678 research outputs found
Trajectory optimization by a direct descent process
The problem considered is that of trajectory optimization using step-by-step descent to minimum cost along the direction of the cost gradient with respect to the control. Using a hybrid computer, the gradient is computed di rectly as the response to nearly impulsive control perturba tions. A method is presented for computing the gradient when several terminal constraints are enforced. Examples of application of the method are presented. It is concluded that the direct gradient computation method has some significant advantages over other methods.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68738/2/10.1177_003754976801100308.pd
NLSEmagic: Nonlinear Schr\"odinger Equation Multidimensional Matlab-based GPU-accelerated Integrators using Compact High-order Schemes
We present a simple to use, yet powerful code package called NLSEmagic to
numerically integrate the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation in one, two, and
three dimensions. NLSEmagic is a high-order finite-difference code package
which utilizes graphic processing unit (GPU) parallel architectures. The codes
running on the GPU are many times faster than their serial counterparts, and
are much cheaper to run than on standard parallel clusters. The codes are
developed with usability and portability in mind, and therefore are written to
interface with MATLAB utilizing custom GPU-enabled C codes with the
MEX-compiler interface. The packages are freely distributed, including user
manuals and set-up files.Comment: 37 pages, 13 figure
The universal Glivenko-Cantelli property
Let F be a separable uniformly bounded family of measurable functions on a
standard measurable space, and let N_{[]}(F,\epsilon,\mu) be the smallest
number of \epsilon-brackets in L^1(\mu) needed to cover F. The following are
equivalent:
1. F is a universal Glivenko-Cantelli class.
2. N_{[]}(F,\epsilon,\mu)0 and every probability
measure \mu.
3. F is totally bounded in L^1(\mu) for every probability measure \mu.
4. F does not contain a Boolean \sigma-independent sequence.
It follows that universal Glivenko-Cantelli classes are uniformity classes
for general sequences of almost surely convergent random measures.Comment: 26 page
Accessing elite nurses for research: reflections on the theoretical and practical issues of telephone interviewing
Elite groups are interesting as they frequently are powerful (in terms of position, knowledge and influence) and enjoy considerable authority. It is important, therefore, to involve them in research concerned with understanding social contexts and processes. This is particularly pertinent in healthcare, where considerable strategic development and change are features of everyday practice that may be guided or perceived as being guided, by elites.
This paper evolved from a study investigating the availability and role of nurses whose remit involved leading nursing research and development within acute NHS Trusts in two health regions in Southern England. The study design included telephone interviews with Directors of Nursing Services during which time the researchers engaged in a reflective analysis of their experiences of conducting research with an `elite' group. Important issues identified were the role of gatekeepers, engagement with elites and the use of the telephone interview method in this context. The paper examines these issues and makes a case for involving executive nurses in further research. The paper also offers strategies to help researchers design and implement telephone interview studies successfully to maximise access to the views and experiences of `hard to reach groups', such as elites, while minimising the associated disruption
Qualidade de Vida e Atitudes dos Idosos Face à Velhice
A problemática do envelhecimento tem assumido, nos últimos anos, uma
crescente importância na consciência coletiva da população, tornando-se cada vez mais importante compreender a população idosa e a sua realidade.
Posto isto, foi realizado um estudo quantitativo e correlacional, que teve como
objectivo avaliar a qualidade de vida e atitudes face à velhice de idosos, bem como a
relação entre estas e as variáveis sociodemográficas e familiares.
Foram inquiridos 100 idosos, com mais de 65 anos e sem deficit cognitivo . Para
a recolha de dados utilizou-se uma entrevista estruturada, constituída dados
sóciodemográficos do idoso, WHOQOL-AGE (Caballero, Miret, Power, Chatterji,
Tobiasz-Adamczyk, Koskinen, Leonardi, Olaya, Haro &Ayuso-Mateos, 2013) e o AAQ
( Laidlaw, Power, Schmidt and the WHOQOL-OLD Group, 2007).
