253 research outputs found
Experience with statically-generated proxies for facilitating Java runtime specialisation
Issues pertaining to mechanisms which can be used to change the behaviour of Java classes at runtime are discussed. The proxy mechanism is compared to, and contrasted with other standard approaches to this problem. Some of the problems the proxy mechanism is subject to are expanded upon. The question of whether statically-developed proxies are a viable alternative to bytecode rewriting was investigated by means of the JavaCloak system, which uses statically-generated proxies to alter the runtime behaviour of externally-developed code. The issues addressed include ensuring the type safety, dealing with the self problem, object encapsulation, and issues of object identity and equality. Some performance figures are provided which demonstrate the load the JavaCloak proxy mechanism places on the system
Towards a Stable Numerical Evolution of Strongly Gravitating Systems in General Relativity: The Conformal Treatments
We study the stability of three-dimensional numerical evolutions of the
Einstein equations, comparing the standard ADM formulation to variations on a
family of formulations that separate out the conformal and traceless parts of
the system. We develop an implementation of the conformal-traceless (CT)
approach that has improved stability properties in evolving weak and strong
gravitational fields, and for both vacuum and spacetimes with active coupling
to matter sources. Cases studied include weak and strong gravitational wave
packets, black holes, boson stars and neutron stars. We show under what
conditions the CT approach gives better results in 3D numerical evolutions
compared to the ADM formulation. In particular, we show that our implementation
of the CT approach gives more long term stable evolutions than ADM in all the
cases studied, but is less accurate in the short term for the range of
resolutions used in our 3D simulations.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures. Small changes in the text, and a change in the
list of authors. One new reference adde
Why does early childhood deprivation increase the risk for depression and anxiety in adulthood? A developmental cascade model
Abstract Background: Using data from the English & Romanian Adoptees (ERA) study we recently reported that early time-lmited exposure to severe institutional deprivation is
associated with early onset and persistent neurodevelopmental problems and later
onset emotional problems. Here we examine possible reasons for the late
emergence of emotional problems in this cohort. Our main focus is on testing a
developmental cascade mediated via the functional impact of early-appearing
neurodevelopmental problems on late adolescent functioning. We also explore a
second putative pathway via sensitization to stress. Methods: The ERA study includes 165 Romanian individuals who spent their early lives in grossly depriving institutions and were subsequently adopted into UK
families, along with 52 UK adoptees with no history of deprivation. Age six years
symptoms of neurodevelopmental problems and age 15 anxiety/depression
symptoms were assessed via parental reports. Young adult symptoms of depression
and anxiety were assessed by both parent and self-reports; young adults also
completed measures of stress reactivity , exposure to adverse life events and
functioning in work and interpersonal relationships. Results: The path between early institutional deprivation and adult emotional problems was mediated via the impact of early neurodevelopmental problems on
unemployment and poor friendship functioning during the transition to adulthood.
The findings with regard to early deprivation, later life stress reactivity and emotional
problems were inconclusive.
Conclusions: Our analysis suggests that the risk for adult depression and anxiety following extreme institutional deprivation is explained through the effects of early neurodevelopmental problems on later social and vocational functioning. Future research should more fully examine the role of stress susceptibility in this model
Heat transfer at dielectric-metallic interfaces in the ultra-low temperature range
In the framework of the AEgIS project a series of steady state and dynamic
heat transfer measurements at ultra-low temperatures was conducted in the Central Cryogenic
Laboratory at CERN. Two sandwich setups, simulating the behaviour of ultra-cold AEgIS
electrodes, were investigated and compared, namely: a sapphire − indium − copper and a
sapphire − titanium − gold − indium − copper sandwich. The total thermal resistivity of
both sandwich setups was evaluated as a function of the influence of normal and superconducting
thin layers and multiple dielectric − metallic interfaces in terms of Kapitza resistance. The
resulting limitations of the electrode’s design are presented
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