5,376 research outputs found
Comparison Between Damping Coefficients of Measured Perforated Micromechanical Test Structures and Compact Models
Measured damping coefficients of six different perforated micromechanical
test structures are compared with damping coefficients given by published
compact models. The motion of the perforated plates is almost translational,
the surface shape is rectangular, and the perforation is uniform validating the
assumptions made for compact models. In the structures, the perforation ratio
varies from 24% - 59%. The study of the structure shows that the
compressibility and inertia do not contribute to the damping at the frequencies
used (130kHz - 220kHz). The damping coefficients given by all four compact
models underestimate the measured damping coefficient by approximately 20%. The
reasons for this underestimation are discussed by studying the various flow
components in the models.Comment: Submitted on behalf of EDA Publishing Association
(http://irevues.inist.fr/handle/2042/16838
GRB 081029: Understanding Multiple Afterglow Components
We present an analysis of the unusual optical light curve of the gamma-ray
burst GRB~081029, which occurred at a redshift of z = 3.8479$. We combine X-ray
and optical observations from the Swift X-Ray Telescope and the Swift
UltraViolet/Optical Telescope with optical and infrared data obtained using the
REM and ROTSE telescopes to construct a detailed data set extending from 86 s
to approximately 100,000 s after the BAT trigger. Our data also cover a wide
energy range, from 10 keV to 0.77 eV (1.24 Angstrom to 16,000 Angstrom). The
X-ray afterglow shows a shallow initial decay followed by a rapid decay
starting at about 18,000s. The optical and infrared afterglow, however, shows
an uncharacteristic rise at about 5000 s that does not correspond to any
feature in the X-ray light curve. Our data are not consistent with synchrotron
radiation from a single-component jet interacting with an external medium. We
do, however, find that the observed light curve can be explained using
multi-component model for the jet.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in the AIP Conference Proceedings for
the Gamma-Ray Burst 2010 Conference, Annapolis, MD, USA, November 201
The complete catalogue of gamma-ray bursts observed by the Wide Field Cameras on board BeppoSAX
We present the complete on-line catalogue of gamma-ray bursts observed by the
two Wide Field Cameras on board \sax in the period 1996-2002. Our aim is to
provide the community with the largest published data set of GRB's prompt
emission X-ray light curves and other useful data. This catalogue
(BS-GRBWFCcat) contains data on 77 bursts and a collection of the X-ray light
curves of 56 GRB discovered or noticed shortly after the event and of other
additional bursts detected in subsequent searches. Light curves are given in
the three X-ray energy bands (2-5, 5-10, 10-26 keV). The catalogue can be
accessed from the home web page of the ASI Science Data Center-ASDC
(http://www.asdc.asi.it)Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Bilateral Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Language Treatment Enhances Functional Connectivity in the Left Hemisphere: Preliminary Data from Aphasia
Several studies have already shown that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a useful tool for enhancing recovery in aphasia. However, no reports to date have investigated functional connectivity changes on cortical activity because of tDCS language treatment. Here, nine aphasic persons with articulatory disorders underwent an intensive language therapy in two different conditions: bilateral anodic stimulation over the left Broca's area and cathodic contralesional stimulation over the right homologue of Broca's area and a sham condition. The language treatment lasted 3 weeks (Monday to Friday, 15 sessions). In all patients, language measures were collected before (T0) and at the end of treatment (T15). Before and after each treatment condition (real vs. sham), each participant underwent a resting-state fMRI study. Results showed that, after real stimulation, patients exhibited the greatest recovery not only in terms of better accuracy in articulating the treated stimuli but also for untreated items on different tasks of the language test. Moreover, although after the sham condition connectivity changes were confined to the right brain hemisphere, real stimulation yielded to stronger functional connectivity increase in the left hemisphere. In conclusion, our data provide converging evidence from behavioral and functional imaging data that bilateral tDCS determines functional connectivity changes within the lesioned hemisphere, enhancing the language recovery process in stroke patients
Phase transitions and metastability in the distribution of the bipartite entanglement of a large quantum system
We study the distribution of the Schmidt coefficients of the reduced density
matrix of a quantum system in a pure state. By applying general methods of
statistical mechanics, we introduce a fictitious temperature and a partition
function and translate the problem in terms of the distribution of the
eigenvalues of random matrices. We investigate the appearance of two phase
transitions, one at a positive temperature, associated to very entangled
states, and one at a negative temperature, signalling the appearance of a
significant factorization in the many-body wave function. We also focus on the
presence of metastable states (related to 2-D quantum gravity) and study the
finite size corrections to the saddle point solution.Comment: 23 pages, 32 figures. More details added about the metastable branch
and the first-order phase transitio
Comparison of the CBA-H and SF-36 for the screening of the psychological and behavioural variables in chronic dialysis patients
