Frontal Layer Research Articles

‘Crows’ vs. ‘Avatar,’ or: 3D vs. Total-Dimension Immersion

Abstract 3D film’s explicit new space depth arguably provides both an enhanced realistic quality to the image and a wealth of more acute visual and haptic sensations (a ‘montage of attractions’) to the increasingly involved spectator. But David Cronenberg’s related ironic remark that “cinema as such is from the outset a ‘special effect’” should warn us against the geometrical naiveté of such assumptions, within a Cartesian ocularcentric tradition for long overcome by Merleau-Ponty’s embodiment of perception and Deleuze’s notion of the self-consistency of the artistic sensation and space. Indeed, ‘2D’ traditional cinema already provides the accomplished “fourth wall effect,” enclosing the beholder behind his back within a space that no longer belongs to the screen (nor to ‘reality’) as such, and therefore is no longer ‘illusorily’ two-dimensional. This kind of totally absorbing, ‘dream-like’ space, metaphorical for both painting and cinema, is illustrated by the episode Crows in Kurosawa’s Dreams (1990). Such a space requires the actual effacement of the empirical status of spectator, screen, and film as separate dimensions, and it is precisely the 3D characteristic unfolding of merely frontal space layers (and film events) out of the screen towards us (and sometimes above the heads of the spectators before us) that reinstalls at the core of the film-viewing phenomenon a regressive struggle with reality and with different degrees of realism, originally overcome by film since the Lumière’s Arrival of a Train at Ciotat (L’Arrivée d’un train en gare de la Ciotat, 1896) seminal demonstration. Through an analysis of crucial aspects in Avatar (James Cameron, 2009) and the recent Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Werner Herzog, 2010), both dealing with historical and ontological deepening processes of ‘going inside,’ we shall try to show how the formal and technically advanced component of those 3D-depth films impairs, on the contrary, their apparent conceptual purpose on the level of contents, and we will assume, drawing on Merleau-Ponty and Deleuze, that this technological mistake is due to a lack of recognition of the nature of perception and sensation in relation to space and human experience.

A Case Study of the Interaction of a Mesoscale Gravity Wave with a Mesoscale Convective System

Abstract This study documents the high-amplitude mesoscale gravity wave (MGW) event of 7 March 2008 in which two MGWs strongly impacted the sensible weather over a large portion of the Southeast United States. These MGWs exhibited starkly contrasting character despite propagating within similar environments. The primary (i.e., long lived) MGW was manifest by a solitary wave of depression associated with rapid sinking motion and adiabatic warming, while the secondary (short lived) MGW was manifest by a solitary wave of elevation (“MGWEL”), dominated by rising motion and moist adiabatic cooling. Genesis of the primary MGW occurred as a strong cold front arrived at the foot of Mexico’s high terrain and perturbed the appreciable overriding flow. The resulting gravity wave became ducted in the presence of a low-level frontal stable layer, and caused surface pressure falls up to ~4 hPa. The MGW later amplified as it became coupled with a stratiform precipitation system, which led to its evolution into an intense mesohigh–wake low couplet. This couplet propagated as a ducted MGW attached to a stratiform system for ~12 h thereafter, and induced rapid surface pressure falls of ≥10 hPa (including a fall of 6.7 hPa in 10 min), rapid wind vector changes (e.g., 17 m s−1 in 25 min), and high wind gusts (e.g., 20 m s−1) across several states. MGWEL appeared within the remnants of a squall line, and was manifest by a sharp pressure ridge of ~6 hPa with a narrow embedded rainband following the motion of a surface cold front. MGWEL bore resemblance to previously documented gravity waves formed by density currents propagating through stable environments.

