BRESEX: On board supervision, basic architecture and preliminary aspects for payload and space shuttle interface

Data relative to the on board supervision subsystem are presented which were considered in a conference between INPE and NASA personnel, with the purpose of initiating a joint effort leading to the implementation of the Brazilian remote sensing experiment - (BRESEX). The BRESEX should consist, basically, of a multispectral camera for Earth observation, to be tested in a future space shuttle flight

Overlap Removal of Dimensionality Reduction Scatterplot Layouts

Dimensionality Reduction (DR) scatterplot layouts have become a ubiquitous visualization tool for analyzing multidimensional data items with presence in different areas. Despite its popularity, scatterplots suffer from occlusion, especially when markers convey information, making it troublesome for users to estimate items' groups' sizes and, more importantly, potentially obfuscating critical items for the analysis under execution. Different strategies have been devised to address this issue, either producing overlap-free layouts, lacking the powerful capabilities of contemporary DR techniques in uncover interesting data patterns, or eliminating overlaps as a post-processing strategy. Despite the good results of post-processing techniques, the best methods typically expand or distort the scatterplot area, thus reducing markers' size (sometimes) to unreadable dimensions, defeating the purpose of removing overlaps. This paper presents a novel post-processing strategy to remove DR layouts' overlaps that faithfully preserves the original layout's characteristics and markers' sizes. We show that the proposed strategy surpasses the state-of-the-art in overlap removal through an extensive comparative evaluation considering multiple different metrics while it is 2 or 3 orders of magnitude faster for large datasets.Comment: 11 pages and 9 figure

Numerical Simulation of Magnetic Interactions in Polycrystalline YFeO3

The magnetic behavior of polycrystalline yttrium orthoferrite was studied from the experimental and theoretical points of view. Magnetization measurements up to 170 kOe were carried out on a single-phase YFeO3 sample synthesized from heterobimetallic alkoxides. The complex interplay between weak-ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions, observed in the experimental M(H) curves, was successfully simulated by locally minimizing the magnetic energy of two interacting Fe sublattices. The resulting values of exchange field (H_E = 5590 kOe), anisotropy field (H_A = 0.5 kOe) and Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya antisymmetric field (H_D = 149 kOe) are in good agreement with previous reports on this system.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figure

Neutral heavy lepton production at next high energy e+e−e^+e^- linear colliders

The discovery potential for detecting new heavy Majorana and Dirac neutrinos at some recently proposed high energy $e^+e^-$ colliders is discussed. These new particles are suggested by grand unified theories and superstring-inspired models. For these models the production of a single heavy neutrino is shown to be more relevant than pair production when comparing cross sections and neutrino mass ranges. The process $e^+e^- \longrightarrow {\nu} e^{\pm} W^{\mp}$ is calculated including on-shell and off-shell heavy neutrino effects. We present a detailed study of cross sections and distributions that shows a clear separation between the signal and standard model contributions, even after including hadronization effects.Comment: 4 pages including 15 figures, 1 table. RevTex. Accepted in Physical Review

EVALUATION OF SOLIDS CARRYING CAPACITY IN AERATED FLUID DRILLING: REAL SCALE TESTS AND MODELING

This paper summarizes the results of two sets of experimental tests performed at PETROBRAS real scale test facility aiming the evaluation of solids return times in aerated fluid drilling. The effect of the following parameters was studied: liquid and gas injection rates, particle diameter and depth. Results indicate that the gas has a major effect in accelerating the liquid phase, which would be responsible for carrying the particles to the surface. The concept of effective liquid velocity coupled with an adequate procedure for particle sedimentation velocity calculation reproduced the experimental results adequately

Electron-radiation interaction in a Penning trap: beyond the dipole approximation

We investigate the physics of a single trapped electron interacting with a radiation field without the dipole approximation. This gives new physical insights in the so-called geonium theory.Comment: 12 pages, RevTeX, 6 figures, Approved for publication in Phys. Rev.

Autonomic modulation of heart rate of young and postmenopausal women undergoing estrogen therapy

The aim of the present study was to determine whether estrogen therapy (ET) reduces alterations of the autonomic control of heart rate (HR) due to hypoestrogenism and aging. Thirteen young (24 ± 2.6 years), 10 postmenopausal (53 ± 4.6 years) undergoing ET (PM-ET), and 14 postmenopausal (56 ± 2.6 years) women not undergoing ET (PM) were studied. ET consisted of 0.625 mg/day conjugated equine estrogen. HR was recorded continuously for 8 min at rest in the supine and sitting positions. HR variability (HRV) was analyzed by time (SDNN and rMSSD indices) and frequency domain methods. Power spectral components are reported as normalized units (nu) at low (LF) and high (HF) frequencies, and as LF/HF ratio. Intergroup comparisons: SDNN index was higher in young (median: supine, 47 ms; sitting, 42 ms) than in PM-ET (33; 29 ms) and PM (31; 29 ms) women (P < 0.05). PM showed lower HFnu, higher LFnu and higher LF/HF ratio (supine: 44, 56, 1.29; sitting: 38, 62, 1.60) than the young group in the supine position (61, 39, 0.63) and the PM-ET group in the sitting position (57, 43, 0.75; P < 0.05). Intragroup comparisons: HR was lower in the supine than in the sitting position for all groups (P < 0.05). The HRV decrease from the supine to the sitting position was significant only in the young group. These results suggest that HRV decreases during aging. ET seems to attenuate this process, promoting a reduction in sympathetic activity on the heart and contributing to the cardioprotective effect of estrogen hormones.49149

Handgrip strength

The basic function of the human hand is the manipulation and grasping of various objects in all daily activities, including work activities. This is greatly influenced by strength and manual dexterity. However age, gender and other contexts such as work or leisure activities could influence strength. Handgrip strength, a measure of maximum voluntary force of the hand, has proved to be reliable and valid as an objective parameter to evaluate the functional integrity of the hand as part of the musculoskeletal system. It correlates highly with strength in other muscular groups and is therefore considered as a good indicator of overall muscular strength and functional stress and could be used as a predictor of physical disability. Handgrip strength assessment is simple and reliable and used commonly by several investigators and health professionals, in different contexts (medical, nutritional, rehabilitation, professional settings, engineering, etc.) and with different purposes (research, diagnostic, assessment, etc.). In clinical and rehabilitation settings is of vital importance in the determination of effectiveness of several interventions and for monitoring evolution of diseases. Various ways (methods, techniques and equipments) of collecting information on grip strength have been reported. This chapter will review basic concepts on handgrip function, methodologies of assessment, contexts of application and correlates, such as physical activity, health or nutritional status. Several populations and reference values as also the relationships between handgrip and clinical status, aging, risk of disability and diseases, will be discussed