2,128 research outputs found
Design of a Dynamic Arm Support (DAS) for gravity compensation
The Dynamic Arm Support, or briefly the Das, is a new medical device that serves to compensate for lost arm function of the severely disabled. The target group suffers from insufficient muscle force to move its arms over the usual Range of Motion (RoM). The purpose of the Das is to assist its user during Activities of Daily Living (ADL) by eliminating gravity acting on the upper limb and enabling the limb to move freely. The development of the Das is presented and discussed, focusing on the modular parts, working principle, unique features, and technical performance as well as results for the target group
The metallogenic evolution of the Greater Antilles
The Greater Antilles host some of the world's most important deposits of bauxite and lateritic nickel as well as significant resources of gold and silver, copper, zinc, manganese, cobalt and chromium. Beginning in Jurassic time, sedimentary exhalative base metal deposits accumulated in marine sedimentary rift basins as North and South America drifted apart. With the onset of intraoceanic subduction during the Early Cretaceous, a primitive (tholeiitic) island arc formed above a southwesterly-dipping subduction zone. Podiform chromite deposits formed in the mantle portion of the supra-subduction zone, directly above subducted Proto-Caribbean oceanic lithosphere. Within the nascent island arc, bimodal-mafic volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits formed in a fore-arc setting; mafic volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits formed later in mature back-arc basins. The Pueblo Viejo gold district, with five million ounces in production and twenty million ounces in mineable reserves, formed at 108-112Ma, in an apical rift or back-arc setting. By Late Cretaceous time, calc-alkaline volcanism was well established along the entire length of the Greater Antilles. Volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits including shallow submarine deposits characteristic of the primitive island arc gave way to porphyry copper and epithermal precious metal deposits typical of the mature island arc. Oblique collision of the Greater Antilles with North America began in the Late Cretaceous in Cuba and migrated eastward. Orogenic gold and tungsten deposits that formed during the collision event are preserved in ophiolites and in metamorphic core complexes. Since the Eocene, regional tectonism has been dominated by strike-slip motion as the North American continent moved westward relative to the Caribbean Plate. Large nickel-cobalt laterite deposits were formed when serpentinites were exposed to weathering and erosion during the mid-Tertiary. Bauxite deposits were derived from the weathering of volcanic ash within a carbonate platform of Eocene to Miocene age
The conductivity and band structure of some synthetic semiconductors based on M(dmit)2 (M = Ni, Pd, Pt)
The conductivity of the following six new low-dimensional compounds is reported: (Me4N)(Ni(dmit)2), (Et4N)(Ni(dmit)2), (Pr4N)(Ni(dmit)2), (Bu4N)(Ni(dmit)2), (Bu4N)(Pt(dmit)2) and (Et4N)0.5(Pd(dmit)2). Semiconducting behaviour is found for all the compounds investigated, with activation energies between 0.1 and 0.5 eV. The crystal structures have been established by X-ray diffraction. Using these, the band structure has been determined. It is shown that the compounds investigated are semiconductors each having a correlation gap resulting from an effective electron-electron repulsion of 1.0 eV
Static wormholes on the brane inspired by Kaluza-Klein gravity
We use static solutions of 5-dimensional Kaluza-Klein gravity to generate
several classes of static, spherically symmetric spacetimes which are analytic
solutions to the equation , where is the
four-dimensional Ricci scalar. In the Randall & Sundrum scenario they can be
interpreted as vacuum solutions on the brane. The solutions contain the
Schwarzschild black hole, and generate new families of traversable Lorenzian
wormholes as well as nakedly singular spacetimes. They generalize a number of
previously known solutions in the literature, e.g., the temporal and spatial
Schwarzschild solutions of braneworld theory as well as the class of self-dual
Lorenzian wormholes. A major departure of our solutions from Lorenzian
wormholes {\it a la} Morris and Thorne is that, for certain values of the
parameters of the solutions, they contain three spherical surfaces (instead of
one) which are extremal and have finite area. Two of them have the same size,
meet the "flare-out" requirements, and show the typical violation of the energy
conditions that characterizes a wormhole throat. The other extremal sphere is
"flaring-in" in the sense that its sectional area is a local maximum and the
weak, null and dominant energy conditions are satisfied in its neighborhood.
