6,434 research outputs found
A New General Method to Generate Random Modal Formulae for Testing Decision Procedures
The recent emergence of heavily-optimized modal decision procedures has
highlighted the key role of empirical testing in this domain. Unfortunately,
the introduction of extensive empirical tests for modal logics is recent, and
so far none of the proposed test generators is very satisfactory. To cope with
this fact, we present a new random generation method that provides benefits
over previous methods for generating empirical tests. It fixes and much
generalizes one of the best-known methods, the random CNF_[]m test, allowing
for generating a much wider variety of problems, covering in principle the
whole input space. Our new method produces much more suitable test sets for the
current generation of modal decision procedures. We analyze the features of the
new method by means of an extensive collection of empirical tests
On the emergent Semantic Web and overlooked issues
The emergent Semantic Web, despite being in its infancy, has already received a lotof attention from academia and industry. This resulted in an abundance of prototype systems and discussion most of which are centred around the underlying infrastructure. However, when we critically review the work done to date we realise that there is little discussion with respect to the vision of the Semantic Web. In particular, there is an observed dearth of discussion on how to deliver knowledge sharing in an environment such as the Semantic Web in effective and efficient manners. There are a lot of overlooked issues, associated with agents and trust to hidden assumptions made with respect to knowledge representation and robust reasoning in a distributed environment. These issues could potentially hinder further development if not considered at the early stages of designing Semantic Web systems. In this perspectives paper, we aim to help engineers and practitioners of the Semantic Web by raising awareness of these issues
A wide-angle outflow with the simultaneous presence of a high-velocity jet in the high-mass Cepheus A HW2 system
We present five epochs of VLBI water maser observations around the massive
protostar Cepheus A HW2 with 0.4 mas (0.3 AU) resolution. The main goal of
these observations was to follow the evolution of the remarkable water maser
linear/arcuate structures found in earlier VLBI observations. Comparing the
data of our new epochs of observation with those observed five years before, we
find that at "large" scales of > 1" (700 AU) the main regions of maser emission
persist, implying that both the surrounding medium and the exciting sources of
the masers have been relatively stable during that time span. However, at
smaller scales of < 0.1" (70 AU) we see large changes in the maser structures,
particularly in the expanding arcuate structures R4 and R5. R4 traces a nearly
elliptical patchy ring of ~ 70 mas size (50 AU) with expanding motions of ~ 5
mas/yr (15 km/s). This structure is probably driven by the wind of a still
unidentified YSO located at the centre of the ring (~ 0.18" south of HW2). On
the other hand, the R5 expanding bubble structure (driven by the wind of a
previously identified YSO located ~ 0.6" south of HW2) is currently dissipating
in the circumstellar medium and losing its previous degree of symmetry,
indicating a very short-lived event. In addition, our results reveal, at scales
of ~ 1" (700 AU), the simultaneous presence of a relatively slow (~ 10-70 km/s)
wide-angle outflow (opening angle of ~ 102 deg, traced by the masers, and the
fast (~ 500~km/s) highly collimated radio jet associated with HW2 (opening
angle of ~ 18 deg, previously observed with the VLA. This simultaneous presence
of a wide-angle outflow and a highly collimated jet associated with a massive
protostar is similar to what is found in some low-mass YSOs. The implications
of these results in the study of the formation of high-mass stars are
discussed.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figures. Animations will be included as supporting
material online (MNRAS web page
Transient peak-strain matching partially recovers the age-impaired mechanoadaptive cortical bone response
Mechanoadaptation maintains bone mass and architecture; its failure underlies age-related decline in bone strength. It is unclear whether this is due to failure of osteocytes to sense strain, osteoblasts to form bone or insufficient mechanical stimulus. Mechanoadaptation can be restored to aged bone by surgical neurectomy, suggesting that changes in loading history can rescue mechanoadaptation. We use non-biased, whole-bone tibial analyses, along with characterisation of surface strains and ensuing mechanoadaptive responses in mice at a range of ages, to explore whether sufficient load magnitude can activate mechanoadaptation in aged bone. We find that younger mice adapt when imposed strains are lower than in mature and aged bone. Intriguingly, imposition of short-term, high magnitude loading effectively primes cortical but not trabecular bone of aged mice to respond. This response was regionally-matched to highest strains measured by digital image correlation and to osteocytic mechanoactivation. These data indicate that aged bone’s loading response can be partially recovered, non-invasively by transient, focal high strain regions. Our results indicate that old murine bone does respond to load when the loading is of sufficient magnitude, and bones’ age-related adaptation failure may be due to insufficient mechanical stimulus to trigger mechanoadaptation
A large-scale CO survey of the Rosette Molecular Cloud: assessing the effects of O stars on surrounding molecular gas
We present a new large-scale survey of J=3-2 12CO emission covering 4.8
square degrees around the Rosette Nebula. Approximately 2000 compact clumps are
identified, with a spatially-invariant power law mass distribution index of
-1.8. Most of the inner clumps show velocity gradients of 1-3 km/s/pc, directed
away from the exciting nebula. The gradients decrease with distance from the
central O stars, and are consistent with a photoionised gas acceleration model,
assuming clump lifetimes of a few 10^5 yrs. However, in one clear case, the
observed near-constant velocity gradient is difficult to explain with simple
models. Most blue-shifted but very few of the red-shifted clumps are associated
with dark absorbing optical globules, confirming that the dominant molecular
gas motion is expansion away from the central nebula and O stars. Many clumps
also lie in a molecular ring, having an expansion velocity of 30 km/s, radius
11pc, and dynamical lifetime of ~1Myr. The J=3-2/1-0 12CO line ratios of the
clumps decrease with distance from the O stars, implying a gradient in their
surface temperatures; the results are consistent with a simple model of clump
surface heating due to the central stars.
