1,206 research outputs found
High-j single-particle neutron states outside the N=82 core
The behaviour of the i13/2 and h9/2 single-neutron strength was studied with
the (4He,3He) reaction on 138Ba, 140Ce, 142Nd and 144Sm targets at a beam
energy of 51 MeV. The separation between the single-neutron states i13/2 and
h9/2 was measured in N =83 nuclei with changing proton number. To this end
spectroscopic factors for states populated in high-l transfer were extracted
from the data. Some mixing of l=5 and 6 strength was observed with states that
are formed by coupling the f7/2 state to the 2+ and 3- vibrational states and
the mixing matrix elements were found to be remarkably constant. The centroids
of the strength indicate a systematic change in the energies of the i13/2 and
h9/2 single-neutron states with increasing proton number that is in
quantitative agreement with the effects expected from the tensor interaction.Comment: 12 pages of text, 3 diagram
Pragmatic Frames for Teaching and Learning in Human-Robot interaction: Review and Challenges
Vollmer A-L, Wrede B, Rohlfing KJ, Oudeyer P-Y. Pragmatic Frames for Teaching and Learning in Human-Robot interaction: Review and Challenges. FRONTIERS IN NEUROROBOTICS. 2016;10: 10.One of the big challenges in robotics today is to learn from human users that are inexperienced in interacting with robots but yet are often used to teach skills flexibly to other humans and to children in particular. A potential route toward natural and efficient learning and teaching in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) is to leverage the social competences of humans and the underlying interactional mechanisms. In this perspective, this article discusses the importance of pragmatic frames as flexible interaction protocols that provide important contextual cues to enable learners to infer new action or language skills and teachers to convey these cues. After defining and discussing the concept of pragmatic frames, grounded in decades of research in developmental psychology, we study a selection of HRI work in the literature which has focused on learning-teaching interaction and analyze the interactional and learning mechanisms that were used in the light of pragmatic frames. This allows us to show that many of the works have already used in practice, but not always explicitly, basic elements of the pragmatic frames machinery. However, we also show that pragmatic frames have so far been used in a very restricted way as compared to how they are used in human-human interaction and argue that this has been an obstacle preventing robust natural multi-task learning and teaching in HRI. In particular, we explain that two central features of human pragmatic frames, mostly absent of existing HRI studies, are that (1) social peers use rich repertoires of frames, potentially combined together, to convey and infer multiple kinds of cues; (2) new frames can be learnt continually, building on existing ones, and guiding the interaction toward higher levels of complexity and expressivity. To conclude, we give an outlook on the future research direction describing the relevant key challenges that need to be solved for leveraging pragmatic frames for robot learning and teaching
The challenge of extra-intra craniometry: a computer-assisted three-dimensional approach on the equine skull
Background: The topographical correlations between certain extracranial and intracranial osseous points of interest (POIs), and their age-related changes, are indispensable to know for a diagnostical or surgical access to intracranial structures; however, they are difficult to assess with conventional devices.
Materials and methods: In this pilot study, the 3-dimensional coordinates of extra-/intracranial POIs were determined, thus avoiding perspective distortions that used to be intrinsic problems in 2-dimensional morphometry. The data sets were then analysed by creating virtual triangles. The sizes, shapes, and positions of these triangles described the extent and the directions of the age-related shifts of the POIs. A selection of extracranial and intracranial POIs were marked on half skulls of four warmblood horses in two age groups (young: 6 weeks, n = 2; old: 14 and 17 years, n = 2). The x-, y-, and z-coordinates of these POIs were determined with a measurement arm (FaroArm Fusion, FARO Europe®). Direct distances between the POIs as well as their indirect distances on the x-, y-, and z-axis, and angles were calculated.
Results: The analysed virtual triangles revealed that some parts of the skull grew in size, but did not change in shape/relative proportions (proportional type of growth, as displayed by POI A and POI B at the Arcus zygomaticus). The same POIs (A and B) remained in a very stable relationship to their closest intracranial POI at the Basis cranii on the longitudinal axis, however, shifted markedly in the dorso-lateral direction. In contrast, a disproportional growth of other parts of the cranium was, for example, related to POI C at the Crista nuchae, which shifted strongly in the caudal direction with age. A topographically stable reference point (so-called anchor point) at the Basis cranii was difficult to determine.
