a decision support system for sustainable
urban (re)development and regeneration in cities, while preserving cultural heritage. A collaborative
approach is proposed to enhance research and implementation of combined geological and archaeological
modelling for sustainable land use planning and heritage preservation, using York and Bryggen as prime
examples. This paper presents the status of 3D framework modelling at Bryggen in Norway as an example
The Pan-STARRS Moving Object Processing System
We describe the Pan-STARRS Moving Object Processing System (MOPS), a modern
software package that produces automatic asteroid discoveries and
identifications from catalogs of transient detections from next-generation
astronomical survey telescopes. MOPS achieves > 99.5% efficiency in producing
orbits from a synthetic but realistic population of asteroids whose
measurements were simulated for a Pan-STARRS4-class telescope. Additionally,
using a non-physical grid population, we demonstrate that MOPS can detect
populations of currently unknown objects such as interstellar asteroids.
MOPS has been adapted successfully to the prototype Pan-STARRS1 telescope
despite differences in expected false detection rates, fill-factor loss and
relatively sparse observing cadence compared to a hypothetical Pan-STARRS4
telescope and survey. MOPS remains >99.5% efficient at detecting objects on a
single night but drops to 80% efficiency at producing orbits for objects
detected on multiple nights. This loss is primarily due to configurable MOPS
processing limits that are not yet tuned for the Pan-STARRS1 mission.
The core MOPS software package is the product of more than 15 person-years of
software development and incorporates countless additional years of effort in
third-party software to perform lower-level functions such as spatial searching
or orbit determination. We describe the high-level design of MOPS and essential
subcomponents, the suitability of MOPS for other survey programs, and suggest a
road map for future MOPS development.Comment: 57 Pages, 26 Figures, 13 Table
Detailed electronic structure studies on superconducting MgB and related compounds
In order to understand the unexpected superconducting behavior of MgB
compound we have made electronic structure calculations for MgB and closely
related systems. Our calculated Debye temperature from the elastic properties
indicate that the average phonon frequency is very large in MgB compared
with other superconducting intermetallics and the exceptionally high in
this material can be explained through BCS mechanism only if phonon softening
occurs or the phonon modes are highly anisotropic. We identified a
doubly-degenerate quasi-two dimensional key-energy band in the vicinity of
along -A direction of BZ which play an important role in
deciding the superconducting behavior of this material. Based on this result,
we have searched for similar kinds of electronic feature in a series of
isoelectronic compounds such as BeB, CaB, SrB, LiBC and
MgBC and found that MgBC is one potential material from the
superconductivity point of view. There are contradictory experimental results
regarding the anisotropy in the elastic properties of MgB ranging from
isotropic, moderately anisotropic to highly anisotropic. In order to settle
this issue we have calculated the single crystal elastic constants for MgB
by the accurate full-potential method and derived the directional dependent
linear compressibility, Young's modulus, shear modulus and relevant elastic
properties. We have observed large anisotropy in the elastic properties. Our
calculated polarized optical dielectric tensor shows highly anisotropic
behavior even though it possesses isotropic transport property. MgB
possesses a mixed bonding character and this has been verified from density of
states, charge density and crystal orbital Hamiltonian population analyses
Variational quantum Monte Carlo study of two-dimensional Wigner crystals: exchange, correlation, and magnetic field effects
The two-dimensional Wigner crystals are studied with the variational quantum
Monte Carlo method. The close relationship between the ground-state
wavefunction and the collective excitations in the system is illustrated, and
used to guide the construction of the ground-state wavefunction of the strongly
correlated solid. Exchange, correlation, and magnetic field effects all give
rise to distinct physical phenomena. In the absence of any external magnetic
field, interesting spin-orderings are observed in the ground-state of the
electron crystal in various two-dimensional lattices. In particular,
two-dimensional bipartite lattices are shown not to lead necessarily to an
antiferromagnetic ground-state. In the quantum Hall effect regime, a strong
magnetic field introduces new energy and length scales. The magnetic field
quenches the kinetic energy and poses constraints on how the electrons may
correlate with each other. Care is taken to ensure the appropriate
translational properties of the wavefunction when the system is in a uniform
magnetic field. We have examined the exchange, intra-Landau-level correlation
as well as Landau-level-mixing effects with various variational wavefunctions.
