816 research outputs found
Contemporary Perceptions of the Solidarity Movement Held by Polish Nationals
Widespread participation in the 1980s Solidarity movement by Polish nationals of both genders, varying ideologies, and differing political backgrounds has led to diverse views of the history and narrative of the movement that today is interpreted in differing ways by groups and individuals. To gain a better understanding of how Poles view this unique time period of their history a survey featuring 54 questions was dispatched to and completed by over 121 Polish nationals. All questions relate to the Solidarity movement in categories covering: Prominent People, Media, Economics, Religion, and Education and concluding with a free-write section for additional comments by participants. The results show near common agreement on some points while in other areas participants expressed conflicting opinions and views. These varying perspectives reflect the ongoing debate concerning the ethos of the Solidarity movement in addition to its effect on contemporary Polish culture
Vitrine Virtual Interativa: um sistema computacional para fazer propaganda utilizando tecnologia perceptual
This paper introduces the Intel Perceptual Computing SDK as a platform to develop computer applications that provide a more compelling user experience, by changing the way people interface with computers. The interactive virtual display case is a tool that allows a potential customer to interact with the system and navigate through the product’s list by moving its hands in front a camera and executing specific hand gestures and poses
Rate stabilization by right ventricular apex or His bundle pacing in patients with atrial fibrillation
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Vibrationally Resolved Inner-Shell Photoexcitation of the Molecular Anion C
Carbon core-hole excitation of the molecular anion C has been
experimentally studied at high resolution by employing the photon-ion
merged-beams technique at a synchrotron light source. The experimental cross
section for photo--double-detachment shows a pronounced vibrational structure
associated with and core
excitations of the C ground level and first excited level, respectively.
A detailed Franck-Condon analysis reveals a strong contraction of the C
molecular anion by 0.2~\AA\ upon this core photoexcitation. The associated
change of the molecule's moment of inertia leads to a noticeable rotational
broadening of the observed vibrational spectral features. This broadening is
accounted for in the present analysis which provides the spectroscopic
parameters of the C and
core-excited levels.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in ChemPhysChe
Geometrical entanglement of highly symmetric multipartite states and the Schmidt decomposition
In a previous paper we examined a geometric measure of entanglement based on
the minimum distance between the entangled target state of interest and the
space of unnormalized product states. Here we present a detailed study of this
entanglement measure for target states with a large degree of symmetry. We
obtain analytic solutions for the extrema of the distance function and solve
for the Hessian to show that, up to the action of trivial symmetries, the
solutions correspond to local minima of the distance function. In addition, we
show that the conditions that determine the extremal solutions for general
target states can be obtained directly by parametrizing the product states via
their Schmidt decomposition.Comment: 16 pages, references added and discussion expande
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An overview of ISCAT 2000
The Investigation of Sulfur Chemistry in the Antarctic Troposphere (ISCAT) took place over the timer period of 15 November to 31 December in the year 2000. The study location was the Amundsen Scott Station in Antarctica. ISCAT 2000 defines the second phase of a program designed to explore tropospheric chemistry in Antarctica. As in 1998, the 2000 ISCAT study revealed a strong oxidizing environment at South Pole (SP). During the 2000 investigation, however, the suite of measurements was greatly expanded. These new measurements established the recycling of reactive nitrogen as a critical component of this unique environment. This paper first presents the historical background leading up to the ISCAT 2000 observations; then it focuses on providing a summary of the year 2000 results and contrasts these with those recorded during 1998. Important developments made during the 2000 study included the recording of SP data for several species being emitted from the snowpack. These included NO, H 2O2 and CH2O. In this context, eddy-diffusion flux measurements provided the first quantitative estimates of the SP NO and NOx snow-to-atmosphere fluxes. This study also revealed that HNO 3 and HO2NO2 were major sink species for HOx and NOx radicals. And, it identified the