259 research outputs found

    0175 Light Improves Alertness and Mood During the Sleep Inertia Period Following Slow Wave Sleep 

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    Funded by Naval Postgraduate SchoolThe article of record as published may be found at https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsaa056.173Introduction: Waking from sleep, especially slow wave sleep (SWS), is associated with reduced alertness known as sleep inertia. Light improves alertness during sleep deprivation and circadian misalignment. In this study, we assessed the efficacy of light to improve alertness and mood immediately after waking from SWS. Methods: Twelve participants kept a sleep schedule of 8.5 h for 5 nights and 5 h for one night prior to the overnight laboratory visit (confirmed by actigraphy). Participants went to bed at their scheduled habitual bedtime in the laboratory and were monitored by standard polysomnography. After at least 5 min of SWS, participants were awoken and exposed to either red ambient light (control) or blue-enriched bright light (light) for 1 h. During this time, participants completed a subjective scale of alertness (Karolinska Sleepiness Scale, KSS) and visual analogue scales (VAS) of mood at 2 min, 17 min, 32 min, and 47 min after waking. Following this sleep inertia measurement period, all lights were turned off and participants were allowed to return to sleep. They were then awoken again from their subsequent SWS period and exposed to the opposite condition (control or light). A linear mixed-effects model with fixed effects of condition, time, and condition*time and a random effect of participant was used to determine the impact of light across the testing period. An average of baseline responses (pre-sleep) was included as a covariate. Results: Compared to the control condition, participants exposed to blue-enriched bright light reported feeling more alert (KSS: F1,77=4.955, p=.029; VASalert: F1,77=8.226, p=.005), more cheerful (VAScheerful: F1,77=8.615, p=.004), less depressed (VASdepressed: F1,77=4.649, p=.034), and less lethargic (VASlethargic: F1,77=5.652, p=.020). Conclusion: Exposure to blue-enriched bright light immediately after waking from SWS may help to improve subjective alertness and mood. Future analyses will explore whether these findings extend to effects on cognitive performance.Naval Postgraduate School Grant. NASA Airspace Operations and Safety Program, System-Wide Safety Project

    A Theoretical Review of Rotating Detonation Engines

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    Rotating detonation engines are a novel device for generating thrust from combustion, in a highly efficient, yet mechanically simple form. This chapter presents a detailed literature review of rotating detonation engines. Particular focus is placed on the theoretical aspects and the fundamental operating principles of these engines. The review covers both experimental and computational studies, in order to identify gaps in current understanding. This will allow the identification of future work that is required to further develop rotating detonation engines

    Fractional moment bounds and disorder relevance for pinning models

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    We study the critical point of directed pinning/wetting models with quenched disorder. The distribution K(.) of the location of the first contact of the (free) polymer with the defect line is assumed to be of the form K(n)=n^{-\alpha-1}L(n), with L(.) slowly varying. The model undergoes a (de)-localization phase transition: the free energy (per unit length) is zero in the delocalized phase and positive in the localized phase. For \alpha<1/2 it is known that disorder is irrelevant: quenched and annealed critical points coincide for small disorder, as well as quenched and annealed critical exponents. The same has been proven also for \alpha=1/2, but under the assumption that L(.) diverges sufficiently fast at infinity, an hypothesis that is not satisfied in the (1+1)-dimensional wetting model considered by Forgacs et al. (1986) and Derrida et al. (1992), where L(.) is asymptotically constant. Here we prove that, if 1/21, then quenched and annealed critical points differ whenever disorder is present, and we give the scaling form of their difference for small disorder. In agreement with the so-called Harris criterion, disorder is therefore relevant in this case. In the marginal case \alpha=1/2, under the assumption that L(.) vanishes sufficiently fast at infinity, we prove that the difference between quenched and annealed critical points, which is known to be smaller than any power of the disorder strength, is positive: disorder is marginally relevant. Again, the case considered by Forgacs et al. (1986) and Derrida et al. (1992) is out of our analysis and remains open.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figure; v2: few typos corrected, references revised. To appear on Commun. Math. Phy

    Probing Ion-Ion and Electron-Ion Correlations in Liquid Metals within the Quantum Hypernetted Chain Approximation

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    We use the Quantum Hypernetted Chain Approximation (QHNC) to calculate the ion-ion and electron-ion correlations for liquid metallic Li, Be, Na, Mg, Al, K, Ca, and Ga. We discuss trends in electron-ion structure factors and radial distribution functions, and also calculate the free-atom and metallic-atom form-factors, focusing on how bonding effects affect the interpretation of X-ray scattering experiments, especially experimental measurements of the ion-ion structure factor in the liquid metallic phase.Comment: RevTeX, 19 pages, 7 figure

