6,124 research outputs found
Network sensitivity to geographical configuration
Gravitational wave astronomy will require the coordinated analysis of data
from the global network of gravitational wave observatories. Questions of how
to optimally configure the global network arise in this context. We have
elsewhere proposed a formalism which is employed here to compare different
configurations of the network, using both the coincident network analysis
method and the coherent network analysis method. We have constructed a network
model to compute a figure-of-merit based on the detection rate for a population
of standard-candle binary inspirals. We find that this measure of network
quality is very sensitive to the geographic location of component detectors
under a coincident network analysis, but comparatively insensitive under a
coherent network analysis.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, accepted for proceedings of the 4th Edoardo
Amaldi conference, incorporated referees' suggestions and corrected diagra
Targeted search for continuous gravitational waves: Bayesian versus maximum-likelihood statistics
We investigate the Bayesian framework for detection of continuous
gravitational waves (GWs) in the context of targeted searches, where the phase
evolution of the GW signal is assumed to be known, while the four amplitude
parameters are unknown. We show that the orthodox maximum-likelihood statistic
(known as F-statistic) can be rediscovered as a Bayes factor with an unphysical
prior in amplitude parameter space. We introduce an alternative detection
statistic ("B-statistic") using the Bayes factor with a more natural amplitude
prior, namely an isotropic probability distribution for the orientation of GW
sources. Monte-Carlo simulations of targeted searches show that the resulting
Bayesian B-statistic is more powerful in the Neyman-Pearson sense (i.e. has a
higher expected detection probability at equal false-alarm probability) than
the frequentist F-statistic.Comment: 12 pages, presented at GWDAW13, to appear in CQ
Alexandrov spaces with integral current structure
We endow each closed, orientable Alexandrov space with an integral current of weight equal to 1, , in other words, we prove that is an integral current space with no boundary. Combining this result with a result of Li and Perales, we show that non-collapsing sequences of these spaces with uniform lower curvature and diameter bounds admit subsequences whose Gromov-Hausdorff and intrinsic flat limits agree
Comparison of data on Mutation Frequencies of Mice Caused by Radiation - Low Dose Model -
We propose LD(Low Dose) model, the extension of LDM model which was proposed
in the previous paper [Y. Manabe et al.: J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 81 (2012) 104004]
to estimate biological damage caused by irradiation. LD model takes account of
all the considerable effects including cell death effect as well as
proliferation, apoptosis, repair. As a typical example of estimation, we apply
LD model to the experiment of mutation frequency on the responses induced by
the exposure to low levels of ionizing radiation. The most famous and extensive
experiments are those summarized by Russell and Kelly [Russell, W. L. & Kelly,
E. M: Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 79 (1982) 539-541], which are known as
'Mega-mouse project'. This provides us with important information of the
frequencies of transmitted specific-locus mutations induced in mouse
spermatogonia stem-cells. It is found that the numerical results of the
mutation frequency of mice are in reasonable agreement with the experimental
data: the LD model reproduces the total dose and dose rate dependence of data
reasonably. In order to see such dose-rate dependence more explicitly, we
introduce the dose-rate effectiveness factor (DREF). This represents a sort of
preventable effects such as repair, apoptosis and death of broken cells, which
are to be competitive with proliferation effect of broken cells induced by
irradiation.Comment: subimitting to J. Phys. Soc. Jpn, 32 pages, 8 figure
The Ontology of Intentional Agency in Light of Neurobiological Determinism: Philosophy Meets Folk Psychology
The moot point of the Western philosophical rhetoric about free will
consists in examining whether the claim of authorship to intentional, deliberative
actions fits into or is undermined by a one-way causal framework of determinism.
Philosophers who think that reconciliation between the two is possible are known as
metaphysical compatibilists. However, there are philosophers populating the other
end of the spectrum, known as the metaphysical libertarians, who maintain that claim
to intentional agency cannot be sustained unless it is assumed that indeterministic
causal processes pervade the action-implementation apparatus employed by the agent.
