Pharyngeal airway dimensions in skeletal class II: A cephalometric growth study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Uslu-Akcam, Ozge

2017-01-01

This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal dimensions of individuals with skeletal class II, division 1 and division 2 patterns during the pre-peak, peak, and post-peak growth periods for comparison with a skeletal class I control group. Totally 124 lateral cephalograms (47 for skeletal class I; 45 for skeletal class II, division 1; and 32 for skeletal class II, division 2) in pre-peak, peak, and post-peak growth periods were selected from the department archives. Thirteen landmarks, 4 angular and 4 linear measurements, and 4 proportional calculations were obtained. The ANOVA and Duncan test were applied to compare the differences among the study groups during the growth periods. Statistically significant differences were found between the skeletal class II, division 2 group and other groups for the gonion-gnathion/sella-nasion angle. The sella-nasion-B-point angle was different among the groups, while the A-point-nasion-B-point angle was significantly different for all 3 groups. The nasopharyngeal airway space showed a statistically significant difference among the groups throughout the growth periods. The interaction among the growth periods and study groups was statistically significant regarding the upper oropharyngeal airway space measurement. The lower oropharyngeal airway space measurement showed a statistically significant difference among the groups, with the smallest dimension observed in the skeletal class II, division 2 group. The naso-oropharyngeal airway dimensions showed a statistically significant difference among the class II, division 1; class II, division 2; and class I groups during different growth periods

Pharyngeal airway dimensions in skeletal class II: A cephalometric growth study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Uslu-Akcam, Ozge [Clinic of Orthodontics, Ministry of Health, Tepebasi Oral and Dental Health Hospital, Ankara (Turkmenistan)

2017-03-15

This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal dimensions of individuals with skeletal class II, division 1 and division 2 patterns during the pre-peak, peak, and post-peak growth periods for comparison with a skeletal class I control group. Totally 124 lateral cephalograms (47 for skeletal class I; 45 for skeletal class II, division 1; and 32 for skeletal class II, division 2) in pre-peak, peak, and post-peak growth periods were selected from the department archives. Thirteen landmarks, 4 angular and 4 linear measurements, and 4 proportional calculations were obtained. The ANOVA and Duncan test were applied to compare the differences among the study groups during the growth periods. Statistically significant differences were found between the skeletal class II, division 2 group and other groups for the gonion-gnathion/sella-nasion angle. The sella-nasion-B-point angle was different among the groups, while the A-point-nasion-B-point angle was significantly different for all 3 groups. The nasopharyngeal airway space showed a statistically significant difference among the groups throughout the growth periods. The interaction among the growth periods and study groups was statistically significant regarding the upper oropharyngeal airway space measurement. The lower oropharyngeal airway space measurement showed a statistically significant difference among the groups, with the smallest dimension observed in the skeletal class II, division 2 group. The naso-oropharyngeal airway dimensions showed a statistically significant difference among the class II, division 1; class II, division 2; and class I groups during different growth periods.

Commodity chemical growth to slow in 1993

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Plishner, E.S.

1992-01-01

In their latest chemical outlook, DRI/McGraw-Hill economists characterize 1992 as a peak year for U.S. commodity chemical demand growth, at 4.2%, tapering off to a compound 2.2% between 1993 and 1995. Just as operating rates begin to reach higher levels in 1995, however, DRI forecasts slowing GNP growth. DRI's Ramunas J. Svarcas expects a decline in exports. Those plastics promising the rosiest consumption outlook include melamine-formaldehyde resin, up 9.9% in 1992, from 155 million lbs in 1991, and projected to grow 8.6%/year through 1995; styrene acrylonitrile resin, up 23% this year, from 58 million lbs last year, and growing 8.2%/year through 1995; and unsaturated polyester, up 11.7% this year, from 1.07 billion lbs in 1991, and increasing at 6.5%/year. Methanol is a bright spot, with consumption growing 4.7%, from 11.2 billion lbs in 1991 and 12%/year thereafter. Ortho-xylene managed an impressive 21% rebound from a depressed 1991 level of 783 million lbs, and is expected to continue its recovery at 7.7%/year

Theoretical analysis of multiple quantum-well, slow-light devices under applied external fields using a fully analytical model in fractional dimension

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kohandani, R; Kaatuzian, H [Photonics Research Laboratory, Electrical Engineering Department, AmirKabir University of Technology, Hafez Ave., Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2015-01-31

We report a theoretical study of optical properties of AlGaAs/GaAs multiple quantum-well (MQW), slow-light devices based on excitonic population oscillations under applied external magnetic and electric fields using an analytical model for complex dielectric constant of Wannier excitons in fractional dimension. The results are shown for quantum wells (QWs) of different width. The significant characteristics of the exciton in QWs such as exciton energy and exciton oscillator strength (EOS) can be varied by application of external magnetic and electric fields. It is found that a higher bandwidth and an appropriate slow-down factor (SDF) can be achieved by changing the QW width during the fabrication process and by applying magnetic and electric fields during device functioning, respectively. It is shown that a SDF of 10{sup 5} is obtained at best. (slowing of light)

AN EFFECTIVE IN VITRO SLOW GROWTH PROTOCOL FOR CONSERVATION OF THE ORCHID Epidendrum chlorocorymbos SCHLTR.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guadalupe Lopez-Puc

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Efficient slow growth protocol for the orchid E. chlorocorymbos Schltr. was developed using in vitro conservation studies. Seedlings were placed in MS culture medium and a 2x3x3 factorial design applied to evaluate the effects of supplementing the medium with mannitol (0, 1, 2 and 3%, sucrose (0, 1, 2 and 3% or sorbitol (0, 1, 2 and 3%. Experimental conditions were a 16:8 h photoperiod, 23 ± 2 °C temperature and 50-80% relative humidity. At 6 months, the best treatment was MS medium at half ionic strength with 1% sorbitol. The culture was also free of contamination. This resulted in slow growth and normal morphology during maintenance and successful growth afterwards. Shoots were subsequently recovered, multiplied and rooted on MS medium with sucrose 3% without addition of growth regulators.

Molecular dynamics modeling and simulation of void growth in two dimensions

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, H.-J.; Segurado, J.; Rodríguez de la Fuente, O.; Pabón, B. M.; LLorca, J.

2013-10-01

The mechanisms of growth of a circular void by plastic deformation were studied by means of molecular dynamics in two dimensions (2D). While previous molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in three dimensions (3D) have been limited to small voids (up to ≈10 nm in radius), this strategy allows us to study the behavior of voids of up to 100 nm in radius. MD simulations showed that plastic deformation was triggered by the nucleation of dislocations at the atomic steps of the void surface in the whole range of void sizes studied. The yield stress, defined as stress necessary to nucleate stable dislocations, decreased with temperature, but the void growth rate was not very sensitive to this parameter. Simulations under uniaxial tension, uniaxial deformation and biaxial deformation showed that the void growth rate increased very rapidly with multiaxiality but it did not depend on the initial void radius. These results were compared with previous 3D MD and 2D dislocation dynamics simulations to establish a map of mechanisms and size effects for plastic void growth in crystalline solids.

Molecular dynamics modeling and simulation of void growth in two dimensions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, H-J; Segurado, J; LLorca, J; Rodríguez de la Fuente, O; Pabón, B M

2013-01-01

The mechanisms of growth of a circular void by plastic deformation were studied by means of molecular dynamics in two dimensions (2D). While previous molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in three dimensions (3D) have been limited to small voids (up to ≈10 nm in radius), this strategy allows us to study the behavior of voids of up to 100 nm in radius. MD simulations showed that plastic deformation was triggered by the nucleation of dislocations at the atomic steps of the void surface in the whole range of void sizes studied. The yield stress, defined as stress necessary to nucleate stable dislocations, decreased with temperature, but the void growth rate was not very sensitive to this parameter. Simulations under uniaxial tension, uniaxial deformation and biaxial deformation showed that the void growth rate increased very rapidly with multiaxiality but it did not depend on the initial void radius. These results were compared with previous 3D MD and 2D dislocation dynamics simulations to establish a map of mechanisms and size effects for plastic void growth in crystalline solids. (paper)

The effects of maternal corticosterone levels on offspring behavior in fast- and slow-growth garter snakes (Thamnophis elegans).

Science.gov (United States)

Robert, Kylie A; Vleck, Carol; Bronikowski, Anne M

2009-01-01

During embryonic development, viviparous offspring are exposed to maternally circulating hormones. Maternal stress increases offspring exposure to corticosterone and this hormonal exposure has the potential to influence developmental, morphological and behavioral traits of the resulting offspring. We treated pregnant female garter snakes (Thamnophis elegans) with low levels of corticosterone after determining both natural corticosterone levels in the field and pre-treatment levels upon arrival in the lab. Additional measurements of plasma corticosterone were taken at days 1, 5, and 10 during the 10-day exposure, which occurred during the last third of gestation (of 4-month gestation). These pregnant snakes were from replicate populations of fast- and slow-growth ecotypes occurring in Northern California, with concomitant short and long lifespans. Field corticosterone levels of pregnant females of the slow-growth ecotype were an order of magnitude higher than fast-growth dams. In the laboratory, corticosterone levels increased over the 10 days of corticosterone manipulation for animals of both ecotypes, and reached similar plateaus for both control and treated dams. Despite similar plasma corticosterone levels in treated and control mothers, corticosterone-treated dams produced more stillborn offspring and exhibited higher total reproductive failure than control dams. At one month of age, offspring from fast-growth females had higher plasma corticosterone levels than offspring from slow-growth females, which is opposite the maternal pattern. Offspring from corticosterone-treated mothers, although unaffected in their slither speed, exhibited changes in escape behaviors and morphology that were dependent upon maternal ecotype. Offspring from corticosterone-treated fast-growth females exhibited less anti-predator reversal behavior; offspring from corticosterone-treated slow-growth females exhibited less anti-predator tail lashing behavior.

Slow Growth of a Crack with Contacting Faces in a Viscoelastic Body

Science.gov (United States)

Selivanov, M. F.

2017-11-01

An algorithm for solving the problem of slow growth of a mode I crack with a zone of partial contact of the faces is proposed. The algorithm is based on a crack model with a cohesive zone, an iterative method of finding a solution for the elastic opening displacement, and elasto-viscoelastic analogy, which makes it possible to describe the time-dependent opening displacement in Boltzmann-Volterra form. A deformation criterion with a constant critical opening displacement and cohesive strength during quasistatic crack growth is used. The algorithm was numerically illustrated for tensile loading at infinity and two concentrated forces symmetric about the crack line that cause the crack faces to contact. When the crack propagates, the contact zone disappears and its dynamic growth begins.

Anisotropic KPZ growth in 2+1 dimensions: fluctuations and covariance structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borodin, Alexei; Ferrari, Patrik L

2009-01-01

In Borodin and Ferrari (2008 arXiv:0804.3035) we studied an interacting particle system which can be also interpreted as a stochastic growth model. This model belongs to the anisotropic KPZ class in 2+1 dimensions. In this paper we present the results that are relevant from the perspective of stochastic growth models, in particular: (a) the surface fluctuations are asymptotically Gaussian on a √ln t scale and (b) the correlation structure of the surface is asymptotically given by the massless field

Interaction of Mechanical Load with Growth Hormone (GH) and Insulin-Like Growth Factor I (IGF-I) on Slow-Twitch Skeletal Muscle and Bone

Science.gov (United States)

Linderman, Jon K.; Gosselink, Kristin L.; Wang, Tommy J.; Mukku, Venkat R.; Grindeland, Richard E.

1994-01-01

Exogenous humoral growth factors, combined with increased mechanical loading, reportedly induce hypertrophy of fast-, but not slow-twitch skeletal muscles, and have little effect in attenuating atrophy of slow-twitch muscle associated with exposure to microgravity in animals with intact neuroendocrine systems. These observations suggest that anabolic adjuvants and muscle tension do not interact to stimulate growth or maintenance of slow-twitch skeletal muscle. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether a chronic increase in mechanical loading (synergistic ablation) or hindlimb unweighting (hindlimb suspension) interact with exogenous GH and IGF-I (Genentech, So San Francisco, CA) in the slow-twitch soleus muscles of female rats (approx. 250 g). Bilateral ablation of the plantaris and gastrocnemius muscles induced 38% and 40% increases in the absolute (mg/pair) and relative (mg/100 g body weight) weights of the soleus, respectively (p less than or = 0.05), in ambulatory rats. GH and IGF-I interacted with chronic loading to increase absolute soleus mass an additional 20% (p less than or = 0.05), and mixed and myofibrillar protein contents an additional 12% and 7%, respectively (NS). In contrast, hindlimb suspension (HLS) resulted in 20% and 18% decreases in the absolute and relative weights of the soleus, respectively (p less than or = 0.05); GH and IGF-I did not spare loss of soleus mass or protein content in HLS rats. HLS decreased tibial plate thickness approx. 11% (p less than or = 0.05), but not weights of the tibia or femus. GH and IGF-I increased tibial plate thickness approx. 30% (p less than or = 0.05), in ambulatory and HLS rats, and increased femur and tibial weights 12% (p less than or = 0.05) and 8% (NS), respectively, in ambulatory rats, but had no effect in HLS rats. Results of the present investigation suggest that GH and IGF-I can stimulate hypertrophy of slow-twitch skeletal muscle when chronically overloaded, but can also stimulate

Accelerated Testing Methodology Developed for Determining the Slow Crack Growth of Advanced Ceramics

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Sung R.; Gyekenyesi, John P.

1998-01-01

Constant stress-rate ("dynamic fatigue") testing has been used for several decades to characterize the slow crack growth behavior of glass and structural ceramics at both ambient and elevated temperatures. The advantage of such testing over other methods lies in its simplicity: strengths are measured in a routine manner at four or more stress rates by applying a constant displacement or loading rate. The slow crack growth parameters required for component design can be estimated from a relationship between strength and stress rate. With the proper use of preloading in constant stress-rate testing, test time can be reduced appreciably. If a preload corresponding to 50 percent of the strength is applied to the specimen prior to testing, 50 percent of the test time can be saved as long as the applied preload does not change the strength. In fact, it has been a common, empirical practice in the strength testing of ceramics or optical fibers to apply some preloading (<40 percent). The purpose of this work at the NASA Lewis Research Center is to study the effect of preloading on measured strength in order to add a theoretical foundation to the empirical practice.

Left ventricular dimensions, systolic functions, and mass in term neonates with symmetric and asymmetric intrauterine growth restriction.

Science.gov (United States)

Cinar, Bahar; Sert, Ahmet; Gokmen, Zeynel; Aypar, Ebru; Aslan, Eyup; Odabas, Dursun

2015-02-01

Previous studies have demonstrated structural changes in the heart and cardiac dysfunction in foetuses with intrauterine growth restriction. There are no available data that evaluated left ventricular dimensions and mass in neonates with symmetric and asymmetric intrauterine growth restriction. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate left ventricular dimensions, systolic functions, and mass in neonates with symmetric and asymmetric intrauterine growth restriction. We also assessed associated maternal risk factors, and compared results with healthy appropriate for gestational age neonates. In all, 62 asymmetric intrauterine growth restriction neonates, 39 symmetric intrauterine growth restriction neonates, and 50 healthy appropriate for gestational age neonates were evaluated by transthoracic echocardiography. The asymmetric intrauterine growth restriction group had significantly lower left ventricular end-systolic and end-diastolic diameters and posterior wall diameter in systole and diastole than the control group. The symmetric intrauterine growth restriction group had significantly lower left ventricular end-diastolic diameter than the control group. All left ventricular dimensions were lower in the asymmetric intrauterine growth restriction neonates compared with symmetric intrauterine growth restriction neonates (p>0.05), but not statistically significant except left ventricular posterior wall diameter in diastole (3.08±0.83 mm versus 3.54 ±0.72 mm) (pintrauterine growth restriction groups had significantly lower relative posterior wall thickness (0.54±0.19 versus 0.48±0.13 versus 0.8±0.12), left ventricular mass (9.8±4.3 g versus 8.9±3.4 g versus 22.2±5.7 g), and left ventricular mass index (63.6±29.1 g/m2 versus 54.5±24.4 g/m2 versus 109±28.8 g/m2) when compared with the control group. Our study has demonstrated that although neonates with both symmetric and asymmetric intrauterine growth restriction had lower left ventricular dimensions, relative

World's gas processing growth slows; U.S., Canada retain greatest share

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

True, W.R.

1994-01-01

Growth in the world's natural-gas processing industry slowed somewhat in 1993 after strong expansion a year earlier. In 1993, slower growth was more evenly distributed among the world's regions than in 1992 with the US and Canada adding capacity along with the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. The US and Canada continue to lead the world in capacity with more than 107 bcfd; in throughput with almost 76 bcfd; and in production with nearly 115 million gpd (2.7 million b/d). The two countries also continued to lead the world in petroleum-derived sulfur production with more than 54% of the world's capacity and production last year. The paper discusses industry trends; the picture in the US; activities in Texas, Louisiana, Alaska, Alabama, Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma; new capacity worldwide; expansion plans in North America; and sulfur recovery

Effects of Aqueous Solutions on the Slow Crack Growth of Soda-Lime-Silicate Glass

Science.gov (United States)

Hausmann, Bronson D.; Salem, Jonathan A.

2016-01-01

The slow crack growth (SCG) parameters of soda-lime-silicate were measured in distilled and saltwater of various concentrations in order to determine if the presence of salt and the contaminate formation of a weak sodium film affects stress corrosion susceptibility. Past research indicates that solvents affect the rate of crack growth; however, the effects of salt have not been studied. The results indicate a small but statistically significant effect on the SCG parameters A and n at high concentrations; however, for typical engineering purposes, the effect can be ignored.

Direct Numerical Simulation of a Compressible Reacting Boundary Layer using a Temporal Slow Growth Homogenization

Science.gov (United States)

Topalian, Victor; Oliver, Todd; Ulerich, Rhys; Moser, Robert

2013-11-01

A DNS of a compressible, reacting boundary layer flow at Reθ ~ 430 was performed using a temporal slow-growth homogenization, for a multispecies flow model of air at supersonic regime. The overall scenario parameters are related to those of the flow over an ablating surface of a space capsule upon Earth's atmospheric re-entry. The simulation algorithm features Fourier spatial discretization in the streamwise and spanwise directions, B-splines in the wall normal direction, and is marched semi-implicitly in time using the SMR91 scheme. Flow statistics will be presented for relevant flow quantities, in particular those related with RANS modeling. Since analogous slow growth computations can be performed using RANS to predict the flow mean profiles, the use of data gathered from this type of simulation as a vehicle for the calibration and uncertainty quantification of RANS models will be discussed. This work is supported by the Department of Energy [National Nuclear Security Administration] under Award Number [DE-FC52-08NA28615].

The slowness I cherish: An attempt at sociological and political self-analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Lannoy

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Providing short accounts of personal experiences of slow travelling, the paper analyses the dimensions that, in the eyes of the author, lend these practices a genuine consistency and value. ‘Slow travel’, however, is not just a personal aspiration; it is also promoted as a fully-fledged policy, under the name of ‘slow tourism’. Yet, does the policy’s slowness reflect the same type of experiences as those that bring so much personal satisfaction to the author? The paper answers this question through a detailed self-analysis of the conditions for personal enjoyment of slow travel experiences; it demonstrates that ‘un-embeddedness’, unusual body sensations and techniques, visual anticipation, and symbolic isolation are its main ingredients. These dimensions are then compared with the policy principles of ‘slow tourism’, arguing that these two forms of slowness share nothing in common but their name, because they prove to be based on radically distinct enjoyment structures.

Slow Growth and Optimal Approximation of Pseudoanalytic Functions on the Disk

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Devendra Kumar

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Pseudoanalytic functions (PAF are constructed as complex combination of real-valued analytic solutions to the Stokes-Betrami System. These solutions include the generalized biaxisymmetric potentials. McCoy [10] considered the approximation of pseudoanalytic functions on the disk. Kumar et al. [9] studied the generalized order and generalized type of PAF in terms of the Fourier coefficients occurring in its local expansion and optimal approximation errors in Bernstein sense on the disk. The aim of this paper is to improve the results of McCoy [10] and Kumar et al. [9]. Our results apply satisfactorily for slow growth.

Exponential energy growth due to slow parameter oscillations in quantum mechanical systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Turaev, Dmitry

2016-05-01

It is shown that a periodic emergence and destruction of an additional quantum number leads to an exponential growth of energy of a quantum mechanical system subjected to a slow periodic variation of parameters. The main example is given by systems (e.g., quantum billiards and quantum graphs) with periodically divided configuration space. In special cases, the process can also lead to a long period of cooling that precedes the acceleration, and to the desertion of the states with a particular value of the quantum number.

Berberine slows cell growth in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bonon, Anna; Mangolini, Alessandra; Pinton, Paolo; Senno, Laura del; Aguiari, Gianluca

2013-01-01

Highlights: •Berberine at appropriate doses slows cell proliferation in ADPKD cystic cells. •Reduction of cell growth by berberine occurs by inhibition of ERK and p70-S6 kinase. •Higher doses of berberine cause an overall cytotoxic effect. •Berberine overdose induces apoptotic bodies formation and DNA fragmentation. •Antiproliferative properties of this drug make it a new candidate for ADPKD therapy. -- Abstract: Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is the most common hereditary monogenic disorder characterized by development and enlargement of kidney cysts that lead to loss of renal function. It is caused by mutations in two genes (PKD1 and PKD2) encoding for polycystin-1 and polycystin-2 proteins which regulate different signals including cAMP, mTOR and EGFR pathways. Abnormal activation of these signals following PC1 or PC2 loss of function causes an increased cell proliferation which is a typical hallmark of this disease. Despite the promising findings obtained in animal models with targeted inhibitors able to reduce cystic cell growth, currently, no specific approved therapy for ADPKD is available. Therefore, the research of new more effective molecules could be crucial for the treatment of this severe pathology. In this regard, we have studied the effect of berberine, an isoquinoline quaternary alkaloid, on cell proliferation and apoptosis in human and mouse ADPKD cystic cell lines. Berberine treatment slows cell proliferation of ADPKD cystic cells in a dose-dependent manner and at high doses (100 μg/mL) it induces cell death in cystic cells as well as in normal kidney tubule cells. However, at 10 μg/mL, berberine reduces cell growth in ADPKD cystic cells only enhancing G 0 /G 1 phase of cell cycle and inhibiting ERK and p70-S6 kinases. Our results indicate that berberine shows a selected antiproliferative activity in cellular models for ADPKD, suggesting that this molecule and similar natural compounds could open new opportunities

Berberine slows cell growth in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bonon, Anna; Mangolini, Alessandra [Department of Biomedical and Specialty Surgical Sciences, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara (Italy); Pinton, Paolo [Department of Morphology, Surgery and Experimental Medicine, Section of General Pathology, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara (Italy); Senno, Laura del [Department of Biomedical and Specialty Surgical Sciences, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara (Italy); Aguiari, Gianluca, E-mail: dsn@unife.it [Department of Biomedical and Specialty Surgical Sciences, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara (Italy)

2013-11-22

Highlights: •Berberine at appropriate doses slows cell proliferation in ADPKD cystic cells. •Reduction of cell growth by berberine occurs by inhibition of ERK and p70-S6 kinase. •Higher doses of berberine cause an overall cytotoxic effect. •Berberine overdose induces apoptotic bodies formation and DNA fragmentation. •Antiproliferative properties of this drug make it a new candidate for ADPKD therapy. -- Abstract: Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is the most common hereditary monogenic disorder characterized by development and enlargement of kidney cysts that lead to loss of renal function. It is caused by mutations in two genes (PKD1 and PKD2) encoding for polycystin-1 and polycystin-2 proteins which regulate different signals including cAMP, mTOR and EGFR pathways. Abnormal activation of these signals following PC1 or PC2 loss of function causes an increased cell proliferation which is a typical hallmark of this disease. Despite the promising findings obtained in animal models with targeted inhibitors able to reduce cystic cell growth, currently, no specific approved therapy for ADPKD is available. Therefore, the research of new more effective molecules could be crucial for the treatment of this severe pathology. In this regard, we have studied the effect of berberine, an isoquinoline quaternary alkaloid, on cell proliferation and apoptosis in human and mouse ADPKD cystic cell lines. Berberine treatment slows cell proliferation of ADPKD cystic cells in a dose-dependent manner and at high doses (100 μg/mL) it induces cell death in cystic cells as well as in normal kidney tubule cells. However, at 10 μg/mL, berberine reduces cell growth in ADPKD cystic cells only enhancing G{sub 0}/G{sub 1} phase of cell cycle and inhibiting ERK and p70-S6 kinases. Our results indicate that berberine shows a selected antiproliferative activity in cellular models for ADPKD, suggesting that this molecule and similar natural compounds could open new

Energy strategy would slow coal's growth, says DOE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1991-01-01

The National Energy Strategy (NES) recently announced by the Bush Administration would slow the growth in use of coal by hundreds of millions of tons of coal by hundreds of millions of tons after 2000, according to the Department of Energy's (DOE) own figures. If today's policies are continued, coal consumption will nearly triple by 2030. Current annual consumption of more than 900 million tons (19 quadrillion Btus) would rise to 1,550 million tons in 2010 and to nearly 2,600 million tons by 2030. Coal's share of electricity generation, now about 55%, would grow to 75% by 2030 under the current policy base assumptions of the DOE. The NES, however, projects that surge of nuclear power plant construction will stem the growth of coal use. The strategy would still increase coal use, from 19 quadrillion Btus today to about 28 quads in 2010, but to only 32 quads by 2030. By 2030, coal would account for less than 50% of electricity generation under the NES. Total clean coal technologies capacity is substantially lower under the NES scenario case than under the clean coal actions alone. The strategy also contains good news for the coal industry in the short run. It holds out two main goals for coal policy: maintaining coal's competitiveness while meeting environmental, health and safety requirements; and creating a favorable export climate for US coal and coal technology

The influence of slow cooling on Y211 size and content in single-grain YBCO bulk superconductor through the infiltration-growth process

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ouerghi, A [Systems and Applied Mechanics Laboratory LASMAP, Polytechnic School of Tunisia, Rue El Kawarezmi La Marsa 743, Université de Carthage Tunis (Tunisia); Moutalbi, N., E-mail: nahed.moutalbi@yahoo.fr [Systems and Applied Mechanics Laboratory LASMAP, Polytechnic School of Tunisia, Rue El Kawarezmi La Marsa 743, Université de Carthage Tunis (Tunisia); Noudem, J.G. [CRISMAT-ENSICAEN (UMR-CNRS 6508), Université de Caen-Basse-Normandie, F-14050 Caen (France); LUSAC, Université de Caen-Basse-Normandie F-50130 Cherbourg-Octeville (France); M' chirgui, A. [Systems and Applied Mechanics Laboratory LASMAP, Polytechnic School of Tunisia, Rue El Kawarezmi La Marsa 743, Université de Carthage Tunis (Tunisia)

2017-03-15

Highlights: • YBCO bulk superconductors are produced by optimized Seeded Infiltration and Growth process. • The slow cooling time, in a fixed slow cooling temperature window, affects considerably the surface morphology and the bulk’s microstructure. • The Y211 particle’s size and content depend on the slow cooling time and its distribution behavior changes from one position to another. • There is an optimum slow cooling time, estimated to 88h, over which the shrinkage for both the liquid phase and the Y211 pellet is maximal, without any improvement of the crystal grain growth. • The magnetic trapped flux distribution for a given sample brings out the single grain characteristic. - Abstract: Highly textured YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 7-δ} (Y123) superconductors were produced using modified Textured Top Seeded Infiltration Growth (TSIG) process. The liquid source is made of only Y123 powder whereas the solid source is composed of Y{sub 2}BaCuO{sub 5} (Y211) powder. We aim to control the amount of liquid that infiltrates the solid pellet, which in turn controls the final amount of Y{sub 2}BaCuO{sub 5} particles in Y123 matrix. The effect of the slow cooling kinetics on sample morphology, on grain growth and on final microstructure was too investigated. It is shown that appropriate slow cooling time may also contribute to the control of the amount of Y211 inclusions in the final structure of Y123 bulk. We report herein the Y211 particle size and density distribution in the whole Y123 matrix. The present work proves that finest Y211 particles locate under the seed and that their size and density increase with distance from the seed.

Stall in Women's Real Wage Growth Slows Progress in Closing the Wage Gap. Briefing Paper.

Science.gov (United States)

Hartmann, Heidi; Whittaker, Julie

Since 1979, the wage gap between women and men has narrowed significantly, falling by more than 10 percent overall. The closing of the wage gap has slowed considerably in the 1990's, however, with women's real wages (adjusted for inflation) stagnating in recent year and men's wages continuing to decline. The lack of growth in both women's and…

Taking account of sample finite dimensions in processing measurements of double differential cross sections of slow neutron scattering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lisichkin, Yu.V.; Dovbenko, A.G.; Efimenko, B.A.; Novikov, A.G.; Smirenkina, L.D.; Tikhonova, S.I.

1979-01-01

Described is a method of taking account of finite sample dimensions in processing measurement results of double differential cross sections (DDCS) of slow neutron scattering. A necessity of corrective approach to the account taken of the effect of sample finite dimensions is shown, and, in particular, the necessity to conduct preliminary processing of DDCS, the account being taken of attenuation coefficients of single scattered neutrons (SSN) for measurements on the sample with a container, and on the container. Correction for multiple scattering (MS) calculated on the base of the dynamic model should be obtained, the account being taken of resolution effects. To minimize the effect of the dynamic model used in calculations it is preferred to make absolute measurements of DDCS and to use the subraction method. The above method was realized in the set of programs for the BESM-5 computer. The FISC program computes the coefficients of SSN attenuation and correction for MS. The DDS program serves to compute a model DDCS averaged as per the resolution function of an instrument. The SCATL program is intended to prepare initial information necessary for the FISC program, and permits to compute the scattering law for all materials. Presented are the results of using the above method while processing experimental data on measuring DDCS of water by the DIN-1M spectrometer

In vitro maintenance, under slow-growth conditions, of oil palm germplasm obtained by embryo rescue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julcéia Camillo

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The objective of this work was to evaluate the in vitro maintenance of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis and E. oleifera accessions under slow-growth conditions. Plants produced by embryo rescue were subject to 1/2MS culture medium supplemented with the carbohydrates sucrose, mannitol, and sorbitol at 1, 2, and 3% under 20 and 25±2ºC. After 12 months, the temperature of 20°C reduced plant growth. Sucrose is the most appropriate carbohydrate for maintaining the quality of the plants, whereas mannitol and sorbitol result in a reduced plant survival.

Growth and morphometrics of the box turtle, Terrapene c. carolina

Science.gov (United States)

Stickel, L.F.; Bunck, C.M.

1989-01-01

Growth of box turtles in a bottomland forest in Maryland was studied over a period of years (1944-1981). A bivariate analysis of age related growth showed that between 8 and 13 yr, male turtles grew at an average rate of 6.7% per year in carapace length, whereas females grew at 5.3% per year. Both males and females grew considerably more slowly between 14 and 19 years, males at 2.3% per year and females at 3.4% per year. Growth slowed still more in the twenties. Growth in the six other dimensions that were measured provided additional comparisons. Allometric analysis of the different carapace and plastron dimensions showed that among males length increased proportionally more than either width or height and that width increased more than height. Among females, only the greater increase of length than of width was statistically significant. Fully grown males were larger than females in all dimensions except height. Differences from the normal scutal pattern occurred in 16.8% of fully grown males and 18.4% of the females

Accelerated Testing Methodology for the Determination of Slow Crack Growth of Advanced Ceramics

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Sung R.; Salem, Jonathan A.; Gyekenyesi, John P.

1997-01-01

Constant stress-rate (dynamic fatigue) testing has been used for several decades to characterize slow crack growth behavior of glass and ceramics at both ambient and elevated temperatures. The advantage of constant stress-rate testing over other methods lies in its simplicity: Strengths are measured in a routine manner at four or more stress rates by applying a constant crosshead speed or constant loading rate. The slow crack growth parameters (n and A) required for design can be estimated from a relationship between strength and stress rate. With the proper use of preloading in constant stress-rate testing, an appreciable saving of test time can be achieved. If a preload corresponding to 50 % of the strength is applied to the specimen prior to testing, 50 % of the test time can be saved as long as the strength remains unchanged regardless of the applied preload. In fact, it has been a common, empirical practice in strength testing of ceramics or optical fibers to apply some preloading (less then 40%). The purpose of this work is to study the effect of preloading on the strength to lay a theoretical foundation on such an empirical practice. For this purpose, analytical and numerical solutions of strength as a function of preloading were developed. To verify the solution, constant stress-rate testing using glass and alumina at room temperature and alumina silicon nitride, and silicon carbide at elevated temperatures was conducted in a range of preloadings from O to 90 %.

1. Dimensions of sustainable development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Repetto, R.

1992-01-01

This chapter discusses the following topics: the concept of sustainable development; envisioning sustainable development (economic dimensions, human dimensions, environmental dimensions, technological dimensions); policy implications (economic policies, people-oriented policies, environmental policies, creating sustainable systems); and global issues (effect of war on development and the environment and the debt burden). This chapter also introduces the case studies by discussing the levels of economic development and comparing key trends (economic growth, human development, population growth, and energy use)

National Health Care Spending In 2016: Spending And Enrollment Growth Slow After Initial Coverage Expansions.

Science.gov (United States)

Hartman, Micah; Martin, Anne B; Espinosa, Nathan; Catlin, Aaron; The National Health Expenditure Accounts Team

2018-01-01

Total nominal US health care spending increased 4.3 percent and reached $3.3 trillion in 2016. Per capita spending on health care increased by $354, reaching $10,348. The share of gross domestic product devoted to health care spending was 17.9 percent in 2016, up from 17.7 percent in 2015. Health spending growth decelerated in 2016 following faster growth in 2014 and 2015 associated with coverage expansions under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and strong retail prescription drug spending growth. In 2016 the slowdown was broadly based, as spending for the largest categories by payer and by service decelerated. Enrollment trends drove the slowdown in Medicaid and private health insurance spending growth in 2016, while slower per enrollee spending growth influenced Medicare spending. Furthermore, spending for retail prescription drugs slowed, partly as a result of lower spending for drugs used to treat hepatitis C, while slower use and intensity of services drove the slowdown in hospital care and physician and clinical services.

Transformer Industry Productivity Slows.

Science.gov (United States)

Otto, Phyllis Flohr

1981-01-01

Annual productivity increases averaged 2.4 percent during 1963-79, slowing since 1972 to 1.5 percent; computer-assisted design and product standardization aided growth in output per employee-hour. (Author)

Perceptual dimensions differentiate emotions.

Science.gov (United States)

Cavanaugh, Lisa A; MacInnis, Deborah J; Weiss, Allen M

2015-08-26

Individuals often describe objects in their world in terms of perceptual dimensions that span a variety of modalities; the visual (e.g., brightness: dark-bright), the auditory (e.g., loudness: quiet-loud), the gustatory (e.g., taste: sour-sweet), the tactile (e.g., hardness: soft vs. hard) and the kinaesthetic (e.g., speed: slow-fast). We ask whether individuals use perceptual dimensions to differentiate emotions from one another. Participants in two studies (one where respondents reported on abstract emotion concepts and a second where they reported on specific emotion episodes) rated the extent to which features anchoring 29 perceptual dimensions (e.g., temperature, texture and taste) are associated with 8 emotions (anger, fear, sadness, guilt, contentment, gratitude, pride and excitement). Results revealed that in both studies perceptual dimensions differentiate positive from negative emotions and high arousal from low arousal emotions. They also differentiate among emotions that are similar in arousal and valence (e.g., high arousal negative emotions such as anger and fear). Specific features that anchor particular perceptual dimensions (e.g., hot vs. cold) are also differentially associated with emotions.

Activated-Lignite-Based Super Large Granular Slow-Release Fertilizers Improve Apple Tree Growth: Synthesis, Characterizations, and Laboratory and Field Evaluations.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Yafu; Wang, Xinying; Yang, Yuechao; Gao, Bin; Wan, Yongshan; Li, Yuncong C; Cheng, Dongdong

2017-07-26

In this work, lignite, a low-grade coal, was modified using the solid-phase activation method with the aid of a Pd/CeO 2 nanoparticle catalyst to improve its pore structure and nutrient absorption. Results indicate that the adsorption ability of the activated lignite to NO 3 - , NH 4 + , H 2 PO 4 - , and K + was significantly higher than that of raw lignite. The activated lignite was successfully combined with the polymeric slow-release fertilizer, which exhibits typical slow-release behavior, to prepare the super large granular activated lignite slow-release fertilizer (SAF). In addition to the slow-release ability, the SAF showed excellent water-retention capabilities. Soil column leaching experiments further confirmed the slow-release characteristics of the SAF with fertilizer nutrient loss greatly reduced in comparison to traditional and slow-release fertilizers. Furthermore, field tests of the SAF in an orchard showed that the novel SAF was better than other tested fertilizers in improve the growth of young apple trees. Findings from this study suggest that the newly developed SAF has great potential to be used in apple cultivation and production systems in the future.

Analysis and investigation of temperature and hydrostatic pressure effects on optical characteristics of multiple quantum well slow light devices.

Science.gov (United States)

Abdolhosseini, Saeed; Kohandani, Reza; Kaatuzian, Hassan

2017-09-10

This paper represents the influences of temperature and hydrostatic pressure variations on GaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum well slow light systems based on coherence population oscillations. An analytical model in non-integer dimension space is used to study the considerable effects of these parameters on optical properties of the slow light apparatus. Exciton oscillator strength and fractional dimension constants have special roles on the analytical model in fractional dimension. Hence, the impacts of hydrostatic pressure and temperature on exciton oscillator strength and fractional dimension quantity are investigated theoretically in this paper. Based on the achieved results, temperature and hydrostatic pressure play key roles on optical parameters of the slow light systems, such as the slow down factor and central energy of the device. It is found that the slope and value of the refractive index real part change with alterations of temperature and hydrostatic pressure in the range of 5-40 deg of Kelvin and 1 bar to 2 kbar, respectively. Thus, the peak value of the slow down factor can be adjusted by altering these parameters. Moreover, the central energy of the device shifts when the hydrostatic pressure is applied to the slow light device or temperature is varied. In comparison with previous reported experimental results, our simulations follow them successfully. It is shown that the maximum value of the slow down factor is estimated close to 5.5×10 4 with a fine adjustment of temperature and hydrostatic pressure. Meanwhile, the central energy shift of the slow light device rises up to 27 meV, which provides an appropriate basis for different optical devices in which multiple quantum well slow light is one of their essential subsections. This multiple quantum well slow light device has potential applications for use as a tunable optical buffer and pressure/temperature sensors.

Single crystal growth of 67%BiFeO3-33%BaTiO3 solution by the floating zone method

Science.gov (United States)

Rong, Y.; Zheng, H.; Krogstad, M. J.; Mitchell, J. F.; Phelan, D.

2018-01-01

The growth conditions and the resultant grain morphologies and phase purities from floating-zone growth of 67%BiFeO3-33%BaTiO3 (BF-33BT) single crystals are reported. We find two formidable challenges for the growth. First, a low-melting point constituent leads to a pre-melt zone in the feed-rod that adversely affects growth stability. Second, constitutional super-cooling (CSC), which was found to lead to dendritic and columnar features in the grain morphology, necessitates slow traveling rates during growth. Both challenges were addressed by modifications to the floating-zone furnace that steepened the temperature gradient at the melt-solid interfaces. Slow growth was also required to counter the effects of CSC. Single crystals with typical dimensions of hundreds of microns have been obtained which possess high quality and are suitable for detailed structural studies.

Single crystal growth of 67%BiFeO 3 -33%BaTiO 3 solution by the floating zone method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rong, Y.; Zheng, H.; Krogstad, M. J.; Mitchell, J. F.; Phelan, D.

2018-01-01

The growth conditions and the resultant grain morphologies and phase purities from floating-zone growth of 67%BiFeO3-33%BaTiO3 (BF-33BT) single crystals are reported. We find two formidable challenges for the growth. First, a low-melting point constituent leads to a pre-melt zone in the feed-rod that adversely affects growth stability. Second, constitutional super-cooling (CSC), which was found to lead to dendritic and columnar features in the grain morphology, necessitates slow traveling rates during growth. Both challenges were addressed by modifications to the floating-zone furnace that steepened the temperature gradient at the melt-solid interfaces. Slow growth was also required to counter the effects of CSC. Single crystals with typical dimensions of hundreds of microns have been obtained which possess high quality and are suitable for detailed structural studies.

Insect outbreak shifts the direction of selection from fast to slow growth rates in the long-lived conifer Pinus ponderosa.

Science.gov (United States)

de la Mata, Raul; Hood, Sharon; Sala, Anna

2017-07-11

Long generation times limit species' rapid evolution to changing environments. Trees provide critical global ecosystem services, but are under increasing risk of mortality because of climate change-mediated disturbances, such as insect outbreaks. The extent to which disturbance changes the dynamics and strength of selection is unknown, but has important implications on the evolutionary potential of tree populations. Using a 40-y-old Pinus ponderosa genetic experiment, we provide rare evidence of context-dependent fluctuating selection on growth rates over time in a long-lived species. Fast growth was selected at juvenile stages, whereas slow growth was selected at mature stages under strong herbivory caused by a mountain pine beetle ( Dendroctonus ponderosae ) outbreak. Such opposing forces led to no net evolutionary response over time, thus providing a mechanism for the maintenance of genetic diversity on growth rates. Greater survival to mountain pine beetle attack in slow-growing families reflected, in part, a host-based life-history trade-off. Contrary to expectations, genetic effects on tree survival were greatest at the peak of the outbreak and pointed to complex defense responses. Our results suggest that selection forces in tree populations may be more relevant than previously thought, and have implications for tree population responses to future environments and for tree breeding programs.

Preloading To Accelerate Slow-Crack-Growth Testing

Science.gov (United States)

Gyekenyesi, John P.; Choi, Sung R.; Pawlik, Ralph J.

2004-01-01

An accelerated-testing methodology has been developed for measuring the slow-crack-growth (SCG) behavior of brittle materials. Like the prior methodology, the accelerated-testing methodology involves dynamic fatigue ( constant stress-rate) testing, in which a load or a displacement is applied to a specimen at a constant rate. SCG parameters or life prediction parameters needed for designing components made of the same material as that of the specimen are calculated from the relationship between (1) the strength of the material as measured in the test and (2) the applied stress rate used in the test. Despite its simplicity and convenience, dynamic fatigue testing as practiced heretofore has one major drawback: it is extremely time-consuming, especially at low stress rates. The present accelerated methodology reduces the time needed to test a specimen at a given rate of applied load, stress, or displacement. Instead of starting the test from zero applied load or displacement as in the prior methodology, one preloads the specimen and increases the applied load at the specified rate (see Figure 1). One might expect the preload to alter the results of the test and indeed it does, but fortunately, it is possible to account for the effect of the preload in interpreting the results. The accounting is done by calculating the normalized strength (defined as the strength in the presence of preload the strength in the absence of preload) as a function of (1) the preloading factor (defined as the preload stress the strength in the absence of preload) and (2) a SCG parameter, denoted n, that is used in a power-law crack-speed formulation. Figure 2 presents numerical results from this theoretical calculation.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis Is Resistant to Isoniazid at a Slow Growth Rate by Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in katG Codon Ser315.

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Rose E Jeeves

Full Text Available An important aim for improving TB treatment is to shorten the period of antibiotic therapy without increasing relapse rates or encouraging the development of antibiotic-resistant strains. In any M. tuberculosis population there is a proportion of bacteria that are drug-tolerant; this might be because of pre-existing populations of slow growing/non replicating bacteria that are protected from antibiotic action due to the expression of a phenotype that limits drug activity. We addressed this question by observing populations of either slow growing (constant 69.3h mean generation time or fast growing bacilli (constant 23.1h mean generation time in their response to the effects of isoniazid exposure, using controlled and defined growth in chemostats. Phenotypic differences were detected between the populations at the two growth rates including expression of efflux mechanisms and the involvement of antisense RNA/small RNA in the regulation of a drug-tolerant phenotype, which has not been explored previously for M. tuberculosis. Genotypic analyses showed that slow growing bacilli develop resistance to isoniazid through mutations specifically in katG codon Ser315 which are present in approximately 50-90% of all isoniazid-resistant clinical isolates. The fast growing bacilli persisted as a mixed population with katG mutations distributed throughout the gene. Mutations in katG codon Ser315 appear to have a fitness cost in vitro and particularly in fast growing cultures. Our results suggest a requirement for functional katG-encoded catalase-peroxide in the slow growers but not the fast-growing bacteria, which may explain why katG codon Ser315 mutations are favoured in the slow growing cultures.

Hydrogen Absorption Induced Slow Crack Growth in Austenitic Stainless Steels for Petrochemical Pressure Vessel Industries

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Ronnie Rusli

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Type 304Land type 309 austenitic stainless steels were tested either by exposed to gaseous hydrogen or undergoing polarized cathodic charging. Slow crack growth by straining was observed in type 304L, and the formation of α‘ martensite was indicated to be precursor for such cracking. Gross plastic deformation was observed at the tip of the notch, and a single crack grew slowly from this region in a direction approximately perpendicular to the tensile axis. Martensite formation is not a necessary condition for hydrogen embrittlement in the austenitic phase.

Blowup for flat slow manifolds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristiansen, Kristian Uldall

2017-01-01

In this paper, we present a way of extending the blowup method, in the formulation of Krupa and Szmolyan, to flat slow manifolds that lose hyperbolicity beyond any algebraic order. Although these manifolds have infinite co-dimensions, they do appear naturally in certain settings; for example, in (a......) the regularization of piecewise smooth systems by tanh, (b) a particular aircraft landing dynamics model, and finally (c) in a model of earthquake faulting. We demonstrate the approach using a simple model system and the examples (a) and (b)....

Blowup for flat slow manifolds

Science.gov (United States)

Kristiansen, K. U.

2017-05-01

In this paper, we present a way of extending the blowup method, in the formulation of Krupa and Szmolyan, to flat slow manifolds that lose hyperbolicity beyond any algebraic order. Although these manifolds have infinite co-dimensions, they do appear naturally in certain settings; for example, in (a) the regularization of piecewise smooth systems by \\tanh , (b) a particular aircraft landing dynamics model, and finally (c) in a model of earthquake faulting. We demonstrate the approach using a simple model system and the examples (a) and (b).

Echocardiographic dimensions and function in adults with primary growth hormone resistance (Laron syndrome).

Science.gov (United States)

Feinberg, M S; Scheinowitz, M; Laron, Z

2000-01-15

Patients with primary growth hormone (GH) resistance-Laron Syndrome (LS)-have no GH signal transmission, and thus, no generation of circulating insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), and should serve as a unique model to explore the controversies concerning the longterm effect of GH/IGF-I deficiency on cardiac dimension and function. We assessed 8 patients with LS (4 men, 4 women) with a mean (+/- SD) age of 38+/-7 years (range 22 to 45), and 8 aged-matched controls (4 men, 4 women) with a mean age of 38+/-9 years (range 18 to 47) by echocardiography at rest, following exercise, and during dobutamine administration. Left ventricular (LV) septum, posterior wall, and end-diastolic diameter were significantly reduced in untreated patients with LS compared with the control group (p<0.05 for all). Systolic Doppler-derived parameters, including LV stroke volume, stroke index, cardiac output, and cardiac index, were significantly lower (p<0.05 for all) than in the control subjects, whereas LV diastolic Doppler parameters, including mitral valve waves E, A, E/A ratio, and E deceleration time, were similar in both groups. LV ejection fraction at rest as well as the stress-induced increment of the LV ejection fraction were similar in both groups. Our results show that untreated patients with long-term IGF-I deficiency have reduced cardiac dimensions and output but normal LV ejection fraction at rest and LV contractile reserve following stress.

Effect of a free-range raising system on growth performance, carcass yield, and meat quality of slow-growing chicken.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, K H; Shi, S R; Dou, T C; Sun, H J

2009-10-01

Experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of free-range raising systems on growth performance, carcass yield, and meat quality of slow-growing chickens. Slow-growing female chickens, Gushi chickens, were selected as the experimental birds. Two hundred 1-d-old female chicks were raised in a pen for 35 d. On d 36, ninety healthy birds, with similar BW (353.7+/-32.1g), were selected and randomly assigned to 2 treatments (indoor treatment and free-range treatment, P>0.05). Each treatment was represented by 3 groups containing 15 birds (45 birds per treatment). During the indoor treatment, the chickens were raised in floor pens in a conventional poultry research house (7 birds/m2). In the free-range treatment, the chickens were housed in a similar indoor house (7 birds/m2); in addition, they also had a free-range grass paddock (1 bird/m2). All birds were provided with the same starter and finisher diets and were raised for 112 d. Results showed that the BW and weight gain of the chickens in the free-range treatment were much lower than that of the chickens in the indoor floor treatments (Pfree-range raising system on eviscerated carcass, breast, thigh, and wing yield (P>0.05). However, the abdominal fat yield and tibia strength (P0.05) by the free-range raising system. The data indicated that the free-range raising system could significantly reduce growth performance, abdominal fat, and tibia strength, but with no effect on carcass traits and meat quality in slow-growing chickens.

Time-lagged autoencoders: Deep learning of slow collective variables for molecular kinetics

Science.gov (United States)

Wehmeyer, Christoph; Noé, Frank

2018-06-01

Inspired by the success of deep learning techniques in the physical and chemical sciences, we apply a modification of an autoencoder type deep neural network to the task of dimension reduction of molecular dynamics data. We can show that our time-lagged autoencoder reliably finds low-dimensional embeddings for high-dimensional feature spaces which capture the slow dynamics of the underlying stochastic processes—beyond the capabilities of linear dimension reduction techniques.

Impact of Globalisation On Economic Growth in Romania: An Empirical Analysis of Its Economic, Social and Political Dimensions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olimpia Neagu

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The paper analyses the link between globalisation and economic growth in Romania for a time span of 24 years. Data from World Bank were used in an econometrical model in order to highlight the impact of globalisation, expressed by the KOF globalisation index and its components (economic, social and political globalisation indices on economic growth rate. A statistical strong and positive link is found between GDP per capita dynamics and overall globalisation index as well as between GDP growth rate and economic and political globalisation, except the social dimension of globalisation which has a negative impact on economic growth in Romania for the time span 1990-2013.

Different transcriptional responses from slow and fast growth rate strains of Listeria monocytogenes adapted to low temperature

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Ninoska eCordero

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Listeria monocytogenes has become one of the principal foodborne pathogens worldwide. The capacity of this bacterium to grow at low temperatures has opened an interesting field of study in terms of the identification and classification of new strains of L. monocytogenes with different growth capacities at low temperatures. We determined the growth rate at 8 ºC of 110 strains of L. monocytogenes isolated from different food matrices. We identified a group of slow and fast strains according to their growth rate at 8 °C and performed a global transcriptomic assay in strains previously adapted to low temperature. We then identified shared and specific transcriptional mechanisms, metabolic and cellular processes of both groups; bacterial motility was the principal process capable of differentiating the adaptation capacity of L. monocytogenes strains with different ranges of tolerance to low temperatures. Strains belonging to the fast group were less motile, which may allow these strains to achieve a greater rate of proliferation at low temperature.