Dos resultados destacamos os seguintes: A amostra é constituída por 52% de
idosos do sexo masculino tendo uma média de idades de 74,7 (DP=6,8). È no fator
Perdas Psicossociais e no Desenvolvimento Psicológico que os idosos têm uma melhor
atitude face ao envelhecimento. É no item “Tem dinheiro suficiente para satisfazer as
suas necessidades?” que os idosos apresentam uma menor qualidade de vida.
Não ter doença diagnosticada e ser do sexo masculino permitem ter melhores
atitudes face ao envelhecimento.
A Qualidade de Vida está relacionada com a idade, com o estado de saúde e com
a intensidade de preocupação da família. Constatou-se que os idosos que não estão
institucionalizados apresentam uma melhor qualidade de vida e uma melhor atitude face à velhice. Quem não precisa de ajudas técnicas para se movimentar apresenta uma melhor qualidade de vida.
Diferenças nas atitudes face ao envelhecimento consoante a residência onde
habita são significativas nas mudanças físicas e no desenvolvimento psicológico sendo
que os idosos que não vivem em lares têm uma atitude mais positiva em ambos os
fatores. / Over the past few years the issue of aging has played a growing importance in the population`s collective consciousness becoming increasingly important to
understand the elderly population and this reality.
Therefore a quantitative correlational study was performed to assess the quality
of life of seniors and their attitudes towards old age, and the relationship between these
and the socio-demographic and family factors.
100 seniors with more than 65 years and without cognitive deficit were
surveyed. For data collection we used a structured interview consisting of sociodemographic data of the elderly, WHOQOL-AGE (Caballero Miret Power Chatterji
Tobiasz-Adamczyk Koskinen Leonardi Olaya Ayuso-Mateos & Haro 2013) and AAQ
(Laidlaw Power Schmidt and the WHOQOL-OLD Group 2007).
We highlight: The sample is composed of 52% of males with a mean age of 74.7
(SD = 6.8). It is in the factor Psychosocial Losses and Psychological Development that
elderly people have a better attitude towards aging. It is in the item "Do you have
enough money to meet your needs?" that seniors show less quality of life.
Not having illness and being male allows having better attitudes towards aging.
Quality of Life is related to age, health condition and the intensity of family
concerns. It was observed that the elderly who are not institutionalized have a better
quality of life and a better attitude towards old age. Who does not need assistive devices to move around has a better quality of life.
Differences in attitudes towards aging, according to residency, are significant in
physical changes and psychological development, thus verifying that elderly who do not
live in nursing homes have a more positive attitude in both factors
Signatures of Baryon non-conserving Yukawa couplings in a supersymmetric theory
Renormalization effects of large baryon-nonconserving Yukawa couplings
lower the right handed squark masses keeping the left-handed squark masses
virtually untouched at the lowest order. At low energy they enhance the
mass-splitting between left and right handed squarks of the same generation as
well as intergenerational mass splitting among squarks, potentially detectable
in future colliders or in rare decays. The predicted mass of the lightest stop
squark becomes lower than the experimental bound for larger ranges of parameter
space than that of the Baryon-conserving case, hence, further constraining the
parameter space of a supersymmetric theory when baryon violation is included.Comment: 16 pages, six figures, captions.sty include
Managing to lead in private enterprise in China: Work values, demography and the development of trust
Previous work on trust has focused on employee trust in management. However, issues of how leaders develop trust in their followers in leader-member exchange (LMX) are under-explored. Based on theories of leader-member exchange, attribution and industrial convergence, this study investigates how the work values of leaders influence the development of their trust in followers and how this is moderated by demographic factors. A survey of 219 leaders was conducted in privately owned enterprises in China. The findings suggest that the work value of centralization is negatively related to leader trust in follower predictability. Group orientation and formalization are positively related to the development of trust in follower good faith. Moreover, age and level of formal education are found to moderate significantly the relationships between leader work values and development of their trust in followers within the context of China. Copyright © 2007 SAGE Publications
The Science of Sungrazers, Sunskirters, and Other Near-Sun Comets
This review addresses our current understanding of comets that venture close to the Sun, and are hence exposed to much more extreme conditions than comets that are typically studied from Earth. The extreme solar heating and plasma environments that these objects encounter change many aspects of their behaviour, thus yielding valuable information on both the comets themselves that complements other data we have on primitive solar system bodies, as well as on the near-solar environment which they traverse. We propose clear definitions for these comets: We use the term near-Sun comets to encompass all objects that pass sunward of the perihelion distance of planet Mercury (0.307 AU). Sunskirters are defined as objects that pass within 33 solar radii of the Sun’s centre, equal to half of Mercury’s perihelion distance, and the commonly-used phrase sungrazers to be objects that reach perihelion within 3.45 solar radii, i.e. the fluid Roche limit. Finally, comets with orbits that intersect the solar photosphere are termed sundivers. We summarize past studies of these objects, as well as the instruments and facilities used to study them, including space-based platforms that have led to a recent revolution in the quantity and quality of relevant observations. Relevant comet populations are described, including the Kreutz, Marsden, Kracht, and Meyer groups, near-Sun asteroids, and a brief discussion of their origins. The importance of light curves and the clues they provide on cometary composition are emphasized, together with what information has been gleaned about nucleus parameters, including the sizes and masses of objects and their families, and their tensile strengths. The physical processes occurring at these objects are considered in some detail, including the disruption of nuclei, sublimation, and ionisation, and we consider the mass, momentum, and energy loss of comets in the corona and those that venture to lower altitudes. The different components of comae and tails are described, including dust, neutral and ionised gases, their chemical reactions, and their contributions to the near-Sun environment. Comet-solar wind interactions are discussed, including the use of comets as probes of solar wind and coronal conditions in their vicinities. We address the relevance of work on comets near the Sun to similar objects orbiting other stars, and conclude with a discussion of future directions for the field and the planned ground- and space-based facilities that will allow us to address those science topics
On the selection of AGN neutrino source candidates for a source stacking analysis with neutrino telescopes
The sensitivity of a search for sources of TeV neutrinos can be improved by
grouping potential sources together into generic classes in a procedure that is
known as source stacking. In this paper, we define catalogs of Active Galactic
Nuclei (AGN) and use them to perform a source stacking analysis. The grouping
of AGN into classes is done in two steps: first, AGN classes are defined, then,
sources to be stacked are selected assuming that a potential neutrino flux is
linearly correlated with the photon luminosity in a certain energy band (radio,
IR, optical, keV, GeV, TeV). Lacking any secure detailed knowledge on neutrino
production in AGN, this correlation is motivated by hadronic AGN models, as
briefly reviewed in this paper.
The source stacking search for neutrinos from generic AGN classes is
illustrated using the data collected by the AMANDA-II high energy neutrino
detector during the year 2000. No significant excess for any of the suggested
groups was found.Comment: 43 pages, 12 figures, accepted by Astroparticle Physic
The exposure of the hybrid detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory
The Pierre Auger Observatory is a detector for ultra-high energy cosmic rays.
It consists of a surface array to measure secondary particles at ground level
and a fluorescence detector to measure the development of air showers in the
atmosphere above the array. The "hybrid" detection mode combines the
information from the two subsystems. We describe the determination of the
hybrid exposure for events observed by the fluorescence telescopes in
coincidence with at least one water-Cherenkov detector of the surface array. A
detailed knowledge of the time dependence of the detection operations is
crucial for an accurate evaluation of the exposure. We discuss the relevance of
monitoring data collected during operations, such as the status of the
fluorescence detector, background light and atmospheric conditions, that are
used in both simulation and reconstruction.Comment: Paper accepted by Astroparticle Physic
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