Electron‐Ion Relaxation, Phase Transitions, and Surface Nano‐Structuring Produced by Ultrashort Laser Pulses in Metals

AbstractFundamental physical phenomena in metals irradiated by ultrashort laser pulses with absorbed fluences higher than few tens of mJ/cm2 are investigated. For those fluences, laser‐produced electron distribution function relaxes to equilibrium Fermi distribution with electron temperature Te within a short time of 10‐100 fs. Because the electron subsystem has Te highly exceeding much the ion subsystem temperature Ti the well‐known twotemperature hydrodynamic model (2T‐HD) is used to evaluate heat propagation associated with hot conductive electron diffusion and electron‐ion energy exchange. The model coefficients of electron heat conductivity κ (ϱ, Te, Ti) and electron‐ion coupling parameter α (ϱ, Te) together with 2T equation of state E (ϱ, Te, Ti) and P (ϱ, Te, Ti) are calculated.Modeling with 2T‐HD code shows transition of electron heat wave from supersonic to subsonic regime of prop‐agation. At the moment of transition the heat wave emits a compression wave moving into the bulk of met al. Nonlinear evolution of the compression wave after its separation from the subsonic heat wave till spallation of rear‐side layer of a film is traced in both 2T‐HD modeling and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation.For fluences above some threshold the nucleation of voids in frontal surface layer is initiated by strong tensile wave following the compression wave. If the absorbed fluence is ∼30 % above the ablation threshold than void nucleation develops quickly to heavily foam the molten met al. Long‐term evolution of the metal foam including foam breaking and freezing is simulated. It is shown that surface nano‐structures observed in experiments are produced by very fast cooling of surface molten layer followed by recrystallization of supercooled liquid in disintegrating foam having complex geometry. Characteristic lengths of such surface nanostructures, including frozen pikes and bubbles, are of the order of thickness of molten layer formed right after laser irradiation. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Localisation of Nursery Areas Based on Comparative Analyses of the Horizontal and Vertical Distribution Patterns of Juvenile Baltic Cod (Gadus morhua)

Knowledge of the spatial distribution of juvenile cod is essential for obtaining precise recruitment data to conduct sustainable management of the eastern and western Baltic cod stocks. In this study, the horizontal and vertical distribution and density patterns of settled juvenile 0- and 1-group Baltic cod are determined, and their nursery areas are localised according to the environmental factors affecting them. Comparative statistical analyses of biological, hydrographic and hydroacoustic data are carried out based on standard ICES demersal trawl surveys and special integrated trawl and acoustic research surveys. Horizontal distribution maps for the 2001–2010 cohorts of juvenile cod are further generated by applying a statistical log-Gaussian Cox process model to the standard trawl survey data. The analyses indicate size-dependent horizontal and distinct vertical and diurnal distribution patterns related to the seabed topography, water layer depth, and the presence of hydrographic frontal zones (pycnoclines) as well as intraspecific patterns in relation to the presence of adult cod. The extent of the nursery areas also depends on the cod year class strength. Juvenile cod (≥3 cm) are present in all areas of the central Baltic Sea (CBS), showing broad dispersal. However, their highest density in the Baltic Basins is found at localities with a 40–70 m bottom depth in waters with oxygen concentrations above 2 ml O2.l−1 and temperatures above 5°C. The smallest juveniles are also found in deep sea localities down to a 100 m depth and at oxygen concentrations between 2–4 ml O2.l−1. The vertical, diurnally stratified and repeated trawling and hydroacoustic target strength-depth distributions obtained from the special surveys show juvenile cod concentrations in frontal zone water layers (pycnocline). However, the analyses indicate that in the CBS, juvenile cod of all sizes do not appear to aggregate in dense schooling patterns, which differs from what has been reported from the North Sea.

Study of a nickel catalyst under conditions of the SER process: Influence of RedOx cycling

The conditions under which a reforming catalyst works in the conventional steady state steam methane reforming process differ considerably from those in the sorption enhanced reforming (SER). First of all these differences are related to a periodic exposure of the catalyst in SER to a reducing or an oxidizing atmosphere. Tests of a commercial nickel catalyst in a fixed bed reactor have shown that in the course of a SER process the catalyst undergoes oxidation–reduction cycles. At higher contents of steam in the mixture of reagents the reduction of the catalyst is suppressed. At the same time, the reduction rate sharply increases in the presence of a small admixture of hydrogen. A comparison of the behavior of Ni and Rh catalysts exposed to SER cycles with that of a Pt catalyst shows a favorable effect of RedOx transformations on the catalytic activity. The best results in a fixed bed reactor were obtained with a catalyst load consisting of a bed of a Ni catalyst and a frontal layer of a noble metal catalyst.

