1,373 research outputs found
Missing hard states and regular outbursts: the puzzling case of the black hole candidate 4U 1630-472
4U 1630-472 is a recurrent X-ray transient classified as a black-hole
candidate from its spectral and timing properties. One of the peculiarities of
this source is the presence of regular outbursts with a recurrence period
between 600 and 730 d that has been observed since the discovery of the source
in 1969. We report on a comparative study on the spectral and timing behaviour
of three consecutive outbursts occurred in 2006, 2008 and 2010. We analysed all
the data collected by the INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory
(INTEGRAL) and the Rossi X-ray timing Explorer (RXTE) during these three years
of activity. We show that, in spite of having a similar spectral and timing
behaviour in the energy range between 3 and 30 keV, these three outbursts show
pronounced differences above 30 keV. In fact, the 2010 outburst extends at high
energies without any detectable cut-off until 150-200 keV, while the two
previous outbursts that occurred in 2006 and 2008 are not detected at all above
30 keV. Thus, in spite of a very similar accretion disk evolution, these three
outbursts exhibit totally different characteristics of the Compton electron
corona, showing a softening in their evolution rarely observed before in a low
mass X-ray binary hosting a black hole. We argue the possibility that the
unknown perturbation that causes the outbursts to be equally spaced in time
could be at the origin of this particular behaviour. Finally we describe
several possible scenarios that could explain the regularity of the outbursts,
identifying the most plausible, such as a third body orbiting around the binary
system.Comment: April 2015: accepted for publication in MNRAS. May 2015: in pres
ESTIMATION OF VELOCITIES AND ACCELERATIONS FROM NOISY KINEMATIC DATA
Introduction
Kinematic analysis of motion often requires the evaluation of quantities not always directly measurable, like velocity and acceleration in order to be complete. (Hatze 1984). Acceleration could be measured by means of accelerometers fixed to the landmarks to be analyzed, but due to the disturbance ofthe subject it is better to compute them from the landmarks' trajectories evaluated by means ofa movement analyser using a passive marker, like the ELITE system (Ferrigno and Pedotti
1985)
Hip Joint Center Localization with an Unscented Kalman Filter
The accurate estimation of the hip joint centre (HJC) in gait analysis and in computer assisted orthopaedic procedures is
a basic requirement. Functional methods, based on rigid body localisation, assessing the kinematics of the femur during
circumduction movements (pivoting) have been used for estimating the HJC. Localising the femoral segment only, as it
is usually done in total knee replacement procedure, can give rise to estimation errors, since the pelvis, during the
passive pivoting manoeuvre, might undergo spatial displacements. This paper presents the design and test of an
unscented Kalman filter that allows the estimation of the HJC by observing the pose of the femur and the 3D
coordinates of a single marker attached to the pelvis. This new approach was validated using a hip joint mechanical
simulator, mimicking both hard and soft tissues. The algorithm performances were compared with the literature
standards and proved to have better performances in case of pelvis translation greater than 8 mm, thus satisfying the
clinical requirements of the application
Broad-band characteristics of seven new hard X-ray selected cataclysmic variables
Indexación: Web of Science; Scopus.We present timing and spectral analysis of a sample of seven hard X-ray selected cataclysmic
variable candidates based on simultaneous X-ray and optical observations collected
with XMM–Newton, complemented with Swift/BAT and INTEGRAL /IBIS hard X-ray data
and ground-based optical photometry. For six sources, X-ray pulsations are detected for the
first time in the range of ∼296–6098 s, identifying them as members of the magnetic class.
Swift J0927.7−6945, Swift J0958.0−4208, Swift J1701.3−4304, Swift J2113.5+5422 and
possibly PBC J0801.2−4625 are intermediate polars (IPs), while Swift J0706.8+0325 is a
short (1.7 h) orbital period polar, the 11th hard X-ray-selected identified so far. X-ray orbital
modulation is also observed in Swift J0927.7−6945 (5.2 h) and Swift J2113.5+5422
(4.1 h). Swift J1701.3−4304 is discovered as the longest orbital period (12.8 h) deep eclipsing
IP. The spectra of the magnetic systems reveal optically thin multitemperature emission
between 0.2 and 60 keV. Energy-dependent spin pulses and the orbital modulation in
Swift J0927.7−6945 and Swift J2113.5+5422 are due to intervening local high-density absorbing
material (NH ∼ 1022 − 23 cm−2). In Swift J0958.0−4208 and Swift J1701.3−4304, a
soft X-ray blackbody (kT ∼ 50 and ∼80 eV) is detected, adding them to the growing group
of ‘soft’ IPs. White dwarf masses are determined in the range of ∼0.58–1.18 M, indicating
massive accreting primaries in five of them. Most sources accrete at rates lower than the
expected secular value for their orbital period. Formerly proposed as a long-period (9.4 h)
nova-like CV, Swift J0746.3−1608 shows peculiar spectrum and light curves suggesting either
an atypical low-luminosity CV or a low-mass X-ray binary.https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/470/4/4815/390658
XMM-Newton and Swift observations of XTE J1743-363
XTEJ1743-363 is a poorly known hard X-ray transient, that displays short and
intense flares similar to those observed from Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients.
