379 research outputs found
The role of gender in gait analysis in the elderly
The purpose of this study was to identify gender-related differences in the gait of functionally independent elderly men and women when walking at self selected walking velocity (SSWV). A quantitative gait analysis was conducted on 59 men (mean age 75.7, SD 5.8, range 69-91 years) and 127 women (mean age 75.2, SD 4.9, range 68-91 years) who could walk independently, regarded themselves to be in good health, and were independent in terms of activities of daily living. The analysis was based on foot placements in the sagittal plane recorded using a video camera. ANO VA gender comparisons revealed significant differences (p -0.0013) in all phases of walking, step length, standing height and knee length, but no significant differences in walking speed. Women were found to take shorter steps at greater frequency than men to attain the same walking velocity. When phase and step length variables were normalized to a percent of each individuals stride time (phase variables) and knee height as a measure of stature (step lengths), there were no significant gender differences. These findings suggest that at SSWV gait differences in older persons are due to stature and not to gender, and that the use of norms which are gender based may be inappropriate. Thus, the gait of elderly men and women walking at SSWV may be analysed together, provided that the step length data are normalized to stature and phase data to stride time
The Christiansen Effect in Saturn's narrow dusty rings and the spectral identification of clumps in the F ring
Stellar occultations by Saturn's rings observed with the Visual and Infrared
Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) onboard the Cassini spacecraft reveal that dusty
features such as the F ring and the ringlets in the Encke and the Laplace Gaps
have distinctive infrared transmission spectra. These spectra show a narrow
optical depth minimum at wavelengths around 2.87 microns. This minimum is
likely due to the Christiansen Effect, a reduction in the extinction of small
particles when their (complex) refractive index is close to that of the
surrounding medium. Simple Mie-scattering models demonstrate that the strength
of this opacity dip is sensitive to the size distribution of particles between
1 and 100 microns across. Furthermore, the spatial resolution of the
occultation data is sufficient to reveal variations in the transmission spectra
within and among these rings. For example, in both the Encke Gap ringlets and F
ring, the opacity dip weakens with increasing local optical depth, which is
consistent with the larger particles being concentrated near the cores of these
rings. The strength of the opacity dip varies most dramatically within the F
ring; certain compact regions of enhanced optical depth lack an opacity dip and
therefore appear to have a greatly reduced fraction of grains in the few-micron
size range.Such spectrally-identifiable structures probably represent a subset
of the compact optically-thick clumps observed by other Cassini instruments.
These variations in the ring's particle size distribution can provide new
insights into the processes of grain aggregation, disruption and transport
within dusty rings. For example, the unusual spectral properties of the F-ring
clumps could perhaps be ascribed to small grains adhering onto the surface of
larger particles in regions of anomalously low velocity dispersion.Comment: 42 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in Icarus. A few small
typographical errors fixed to match correction in proof
The weather report from IRC+10216: Evolving irregular clouds envelop carbon star
High angular resolution images of IRC+10216 are presented in several near-infrared wavelengths spanning more than 8 years. These maps have been reconstructed from interferometric observations obtained at both Keck and the VLT, and also from stellar occultations by the rings of Saturn observed with the Cassini spacecraft. The dynamic inner regions of the circumstellar environment are monitored over eight epochs ranging between 2000 January and 2008 July. The system is shown to experience substantial evolution within this period including the fading of many previously reported persistent features, some of which had been identified as the stellar photosphere. These changes are discussed in the context of existing models for the nature of the underlying star and the circumstellar environment. With access to these new images, we are able to report that none of the previously identified bright spots in fact contains the star, which is buried in its own dust and not directly visible in the near-infrared
Problematising high-stakes assessment in statistics.
Statistics emerged as a discipline to address pressing practical problems. In the UK, this has not been reflected in school statistics curricula, where students often work with small-scale invented data to develop mastery of statistical technique. Recent curriculum reforms set out to improve this situation; students are expected to work in class with a large authentic data set, and to demonstrate appropriate skills on high-stakes assessment. Here, we analyse all the first set of examination papers containing statistics for the new GCE qualification, and also questions using statistical graphs from the GCSE qualifications in summer 2017. We show that there is very little emphasis on statistical skills such as interpreting data and drawing conclusions, and a great deal of emphasis on technical skills. Contexts are (for the most part) banal. Several questions ask students to use inappropriate procedures. We believe systemic flaws have resulted in assessment which is not fit for purpose. We call for curriculum reform, and offer examples of how things might be done better both in curriculum and in assessment
Formation of alkylsilane-based monolayers on gold
The formation of monolayers of alkylsilanes on a gold surface is characterized by X-ray photoelectron and reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopies. The reaction occurs through the activation of multiple Si-H bonds. Reactivity of the newly synthesized systems to oxygen and water is reported. Copyright © 2002 American Chemical Society
Changes of intracellular sodium and potassium ion concentrations in frog spinal motoneurons induced by repetitive synaptic stimulation
A post-tetanic membrane hyperpolarization following repetitive neuronal activity is a commonly observed phenomenon in the isolated frog spinal cord as well as in neurons of other nervous tissues. We have now used double-barrelled Na+- and K+-ion-sensitive microelectrodes to measure the intracellular Na+- and K+-concentrations and also the extracellular K+-concentration of lumbar spinal motoneurons during and after repetitive stimulation of a dorsal root. The results show that the posttetanic membrane hyperpolarization occurred at a time when the intracellular [Na+] reached its maximal value, intracellular [K+] had its lowest level and extracellular [K+] was still elevated. The hyperpolarization was blocked by ouabain and reduced by Li+.
