26,935 research outputs found
Stellar Populations in the Galactic Center
We discuss the stellar content of the Galactic Center, and in particular,
recent estimates of the star formation rate (SFR). We discuss pros and cons of
the different stellar tracers and focus our attention on the SFR based on the
three classical Cepheids recently discovered in the Galactic Center. We also
discuss stellar populations in field and cluster stars and present some
preliminary results based on near-infrared photometry of a field centered on
the young massive cluster Arches. We also provide a new estimate of the true
distance modulus to the Galactic Center and we found
14.490.02(standard)0.10(systematic) mag (7.91 kpc).
Current estimate agrees quite well with similar photometric and kinematic
distance determinations available in the literature. We also discuss the
metallicity gradient of the thin disk and the sharp change in the slope when
moving across the edge of the inner disk, the Galactic Bar and the Galactic
Center. The difference becomes even more compelling if we take into account
that metal abundances are based on young stellar tracers (classical Cepheids,
Red Supergiants, Luminous Blue Variables). Finally, we briefly outline the
possible mechanisms that might account for current empirical evidence.Comment: To be published in the Astrophysics and Space Science Proceeding
Convolutive superposition for multicarrier cognitive radio systems
Recently, we proposed a spectrum-sharing paradigm for single-carrier
cognitive radio (CR) networks, where a secondary user (SU) is able to maintain
or even improve the performance of a primary user (PU) transmission, while also
obtaining a low-data rate channel for its own communication. According to such
a scheme, a simple multiplication is used to superimpose one SU symbol on a
block of multiple PU symbols.The scope of this paper is to extend such a
paradigm to a multicarrier CR network, where the PU employs an orthogonal
frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation scheme. To improve its
achievable data rate, besides transmitting over the subcarriers unused by the
PU, the SU is also allowed to transmit multiple block-precoded symbols in
parallel over the OFDM subcarriers used by the primary system. Specifically,
the SU convolves its block-precoded symbols with the received PU data in the
time-domain, which gives rise to the term convolutive superposition. An
information-theoretic analysis of the proposed scheme is developed, which
considers different amounts of network state information at the secondary
transmitter, as well as different precoding strategies for the SU. Extensive
simulations illustrate the merits of our analysis and designs, in comparison
with conventional CR schemes, by considering as performance indicators the
ergodic capacity of the considered systems.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figure
Experimental Observations of Group Synchrony in a System of Chaotic Optoelectronic Oscillators
We experimentally demonstrate group synchrony in a network of four nonlinear
optoelectronic oscillators with time-delayed coupling. We divide the nodes into
two groups of two each, by giving each group different parameters and by
enabling only inter-group coupling. When coupled in this fashion, the two
groups display different dynamics, with no isochronal synchrony between them,
but the nodes in a single group are isochronally synchronized, even though
there is no intra-group coupling. We compare experimental behavior with
theoretical and numerical results
Recent advances in mathematical modeling and statistical analysis of exocytosis in endocrine cells
open5noMost endocrine cells secrete hormones as a result of Ca(2+)-regulated exocytosis, i.e., fusion of the membranes of hormone-containing secretory granules with the cell membrane, which allows the hormone molecules to escape to the extracellular space. As in neurons, electrical activity and cell depolarization open voltage-sensitive Ca(2+) channels, and the resulting Ca(2+) influx elevate the intracellular Ca(2+) concentration, which in turn causes exocytosis. Whereas the main molecular components involved in exocytosis are increasingly well understood, quantitative understanding of the dynamical aspects of exocytosis is still lacking. Due to the nontrivial spatiotemporal Ca(2+) dynamics, which depends on the particular pattern of electrical activity as well as Ca(2+) channel kinetics, exocytosis is dependent on the spatial arrangement of Ca(2+) channels and secretory granules. For example, the creation of local Ca(2+) microdomains, where the Ca(2+) concentration reaches tens of µM, are believed to be important for triggering exocytosis. Spatiotemporal simulations of buffered Ca(2+) diffusion have provided important insight into the interplay between electrical activity, Ca(2+) channel kinetics, and the location of granules and Ca(2+) channels. By confronting simulations with statistical time-to-event (or survival) regression analysis of single granule exocytosis monitored with TIRF microscopy, a direct connection between location and rate of exocytosis can be obtained at the local, single-granule level. To get insight into whole-cell secretion, simplifications of the full spatiotemporal dynamics have shown to be highly helpful. Here, we provide an overview of recent approaches and results for quantitative analysis of Ca(2+) regulated exocytosis of hormone-containing granules.openPedersen, Morten Gram; Tagliavini, Alessia; Cortese, Giuliana; Riz, Michela; Montefusco, FrancescoPedersen, MORTEN GRAM; Tagliavini, Alessia; Cortese, Giuliana; Riz, Michela; Montefusco, Francesc
Semiclassical states for weakly coupled nonlinear Schr\"odinger systems
We consider systems of weakly coupled Schr\"odinger equations with
nonconstant potentials and we investigate the existence of nontrivial
nonnegative solutions which concentrate around local minima of the potentials.