Host gut-derived probiotic bacteria promote hypertrophic muscle progression and upregulate growth-related gene expression of slow-growing Malaysian Mahseer Tor tambroides

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Md Asaduzzaman

2018-02-01

Full Text Available In modern aquaculture, dietary supplementation of probiotics is a novel approach for enhancing growth performance of slow-growing fish. However, the actual role of probiotics in regulating muscle growth at cellular and molecular levels in fish still needs to be clarified. In this study, we hypothesized that host gut derived probiotic bacteria would enhance cellular muscle growth, and upregulate growth-related gene expression in slow-growing Malaysian mahseer Tor tambroides. Therefore, three host-associated probiotics (Bacillus sp. AHG22, Alcaligenes sp. AFG22, and Shewanella sp. AFG21 were isolated from the gastro-intestinal tract of T. tambroides and screened based on their digestive enzyme activity. A fishmeal and casein based control diet (40% crude protein and 10% lipid was formulated, and three different probiotic supplemented diets were prepared by immersing the control diet in each isolated host-derived bacteria, suspended in sterile phosphate buffered saline (PBS, to achieve a final concentration of approximately 1.0 × 108 CFU g−1 feed. Triplicate groups of T. tambroides juveniles (initial weight 1.39 ± 0.06 g were stocked in twelve glass aquaria (100 L capacity with stocking density of 20 individuals per aquarium. The feed was applied twice daily at 3.0% of the fish body weight per day for 90 days. Growth performance (weight gain and specific growth rate of T. tambroides juveniles were significantly higher in Alcaligenes sp. AFG22 and Bacillus sp. AHG22 supplemented diet treatments. Muscle morphometric analysis revealed that dietary supplementation of host-associated probiotic bacteria did not influence the frequency distribution of hyperplastic (class 10 small diameter fibers (≤10 μm. However, hypertrophic (Class 50, Class 60 and Class 70 large diameter fibers (>50 μm were significantly higher in Alcaligenes sp. AFG22 and Bacillus sp. AHG22 supplemented treatments, indicating that increased growth rate of T

Assessment of the microbial growth potential of slow sand filtrate with the biomass production potential test in comparison with the assimilable organic carbon method.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Kooij, Dick; Veenendaal, Harm R; van der Mark, Ed J; Dignum, Marco

2017-11-15

Slow sand filtration is the final treatment step at four surface-water supplies in the Netherlands. The microbial growth potential (MGP) of the finished water was measured with the assimilable organic carbon (AOC) method using pure cultures and the biomass production potential (BPP) test. In the BPP test, water samples were incubated untreated at 25 °C and the active-biomass concentration was measured by adenosine tri-phosphate (ATP) analysis. Addition of a river-water inoculum improved the test performance and characteristic growth and maintenance profiles of the water were obtained. The maximum ATP concentration attained within seven days and the cumulative biomass production after 14 days of incubation (BPC 14 , d ng ATP L -1 ) showed highly significant and strong linear relationships with the AOC in the slow sand filtrates. The lowest AOC and BPC 14 levels were observed in the supplies applying dune filtration without ozonation in post treatment, with AOC/TOC = 1.7 ± 0.3 μg acetate-C equivalents mg -1 C and BPC 14 /TOC = 16.3 ± 2.2 d ng ATP mg -1 C, corresponding with 1.2 ± 0.19 ng ATP mg -1 C. These characteristics may represent the lowest specific MGP of natural organic matter achievable by biofiltration at temperatures ≤20 °C. The AOC and BPC 14 concentrations in the slow sand filtrate of the supply treating lake water by ozonation with granular-activated-carbon filtration and slow sand filtration as post treatment increased with decreasing temperature. The BPP test revealed that this slow sand filtrate sampled at 2 °C contained growth-promoting compounds that were not detected with the AOC test. These observations demonstrate the utility of the BPP test for assessing the MGP of drinking water and show the performance limits of biofiltration for MGP reduction. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

FROM SLOW FOOD TO SLOW TOURISM

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Bac Dorin Paul

2014-12-01

Full Text Available One of the effects of globalization is the faster pace of our lives. This rhythm can be noticed in all aspects of life: travel, work, shopping, etc. and it has serious negative effects. It has become common knowledge that stress and speed generate serious medical issues. Food and eating habits in the modern world have taken their toll on our health. However, some people took a stand and argued for a new kind of lifestyle. It all started in the field of gastronomy, where a new movement emerged – Slow Food, based on the ideas and philosophy of Carlo Petrini. Slow Food represents an important adversary to the concept of fast food, and is promoting local products, enjoyable meals and healthy food. The philosophy of the Slow Food movement developed in several directions: Cittaslow, slow travel and tourism, slow religion and slow money etc. The present paper will account the evolution of the concept and its development during the most recent years. We will present how the philosophy of slow food was applied in all the other fields it reached and some critical points of view. Also we will focus on the presence of the slow movement in Romania, although it is in a very early stage of development. The main objectives of the present paper are: to present the chronological and ideological evolution of the slow movement; to establish a clear separation of slow travel and slow tourism, as many mistake on for the other; to review the presence of the slow movement in Romania. Regarding the research methodology, information was gathered from relevant academic papers and books and also from interviews and discussions with local entrepreneurs. The research is mostly theoretical and empirical, as slow food and slow tourism are emerging research themes in academic circles.

THE ROLE OF FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS ON THE GROWTH OF ITALIAN SOCIAL COOPERATIVES

OpenAIRE

Francesco Agliata; Caterina Ferrone; Danilo Tuccillo

2014-01-01

The Third Sector in Italy records a slow but constant growth due to the increase of the number of entities but not of their dimension. The difficulties in financial management, generated by a low attraction of debt and equity financial resources and a low level of managerial skills characterized the non profit organizations. Focused on the social cooperatives, the article describe the effects on the financial structure of innovative financial instruments as the participative loan. In the last...

The Potential of/for 'Slow': Slow Tourists and Slow Destinations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Guiver

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Slow tourism practices are nothing new; in fact, they were once the norm and still are for millions of people whose annual holiday is spent camping, staying in caravans, rented accommodation, with friends and relations or perhaps in a second home, who immerse themselves in their holiday environment, eat local food, drink local wine and walk or cycle around the area. So why a special edition about slow tourism? Like many aspects of life once considered normal (such as organic farming or free-range eggs, the emergence of new practices has highlighted differences and prompted a re-evaluation of once accepted practices and values. In this way, the concept of ‘slow tourism’ has recently appeared as a type of tourism that contrasts with many contemporary mainstream tourism practices. It has also been associated with similar trends already ‘branded’ slow: slow food and cittaslow (slow towns and concepts such as mindfulness, savouring and well-being.

The influence of the growth conditions of the plague microbe vaccine strain colonies on the fractal dimension of biospeckles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ul'yanov, A S; Lyapina, A M; Ulianova, O V; Fedorova, V A; Uianov, S S

2011-01-01

Specific statistical characteristics of biospeckles, emerging under the diffraction of coherent beams on the bacterial colonies, are studied. The dependence of the fractal dimensions of biospeckles on the conditions of both illumination and growth of the colonies is studied theoretically and experimentally. Particular attention is paid to the fractal properties of biospeckles, emerging under the scattering of light by the colonies of the vaccinal strain of the plague microbe. The possibility in principle to classify the colonies of Yersinia pestis EV NIIEG using the fractal dimension analysis is demonstrated. (optical technologies in biophysics and medicine)

Trace incorporation of heavy water reveals slow and heterogeneous pathogen growth rates in cystic fibrosis sputum

Science.gov (United States)

Kopf, Sebastian H.; Sessions, Alex L.; Cowley, Elise S.; Reyes, Carmen; Van Sambeek, Lindsey; Hu, Yang; Orphan, Victoria J.; Kato, Roberta; Newman, Dianne K.

2016-01-01

Effective treatment for chronic infections is undermined by a significant gap in understanding of the physiological state of pathogens at the site of infection. Chronic pulmonary infections are responsible for the morbidity and mortality of millions of immunocompromised individuals worldwide, yet drugs that are successful in laboratory culture are far less effective against pathogen populations persisting in vivo. Laboratory models, upon which preclinical development of new drugs is based, can only replicate host conditions when we understand the metabolic state of the pathogens and the degree of heterogeneity within the population. In this study, we measured the anabolic activity of the pathogen Staphylococcus aureus directly in the sputum of pediatric patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), by combining the high sensitivity of isotope ratio mass spectrometry with a heavy water labeling approach to capture the full range of in situ growth rates. Our results reveal S. aureus generation times with a median of 2.1 d, with extensive growth rate heterogeneity at the single-cell level. These growth rates are far below the detection limit of previous estimates of CF pathogen growth rates, and the rates are slowest in acutely sick patients undergoing pulmonary exacerbations; nevertheless, they are accessible to experimental replication within laboratory models. Treatment regimens that include specific antibiotics (vancomycin, piperacillin/tazobactam, tobramycin) further appear to correlate with slow growth of S. aureus on average, but follow-up longitudinal studies must be performed to determine whether this effect holds for individual patients.

Communication: Estimating the initial biasing potential for λ-local-elevation umbrella-sampling (λ-LEUS) simulations via slow growth

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bieler, Noah S.; Hünenberger, Philippe H., E-mail: phil@igc.phys.chem.ethz.ch [Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, ETH Zürich, CH-8093 Zürich (Switzerland)

2014-11-28

In a recent article [Bieler et al., J. Chem. Theory Comput. 10, 3006–3022 (2014)], we introduced a combination of the λ-dynamics (λD) approach for calculating alchemical free-energy differences and of the local-elevation umbrella-sampling (LEUS) memory-based biasing method to enhance the sampling along the alchemical coordinate. The combined scheme, referred to as λ-LEUS, was applied to the perturbation of hydroquinone to benzene in water as a test system, and found to represent an improvement over thermodynamic integration (TI) in terms of sampling efficiency at equivalent accuracy. However, the preoptimization of the biasing potential required in the λ-LEUS method requires “filling up” all the basins in the potential of mean force. This introduces a non-productive pre-sampling time that is system-dependent, and generally exceeds the corresponding equilibration time in a TI calculation. In this letter, a remedy is proposed to this problem, termed the slow growth memory guessing (SGMG) approach. Instead of initializing the biasing potential to zero at the start of the preoptimization, an approximate potential of mean force is estimated from a short slow growth calculation, and its negative used to construct the initial memory. Considering the same test system as in the preceding article, it is shown that of the application of SGMG in λ-LEUS permits to reduce the preoptimization time by about a factor of four.

Communication: Estimating the initial biasing potential for λ-local-elevation umbrella-sampling (λ-LEUS) simulations via slow growth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bieler, Noah S.; Hünenberger, Philippe H.

2014-01-01

In a recent article [Bieler et al., J. Chem. Theory Comput. 10, 3006–3022 (2014)], we introduced a combination of the λ-dynamics (λD) approach for calculating alchemical free-energy differences and of the local-elevation umbrella-sampling (LEUS) memory-based biasing method to enhance the sampling along the alchemical coordinate. The combined scheme, referred to as λ-LEUS, was applied to the perturbation of hydroquinone to benzene in water as a test system, and found to represent an improvement over thermodynamic integration (TI) in terms of sampling efficiency at equivalent accuracy. However, the preoptimization of the biasing potential required in the λ-LEUS method requires “filling up” all the basins in the potential of mean force. This introduces a non-productive pre-sampling time that is system-dependent, and generally exceeds the corresponding equilibration time in a TI calculation. In this letter, a remedy is proposed to this problem, termed the slow growth memory guessing (SGMG) approach. Instead of initializing the biasing potential to zero at the start of the preoptimization, an approximate potential of mean force is estimated from a short slow growth calculation, and its negative used to construct the initial memory. Considering the same test system as in the preceding article, it is shown that of the application of SGMG in λ-LEUS permits to reduce the preoptimization time by about a factor of four

Statistical mechanics of normal grain growth in one dimension: A partial integro-differential equation model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ng, Felix S.L.

2016-01-01

We develop a statistical-mechanical model of one-dimensional normal grain growth that does not require any drift-velocity parameterization for grain size, such as used in the continuity equation of traditional mean-field theories. The model tracks the population by considering grain sizes in neighbour pairs; the probability of a pair having neighbours of certain sizes is determined by the size-frequency distribution of all pairs. Accordingly, the evolution obeys a partial integro-differential equation (PIDE) over ‘grain size versus neighbour grain size’ space, so that the grain-size distribution is a projection of the PIDE's solution. This model, which is applicable before as well as after statistically self-similar grain growth has been reached, shows that the traditional continuity equation is invalid outside this state. During statistically self-similar growth, the PIDE correctly predicts the coarsening rate, invariant grain-size distribution and spatial grain size correlations observed in direct simulations. The PIDE is then reducible to the standard continuity equation, and we derive an explicit expression for the drift velocity. It should be possible to formulate similar parameterization-free models of normal grain growth in two and three dimensions.

Preliminary characterization of slow growing rhizobial strains ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

COMPAQ

2016-05-18

May 18, 2016 ... strains had a very slow growth rate in yeast malt (YM) agar medium, forming colonies less than 1 mm in ... dominant genus of symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria ... Single colonies were picked up and checked for purity by.

Delayed growth

Science.gov (United States)

... Slow rate of growth; Retarded growth and development; Growth delay Images Toddler development References Cooke DW, Divall SA, Radovick S. Normal and aberrant growth in children. In: Melmed S, Polonsky KS, Larsen PR, ...

The space charge effects on the slow extraction process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohmori, Chihiro.

1992-06-01

The calculation of the slow extraction which includes the space charge effects has been performed for the Compressor/Stretcher Ring (CSR) of the proposed Japanese Hadron Project. We have investigated the slow extraction of 1 GeV proton beam with an average current of 100μA. Calculation shows not only the emittance growth of the extracted beam but also decrease of the extraction efficiency and discontinuity of beam spill. (author)

Intermittent behavior of fast and slow target fragments from 16O-AgBr interactions at 3.7 A GeV

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Junsheng; Zhang Donghai; Liu Fuhu

2008-01-01

Angular distributions of fast and slow target particles produced in 16 O-AgBr interaction at 3.7 A GeV have been reported. Intermittency and fractal behavior have been studied for emission spectra of target associated fast and slow particles. Intermittent behavior is observed for both knocked out and slow target fragments. In both the cases anomalous dimensions are seen to increase with the order of moments thereby indicating the association of multifractility with production mechanism of both fast and slow target associated particles

Phase transitions in tumor growth: IV relationship between metabolic rate and fractal dimension of human tumor cells

Science.gov (United States)

Betancourt-Mar, J. A.; Llanos-Pérez, J. A.; Cocho, G.; Mansilla, R.; Martin, R. R.; Montero, S.; Nieto-Villar, J. M.

2017-05-01

By the use of thermodynamics formalism of irreversible processes, complex systems theory and systems biology, it is derived a relationship between the production of entropy per unit time, the fractal dimension and the tumor growth rate for human tumors cells. The thermodynamics framework developed demonstrates that, the dissipation function is a Landau potential and also the Lyapunov function of the dynamical behavior of tumor growth, which indicate the directional character, stability and robustness of the phenomenon. The entropy production rate may be used as a quantitative index of the metastatic potential of tumors. The current theoretical framework will hopefully provide a better understanding of cancer and contribute to improvements in cancer treatment.

Experimental study of the crack depth ratio threshold to analyze the slow crack growth by creep of high density polyethylene pipes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laiarinandrasana, Lucien; Devilliers, Clémence; Lucatelli, Jean Marc; Gaudichet-Maurin, Emmanuelle; Brossard, Jean Michel

2014-01-01

To assess the durability of drinking water connection pipes subjected to oxidation and slow crack growth, a comprehensive database was constructed on a novel specimen geometry: the pre-cracked NOL ring. 135 tests were carried out consisting of initial crack depth ratio ranging from 0.08 to 0.6; single or double longitudinal cracks: tensile with steady strain rate and creep loading. A threshold value of the crack depth ratio of 0.2, induced by the oxidation was determined by analyzing several mechanical parameters. This threshold value was shown to be independent on the strain rate effects, single or double crack configuration and the kind of loading: tensile or creep. Creep test results with crack depth ratio larger than 0.2 were then utilized to establish a failure assessment diagram. A methodology allowing the prediction of residual lifetime of in-service pipes was proposed, using this diagram. - Highlights: • Experimental data on pre-cracked rings featuring a longitudinally cracked HDPE pipe. • Crack depth ratio threshold for slow crack growth study consecutive to oxidation. • Investigation of the effects of the single/double notch(es) and of the strain rate. • Original results obtained from tests performed with tensile and creep loadings. • Correlation between creep initiation time and C* with DENT and ring specimens

The fractal spatial distribution of pancreatic islets in three dimensions: a self-avoiding growth model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jo, Junghyo; Periwal, Vipul; Hörnblad, Andreas; Ahlgren, Ulf; Kilimnik, German; Hara, Manami

2013-01-01

The islets of Langerhans, responsible for controlling blood glucose levels, are dispersed within the pancreas. A universal power law governing the fractal spatial distribution of islets in two-dimensional pancreatic sections has been reported. However, the fractal geometry in the actual three-dimensional pancreas volume, and the developmental process that gives rise to such a self-similar structure, has not been investigated. Here, we examined the three-dimensional spatial distribution of islets in intact mouse pancreata using optical projection tomography and found a power law with a fractal dimension of 2.1. Furthermore, based on two-dimensional pancreatic sections of human autopsies, we found that the distribution of human islets also follows a universal power law with a fractal dimension of 1.5 in adult pancreata, which agrees with the value previously reported in smaller mammalian pancreas sections. Finally, we developed a self-avoiding growth model for the development of the islet distribution and found that the fractal nature of the spatial islet distribution may be associated with the self-avoidance in the branching process of vascularization in the pancreas. (paper)

Mass anomalous dimension in SU(2) with six fundamental fermions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bursa, Francis; Del Debbio, Luigi; Keegan, Liam

2010-01-01

We simulate SU(2) gauge theory with six massless fundamental Dirac fermions. We measure the running of the coupling and the mass in the Schroedinger Functional scheme. We observe very slow running of the coupling constant. We measure the mass anomalous dimension gamma, and find it is between 0.13...

Effect of evaporation on the growth kinetics in a model for two species

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Nashar, Hassan F.

2002-02-01

A surface growth model for two species is proposed, when deposition, surface diffusion and evaporation are considered, in (1+1)-dimensions. A Monte Carlo simulation is carried out, focusing on the effect of evaporation on the evolution of the amount of roughness. The results show that the interplay between deposition, surface diffusion and evaporation slows down the rate of growth of the surface width. In addition, when the rate of evaporation increases, the surface width grows faster to a higher value, in comparison to the case of low rate of evaporation. This introduces changes in the scaling exponents which show that evaporation should be given equal or as much consideration as deposition and surface relaxation. (author)

Slow growth efforts renewed in Iran.

Science.gov (United States)

Aghajanian, A

1992-10-01

Iran's first population policy was developed under the Shah in 1967. Policymakers brought in with the Islamic Revolution of 1979, however, rejected much of the earlier regime's views on women and childbearing. During the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88, large population size and rapid growth were seen as advantageous to the war effort. After the war, the government of Iran again began to voice concern about rapid population growth. The pragmatic and proactive approach taken by the government since 1988 may, indeed, accelerate a decline in fertility began in the late 1960s, but stalled in the 1980s. The following are examples of the new governmental attitude: the Iranian government announced March 1992 that it would begin importing Norplant and make it available along with other contraceptives at public clinics; last year, the government announced that the fourth child of a family would not be eligible for food rationing or nutritional supplements and other public child benefits; the Minister of Health in 1991 for the first time publicly encouraged male sterilization; and last fall, Iran conducted a special census of the population five years before the regular decennial census date of 1996. These actions represent dramatic policy changes on population growth and family planning in this country of 60 million, the largest and one of the fastest growing in the Middle East.

Velocity Profiles of Slow Blood Flow in a Narrow Tube

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jinyu; Huang, Zuqia; Zhuang, Fengyuan; Zhang, Hui

1998-04-01

A fractal model is introduced into the slow blood motion. When blood flows slowly in a narrow tube, red cell aggregation results in the formation of an approximately cylindrical core of red cells. By introducing the fractal model and using the power law relation between area fraction φ and distance from tube axis ρ, rigorous velocity profiles of the fluid in and outside the aggregated core and of the core itself are obtained analytically for different fractal dimensions. It shows a blunted velocity distribution for a relatively large fractal dimension (D ˜ 2), which can be observed in normal blood; a pathological velocity profile for moderate dimension (D = 1), which is similar to the Segre-Silberberg effect; and a parabolic profile for negligible red cell concentration (D = 0), which likes in the Poiseuille flow. The project supported by the National Basic Research Project "Nonlinear Science", National Natural Science Foundation of China and the State Education Commission through the Foundation of Doctoral Training

Effects of melatonin implantation during the slow period of cashmere ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of melatonin implantation during the slow period of cashmere growth on fibre production in Inner Mongolian cashmere goats. It was found that melatonin implantation had no effect on the growth rate of cashmere, except from February to March when the rate of treated goats ...

Digital Dimension Disruption: A National Security Enterprise Response

Science.gov (United States)

2017-12-21

PRISM 7, NO. 2 FEATURES | 41 Digital Dimension Disruption A National Security Enterprise Response By Charles Rybeck, Lanny Cornwell, and Philip Sagan...1 The slow-motion collapse of parts of the 20th century’s legacy is now accelerating in ways that likely will usher in a monumental realignment of...societal institutions, methods of business, and fundamental ideas about national security. This realignment will , of necessity, change the frameworks

PUPIL-TEACHER RELATIONSHIPS--MAJOR FACTORS IN DEVELOPING LANGUAGE ARTS IN SLOW LEARNERS.

Science.gov (United States)

PRINDIVILLE, SISTER FRANCIS DE SALES

TEACHERS INCREASE THEIR STUDENTS' DISCOURAGEMENT AND CONFUSION BY IGNORING THEIR PERSONAL GROWTH AND BY NOT RELATING SCHOOL SITUATIONS TO LIFE PROBLEMS. FOR SLOW LEARNERS, THIS MAY LEAD TO FAILURE, FRUSTRATION, AND BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS. IF THE TEACHER IS TO HELP SLOW LEARNERS, HE MUST BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY THEM, KNOW WHAT THEY EXPECT FROM EDUCATION,…

N-fertilization has different effects on the growth, carbon and nitrogen physiology, and wood properties of slow- and fast-growing Populus species.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Hong; Li, Mengchun; Luo, Jie; Cao, Xu; Qu, Long; Gai, Ying; Jiang, Xiangning; Liu, Tongxian; Bai, Hua; Janz, Dennis; Polle, Andrea; Peng, Changhui; Luo, Zhi-Bin

2012-10-01

To investigate how N-fertilization affects the growth, carbon and nitrogen (N) physiology, and wood properties of poplars with contrasting growth characteristics, slow-growing (Populus popularis, Pp) and fast-growing (P. alba×P. glandulosa, Pg) poplar saplings were exposed to different N levels. Above-ground biomass, leaf area, photosynthetic rates (A), instantaneous photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency (PNUE (i)), chlorophyll and foliar sugar concentrations were higher in Pg than in Pp. Foliar nitrate reductase (NR) activities and root glutamate synthase (GOGAT) activities were higher in Pg than in Pp as were the N amount and NUE of new shoots. Lignin contents and calorific values of Pg wood were less than that of Pp wood. N-fertilization reduced root biomass of Pg more than of Pp, but increased leaf biomass, leaf area, A, and PNUE(i) of Pg more than of Pp. Among 13 genes involved in the transport of ammonium or nitrate or in N assimilation, transcripts showed more pronounced changes to N-fertilization in Pg than in Pp. Increases in NR activities and N contents due to N-fertilization were larger in Pg than in Pp. In both species, N-fertilization resulted in lower calorific values as well as shorter and wider vessel elements/fibres. These results suggest that growth, carbon and N physiology, and wood properties are more sensitive to increasing N availability in fast-growing poplars than in slow-growing ones, which is probably due to prioritized resource allocation to the leaves and accelerated N physiological processes in fast-growing poplars under higher N levels.

Oriented growth during recrystallization revisited in three dimensions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fan, Guohua; Zhang, Yubin; Driver, J. H.

2014-01-01

The two surfaces of a 40% cold-rolled tricrystal of aluminium were scratched to stimulate recrystallization nucleation. Serial sectioning combined with electron backscatter diffraction was used to characterize the nuclei in three dimensions. It was found that the largest nuclei have a 40 degrees

Ordered mesoporous silica prepared by quiescent interfacial growth method - effects of reaction chemistry

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Acidic interfacial growth can provide a number of industrially important mesoporous silica morphologies including fibers, spheres, and other rich shapes. Studying the reaction chemistry under quiescent (no mixing) conditions is important for understanding and for the production of the desired shapes. The focus of this work is to understand the effect of a number of previously untested conditions: acid type (HCl, HNO3, and H2SO4), acid content, silica precursor type (TBOS and TEOS), and surfactant type (CTAB, Tween 20, and Tween 80) on the shape and structure of products formed under quiescent two-phase interfacial configuration. Results show that the quiescent growth is typically slow due to the absence of mixing. The whole process of product formation and pore structuring becomes limited by the slow interfacial diffusion of silica source. TBOS-CTAB-HCl was the typical combination to produce fibers with high order in the interfacial region. The use of other acids (HNO3 and H2SO4), a less hydrophobic silica source (TEOS), and/or a neutral surfactant (Tweens) facilitate diffusion and homogenous supply of silica source into the bulk phase and give spheres and gyroids with low mesoporous order. The results suggest two distinct regions for silica growth (interfacial region and bulk region) in which the rate of solvent evaporation and local concentration affect the speed and dimension of growth. A combined mechanism for the interfacial bulk growth of mesoporous silica under quiescent conditions is proposed. PMID:24237719

Revealing Hidden Structural Order Controlling Both Fast and Slow Glassy Dynamics in Supercooled Liquids

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hua Tong

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The dynamics of a supercooled liquid near the glass transition is characterized by two-step relaxation, fast β and slow α relaxations. Because of the apparently disordered nature of glassy structures, there have been long debates over whether the origin of drastic slowing-down of the α relaxation accompanied by heterogeneous dynamics is thermodynamic or dynamic. Furthermore, it has been elusive whether there is any deep connection between fast β and slow α modes. To settle these issues, here we introduce a set of new structural order parameters characterizing sterically favored structures with high local packing capability, and then access structure-dynamics correlation by a novel nonlocal approach. We find that the particle mobility is under control of the static order parameter field. The fast β process is controlled by the instantaneous order parameter field locally, resulting in short-time particle-scale dynamics. Then the mobility field progressively develops with time t, following the initial order parameter field from disorder to more ordered regions. As is well known, the heterogeneity in the mobility field (dynamic heterogeneity is maximized with a characteristic length ξ_{4}, when t reaches the relaxation time τ_{α}. We discover that this mobility pattern can be predicted solely by a spatial coarse graining of the initial order parameter field at t=0 over a length ξ without any dynamical information. Furthermore, we find a relation ξ∼ξ_{4}, indicating that the static length ξ grows coherently with the dynamic one ξ_{4} upon cooling. This further suggests an intrinsic link between τ_{α} and ξ: the growth of the static length ξ is the origin of dynamical slowing-down. These we confirm for the first time in binary glass formers both in two and three spatial dimensions. Thus, a static structure has two intrinsic characteristic lengths, particle size and ξ, which control dynamics in local and nonlocal manners, resulting

Revealing Hidden Structural Order Controlling Both Fast and Slow Glassy Dynamics in Supercooled Liquids

Science.gov (United States)

Tong, Hua; Tanaka, Hajime

2018-01-01

The dynamics of a supercooled liquid near the glass transition is characterized by two-step relaxation, fast β and slow α relaxations. Because of the apparently disordered nature of glassy structures, there have been long debates over whether the origin of drastic slowing-down of the α relaxation accompanied by heterogeneous dynamics is thermodynamic or dynamic. Furthermore, it has been elusive whether there is any deep connection between fast β and slow α modes. To settle these issues, here we introduce a set of new structural order parameters characterizing sterically favored structures with high local packing capability, and then access structure-dynamics correlation by a novel nonlocal approach. We find that the particle mobility is under control of the static order parameter field. The fast β process is controlled by the instantaneous order parameter field locally, resulting in short-time particle-scale dynamics. Then the mobility field progressively develops with time t , following the initial order parameter field from disorder to more ordered regions. As is well known, the heterogeneity in the mobility field (dynamic heterogeneity) is maximized with a characteristic length ξ4, when t reaches the relaxation time τα. We discover that this mobility pattern can be predicted solely by a spatial coarse graining of the initial order parameter field at t =0 over a length ξ without any dynamical information. Furthermore, we find a relation ξ ˜ξ4, indicating that the static length ξ grows coherently with the dynamic one ξ4 upon cooling. This further suggests an intrinsic link between τα and ξ : the growth of the static length ξ is the origin of dynamical slowing-down. These we confirm for the first time in binary glass formers both in two and three spatial dimensions. Thus, a static structure has two intrinsic characteristic lengths, particle size and ξ , which control dynamics in local and nonlocal manners, resulting in the emergence of the two

Nano-sized surface modifications induced by the impact of slow highly charged ions - A first review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aumayr, F.; El-Said, A.S.; Meissl, W.

2008-01-01

Irradiation of crystalline solid targets with swift heavy ions can lead to the formation of latent tracks in the solid and the creation of (mostly-hillock type) nanostructures on the surface. Recently similar surface modifications with nanometer dimensions have been demonstrated for the impact of individual, very slow but highly charged ions on various surfaces. We will review the current state of this new field of research. In particular we will discuss the circumstances and conditions under which nano-sized features (hillocks or craters) on different surfaces due to impact of slow highly charged ions can be produced. The use of slow highly charged ions instead of swift heavy ions might be of considerable interest for some practical applications

Hemodynamic effects of rapid and slow infusions of manganese chloride and gadolinium-DTPA in dogs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Slutsky, R.A.; Peterson, T.; Strich, G.; Brown, J.J.

1985-01-01

The acute hemodynamic effects of two paramagnetic contrast materials, manganese chloride and gadolinium-DTPA, were examined in dogs using ultrasonic dimension gauge crystals. Slow infusions (more than 15 minutes) of MnCl 2 or Gd-DTPA via an infusion pump had no significant hemodynamic effects. When given in just over 1 minute, Gd-DTPA produced elevated left ventricular (LV) end diastolic pressure and minor dilation of the ventricle and slowed diastolic filling. MnCl 2 , given rapidly, reduced systemic vascular resistance, resulting in hypotension. With both agents, these side effects waned after 5-10 minutes. It is concluded that both Gd-DTPA and MnCl 2 can be given safely in 0.1-mm/kg doses when administered as a slow, continuous infusion. Slow, intravenous infusion of Gd-DTPA or MnCl 2 is likely to be tolerated well by even severely ill individuals

Growth Pattern of Body Dimension of Arfak Children

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elda Irma Jeanne Joice Kawulur

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Growth pattern of body height and weight reflect the nutritional status and health condition of a population. Assessment of growth pattern and nutritional status of children and adolescence is urgently needed because during this growth period there is a transition period frominfant to adult with fast growth spurt, secondary sexual character maturation, and dramatic body proportion change. A cross-sectional study of the physical growth status was done to 514Arfak children consisted of 231 girls aged 6-19 years and 283 boys aged 6-23 years, in Manokwari, West Papua Province.The study was conducted to find out the growth pattern of the body size of Arfak children. Anthropometry measurement consists of body height (cm and body weight (kg. Growth charts of these variables showed increase with age in both sexes. Growth rate of body weight of Arfak children at juvenile phase was higher than those of other populations, such as India, Purwakarta, and Karawang, except American population.

Gene expression profiling of fast- and slow- growing gonadotroph non-functioning pituitary adenomas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Falch, Camilla Maria; Sundaram, Arvind Y M; Øystese, Kristin Astrid

2018-01-01

Objective Reliable biomarkers associated with aggressiveness of non-functioning gonadotroph adenomas (GAs) are lacking. As the growth of tumor remnants is highly variable, molecular markers for growth potential prediction are necessary. We hypothesized that fast- and slow - growing GAs present......, GPM6A and six EMT-related genes (SPAG9, SKIL, MTDH, HOOK1, CNOT6L and PRKACB). MTDH, but not EMCN, demonstrated involvement in cell migration and association with EMT-markers. Conclusions Fast- and slow- growing GAs present different gene expression profiles and genes related to EMT have higher...... expression in fast-growing tumors. In addition to MTDH, identified as an important contributor to aggressiveness, the other genes might represent markers for tumor growth potential and possible targets for drug therapy. ....

Timescale Halo: Average-Speed Targets Elicit More Positive and Less Negative Attributions than Slow or Fast Targets

Science.gov (United States)

Hernandez, Ivan; Preston, Jesse Lee; Hepler, Justin

2014-01-01

Research on the timescale bias has found that observers perceive more capacity for mind in targets moving at an average speed, relative to slow or fast moving targets. The present research revisited the timescale bias as a type of halo effect, where normal-speed people elicit positive evaluations and abnormal-speed (slow and fast) people elicit negative evaluations. In two studies, participants viewed videos of people walking at a slow, average, or fast speed. We find evidence for a timescale halo effect: people walking at an average-speed were attributed more positive mental traits, but fewer negative mental traits, relative to slow or fast moving people. These effects held across both cognitive and emotional dimensions of mind and were mediated by overall positive/negative ratings of the person. These results suggest that, rather than eliciting greater perceptions of general mind, the timescale bias may reflect a generalized positivity toward average speed people relative to slow or fast moving people. PMID:24421882

Light-dependent governance of cell shape dimensions in cyanobacteria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beronda L Montgomery

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The regulation of cellular dimension is important for the function and survival of cells. Cellular dimensions, such as size and shape, are regulated throughout the life cycle of bacteria and can be adapted in response to environmental changes to fine-tune cellular fitness. Cell size and shape are generally coordinated with cell growth and division. Cytoskeletal regulation of cell shape and cell wall biosynthesis and/or deposition occurs in a range of organisms. Photosynthetic organisms, such as cyanobacteria, particularly exhibit light-dependent regulation of morphogenes and generation of reactive oxygen species and other signals that can impact cellular dimensions. Environmental signals initiate adjustments of cellular dimensions, which may be vitally important for optimizing resource acquisition and utilization or for coupling the cellular dimensions with the regulation of subcellular organization to maintain optimal metabolism. Although the involvement of cytoskeletal components in the regulation of cell shape is widely accepted, the signaling factors that regulate cytoskeletal and other distinct components involved in cell shape control, particularly in response to changes in external light cues, remain to be fully elucidated. In this review, factors impacting the inter-coordination of growth and division, the relationship between the regulation of cellular dimensions and central carbon metabolism, and consideration of the effects of specific environment signals, primarily light, on cell dimensions in cyanobacteria will be discussed. Current knowledge about the molecular bases of the light-dependent regulation of cellular dimensions and cell shape in cyanobacteria will be highlighted.

Metalized polyethylene mulch to repel Asian citrus psyllid, slow spread of huanglongbing and improve growth of new citrus plantings.

Science.gov (United States)

Croxton, Scott D; Stansly, Philip A

2014-02-01

Greening or huanglongbing (HLB) is a debilitating disease of citrus caused by Candidatus Liberibactor asiaticus and transmitted by the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), Diaphorina citri. HLB now occurs worldwide in all major citrus growing regions except the Mediterranean and Australia. Management relies principally on insecticidal control of the ACP vector, but is insufficient, even for young trees which are most susceptible to the disease. We tested the ability of metalized polyethylene mulch to repel adult ACP as well as effects on incidence of HLB and early tree growth. Metalized mulch significantly reduced ACP populations and HLB incidence compared to whiteface mulch or bare ground. In addition, metalized mulch, together with the associated drip irrigation and fertigation system, increased soil moisture, reduced weed pressure, and increased tree growth rate. Metalized mulch slows spread of ACP and therefore HLB pressure on young citrus trees. Metalized mulch can thereby augment current control measures for young trees based primarily on systemic insecticides. Additional costs could be compensated for by increased tree growth rate which would shorten time to crop profitability. These advantages make a compelling case for large-scale trials using metalized mulch in young citrus plantings threatened by HLB. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry.

Kinetic Alfven waves and electron physics. II. Oblique slow shocks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yin, L.; Winske, D.; Daughton, W.

2007-01-01

One-dimensional (1D) particle-in-cell (PIC; kinetic ions and electrons) and hybrid (kinetic ions; adiabatic and massless fluid electrons) simulations of highly oblique slow shocks (θ Bn =84 deg. and β=0.1) [Yin et al., J. Geophys. Res., 110, A09217 (2005)] have shown that the dissipation from the ions is too weak to form a shock and that kinetic electron physics is required. The PIC simulations also showed that the downstream electron temperature becomes anisotropic (T e parallel )>T e perpendicular ), as observed in slow shocks in space. The electron anisotropy results, in part, from the electron acceleration/heating by parallel electric fields of obliquely propagating kinetic Alfven waves (KAWs) excited by ion-ion streaming, which cannot be modeled accurately in hybrid simulations. In the shock ramp, spiky structures occur in density and electron parallel temperature, where the ion parallel temperature decreases due to the reduction of the ion backstreaming speed. In this paper, KAW and electron physics in oblique slow shocks are further examined under lower electron beta conditions. It is found that as the electron beta is reduced, the resonant interaction between electrons and the wave parallel electric fields shifts to the tail of the electron velocity distribution, providing more efficient parallel heating. As a consequence, for β e =0.02, the electron physics is shown to influence the formation of a θ Bn =75 deg. shock. Electron effects are further enhanced at a more oblique shock angle (θ Bn =84 deg.) when both the growth rate and the range of unstable modes on the KAW branch increase. Small-scale electron and ion phase-space vortices in the shock ramp formed by electron-KAW interactions and the reduction of the ion backstreaming speed, respectively, are observed in the simulations and confirmed in homogeneous geometries in one and two spatial dimensions in the accompanying paper [Yin et al., Phys. Plasmas 14, 062104 (2007)]. Results from this study

Malaysia Economic Monitor, December 2016 : The Quest for Productivity Growth

OpenAIRE

World Bank Group

2016-01-01

Malaysia’s economic growth has slowed down but remains resilient to external headwinds. The economic growth rate slowed from 5 percent in 2015 to 4.2 percent, year on year, in the first three quarters of 2016. Private consumption growth slowed down due to a softening labor market and households’ ongoing adjustment to a context of fiscal consolidation. Public investment in infrastructure is...

Slow Movement/Slow University: Critical Engagements. Introduction to the Thematic Section

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maggie O'Neill

2014-09-01

Full Text Available This thematic section emerged from two seminars that took place at Durham University in England in November 2013 and March 2014 on the possibilities for thinking through what a change movement towards slow might mean for the University. Slow movements have emerged in relation to a number of topics: Slow food, Citta slow and more recently, slow science. What motivated us in the seminars was to explore how far these movements could help us address the acceleration and intensification of work within our own and other universities, and indeed, what new learning, research, philosophies, practices, structures and governance might emerge. This editorial introduction presents the concept of the "slow university" and introduces our critical engagements with slow. The articles presented here interrogate the potentialities, challenges, problems and pitfalls of the slow university in an era of corporate culture and management rationality. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1403166

Universality of the Volume Bound in Slow-Roll Eternal Inflation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dubovsky, Sergei; Senatore, Leonardo; Villadoro, Giovanni

2012-03-28

It has recently been shown that in single field slow-roll inflation the total volume cannot grow by a factor larger than e{sup S{sub dS}/2} without becoming infinite. The bound is saturated exactly at the phase transition to eternal inflation where the probability to produce infinite volume becomes non zero. We show that the bound holds sharply also in any space-time dimensions, when arbitrary higher-dimensional operators are included and in the multi-field inflationary case. The relation with the entropy of de Sitter and the universality of the bound strengthen the case for a deeper holographic interpretation. As a spin-off we provide the formalism to compute the probability distribution of the volume after inflation for generic multi-field models, which might help to address questions about the population of vacua of the landscape during slow-roll inflation.

Kinetics of slow domain growth in complex systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lindgard, P.-A.; Castan, T.

1989-01-01

The domain growth after a quench to very low and to finite temperatures T is analyzed by scaling theory and Monte Carlo simulation. The model studied has continuous variables, non-conserved order parameter and has two kinds of domain walls: sharp, straight stacking faults and broad curved soliton-like walls. For quenches to higher temperatures the growth exponent is found to approach the classical Allen-Cahn exponent n = 1/2. (A.C.A.S.) [pt

Flower Power: Sunflowers as a Model for Logistic Growth

Science.gov (United States)

Fernandez, Eileen; Geist, Kristi A.

2011-01-01

Logistic growth displays an interesting pattern: It starts fast, exhibiting the rapid growth characteristic of exponential models. As time passes, it slows in response to constraints such as limited resources or reallocation of energy. The growth continues to slow until it reaches a limit, called capacity. When the growth describes a population,…

Modulational instability and associated rogue structures of slow magnetosonic wave in Hall magnetohydrodynamic plasmas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Panwar, Anuraj; Ryu, Chang-Mo [Department of Physics, POSTECH, Hyoja-Dong San 31, KyungBuk, Pohang 790-784 (Korea, Republic of)

2014-06-15

The modulational instability and associated rogue structures of a slow magnetosonic wave are investigated for a Hall magnetohydrodynamic plasma. Nonlinear Schrodinger equation is obtained by using the multiple scale method, which shows a modulationally unstable slow magnetosonic mode evolving into bright wavepackets. The dispersive effects induced by the Hall electron current increase with the increase in plasma β and become weaker as the angle of propagation increases. The growth rate of the modulational instability also increases with the increase in plasma β. The growth rate is greatest for the parallel propagation and drops to zero for perpendicular propagation. The envelope wavepacket of a slow magnetosonic is widened with less oscillations as plasma β increases. But the wavepacket becomes slightly narrower and more oscillatory as the angle of propagation increases. Further a non-stationary envelope solution of the Peregrine soliton is analyzed for rogue waves. The Peregrine soliton contracts temporally and expands spatially with increase in plasma β. However, the width of a slow magnetosonic Peregrine soliton decreases both temporally and spatially with increase of the propagation angle.

An efficient and cost-effective microchannel plate detector for slow neutron radiography

Science.gov (United States)

Wiggins, B. B.; Vadas, J.; Bancroft, D.; deSouza, Z. O.; Huston, J.; Hudan, S.; Baxter, D. V.; deSouza, R. T.

2018-05-01

A novel approach for efficiently imaging objects with slow neutrons in two dimensions is realized. Neutron sensitivity is achieved by use of a boron doped microchannel plate (MCP). The resulting electron avalanche is further amplified with a Z-stack MCP before being sensed by two orthogonally oriented wire planes. Coupling of the wire planes to delay lines efficiently encodes the position information as a time difference. To determine the position resolution, slow neutrons were used to illuminate a Cd-mask placed directly in front of the detector. Peaks in the resulting spectrum exhibited an average peak width of 329 μm FWHM, corresponding to an average intrinsic resolution of 216 μm. The center region of the detector exhibits a significantly better spatial resolution with an intrinsic resolution of <100 μm observed.

Growth hormone test

Science.gov (United States)

... is called acromegaly . In children it is called gigantism . Too little growth hormone can cause a slow ... growth due to excess GH during childhood, called gigantism. (A special test is done to confirm this ...

Slow waves in microchannel metal waveguides and application to particle acceleration

OpenAIRE

L. C. Steinhauer; W. D. Kimura

2003-01-01

Conventional metal-wall waveguides support waveguide modes with phase velocities exceeding the speed of light. However, for infrared frequencies and guide dimensions of a fraction of a millimeter, one of the waveguide modes can have a phase velocity equal to or less than the speed of light. Such a metal microchannel then acts as a slow-wave structure. Furthermore, if it is a transverse magnetic mode, the electric field has a component along the direction of propagation. Therefore, a strong ex...

Ecophysiology of gelatinous Nostoc colonies: unprecedented slow growth and survival in resource-poor and harsh environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Sand-Jensen, Kaj

2014-07-01

structural substances in large Nostoc colonies cause lower quantum efficiency and assimilation number and higher light compensation points than in unicells and other aquatic macrophytes. Extremely low growth and mortality rates of N. zetterstedtii reflect stress-selected adaptation to nutrient- and DIC-poor temperate lakes, while N. pruniforme exhibits a mixed ruderal- and stress-selected strategy with slow growth and year-long survival prevailing in sub-Arctic lakes and faster growth and shorter longevity in temperate lakes. Nostoc commune and its close relative N. flagelliforme have a mixed stress-disturbance strategy not found among higher plants, with stress selection to limiting water and nutrients and disturbance selection in quiescent dry or frozen stages. Despite profound ecological differences between species, active growth of temperate specimens is mostly restricted to the same temperature range (0-35 °C; maximum at 25 °C). Future studies should aim to unravel the processes behind the extreme persistence and low metabolism of Nostoc species under ambient resource supply on sediment and soil surfaces. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Effects of slow-release urea on ruminal digesta characteristics and growth performance in beef steers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Taylor-Edwards, C C; Hibbard, G; Kitts, S E

2009-01-01

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of slow urea (SRU) versus feed-grade urea on ruminal metabolite characteristics in steers and DMI, gain, and G:F in growing beef steers.......Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of slow urea (SRU) versus feed-grade urea on ruminal metabolite characteristics in steers and DMI, gain, and G:F in growing beef steers....

Phase-field model of vapor-liquid-solid nanowire growth

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Nan; Upmanyu, Moneesh; Karma, Alain

2018-03-01

We present a multiphase-field model to describe quantitatively nanowire growth by the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) process. The free-energy functional of this model depends on three nonconserved order parameters that distinguish the vapor, liquid, and solid phases and describe the energetic properties of various interfaces, including arbitrary forms of anisotropic γ plots for the solid-vapor and solid-liquid interfaces. The evolution equations for those order parameters describe basic kinetic processes including the rapid (quasi-instantaneous) equilibration of the liquid catalyst to a droplet shape with constant mean curvature, the slow incorporation of growth atoms at the droplet surface, and crystallization within the droplet. The standard constraint that the sum of the phase fields equals unity and the conservation of the number of catalyst atoms, which relates the catalyst volume to the concentration of growth atoms inside the droplet, are handled via separate Lagrange multipliers. An analysis of the model is presented that rigorously maps the phase-field equations to a desired set of sharp-interface equations for the evolution of the phase boundaries under the constraint of force balance at three-phase junctions (triple points) given by the Young-Herring relation that includes torque term related to the anisotropy of the solid-liquid and solid-vapor interface excess free energies. Numerical examples of growth in two dimensions are presented for the simplest case of vanishing crystalline anisotropy and the more realistic case of a solid-liquid γ plot with cusped minima corresponding to two sets of (10 ) and (11 ) facets. The simulations reproduce many of the salient features of nanowire growth observed experimentally, including growth normal to the substrate with tapering of the side walls, transitions between different growth orientations, and crawling growth along the substrate. They also reproduce different observed relationships between the nanowire growth

Multiple growth regimes: Insights from unified growth theory

OpenAIRE

Galor, Oded

2007-01-01

Unified Growth Theory uncovers the forces that contributed to the existence of multiple growth regimes and the emergence of convergence clubs. It suggests that differential timing of take-offs from stagnation to growth segmented economies into three fundamental regimes: slow growing economies in a Malthusian regime, fast growing countries in a sustained growth regime, and economies in the transition between these regimes. In contrast to existing research that links regime switching thresholds...

Early growth and postprandial appetite regulatory hormone responses

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Perälä, Mia-Maria; Kajantie, Eero; Valsta, Liisa M

2013-01-01

Strong epidemiological evidence suggests that slow prenatal or postnatal growth is associated with an increased risk of CVD and other metabolic diseases. However, little is known whether early growth affects postprandial metabolism and, especially, the appetite regulatory hormone system. Therefore......, we investigated the impact of early growth on postprandial appetite regulatory hormone responses to two high-protein and two high-fat content meals. Healthy, 65-75-year-old volunteers from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study were recruited; twelve with a slow increase in BMI during the first year of life......, early growth may have a role in programming appetite regulatory hormone secretion in later life. Slow early growth is also associated with higher postprandial insulin and TAG responses but not with incretin levels....

Hausdorff dimension of certain sets arising in Engel expansions

Science.gov (United States)

Fang, Lulu; Wu, Min

2018-05-01

The present paper is concerned with the Hausdorff dimension of certain sets arising in Engel expansions. In particular, the Hausdorff dimension of the set is completely determined, where A n (x) can stand for the digit, gap and ratio between two consecutive digits in the Engel expansion of x and ϕ is a positive function defined on natural numbers. These results significantly extend the existing results of Galambos’ open problems on the Hausdorff dimension of sets related to the growth rate of digits.

Slow Slip and Earthquake Nucleation in Meter-Scale Laboratory Experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Mclaskey, G.

2017-12-01

The initiation of dynamic rupture is thought to be preceded by a quasistatic nucleation phase. Observations of recent earthquakes sometimes support this by illuminating slow slip and foreshocks in the vicinity of the eventual hypocenter. I describe laboratory earthquake experiments conducted on two large-scale loading machines at Cornell University that provide insight into the way earthquake nucleation varies with normal stress, healing time, and loading rate. The larger of the two machines accommodates a 3 m long granite sample, and when loaded to 7 MPa stress levels, we observe dynamic rupture events that are preceded by a measureable nucleation zone with dimensions on the order of 1 m. The smaller machine accommodates a 0.76 m sample that is roughly the same size as the nucleation zone. On this machine, small variations in nucleation properties result in measurable differences in slip events, and we generate both dynamic rupture events (> 0.1 m/s slip rates) and slow slip events ( 0.001 to 30 mm/s slip rates). Slow events occur when instability cannot fully nucleate before reaching the sample ends. Dynamic events occur after long healing times or abrupt increases in loading rate which suggests that these factors shrink the spatial and temporal extents of the nucleation zone. Arrays of slip, strain, and ground motion sensors installed on the sample allow us to quantify seismic coupling and study details of premonitory slip and afterslip. The slow slip events we observe are primarily aseismic (less than 1% of the seismic coupling of faster events) and produce swarms of very small M -6 to M -8 events. These mechanical and seismic interactions suggest that faults with transitional behavior—where creep, small earthquakes, and tremor are often observed—could become seismically coupled if loaded rapidly, either by a slow slip front or dynamic rupture of an earthquake that nucleated elsewhere.

General Slowing and Education Mediate Task Switching Performance Across the Life-Span

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luca Moretti

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Objective: This study considered the potential role of both protective factors (cognitive reserve, CR and adverse ones (general slowing in modulating cognitive flexibility in the adult life-span.Method: Ninety-eight individuals performed a task-switching (TS paradigm in which we adopted a manipulation concerning the timing between the cue and the target. Working memory demands were minimized by using transparent cues. Additionally, indices of cognitive integrity, depression, processing speed and different CR dimensions were collected and used in linear models accounting for TS performance under the different time constraints.Results: The main results showed similar mixing costs and higher switching costs in older adults, with an overall age-dependent effect of general slowing on these costs. The link between processing speed and TS performance was attenuated when participants had more time to prepare. Among the different CR indices, formal education only was associated with reduced switch costs under time pressure.Discussion: Even though CR is often operationalized as a unitary construct, the present research confirms the benefits of using tools designed to distinguish between different CR dimensions. Furthermore, our results provide empirical support to the assumption that processing speed influence on executive performance depends on time constraints. Finally, it is suggested that whether age differences appear in terms of switch or mixing costs depends on working memory demands (which were low in our tasks with transparent cues.

Revealing the cluster of slow transients behind a large slow slip event.

Science.gov (United States)

Frank, William B; Rousset, Baptiste; Lasserre, Cécile; Campillo, Michel

2018-05-01

Capable of reaching similar magnitudes to large megathrust earthquakes [ M w (moment magnitude) > 7], slow slip events play a major role in accommodating tectonic motion on plate boundaries through predominantly aseismic rupture. We demonstrate here that large slow slip events are a cluster of short-duration slow transients. Using a dense catalog of low-frequency earthquakes as a guide, we investigate the M w 7.5 slow slip event that occurred in 2006 along the subduction interface 40 km beneath Guerrero, Mexico. We show that while the long-period surface displacement, as recorded by Global Positioning System, suggests a 6-month duration, the motion in the direction of tectonic release only sporadically occurs over 55 days, and its surface signature is attenuated by rapid relocking of the plate interface. Our proposed description of slow slip as a cluster of slow transients forces us to re-evaluate our understanding of the physics and scaling of slow earthquakes.

Fast-slow continuum and reproductive strategies structure plant life-history variation worldwide.

Science.gov (United States)

Salguero-Gómez, Roberto; Jones, Owen R; Jongejans, Eelke; Blomberg, Simon P; Hodgson, David J; Mbeau-Ache, Cyril; Zuidema, Pieter A; de Kroon, Hans; Buckley, Yvonne M

2016-01-05

The identification of patterns in life-history strategies across the tree of life is essential to our prediction of population persistence, extinction, and diversification. Plants exhibit a wide range of patterns of longevity, growth, and reproduction, but the general determinants of this enormous variation in life history are poorly understood. We use demographic data from 418 plant species in the wild, from annual herbs to supercentennial trees, to examine how growth form, habitat, and phylogenetic relationships structure plant life histories and to develop a framework to predict population performance. We show that 55% of the variation in plant life-history strategies is adequately characterized using two independent axes: the fast-slow continuum, including fast-growing, short-lived plant species at one end and slow-growing, long-lived species at the other, and a reproductive strategy axis, with highly reproductive, iteroparous species at one extreme and poorly reproductive, semelparous plants with frequent shrinkage at the other. Our findings remain consistent across major habitats and are minimally affected by plant growth form and phylogenetic ancestry, suggesting that the relative independence of the fast-slow and reproduction strategy axes is general in the plant kingdom. Our findings have similarities with how life-history strategies are structured in mammals, birds, and reptiles. The position of plant species populations in the 2D space produced by both axes predicts their rate of recovery from disturbances and population growth rate. This life-history framework may complement trait-based frameworks on leaf and wood economics; together these frameworks may allow prediction of responses of plants to anthropogenic disturbances and changing environments.

Slow waves in microchannel metal waveguides and application to particle acceleration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. C. Steinhauer

2003-06-01

Full Text Available Conventional metal-wall waveguides support waveguide modes with phase velocities exceeding the speed of light. However, for infrared frequencies and guide dimensions of a fraction of a millimeter, one of the waveguide modes can have a phase velocity equal to or less than the speed of light. Such a metal microchannel then acts as a slow-wave structure. Furthermore, if it is a transverse magnetic mode, the electric field has a component along the direction of propagation. Therefore, a strong exchange of energy can occur between a beam of charged particles and this slow-waveguide mode. Moreover, the energy exchange can be sustained over a distance limited only by the natural damping of the wave. This makes the microchannel metal waveguide an attractive possibility for high-gradient electron laser acceleration because the wave can be directly energized by a long-wavelength laser. Indeed the frequency of CO_{2} lasers lies at a fortuitous wavelength that produces a strong laser-particle interaction in a channel of reasonable macroscopic size (e.g., ∼0.6  mm. The dispersion properties including phase velocity and damping for the slow wave are developed. The performance and other issues related to laser accelerator applications are discussed.

