784 research outputs found
Approximate ab initio calculation of vibrational properties of hydrogenated amorphous silicon with inner voids
We have performed an approximate ab initio calculation of vibrational
properties of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) using a molecular
dynamics method. A 216 atom model for pure amorphous silicon (a-Si) has been
employed as a starting point for our a-Si:H models with voids that were made by
removing a cluster of silicon atoms out of the bulk and terminating the
resulting dangling bonds with hydrogens.
Our calculation shows that the presence of voids leads to localized low
energy (30-50 cm^{-1}) states in the vibrational spectrum of the system. The
nature and localization properties of these states are analyzed by various
visualization techniques.Comment: 15 pages with 6 PS figures, to appear in PRB in December 199
Mentorship in the Field of Aging: Purposes, Pivots, and Priorities
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) is a multi-disciplinary organization dedicated to advancing the field of aging and improving the lives of older adults. With a long-standing commitment to mentorship and career development, this article focuses on GSAâs Mentoring Consultancies and Career Conversations events and their pivot to meet the needs and demands of current and future gerontologists amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This article provides a description of these events in the context of planning, content, and member engagement. Recommendations are provided to other organizations seeking to enrich their membership through mentorship and career development activities
A method for detection of known sources of continuous gravitational wave signals in non-stationary data
A Neuropsychological Profile for Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum?: Cognitive, Academic, Executive, Social, and Behavioral Functioning in School-Age Children
Objectives: Agenesis of the corpus callosum (AgCC), characterized by developmental absence of the corpus callosum, is one of the most common congenital brain malformations. To date, there are limited data on the neuropsychological consequences of AgCC and factors that modulate different outcomes, especially in children. This study aimed to describe general intellectual, academic, executive, social and behavioral functioning in a cohort of school-aged children presenting for clinical services to a hospital and diagnosed with AgCC. The influences of age, social risk and neurological factors were examined. Methods: Twenty-eight school-aged children (8 to 17 years) diagnosed with AgCC completed tests of general intelligence (IQ) and academic functioning. Executive, social and behavioral functioning in daily life, and social risk, were estimated from parent and teacher rated questionnaires. MRI findings reviewed by a pediatric neurologist confirmed diagnosis and identified brain characteristics. Clinical details including the presence of epilepsy and diagnosed genetic condition were obtained from medical records. Results: In our cohort, ~50% of children experienced general intellectual, academic, executive, social and/or behavioral difficulties and ~20% were functioning at a level comparable to typically developing children. Social risk was important for understanding variability in neuropsychological outcomes. Brain anomalies and complete AgCC were associated with lower mathematics performance and poorer executive functioning. Conclusions: This is the first comprehensive report of general intellectual, academic, executive social and behavioral consequences of AgCC in school-aged children. The findings have important clinical implications, suggesting that support to families and targeted intervention could promote positive neuropsychological functioning in children with AgCC who come to clinical attention
Search for correlation between GRB's detected by BeppoSAX and gravitational wave detectors EXPLORER and NAUTILUS
Data obtained during five months of 2001 with the gravitational wave (GW)
detectors EXPLORER and NAUTILUS were studied in correlation with the gamma ray
burst data (GRB) obtained with the BeppoSAX satellite. During this period
BeppoSAX was the only GRB satellite in operation, while EXPLORER and NAUTILUS
were the only GW detectors in operation.
No correlation between the GW data and the GRB bursts was found. The
analysis, performed over 47 GRB's, excludes the presence of signals of
amplitude h >=1.2 * 10^{-18}, with 95 % probability, if we allow a time delay
between GW bursts and GRB within +-400 s, and h >= 6.5 * 10^{-19}, if the time
delay is within +- 5 s. The result is also provided in form of scaled
likelihood for unbiased interpretation and easier use for further analysis.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures. Latex file, compiled with cernik.cls (provided
in the package
IGEC2: A 17-month search for gravitational wave bursts in 2005-2007
We present here the results of a 515 days long run of the IGEC2 observatory,
consisting of the four resonant mass detectors ALLEGRO, AURIGA, EXPLORER and
NAUTILUS. The reported results are related to the fourfold observation time
from Nov. 6 2005 until Apr. 14 2007, when Allegro ceased its operation. This
period overlapped with the first long term observations performed by the LIGO
interferometric detectors. The IGEC observations aim at the identification of
gravitational wave candidates with high confidence, keeping the false alarm
rate at the level of 1 per century, and high duty cycle, namely 57% with all
four sites and 94% with at least three sites in simultaneous observation. The
network data analysis is based on time coincidence searches over at least three
detectors: the four 3-fold searches and the 4-fold one are combined in a
logical OR. We exchanged data with the usual blind procedure, by applying a
unique confidential time offset to the events in each set of data. The
accidental background was investigated by performing sets of 10^8 coincidence
analyses per each detector configuration on off-source data, obtained by
shifting the time series of each detector. The thresholds of the five searches
were tuned so as to control the overall false alarm rate to 1/century. When the
confidential time shifts was disclosed, no gravitational wave candidate was
found in the on-source data. As an additional output of this search, we make
available to other observatories the list of triple coincidence found below
search thresholds, corresponding to a false alarm rate of 1/month.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures Accepted for publication on Phys. Rev.