After bouncing back at this second surface a traveler crosses into another
space which is the double of the one she/he started in. Another interesting
feature is that the size of the throat can be less than the Schwarzschild
radius , which no longer defines the horizon, i.e., to a distant observer
a particle or light falling down crosses the Schwarzschild radius in a finite
time
Chandra Smells a RRAT: X-ray Detection of a Rotating Radio Transient
"Rotating RAdio Transients" (RRATs) are a newly discovered astronomical
phenomenon, characterised by occasional brief radio bursts, with average
intervals between bursts ranging from minutes to hours. The burst spacings
allow identification of periodicities, which fall in the range 0.4 to 7
seconds. The RRATs thus seem to be rotating neutron stars, albeit with
properties very different from the rest of the population. We here present the
serendipitous detection with the Chandra X-ray Observatory of a bright
point-like X-ray source coincident with one of the RRATs. We discuss the
temporal and spectral properties of this X-ray emission, consider counterparts
in other wavebands, and interpret these results in the context of possible
explanations for the RRAT population.Comment: 5 pages, 2 b/w figures, 1 color figure. To appear in the proceedings
of "Isolated Neutron Stars", Astrophysics & Space Science, in pres
Control of primordial follicle recruitment by anti-Mullerian hormone in the mouse ovary
The dimeric glycoprotein anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) is a member of the
transforming growth factor-beta superfamily of growth and differentiation
factors. During male fetal sex differentiation, AMH is produced by Sertoli
cells and induces degeneration of the Mullerian ducts, which form the
anlagen of part of the internal female genital system. In females, AMH is
produced by the ovary, but only postnatally. The function of AMH in the
ovary is, however, still unknown. Female AMH null mice were reported to be
fertile, with normal litter size, but this does not exclude a more subtle
function for ovarian AMH. To investigate the function of AMH in the ovary,
the complete follicle population was determined in AMH null mice, in mice
heterozygous for the AMH null mutation, and in wild-type mice of different
ages: 25 days, 4 months, and 13 months. In the present study we found that
ovaries of 25-day- and 4-month-old AMH null females, compared to those of
wild-type females, contain more preantral and small antral follicles. In
addition, in 4- and 13-month-old AMH null females, smaller numbers of
primordial follicles were found. Actually, in 13-month-old AMH null
females, almost no primordial follicles could be detected, coinciding with
a reduced number of preantral and small antral follicles in these females.
In almost all females heterozygous for the AMH null mutation the number of
follicles fell in between the numbers found in wild-type and AMH null
females. In 4-month-old AMH null females serum inhibin levels were higher
and FSH levels were lower compared to those in wild-type females. In
contrast, inhibin levels were lower in 13-month-old AMH null females, and
FSH levels were unchanged compared to those in wild-type females.
Furthermore, the weight of the ovaries was twice as high in the
4-month-old AMH null females as in age-matched wild-type females. We
conclude that AMH plays an important role in primordial follicle
recruitment, such that more primordial follicles are recruited in AMH null
mice than in wild-type mice; the mice heterozygous for the AMH null
mutation take an in-between position. Consequently, the ovaries of AMH
null females and those of females heterozygous for the AMH null mutation
will show a relatively early depletion of their stock of primordial
follicles. The female AMH null mouse may thus provide a useful model to
study regulation of primordial follicle recruitment and the relation
between follicular dynamics and ovarian aging
Thermally assisted magnetization reversal in the presence of a spin-transfer torque
We propose a generalized stochastic Landau-Lifshitz equation and its
corresponding Fokker-Planck equation for the magnetization dynamics in the
presence of spin transfer torques. Since the spin transfer torque can pump a
magnetic energy into the magnetic system, the equilibrium temperature of the
magnetic system is ill-defined. We introduce an effective temperature based on
a stationary solution of the Fokker-Planck equation. In the limit of high
energy barriers, the law of thermal agitation is derived. We find that the
N\'{e}el-Brown relaxation formula remains valid as long as we replace the
temperature by an effective one that is linearly dependent of the spin torque.
We carry out the numerical integration of the stochastic Landau-Lifshitz
equation to support our theory. Our results agree with existing experimental
data.Comment: 5 figure
Brane World Susy Breaking from String/M Theory
String and M-theory realizations of brane world supersymmetry breaking
scenarios are considered in which visible sector Standard Model fields are
confined on a brane, with hidden sector supersymmetry breaking isolated on a
distant brane. In calculable examples with an internal manifold of any volume
the Kahler potential generically contains brane--brane non-derivative contact
interactions coupling the visible and hidden sectors and is not of the no-scale
sequestered form. This leads to non-universal scalar masses and without
additional assumptions about flavor symmetries may in general induce dangerous
sflavor violation even though the Standard Model and supersymmetry branes are
physically separated. Deviations from the sequestered form are dictated by bulk
supersymmetry and can in most cases be understood as arising from exchange of
bulk supergravity fields between branes or warping of the internal geometry.
Unacceptable visible sector tree-level tachyons arise in many models but may be
avoided in certain classes of compactifications. Anomaly mediated and gaugino
mediated contributions to scalar masses are sub-dominant except in special
circumstances such as a flat or AdS pure five--dimensional bulk geometry
without bulk vector multiplets.Comment: Latex, 83 pages, references adde
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