Slow waves in microchannel metal waveguides and application to particle acceleration

Science.gov (United States)

Steinhauer, L. C.; Kimura, W. D.

2003-06-01

Conventional metal-wall waveguides support waveguide modes with phase velocities exceeding the speed of light. However, for infrared frequencies and guide dimensions of a fraction of a millimeter, one of the waveguide modes can have a phase velocity equal to or less than the speed of light. Such a metal microchannel then acts as a slow-wave structure. Furthermore, if it is a transverse magnetic mode, the electric field has a component along the direction of propagation. Therefore, a strong exchange of energy can occur between a beam of charged particles and this slow-waveguide mode. Moreover, the energy exchange can be sustained over a distance limited only by the natural damping of the wave. This makes the microchannel metal waveguide an attractive possibility for high-gradient electron laser acceleration because the wave can be directly energized by a long-wavelength laser. Indeed the frequency of CO2 lasers lies at a fortuitous wavelength that produces a strong laser-particle interaction in a channel of reasonable macroscopic size (e.g., ˜0.6 mm). The dispersion properties including phase velocity and damping for the slow wave are developed. The performance and other issues related to laser accelerator applications are discussed.

Effect of amaranth dye on the growth and properties of conventional and SR method grown KAP single crystals

Science.gov (United States)

Babu Rao, G.; P., Rajesh; Ramasamy, P.

2018-04-01

The 0.1 mol% amaranth added KAP single crystals were grown from aqueous solutions by both slow evaporation solution technique and Sankaranarayanan-Ramasamy method. The single crystal having dimension of 45 mm length and 12 mm diameter was grown with growth rate of 1.5 mm/day using SR method. 87 % transmittance is obtained for SR method grown amaranth added KAP single crystal. The high intense luminescence at 661 nm is obtained from amaranth added conventional and SR method grown KAP single crystal. The amaranth added KAP single crystal possesses good mechanical and laser damage threshold stability.

Nonlinear damped Schrodinger equation in two space dimensions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tarek Saanouni

2015-04-01

Full Text Available In this article, we study the initial value problem for a semi-linear damped Schrodinger equation with exponential growth nonlinearity in two space dimensions. We show global well-posedness and exponential decay.

Bringing the Military Back in: Military Expenditures and Economic Growth 1990 to 2003

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeffrey Kentor

2015-08-01

Full Text Available After the “peace bonus” era, global military expenditures have escalated sharply despite some worldwide declines in military personnel. Theories on the economic impacts of the military institution and escalated military spending greatly differ and include arguments that they either improve domestic economic performance or crowd out growth-inducing processes. Empirical findings on this matter are inconclusive, in part due to a failure to disentangle the various dimensions of military expenditures. We further suggest that modern sociology's relative inattention to such issues has contributed to these shortcomings. We explore a new dimension of military spending that clarifies this issue—military expenditures per soldier —which captures the capital intensiveness of a country’s military organization. Our cross-national panel regression and causal analyses of developed and less developed countries from 1990 to 2003 show that military expenditures per soldier inhibit the growth of per capita GDP, net of control variables, with the most pronounced effects in least developed countries. These expenditures inhibit national development in part by slowing the expansion of the labor force. Labor-intensive militaries may provide a pathway for upward mobility, but comparatively capital-intensive military organizations limit entry opportunities for unskilled and under- or unemployed people. Deep investments in military hardware also reduce the investment capital available for more economically productive opportunities. We also find that arms imports have a positive effect on economic growth, but only in less developed countries.

Overall concepts for utilisation of slow pyrolysis products - Hidaspyro II

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fagernaes, L.; Kuoppala, E.; Ranta, J. (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Espoo (Finland)), e-mail: leena.fagernas@vtt.fi; Setaelae, H.; Hagner, M. (University of Helsinki, Lahti (Finland), Dept. of Ecological and Environmental Sciences), e-mail: heikki.setala@helsinki.fi; Tiilikkala, K.; Palojaervi, A.; Lindqvist, B. (MTT Agrifood Research Finland, Jokioinen (Finland)), e-mail: kari.tiilikkala@mtt.fi

2011-11-15

The project aims at developing new distributed biorefineries and comprehensive concepts based on slow pyrolysis for SMEs. The research carried out in the project 'Hidaspyro' will be continued in the new project. The goal is an optimised slow pyrolysis process for new applications of the products. The objective is to determine the effects of biochar and distillates on growth of plants, soil improvement, carbon sequestration and emissions of cultivation, to define the quality criteria of biochar, to determine the potential of distillates in odour prevention and to assess the environmental impacts of the products. Optimal process parameters to produce distillates and biochar of high quality will be determined by well-controlled laboratory-scale slow pyrolysis testing facility to be constructed. The main feedstock material will be birchwood, but comparisons with other biomass feedstocks will also be carried out. The efficacy tests will show the effect of biochars and distillates on growth of plants, use of water and nutrients, and biological activity of soil. Demonstrations of soil improvement and odour prevention will be done in co-operation with the partner enterprises. The environmental effects of different biochars will be compared by following the changes in the activity of microbes and the composition of nematode community. The amount and quality of distillate and biochar safe to the environment will be defined. All the results will be utilised in the techno-economic assessment of different concepts. (orig.)

Fractal zeta functions and fractal drums higher-dimensional theory of complex dimensions

CERN Document Server

Lapidus, Michel L; Žubrinić, Darko

2017-01-01

This monograph gives a state-of-the-art and accessible treatment of a new general higher-dimensional theory of complex dimensions, valid for arbitrary bounded subsets of Euclidean spaces, as well as for their natural generalization, relative fractal drums. It provides a significant extension of the existing theory of zeta functions for fractal strings to fractal sets and arbitrary bounded sets in Euclidean spaces of any dimension. Two new classes of fractal zeta functions are introduced, namely, the distance and tube zeta functions of bounded sets, and their key properties are investigated. The theory is developed step-by-step at a slow pace, and every step is well motivated by numerous examples, historical remarks and comments, relating the objects under investigation to other concepts. Special emphasis is placed on the study of complex dimensions of bounded sets and their connections with the notions of Minkowski content and Minkowski measurability, as well as on fractal tube formulas. It is shown for the f...

Slow briefs: slow food....slow architecture

OpenAIRE

Crotch, Joanna

2012-01-01

We are moving too fast…fast lives, fast cars, fast food…..and fast architecture. We are caught up in a world that allows no time to stop and think; to appreciate and enjoy all the really important things in our lives. Recent responses to this seemingly unstoppable trend are the growing movements of Slow Food and Cittaslow. Both initiatives are, within their own realms, attempting to reverse speed, homogeny, expediency and globalisation, considering the values of regionality, patience, craft, ...

GOOD GOVERNANCE: NORMATIVE VS. DESCRIPTIVE DIMENSION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ciprian IFTIMOAEI

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The concept of “good governance” was used for the first time in the 1989 World Bank Report – Sub-Saharan Africa: From Crisis to Sustainable Growth. A Long-Term Perspective Study – and has already made history in international studies, especially after the breakdown of the communist regimes. The governance has to do with authority, decision-making and accountability.The good governance is defined as the capacity of the government to manage a nation’s affaires, to provide economic development, welfare for citizens, and social protection for the poor. In this article,the concept of good governance is analysed according to two main dimensions: the normative dimension which comprises principles, values and norms that are guiding the international community and the governments in the management of policymaking process;the descriptive dimension which refers to the practical aspects of implementing the good governance’s standards as policies, programmes and structural reforms with the aim of solving or ameliorating the problems of developing countries.

Determination of the slow crack growth susceptibility coefficient of dental ceramics using different methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzaga, Carla Castiglia; Cesar, Paulo Francisco; Miranda, Walter Gomes; Yoshimura, Humberto Naoyuki

2011-11-01

This study compared three methods for the determination of the slow crack growth susceptibility coefficient (n) of two veneering ceramics (VM7 and d.Sign), two glass-ceramics (Empress and Empress 2) and a glass-infiltrated alumina composite (In-Ceram Alumina). Discs (n = 10) were prepared according to manufacturers' recommendations and polished. The constant stress-rate test was performed at five constant stress rates to calculate n(d) . For the indentation fracture test to determine n(IF) , Vickers indentations were performed and the crack lengths were measured under an optical microscope. For the constant stress test (performed only for d.Sign for the determination of n(s) ) four constant stresses were applied and held constant until the specimens' fracture and the time to failure was recorded. All tests were performed in artificial saliva at 37°C. The n(d) values were 17.2 for Empress 2, followed by d.Sign (20.5), VM7 (26.5), Empress (30.2), and In-Ceram Alumina (31.1). In-Ceram Alumina and Empress 2 showed the highest n(IF) values, 66.0 and 40.2, respectively. The n(IF) values determined for Empress (25.2), d.Sign (25.6), and VM7 (20.1) were similar. The n(s) value determined for d.Sign was 31.4. It can be concluded that the n values determined for the dental ceramics evaluated were significantly influenced by the test method used. 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effects of ambient temperature and early open-field response on the behaviour, feed intake and growth of fast- and slow-growing broiler strains.

Science.gov (United States)

Nielsen, B L

2012-09-01

Increased activity improves broiler leg health, but also increases the heat production of the bird. This experiment investigated the effects of early open-field activity and ambient temperature on the growth and feed intake of two strains of broiler chickens. On the basis of the level of activity in an open-field test on day 3 after hatching, fast-growing Ross 208 and slow-growing i657 chickens were allocated on day 13 to one of the 48 groups. Each group included either six active or six passive birds from each strain and the groups were housed in floor-pens littered with wood chips and fitted with two heat lamps. Each group was fed ad libitum and subjected to one of the three temperature treatments: two (HH; 26°C), one (HC; 16°C to 26°C) or no (CC; 16°C) heat lamps turned on. Production and behavioural data were collected every 2 weeks until day 57. For both strains, early open-field activity had no significant effects on their subsequent behaviour or on any of the production parameters measured, and overall, the slow-growing strain was more active than the fast-growing strain. Ambient temperature had significant effects on production measures for i657 broilers, with CC chickens eating and weighing more, and with a less efficient feed conversion than HH chickens, with HC birds intermediate. A similar effect was found for Ross 208 only for feed intake from 27 to 41 days of age. Ross 208 chickens distributed themselves in the pen with a preference for cooler areas in the hottest ambient temperature treatments. In contrast, the behaviour of the slow-growing strain appeared to be relatively unaffected by the ambient temperature. In conclusion, fast-growing broilers use behavioural changes when trying to adapt to warm environments, whereas slow-growing broilers use metabolic changes to adapt to cooler ambient temperatures.

Information slows down hierarchy growth.

Science.gov (United States)

Czaplicka, Agnieszka; Suchecki, Krzysztof; Miñano, Borja; Trias, Miquel; Hołyst, Janusz A

2014-06-01

We consider models of growing multilevel systems wherein the growth process is driven by rules of tournament selection. A system can be conceived as an evolving tree with a new node being attached to a contestant node at the best hierarchy level (a level nearest to the tree root). The proposed evolution reflects limited information on system properties available to new nodes. It can also be expressed in terms of population dynamics. Two models are considered: a constant tournament (CT) model wherein the number of tournament participants is constant throughout system evolution, and a proportional tournament (PT) model where this number increases proportionally to the growing size of the system itself. The results of analytical calculations based on a rate equation fit well to numerical simulations for both models. In the CT model all hierarchy levels emerge, but the birth time of a consecutive hierarchy level increases exponentially or faster for each new level. The number of nodes at the first hierarchy level grows logarithmically in time, while the size of the last, "worst" hierarchy level oscillates quasi-log-periodically. In the PT model, the occupations of the first two hierarchy levels increase linearly, but worse hierarchy levels either do not emerge at all or appear only by chance in the early stage of system evolution to further stop growing at all. The results allow us to conclude that information available to each new node in tournament dynamics restrains the emergence of new hierarchy levels and that it is the absolute amount of information, not relative, which governs such behavior.

Information slows down hierarchy growth

Science.gov (United States)

Czaplicka, Agnieszka; Suchecki, Krzysztof; Miñano, Borja; Trias, Miquel; Hołyst, Janusz A.

2014-06-01

We consider models of growing multilevel systems wherein the growth process is driven by rules of tournament selection. A system can be conceived as an evolving tree with a new node being attached to a contestant node at the best hierarchy level (a level nearest to the tree root). The proposed evolution reflects limited information on system properties available to new nodes. It can also be expressed in terms of population dynamics. Two models are considered: a constant tournament (CT) model wherein the number of tournament participants is constant throughout system evolution, and a proportional tournament (PT) model where this number increases proportionally to the growing size of the system itself. The results of analytical calculations based on a rate equation fit well to numerical simulations for both models. In the CT model all hierarchy levels emerge, but the birth time of a consecutive hierarchy level increases exponentially or faster for each new level. The number of nodes at the first hierarchy level grows logarithmically in time, while the size of the last, "worst" hierarchy level oscillates quasi-log-periodically. In the PT model, the occupations of the first two hierarchy levels increase linearly, but worse hierarchy levels either do not emerge at all or appear only by chance in the early stage of system evolution to further stop growing at all. The results allow us to conclude that information available to each new node in tournament dynamics restrains the emergence of new hierarchy levels and that it is the absolute amount of information, not relative, which governs such behavior.

Your Baby's Growth: 12 Months

Science.gov (United States)

... Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español Your Baby's Growth: 12 Months KidsHealth / For Parents / Your Baby's ... doubled his or her birth weight. Is My Baby Growing Normally? Babies' growth begins to slow as ...

Overall concepts for utilisation of slow pyrolysis products - Hidaspyro II

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fagernas, L. [VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Espoo (Finland)], email: leena.fagernas@vtt.fi

2012-07-01

Slow pyrolysis is a promising technology to produce biochar (charcoal), distillates and gases for various purposes. However, scientific results on the effects of distillates and biochar on soil improvement are lacking, process conditions to produce biochar of good quality and optimal distillates are not known, and non-existence of environmental risks has to be proved prior to commercialization of the products. The goal is an optimised slow pyrolysis process for new applications of the products. The research carried out in the project Hidaspyro will be continued. The objectives are to determine the effect of biochar and distillates on growth of plants, soil improvement, and odour prevention; to define the quality criteria of biochar in plant production; and to assess the ecotoxicological and environmental impacts of the products.

Interaction of slow electrons with surfaces. II

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Komolov, S.A.; Chadderton, L.T.

1976-01-01

Total current spectroscopy (TCS) has been used to study the growth of films of gold and silver on (100) vanadium surfaces. A slow transition from TCS curves characteristic of vanadium to curves characteristic of the noble metals is observed, accompanied by an increase in the net work function - more rapid for silver than for gold. Vanadium characteristics are lost from the TCS curves for mean overlayer thicknesses > approximately 15A, and a simple analysis shows that the thickness of the surface zone from which TCS signals originate is approximately given by the electron mean free path. Observations of progressive attenuation of a characteristic vanadium feature with increasing mean thickness of overlayer permits separation into stages of nucleation and growth. There is a critical nucleus size of approximately 2A for silver and approximately 4A for gold. (Auth.)

A fast-slow logic system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kawashima, Hideo.

1977-01-01

A fast-slow logic system has been made for use in multi-detector experiments in nuclear physics such as particle-gamma and particle-particle coincidence experiments. The system consists of a fast logic system and a slow logic system. The fast logic system has a function of fast coincidences and provides timing signals for the slow logic system. The slow logic system has a function of slow coincidences and a routing control of input analog signals to the ADCs. (auth.)

Restoration of dimensional reduction in the random-field Ising model at five dimensions

Science.gov (United States)

Fytas, Nikolaos G.; Martín-Mayor, Víctor; Picco, Marco; Sourlas, Nicolas

2017-04-01

The random-field Ising model is one of the few disordered systems where the perturbative renormalization group can be carried out to all orders of perturbation theory. This analysis predicts dimensional reduction, i.e., that the critical properties of the random-field Ising model in D dimensions are identical to those of the pure Ising ferromagnet in D -2 dimensions. It is well known that dimensional reduction is not true in three dimensions, thus invalidating the perturbative renormalization group prediction. Here, we report high-precision numerical simulations of the 5D random-field Ising model at zero temperature. We illustrate universality by comparing different probability distributions for the random fields. We compute all the relevant critical exponents (including the critical slowing down exponent for the ground-state finding algorithm), as well as several other renormalization-group invariants. The estimated values of the critical exponents of the 5D random-field Ising model are statistically compatible to those of the pure 3D Ising ferromagnet. These results support the restoration of dimensional reduction at D =5 . We thus conclude that the failure of the perturbative renormalization group is a low-dimensional phenomenon. We close our contribution by comparing universal quantities for the random-field problem at dimensions 3 ≤D equality at all studied dimensions.

Traveling Slow Oscillations During Sleep: A Marker of Brain Connectivity in Childhood.

Science.gov (United States)

Kurth, Salome; Riedner, Brady A; Dean, Douglas C; O'Muircheartaigh, Jonathan; Huber, Reto; Jenni, Oskar G; Deoni, Sean C L; LeBourgeois, Monique K

2017-09-01

Slow oscillations, a defining characteristic of the nonrapid eye movement sleep electroencephalogram (EEG), proliferate across the scalp in highly reproducible patterns. In adults, the propagation of slow oscillations is a recognized fingerprint of brain connectivity and excitability. In this study, we (1) describe for the first time maturational features of sleep slow oscillation propagation in children (n = 23; 2-13 years) using high-density (hd) EEG and (2) examine associations between sleep slow oscillatory propagation characteristics (ie, distance, traveling speed, cortical involvement) and white matter myelin microstructure as measured with multicomponent Driven Equilibrium Single Pulse Observation of T1 and T2-magnetic resonance imaging (mcDESPOT-MRI). Results showed that with increasing age, slow oscillations propagated across longer distances (average growth of 0.2 cm per year; R(21) = 0.50, p sleep and the anatomical connectivity of white matter microstructure. Our findings make an important contribution to knowledge of the brain connectome using a noninvasive and novel analytic approach. These data also have implications for understanding the emergence of neurodevelopmental disorders and the role of sleep in brain maturation trajectories. © Sleep Research Society 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Sleep Research Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.

Very slow neutrons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frank, A.

1983-01-01

The history is briefly presented of the research so far of very slow neutrons and their basic properties are explained. The methods are described of obtaining very slow neutrons and the problems of their preservation are discussed. The existence of very slow neutrons makes it possible to perform experiments which may deepen the knowledge of the fundamental properties of neutrons. Their wavelength approximates that of visible radiation. The possibilities and use are discussed of neutron optical systems (neutron microscope) which could be an effective instrument for the study of the detailed arrangement, especially of organic substances. (B.S.)

The unappreciated slowness of conventional tourism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G.R. Larsen

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Most tourists are not consciously engaging in ‘slow travel’, but a number of travel behaviours displayed by conventional tourists can be interpreted as slow travel behaviour. Based on Danish tourists’ engagement with the distances they travel across to reach their holiday destination, this paper explores unintended slow travel behaviours displayed by these tourists. None of the tourists participating in this research were consciously doing ‘slow travel’, and yet some of their most valued holiday memories are linked to slow travel behaviours. Based on the analysis of these unintended slow travel behaviours, this paper will discuss the potential this insight might hold for promotion of slow travel. If unappreciated and unintentional slow travel behaviours could be utilised in the deliberate effort of encouraging more people to travel slow, ‘slow travel’ will be in a better position to become integrated into conventional travel behaviour.

Slow decay of magnetic fields in open Friedmann universes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barrow, John D.; Tsagas, Christos G.

2008-01-01

Magnetic fields in Friedmann universes can experience superadiabatic growth without departing from conventional electromagnetism. The reason is the relativistic coupling between vector fields and spacetime geometry, which slows down the decay of large-scale magnetic fields in open universes, compared to that seen in perfectly flat models. The result is a large relative gain in magnetic strength that can lead to astrophysically interesting B fields, even if our Universe is only marginally open today

SLOWER BUT HEALTHIER GROWTH

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

LAN XINZHEN

2010-01-01

@@ China's economic growth has slowed,economic statistics released on July 15 show,confirming market expectations.But officials said the country's economy is still on track. The recovery has gained traction in China,which registered a double-digit growth of 11.1 percent in the first half of this year.

Changes in the palatal dimensions of mouth breathing children caused by nasal obstruction

Science.gov (United States)

Indiarti, I. S.; Setyanto, D. B.; Kusumaningrum, A.; Budiardjo, S. B.

2017-08-01

During children’s growth and development, the breathing process plays an important role in craniofacial growth, especially of the palate. Nose breathing can stimulate the lateral growth of the maxilla, thus making the palate flat. Disturbances in nose breathing caused by nasal obstruction such as allergic rhinitis, adenoid hypertrophy, rhinosinusitis, nasal polyps, and obstructive sleep apnea can lead to a mouth breathing habit in children. This habit can cause palatal dimension changes such as a narrow V-shaped maxillary arch and a high palatal vault. This study analyzed the relationship between the mouth breathing habit in children who have nasal obstruction and palatal dimension changes. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted with a consecutive sampling method on children 7-18 years old with a history of allergic rhinitis, adenoid hypertrophy, rhinosinusitis, nasal polyps, and obstructive sleep apnea in the Pediatric Respirology and Pediatric Immunology Allergy Outpatient Clinic Kiara Maternal and Child Health Center at Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital in Jakarta. The palatal dimensions were measured by the height and transversal width of the hard palate of castings of each child’s upper dental arch using vernier calipers. Palatal dimension changes were found in children with a mouth breathing habit due to nasal obstruction.

Test Method Variability in Slow Crack Growth Properties of Sealing Glasses

Science.gov (United States)

Salem, J. A.; Tandon, R.

2010-01-01

The crack growth properties of several sealing glasses were measured by using constant stress rate testing in 2 and 95 percent RH (relative humidity). Crack growth parameters measured in high humidity are systematically smaller (n and B) than those measured in low humidity, and crack velocities for dry environments are 100x lower than for wet environments. The crack velocity is very sensitive to small changes in RH at low RH. Biaxial and uniaxial stress states produced similar parameters. Confidence intervals on crack growth parameters that were estimated from propagation of errors solutions were comparable to those from Monte Carlo simulation. Use of scratch-like and indentation flaws produced similar crack growth parameters when residual stresses were considered.

Breast meat quality of chickens with divergent growth rates and its relation to growth curve parameters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. C. Muth

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The effects of the increase of body weight of contemporary broilers during growth on functional meat quality and color characteristics of the chicken breast muscle are controversially debated. Therefore, male chickens (n = 264 of a fast-growing commercial broiler (Ross 308 and two slow-growing experimental meat-type chicken lines were compared at equal age and at similar body weight in order to investigate the effect of growth rate on selected functional breast meat traits and meat color. Additionally, the breast meat characteristics of birds with different growth profiles were compared within lines. When the body weight of commercial broilers reached about 40 to 60 % of their growth potential, they exhibited particularly high ultimate pH values compared with slow-growing lines. The ability of the meat of fast-growing broilers to retain water during cooking was impaired (5 to 16 percentage points increased cooking loss compared to slow-growing lines, which, in contrast to pH, was only marginally affected by body weight and/or age at slaughter. No unfavorable correlations of breast meat quality traits with the growth profile, represented by growth curve parameters derived from the Gompertz–Laird equation, were detected within any of the investigated chicken lines. It is noteworthy that the associations of ultimate pH and cooking loss with maximum growth speed indicate a non-linear relationship. Thus, some of the functional characteristics of breast meat of the fast-growing broiler resembled the white-striping defect described for poultry meat, but the hypothesis that selection on increased growth rates is detrimental for meat quality per se could not be confirmed. In fact, an elevated growth potential in particular, i.e., body weight at maturity, could have some beneficial effects for the water-holding capacity of breast meat, regardless of the genotypic growth rate.

Tracer particles in two-dimensional elastic networks diffuse logarithmically slow

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lizana, Ludvig; Ambjörnsson, Tobias; Lomholt, Michael A

2017-01-01

Several experiments on tagged molecules or particles in living systems suggest that they move anomalously slow—their mean squared displacement (MSD) increase slower than linearly with time. Leading models aimed at understanding these experiments predict that the MSD grows as a power law with a growth exponent that is smaller than unity. However, in some experiments the growth is so slow (fitted exponent  ∼0.1–0.2) that they hint towards other mechanisms at play. In this paper, we theoretically demonstrate how in-plane collective modes excited by thermal fluctuations in a two dimensional membrane lead to logarithmic time dependence for the the tracer particle’s MSD. (paper)

Dimensiones del crecimiento humano Human growth dimensions

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José María Barrio Maestre

2007-06-01

Full Text Available Desde la óptica propia de la Antropología Pedagógica, este artículo trata de poner de relieve el esencial inacabamiento de la persona, susceptible siempre de "ser más" como persona, y en qué medida la educación puede estimular su crecimiento. Analiza con cierto detalle las diversas facetas del desarrollo intelectual, haciendo especial hincapié en el sentido crítico y en las maneras adecuadas o impropias de promoverlo desde la actividad docente. También estudia las dimensiones esenciales del crecimiento moral de la persona, la posibilidad, necesidad y condiciones de legitimidad de una influencia asertiva explícitamente moralizante, así como la relación que existe entre la educación moral y la educación cívica. Se enfocan, igualmente, aspectos del desarrollo afectivo de la persona y su sinergia con las dimensiones del crecimiento ya mencionadas. Por último, se hacen algunas observaciones acerca del desarrollo de la dimensión religiosa y su importancia educativa.This paper, based on the findings of pedagogic anthropology, highlights the essential endlessness of the human person -who is always prone to "being more" as a person- and considers to what extent education can enhance human growth. The different stages of intellectual development are analyzed in some detail, emphasizing the critical sense and the adequate or inadequate ways of promoting such development through teaching. The paper also studies the essential domains of the person's moral growth and the possibility, necessity and legitimacy conditions of an explicitly moralizing assertive influence as well as the links between moral education and civic education. Likewise, aspects of the person's affective development and their synergy with the above mentioned growth domains are focused. Finally, some commentaries are made on the development of the religious domain and its educational importance.

Movement - uncontrolled or slow

Science.gov (United States)

Dystonia; Involuntary slow and twisting movements; Choreoathetosis; Leg and arm movements - uncontrollable; Arm and leg movements - uncontrollable; Slow involuntary movements of large muscle groups; Athetoid movements

THE ABSOLUTE GROWTH AND THE GROWTH COEFFICIENTS OF THE MAIN CORPORAL SIZES ON ACTUAL YOUTH ARDENEZ MALE COMPARED WITH THE YOUTH ARDENEZ MALE BREED IN 2002 ON IZVIN STUD, TIMIS DISTRICT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. TĂPĂLAGĂ

2009-10-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to observe the development degree under the morphological aspect at Ardenez horses from Izvin Stud. For this we have observed 8 exterior indicators on horses starting from 0-6 months to adult ones.The research was made on strength of 49 horses Ardenez thoroughbred, where absolute growth and the growth coefficients of the main corporal dimensions were calculated for the actual young Ardenez horses, compared with the absolute growth and the growth coefficients of the main corporal dimensions for young Ardenez horses raised in 2002 at Izvin Stud.As a result of the research, we’ve find that the growth of the main corporal dimensions on young horses is influenced by internal and external factors.From the internal factors, the precocity specific for the heavy thoroughbred, has influence upon the growth of the main corporal dimensions, thus at the age of 3, some of this dimensions stop their growth.A special influence upon the growth is exerted by the appearance of the sexual maturity, factor that makes corporal dimensions to vary between sexes, after the installation of the secondary sexual characters.

Fast and slow crystal growth kinetics in glass-forming melts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Orava, J.; Greer, A. L., E-mail: alg13@cam.ac.uk [WPI-Advanced Institute for Materials Research (WPI-AIMR), Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8577, Japan and Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, 27 Charles Babbage Road, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0FS (United Kingdom)

2014-06-07

Published values of crystal growth rates are compared for supercooled glass-forming liquids undergoing congruent freezing at a planar crystal-liquid interface. For the purposes of comparison pure metals are considered to be glass-forming systems, using data from molecular-dynamics simulations. For each system, the growth rate has a maximum value U{sub max} at a temperature T{sub max} that lies between the glass-transition temperature T{sub g} and the melting temperature T{sub m}. A classification is suggested, based on the lability (specifically, the propensity for fast crystallization), of the liquid. High-lability systems show “fast” growth characterized by a high U{sub max}, a low T{sub max} / T{sub m}, and a very broad peak in U vs. T / T{sub m}. In contrast, systems showing “slow” growth have a low U{sub max}, a high T{sub max} / T{sub m}, and a sharp peak in U vs. T / T{sub m}. Despite the difference of more than 11 orders of magnitude in U{sub max} seen in pure metals and in silica, the range of glass-forming systems surveyed fit into a common pattern in which the lability increases with lower reduced glass-transition temperature (T{sub g} / T{sub m}) and higher fragility of the liquid. A single parameter, a linear combination of T{sub g} / T{sub m} and fragility, can show a good correlation with U{sub max}. For all the systems, growth at U{sub max} is coupled to the atomic/molecular mobility in the liquid. It is found that, across the diversity of glass-forming systems, T{sub max} / T{sub g} = 1.48 ± 0.15.

KEK-IMSS Slow Positron Facility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hyodo, T; Wada, K; Yagishita, A; Kosuge, T; Saito, Y; Kurihara, T; Kikuchi, T; Shirakawa, A; Sanami, T; Ikeda, M; Ohsawa, S; Kakihara, K; Shidara, T, E-mail: toshio.hyodo@kek.jp [High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) 1-1 Oho, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0801 (Japan)

2011-12-01

The Slow Positron Facility at the Institute of Material Structure Science (IMSS) of High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) is a user dedicated facility with an energy tunable (0.1 - 35 keV) slow positron beam produced by a dedicated 55MeV linac. The present beam line branches have been used for the positronium time-of-flight (Ps-TOF) measurements, the transmission positron microscope (TPM) and the photo-detachment of Ps negative ions (Ps{sup -}). During the year 2010, a reflection high-energy positron diffraction (RHEPD) measurement station is going to be installed. The slow positron generator (converter/ moderator) system will be modified to get a higher slow positron intensity, and a new user-friendly beam line power-supply control and vacuum monitoring system is being developed. Another plan for this year is the transfer of a {sup 22}Na-based slow positron beam from RIKEN. This machine will be used for the continuous slow positron beam applications and for the orientation training of those who are interested in beginning researches with a slow positron beam.

Matrix dimensions bias demographic inferences: implications for comparative plant demography.

Science.gov (United States)

Salguero-Gómez, Roberto; Plotkin, Joshua B

2010-12-01

While the wealth of projection matrices in plant demography permits comparative studies, variation in matrix dimensions complicates interspecific comparisons. Collapsing matrices to a common dimension may facilitate such comparisons but may also bias the inferred demographic parameters. Here we examine how matrix dimension affects inferred demographic elasticities and how different collapsing criteria perform. We analyzed 13 x 13 matrices representing nine plant species, collapsing these matrices (i) into even 7 x 7, 5 x 5, 4 x 4, and 3 x 3 matrices and (ii) into 5 x 5 matrices using different criteria. Stasis and fecundity elasticities increased when matrix dimension was reduced, whereas those of progression and retrogression decreased. We suggest a collapsing criterion that minimizes dissimilarities between the original- and collapsed-matrix elasticities and apply it to 66 plant species to study how life span and growth form influence the relationship between matrix dimension and elasticities. Our analysis demonstrates that (i) projection matrix dimension has significant effects on inferred demographic parameters, (ii) there are better-performing methods than previously suggested for standardizing matrix dimension, and (iii) herbaceous perennial projection matrices are particularly sensitive to changes in matrix dimensionality. For comparative demographic studies, we recommend normalizing matrices to a common dimension by collapsing higher classes and leaving the first few classes unaltered.

Too slow, for Milton

OpenAIRE

Armstrong, N.

2011-01-01

Too slow, for Milton was written in 2011, as part of a memorial project for Milton Babbitt. The piece borrows harmonies from Babbitt's Composition for 12 Instruments (harmonies which Babbitt had in turn borrowed from Schoenberg's Ode to Napoleon), but unfolds them as part of a musical texture characterised by repetition, resonance, and a slow rate of change. As Babbitt once told me that my music was 'too slow', this seemed an appropriately obstinate form of homage.

Centriolar CPAP/SAS-4 Imparts Slow Processive Microtubule Growth

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sharma, Ashwani; Aher, Amol; Dynes, Nicola J; Frey, Daniel; Katrukha, Eugene A; Jaussi, Rolf; Grigoriev, Ilya; Croisier, Marie; Kammerer, Richard A; Akhmanova, Anna; Gönczy, Pierre; Steinmetz, Michel O

2016-01-01

Centrioles are fundamental and evolutionarily conserved microtubule-based organelles whose assembly is characterized by microtubule growth rates that are orders of magnitude slower than those of cytoplasmic microtubules. Several centriolar proteins can interact with tubulin or microtubules, but how

Fundal Height: An Accurate Indicator of Fetal Growth?

Science.gov (United States)

... could indicate conditions such as: Slow fetal growth (intrauterine growth restriction) A significantly larger than average baby (fetal macrosomia) ... Butler Tobah, M.D. Figueras F, et al. Intrauterine growth restriction: New concepts in antenatal surveillance, diagnosis, and management. ...

Cecum lymph node dendritic cells harbor slow-growing bacteria phenotypically tolerant to antibiotic treatment.

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Patrick Kaiser

2014-02-01

Full Text Available In vivo, antibiotics are often much less efficient than ex vivo and relapses can occur. The reasons for poor in vivo activity are still not completely understood. We have studied the fluoroquinolone antibiotic ciprofloxacin in an animal model for complicated Salmonellosis. High-dose ciprofloxacin treatment efficiently reduced pathogen loads in feces and most organs. However, the cecum draining lymph node (cLN, the gut tissue, and the spleen retained surviving bacteria. In cLN, approximately 10%-20% of the bacteria remained viable. These phenotypically tolerant bacteria lodged mostly within CD103⁺CX₃CR1⁻CD11c⁺ dendritic cells, remained genetically susceptible to ciprofloxacin, were sufficient to reinitiate infection after the end of the therapy, and displayed an extremely slow growth rate, as shown by mathematical analysis of infections with mixed inocula and segregative plasmid experiments. The slow growth was sufficient to explain recalcitrance to antibiotics treatment. Therefore, slow-growing antibiotic-tolerant bacteria lodged within dendritic cells can explain poor in vivo antibiotic activity and relapse. Administration of LPS or CpG, known elicitors of innate immune defense, reduced the loads of tolerant bacteria. Thus, manipulating innate immunity may augment the in vivo activity of antibiotics.

Simulating the Impact of Economic and Environmental Strategies on Future Urban Growth Scenarios in Ningbo, China

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Yan Liu

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Coastal cities in China are challenged by multiple growth paths and strategies related to demands in the housing market, economic growth and eco-system protection. This paper examines the effects of conflicting strategies between economic growth and environmental protection on future urban scenarios in Ningbo, China, through logistic-regression-based cellular automata (termed LogCA modeling. The LogCA model is calibrated based on the observed urban patterns in 1990 and 2015, and applied to simulate four future scenarios in 2040, including (a the Norm-scenario, a baseline scenario that maintains the 1990–2015 growth rate; (b the GDP-scenario, a GDP-oriented growth scenario emphasizing the development in city centers and along economic corridors; (c the Slow-scenario, a slow-growth scenario considering the potential downward trend of the housing market in China; and (d the Eco-scenario, a slow-growth scenario emphasizing natural conservation and ecosystem protections. The CA parameters of the Norm- and Slow-scenarios are the same as the calibrated parameters, while the parameters of proximities to economic corridors and natural scenery sites were increased by a factor of 3 for the GDP- and Eco-scenarios, respectively. The Norm- and GDP-scenarios predicted 1950 km2 of new growth for the next 25 years, the Slow-scenario predicted 650 km2, and the Eco-scenario predicted less growth than the Slow-scenario. The locations where the newly built-up area will emerge are significantly different under the four scenarios and the Slow- and Eco-scenarios are preferable to achieve long-term sustainability. The scenarios are not only helpful for exploring sustainable urban development options in China, but also serve as a reference for adjusting the urban planning and land policies.

Water-Transfer Slows Aging in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Aviv; Weindling, Esther; Rabinovich, Efrat; Nachman, Iftach; Fuchs, Shai; Chuartzman, Silvia; Gal, Lihi; Schuldiner, Maya; Bar-Nun, Shoshana

2016-01-01

Transferring Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells to water is known to extend their lifespan. However, it is unclear whether this lifespan extension is due to slowing the aging process or merely keeping old yeast alive. Here we show that in water-transferred yeast, the toxicity of polyQ proteins is decreased and the aging biomarker 47Q aggregates at a reduced rate and to a lesser extent. These beneficial effects of water-transfer could not be reproduced by diluting the growth medium and depended on de novo protein synthesis and proteasomes levels. Interestingly, we found that upon water-transfer 27 proteins are downregulated, 4 proteins are upregulated and 81 proteins change their intracellular localization, hinting at an active genetic program enabling the lifespan extension. Furthermore, the aging-related deterioration of the heat shock response (HSR), the unfolded protein response (UPR) and the endoplasmic reticulum-associated protein degradation (ERAD), was largely prevented in water-transferred yeast, as the activities of these proteostatic network pathways remained nearly as robust as in young yeast. The characteristics of young yeast that are actively maintained upon water-transfer indicate that the extended lifespan is the outcome of slowing the rate of the aging process.

Does Inflation Slow Long-Run Growth in India?

OpenAIRE

Mohaddes, K.; Raissi, M.

2014-01-01

This paper examines the long-run relationship between consumer price index industrial workers (CPI-IW) inflation and GDP growth in India. We collect data on a sample of 14 Indian states over the period 1989-?2013, and use the cross-sectionally augmented distributed lag (CS-DL) approach of Chudik et al. (2013) as well as the standard panel ARDL method for estimation? to account for cross-state heterogeneity and dependence, dynamics and feedback effects. Our findings suggest that, on average, t...

Selective Attention to Perceptual Dimensions and Switching between Dimensions

Science.gov (United States)

Meiran, Nachshon; Dimov, Eduard; Ganel, Tzvi

2013-01-01

In the present experiments, the question being addressed was whether switching attention between perceptual dimensions and selective attention to dimensions are processes that compete over a common resource? Attention to perceptual dimensions is usually studied by requiring participants to ignore a never-relevant dimension. Selection failure…

Small angle scattering of X radiation and slow neutrons in structural analyses of amorphous solids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kostorz, G.

1980-01-01

Small angle scattering of x radiation and slow neutrons allows to detect inhomogeneities of the dimension of ten to some thousands of Angstroem by the difference in the scattering length density. The progress made during recent years in the development of apparatusses has created the possibility of solving very complicated problems. A first outline shows that in separation processes as well as in investigating extended defects the method of small angle scattering may provide valuable contributions to the analysis of the non-crystalline state

Cell proliferation of Paramecium tetraurelia on a slow rotating clinostat

Science.gov (United States)

Sawai, Satoe; Mogami, Yoshihiro; Baba, Shoji A.

Paramecium is known to proliferate faster under microgravity conditions, and slower under hypergravity. Experiments using axenic culture medium have demonstrated that hypergravity affected directly on the proliferation of Paramecium itself. In order to assess the mechanisms underlying the physiological effects of gravity on cell proliferation, Paramecium tetraurelia was grown under clinorotation (2.5 rpm) and the time course of the proliferation was investigated in detail on the basis of the logistic analysis. On the basis of the mechanical properties of Paramecium, this slow rate of the rotation appears to be enough to simulate microgravity in terms of the randomization of the cell orientation with respect to gravity. P. tetraurelia was cultivated in a closed chamber in which cells were confined without air bubbles, reducing the shear forces and turbulences under clinorotation. The chamber is made of quartz and silicone rubber film; the former is for the optically-flat walls for the measurement of cell density by means of a non-invasive laser optical-slice method, and the latter for gas exchange. Because of the small dimension for culture space, Paramecium does not accumulate at the top of the chamber in spite of its known negative gravitactic behavior. We measured the cell density at regular time intervals without breaking the configuration of the chamber, and analyzed the proliferation parameters by fitting the data to a logistic equation. As a result, P. tetraurelia showed reduced proliferation under slow clinorotation. The saturation of the cell density as well as the maximum proliferation rate decreased, although we found no significant changes on the half maximal time for proliferation. We also found that the mean swimming velocity decreased under slow clinorotation. These results were not consistent with those under microgravity and fast rotating clinostat. This may suggest that randomization of the cell orientation performed by slow rotating clinostat has

Social Dimensions of Personal Growth following Widowhood: A Three-Wave Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Recksiedler, Claudia; Loter, Katharina; Klaas, Hannah S; Hollstein, Betina; Perrig-Chiello, Pasqualina

2018-01-01

Losing one's spouse is one of the most stressful life events in old age, yet research on positive consequences of overcoming critical life events describes experiences of personal growth for survivors. Because prior studies conceptualized personal growth as a stable accomplishment of an individual, our study challenges this assumption by examining trajectories of personal growth and its links to two aspects of social support. We assume that personal growth is boosted by heightened levels of loss-related social support seeking during early years of widowhood. However, toward the later stages in the bereavement process, we expect personal growth to be fostered by perceived social embeddedness. Data stem from a survey on relationships in later life conducted in 2012, 2014, and 2016 in Switzerland. The final analytical sample consisted of 508 individuals aged 50+ years, who were on average 73 years old and widowed for about 3 years at baseline. Longitudinal explorative factor analyses yielded a 3-factorial solution for personal growth. Random-effects group-specific growth curves were used to examine the trajectories of personal growth and its subdimensions, by different levels of loss-related social support seeking and embeddedness in a supportive network, over the first 8 years of widowhood. Our analyses included time-invariant and time-varying covariates. On average, our findings point to a stable trajectory of personal growth after having become widowed in later life. Group-specific analyses, however, showed different courses in the trajectories for specific subdimensions of personal growth - particularly for spiritual change and appreciation of life. Average marginal effects also yielded group differences by loss-related support seeking in the level of personal growth over time, which highlight the importance of social support seeking, rather than social embeddedness, at all stages of the bereavement process. Findings underline the importance of a longitudinal and

Was dinosaurian physiology inherited by birds? Reconciling slow growth in archaeopteryx.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gregory M Erickson

2009-10-01

Full Text Available Archaeopteryx is the oldest and most primitive known bird (Avialae. It is believed that the growth and energetic physiology of basalmost birds such as Archaeopteryx were inherited in their entirety from non-avialan dinosaurs. This hypothesis predicts that the long bones in these birds formed using rapidly growing, well-vascularized woven tissue typical of non-avialan dinosaurs.We report that Archaeopteryx long bones are composed of nearly avascular parallel-fibered bone. This is among the slowest growing osseous tissues and is common in ectothermic reptiles. These findings dispute the hypothesis that non-avialan dinosaur growth and physiology were inherited in totality by the first birds. Examining these findings in a phylogenetic context required intensive sampling of outgroup dinosaurs and basalmost birds. Our results demonstrate the presence of a scale-dependent maniraptoran histological continuum that Archaeopteryx and other basalmost birds follow. Growth analysis for Archaeopteryx suggests that these animals showed exponential growth rates like non-avialan dinosaurs, three times slower than living precocial birds, but still within the lowermost range for all endothermic vertebrates.The unexpected histology of Archaeopteryx and other basalmost birds is actually consistent with retention of the phylogenetically earlier paravian dinosaur condition when size is considered. The first birds were simply feathered dinosaurs with respect to growth and energetic physiology. The evolution of the novel pattern in modern forms occurred later in the group's history.

The establishment of a slow-growth conservation system in vitro for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

AJL

2012-01-26

Jan 26, 2012 ... The M3A played the greatest inhibitory effect on height growth of the two lily species, on ... and Morel proposed the preservation of plant germplasm in vitro for the first time; ... concentration of nutrients (Engelmann, 1991), growth inhibitor, or low oxygen content (Bonnier et al., 1996). Besides, temperature ...

Lack of conformity between Indian classroom furniture and student dimensions: proposed future seat/table dimensions.

Science.gov (United States)

Savanur, C S; Altekar, C R; De, A

2007-10-01

Children spend one-quarter of a day in school. Of this, 60-80% of time is spent in the classroom. Classroom features, such as workspace and personal space play an important role in children's growth and performance as this age marks the period of anatomical, physiological and psychological developments. Since the classroom is an influential part of a student's life the present study focused on classroom furniture in relation to students' workspace and personal space requirements and standards and was conducted in five schools at Mumbai, India. Dimensions of 104 items of furniture (chairs and desks) were measured as were 42 anthropometric dimensions of 225 students from grade six to grade nine (age: 10-14 years). Questionnaire responses of 292 students regarding the perceived adequacy of their classroom furniture were collected. Results indicated that the seat and desk heights (450 mm, 757 mm respectively) were higher than the comparable students' anthropometric dimensions and that of the recommendations of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) (340 + 3 mm, 380 + 3 mm seat-heights, 580 + 3 mm 640 + 3 mm desk-heights) as well as Time-Saver Standards (TSS) (381.0 mm seat-height and 660.4 mm desk-height). The depth of the seats and the desks (299 mm, 319 mm, respectively) were less than comparable students' anthropometric dimensions and the recommendations of BIS (IS 4837: 1990). Students reported discomfort in shoulder, wrist, knee and ankle regions. Based on the students' anthropometric data, proposed future designs with fixed table-heights and adjustable seat-heights along with footrests were identified.

Slow Tourism: Exploring the discourses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Guiver

2016-05-01

Full Text Available ‘Slow travel’ and ‘slow tourism’ are relatively new, but contested, concepts. This paper examines the meanings ascribed to them in the academic literature and websites targeted at potential tourists. It finds concurrence on aspects of savouring time at the destination and investing time to appreciate the locality, its people, history, culture and products, but detects different emphases. The academic literature stresses the benefits to the destination and global sustainability, while the websites focus on the personal benefits and ways of becoming a ‘slow tourist’. Food and drink epitomise the immersion in and absorption of the destination and the multi-dimensional tourism experience, contrasted with the superficiality of mainstream tourism. The paper discusses whether tourists practising slow tourism without using the label are slow tourists or not.

Use of slow-release fertilizer on the production of sweet potatoes plantlets in tray

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amarílis Beraldo Rós

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The production of plantlets in containers generally requires the use of fertilizers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the production of sweet potato in styrofoam trays using slow-release fertilizer. The experiment was carried out, under a screen-protected nursery, in a factorial scheme 5x5, with five doses of slow-release fertilizer NPK 19-06-10 (0, 50, 100, 150 e 200 g per 25 kg de substrate and five times of plantlets permanence in tray (14, 28, 42, 56 and 70 days after planting the cuttings. The number and dry matter of roots and leaves were evaluated. The number of roots was not influenced by fertilizer addition. In general, there is not damage to plantlets growth until the highest dose used. Therefore, the fertilizer addition increases the sweet potato plants growth and the dose of 200 g per 25 kg of substrate is responsible for the best results.

Was Dinosaurian Physiology Inherited by Birds? Reconciling Slow Growth in Archaeopteryx

Science.gov (United States)

Erickson, Gregory M.; Rauhut, Oliver W. M.; Zhou, Zhonghe; Turner, Alan H.; Inouye, Brian D.; Hu, Dongyu; Norell, Mark A.

2009-01-01

Background Archaeopteryx is the oldest and most primitive known bird (Avialae). It is believed that the growth and energetic physiology of basalmost birds such as Archaeopteryx were inherited in their entirety from non-avialan dinosaurs. This hypothesis predicts that the long bones in these birds formed using rapidly growing, well-vascularized woven tissue typical of non-avialan dinosaurs. Methodology/Principal Findings We report that Archaeopteryx long bones are composed of nearly avascular parallel-fibered bone. This is among the slowest growing osseous tissues and is common in ectothermic reptiles. These findings dispute the hypothesis that non-avialan dinosaur growth and physiology were inherited in totality by the first birds. Examining these findings in a phylogenetic context required intensive sampling of outgroup dinosaurs and basalmost birds. Our results demonstrate the presence of a scale-dependent maniraptoran histological continuum that Archaeopteryx and other basalmost birds follow. Growth analysis for Archaeopteryx suggests that these animals showed exponential growth rates like non-avialan dinosaurs, three times slower than living precocial birds, but still within the lowermost range for all endothermic vertebrates. Conclusions/Significance The unexpected histology of Archaeopteryx and other basalmost birds is actually consistent with retention of the phylogenetically earlier paravian dinosaur condition when size is considered. The first birds were simply feathered dinosaurs with respect to growth and energetic physiology. The evolution of the novel pattern in modern forms occurred later in the group's history. PMID:19816582

Slow Earthquake Hunters: A New Citizen Science Project to Identify and Catalog Slow Slip Events in Geodetic Data

Science.gov (United States)

Bartlow, N. M.

2017-12-01

Slow Earthquake Hunters is a new citizen science project to detect, catalog, and monitor slow slip events. Slow slip events, also called "slow earthquakes", occur when faults slip too slowly to generate significant seismic radiation. They typically take between a few days and over a year to occur, and are most often found on subduction zone plate interfaces. While not dangerous in and of themselves, recent evidence suggests that monitoring slow slip events is important for earthquake hazards, as slow slip events have been known to trigger damaging "regular" earthquakes. Slow slip events, because they do not radiate seismically, are detected with a variety of methods, most commonly continuous geodetic Global Positioning System (GPS) stations. There is now a wealth of GPS data in some regions that experience slow slip events, but a reliable automated method to detect them in GPS data remains elusive. This project aims to recruit human users to view GPS time series data, with some post-processing to highlight slow slip signals, and flag slow slip events for further analysis by the scientific team. Slow Earthquake Hunters will begin with data from the Cascadia subduction zone, where geodetically detectable slow slip events with a duration of at least a few days recur at regular intervals. The project will then expand to other areas with slow slip events or other transient geodetic signals, including other subduction zones, and areas with strike-slip faults. This project has not yet rolled out to the public, and is in a beta testing phase. This presentation will show results from an initial pilot group of student participants at the University of Missouri, and solicit feedback for the future of Slow Earthquake Hunters.

A slowing-down problem

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carlvik, I; Pershagen, B

1958-06-15

An infinitely long circular cylinder of radius a is surrounded by an infinite moderator. Both media are non-capturing. The cylinder emits neutrons of age zero with a constant source density of S. We assume that the ratios of the slowing-down powers and of the diffusion constants are independent of the neutron energy. The slowing-down density is calculated for two cases, a) when the slowing-down power of the cylinder medium is very small, and b) when the cylinder medium is identical with the moderator. The ratios of the slowing-down density at the age {tau} and the source density in the two cases are called {psi}{sub V}, and {psi}{sub M} respectively. {psi}{sub V} and {psi}{sub M} are functions of y=a{sup 2}/4{tau}. These two functions ({psi}{sub V} and {psi}{sub M}) are calculated and tabulated for y = 0-0.25.

Understanding the physiology of Lactobacillus plantarum at zero growth

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Goffin, P.; van de Bunt, B.; Giovane, M.; Leveau, J.H.J.; Höppener-Ogawa, S.; Teusink, B.; Hugenholtz, J.

2010-01-01

Situations of extremely low substrate availability, resulting in slow growth, are common in natural environments. To mimic these conditions, Lactobacillus plantarum was grown in a carbon-limited retentostat with complete biomass retention. The physiology of extremely slow-growing L. plantarum—as

The superconductor revolutions and the (slow) applications evolution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Foner, S.

1990-01-01

The discovery in the 1960's of type 2 superconductors with high critical current densities in high magnetic fields (and the development of NbTi in particular) led to the first revolution. The discovery of high temperature superconductors (HTS) started the second revolution. At this stage ceramists became involved with superconductors. I will assess the status of various superconductor applications, progress of HTS and their possible applications at 4.2K, and near-term needs for superconducting materials operating at 30T in specialized facilities. Reasons for the slow growth of superconductor applications will be reviewed

Screening rules for growth to detect celiac disease : A case-control simulation study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dommelen, P. van; Grote, F.K.; Oostdijk, W.; Muinck Keizer de; Schrama, S.M.P.F.; Boersma, B.; Damen, G.M.; Csizmadia, C.G.; Verkerk, P.H.; Wit, J.M.; Buuren, S. van

2008-01-01

Background: It is generally assumed that most patients with celiac disease (CD) have a slowed growth in terms of length (or height) and weight. However, the effectiveness of slowed growth as a tool for identifying children with CD is unknown. Our aim is to study the diagnostic efficiency of several

Slow motion in films and video clips: Music influences perceived duration and emotion, autonomic physiological activation and pupillary responses.

