468 research outputs found
Progressive resistance training improving gait performance and mobility in acute and chronic stroke patients
Stroke, a neurological disorder, leads to long-term disability thereby greatly affecting gait and mobility. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of progressive resistance training in both acute and chronic stroke patients. A quasi interventional study was designed and 46 stroke patients were recruited through convenience sampling technique. Sample size was calculated using epi-tool. Patients who had cognitive problems, balance impairments and contractures were excluded from the study. The study was conducted from January to June 2018, at Rafsan Rehab & Research Centre, Peshawar. Progressive resistance exercises starting at 50 % of one repetition maximum (RM) were performed three days/week and for a total duration of nine weeks. Blind assessor measured readings at baseline and after nine weeks. Gait dynamic index (GDI), Six-Meter Walk Test (SMWT) and Five Times Sit-to-Stand (FTSTS) tools were used to collect the required data. The data was analysed at baseline and after nine weeks on SPSS-20. After nine weeks of intervention significant improvement was recorded in patients on GDI (p<0.001), SMWT score (P<0.001) and FTSTS (p<0.001). Progressive resistance training improves mobility limitations and gait in both acute and chronic stroke patients.måsjekke
First narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves from known pulsars in advanced detector data
Spinning neutron stars asymmetric with respect to their rotation axis are potential sources of
continuous gravitational waves for ground-based interferometric detectors. In the case of known pulsars a
fully coherent search, based on matched filtering, which uses the position and rotational parameters
obtained from electromagnetic observations, can be carried out. Matched filtering maximizes the signalto-
noise (SNR) ratio, but a large sensitivity loss is expected in case of even a very small mismatch
between the assumed and the true signal parameters. For this reason, narrow-band analysis methods have
been developed, allowing a fully coherent search for gravitational waves from known pulsars over a
fraction of a hertz and several spin-down values. In this paper we describe a narrow-band search of
11 pulsars using data from Advanced LIGO’s first observing run. Although we have found several initial
outliers, further studies show no significant evidence for the presence of a gravitational wave signal.
Finally, we have placed upper limits on the signal strain amplitude lower than the spin-down limit for 5 of
the 11 targets over the bands searched; in the case of J1813-1749 the spin-down limit has been beaten for
the first time. For an additional 3 targets, the median upper limit across the search bands is below the
spin-down limit. This is the most sensitive narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves carried
out so far
Virgo Detector Characterization and Data Quality during the O3 run
The Advanced Virgo detector has contributed with its data to the rapid growth
of the number of detected gravitational-wave signals in the past few years,
alongside the two LIGO instruments. First, during the last month of the
Observation Run 2 (O2) in August 2017 (with, most notably, the compact binary
mergers GW170814 and GW170817) and then during the full Observation Run 3 (O3):
an 11 months data taking period, between April 2019 and March 2020, that led to
the addition of about 80 events to the catalog of transient gravitational-wave
sources maintained by LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA. These discoveries and the manifold
exploitation of the detected waveforms require an accurate characterization of
the quality of the data, such as continuous study and monitoring of the
detector noise. These activities, collectively named {\em detector
characterization} or {\em DetChar}, span the whole workflow of the Virgo data,
from the instrument front-end to the final analysis. They are described in
details in the following article, with a focus on the associated tools, the
results achieved by the Virgo DetChar group during the O3 run and the main
prospects for future data-taking periods with an improved detector.Comment: 86 pages, 33 figures. This paper has been divided into two articles
which supercede it and have been posted to arXiv on October 2022. Please use
these new preprints as references: arXiv:2210.15634 (tools and methods) and
arXiv:2210.15633 (results from the O3 run
Virgo Detector Characterization and Data Quality: results from the O3 run
The Advanced Virgo detector has contributed with its data to the rapid growth
of the number of detected gravitational-wave (GW) signals in the past few
years, alongside the two Advanced LIGO instruments. First during the last month
of the Observation Run 2 (O2) in August 2017 (with, most notably, the compact
binary mergers GW170814 and GW170817), and then during the full Observation Run
3 (O3): an 11-months data taking period, between April 2019 and March 2020,
that led to the addition of about 80 events to the catalog of transient GW
sources maintained by LIGO, Virgo and now KAGRA. These discoveries and the
manifold exploitation of the detected waveforms require an accurate
characterization of the quality of the data, such as continuous study and
monitoring of the detector noise sources. These activities, collectively named
{\em detector characterization and data quality} or {\em DetChar}, span the
whole workflow of the Virgo data, from the instrument front-end hardware to the
final analyses. They are described in details in the following article, with a
focus on the results achieved by the Virgo DetChar group during the O3 run.