Results of the IGEC-2 search for gravitational wave bursts during 2005
The network of resonant bar detectors of gravitational waves resumed
coordinated observations within the International Gravitational Event
Collaboration (IGEC-2). Four detectors are taking part in this collaboration:
ALLEGRO, AURIGA, EXPLORER and NAUTILUS. We present here the results of the
search for gravitational wave bursts over 6 months during 2005, when IGEC-2 was
the only gravitational wave observatory in operation. The network data analysis
implemented is based on a time coincidence search among AURIGA, EXPLORER and
NAUTILUS, keeping the data from ALLEGRO for follow-up studies. With respect to
the previous IGEC 1997-2000 observations, the amplitude sensitivity of the
detectors to bursts improved by a factor about 3 and the sensitivity bandwidths
are wider, so that the data analysis was tuned considering a larger class of
detectable waveforms. Thanks to the higher duty cycles of the single detectors,
we decided to focus the analysis on three-fold observation, so to ensure the
identification of any single candidate of gravitational waves (gw) with high
statistical confidence. The achieved false detection rate is as low as 1 per
century. No candidates were found.Comment: 10 pages, to be submitted to Phys. Rev.
Revision total hip arthroplasty using the Zweymuller femoral stem
Background: A variety of femoral stem designs have been reported to be successful in revision total hip arthroplasty without consensus as to optimal design. We evaluated the clinical and radiographic outcomes in a consecutive series of femoral revisions using a wedge-shape, tapered-stem design at medium and long-term follow-up. Materials and methods: We performed a retrospective review of clinical and radiographic outcomes of twenty-eight consecutive femoral revisions arthroplasties, which were done using the Zweymuller femoral stem. Results: The mean follow-up was 7.4 years (range 2-15 years). No stem re-revision was necessary. All stems were judged to be stable by radiographic criteria at the most recent follow-up. The final mean Harris hip score was 90. There was no difference in Harris hip scores, implant stability, or radiological appearance (distal cortical hypertrophy or proximal stress shielding) of the implants between medium-term (mean 5.7 years) and long-term (mean 12.4 years) follow-up. Conclusions: We found the Zweymuller femoral stem design to be durable for revision hip arthroplasty when there is an intact metaphyseal-diaphyseal junction for adequate press-fit stability at surgery. © Springer-Verlag 2008
Ecological Invasion, Roughened Fronts, and a Competitor's Extreme Advance: Integrating Stochastic Spatial-Growth Models
Both community ecology and conservation biology seek further understanding of
factors governing the advance of an invasive species. We model biological
invasion as an individual-based, stochastic process on a two-dimensional
landscape. An ecologically superior invader and a resident species compete for
space preemptively. Our general model includes the basic contact process and a
variant of the Eden model as special cases. We employ the concept of a
"roughened" front to quantify effects of discreteness and stochasticity on
invasion; we emphasize the probability distribution of the front-runner's
relative position. That is, we analyze the location of the most advanced
invader as the extreme deviation about the front's mean position. We find that
a class of models with different assumptions about neighborhood interactions
exhibit universal characteristics. That is, key features of the invasion
dynamics span a class of models, independently of locally detailed demographic
rules. Our results integrate theories of invasive spatial growth and generate
novel hypotheses linking habitat or landscape size (length of the invading
front) to invasion velocity, and to the relative position of the most advanced
invader.Comment: The original publication is available at
www.springerlink.com/content/8528v8563r7u2742
Macro-Climatic Distribution Limits Show Both Niche Expansion and Niche Specialization among C4 Panicoids
Grasses are ancestrally tropical understory species whose current dominance in warm open habitats is linked to the evolution of C4 photosynthesis. C4 grasses maintain high rates of photosynthesis in warm and water stressed environments, and the syndrome is considered to induce niche shifts into these habitats while adaptation to cold ones may be compromised. Global biogeographic analyses of C4 grasses have, however, concentrated on diversity patterns, while paying little attention to distributional limits. Using phylogenetic contrast analyses, we compared macro-climatic distribution limits among ~1300 grasses from the subfamily Panicoideae, which includes 4/5 of the known photosynthetic transitions in grasses. We explored whether evolution of C4 photosynthesis correlates with niche expansions, niche changes, or stasis at subfamily level and within the two tribes Paniceae and Paspaleae. We compared the climatic extremes of growing season temperatures, aridity, and mean temperatures of the coldest months. We found support for all the known biogeographic distribution patterns of C4 species, these patterns were, however, formed both by niche expansion and niche changes. The only ubiquitous response to a change in the photosynthetic pathway within Panicoideae was a niche expansion of the C4 species into regions with higher growing season temperatures, but without a withdrawal from the inherited climate niche. Other patterns varied among the tribes, as macro-climatic niche evolution in the American tribe Paspaleae differed from the pattern supported in the globally distributed tribe Paniceae and at family level.Fil: Aagesen, Lone. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Instituto de BotĂĄnica Darwinion. Academia Nacional de Ciencias Exactas, FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto de BotĂĄnica Darwinion; ArgentinaFil: Biganzoli, Fernando. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de AgronomĂa. Departamento de MĂ©todos Cuantitativos y Sistemas de InformaciĂłn; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas; ArgentinaFil: Bena, MarĂa Julia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Instituto de BotĂĄnica Darwinion. Academia Nacional de Ciencias Exactas, FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto de BotĂĄnica Darwinion; ArgentinaFil: Godoy BĂŒrki, Ana Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Instituto de BotĂĄnica Darwinion. Academia Nacional de Ciencias Exactas, FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto de BotĂĄnica Darwinion; ArgentinaFil: Reinheimer, Renata. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de AgrobiotecnologĂa del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de AgrobiotecnologĂa del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Zuloaga, Fernando Omar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Instituto de BotĂĄnica Darwinion. Academia Nacional de Ciencias Exactas, FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto de BotĂĄnica Darwinion; Argentin
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