Science.gov (United States)

Wöllner, Clemens; Hammerschmidt, David; Albrecht, Henning

2018-01-01

Slow motion scenes are ubiquitous in screen-based audiovisual media and are typically accompanied by emotional music. The strong effects of slow motion on observers are hypothetically related to heightened emotional states in which time seems to pass more slowly. These states are simulated in films and video clips, and seem to resemble such experiences in daily life. The current study investigated time perception and emotional response to media clips containing decelerated human motion, with or without music using psychometric and psychophysiological testing methods. Participants were presented with slow-motion scenes taken from commercial films, ballet and sports footage, as well as the same scenes converted to real-time. Results reveal that slow-motion scenes, compared to adapted real-time scenes, led to systematic underestimations of duration, lower perceived arousal but higher valence, lower respiration rates and smaller pupillary diameters. The presence of music compared to visual-only presentations strongly affected results in terms of higher accuracy in duration estimates, higher perceived arousal and valence, higher physiological activation and larger pupillary diameters, indicating higher arousal. Video genre affected responses in addition. These findings suggest that perceiving slow motion is not related to states of high arousal, but rather affects cognitive dimensions of perceived time and valence. Music influences these experiences profoundly, thus strengthening the impact of stretched time in audiovisual media.

Effect of Time-Dependent Pinning Pressure on Abnormal Grain Growth: Phase Field Simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jeong Min; Min, Guensik; Shim, Jae-Hyeok; Lee, Kyung Jong

2018-05-01

The effect of the time-dependent pinning pressure of precipitates on abnormal grain growth has been investigated by multiphase field simulation with a simple precipitation model. The application of constant pinning pressure is problematic because it always induces abnormal grain growth or no grain growth, which is not reasonable considering the real situation. To produce time-dependent pinning pressure, both precipitation kinetics and precipitate coarsening kinetics have been considered with two rates: slow and fast. The results show that abnormal grain growth is suppressed at the slow precipitation rate. At the slow precipitation rate, the overall grain growth caused by the low pinning pressure in the early stage indeed plays a role in preventing abnormal grain growth by reducing the mobility advantage of abnormal grains. In addition, the fast precipitate coarsening rate tends to more quickly transform abnormal grain growth into normal grain growth by inducing the active growth of grains adjacent to the abnormal grains in the early stage. Therefore, the present study demonstrates that the time dependence of the pinning pressure of precipitates is a critical factor that determines the grain growth mode.

Needle-shaped and platelet growth of borax crystals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takoo, R.K.; Patel, B.R.; Joshi, M.S.

1983-01-01

Needle-shaped and platelet growth of borax crystals from solutions is reported. Results of microtopographical studies on both the varieties are discussed. It is suggested that a slow rate of evaporation favours needle growth and a faster rate is conducive to the growth of platelets. (author)

Connecting slow earthquakes to huge earthquakes

OpenAIRE

Obara, Kazushige; Kato, Aitaro

2016-01-01

Slow earthquakes are characterized by a wide spectrum of fault slip behaviors and seismic radiation patterns that differ from those of traditional earthquakes. However, slow earthquakes and huge megathrust earthquakes can have common slip mechanisms and are located in neighboring regions of the seismogenic zone. The frequent occurrence of slow earthquakes may help to reveal the physics underlying megathrust events as useful analogs. Slow earthquakes may function as stress meters because of th...

Integrated Photonics Enabled by Slow Light

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mørk, Jesper; Chen, Yuntian; Ek, Sara

2012-01-01

In this talk we will discuss the physics of slow light in semiconductor materials and in particular the possibilities offered for integrated photonics. This includes ultra-compact slow light enabled optical amplifiers, lasers and pulse sources.......In this talk we will discuss the physics of slow light in semiconductor materials and in particular the possibilities offered for integrated photonics. This includes ultra-compact slow light enabled optical amplifiers, lasers and pulse sources....

Water-Transfer Slows Aging in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aviv Cohen

Full Text Available Transferring Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells to water is known to extend their lifespan. However, it is unclear whether this lifespan extension is due to slowing the aging process or merely keeping old yeast alive. Here we show that in water-transferred yeast, the toxicity of polyQ proteins is decreased and the aging biomarker 47Q aggregates at a reduced rate and to a lesser extent. These beneficial effects of water-transfer could not be reproduced by diluting the growth medium and depended on de novo protein synthesis and proteasomes levels. Interestingly, we found that upon water-transfer 27 proteins are downregulated, 4 proteins are upregulated and 81 proteins change their intracellular localization, hinting at an active genetic program enabling the lifespan extension. Furthermore, the aging-related deterioration of the heat shock response (HSR, the unfolded protein response (UPR and the endoplasmic reticulum-associated protein degradation (ERAD, was largely prevented in water-transferred yeast, as the activities of these proteostatic network pathways remained nearly as robust as in young yeast. The characteristics of young yeast that are actively maintained upon water-transfer indicate that the extended lifespan is the outcome of slowing the rate of the aging process.

Fast and slow spindles during the sleep slow oscillation: disparate coalescence and engagement in memory processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Mölle, Matthias; Bergmann, Til O; Marshall, Lisa; Born, Jan

2011-10-01

Thalamo-cortical spindles driven by the up-state of neocortical slow (memory consolidation during sleep. We examined interactions between SOs and spindles in human slow wave sleep, focusing on the presumed existence of 2 kinds of spindles, i.e., slow frontocortical and fast centro-parietal spindles. Two experiments were performed in healthy humans (24.5 ± 0.9 y) investigating undisturbed sleep (Experiment I) and the effects of prior learning (word paired associates) vs. non-learning (Experiment II) on multichannel EEG recordings during sleep. Only fast spindles (12-15 Hz) were synchronized to the depolarizing SO up-state. Slow spindles (9-12 Hz) occurred preferentially at the transition into the SO down-state, i.e., during waning depolarization. Slow spindles also revealed a higher probability to follow rather than precede fast spindles. For sequences of individual SOs, fast spindle activity was largest for "initial" SOs, whereas SO amplitude and slow spindle activity were largest for succeeding SOs. Prior learning enhanced this pattern. The finding that fast and slow spindles occur at different times of the SO cycle points to disparate generating mechanisms for the 2 kinds of spindles. The reported temporal relationships during SO sequences suggest that fast spindles, driven by the SO up-state feed back to enhance the likelihood of succeeding SOs together with slow spindles. By enforcing such SO-spindle cycles, particularly after prior learning, fast spindles possibly play a key role in sleep-dependent memory processing.

Experiências com a gastronomia local: um estudo de casosobre movimento Slow Food e o turismo gastronômico nacidade de Recife - Brasil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Uiara Maria Oliveira Martins

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The Slow Food Movement and the Gastronomic Tourism are developing experiments in the gastronomy in different dimensions. Actually, the activities performed by each of these actors are complementary and can help to enhance, one hand, the production and preservation of local culture and, on the other hand, offer a touristic attraction and quality that matches the expectations of gastronomic tourists. Thus, this study aims to observe gastronomic itineraries planned by the Slow Food movement in the city of Recife, Brazil, in conjunction with a travel agency, giving priority to analyse the repercussions of that partnership. The data collection was done through questionnaires and these data were submited to content analysis.The results show that the integration of the Slow Food movement with touristic agents constitute a partnership that can contribute positively to the gastronomic tourism development.

Light storage via slow-light four-wave mixing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fan, Yun-Fei; Wang, Hai-Hua; Wei, Xiao-Gang; Li, Ai-Jun; Kang, Zhi-Hui; Wu, Jin-Hui; Zhang, Han-Zhuang; Xu, Huai-Liang; Gao, Jin-Yue

2012-01-01

We experimentally demonstrate a light storage via slow-light four-wave mixing in a solid-state medium with a four-level double lambda scheme. Using slow light based on electromagnetically induced transparency, we obtain a slowed four-wave mixing signal pulse together with the slowed probe pulse. During the propagation of light pulses, the storage and retrieval of both the slowed four-wave mixing pulse and the slowed probe pulse are studied by manipulating the intensities of the control fields. -- Highlights: ► A light storage via slow-light four-wave mixing is observed in a solid. ► The probe pulse is slowed under electromagnetically induced transparency. ► A slowed four-wave mixing pulse is obtained by slow light. ► The storage of slowed double pulses is studied.

Synthesis, growth, morphology of the semiorganic nonlinear optical crystal L-glutamic acid hydrochloride and its structural, thermal and SHG characterizations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dhanasekaran, P.; Srinivasan, K. [Crystal Growth Laboratory, Department of Physics, School of Physical Sciences, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore-641 046, Tamil Nadu (India)

2012-12-15

One of the halide derivatives of L-glutamic acid which was identified as a semiorganic nonlinear optical material, L-glutamic acid hydrochloride [HOOC(CH{sub 2}){sub 2}CH(NH{sub 2})COOH.HCl], was grown as bulk single crystal and its significant properties were characterized. The stoichiometric title compound was synthesized and the solubility of its recrystallized form in DD water was determined in the temperature range 30-80 C by gravimetric method. Structural confirmation was carried out by powder X-ray diffraction study through lattice parameter verification. Optical quality smaller dimension single crystals were grown from aqueous solution by self nucleation through slow evaporation of solvent method and a large dimension single crystal was grown by slow cooling method with reversible seed rotation technique. Morphological importances of different growth facets of the as grown crystals were studied through optical goniometry. Unit cell structure of the grown crystal was refined by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, functional groups present in the crystal responsible for various modes of vibrations were confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy analysis, thermal stability of the grown crystal was analysed by TG/DTA and DSC and second harmonic generation (SHG) of a fundamental Nd:YAG laser beam by Kurtz technique. Results indicate that the grown crystal is in stoichiometric composition and has significant improvement in its thermal and SHG properties when compared to pure L-glutamic acid polymorphs. (Copyright copyright 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Slow rupture of frictional interfaces

Science.gov (United States)

Bar Sinai, Yohai; Brener, Efim A.; Bouchbinder, Eran

2012-02-01

The failure of frictional interfaces and the spatiotemporal structures that accompany it are central to a wide range of geophysical, physical and engineering systems. Recent geophysical and laboratory observations indicated that interfacial failure can be mediated by slow slip rupture phenomena which are distinct from ordinary, earthquake-like, fast rupture. These discoveries have influenced the way we think about frictional motion, yet the nature and properties of slow rupture are not completely understood. We show that slow rupture is an intrinsic and robust property of simple non-monotonic rate-and-state friction laws. It is associated with a new velocity scale cmin, determined by the friction law, below which steady state rupture cannot propagate. We further show that rupture can occur in a continuum of states, spanning a wide range of velocities from cmin to elastic wave-speeds, and predict different properties for slow rupture and ordinary fast rupture. Our results are qualitatively consistent with recent high-resolution laboratory experiments and may provide a theoretical framework for understanding slow rupture phenomena along frictional interfaces.

Cohesive zone model for intergranular slow crack growth in ceramics: influence of the process and the microstructure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Romero de la Osa, M; Olagnon, C; Chevalier, J; Estevez, R; Tallaron, C

2011-01-01

Ceramic polycrystals are prone to slow crack growth (SCG) which is stress and environmentally assisted, similarly to observations reported for silica glasses. The kinetics of fracture are known to be dependent on the load level, the temperature and the relative humidity. In addition, evidence is available on the influence of the microstructure on the SCG rate with an increase in the crack velocity with decreasing the grain size. Crack propagation takes place beyond a load threshold, which is grain size dependent. We present a cohesive zone model for the intergranular failure process. The methodology accounts for an intrinsic opening that governs the length of the cohesive zone and allows the investigation of grain size effects. A rate and temperature-dependent cohesive model is proposed (Romero de la Osa M, Estevez R et al 2009 J. Mech. Adv. Mater. Struct. 16 623–31) to mimic the reaction–rupture mechanism. The formulation is inspired by Michalske and Freiman's picture (Michalske and Freiman 1983 J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 66 284–8) together with a recent study by Zhu et al (2005 J. Mech. Phys. Solids 53 1597–623) of the reaction–rupture mechanism. The present investigation extends a previous work (Romero de la Osa et al 2009 Int. J. Fracture 158 157–67) in which the problem is formulated. Here, we explore the influence of the microstructure in terms of grain size, their elastic properties and residual thermal stresses originating from the cooling from the sintering temperature down to ambient conditions. Their influence on SCG for static loadings is reported and the predictions compared with experimental trends. We show that the initial stress state is responsible for the grain size dependence reported experimentally for SCG. Furthermore, the account for the initial stresses enables the prediction of a load threshold below which no crack growth is observed: a crack arrest takes place when the crack path meets a region in compression

CT measurments of cranial growth: normal subjects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hahn, F.J.; Chu, W.K.; Cheung, J.Y.

1984-01-01

Growth patterns of the cranium measured directly as head circumference have been well documented. With the availability of computed tomography (CT) , cranial dimensions can be obtained easily. The objective of this project was to establish the mean values and their normal variance of CT cranial area of subjects at different ages. Cranial area and its long and short axes were measured on CT scans for 215 neurologic patients of a wide age range who presented no evidence of abnormal growth of head size. Growth patterns of the cranial area as well as the numeric product of it linear dimensions were determined via a curve fitting process. The patterns resemble that of the head circumference growth chart, with the most rapid growth observed in the first 12 months of age and reaching full size during adolescence

Population Growth and Poverty in the Developing World.

Science.gov (United States)

Birdsall, Nancy

1980-01-01

The link between rapid population growth and the absolute poverty which currently afflicts 780 million people in developing countries (excluding China and other centrally planned economies) is examined. As a result of rapid population growth, many countries suffer slow per capita income growth, a lack of progress in reducing income inequality, and…

Effects of a synthetic bioactive peptide on neurite growth and nerve growth factor release in chondroitin sulfate hydrogels

OpenAIRE

Conovaloff, Aaron W.; Beier, Brooke L.; Irazoqui, Pedro P.; Panitch, Alyssa

2011-01-01

Previous work has revealed robust dorsal root ganglia neurite growth in hydrogels of chondroitin sulfate. In the current work, it was determined whether addition of a synthetic bioactive peptide could augment neurite growth in these matrices via enhanced binding and sequestering of growth factors. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching studies revealed that addition of peptide slowed nerve growth factor diffusivity in chondroitin sulfate gels, but not in control gels of hyaluronic acid. F...

The need for friendships and information: Dimensions of social support and posttraumatic growth among women with breast cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Hasson-Ohayon, Ilanit; Tuval-Mashiach, Rivka; Goldzweig, Gil; Levi, Rienat; Pizem, Noam; Kaufman, Bela

2016-08-01

Employing a cross-sectional design, the current study examined the relationships between various agents and types of support and posttraumatic growth (PTG) among women with breast cancer. Eighty married women who were coping with breast cancer completed social support and PTG questionnaires. All agents of social support (family, friends, belief-based), excluding spousal support, and all types of social support were found to be related to the various PTG dimensions and its total score. Regression analyses revealed that, among the agents of support, only support provided from friends and belief-based support uniquely contribute to prediction of total PTG score. While examining the contribution of various types of support, only cognitive support had a unique contribution to prediction of total PTG score. Various agents and types of support play different roles in the PTG process following breast cancer. Accordingly, friends as an agent of support and information as a type of support seem to be most important in enhancing PTG among women with breast cancer.

Connecting slow earthquakes to huge earthquakes.

Science.gov (United States)

Obara, Kazushige; Kato, Aitaro

2016-07-15

Slow earthquakes are characterized by a wide spectrum of fault slip behaviors and seismic radiation patterns that differ from those of traditional earthquakes. However, slow earthquakes and huge megathrust earthquakes can have common slip mechanisms and are located in neighboring regions of the seismogenic zone. The frequent occurrence of slow earthquakes may help to reveal the physics underlying megathrust events as useful analogs. Slow earthquakes may function as stress meters because of their high sensitivity to stress changes in the seismogenic zone. Episodic stress transfer to megathrust source faults leads to an increased probability of triggering huge earthquakes if the adjacent locked region is critically loaded. Careful and precise monitoring of slow earthquakes may provide new information on the likelihood of impending huge earthquakes. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

New dimension of slow food movement using supercritical fluid technology and methods to influence society by effective marketing strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Uzel, Ruhan Aşkın

2016-07-01

Although slow food movement is a well-known movement nowadays, in order to make it more widespread to the society, necessity to develop and to adapt new techniques has become inevitable for healthier consumption age. For this purpose, possibility of increased usage of healthy foods with addition of natural extracts using new techniques came out from relevant questionaries applied to people of different age groups. In this study, specific properties of supercritical carbon dioxide at distinct temperatures and water in subcritical conditions were used to obtain extracts rich in water-soluble organic compounds. Experiments were carried out at pressures of 10, 20, 30, and 40 MPa and temperatures ranging from 40 to 200 ℃ with and without modifier for 2 h of extraction time. The flow rate was kept at 4 and 1 ml/min for CO2 and water, respectively. The highest water-soluble organic compound recovery yield was 78.10%. Results were supported by marketing strategies to announce this new application and products to the society. Group of sample questions was prepared to investigate (a) frequency of staple food usage, (b) the brand names and relevant reasons that bring up consumers to buy specifically same branded products, (c) knowledge about the ingredients and how advertising effects purchasing decision, etc. Finally, efficiency increase in slow food consumption was proved with supercritical fluid technology to draw attention to the health of consumers with newer and functional healthy foods. © The Author(s) 2015.

A computational analysis of limb and body dimensions in Tyrannosaurus rex with implications for locomotion, ontogeny, and growth.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John R Hutchinson

Full Text Available The large theropod dinosaur Tyrannosaurus rex underwent remarkable changes during its growth from 6000 kg adults in <20 years. These changes raise fascinating questions about the morphological transformations involved, peak growth rates, and scaling of limb muscle sizes as well as the body's centre of mass that could have influenced ontogenetic changes of locomotion in T. rex. Here we address these questions using three-dimensionally scanned computer models of four large, well-preserved fossil specimens as well as a putative juvenile individual. Furthermore we quantify the variations of estimated body mass, centre of mass and segment dimensions, to characterize inaccuracies in our reconstructions. These inaccuracies include not only subjectivity but also incomplete preservation and inconsistent articulations of museum skeletons. Although those problems cause ambiguity, we conclude that adult T. rex had body masses around 6000-8000 kg, with the largest known specimen ("Sue" perhaps ∼9500 kg. Our results show that during T. rex ontogeny, the torso became longer and heavier whereas the limbs became proportionately shorter and lighter. Our estimates of peak growth rates are about twice as rapid as previous ones but generally support previous methods, despite biases caused by the usage of scale models and equations that underestimate body masses. We tentatively infer that the hindlimb extensor muscles masses, including the large tail muscle M. caudofemoralis longus, may have decreased in their relative size as the centre of mass shifted craniodorsally during T. rex ontogeny. Such ontogenetic changes would have worsened any relative or absolute decline of maximal locomotor performance. Regardless, T. rex probably had hip and thigh muscles relatively larger than any extant animal's. Overall, the limb "antigravity" muscles may have been as large as or even larger than those of ratite birds, which themselves have the most muscular limbs of any living

Age class, longevity and growth rate relationships: protracted growth increases in old trees in the eastern United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Sarah E; Abrams, Marc D

2009-11-01

This study uses data from the International Tree-Ring Data Bank website and tree cores collected in the field to explore growth rate (basal area increment, BAI) relationships across age classes (from young to old) for eight tree species in the eastern US. These species represent a variety of ecological traits and include those in the genera Populus, Quercus, Pinus, Tsuga and Nyssa. We found that most trees in all age classes and species exhibit an increasing BAI throughout their lives. This is particularly unusual for trees in the older age classes that we expected to have declining growth in the later years, as predicted by physiological growth models. There exists an inverse relationship between growth rate and increasing age class. The oldest trees within each species have consistently slow growth throughout their lives, implying an inverse relationship between growth rate and longevity. Younger trees (trees when they are of the same age resulting from a higher proportion of fast-growing trees in these young age classes. Slow, but increasing, BAI in the oldest trees in recent decades is a continuation of their growth pattern established in previous centuries. The fact that they have not shown a decreasing growth rate in their old age contradicts physiological growth models and may be related to the stimulatory effects of global change phenomenon (climate and land-use history).

Growth, optical, thermal and dielectric studies of an amino acid organic nonlinear optical material: L-Alanine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caroline, M. Lydia; Sankar, R.; Indirani, R.M.; Vasudevan, S.

2009-01-01

Good transparent bulk single crystals of L-alanine (nonlinear optical material) have been grown successfully by slow cooling technique from aqueous solution at pH value of 2.0. Optically transparent crystals with dimensions 2.4 cm x 1.2 cm x 1.6 cm, were grown by optimizing the growth parameters within a growth period of 2 weeks. The crystallinity of L-alanine crystal was confirmed by the powder X-ray diffraction study and diffraction peaks are indexed. The vibrational structure of the molecule is elucidated from FTIR spectra. The thermal behaviour of the grown crystal was investigated by thermogravimetric (TG) and differential thermal analyses (DTA) techniques in a nitrogen atmosphere. The result showed that the material starts decomposing at 297 deg. C. Its optical behaviour has been examined by UV-vis spectral analysis, which shows the absence of absorbance between the wavelengths ranging from 200 to 1200 nm. The NLO property was confirmed by the powder technique of Kurtz and Perry. The dielectric behaviour of the sample was also studied for the first time

Calculation of coupling to slow and fast waves in the LHRF from phased waveguide arrays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pinsker, R.I.; Duvall, R.E.; Fortgang, C.M.; Colestock, P.L.

1986-04-01

A previously reported algorithm for solving the problem of coupling electromagnetic energy in the LHRF from a phased array of identical rectangular waveguides to a plane-stratified, magnetized cold plasma is numerically implemented. The resulting computer codes are sufficiently general to allow for an arbitrary number of waveguides with finite dimensions in both poloidal and toroidal directions, and are thus capable of computing coupling to both slow and fast waves in the plasma. Some of the details of the implementation and the extension of the algorithm to allow study of the Fourier spectrum of slow and fast waves launched by the array are discussed. Good agreement is found with previously reported, less general work for the slow wave launching case. The effect of phasing multirow arrays in the poloidal direction is studied, and an asymmetry between phasing 'up' and 'down' is found that persists in the case where the plasma adjacent to the array is uniform. A 4 x 3 array designed to launch fast waves of high phase velocity is studied. By using the optimal poloidal phasing, low reflection coefficients (absolute value of R 2 less than or equal to 20%) are found under some not unrealistic edge plasma conditions, but most of the input power is trapped in the outermost layer of the plasma. Implications of our results for fast wave current drive experiments are discussed

Impact of spatial dimension on structural ordering in metallic glass.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Yuan-Chao; Tanaka, Hajime; Wang, Wei-Hua

2017-08-01

Metallic glasses (MGs) have so far attracted considerable attention for their applications as bulk materials. However, new physics and applications often emerge by dimensional reduction from three dimensions (3D) to two dimensions (2D). Here, we study, by molecular dynamics simulations, how the liquid-to-glass transition of a binary Cu_{50}Zr_{50} MG is affected by spatial dimensionality. We find clear evidence that crystal-like structural ordering controls both dynamic heterogeneity and slow dynamics, and thus plays a crucial role in the formation of the 2DMG. Although the 2DMG reproduces the dynamical behaviors of its 3D counterpart by considering Mermin-Wagner-type fluctuations specific to 2D, this atomic-scale structural mechanism is essentially different from that for the 3DMG in which icosahedral clusters incompatible with crystallographic symmetry play a key role in glassy behaviors. Our finding provides a structural mechanism for the formation of 2DMGs, which cannot be inferred from the knowledge of 3DMGs. The results suggest a structural basis for the glass transition in 2DMG and provide possible explanations for some previous experimental observations in ultrathin film MGs.

Ocean Warming Slows Coral Growth in the Central Red Sea

KAUST Repository

Cantin, N. E.; Cohen, A. L.; Karnauskas, K. B.; Tarrant, A. M.; McCorkle, D. C.

2010-01-01

Sea surface temperature (SST) across much of the tropics has increased by 0.4° to 1°C since the mid-1970s. A parallel increase in the frequency and extent of coral bleaching and mortality has fueled concern that climate change poses a major threat to the survival of coral reef ecosystems worldwide. Here we show that steadily rising SSTs, not ocean acidification, are already driving dramatic changes in the growth of an important reef-building coral in the central Red Sea. Three-dimensional computed tomography analyses of the massive coral Diploastrea heliopora reveal that skeletal growth of apparently healthy colonies has declined by 30% since 1998. The same corals responded to a short-lived warm event in 1941/1942, but recovered within 3 years as the ocean cooled. Combining our data with climate model simulations by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we predict that should the current warming trend continue, this coral could cease growing altogether by 2070.

Ocean Warming Slows Coral Growth in the Central Red Sea

KAUST Repository

Cantin, N. E.

2010-07-15

Sea surface temperature (SST) across much of the tropics has increased by 0.4° to 1°C since the mid-1970s. A parallel increase in the frequency and extent of coral bleaching and mortality has fueled concern that climate change poses a major threat to the survival of coral reef ecosystems worldwide. Here we show that steadily rising SSTs, not ocean acidification, are already driving dramatic changes in the growth of an important reef-building coral in the central Red Sea. Three-dimensional computed tomography analyses of the massive coral Diploastrea heliopora reveal that skeletal growth of apparently healthy colonies has declined by 30% since 1998. The same corals responded to a short-lived warm event in 1941/1942, but recovered within 3 years as the ocean cooled. Combining our data with climate model simulations by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we predict that should the current warming trend continue, this coral could cease growing altogether by 2070.

ECONOMIC GROWTH – COSTS AND DEVELOPMENT DISCREPANCES

OpenAIRE

Ion Bucur

2007-01-01

The economic growth shows an ascending tendency of the economic evolution over a long period of time, having favorable social and economic effects. Each economic growth factor acts simultaneous trough three dimensions.

FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR SLOW ADOPTION OF PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP (PPPS IN NIGERIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amir Hussin B. Baharuddin

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The growth and development of any nation is greatly dependent on the availability of basic social infrastructure like good road, efficient power supply, buildings, ports, rails etcetera. Over fifty years after independent Nigeria is still in a very undesirable state of infrastructural development; variety of broad-based opinion surveys in recent years have shown that prominent infrastructure deficiencies are responsible for the country’s disappointing economic performance. This paper is designed to unfold factors responsible for the slow adoption of public private partnership PPPs in Nigeria and proffer workable solutions that could help revised the current trend. A questionnaire survey was conducted seeking the opinions of one hundred (100 experienced professionals within the industry comprising architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, project managers and contractors. Out of 100 questionnaires sent out, 61 came back resulting in a response rate of 61%. The result shows that high rate of corruption in government, high cost of participation and lack of adequate security have all combined to slow the uptake and use of PPPs for the provision of public infrastructures and services. In order to improve the use of PPPs to provide the much needed infrastructures to enhance economic growth and well-being of the growing population of the country, it was found that the elimination of corruption in government, the building of strong financial institutions, improvement in security and improving the knowledge of professionals in the PPP procurement strategy would greatly assist the country to overcome the dearth of public services and enhance economic growth.

Rapid Population Growth-Cause or Result of Global Problems?

Science.gov (United States)

Schwartz, Richard H.

Explosive population growth is a symptom of the world's unjust and inequitable social, political, and economic conditions. The current rate of growth is staggering, particularly in the cities of the underdeveloped countries. While some progress has been made in slowing population growth, several factors still contribute to its momentum. One of…

City Brand Personality—Relations with Dimensions and Dimensions Inter-Relations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oana Țugulea

2017-12-01

Full Text Available City brand strategies play an important part in building strong identities for cities and also for effective promotional campaigns. The purpose of this research is to analyze in more depth the dimensions of the City Brand Personality of Iași, as identified in previous research. The objectives of the present study are to: (1 understand the impact of each dimension upon the entire construct; (2 identify the possible connections between the perception of the city brand personality and the perceptions on particular city features; (3 identify the possible inter-connections between the resulting dimensions. An Independent Samples t test, Discriminant analysis, and Correlations and Regressions analysis were conducted. The dimension Peacefulness/Sincerity has the highest positive impact, while the dimension Malignacy has the lowest negative impact. Respondents who consider the city to be relatively young rate the personality features better for the dimensions of Peacefulness/Sincerity and Competence. Competence and Peacefulness/Sincerity are strongly related. Improving the perception of features composing the Competence dimension leads to an improvement of the entire City Brand Personality. Future research could specifically identify the types of sustainable activities that could be associated with the desired personality traits.

Growth kinetics in multicomponent fluids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, S.; Lookman, T.

1995-01-01

The hydrodynamic effects on the late-stage kinetics in spinodal decomposition of multicomponent fluids are examined using a lattice Boltzmann scheme with stochastic fluctuations in the fluid and at the interface. In two dimensions, the three- and four-component immiscible fluid mixture (with a 1024 2 lattice) behaves like an off-critical binary fluid with an estimated domain growth of t 0.4 +/= 0.03 rather than t 1/3 as previously estimated, showing the significant influence of hydrodynamics. In three dimensions (with a 256 3 lattice), we estimate the growth as t 0.96 +/= 0.05 for both critical and off-critical quenches, in agreement with phenomenological theory

Dimension of chaotic attractors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Farmer, J.D.; Ott, E.; Yorke, J.A.

1982-09-01

Dimension is perhaps the most basic property of an attractor. In this paper we discuss a variety of different definitions of dimension, compute their values for a typical example, and review previous work on the dimension of chaotic attractors. The relevant definitions of dimension are of two general types, those that depend only on metric properties, and those that depend on probabilistic properties (that is, they depend on the frequency with which a typical trajectory visits different regions of the attractor). Both our example and the previous work that we review support the conclusion that all of the probabilistic dimensions take on the same value, which we call the dimension of the natural measure, and all of the metric dimensions take on a common value, which we call the fractal dimension. Furthermore, the dimension of the natural measure is typically equal to the Lyapunov dimension, which is defined in terms of Lyapunov numbers, and thus is usually far easier to calculate than any other definition. Because it is computable and more physically relevant, we feel that the dimension of the natural measure is more important than the fractal dimension.

Dimension dependence of clustering dynamics in models of ballistic aggregation and freely cooling granular gas

Science.gov (United States)

Paul, Subhajit; Das, Subir K.

2018-03-01

Via event-driven molecular dynamics simulations we study kinetics of clustering in assemblies of inelastic particles in various space dimensions. We consider two models, viz., the ballistic aggregation model (BAM) and the freely cooling granular gas model (GGM), for each of which we quantify the time dependence of kinetic energy and average mass of clusters (that form due to inelastic collisions). These quantities, for both the models, exhibit power-law behavior, at least in the long time limit. For the BAM, corresponding exponents exhibit strong dimension dependence and follow a hyperscaling relation. In addition, in the high packing fraction limit the behavior of these quantities become consistent with a scaling theory that predicts an inverse relation between energy and mass. On the other hand, in the case of the GGM we do not find any evidence for such a picture. In this case, even though the energy decay, irrespective of packing fraction, matches quantitatively with that for the high packing fraction picture of the BAM, it is inversely proportional to the growth of mass only in one dimension, and the growth appears to be rather insensitive to the choice of the dimension, unlike the BAM.

Maternal risk factors for abnormal placental growth: The national collaborative perinatal project

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicholson Wanda K

2008-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Previous studies of maternal risk factors for abnormal placental growth have focused on placental weight and placental ratio as measures of placental growth. We sought to identify maternal risk factors for placental weight and two neglected dimensions of placental growth: placental thickness and chorionic plate area. Methods We conducted an analysis of 24,135 mother-placenta pairs enrolled in the National Collaborative Perinatal Project, a prospective cohort study of pregnancy and child health. We defined growth restriction as th percentile and hypertrophy as > 90th percentile for three placental growth dimensions: placental weight, placental thickness and chorionic plate area. We constructed parallel multinomial logistic regression analyses to identify (a predictors of restricted growth (vs. normal and (b predictors of hypertrophic growth (vs. normal. Results Black race was associated with an increased likelihood of growth restriction for placental weight, thickness and chorionic plate area, but was associated with a reduced likelihood of hypertrophy for these three placental growth dimensions. We observed an increased likelihood of growth restriction for placental weight and chorionic plate area among mothers with hypertensive disease at 24 weeks or beyond. Anemia was associated with a reduced likelihood of growth restriction for placental weight and chorionic plate area. Pre-pregnancy BMI and pregnancy weight gain were associated with a reduced likelihood of growth restriction and an increased likelihood of hypertrophy for all three dimensions of placental growth. Conclusion Maternal risk factors are either associated with placental growth restriction or placental hypertrophy not both. Our findings suggest that the placenta may have compensatory responses to certain maternal risk factors suggesting different underlying biological mechanisms.

Dimensions of ecosystem theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

O'Neill, R.V.; Reichle, D.E.

1979-01-01

Various dimensions of ecosystem structure and behavior that seem to develop from the ubiquitous phenomena of system growth and persistence were studied. While growth and persistence attributes of ecosystems may appear to be simplistic phenomena upon which to base a comprehensive ecosystem theory, these same attributes have been fundamental to the theoretical development of other biological disciplines. These attributes were explored at a hierarchical level in a self-organizing system, and adaptive system strategies that result were analyzed. Previously developed causative relations (Reichle et al., 1975c) were examined, their theoretical implications expounded upon, and the assumptions tested with data from a variety of forest types. The conclusions are not a theory in themselves, but a state of organization of concepts contributing towards a unifying theory, along the lines promulgated by Bray (1958). The inferences drawn rely heavily upon data from forested ecosystems of the world, and have yet to be validated against data from a much more diverse range of ecosystem types. Not all of the interpretations are logically tight - there is room for other explanations, which it is hoped will provide fruitful grounds for further speculation

Slow movement execution in event-related potentials (P300).

Science.gov (United States)

Naruse, Kumi; Sakuma, Haruo; Hirai, Takane

2002-02-01

We examined whether slow movement execution has an effect on cognitive and information processing by measuring the P300 component. 8 subjects performed a continuous slow forearm rotational movement using 2 task speeds. Slow (a 30-50% decrease from the subject's Preferred speed) and Very Slow (a 60-80% decrease). The mean coefficient of variation for rotation speed under Very Slow was higher than that under Slow, showing that the subjects found it difficult to perform the Very Slow task smoothly. The EEG score of alpha-1 (8-10 Hz) under Slow Condition was increased significantly more than under the Preferred Condition; however, the increase under Very Slow was small when compared with Preferred. After performing the task. P300 latency under Very Slow increased significantly as compared to that at pretask. Further, P300 amplitude decreased tinder both speed conditions when compared to that at pretask, and a significant decrease was seen under the Slow Condition at Fz, whereas the decrease under the Very Slow Condition was small. These differences indicated that a more complicated neural composition and an increase in subjects' attention might have been involved when the task was performed under the Very Slow Condition. We concluded that slow movement execution may have an influence on cognitive function and may depend on the percentage of decrease from the Preferred speed of the individual.

CONTAINER DISTRIBUTION AND SLOW RELEASE FERTILIZERS APPLICATION ALONG THE PRE-NURSERY INFLUENCING OIL PALM SEEDLINGS GROWTH

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Paulo César Teixeira

2009-09-01

Full Text Available This research had as objective to verify the influence in growth, nutrition and dry matter partition in oil palm seedling by type and dosages of slow release fertilizers (SRF and percentage of tray occupation by plastic containers during pre-nursery. The experiment consisted of 16 treatments, in factorial scheme: two types of SRF (Osmocote® e Basacote mini, two dosages (0 and 3 kg/m3 and four schemes for the container distribution used to attain 100%, 66%, 50% and 25% of tray occupation. An additional treatment composed of 15 x 15 cm plastic bags filled with soil was added. Pre-germinated seeds of oil palm were put in plastic containers of 120 cm3 containing substratum and in plastic bags containing soil. After three months, the seedlings were transplanted to 40 x 40 cm plastic bags containing soil. At this time, height, diameter, dry matter and concentration of N, P, K, Ca and Mg were evaluated. After 10 months, seedlings were evaluated for height and diameter and after 16 months, seedlings had the height, diameter and dry matter weight evaluated. Addition of SRF was fundamental for seedlings development. Different percentages of tray occupation by containers during pre-nursery did not influence height and diameter of oil palm seedlings at 10 and 16 months old. The evaluation after 10 months showed that plants fertilized with Osmocote® were higher than those fertilized with Basacote mini. The evaluations after 16 months showed that plants fertilized during the pre-nursery had higher height, diameter and leaflets, leaf, aboveground and total dry matter than plants not fertilized.

Distinct neural networks for target feature versus dimension changes in visual search, as revealed by EEG and fMRI.

Science.gov (United States)

Becker, Stefanie I; Grubert, Anna; Dux, Paul E

2014-11-15

In visual search, responses are slowed, from one trial to the next, both when the target dimension changes (e.g., from a color target to a size target) and when the target feature changes (e.g., from a red target to a green target) relative to being repeated across trials. The present study examined whether such feature and dimension switch costs can be attributed to the same underlying mechanism(s). Contrary to this contention, an EEG study showed that feature changes influenced visual selection of the target (i.e., delayed N2pc onset), whereas dimension changes influenced the later process of response selection (i.e., delayed s-LRP onset). An fMRI study provided convergent evidence for the two-system view: Compared with repetitions, feature changes led to increased activation in the occipital cortex, and superior and inferior parietal lobules, which have been implicated in spatial attention. By contrast, dimension changes led to activation of a fronto-posterior network that is primarily linked with response selection (i.e., pre-motor cortex, supplementary motor area and frontal areas). Taken together, the results suggest that feature and dimension switch costs are based on different processes. Specifically, whereas target feature changes delay attention shifts to the target, target dimension changes interfere with later response selection operations. Crown Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of ambient temperature and early open-field response on the behaviour, feed intake and growth of fast- and slow-growing broiler strains

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Birte Lindstrøm

2012-01-01

Increased activity improves broiler leg health, but also increases the heat production of the bird. This experiment investigated the effects of early open-field activity and ambient temperature on the growth and feed intake of two strains of broiler chickens. On the basis of the level of activity...... in an open-field test on day 3 after hatching, fast-growing Ross 208 and slow-growing i657 chickens were allocated on day 13 to one of the 48 groups. Each group included either six active or six passive birds from each strain and the groups were housed in floor-pens littered with wood chips and fitted...... with two heat lamps. Each group was fed ad libitum and subjected to one of the three temperature treatments: two (HH; 268C), one (HC; 168C to 268C) or no (CC; 168C) heat lamps turned on. Production and behavioural data were collected every 2 weeks until day 57. For both strains, early open-field activity...

Considering transient population dynamics in the conservation of slow life-history species: An application to the sandhill crane

Science.gov (United States)

Gerber, Brian D.; Kendall, William L.

2016-01-01

The importance of transient dynamics of structured populations is increasingly recognized in ecology, yet these implications are not largely considered in conservation practices. We investigate transient and long-term population dynamics to demonstrate the process and utility of incorporating transient dynamics into conservation research and to better understand the population management of slow life-history species; these species can be theoretically highly sensitive to short- and long-term transient effects. We are specifically interested in the effects of anthropogenic removal of individuals from populations, such as caused by harvest, poaching, translocation, or incidental take. We use the sandhill crane (Grus canadensis) as an exemplar species; it is long-lived, has low reproduction, late maturity, and multiple populations are subject to sport harvest. We found sandhill cranes to have extremely high potential, but low likelihood for transient dynamics, even when the population is being harvested. The typically low population growth rate of slow life-history species appears to buffer against many perturbations causing large transient effects. Transient dynamics will dominate population trajectories of these species when stage structures are highly biased towards the younger and non-reproducing individuals, a situation that may be rare in established populations of long-lived animals. However, short-term transient population growth can be highly sensitive to vital rates that are relatively insensitive under equilibrium, suggesting that stage structure should be known if perturbation analysis is used to identify effective conservation strategies. For populations of slow life-history species that are not prone to large perturbations to their most productive individuals, population growth may be approximated by equilibrium dynamics.

Application of Planar Broadband Slow-Wave Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edvardas Metlevskis

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Different types of planar broadband slow-wave systems are used for designing microwave devices. The papers published by Lithuanian scientists analyze and investigate the models of helical and meander slow-wave systems. The article carefully examines the applications of meander slow-wave systems and presents the areas where similar systems, e.g. mobile devices, RFID, wireless technologies are used and reviewed nowadays. The paper also focuses on the examples of the papers discussing antennas, filters and couplers that contain designed and fabricated meander slow-wave systems.Article in Lithuanian

Slow, stopped and stored light

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Welch, G.; Scully, M.

2005-01-01

Light that can been slowed to walking pace could have applications in telecommunications, optical storage and quantum computing. Whether we use it to estimate how far away a thunderstorm is, or simply take it for granted that we can have a conversation with someone on the other side of the world, we all know that light travels extremely fast. Indeed, special relativity teaches us that nothing in the universe can ever move faster than the speed of light in a vacuum: 299 792 458 ms sup - sup 1. However, there is no such limitation on how slowly light can travel. For the last few years, researchers have been routinely slowing light to just a few metres per second, and have recently even stopped it dead in its tracks so that it can be stored for future use. Slow-light has considerable popular appeal, deriving perhaps from the importance of the speed of light in relativity and cosmology. If everyday objects such as cars or people can travel faster than 'slow' light, for example, then it might appear that relativistic effects could be observed at very low speeds. Although this is not the case, slow light nonetheless promises to play an important role in optical technology because it allows light to be delayed for any period of time desired. This could lead to all-optical routers that would increase the bandwidth of the Internet, and applications in optical data storage, quantum information and even radar. (U.K.)

Convective growth of broadband turbulence in the plasma sheet boundary layer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dusenbery, P.B.

1987-01-01

Convective growth of slow and fast beam acoustic waves in the plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL) is investigated. It has been shown previously that a could ion population must be present in order to excite beam acoustic waves in the PSBL. However, growth rates are significantly enhanced when warm plasma sheet boundary layer ions are present. Net wave growth along a ray path is determined by convective growth. This quantity is calculated for particle distribution models consistent with the PSBL where the intensity of broadband turbulence is observed to peak. Total number density dependence on beam acoustic convective growth is evaluated, and it is found that even for low density conditions of ∼0.01 cm -3 , a measurable level of broadband turbulence is expected. Relative drift effects between cold and warm ion populations are also considered. In particular, it is found that slow mode convective growth can be enhanced when slowly streaming cold ions are present, compared to fast ion streams

Three-dimensional adult echocardiography: where the hidden dimension helps.

Science.gov (United States)

Mor-Avi, Victor; Sugeng, Lissa; Lang, Roberto M

2008-05-01

The introduction of three-dimensional (3D) imaging and its evolution from slow and labor-intense off-line reconstruction to real-time volumetric imaging is one of the most significant developments in ultrasound imaging of the heart of the past decade. This imaging modality currently provides valuable clinical information that empowers echocardiography with new levels of confidence in diagnosing heart disease. One major advantage of seeing the additional dimension is the improvement in the accuracy of the evaluation of cardiac chamber volumes by eliminating geometric modeling and the errors caused by foreshortened views. Another benefit of 3D imaging is the realistic views of cardiac valves capable of demonstrating numerous pathologies in a unique, noninvasive manner. This article reviews the major technological developments in 3D echocardiography and some of the recent literature that has provided the scientific basis for its clinical use.

Demographic and human dimension of international migration in Ukraine

OpenAIRE

Duhinets H. V.; Rielina I. Ie.

2015-01-01

Modern transformation of the economic system of this country led to structural changes in the social environment. Movement of population and human resources inside and outside the country increased. The growth of the scale of international migration processes, their mixed impact on the development of the countries, qualitative transformation of the specified processes determine the importance of the study of demographic and employment dimension of the international migration processes in Ukra...

DIMENSIONS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MARIUS BULEARCA

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The concept of sustainable development, resulted from the reconsideration of the report between development and pollution in the light of the interdependencies among the components of development, defines the profound change in which the exploitation of resources, direction of investments, the development of technologies takes a new path in the sense that, by their judicious harmonization, provides significant increase of the present and future potential to meet the requirements of society. Such a development is based on economic growth, which is, in fact, its spring, but also on new concepts and values that provide a superior framework of transposing the growth coordinates. Such a framework should provide incentives to accelerate economic growth, whose objectives, ways and tools are defined in a long-term perspective, able to provide large openings to the real progress of society at all levels and provide solutions for the effective and continuous support for this progress. Therefore, in this article, we identify and explain the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental.

Silencing Intersectin 1 Slows Orthotopic Neuroblastoma Growth in Mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Jamie; Herrero-Garcia, Erika; Russo, Angela; Kajdacsy-Balla, Andre; O'Bryan, John P; Chiu, Bill

2017-11-01

Neuroblastoma accounts for 15% of all pediatric cancer deaths. Intersectin 1 (ITSN1), a scaffold protein involved in phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling, regulates neuroblastoma cells independent of MYCN status. We hypothesize that by silencing ITSN1 in neuroblastoma cells, tumor growth will be decreased in an orthotopic mouse tumor model. SK-N-AS neuroblastoma cells transfected with empty vector (pSR), vectors expressing scrambled shRNA (pSCR), or shRNAs targeting ITSN1 (sh#1 and sh#2) were used to create orthotopic neuroblastoma tumors in mice. Volume was monitored weekly with ultrasound. End-point was tumor volume >1000 mm. Tumor cell lysates were analyzed with anti-ITSN1 antibody by Western blot. Orthotopic tumors were created in all cell lines. Twenty-five days post injection, pSR tumor size was 917.6±247.7 mm, pSCR was 1180±159.9 mm, sh#1 was 526.3±212.8 mm, and sh#2 was 589.2±74.91 mm. sh#1-tumors and sh#2-tumors were smaller than pSCR (P=0.02), no difference between sh#1 and sh#2. Survival was superior in sh#2-tumors (P=0.02), trended towards improved survival in sh#1-tumors (P=0.09), compared with pSCR-tumors, no difference in pSR tumors. Western blot showed decreased ITSN1 expression in sh#1 and sh#2 compared with pSR and pSCR. Silencing ITSN1 in neuroblastoma cells led to decreased tumor growth in an orthotopic mouse model. Orthotopic animal models can provide insight into the role of ITSN1 pathways in neuroblastoma tumorigenesis.

Plant Growth Modeling Using L-System Approach and Its Visualization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Atris Suyantohadi

2011-05-01

Full Text Available The visualizationof plant growth modeling using computer simulation has rarely been conducted with Lindenmayer System (L-System approach. L-System generally has been used as framework for improving and designing realistic modeling on plant growth. It is one kind of tools for representing plant growth based on grammar sintax and mathematic formulation. This research aimed to design modeling and visualizing plant growth structure generated using L-System. The environment on modeling design used three dimension graphic on standart OpenGL format. The visualization on system design has been developed by some of L-System grammar, and the output graphic on three dimension reflected on plant growth as a virtual plant growth system. Using some of samples on grammar L-System rules for describing of the charaterictics of plant growth, the visualization of structure on plant growth has been resulted and demonstrated.

The Modal Dimension

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Giluano Torrengo

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Space and time are two obvious candidates as dimensions of reality. Yet, are they the only two dimensions of reality? Famously, David Lewis maintained the doctrine of ―modal realism‖, the thesis that possible worlds exist and are entities as concrete as the actual world that we live in. In this paper, I will explore the idea that modality can be construed as a dimension along with space and time. However, although Lewis‘ modal realism is the main source of inspiration for this construal of modality, I will argue that something else is required for having a modal dimension.

Experimental demonstration of spinor slow light

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Meng-Jung; Ruseckas, Julius; Lee, Chin-Yuan; Kudriašov, Viačeslav; Chang, Kao-Fang; Cho, Hung-Wen; JuzeliÅ«nas, Gediminas; Yu, Ite A.

2016-03-01

Over the last decade there has been a continuing interest in slow and stored light based on the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) effect, because of their potential applications in quantum information manipulation. However, previous experimental works all dealt with the single-component slow light which cannot be employed as a qubit. In this work, we report the first experimental demonstration of two-component or spinor slow light (SSL) using a double tripod (DT) atom-light coupling scheme. The oscillations between the two components, similar to the Rabi oscillation of a two-level system or a qubit, were observed. Single-photon SSL can be considered as two-color qubits. We experimentally demonstrated a possible application of the DT scheme as quantum memory and quantum rotator for the two-color qubits. This work opens up a new direction in the slow light research.

Dimensions of Creative Evaluation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Bo; Ball, Linden J.

2016-01-01

We examined evaluative reasoning taking place during expert ‘design critiques’. We focused on key dimensions of creative evaluation (originality, functionality and aesthetics) and ways in which these dimensions impact reasoning strategies and suggestions offered by experts for how the student could...... continue. Each dimension was associated with a specific underpinning ‘logic’ determining how these dimensions were evaluated in practice. Our analysis clarified how these dimensions triggered reasoning strategies such as running mental simulations or making design suggestions, ranging from ‘go...

Long-wavelength fluctuations and the glass transition in two dimensions and three dimensions.

Science.gov (United States)

Vivek, Skanda; Kelleher, Colm P; Chaikin, Paul M; Weeks, Eric R

2017-02-21

Phase transitions significantly differ between 2D and 3D systems, but the influence of dimensionality on the glass transition is unresolved. We use microscopy to study colloidal systems as they approach their glass transitions at high concentrations and find differences between two dimensions and three dimensions. We find that, in two dimensions, particles can undergo large displacements without changing their position relative to their neighbors, in contrast with three dimensions. This is related to Mermin-Wagner long-wavelength fluctuations that influence phase transitions in two dimensions. However, when measuring particle motion only relative to their neighbors, two dimensions and three dimensions have similar behavior as the glass transition is approached, showing that the long-wavelength fluctuations do not cause a fundamental distinction between 2D and 3D glass transitions.

Slow-light effects in photonic crystal membrane lasers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Xue, Weiqi; Yu, Yi; Ottaviano, Luisa

2015-01-01

In this paper, we present a systematic investigation of photonic crystal cavity laser operating in the slow-light regime. The dependence of lasing threshold on the effect of slow-light will be particularly highlighted.......In this paper, we present a systematic investigation of photonic crystal cavity laser operating in the slow-light regime. The dependence of lasing threshold on the effect of slow-light will be particularly highlighted....

Slow potentials in a melody recognition task.

Science.gov (United States)

Verleger, R; Schellberg, D

1990-01-01

In a previous study, slow negative shifts were found in the EEG of subjects listening to well-known melodies. The two experiments reported here were designed to investigate the variables to which these slow potentials are related. In the first experiment, two opposite hypotheses were tested: The slow shifts might express subjects' acquaintance with the melodies or, on the contrary, the effort invested to identify them. To this end, some of the melodies were presented in the rhythms of other melodies to make recognition more difficult. Further, melodies rated as very well-known and as very unknown were analysed separately. However, the slow shifts were not affected by these experimental variations. Therefore in the second experiment, on the one hand the purely physical parameters intensity and duration were varied, but this variation had no impact on the slow shifts either. On the other hand, recognition was made more difficult by monotonously repeating the pitch of the 4th tone for the rest of some melodies. The slow negative shifts were enhanced with these monotonous melodies. This enhancement supports the "effort" hypothesis. Accordingly, the ofter shifts obtained in both experiments might likewise reflect effort. But since the task was not demanding, it is suggested that these constant shifts reflect the effort invested for coping with the entire underarousing situation rather than with the task. Frequently, slow eye movements occurred in the same time range as the slow potentials, resulting in EOG potentials spreading to the EEG recording sites. Yet results did not change substantially when the EEG recordings were corrected for the influence of EOG potentials.

Shedding light on tree growth : ring analysis of juvenile tropical trees

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Soliz Gamboa, C.C.

2010-01-01

In the understory of tropical forests light is believed to be the main limiting growth factor for the newly established trees. Trees growing in shade of the understory may experience periods of slow radial growth. It is expected that gaps created by tree or branch fall will provoke tree growth

View Point: Economic growth and child health in Sub Saharan Africa ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

View Point: Economic growth and child health in Sub Saharan Africa. BA O'Hare, N Bar-Zeev, L Chiwaula. Abstract. After independence most African countries witnessed growth in their economies and decreases in child mortality. However both economic growth and the gains in under 5 mortality slowed dramatically in the ...

Slow-light pulses in moving media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fiurasek, J.; Leonhardt, U.; Parentani, R.

2002-01-01

Slow light in moving media reaches a counterintuitive regime when the flow speed of the medium approaches the group velocity of light. Pulses can penetrate a region where a counterpropagating flow exceeds the group velocity. When the counterflow slows down, pulses are reflected

Bargmann representation for Landau levels in two dimensions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rohringer, Nina [Institute for Theoretical Physics, Vienna University of Technology, Wiedner Hauptstr. 8-10, A-1040 Vienna (Austria); Burgdoerfer, Joachim [Institute for Theoretical Physics, Vienna University of Technology, Wiedner Hauptstr. 8-10, A-1040 Vienna (Austria); Macris, Nicolas [Institut de Physique Theorique, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne (Switzerland)

2003-04-11

We present a formulation of the quantum mechanics of an electron gas confined to two dimensions in a strong magnetic field within the framework of the Hilbert space of analytic functions (Bargmann's space). Our approach extends the representation introduced by Girvin and Jach for the ground state to arbitrary Landau levels and to the regime of coupling between Landau levels. By projecting out the rapid cyclotron motion, the quantum mechanics of the slow guiding centre motion is converted into a system of coupled-channel equations describing the coupling between Landau levels due to the (disorder) potentials. In the limit of strong fields, the coupled-channel equations can be solved perturbatively. For the single-channel case we derive a WKB-like quantization condition for the one-dimensional motion along equipotential lines for arbitrary Landau levels. Two applications of this formalism are discussed: the weak-levitation problem in quantum Hall systems and a two-electron quantum dot in a strong magnetic field.

