Mirror formation control in the vicinity of an asteroid

Two strategies are presented for the positioning and control of a spacecraft formation designed to focus sunlight onto a point on the surface of asteroid, thereby sublimating the material and ejecting debris creating thrust. In the first approach, the formation is located at artficial equilibrium points around the asteroid and controlled using the force from the solar radiation pressure. The second approach determines the optimal periodic formation orbits, subject to the gravitational perturbations from the asteroid, the solar radiation pressure and the control acceleration derived from a control law

Testing Conditional Independence of Discrete Distributions

We study the problem of testing \emph{conditional independence} for discrete distributions. Specifically, given samples from a discrete random variable $(X, Y, Z)$ on domain $[\ell_1]\times[\ell_2] \times [n]$, we want to distinguish, with probability at least $2/3$, between the case that $X$ and $Y$ are conditionally independent given $Z$ from the case that $(X, Y, Z)$ is $\epsilon$-far, in $\ell_1$-distance, from every distribution that has this property. Conditional independence is a concept of central importance in probability and statistics with a range of applications in various scientific domains. As such, the statistical task of testing conditional independence has been extensively studied in various forms within the statistics and econometrics communities for nearly a century. Perhaps surprisingly, this problem has not been previously considered in the framework of distribution property testing and in particular no tester with sublinear sample complexity is known, even for the important special case that the domains of $X$ and $Y$ are binary. The main algorithmic result of this work is the first conditional independence tester with {\em sublinear} sample complexity for discrete distributions over $[\ell_1]\times[\ell_2] \times [n]$. To complement our upper bounds, we prove information-theoretic lower bounds establishing that the sample complexity of our algorithm is optimal, up to constant factors, for a number of settings. Specifically, for the prototypical setting when $\ell_1, \ell_2 = O(1)$, we show that the sample complexity of testing conditional independence (upper bound and matching lower bound) is \[ \Theta\left({\max\left(n^{1/2}/\epsilon^2,\min\left(n^{7/8}/\epsilon,n^{6/7}/\epsilon^{8/7}\right)\right)}\right)\,. \

Occipital GABA correlates with cognitive failures in daily life.

The brain has limited capacity, and so selective attention enhances relevant incoming information while suppressing irrelevant information. This process is not always successful, and the frequency of such cognitive failures varies to a large extent between individuals. Here we hypothesised that individual differences in cognitive failures might be reflected in inhibitory processing in the sensory cortex. To test this hypothesis, we measured GABA in human visual cortex using MR spectroscopy and found a negative correlation between occipital GABA (GABA+/Cr ratio) and cognitive failures as measured by an established cognitive failures questionnaire (CFQ). For a second site in parietal cortex, no correlation between CFQ score and GABA+/Cr ratio was found, thus establishing the regional specificity of the link between occipital GABA and cognitive failures. We further found that grey matter volume in the left superior parietal lobule (SPL) correlated with cognitive failures independently from the impact of occipital GABA and together, occipital GABA and SPL grey matter volume statistically explained around 50% of the individual variability in daily cognitive failures. We speculate that the amount of GABA in sensory areas may reflect the potential capacity to selectively suppress irrelevant information already at the sensory level, or alternatively that GABA influences the specificity of neural representations in visual cortex thus improving the effectiveness of successful attentional modulation

Fluctuations and defect-defect correlations in the ordering kinetics of the O(2) model

The theory of phase ordering kinetics for the O(2) model using the gaussian auxiliary field approach is reexamined from two points of view. The effects of fluctuations about the ordering field are included and we organize the theory such that the auxiliary field correlation function is analytic in the short-scaled distance (x) expansion. These two points are connected and we find in the refined theory that the divergence at the origin in the defect-defect correlation function $\tilde{g}(x)$ obtained in the original theory is removed. Modifications to the order-parameter autocorrelation exponent $\lambda$ are computed.Comment: 29 pages, REVTeX, to be published in Phys. Rev. E. Minor grammatical/syntax changes from the origina

Vortex annihilation in the ordering kinetics of the O(2) model

The vortex-vortex and vortex-antivortex correlation functions are determined for the two-dimensional O(2) model undergoing phase ordering. We find reasonably good agreement with simulation results for the vortex-vortex correlation function where there is a short-scaled distance depletion zone due to the repulsion of like-signed vortices. The vortex-antivortex correlation function agrees well with simulation results for intermediate and long-scaled distances. At short-scaled distances the simulations show a depletion zone not seen in the theory.Comment: 28 pages, REVTeX, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Relationship between physiological measures of excitability and levels of glutamate and GABA in the human motor cortex

