California Institute of Technology

About: California Institute of Technology is a education organization based out in Pasadena, California, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Galaxy & Redshift. The organization has 57649 authors who have published 146691 publications receiving 8620287 citations. The organization is also known as: Caltech & Cal Tech.

Measurement of emissions from air pollution sources. 3. C1-C29 organic compounds from fireplace combustion of wood.

Abstract: Organic compound emission rates for volatile organic compounds (VOC), gas-phase semivolatile organic compounds, and particle-phase organic compounds are measured from residential fireplace combustion of wood. Firewood from a conifer tree (pine) and from two deciduous trees (oak and eucalyptus) is burned to determine organic compound emissions profiles for each wood type including the distribution of the alkanes, alkenes, aromatics, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), phenol and substituted phenols, guaiacol and substituted guaiacols, syringol and substituted syringols, carbonyls, alkanoic acids, resin acids, and levoglucosan. Levoglucosan is the major constituent in the fine particulate emissions from all three wood types, contributing 18−30% of the fine particulate organic compound emissions. Guaiacol (2-methoxyphenol), and guaiacols with additional substituents at position 4 on the molecule, and resin acids are emitted in significant quantities from pine wood combustion. Syringol (2,6-dimethoxyphenol) and syringols with additional substituents at position 4 on the molecule are emitted in large amounts from oak and eucalyptus firewood combustion, but these compounds are not detected in the emissions from pine wood combustion. Syringol and most of the substituted syringols are found to be semivolatile compounds that are present in both the gas and particle phases, but two substituted syringols that have not been previously quantified in wood smoke emissions, propionylsyringol and butyrylsyringol, are found exclusively in the particle phase and can be used to help trace hardwood smoke particles in the atmosphere. Benzene, ethene, and acetylene are often used as tracers for motor vehicle exhaust in the urban atmosphere. The contribution of wood smoke to the ambient concentrations of benzene, ethene, and acetylene could lead to an overestimate of the contribution of motor vehicle tailpipe exhaust to atmospheric VOC concentrations.

Security of Quantum Key Distribution Using d -Level Systems

Abstract: We consider two quantum cryptographic schemes relying on encoding the key into qudits, i.e., quantum states in a d-dimensional Hilbert space. The first cryptosystem uses two mutually unbiased bases (thereby extending the BB84 scheme), while the second exploits all d+1 available such bases (extending the six-state protocol for qubits). We derive the information gained by a potential eavesdropper applying a cloning-based individual attack, along with an upper bound on the error rate that ensures unconditional security against coherent attacks.

Vortical structure in the wake of a transverse jet

Abstract: Structural features resulting from the interaction of a turbulent jet issuing transversely into a uniform stream are described with the help of flow visualization and hot-wire anemometry. Jet-to-crossflow velocity ratios from 2 to 10 were investigated at crossflow Reynolds numbers from 3800 to 11400. In particular, the origin and formation of the vortices in the wake are described and shown to be fundamentally different from the well-known phenomenon of vortex shedding from solid bluff bodies. The flow around a transverse jet does not separate from the jet and does not shed vorticity into the wake. Instead, the wake vortices have their origins in the laminar boundary layer of the wall from which the jet issues. It is argued that the closed flow around the jet imposes an adverse pressure gradient on the wall, on the downstream lateral sides of the jet, provoking 'separation events’ in the wall boundary layer on each side. These result in eruptions of boundary-layer fluid and formation of wake vortices that are convected downstream. The measured wake Strouhal frequencies, which depend on the jet-crossflow velocity ratio, match the measured frequencies of the separation events. The wake structure is most orderly and the corresponding wake Strouhal number (0.13) is most sharply defined for velocity ratios near the value 4. Measured wake profiles show deficits of both momentum and total pressure.

Notch signalling controls pancreatic cell differentiation

Abstract: The pancreas contains both exocrine and endocrine cells, but the molecular mechanisms controlling the differentiation of these cell types are largely unknown. Despite their endodermal origin, pancreatic endocrine cells share several molecular characteristics with neurons, and, like neurons in the central nervous system, differentiating endocrine cells in the pancreas appear in a scattered fashion within a field of progenitor cells. This indicates that they may be generated by lateral specification through Notch signalling. Here, to test this idea, we analysed pancreas development in mice genetically altered at several steps in the Notch signalling pathway. Mice deficient for Delta-like gene 1 (Dll1) or the intracellular mediator RBP-JK showed accelerated differentiation of pancreatic endocrine cells. A similar phenotype was observed in mice over-expressing neurogenin 3(ngn 3) or the intracellular form of Notch3 (ref. 13) (a repressor of Notch signalling). These data provide evidence that ngn3 acts as pro-endocrine gene and that Notch signalling is critical for the decision between theendocrine and progenitor/exocrine fates in the developing pancreas.