8,897 research outputs found
Shot noise limited detection of OH using the technique of laser induced fluorescence
Nearly shot-noise limited detection of OH using the technique of laser-induced fluorescence is reported. A LIDAR configuration is used to excite fluorescence in a large volume and a narrow-bandwidth interference filter provides spectral discrimination. This arrangement alleviates the effect of ozone interference and facilitates image processing at relatively close distances. The detection limit is determined mainly by the shot-noise of the solar background. Ground-based measurements in Dearborn indicate a detection limit of better than 1 x 10 to the 6th power OH/cubic cm over a forty-minute acquisition period. Under favorable conditions, a comparable detection limit was also observed for airborne measurements
Learning to train neural networks for real-world control problems
Over the past three years, our group has concentrated on the application of neural network methods to the training of controllers for real-world systems. This presentation describes our approach, surveys what we have found to be important, mentions some contributions to the field, and shows some representative results. Topics discussed include: (1) executing model studies as rehearsal for experimental studies; (2) the importance of correct derivatives; (3) effective training with second-order (DEKF) methods; (4) the efficacy of time-lagged recurrent networks; (5) liberation from the tyranny of the control cycle using asynchronous truncated backpropagation through time; and (6) multistream training for robustness. Results from model studies of automotive idle speed control serve as examples for several of these topics
Molecular genetics and pathophysiology of 17 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 3 deficiency.
Autosomal recessive mutations in the 17 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 3 gene impair the formation of testosterone in the fetal testis and give rise to genetic males with female external genitalia. Such individuals are usually raised as females, but virilize at the time of expected puberty as the result of increases in serum testosterone. Here we describe mutations in 12 additional subjects/families with this disorder. The 14 mutations characterized to date include 10 missense mutations, 3 splice junction abnormalities, and 1 small deletion that results in a frame shift. Three of these mutations have occurred in more than 1 family. Complementary DNAs incorporating 9 of the 10 missense mutations have been constructed and expressed in reporter cells; 8 of the 9 missense mutations cause almost complete loss of enzymatic activity. In 2 subjects with loss of function, missense mutations testosterone levels in testicular venous blood were very low. Considered together, these findings strongly suggest that the common mechanism for testosterone formation in postpubertal subjects with this disorder is the conversion of circulating androstenedione to testosterone by one or more of the unaffected 17 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase isoenzymes
Predicting spectral features in galaxy spectra from broad-band photometry
We explore the prospects of predicting emission line features present in
galaxy spectra given broad-band photometry alone. There is a general consent
that colours, and spectral features, most notably the 4000 A break, can predict
many properties of galaxies, including star formation rates and hence they
could infer some of the line properties. We argue that these techniques have
great prospects in helping us understand line emission in extragalactic objects
and might speed up future galaxy redshift surveys if they are to target
emission line objects only. We use two independent methods, Artifical Neural
Neworks (based on the ANNz code) and Locally Weighted Regression (LWR), to
retrieve correlations present in the colour N-dimensional space and to predict
the equivalent widths present in the corresponding spectra. We also investigate
how well it is possible to separate galaxies with and without lines from broad
band photometry only. We find, unsurprisingly, that recombination lines can be
well predicted by galaxy colours. However, among collisional lines some can and
some cannot be predicted well from galaxy colours alone, without any further
redshift information. We also use our techniques to estimate how much
information contained in spectral diagnostic diagrams can be recovered from
broad-band photometry alone. We find that it is possible to classify AGN and
star formation objects relatively well using colours only. We suggest that this
technique could be used to considerably improve redshift surveys such as the
upcoming FMOS survey and the planned WFMOS survey.Comment: 10 pages 7 figures summitted to MNRA
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Hyperfine Structure
Contains reports on three research projects
Network Landscape from a Brownian Particle's Perspective
Given a complex biological or social network, how many clusters should it be
decomposed into? We define the distance from node to node as
the average number of steps a Brownian particle takes to reach from .
