Precipitating convection in cold air: virtual potential temperature structure

Simulations of precipitating convection are used to illustrate the importance of the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) budget in determining the virtual potential-temperature structure of the convecting atmosphere. Two sets of simulations are presented: in one the surface temperature was increased to simulate cold air flowing over a warmer surface and in the second a cooling profile, representing cold-air advection, was imposed. It is shown that the terms in the TKE budgets for both sets of simulations scale in the same way, but that the non-dimensional profiles are different. It is suggested that this is associated with the effects of sublimation of ice. It is shown that the magnitudes of the transport and precipitation terms in the virtual potential temperature budget are determined by the scaling of the TKE budget. Some implications of these results for parametrizations of moist convection are discussed. Copyright © 2007 Royal Meteorological Society

Stratospheric temperature and radiative forcing response to 11-year solar cycle changes in irradiance and ozone

The 11-yr solar cycle temperature response to spectrally resolved solar irradiance changes and associated ozone changes is calculated using a fixed dynamical heating (FDH) model. Imposed ozone changes are from satellite observations, in contrast to some earlier studies. A maximum of 1.6 K is found in the equatorial upper stratosphere and a secondary maximum of 0.4 K in the equatorial lower stratosphere, forming a double peak in the vertical. The upper maximum is primarily due to the irradiance changes while the lower maximum is due to the imposed ozone changes. The results compare well with analyses using the 40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-40) and NCEP/NCAR datasets. The equatorial lower stratospheric structure is reproduced even though, by definition, the FDH calculations exclude dynamically driven temperature changes, suggesting an important role for an indirect dynamical effect through ozone redistribution. The results also suggest that differences between the Stratospheric Sounding Unit (SSU)/Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU) and ERA-40 estimates of the solar cycle signal can be explained by the poor vertical resolution of the SSU/MSU measurements. The adjusted radiative forcing of climate change is also investigated. The forcing due to irradiance changes was 0.14 W m−2, which is only 78% of the value obtained by employing the standard method of simple scaling of the total solar irradiance (TSI) change. The difference arises because much of the change in TSI is at wavelengths where ozone absorbs strongly. The forcing due to the ozone change was only 0.004 W m−2 owing to strong compensation between negative shortwave and positive longwave forcings.

Adaptive approximate Bayesian computation

Sequential techniques can enhance the efficiency of the approximate Bayesian computation algorithm, as in Sisson et al.'s (2007) partial rejection control version. While this method is based upon the theoretical works of Del Moral et al. (2006), the application to approximate Bayesian computation results in a bias in the approximation to the posterior. An alternative version based on genuine importance sampling arguments bypasses this difficulty, in connection with the population Monte Carlo method of Cappe et al. (2004), and it includes an automatic scaling of the forward kernel. When applied to a population genetics example, it compares favourably with two other versions of the approximate algorithm.

Life-history evolution under a production constraint

The recently formulated metabolic theory of ecology has profound implications for the evolution of life histories. Metabolic rate constrains the scaling of production with body mass, so that larger organisms have lower rates of production on a mass-specific basis than smaller ones. Here, we explore the implications of this constraint for life-history evolution. We show that for a range of very simple life histories, Darwinian fitness is equal to birth rate minus death rate. So, natural selection maximizes birth and production rates and minimizes death rates. This implies that decreased body size will generally be favored because it increases production, so long as mortality is unaffected. Alternatively, increased body size will be favored only if it decreases mortality or enhances reproductive success sufficiently to override the preexisting production constraint. Adaptations that may favor evolution of larger size include niche shifts that decrease mortality by escaping predation or that increase fecundity by exploiting new abundant food sources. These principles can be generalized to better understand the intimate relationship between the genetic currency of evolution and the metabolic currency of ecology.