These data support the previous suggestion that an electrogenic Na+/K+ pump mode may be the mechanism underlying the post-tetanic membrane hyperpolarization
The three-dimensional structure of Saturn's E ring
Saturn's diffuse E ring consists of many tiny (micron and sub-micron) grains
of water ice distributed between the orbits of Mimas and Titan. Various
gravitational and non-gravitational forces perturb these particles' orbits,
causing the ring's local particle density to vary noticeably with distance from
the planet, height above the ring-plane, hour angle and time. Using
remote-sensing data obtained by the Cassini spacecraft in 2005 and 2006, we
investigate the E-ring's three-dimensional structure during a time when the Sun
illuminated the rings from the south at high elevation angles (> 15 degrees).
These observations show that the ring's vertical thickness grows with distance
from Enceladus' orbit and its peak brightness density shifts from south to
north of Saturn's equator plane with increasing distance from the planet. These
data also reveal a localized depletion in particle density near Saturn's
equatorial plane around Enceladus' semi-major axis. Finally, variations are
detected in the radial brightness profile and the vertical thickness of the
ring as a function of longitude relative to the Sun. Possible physical
mechanisms and processes that may be responsible for some of these structures
include solar radiation pressure, variations in the ambient plasma, and
electromagnetic perturbations associated with Saturn's shadow.Comment: 42 Pages, 13 Figures, modified to include minor proof correction
Interacting Dipoles from Matrix Formulation of Noncommutative Gauge Theories
We study the IR behavior of noncommutative gauge theory in the matrix
formulation. We find that in this approach, the nature of the UV/IR mixing is
easily understood, which allows us to perform a reliable calculation of the
quantum effective action for the long wavelength modes of the noncommutative
gauge field. At one loop, we find that our description is weakly coupled only
in the supersymmetric theory. At two loops, we find non-trivial interaction
terms suggestive of dipole degrees of freedom. These dipoles exhibit a channel
duality reminiscent of string theory.Comment: LaTeX 11 pages, 4 figures; v.2 minor changes and some references
added; v.3 many more technical details added and significantly different
presentation, use REVTeX 4, to appear in PR
Saturn's icy satellites and rings investigated by Cassini - VIMS. III. Radial compositional variability
In the last few years Cassini-VIMS, the Visible and Infared Mapping
Spectrometer, returned to us a comprehensive view of the Saturn's icy
satellites and rings. After having analyzed the satellites' spectral properties
(Filacchione et al. (2007a)) and their distribution across the satellites'
hemispheres (Filacchione et al. (2010)), we proceed in this paper to
investigate the radial variability of icy satellites (principal and minor) and
main rings average spectral properties. This analysis is done by using 2,264
disk-integrated observations of the satellites and a 12x700 pixels-wide rings
radial mosaic acquired with a spatial resolution of about 125 km/pixel. The
comparative analysis of these data allows us to retrieve the amount of both
water ice and red contaminant materials distributed across Saturn's system and
the typical surface regolith grain sizes. These measurements highlight very
striking differences in the population here analyzed, which vary from the
almost uncontaminated and water ice-rich surfaces of Enceladus and Calypso to
the metal/organic-rich and red surfaces of Iapetus' leading hemisphere and
Phoebe. Rings spectra appear more red than the icy satellites in the visible
range but show more intense 1.5-2.0 micron band depths. The correlations among
spectral slopes, band depths, visual albedo and phase permit us to cluster the
saturnian population in different spectral classes which are detected not only
among the principal satellites and rings but among co-orbital minor moons as
well. Finally, we have applied Hapke's theory to retrieve the best spectral
fits to Saturn's inner regular satellites using the same methodology applied
previously for Rhea data discussed in Ciarniello et al. (2011).Comment: 44 pages, 27 figures, 7 tables. Submitted to Icaru
Superfield covariant analysis of the divergence structure of noncommutative supersymmetric QED
Commutative supersymmetric Yang-Mills is known to be renormalizable for
, while finite for . However, in the
noncommutative version of the model (NCSQED) the UV/IR mechanism gives rise
to infrared divergences which may spoil the perturbative expansion. In this
work we pursue the study of the consistency of NCSQED by working
systematically within the covariant superfield formulation. In the Landau
gauge, it has already been shown for that the gauge field
two-point function is free of harmful UV/IR infrared singularities, in the
one-loop approximation. Here we show that this result holds without
restrictions on the number of allowed supersymmetries and for any arbitrary
covariant gauge. We also investigate the divergence structure of the gauge
field three-point function in the one-loop approximation. It is first proved
that the cancellation of the leading UV/IR infrared divergences is a gauge
invariant statement. Surprisingly, we have also found that there exist
subleading harmful UV/IR infrared singularities whose cancellation only takes
place in a particular covariant gauge. Thus, we conclude that these last
mentioned singularities are in the gauge sector and, therefore, do not
jeopardize the perturbative expansion and/or the renormalization of the theory.Comment: 36 pages, 11 figures. Minor correction
- …