1,936 research outputs found
Estimating Aging Effects in Running Events
This paper uses world running records by age to estimate a biological frontier of decline rates. Two models are compared: a linear/quadratic (LQ) model and a non-parametric model. Two estimation methods are used: 1) minimizing the squared difference between the observed records and the modeled biological frontier and 2) using extreme value theory to estimate the biological frontier that maximizes the probability of observing the existing world records by age. The results support the LQ model and suggest there is linear percentage decline up to the late 70’s and quadratic decline after that. The extreme value estimates suggest that the true biological frontier is on average about 8 percent below the existing world records. The estimated age factors are also compared to the World Master Athletics (WMA) age factors. The two sets of age factors are close except at the old ages, where the WMA factors are noticeably smaller. Also, the WMA age factors do not meet an important biological constraint
Implications of Confirmation of the LSND anti-nu_mu -> anti-nu_e Oscillation Signal
Neutrino oscillations have been observed in solar and atmospheric neutrinos,
and in the LSND accelerator experiment. The Standard Model cannot accommodate
all three positive results. The solar and atmospheric results have been
confirmed. An oscillation signal seen by MiniBooNE will validate the
oscillation signal seen by LSND. The question then becomes one of refining the
Standard Model to allow for these three results. Four theories which can
accommodate all three oscillation observations are the existence of sterile
neutrinos, CP violation, the existence of variable mass neutrinos, and small
Lorentz violations. The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), located at Oak Ridge
Laboratories, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, will provide an ideal site to test these
hypotheses. The SNS, due to turn on in 2008, will supply a high intensity
neutrino source of known flux and energy spectrum. This source permits
experiments to probe the high delta-m^2 region for measurements, where a
positive signal from MiniBooNE would lie.Comment: 3 pages. Proceedings for talk presented at the 6th International
Workshop of Neutrino Factories and Superbemans (NuFact04). Proceedings will
be published as a supplement to Nuclear Physics
Anti-Gravitation
The possibility of a symmetry between gravitating and anti-gravitating
particles is examined. The properties of the anti-gravitating fields are
defined by their behavior under general diffeomorphisms. The equations of
motion and the conserved canonical currents are derived, and it is shown that
the kinetic energy remains positive whereas the new fields can make a negative
contribution to the source term of Einstein's field equations. The interaction
between the two types of fields is naturally suppressed by the Planck scale.Comment: replaced with published versio
Determination of genomic DNA sequences for beta-tubulin isotype 1 from multiple species of cyathostomin and detection of resistance alleles in third-stage larvae from horses with naturally acquired infections
Hysteresis effects and diagnostics of the shock formation in low angular momentum axisymmetric accretion in the Kerr metric
The secular evolution of the purely general relativistic low angular momentum
accretion flow around a spinning black hole is shown to exhibit hysteresis
effects. This confirms that a stationary shock is an integral part of such an
accretion disc in the Kerr metric. The equations describing the space gradient
of the dynamical flow velocity of the accreting matter have been shown to be
equivalent to a first order autonomous dynamical systems. Fixed point analysis
ensures that such flow must be multi-transonic for certain astrophysically
relevant initial boundary conditions. Contrary to the existing consensus in the
literature, the critical points and the sonic points are proved not to be
isomorphic in general. Homoclinic orbits for the flow flow possessing multiple
critical points select the critical point with the higher entropy accretion
rate, confirming that the entropy accretion rate is the degeneracy removing
agent in the system. However, heteroclinic orbits are also observed for some
special situation, where both the saddle type critical points of the flow
configuration possesses identical entropy accretion rate. Topologies with
heteroclinic orbits are thus the only allowed non removable degenerate
solutions for accretion flow with multiple critical points, and are shown to be
structurally unstable. Depending on suitable initial boundary conditions, a
homoclinic trajectory can be combined with a standard non homoclinic orbit
through an energy preserving Rankine-Hugoniot type of stationary shock. An
effective Lyapunov index has been proposed to analytically confirm why certain
class of transonic flow can not accommodate shock solutions even if it produces
multiple critical points. (Abridged)Comment: mn2e.cls format. 24 pages. 4 figure
MacWilliams Identities for -tuple Weight Enumerators
Since MacWilliams proved the original identity relating the Hamming weight
enumerator of a linear code to the weight enumerator of its dual code there
have been many different generalizations, leading to the development of
-tuple support enumerators. We prove a generalization of theorems of Britz
and of Ray-Chaudhuri and Siap, which build on earlier work of Kl{\o}ve,
Shiromoto, Wan, and others. We then give illustrations of these -tuple
weight enumerators.Comment: 17 pages. Accepted to SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematic
A Search for the Near-Infrared Counterpart to GCRT J1745-3009
We present an optical/near-infrared search for a counterpart to the
perplexing radio transient GCRT J1745-3009, a source located ~1 degree from the
Galactic Center. Motivated by some similarities to radio bursts from nearby
ultracool dwarfs, and by a distance upper limit of 70 pc for the emission to
not violate the 1e12 K brightness temperature limit for incoherent radiation,
we searched for a nearby star at the position of GCRT J1745-3009. We found only
a single marginal candidate, limiting the presence of any late-type star to >1
kpc (spectral types earlier than M9), >200 pc (spectral types L and T0-T4), and
>100 pc (spectral types T4-T7), thus severely restricting the possible local
counterparts to GCRT J1745-3009. We also exclude any white dwarf within 1 kpc
or a supergiant star out to the distance of the Galactic Center as possible
counterparts. This implies that GCRT J1745-3009 likely requires a coherent
emission process, although whether or not it reflects a new class of sources is
unclear.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
Human emotional response to energy visualisations
This is the post-print version of the final paper published in International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2012 Elsevier B.V.Past research has found that frequent energy usage feedback is an important factor in reducing home energy consumption, and that the sensory appeal and cognitive relevance of the feedback are key components of user engagement with energy systems. The visual design of the information interface is important not just due to its role in communicating data of cognitive relevance, but also because the choice of information type and format is important towards achieving interactive Hebbian learning. The objective of the current research study was to investigate the possible effect of image format on the human emotional response to scenes of energy systems, and to evaluate whether any gender related differences in emotional response occurred. An automated PC-based test was developed which utilised five visual image formats (Optical Gray-Scale, Optical Coloured, Optical Augmented, Infrared Gray-Scale and Infrared Blue-Red) and nine home energy scenes (hot water boiler, radiator, water faucet, kitchen oven, tea kettle, toaster, electrical connector, laptop computer and tea mug). The emotional response of the participant was measured in the automated test by means of a Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) which provided symbolic graphical representations of the human body under various degrees of emotional response, and associated Likert format rating scales for the valence and activation level of the emotional response. Comparison of the results obtained for the different visual scenes suggests that the greatest level of human emotional activation was achieved by the Infrared Blue-Red (thermal image) format, and that, generally, coloured images provided higher levels of emotional activation than gray-scale images. The increased activation achieved by the infrared images suggests attention capturing potential due to novelty, or due to the direct link to heat and energy, or both. Significant differences in emotional response (both activation and valence) were found to occur as a function of gender. The current results provide first guidance which a designer can use when choosing image spectrum and colours to represent energy systems on the displays of thermostats, smart meters and the energy devices.
Relevance to industry - The current results provide first guidance which a designer can use when choosing image spectrum and colours to represent energy systems on the displays of thermostats, smart meters and the energy devices. Such design guidance is currently lacking internationally but is of increasing importance due to the expansion of digital devices, internet services and the upcoming internet-of-things
- …