We also determine their dependences on the experimental parameters such as the
carrier effective mass at a modulation-doped semiconductor heterojunction. Our
results, when combined with some recent calculations for the energy of the
fractional quantum Hall liquid including Landau-level-mixing, show
quantitatively that in going from -doping to -doping in
heterojunction systems, the crossover filling factor from the fractional
quantum Hall liquid to the Wigner crystal changes from filling factor to . This lends strong support to the claim that theComment: LaTex file, 14 figures available from [email protected]
Equivalent glycemic load (EGL): a method for quantifying the glycemic responses elicited by low carbohydrate foods
BACKGROUND: Glycemic load (GL) is used to quantify the glycemic impact of high-carbohydrate (CHO) foods, but cannot be used for low-CHO foods. Therefore, we evaluated the accuracy of equivalent-glycemic-load (EGL), a measure of the glycemic impact of low-CHO foods defined as the amount of CHO from white-bread (WB) with the same glycemic impact as one serving of food. METHODS: Several randomized, cross-over trials were performed by a contract research organization using overnight-fasted healthy subjects drawn from a pool of 63 recruited from the general population by newspaper advertisement. Incremental blood-glucose response area-under-the-curve (AUC) elicited by 0, 5, 10, 20, 35 and 50 g CHO portions of WB (WB-CHO) and 3, 5, 10 and 20 g glucose were measured. EGL values of the different doses of glucose and WB and 4 low-CHO foods were determined as: EGL = (F-B)/M, where F is AUC after food and B is y-intercept and M slope of the regression of AUC on grams WB-CHO. The dose-response curves of WB and glucose were used to derive an equation to estimate GL from EGL, and the resulting values compared to GL calculated from the glucose dose-response curve. The accuracy of EGL was assessed by comparing the GL (estimated from EGL) values of the 4 doses of oral-glucose with the amounts actually consumed. RESULTS: Over 0–50 g WB-CHO (n = 10), the dose-response curve was non-linear, but over the range 0–20 g the curve was indistinguishable from linear, with AUC after 0, 5, 10 and 20 g WB-CHO, 10 ± 1, 28 ± 2, 58 ± 5 and 100 ± 6 mmol × min/L, differing significantly from each other (n = 48). The difference between GL values estimated from EGL and those calculated from the dose-response curve was 0 g (95% confidence-interval, ± 0.5 g). The difference between the GL values of the 4 doses of glucose estimated from EGL, and the amounts of glucose actually consumed was 0.2 g (95% confidence-interval, ± 1 g). CONCLUSION: EGL, a measure of the glycemic impact of low-carbohydrate foods, is valid across the range of 0–20 g CHO, accurate to within 1 g, and at least sensitive enough to detect a glycemic response equivalent to that produced by 3 g oral-glucose in 10 subjects
The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE): Mission Description and Initial On-orbit Performance
The all sky surveys done by the Palomar Observatory Schmidt, the European
Southern Observatory Schmidt, and the United Kingdom Schmidt, the InfraRed
Astronomical Satellite and the 2 Micron All Sky Survey have proven to be
extremely useful tools for astronomy with value that lasts for decades. The
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer is mapping the whole sky following its
launch on 14 December 2009. WISE began surveying the sky on 14 Jan 2010 and
completed its first full coverage of the sky on July 17. The survey will
continue to cover the sky a second time until the cryogen is exhausted
(anticipated in November 2010). WISE is achieving 5 sigma point source
sensitivities better than 0.08, 0.11, 1 and 6 mJy in unconfused regions on the
ecliptic in bands centered at wavelengths of 3.4, 4.6, 12 and 22 microns.
Sensitivity improves toward the ecliptic poles due to denser coverage and lower
zodiacal background. The angular resolution is 6.1, 6.4, 6.5 and 12.0
arc-seconds at 3.4, 4.6, 12 and 22 microns, and the astrometric precision for
high SNR sources is better than 0.15 arc-seconds.Comment: 22 pages with 19 included figures. Updated to better match the
accepted version in the A
Functional brain defects in a mouse model of a chromosomal t(1;11) translocation that disrupts DISC1 and confers increased risk of psychiatric illness
A balanced t(1;11) translocation that directly disrupts DISC1 is linked to schizophrenia and affective disorders. We previously showed that a mutant mouse, named Der1, recapitulates the effect of the translocation upon DISC1 expression. Here, RNAseq analysis of Der1 mouse brain tissue found enrichment for dysregulation of the same genes and molecular pathways as in neuron cultures generated previously from human t(1;11) translocation carriers via the induced pluripotent stem cell route. DISC1 disruption therefore apparently accounts for a substantial proportion of the effects of the t(1;11) translocation. RNAseq and pathway analysis of the mutant mouse predicts multiple Der1-induced alterations converging upon synapse function and plasticity. Synaptosome proteomics confirmed that the Der1 mutation impacts synapse composition, and electrophysiology found reduced AMPA:NMDA ratio in hippocampal neurons, indicating changed excitatory signalling. Moreover, hippocampal parvalbumin-positive interneuron density is increased, suggesting that the Der1 mutation affects inhibitory control of neuronal circuits. These phenotypes predict that neurotransmission is impacted at many levels by DISC1 disruption in human t(1;11) translocation carriers. Notably, genes implicated in schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disorder by large-scale genetic studies are enriched among the Der1-dysregulated genes, just as we previously observed for the t(1;11) translocation carrier-derived neurons. Furthermore, RNAseq analysis predicts that the Der1 mutation primarily targets a subset of cell types, pyramidal neurons and interneurons, previously shown to be vulnerable to the effects of common schizophrenia-associated genetic variants. In conclusion, DISC1 disruption by the t(1;11) translocation may contribute to the psychiatric disorders of translocation carriers through commonly affected pathways and processes in neurotransmission
N-body simulations of gravitational dynamics
We describe the astrophysical and numerical basis of N-body simulations, both
of collisional stellar systems (dense star clusters and galactic centres) and
collisionless stellar dynamics (galaxies and large-scale structure). We explain
and discuss the state-of-the-art algorithms used for these quite different
regimes, attempt to give a fair critique, and point out possible directions of
future improvement and development. We briefly touch upon the history of N-body
simulations and their most important results.Comment: invited review (28 pages), to appear in European Physics Journal Plu
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