University of Notre Dame

About: University of Notre Dame is a education organization based out in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Large Hadron Collider. The organization has 22238 authors who have published 55201 publications receiving 2032925 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Notre Dame du Lac & University of Notre Dame, South Bend.

The Chicxulub Asteroid Impact and Mass Extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary

Abstract: The Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary similar to 65.5 million years ago marks one of the three largest mass extinctions in the past 500 million years. The extinction event coincided with a large asteroid impact at Chicxulub, Mexico, and occurred within the time of Deccan flood basalt volcanism in India. Here, we synthesize records of the global stratigraphy across this boundary to assess the proposed causes of the mass extinction. Notably, a single ejecta-rich deposit compositionally linked to the Chicxulub impact is globally distributed at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. The temporal match between the ejecta layer and the onset of the extinctions and the agreement of ecological patterns in the fossil record with modeled environmental perturbations (for example, darkness and cooling) lead us to conclude that the Chicxulub impact triggered the mass extinction.

Event-Triggering in Distributed Networked Control Systems

Abstract: This paper examines event-triggered data transmission in distributed networked control systems with packet loss and transmission delays. We propose a distributed event-triggering scheme, where a subsystem broadcasts its state information to its neighbors only when the subsystem's local state error exceeds a specified threshold. In this scheme, a subsystem is able to make broadcast decisions using its locally sampled data. It can also locally predict the maximal allowable number of successive data dropouts (MANSD) and the state-based deadlines for transmission delays. Moreover, the designer's selection of the local event for a subsystem only requires information on that individual subsystem. Our analysis applies to both linear and nonlinear subsystems. Designing local events for a nonlinear subsystem requires us to find a controller that ensures that subsystem to be input-to-state stable. For linear subsystems, the design problem becomes a linear matrix inequality feasibility problem. With the assumption that the number of each subsystem's successive data dropouts is less than its MANSD, we show that if the transmission delays are zero, the resulting system is finite-gain Lp stable. If the delays are bounded by given deadlines, the system is asymptotically stable. We also show that those state-based deadlines for transmission delays are always greater than a positive constant.

Five Potential Consequences of Climate Change for Invasive Species

Abstract: Scientific and societal unknowns make it difficult to predict how global environmental changes such as climate change and biological invasions will affect ecological systems. In the long term, these changes may have interacting effects and compound the uncertainty associated with each individual driver. Nonetheless, invasive species are likely to respond in ways that should be qualitatively predictable, and some of these responses will be distinct from those of native counterparts. We used the stages of invasion known as the "invasion pathway" to identify 5 nonexclusive consequences of climate change for invasive species: (1) altered transport and introduction mechanisms, (2) establishment of new invasive species, (3) altered impact of existing invasive species, (4) altered distribution of existing invasive species, and (5) altered effectiveness of control strategies. We then used these consequences to identify testable hypotheses about the responses of invasive species to climate change and provide suggestions for invasive-species management plans. The 5 consequences also emphasize the need for enhanced environmental monitoring and expanded coordination among entities involved in invasive-species management.

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)

Abstract: In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field.

A device architecture for computing with quantum dots

Abstract: We describe a paradigm for computing with interacting quantum dots, quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA). We show how arrays of quantum-dot cells could be used to perform useful computations. A new adiabatic switching paradigm is developed which permits clocked control, eliminates metastability problems, and enables a pipelined architecture.