14,122 research outputs found
Study of non-equilibrium effects and thermal properties of heavy ion collisions using a covariant approach
Non-equilibrium effects are studied using a full Lorentz-invariant formalism.
Our analysis shows that in reactions considered here, no global or local
equilibrium is reached. The heavier masses are found to be equilibrated more
than the lighter systems. The local temperature is extracted using hot Thomas
Fermi formalism generalized for the case of two interpenetrating pieces of
nuclear matter. The temperature is found to vary linearly with bombarding
energy and impact parameter whereas it is nearly independent of the mass of the
colliding nuclei. This indicates that the study of temperature with medium size
nuclei is also reliable. The maximum temperatures obtained in our approach are
in a nice agreement with earlier calculations of other approaches. A simple
parametrization of maximal temperature as a function of the bombarding energy
is also given.Comment: LaTex-file, 17 pages, 8 figures (available upon request), Journal of
Physics G20 (1994) 181
Photometric and spectroscopic variability of 53 Per
A new investigation of the variability of the SPB-type star 53 Per is
presented. The analysis of the BRITE photometry allowed us to determine eight
independent frequencies and the combination one. Five of these frequencies and
the combination one were not known before. In addition, we gathered more than
1800 new moderate and high-resolution spectra of 53 Per spread over
approximately six months. Their frequency analysis revealed four independent
frequencies and the combination one, all consistent with the BRITE results.Comment: 2 pages, accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the PAS
(Proc. of the 2nd BRITE Science conference, Innsbruck
Heavy Ion Collisions and the Density Dependence of the Local Mean Field
We study the effect of the density dependence of the scalar and the vector
part of the nucleonic self-energy in Relativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics
(RQMD) on observables like the transversal flow and the rapidity distribution.
The stability of nuclei in RQMD is greatly improved if the density dependence
is included in the self-energies compared to a calculation assuming always
saturation density of nuclear matter. Different approaches are studied: The
main results are calculated with self-energies extracted from a
Dirac-Br\"uckner-Hartree-Fock G-matrix of a one boson exchange model, i.e. the
Bonn potential. These results are compared with those obtained by a
generalization of static Skyrme force, with calculations in the simple linear
Walecka model and results of the Br\"uckner-Hartree-Fock G-matrix of the Reid
soft core potential. The transversal flow is very sensitive to these different
approaches. A comparison with the data is given.Comment: LaTex-file, 13 pages, 5 figures (available upon request), submitted
to Nuclear Physics
Optimal Population Codes for Space: Grid Cells Outperform Place Cells
Rodents use two distinct neuronal coordinate systems to estimate their position: place fields in the hippocampus and grid fields in the entorhinal cortex. Whereas place cells spike at only one particular spatial location, grid cells fire at multiple sites that correspond to the points of an imaginary hexagonal lattice. We study how to best construct place and grid codes, taking the probabilistic nature of neural spiking into account. Which spatial encoding properties of individual neurons confer the highest resolution when decoding the animal’s position from the neuronal population response? A priori, estimating a spatial position from a grid code could be ambiguous, as regular periodic lattices possess translational symmetry. The solution to this problem requires lattices for grid cells with different spacings; the spatial resolution crucially depends on choosing the right ratios of these spacings across the population. We compute the expected error in estimating the position in both the asymptotic limit, using Fisher information, and for low spike counts, using maximum likelihood estimation. Achieving high spatial resolution and covering a large range of space in a grid code leads to a trade-off: the best grid code for spatial resolution is built of nested modules with different spatial periods, one inside the other, whereas maximizing the spatial range requires distinct spatial periods that are pairwisely incommensurate. Optimizing the spatial resolution predicts two grid cell properties that have been experimentally observed. First, short lattice spacings should outnumber long lattice spacings. Second, the grid code should be self-similar across different lattice spacings, so that the grid field always covers a fixed fraction of the lattice period. If these conditions are satisfied and the spatial “tuning curves” for each neuron span the same range of firing rates, then the resolution of the grid code easily exceeds that of the best possible place code with the same number of neurons
A superfluid hydrodynamic model for the enhanced moments of inertia of molecules in liquid 4He
We present a superfluid hydrodynamic model for the increase in moment of
inertia, , of molecules rotating in liquid He. The static
inhomogeneous He density around each molecule (calculated using the Orsay-Paris
liquid He density functional) is assumed to adiabatically follow the
rotation of the molecule. We find that the values created by the
viscousless and irrotational flow are in good agreement with the observed
increases for several molecules [ OCS, (HCN), HCCCN, and HCCCH ]. For
HCN and HCCH, our model substantially overestimates . This is likely
to result from a (partial) breakdown of the adiabatic following approximation.Comment: 4 pages, 1 eps figure, corrected version of published paper. Erratum
has been submitted for change
Gibrat's law for cities: uniformly most powerful unbiased test of the Pareto against the lognormal
We address the general problem of testing a power law distribution versus a
log-normal distribution in statistical data. This general problem is
illustrated on the distribution of the 2000 US census of city sizes. We provide
definitive results to close the debate between Eeckhout (2004, 2009) and Levy
(2009) on the validity of Zipf's law, which is the special Pareto law with tail
exponent 1, to describe the tail of the distribution of U.S. city sizes.
