548 research outputs found
Neurological soft signs in persons with amnestic mild cognitive impairment and the relationships to neuropsychological functions
BACKGROUND: Neurological abnormalities have been reported in people with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). The current study aimed to examine the prevalence of neurological soft signs (NSS) in this clinical group and to examine the relationship of NSS to other neuropsychological performances.
METHODS: Twenty-nine people with aMCI and 28 cognitively healthy elderly people were recruited for the present study. The NSS subscales (motor coordination, sensory integration, and disinhibition) of the Cambridge Neurological Inventory and a set of neuropsychological tests were administered to all the participants.
RESULTS: People with aMCI exhibited significantly more motor coordination signs, disinhibition signs, and total NSS than normal controls. Correlation analysis showed that the motor coordination subscale score and total score of NSS were significantly inversely correlated with the combined Z-score of neuropsychological tests in aMCI group.
CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary findings suggested that people with aMCI demonstrated a higher prevalence of NSS compared to healthy elderly people. Moreover, NSS was found to be inversely correlated with the neuropsychological performances in persons with aMCI. When taken together, these findings suggested that NSS may play a potential important role and serve as a tool to assist in the early detection of aMCI
Remarks on self-interaction correction to black hole radiation
In the work [P. Kraus and F. Wilczek, \textit{Self-interaction correction to
black hole radiation, Nucl. Phys.} B433 (1995) 403], it has been pointed out
that the self-gravitation interaction would modify the black hole radiation so
that it is no longer thermal, where it is, however, corrected in an approximate
way and therefore is not established its relationship with the underlying
unitary theory in quantum theory. In this paper, we revisit the
self-gravitation interaction to Hawking radiation of the general spherically
symmetric black hole, and find that the precisely derived spectrum is not only
deviated from the purely thermal spectrum, but most importantly, is related to
the change of the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy and consistent with an underlying
unitary theory.Comment: 14 page
Statistical Interpretation of Joint Multiplicity Distributions of Neutrons and Charged Particles
Experimental joint multiplicity distributions of neutrons and charged
particles emitted in complex nuclear reactions provide an important test of
theoretical models. The method is applied to test three different theoretical
models of nuclear multi-fragmentation, two of which fail the test. The
measurement of neutrons is decisive in distinguishing between the Berlin and
Copenhagen models of nuclear multi-fragmentation and challenges the
interpretation of pseudo- Arrhenius plots. Statistical-model evaporation
calculations with GEMINI give a good reproduction first and second moments of
the experimental multiplicity correlations.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures Added GEMINI calculations of multiplicity
correlations Added brief discussion of how neutron emission is treated in
MMM
Filtering and Tracking with Trinion-Valued Adaptive Algorithms
A new model for three-dimensional processes based on the trinion algebra is introduced for the first time. Compared
with the pure quaternion model, the trinion model is more compact and computationally more efficient, while having similar or
comparable performance in terms of adaptive linear filtering. Moreover, the trinion model can effectively represent the general
relationship of state evolution in Kalman filtering, where the pure quaternion model fails. Simulations on real-world wind
recordings and synthetic data sets are provided to demonstrate the potentials of this new modeling method
Affective design using machine learning : a survey and its prospect of conjoining big data
Customer satisfaction in purchasing new products is an important issue that needs to be addressed in todayâs competitive markets. Consumers not only need to be solely satisfied with the functional requirements of a product, and they are also concerned with the affective needs and aesthetic appreciation of the product. A product with good affective design excites consumer emotional feelings so as to buy the product. However, affective design often involves complex and multi-dimensional problems for modelling and maximising affective satisfaction of customers. Machine learning is commonly used to model and maximise the affective satisfaction, since it is effective in modelling nonlinear patterns when numerical data relevant to the patterns is available. This article presents a survey of commonly used machine learning approaches for affective design when two data streams namely traditional survey data and modern big data are used. A classification of machine