Bargmann representation for Landau levels in two dimensions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rohringer, Nina; Burgdoerfer, Joachim; Macris, Nicolas

2003-01-01

We present a formulation of the quantum mechanics of an electron gas confined to two dimensions in a strong magnetic field within the framework of the Hilbert space of analytic functions (Bargmann's space). Our approach extends the representation introduced by Girvin and Jach for the ground state to arbitrary Landau levels and to the regime of coupling between Landau levels. By projecting out the rapid cyclotron motion, the quantum mechanics of the slow guiding centre motion is converted into a system of coupled-channel equations describing the coupling between Landau levels due to the (disorder) potentials. In the limit of strong fields, the coupled-channel equations can be solved perturbatively. For the single-channel case we derive a WKB-like quantization condition for the one-dimensional motion along equipotential lines for arbitrary Landau levels. Two applications of this formalism are discussed: the weak-levitation problem in quantum Hall systems and a two-electron quantum dot in a strong magnetic field

Bargmann representation for Landau levels in two dimensions

CERN Document Server

Rohringer, N; Macris, N

2003-01-01

We present a formulation of the quantum mechanics of an electron gas confined to two dimensions in a strong magnetic field within the framework of the Hilbert space of analytic functions (Bargmann's space). Our approach extends the representation introduced by Girvin and Jach for the ground state to arbitrary Landau levels and to the regime of coupling between Landau levels. By projecting out the rapid cyclotron motion, the quantum mechanics of the slow guiding centre motion is converted into a system of coupled-channel equations describing the coupling between Landau levels due to the (disorder) potentials. In the limit of strong fields, the coupled-channel equations can be solved perturbatively. For the single-channel case we derive a WKB-like quantization condition for the one-dimensional motion along equipotential lines for arbitrary Landau levels. Two applications of this formalism are discussed: the weak-levitation problem in quantum Hall systems and a two-electron quantum dot in a strong magnetic field...

Interactive Dimensioning of Parametric Models

KAUST Repository

Kelly, T.

2015-06-22

We propose a solution for the dimensioning of parametric and procedural models. Dimensioning has long been a staple of technical drawings, and we present the first solution for interactive dimensioning: A dimension line positioning system that adapts to the view direction, given behavioral properties. After proposing a set of design principles for interactive dimensioning, we describe our solution consisting of the following major components. First, we describe how an author can specify the desired interactive behavior of a dimension line. Second, we propose a novel algorithm to place dimension lines at interactive speeds. Third, we introduce multiple extensions, including chained dimension lines, controls for different parameter types (e.g. discrete choices, angles), and the use of dimension lines for interactive editing. Our results show the use of dimension lines in an interactive parametric modeling environment for architectural, botanical, and mechanical models.

An extended fractal growth regime in the diffusion limited aggregation including edge diffusion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aritra Ghosh

2016-01-01

Full Text Available We have investigated on-lattice diffusion limited aggregation (DLA involving edge diffusion and compared the results with the standard DLA model. For both cases, we observe the existence of a crossover from the fractal to the compact regime as a function of sticking coefficient. However, our modified DLA model including edge diffusion shows an extended fractal growth regime like an earlier theoretical result using realistic growth models and physical parameters [Zhang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 73 (1994 1829]. While the results of Zhang et al. showed the existence of the extended fractal growth regime only on triangular but not on square lattices, we find its existence on the square lattice. There is experimental evidence of this growth regime on a square lattice. The standard DLA model cannot characterize fractal morphology as the fractal dimension (Hausdorff dimension, DH is insensitive to morphology. It also predicts DH = DP (the perimeter dimension. For the usual fractal structures, observed in growth experiments on surfaces, the perimeter dimension can differ significantly (DH ≠ DP depending on the morphology. Our modified DLA model shows minor sensitivity to this difference.

The gravitational waves from the first-order phase transition with a dimension-six operator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cai, Rong-Gen; Wang, Shao-Jiang [CAS Key Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.55 Zhong Guan Cun East Road, Beijing 100190 (China); Sasaki, Misao, E-mail: cairg@itp.ac.cn, E-mail: misao@yukawa.kyoto-u.ac.jp, E-mail: schwang@itp.ac.cn [Center for Gravitational Physics, Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502 (Japan)

2017-08-01

We investigate in details the gravitational wave (GW) from the first-order phase transition (PT) in the extended standard model of particle physics with a dimension-six operator, which is capable of exhibiting the recently discovered slow first-order PT in addition to the usually studied fast first-order PT. To simplify the discussion, it is sufficient to work with an example of a toy model with the sextic term, and we propose an unified description for both slow and fast first-order PTs. We next study the full one-loop effective potential of the model with fixed/running renormalization-group (RG) scales. Compared to the prediction of GW energy density spectrum from the fixed RG scale, we find that the presence of running RG scale could amplify the peak amplitude by amount of one order of magnitude while shift the peak frequency to the lower frequency regime, and the promising regime of detection within the sensitivity ranges of various space-based GW detectors shrinks down to a lower cut-off value of the sextic term rather than the previous expectation.

E-Government Dimension

OpenAIRE

Rosiyadi, Didi; Suryana, Nana; Cahyana, Ade; Nuryani, Nuryani

2007-01-01

Makalah ini mengemukakan E-Government Dimension yang merupakan salah satu hasil TahapanPengumpulan Data, dimana tahapan ini adalah bagian dari penelitian kompetitif di Lembaga Ilmu PengetahuanIndonesia 2007 yang sekarang sedang dilakukan. Data E-Government Dimension ini didapatkan dari berbagaisumber yang meliputi E-Government beberapa Negara di dunia, E-Government yang dibangun oleh beberapapenyedia aplikasi E-Government. E-Government Dimension terdiri dari tiga dimensi yaitu DemocraticDimen...

Mapping Sustainable Structural Dimensions for Managing the Brazilian Biodiesel Supply Chain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvio Francisco dos Santos

2014-04-01

Full Text Available It has been widely discussed in Brazil that the production of biodiesel should look for ways for increasing competitiveness considering the balance among economic growth, environmental quality and social well-being through the rational use of resources. The main purpose of this paper is to identify structural dimensions influencing sustainability and competitiveness of the Brazilian biodiesel production chain and, thereby, contribute to the current debate as well as to the process of formulating policy and strategies regarding this important supply chain. As starting point, a number of publications were reviewed allowing the identification of main issues and its combination into relevant factors. Eventually, the factors were put together, resulting in a set of structural dimensions: biodiesel supply chain environment, institutional framework, market conditions, monitoring systems and technological innovation. Then, the structural dimensions were summarized in a conceptual model showing the relationship between them. The structural dimensions may be seen as critical points in which stakeholders would pay attention to ensure successful performance and sustainable competitiveness of the biodiesel production chain. The objective of the entire system is to deliver biodiesel as a clean energy with focus on social inclusion, mitigation of environmental impacts and viability.

Critical percolation in the slow cooling of the bi-dimensional ferromagnetic Ising model

Science.gov (United States)

Ricateau, Hugo; Cugliandolo, Leticia F.; Picco, Marco

2018-01-01

We study, with numerical methods, the fractal properties of the domain walls found in slow quenches of the kinetic Ising model to its critical temperature. We show that the equilibrium interfaces in the disordered phase have critical percolation fractal dimension over a wide range of length scales. We confirm that the system falls out of equilibrium at a temperature that depends on the cooling rate as predicted by the Kibble-Zurek argument and we prove that the dynamic growing length once the cooling reaches the critical point satisfies the same scaling. We determine the dynamic scaling properties of the interface winding angle variance and we show that the crossover between critical Ising and critical percolation properties is determined by the growing length reached when the system fell out of equilibrium.

Pulsar slow-down epochs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heintzmann, H.; Novello, M.

1981-01-01

The relative importance of magnetospheric currents and low frequency waves for pulsar braking is assessed and a model is developed which tries to account for the available pulsar timing data under the unifying aspect that all pulsars have equal masses and magnetic moments and are born as rapid rotators. Four epochs of slow-down are distinguished which are dominated by different braking mechanisms. According to the model no direct relationship exists between 'slow-down age' and true age of a pulsar and leads to a pulsar birth-rate of one event per hundred years. (Author) [pt

Ballooning mode instability due to slowed-down ALPHA -particles and associated transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Itoh, Sanae; Itoh, Kimitaka; Tuda, Takashi; Tokuda, Shinji.

1982-01-01

The microscopic stability of tokamak plasma, which contains slowed-down alpha-particles and the anomalous fluxes enhanced by the fluctuation, was studied. The local maxwellian distribution with the density inhomogeneity as the equilibrium distribution of electrons, ions and alpha-particles was closen. In the zero-beta limit, two branches of eigenmodes, which are electrostatic, were obtained. The electrostatic ballooning mode became unstable by the grad B drift of particles in the toroidal plasma. It should be noted that there was no critical alpha-particle density and no critical beta-value for the onset of the instability in toroidal plasma even in the presence of the magnetic shear. When the beta-value exceeded the critical beta-value of the MHD ballooning mode, the growth rate approached to that of the MHD mode, and the mode sturcture became very close to that of the MHD mode. The unstable mode in toroidal plasma was the ballooning mode, and was unstable for all plasma parameters. The associated cross-field transport by the ballooning mode is considered. It was found that if the distribution function was assumed to be the birth distribution, the loss rate was very slow and slower than the slowing down time. The effect of alpha-particles on the large scale MHD activity of plasma is discussed. (Kato, T.)

Construction report of the PF slow-positron source. 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Enomoto, Atsushi; Kurihara, Toshikazu; Kobayashi, Hitoshi

1993-12-01

The slow positron source utilizing the electron beam of the 2.5 GeV electron beam accelerator which is the synchrotron radiation injector is being constructed. The outline of the project and the present state of construction are reported. As of November, 1993, by injecting the electron beam of about 10 W to the targets for producing positrons, the slow positrons of 4 x 10 4 e + /s has been obtained in the laboratory. Finally, with the electron beam of 30 kW, it is aimed at to obtain the slow positron beam of 2 x 10 9 e + /s. In the slow positron source, the electron beam from the 2.5 GeV linear accelerator is used as the primary beam. This beam is led to the target with electromagnets. Radiation shields were strengthened, and the electrostatic lens system was attached to efficiently extract and send out slow positrons. The conveying system for slow positrons is explained. Primary electron beam, target and moderator for producing slow positrons, the change to continuous current of pulsed slow positron beam and the heightening of luminance of slow positron beam, and the experiment on the utilization of slow positron beam, and the control system for positron conveyance path are reported. (K.I.)

On conjugacy growth of linear groups

OpenAIRE

Breuillard, Emmanuel; de Cornulier, Yves; Lubotzky, Alexander; Meiri, Chen

2011-01-01

We investigate the conjugacy growth of finitely generated linear groups. We show that finitely generated non-virtually-solvable subgroups of GL_d have uniform exponential conjugacy growth and in fact that the number of distinct polynomials arising as characteristic polynomials of the elements of the ball of radius n for the word metric has exponential growth rate bounded away from 0 in terms of the dimension d only.

Magnon Inflation: Slow Roll with Steep Potentials

CERN Document Server

Adshead, Peter; Burgess, C P; Hayman, Peter; Patil, Subodh P

2016-01-01

We find multi-scalar effective field theories (EFTs) that can achieve a slow inflationary roll despite having a scalar potential that does not satisfy the usual slow-roll condition (d V)^2 << V^2/Mp^2. They evade the usual slow-roll conditions on $V$ because their kinetic energies are dominated by single-derivative terms rather than the usual two-derivative terms. Single derivatives dominate during slow roll and so do not require a breakdown of the usual derivative expansion that underpins calculational control in much of cosmology. The presence of such terms requires some sort of UV Lorentz-symmetry breaking during inflation (besides the usual cosmological breaking). Chromo-natural inflation provides an example of a UV theory that can generate the multi-field single-derivative terms we consider, and we argue that the EFT we find indeed captures the slow-roll conditions for the background evolution for Chromo-natural inflation. We also show that our EFT can be understood as a multi-field generalization ...

Slow-light dynamics in nonlinear periodic waveguides couplers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sukhorukov, A.A.; Ha, S.; Powell, D.A.

2009-01-01

We predict pulse switching and reshaping through nonlinear mixing of two slow-light states with different phase velocities in the same frequency range, and report on the first experimental observation of slow-light tunneling between coupled periodic waveguides.......We predict pulse switching and reshaping through nonlinear mixing of two slow-light states with different phase velocities in the same frequency range, and report on the first experimental observation of slow-light tunneling between coupled periodic waveguides....

Sustainable Development of Slow Fashion Businesses: Customer Value Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sojin Jung

2016-06-01

Full Text Available As an alternative to the prevalent fast fashion model, slow fashion has emerged as a way of enhancing sustainability in the fashion industry, yet how slow fashion can enhance profitability is still largely unknown. Based on a customer value creation framework, this study empirically tested a structural model that specified the slow fashion attributes that contribute to creating perceived customer value, which subsequently increases a consumer’s intention to buy and pay a price premium for slow fashion products. An analysis of 221 U.S. consumer data revealed that delivering exclusive product value is significantly critical in creating customer value for slow fashion, and customer value, in turn, positively affects consumers’ purchase intentions. Further analysis also revealed that different slow fashion attributes distinctively affect customer value. This provides potential strategies on which slow fashion businesses can focus to secure an economically sustainable business model, thereby continuously improving environmental and social sustainability with the slow fashion ideal.

More dimensions: Less entropy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kolb, E.W.; Lindley, D.; Seckel, D.

1984-01-01

For a cosmological model with d noncompact and D compact spatial dimensions and symmetry R 1 x S/sup d/ x S/sup D/, we calculate the entropy produced in d dimensions due to the compactification of D dimensions and show it too small to be of cosmological interest. Although insufficient entropy is produced in the model we study, the contraction of extra dimensions does lead to entropy production. We discuss modifications of our assumptions, including changing our condition for decoupling of the extra dimensions, which may lead to a large entropy production and change our conclusions

Slowed ageing, welfare, and population problems.

Science.gov (United States)

Wareham, Christopher

2015-10-01

Biological studies have demonstrated that it is possible to slow the ageing process and extend lifespan in a wide variety of organisms, perhaps including humans. Making use of the findings of these studies, this article examines two problems concerning the effect of life extension on population size and welfare. The first--the problem of overpopulation--is that as a result of life extension too many people will co-exist at the same time, resulting in decreases in average welfare. The second--the problem of underpopulation--is that life extension will result in too few people existing across time, resulting in decreases in total welfare. I argue that overpopulation is highly unlikely to result from technologies that slow ageing. Moreover, I claim that the problem of underpopulation relies on claims about life extension that are false in the case of life extension by slowed ageing. The upshot of these arguments is that the population problems discussed provide scant reason to oppose life extension by slowed ageing.

Kinetic slow mode-type solitons

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Baumgärtel

2005-01-01

Full Text Available One-dimensional hybrid code simulations are presented, carried out in order both to study solitary waves of the slow mode branch in an isotropic, collisionless, medium-β plasma (βi=0.25 and to test the fluid based soliton interpretation of Cluster observed strong magnetic depressions (Stasiewicz et al., 2003; Stasiewicz, 2004 against kinetic theory. In the simulations, a variety of strongly oblique, large amplitude, solitons are seen, including solitons with Alfvenic polarization, similar to those predicted by the Hall-MHD theory, and robust, almost non-propagating, solitary structures of slow magnetosonic type with strong magnetic field depressions and perpendicular ion heating, which have no counterpart in fluid theory. The results support the soliton-based interpretation of the Cluster observations, but reveal substantial deficiencies of Hall-MHD theory in describing slow mode-type solitons in a plasma of moderate beta.

Slow rupture of frictional interfaces

OpenAIRE

Sinai, Yohai Bar; Brener, Efim A.; Bouchbinder, Eran

2011-01-01

The failure of frictional interfaces and the spatiotemporal structures that accompany it are central to a wide range of geophysical, physical and engineering systems. Recent geophysical and laboratory observations indicated that interfacial failure can be mediated by slow slip rupture phenomena which are distinct from ordinary, earthquake-like, fast rupture. These discoveries have influenced the way we think about frictional motion, yet the nature and properties of slow rupture are not comple...

Age and growth of two populations of West Coast steenbras ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... density-dependent competition for food, or biochemical genetic variations between the two populations, are possible reasons for the geographic differences found in the growth rates and length-at-age. Slow growth and longevity are characteristics of West Coast steenbras that make it extremely susceptible to overfishing; ...

Slow aggregation of lysozyme in alkaline pH monitored in real time employing the fluorescence anisotropy of covalently labelled dansyl probe.

Science.gov (United States)

Homchaudhuri, Lopamudra; Kumar, Satish; Swaminathan, Rajaram

2006-04-03

The onset of hen egg white lysozyme aggregation on exposure to alkaline pH of 12.2 and subsequent slow growth of soluble lysozyme aggregates (at 298 K) was directly monitored by steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy of covalently attached dansyl probe over a period of 24 h. The rotational correlation time accounting for tumbling of lysozyme in solution (40 microM) increased from approximately 3.6 ns (in pH 7) to approximately 40ns on exposure to pH 12.2 over a period of 6 h and remained stable thereafter. The growth of aggregates was strongly concentration dependent, irreversible after 60 min and inhibited by the presence of 0.9 M l-arginine in the medium. The day old aggregates were resistant to denaturation by 6 M guanidine.HCl. Our results reveal slow segmental motion of the dansyl probe in day old aggregates in the absence of L-arginine (0.9 M), but a much faster motion in its presence, when growth of aggregates is halted.

DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS OF TEAMS

OpenAIRE

Goparaju Purna SUDHAKAR

2013-01-01

Popularity of teams is growing in 21st Century. Organizations are getting their work done through different types of teams. Teams have proved that the collective performance is more than the sum of the individual performances. Thus, the teams have got different dimensions such as quantitative dimensions and qualitative dimensions. The Quantitative dimensions of teams such as team performance, team productivity, team innovation, team effectiveness, team efficiency, team decision making and tea...

Temperature influences on growth of aquatic organisms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coutant, C.C.; Suffern, J.S.

1977-01-01

Temperature profoundly affects the growth rates of aquatic organisms, and its control is essential for effective aquaculture. Characteristically, both low and high temperatures produce slow growth rates and inefficient food conversion, while intermediate temperature ranges provide rapid growth and efficient food conversion. Distinct, species-specific optimum temperatures and upper and lower temperatures of zero growth can often be defined. Thermal effects can be greatly modified by amounts and quality of food. These data not only provide the basis for criteria which maintain growth of wild organisms but also for effectively using waste heat to create optimal conditions of temperature and food ration for growing aquatic organisms commercially

Correlation dimension of financial market

Science.gov (United States)

Nie, Chun-Xiao

2017-05-01

In this paper, correlation dimension is applied to financial data analysis. We calculate the correlation dimensions of some real market data and find that the dimensions are significantly smaller than those of the simulation data based on geometric Brownian motion. Based on the analysis of the Chinese and US stock market data, the main results are as follows. First, by calculating three data sets for the Chinese and US market, we find that large market volatility leads to a significant decrease in the dimensions. Second, based on 5-min stock price data, we find that the Chinese market dimension is significantly larger than the US market; this shows a significant difference between the two markets for high frequency data. Third, we randomly extract stocks from a stock set and calculate the correlation dimensions, and find that the average value of these dimensions is close to the dimension of the original set. In addition, we analyse the intuitional meaning of the relevant dimensions used in this paper, which are directly related to the average degree of the financial threshold network. The dimension measures the speed of the average degree that varies with the threshold value. A smaller dimension means that the rate of change is slower.

An Active Learning Mammalian Skeletal Muscle Lab Demonstrating Contractile and Kinetic Properties of Fast- and Slow-Twitch Muscle

Science.gov (United States)

Head, S. I.; Arber, M. B.

2013-01-01

The fact that humans possess fast and slow-twitch muscle in the ratio of approximately 50% has profound implications for designing exercise training strategies for power and endurance activities. With the growth of exercise and sport science courses, we have seen the need to develop an undergraduate student laboratory that demonstrates the basic…

Threshold Characteristics of Slow-Light Photonic Crystal Lasers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Xue, Weiqi; Yu, Yi; Ottaviano, Luisa

2016-01-01

The threshold properties of photonic crystal quantum dot lasers operating in the slow-light regime are investigated experimentally and theoretically. Measurements show that, in contrast to conventional lasers, the threshold gain attains a minimum value for a specific cavity length. The experimental...... results are explained by an analytical theory for the laser threshold that takes into account the effects of slow light and random disorder due to unavoidable fabrication imperfections. Longer lasers are found to operate deeper into the slow-light region, leading to a trade-off between slow-light induced...

Slow brushing reduces heat pain in humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Liljencrantz, J; Strigo, I; Ellingsen, D M; Krämer, H H; Lundblad, L C; Nagi, S S; Leknes, S; Olausson, H

2017-08-01

C-tactile (CT) afferents are unmyelinated low-threshold mechanoreceptors optimized for signalling affective, gentle touch. In three separate psychophysical experiments, we examined the contribution of CT afferents to pain modulation. In total, 44 healthy volunteers experienced heat pain and CT optimal (slow brushing) and CT sub-optimal (fast brushing or vibration) stimuli. Three different experimental paradigms were used: Concurrent application of heat pain and tactile (slow brushing or vibration) stimulation; Slow brushing, applied for variable duration and intervals, preceding heat pain; Slow versus fast brushing preceding heat pain. Slow brushing was effective in reducing pain, whereas fast brushing or vibration was not. The reduction in pain was significant not only when the CT optimal touch was applied simultaneously with the painful stimulus but also when the two stimuli were separated in time. For subsequent stimulation, the pain reduction was more pronounced for a shorter time interval between brushing and pain. Likewise, the effect was more robust when pain was preceded by a longer duration of brush stimulation. Strong CT-related pain reduction was associated with low anxiety and high calmness scores obtained by a state anxiety questionnaire. Slow brushing - optimal for CT activation - is effective in reducing pain from cutaneous heating. The precise mechanisms for the pain relief are as yet unknown but possible mechanisms include inhibition of nociceptive projection neurons at the level of the dorsal horn as well as analgesia through cortical mechanisms. Slow brushing stimuli - optimal for activation of C-tactile fibres - can reduce pain from cutaneous heating. No such effect was seen with fast brushing or vibration. These observations indicate the role of C-tactile fibres in pain modulation. © 2017 European Pain Federation - EFIC®.

Tandem queue with server slow-down

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Miretskiy, D.I.; Scheinhardt, W.R.W.; Mandjes, M.R.H.

2007-01-01

We study how rare events happen in the standard two-node tandem Jackson queue and in a generalization, the socalled slow-down network, see [2]. In the latter model the service rate of the first server depends on the number of jobs in the second queue: the first server slows down if the amount of

Growth, spectral, dielectric and antimicrobial studies on 4-piperidinium carboxylamide picrate crystals

Science.gov (United States)

Dhanabal, T.; Tharanitharan, V.; Amirthaganesan, G.; Dhandapani, M.

2014-07-01

Single crystal of 4-piperidinium carboxylamide picrate was grown by slow evaporation solution growth technique at ambient temperature. The average dimensions of grown crystal were 0.7 × 0.3 × 0.2 cm3. The solubility of the compound was analyzed using methanol and acetone. Optical property of the compound was ascertained by UV-visible absorption spectral study. The sharp and well defined Bragg peaks observed in the powder X-ray diffraction pattern confirm its crystallinity. The different kinds of protons and carbons in the compound were confirmed by 1H and 13C NMR spectral analyses. The presence of various functional groups in the compound was assigned through polarized Raman spectral study. The mechanical property of the crystal was measured by Vicker's microhardness test and the compound was found to be soft material. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss of the crystal decrease with increase in frequency. The antibacterial and antifungal activities of the crystal were studied by disc diffusion method and found that the compound shows good inhibition efficiency against various bacteria and fungi species.

Deconstructing dimensions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cohen, A.G.

2003-01-01

Extra-dimensional physics is realized as the low-energy limit of lower-dimensional gauge theories. This 'deconstruction' of dimensions provides a UV completion of higher-dimensional theories, and has been used to investigate the physics of extra-dimensions. This technique has also led to a variety of interesting phenomenological applications, especially a new class of models of electroweak superconductivity, called the 'little Higgs'. (author)

Slow-transit Constipation.

Science.gov (United States)

Bharucha, Adil E.; Philips, Sidney F.

2001-08-01

Idiopathic slow-transit constipation is a clinical syndrome predominantly affecting women, characterized by intractable constipation and delayed colonic transit. This syndrome is attributed to disordered colonic motor function. The disorder spans a spectrum of variable severity, ranging from patients who have relatively mild delays in transit but are otherwise indistinguishable from irritable bowel syndrome to patients with colonic inertia or chronic megacolon. The diagnosis is made after excluding colonic obstruction, metabolic disorders (hypothyroidism, hypercalcemia), drug-induced constipation, and pelvic floor dysfunction (as discussed by Wald ). Most patients are treated with one or more pharmacologic agents, including dietary fiber supplementation, saline laxatives (milk of magnesia), osmotic agents (lactulose, sorbitol, and polyethylene glycol 3350), and stimulant laxatives (bisacodyl and glycerol). A subtotal colectomy is effective and occasionally is indicated for patients with medically refractory, severe slow-transit constipation, provided pelvic floor dysfunction has been excluded or treated.

Toward standardization of slow earthquake catalog -Development of database website-

Science.gov (United States)

Kano, M.; Aso, N.; Annoura, S.; Arai, R.; Ito, Y.; Kamaya, N.; Maury, J.; Nakamura, M.; Nishimura, T.; Obana, K.; Sugioka, H.; Takagi, R.; Takahashi, T.; Takeo, A.; Yamashita, Y.; Matsuzawa, T.; Ide, S.; Obara, K.

2017-12-01

Slow earthquakes have now been widely discovered in the world based on the recent development of geodetic and seismic observations. Many researchers detect a wide frequency range of slow earthquakes including low frequency tremors, low frequency earthquakes, very low frequency earthquakes and slow slip events by using various methods. Catalogs of the detected slow earthquakes are open to us in different formats by each referring paper or through a website (e.g., Wech 2010; Idehara et al. 2014). However, we need to download catalogs from different sources, to deal with unformatted catalogs and to understand the characteristics of different catalogs, which may be somewhat complex especially for those who are not familiar with slow earthquakes. In order to standardize slow earthquake catalogs and to make such a complicated work easier, Scientific Research on Innovative Areas "Science of Slow Earthquakes" has been developing a slow earthquake catalog website. In the website, we can plot locations of various slow earthquakes via the Google Maps by compiling a variety of slow earthquake catalogs including slow slip events. This enables us to clearly visualize spatial relations among slow earthquakes at a glance and to compare the regional activities of slow earthquakes or the locations of different catalogs. In addition, we can download catalogs in the unified format and refer the information on each catalog on the single website. Such standardization will make it more convenient for users to utilize the previous achievements and to promote research on slow earthquakes, which eventually leads to collaborations with researchers in various fields and further understanding of the mechanisms, environmental conditions, and underlying physics of slow earthquakes. Furthermore, we expect that the website has a leading role in the international standardization of slow earthquake catalogs. We report the overview of the website and the progress of construction. Acknowledgment: This

Dimension of linear models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Høskuldsson, Agnar

1996-01-01

Determination of the proper dimension of a given linear model is one of the most important tasks in the applied modeling work. We consider here eight criteria that can be used to determine the dimension of the model, or equivalently, the number of components to use in the model. Four of these cri......Determination of the proper dimension of a given linear model is one of the most important tasks in the applied modeling work. We consider here eight criteria that can be used to determine the dimension of the model, or equivalently, the number of components to use in the model. Four...... the basic problems in determining the dimension of linear models. Then each of the eight measures are treated. The results are illustrated by examples....

Differential Macrophage Response to Slow- and Fast-Growing Pathogenic Mycobacteria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Cecilia Helguera-Repetto

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM have recently been recognized as important species that cause disease even in immunocompetent individuals. The mechanisms that these species use to infect and persist inside macrophages are not well characterised. To gain insight concerning this process we used THP-1 macrophages infected with M. abscessus, M. fortuitum, M. celatum, and M. tuberculosis. Our results showed that slow-growing mycobacteria gained entrance into these cells with more efficiency than fast-growing mycobacteria. We have also demonstrated that viable slow-growing M. celatum persisted inside macrophages without causing cell damage and without inducing reactive oxygen species (ROS, as M. tuberculosis caused. In contrast, fast-growing mycobacteria destroyed the cells and induced high levels of ROS. Additionally, the macrophage cytokine pattern induced by M. celatum was different from the one induced by either M. tuberculosis or fast-growing mycobacteria. Our results also suggest that, in some cases, the intracellular survival of mycobacteria and the immune response that they induce in macrophages could be related to their growth rate. In addition, the modulation of macrophage cytokine production, caused by M. celatum, might be a novel immune-evasion strategy used to survive inside macrophages that is different from the one reported for M. tuberculosis.

The fourth dimension

CERN Document Server

Rucker, Rudy

2014-01-01

""This is an invigorating book, a short but spirited slalom for the mind."" - Timothy Ferris, The New York Times Book Review ""Highly readable. One is reminded of the breadth and depth of Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach."" - Science""Anyone with even a minimal interest in mathematics and fantasy will find The Fourth Dimension informative and mind-dazzling... [Rucker] plunges into spaces above three with a zest and energy that is breathtaking."" - Martin Gardner ""Those who think the fourth dimension is nothing but time should be encouraged to read The Fourth Dimension, along with anyone else

Slow electron contribution to inelastic reflection anisotropy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Podsvirov, O.A.; Kuznetsov, Yu.A.

1980-01-01

Investigated is electron contribution with low energy (up to 1 keV) to the anisotropy of electron inelastic reflection (IRE) from silicon monocrystal (111) within 12-50 keV energy range of primary electrons. Experimental data on IRE anisotropy are presented: delay curves for silicon monocrystal, permitting to separate electrons with the energy up to 1 keV, dependences of IRE anisotropy on the energy of primary electrons for the systems - monocrystalline silicon-amorphous silicon film and delay curves for such systems (film thickness varies from 20 to 2000 A). Suggested is a phenomenologic model, permitting to take into account the contribution of slow electrons to IRE anisotropy: it is supposed, that three groups of electrons take part in the formation of the latter: elastic and inelastic reflected electrons, slow electrons, excited by primary electrons and slow electrons, generated by the reverse flow of the scattered electrons. Contribution of electrons, different by origin, to IRE anisotropy is evaluated in accordance with the experimental data on the basis of this model. It is stated, that slow electrons constitute approximately one half of the IRE anisotropy value, the contribution of both groups of slow electrons being approximately equal

Slow extraction control system of HIRFL-CSR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Wufeng; Qiao Weimin; Yuan Youjin; Mao Ruishi; Zhao Tiecheng

2013-01-01

For heavy-ion radiotherapy, HIRFL-CSR (Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou-Cooler Storage Ring) needs a long term uniform ion beam extraction from HIRFL-CSR main ring to high energy beam transport line to meet the requirement of heavy-ion radiotherapy's ion beam. Slow extraction control system uses the synchronous signal of HIRFL-CSR control system's timing system to realize process control. When the synchronous event data of HIRFL-CSR control system's timing system trigger controlling and changing data (frequency value, tune value, voltage value), the waveform generator will generate waveform by frequency value, tune value and voltage value, and will amplify the generated waveform by power amplifier to electrostatic deflector to achieve RF-KO slow extraction. The synchronous event receiver of slow extraction system is designed by using FPGA and optical fiber interface to keep high transmission speed and anti-jamming. HIRFL-CSR's running for heavy-ion radiotherapy and ten thousand seconds long period slow extraction experiments show that slow extraction control system is workable and can meet the requirement of heavy-ion radiotherapy's ion beam. (authors)

Krull dimension in modal logic

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bezhanishvili, G.; Bezhanishvili, N.; Lucero-Bryan, J.; van Mill, J.

2017-01-01

We develop the theory of Krull dimension for S4-algebras and Heyting algebras. This leads to the concept of modal Krull dimension for topological spaces. We compare modal Krull dimension to other well-known dimension functions, and show that it can detect differences between topological spaces that

Use of metallic glasses for fabrication of structures with submicron dimensions

Science.gov (United States)

Wiley, John D.; Perepezko, John H.

1986-01-01

Patterned structures of submicron dimension formed of supported or unsupported amorphous metals having submicron feature sizes characterized by etching behavior sufficient to allow delineation of sharp edges and smooth flat flanks, resistance to time-dependent dimensional changes caused by creep, flow, in-diffusion of unwanted impurities, out-diffusion of constituent atoms, void formation, grain growth or phase separation and resistance to phase transformations or compound formation.

The cryogenic source of slow monochromatic positrons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meshkov, I.N.; Pavlov, V.N.; Sidorin, A.O.; Yakovenko, S.L.

2008-01-01

The cryogenic source of slow monochromatic positrons based on the 22 Na isotope has been designed and constructed at JINR. Positrons emitted from radioactive source 22 Na have a very broad energy spectrum up to 0.5 MeV. To generate monochromatic beam of slow positrons the solid neon is used as a moderator. The solid neon allows forming slow positron beam of the energy of 1.2 eV at the spectrum width of 1 eV. The efficiency of moderation is 1 % of total positron flux

GUT scale extra dimensions and light moduli in supergravity and cosmology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moeller, Jan

2010-05-15

We study the dynamical properties of geometric moduli in five- and six-dimensional supergravity compactified on flat orbifolds, focusing on the impact of the Kaehler potential. In both cases, the Kaehler potential exhibits no-scale structure at tree level. In five dimensions, the volume modulus (radion) can be stabilized by means of perturbative Kaehler corrections. In six dimensions, the same holds for size and shape of the extra dimensions, only if the dilaton can be stabilized in a Minkowski vacuum by nonperturbative effects. We develop a systematic description of almost no-scale models and derive a model independent formula for the radion mass. The radion mass is suppressed compared to the gravitino mass. The supression factor reflects the hierarchy between the Planck and the compactification scale. We analyze a specific example, where the compactification scale is determined by Fayet-Iliopoulos terms of a locally anomalous Abelian gauge group, which are O(M{sub GUT}). In a scenario with gravitino dark matter, this leads to a radion mass of 1-10 MeV. In this mass range, the radion is cosmologically stable and contributes to the dark matter density. Based on galactic gamma ray data, we derive a tight bound on the initial displacement of the field value from its low energy vacuum. We also investigate implications of typical moduli Kaehler potentials on the cosmological evolution of the scalar fields. In particular, we discuss a class of models with steep exponential potentials and non-canonical kinetic terms, motivated by our radion example. We consider the overshooting problem of cosmological moduli dynamics, and the possibility of slow-roll solutions despite the steepness of the scalar potential. (orig.)

GUT scale extra dimensions and light moduli in supergravity and cosmology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moeller, Jan

2010-05-01

We study the dynamical properties of geometric moduli in five- and six-dimensional supergravity compactified on flat orbifolds, focusing on the impact of the Kaehler potential. In both cases, the Kaehler potential exhibits no-scale structure at tree level. In five dimensions, the volume modulus (radion) can be stabilized by means of perturbative Kaehler corrections. In six dimensions, the same holds for size and shape of the extra dimensions, only if the dilaton can be stabilized in a Minkowski vacuum by nonperturbative effects. We develop a systematic description of almost no-scale models and derive a model independent formula for the radion mass. The radion mass is suppressed compared to the gravitino mass. The supression factor reflects the hierarchy between the Planck and the compactification scale. We analyze a specific example, where the compactification scale is determined by Fayet-Iliopoulos terms of a locally anomalous Abelian gauge group, which are O(M GUT ). In a scenario with gravitino dark matter, this leads to a radion mass of 1-10 MeV. In this mass range, the radion is cosmologically stable and contributes to the dark matter density. Based on galactic gamma ray data, we derive a tight bound on the initial displacement of the field value from its low energy vacuum. We also investigate implications of typical moduli Kaehler potentials on the cosmological evolution of the scalar fields. In particular, we discuss a class of models with steep exponential potentials and non-canonical kinetic terms, motivated by our radion example. We consider the overshooting problem of cosmological moduli dynamics, and the possibility of slow-roll solutions despite the steepness of the scalar potential. (orig.)

Neutron slowing-down time in finite water systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirschberg, S.

1981-11-01

The influence of the size of a moderator system on the neutron slowing-down time has been investigated. The experimental part of the study was performed on six cubes of water with side lengths from 8 to 30 cm. Neutrons generated in pulses of about 1 ns width were slowed down from 14 MeV to 1.457 eV. The detection method used was based on registration of gamma radiation from the main capture resonance of indium. The most probable slowing-down times were found to be 778 +- 23 ns and 898 +- 25 ns for the smallest and for the largest cubes, respectively. The corresponding mean slowing-down times were 1205 +- 42 ns and 1311 +- 42 ns. In a separate measurement series the space dependence of the slowing-down time close to the source was studied. These experiments were supplemented by a theoretical calculation which gave an indication of the space dependence of the slowingdown time in finite systems. The experimental results were compared to the slowing-down times obtained from various theoretical approaches and from Monte Carlo calculations. All the methods show a decrease of the slowing-down time with decreasing size of the moderator. This effect was least pronounced in the experimental results, which can be explained by the fact the measurements are spatially dependent. The agreement between the Monte Carlo results and those obtained using the diffusion approximation or the age-diffusion theory is surprisingly good, especially for large systems. The P1 approximation, on the other hand, leads to an overestimation of the effect of the finite size on the slowing-down time. (author)

Viscous Growth in Spinodal Decomposition of the Two-component Lennard-Jones Model in Two Dimensions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Laradji, M.; Toxvaerd, S.; Mouritsen, Ole G.

1997-01-01

The dynamics of phase separation of a two-component Lennard-Jones model in three dimensions is investigated by means of large scale molecular dynamics simulation. A systematic study over a wide range of quench temperatures within the coexistence region shows that the binary system reaches...

Slow Images and Entangled Photons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Swordy, Simon

2007-01-01

I will discuss some recent experiments using slow light and entangled photons. We recently showed that it was possible to map a two dimensional image onto very low light level signals, slow them down in a hot atomic vapor while preserving the amplitude and phase of the images. If time remains, I will discuss some of our recent work with time-energy entangled photons for quantum cryptography. We were able to show that we could have a measurable state space of over 1000 states for a single pair of entangled photons in fiber.

Relationship of slow and rapid EEG components of CAP to ASDA arousals in normal sleep.

Science.gov (United States)

Parrino, L; Smerieri, A; Rossi, M; Terzano, M G

2001-12-15

Besides arousals (according to the ASDA definition), sleep contains also K-complexes and delta bursts which, in spite of their sleep-like features, are endowed with activating effects on autonomic functions. The link between phasic delta activities and enhancement of vegetative functions indicates the possibility of physiological activation without sleep disruption (i.e., arousal without awakening). A functional connection seems to include slow (K-complexes and delta bursts) and rapid (arousals) EEG events within the comprehensive term of activating complexes. CAP (cyclic alternating pattern) is the spontaneous EEG rhythm that ties both slow and rapid activating complexes together during NREM sleep. The present study aims at exploring the relationship between arousals and CAP components in a selected sample of healthy sleepers. Polysomnographic analysis according to the scoring rules for sleep stages and arousals. CAP analysis included also tabulation of subtypes A1 (slow EEG activating complexes), A2 and A3 (activating complexes with fast EEG components). 40 sleep-lab accomplished recordings. Healthy subjects belonging to a wide age range (38 +/- 20 yrs.). N/A. Of all the arousals occurring in NREM sleep, 87% were inserted within CAP. Subtypes A2 and A3 of CAP corresponded strikingly with arousals (r=0.843; p<0.0001), while no statistical relationship emerged when arousals were matched with subtypes A1 of CAP. Subtypes A1 instead correlated positively with the percentages of deep sleep (r=0.366; p<0.02). The CAP subtype classification encompasses both the process of sleep maintenance (subtypes A1) and sleep fragmentation (subtypes A2 and A3), and provides a periodicity dimension to the activating events of NREM sleep.

Climate changes, economy and growth: political relationships

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alex, Bastien

2017-03-01

The author addresses the relationships which may exist between climate change and economic growth, by discussing and criticising some common ideas, and the role of the economic parameter in the position of states within negotiations. These common ideas are: the struggle against climate change impedes economic growth, and green economy provides new growth levers. The author also discusses the fact that some countries may feel they have to slow down their growth because emerging countries are facing a strong development and thus have a strong impact on climate changes. He also outlines that political forces which are presently in power, tend to have a critical approach and speech on mitigation measures

Climate change and diverse dimensions of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs): Lake Palcacocha case study, Peru

Science.gov (United States)

Emmer, Adam; Walker-Crawford, Noah; Carey, Mark; Huggel, Christian; Verheyen, Roda; Wallimann-Helmer, Ivo

2017-04-01

Post-Little Ice Age (LIA) climate change has led to worldwide glacier retreat, formation and evolution of glacial lakes, occasionally followed by glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs). Hundreds of GLOFs are documented throughout the 20th and 21st century, of which a certain number that caused massive downstream destruction and up to thousands of lives lost. Management of GLOF hazards and risks has typically been a local concern, focusing on the implementation of specific technical and engineering measures. Recently, however, researchers have realized that the complexity of both the risks and the socio-environmental context requires a broader understanding and response beyond the more typical local perception and management. The growing cumulative greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, for instance, increase the anthropogenic contribution to glacier retreat, lake formation and growth and eventually to GLOF. GLOF hazard and risk management is inherently linked to the global scale from this perspective. It implies that additional important dimensions enter the debate, including ethical and legal questions about the responsibility for damage and loss due to GLOFs. Here we analyze the conditions at an emblematic case in Peru's Cordillera Blanca, which has made international headlines repeatedly since it first generated one of the world's most deadly GLOFs in 1941 to its present-day growth and instability. Situated upstream from the regional center of Huaráz (population ˜120,000), Lake Palcacocha has attracted significant attention in recent years within Peru and at an international level. Perspectives on Palcacocha lack truly cross-disciplinary research, missing more comprehensive insight. This contribution is unique for its analysis of diverse dimensions, which also provide a framework for other GLOF hazard, risk, and climate-related studies. The main aim of this constribution is to understand the links between them, their drivers and inhibitors. Four dimensions were studied

User Experience Dimensions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lykke, Marianne; Jantzen, Christian

2016-01-01

The present study develops a set of 10 dimensions based on a systematic understanding of the concept of experience as a holistic psychological. Seven of these are derived from a psychological conception of what experiencing and experiences are. Three supplementary dimensions spring from the obser...

Slow growth of the Rayleigh-Plateau instability in aqueous two phase systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geschiere, S.D.; Ziemecka, I.; Van Steijn, V.; Koper, G.J.M.; Van Esch, J.H.; Kreutzer, M.T.

2012-01-01

This paper studies the Rayleigh-Plateau instability for co-flowing immiscible aqueous polymer solutions in a microfluidic channel. Careful vibration-free experiments with controlled actuation of the flow allowed direct measurement of the growth rate of this instability. Experiments for the

Monte Carlo studies of domain growth in two dimensions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yaldram, K.; Ahsan Khan, M.

1983-07-01

Monte Carlo simulations have been carried out to study the effect of temperature on the kinetics of domain growth. The concept of ''spatial entropy'' is introduced. It is shown that ''spatial entropy'' of the domain can be used to give a measure of the roughening of the domain. Most of the roughening is achieved during the initial time (t< or approx. 10 Monte Carlo cycles), the rate of roughening being greater for higher temperatures. For later times the roughening of the domain for different temperatures proceeds at essentially the same rate. (author)

Multiphase modelling of vascular tumour growth in two spatial dimensions

KAUST Repository

Hubbard, M.E.

2013-01-01

In this paper we present a continuum mathematical model of vascular tumour growth which is based on a multiphase framework in which the tissue is decomposed into four distinct phases and the principles of conservation of mass and momentum are applied to the normal/healthy cells, tumour cells, blood vessels and extracellular material. The inclusion of a diffusible nutrient, supplied by the blood vessels, allows the vasculature to have a nonlocal influence on the other phases. Two-dimensional computational simulations are carried out on unstructured, triangular meshes to allow a natural treatment of irregular geometries, and the tumour boundary is captured as a diffuse interface on this mesh, thereby obviating the need to explicitly track the (potentially highly irregular and ill-defined) tumour boundary. A hybrid finite volume/finite element algorithm is used to discretise the continuum model: the application of a conservative, upwind, finite volume scheme to the hyperbolic mass balance equations and a finite element scheme with a stable element pair to the generalised Stokes equations derived from momentum balance, leads to a robust algorithm which does not use any form of artificial stabilisation. The use of a matrix-free Newton iteration with a finite element scheme for the nutrient reaction-diffusion equations allows full nonlinearity in the source terms of the mathematical model.Numerical simulations reveal that this four-phase model reproduces the characteristic pattern of tumour growth in which a necrotic core forms behind an expanding rim of well-vascularised proliferating tumour cells. The simulations consistently predict linear tumour growth rates. The dependence of both the speed with which the tumour grows and the irregularity of the invading tumour front on the model parameters is investigated. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Relaxing to Three Dimensions

CERN Document Server

CERN. Geneva

2006-01-01

Extra dimensions of space might be present in our universe. If so, we want to know 'How do dimensions hide?' and 'Why are three dimensions special?' I'll give potential answers to both these questions in the context of localized gravity. Organiser(s): L. Alvarez-Gaume / PH-THNote: * Tea & coffee will be served at 16:00. Talk is broadcasted in Council Chamber

Response of electret dosemeter to slow neutrons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghilardi, A.J.P.; Pela, C.A.; Zimmerman, R.L.

1987-01-01

The response of electret dosemeter to slow neutrons exposure is cited, mentioning the preparation and the irradiation of dosemeter with Am-Be source. Some theory considerations about the response of electret dosemeter to slow and fast neutrons are also presented. (C.G.C.) [pt

Pollution externalities in a Schumpeterian growth model

OpenAIRE

Koesler, Simon

2010-01-01

This paper extends a standard Schumpeterian growth model to include an environmental dimension. Thereby, it explicitly links the pollution intensity of economic activity to technological progress. In a second step, it investigates the effect of pollution on economic growth under the assumption that pollution intensities are related to technological progress. Several conclusions emerge from the model. In equilibrium, the economy follows a balanced growth path. The effect of pollution on the ec...

Dystonia Associated with Idiopathic Slow Orthostatic Tremor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher Kobylecki

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Background: We aimed to characterize the clinical and electrophysiological features of patients with slow orthostatic tremor.Case Report: The clinical and neurophysiological data of patients referred for lower limb tremor on standing were reviewed. Patients with symptomatic or primary orthostatic tremor were excluded. Eight patients were identified with idiopathic slow 4–8 Hz orthostatic tremor, which was associated with tremor and dystonia in cervical and upper limb musculature. Coherence analysis in two patients showed findings different to those seen in primary orthostatic tremor.Discussion: Slow orthostatic tremor may be associated with dystonia and dystonic tremor.

Dimension and extensions

CERN Document Server

Aarts, JM

1993-01-01

Two types of seemingly unrelated extension problems are discussed in this book. Their common focus is a long-standing problem of Johannes de Groot, the main conjecture of which was recently resolved. As is true of many important conjectures, a wide range of mathematical investigations had developed, which have been grouped into the two extension problems. The first concerns the extending of spaces, the second concerns extending the theory of dimension by replacing the empty space with other spaces. The problem of de Groot concerned compactifications of spaces by means of an adjunction of a set of minimal dimension. This minimal dimension was called the compactness deficiency of a space. Early success in 1942 lead de Groot to invent a generalization of the dimension function, called the compactness degree of a space, with the hope that this function would internally characterize the compactness deficiency which is a topological invariant of a space that is externally defined by means of compact extensions of a...

Slow positron applications at slow positron facility of institute of materials structure science, KEK

Science.gov (United States)

Hyodo, Toshio; Mochizuki, Izumi; Wada, Ken; Toge, Nobukazu; Shidara, Tetsuo

2018-05-01

Slow Positron Facility at High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) is a user dedicated facility with an energy-tunable (0.1 - 35 keV) slow positron beam created by a dedicated ˜ 50 MeV linac. It operates in a short pulse (width 1-12 ns, variable, 5×106 e+/s) and a long pulse (width 1.2 µs, 5×107 e+/s) modes of 50 Hz. High energy positrons from pair creation are moderated by reemission after thermalization in W foils. The reemitted positrons are then electrostatically accelerated to a desired energy up to 35 keV and magnetically transported. A pulse-stretching section (pulse stretcher) is installed in the middle of the beamline. It stretches the slow positron pulse for the experiments where too many positrons annihilating in the sample at the same time has to be avoided. Four experiment stations for TRHEPD (total-reflection high-energy positron diffraction), LEPD (low-energy positron diffraction), Ps- (positronium negative ion), and Ps-TOF (positronium time-of-flight) experiments are connected to the beamline branches, SPF-A3, SPF-A4, SPF-B1 and SPF-B2, respectively. Recent results of these stations are briefly described.

Hidden slow pulsars in binaries

Science.gov (United States)

Tavani, Marco; Brookshaw, Leigh

1993-01-01

The recent discovery of the binary containing the slow pulsar PSR 1718-19 orbiting around a low-mass companion star adds new light on the characteristics of binary pulsars. The properties of the radio eclipses of PSR 1718-19 are the most striking observational characteristics of this system. The surface of the companion star produces a mass outflow which leaves only a small 'window' in orbital phase for the detection of PSR 1718-19 around 400 MHz. At this observing frequency, PSR 1718-19 is clearly observable only for about 1 hr out of the total 6.2 hr orbital period. The aim of this Letter is twofold: (1) to model the hydrodynamical behavior of the eclipsing material from the companion star of PSR 1718-19 and (2) to argue that a population of binary slow pulsars might have escaped detection in pulsar surveys carried out at 400 MHz. The possible existence of a population of partially or totally hidden slow pulsars in binaries will have a strong impact on current theories of binary evolution of neutron stars.

Growth Kinematics of Opening-Mode Fractures

Science.gov (United States)

Eichhubl, P.; Alzayer, Y.; Laubach, S.; Fall, A.

2014-12-01

Fracture aperture is a primary control on flow in fractured reservoirs of low matrix permeability including unconventional oil and gas reservoirs and most geothermal systems. Guided by principles of linear elastic fracture mechanics, fracture aperture is generally assumed to be a linear function of fracture length and elastic material properties. Natural opening-mode fractures with significant preserved aperture are observed in core and outcrop indicative of fracture opening strain accommodated by permanent solution-precipitation creep. Fracture opening may thus be decoupled from length growth if the material effectively weakens after initial elastic fracture growth by either non-elastic deformation processes or changes in elastic properties. To investigate the kinematics of fracture length and aperture growth, we reconstructed the opening history of three opening-mode fractures that are bridged by crack-seal quartz cement in Travis Peak Sandstone of the SFOT-1 well, East Texas. Similar crack-seal cement bridges had been interpreted to form by repeated incremental fracture opening and subsequent precipitation of quartz cement. We imaged crack-seal cement textures for bridges sampled at varying distance from the tips using scanning electron microscope cathodoluminescence, and determined the number and thickness of crack-seal cement increments as a function of position along the fracture length and height. Observed trends in increment number and thickness are consistent with an initial stage of fast fracture propagation relative to aperture growth, followed by a stage of slow propagation and pronounced aperture growth. Consistent with fluid inclusion observations indicative of fracture opening and propagation occurring over 30-40 m.y., we interpret the second phase of pronounced aperture growth to result from fracture opening strain accommodated by solution-precipitation creep and concurrent slow, possibly subcritical, fracture propagation. Similar deformation

MODELING THE RED SEQUENCE: HIERARCHICAL GROWTH YET SLOW LUMINOSITY EVOLUTION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Skelton, Rosalind E.; Bell, Eric F.; Somerville, Rachel S.

2012-01-01

We explore the effects of mergers on the evolution of massive early-type galaxies by modeling the evolution of their stellar populations in a hierarchical context. We investigate how a realistic red sequence population set up by z ∼ 1 evolves under different assumptions for the merger and star formation histories, comparing changes in color, luminosity, and mass. The purely passive fading of existing red sequence galaxies, with no further mergers or star formation, results in dramatic changes at the bright end of the luminosity function and color-magnitude relation. Without mergers there is too much evolution in luminosity at a fixed space density compared to observations. The change in color and magnitude at a fixed mass resembles that of a passively evolving population that formed relatively recently, at z ∼ 2. Mergers among the red sequence population ('dry mergers') occurring after z = 1 build up mass, counteracting the fading of the existing stellar populations to give smaller changes in both color and luminosity for massive galaxies. By allowing some galaxies to migrate from the blue cloud onto the red sequence after z = 1 through gas-rich mergers, younger stellar populations are added to the red sequence. This manifestation of the progenitor bias increases the scatter in age and results in even smaller changes in color and luminosity between z = 1 and z = 0 at a fixed mass. The resultant evolution appears much slower, resembling the passive evolution of a population that formed at high redshift (z ∼ 3-5), and is in closer agreement with observations. We conclude that measurements of the luminosity and color evolution alone are not sufficient to distinguish between the purely passive evolution of an old population and cosmologically motivated hierarchical growth, although these scenarios have very different implications for the mass growth of early-type galaxies over the last half of cosmic history.

Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction: Measurement and Policy Issues. OECD Development Centre Working Paper No. 246

Science.gov (United States)

Klasen, Stephan

2005-01-01

The aim of this Working Paper is to broaden the debate on "pro-poor growth". An exclusive focus on the income dimension of poverty has neglected the non-income dimensions. After an examination of prominent views on the linkages between economic growth, inequality, and poverty reduction this paper discusses the proper definition and…

Kinetic and biochemical studies on tumor growth. Comprehensive progress report, October 1, 1967--April 1, 1975

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dethlefsen, L.A.

1975-01-01

The growth kinetics of four lines of the C3H mammary tumor have been studied by standard autoradiographic procedures in combination with volumetric growth curve analysis. Thus, such parameters as volumetric doubling time, mean cell generation time, growth fraction, and cell loss have been measured. Two of these lines (Slow and S102F) are currently being used for studying hormone responsiveness both in vivo and in vitro and the perturbed kinetics following insults with therapeutic agents. The respective values for the above parameters are: Slow; 21.0 days, 34 hours, 0.20, 9 percent per day, and S102F; 2.5 days, 17 hours, 0.60, 27 percent per day. A direct method ( 125 I-IUdR Method) for measuring cell loss has also been developed. This method consists of injecting mice with 125 I-IUdR and then measuring the loss of 125 I-activity from the tumor. The antigenic status of these tumors has been studied as one possible factor underlying the different growth kinetics. The mouse's immunological system was either suppressed (thymectomy and whole-body x-irradiation) or stimulated (previous exposure to tumor cells) and the percent takes, latent period, and growth rates measured. There was no evidence for a strong antigenic factor in any of these tumors. Hydroxyurea is being used as a tool for studying the perturbed cellular kinetics of the duodenum and the Slow and S102F tumors. The methods used are autoradiography, volumetric growth curve analysis, and measurements of the rates of DNA synthesis. Hormone effects on growth have been studied. Insulin had no effect but large doses of corticosterone (20 μg/ml and greater) were inhibitory and prolactin appeared to partially reverse these effects in the Slow line. (U.S.)

Analysis of the neutron slowing down equation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sengupta, A.; Karnick, H.

1978-01-01

The infinite series solution of the elementary neutron slowing down equation is studied using the theory of entire functions of exponential type and nonharmonic Fourier series. It is shown from Muntz--Szasz and Paley--Wiener theorems, that the set of exponentials ]exp(ilambda/sub n/u) ]/sup infinity//sub n/=-infinity, where ]lambda/sub n/]/sup infinity//sub n/=-infinity are the roots of the transcendental equation in slowing down theory, is complete and forms a basis in a lethargy interval epsilon. This distinctive role of the maximum lethargy change per collision is due to the Fredholm character of the slowing down operator which need not be quasinilpotent. The discontinuities in the derivatives of the collision density are examined by treating the slowing down equation in its differential-difference form. The solution (Hilbert) space is the union of a countable number of subspaces L 2 (-epsilon/2, epsilon/2) over each of which the exponential functions are complete

GROWTH RESPONSE OF CLOWN LOACH (Chromobotia macracanthus Bleeker 1852 JUVENILES IMMERSED IN WATER CONTAINING RECOMBINANT GROWTH HORMONE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Asep Permana

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The main problem in the culture of clown loach (Chromobotia macracanthus is the slow growth rate, which takes about six months to reach its market size (two inches total body length. Slow growth eventually cause a long production time and increase the production costs. An alternative solution can be proposed in order to enhance the growth is by using recombinant growth hormone. The aim of this study was to determine the immersion dose of recombinant Epinephelus lanceolatus growth hormone (rElGH which can generate the highest growth in clown loach. Larvae at seven day after hatching were hyperosmotic treated with NaCl 2.0% for one minute, then immersed for one hour in water containing 0.3% NaCl, 0.01% bovine serum albumin (BSA, and different doses of rElGH, namely: 0.12 (treatment A, 1.2 (B, 12 (C, and 120 mg/L (D. As control, fish were immersed in water without rElGH and NaCl (control-1, water containing 0.3% NaCl and 0.01% BSA (control-2, and 0.3% NaCl water (control-3. Each treatment was replicated three times. The results showed that clown loach juveniles in treatment B, C, and D had longer total body length (P0.05. In addition, the percentage of large size juveniles increased approximately 5% in treatment B, almost the same as in the medium size, while the small size were decrease compared to the control-1. Thus, the best immersion dose of rElGH was 1.2 mg/L water.

A new slow positron beam facility using a compact cyclotron

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirose, Masafumi

1998-01-01

In 1993, Sumitomo Heavy Industries became the first in the world to successfully produce a slow positron beam using a compact cyclotron. Slow positron beam production using an accelerator had mainly consisted of using an electron linear accelerator (LINAC). However, the newly developed system that uses a compact cyclotron enabled cost reduction, downsizing of equipment, production of a DC slow positron beam, a polarized slow positron beam, and other benefits. After that, a genuine slow positron beam facility was developed with the construction of compact cyclotron No.2, and beam production in the new facility has already been started. The features of this new slow positron beam facility are explained below. 1) It is the world's first compact slow positron beam facility using a compact cyclotron. 2) It is the only genuine slow positron beam facility in the world which incorporates the production and use of a slow positron beam in the design stage of the cyclotron. To use a slow positron beam for non-destructive detection of lattice defects in semiconductor material, it is necessary to convert the beam into ultra-short pulses of several hundreds of pico-seconds. Sumitomo Heavy Industries has devised a new short-pulsing method (i.e. an induction bunching method) that enables the conversion of a slow positron beam into short pulses with an optimum pulsing electric field change, and succeeded in converting a slow positron beam into short pulses using this method for the first time in the world. Non-destructive detection of lattice defects in semiconductor material using this equipment has already been started, and some information about the depth distribution, size, density, etc. of lattice defects has already been obtained. (J.P.N.)

Growth pattern and growth dependent mortality of larval and pelagic juvenile North Sea cod Gadus morhua

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Rune; Munk, Peter

2004-01-01

and May 2001), and larval/juvenile growth history from each of the sampling sequences was outlined. Growth rate was estimated by fitting a Laird-Gompertz equation to lengths-at-age, and we found the mean specific growth rate in length at age 20 d was 3.2% d(-1), declining to 1.9% d(-1) at an age of 90 d....... Otolith radius and larval standard length were highly correlated, and otolith growth was used as a measure of larval somatic growth. The larvae were divided into 3 groups dependent on their hatch-date, and for each hatch group, the same period of past growth was compared between fish sampled in April...... and May. A 2-way repeated-measurement ANOVA revealed a significant higher past growth of fish sampled in May in 2 of the 3 hatch-groups, implying a higher mortality of the slow growing larvae. Additionally, otolith size at age differed significantly between the April and May sampling of the oldest larvae...

Urban Design Dimension Of Informality At The Perimeter Of Brawijaya University And UIN Maliki Malang

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tyaghita Cesarin Binar

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Informality is one of the commonly emerged issues in urban design which rarely explored, especially informality within university’s perimeter. Brawijaya as one of the biggest and oldest University in Malang over time has boosted the development of several of its perimeter, provided several hotspots for students and youth. These rapid hotspots growth is related to the growth of informal practices. For cities that developed by its universities, it is necessary to understand both of the formal and informal practices within its perimeter. Through this study I would like to know the characteristic of informality within university perimeter, which formed by Brawijaya, UIN Maliki, and ITN; and to frame it within Carmona’s Urban Design Dimension. Mapping is utilized as a primary method to analyze both formal and informality within site. The formal aspect consists of formal activities, function and site user. While informality mapper consists of street vendors and street art. The research found that while urban informality within Brawijaya and UIN Maliki are related to the character and morphology, its formal structure has; its relation is reciprocal. The morphological, visual and functional dimension of university perimeter is driven by the social, perceptual and temporal dimension formed by its user and showed through informality.

Can fast and slow intelligence be differentiated?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Partchev, I.; de Boeck, P.

2012-01-01

Responses to items from an intelligence test may be fast or slow. The research issue dealt with in this paper is whether the intelligence involved in fast correct responses differs in nature from the intelligence involved in slow correct responses. There are two questions related to this issue: 1.

Entanglement growth after a global quench in free scalar field theory

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cotler, Jordan S. [Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States); Hertzberg, Mark P. [Institute of Cosmology, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155 (United States); Mezei, Márk [Princeton Center for Theoretical Science, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States); Mueller, Mark T. [Center for Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)

2016-11-28

We compute the entanglement and Rényi entropy growth after a global quench in various dimensions in free scalar field theory. We study two types of quenches: a boundary state quench and a global mass quench. Both of these quenches are investigated for a strip geometry in 1, 2, and 3 spatial dimensions, and for a spherical geometry in 2 and 3 spatial dimensions. We compare the numerical results for massless free scalars in these geometries with the predictions of the analytical quasiparticle model based on EPR pairs, and find excellent agreement in the limit of large region sizes. At subleading order in the region size, we observe an anomalous logarithmic growth of entanglement coming from the zero mode of the scalar.

Aggregate and regional productivity growth in Chinese industry, 1978-2002

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wang, L.

2009-01-01

This book analyses the growth experience in Chinese industry and manufacturing, with a special emphasis on the decomposition of growth, structural change, regional divergence and convergence, and technology spillovers. The decomposition analysis focuses on three dimensions: sectoral, regional and

Slowing Amazon deforestation through public policy and interventions in beef and soy supply chains.

Science.gov (United States)

Nepstad, Daniel; McGrath, David; Stickler, Claudia; Alencar, Ane; Azevedo, Andrea; Swette, Briana; Bezerra, Tathiana; DiGiano, Maria; Shimada, João; Seroa da Motta, Ronaldo; Armijo, Eric; Castello, Leandro; Brando, Paulo; Hansen, Matt C; McGrath-Horn, Max; Carvalho, Oswaldo; Hess, Laura

2014-06-06

The recent 70% decline in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon suggests that it is possible to manage the advance of a vast agricultural frontier. Enforcement of laws, interventions in soy and beef supply chains, restrictions on access to credit, and expansion of protected areas appear to have contributed to this decline, as did a decline in the demand for new deforestation. The supply chain interventions that fed into this deceleration are precariously dependent on corporate risk management, and public policies have relied excessively on punitive measures. Systems for delivering positive incentives for farmers to forgo deforestation have been designed but not fully implemented. Territorial approaches to deforestation have been effective and could consolidate progress in slowing deforestation while providing a framework for addressing other important dimensions of sustainable development. Copyright © 2014, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In situ studies of oxide nucleation, growth, and transformation using slow electrons

Science.gov (United States)

Flege, Jan Ingo; Grinter, David C.

2018-05-01

Surface processes such as metal oxidation and metal oxide growth invariably influence the physical and chemical properties of materials and determine their interaction with their surroundings and hence their functionality in many technical applications. On a fundamental level, these processes are found to be governed by a complex interplay of thermodynamic variables and kinetic constraints, resulting in a rich variety of material-specific phenomena. In this review article, we discuss recent results and insights on transition metal oxidation and rare-earth oxide growth acquired by low-energy electron microscopy and related techniques. We demonstrate that the use of in situ surface sensitive methods is a prerequisite to gaining a deeper understanding of the underlying concepts and the mechanisms responsible for the emerging oxide structure and morphology. Furthermore, examples will be provided on how structural and chemical modifications of the oxide films and nanostructures can be followed in real-time and analyzed in terms of local reactivity and cooperative effects relevant for heterogeneous model catalysis.

A Study on the Dimension Analysis of the End-of-Life Grid

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Jaejun; Lee, Joungyeul; Kim, Hyeongkoo; Kim, Yonghwan [KEPCO Nuclear Fuel, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2014-05-15

In this research, statistical analyses are performed for the components of cell dimension using the end-of-life (EOL) grids. The analyzed grids are the mid grids and the materials of the grids are the zirconium (Zr) based alloys. The analyses of grid dimensions are performed using the statistical method. The new factors are proposed and evaluated from hot cell data and nominal design values. It is worthy to note that the correlation between the relaxation factor and the cell size has the statistical significance and the cell relaxation and the cell pitch are analogized from the cell size. It is necessary in future that the analyses are performed between the grid width and these factors to obtain the effects for the grid width growth.

"Slow-scanning" in Ground-based Mid-infrared Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Ohsawa, Ryou; Sako, Shigeyuki; Miyata, Takashi; Kamizuka, Takafumi; Okada, Kazushi; Mori, Kiyoshi; Uchiyama, Masahito S.; Yamaguchi, Junpei; Fujiyoshi, Takuya; Morii, Mikio; Ikeda, Shiro

2018-04-01

Chopping observations with a tip-tilt secondary mirror have conventionally been used in ground-based mid-infrared observations. However, it is not practical for next generation large telescopes to have a large tip-tilt mirror that moves at a frequency larger than a few hertz. We propose an alternative observing method, a "slow-scanning" observation. Images are continuously captured as movie data, while the field of view is slowly moved. The signal from an astronomical object is extracted from the movie data by a low-rank and sparse matrix decomposition. The performance of the "slow-scanning" observation was tested in an experimental observation with Subaru/COMICS. The quality of a resultant image in the "slow-scanning" observation was as good as in a conventional chopping observation with COMICS, at least for a bright point-source object. The observational efficiency in the "slow-scanning" observation was better than that in the chopping observation. The results suggest that the "slow-scanning" observation can be a competitive method for the Subaru telescope and be of potential interest to other ground-based facilities to avoid chopping.

The GLUT4 density in slow fibres is not increased in athletes. How does training increase the GLUT4 pool originating from slow fibres?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gaster, M; Franch, J; Beck-Nielsen, H

2001-01-01

% of the fraction in the control group. Thus, GLUT4 originating from slow-twitch fibres was increased by 30% (Pincreases slow-twitch fibre GLUT4 expression by means of an elevated slow-twitch fibre mass in human skeletal muscle.......The influence of training on GLUT4 expression in slow- and fast-twitch skeletal muscle fibres was studied in male endurance-trained athletes and control subjects. The trained state was ensured by elevated maximal oxygen uptake (29%), as well as citrate synthase (60%) and 3-hydroxy......-acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (38%) activities in muscle biopsy samples of the vastus lateralis. GLUT4 densities in slow- and fast-twitch fibres were measured by the use of a newly developed, sensitive method combining immunohistochemistry with morphometry, and no effect of training was found. GLUT4 density was higher in slow...

Magnon inflation: slow roll with steep potentials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Adshead, Peter [Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,Urbana, IL 61801 (United States); Blas, Diego [Theoretical Physics Department, CERN,CH-1211 Geneva 23 (Switzerland); Burgess, C.P.; Hayman, Peter [Physics & Astronomy, McMaster University,Hamilton, ON, L8S 4M1 (Canada); Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2Y5 (Canada); Patil, Subodh P. [Department of Theoretical Physics, University of Geneva,24 Quai Ansermet, Geneva, CH-1211 (Switzerland)

2016-11-04

We find multi-scalar effective field theories (EFTs) that can achieve a slow inflationary roll despite having a scalar potential that does not satisfy G{sup ab}∂{sub a}V∂{sub b}V≪V{sup 2}/M{sub p}{sup 2} (where G{sub ab} is the target-space metric). They evade the usual slow-roll conditions on V because their kinetic energies are dominated by single-derivative terms rather than the usual two-derivative terms. Single derivatives dominate during slow roll and so do not require a breakdown of the usual derivative expansion that underpins calculational control in much of cosmology. The presence of such terms requires some sort of UV Lorentz-symmetry breaking during inflation (besides the usual cosmological breaking). Chromo-natural inflation provides one particular example of a UV theory that can generate the multi-field single-derivative terms we consider, and we argue that the EFT we find indeed captures the slow-roll conditions for its background evolution. We also show that our EFT can be understood as a multi-field generalization of the single-field Cuscuton models. The multi-field case introduces a new feature, however: the scalar kinetic terms define a target-space 2-form, F{sub ab}, whose antisymmetry gives new ways for slow roll to be achieved.

Current demographics suggest future energy supplies will be inadequate to slow human population growth.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John P DeLong

Full Text Available Influential demographic projections suggest that the global human population will stabilize at about 9-10 billion people by mid-century. These projections rest on two fundamental assumptions. The first is that the energy needed to fuel development and the associated decline in fertility will keep pace with energy demand far into the future. The second is that the demographic transition is irreversible such that once countries start down the path to lower fertility they cannot reverse to higher fertility. Both of these assumptions are problematic and may have an effect on population projections. Here we examine these assumptions explicitly. Specifically, given the theoretical and empirical relation between energy-use and population growth rates, we ask how the availability of energy is likely to affect population growth through 2050. Using a cross-country data set, we show that human population growth rates are negatively related to per-capita energy consumption, with zero growth occurring at ∼13 kW, suggesting that the global human population will stop growing only if individuals have access to this amount of power. Further, we find that current projected future energy supply rates are far below the supply needed to fuel a global demographic transition to zero growth, suggesting that the predicted leveling-off of the global population by mid-century is unlikely to occur, in the absence of a transition to an alternative energy source. Direct consideration of the energetic constraints underlying the demographic transition results in a qualitatively different population projection than produced when the energetic constraints are ignored. We suggest that energetic constraints be incorporated into future population projections.

Current demographics suggest future energy supplies will be inadequate to slow human population growth.

Science.gov (United States)

DeLong, John P; Burger, Oskar; Hamilton, Marcus J

2010-10-05

Influential demographic projections suggest that the global human population will stabilize at about 9-10 billion people by mid-century. These projections rest on two fundamental assumptions. The first is that the energy needed to fuel development and the associated decline in fertility will keep pace with energy demand far into the future. The second is that the demographic transition is irreversible such that once countries start down the path to lower fertility they cannot reverse to higher fertility. Both of these assumptions are problematic and may have an effect on population projections. Here we examine these assumptions explicitly. Specifically, given the theoretical and empirical relation between energy-use and population growth rates, we ask how the availability of energy is likely to affect population growth through 2050. Using a cross-country data set, we show that human population growth rates are negatively related to per-capita energy consumption, with zero growth occurring at ∼13 kW, suggesting that the global human population will stop growing only if individuals have access to this amount of power. Further, we find that current projected future energy supply rates are far below the supply needed to fuel a global demographic transition to zero growth, suggesting that the predicted leveling-off of the global population by mid-century is unlikely to occur, in the absence of a transition to an alternative energy source. Direct consideration of the energetic constraints underlying the demographic transition results in a qualitatively different population projection than produced when the energetic constraints are ignored. We suggest that energetic constraints be incorporated into future population projections.

Endothelin-A receptor blockade slows the progression of renal injury in experimental renovascular disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelsen, Silvia; Hall, John E; Chade, Alejandro R

2011-07-01

Endothelin (ET)-1, a potent renal vasoconstrictor with mitogenic properties, is upregulated by ischemia and has been shown to induce renal injury via the ET-A receptor. The potential role of ET-A blockade in chronic renovascular disease (RVD) has not, to our knowledge, been previously reported. We hypothesized that chronic ET-A receptor blockade would preserve renal hemodynamics and slow the progression of injury of the stenotic kidney in experimental RVD. Renal artery stenosis, a major cause of chronic RVD, was induced in 14 pigs and observed for 6 wk. In half of the pigs, chronic ET-A blockade was initiated (RVD+ET-A, 0.75 mg·kg(-1)·day(-1)) at the onset of RVD. Single-kidney renal blood flow, glomerular filtration rate, and perfusion were quantified in vivo after 6 wk using multidetector computer tomography. Renal microvascular density was quantified ex vivo using three-dimensional microcomputer tomography, and growth factors, inflammation, apoptosis, and fibrosis were determined in renal tissue. The degree of stenosis and increase in blood pressure were similar in RVD and RVD+ET-A pigs. Renal hemodynamics, function, and microvascular density were decreased in the stenotic kidney but preserved by ET-A blockade, accompanied by increased renal expression of vascular endothelial growth factor, hepatocyte growth factor, and downstream mediators such as phosphorilated-Akt, angiopoietins, and endothelial nitric oxide synthase. ET-A blockade also reduced renal apoptosis, inflammation, and glomerulosclerosis. This study shows that ET-A blockade slows the progression of renal injury in experimental RVD and preserves renal hemodynamics, function, and microvascular density in the stenotic kidney. These results support a role for ET-1/ET-A as a potential therapeutic target in chronic RVD.

XF-70 and XF-73, novel antibacterial agents active against slow-growing and non-dividing cultures of Staphylococcus aureus including biofilms.

Science.gov (United States)

Ooi, Nicola; Miller, Keith; Randall, Christopher; Rhys-Williams, William; Love, William; Chopra, Ian

2010-01-01

Slow-growing and non-dividing bacteria exhibit tolerance to many antibiotics. However, membrane-active agents may act against bacteria in all growth phases. We sought to examine whether the novel porphyrin antibacterial agents XF-70 and XF-73, which have rapid membrane-perturbing activity against Staphylococcus aureus, retained antistaphylococcal activity against growth-attenuated cells. The killing kinetics of XF-70, XF-73 and various comparator agents against exponential phase cultures of S. aureus SH1000 were compared with effects on cells held at 4 degrees C, non-growing cultures expressing the stringent response induced by mupirocin and bacteria in the stationary phase. Biofilms of S. aureus SH1000 were generated with the Calgary device to examine the activities of XF-70 and XF-73 under a further system exhibiting diminished bacterial growth. Cold culture, stringent response and stationary phase cultures remained susceptible to XF-70 and XF-73, which caused > or =5 log reductions in viability over 2 h. During this period the most active comparator agents (chlorhexidine and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide) only promoted a 3 log drop in viability. XF-70 and XF-73 were also highly active against biofilms, with both agents exhibiting low biofilm MICs (1 mg/L) and minimum biofilm eradication concentrations (2 mg/L). XF-70 and XF-73 remained highly active against various forms of slow-growing or non-dividing S. aureus. The results support the hypothesis that membrane-active agents may be particularly effective in eradicating slow- or non-growing bacteria and suggest that XF-70 and XF-73 could be utilized to treat staphylococcal infections where the organisms are only dividing slowly, such as biofilm-associated infections of prosthetic devices.

Observing and modeling the spectrum of a slow slip event: Constraints on the scaling of slow slip and tremor

Science.gov (United States)

Hawthorne, J. C.; Bartlow, N. M.; Ghosh, A.

2017-12-01

We estimate the normalized moment rate spectrum of a slow slip event in Cascadia and then attempt to reproduce it. Our goal is to further assess whether a single physical mechanism could govern slow slip and tremor events, with durations that span 6 orders of magnitude, so we construct the spectrum by parameterizing a large slow slip event as the sum of a number of subevents with various durations. The spectrum estimate uses data from three sources: the GPS-based slip inversion of Bartlow et al (2011), PBO borehole strain measurements, and beamforming-based tremor moment estimates of Ghosh et al (2009). We find that at periods shorter than 1 day, the moment rate power spectrum decays as frequencyn, where n is between 0.7 and 1.4 when measured from strain and between 1.2 and 1.4 when inferred from tremor. The spectrum appears roughly flat at periods of 1 to 10 days, as both the 1-day-period strain and tremor data and the 6-day-period slip inversion data imply a moment rate power of 0.02 times the the total moment squared. We demonstrate one way to reproduce this spectrum: by constructing the large-scale slow slip event as the sum of a series of subevents. The shortest of these subevents could be interpreted as VLFEs or even LFEs, while longer subevents might represent the aseismic slip that drives rapid tremor reverals, streaks, or rapid tremor migrations. We pick the subevent magnitudes from a Gutenberg-Richter distribution and place the events randomly throughout a 30-day interval. Then we assign each subevent a duration that scales with its moment to a specified power. Finally, we create a moment rate function for each subevent and sum all of the moment rates. We compute the summed slow slip moment rate spectra with two approaches: a time-domain numerical computation and a frequency-domain analytical summation. Several sets of subevent parameters can allow the constructed slow slip event to match the observed spectrum. One allowable set of parameters is of

Growth factor involvement in tension-induced skeletal muscle growth

Science.gov (United States)

Vandenburgh, Herman H.

1993-01-01

Long-term manned space travel will require a better understanding of skeletal muscle atrophy which results from microgravity. Astronaut strength and dexterity must be maintained for normal mission operations and for emergency situations. Although exercise in space slows the rate of muscle loss, it does not prevent it. A biochemical understanding of how gravity/tension/exercise help to maintain muscle size by altering protein synthesis and/or degradation rate should ultimately allow pharmacological intervention to prevent muscle atrophy in microgravity. The overall objective is to examine some of the basic biochemical processes involved in tension-induced muscle growth. With an experimental in vitro system, the role of exogenous and endogenous muscle growth factors in mechanically stimulated muscle growth are examined. Differentiated avian skeletal myofibers can be 'exercised' in tissue culture using a newly developed dynamic mechanical cell stimulator device which simulates different muscle activity patterns. Patterns of mechanical activity which significantly affect muscle growth and metabolic characteristics were found. Both exogenous and endogenous growth factors are essential for tension-induced muscle growth. Exogenous growth factors found in serum, such as insulin, insulin-like growth factors, and steroids, are important regulators of muscle protein turnover rates and mechanically-induced muscle growth. Endogenous growth factors are synthesized and released into the culture medium when muscle cells are mechanically stimulated. At least one family of mechanically induced endogenous factors, the prostaglandins, help to regulate the rates of protein turnover in muscle cells. Endogenously synthesized IGF-1 is another. The interaction of muscle mechanical activity and these growth factors in the regulation of muscle protein turnover rates with our in vitro model system is studied.

Slow kinetics of Brownian maxima.

Science.gov (United States)

Ben-Naim, E; Krapivsky, P L

2014-07-18

We study extreme-value statistics of Brownian trajectories in one dimension. We define the maximum as the largest position to date and compare maxima of two particles undergoing independent Brownian motion. We focus on the probability P(t) that the two maxima remain ordered up to time t and find the algebraic decay P ∼ t(-β) with exponent β = 1/4. When the two particles have diffusion constants D(1) and D(2), the exponent depends on the mobilities, β = (1/π) arctan sqrt[D(2)/D(1)]. We also use numerical simulations to investigate maxima of multiple particles in one dimension and the largest extension of particles in higher dimensions.

Strong persistent growth differences govern individual performance and population dynamics in a tropical forest understorey palm

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jansen, M.; Zuidema, P.A.; Anten, N.P.R.; Martínez-Ramos, M.

2012-01-01

1. Persistent variation in growth rate between individual plants can have strong effects on population dynamics as fast growers reach the reproductive size at an earlier age and thus potentially contribute more to population growth than slow growers. In tropical forests, such persistent growth

The effect of carbon nanotube dimensions and dispersion on the fatigue behavior of epoxy nanocomposites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, W; Picu, R C; Koratkar, N

2008-01-01

Fatigue is one of the primary reasons for failure in structural materials. It has been demonstrated that carbon nanotubes can suppress fatigue in polymer composites via crack-bridging and a frictional pull-out mechanism. However, a detailed study of the effects of nanotube dimensions and dispersion on the fatigue behavior of nanocomposites has not been performed. In this work, we show the strong effect of carbon nanotube dimensions (i.e. length, diameter) and dispersion quality on fatigue crack growth suppression in epoxy nanocomposites. We observe that the fatigue crack growth rates can be significantly reduced by (1) reducing the nanotube diameter, (2) increasing the nanotube length and (3) improving the nanotube dispersion. We qualitatively explain these observations by using a fracture mechanics model based on crack-bridging and pull-out of the nanotubes. By optimizing the above parameters (tube length, diameter and dispersion) we demonstrate an over 20-fold reduction in the fatigue crack propagation rate for the nanocomposite epoxy compared to the baseline (unfilled) epoxy

Dimensioning storage and computing clusters for efficient High Throughput Computing

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2012-01-01

Scientific experiments are producing huge amounts of data, and they continue increasing the size of their datasets and the total volume of data. These data are then processed by researchers belonging to large scientific collaborations, with the Large Hadron Collider being a good example. The focal point of Scientific Data Centres has shifted from coping efficiently with PetaByte scale storage to deliver quality data processing throughput. The dimensioning of the internal components in High Throughput Computing (HTC) data centers is of crucial importance to cope with all the activities demanded by the experiments, both the online (data acceptance) and the offline (data processing, simulation and user analysis). This requires a precise setup involving disk and tape storage services, a computing cluster and the internal networking to prevent bottlenecks, overloads and undesired slowness that lead to losses cpu cycles and batch jobs failures. In this paper we point out relevant features for running a successful s...

Dimensioning storage and computing clusters for efficient high throughput computing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Accion, E; Bria, A; Bernabeu, G; Caubet, M; Delfino, M; Espinal, X; Merino, G; Lopez, F; Martinez, F; Planas, E

2012-01-01

Scientific experiments are producing huge amounts of data, and the size of their datasets and total volume of data continues increasing. These data are then processed by researchers belonging to large scientific collaborations, with the Large Hadron Collider being a good example. The focal point of scientific data centers has shifted from efficiently coping with PetaByte scale storage to deliver quality data processing throughput. The dimensioning of the internal components in High Throughput Computing (HTC) data centers is of crucial importance to cope with all the activities demanded by the experiments, both the online (data acceptance) and the offline (data processing, simulation and user analysis). This requires a precise setup involving disk and tape storage services, a computing cluster and the internal networking to prevent bottlenecks, overloads and undesired slowness that lead to losses cpu cycles and batch jobs failures. In this paper we point out relevant features for running a successful data storage and processing service in an intensive HTC environment.

Neutron slowing-down time in matter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chabod, Sebastien P., E-mail: sebastien.chabod@lpsc.in2p3.fr [LPSC, Universite Joseph Fourier Grenoble 1, CNRS/IN2P3, Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble, 38000 Grenoble (France)

2012-03-21

We formulate the neutron slowing-down time through elastic collisions in a homogeneous, non-absorbing, infinite medium. Our approach allows taking into account for the first time the energy dependence of the scattering cross-section as well as the energy and temporal distribution of the source neutron population in the results. Starting from this development, we investigate the specific case of the propagation in matter of a mono-energetic neutron pulse. We then quantify the perturbation on the neutron slowing-down time induced by resonances in the scattering cross-section. We show that a resonance can induce a permanent reduction of the slowing-down time, preceded by two discontinuities: a first one at the resonance peak position and an echo one, appearing later. From this study, we suggest that a temperature increase of the propagating medium in presence of large resonances could modestly accelerate the neutron moderation.

Slow wave activity and slow oscillations in sleepwalkers and controls: effects of 38 h of sleep deprivation.

Science.gov (United States)

Perrault, Rosemarie; Carrier, Julie; Desautels, Alex; Montplaisir, Jacques; Zadra, Antonio

2013-08-01

Sleepwalkers have been shown to have an unusually high number of arousals from slow wave sleep and lower slow wave activity (SWA) power during the night than controls. Because sleep deprivation increases the frequency of slow wave sleep (SWS) arousals in sleepwalkers, it may also affect the expression of the homeostatic process to a greater extent than shown previously. We thus investigated SWA power as well as slow wave oscillation (SWO) density in 10 sleepwalkers and nine controls at baseline and following 38 h of sleep deprivation. There was a significant increase in SWA during participants' recovery sleep, especially during their second non-rapid eye movement (NREM) period. SWO density was similarly increased during recovery sleep's first two NREM periods. A fronto-central gradient in SWA and SWO was also present on both nights. However, no group differences were noted on any of the 2 nights on SWA or SWO. This unexpected result may be related to the heterogeneity of sleepwalkers as a population, as well as our small sample size. SWA pressure after extended sleep deprivation may also result in a ceiling effect in both sleepwalkers and controls. © 2013 European Sleep Research Society.

Suppression of chaos at slow variables by rapidly mixing fast dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Abramov, R.

2012-04-01

One of the key questions about chaotic multiscale systems is how the fast dynamics affects chaos at the slow variables, and, therefore, impacts uncertainty and predictability of the slow dynamics. Here we demonstrate that the linear slow-fast coupling with the total energy conservation property promotes the suppression of chaos at the slow variables through the rapid mixing at the fast variables, both theoretically and through numerical simulations. A suitable mathematical framework is developed, connecting the slow dynamics on the tangent subspaces to the infinite-time linear response of the mean state to a constant external forcing at the fast variables. Additionally, it is shown that the uncoupled dynamics for the slow variables may remain chaotic while the complete multiscale system loses chaos and becomes completely predictable at the slow variables through increasing chaos and turbulence at the fast variables. This result contradicts the common sense intuition, where, naturally, one would think that coupling a slow weakly chaotic system with another much faster and much stronger mixing system would result in general increase of chaos at the slow variables.

Source of spill ripple in the RF-KO slow-extraction method with FM and AM

CERN Document Server

Noda, K; Shibuya, S; Muramatsu, M; Uesugi, T; Kanazawa, M; Torikoshi, M; Takada, E; Yamada, S

2002-01-01

The RF-knockout (RF-KO) slow-extraction method with frequency modulation (FM) and amplitude modulation (AM) has brought high-accuracy irradiation to the treatment of a cancer tumor moving with respiration, because of a quick response to beam start/stop. However, a beam spill extracted from a synchrotron ring through RF-KO slow-extraction has a huge ripple with a frequency of around 1 kHz related to the FM. The spill ripple will disturb the lateral dose distribution in the beam scanning methods. Thus, the source of the spill ripple has been investigated through experiments and simulations. There are two tune regions for the extraction process through the RF-KO method: the extraction region and the diffusion region. The particles in the extraction region can be extracted due to amplitude growth through the transverse RF field, only when its frequency matches with the tune in the extraction region. For a large chromaticity, however, the particles in the extraction region can be extracted through the synchrotron ...

Thermal dimension of quantum spacetime

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Amelino-Camelia, Giovanni, E-mail: amelino@roma1.infn.it [Dipartimento di Fisica, Università “La Sapienza” and Sez. Roma1 INFN, P.le A. Moro 2, 00185 Roma (Italy); Brighenti, Francesco [Theoretical Physics, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London, SW7 2BZ (United Kingdom); Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia dell' Università di Bologna and Sez. Bologna INFN, Via Irnerio 46, 40126 Bologna (Italy); Gubitosi, Giulia [Theoretical Physics, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London, SW7 2BZ (United Kingdom); Santos, Grasiele [Dipartimento di Fisica, Università “La Sapienza” and Sez. Roma1 INFN, P.le A. Moro 2, 00185 Roma (Italy)

2017-04-10

Recent results suggest that a crucial crossroad for quantum gravity is the characterization of the effective dimension of spacetime at short distances, where quantum properties of spacetime become significant. This is relevant in particular for various scenarios of “dynamical dimensional reduction” which have been discussed in the literature. We are here concerned with the fact that the related research effort has been based mostly on analyses of the “spectral dimension”, which involves an unphysical Euclideanization of spacetime and is highly sensitive to the off-shell properties of a theory. As here shown, different formulations of the same physical theory can have wildly different spectral dimension. We propose that dynamical dimensional reduction should be described in terms of the “thermal dimension” which we here introduce, a notion that only depends on the physical content of the theory. We analyze a few models with dynamical reduction both of the spectral dimension and of our thermal dimension, finding in particular some cases where thermal and spectral dimension agree, but also some cases where the spectral dimension has puzzling properties while the thermal dimension gives a different and meaningful picture.

Constructive Dimension and Turing Degrees

OpenAIRE

Bienvenu, Laurent; Doty, David; Stephan, Frank

2007-01-01

This paper examines the constructive Hausdorff and packing dimensions of Turing degrees. The main result is that every infinite sequence S with constructive Hausdorff dimension dim_H(S) and constructive packing dimension dim_P(S) is Turing equivalent to a sequence R with dim_H(R) 0. Furthermore, if dim_P(S) > 0, then dim_P(R) >= 1 - epsilon. The reduction thus serves as a *randomness extractor* that increases the algorithmic randomness of S, as measured by constructive dimension. A number of...

Organizing principles underlying microorganism's growth-robustness trade-off.

Science.gov (United States)

Bolli, Alessandro; Salvador, Armindo

2014-10-01

Growth Robustness Reciprocity (GRR) is an intriguing microbial manifestation: the impairment of microorganism's growth enhances their ability to resist acute stresses, and vice-versa. This is caused by regulatory interactions that determine higher expression of protection mechanisms in response to low growth rates. But because such regulatory mechanisms are species-specific, GRR must result from convergent evolution. Why does natural selection favor such an outcome? We used mathematical models of optimal cellular resource allocation to identify the general principles underlying GRR. Non-linear optimization allowed to predict allocation patterns of biosynthetic resources (ribosomes devoted to the synthesis of each cell component) that maximize growth. These models predict the down-regulation of stress defenses under high substrate availabilities and low stress levels. Under these conditions, stress tolerance ensues from growth-related damage dilution: the higher the substrate availability, the fastest the dilution of damaged proteins by newly synthesized proteins, the lower the accumulation of damaged components into the cell. In turn, under low substrate availability growth is too slow for effective damage dilution, and the expression of the defenses up to some optimal level then increases growth. As a consequence, slow-growing cells are pre-adapted to withstand acute stresses. Therefore, the observed negative correlation between growth and stress tolerance can be explained as a consequence of optimal resource allocation for maximal growth. We acknowledge fellowship SFRH/BPD/90065/2012 and grants PEst-C/SAU/LA0001/2013-2014 and FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-020978 financed by FEDER through the "Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade, COMPETE" and by national funds through "FCT, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia" (project PTDC/QUI-BIQ/119657/2010). Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Inc.

A solvable model for coarsening soap froths and other domain boundary networks in two dimensions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Flyvbjerg, H.; Jeppesen, C.

1990-09-01

The dynamical processes leading to coarsening of soap froths and other domain boundary networks in two dimensions are described statistically by a 'random neighbour model'. The model is solved using the principle of maximum entropy. The solution describes normal growth with realistic probability distribution for area and topology. (orig.)

Simple proofs of nowhere-differentiability for Weierstrass' function and cases of slow growth

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Johnsen, Jon

Using a few basics from integration theory, a short proof of nowhere-differentiability of Weierstrass functions is given. Restated in terms of the Fourier transformation, the method consists of a second microlocalisation, which is used to derive two general results on existence of nowhere differe...... differentiable functions. Examples are given in which the frequencies are of polynomial growth and of almost quadratic growth as a limiting case.  To appear in Journal of Fourier Analysis and Applications......Using a few basics from integration theory, a short proof of nowhere-differentiability of Weierstrass functions is given. Restated in terms of the Fourier transformation, the method consists of a second microlocalisation, which is used to derive two general results on existence of nowhere...

PF slow positron source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shirakawa, A.; Enomoto, A.; Kurihara, T.

1993-01-01

A new slow-positron source is under construction at the Photon Factory. Positrons are produced by bombarding a tantalum rod with high-energy electrons; they are moderated in multiple tungsten vanes. We report here the present status of this project. (author)

Effect of tibial bone resection on the development of fast- and slow-twitch skeletal muscles in foetal sheep.

Science.gov (United States)

West, J M; Williams, N A; Luff, A R; Walker, D W

2000-04-01

To determine if longitudinal bone growth affects the differentiation of fast- and slow-twitch muscles, the tibial bone was sectioned at 90 days gestation in foetal sheep so that the lower leg was permanently without structural support. At 140 days (term is approximately 147 days) the contractile properties of whole muscles, activation profiles of single fibres and ultrastructure of fast- and slow-twitch muscles from the hindlimbs were studied. The contractile and activation profiles of the slow-twitch soleus muscles were significantly affected by tibial bone resection (TIBX). The soleus muscles from the TIBX hindlimbs showed: (1) a decrease in the time to peak of the twitch responses from 106.2 +/- 10.7 ms (control, n = 4) to 65.1 +/- 2.48 ms (TIBX, n = 5); (2) fatigue profiles more characteristic of those observed in the fast-twitch muscles: and (3) Ca2+ - and Sr2+ -activation profiles of skinned fibres similar to those from intact hindlimbs at earlier stages of gestation. In the FDL, TIBX did not significantly change whole muscle twitch contraction time, the fatigue profile or the Ca2+ - and Sr2+ -activation profiles of skinned fibres. Electron microscopy showed an increased deposition of glycogen in both soleus and FDL muscles. This study shows that the development of the slow-twitch phenotype is impeded in the absence of the physical support normally provided by the tibial bone. We suggest that longitudinal stretch is an important factor in allowing full expression of the slow-twitch phenotype.

Fundamental limitations to gain enhancement in slow-light photonic structures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grgic, Jure; Ott, Johan Raunkjar; Wang, Fengwen

2012-01-01

We present a non-perturbative analysis of light-matter interaction in active photonic crystal waveguides in the slow-light regime. Inclusion of gain is shown to modify the underlying dispersion law, thereby degrading the slow-light enhancement.......We present a non-perturbative analysis of light-matter interaction in active photonic crystal waveguides in the slow-light regime. Inclusion of gain is shown to modify the underlying dispersion law, thereby degrading the slow-light enhancement....

Nonlinear Gain Saturation in Active Slow Light Photonic Crystal Waveguides

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chen, Yaohui; Mørk, Jesper

2013-01-01

We present a quantitative three-dimensional analysis of slow-light enhanced traveling wave amplification in an active semiconductor photonic crystal waveguides. The impact of slow-light propagation on the nonlinear gain saturation of the device is investigated.......We present a quantitative three-dimensional analysis of slow-light enhanced traveling wave amplification in an active semiconductor photonic crystal waveguides. The impact of slow-light propagation on the nonlinear gain saturation of the device is investigated....

Community College Estimated Growth: Fall 2010

Science.gov (United States)

Phillippe, Kent; Mullin, Christopher M.

2011-01-01

A survey from the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) found that enrollment growth in fall 2010 slowed its pace at community colleges, increasing 3.2% from the previous year. This contrasts with more dramatic increases in recent years: more than 11% between fall 2008 and fall 2009, and nearly 17% between fall 2007 and fall 2009,…

Slow light enhancement and limitations in periodic media

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grgic, Jure

in the vicinity of the band edge. The minimum attainable group velocity will depend on the amount of imperfections. Since imperfections are inherited as part of any periodic structure it is necessary to take them into account when we are interested in slow light applications. Slowly propagating light gives rise......Properties of periodic dielectric media have attracted a big interest in the last two decades due to numerous exciting physical phenomena that cannot occur in homogeneous media. Due to their strong dispersive properties, the speed of light can be significantly slowed down in periodic structures....... When light velocity is much smaller than the speed of light in a vacuum, we describe this phenomena as slow light. In this thesis, we analyze important properties of slow light enhancement and limitations in periodic structures. We analyze quantitatively and qualitatively different technologies...

Preimage entropy dimension of topological dynamical systems

OpenAIRE

Liu, Lei; Zhou, Xiaomin; Zhou, Xiaoyao

2014-01-01

We propose a new definition of preimage entropy dimension for continuous maps on compact metric spaces, investigate fundamental properties of the preimage entropy dimension, and compare the preimage entropy dimension with the topological entropy dimension. The defined preimage entropy dimension holds various basic properties of topological entropy dimension, for example, the preimage entropy dimension of a subsystem is bounded by that of the original system and topologically conjugated system...

Theory of neutron slowing down in nuclear reactors

CERN Document Server

Ferziger, Joel H; Dunworth, J V

2013-01-01

The Theory of Neutron Slowing Down in Nuclear Reactors focuses on one facet of nuclear reactor design: the slowing down (or moderation) of neutrons from the high energies with which they are born in fission to the energies at which they are ultimately absorbed. In conjunction with the study of neutron moderation, calculations of reactor criticality are presented. A mathematical description of the slowing-down process is given, with particular emphasis on the problems encountered in the design of thermal reactors. This volume is comprised of four chapters and begins by considering the problems

Six Dimension Strategy As A Basis Of Banking Standard Contract

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wulanmas Frederik

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Indonesia banking based on Article 4 of Act No.10, 1998, aims at supporting the implementation of national development in order to improve equity, economic growth and national stability in the direction of improving people’s welfare. Therefore, to show how important is banking role in supporting the implementation of development, the 6 (six Strategic Dimensions as the foundation of Banking Standards Contract are: (1. Prudent Banking Supervision and Good Corporate Governance (GCG in banking activities, (2. Refunctionalization the principle of Contract Law in Banking Standards Contract, (3. Ethics Value in Business, (4. The Act No. 8, 1999 on Consumer Protection, (5. Enforcement of Human Rights Principles in banking activities, (6. Abuse of Circumstances implementations (Misbruik van Omstandigheden in banking Contract. Based on the 6 (six Strategic Dimension as the foundation of Banking Standard Contract, it will undoubtedly create justice, equity and assurance of the rights and obligations of the parties framed in the contractual and law bonds.

Economic Growth, Economic Freedom, and Governance

OpenAIRE

Cebula, Richard; Ekstrom, Marcus

2008-01-01

This exploratory study examines the impact of various forms of economic freedom and various dimensions of governance, as well as a number of economic factors, on economic growth among OECD nations. Empirical estimation finds that the natural log of per capita purchasing-power-parity adjusted real GDP in OECD nations is positively impacted by business freedom, monetary freedom, trade freedom, and property rights security. Economic growth is found to be negatively affected by perceived governme...

VC-dimension of univariate decision trees.

Science.gov (United States)

Yildiz, Olcay Taner

2015-02-01

In this paper, we give and prove the lower bounds of the Vapnik-Chervonenkis (VC)-dimension of the univariate decision tree hypothesis class. The VC-dimension of the univariate decision tree depends on the VC-dimension values of its subtrees and the number of inputs. Via a search algorithm that calculates the VC-dimension of univariate decision trees exhaustively, we show that our VC-dimension bounds are tight for simple trees. To verify that the VC-dimension bounds are useful, we also use them to get VC-generalization bounds for complexity control using structural risk minimization in decision trees, i.e., pruning. Our simulation results show that structural risk minimization pruning using the VC-dimension bounds finds trees that are more accurate as those pruned using cross validation.

Unprecedented slow growth and mortality of the rare colonial cyanobacterium, Nostoc zetterstedtii, in oligotrophic lakes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Kaj Sand; Møller, Claus Lindskov

2011-01-01

Centimeter-large colonies of Nostoc zetterstedtii from a Swedish oligotrophic lake had the lowest growth and mortality rates of any studied temperate macrophyte. Annual growth rates at two shallow sites averaged 0.57– 0.73 3 1023 d21, corresponding to doubling times of colony dry weight in 2...

Enhancement of sleep slow waves: underlying mechanisms and practical consequences.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michele eBellesi

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Even modest sleep restriction, especially the loss of sleep slow wave activity, is invariably associated with slower EEG activity during wake, the occurrence of local sleep in an otherwise awake brain, and impaired performance due to cognitive and memory deficits. Recent studies not only confirm the beneficial role of sleep in memory consolidation, but also point to a specific role for sleep slow waves. Thus, the implementation of methods to enhance sleep slow waves without unwanted arousals or lightening of sleep could have significant practical implications. Here we first review the evidence that it is possible to enhance sleep slow waves in humans using transcranial direct-current stimulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Since these methods are currently impractical and their safety is questionable, especially for chronic long-term exposure, we then discuss novel data suggesting that it is possible to enhance slow waves using sensory stimuli. We consider the physiology of the K-complex, a peripheral evoked slow wave, and show that, among different sensory modalities, acoustic stimulation is the most effective in increasing the magnitude of slow waves, likely through the activation of non-lemniscal ascending pathways to the thalamo-cortical system. In addition, we discuss how intensity and frequency of the acoustic stimuli, as well as exact timing and pattern of stimulation, affect sleep enhancement. Finally, we discuss automated algorithms that read the EEG and, in real-time, adjust the stimulation parameters in a closed-loop manner to obtain an increase in sleep slow waves and avoid undesirable arousals. In conclusion, while discussing the mechanisms that underlie the generation of sleep slow waves, we review the converging evidence showing that acoustic stimulation is safe and represents an ideal tool for slow wave sleep enhancement.

Lattice gas simulations of dynamical geometry in two dimensions.

Science.gov (United States)

Klales, Anna; Cianci, Donato; Needell, Zachary; Meyer, David A; Love, Peter J

2010-10-01

We present a hydrodynamic lattice gas model for two-dimensional flows on curved surfaces with dynamical geometry. This model is an extension to two dimensions of the dynamical geometry lattice gas model previously studied in one dimension. We expand upon a variation of the two-dimensional flat space Frisch-Hasslacher-Pomeau (FHP) model created by Frisch [Phys. Rev. Lett. 56, 1505 (1986)] and independently by Wolfram, and modified by Boghosian [Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 360, 333 (2002)]. We define a hydrodynamic lattice gas model on an arbitrary triangulation whose flat space limit is the FHP model. Rules that change the geometry are constructed using the Pachner moves, which alter the triangulation but not the topology. We present results on the growth of the number of triangles as a function of time. Simulations show that the number of triangles grows with time as t(1/3), in agreement with a mean-field prediction. We also present preliminary results on the distribution of curvature for a typical triangulation in these simulations.

An introduction to extra dimensions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perez-Lorenzana, Abdel

2005-01-01

Models that involve extra dimensions have introduced completely new ways of looking up on old problems in theoretical physics. The aim of the present notes is to provide a brief introduction to the many uses that extra dimensions have found over the last few years, mainly following an effective field theory point of view. Most parts of the discussion are devoted to models with flat extra dimensions, covering both theoretical and phenomenological aspects. We also discuss some of the new ideas for model building where extra dimensions may play a role, including symmetry breaking by diverse new and old mechanisms. Some interesting applications of these ideas are discussed over the notes, including models for neutrino masses and proton stability. The last part of this review addresses some aspects of warped extra dimensions, and graviton localization

Optimal fetal growth for the Caucasian singleton and assessment of appropriateness of fetal growth: an analysis of a total population perinatal database

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lawrence David M

2005-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The appropriateness of an individual's intra uterine growth is now considered an important determinant of both short and long term outcomes, yet currently used measures have several shortcomings. This study demonstrates a method of assessing appropriateness of intrauterine growth based on the estimation of each individual's optimal newborn dimensions from routinely available perinatal data. Appropriateness of growth can then be inferred from the ratio of the value of the observed dimension to that of the optimal dimension. Methods Fractional polynomial regression models including terms for non-pathological determinants of fetal size (gestational duration, fetal gender and maternal height, age and parity were used to predict birth weight, birth length and head circumference from a population without any major risk factors for sub-optimal intra-uterine growth. This population was selected from a total population of all singleton, Caucasian births in Western Australia 1998–2002. Births were excluded if the pregnancy was exposed to factors known to influence fetal growth pathologically. The values predicted by these models were treated as the optimal values, given infant gender, gestational age, maternal height, parity, and age. Results The selected sample (N = 62,746 comprised 60.5% of the total Caucasian singleton birth cohort. Equations are presented that predict optimal birth weight, birth length and head circumference given gestational duration, fetal gender, maternal height, age and parity. The best fitting models explained 40.5% of variance for birth weight, 32.2% for birth length, and 25.2% for head circumference at birth. Conclusion Proportion of optimal birth weight (length or head circumference provides a method of assessing appropriateness of intrauterine growth that is less dependent on the health of the reference population or the quality of their morphometric data than is percentile position on a birth weight

Comparison of collagen fibre architecture between slow-twitch cranial and fast-twitch caudal parts of broiler M. latissimus dorsi.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakamura, Y N; Iwamoto, H; Tabata, S; Ono, Y

2003-07-01

1. Collagen fibre architectures of perimysium and endomysium in the slow-twitch cranial and fast-twitch caudal parts of broiler M. latissimus dorsi were compared. 2. Type I and III collagens were distributed in both perimysium and endomysium as indicated by their positive immunohistochemical reactions to polyclonal antibodies. 3. Cells invested by endomysium with no myofibres were larger in the cranial part because of the presence of larger slow-twitch myofibres. The honeycomb structure of endomysium was divided into several parts by thick perimysium. 4. The thick perimysial collagen fibres with parallel fibrils, which were interconnected by the loose reticular fibrils and thin fibres, were more numerous and thicker in the cranial part than the caudal. 5. Thick endomysial sidewall of cells in the cranial part was composed of a rougher reticulum of slightly thicker collagen fibrils compared with the thin sidewall in the caudal part. 6. These results indicated that both perimysial constitutions of collagen fibres and endomysial collagen fibrils had attained much larger growth in the slow-twitch cranial part than the fast-twitch caudal in broiler latissimus dorsi muscle.