We obtain sufficient and necessary conditions for a sequence of least energy
solutions to concentrate.Comment: 23 pages, no figure
Flood propagation modelling with the Local Inertia Approximation: theoretical and numerical analysis of its physical limitations
Attention of the researchers has increased towards a simplification of the
complete Shallow water Equations called the Local Inertia Approximation (LInA),
which is obtained by neglecting the advection term in the momentum conservation
equation. In the present paper it is demonstrated that a shock is always
developed at moving wetting-drying frontiers, and this justifies the study of
the Riemann problem on even and uneven beds. In particular, the general exact
solution for the Riemann problem on horizontal frictionless bed is given,
together with the exact solution of the non-breaking wave propagating on
horizontal bed with friction, while some example solution is given for the
Riemann problem on discontinuous bed. From this analysis, it follows that
drying of the wet bed is forbidden in the LInA model, and that there are
initial conditions for which the Riemann problem has no solution on smoothly
varying bed. In addition, propagation of the flood on discontinuous sloping bed
is impossible if the bed drops height have the same order of magnitude of the
moving-frontier shock height. Finally, it is found that the conservation of the
mechanical energy is violated. It is evident that all these findings pose a
severe limit to the application of the model. The numerical analysis has proven
that LInA numerical models may produce numerical solutions, which are
unreliable because of mere algorithmic nature, also in the case that the LInA
mathematical solutions do not exist. The applicability limits of the LInA model
are discouragingly severe, even if the bed elevation varies continuously. More
important, the non-existence of the LInA solution in the case of discontinuous
topography and the non-existence of receding fronts radically question the
viability of the LInA model in realistic cases. It is evident that classic SWE
models should be preferred in the majority of the practical applications
An error estimate of Gaussian Recursive Filter in 3Dvar problem
Computational kernel of the three-dimensional variational data assimilation
(3D-Var) problem is a linear system, generally solved by means of an iterative
method. The most costly part of each iterative step is a matrix-vector product
with a very large covariance matrix having Gaussian correlation structure. This
operation may be interpreted as a Gaussian convolution, that is a very
expensive numerical kernel. Recursive Filters (RFs) are a well known way to
approximate the Gaussian convolution and are intensively applied in the
meteorology, in the oceanography and in forecast models. In this paper, we deal
with an oceanographic 3D-Var data assimilation scheme, named OceanVar, where
the linear system is solved by using the Conjugate Gradient (GC) method by
replacing, at each step, the Gaussian convolution with RFs. Here we give
theoretical issues on the discrete convolution approximation with a first order
(1st-RF) and a third order (3rd-RF) recursive filters. Numerical experiments
confirm given error bounds and show the benefits, in terms of accuracy and
performance, of the 3-rd RF.Comment: 9 page
Target-adaptive CNN-based pansharpening
We recently proposed a convolutional neural network (CNN) for remote sensing
image pansharpening obtaining a significant performance gain over the state of
the art. In this paper, we explore a number of architectural and training
variations to this baseline, achieving further performance gains with a
lightweight network which trains very fast. Leveraging on this latter property,
we propose a target-adaptive usage modality which ensures a very good
performance also in the presence of a mismatch w.r.t. the training set, and
even across different sensors. The proposed method, published online as an
off-the-shelf software tool, allows users to perform fast and high-quality
CNN-based pansharpening of their own target images on general-purpose hardware
Study of the a_0(980) meson via the radiative decay phi->eta pi^0 gamma with the KLOE detector
We have studied the phi->a_0(980) gamma process with the KLOE detector at the
Frascati phi-factory DAPhNE by detecting the phi->eta pi^0 gamma decays in the
final states with eta->gamma gamma and eta->pi^+ pi^- pi^0. We have measured
the branching ratios for both final states: Br(phi->eta pi^0 gamma)=(7.01 +/-
0.10 +/- 0.20)x10^-5 and (7.12 +/- 0.13 +/- 0.22)x10^-5 respectively. We have
also extracted the a_0(980) mass and its couplings to eta pi^0, K^+ K^-, and to
the phi meson from the fit of the eta pi^0 invariant mass distributions using
different phenomenological models.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Physics Letters B. Corrected typos
in eq.
Fractional differentiability for solutions of nonlinear elliptic equations
We study nonlinear elliptic equations in divergence form
When
has linear growth in , and assuming that enjoys smoothness, local
well-posedness is found in for certain values of
and . In the particular case
, and ,
, we obtain for each
. Our main tool in the proof is a more general result, that
holds also if has growth in , , and
asserts local well-posedness in for each , provided that
satisfies a locally uniform condition
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