1,471 research outputs found
Impulsive aggressiveness of pregnant women affects the development of the fetal heart
Mounting evidence indicates that the development of the fetus is heavily
influenced by the intra-uterine milieu during pregnancy, and that such
influence may have life-long consequences for the individual. The intra-
uterine milieu is not only influenced by nutritional factors, but also by
maternal endocrine and autonomic activity. Such activity is prone to be
affected by an individual's personality, but only little is known about
influences of maternal personality on the development of the fetus. We tested
pregnant women for their propensity for impulsive, uncontrollable outbursts of
temper (referred to here as moderate Intermittent Explosive Disorder, mIED).
After the women gave birth, we measured electrocardiograms (ECGs) from their
newborn infants to compare ECGs between newborns of women with and without
mIED. The data show that infants of women with mIED have larger QRS complexes
in the electrocardiogram, and lower heart rate variability, compared to
infants of women without mIED. These results reveal effects of maternal mIED
on the fetal heart development. These effects may predispose the individual to
increased risk for later cardio-vascular disease. The findings open
perspectives for better risk prevention models for the unborn child
Special Values of Zeta-Functions for Proper Regular Arithmetic Surfaces
We explicate Flach's and Morin's special value conjectures in [8] for proper regular arithmetic surfaces π : X → Spec Z and provide explicit formulas for the conjectural vanishing orders and leading Taylor coefficients of the associated arithmetic zeta-functions. In particular, we prove compatibility with the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture, which has so far only been known for projective smooth X. Further, we derive a direct sum decomposition of Rπ*Z(n) into motivic degree components
Simulating the dynamics of relativistic stars via a light-cone approach
We present new numerical algorithms for the coupled Einstein-perfect fluid system in axisymmetry. Our framework uses a foliation based on a family of light cones, emanating from a regular center, and terminating at future null infinity. This coordinate system is well adapted to the study of the dynamical spacetimes associated with isolated relativistic compact objects such as neutron stars. In particular, the approach allows the unambiguous extraction of gravitational waves at future null infinity and avoids spurious outer boundary reflections. The code can accurately maintain long-term stability of polytropic equilibrium models of relativistic stars. We demonstrate global energy conservation in a strongly perturbed neutron star spacetime, for which the total energy radiated away by gravitational waves corresponds to a significant fraction of the Bondi mass. As a first application we present results in the study of pulsations of axisymmetric relativistic stars, extracting the frequencies of the different fluid modes in fully relativistic evolutions of the Einstein-perfect fluid system and making a first comparison between the gravitational news function and the predicted wave using the approximations of the quadrupole formula
Axisymmetric core collapse simulations using characteristic numerical relativity
We present results from axisymmetric stellar core collapse simulations in
general relativity. Our hydrodynamics code has proved robust and accurate
enough to allow for a detailed analysis of the global dynamics of the collapse.
Contrary to traditional approaches based on the 3+1 formulation of the
gravitational field equations, our framework uses a foliation based on a family
of outgoing light cones, emanating from a regular center, and terminating at
future null infinity. Such a coordinate system is well adapted to the study of
interesting dynamical spacetimes in relativistic astrophysics such as stellar
core collapse and neutron star formation. Perhaps most importantly this
procedure allows for the unambiguous extraction of gravitational waves at
future null infinity without any approximation, along with the commonly used
quadrupole formalism for the gravitational wave extraction. Our results
concerning the gravitational wave signals show noticeable disagreement when
those are extracted by computing the Bondi news at future null infinity on the
one hand and by using the quadrupole formula on the other hand. We have strong
indication that for our setup the quadrupole formula on the null cone does not
lead to physical gravitational wave signals. The Bondi gravitational wave
signals extracted at infinity show typical oscillation frequencies of about 0.5
kHz.Comment: 17 pages, 18 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Tethered subsatellite study
The results are presented of studies performed relating to the feasibility of deploying a subsatellite from the shuttle by means of a tether. The dynamics, the control laws, the aerodynamics, the heating, and some communication considerations of the tethered subsatellite system are considered. Nothing was found that prohibits the use of a subsatellite joined to the shuttle by a long (100 km) tether. More detailed studies directed at specific applications are recommended