One-dimensional heterogeneous model of a Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reactor with a fixed catalyst bed in the isothermal granules approximation

A one-dimensional heterogeneous model has been developed for a cat6alytic fixed-bed Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis reactor in the isothermal granules approximation. The FT process has been simulated for a laboratory-scale reactor. The effects of the linear gas velocity and of the inner diameter of the reactor on the thermal stability of the process are considered. The size of the reactor is limited by the possibility of a “thermal explosion” occurring in the frontal layer of the catalyst. Raising the linear gas velocity enhances heat transfer, thereby reducing the overheating of the catalyst bed. The synthesis of solid hydrocarbons can be conducted in reactors no larger than 18 mm in diameter. According to calculations, the maximum temperature drop in a 3-, 4-, and 6-m-long reactor is 4.7, 4.2, and 3.6°C, respectively. The corresponding CO conversion is 35.0, 34.4, and 33.9%, respectively. For producing liquid hydrocarbons in a high-performance reactor, it is necessary to decrease its inner diameter to 12 mm. In this case, the maximum temperature drop at a reactor length of 3, 4, and 6 m is 9.6, 8.7, and 7.6°C, and the CO conversion is 78.0, 77.4, and 76.7%, respectively. The mathematical model devised here provides means to estimate the necessary design parameters of the reactor and the appropriate FT synthesis conditions for producing liquid or solid hydrocarbons.

Developmental Characteristics of the Microstructure of Layer V of the Frontal Cortex in Humans

Histological methods and computer morphometric studies of fields 8 and 10 and subfield 32/10 of the frontal area of the left cerebral cortex were performed in 103 humans aged from birth to 20 years to address the developmental characteristics of the microstructure of layer V; pyramidal neuron field profile areas were measured, along with the thicknesses of radial fibers and bundles of radial fibers and the distances between bundles. The following stages were identified in the development of frontal cortex layer V: from birth to one year, from 1–2 years to 5–6 years, from 6–7 years to nine years, and from 9–10 years to 16–18 years. Sets of microstructural changes were identified at each of these stages, associated with increases in the complexity of transthalamic and other interaction systems of the frontal cortex with other cortical and subcortical formations.

PPAR-Alpha Agonists as Novel Antiepileptic Drugs: Preclinical Findings

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are involved in seizure mechanisms. Hence, nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy was the first idiopathic epilepsy linked with specific mutations in α4 or β2 nAChR subunit genes. These mutations confer gain of function to nAChRs by increasing sensitivity toward acetylcholine. Consistently, nicotine elicits seizures through nAChRs and mimics the excessive nAChR activation observed in animal models of the disease. Treatments aimed at reducing nicotinic inputs are sought as therapies for epilepsies where these receptors contribute to neuronal excitation and synchronization. Previous studies demonstrated that peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors-α (PPARα), nuclear receptor transcription factors, suppress nicotine-induced behavioral and electrophysiological effects by modulating nAChRs containing β2 subunits. On these bases, we tested whether PPARα agonists were protective against nicotine-induced seizures. To this aim we utilized behavioral and electroencephalographic (EEG) experiments in C57BL/J6 mice and in vitro patch clamp recordings from mice and rats. Convulsive doses of nicotine evoked severe seizures and bursts of spike-waves discharges in ∼100% of mice. A single dose of the synthetic PPARα agonist WY14643 (WY, 80 mg/kg, i.p.) or chronic administration of fenofibrate, clinically available for lipid metabolism disorders, in the diet (0.2%) for 14 days significantly reduced or abolished behavioral and EEG expressions of nicotine-induced seizures. Acute WY effects were reverted by the PPARα antagonist MK886 (3 mg/kg, i.p.). Since neocortical networks are crucial in the generation of ictal activity and synchrony, we performed patch clamp recordings of spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents (sIPSCs) from frontal cortex layer II/III pyramidal neurons. We found that both acute and chronic treatment with PPARα agonists abolished nicotine-induced sIPSC increases. PPARα within the CNS are key regulators of neuronal activity through modulation of nAChRs. These effects might be therapeutically exploited for idiopathic or genetically determined forms of epilepsy where nAChRs play a major role.