Because the origin of the disagreement between Eeckhout and Levy stems from the
limited power of their tests, we perform the {\em uniformly most powerful
unbiased test} for the null hypothesis of the Pareto distribution against the
lognormal. The -value and Hill's estimator as a function of city size lower
threshold confirm indubitably that the size distribution of the 1000 largest
cities or so, which include more than half of the total U.S. population, is
Pareto, but we rule out that the tail exponent, estimated to be ,
is equal to 1. For larger ranks, the -value becomes very small and Hill's
estimator decays systematically with decreasing ranks, qualifying the lognormal
distribution as the better model for the set of smaller cities. These two
results reconcile the opposite views of Eeckhout (2004, 2009) and Levy (2009).
We explain how Gibrat's law of proportional growth underpins both the Pareto
and lognormal distributions and stress the key ingredient at the origin of
their difference in standard stochastic growth models of cities
\cite{Gabaix99,Eeckhout2004}.Comment: 7 pages + 2 figure
Prevention of Acute Hematoma After Face-Lifts
Acute hematoma remains one of the most frequently encountered complications after face-lift surgery. Several risk factors inherent to the patient and omission of certain intraoperative regimens are considered to cause hematoma. Significant risk factors include high blood pressure and male gender. Possible intraoperative regimens for the prevention of hematoma include tumescence infiltration without adrenaline, clotting of raw surfaces with fibrin glue, usage of drains, and application of compression bandages. However, little attention has been paid to postoperative measures. To examine whether different regimens in the postoperative phase can influence the incidence of hematoma, all face-lift patients who underwent surgery by a single surgeon in two different clinics (n=376) with two different postoperative regimens were evaluated over the course of 3years. In group 1 (n=308), all postoperative medication was administered on request including medication for pain control, blood pressure stabilization, and prevention of nausea and vomiting as well as postoperative restlessness and agitation. In group 2 (n=68), this medication was administered prophylactically at the end of the operation before extubation. The hematoma rate was 7% in group 1 and 0% in group 2. This study showed that the prophylactic use of medications (e.g., analgesics, antihypertonics, antiemetics, and sedatives) during the postoperative phase is superior to making drugs available to patients on request and can decrease the occurrence of acute hematoma in face-lift patient
Whole Genome Interpretation for a Family of Five.
Although best practices have emerged on how to analyse and interpret personal genomes, the utility of whole genome screening remains underdeveloped. A large amount of information can be gathered from various types of analyses via whole genome sequencing including pathogenicity screening, genetic risk scoring, fitness, nutrition, and pharmacogenomic analysis. We recognize different levels of confidence when assessing the validity of genetic markers and apply rigorous standards for evaluation of phenotype associations. We illustrate the application of this approach on a family of five. By applying analyses of whole genomes from different methodological perspectives, we are able to build a more comprehensive picture to assist decision making in preventative healthcare and well-being management. Our interpretation and reporting outputs provide input for a clinician to develop a healthcare plan for the individual, based on genetic and other healthcare data
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