2,420 research outputs found
Stability, reliability and cross-mode correlations of tests in a recommended 8-minute performance assessment battery
A need exists for an automated performance test system to study drugs, agents, treatments, and stresses of interest to the aviation, space, and environmental medical community. The purpose of this present study is to evaluate tests for inclusion in the NASA-sponsored Automated Performance Test System (APTS). Twenty-one subjects were tested over 10 replications with tests previously identified as good candidates for repeated-measure research. The tests were concurrently administered in paper-and-pencil and microcomputer modes. Performance scores for the two modes were compared. Data from trials 1 to 10 were examined for indications of test stability and reliability. Nine of the ten APT system tests achieved stability. Reliabilities were generally high. Cross-correlation of microbased tests with traditional paper-and-pencil versions revealed similarity of content within tests in the different modes, and implied at least three cognition and two motor factors. This protable, inexpensive, rugged, computerized battery of tests is recommended for use in repeated-measures studies of environmental and drug effects on performance. Identification of other tests compatible with microcomputer testing and potentially capable of tapping previously unidentified factors is recommended. Documentation of APTS sensitivity to environmental agents is available for more than a dozen facilities and is reported briefly. Continuation of such validation remains critical in establishing the efficacy of APTS tests
Effect of nonlinearity on the dynamics of a particle in dc field-induced systems
Dynamics of a particle in a perfect chain with one nonlinear impurity and in
a perfect nonlinear chain under the action of dc field is studied numerically.
The nonlinearity appears due to the coupling of the electronic motion to
optical oscillators which are treated in adiabatic approximation.
We study for both the low and high values of field strength. Three different
range of nonlinearity is obtained where the dynamics is different. In low and
intermediate range of nonlinearity, it reduces the localization. In fact in the
intermediate range subdiffusive behavior in the perfect nonlinear chain is
obtained for a long time. In all the cases a critical value of nonlinear
strength exists where self-trapping transition takes place. This critical value
depends on the system and the field strength. Beyond the self-trapping
transition nonlinearity enhances the localization.Comment: 9 pages, Revtex, 6 ps figures include
Extended States in a One-dimensional Generalized Dimer Model
The transmission coefficient for a one dimensional system is given in terms
of Chebyshev polynomials using the tight-binding model. This result is applied
to a system composed of two impurities located between sites of a host
lattice. It is found that the system has extended states for several values of
the energy. Analytical expressions are given for the impurity site energy in
terms of the electron's energy. The number of resonant states grows like the
number of host sites between the impurities. This property makes the system
interesting since it is a simple task to design a configuration with resonant
energy very close to the Fermi level .Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Evidence from K2 for rapid rotation in the descendant of an intermediate-mass star
Using patterns in the oscillation frequencies of a white dwarf observed by
K2, we have measured the fastest rotation rate, 1.13(02) hr, of any isolated
pulsating white dwarf known to date. Balmer-line fits to follow-up spectroscopy
from the SOAR telescope show that the star (SDSSJ0837+1856, EPIC 211914185) is
a 13,590(340) K, 0.87(03) solar-mass white dwarf. This is the highest mass
measured for any pulsating white dwarf with known rotation, suggesting a
possible link between high mass and fast rotation. If it is the product of
single-star evolution, its progenitor was a roughly 4.0 solar-mass
main-sequence B star; we know very little about the angular momentum evolution
of such intermediate-mass stars. We explore the possibility that this rapidly
rotating white dwarf is the byproduct of a binary merger, which we conclude is
unlikely given the pulsation periods observed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure, 1 table; accepted for publication in The
Astrophysical Journal Letter
Growth and Structure of Stochastic Sequences
We introduce a class of stochastic integer sequences. In these sequences,
every element is a sum of two previous elements, at least one of which is
chosen randomly. The interplay between randomness and memory underlying these
sequences leads to a wide variety of behaviors ranging from stretched
exponential to log-normal to algebraic growth. Interestingly, the set of all
possible sequence values has an intricate structure.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
White Dwarf Rotation as a Function of Mass and a Dichotomy of Mode Linewidths: Kepler Observations of 27 Pulsating DA White Dwarfs Through K2 Campaign 8
We present photometry and spectroscopy for 27 pulsating hydrogen-atmosphere
white dwarfs (DAVs, a.k.a. ZZ Ceti stars) observed by the Kepler space
telescope up to K2 Campaign 8, an extensive compilation of observations with
unprecedented duration (>75 days) and duty cycle (>90%). The space-based
photometry reveals pulsation properties previously inaccessible to ground-based
observations. We observe a sharp dichotomy in oscillation mode linewidths at
roughly 800 s, such that white dwarf pulsations with periods exceeding 800 s
have substantially broader mode linewidths, more reminiscent of a damped
harmonic oscillator than a heat-driven pulsator. Extended Kepler coverage also
permits extensive mode identification: We identify the spherical degree of 61
out of 154 unique radial orders, providing direct constraints of the rotation
period for 20 of these 27 DAVs, more than doubling the number of white dwarfs
with rotation periods determined via asteroseismology. We also obtain
spectroscopy from 4m-class telescopes for all DAVs with Kepler photometry.
Using these homogeneously analyzed spectra we estimate the overall mass of all
27 DAVs, which allows us to measure white dwarf rotation as a function of mass,
constraining the endpoints of angular momentum in low- and intermediate-mass
stars. We find that 0.51-to-0.73-solar-mass white dwarfs, which evolved from
1.7-to-3.0-solar-mass ZAMS progenitors, have a mean rotation period of 35 hr
with a standard deviation of 28 hr, with notable exceptions for higher-mass
white dwarfs. Finally, we announce an online repository for our Kepler data and
follow-up spectroscopy, which we collect at http://www.k2wd.org.Comment: 33 pages, 31 figures, 5 tables; accepted for publication in ApJS. All
raw and reduced data are collected at http://www.k2wd.or
Topological Phases in Graphitic Cones
The electronic structure of graphitic cones exhibits distinctive topological
features associated with the apical disclinations. Aharonov-Bohm
magnetoconductance oscillations (period Phi_0) are completely absent in rings
fabricated from cones with a single pentagonal disclination. Close to the apex,
the local density of states changes qualitatively, either developing a cusp
which drops to zero at the Fermi energy, or forming a region of nonzero density
across the Fermi energy, a local metalization of graphene.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX 4, 3 PostScript figure
Radiographic pseudofracture of the Medtronic bipolar polyurethane pacing lead
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/25377/1/0000826.pd
On Fourier integral transforms for -Fibonacci and -Lucas polynomials
We study in detail two families of -Fibonacci polynomials and -Lucas
polynomials, which are defined by non-conventional three-term recurrences. They
were recently introduced by Cigler and have been then employed by Cigler and
Zeng to construct novel -extensions of classical Hermite polynomials. We
show that both of these -polynomial families exhibit simple transformation
properties with respect to the classical Fourier integral transform
- …