Topographic anatomy and laparoscopic technique for dissection of no. 6 infrapyloric lymph nodes in gastric cancer surgery

We focused on the embryology and topographic anatomy of the infrapyloric lymph region, which is frequently involved in node metastases but technically complicated for dissection in gastric cancer surgery. Gastrointestinal organs possess their own mesenteries composed of double layers of peritoneum that enclose the intermediate adipose layer providing pathways for vessels, nerves, and lymphatic channels. The frontal layer of the mesoduodenum, in which no. 6 infrapyloric nodes lie, directly faces the pancreas and during gestation is overlain by the greater omentum and transverse mesocolon through the membranous connective tissue called the fusion fascia. Therefore, we performed no. 6 node dissection using the following process: (1) we traced out the mesoduodenum by detachment of the greater omentum and transverse mesocolon; (2) we transected the fusion fascia and (3) removed the adipose layer on the anterior face of the pancreas with its included lymph nodes together with the right gastroepiploic and infrapyloric vessels. The described technique is feasible and in keeping with the anatomical logic for oncologically reliable dissection of no. 6 infrapyloric nodes.

Frontal-thalamic circuits associated with language

Thalamic nuclei associated with language including the ventral lateral, ventral anterior, intralaminar and mediodorsal form a hub that uniquely receives the output of the basal ganglia and cerebellum, and is connected with frontal (premotor and prefrontal) cortices through two parallel circuits: a thalamic pathway targets the middle frontal cortical layers focally, and the other innervates widely cortical layer 1, poised to recruit other cortices and thalamic nuclei for complex cognitive operations. Return frontal pathways to the thalamus originate from cortical layers 6 and 5. Information through this integrated thalamo-cortical system is gated by the inhibitory thalamic reticular nucleus and modulated by dopamine, representing a specialization in primates. The intricate dialogue of distinct thalamic nuclei with the basal ganglia, cerebellum, and specific dorsolateral prefrontal and premotor cortices associated with language, suggests synergistic roles in the complex but seemingly effortless sequential transformation of cognitive operations for speech production in humans.

Diffraction Properties of the Nanostructured Surface

The photosensitive In2O3-p-InSe heterostructures in which the In2O3 frontal layer has a nanostructured surface were investigated. The photoresponse spectra of such heterostructures are found to be essentially dependent on surface topology of the oxide. The obtained results indicate that the In2O3 oxide is not only the active component of the structure but also acts as a diffraction cellular element. The oxide surface topology was investigated by means of the atomic-force microscope technique. It was established that the surface topology is caused by the technological conditions of growing In2O3 oxides. Under different conditions of oxidation the sample surfaces had contained nanoformations preferably in the form of nanoneedles. Their location has both a disordered and ordered character. The sizes, form and density of the nanoneedles are different, too. A dimensional optical effect in the oxide was found to be due to the anisotropic light absorption in InSe. The higher deviation of incident light from its normal direction due to a nanostructured surface is the higher variation in the generation of carriers in the semiconductor is. These changes consist in the energy broadening of the heterostructure photoresponse spectrum as well in peculiarities of the excitonic line. The higher density and ordering of the nanoneedles on the oxide surface is the higher long-wave shift and more intensive excitonic peak in spectrum takes place.

Ballistic performance of hybrid panels composed of unidirectional/woven fabrics

This paper examines the effect of the layering sequence of unidirectional (UD)/woven fabric hybrid panels on perforation resistance (V50) against a 5.56 mm fragment-simulating projectile and the blunt trauma resistance represented by the backface signature (BFS) caused by a .44 Magnum semi-jacketed hollow point projectile. Some of the woven fabric layers were impregnated with shear thickening fluid (STF) to modify their properties. When layers with a smaller in-plane constraint (neat woven fabric) were laminated behind layers with a larger in-plane constraint (UD or STF-impregnated woven fabric), an increase in perforation resistance was observed due to the decreased out-of-plane constraint. When the layering sequence was reversed, an increase in blunt trauma resistance (i.e. smaller BFS) was observed due to better coupling of yarn elongation in the frontal and rear layers.

