Charge loss experiments in surface channel CCD's explained by the McWhorter interface states model

On the basis of the McWhorter interface states model the CCD charge loss is derived as a function of bias charge, signal charge and channel width. As opposed to existing models, the charge loss is now attributed to interface states in the entire gate area, even for high bias charge levels. Experimental confirmation of the novel model is presented

Thermochemical stability and nonstoichiometry of yttria-stabilized bismuth oxide solid solutions

The thermochemical stability of fast oxygen ion conducting yttria stabilized bismuthoxide (YSB) solid solutions containing 22.0–32.5 mol% of yttria was investigated. It was shown that in the temperature range between 650–740 C the stabilized cubic δ-phase containing less than 31.8 mol% of yttria is not stable during long term annealing treatments (greater-or-equal, slanted 500 hours). During annealing at 650 C a sluggish transformation from the cubic to hexagonal phase appears, while above 740 C this hexagonal phase is converted very fast into the cubic phase again. It was shown, that the oxygen content of YSB solid solutions is a function of temperature and oxygen partial pressur

Radio AGN in 13,240 galaxy clusters from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We correlate the positions of 13,240 Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) with 0.1 <= z <= 0.3 from the maxBCG catalog with radio sources from the FIRST survey to study the sizes and distributions of radio AGN in galaxy clusters. We find that 19.7% of our BCGs are associated with FIRST sources, and this fraction depends on the stellar mass of the BCG, and to a lesser extent on the richness of the parent cluster (in the sense of increasing radio loudness with increasing mass). The intrinsic size of the radio emission associated with the BCGs peaks at 55 kpc, with a tail extending to 200 kpc. The radio power of the extended sources places them on the divide between FR I and FR II type sources, while sources compact in the radio tend to be somewhat less radio-luminous. We also detect an excess of radio sources associated with the cluster, instead of with the BCG itself, extending out to ~1.4 Mpc.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Thermochemical stability and nonstoichiometry of erbia-stabilized bismuth oxide

A phase study has been performed of high oxygen ion conducting erbia-stabilized bismutch oxide (1-x)Bi2O3·xEr2O3 (BE100X) using thermal analysis and X-ray powder diffraction. Investigation of the effect of a long-time (500 h) anneal of samples at 650°C in air revealed that the minimum amount of erbia needed to stabilize the high-temperature cubic ¿-Bi2O3 phase is 27.5 at%. This boundary value is much larger than the one usually reported in literature where the sluggishenss of the transformation from cubic to hexagonal at high Bi contents is not taken into account. Changes in nonstoichiometry of solid solutions Bi2-2xEr2xO3+¿ between 550°C and 850°C upon varying the ambient oxygen partial pressure are minimal for samples with 27.5 at% erbia, increasing with increasing erbia content. The parameter ¿ in pure oxygen increases from 0. 0044 for BE27.5 to 0.022 for BE50 taking the composition in nitrogen (PO2 ¿ 10¿4 atm) as stoichiometric reference (¿ = 0)

Detection of static and dynamic activities using uniaxial accelerometers

Rehabilitation treatment may be improved by objective analysis of activities of daily living. For this reason, the feasibility of distinguishing several static and dynamic activities (standing, sitting, lying, walking, ascending stairs, descending stairs, cycling) using a small set of two or three uniaxial accelerometers mounted on the body was investigated. The accelerometer signals can be measured with a portable data acquisition system, which potentially makes it possible to perform online detection of static and dynamic activities in the home environment. However, the procedures described in this paper have yet to be evaluated in the home environment. Experiments were conducted on ten healthy subjects, with accelerometers mounted on several positions and orientations on the body, performing static and dynamic activities according to a fixed protocol. Specifically, accelerometers on the sternum and thigh were evaluated. These accelerometers were oriented in the sagittal plane, perpendicular to the long axis of the segment (tangential), or along this axis (radial). First, discrimination between the static or dynamic character of activities was investigated. This appeared to be feasible using an rms-detector applied on the signal of one sensor tangentially mounted on the thigh. Second, the distinction between static activities was investigated. Standing, sitting, lying supine, on a side and prone could be distinguished by observing the static signals of two accelerometers, one mounted tangentially on the thigh, and the second mounted radially on the sternum. Third, the distinction between the cyclical dynamic activities walking, stair ascent, stair descent and cycling was investigated. The discriminating potentials of several features of the accelerometer signals were assessed: the mean value, the standard deviation, the cycle time and the morphology. Signal morphology was expressed by the maximal cross-correlation coefficients with template signals for the different dynamic activities. The mean signal values and signal morphology of accelerometers mounted tangentially on the thigh and the sternum appeared to contribute to the discrimination of dynamic activities with varying detection performances. The standard deviation of the signal and the cycle time were primarily related to the speed of the dynamic activities, and did not contribute to the discrimination of the activities. Therefore, discrimination of dynamic activities on the basis of the combined evaluation of the mean signal value and signal morphology is propose

Processing multiple non-adjacent dependencies: evidence from sequence learning

Processing non-adjacent dependencies is considered to be one of the hallmarks of human language. Assuming that sequence-learning tasks provide a useful way to tap natural-language-processing mechanisms, we cross-modally combined serial reaction time and artificial-grammar learning paradigms to investigate the processing of multiple nested (A(1)A(2)A(3)B(3)B(2)B(1)) and crossed dependencies (A(1)A(2)A(3)B(1)B(2)B(3)), containing either three or two dependencies. Both reaction times and prediction errors highlighted problems with processing the middle dependency in nested structures (A(1)A(2)A(3)B(3-)B(1)), reminiscent of the 'missing-verb effect' observed in English and French, but not with crossed structures (A(1)A(2)A(3)B(1-)B(3)). Prior linguistic experience did not play a major role: native speakers of German and Dutch-which permit nested and crossed dependencies, respectively-showed a similar pattern of results for sequences with three dependencies. As for sequences with two dependencies, reaction times and prediction errors were similar for both nested and crossed dependencies. The results suggest that constraints on the processing of multiple non-adjacent dependencies are determined by the specific ordering of the non-adjacent dependencies (i.e. nested or crossed), as well as the number of non-adjacent dependencies to be resolved (i. e. two or three). Furthermore, these constraints may not be specific to language but instead derive from limitations on structured sequence learning.Netherlands Organisation of Scientific Research (NWO) [446-08-014]; Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour; Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (IBB/CBME, LA, FEDER/POCI) [PTDC/PSI-PCO/110734/2009]; Stockholm Brain Institute; Vetenskapsradet; Swedish Dyslexia Foundation; Hedlunds Stiftelse; Stockholm County Council (ALF, FoUU)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio