Capabilities of the GRO/BATSE for monitoring of discrete sources

Although the Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) to be flown on the Gamma Ray Observatory has as its primary objective the detection of gamma ray bursts, its uncollimated design will enable it to serve a unique function as an all-sky monitor for bright hard X-ray and low-energy gamma ray sources. Pulsating sources may be detected by conventional techniques such as summed-epoch and Fourier analyses. The BATSE will, in addition, be able to use Earth occultation in an unprecedented way to monitor sufficiently bright sources as often as several times per day over approx. 85% of the sky. Estimates of the expected BATSE sensitivity using both of these techniques are presented

Underground measurements on secondary cosmic rays

Measurements made at the Poatina cosmic ray station (41.8 S 149.9 E, 347 m.w.e.) from August 1983 to July 1984 are summarized. The cosmic ray primary particles responsible for events detected at the station have a median primary energy of 1.2 TeV. The motivation for part of this work came from the reported detection of narrow angle anisotropies in the arrival direction of cosmic rays

Interpolation Parameter and Expansion for the Three Dimensional Non-Trivial Scalar Infrared Fixed Point

We compute the non--trivial infrared $\phi^4_3$--fixed point by means of an interpolation expansion in fixed dimension. The expansion is formulated for an infinitesimal momentum space renormalization group. We choose a coordinate representation for the fixed point interaction in derivative expansion, and compute its coordinates to high orders by means of computer algebra. We compute the series for the critical exponent $\nu$ up to order twenty five of interpolation expansion in this representation, and evaluate it using \pade, Borel--\pade, Borel--conformal--\pade, and Dlog--\pade resummation. The resummation returns $0.6262(13)$ as the value of $\nu$.Comment: 29 pages, Latex2e, 2 Postscript figure

Controlling the uncontrolled: Are there incidental experimenter effects on physiologic responding?

The degree to which experimenters shape participant behavior has long been of interest in experimental social science research. Here, we extend this question to the domain of peripheral psychophysiology, where experimenters often have direct, physical contact with participants, yet researchers do not consistently test for their influence. We describe analytic tools for examining experimenter effects in peripheral physiology. Using these tools, we investigate nine data sets totaling 1,341 participants and 160 experimenters across different roles (e.g., lead research assistants, evaluators, confederates) to demonstrate how researchers can test for experimenter effects in participant autonomic nervous system activity during baseline recordings and reactivity to study tasks. Our results showed (a) little to no significant variance in participants' physiological reactivity due to their experimenters, and (b) little to no evidence that three characteristics of experimenters that are well known to shape interpersonal interactions-status (using five studies with 682 total participants), gender (using two studies with 359 total participants), and race (in two studies with 554 total participants)-influenced participants' physiology. We highlight several reasons that experimenter effects in physiological data are still cause for concern, including the fact that experimenters in these studies were already restricted on a number of characteristics (e.g., age, education). We present recommendations for examining and reducing experimenter effects in physiological data and discuss implications for replication

Symmetry Analysis of Multiferroic Co_3TeO_6

A phenomenological explanation of the magnetoelectric behavior of Co_3TeO_6 is developed. We explain the second harmonic generation data and the magnetic field induced spontaneous polarization in the magnetically ordered phase below 20K.Comment: Phys rev B Rapids, to appea

Science is perception: what can our sense of smell tell us about ourselves and the world around us?

Human sensory processes are well understood: hearing, seeing, perhaps even tasting and touch—but we do not understand smell—the elusive sense. That is, for the others we know what stimuli causes what response, and why and how. These fundamental questions are not answered within the sphere of smell science; we do not know what it is about a molecule that … smells. I report, here, the status quo theories for olfaction, highlighting what we do not know, and explaining why dismissing the perception of the input as ‘too subjective’ acts as a roadblock not conducive to scientific inquiry. I outline the current and new theory that conjectures a mechanism for signal transduction based on quantum mechanical phenomena, dubbed the ‘swipe card’, which is perhaps controversial but feasible. I show that such lines of thinking may answer some questions, or at least pose the right questions. Most importantly, I draw links and comparisons as to how better understanding of how small (10’s of atoms) molecules can interact so specially with large (10 000’s of atoms) proteins in a way that is so integral to healthy living. Repercussions of this work are not just important in understanding a basic scientific tool used by us all, but often taken for granted, it is also a step closer to understanding generic mechanisms between drug and receptor, for example

Modifications of Gait as Predictors of Natural Osteoarthritis Progression in STR/Ort Mice

OBJECTIVE: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common chronic disease for which disease-modifying therapies are not currently available. Studies to seek new targets for slowing the progress of OA rely on mouse models, but these do not allow for longitudinal monitoring of disease development. This study was undertaken to determine whether gait can be used to measure disease severity in the STR/Ort mouse model of spontaneous OA and whether gait changes are related to OA joint pain. METHODS: Gait was monitored using a treadmill-based video system. Correlations between OA severity and gait at 3 treadmill speeds were assessed in STR/Ort mice. Gait and pain behaviors of STR/Ort mice and control CBA mice were analyzed longitudinally, with monthly assessments. RESULTS: The best speed to identify paw area changes associated with OA severity in STR/Ort mice was found to be 17 cm · seconds(−1). Paw area was modified with age in CBA and STR/Ort mice, but this began earlier in STR/Ort mice and correlated with the onset of OA at 20 weeks of age. In addition, task noncompliance appeared at 20 weeks. Surprisingly, STR/Ort mice did not show any signs of pain with OA development, even when treated with the opioid antagonist naloxone, but did exhibit normal pain behaviors in response to complete Freund's adjuvant–induced arthritis. CONCLUSION: The present results identify an animal model in which OA severity and OA pain can be studied in isolation from one another. The findings suggest that paw area and treadmill noncompliance may be useful tools to longitudinally monitor nonpainful OA development in STR/Ort mice. This will help in providing a noninvasive means of assessing new therapies to slow the progression of OA

Centrality Measures in Spatial Networks of Urban Streets

We study centrality in urban street patterns of different world cities represented as networks in geographical space. The results indicate that a spatial analysis based on a set of four centrality indices allows an extended visualization and characterization of the city structure. Planned and self-organized cities clearly belong to two different universality classes. In particular, self-organized cities exhibit scale-free properties similar to those found in the degree distributions of non-spatial networks.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Long-term source monitoring with BATSE

The uncollimated Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) large area detectors (LADs) are well suited to nearly continuous monitoring of the stronger hard x-ray sources, and time series analysis for pulsars. An overview of the analysis techniques presently being applied to the data are discussed, including representative observations of the Crab Nebula, Crab pulsar, and summaries of the sources detected to data. Results of a search for variability in the Crab Pulsar pulse profile are presented