The probable optical counterpart shows spectral properties similar to those of
an M8 III giant, thus suggesting that XTEJ1743-363 belongs to the class of the
Symbiotic X-ray Binaries. In this paper we report on the first dedicated
monitoring campaign of the source in the soft X-ray range with XMM-Newton and
Swift/XRT. T hese observations confirmed the association of XTEJ1743-363 with
the previously suggested M8 III giant and the classification of the source as a
member of the Symbiotic X-ray binaries. In the soft X-ray domain, XTEJ1743-363
displays a high absorption (~6x10^22 cm^-2 ) and variability on time scales of
hundreds to few thousand seconds, typical of wind accreting systems. A
relatively faint flare (peak X-ray flux 3x10^-11 erg/cm^2/s) lasting ~4 ks is
recorded during the XMM-Newton observation and interpreted in terms of the wind
accretion scenario.Comment: Accepted for publication on A&
The supergiant fast X-ray transients XTE J1739-302 and IGR J08408-4503 in quiescence with XMM-Newton
Context. Supergiant fast X-ray transients are a subclass of high mass X-ray
binaries that host a neutron star accreting mass from the wind of its OB
supergiant companion. They are characterized by an extremely pronounced and
rapid variability in X-rays, which still lacks an unambiguous interpretation. A
number of deep pointed observations with XMM-Newton have been carried out to
study the quiescent emission of these sources and gain insight into the
mechanism that causes their X-ray variability. Aims. We continued this study by
using three XMM-Newton observations of the two supergiant fast X-ray transient
prototypes XTEJ1739-302 and IGR J08408-4503 in quiescence. Methods. An in-depth
timing and spectral analysis of these data have been carried out. Results. We
found that the quiescent emission of these sources is characterized by both
complex timing and spectral variability, with multiple small flares occurring
sporadically after periods of lower X-ray emission. Some evidence is found in
the XMM-Newton spectra of a soft component below ~2 keV, similar to that
observed in the two supergiant fast X-ray transients AXJ1845.0-0433 and
IGRJ16207-5129 and in many other high mass X-ray binaries. Conclusions.We
suggest some possible interpretations of the timing and spectral properties of
the quiescent emission of XTEJ1739- 302 and IGR J08408-4503 in the context of
the different theoretical models proposed to interpret the behavior of the
supergiant fast X-ray transients.Comment: 13 pages, 14 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A. V2: Corrected
few typo
Development and Validation of a Spike Detection and Classification Algorithm Aimed at Implementation on Hardware Devices
Neurons cultured in vitro on MicroElectrode Array (MEA) devices connect to each other, forming a network. To study electrophysiological activity and long term plasticity effects, long period recording and spike sorter methods are needed. Therefore, on-line and real time analysis, optimization of memory use and data transmission rate improvement become necessary. We developed an algorithm for amplitude-threshold spikes detection, whose performances were verified with (a) statistical analysis on both simulated and real signal and (b) Big O Notation. Moreover, we developed a PCA-hierarchical classifier, evaluated on simulated and real signal. Finally we proposed a spike detection hardware design on FPGA, whose feasibility was verified in terms of CLBs number, memory occupation and temporal requirements; once realized, it will be able to execute on-line detection and real time waveform analysis, reducing data storage problems
PROJECTED LIGHT SYSTEM FOR TRUNK SURFACE RECONSTRUCTION AND VOLUME MEASUREMENT DURING RESPIRATION
There is an increasing interest on developing non invasive and accurate methods to obtain torso shape and deformation during movement. Methods like inductance pletismography (Warren et al. 1989), magnetommetry (Verschakelen & Demedts 1995) and kinematical analysis (Ferrigno et al. 1994) have been proposed to access the pulmonary function based on trunk motion analysis. Measurements of body shape and dimensions are widely used on ergonomic and anthropometry designs fields (Allen et al. 2004) and to estimate body segment parameters for the analysis of human movement (Wicke et al. 2009). The aim of this work was to present a video-based method for trunk volumes measurement during the respiration by means of projected light and surface reconstruction
Parkinson’s disease patient monitoring: A real‐time tracking and tremor detection system based on magnetic measurements
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