The aim of the study was to perform an analysis of the emotional reactions, perception of stressful life and behavioural changes related to Haemodialysis (HD) in order to identify those variables that can improve lifestyle and the adherence to treatment. Some psycho- metric assessment, such as the Cognitive Behavioural Assessment, Hospital Form, (CBA- H) and the Health Survey (SF-36), which provides two indexes: the Physical Component Score (PCS) and the Mental Component Score (MCS), are suitable to assess a patient’s psychological and behavioural style and their health-related quality of life. The study involved 37 Italian out-patients with end-stage renal disease under HD therapy. We calcu- lated the Spearman correlation between variables of CBA-H, SF-36, age and time on HD. We also performed a multivariate linear regression using the CBA-H variables as predictors and PCS and MCS as dependent variables. From the CBA-H, 95% of participants self- reported psychological characteristics comparable to Type A personality, which identifies an anxious, hyperactive and hostile subject. Physical limitations were found to be directly pro- portional to the time on dialysis (rs = -0.42). The condition of perceived stress worsens the state of mental health (rs = -0.68) and general health perception (rs = -0.44). The condition of vital exhaustion correlates both the PCS and the MCS (p<0.01) with possible outcomes of physical and mental illness. The psychological wellbeing of a dialyzed patient could be due to the combination of several factors, including life parameters, the positive perception of psychosocial outcomes, and the perceived quality of life. A multidisciplinary team (neurolo- gists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and nurses) is essential to plan effective psychological and psychotherapeutic interventions to improve a mind-body integration
A comparative study of the X-ray afterglow properties of optically bright and dark GRBs
We have examined the complete set of X-ray afterglow observations of dark and
optically bright GRBs performed by BeppoSAX until February 2001. X-ray
afterglows are detected in 90% of the cases. We do not find significant
differences in the X-ray spectral shape, in particular no higher X-ray
absorption in GRBs without optical transient (dark GRBs) compared to GRBs with
optical transient (OTGRBs). Rather, we find that the 1.6-10 keV flux of OTGRBs
is on average about 5 times larger than that of the dark GRBs. A K-S test shows
that this difference is significant at 99.8% probability. Under the assumption
that dark and OTGRB have similar spectra, this could suggest that the first are
uncaught in the optical band because they are just faint sources. In order to
test this hypothesis, we have determined the optical-to-X ray flux ratios of
the sample. OTGRBs show a remarkably narrow distribution of flux ratios, which
corresponds to an average optical-to-x spectral index 0.794\pm 0.054. We find
that, while 75% of dark GRBs have flux ratio upper limits still consistent with
those of OT GRBs, the remaining 25% are 4 - 10 times weaker in optical than in
X-rays. The significance of this result is equal to or higher than 2.6 sigma.
If this sub-population of dark GRBs were constituted by objects assimilable to
OTGRBs, they should have shown optical fluxes higher than upper limits actually
found. We discuss the possible causes of their behaviour, including a possible
occurrence in high density clouds or origin at very high redshift and a
connection with ancient, Population III stars.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures. To be published in The Astrophysical Journa
Fermi Large Area Telescope observations of GRB 110625A
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) that emit photons at GeV energies form a small but
significant population of GRBs. However, the number of GRBs whose GeV-emitting
period is simultaneously observed in X-rays remains small. We report gamma-ray
observations of GRB 110625A using Fermi's Large Area Telescope (LAT) in the
energy range 100 MeV to 20 GeV. Gamma-ray emission at these energies was
clearly detected using data taken between 180s and 580s after the burst, an
epoch after the prompt emission phase. The GeV light curve differs from a
simple power-law decay, and probably consists of two emission periods.
Simultaneous Swift/XRT observations did not show flaring behaviors as in the
case of GRB 100728A. We discuss the possibility that the GeV emission is the
synchrotron self-Compton radiation of underlying ultraviolet flares.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 table; accepted for publication in the ApJ on
May 31, 201
A Large Catalog of Homogeneous Ultra-Violet/Optical GRB Afterglows: Temporal and Spectral Evolution
We present the second Swift Ultra-Violet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) gamma-ray
burst (GRB) afterglow catalog, greatly expanding on the first Swift UVOT GRB
afterglow catalog. The second catalog is constructed from a database containing
over 120,000 independent UVOT observations of 538 GRBs first detected by Swift,
the High Energy Transient Explorer 2 (HETE2), the INTErnational Gamma-Ray
Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL), the Interplanetary Network (IPN), Fermi,
and Astro-rivelatore Gamma a Immagini Leggero (AGILE). The catalog covers GRBs
discovered from 2005 Jan 17 to 2010 Dec 25. Using photometric information in
three UV bands, three optical bands, and a `white' or open filter, the data are
optimally co-added to maximize the number of detections and normalized to one
band to provide a detailed light curve. The catalog provides positional,
temporal, and photometric information for each burst, as well as Swift Burst
Alert Telescope (BAT) and X-Ray Telescope (XRT) GRB parameters. Temporal slopes
are provided for each UVOT filter. The temporal slope per filter of almost half
the GRBs are fit with a single power-law, but one to three breaks are required
in the remaining bursts. Morphological comparisons with the X-ray reveal that
approximately 75% of the UVOT light curves are similar to one of the four
morphologies identified by Evans et al. (2009). The remaining approximately 25%
have a newly identified morphology. For many bursts, redshift and extinction
corrected UV/optical spectral slopes are also provided at 2000, 20,000, and
200,000 seconds.Comment: 44 pages, 14 figures, to be published in Astrophysical Journal
Supplementa
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