The Subthalamic Nucleus Is One of Multiple Innervation Sites for Long-Range Corticofugal Axons: A Single-Axon Tracing Study in the Rat

The frontal cortex provides strong excitatory inputs to the subthalamic nucleus (STN), and these cortico-STN inputs play critical roles in the control of basal ganglia activity. It has been assumed from anatomical and physiological studies that STN is innervated mainly by collaterals of thick and fast conducting pyramidal tract axons originating from the frontal cortex deep layer V neurons, implying that STN directly receives efferent copies of motor commands. To more closely examine this assumption, we performed biotinylated dextran amine anterograde tracing studies in rats to examine the cortical layer of origin, the sizes of parent axons, and whether or not the cortical axons emit any other collaterals to brain areas other than STN. This study revealed that the cortico-STN projection is formed mostly by collaterals of a small fraction of small-to-medium-sized long-range corticofugal axons, which also emit collaterals that innervate multiple other brain sites including the striatum, associative thalamic nuclei, superior colliculus, zona incerta, pontine nucleus, multiple other brainstem areas, and the spinal cord. The results imply that some layer V neurons are involved in associative control of movement through multiple brain innervation sites and that the cortico-STN projection is one part of this multiple corticofugal system.

Kelvin‐Helmholtz billows generated at a cirrus cloud base within a tropopause fold/upper‐level frontal system

For the first time, trains of Kelvin‐Helmholtz billows of ∼100–1500 m in depth persisting for about 60 hours at the south extremity of a tropopause fold are reported. The structures were monitored by the VHF Middle and Upper atmosphere radar (Shigaraki, 34.85°N, 136.10°E) in November 2008 at the base of cirriform clouds simultaneously detected by a Ka‐band radar. ECWMF reanalysis data indicate that these clouds were advected and spread out by the sub‐tropical jet‐stream from a tropical storm area while dry and cold air penetrated beneath the upper‐level front. The KH billows were likely continuously generated over horizontal extent of several thousand kilometers for several days without evidence of breaking into three‐dimensional turbulence. Rather than radiative effects, our observations suggest that cooling by sublimation of ice particles precipitating in the frontal layer contributed to their generation. These results should motivate further studies on the interaction between clouds and shear instabilities.

Ballistic performance of p-aramid fabrics impregnated with shear thickening fluid; Part I – Effect of laminating sequence

The objective of this research was to characterize the ballistic performance of p-aramid fabrics impregnated with shear thickening fluid (STF) focusing on the laminating sequence of the layers. A panel of all neat Kevlar fabrics and two hybrid panels of neat and STF impregnated Kevlar fabrics were tested against 9 mm bullets at 436 m/s for body armor application. When the STF impregnated fabrics were laminated behind the neat Kevlar layers (N/S-panel), the backface signature decreased compared to the panel of all neat fabrics (N-panel) and the hybrid panel with neat Kevlar layers placed on the backside of the panel (S/N-panel). The enhanced ballistic performance of the N/S-panel was assumed to be due to the synchronized (or coupled) elongation of the facing yarns in the frontal layers and those in the following rear layers during the impact. Analysis was carried out, by adapting the method of accumulating successive line segments, to present the energy dissipation route of each panel during the impact.

Ballistic Impact Perforation into GLARE Targets: Experiment, Numerical Modelling and Investigation of Aluminium Stacking Sequence

Experimental investigation of high velocity perforation of 2/1 and 3/2 GLARE 3 target panels with flat ended projectile was presented. Also, numerical simulations were carried out using explicit nonlinear finite element software, LS-DYNA, considering strain rate hardening effects. The ballistic limit was determined experimentally and numerically. Some GLARE 3/2 laminates with different Aluminium thickness is considered. The Aluminium thickness varies in frontal, medial and distal layers of GLARE, while the thickness of glass/epoxy layers is constant, and the ballistic limit and absorbed energy of each GLARE target is determined numerically. Specific absorbed energy is defined as goal function and should be maximized. The laminate with maximum specific absorbed energy is determined. In addition, energy absorbing portion of each layer is determined. There is a reasonable agreement between numerical and experimental results.

