2,128 research outputs found
The COVID-19 recession might increase discriminating attitudes toward LGBT people and mental health problems due to minority stress
This letter to the Editor points the attention to the fact that the foreseen economic downturn related to the COVID 19 Crisis may lead to an increase to the discrimination of the lgbtiq+ population. This may lead to an increase to the minority streess experienced by this population and, consequently, to mental health difficulties. It supports this warning analysing and reporting data from he first survey on discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation and ethnicity was performed by the Italian National Institute of Statistics in 2011 (ISTAT, 2015) on a sample of about 8,000 individuals aged 18-74 years
A Microcalorimeter and Bolometer Model
The standard non-equilibrium theory of noise in ideal bolometers and
microcalorimeters fails to predict the performance of real devices due to
additional effects that become important at low temperature. In this paper we
extend the theory to include the most important of these effects, and find that
the performance of microcalorimeters operating at 60 mK can be quantitatively
predicted. We give a simple method for doing the necessary calculations,
borrowing the block diagram formalism from electronic control theory.Comment: 20 pages, 15 figure
Subjective quality of life in war-affected populations
PMCID: PMC3716711This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
RetinaNet Object Detector based on Analog-to-Spiking Neural Network Conversion
The paper proposes a method to convert a deep learning object detector into
an equivalent spiking neural network. The aim is to provide a conversion
framework that is not constrained to shallow network structures and
classification problems as in state-of-the-art conversion libraries. The
results show that models of higher complexity, such as the RetinaNet object
detector, can be converted with limited loss in performance.Comment: 5 pages, submitted to ISCMI 2021 conferenc
Studying the Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium in Emission
We assess the possibility to detect the warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM)
in emission and to characterize its physical conditions and spatial
distribution through spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy, in the framework of
the recently proposed DIOS, EDGE, Xenia, and ORIGIN missions, all of which are
equipped with microcalorimeter-based detectors. For this purpose we analyze a
large set of mock emission spectra, extracted from a cosmological
hydrodynamical simulation. These mock X-ray spectra are searched for emission
features showing both the OVII K alpha triplet and OVIII Ly alpha line, which
constitute a typical signature of the warm hot gas. Our analysis shows that 1
Ms long exposures and energy resolution of 2.5 eV will allow us to detect about
400 such features per deg^2 with a significance >5 sigma and reveals that these
emission systems are typically associated with density ~100 above the mean. The
temperature can be estimated from the line ratio with a precision of ~20%. The
combined effect of contamination from other lines, variation in the level of
the continuum, and degradation of the energy resolution reduces these
estimates. Yet, with an energy resolution of 7 eV and all these effects taken
into account, one still expects about 160 detections per deg^2. These line
systems are sufficient to trace the spatial distribution of the line-emitting
gas, which constitute an additional information, independent from line
statistics, to constrain the poorly known cosmic chemical enrichment history
and the stellar feedback processes.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, ApJ in press; revised version according to
revie
Studying the WHIM with Gamma Ray Bursts
We assess the possibility to detect and characterize the physical state of
the missing baryons at low redshift by analyzing the X-ray absorption spectra
of the Gamma Ray Burst [GRB] afterglows, measured by a micro calorimeters-based
detector with 3 eV resolution and 1000 cm2 effective area and capable of fast
re-pointing, similar to that on board of the recently proposed X-ray satellites
EDGE and XENIA. For this purpose we have analyzed mock absorption spectra
extracted from different hydrodynamical simulations used to model the
properties of the Warm Hot Intergalactic Medium [WHIM]. These models predict
the correct abundance of OVI absorption lines observed in UV and satisfy
current X-ray constraints. According to these models space missions like EDGE
and XENIA should be able to detect about 60 WHIM absorbers per year through the
OVII line. About 45 % of these have at least two more detectable lines in
addition to OVII that can be used to determine the density and the temperature
of the gas. Systematic errors in the estimates of the gas density and
temperature can be corrected for in a robust, largely model-independent
fashion. The analysis of the GRB absorption spectra collected in three years
would also allow to measure the cosmic mass density of the WHIM with about 15 %
accuracy, although this estimate depends on the WHIM model. Our results suggest
that GRBs represent a valid, if not preferable, alternative to Active Galactic
Nuclei to study the WHIM in absorption. The analysis of the absorption spectra
nicely complements the study of the WHIM in emission that the spectrometer
proposed for EDGE and XENIA would be able to carry out thanks to its high
sensitivity and large field of view.Comment: 16 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication by Ap
A novel experimental approach for the detection of the dynamic Casimir effect
The Casimir effect is a well-known macroscopic consequence of quantum vacuum
fluctuations, but whereas the static effect (Casimir force) has long been
observed experimentally, the dynamic Casimir effect is up to now undetected.
From an experimental viewpoint a possible detection would imply the vibration
of a mirror at gigahertz frequencies. Mechanical motions at such frequencies
turn out to be technically unfeasible. Here we present a different experimental
scheme where mechanical motions are avoided, and the results of laboratory
tests showing that the scheme is practically feasible. We think that at present
this approach gives the only possibility of detecting this phenomenon.Comment: Submitted to the Physical Review Letters. RevTeX. 4 pages, 2 figure
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