learning technologies is first provided which is developed using traditional survey data for affective design. The limitations and advantages of each machine learning technology are also discussed and we summarize the uses of machine learning technologies for affective design. This review article is useful for those who use machine learning technologies for affective design. The limitations of using traditional survey data are then discussed which is time consuming to collect and cannot fully cover all the affective domains for product development. Nowadays, big data related to affective design can be captured from social media. The prospects and challenges in using big data are discussed so as to enhance affective design, in which very limited research has so far been attempted. This article provides guidelines for researchers who are interested in exploring big data and machine learning technologies for affective design
Microwave assisted low temperature synthesis of MnZn ferrite nanoparticles
MnZnFe2O4ferrite nanoparticles were prepared by co-precipitation method using a microwave heating system at temperature of 100 °C. X-ray diffraction reveals the samples as prepared are pure ferrite nanocrystalline phase, transmission electron microscopy image analysis shows particles are in agglomeration state with an average size of about 10 nm, furthermore, crystal size of samples are increased with longer microwave heating
Interventions Targeting Child Undernutrition in Developing Countries May Be Undermined by Dietary Exposure to Aflatoxin
Child undernutrition, a form of malnutrition, is a major public health burden in developing countries. Supplementation interventions targeting the major micronutrient deficiencies have only reduced the burden of child undernutrition to a certain extent, indicating that there are other underlying determinants that need to be addressed. Aflatoxin exposure, which is also highly prevalent in developing countries, may be considered an aggravating factor for child undernutrition. Increasing evidence suggests that aflatoxin exposure can occur in any stage of life, including in utero through a trans-placental pathway and in early childhood (through contaminated weaning food and family food). Early life exposure to aflatoxin is associated with adverse effects on low birth weight, stunting, immune suppression, and the liver function damage. The mechanisms underlying impaired growth and aflatoxin exposure are still unclear but intestinal function damage, reduced immune function, and alteration in the insulin-like growth factor axis caused by the liver damage are the suggested hypotheses. Given the fact that both aflatoxin and child undernutrition are common in sub-Saharan Africa, effective interventions aimed at reducing undernutrition cannot be satisfactorily achieved until the interactive relationship between aflatoxin and child undernutrition is clearly understood, and an aflatoxin mitigation strategy takes effect in those vulnerable mothers and children
Recent Advances in Understanding Particle Acceleration Processes in Solar Flares
We review basic theoretical concepts in particle acceleration, with
particular emphasis on processes likely to occur in regions of magnetic
reconnection. Several new developments are discussed, including detailed
studies of reconnection in three-dimensional magnetic field configurations
(e.g., current sheets, collapsing traps, separatrix regions) and stochastic
acceleration in a turbulent environment. Fluid, test-particle, and
particle-in-cell approaches are used and results compared. While these studies
show considerable promise in accounting for the various observational
manifestations of solar flares, they are limited by a number of factors, mostly
relating to available computational power. Not the least of these issues is the
need to explicitly incorporate the electrodynamic feedback of the accelerated
particles themselves on the environment in which they are accelerated. A brief
prognosis for future advancement is offered.Comment: This is a chapter in a monograph on the physics of solar flares,
inspired by RHESSI observations. The individual articles are to appear in
Space Science Reviews (2011
Measurement of and charged current inclusive cross sections and their ratio with the T2K off-axis near detector
We report a measurement of cross section and the first measurements of the cross section
and their ratio
at (anti-)neutrino energies below 1.5
GeV. We determine the single momentum bin cross section measurements, averaged
over the T2K -flux, for the detector target material (mainly
Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen and Copper) with phase space restricted laboratory
frame kinematics of 500 MeV/c. The
results are and $\sigma(\nu)=\left( 2.41\
\pm0.022{\rm{(stat.)}}\pm0.231{\rm (syst.)}\ \right)\times10^{-39}^{2}R\left(\frac{\sigma(\bar{\nu})}{\sigma(\nu)}\right)=
0.373\pm0.012{\rm (stat.)}\pm0.015{\rm (syst.)}$.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figure
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