42,734 research outputs found
Predictive modelling of human walking over a complete gait cycle
An inverse dynamics multi-segment model of the body was combined with optimisation techniques to simulate normal walking in the sagittal plane on level ground. Walking is formulated as an optimal motor task subject to multiple constraints with minimisation of mechanical energy expenditure over a complete gait cycle being the performance criterion. All segmental motions and ground reactions were predicted from only three simple gait descriptors (inputs): walking velocity, cycle period and double stance duration. Quantitative comparisons of the model predictions with gait measurements show that the model reproduced the significant characteristics of normal gait in the sagittal plane. The simulation results suggest that minimising energy expenditure is a primary control objective in normal walking. However, there is also some evidence for the existence of multiple concurrent performance objectives.
Keywords: Gait prediction; Inverse dynamics; Optimisation; Optimal motor tas
Surface location of alkaline-earth atom impurities on helium nanodroplets
There has been notable uncertainty regarding the degree of solvation of
alkaline-earth atoms, especially Mg, in free He-4 nanodroplets. We have
measured the electron energy dependence of the ionization yield of picked-up
atoms. There is a qualitative shape difference between the yield curves of
species solvated in the middle of the droplet and species located in the
surface region; this difference arises from the enhanced role played by the
Penning ionization process in the latter case. The measurements demonstrate
that Mg, Ca, Sr and Ba all reside at or near the droplet surface.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure
The Coulomb interaction and the inverse Faddeev-Popov operator in QCD
We give a proof of a local relation between the inverse Faddeev-Popov
operator and the non-Abelian Coulomb interaction between color charges
Ultrafast initialization and QND-readout of a spin qubit via control of nanodot-vacuum coupling
Ultrafast initialization enables fault-tolerant processing of quantum
information while QND readout enables scalable quantum computation. By
spatially assembling photon resonators and wave-guides around an n-doped
nanodot and by temporally designing optical pump pulses, an efficient quantum
pathway can be established from an electron spin to a charged exciton to a
cavity photon and finally to a flying photon in the waveguide. Such control of
vacuum-nanodot coupling can be exploited for ultrafast initialization and QND
readout of the spin, which are particularly compatible with the optically
driven spin quantum computers.Comment: 4 pages 3 figure
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Geochemistry and petrogenesis of volcanic rocks from Daimao Seamount (South China Sea) and their tectonic implications
The South China Sea (SCS) experienced three episodes of seafloor spreading and left three fossil spreading centers presently located at 18°N, 17°N and 15.5°N. Spreading ceased at these three locations during magnetic anomaly 10, 8, and 5c, respectively. Daimao Seamount (16.6. Ma) was formed 10. my after the cessation of the 17°N spreading center. Volcaniclastic rocks and shallow-water carbonate facies near the summit of Daimao Seamount provide key information on the seamount's geologic history. New major and trace element and Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic compositions of basaltic breccia clasts in the volcaniclastics suggest that Daimao and other SCS seamounts have typical ocean island basalt-like composition and possess a 'Dupal' isotopic signature. Our new analyses, combined with available data, indicate that the basaltic foundation of Daimao Seamount was formed through subaqueous explosive volcanic eruptions at 16.6. Ma. The seamount subsided rapidly (>. 0.12. mm/y) at first, allowing the deposition of shallow-water, coral-bearing carbonates around its summit and, then, at a slower rate (<. 0.12. mm/y). We propose that the parental magmas of SCS seamount lavas originated from the Hainan mantle plume. In contrast, lavas from contemporaneous seamounts in other marginal basins in the western Pacific are subduction-related
Transaction Propagation on Permissionless Blockchains: Incentive and Routing Mechanisms
Existing permissionless blockchain solutions rely on peer-to-peer propagation
mechanisms, where nodes in a network transfer transaction they received to
their neighbors. Unfortunately, there is no explicit incentive for such
transaction propagation. Therefore, existing propagation mechanisms will not be
sustainable in a fully decentralized blockchain with rational nodes. In this
work, we formally define the problem of incentivizing nodes for transaction
propagation. We propose an incentive mechanism where each node involved in the
propagation of a transaction receives a share of the transaction fee. We also
show that our proposal is Sybil-proof. Furthermore, we combine the incentive
mechanism with smart routing to reduce the communication and storage costs at
the same time. The proposed routing mechanism reduces the redundant transaction
propagation from the size of the network to a factor of average shortest path
length. The routing mechanism is built upon a specific type of consensus
protocol where the round leader who creates the transaction block is known in
advance. Note that our routing mechanism is a generic one and can be adopted
independently from the incentive mechanism.Comment: 2018 Crypto Valley Conference on Blockchain Technolog
Octet baryon masses in next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order covariant baryon chiral perturbation theory
We study the ground-state octet baryon masses and sigma terms using the
covariant baryon chiral perturbation theory (ChPT) with the
extended-on-mass-shell (EOMS) renormalization scheme up to
next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (NLO). By adjusting the available 19
low-energy constants (LECs), a reasonable fit of the lattice quantum
chromodynamics (LQCD) results from the PACS-CS, LHPC, HSC, QCDSF-UKQCD and
NPLQCD collaborations is achieved. Finite-volume corrections to the lattice
data are calculated self-consistently. Our study shows that NLO BChPT
describes better the light quark mass evolution of the lattice data than the
NNLO BChPT does and the various lattice simulations seem to be consistent with
each other. We also predict the pion and strangeness sigma terms of the octet
baryons using the LECs determined in the fit of their masses. The predicted
pion- and strangeness-nucleon sigma terms are MeV and
MeV, respectively.Comment: 28 pages, 6 figures, minor revisions, typos corrected, version to
appear in JHE
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