Node is a global attractor of if for any of
the graph; it is a local attractor of , if (the set of
nearest-neighbors of ) and for any . Based
on the intuition that each node should have a high probability to be in the
same community as its global (local) attractor on the global (local) scale, we
present a simple method to uncover a network's community structure. This method
is applied to several real networks and some discussion on its possible
extensions is made.Comment: 5 pages, 4 color-figures. REVTeX 4 format. To appear in PR
The Earth Effect in the MSW Analysis of the Solar Neutrino Experiments
We consider the Earth effect in the MSW analysis of the Homestake,
Kamiokande, GALLEX, and SAGE solar neutrino experiments. Using the
time-averaged data and assuming two-flavor oscillations, the large-angle region
of the combined fit extends to much smaller angles (to ) than when the Earth effect is ignored. However, the additional constraint
from the Kamiokande II day-night data excludes most of the parameter space
sensitive to the Earth effect independent of astrophysical uncertainties, and
leaves only a small large-angle region close to maximal mixing at 90\% C.L. The
nonadiabatic solution remains unaffected by the Earth effect and is still
preferred. Both theoretical and experimental uncertainties are included in the
analysis.Comment: (11 pages, Revtex 3.0 (can be changed to Latex), 3 postscript figures
included, UPR-0570T
Casimir Energy for a Spherical Cavity in a Dielectric: Applications to Sonoluminescence
In the final few years of his life, Julian Schwinger proposed that the
``dynamical Casimir effect'' might provide the driving force behind the
puzzling phenomenon of sonoluminescence. Motivated by that exciting suggestion,
we have computed the static Casimir energy of a spherical cavity in an
otherwise uniform material. As expected the result is divergent; yet a
plausible finite answer is extracted, in the leading uniform asymptotic
approximation. This result agrees with that found using zeta-function
regularization. Numerically, we find far too small an energy to account for the
large burst of photons seen in sonoluminescence. If the divergent result is
retained, it is of the wrong sign to drive the effect. Dispersion does not
resolve this contradiction. In the static approximation, the Fresnel drag term
is zero; on the mother hand, electrostriction could be comparable to the
Casimir term. It is argued that this adiabatic approximation to the dynamical
Casimir effect should be quite accurate.Comment: 23 pages, no figures, REVTe
Self-Similar Interpolation in Quantum Mechanics
An approach is developed for constructing simple analytical formulae
accurately approximating solutions to eigenvalue problems of quantum mechanics.
This approach is based on self-similar approximation theory. In order to derive
interpolation formulae valid in the whole range of parameters of considered
physical quantities, the self-similar renormalization procedure is complimented
here by boundary conditions which define control functions guaranteeing correct
asymptotic behaviour in the vicinity of boundary points. To emphasize the
generality of the approach, it is illustrated by different problems that are
typical for quantum mechanics, such as anharmonic oscillators, double-well
potentials, and quasiresonance models with quasistationary states. In addition,
the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation is considered, for which both eigenvalues
and wave functions are constructed.Comment: 1 file, 30 pages, RevTex, no figure
The origin of intergalactic thermonuclear supernovae
The population synthesis method is used to study the possibility of
explaining the appreciable fraction (20^+12_15%) of the intergalactic (no-host)
type Ia supernovae observed in galaxy clusters (Gal-Yam ete al. 2003) by binary
whote dwarf merginngs in the cores of globular clusters. In a typical globular
cluster, the number of merging double white dwarfs is fount to be smaller than
10^{-13} per year per average cluster star during the entire evolution of the
cluster, which is a factor of 3 higher than in a Milky-Way-type galaxy. From 5
to 30% of the merging white dwarfs are dynamically expelled from the cluster
with barycenter velocities up to 150 km/s. SN Ia explosions during the mergers
of binary white dwarfs in dense star clusters may account for \sim 1% of the
total rate of SN Ia in the central parts of galaxy clusters if the baryon mass
fraction in such star clusters is \sim 0.3%.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figs. Astronomy Letters (in press
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