2,568 research outputs found
Some Empirical Criteria for Attributing Creativity to a Computer Program
Peer reviewedPostprin
A case study on practical live event sound exposure monitoring
The recently launched WHO Global Standard for Safe Listening Venues and Events aims to make listening safer and more enjoyable for audiences around the world. Some key questions remain on how to practically monitor sound exposure as well as on how patrons’ hearing may be affected after significant exposure. This paper presents a case study where various sound exposure monitoring systems and methods were trialed in an indoor music venue. The aim of the work was to develop and validate a practical, accurate and repeatable technique to track sound exposure across music venues that can be presented in real-time. Results indicate that this can be achieved with no more than four, and as few as two, sound level monitoring locations alongside fixed calibration measurements and a small number of spot measurements at the mix position during a performance
Effectiveness of a social support intervention on infant feeding practices : randomised controlled trial
Background: To assess whether monthly home visits from trained volunteers could improve infant feeding practices at age 12 months, a randomised controlled trial was carried out in two disadvantaged inner city London boroughs.
Methods: Women attending baby clinics with their infants (312) were randomised to receive monthly home visits from trained volunteers over a 9-month period (intervention group) or standard professional care only (control group). The primary outcome was vitamin C intakes from fruit. Secondary outcomes included selected macro and micro-nutrients, infant feeding habits, supine length and weight. Data were collected at baseline when infants were aged approximately 10 weeks, and subsequently when the child was 12 and 18 months old.
Results: Two-hundred and twelve women (68%) completed the trial. At both follow-up points no significant differences were found between the groups for vitamin C intakes from fruit or other nutrients. At first follow-up, however, infants in the intervention group were significantly less likely to be given goats’ or soya milks, and were more likely to have three solid meals per day. At the second follow-up, intervention group children were significantly less likely to be still using a bottle. At both follow-up points, intervention group children also consumed significantly more specific fruit and vegetables.
Conclusions: Home visits from trained volunteers had no significant effect on nutrient intakes but did promote some other recommended infant feeding practices
Hydrodynamic induced deformation and orientation of a microscopic elastic filament
We describe simulations of a microscopic elastic filament immersed in a fluid
and subject to a uniform external force. Our method accounts for the
hydrodynamic coupling between the flow generated by the filament and the
friction force it experiences. While models that neglect this coupling predict
a drift in a straight configuration, our findings are very different. Notably,
a force with a component perpendicular to the filament axis induces bending and
perpendicular alignment. Moreover, with increasing force we observe four shape
regimes, ranging from slight distortion to a state of tumbling motion that
lacks a steady state. We also identify the appearance of marginally stable
structures. Both the instability of these shapes and the observed alignment can
be explained by the combined action of induced bending and non-local
hydrodynamic interactions. Most of these effects should be experimentally
relevant for stiff micro-filaments, such as microtubules.Comment: three figures. To appear in Phys Rev Let
Discrete Dynamical Systems Embedded in Cantor Sets
While the notion of chaos is well established for dynamical systems on
manifolds, it is not so for dynamical systems over discrete spaces with
variables, as binary neural networks and cellular automata. The main difficulty
is the choice of a suitable topology to study the limit . By
embedding the discrete phase space into a Cantor set we provided a natural
setting to define topological entropy and Lyapunov exponents through the
concept of error-profile. We made explicit calculations both numerical and
analytic for well known discrete dynamical models.Comment: 36 pages, 13 figures: minor text amendments in places, time running
top to bottom in figures, to appear in J. Math. Phy
Tidal Interaction between a Fluid Star and a Kerr Black Hole in Circular Orbit
We present a semi-analytic study of the equilibrium models of close binary
systems containing a fluid star (mass and radius ) and a Kerr black
hole (mass ) in circular orbit. We consider the limit where
spacetime is described by the Kerr metric. The tidally deformed star is
approximated by an ellipsoid, and satisfies the polytropic equation of state.
