Lipid raftThe plasma membranes of cells contain combinations of glycosphingolipids, cholesterol and protein receptors organised in glycolipoprotein lipid microdomains termed lipid rafts. Their existence in cellular membranes remains somewhat controversial. It has been proposed that they are specialized membrane microdomains which compartmentalize cellular processes by serving as organising centers for the assembly of signaling molecules, allowing a closer interaction of protein receptors and their effectors to promote kinetically favorable interactions necessary for the signal transduction.
Overshoot (signal)In signal processing, control theory, electronics, and mathematics, overshoot is the occurrence of a signal or function exceeding its target. Undershoot is the same phenomenon in the opposite direction. It arises especially in the step response of bandlimited systems such as low-pass filters. It is often followed by ringing, and at times conflated with the latter. Maximum overshoot is defined in Katsuhiko Ogata's Discrete-time control systems as "the maximum peak value of the response curve measured from the desired response of the system.
Airy functionIn the physical sciences, the Airy function (or Airy function of the first kind) Ai(x) is a special function named after the British astronomer George Biddell Airy (1801–1892). The function Ai(x) and the related function Bi(x), are linearly independent solutions to the differential equation known as the Airy equation or the Stokes equation. This is the simplest second-order linear differential equation with a turning point (a point where the character of the solutions changes from oscillatory to exponential).
B-theory of timeThe B-theory of time, also called the "tenseless theory of time", is one of two positions regarding the temporal ordering of events in the philosophy of time. B-theorists argue that the flow of time is only a subjective illusion of human consciousness, that the past, present, and future are equally real, and that time is tenseless: temporal becoming is not an objective feature of reality. Therefore, there is nothing privileged about the present, ontologically speaking. The B-theory is derived from a distinction drawn by J.
One-sided limitIn calculus, a one-sided limit refers to either one of the two limits of a function of a real variable as approaches a specified point either from the left or from the right. The limit as decreases in value approaching ( approaches "from the right" or "from above") can be denoted: The limit as increases in value approaching ( approaches "from the left" or "from below") can be denoted: If the limit of as approaches exists then the limits from the left and from the right both exist and are equal.
Philosophical presentismPhilosophical presentism is the view that only present entities exist (or, equivalently, that everything is present). According to presentism, there are no past or future entities. In a sense, the past and the future do not exist for presentists—past events have happened (have existed) and future events will happen (will exist), but neither exist at all since they do not exist now.
Closed timelike curveIn mathematical physics, a closed timelike curve (CTC) is a world line in a Lorentzian manifold, of a material particle in spacetime, that is "closed", returning to its starting point. This possibility was first discovered by Willem Jacob van Stockum in 1937 and later confirmed by Kurt Gödel in 1949, who discovered a solution to the equations of general relativity (GR) allowing CTCs known as the Gödel metric; and since then other GR solutions containing CTCs have been found, such as the Tipler cylinder and traversable wormholes.
Tautochrone curveA tautochrone curve or isochrone curve (from Greek prefixes tauto- meaning same or iso- equal, and chrono time) is the curve for which the time taken by an object sliding without friction in uniform gravity to its lowest point is independent of its starting point on the curve. The curve is a cycloid, and the time is equal to π times the square root of the radius (of the circle which generates the cycloid) over the acceleration of gravity. The tautochrone curve is related to the brachistochrone curve, which is also a cycloid.
