32,334 research outputs found
Modulation of human corticospinal excitability by paired associative stimulation
Paired Associative Stimulation (PAS) has come to prominence as a potential therapeutic intervention for the treatment of brain injury/disease, and as an experimental method with which to investigate Hebbian principles of neural plasticity in humans. Prototypically, a single electrical stimulus is directed to a peripheral nerve in advance of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) delivered to the contralateral primary motor cortex (M1). Repeated pairing of the stimuli (i.e., association) over an extended period may increase or decrease the excitability of corticospinal projections from M1, in manner that depends on the interstimulus interval (ISI). It has been suggested that these effects represent a form of associative long-term potentiation (LTP) and depression (LTD) that bears resemblance to spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP) as it has been elaborated in animal models. With a large body of empirical evidence having emerged since the cardinal features of PAS were first described, and in light of the variations from the original protocols that have been implemented, it is opportune to consider whether the phenomenology of PAS remains consistent with the characteristic features that were initially disclosed. This assessment necessarily has bearing upon interpretation of the effects of PAS in relation to the specific cellular pathways that are putatively engaged, including those that adhere to the rules of STDP. The balance of evidence suggests that the mechanisms that contribute to the LTP- and LTD-type responses to PAS differ depending on the precise nature of the induction protocol that is used. In addition to emphasizing the requirement for additional explanatory models, in the present analysis we highlight the key features of the PAS phenomenology that require interpretation
UV detector monitors organic contamination of optical surfaces
Silicon carbide, insensitive to visible light, is used in photodetectors. System contamination can be monitored during the normal operation without interference to the operator, and without shielding from ambient light
Star - Planet - Debris Disk Alignment in the HD 82943 system: Is planetary system coplanarity actually the norm?
Recent results suggest that the two planets in the HD 82943 system are
inclined to the sky plane by 20 +/- 4deg. Here, we show that the debris disk in
this system is inclined by 27 +/- 4deg, thus adding strength to the derived
planet inclinations and suggesting that the planets and debris disk are
consistent with being aligned at a level similar to the Solar System. Further,
the stellar equator is inferred to be inclined by 28 +/- 4deg, suggesting that
the entire star - planet - disk system is aligned, the first time such
alignment has been tested for radial velocity discovered planets on ~AU wide
orbits. We show that the planet-disk alignment is primordial, and not the
result of planetary secular perturbations to the disk inclination. In addition,
we note three other systems with planets at >10AU discovered by direct imaging
that already have good evidence of alignment, and suggest that empirical
evidence of system-wide star - planet - disk alignment is therefore emerging,
with the exception of systems that host hot Jupiters. While this alignment
needs to be tested in a larger number of systems, and is perhaps unsurprising,
it is a reminder that the system should be considered as a whole when
considering the orientation of planetary orbits.Comment: Accepted to MNRA
The effects of visual deprivation on adaptation to a rotating environment
Visual deprivation effects on adaptation to rotating environment - Motion sickness studie
Making the small oblique parameters large
We compute the oblique parameters, including the three new parameters ,
and introduced recently by the Montreal group, for the case of one
scalar multiplet of arbitrary weak isospin and weak hypercharge . We
show that, when the masses of the heaviest and lightest components of the
multiplet remain constant, but increases, the oblique parameter and
the three new oblique parameters increase like , while only
increases like . For large multiplets with masses not much higher than , the oblique parameters and may become much larger than
and .Comment: 9 pages, standard LATEX, 3 figures available from the authors, report
CMU-HEP93-17 and DOE-ER/40682-4
Bending vibrational data accuracy study
Computer program for predicting structural bending vibrational dat
Computing the Loewner driving process of random curves in the half plane
We simulate several models of random curves in the half plane and numerically
compute their stochastic driving process (as given by the Loewner equation).
Our models include models whose scaling limit is the Schramm-Loewner evolution
(SLE) and models for which it is not. We study several tests of whether the
driving process is Brownian motion. We find that just testing the normality of
the process at a fixed time is not effective at determining if the process is
Brownian motion. Tests that involve the independence of the increments of
Brownian motion are much more effective. We also study the zipper algorithm for
numerically computing the driving function of a simple curve. We give an
implementation of this algorithm which runs in a time O(N^1.35) rather than the
usual O(N^2), where N is the number of points on the curve.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures. Changes to second version: added new paragraph
to conclusion section; improved figures cosmeticall
A Selected Ion Flow Tube Study of the Reactions of Several Cations with the Group 6B Hexafluorides SF6, SeF6, and TeF6
The first investigation of the ion chemistry of SeF and TeF is presented. Using a selected ion flow tube, the thermal rate coefficients and ion product distributions have been determined at 300 K for the reactions of fourteen atomic and molecular cations, namely HO, CF, CF, CF, HO, NO, O, CO, CO, N, N, Ar, F and Ne (in order of increasing recombination energy), with SeF and TeF. The results are compared with those from the reactions of these ions with SF, for which the reactions with CF, CF, NO and F are reported for the first time. Several distinct processes are observed amongst the large number of reactions studied, including dissociative charge transfer, and F, F, F and F abstraction from the neutral reactant molecule to the reagent ion. The dissociative charge transfer channels are discussed in relation to vacuum ultraviolet photoelectron and threshold photoelectron-photoion coincidence spectra of XF (X = S, Se, and Te). For reagent ions whose recombination energies lie between the first dissociative ionisation limit, XF XF + F + e, and the onset of ionisation of the XF molecule, the results suggest that if dissociative charge transfer occurs, it proceeds via an intimate encounter. For those reagent ions whose recombination energies are greater than the onset of ionisation, long-range electron transfer may occur depending on whether certain physical factors apply, for example non-zero Franck-Condon overlap. From the reaction kinetics, limits for the heats of formation of SeF, SeF, TeF and TeF at 298 K have been obtained; H(SeF) < -369 kJ mol, H(SeF) < -621 kJ mol, H(TeF) > -570 kJ mol, and H(TeF) < -822 kJ mol
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