The models also include fluid motion in the stellar interior, allowing binary
models with nonsynchronized stellar spin (as expected for coalescing neutron
star-black hole binaries) to be constructed. Tidal disruption occurs at orbital
radius , but the dimensionless ratio depends on the spin parameter of
the black hole as well as on the equation of state and the internal rotation of
the star. We find that the general relativistic tidal field disrupts the star
at a larger than the Newtonian tide; the difference is
particularly prominent if the disruption occurs in the vicinity of the black
hole's horizon. In general, is smaller for a (prograde
rotating) Kerr black hole than for a Schwarzschild black hole. We apply our
results to coalescing black hole-neutron star and black hole-white dwarf
binaries. The tidal disruption limit is important for characterizing the
expected gravitational wave signals and is relevant for determining the
energetics of gamma ray bursts which may result from such disruption.Comment: 29 pages including 8 figures. Minor changes and update. To appear in
ApJ, March 20, 2000 (Vol.532, #1
Self-organized Beating and Swimming of Internally Driven Filaments
We study a simple two-dimensional model for motion of an elastic filament
subject to internally generated stresses and show that wave-like propagating
shapes which can propel the filament can be induced by a self-organized
mechanism via a dynamic instability. The resulting patterns of motion do not
depend on the microscopic mechanism of the instability but only of the filament
rigidity and hydrodynamic friction. Our results suggest that simplified
systems, consisting only of molecular motors and filaments could be able to
show beating motion and self-propulsion.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, REVTe
The Effect of Cortex/Medulla Proportions on Molecular Diagnoses in Kidney Transplant Biopsies: Rejection and Injury Can Be Assessed in Medulla
Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137720/1/ajt14233_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137720/2/ajt14233.pd
Interfacial Structural Changes and Singularities in Non-Planar Geometries
We consider phase coexistence and criticality in a thin-film Ising magnet
with opposing surface fields and non-planar (corrugated) walls. We show that
the loss of translational invariance has a strong and unexpected non-linear
influence on the interface structure and phase diagram. We identify 4
non-thermodynamic singularities where there is a qualitative change in the
interface shape. In addition, we establish that at the finite-size critical
point, the singularity in the interface shape is characterized by two distint
critical exponents in contrast to the planar case (which is characterised by
one). Similar effects should be observed for prewetting at a corrugated
substrate. Analogy is made with the behaviour of a non-linear forced oscillator
showing chaotic dynamics.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure
Geometrical Models of the Phase Space Structures Governing Reaction Dynamics
Hamiltonian dynamical systems possessing equilibria of stability type display \emph{reaction-type
dynamics} for energies close to the energy of such equilibria; entrance and
exit from certain regions of the phase space is only possible via narrow
\emph{bottlenecks} created by the influence of the equilibrium points. In this
paper we provide a thorough pedagogical description of the phase space
structures that are responsible for controlling transport in these problems. Of
central importance is the existence of a \emph{Normally Hyperbolic Invariant
Manifold (NHIM)}, whose \emph{stable and unstable manifolds} have sufficient
dimensionality to act as separatrices, partitioning energy surfaces into
regions of qualitatively distinct behavior. This NHIM forms the natural
(dynamical) equator of a (spherical) \emph{dividing surface} which locally
divides an energy surface into two components (`reactants' and `products'), one
on either side of the bottleneck. This dividing surface has all the desired
properties sought for in \emph{transition state theory} where reaction rates
are computed from the flux through a dividing surface. In fact, the dividing
surface that we construct is crossed exactly once by reactive trajectories, and
not crossed by nonreactive trajectories, and related to these properties,
minimizes the flux upon variation of the dividing surface.
We discuss three presentations of the energy surface and the phase space
structures contained in it for 2-degree-of-freedom (DoF) systems in the
threedimensional space , and two schematic models which capture many of
the essential features of the dynamics for -DoF systems. In addition, we
elucidate the structure of the NHIM.Comment: 44 pages, 38 figures, PDFLaTe
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