Gravitational waves from axisymmetrically oscillating neutron stars in general relativistic simulations
Gravitational waves from oscillating neutron stars in axial symmetry are
studied performing numerical simulations in full general relativity. Neutron
stars are modeled by a polytropic equation of state for simplicity. A
gauge-invariant wave extraction method as well as a quadrupole formula are
adopted for computation of gravitational waves. It is found that the
gauge-invariant variables systematically contain numerical errors generated
near the outer boundaries in the present axisymmetric computation. We clarify
their origin, and illustrate it possible to eliminate the dominant part of the
systematic errors. The best corrected waveforms for oscillating and rotating
stars currently contain errors of magnitude in the local wave
zone. Comparing the waveforms obtained by the gauge-invariant technique with
those by the quadrupole formula, it is shown that the quadrupole formula yields
approximate gravitational waveforms besides a systematic underestimation of the
amplitude of where and denote the mass and the radius of
neutron stars. However, the wave phase and modulation of the amplitude can be
computed accurately. This indicates that the quadrupole formula is a useful
tool for studying gravitational waves from rotating stellar core collapse to a
neutron star in fully general relativistic simulations. Properties of the
gravitational waveforms from the oscillating and rigidly rotating neutron stars
are also addressed paying attention to the oscillation associated with
fundamental modes
Small-x Dipole Evolution Beyond the Large-N_c Limit
We present a method to include colour-suppressed effects in the Mueller
dipole picture. The model consistently includes saturation effects both in the
evolution of dipoles and in the interactions of dipoles with a target in a
frame-independent way.
When implemented in a Monte Carlo simulation together with our previous model
of energy--momentum conservation and a simple dipole description of initial
state protons and virtual photons, the model is able to reproduce to a
satisfactory degree both the gamma*-p cross sections as measured at HERA as
well as the total p-p cross section all the way from ISR energies to the
Tevatron and beyond
Combining central pattern generators with the electromagnetism-like algorithm for head motion stabilization during quadruped robot locomotion
Visually-guided locomotion is important for autonomous robotics. However, there are several difficulties, for instance, the head shaking that results from the robot locomotion itself that constraints stable image acquisition and the possibility to rely on that information to act accordingly. In this article, we propose a controller architecture that is able to generate locomotion for a quadruped robot and to generate head motion able to minimize the head motion induced by locomotion itself. The movement controllers are biologically
inspired in the concept of Central Pattern Generators (CPGs). CPGs are modelled based on nonlinear dynamical systems, coupled Hopf oscillators. This approach allows to explicitly specify parameters such as amplitude, offset and frequency of movement and to smoothly modulate the generated oscillations according to changes in these parameters. We take advantage of this particularity and propose a combined approach to
generate head movement stabilization on a quadruped robot, using CPGs and a global optimization algorithm. The best set of parameters that generates the head movement are computed by the electromagnetism-like algorithm in order to reduce the head shaking caused by locomotion. Experimental results on a simulated AIBO robot demonstrate that the proposed approach generates head movement that does not eliminate but reduces the one induced by locomotion
Bondian frames to couple matter with radiation
A study is presented for the non linear evolution of a self gravitating
distribution of matter coupled to a massless scalar field. The characteristic
formulation for numerical relativity is used to follow the evolution by a
sequence of light cones open to the future. Bondian frames are used to endow
physical meaning to the matter variables and to the massless scalar field.
Asymptotic approaches to the origin and to infinity are achieved; at the
boundary surface interior and exterior solutions are matched guaranteeing the
Darmois--Lichnerowicz conditions. To show how the scheme works some numerical
models are discussed. We exemplify evolving scalar waves on the following fixed
backgrounds: A) an atmosphere between the boundary surface of an incompressible
mixtured fluid and infinity; B) a polytropic distribution matched to a
Schwarzschild exterior; C) a Schwarzschild- Schwarzschild spacetime. The
conservation of energy, the Newman--Penrose constant preservation and other
expected features are observed.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures; to appear in General Relativity and Gravitatio
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