765 research outputs found
Measurement of BOLD changes due to cued eye-closure and stopping during a continuous visuomotor task via model-based and model-free approaches
As a precursor for investigation of changes in neural
activity underlying lapses of responsiveness, we set up a system to simultaneously record functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), eye-video, EOG, and continuous visuomotor response inside an MRI scanner. The BOLD fMRI signal was acquired during a novel 2-D tracking task in which participants (10 males, 10 females) were cued to either briefly stop tracking and close their eyes (Stop Close) or to briefly stop tracking (Stop) only. The onset and duration of eye-closure and stopping were identified post hoc from eye-video, EOG, and visuomotor response. fMRI data were analyzed using a general linear model (GLM) and tensorial independent component analysis (TICA). The GLM-based
analysis identified predominantly increased blood oxygenation
level dependent (BOLD) activity during eye-closure and stopping
in multisensory areas, sensory-motor integration areas, and default-mode regions. Stopping during tracking elicited increased activity in visual processing areas, sensory-motor integration areas, and premotor areas. TICA separated the spatio-temporal pattern of activity into multiple task-related networks including the 1) occipito-medial frontal eye-movement network, 2) sensory areas, 3) left-lateralized visuomotor network, and 4) fronto-parietal visuomotor network, which were modulated differently by Stop Close and Stop. The results demonstrate the merits of using simultaneous fMRI, behavioral, and physiological recordings to investigate the mechanisms underlying complex human behaviors in the human brain. Furthermore, knowledge of widespread modulations
in brain activity due to voluntary eye-closure or stopping during a continuous visuomotor task is important for studies of
the brain mechanisms underlying involuntary behaviors, such as
microsleeps and attention lapses, which are often accompanied by brief eye-closure and/or response failures
Assessment of thermal runaway in commercial lithium iron phosphate cells due to overheating in an oven test
Overheating by oven exposure testing is a fundamental method to determine the severity of thermal runaway (TR) in lithium-ion cells. The TR behavior of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells under convection oven exposure is quantified and a comparison is made of their stability and severity against that of lithium metal oxide cells under similar conditions presented in the literature. The convection oven test is carried out at 180°C and 220°C, the TR response of the LFP cells is shown to be significantly more stable and less severe than lithium cobalt oxide cells tested in the literature. Also, under an oven abuse test a cylindrical cell is shown to have near uniform surface temperature along its length
Dyson-Schwinger Equations - aspects of the pion
The contemporary use of Dyson-Schwinger equations in hadronic physics is
exemplified via applications to the calculation of pseudoscalar meson masses,
and inclusive deep inelastic scattering with a determination of the pion's
valence-quark distribution function.Comment: 4 pages. Contribution to the Proceedings of ``DPF 2000,'' the Meeting
of the Division of Particles and Fields of the American Physical Society,
August 9-12, 2000, Department of Physics, the Ohio State University,
Columbus, Ohi
On a new fixed point of the renormalization group operator for area-preserving maps
The breakup of the shearless invariant torus with winding number
is studied numerically using Greene's residue criterion in
the standard nontwist map. The residue behavior and parameter scaling at the
breakup suggests the existence of a new fixed point of the renormalization
group operator (RGO) for area-preserving maps. The unstable eigenvalues of the
RGO at this fixed point and the critical scaling exponents of the torus at
breakup are computed.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
The pion transition form factor and the pion distribution amplitude
Recent BaBaR data on the pion transition form factor, whose Q^2 dependence is
much steeper then predicted by asymptotic Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), have
caused a renewed interest in its theoretical description. We present here a
formalism based on a model independent low energy description and a high energy
description based on QCD, which match at a scale Q_0. The high energy
description incorporates a flat pion distribution amplitude, phi(x)=1, at the
matching scale Q_0 and QCD evolution from Q_0 to Q>Q_0. The flat pion
distribution is connected, through soft pion theorems and chiral symmetry, to
the pion valance parton distribution at the same low scale Q_0. The procedure
leads to a good description of the data, and incorporating additional twist
three effects, to an excellent description of the data.Comment: 11 pages, 5 postscript figures, uses epsfig.sty and 1 appendi
Measuring movement fluency during the sit-to-walk task
Restoring movement fluency is a key focus for physical rehabilitation; it's measurement, however, lacks objectivity. The purpose of this study was to find whether measurable movement fluency variables differed between groups of adults with different movement abilities whilst performing the sit-to-walk (STW) movement. The movement fluency variables were: (1) hesitation during movement (reduction in forward velocity of the centre of mass; CoM), (2) coordination (percentage of temporal overlap of joint rotations) and (3) smoothness (number of inflections in the CoM jerk signal)
Correlation effects in ionic crystals: I. The cohesive energy of MgO
High-level quantum-chemical calculations, using the coupled-cluster approach
and extended one-particle basis sets, have been performed for (Mg2+)n (O2-)m
clusters embedded in a Madelung potential. The results of these calculations
are used for setting up an incremental expansion for the correlation energy of
bulk MgO. This way, 96% of the experimental cohesive energy of the MgO crystal
is recovered. It is shown that only 60% of the correlation contribution to the
cohesive energy is of intra-ionic origin, the remaining part being caused by
van der Waals-like inter-ionic excitations.Comment: LaTeX, 20 pages, no figure
Pion light-cone wave function and pion distribution amplitude in the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model
We compute the pion light-cone wave function and the pion quark distribution
amplitude in the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model. We use the Pauli-Villars
regularization method and as a result the distribution amplitude satisfies
proper normalization and crossing properties. In the chiral limit we obtain the
simple results, namely phi_pi(x)=1 for the pion distribution amplitude, and
= -M / f_pi^2 for the second moment of the pion light-cone
wave function, where M is the constituent quark mass and f_pi is the pion decay
constant. After the QCD Gegenbauer evolution of the pion distribution amplitude
good end-point behavior is recovered, and a satisfactory agreement with the
analysis of the experimental data from CLEO is achieved. This allows us to
determine the momentum scale corresponding to our model calculation, which is
close to the value Q_0 = 313 MeV obtained earlier from the analogous analysis
of the pion parton distribution function. The value of is, after the
QCD evolution, around (400 MeV)^2. In addition, the model predicts a linear
integral relation between the pion distribution amplitude and the parton
distribution function of the pion, which holds at the leading-order QCD
evolution.Comment: mistake in Eq.(38) correcte
SOLITAIRE:A new generation solenoidal fusion product separator
A superconducting solenoidal fusion product separator, based on a 6.5 T solenoid, has been developed at the Australian National University to enable separation and detection of evaporation residues following heavy-ion fusion reactions. This device, with an angular coverage of 0.45 - 9 . 5{ring operator}, produces a spatial separation between the fusion products and the intense background of elastically scattered beam particles. Its high efficiency allows precise measurement of nuclear fusion cross-sections, as well as being ideal for evaporation residue coincidence measurements. The essential features of the system and the first results obtained are described
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