Comments on 'Balance and the slow quasimanifold: some explicit results'

The concept of slow vortical dynamics and its role in theoretical understanding is central to geophysical fluid dynamics. It leads, for example, to “potential vorticity thinking” (Hoskins et al. 1985). Mathematically, one imagines an invariant manifold within the phase space of solutions, called the slow manifold (Leith 1980; Lorenz 1980), to which the dynamics are constrained. Whether this slow manifold truly exists has been a major subject of inquiry over the past 20 years. It has become clear that an exact slow manifold is an exceptional case, restricted to steady or perhaps temporally periodic flows (Warn 1997). Thus the concept of a “fuzzy slow manifold” (Warn and Ménard 1986) has been suggested. The idea is that nearly slow dynamics will occur in a stochastic layer about the putative slow manifold. The natural question then is, how thick is this layer? In a recent paper, Ford et al. (2000) argue that Lighthill emission—the spontaneous emission of freely propagating acoustic waves by unsteady vortical flows—is applicable to the problem of balance, with the Mach number Ma replaced by the Froude number F, and that it is a fundamental mechanism for this fuzziness. They consider the rotating shallow-water equations and find emission of inertia–gravity waves at O(F2). This is rather surprising at first sight, because several studies of balanced dynamics with the rotating shallow-water equations have gone beyond second order in F, and found only an exponentially small unbalanced component (Warn and Ménard 1986; Lorenz and Krishnamurthy 1987; Bokhove and Shepherd 1996; Wirosoetisno and Shepherd 2000). We have no technical objection to the analysis of Ford et al. (2000), but wish to point out that it depends crucially on R 1, where R is the Rossby number. This condition requires the ratio of the characteristic length scale of the flow L to the Rossby deformation radius LR to go to zero in the limit F → 0. This is the low Froude number scaling of Charney (1963), which, while originally designed for the Tropics, has been argued to be also relevant to mesoscale dynamics (Riley et al. 1981). If L/LR is fixed, however, then F → 0 implies R → 0, which is the standard quasigeostrophic scaling of Charney (1948; see, e.g., Pedlosky 1987). In this limit there is reason to expect the fuzziness of the slow manifold to be “exponentially thin,” and balance to be much more accurate than is consistent with (algebraic) Lighthill emission.

Langmuir turbulence and surface heating in the ocean surface boundary layer

This study uses large-eddy simulation to investigate the structure of the ocean surface boundary layer (OSBL) in the presence of Langmuir turbulence and stabilizing surface heat fluxes. The OSBL consists of a weakly stratified layer, despite a surface heat flux, above a stratified thermocline. The weakly stratified (mixed) layer is maintained by a combination of a turbulent heat flux produced by the wave-driven Stokes drift and downgradient turbulent diffusion. The scaling of turbulence statistics, such as dissipation and vertical velocity variance, is only affected by the surface heat flux through changes in the mixed layer depth. Diagnostic models are proposed for the equilibrium boundary layer and mixed layer depths in the presence of surface heating. The models are a function of the initial mixed layer depth before heating is imposed and the Langmuir stability length. In the presence of radiative heating, the models are extended to account for the depth profile of the heating.

Fermion perturbations in string theory black holes

In this paper we study fermion perturbations in four-dimensional black holes of string theory, obtained either from a non-extreme configuration of three intersecting five-branes with a boost along the common string or from a non-extreme intersecting system of two two-branes and two five-branes. The Dirac equation for the massless neutrino field, after conformal re-scaling of the metric, is written as a wave equation suitable to study the time evolution of the perturbation. We perform a numerical integration of the evolution equation, and with the aid of Prony fitting of the time-domain profile, we calculate the complex frequencies that dominate the quasinormal ringing stage, and also determine these quantities by the semi-analytical sixth-order WKB method. We also find numerically the decay factor of fermion fields at very late times, and show that the falloff is identical to those showing for massless fields in other four-dimensional black hole spacetimes.