Seven high-velocity molecular flows are found in the region, with a close
correspondence between these flows and embedded young clusters. These outflows
are sufficiently energetic to drive local gas turbulence within each cluster.
We find 14 clear examples of association between embedded young stars seen at
24um and CO clumps; these are thought to be photoevaporating molecular
envelopes. The CO clumps without evidence of embedded stars tend to have lower
velocity gradients, and it is suggested that the presence of the young star may
extend the lifespan of the photoevaporating envelope.Comment: 19 pages, 18 figures, 2 tables; to be published in MNRA
Measurement of the ratio of branching fractions BR(B0 -> K*0 gamma)/BR(Bs0 -> phi gamma)
The ratio of branching fractions of the radiative B decays B0 -> K*0 gamma
and Bs0 -> phi gamma has been measured using 0.37 fb-1 of pp collisions at a
centre of mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, collected by the LHCb experiment. The
value obtained is BR(B0 -> K*0 gamma)/BR(Bs0 -> phi gamma) = 1.12 +/- 0.08
^{+0.06}_{-0.04} ^{+0.09}_{-0.08}, where the first uncertainty is statistical,
the second systematic and the third is associated to the ratio of fragmentation
fractions fs/fd. Using the world average for BR(B0 -> K*0 gamma) = (4.33 +/-
0.15) x 10^{-5}, the branching fraction BR(Bs0 -> phi gamma) is measured to be
(3.9 +/- 0.5) x 10^{-5}, which is the most precise measurement to date.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure, 2 table
Search for CP violation in decays
A model-independent search for direct CP violation in the Cabibbo suppressed
decay in a sample of approximately 370,000 decays is
carried out. The data were collected by the LHCb experiment in 2010 and
correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35 pb. The normalized Dalitz
plot distributions for and are compared using four different
binning schemes that are sensitive to different manifestations of CP violation.
No evidence for CP asymmetry is found.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Measurement of the CKM angle γ from a combination of B±→Dh± analyses
A combination of three LHCb measurements of the CKM angle γ is presented. The decays B±→D K± and
B±→Dπ± are used, where D denotes an admixture of D0 and D0 mesons, decaying into K+K−, π+π−, K±π∓, K±π∓π±π∓, K0Sπ+π−, or K0S K+K− final states. All measurements use a dataset corresponding to 1.0 fb−1 of integrated luminosity. Combining results from B±→D K± decays alone a best-fit value of
γ =72.0◦ is found, and confidence intervals are set
γ ∈ [56.4,86.7]◦ at 68% CL,
γ ∈ [42.6,99.6]◦ at 95% CL.
The best-fit value of γ found from a combination of results from B±→Dπ± decays alone, is γ =18.9◦,
and the confidence intervals
γ ∈ [7.4,99.2]◦ ∪ [167.9,176.4]◦ at 68% CL
are set, without constraint at 95% CL. The combination of results from B± → D K± and B± → Dπ±
decays gives a best-fit value of γ =72.6◦ and the confidence intervals
γ ∈ [55.4,82.3]◦ at 68% CL,
γ ∈ [40.2,92.7]◦ at 95% CL
are set. All values are expressed modulo 180◦, and are obtained taking into account the effect of D0–D0
mixing
Differential branching fraction and angular analysis of the decay B0→K∗0μ+μ−
The angular distribution and differential branching fraction of the decay B 0→ K ∗0 μ + μ − are studied using a data sample, collected by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at s√=7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1. Several angular observables are measured in bins of the dimuon invariant mass squared, q 2. A first measurement of the zero-crossing point of the forward-backward asymmetry of the dimuon system is also presented. The zero-crossing point is measured to be q20=4.9±0.9GeV2/c4 , where the uncertainty is the sum of statistical and systematic uncertainties. The results are consistent with the Standard Model predictions
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