The metaphysical libertarians differ among themselves on the question of whether the
indeterministic causal relation exists between the series of intentional states and
processes, both conscious and unconscious, and the action, making claim for what has
come to be known as the event-causal view, or between the agent and the action,
arguing that a sort of agent causation is at work. In this paper, I have tried to propose
that certain features of both event-causal and agent-causal libertarian views need to be
combined in order to provide a more defendable compatibilist account accommodating
deliberative actions with deterministic causation. The ‘‘agent-executed-eventcausal
libertarianism’’, the account of agency I have tried to develop here, integrates
certain plausible features of the two competing accounts of libertarianism turning
them into a consistent whole. I hope to show in the process that the integration of these
two variants of libertarianism does not challenge what some accounts of metaphysical
compatibilism propose—that there exists a broader deterministic relation between the
web of mental and extra-mental components constituting the agent’s dispositional
system—the agent’s beliefs, desires, short-term and long-term goals based on them,
the acquired social, cultural and religious beliefs, the general and immediate and
situational environment in which the agent is placed, etc. on the one hand and the
decisions she makes over her lifetime on the basis of these factors. While in the
‘‘Introduction’’ the philosophically assumed anomaly between deterministic causation
and the intentional act of deciding has been briefly surveyed, the second section is
devoted to the task of bridging the gap between compatibilism and libertarianism. The
next section of the paper turns to an analysis of folk-psychological concepts and
intuitions about the effects of neurochemical processes and prior mental events on the
freedom of making choices. How philosophical insights can be beneficially informed
by taking into consideration folk-psychological intuitions has also been discussed,
thus setting up the background for such analysis. It has been suggested in the end that
support for the proposed theory of intentional agency can be found in the folk-psychological intuitions, when they are taken in the right perspective
An Application of Molecular Genotyping in Mice
Microsatellite markers are simple sequence repeats within the mammalian genome that can be used for identifying disease loci, mapping genes of interest as well as studying segregation patterns related to meiotic nondisjunction. Different strains of mice have variable CA repeat lengths and PCR based methods can be used to identify them, thus allowing for specific genotypes to be assigned. Molecular genotyping offers such identification at any developmental stage, which allows for a broad range of anomalies to be studied. We studied chromosomal segregation in relation to nondisjunction in early-gestation mouse embryos using molecular genotyping. Information on the parental origin as well as the number of chromosomes a given progeny carried was obtained in our analysis
Artificial Brains and Hybrid Minds
The paper develops two related thought experiments exploring variations on an ‘animat’ theme. Animats are hybrid devices with both artificial and biological components. Traditionally, ‘components’ have been construed in concrete terms, as physical parts or constituent material structures. Many fascinating issues arise within this context of hybrid physical organization. However, within the context of functional/computational theories of mentality, demarcations based purely on material structure are unduly narrow. It is abstract functional structure which does the key work in characterizing the respective ‘components’ of thinking systems, while the ‘stuff’ of material implementation is of secondary importance. Thus the paper extends the received animat paradigm, and investigates some intriguing consequences of expanding the conception of bio-machine hybrids to include abstract functional and semantic structure. In particular, the thought experiments consider cases of mind-machine merger where there is no physical Brain-Machine Interface: indeed, the material human body and brain have been removed from the picture altogether. The first experiment illustrates some intrinsic theoretical difficulties in attempting to replicate the human mind in an alternative material medium, while the second reveals some deep conceptual problems in attempting to create a form of truly Artificial General Intelligence
Metronidazole (Flagyl): characterization as a cytotoxic drug specific for hypoxic tumour cells.
The cytocidal properties of metronidazole against hypoxic mammalian cells are described. This chemotherapeutic action has been shown to be dependent on drug concentration and duration of exposure. The x-ray TCD50 for a murine anaplastic carcinoma was reduced from 6081 rad to 4643 rad when animals were given metronidazole orally for 36 h before radiation treatment. The effect is attributed to the direct killing of hypoxic tumour cells by a mechanism analogous to that proposed for the action of the drug on anaerobic micro-organisms. It is concluded that further work with metronidazole as a cytotoxin specific for hypoxic cells is warranted, particularly in view of the reported lack of toxicity associated with the preliminary clinical use of the drug as a radiosensitizer in man
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