Mean Motion in Stochastic Plasmas With a Space-Dependent Diffusion Coefficient

Radial transport in the tokamap, which has been proposed as a simple model for the motion in a stochastic plasma, is investigated. A theory for previous numerical findings is presented. The new results are stimulated by the fact that the radial diffusion coefficients is space-dependent. The space-dependence of the transport coefficient has several interesting effects which have not been elucidated so far. Among the new findings are the analytical predictions for the scaling of the mean radial displacement with time and the relation between the Fokker-Planck diffusion coefficient and the diffusion coefficient from the mean square displacement. The applicability to other systems is also discussed. (c) 2009 WILEY-VCH GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

A coordenação pedagógica e o processo de inclusão do aluno com necessidade educacionais especiais:Um estudo de caso

The school inclusion presents a number of challenges that has been mobilizing initiatives and studies about its effectiveness. If on one hand in such studies and initiatives it becomes important to emphasize on the role and training of teachers, on the other, there is few studies about the role (and performance) of the pedagogical coordination in face of this process. In this sense, this research focuses on the role of educational coordination in face of the school inclusion of students with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and it undertakes the following study s questions: has the action by the coordinator contributed to the process of including students with Special Educational Needs? How is it presented in the process of inclusion of students with SEN in regular education? And it aims to: investigate the role of the pedagogical coordinator in the process of inclusion of students with Special Educational Needs of Primary Education at regular schools; and to analyze the limits and possibilities of the coordinator actions in the process of inclusion of students with SEN. For the effectiveness of the research, a state school of Elementary School located at the city of Natal/RN was taken as an empiric field. It was selected as research subjects 4 coordinators, 2 teachers of the Multifunctional Resources Room and 2 teachers of 6th to 9th grades. The methodological approach that was used in this research is consistent with the qualitative approach, and it is configured as a case study, as it is understood that this type of research responds to the objective of the study, assuming the observation of everyday school life, the educational document analysis and interviews with the subjects as procedures and tools to build data. The construction and analysis of the data were followed by a dialogue with the literature dedicated to coordinating education and school enrollment. Considering the responsibilities of the contemporary pedagogical coordination due to the challenges and possibilities of schooling for all students, specially regarding to what is referred as collaborative work and ongoing training of teachers, this study points out to the lack of an articulated action related to the school inclusion process, considering the monitoring of the teaching activity and its dialogue with the Multifunctional Resources Room. Moreover, the emphasis on meeting the daily school routines and the compliance with bureaucratic procedures, put it into second, restructuring of the Political-Pedagogical and the possibility of mobilization of school around the problematization and systematization of an inclusive school project. The effectiveness of school s inclusion, therefore, implies the scaling of the functions of the pedagogical coordination, as well as the reorganization of the school it self, to ensure the mediation of collaborative actions, contemplating the teachers continuing education, having as a landmark difficulties, problems and experiences constructed in the school context

Dinâmica da Plasticidade Sináptica em neurônios do hipocampo durante ciclos de sono: um estudo computacional

Several research lines show that sleep favors memory consolidation and learning. It has been proposed that the cognitive role of sleep is derived from a global scaling of synaptic weights, able to homeostatically restore the ability to learn new things, erasing memories overnight. This phenomenon is typical of slow-wave sleep (SWS) and characterized by non-Hebbian mechanisms, i.e., mechanisms independent of synchronous neuronal activity. Another view holds that sleep also triggers the specific enhancement of synaptic connections, carrying out the embossing of certain mnemonic traces within a lattice of synaptic weights rescaled each night. Such an embossing is understood as the combination of Hebbian and non-Hebbian mechanisms, capable of increasing and decreasing respectively the synaptic weights in complementary circuits, leading to selective memory improvement and a restructuring of synaptic configuration (SC) that can be crucial for the generation of new behaviors ( insights ). The empirical findings indicate that initiation of Hebbian plasticity during sleep occurs in the transition of the SWS to the stage of rapid eye movement (REM), possibly due to the significant differences between the firing rates regimes of the stages and the up-regulation of factors involved in longterm synaptic plasticity. In this study the theories of homeostasis and embossing were compared using an artificial neural network (ANN) fed with action potentials recorded in the hippocampus of rats during the sleep-wake cycle. In the simulation in which the ANN did not apply the long-term plasticity mechanisms during sleep (SWS-transition REM), the synaptic weights distribution was re-scaled inexorably, for its mean value proportional to the input firing rate, erasing the synaptic weights pattern that had been established initially. In contrast, when the long-term plasticity is modeled during the transition SWSREM, an increase of synaptic weights were observed in the range of initial/low values, redistributing effectively the weights in a way to reinforce a subset of synapses over time. The results suggest that a positive regulation coming from the long-term plasticity can completely change the role of sleep: its absence leads to forgetting; its presence leads to a positive mnemonic change