    0078 Influence of Light on Brain Activity Upon Waking From Slow Wave Sleep 

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    Funded by Naval Postgraduate School17 USC 105 interim-entered record; under review.The article of record as published may be found at https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsaa056.076Introduction: Waking from sleep is associated with reduced alertness due to sleep inertia. Light acutely improves alertness during sleep deprivation. In this study we assessed the influence of light on brain activity and connectivity after waking from slow wave sleep (SWS). Methods: Twelve participants kept an actigraphy-confirmed stable sleep schedule with 8.5 hours for five nights and five hours for one night prior to an overnight laboratory visit. Participants completed two three-minute Karolinska Drowsiness Tests (KDT) before going to bed at their habitual bedtime. They were monitored continuously using high-density EEG (32-channel; Brain Products GmbH). Participants were woken twice and exposed to red light (0.01 melanopic-lux; control) or blue-enriched light (63.62 melanopic-lux) for one hour, in a randomized order, following at least five minutes of SWS. EEG artifact were removed algorithmically and the spectral composition of each electrode (i.e., fast fourier transform, FFT) and effective connectivity (i.e., partial directed coherence, PDC) between each electrode were estimated. A graphical analysis was conducted to extract features relevant to the facilitation of efficient communication between electrodes. All data were averaged within frequency bins of interest that correspond to delta (1-3Hz), theta (4-7Hz), alpha (8-12Hz), and beta (13-25Hz) bands and expressed relative to the pre-sleep baseline. Results: Compared to the pre-sleep baseline, participants exposed to blue-enriched light experienced reduced theta and alpha activity; however, these results were not significantly different from the control. In contrast, the communication of frontal electrodes significantly increased across all frequency bands compared to the control, and this effect was most prominent in the alpha (t(11)=3.80, p=.005) and beta bands (t(11)=3.92, p=.004). Conclusion: Exposure to blue-enriched light immediately after waking from SWS may accelerate the process of waking and help to improve alertness by facilitating communication between brain regions. Future analyses will explore the temporal persistence and granularity of the communicative properties associated with this response.Naval Postgraduate School Grant. NASA Airspace Operations and Safety Program, System-Wide Safety Project

    The Science of Sungrazers, Sunskirters, and Other Near-Sun Comets

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    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

    Study of the production of Λb0\Lambda_b^0 and B0\overline{B}^0 hadrons in pppp collisions and first measurement of the Λb0J/ψpK\Lambda_b^0\rightarrow J/\psi pK^- branching fraction

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    The product of the Λb0\Lambda_b^0 (B0\overline{B}^0) differential production cross-section and the branching fraction of the decay Λb0J/ψpK\Lambda_b^0\rightarrow J/\psi pK^- (B0J/ψK(892)0\overline{B}^0\rightarrow J/\psi\overline{K}^*(892)^0) is measured as a function of the beauty hadron transverse momentum, pTp_{\rm T}, and rapidity, yy. The kinematic region of the measurements is pT<20 GeV/cp_{\rm T}<20~{\rm GeV}/c and 2.0<y<4.52.0<y<4.5. The measurements use a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb13~{\rm fb}^{-1} collected by the LHCb detector in pppp collisions at centre-of-mass energies s=7 TeV\sqrt{s}=7~{\rm TeV} in 2011 and s=8 TeV\sqrt{s}=8~{\rm TeV} in 2012. Based on previous LHCb results of the fragmentation fraction ratio, fΛB0/fdf_{\Lambda_B^0}/f_d, the branching fraction of the decay Λb0J/ψpK\Lambda_b^0\rightarrow J/\psi pK^- is measured to be \begin{equation*} \mathcal{B}(\Lambda_b^0\rightarrow J/\psi pK^-)= (3.17\pm0.04\pm0.07\pm0.34^{+0.45}_{-0.28})\times10^{-4}, \end{equation*} where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic, the third is due to the uncertainty on the branching fraction of the decay B0J/ψK(892)0\overline{B}^0\rightarrow J/\psi\overline{K}^*(892)^0, and the fourth is due to the knowledge of fΛb0/fdf_{\Lambda_b^0}/f_d. The sum of the asymmetries in the production and decay between Λb0\Lambda_b^0 and Λb0\overline{\Lambda}_b^0 is also measured as a function of pTp_{\rm T} and yy. The previously published branching fraction of Λb0J/ψpπ\Lambda_b^0\rightarrow J/\psi p\pi^-, relative to that of Λb0J/ψpK\Lambda_b^0\rightarrow J/\psi pK^-, is updated. The branching fractions of Λb0Pc+(J/ψp)K\Lambda_b^0\rightarrow P_c^+(\rightarrow J/\psi p)K^- are determined.Comment: 29 pages, 19figures. All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2015-032.htm