Conclusions: Two candidates (one at the Synchondrosis intersphenoidalis, another one at the Synchondrosis sphenooccipitalis) were relatively stable in their positions. However, the epicentre of (neuro-)cranial growth could only be pinpointed to an area between them
Prion type 2 selection in sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease affecting peripheral ganglia
In sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (sCJD), the pathological changes appear to be restricted to the central nervous system. Only involvement of the trigeminal ganglion is widely accepted. The present study systematically examined the involvement of peripheral ganglia in sCJD utilizing the currently most sensitive technique for detecting prions in tissue morphologically. The trigeminal, nodose, stellate, and celiac ganglia, as well as ganglia of the cervical, thoracic and lumbar sympathetic trunk of 40 patients were analyzed with the paraffin-embedded tissue (PET)-blot method. Apart from the trigeminal ganglion, which contained protein aggregates in five of 19 prion type 1 patients, evidence of prion protein aggregation was only found in patients associated with type 2 prions. With the PET-blot, aggregates of prion protein type 2 were found in all trigeminal (17/17), in some nodose (5 of 7) and thoracic (3 of 6) ganglia, as well as in a few celiac (4 of 19) and lumbar (1 of 5) ganglia of sCJD patients. Whereas aggregates of both prion types may spread to dorsal root ganglia, more CNS-distant ganglia seem to be only involved in patients accumulating prion type 2. Whether the prion type association is due to selection by prion type-dependent replication, or due to a prion type-dependent property of axonal spread remains to be resolved in further studies
Absolute Determination of the 22Na(p,g) Reaction Rate in Novae
Gamma-ray telescopes in orbit around the Earth are searching for evidence of
the elusive radionuclide 22Na produced in novae. Previously published
uncertainties in the dominant destructive reaction, 22Na(p,g)23Mg, indicated
new measurements in the proton energy range of 150 to 300 keV were needed to
constrain predictions. We have measured the resonance strengths, energies, and
branches directly and absolutely by using protons from the University of
Washington accelerator with a specially designed beamline, which included beam
rastering and cold vacuum protection of the 22Na implanted targets. The
targets, fabricated at TRIUMF-ISAC, displayed minimal degradation over a ~ 20 C
bombardment as a result of protective layers. We avoided the need to know the
stopping power, and hence the target composition, by extracting resonance
strengths from excitation functions integrated over proton energy. Our
measurements revealed that resonance strengths for E_p = 213, 288, 454, and 610
keV are stronger by factors of 2.4 to 3.2 than previously reported. Upper
limits have been placed on proposed resonances at 198-, 209-, and 232-keV. We
have re-evaluated the 22Na(p,g) reaction rate, and our measurements indicate
the resonance at 213 keV makes the most significant contribution to 22Na
destruction in novae. Hydrodynamic simulations including our rate indicate that
the expected abundance of 22Na ejecta from a classical nova is reduced by
factors between 1.5 and 2, depending on the mass of the white-dwarf star
hosting the nova explosion.Comment: 20 pages, 18 figures; shortened paper, accepted in Phys. Rev.
Integration of Action and Language Knowledge: A Roadmap for Developmental Robotics
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The Free Will Theorem
On the basis of three physical axioms, we prove that if the choice of a
particular type of spin 1 experiment is not a function of the information
accessible to the experimenters, then its outcome is equally not a function of
the information accessible to the particles. We show that this result is
robust, and deduce that neither hidden variable theories nor mechanisms of the
GRW type for wave function collapse can be made relativistic. We also establish
the consistency of our axioms and discuss the philosophical implications.Comment: 31 pages, 6figure
Experimental evidence of a natural parity state in Mg and its impact to the production of neutrons for the s process
We have studied natural parity states in Mg via the
Ne(Li,d)Mg reaction. Our method significantly improves the
energy resolution of previous experiments and, as a result, we report the
observation of a natural parity state in Mg. Possible spin-parity
assignments are suggested on the basis of published -ray decay
experiments. The stellar rate of the Ne(,)Mg
reaction is reduced and may give rise to an increase in the production of
s-process neutrons via the Ne(,n)Mg reaction.Comment: Published in PR
The 21Na(p,gamma)22Mg Reaction and Oxygen-Neon Novae
The 21Na(p,gamma)22Mg reaction is expected to play an important role in the
nucleosynthesis of 22Na in Oxygen-Neon novae. The decay of 22Na leads to the
emission of a characteristic 1.275 MeV gamma-ray line. This report provides the
first direct measurement of the rate of this reaction using a radioactive 21Na
beam, and discusses its astrophysical implications. The energy of the important
state was measured to be E= 205.7 0.5 keV with a resonance
strength meV.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter
Pair correlations in nuclei involved in neutrinoless double beta decay: 76Ge and 76Se
Precision measurements were carried out to test the similarities between the
ground states of 76Ge and 76Se. The extent to which these two nuclei can be
characterized as consisting of correlated pairs of neutrons in a BCS-like
ground state was studied. The pair removal (p,t) reaction was measured at the
far forward angle of 3 degrees. The relative cross sections are consistent (at
the 5% level) with the description of these nuclei in terms of a correlated
pairing state outside the N=28 closed shells with no pairing vibrations. Data
were also obtained for 74Ge and 78Se
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