Proton energy dependence of slow neutron intensity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Teshigawara, Makoto; Harada, Masahide; Watanabe, Noboru; Kai, Tetsuya; Sakata, Hideaki; Ikeda, Yujiro

2001-01-01

The choice of the proton energy is an important issue for the design of an intense-pulsed-spallation source. The optimal proton beam energy is rather unique from a viewpoint of the leakage neutron intensity but no yet clear from the slow-neutron intensity view point. It also depends on an accelerator type. Since it is also important to know the proton energy dependence of slow-neutrons from the moderators in a realistic target-moderator-reflector assembly (TMRA). We studied on the TMRA proposed for Japan Spallation Neutron Source. The slow-neutron intensities from the moderators per unit proton beam power (MW) exhibit the maximum at about 1-2 GeV. At higher proton energies the intensity per MW goes down; at 3 and 50 GeV about 0.91 and 0.47 times as low as that at 1 GeV. The proton energy dependence of slow-neutron intensities was found to be almost the same as that of total neutron yield (leakage neutrons) from the same bare target. It was also found that proton energy dependence was almost the same for the coupled and decoupled moderators, regardless the different moderator type, geometry and coupling scheme. (author)

Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1): a growth hormone

Science.gov (United States)

Laron, Z

2001-01-01

Aim—To contribute to the debate about whether growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) act independently on the growth process. Methods—To describe growth in human and animal models of isolated IGF-1 deficiency (IGHD), such as in Laron syndrome (LS; primary IGF-1 deficiency and GH resistance) and IGF-1 gene or GH receptor gene knockout (KO) mice. Results—Since the description of LS in 1966, 51 patients were followed, many since infancy. Newborns with LS are shorter (42–47 cm) than healthy babies (49–52 cm), suggesting that IGF-1 has some influence on intrauterine growth. Newborn mice with IGF-1 gene KO are 30% smaller. The postnatal growth rate of patients with LS is very slow, the distance from the lowest normal centile increasing progressively. If untreated, the final height is 100–136 cm for female and 109–138 cm for male patients. They have acromicia, organomicria including the brain, heart, gonads, genitalia, and retardation of skeletal maturation. The availability of biosynthetic IGF-1 since 1988 has enabled it to be administered to children with LS. It accelerated linear growth rates to 8–9 cm in the first year of treatment, compared with 10–12 cm/year during GH treatment of IGHD. The growth rate in following years was 5–6.5 cm/year. Conclusion—IGF-1 is an important growth hormone, mediating the protein anabolic and linear growth promoting effect of pituitary GH. It has a GH independent growth stimulating effect, which with respect to cartilage cells is possibly optimised by the synergistic action with GH. PMID:11577173

Neuropsychological development in preschool children born with asymmetrical intrauterine growth restriction and impact of postnatal head growth.

Science.gov (United States)

Klaric, Andrea Simić; Galić, Slavka; Kolundzić, Zdravko; Bosnjak, Vlatka Mejaski

2013-07-01

Neuropsychological development and the impact of postnatal head growth were studied in preschool children with asymmetrical intrauterine growth restriction. Examinees born at term with a birth weight below the 10th percentile were matched to the control group according to chronological and gestational age, gender, and maternal education. Fifty children were in each group, with a mean age of 6 years, 4 months. The Touwen neurological examination, the Čuturić developmental test, an imitative hand positions test, and a visual attention test were performed. There were significant differences (Pmotor variables, the developmental quotient, and the imitative hand positions test. Fine motor skills had the most discriminative power. Relative growth of the head in relation to weight gain was positively correlated to neurocognitive outcome. Intrauterine growth-restricted children with a current head circumference ≤10th percentile had poorer outcomes. Conclusively, intrauterine growth restriction has a negative impact on neurocognitive development. Slow postnatal head growth is correlated with a poorer neuropsychological outcome.

Human gamma oscillations during slow wave sleep.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mario Valderrama

Full Text Available Neocortical local field potentials have shown that gamma oscillations occur spontaneously during slow-wave sleep (SWS. At the macroscopic EEG level in the human brain, no evidences were reported so far. In this study, by using simultaneous scalp and intracranial EEG recordings in 20 epileptic subjects, we examined gamma oscillations in cerebral cortex during SWS. We report that gamma oscillations in low (30-50 Hz and high (60-120 Hz frequency bands recurrently emerged in all investigated regions and their amplitudes coincided with specific phases of the cortical slow wave. In most of the cases, multiple oscillatory bursts in different frequency bands from 30 to 120 Hz were correlated with positive peaks of scalp slow waves ("IN-phase" pattern, confirming previous animal findings. In addition, we report another gamma pattern that appears preferentially during the negative phase of the slow wave ("ANTI-phase" pattern. This new pattern presented dominant peaks in the high gamma range and was preferentially expressed in the temporal cortex. Finally, we found that the spatial coherence between cortical sites exhibiting gamma activities was local and fell off quickly when computed between distant sites. Overall, these results provide the first human evidences that gamma oscillations can be observed in macroscopic EEG recordings during sleep. They support the concept that these high-frequency activities might be associated with phasic increases of neural activity during slow oscillations. Such patterned activity in the sleeping brain could play a role in off-line processing of cortical networks.

Techniques for slow positron beam generation and the applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okada, Sohei

1994-01-01

Slow positron beams have been expected to be a powerful tool for observation of nature in wide range of research fields from materials science to basic physics, chemistry and biology. In this paper, at first, the beam technology is reviewed, which includes the positron generation, the transformation to slow positron beams and the beam manipulation such as beam stretching, bunching and brightness enhancement. Next, the present status of the slow positron beam applications to a variety of fields is demonstrated in terms of special characteristics of positron, that is, depth controllability, surface sensitivity, unique ionization channels and elemental anti-particle properties. Finally, prospects to produce intense slow positron beams are described. (author) 65 refs

Growth Mechanism of Microbial Colonies

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Minhui; Martini, K. Michael; Kim, Neil H.; Sherer, Nicholas; Lee, Jia Gloria; Kuhlman, Thomas; Goldenfeld, Nigel

Experiments on nutrient-limited E. coli colonies, growing on agar gel from single cells reveal a power-law distribution of sizes, both during the growth process and in the final stage when growth has ceased. We developed a Python simulation to study the growth mechanism of the bacterial population and thus understand the broad details of the experimental findings. The simulation takes into account nutrient uptake, metabolic function, growth and cell division. Bacteria are modeled in two dimensions as hard circle-capped cylinders with steric interactions and elastic stress dependent growth characteristics. Nutrient is able to diffuse within and between the colonies. The mechanism of microbial colony growth involves reproduction of cells within the colonies and the merging of different colonies. We report results on the dynamic scaling laws and final state size distribution, that capture in semi-quantitative detail the trends observed in experiment. Supported by NSF Grant 0822613.

Regulation of myostatin expression is associated with growth and muscle development in commercial broiler and DMC muscle

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dou, Tengfei; Li, Zhengtian; Wang, Kun; Liu, Lixian; Rong, Hua; Xu, Zhiqiang; Huang, Ying; Gu, Dahai; Chen, Xiaobo; Hu, Wenyuan; Zhang, Jiarong; Zhao, Sumei; Jois, Markandeya; Li, Qihua; Ge, Changrong; Pas, te Marinus F.W.; Jia, Junjing

2018-01-01

Myostatin is a negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth. Muscle tissue is the largest tissue in the body and influences body growth. Commercial Avian broiler chickens are selected for high growth rate and muscularity. Daweishan mini chickens are a slow growing small-sized chicken breed. We

Slow wave maturation on a visual working memory task.

Science.gov (United States)

Barriga-Paulino, Catarina I; Rodríguez-Martínez, Elena I; Rojas-Benjumea, Ma Ángeles; Gómez, Carlos M

2014-07-01

The purpose of the present study is to analyze how the Slow Wave develops in the retention period on a visual Delayed Match-to-Sample task performed by 170 subjects between 6 and 26 years old, divided into 5 age groups. In addition, a neuropsychological test (Working Memory Test Battery for Children) was correlated with this Event Related Potential (ERP) in order to observe possible relationships between Slow Wave maturation and the components of Baddeley and Hitch's Working Memory model. The results showed a slow negativity during the retention period in the posterior region in all the age groups, possibly resulting from sustained neural activity related to the visual item presented. In the anterior region, a positive slow wave was observed in the youngest subjects. Dipole analysis suggests that this fronto-central positivity in children (6-13 years old) consists of the positive side of the posterior negativity, once these subjects only needed two posterior dipoles to explain almost all the neural activity. Negative correlations were shown between the Slow Wave and the Working Memory Test Battery for Children, indicating a commonality in assessing Working Memory with the Slow Wave and the neuropsychological testing. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Beneficial Effects of Slow Steaming in Bulk Freight Markets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarah Boone

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Slow steaming has recently been adopted into normal practice by many maritime shipping companies for the fuel and monetary savings it offers. The practice also offers savings in Greenhouse Gas (GHG emissions. With regulations coming into play such as the 2020 sulfur cap, slow steaming may be the least costly option for some maritime companies to adjust their operations. While some have accepted the new practice, there are still companies and vessels that see this exercise as a loss of revenue due to the extra time it takes to deliver goods to their destination. This paper reviews how the method of rating ships by their GHG emissions per nautical mile can be directly related to slow steaming. We propose that ships with poor ratings (E, F, G find mandatory regulations to slow steam or improve their CO2 output in some way. Those with superior ratings (A, B, C, D would benefit from incentives packages tied to their implementation of slow steaming practices. It will also examine how slow steaming benefits maritime businesses both economically and environmentally to find ways to lower their emissions and discusses the possible chain reaction that may occur if these eco-friendly shipping practices are observed.

SNMP-SI: A Network Management Tool Based on Slow Intelligence System Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Colace, Francesco; de Santo, Massimo; Ferrandino, Salvatore

The last decade has witnessed an intense spread of computer networks that has been further accelerated with the introduction of wireless networks. Simultaneously with, this growth has increased significantly the problems of network management. Especially in small companies, where there is no provision of personnel assigned to these tasks, the management of such networks is often complex and malfunctions can have significant impacts on their businesses. A possible solution is the adoption of Simple Network Management Protocol. Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is a standard protocol used to exchange network management information. It is part of the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol suite. SNMP provides a tool for network administrators to manage network performance, find and solve network problems, and plan for network growth. SNMP has a big disadvantage: its simple design means that the information it deals with is neither detailed nor well organized enough to deal with the expanding modern networking requirements. Over the past years much efforts has been given to improve the lack of Simple Network Management Protocol and new frameworks has been developed: A promising approach involves the use of Ontology. This is the starting point of this paper where a novel approach to the network management based on the use of the Slow Intelligence System methodologies and Ontology based techniques is proposed. Slow Intelligence Systems is a general-purpose systems characterized by being able to improve performance over time through a process involving enumeration, propagation, adaptation, elimination and concentration. Therefore, the proposed approach aims to develop a system able to acquire, according to an SNMP standard, information from the various hosts that are in the managed networks and apply solutions in order to solve problems. To check the feasibility of this model first experimental results in a real scenario are showed.

AGS slow extraction improvements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Glenn, J.W.; Smith, G.A.; Sandberg, J.N.; Repeta, L.; Weisberg, H.

1979-01-01

Improvement of the straightness of the F5 copper septum increased the AGS slow extraction efficiency from approx. 80% to approx. 90%. Installation of an electrostatic septum at H2O, 24 betatron wavelengths upstream of F5, further improved the extraction efficiency to approx. 97%

Slow wave cyclotron maser

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kho, T.H.; Lin, A.T.

1988-01-01

Cyclotron masers such as Gyrotrons and the Autoresonance Masers, are fast wave devices: the electromagnetic wave's phase velocity v rho , is greater than the electron beam velocity, v b . To be able to convert the beam kinetic energy into radiation in these devices the beam must have an initial transverse momentum, usually obtained by propagating the beam through a transverse wiggler magnet, or along a nonuniform guide magnetic field before entry into the interaction region. Either process introduces a significant amount of thermal spread in the beam which degrades the performance of the maser. However, if the wave phase velocity v rho v b , the beam kinetic energy can be converted directly into radiation without the requirement of an initial transverse beam momentum, making a slow wave cyclotron maser a potentially simpler and more compact device. The authors present the linear and nonlinear physics of the slow wave cyclotron maser and examine its potential for practical application

Meniscus Imaging for Crystal-Growth Control

Science.gov (United States)

Sachs, E. M.

1983-01-01

Silicon crystal growth monitored by new video system reduces operator stress and improves conditions for observation and control of growing process. System optics produce greater magnification vertically than horizontally, so entire meniscus and melt is viewed with high resolution in both width and height dimensions.

Birth control - slow release methods

Science.gov (United States)

Contraception - slow-release hormonal methods; Progestin implants; Progestin injections; Skin patch; Vaginal ring ... might want to consider a different birth control method. SKIN PATCH The skin patch is placed on ...

Mandibular asymmetry and the fourth dimension.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaban, Leonard B

2009-03-01

This paper represents more than 30 years of discussion and collaboration with Drs Joseph Murray and John Mulliken in an attempt to understand growth patterns over time (ie, fourth dimension) in patients with hemifacial microsomia (HFM). This is essential for the development of rational treatment protocols for children and adults with jaw asymmetry. Traditionally, HFM was thought of as a unilateral deformity, but it was recognized that 20% to 30% of patients had bilateral abnormalities. However, early descriptions of skeletal correction addressed almost exclusively lengthening of the short (affected) side of the face. Based on longitudinal clinical observations of unoperated HFM patients, we hypothesized that abnormal mandibular growth is the earliest skeletal manifestation and that restricted growth of the mandible plays a pivotal role in progressive distortion of both the ipsilateral and contralateral facial skeleton. This hypothesis explains the progressive nature of the asymmetry in patients with HFM and provides the rationale for surgical lengthening of the mandible in children to prevent end-stage deformity. During the past 30 years, we have learned that this phenomenon of progressive distortion of the adjacent and contralateral facial skeleton occurs with other asymmetric mandibular undergrowth (tumor resection, radiation therapy, or posttraumatic defects) and overgrowth (mandibular condylar hyperplasia) conditions. In this paper, I describe the progression of deformity with time in patients with mandibular asymmetry as a result of undergrowth and overgrowth. Understanding these concepts is critical for the development of rational treatment protocols for adults with end-stage asymmetry and for children to minimize secondary deformity.

Growth response of natural phytoplankton to enrichment of urea and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

user

quality in particular salinity and nutrient concentration. In these ... only, with slow growth rate occurring 24 to 48 h following nutrient addition. There was an ..... has a different scale). ..... over nitrate because less metabolic energy is required to.

Residual Effect of Chromium on Early Growth of Fluted Pumpkin ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Michael Horsfall

some agronomic characters, nutrient content, nutrient uptake and crude protein content of fluted ... Results revealed that the plant height, stem girth, leaf area, number of leaves, dry matter yield, ..... oxygen and this will lead to slow growth and.

Nonlinear growth dynamics and the origin of fluctuating asymmetry

Science.gov (United States)

Emlen, J.M.; Freeman, D.C.; Graham, J.H.

1993-01-01

The nonlinear, complex nature of biosynthesis magnifies the impacts of small, random perturbations on organism growth, leading to distortions in adaptive allometries and, in particular, to fluctuating asymmetry. These distortions can be partly checked by cell-cell and inter-body part feedback during growth and development, though the latter mechanism also may lead to complex patterns in right-left asymmetry. Stress can be expected to increase the degree to which random growth perturbations are magnified and may also result in disruption of the check mechanisms, thus exaggerating fluctuating asymmetry.The processes described not only provide one explanation for the existence of fluctuating asymmetry and its augmentation under stress, but suggest additional effects of stress as well. Specifically, stress is predicted to lead to decreased fractal dimension of bone sutures and branching structures in animals, and in increased dimension of growth trace patterns such as those found in mollusc shells and fish otoliths and scales.A basic yet broad primer on fractals and chaos is provided as background for the theoretical development in this manuscript.

Sense of Place, Fast and Slow: The Potential Contributions of Affordance Theory to Sense of Place.

Science.gov (United States)

Raymond, Christopher M; Kyttä, Marketta; Stedman, Richard

2017-01-01

Over the past 40 years, the sense of place concept has been well-established across a range of applications and settings; however, most theoretical developments have "privileged the slow." Evidence suggests that place attachments and place meanings are slow to evolve, sometimes not matching material or social reality (lag effects), and also tending to inhibit change. Here, we present some key blind spots in sense of place scholarship and then suggest how a reconsideration of sense of place as "fast" and "slow" could fill them. By this, we mean how direct and immediate perception-action processes presented in affordance theory (resulting in immediately perceived place meanings) can complement slower forms of social construction presented in sense of place scholarship. Key blind spots are that sense of place scholarship: (1) rarely accounts for sensory or immediately perceived meanings; (2) pays little attention to how place meanings are the joint product of attributes of environmental features and the attributes of the individual; and (3) assumes that the relationship between place attachment and behavior is linear and not constituted in dynamic relations among mind, culture, and environment. We show how these blind spots can begin to be addressed by reviewing key insights from affordance theory, and through the presentation of applied examples. We discuss future empirical research directions in terms of: (1) how sense of place is both perceived and socially constructed; (2) whether perceived and socially constructed dimensions of place can relate to one another when perceived meanings become unsituated; and (3) how place attachment may change over different stages of the life course based upon dynamic relationships between processes of perception-action and social construction. We conclude with insights into how processes of perception-action and social construction could be included in the design and management of urban landscapes.

Dimension from covariance matrices.

Science.gov (United States)

Carroll, T L; Byers, J M

2017-02-01

We describe a method to estimate embedding dimension from a time series. This method includes an estimate of the probability that the dimension estimate is valid. Such validity estimates are not common in algorithms for calculating the properties of dynamical systems. The algorithm described here compares the eigenvalues of covariance matrices created from an embedded signal to the eigenvalues for a covariance matrix of a Gaussian random process with the same dimension and number of points. A statistical test gives the probability that the eigenvalues for the embedded signal did not come from the Gaussian random process.

Good, Clean, Fair: The Rhetoric of the Slow Food Movement

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Stephen

2008-01-01

This article outlines the origins of the Slow Food movement before examining the ways in which Slow Food rhetoric seeks to redefine gastronomy and combat the more deleterious effects of globalization. In articulating a new gastronomy, Slow Food founder Carlo Petrini attempts to reconstruct the gastronomy of Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, at once…

Experimental determination of the slow-neutron wavelength distribution

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lebech, Bente; Mikke, K.; Sledziewska-Blocka, D.

1970-01-01

Different experiments for determining the slow-neutron wavelength distribution in the region 227-3 meV have been carried out, and the results compared. It is concluded that the slow-neutron wave-length distribution can be determined accurately by elastic scattering on a pure incoherent or a pure...

Evolutionary Consequence of a Trade-Off between Growth and Maintenance along with Ribosomal Damages.

Science.gov (United States)

Ying, Bei-Wen; Honda, Tomoya; Tsuru, Saburo; Seno, Shigeto; Matsuda, Hideo; Kazuta, Yasuaki; Yomo, Tetsuya

2015-01-01

Microorganisms in nature are constantly subjected to a limited availability of resources and experience repeated starvation and nutrition. Therefore, microbial life may evolve for both growth fitness and sustainability. By contrast, experimental evolution, as a powerful approach to investigate microbial evolutionary strategies, often targets the increased growth fitness in controlled, steady-state conditions. Here, we address evolutionary changes balanced between growth and maintenance while taking nutritional fluctuations into account. We performed a 290-day-long evolution experiment with a histidine-requiring Escherichia coli strain that encountered repeated histidine-rich and histidine-starved conditions. The cells that experienced seven rounds of starvation and re-feed grew more sustainably under prolonged starvation but dramatically lost growth fitness under rich conditions. The improved sustainability arose from the evolved capability to use a trace amount of histidine for cell propagation. The reduced growth rate was attributed to mutations genetically disturbing the translation machinery, that is, the ribosome, ultimately slowing protein translation. This study provides the experimental demonstration of slow growth accompanied by an enhanced affinity to resources as an evolutionary adaptation to oscillated environments and verifies that it is possible to evolve for reduced growth fitness. Growth economics favored for population increase under extreme resource limitations is most likely a common survival strategy adopted by natural microbes.

SPS slow extraction septa

CERN Multimedia

CERN PhotoLab

1979-01-01

SPS long straight section (LSS) with a series of 5 septum tanks for slow extraction (view in the direction of the proton beam). There are 2 of these: in LSS2, towards the N-Area; in LSS6 towards the W-Area. See also Annual Report 1975, p.175.

Extra dimensions in space and time

CERN Document Server

Bars, Itzhak

2010-01-01

Covers topics such as Einstein and the Fourth Dimension; Waves in a Fifth Dimension; and String Theory and Branes Experimental Tests of Extra Dimensions. This book offers a discussion on Two-Time Physics

PRINCIPLES OF SLOW TRAVEL APPLIED TO TOURIST LEISURE CONTEMPORARY

OpenAIRE

Bauer, Rafael Chequer; Netto, Alexandre Panosso

2014-01-01

The article shows the concept of Slow Travel, a travel’s modality based in a new perspective of touristic use considering a slowdown style. In this way, the paper analyses the context of growing and development about Slow Travel, including its ideological matrix based in industrial revolution’s contestation, specially about the acceleration noted at contemporary society and its application inside the leisure and travel universes. At least, shows the main characteristics of Slow Travel, and it...

Analysing growth and development of plants jointly using developmental growth stages.

Science.gov (United States)

Dambreville, Anaëlle; Lauri, Pierre-Éric; Normand, Frédéric; Guédon, Yann

2015-01-01

Plant growth, the increase of organ dimensions over time, and development, the change in plant structure, are often studied as two separate processes. However, there is structural and functional evidence that these two processes are strongly related. The aim of this study was to investigate the co-ordination between growth and development using mango trees, which have well-defined developmental stages. Developmental stages, determined in an expert way, and organ sizes, determined from objective measurements, were collected during the vegetative growth and flowering phases of two cultivars of mango, Mangifera indica. For a given cultivar and growth unit type (either vegetative or flowering), a multistage model based on absolute growth rate sequences deduced from the measurements was first built, and then growth stages deduced from the model were compared with developmental stages. Strong matches were obtained between growth stages and developmental stages, leading to a consistent definition of integrative developmental growth stages. The growth stages highlighted growth asynchronisms between two topologically connected organs, namely the vegetative axis and its leaves. Integrative developmental growth stages emphasize that developmental stages are closely related to organ growth rates. The results are discussed in terms of the possible physiological processes underlying these stages, including plant hydraulics, biomechanics and carbohydrate partitioning. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Curvature effects in the nonlinear growth of the cylindrical tearing mode

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Somon, J. P.

1984-01-01

The full set of the usual resistive massless equations is used to investigate the nonlinear growth of the helical perturbation to a cylindrical equilibrium with tokamak ordering. There is a curvature dependant critical magnetic island width xsub(T)sup(*) α set containing D/Δ' above which the Rutherford solution is recovered for the tearing mode as well as for the linear slow interchange modes with Δ' > 0. Non linearity stabilizes at this critical width the linearly unstable slow interchange modes with Δ' > 0

Correlation of thermodynamics and grain growth kinetics in nanocrystalline metals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song Xiaoyan; Zhang Jiuxing; Li Lingmei; Yang Keyong; Liu Guoquan

2006-01-01

We investigated the correlation of thermodynamics and grain growth kinetics of nanocrystalline metals both theoretically and experimentally. A model was developed to describe the thermodynamic properties of nanograin boundaries, which could give reliable predictions in the destabilization characteristics of nanograin structures and the slowing down of grain growth kinetics at a constant temperature. Both the temperature-varying and isothermal nanograin growth behaviors in pure nanocrystalline Co were studied to verify the thermodynamic predictions. The experimental results showing that discontinuous nanograin growth takes place at a certain temperature and grain growth rate decreases monotonically with time confirm our thermodynamics-based description of nanograin growth characteristics. Therefore, we propose a thermodynamic viewpoint to explain the deviation of grain growth kinetics in nanocrystalline metals from those of polycrystalline materials

Slowness and sparseness have diverging effects on complex cell learning.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jörn-Philipp Lies

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Following earlier studies which showed that a sparse coding principle may explain the receptive field properties of complex cells in primary visual cortex, it has been concluded that the same properties may be equally derived from a slowness principle. In contrast to this claim, we here show that slowness and sparsity drive the representations towards substantially different receptive field properties. To do so, we present complete sets of basis functions learned with slow subspace analysis (SSA in case of natural movies as well as translations, rotations, and scalings of natural images. SSA directly parallels independent subspace analysis (ISA with the only difference that SSA maximizes slowness instead of sparsity. We find a large discrepancy between the filter shapes learned with SSA and ISA. We argue that SSA can be understood as a generalization of the Fourier transform where the power spectrum corresponds to the maximally slow subspace energies in SSA. Finally, we investigate the trade-off between slowness and sparseness when combined in one objective function.

Growth rate and chemical composition of a manganese nodule from the EEZ of Seychelles

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Banakar, V.K.; Borole, D.V.

mhe ferro-manganese nodule collected in EEZ of Seychelles yields a growth rate of 1.5 mm/10 6Y 230Th (ex)/ and 230Th (ex)/ 232Th activity ratio methods indicating very slow growth of ferro-manganese nodules. The Mn/Fe and U/Th ratios suggest...

Spectral dimension of quantum geometries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Calcagni, Gianluca; Oriti, Daniele; Thürigen, Johannes

2014-01-01

The spectral dimension is an indicator of geometry and topology of spacetime and a tool to compare the description of quantum geometry in various approaches to quantum gravity. This is possible because it can be defined not only on smooth geometries but also on discrete (e.g., simplicial) ones. In this paper, we consider the spectral dimension of quantum states of spatial geometry defined on combinatorial complexes endowed with additional algebraic data: the kinematical quantum states of loop quantum gravity (LQG). Preliminarily, the effects of topology and discreteness of classical discrete geometries are studied in a systematic manner. We look for states reproducing the spectral dimension of a classical space in the appropriate regime. We also test the hypothesis that in LQG, as in other approaches, there is a scale dependence of the spectral dimension, which runs from the topological dimension at large scales to a smaller one at short distances. While our results do not give any strong support to this hypothesis, we can however pinpoint when the topological dimension is reproduced by LQG quantum states. Overall, by exploring the interplay of combinatorial, topological and geometrical effects, and by considering various kinds of quantum states such as coherent states and their superpositions, we find that the spectral dimension of discrete quantum geometries is more sensitive to the underlying combinatorial structures than to the details of the additional data associated with them. (paper)

Logical-rules and the classification of integral dimensions: Individual differences in the processing of arbitrary dimensions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anthea G. Blunden

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A variety of converging operations demonstrate key differences between separable dimensions, which can be analyzed independently, and integral dimensions, which are processed in a non-analytic fashion. A recent investigation of response time distributions, applying a set of logical rule-based models, demonstrated that integral dimensions are pooled into a single coactive processing channel, in contrast to separable dimensions, which are processed in multiple, independent processing channels. This paper examines the claim that arbitrary dimensions created by factorially morphing four faces are processed in an integral manner (i.e., coactively. In two experiments, sixteen participants completed a categorization task in which either upright or inverted morph stimuli were classified in a speeded fashion. Analyses focused on contrasting different assumptions about the psychological representation of the stimuli, perceptual and decisional separability, and the processing architecture. We report consistent individual differences which demonstrate a mixture of some observers who demonstrate coactive processing with other observers who process the dimensions in a parallel self-terminating manner.

GLUT4 is reduced in slow muscle fibers of type 2 diabetic patients: is insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes a slow, type 1 fiber disease?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gaster, M; Staehr, P; Beck-Nielsen, H

2001-01-01

To gain further insight into the mechanisms underlying muscle insulin resistance, the influence of obesity and type 2 diabetes on GLUT4 immunoreactivity in slow and fast skeletal muscle fibers was studied. Through a newly developed, very sensitive method using immunohistochemistry combined...... with morphometry, GLUT4 density was found to be significantly higher in slow compared with fast fibers in biopsy specimens from lean and obese subjects. In contrast, in type 2 diabetic subjects, GLUT4 density was significantly lower in slow compared with fast fibers. GLUT4 density in slow fibers from diabetic...... was reduced to 77% in the obese subjects and to 61% in type 2 diabetic patients compared with the control subjects. We propose that a reduction in the fraction of slow-twitch fibers, combined with a reduction in GLUT4 expression in slow fibers, may reduce the insulin-sensitive GLUT4 pool in type 2 diabetes...

Dimensions of Adolescent Employment.

Science.gov (United States)

Mael, Fred A.; Morath, Ray A.; McLellan, Jeffrey A.

1997-01-01

Examines positive and negative correlates of adolescent work as a function of work dimensions. Results indicate that concurrent costs and benefits of adolescent employment may depend on dimensions of work as well as adolescent characteristics. Adolescent employment was generally related to subsequent work motivation and nonacademic performance.…

A Comparative Study of Growth Patterns in Crested Langurs and Vervet Monkeys

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Debra R. Bolter

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The physical growth patterns of crested langurs and vervet monkeys are investigated for several unilinear dimensions. Long bone lengths, trunk height, foot length, epiphyseal fusion of the long bones and the pelvis, and cranial capacity are compared through six dental growth stages in male Trachypithecus cristatus (crested langurs and Cercopithecus aethiops (vervet monkeys. Results show that the body elements of crested langurs mature differently than those of vervets. In some dimensions, langurs and vervets grow comparably, in others vervets attain adult values in advance of crested langurs, and in one feature the langurs are accelerated. Several factors may explain this difference, including phylogeny, diet, ecology, and locomotion. This study proposes that locomotor requirements affect differences in somatic growth between the species.

Relationship between tooth dimensions and malocclusion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Farooq, J.; Ahmed, I.; Erum, G.

2014-01-01

Objective: To observe the difference in dimension of teeth among adult females with and without malocclusion. Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted at Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan Institute of Oral Health Sciences, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, from April 2011 to April 2013, and used non-probability consecutive sampling. Mesiodistal and buccolingual crown dimensions were measured on study casts by using digital sliding caliper in 2 groups of females. Group1 had 150 subjects with normal occlusion, while Group 2 had 234 with malocclusion. Independent t test was conducted to evaluate the difference between the dimensions of teeth of the two groups. Statistical analysis was done on SPSS version 16, and p value was considered significant at 0.05. Results: Overall, the difference between the groups showed a greater tooth dimension in the malocclusion group of population compared to the normal group, and the most significant difference was observed in the mesiodistal dimension of maxillary 2nd premolar, which was 0.9+-0.6801mm greater in dimension in the malocclusion group compared to the normal group. The least difference was observed in the buccolingual dimension of the mandibular central incisor where the malocclusion group had only 0.08+-0.5247mm larger mandibular central incisors in the buccolingual dimension compared to the normal group. Conclusion: Mesiodistal and buccolingual crown dimensions were characteristically larger in the malocclusion group. (author)

Extra dimensions and color confinement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pleitez, V

1995-04-01

An extension of the ordinary four dimensional Minkowski space by introducing additional dimensions which have their own Lorentz transformation is considered. Particles can transform in a different way under each Lorentz group. It is shown that only quark interactions are slightly modified and that color confinement automatic since these degrees of freedom run only in the extra dimensions. No compactification of the extra dimensions is needed. (author). 4 refs.

[Penile dimensions in type 2 diabetes].

Science.gov (United States)

Belousov, I I; Kogan, M I; Ibishev, H S; Vorobyev, S V; Khripun, I A; Gusova, Z R

2015-12-01

The current literature provides a wide range of publications on the anthropometry of the penis specifying the relationship between penile dimensions and sex hormones, weight, height and erectile function. But most of the studies involved healthy volunteers or young patients with erectile dysfunction. Our study was conducted in patients with type 2 diabetes. Penile measurements obtained in the present study were compared those of the average Russian man. The patients were divided into groups with preserved and impaired erectile function. Erectile function was also studied relative to the variability of penile dimensions. The effect of DM duration on erectile function was defined. Comparative analysis revealed the relationship between penile anatomical dimensions and erectile function. We studied the effect of type 2 diabetes on the anatomical dimensions and elasticity of the penis, established the relationship between penile dimensions and elasticity of the penis. The correlation between the severity of erectile dysfunction and serum testosterone levels on one side, and penile dimensions on the other was found. The effect of penile dimensions on erectile function in DM patients was also examined. Determining penile dimensions and their variability due to various pathological conditions or processes, may eventually lead to better result of ED management.

The military dimension of a more Militant Russia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julian Cooper

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The article analyses the development of the military dimension of Russia's economy over the past decade or more, including the significant growth of military expenditure and its principal driver, spending on the ambitious state armament programme to 2020. For the first time for almost twenty-five years Russia once again possesses capable armed forces. With greater economic and military strength Russia's leadership now feels able to be more assertive, even militant, on the world stage. These developments threaten to be constrained by the poor performance of the economy, facing the government with a policy challenge. However, for Russia and the main Western powers there can be no going back to the status quo ante.

Particle Phenomenology of Compact Extra Dimensions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Melbeus, Henrik

2012-01-01

This thesis is an investigation of the subject of extra dimensions in particle physics. In recent years, there has been a large interest in this subject. In particular, a number of models have been suggested that provide solutions to some of the problem with the current Standard Model of particle physics. These models typically give rise to experimental signatures around the TeV energy scale, which means that they could be tested in the next generation of high-energy experiments, such as the LHC. Among the most important of these models are the universal extra dimensions model, the large extra dimensions model by Arkani-Hamed, Dimopolous, and Dvali, and models where right-handed neutrinos propagate in the extra dimensions. In the thesis, we study phenomenological aspects of these models, or simple modifications of them. In particular, we focus on Kaluza-Klein dark matter in universal extra dimensions models, different aspects of neutrino physics in higher dimensions, and collider phenomenology of extra dimensions. In addition, we consider consequences of the enhanced renormalization group running of physical parameters in higher-dimensional models

Space: The Hunt for Hidden Dimensions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hewett, JoAnne

2006-01-01

Extra dimensions of space may be present in our universe. Their discovery would dramatically change our view of the cosmos and would prompt many questions. How do they hide? What is their shape? How many are there? How big are they? Do particles and forces feel their presence? This lecture will explain the concept of dimensions and show that current theoretical models predict the existence of extra spatial dimensions which could be in the discovery reach of present and near-term experiments. The manner by which these additional dimensions reveal their existence will be described. Searches for modifications of the gravitational force, astrophysical effects, and collider signatures already constrain the size of extra dimensions and will be summarized. Once new dimensions are discovered, the technology by which the above questions can be answered will be discussed.

The Importance of Microtopography and Nurse Canopy for Successful Restoration Planting of the Slow-Growing Conifer Pilgerodendron uviferum

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jürgen Bauhus

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Recent studies have shown that, owing to a lack of seed trees, the natural rate of recovery of fire-disturbed bog forests previously dominated by the endemic and endangered conifer Pilgerodendron uviferum (D. Don Florin is extremely slow. Hence, increasing the number of seed trees in the landscape through restoration planting could remove the principal biotic filter, limiting recovery of these forests. Here, we analyzed how the success of restoration plantings may be improved through the choice or manipulation of microsites in P. uviferum forests on Chiloé Island in North Patagonia. For this purpose, we manipulated microtopography in water-logged sites in bogs (mounds, flat terrain, mineral soil and changed canopy conditions (gaps, semi-open, closed canopy in upland sites with better drainage. In bogs, there was no significant effect of microtopography on growth and survival of P. uviferum plantings. However, fluorescence measurements indicated lower stress in seedlings established on mounds. Seedlings in upland areas established beneath a nurse canopy had lower mortality and higher relative shoot growth, foliar nutrients, photosynthetic light use efficiency and chlorophyll fluorescence values than those planted in the open. This indicates that seedlings of the slow growing P. uviferum can tolerate extremely wet conditions, yet suffer from stress when grown in the open. Here, the removal of canopy appeared to have also removed or reduced mycorrhizal networks for seedlings, leading to poorer nutrition and growth. Based on these results, recommendations for restoration plantings in highly degraded P. uviferum forests are presented.

Distinguishing dimensions of pro-environmental behaviour

OpenAIRE

Lynn, Peter

2014-01-01

This study empirically identifies dimensions of behaviour that are distinct in terms of the extent to which people act pro-environmentally. Three dimensions are identified, relating to at-home, transport-related and purchasing behaviour. The correlation between behaviour in each dimension is explored and the characteristics and attitudes associated with the extent to which behaviour is pro-environmental in each dimension are compared. The correlates of pro-environmental behaviour are found to...

Body growth and life history in wild mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) from Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda.

Science.gov (United States)

Galbany, Jordi; Abavandimwe, Didier; Vakiener, Meagan; Eckardt, Winnie; Mudakikwa, Antoine; Ndagijimana, Felix; Stoinski, Tara S; McFarlin, Shannon C

2017-07-01

Great apes show considerable diversity in socioecology and life history, but knowledge of their physical growth in natural settings is scarce. We characterized linear body size growth in wild mountain gorillas from Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda, a population distinguished by its extreme folivory and accelerated life histories. In 131 individuals (0.09-35.26 years), we used non-invasive parallel laser photogrammetry to measure body length, back width, arm length and two head dimensions. Nonparametric LOESS regression was used to characterize cross-sectional distance and velocity growth curves for males and females, and consider links with key life history milestones. Sex differences became evident between 8.5 and 10.0 years of age. Thereafter, female growth velocities declined, while males showed increased growth velocities until 10.0-14.5 years across dimensions. Body dimensions varied in growth; females and males reached 98% of maximum body length at 11.7 and 13.1 years, respectively. Females attained 95.3% of maximum body length by mean age at first birth. Neonates were 31% of maternal size, and doubled in size by mean weaning age. Males reached maximum body and arm length and back width before emigration, but experienced continued growth in head dimensions. While comparable data are scarce, our findings provide preliminary support for the prediction that mountain gorillas reach maximum body size at earlier ages compared to more frugivorous western gorillas. Data from other wild populations are needed to better understand comparative great ape development, and investigate links between trajectories of physical, behavioral, and reproductive maturation. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Inflationary dynamics with a smooth slow-roll to constant-roll era transition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Odintsov, S.D. [ICREA, Passeig Luis Companys, 23, 08010 Barcelona (Spain); Oikonomou, V.K., E-mail: odintsov@ieec.uab.es, E-mail: v.k.oikonomou1979@gmail.com [Laboratory for Theoretical Cosmology, Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics (TUSUR), Lenin Avenue 40, 634050 Tomsk (Russian Federation)

2017-04-01

In this paper we investigate the implications of having a varying second slow-roll index on the canonical scalar field inflationary dynamics. We shall be interested in cases that the second slow-roll can take small values and correspondingly large values, for limiting cases of the function that quantifies the variation of the second slow-roll index. As we demonstrate, this can naturally introduce a smooth transition between slow-roll and constant-roll eras. We discuss the theoretical implications of the mechanism we introduce and we use various illustrative examples in order to better understand the new features that the varying second slow-roll index introduces. In the examples we will present, the second slow-roll index has exponential dependence on the scalar field, and in one of these cases, the slow-roll era corresponds to a type of α-attractor inflation. Finally, we briefly discuss how the combination of slow-roll and constant-roll may lead to non-Gaussianities in the primordial perturbations.

Assessing the match between female primary students’ anthropometric dimensions and furniture dimensions in Hamadan schools in 2013

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Heidarimoghadam

2015-04-01

Conclusion: Despite differences in the body dimensions of primary school students, there is no regularity in using of school furniture. Overall, the dimensions of existing benches and desks are not matched with the anthropometric dimensions of students.

PLANNING THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR TIMISOARA GROWTH POLE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cătălina-Livia POPA

2014-06-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to show that planning the quality of life at local level through economic development can be a new approach for policy makers and community in improving quality of life. In this purpose, the Quality Function Deployment (QFD model will be use to planning the quality of life and to identify the main directions of economic development to support improving the quality of life at the level of Timisoara Growth Pole from Romania. The dimensions of quality of life are analyzed starting from the point of view of inhabitants. The results include a new approach in which the dimensions of quality of life are the key element that orients economic development in order to improve the quality of life of human being. The case study results refer to the main elements of quality of life at Timisoara Growth Pole and the relevant directions of economic development to improve the quality of life for Timisoara Growth Pole.

Stochastic models for tumoral growth

Science.gov (United States)

Escudero, Carlos

2006-02-01

Strong experimental evidence has indicated that tumor growth belongs to the molecular beam epitaxy universality class. This type of growth is characterized by the constraint of cell proliferation to the tumor border and the surface diffusion of cells at the growing edge. Tumor growth is thus conceived as a competition for space between the tumor and the host, and cell diffusion at the tumor border is an optimal strategy adopted for minimizing the pressure and helping tumor development. Two stochastic partial differential equations are reported in this paper in order to correctly model the physical properties of tumoral growth in (1+1) and (2+1) dimensions. The advantage of these models is that they reproduce the correct geometry of the tumor and are defined in terms of polar variables. An analysis of these models allows us to quantitatively estimate the response of the tumor to an unfavorable perturbation during growth.

Face recognition using slow feature analysis and contourlet transform

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yuehao; Peng, Lingling; Zhe, Fuchuan

2018-04-01

In this paper we propose a novel face recognition approach based on slow feature analysis (SFA) in contourlet transform domain. This method firstly use contourlet transform to decompose the face image into low frequency and high frequency part, and then takes technological advantages of slow feature analysis for facial feature extraction. We named the new method combining the slow feature analysis and contourlet transform as CT-SFA. The experimental results on international standard face database demonstrate that the new face recognition method is effective and competitive.

The Ketogenic Diet Does Not Affect Growth of Hedgehog Pathway Medulloblastoma in Mice

Science.gov (United States)

Dang, Mai T.; Wehrli, Suzanne; Dang, Chi V.; Curran, Tom

2015-01-01

The altered metabolism of cancer cells has long been viewed as a potential target for therapeutic intervention. In particular, brain tumors often display heightened glycolysis, even in the presence of oxygen. A subset of medulloblastoma, the most prevalent malignant brain tumor in children, arises as a consequence of activating mutations in the Hedgehog (HH) pathway, which has been shown to promote aerobic glycolysis. Therefore, we hypothesized that a low carbohydrate, high fat ketogenic diet would suppress tumor growth in a genetically engineered mouse model of medulloblastoma. However, we found that the ketogenic diet did not slow the growth of spontaneous tumors or allograft flank tumors, and it did not exhibit synergy with a small molecule inhibitor of Smoothened. Serum insulin was significantly reduced in mice fed the ketogenic diet, but no alteration in PI3 kinase activity was observed. These findings indicate that while the ketogenic diet may be effective in inhibiting growth of other tumor types, it does not slow the growth of HH-medulloblastoma in mice. PMID:26192445

The Ketogenic Diet Does Not Affect Growth of Hedgehog Pathway Medulloblastoma in Mice.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mai T Dang

Full Text Available The altered metabolism of cancer cells has long been viewed as a potential target for therapeutic intervention. In particular, brain tumors often display heightened glycolysis, even in the presence of oxygen. A subset of medulloblastoma, the most prevalent malignant brain tumor in children, arises as a consequence of activating mutations in the Hedgehog (HH pathway, which has been shown to promote aerobic glycolysis. Therefore, we hypothesized that a low carbohydrate, high fat ketogenic diet would suppress tumor growth in a genetically engineered mouse model of medulloblastoma. However, we found that the ketogenic diet did not slow the growth of spontaneous tumors or allograft flank tumors, and it did not exhibit synergy with a small molecule inhibitor of Smoothened. Serum insulin was significantly reduced in mice fed the ketogenic diet, but no alteration in PI3 kinase activity was observed. These findings indicate that while the ketogenic diet may be effective in inhibiting growth of other tumor types, it does not slow the growth of HH-medulloblastoma in mice.

Enhancing physics demos using iPhone slow motion

Science.gov (United States)

Lincoln, James

2017-12-01

Slow motion video enhances our ability to perceive and experience the physical world. This can help students and teachers especially in cases of fast moving objects or detailed events that happen too quickly for the eye to follow. As often as possible, demonstrations should be performed by the students themselves and luckily many of them will already have this technology in their pockets. The "S" series of iPhone has the slow motion video feature standard, which also includes simultaneous sound recording (somewhat unusual among slow motion cameras). In this article I share some of my experiences using this feature and provide advice on how to successfully use this technology in the classroom.

Study of Dynamic Characteristics of Slow-Changing Process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yinong Li

2000-01-01

Full Text Available A vibration system with slow-changing parameters is a typical nonlinear system. Such systems often occur in the working and controlled process of some intelligent structures when vibration and deformation exist synchronously. In this paper, a system with slow-changing stiffness, damping and mass is analyzed in an intelligent structure. The relationship between the amplitude and the frequency of the system is studied, and its dynamic characteristic is also discussed. Finally, a piecewise linear method is developed on the basis of the asymptotic method. The simulation and the experiment show that a suitable slow-changing stiffness can restrain the amplitude of the system when the system passes through the resonant region.

Frequency response of slow beam extraction process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Toyama, Takeshi; Sato, Hikaru; Marutsuka, Katsumi; Shirakata, Masashi.

1994-01-01

A servo control system has been incorporated into the practical slow extraction system in order to stabilize the spill structure less than a few kHz. Frequency responses of the components of the servo-spill control system and the open-loop frequency response were measured. The beam transfer function of the slow extraction process was derived from the measured data and approximated using a simple function. This is utilized to improve the performance of the servo-loop. (author)

Fractal-dimension analysis detects cerebral changes in preterm infants with and without intrauterine growth restriction.

Science.gov (United States)

Esteban, Francisco J; Padilla, Nelly; Sanz-Cortés, Magdalena; de Miras, Juan Ruiz; Bargalló, Núria; Villoslada, Pablo; Gratacós, Eduard

2010-12-01

In the search for a useful parameter to detect and quantify subtle brain abnormalities in infants with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), we hypothesised that the analysis of the structural complexity of grey matter (GM) and white matter (WM) using the fractal dimension (FD), a measurement of the topological complexity of an object, could be established as a useful tool for quantitative studies of infant brain morphology. We studied a sample of 18 singleton IUGR premature infants, (12.72 months corrected age (CA), range: 12 months-14 months), 15 preterm infants matched one-to-one for gestational age (GA) at delivery (12.6 months; range: 12 months-14 months), and 15 neonates born at term (12.4 months; range: 11 months-14 months). The neurodevelopmental outcome was assessed in all subjects at 18 months CA according to the Bayley Scale for Infant and Toddler Development - Third edition (BSID-III). For MRI acquisition and processing, the infants were scanned at 12 months CA, in a TIM TRIO 3T scanner, sleeping naturally. Images were pre-processed using the SPM5 toolbox, the GM and WM segmented under the VBM5 toolbox, and the box-counting method was applied for FD calculation of normal and skeletonized segmented images. The results showed a significant decrease of the FD of the brain GM and WM in the IUGR group when compared to the preterm or at-term controls. We also identified a significant linear tendency of both GM and WM FD from IUGR to preterm and term groups. Finally, multiple linear analyses between the FD of the GM or WM and the neurodevelopmental scales showed a significant regression of the language and motor scales with the FD of the GM. In conclusion, a decreased FD of the GM and WM in IUGR infants could be a sensitive indicator for the investigation of structural brain abnormalities in the IUGR population at 12 months of age, which can also be related to functional disorders. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A mathematical model of the growth of uterine myomas.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, C Y; Ward, J P

2014-12-01

Uterine myomas or fibroids are common, benign smooth muscle tumours that can grow to 10  cm or more in diameter and are routinely removed surgically. They are typically slow- growing, well-vascularised, spherical tumours that, on a macro-scale, are a structurally uniform, hard elastic material. We present a multi-phase mathematical model of a fully vascularised myoma growing within a surrounding elastic tissue. Adopting a continuum approach, the model assumes the conservation of mass and momentum of four phases, namely cells/collagen, extracellular fluid, arterial and venous phases. The cell/collagen phase is treated as a poro-elastic material, based on a linear stress-strain relationship, and Darcy's law is applied to describe flow in the extracellular fluid and the two vascular phases. The supply of extracellular fluid is dependent on the capillary flow rate and mean capillary pressure expressed in terms of the arterial and venous pressures. Cell growth and division is limited to the myoma domain and dependent on the local stress in the material. The resulting model consists of a system of nonlinear partial differential equations with two moving boundaries. Numerical solutions of the model successfully reproduce qualitatively the clinically observed three-phase "fast-slow-fast" growth profile that is typical for myomas. The results suggest that this growth profile requires stress-induced resistance to growth by the surrounding tissue and a switch-like cell growth response to stress. Analysis of large-time solutions reveal that while there is a functioning vasculature throughout the myoma, exponential growth results, otherwise power-law growth is predicted. An extensive survey of the effect of parameters on model solutions is also presented, and in particular, the enhanced growth caused by factors such as oestrogen is predicted by the model.

Assessing Effects and interactions among key variables affecting the growth of mixotrophic microalgae: pH, inoculum volume, and growth medium composition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ale, Marcel Tutor; Pinelo, Manuel; Meyer, Anne S.

2014-01-01

of growth medium (MWC) and wastewater at different proportions (from 20 to 50% of MWC) and at different pH (from 7 to 9). Multilinear regression analysis of the biomass productivity data showed that for SA and CD the biomass productivity was independent of the proportion of medium (MWC), while the growth...... of CV and CR slowed down in mixtures with high proportions of wastewater. However, the biomass productivity of SA was dependent on pH, while the growth of the other microalgae was independent of pH (7-9). When evaluating the influence of pH and proportion of medium, CD appeared most robust among...

Slow-light solitons in atomic media and doped optical fibers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Korolkova, N.; Sinclair, G.F.; Leonhardt, U.

2005-01-01

Full text: We show how to generate optical solitons in atomic media that can be slowed down or accelerated at will. Such slow-light soliton is a polarization structure propagating with a speed that is proportional to the total intensity of the incident light. Ultimately, this method will allow the storage, retrieval and possibly the manipulation of the quantum information in atomic media. Solitons with controllable speed are constructed generalizing the theory of slow-light propagation to an integrable regime of nonlinear dynamics. For the first time, the inverse scattering method for slow-light solitons is developed. In contrast to the pioneering experimental demonstrations of slow light, we consider strong spin modulations where the non-linear dynamics of light and atoms creates polarization solitons. We also analyze how this scheme can be implemented in optical fibers doped with Lambda-atoms. In quantum-information applications, such slow-light solitons could complement the use of quantum solitons in fibres with the advantage of storing quantum information in media and complement methods for quantum memory with the advantages of non-linear dynamics, in particular the intrinsic stability of solitons. (author)

Post-traumatic Growth in Breast Cancer Patients: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rahele Fallah

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Background: Studies about cancer-related trauma have shown that psychological reactions to the disease are not exclusively negative but most patients also report positive experiences. These positive perceptions are also called post-traumatic growth and benefit patients psychologically, spiritually, and physically. Therefore,we have conducted a study about how women with breast cancer perceive posttraumatic growth and the recognition of its dimensions in Iran.Methods: This qualitative study was conducted by using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. A total of 23 women with breast cancer who met the inclusion criteria were selected after which patients completed a researcher-generated open-ended questionnaire. Data were analyzed according to the guidelines for the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and Smith method.Results: Participants’ perceptions in this study about post-traumatic growth included three themes: spiritual growth, appreciation of life, and increased personal strengths.Conclusion: Themes found in this study conformed to dimensions according to the Tedeschi and Calhoun theory of post-traumatic growth. However, relations with others were not found in the present study. We propose that interventions should be designed and implemented in order to facilitate and enhance post-traumatic growth.

Nonlinear dynamical triggering of slow slip

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Johnson, Paul A [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Knuth, Matthew W [WISCONSIN; Kaproth, Bryan M [PENN STATE; Carpenter, Brett [PENN STATE; Guyer, Robert A [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Le Bas, Pierre - Yves [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Daub, Eric G [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Marone, Chris [PENN STATE

2010-12-10

Among the most fascinating, recent discoveries in seismology have been the phenomena of triggered slip, including triggered earthquakes and triggered-tremor, as well as triggered slow, silent-slip during which no seismic energy is radiated. Because fault nucleation depths cannot be probed directly, the physical regimes in which these phenomena occur are poorly understood. Thus determining physical properties that control diverse types of triggered fault sliding and what frictional constitutive laws govern triggered faulting variability is challenging. We are characterizing the physical controls of triggered faulting with the goal of developing constitutive relations by conducting laboratory and numerical modeling experiments in sheared granular media at varying load conditions. In order to simulate granular fault zone gouge in the laboratory, glass beads are sheared in a double-direct configuration under constant normal stress, while subject to transient perturbation by acoustic waves. We find that triggered, slow, silent-slip occurs at very small confining loads ({approx}1-3 MPa) that are smaller than those where dynamic earthquake triggering takes place (4-7 MPa), and that triggered slow-slip is associated with bursts of LFE-like acoustic emission. Experimental evidence suggests that the nonlinear dynamical response of the gouge material induced by dynamic waves may be responsible for the triggered slip behavior: the slip-duration, stress-drop and along-strike slip displacement are proportional to the triggering wave amplitude. Further, we observe a shear-modulus decrease corresponding to dynamic-wave triggering relative to the shear modulus of stick-slips. Modulus decrease in response to dynamical wave amplitudes of roughly a microstrain and above is a hallmark of elastic nonlinear behavior. We believe that the dynamical waves increase the material non-affine elastic deformation during shearing, simultaneously leading to instability and slow-slip. The inferred

Moral Personality Growth

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jana Kalin

1998-12-01

Full Text Available Learning in terms of personality growth is a life-long process, just as personality growth itself is a life-long process. Kalin presents a number of psychological theories and their impact on moral development - which is an integral part of personality growth. The paper further treats the formation and changing of beliefs, and the role of education in the two processes. Great emphasis is put on cognitive theories; Kalin explains those formulated by L. Kohlberg and J. Rest. In discussing the process of shaping and changing one's views, special emphasis is put on the environment, or rather the social group an individual belongs to, and on the influence of personality traits and experience. The paper juxtaposes the influence - strengths and weaknesses - of the psychology of persuasion and education on forming and changing one's views, taken into consideration that views consist of cognitive, emotive and conative dimensions.