    Evidence for the strangeness-changing weak decay ΞbΛb0π\Xi_b^-\to\Lambda_b^0\pi^-

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    Using a pppp collision data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0~fb1^{-1}, collected by the LHCb detector, we present the first search for the strangeness-changing weak decay ΞbΛb0π\Xi_b^-\to\Lambda_b^0\pi^-. No bb hadron decay of this type has been seen before. A signal for this decay, corresponding to a significance of 3.2 standard deviations, is reported. The relative rate is measured to be fΞbfΛb0B(ΞbΛb0π)=(5.7±1.80.9+0.8)×104{{f_{\Xi_b^-}}\over{f_{\Lambda_b^0}}}{\cal{B}}(\Xi_b^-\to\Lambda_b^0\pi^-) = (5.7\pm1.8^{+0.8}_{-0.9})\times10^{-4}, where fΞbf_{\Xi_b^-} and fΛb0f_{\Lambda_b^0} are the bΞbb\to\Xi_b^- and bΛb0b\to\Lambda_b^0 fragmentation fractions, and B(ΞbΛb0π){\cal{B}}(\Xi_b^-\to\Lambda_b^0\pi^-) is the branching fraction. Assuming fΞb/fΛb0f_{\Xi_b^-}/f_{\Lambda_b^0} is bounded between 0.1 and 0.3, the branching fraction B(ΞbΛb0π){\cal{B}}(\Xi_b^-\to\Lambda_b^0\pi^-) would lie in the range from (0.57±0.21)%(0.57\pm0.21)\% to (0.19±0.07)%(0.19\pm0.07)\%.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2015-047.htm

    Measurements of long-range near-side angular correlations in sNN=5\sqrt{s_{\text{NN}}}=5TeV proton-lead collisions in the forward region

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    Two-particle angular correlations are studied in proton-lead collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of sNN=5\sqrt{s_{\text{NN}}}=5TeV, collected with the LHCb detector at the LHC. The analysis is based on data recorded in two beam configurations, in which either the direction of the proton or that of the lead ion is analysed. The correlations are measured in the laboratory system as a function of relative pseudorapidity, Δη\Delta\eta, and relative azimuthal angle, Δϕ\Delta\phi, for events in different classes of event activity and for different bins of particle transverse momentum. In high-activity events a long-range correlation on the near side, Δϕ0\Delta\phi \approx 0, is observed in the pseudorapidity range 2.0<η<4.92.0<\eta<4.9. This measurement of long-range correlations on the near side in proton-lead collisions extends previous observations into the forward region up to η=4.9\eta=4.9. The correlation increases with growing event activity and is found to be more pronounced in the direction of the lead beam. However, the correlation in the direction of the lead and proton beams are found to be compatible when comparing events with similar absolute activity in the direction analysed.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2015-040.htm

    Tectonic controls on post-subduction granite genesis and emplacement : the late Caledonian suite of Britain and Ireland

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    Rates of magma emplacement commonly vary as a function of tectonic setting. The late Caledonian granites of Britain and Ireland are associated with closure of the Iapetus Ocean and were emplaced into a varying regime of transpression and transtension throughout the Silurian and into the early Devonian. Here we evaluate a new approach for examining how magma volumes vary as a function of tectonic setting. Available radiometric ages from the late Caledonian granites are used to calculate probability density functions (age spectra), with each pluton weighted by outcrop area as a proxy for its volume. These spectra confirm an absence of magmatic activity during Iapetus subduction between c. 455 Ma and 425 Ma and a dominance of post-subduction magmas between c. 425 Ma and 380 Ma. We review possible reasons why, despite the widespread outcrop of the late Caledonian granites, magmatism appears absent during Iapetus subduction. These include shallow angle subduction or extensive erosion and tectonic removal of the arc. In contrast to previous work we find no strong difference in the age or major element chemistry of post-subduction granites across all terranes. We propose a common causal mechanism in which the down-going Iapetus oceanic slab peeled back and detached beneath the suture following final Iapetus closure. The lithospheric mantle was delaminated beneath the suture and for about 100 km back beneath the Avalonian margin. While magma generation is largely a function of gravitationally driven lithosphere delamination, strike-slip dominated kinematics in the overlying continental crust is what modulated granitic magma emplacement. Early Devonian (419–404 Ma) transtension permitted large volumes of granite emplacement, whereas the subsequent Acadian (late Early Devonian, 404–394 Ma) transpression reduced and eventually suppressed magma emplacement
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