1,707 research outputs found
Kinetic description of avalanching systems
Avalanching systems are treated analytically using the renormalization group
(in the self-organized-criticality regime) or mean-field approximation,
respectively. The latter describes the state in terms of the mean number of
active and passive sites, without addressing the inhomogeneity in their
distribution. This paper goes one step further by proposing a kinetic
description of avalanching systems making use of the distribution function for
clusters of active sites. We illustrate application of the kinetic formalism to
a model proposed for the description of the avalanching processes in the
reconnecting current sheet of the Earth magnetosphere.Comment: 9 page
Autonomic Nervous System characterization in hyperbaric environments considering respiratory component and non-linear analysis of Heart Rate Variability
Objectives: an evaluation of Principal Dynamic Mode (PDM) and Orthogonal Subspace Projection (OSP) methods to characterize the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) response in three different hyperbaric environments was performed. Methods: ECG signals were recorded in two different stages (baseline and immersion) in three different hyperbaric environments: (a) inside a hyperbaric chamber, (b) in a controlled sea immersion, (c) in a real reservoir immersion. Time-domain parameters were extracted from the RR series of the ECG. From the Heart Rate Variability signal (HRV), classic Power Spectral Density (PSD), PDM (a non-linear analysis of HRV which is able to separate sympathetic and parasympathetic activities) and OSP (an analysis of HRV which is able to extract the respiratory component) methods were used to assess the ANS response. Results: PDM and OSP parameters follows the same trend when compared to the PSD ones for the hyperbaric chamber dataset. Comparing the three hyperbaric scenarios, significant differences were found: i) heart rate decreased and RMSSD increased in the hyperbaric chamber and the controlled dive, but they had the opposite behavior during the uncontrolled dive; ii) power in the OSP respiratory component was lower than power in the OSP residual component in cases a and c; iii) PDM and OSP methods showed a significant increase in sympathetic activity during both dives, but parasympathetic activity increased only during the uncontrolled dive. Conclusions: PDM and OSP methods could be used as an alternative measurement of ANS response instead of the PSD method. OSP results indicate that most of the variation in the heart rate variability cannot be described by changes in the respiration, so changes in ANS response can be assigned to other factors. Time-domain parameters reflect vagal activation in the hyperbaric chamber and in the controlled dive because of the effect of pressure. In the uncontrolled dive, sympathetic activity seems to be dominant, due to the effects of other factors such as physical activity, the challenging environment, and the influence of breathing through the scuba mask during immersion. In sum, a careful description of the changes in all the possible factors that could affect the ANS response between baseline and immersion stages in hyperbaric environments is needed for better interpretation of the results
Acute renal failure in an AIDS patient on tenofovir: a case report
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens
Asteroseismology with the WIRE satellite. I. Combining Ground- and Space-based Photometry of the Delta Scuti Star Epsilon Cephei
We have analysed ground-based multi-colour Stromgren photometry and
single-filter photometry from the star tracker on the WIRE satellite of the
delta scuti star Epsilon Cephei. The ground-based data set consists of 16
nights of data collected over 164 days, while the satellite data are nearly
continuous coverage of the star during 14 days. The spectral window and noise
level of the satellite data are superior to the ground-based data and this data
set is used to locate the frequencies. However, we can use the ground-based
data to improve the accuracy of the frequencies due to the much longer time
baseline. We detect 26 oscillation frequencies in the WIRE data set, but only
some of these can be seen clearly in the ground-based data. We have used the
multi-colour ground-based photometry to determine amplitude and phase
differences in the Stromgren b-y colour and the y filter in an attempt to
identify the radial degree of the oscillation frequencies. We conclude that the
accuracies of the amplitudes and phases are not sufficient to constrain
theoretical models of Epsilon Cephei. We find no evidence for rotational
splitting or the large separation among the frequencies detected in the WIRE
data set. To be able to identify oscillation frequencies in delta scuti stars
with the method we have applied, it is crucial to obtain more complete coverage
from multi-site campaigns with a long time baseline and in multiple filters.
This is important when planning photometric and spectroscopic ground-based
support for future satellite missions like COROT and KEPLER.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, 4 tables. Fig. 4 reduced in quality. Accepted
by A&
Performance of fully instrumented detector planes of the forward calorimeter of a Linear Collider detector
Detector-plane prototypes of the very forward calorimetry of a future
detector at an e+e- collider have been built and their performance was measured
in an electron beam. The detector plane comprises silicon or GaAs pad sensors,
dedicated front-end and ADC ASICs, and an FPGA for data concentration.