Concurrently, a companion article describes the tools that have been used by
the Virgo DetChar group to perform this work.Comment: 57 pages, 18 figures. To be submitted to Class. and Quantum Grav.
This is the "Results" part of preprint arXiv:2205.01555 [gr-qc] which has
been split into two companion articles: one about the tools and methods, the
other about the analyses of the O3 Virgo dat
Virgo Detector Characterization and Data Quality: tools
Detector characterization and data quality studies -- collectively referred
to as {\em DetChar} activities in this article -- are paramount to the
scientific exploitation of the joint dataset collected by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA
global network of ground-based gravitational-wave (GW) detectors. They take
place during each phase of the operation of the instruments (upgrade, tuning
and optimization, data taking), are required at all steps of the dataflow (from
data acquisition to the final list of GW events) and operate at various
latencies (from near real-time to vet the public alerts to offline analyses).
This work requires a wide set of tools which have been developed over the years
to fulfill the requirements of the various DetChar studies: data access and
bookkeeping; global monitoring of the instruments and of the different steps of
the data processing; studies of the global properties of the noise at the
detector outputs; identification and follow-up of noise peculiar features
(whether they be transient or continuously present in the data); quick
processing of the public alerts. The present article reviews all the tools used
by the Virgo DetChar group during the third LIGO-Virgo Observation Run (O3,
from April 2019 to March 2020), mainly to analyse the Virgo data acquired at
EGO. Concurrently, a companion article focuses on the results achieved by the
DetChar group during the O3 run using these tools.Comment: 44 pages, 16 figures. To be submitted to Class. and Quantum Grav.
This is the "Tools" part of preprint arXiv:2205.01555 [gr-qc] which has been
split into two companion articles: one about the tools and methods, the other
about the analyses of the O3 Virgo dat
Advanced Virgo Plus: Future Perspectives
While completing the commissioning phase to prepare the Virgo interferometer for the next joint Observation Run (O4), the Virgo collaboration is also finalizing the design of the next upgrades to the detector to be employed in the following Observation Run (O5). The major upgrade will concern decreasing the thermal noise limit, which will imply using very large test masses and increased laser beam size. But this will not be the only upgrade to be implemented in the break between the O4 and O5 observation runs to increase the Virgo detector strain sensitivity. The paper will cover the challenges linked to this upgrade and implications on the detector's reach and observational potential, reflecting the talk given at 12th Cosmic Ray International Seminar - CRIS 2022 held in September 2022 in Napoli
The Advanced Virgo+ status
The gravitational wave detector Advanced Virgo+ is currently in the commissioning phase in view of the fourth Observing Run (O4). The major upgrades with respect to the Advanced Virgo configuration are the implementation of an additional recycling cavity, the Signal Recycling cavity (SRC), at the output of the interferometer to broaden the sensitivity band and the Frequency Dependent Squeezing (FDS) to reduce quantum noise at all frequencies. The main difference of the Advanced Virgo + detector with respect to the LIGO detectors is the presence of marginally stable recycling cavities, with respect to the stable recycling cavities present in the LIGO detectors, which increases the difficulties in controlling the interferometer in presence of defects (both thermal and cold defects). This work will focus on the interferometer commissioning, highlighting the control challenges to maintain the detector in the working point which maximizes the sensitivity and the duty cycle for scientific data taking
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