Observational Similarities and Potential Connections Between Luminous Ultrasoft NLS1s and BALQSOs

Luminous ultrasoft NLS1s and low-ionization BALQSOs share many properties, and they both represent important extremes of the active galaxy phenomenon. We briefly discuss their observational similarities as well as potential physical connections between them, concentrating on the X-ray point of view. We present several ways by which potential connections might be further tested.Comment: Invited talk presented at the Joint MPE,AIP,ESO workshop on NLS1s, Bad Honnef, Dec. 1999, to appear in New Astronomy Reviews; also available at http://wave.xray.mpe.mpg.de/conferences/nls1-worksho

Impact of membrane pore structure on protein detection sensitivity of affi nity-based immunoassay

Understanding a membrane’s morphology is important for controlling its fi nal performance during protein immobilization. Porous, symmetric membranes were prepared from a polyvinylidene fl uoride/N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone solution by phase inversion process, to obtain membrane with various microsized pores. The concentration and surface area of aprotein dotted on the membrane surface were measured by staining with Ponceau S dye. The dotted protein was further scanned and analysed to perform quantitative measurements for relative comparison. The intensity of the red protein spot and its surface area varied depending on the membrane pore size, demonstrating the dependence of protein immobilization on this factor. The membrane with the smallest pore size (M3) showed the highest protein spot intensity and surface area when examined at different protein concentrations. An increase in the applied protein volume showed a linearity proportional trend to the total surface area, and an uneven round dot shape was observed at a large applied volume of protein solution

Development potential of underutilized trawl fish in the South Atlantic bight

Underutilized fish resources available to demersal trawling in the South Atlantic Bight include demersal finfishes, pelagic species, and demersal elasmobranchs. Brief descriptions of species and size composition, relative availability, geographic range, and depth distribution are provided for each component

Soft two-meson-exchange nucleon-nucleon potentials. I. Planar and crossed-box diagrams

Pion-meson-exchange nucleon-nucleon potentials are derived for two nucleons in the intermediate states. The mesons we include are (i) pseudoscalar mesons: $\pi, \eta, \eta'$; (ii) vector mesons: $\rho, \omega, \phi$; (iii) scalar mesons: $a_{0}(980), \varepsilon(760), f_{0}(975)$; and (iv) the $J=0$ contribution from the Pomeron. Strong dynamical pair suppression is assumed, and at the nucleon-nucleon-meson vertices Gaussian form factors are incorporated into the relativistic two-body framework using a dispersion representation for the pion- and meson-exchange amplitudes. The Fourier transformations are performed using factorization techniques for the energy denominators. The potentials are first calculated in the adiabatic approximation to all planar and crossed three-dimensional momentum-space $\pi$-meson diagrams. Next, we calculate the $1/M$ corrections.Comment: 28 pages RevTeX, 8 postscript figures; revised version as to appear in Phys. Rev.

DAC-h3: A Proactive Robot Cognitive Architecture to Acquire and Express Knowledge About the World and the Self

This paper introduces a cognitive architecture for a humanoid robot to engage in a proactive, mixed-initiative exploration and manipulation of its environment, where the initiative can originate from both the human and the robot. The framework, based on a biologically-grounded theory of the brain and mind, integrates a reactive interaction engine, a number of state-of-the art perceptual and motor learning algorithms, as well as planning abilities and an autobiographical memory. The architecture as a whole drives the robot behavior to solve the symbol grounding problem, acquire language capabilities, execute goal-oriented behavior, and express a verbal narrative of its own experience in the world. We validate our approach in human-robot interaction experiments with the iCub humanoid robot, showing that the proposed cognitive architecture can be applied in real time within a realistic scenario and that it can be used with naive users

On the thin-shell limit of branes in the presence of Gauss-Bonnet interactions

In this paper we study thick-shell braneworld models in the presence of a Gauss-Bonnet term. We discuss the peculiarities of the attainment of the thin-shell limit in this case and compare them with the same situation in Einstein gravity. We describe the two simplest families of thick-brane models (parametrized by the shell thickness) one can think of. In the thin-shell limit, one family is characterized by the constancy of its internal density profile (a simple structure for the matter sector) and the other by the constancy of its internal curvature scalar (a simple structure for the geometric sector). We find that these two families are actually equivalent in Einstein gravity and that the presence of the Gauss-Bonnet term breaks this equivalence. In the second case, a shell will always keep some non-trivial internal structure, either on the matter or on the geometric sectors, even in the thin-shell limit.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures, RevTeX 4. Revised version accepted for publication in Physical Review

Brane cosmology with curvature corrections

We study the cosmology of the Randall-Sundrum brane-world where the Einstein-Hilbert action is modified by curvature correction terms: a four-dimensional scalar curvature from induced gravity on the brane, and a five-dimensional Gauss-Bonnet curvature term. The combined effect of these curvature corrections to the action removes the infinite-density big bang singularity, although the curvature can still diverge for some parameter values. A radiation brane undergoes accelerated expansion near the minimal scale factor, for a range of parameters. This acceleration is driven by the geometric effects, without an inflaton field or negative pressures. At late times, conventional cosmology is recovered.Comment: RevTex4, 8 pages, no figures, minor change

Review of experimental methods to determine spontaneous combustion susceptibility of coal – Indian context

This paper presents a critical review of the different techniques developed to investigate the susceptibility of coal to spontaneous combustion and fire. These methods may be sub-classified into the two following areas: (1) Basic coal characterisation studies (chemical constituents) and their influence on spontaneous combustion susceptibility. (2) Test methods to assess the susceptibility of a coal sample to spontaneous combustion. This is followed by a critical literature review that summarises previous research with special emphasis given to Indian coals