Measurements of the signal-to-noise ratio and the response as a function of the
position of the sensor are presented. A deconvolution method is successfully
applied, and a comparison of the measured shower shape as a function of the
absorber depth with a Monte-Carlo simulation is given.Comment: 25 pages, 32 figures, revised version following comments from
referee
ECFA Detector R&D Panel, Review Report
Two special calorimeters are foreseen for the instrumentation of the very
forward region of an ILC or CLIC detector; a luminometer (LumiCal) designed to
measure the rate of low angle Bhabha scattering events with a precision better
than 10 at the ILC and 10 at CLIC, and a low polar-angle
calorimeter (BeamCal). The latter will be hit by a large amount of
beamstrahlung remnants. The intensity and the spatial shape of these
depositions will provide a fast luminosity estimate, as well as determination
of beam parameters. The sensors of this calorimeter must be radiation-hard.
Both devices will improve the e.m. hermeticity of the detector in the search
for new particles. Finely segmented and very compact electromagnetic
calorimeters will match these requirements. Due to the high occupancy, fast
front-end electronics will be needed. Monte Carlo studies were performed to
investigate the impact of beam-beam interactions and physics background
processes on the luminosity measurement, and of beamstrahlung on the
performance of BeamCal, as well as to optimise the design of both calorimeters.
Dedicated sensors, front-end and ADC ASICs have been designed for the ILC and
prototypes are available. Prototypes of sensor planes fully assembled with
readout electronics have been studied in electron beams.Comment: 61 pages, 51 figure
Identification of linear and nonlinear sensory processing circuits from spiking neuron data
Inferring mathematical models of sensory processing systems directly from input-output observations, while making the fewest assumptions about the model equations and the types of measurements available, is still a major issue in computational neuroscience. This letter introduces two new approaches for identifying sensory circuit models consisting of linear and nonlinear filters in series with spiking neuron models, based only on the sampled analog input to the filter and the recorded spike train output of the spiking neuron. For an ideal integrate-and-fire neuron model, the first algorithm can identify the spiking neuron parameters as well as the structure and parameters of an arbitrary nonlinear filter connected to it. The second algorithm can identify the parameters of the more general leaky integrate-and-fire spiking neuron model, as well as the parameters of an arbitrary linear filter connected to it. Numerical studies involving simulated and real experimental recordings are used to demonstrate the applicability and evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithms
Convection, Thermal Bifurcation, and the Colors of A stars
Broad-band ultraviolet photometry from the TD-1 satellite and low dispersion
spectra from the short wavelength camera of IUE have been used to investigate a
long-standing proposal of Bohm-Vitense that the normal main sequence A- and
early-F stars may divide into two different temperature sequences: (1) a high
temperature branch (and plateau) comprised of slowly rotating convective stars,
and (2) a low temperature branch populated by rapidly rotating radiative stars.
We find no evidence from either dataset to support such a claim, or to confirm
the existence of an "A-star gap" in the B-V color range 0.22 <= B-V <= 0.28 due
to the sudden onset of convection. We do observe, nonetheless, a large scatter
in the 1800--2000 A colors of the A-F stars, which amounts to ~0.65 mags at a
given B-V color index. The scatter is not caused by interstellar or
circumstellar reddening. A convincing case can also be made against binarity
and intrinsic variability due to pulsations of delta Sct origin. We find no
correlation with established chromospheric and coronal proxies of convection,
and thus no demonstrable link to the possible onset of convection among the A-F
stars. The scatter is not instrumental. Approximately 0.4 mags of the scatter
is shown to arise from individual differences in surface gravity as well as a
moderate spread (factor of ~3) in heavy metal abundance and UV line blanketing.
A dispersion of ~0.25 mags remains, which has no clear and obvious explanation.
The most likely cause, we believe, is a residual imprecision in our correction
for the spread in metal abundances. However, the existing data do not rule out
possible contributions from intrinsic stellar variability or from differential
UV line blanketing effects owing to a dispersion in microturbulent velocity.Comment: 40 pages, 14 figures, 1 table, AAS LaTex, to appear in The
Astrophysical Journa
Evidence for the exclusive decay Bc+- to J/psi pi+- and measurement of the mass of the Bc meson
We report first evidence for a fully reconstructed decay mode of the
B_c^{\pm} meson in the channel B_c^{\pm} \to J/psi \pi^{\pm}, with J/psi \to
mu^+mu^-. The analysis is based on an integrated luminosity of 360 pb$^{-1} in
p\bar{p} collisions at 1.96 TeV center of mass energy collected by the Collider
Detector at Fermilab. We observe 14.6 \pm 4.6 signal events with a background
of 7.1 \pm 0.9 events, and a fit to the J/psi pi^{\pm} mass spectrum yields a
B_c^{\pm} mass of 6285.7 \pm 5.3(stat) \pm 1.2(syst) MeV/c^2. The probability
of a peak of this magnitude occurring by random fluctuation in the search
region is estimated as 0.012%.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Version 3, accepted by PR
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