Estimação da demanda de instalações elétricas de edificações com múltiplas unidades de consumo

This work aims to predict the total maximum demand of a transformer that will be used in power systems to attend a Multiple Unit Consumption (MUC) in design. In 1987, COSERN noted that calculation of maximum total demand for a building should be different from that which defines the scaling of the input protection extension in order to not overestimate the power of the transformer. Since then there have been many changes, both in consumption habits of the population, as in electrical appliances, so that this work will endeavor to improve the estimation of peak demand. For the survey, data were collected for identification and electrical projects in different MUCs located in Natal. In some of them, measurements were made of demand for 7 consecutive days and adjusted for an integration interval of 30 minutes. The estimation of the maximum demand was made through mathematical models that calculate the desired response from a set of information previously known of MUCs. The models tested were simple linear regressions, multiple linear regressions and artificial neural networks. The various calculated results over the study were compared, and ultimately, the best answer found was put into comparison with the previously proposed model

Obtenção de Propriedades Físico-Químicas de Misturas de Hidrocarbonetos em Baixa e Alta Pressão Visando a Caracterização e a Modelagem

The composition of petroleum may change from well to well and its resulting characteristics influence significantly the refine products. Therefore, it is important to characterize the oil in order to know its properties and send it adequately for processing. Since petroleum is a multicomponent mixture, the use of synthetic mixtures that are representative of oil fractions provides a better understand of the real mixture behavior. One way for characterization is usually obtained through correlation of physico-chemical properties of easy measurement, such as density, specific gravity, viscosity, and refractive index. In this work new measurements were obtained for density, specific gravity, viscosity, and refractive index of the following binary mixtures: n-heptane + hexadecane, cyclohexane + hexadecane, and benzene + hexadecane. These measurements were accomplished at low pressure and temperatures in the range 288.15 K to 310.95 K. These data were applied in the development of a new method of oil characterization. Furthermore, a series of measurements of density at high pressure and temperature of the binary mixture cyclohexane + n-hexadecane were performed. The ranges of pressure and temperature were 6.895 to 62.053 MPa and 318.15 to 413.15 K, respectively. Based on these experimental data of compressed liquid mixtures, a thermodynamic modeling was proposed using the Peng-Robinson equation of state (EOS). The EOS was modified with scaling of volume and a relatively reduced number of parameters were employed. The results were satisfactory demonstrating accuracy not only for density data, but also for isobaric thermal expansion and isothermal compressibility coefficients. This thesis aims to contribute in a scientific manner to the technological problem of refining heavy fractions of oil. This problem was treated in two steps, i.e., characterization and search of the processes that can produce streams with economical interest, such as solvent extraction at high pressure and temperature. In order to determine phase equilibrium data in these conditions, conceptual projects of two new experimental apparatus were developed. These devices consist of cells of variable volume together with a analytical static device. Therefore, this thesis contributed with the subject of characterization of hydrocarbons mixtures and with development of equilibrium cells operating at high pressure and temperature. These contributions are focused on the technological problem of refining heavy oil fractions