Slow Antihydrogen

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gabrielse, G.; Speck, A.; Storry, C.H.; Le Sage, D.; Guise, N.; Larochelle, P.C.; Grzonka, D.; Oelert, W.; Schepers, G.; Sefzick, T.; Pittner, H.; Herrmann, M.; Walz, J.; Haensch, T.W.; Comeau, D.; Hessels, E.A.

2004-01-01

Slow antihydrogen is now produced by two different production methods. In Method I, large numbers of H atoms are produced during positron-cooling of antiprotons within a nested Penning trap. In a just-demonstrated Method II, lasers control the production of antihydrogen atoms via charge exchange collisions. Field ionization detection makes it possible to probe the internal structure of the antihydrogen atoms being produced - most recently revealing atoms that are too tightly bound to be well described by the guiding center atom approximation. The speed of antihydrogen atoms has recently been measured for the first time. After the requested overview, the recent developments are surveyed

Temporal dimension in cognitive models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Decortis, F.; Cacciabue, P.C.

1988-01-01

Increased attention has been given to the role of humans in nuclear power plant safety, but one aspect seldom considered is the temporal dimension of human reasoning. Time is recognized as crucial in human reasoning and has been the subject of empirical studies where cognitive mechanisms and strategies to face the temporal dimension have been studied. The present study shows why temporal reasoning is essential in Human Reliability Analysis and how it could be introduced in a human model. Accounting for the time dimension in human behaviour is discussed first, with reference to proven field studies. Then, theoretical modelling of the temporal dimension in human reasoning and its relevance in simulation of cognitive activities of plant operator is discussed. Finally a Time Experience Model is presented

Slow Food: por um alimento bom, limpo e justo

OpenAIRE

Porazzi, Fabiele

2012-01-01

REVIEW:PETRINI, Carlo. Slow Food: princípios da nova gastronomia. Trad. de Renata Lúcia Botina. São Paulo: Editora Senac, 2009. 245 p. RESEÑA:PETRINI, Carlo. Slow Food: princípios da nova gastronomia. Trad. de Renata Lúcia Botina. São Paulo: Editora Senac, 2009. 245 p. http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1807-1384.2012v9n1p384 RESENHA:PETRINI, Carlo. Slow Food: princípios da nova gastronomia. Trad. de Renata Lúcia Botina. São Paulo: Editora Senac, 2009. 245 p.

Slow light invisibility, teleportation, and other mysteries of light

CERN Document Server

Perkowitz, Sidney

2011-01-01

Slow Light is a popular treatment of today's astonishing breakthroughs in the science of light. Even though we don't understand light's quantum mysteries, we can slow it to a stop and speed it up beyond its Einsteinian speed limit, 186,000 miles/sec; use it for quantum telecommunications; teleport it; manipulate it to create invisibility; and perhaps generate hydrogen fusion power with it. All this is lucidly presented for non-scientists who wonder about teleportation, Harry Potter invisibility cloaks, and other fantastic outcomes. Slow Light shows how the real science and the fantasy inspire

Mental slowness in patients with Parkinson's disease: Associations with cognitive functions?

Science.gov (United States)

Vlagsma, Thialda T; Koerts, Janneke; Tucha, Oliver; Dijkstra, Hilde T; Duits, Annelien A; van Laar, Teus; Spikman, Jacoba M

2016-10-01

Motor slowness (bradykinesia) is a core feature of Parkinson's disease (PD). It is often assumed that patients show mental slowness (bradyphrenia) as well; however, evidence for this is debated. The aims of this study were to determine whether PD patients show mental slowness apart from motor slowness and, if this is the case, to what extent this affects their performance on neuropsychological tests of attention, memory, and executive functions (EF). Fifty-five nondemented PD patients and 65 healthy controls were assessed with a simple information-processing task in which reaction and motor times could be separated. In addition, all patients and a second control group (N = 138) were assessed with neuropsychological tests of attention, memory, and EF. While PD patients showed significantly longer reaction times than healthy controls, their motor times were not significantly longer. Reaction and motor times were only moderately correlated and were not related to clinical measures of disease severity. PD patients performed significantly worse on tests of attention and EF, and for the majority of neuropsychological tests 11-51% of the patients showed a clinically impaired performance. Reaction times did not, however, predict patients' test performance, while motor times were found to have a significant negative influence on tests of attention. PD patients show mental slowness, which can be separated from motor slowness. Neuropsychological test performance is not influenced by mental slowness; however, motor slowness can have a negative impact. When interpreting neuropsychological test performance of PD patients in clinical practice, motor slowness needs to be taken into account.

Modification of cell growth rate by irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Itoh, Hisao; Takemasa, Kazuhiko; Nishiguchi, Iku; Ka, Wei-Jei; Kutsuki, Shoji; Hashimoto, Shozo

1993-01-01

The effect of irradiation on the proliferation kinetics of the monolayer cells has been studied. Two human cell lines with different doubling times (HeLa-P and RMUG) and two clones that have the same radiosensitivity but different doubling times (HeLa-R and HeLa-S) were irradiated with a daily dose of 2 Gy for 6 days. The number of the clonogenic cells/dish was calculated by multiplying the number of total cell/dish by the survival fraction. In the rapidly growing cells (HeLa-P, HeLa-R), the number of the clonogenic cells was not decreased by the first two fractionated irradiations, but decreased thereafter at a similar rate as by single-dose fractionation, whereas the clonogenic cell number decreased from the first fractionated irradiation in the slowly growing cells (RMUG, HeLa-S). When the proliferation of clonogenic cell number increased along with a similar growth rates that was seen in all other types of cells. Further, no correlation was seen between the growth rates of cells without irradiation and cells that received irradiation. This latter result suggests that the slow growth rate of non-irradiated cells may not be the predictive factor of the tumor cure and the interruption of radiotherapy may reduce the beneficial effect of this treatment even in slow growing tumors. (author)

Growth rates of Porites astreoides and Orbicella franksi in mesophotic habitats surrounding St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

Science.gov (United States)

Groves, Sarah H.; Holstein, Daniel M.; Enochs, Ian C.; Kolodzeij, Graham; Manzello, Derek P.; Brandt, Marilyn E.; Smith, Tyler B.

2018-06-01

Mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) are deep (> 30 m), light-dependent communities that are abundant in many parts of the global ocean. MCEs are potentially connected to shallow reefs via larval exchange and may act as refuges for reef organisms. However, MCE community level recovery after disturbance, and thus, community resilience, are poorly understood components of their capacity as refuges. To assess the potential for disturbance and growth to drive community structure on MCEs with differential biophysical conditions and coral communities, we collected colonies of Orbicella franksi and Porites astreoides and used computerized tomography to quantify calcification. The divergence of coral growth rates in MCEs with different environmental conditions may be species specific; habitat-forming O. franksi have slow and consistent growth rates of 0.2 cm yr-1 below 30 m, regardless of mesophotic habitat, compared to 1.0 cm yr-1 in shallow-water habitats. Slow skeletal growth rates in MCEs suggest that rates of recovery from disturbance will likely also be slow. Localized buffering of MCEs from the stressors affecting shallow reefs is therefore crucial to the long-term capacity of these sites to serve as refugia, given that skeletal extension and recovery from disturbance in MCEs will be significantly slower than on shallow reefs.

Mental slowness in patients with Parkinson's disease : Associations with cognitive functions?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vlagsma, Thialda T.; Koerts, Janneke; Tucha, Oliver; Dijkstra, Hilde T.; Duits, Annelien A.; Laar, van Teus; Spikman, Jacoba M.

2016-01-01

Introduction: Motor slowness (bradykinesia) is a core feature of Parkinson's disease (PD). It is often assumed that patients show mental slowness (bradyphrenia) as well; however, evidence for this is debated. The aims of this study were to determine whether PD patients show mental slowness apart

Divergence, spacetime dimension and fractal structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakamura, Hiroshi

2000-01-01

With a Cantor spacetime in mind, we assume the dimension of spacetime to be slightly smaller than four. Within the framework of QED, this dimension can be determined by calculating Feynman diagrams. We infer that the dimension of spacetime may be influenced by holes in space. (author)

Three-dimensional investigation of grain orientation effects on void growth in commercially pure titanium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pushkareva, Marina; Adrien, Jérôme; Maire, Eric; Segurado, Javier; Llorca, Javier; Weck, Arnaud

2016-01-01

The fracture process of commercially pure titanium was visualized in model materials containing artificial holes. These model materials were fabricated using a femtosecond laser coupled with a diffusion bonding technique to obtain voids in the interior of titanium samples. Changes in void dimensions during in-situ straining were recorded in three dimensions using x-ray computed tomography. Void growth obtained experimentally was compared with the Rice and Tracey model which predicted well the average void growth. A large scatter in void growth data was explained by differences in grain orientation which was confirmed by crystal plasticity simulations. It was also shown that grain orientation has a stronger effect on void growth than intervoid spacing and material strength. Intervoid spacing, however, appears to control whether the intervoid ligament failure is ductile or brittle.

Three-dimensional investigation of grain orientation effects on void growth in commercially pure titanium

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pushkareva, Marina [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ottawa, 150 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1N 6N5 (Canada); Adrien, Jérôme; Maire, Eric [Université de Lyon, INSA-Lyon, MATEIS CNRS UMR5510, 7 Avenue Jean Capelle, F-69621 Villeurbanne (France); Segurado, Javier; Llorca, Javier [IMDEA Materials Institute, C/Eric Kandel 2, 28906 Getafe, Madrid (Spain); Department of Materials Science, Polytechnic University of Madrid, E. T. S. de Ingenieros de Caminos, 28040 Madrid (Spain); Weck, Arnaud, E-mail: aweck@uottawa.ca [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ottawa, 150 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1N 6N5 (Canada); IMDEA Materials Institute, C/Eric Kandel 2, 28906 Getafe, Madrid (Spain); Department of Physics, University of Ottawa, 150 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1N 6N5 (Canada); Centre for Research in Photonics at the University of Ottawa, 800 King Edward Ave., Ottawa, ON, Canada K1N 6N5 (Canada)

2016-08-01

The fracture process of commercially pure titanium was visualized in model materials containing artificial holes. These model materials were fabricated using a femtosecond laser coupled with a diffusion bonding technique to obtain voids in the interior of titanium samples. Changes in void dimensions during in-situ straining were recorded in three dimensions using x-ray computed tomography. Void growth obtained experimentally was compared with the Rice and Tracey model which predicted well the average void growth. A large scatter in void growth data was explained by differences in grain orientation which was confirmed by crystal plasticity simulations. It was also shown that grain orientation has a stronger effect on void growth than intervoid spacing and material strength. Intervoid spacing, however, appears to control whether the intervoid ligament failure is ductile or brittle.

Dimensions des stabulations 2018

OpenAIRE

Früh, Barbara; Maurer, Veronika; Schneider, Claudia; Schürmann, Stefan; Spengler Neff, Anet; Werne, Steffen

2018-01-01

Les «Dimensions des stabulations» contiennent toutes les dimensions pour les stabulations et les parcours pour la production animale en agriculture biologique. Cette liste sert d’instrument de planification pour les éleveurs, d’outil de travail pour la vulgarisation et d’ouvrage de référence pour le contrôle bio.

Investigation of TXNIP (thioredoxin-interacting protein) and TRX (thioredoxin) genes for growth-related traits in pigs.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Mei; Geiger, Becky; Deeb, Nader; Rothschild, Max F

2007-03-01

It is well known that TRX and its endogenous inhibitor TXNIP help sustain the cellular reduction/oxidation balance in response to various stresses and both play a crucial role in cell proliferation and growth. Five SNPs were found in TXNIP and these allowed us to map it by linkage to SSC4. Three of the SNPs were used for association analyses in three commercial pig populations (Duroc, Hampshire, and synthetic line) with more than 1200 animals. Both the single-marker and haplotype analyses revealed significant effects of TXNIP on hot carcass weight, test daily gain, and lifetime daily gain. TRX was mapped on SSC1 but no significant associations with growth-related traits were found in the synthetic pig line in which the SNP was informative. The expression levels of TXNIP and TRX were then detected in two groups (fast growth and slow growth, respectively) with different genetic backgrounds for growth. Compared with the slow-growth group, TXNIP expression was significantly lower in the fast-growth group, whereas a marked increase in TRX expression was observed in fast-growth group. Our findings suggest that TXNIP has effects on growth-related traits in pigs and further investigations will be necessary to elucidate the underlying mechanisms involved.

In situ hybridisation of a large repertoire of muscle-specific transcripts in fish larvae: the new superficial slow-twitch fibres exhibit characteristics of fast-twitch differentiation.

Science.gov (United States)

Chauvigné, F; Ralliere, C; Cauty, C; Rescan, P Y

2006-01-01

Much of the present information on muscle differentiation in fish concerns the early embryonic stages. To learn more about the maturation and the diversification of the fish myotomal fibres in later stages of ontogeny, we investigated, by means of in situ hybridisation, the developmental expression of a large repertoire of muscle-specific genes in trout larvae from hatching to yolk resorption. At hatching, transcripts for fast and slow muscle protein isoforms, namely myosins, tropomyosins, troponins and myosin binding protein C were present in the deep fast and the superficial slow areas of the myotome, respectively. During myotome expansion that follows hatching, the expression of fast isoforms became progressively confined to the borders of the fast muscle mass, whereas, in contrast, slow muscle isoform transcripts were uniformly expressed in all the slow fibres. Transcripts for several enzymes involved in oxidative metabolism such as citrate synthase, cytochrome oxidase component IV and succinate dehydrogenase, were present throughout the whole myotome of hatching embryos but in later stages became concentrated in slow fibre as well as in lateral fast fibres. Surprisingly, the slow fibres that are added externally to the single superficial layer of the embryonic (original) slow muscle fibres expressed not only slow twitch muscle isoforms but also, transiently, a subset of fast twitch muscle isoforms including MyLC1, MyLC3, MyHC and myosin binding protein C. Taken together these observations show that the growth of the myotome of the fish larvae is associated with complex patterns of muscular gene expression and demonstrate the unexpected presence of fast muscle isoform-expressing fibres in the most superficial part of the slow muscle.

Detecting chaos, determining the dimensions of tori and predicting slow diffusion in Fermi-Pasta-Ulam lattices by the Generalized Alignment Index method

Science.gov (United States)

Skokos, C.; Bountis, T.; Antonopoulos, C.

2008-12-01

The recently introduced GALI method is used for rapidly detecting chaos, determining the dimensionality of regular motion and predicting slow diffusion in multi-dimensional Hamiltonian systems. We propose an efficient computation of the GALIk indices, which represent volume elements of k randomly chosen deviation vectors from a given orbit, based on the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) algorithm. We obtain theoretically and verify numerically asymptotic estimates of GALIs long-time behavior in the case of regular orbits lying on low-dimensional tori. The GALIk indices are applied to rapidly detect chaotic oscillations, identify low-dimensional tori of Fermi-Pasta-Ulam (FPU) lattices at low energies and predict weak diffusion away from quasiperiodic motion, long before it is actually observed in the oscillations.

Growth of electron plasma waves above and below f/sub p/ in the electron foreshock

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cairns, I.H.; Fung, S.F.

1988-01-01

With increasing penetration into the electron foreshock the characteristics of the electrostatic waves driven by streaming electrons change continuously from the familiar intense waves near the electron plasma frequency f/sub p/ to weak bursts of broadband waves initially significantly above f/sub p/ and then well below f/sub p/. Growth well below f/sub p/ has been demonstrated theoretically for slow, cold electron beams, and the broadband waves below f/sub p/ in the foreshock have been interpreted in terms of the very cold or sharp ''cutoff'' feature of a cutoff distribution for small cutoff speeds. However, an approximate theoretical criterion indicates that the electron beams studied hitherto are unstable to reactive rather than kinetic growth, thereby favoring very narrow-band growth contrary to the observed broadband growth. In this paper we determine conditions for kinetic growth well above and below f/sub p/ for both cold and warm beams over a wide range of beam densities and speeds. We verify that kinetic growth below f/sub p/ is possible for cold, slow beams and for warm, dense beams (over wide range of beam velocities)

Role of slow oscillatory activity and slow wave sleep in consolidation of episodic-like memory in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Oyanedel, Carlos N; Binder, Sonja; Kelemen, Eduard; Petersen, Kimberley; Born, Jan; Inostroza, Marion

2014-12-15

Our previous experiments showed that sleep in rats enhances consolidation of hippocampus dependent episodic-like memory, i.e. the ability to remember an event bound into specific spatio-temporal context. Here we tested the hypothesis that this enhancing effect of sleep is linked to the occurrence of slow oscillatory and spindle activity during slow wave sleep (SWS). Rats were tested on an episodic-like memory task and on three additional tasks covering separately the where (object place recognition), when (temporal memory), and what (novel object recognition) components of episodic memory. In each task, the sample phase (encoding) was followed by an 80-min retention interval that covered either a period of regular morning sleep or sleep deprivation. Memory during retrieval was tested using preferential exploration of novelty vs. familiarity. Consistent with previous findings, the rats which had slept during the retention interval showed significantly stronger episodic-like memory and spatial memory, and a trend of improved temporal memory (although not significant). Object recognition memory was similarly retained across sleep and sleep deprivation retention intervals. Recall of episodic-like memory was associated with increased slow oscillatory activity (0.85-2.0Hz) during SWS in the retention interval. Spatial memory was associated with increased proportions of SWS. Against our hypothesis, a relationship between spindle activity and episodic-like memory performance was not detected, but spindle activity was associated with object recognition memory. The results provide support for the role of SWS and slow oscillatory activity in consolidating hippocampus-dependent memory, the role of spindles in this process needs to be further examined. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

New universality class in three dimensions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Codello, A.; Safari, M.; Vacca, G. P.

2017-01-01

We study the Blume-Capel universality class in d=103-ϵ dimensions. The renormalization group flow is extracted by looking at poles in fractional dimension of three loop diagrams using MS. The theory is the only nontrivial universality class which admits an expansion to three dimensions with ϵ=13<...

A review of slow-release fluoride devices.

Science.gov (United States)

Toumba, K J; Al-Ibrahim, N S; Curzon, M E J

2009-09-01

Fluoride has been used to combat dental caries using a number of different clinical approaches. An exciting relatively new development is fluoride slow-releasing devices that consistently elevate intra-oral fluoride levels of plaque and saliva for prolonged periods of up to two years. The literature on the use of slow-releasing fluoride devices in dentistry were reviewed. A Medline search on key words was carried out. All papers in English were individually reviewed. Slow-releasing fluoride devices have been shown to be effective in elevating salivary fluoride levels in both animals and human studies and to enhance the remineralisation of dental enamel. They have been demonstrated to be safe to use and without the risk of fluoride toxicity. A double blind randomised clinical trial demonstrated 76% fewer new carious surface increment in high caries-risk children after two years. These devices have a number of potential uses in dentistry and in particular have great potential for caries prevention of non-compliant high caries-risk groups.

Stress tensor for GYM in 4p dimensions and viability of GYM-Higgs in four dimensions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

O'Brien, G.M.; Tchrakian, D.H.

1985-01-01

We present the stress tensor for GYM systems in 4p dimensions and give a method to compute this tensor density for a GYM-Higgs system in four dimensions. This computation is made explicitly for the first such system and its viability in four Euclidean dimensions is checked. The possibility of extracting phenomenological models from this system is analysed briefly. (Author)

Single-cell screening of photosynthetic growth and lactate production by cyanobacteria

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hammar, P.; Angermayr, S.A.; Sjostrom, S.L.; van der Meer, J.; Hellingwerf, K.J.; Hudson, E.P.; Joensson, H.N.

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: Photosynthetic cyanobacteria are attractive for a range of biotechnological applications including biofuel production. However, due to slow growth, screening of mutant libraries using microtiter plates is not feasible. RESULTS: We present a method for high-throughput, single-cell

Pierce-type dispersion relation for an intense relativistic electron beam interacting with a slow-wave structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, C.

1994-01-01

A Pierce-type dispersion relation is derived for the interaction of an intense relativistic electron beam with a cylindrical slow-wave structure of arbitrary corrugation depth. It is shown that near a resonance, the Pierce parameter can be expressed in terms of the vacuum dispersion function and the beam current. The dispersion relation is valid in both the low-current (Compton) regime and the high-current (Raman) regime. The dispersion characteristics of the interaction, such as the linear instability growth rate and bandwidth, are analyzed for both regimes

Quick-Connect, Slow-Disconnect Bolt

Science.gov (United States)

Weddendorf, Bruce

1995-01-01

Proposed bolt functions similarly to device described in article "Quick-Connect, Slow-Disconnect Nut" (MFS-28833). Bolt installed in standard threaded hole simply by pushing it into hole. Once inserted, bolt withdrawn only by turning it in conventional way.

Transitions in a probabilistic interface growth model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alves, S G; Moreira, J G

2011-01-01

We study a generalization of the Wolf–Villain (WV) interface growth model based on a probabilistic growth rule. In the WV model, particles are randomly deposited onto a substrate and subsequently move to a position nearby where the binding is strongest. We introduce a growth probability which is proportional to a power of the number n i of bindings of the site i: p i ∝n i ν . Through extensive simulations, in (1 + 1) dimensions, we find three behaviors depending on the ν value: (i) if ν is small, a crossover from the Mullins–Herring to the Edwards–Wilkinson (EW) universality class; (ii) for intermediate values of ν, a crossover from the EW to the Kardar–Parisi–Zhang (KPZ) universality class; and, finally, (iii) for large ν values, the system is always in the KPZ class. In (2 + 1) dimensions, we obtain three different behaviors: (i) a crossover from the Villain–Lai–Das Sarma to the EW universality class for small ν values; (ii) the EW class is always present for intermediate ν values; and (iii) a deviation from the EW class is observed for large ν values

Evolutionary Consequence of a Trade-Off between Growth and Maintenance along with Ribosomal Damages.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bei-Wen Ying

Full Text Available Microorganisms in nature are constantly subjected to a limited availability of resources and experience repeated starvation and nutrition. Therefore, microbial life may evolve for both growth fitness and sustainability. By contrast, experimental evolution, as a powerful approach to investigate microbial evolutionary strategies, often targets the increased growth fitness in controlled, steady-state conditions. Here, we address evolutionary changes balanced between growth and maintenance while taking nutritional fluctuations into account. We performed a 290-day-long evolution experiment with a histidine-requiring Escherichia coli strain that encountered repeated histidine-rich and histidine-starved conditions. The cells that experienced seven rounds of starvation and re-feed grew more sustainably under prolonged starvation but dramatically lost growth fitness under rich conditions. The improved sustainability arose from the evolved capability to use a trace amount of histidine for cell propagation. The reduced growth rate was attributed to mutations genetically disturbing the translation machinery, that is, the ribosome, ultimately slowing protein translation. This study provides the experimental demonstration of slow growth accompanied by an enhanced affinity to resources as an evolutionary adaptation to oscillated environments and verifies that it is possible to evolve for reduced growth fitness. Growth economics favored for population increase under extreme resource limitations is most likely a common survival strategy adopted by natural microbes.

Critical slowing down and error analysis in lattice QCD simulations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schaefer, Stefan [Humboldt-Universitaet, Berlin (Germany). Inst. fuer Physik; Sommer, Rainer; Virotta, Francesco [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Zeuthen (Germany). John von Neumann-Inst. fuer Computing NIC

2010-09-15

We study the critical slowing down towards the continuum limit of lattice QCD simulations with Hybrid Monte Carlo type algorithms. In particular for the squared topological charge we find it to be very severe with an effective dynamical critical exponent of about 5 in pure gauge theory. We also consider Wilson loops which we can demonstrate to decouple from the modes which slow down the topological charge. Quenched observables are studied and a comparison to simulations of full QCD is made. In order to deal with the slow modes in the simulation, we propose a method to incorporate the information from slow observables into the error analysis of physical observables and arrive at safer error estimates. (orig.)

Slowing down of 100 keV antiprotons in Al foils

Science.gov (United States)

Nordlund, K.

2018-03-01

Using energy degrading foils to slow down antiprotons is of interest for producing antihydrogen atoms. I consider here the slowing down of 100 keV antiprotons, that will be produced in the ELENA storage ring under construction at CERN, to energies below 10 keV. At these low energies, they are suitable for efficient antihydrogen production. I simulate the antihydrogen motion and slowing down in Al foils using a recently developed molecular dynamics approach. The results show that the optimal Al foil thickness for slowing down the antiprotons to below 5 keV is 910 nm, and to below 10 keV is 840 nm. Also the lateral spreading of the transmitted antiprotons is reported and the uncertainties discussed.

Critical slowing down and error analysis in lattice QCD simulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schaefer, Stefan; Sommer, Rainer; Virotta, Francesco

2010-09-01

We study the critical slowing down towards the continuum limit of lattice QCD simulations with Hybrid Monte Carlo type algorithms. In particular for the squared topological charge we find it to be very severe with an effective dynamical critical exponent of about 5 in pure gauge theory. We also consider Wilson loops which we can demonstrate to decouple from the modes which slow down the topological charge. Quenched observables are studied and a comparison to simulations of full QCD is made. In order to deal with the slow modes in the simulation, we propose a method to incorporate the information from slow observables into the error analysis of physical observables and arrive at safer error estimates. (orig.)

Towards nanorod LEDs: Numerical predictions and controlled growth

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koelper, Christopher [Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH, Leibnizstr. 4, 93055 Regensburg (Germany); Computational Electronics and Photonics, Universitaet Kassel, Wilhelmshoeher Allee 71, 34121 Kassel (Germany); Bergbauer, Werner [Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH, Leibnizstr. 4, 93055 Regensburg (Germany); Institut fuer Halbleitertechnik, TU Braunschweig, Hans-Sommer-Strasse 66, 38106 Braunschweig (Germany); Drechsel, Philipp; Sabathil, Matthias; Strassburg, Martin; Lugauer, Hans-Juergen [Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH, Leibnizstr. 4, 93055 Regensburg (Germany); Witzigmann, Bernd [Computational Electronics and Photonics, Universitaet Kassel, Wilhelmshoeher Allee 71, 34121 Kassel (Germany); Fuendling, Soenke; Li, Shunfeng; Wehmann, Hergo-Heinrich; Waag, Andreas [Institut fuer Halbleitertechnik, TU Braunschweig, Hans-Sommer-Strasse 66, 38106 Braunschweig (Germany)

2011-07-15

We present a numerical optimization of nanorod geometries with respect to the optical properties of an electrically driven LED emitting in the green spectral range. It is shown that an overall Purcell enhancement as well as directional emission can be achieved at an emission wavelength of 550 nm with nanorods of 110 nm radius. Position-controlled growth on patterned substrates demonstrates that the required dimensions are accessible by varying growth parameters and growth time in a large volume MOVPE reactor. (copyright 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

Efficient Planar Structured Perovskite Solar Cells with Enhanced Open-Circuit Voltage and Suppressed Charge Recombination Based on a Slow Grown Perovskite Layer from Lead Acetate Precursor.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Cong; Guo, Qiang; Wang, Zhibin; Bai, Yiming; Liu, Lin; Wang, Fuzhi; Zhou, Erjun; Hayat, Tasawar; Alsaedi, Ahmed; Tan, Zhan'ao

2017-12-06

For planar structured organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells (PerSCs) with the poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene:polystyrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) hole transport layer, the open-circuit voltage (V oc ) of the device is limited to be about 1.0 V, resulting in inferior performance in comparison with TiO 2 -based planar counterparts. Therefore, increasing V oc of the PEDOT:PSS-based planar device is an important way to enhance the efficiency of the PerSCs. Herein, we demonstrate a novel approach for perovskite film formation and the film is formed by slow growth from lead acetate precursor via a one-step spin-coating process without the thermal annealing (TA) process. Because the perovskite layer grows slowly and naturally, high-quality perovskite film can be achieved with larger crystalline particles, less defects, and smoother surface morphology. Ultraviolet absorption, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy (photoluminescence), and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy are used to clarify the crystallinity, morphology, and internal defects of perovskite thin films. The power conversion efficiency of p-i-n PerSCs based on slow-grown film (16.33%) shows greatly enhanced performance compared to that of the control device based on traditional thermally annealed perovskite film (14.33%). Furthermore, the V oc of the slow-growing device reaches 1.12 V, which is 0.1 V higher than that of the TA device. These findings indicate that slow growth of the perovskite layer from lead acetate precursor is a promising approach to achieve high-quality perovskite film for high-performance PerSCs.

Slow light in moving media

Science.gov (United States)

Leonhardt, U.; Piwnicki, P.

2001-06-01

We review the theory of light propagation in moving media with extremely low group velocity. We intend to clarify the most elementary features of monochromatic slow light in a moving medium and, whenever possible, to give an instructive simplified picture.

Stoichiometry and kinetics of poly-{beta}-hydroxybutyrate metabolism in aerobic, slow growing, activated sludge cultures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Beun, J.J.; Paletta, F.; Loosdrecht, M.C.M. Van; Heijnen, J.J.

2000-02-20

This paper discusses the poly-{beta}-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) metabolism in aerobic, slow growing, activated sludge cultures, based on experimental data and on a metabolic model. The dynamic conditions which occur in activated sludge processes were simulated in a 2-L sequencing batch reactor (SBR) by subjecting a mixed microbial population to successive periods of external substrate availability (feast period) and no external substrate availability (famine period). Under these conditions intracellular storage and consumption of PHB was observed. It appeared that in the feast period, 66% to almost 100% of the substrate consumed is used for storage of PHB, the remainder is used for growth and maintenance processes. Furthermore, it appeared that at high sludge retention time (SRT) the growth rate in the feast and famine periods was the same. With decreasing SRT the growth rate in the feast period increased relative to the growth rate in the famine period. Acetate consumption and PHB production in the feast period both proceeded with a zero-order rate in acetate and PHB concentration respectively. PHB consumption in the famine period could best be described kinetically with a nth order degradation equation in PHB concentration. The obtained results are discussed in the context of the general activated sludge models.

New dimensions new hopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sarkar, Utpal

2001-05-01

We live in a four dimensional world. But the idea of unification of fundamental interactions lead us to higher dimensional theories. Recently a new theory with extra dimensions has emerged where only gravity propagates in the extra dimension and all other interactions are confined to only four dimensions. This theory gives us many new hopes. In earlier theories unification of strong, weak and the electromagnetic forces was possible at around 10 16 GeV in a grand unified theory (GUT) and it could get unified with gravity at around the Planck scale of 10 19 GeV. With this new idea it is possible to bring down all unification scales within the reach of the new generation accelerators, i.e., around 10 4 GeV. (author)

Dimension of linear models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Høskuldsson, Agnar

1996-01-01

Determination of the proper dimension of a given linear model is one of the most important tasks in the applied modeling work. We consider here eight criteria that can be used to determine the dimension of the model, or equivalently, the number of components to use in the model. Four...... the basic problems in determining the dimension of linear models. Then each of the eight measures are treated. The results are illustrated by examples....... of these criteria are widely used ones, while the remaining four are ones derived from the H-principle of mathematical modeling. Many examples from practice show that the criteria derived from the H-principle function better than the known and popular criteria for the number of components. We shall briefly review...

Slow oscillations orchestrating fast oscillations and memory consolidation.

Science.gov (United States)

Mölle, Matthias; Born, Jan

2011-01-01

Slow-wave sleep (SWS) facilitates the consolidation of hippocampus-dependent declarative memory. Based on the standard two-stage memory model, we propose that memory consolidation during SWS represents a process of system consolidation which is orchestrated by the neocortical memory. The slow oscillations temporally group neuronal activity into up-states of strongly enhanced neuronal activity and down-states of neuronal silence. In a feed-forward efferent action, this grouping is induced not only in the neocortex but also in other structures relevant to consolidation, namely the thalamus generating 10-15Hz spindles, and the hippocampus generating sharp wave-ripples, with the latter well known to accompany a replay of newly encoded memories taking place in hippocampal circuitries. The feed-forward synchronizing effect of the slow oscillation enables the formation of spindle-ripple events where ripples and accompanying reactivated hippocampal memory information become nested into the single troughs of spindles. Spindle-ripple events thus enable reactivated memory-related hippocampal information to be fed back to neocortical networks in the excitable slow oscillation up-state where they can induce enduring plastic synaptic changes underlying the effective formation of long-term memories. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Slow oscillation amplitudes and up-state lengths relate to memory improvement.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dominik P J Heib

Full Text Available There is growing evidence of the active involvement of sleep in memory consolidation. Besides hippocampal sharp wave-ripple complexes and sleep spindles, slow oscillations appear to play a key role in the process of sleep-associated memory consolidation. Furthermore, slow oscillation amplitude and spectral power increase during the night after learning declarative and procedural memory tasks. However, it is unresolved whether learning-induced changes specifically alter characteristics of individual slow oscillations, such as the slow oscillation up-state length and amplitude, which are believed to be important for neuronal replay. 24 subjects (12 men aged between 20 and 30 years participated in a randomized, within-subject, multicenter study. Subjects slept on three occasions for a whole night in the sleep laboratory with full polysomnography. Whereas the first night only served for adaptation purposes, the two remaining nights were preceded by a declarative word-pair task or by a non-learning control task. Slow oscillations were detected in non-rapid eye movement sleep over electrode Fz. Results indicate positive correlations between the length of the up-state as well as the amplitude of both slow oscillation phases and changes in memory performance from pre to post sleep. We speculate that the prolonged slow oscillation up-state length might extend the timeframe for the transfer of initial hippocampal to long-term cortical memory representations, whereas the increase in slow oscillation amplitudes possibly reflects changes in the net synaptic strength of cortical networks.

Single-cell screening of photosynthetic growth and lactate production by cyanobacteria

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hammar, Petter; Angermayr, S. Andreas; Sjostrom, Staffan L.

2015-01-01

Background: Photosynthetic cyanobacteria are attractive for a range of biotechnological applications including biofuel production. However, due to slow growth, screening of mutant libraries using microtiter plates is not feasible.Results: We present a method for high-throughput, single-cell analy...

Influence of Soil Type and Drainage on Growth of Swamp Chestnut Oak (Quercus Michauxii Nutt.) Seedlings

Science.gov (United States)

Donald D. Hook

1969-01-01

Swamp chestnut oak (Quercus michauxii Nutt.) seedlings were grown for 2 years in five soil types in drained and undrained pots. First-year height growth was related to soil type and pot drainage, but second-year height growth was related only to soil type. Results suggest that swamp chestnut oak is site-sensitive. But slow growth, a maximum of 2...

Late-type components of slow novae and symbiotic stars

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Allen, D A [Anglo-Australian Observatory, Epping (Australia); Royal Observatory, Edinburgh (UK))

1980-08-01

It is argued that the various types of symbiotic stars and the slow novae are the same phenomena exhibiting a range of associated time-scales, the slow novae being of intermediate speed. Evidence is summarized showing that both types of object contain normal M giants or mira variables. This fact is at odds with currently fashionable single-star models for slow novae, according to which the M star is totally disrupted before the outburst. Spectral types of the late-type components are presented for nearly 80 symbiotic stars and slow novae, derived from 2 ..mu..m spectroscopy. It is found that both the intensity of the emission spectrum and the electron density of the gas are functions of the spectral type of the late-type star. Explanations for these correlations are given. On the assumption that the late-type components are normal giants, spectroscopic parallaxes are determined; credible distances are derived which indicate that the known symbiotic stars have been sampled as far afield as the Galactic Centre. Hydrogen shell flashes on a white dwarf accreting gas from the late-type components offer an attractive explanation of the phenomena of slow novae and symbiotic stars, and such models are discussed in the concluding section.

CREDIBILITY OF WEBSITES THROUGH FACETS AND DIMENSIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oana ȚUGULEA

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This study aims to investigate important aspects to concern on when building a commercial presentation website, in order to increase the credibility of the certain categories of a presentation website. Factor analysis was used in order to identify the dimensions of each category. The categories and resulted dimensions discussed were: “image” – with the following dimensions: Projected image, Specialist, Advert and Coherence, “relationship” – with the following dimensions: Bi-directional communication and Contact information, “product presentation” – with the following dimensions: In-depth description and Variety and “site functionality” – with the following dimensions: Usefulness, Official relationship, Complete communication, Exterior communication, Information format and References.

Continuous neutron slowing down theory applied to resonances

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Segev, M.

1977-01-01

Neutronic formalisms that discretize the neutron slowing down equations in large numerical intervals currently account for the bulk effect of resonances in a given interval by the narrow resonance approximation (NRA). The NRA reduces the original problem to an efficient numerical formalism through two assumptions: resonance narrowness with respect to the scattering bands in the slowing down equations and resonance narrowness with respect to the numerical intervals. Resonances at low energies are narrow neither with respect to the slowing down ranges nor with respect to the numerical intervals, which are usually of a fixed lethargy width. Thus, there are resonances to which the NRA is not applicable. To stay away from the NRA, the continuous slowing down (CSD) theory of Stacey was invoked. The theory is based on a linear expansion in lethargy of the collision density in integrals of the slowing down equations and had notable success in various problems. Applying CSD theory to the assessment of bulk resonance effects raises the problem of obtaining efficient quadratures for integrals involved in the definition of the so-called ''moderating parameter.'' The problem was solved by two approximations: (a) the integrals were simplified through a rationale, such that the correct integrals were reproduced for very narrow or very wide resonances, and (b) the temperature-broadened resonant line shapes were replaced by nonbroadened line shapes to enable analytical integration. The replacement was made in such a way that the integrated capture and scattering probabilities in each resonance were preserved. The resulting formalism is more accurate than the narrow-resonance formalisms and is equally as efficient

Expression of multiple slow myosin heavy chain genes reveals a diversity of zebrafish slow twitch muscle fibres with differing requirements for Hedgehog and Prdm1 activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Elworthy, Stone; Hargrave, Murray; Knight, Robert; Mebus, Katharina; Ingham, Philip W

2008-06-01

The zebrafish embryo develops a series of anatomically distinct slow twitch muscle fibres that characteristically express genes encoding lineage-specific isoforms of sarcomeric proteins such as MyHC and troponin. We show here that different subsets of these slow fibres express distinct members of a tandem array of slow MyHC genes. The first slow twitch muscle fibres to differentiate, which are specified by the activity of the transcription factor Prdm1 (also called Ubo or Blimp1) in response to Hedgehog (Hh) signalling, express the smyhc1 gene. Subsequently, secondary slow twitch fibres differentiate in most cases independently of Hh activity. We find that although some of these later-forming fibres also express smyhc1, others express smyhc2 or smyhc3. We show that the smyhc1-positive fibres express the ubo (prdm1) gene and adopt fast twitch fibre characteristics in the absence of Prdm1 activity, whereas those that do not express smyhc1 can differentiate independently of Prdm1 function. Conversely, some smyhc2-expressing fibres, although independent of Prdm1 function, require Hh activity to form. The adult trunk slow fibres express smyhc2 and smyhc3, but lack smyhc1 expression. The different slow fibres in the craniofacial muscles variously express smyhc1, smyhc2 and smyhc3, and all differentiate independently of Prdm1.

Applications of Slow Light in Telecommunications

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Boyd, Robert W; Gauthier, Daniel J; Gaeta, Alexander L

2006-01-01

.... Now, optical scientists are turning their attention toward developing useful applications of slow light, including controllable optical delay lines, optical buffers and true time delay methods...

DIMENSIONS OF CARCASS AND INTERNAL ORGANS IN YOUNG SHEEP, UNDER CONDITIONS OF GRAZING ON ASSOCIATIONS OF PERENNIAL GRAMINACEOUS AND LEGUME

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. DRAGOMIR

2009-05-01

Full Text Available The temporary pastures’ floristic structure influences directly the growth and development of young sheep during grazing. The associations, beside the graminaceous and perennial legume species (white clover and birdsfoot trefoil, contribute mostly to the increase of carcass dimension and organ weight. The quality of the forage from such a pasture, better balanced in terms of energy and protein, influences all growth and development parameters in young sheep.

Meaning and Posttraumatic Growth Among Survivors of the September 2013 Colorado Floods.

Science.gov (United States)

Dursun, Pinar; Steger, Michael F; Bentele, Christoph; Schulenberg, Stefan E

2016-12-01

In the wake of significant adversity, a range of recovery outcomes are possible, from prolonged distress to minimal effects on functioning and even psychological growth. Finding meaning in one's life is thought to facilitate optimal recovery from such adversity. Research on psychological growth and recovery often focuses on the daily hassles or significant traumas of convenience samples or on people's psychological recovery from medical illness. A small body of research is developing to test theories of growth among survivors of natural disasters. The present study of 57 survivors of the 2013 Colorado floods tested the incremental relations between posttraumatic growth (PTG) and dimensions of meaning in life, vitality, and perceived social support. The most consistent relations observed were among the one dimension of meaning-search for meaning-perceived social support, and PTG. Despite the limitations of this study, we conclude that search for meaning in life may be an important part of recovery from natural disasters, floods being one example. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Accelerated Dimension-Independent Adaptive Metropolis

KAUST Repository

Chen, Yuxin

2016-10-27

This work describes improvements by algorithmic and architectural means to black-box Bayesian inference over high-dimensional parameter spaces. The well-known adaptive Metropolis (AM) algorithm [H. Haario, E. Saksman, and J. Tamminen, Bernoulli, (2001), pp. 223--242] is extended herein to scale asymptotically uniformly with respect to the underlying parameter dimension for Gaussian targets, by respecting the variance of the target. The resulting algorithm, referred to as the dimension-independent adaptive Metropolis (DIAM) algorithm, also shows improved performance with respect to adaptive Metropolis on non-Gaussian targets. This algorithm is further improved, and the possibility of probing high-dimensional (with dimension $d \\\\geq 1000$) targets is enabled, via GPU-accelerated numerical libraries and periodically synchronized concurrent chains (justified a posteriori). Asymptotically in dimension, this GPU implementation exhibits a factor of four improvement versus a competitive CPU-based Intel MKL (math kernel library) parallel version alone. Strong scaling to concurrent chains is exhibited, through a combination of longer time per sample batch (weak scaling) with fewer necessary samples to convergence. The algorithm performance is illustrated on several Gaussian and non-Gaussian target examples, in which the dimension may be in excess of one thousand.

Inflation from periodic extra dimensions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Higaki, Tetsutaro [Department of Physics, Keio University, Kanagawa 223-8522 (Japan); Tatsuta, Yoshiyuki, E-mail: thigaki@rk.phys.keio.ac.jp, E-mail: y_tatsuta@akane.waseda.jp [Department of Physics, Waseda University, Tokyo 169-8555 (Japan)

2017-07-01

We discuss a realization of a small field inflation based on string inspired supergravities. In theories accompanying extra dimensions, compactification of them with small radii is required for realistic situations. Since the extra dimension can have a periodicity, there will appear (quasi-)periodic functions under transformations of moduli of the extra dimensions in low energy scales. Such a periodic property can lead to a UV completion of so-called multi-natural inflation model where inflaton potential consists of a sum of multiple sinusoidal functions with a decay constant smaller than the Planck scale. As an illustration, we construct a SUSY breaking model, and then show that such an inflaton potential can be generated by a sum of world sheet instantons in intersecting brane models on extra dimensions containing orbifold. We show also predictions of cosmic observables by numerical analyzes.

Cross-twinning model of fcc crystal growth

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van de Waal, B.W.

1995-01-01

The theory developed in 1960 by Wagner, Hamilton and Seidensticker (WHS-theory) to explain observed crystal growth phenomena in Ge is critically reviewed and shown to be capable of explaining preservation of ABC stacking order in two dimensions in fcc crystals of effectively spherical closed shell

Individualized Education Program (IEP Mata Pelajaran Kimia untuk Siswa Slow Learner

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rovik Rovik

2017-06-01

[Siswa slow learner menempati populasi tertinggi untuk siswa berkebutuhan khusus. Sebagai salah satu jenis learning disability, slow learner masih dapat belajar dengan teman sebayanya asalkan guru mempersiapkan program pembelajaran khusus yang telah dimodifikasi dari pembelajaran reguler. Program ini disebut Individualized Education Program (IEP. Penelitian ini mencoba mengembangkan IEP mata pelajaran kimia untuk slow learner, mengidentifikasi komponen yang dibutuhkan dalam menyusun IEP untuk slow learner, dan menganalisis judgement reviewers (guru kimia dan guru pendamping khusus dan peer reviewers terhadap IEP yang dikembangkan. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan slow learner membutuhkan IEP sebagai dokumen utama panduan guru dalam pembelajaran kimia di kelas. Komponen pengembangan IEP meliputi identitas peserta didik, tim pengembangan dan pelaksana, asesmen yang pernah dilakukan, hambatan dan kekuatan, kebutuhan dan perlakuan, faktor pendukung dan penghambat, rencana perlakuan, dan modifikasi terhadap perangkat pembelajaran kimia reguler

Gender Dimensions Framework Application

OpenAIRE

Rubin, D.

2011-01-01

This is a presentation of the The Gender Dimensions Framework (GDF). The GDF was developed to provide guidance to USAID staff and partner organizations for working with USAID projects looking at promoting equitable opportunities in agricultural value chains. The GDF contemplates four dimensions: access to and control over key productive assets (tangible and intangible); beliefs and perceptions; practices and participation, and legal frameworks. CCRA-7 (Gendered Knowledge)

Supersymmetry breaking with extra dimensions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zwirner, Fabio

2004-01-01

This talk reviews some aspects of supersymmetry breaking in the presence of extra dimensions. The first part is a general introduction, recalling the motivations for supersymmetry and extra dimensions, as well as some unsolved problems of four-dimensional models of supersymmetry breaking. The central part is a more focused introduction to a mechanism for (super)symmetry breaking, proposed first by Scherk and Schwarz, where extra dimensions play a crucial role. The last part is devoted to the description of some recent results and of some open problems. (author)

Magnetic-field-dependent slow light in strontium atom-cavity system

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Zeng-Xing; Wang, Bao; Kong, Cui; Xiong, Hao; Wu, Ying

2018-03-01

Realizing and controlling a long-lived slow light is of fundamental importance in physics and may find applications in quantum router and quantum information processing. In this work, we propose a feasible scheme to realize the slow light in a strontium atom-cavity system, in which the value of group delay can be continuously adjusted within a range of different Zeeman splittings and vacuum Rabi frequencies by varying the applied static magnetic field and the atom number instead of a strong coherent field. In our scheme, the major limitations of the slow-light structure, namely, dispersion and loss, can be effectively resolved, and so our scheme may help to achieve the practical application of slow light relevant to the optical communication network.

Foliar growth of Eriocnema fulva Naudin (Melastomataceae in a forest fragment in southeastern Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

PM. Andrade

Full Text Available Eriocnema fulva Naudin is an endangered herbaceous, perennial, iteroparous, evergreen species geographically restricted to southeastern-center Minas Gerais State, SE Brazil. The individuals occur as patches on rocky riverbanks shaded by seasonal semideciduous Atlantic forest; they are fixed by roots and have a pending stem. Aiming to investigate leaf development and its importance for individual survival, fifteen contiguous plots (1 x 1 m were set down in Jambreiro Forest (19° 58’-59’ S and 43° 52’-55’ W, 800-1100 m altitude, in the municipality of Nova Lima. A total of 260 individuals with the largest leaf blade length > 1 cm was tagged and measured in 1997, 1998, and 1999. Leaf expansion was recorded each month during 26 months until April 2000. Plant size was measured through leaf blade length, petiole length, stem length, and number of leaves. Significant changes were detected only after two years, thus indicating that plant growth is slow. The proportion of surviving leaves after two years was 60%. Total blade expansion took over 14 months, a slow growth rate when compared to leaves of other tropical forest canopy and understory species. Long leaf lifespans are to be found in plants exhibiting slow growth, and we observed that some leaves lived longer than three years. Petiole growth can help to better position the leaf in the search for light, thus contributing to the growth and survival of the plant. The relationships among size measures were significant, reinforcing the great contribution of leaf size for plant size. The age of the largest individual was estimated as 36 years based on the median annual leaf production rate.

An improved slow neutron spectrometer at nuclear research reactor et-r r-1. Vol. 2

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Abu El-Ela, M A [Reactor and Neutron Physics, Nuclear Research Center, AEA, Cairo (Egypt)

1996-03-01

An improved slow neutron selector has been aligned at channel number 6 of the nuclear research reactor ET-R R-1 Inshas. The flight path is 4 meter. The collimator-rotor-collimator system has the dimensions 0.3 x 2.5 x 70 cm with the rotor diameter 16 cm and 3 slits of 0.3 x 2.5 cm cross section. The rotor rotation rate varies between 600 r.p.m. the counting system has one of the best modern high electronic advanced technology time analyzer with minimum dwell time 2 sec, 8192 channels and a double detector inputs of TTL and NEG NIM standard pulses. The analyzer external triggering signals are of TTL standard type. A special design {sup 3} He detector for time of flight spectrometry has been used in the SNS. The reactor bare thermal neutron spectrum has been successfully measured, to show good agreement with the previous data. 6 figs.

Compacted dimensions and singular plasmonic surfaces

Science.gov (United States)

Pendry, J. B.; Huidobro, Paloma Arroyo; Luo, Yu; Galiffi, Emanuele

2017-11-01

In advanced field theories, there can be more than four dimensions to space, the excess dimensions described as compacted and unobservable on everyday length scales. We report a simple model, unconnected to field theory, for a compacted dimension realized in a metallic metasurface periodically structured in the form of a grating comprising a series of singularities. An extra dimension of the grating is hidden, and the surface plasmon excitations, though localized at the surface, are characterized by three wave vectors rather than the two of typical two-dimensional metal grating. We propose an experimental realization in a doped graphene layer.

Volume growth rate of acoustic neurinomas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laasonen, E.M.; Troupp, H.

1986-01-01

Of 79 acoustic neurinomas seen between June 1980 and June 1984, at least two CT scans were available for each of 23 tumours (21 patients); the scans were performed at intervals of at least 6 months. The volume growth rate of the tumours was either moderate, with a volume doubling time ranging from 205 to 545 days, or slow, with a doubling time ranging from 1090 days to no observable growth. No single clinical, radiological or histological feature correlated with any type of growth rate. However, some conclusions were drawn. If a primary CT scan is negative, at least 1 year should elapse before it is worthwhile taking another scan, even though audiological findings suggest growth; after an apparently radical removal, at least 3 years should elapse before a check CT scan is worthwhile; and if a small acoustic neurinoma is diagnosed, but for some reason not operated upon, a second CT scan should be carried out 1 year later in order to reassess the case. (orig.)

Pellet dimension checker

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marmo, A.R.

1980-01-01

A pellet dimension checker was developed for use in making nuclear-fuel pellets. This checker eliminates operator handling of the pellet but permits remote-monitoring of the operation, and is thus suitable for mass production of green fuel pellets particularly in reprocessing plants handling irradiated uranium or plutonium. It comprises a rotatable arm for transferring a pellet from a conveyor to several dimensional measuring stations and back to the conveyor if the dimensions of the pellet are within predetermined limits. If the pellet is not within the limits, the arm removes the pellet from the process stream. (DN)

Fractal dimension of turbulent black holes

Science.gov (United States)

Westernacher-Schneider, John Ryan

2017-11-01

We present measurements of the fractal dimension of a turbulent asymptotically anti-de Sitter black brane reconstructed from simulated boundary fluid data at the perfect fluid order using the fluid-gravity duality. We argue that the boundary fluid energy spectrum scaling as E (k )˜k-2 is a more natural setting for the fluid-gravity duality than the Kraichnan-Kolmogorov scaling of E (k )˜k-5 /3, but we obtain fractal dimensions D for spatial sections of the horizon H ∩Σ in both cases: D =2.584 (1 ) and D =2.645 (4 ), respectively. These results are consistent with the upper bound of D =3 , thereby resolving the tension with the recent claim in Adams et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 151602 (2014), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.151602] that D =3 +1 /3 . We offer a critical examination of the calculation which led to their result, and show that their proposed definition of the fractal dimension performs poorly as a fractal dimension estimator on one-dimensional curves with known fractal dimension. Finally, we describe how to define and in principle calculate the fractal dimension of spatial sections of the horizon H ∩Σ in a covariant manner, and we speculate on assigning a "bootstrapped" value of fractal dimension to the entire horizon H when it is in a statistically quasisteady turbulent state.

Slow light in semiconductor waveguides: Theory and experiment