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) allows measurement of neurotransmitter concentrations within a region of interest in the brain. Inter-individual variation in MRS-measured GABA levels have been related to variation in task performance in a number of regions. However, it is not clear how MRS-assessed measures of GABA relate to cortical excitability or GABAergic synaptic activity. We therefore performed two studies investigating the relationship between neurotransmitter levels as assessed by MRS and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) measures of cortical excitability and GABA synaptic activity in the primary motor cortex. We present uncorrected correlations, where the P value should therefore be considered with caution. We demonstrated a correlation between cortical excitability, as assessed by the slope of the TMS input-output curve and MRS-assessed glutamate levels (r = 0.803, P = 0.015) but no clear relationship between MRS-assessed GABA levels and TMS-assessed synaptic GABA(A) activity (2.5 ms inter-stimulus interval (ISI) short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI); Experiment 1: r = 0.33, P = 0.31; Experiment 2: r = -0.23, P = 0.46) or GABA(B) activity (long-interval intracortical inhibition (LICI); Experiment 1: r = -0.47, P = 0.51; Experiment 2: r = 0.23, P = 0.47). We demonstrated a significant correlation between MRS-assessed GABA levels and an inhibitory TMS protocol (1 ms ISI SICI) with distinct physiological underpinnings from the 2.5 ms ISI SICI (r = -0.79, P = 0.018). Interpretation of this finding is challenging as the mechanisms of 1 ms ISI SICI are not well understood, but we speculate that our results support the possibility that 1 ms ISI SICI reflects a distinct GABAergic inhibitory process, possibly that of extrasynaptic GABA tone

GABA Predicts Time Perception

Our perception of time constrains our experience of the world and exerts a pivotal influence over a myriad array of cognitive and motor functions. There is emerging evidence that the perceived duration of subsecond intervals is driven by sensory-specific neural activity in human and nonhuman animals, but the mechanisms underlying individual differences in time perception remain elusive. We tested the hypothesis that elevated visual cortex GABA impairs the coding of particular visual stimuli, resulting in a dampening of visual processing and concomitant positive time-order error (relative underestimation) in the perceived duration of subsecond visual intervals. Participants completed psychophysical tasks measuring visual interval discrimination and temporal reproduction and we measured in vivo resting state GABA in visual cortex using magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Time-order error selectively correlated with GABA concentrations in visual cortex, with elevated GABA associated with a rightward horizontal shift in psychometric functions, reflecting a positive time-order error (relative underestimation). These results demonstrate anatomical, neurochemical, and task specificity and suggest that visual cortex GABA contributes to individual differences in time perception

NEOWISE Observations of Near-Earth Objects: Preliminary Results

With the NEOWISE portion of the \emph{Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer} (WISE) project, we have carried out a highly uniform survey of the near-Earth object (NEO) population at thermal infrared wavelengths ranging from 3 to 22 $\mu$m, allowing us to refine estimates of their numbers, sizes, and albedos. The NEOWISE survey detected NEOs the same way whether they were previously known or not, subject to the availability of ground-based follow-up observations, resulting in the discovery of more than 130 new NEOs. The survey's uniformity in sensitivity, observing cadence, and image quality have permitted extrapolation of the 428 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) detected by NEOWISE during the fully cryogenic portion of the WISE mission to the larger population. We find that there are 981$\pm$19 NEAs larger than 1 km and 20,500$\pm$3000 NEAs larger than 100 m. We show that the Spaceguard goal of detecting 90% of all 1 km NEAs has been met, and that the cumulative size distribution is best represented by a broken power law with a slope of 1.32$\pm$0.14 below 1.5 km. This power law slope produces $\sim13,200\pm$1,900 NEAs with $D>$140 m. Although previous studies predict another break in the cumulative size distribution below $D\sim$50-100 m, resulting in an increase in the number of NEOs in this size range and smaller, we did not detect enough objects to comment on this increase. The overall number for the NEA population between 100-1000 m are lower than previous estimates. The numbers of near-Earth comets will be the subject of future work.Comment: Accepted to Ap

Vesicular Ca 2+ Participates in the Catalysis of Exocytosis

Effects of vesicular monoamine transporter inhibitors on catecholamine release from bovine chromaffin cells have been examined at the level of individual exocytotic events. As expected for a depletion of vesicular stores, release evoked by depolarizing agents was decreased following 15-min incubations with reserpine and tetrabenazine, as evidenced by a decrease in exocytotic frequency and amount released per event. In contrast, two reserpine derivatives, methyl reserpate and reserpic acid, were much less effective. Surprisingly, the incubations also decreased the accompanying rise in intracellular Ca(2+) evoked by depolarizing agents. Subcellular studies revealed that reserpine and tetrabenazine at concentrations near their K(i) values not only could increase cytoplasmic catecholamines but also could displace Ca(2+) from vesicles. Furthermore, transient exposure to tetrabenazine and reserpine, but not methyl reserpate and reserpic acid, induced exocytotic release of catecholamines. Reserpine induced a rise in intracellular Ca(2+), as detected by whole-cell measurements with Fura-2. It could induce exocytosis, albeit at a lower frequency, in Ca(2+)-free solutions, supporting an internal Ca(2+) source. Depletion of endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondrial Ca(2+) pools did not eliminate the reserpine-activated release. These results indicate that vesicular Ca(2+) can play an important role in exocytosis and under some conditions may be involved in initiating this process

Who do we inform? The role of status and target in intergroup whistle-blowing

In two experiments (n = 87 and n = 90), we showed that strongly identifying members of a low status group are more likely to actively inform the ingroup rather than the outgroup about an outgroup transgression, and consider it as more loyal to the ingroup to do so. Moreover, strongly identifying members of a high status group are more likely to actively inform the outgroup rather than the ingroup about an outgroup transgression, and consider this to be more loyal to the ingroup. The results are in support of the notion that, depending on a group's existing status position, negative outgroup information can be used to enhance or confirm the ingroup's standing, affecting whether the ingroup or the outgroup will initially be informed about an outgroup transgression. Copyright © The Author(s), 2009