Laser Acoustic Probing of Two‐Temperature Zone Created by Femtosecond Pulse

AbstractWe combine theoretical and experimental methods to study the processes induced by fast laser heating of metal foils. These processes reveal themselves through motion of frontal (irradiated) and rear‐side foil boundaries. The irradiated targets are 0.3‐2 micron thick aluminum foils deposited on much thicker (150 microns) glass plate. The instant boundary positions is measured by pump‐probe technique having ∼40‐150 fs time and ∼1 nm spatial resolutions. Ultrashort laser pulse transforms a frontal surface layer with thickness dT into two‐temperature (Te ≫ Ti) warm dense matter state. Its quantitative characteristics including its thickness are defined by poorly known coefficients of electron‐ion energy exchange α and electron heat conductivity κ. Fast laser heating rises pressure in the dT‐layer and therefore produce acoustic waves. Propagation and reflection from the frontal and rear boundaries of these waves causes the displacement Δx (t) of boundary positions. Pressure wave profiles, and hence functions Δx (t), depend on thickness dT. This is why the experimental detection of Δx (t) opens a way to accurate evaluation of the coefficients α and κ (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Axisymmetric, constantly supplied gravity currents at high Reynolds number

We consider theoretically the long-time evolution of axisymmetric, high Reynolds number, Boussinesq gravity currents supplied by a constant, small-area source of mass and radial momentum in a deep, quiescent ambient. We describe the gravity currents using a shallow-water model with a Froude number closure condition to incorporate ambient form drag at the front and present numerical and asymptotic solutions. The predicted profile consists of an expanding, radially decaying, steady interior that connects via a shock to a deeper, self-similar frontal boundary layer. Controlled by the balance of interior momentum flux and frontal buoyancy across the shock, the front advances as (g′sQ/r1/4s)4/154/5, where g′s is the reduced gravity of the source fluid, Q is the total volume flux, rs is the source radius and is time. A radial momentum source has no effect on this solution below a non-zero threshold value. Above this value, the (virtual) radius over which the flow becomes critical can be used to collapse the solution onto the subthreshold one. We also use a simple parameterization to incorporate the effect of interfacial entrainment, and show that the profile can be substantially modified, although the buoyancy profile and radial extent are less significantly impacted. Our predicted profiles and extents are in reasonable agreement with existing experiments.

Axisymmetric, constantly supplied gravity currents at high Reynolds number

We consider theoretically the long-time evolution of axisymmetric, high Reynolds number, Boussinesq gravity currents supplied by a constant, small-area source of mass and radial momentum in a deep, quiescent ambient. We describe the gravity currents using a shallow-water model with a Froude number closure condition to incorporate ambient form drag at the front and present numerical and asymptotic solutions. The predicted profile consists of an expanding, radially decaying, steady interior that connects via a shock to a deeper, self-similar frontal boundary layer. Controlled by the balance of interior momentum flux and frontal buoyancy across the shock, the front advances as (g′sQ/r1/4s)4/154/5, where g′s is the reduced gravity of the source fluid, Q is the total volume flux, rs is the source radius and is time. A radial momentum source has no effect on this solution below a non-zero threshold value. Above this value, the (virtual) radius over which the flow becomes critical can be used to collapse the solution onto the subthreshold one. We also use a simple parameterization to incorporate the effect of interfacial entrainment, and show that the profile can be substantially modified, although the buoyancy profile and radial extent are less significantly impacted. Our predicted profiles and extents are in reasonable agreement with existing experiments.

Acoustic multipath arrivals in the horizontal plane due to approaching nonlinear internal waves

Simultaneous measurements of acoustic wave transmissions and a nonlinear internal wave packet approaching an along-shelf acoustic path during the Shallow Water 2006 experiment are reported. The incoming internal wave packet acts as a moving frontal layer reflecting (or refracting) sound in the horizontal plane. Received acoustic signals are filtered into acoustic normal mode arrivals. It is shown that a horizontal multipath interference is produced. This has previously been called a horizontal Lloyd's mirror. The interference between the direct path and the refracted path depends on the mode number and frequency of the acoustic signal. A mechanism for the multipath interference is shown. Preliminary modeling results of this dynamic interaction using vertical modes and horizontal parabolic equation models are in good agreement with the observed data.