Position-dependent effective mass Dirac equations with PT-symmetric and non-PT-symmetric potentials

We present a new procedure to construct the one-dimensional non-Hermitian imaginary potential with a real energy spectrum in the context of the position-dependent effective mass Dirac equation with the vector-coupling scheme in 1 + 1 dimensions. In the first example, we consider a case for which the mass distribution combines linear and inversely linear forms, the Dirac problem with a PT-symmetric potential is mapped into the exactly solvable Schrodinger-like equation problem with the isotonic oscillator by using the local scaling of the wavefunction. In the second example, we take a mass distribution with smooth step shape, the Dirac problem with a non-PT-symmetric imaginary potential is mapped into the exactly solvable Schrodinger-like equation problem with the Rosen-Morse potential. The real relativistic energy levels and corresponding wavefunctions for the bound states are obtained in terms of the supersymmetric quantum mechanics approach and the function analysis method.

Estudo de Fractalidade e Evolução Dinâmica de Sistemas Complexos

In this work, the study of some complex systems is done with use of two distinct procedures. In the first part, we have studied the usage of Wavelet transform on analysis and characterization of (multi)fractal time series. We have test the reliability of Wavelet Transform Modulus Maxima method (WTMM) in respect to the multifractal formalism, trough the calculation of the singularity spectrum of time series whose fractality is well known a priori. Next, we have use the Wavelet Transform Modulus Maxima method to study the fractality of lungs crackles sounds, a biological time series. Since the crackles sounds are due to the opening of a pulmonary airway bronchi, bronchioles and alveoli which was initially closed, we can get information on the phenomenon of the airway opening cascade of the whole lung. Once this phenomenon is associated with the pulmonar tree architecture, which displays fractal geometry, the analysis and fractal characterization of this noise may provide us with important parameters for comparison between healthy lungs and those affected by disorders that affect the geometry of the tree lung, such as the obstructive and parenchymal degenerative diseases, which occurs, for example, in pulmonary emphysema. In the second part, we study a site percolation model for square lattices, where the percolating cluster grows governed by a control rule, corresponding to a method of automatic search. In this model of percolation, which have characteristics of self-organized criticality, the method does not use the automated search on Leaths algorithm. It uses the following control rule: pt+1 = pt + k(Rc − Rt), where p is the probability of percolation, k is a kinetic parameter where 0 < k < 1 and R is the fraction of percolating finite square lattices with side L, LxL. This rule provides a time series corresponding to the dynamical evolution of the system, in particular the likelihood of percolation p. We proceed an analysis of scaling of the signal obtained in this way. The model used here enables the study of the automatic search method used for site percolation in square lattices, evaluating the dynamics of their parameters when the system goes to the critical point. It shows that the scaling of , the time elapsed until the system reaches the critical point, and tcor, the time required for the system loses its correlations, are both inversely proportional to k, the kinetic parameter of the control rule. We verify yet that the system has two different time scales after: one in which the system shows noise of type 1 f , indicating to be strongly correlated. Another in which it shows white noise, indicating that the correlation is lost. For large intervals of time the dynamics of the system shows ergodicity

de Sitter special relativity

A special relativity based on the de Sitter group is introduced, which is a theory that might hold up in the presence of a non-vanishing cosmological constant. Like ordinary special relativity, it retains the quotient character of spacetime, and a notion of homogeneity. As a consequence, the underlying spacetime will be a de Sitter spacetime, whose associated kinematics will differ from that of ordinary special relativity. The corresponding modified notions of energy and momentum are obtained, and the exact relationship between them, which is invariant under a re-scaling of the involved quantities, explicitly exhibited. Since the de Sitter group can be considered a particular deformation of the Poincare group, this theory turns out to be a specific kind of deformed (or doubly) special relativity. Some experimental consequences, as well as the causal structure of spacetime-modified by the presence of the de Sitter horizon-are briefly discussed.