critical factors responsible for SP NO levels exceeding those at other polar sites by nearly an order of magnitude. Finally, it reports on the levels of gas phase sulfur species and provides evidence indicating that the absence of DMS at SP is most likely due to its greatly shorten chemical lifetime in the near vicinity of the plateau. It is proposed that this is due to the influence of NO on the distribution of OH in the lower free troposphere over a region that extends well beyond the plateau itself. Details related to each of the above findings plus others can be found in the 11 accompanying Special Issue papers. © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Effect of Antimony and Cerium on the Formation of Chunky Graphite during Solidification of Heavy-Section Castings of Near-Eutectic Spheroidal Graphite Irons
Thermal analysis is applied to the study of the formation of chunky graphite (CHG) in heavysection castings of spheroidal graphite cast irons. To that aim, near-eutectic melts prepared in one single cast house were poured into molds containing up to four large cubic blocks 30 cm in size. Four melts have been prepared and cast that had a cerium content varying in relation with the spheroidizing alloy used. Postinoculation or addition of antimony was achieved by fixing appropriate amounts of materials in the gating system of each block. Cooling curves recorded in the center of the blocks show that solidification proceeds in three steps: a short primary deposition of graphite followed by an initial and then a bulk eutectic reaction. Formation of CHG could be unambiguously associated with increased recalescence during the bulk eutectic reaction. While antimony strongly decreases the amount of CHG, it appears that the ratio of the contents in antimony and cerium should be higher than 0.8 in order to avoid this graphite degeneracy
Circuit development in the master clock network of mammals
Daily rhythms are generated by the circadian timekeeping system, which is orchestrated by the master circadian clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of mammals. Circadian timekeeping is endogenous and does not require exposure to external cues during development. Nevertheless, the circadian system is not fully formed at birth in many mammalian species and it is important to understand how SCN development can affect the function of the circadian system in adulthood. The purpose of the current review is to discuss the ontogeny of cellular and circuit function in the SCN, with a focus on work performed in model rodent species (i.e., mouse, rat, and hamster). Particular emphasis is placed on the spatial and temporal patterns of SCN development that may contribute to the function of the master clock during adulthood. Additional work aimed at decoding the mechanisms that guide circadian development is expected to provide a solid foundation upon which to better understand the sources and factors contributing to aberrant maturation of clock function
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Clinical Significance of Bronchodilator Responsiveness Evaluated by Forced Vital Capacity in COPD: SPIROMICS Cohort Analysis.
ObjectiveBronchodilator responsiveness (BDR) is prevalent in COPD, but its clinical implications remain unclear. We explored the significance of BDR, defined by post-bronchodilator change in FEV1 (BDRFEV1) as a measure reflecting the change in flow and in FVC (BDRFVC) reflecting the change in volume.MethodsWe analyzed 2974 participants from a multicenter observational study designed to identify varying COPD phenotypes (SPIROMICS). We evaluated the association of BDR with baseline clinical characteristics, rate of prospective exacerbations and mortality using negative binomial regression and Cox proportional hazards models.ResultsA majority of COPD participants exhibited BDR (52.7%). BDRFEV1 occurred more often in earlier stages of COPD, while BDRFVC occurred more frequently in more advanced disease. When defined by increases in either FEV1 or FVC, BDR was associated with a self-reported history of asthma, but not with blood eosinophil counts. BDRFVC was more prevalent in subjects with greater emphysema and small airway disease on CT. In a univariate analysis, BDRFVC was associated with increased exacerbations and mortality, although no significance was found in a model adjusted for post-bronchodilator FEV1.ConclusionWith advanced airflow obstruction in COPD, BDRFVC is more prevalent in comparison to BDRFEV1 and correlates with the extent of emphysema and degree of small airway disease. Since these associations appear to be related to the impairment of FEV1, BDRFVC itself does not define a distinct phenotype nor can it be more predictive of outcomes, but it can offer additional insights into the pathophysiologic mechanism in advanced COPD.Clinical trials registrationClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01969344T4
Opening and Closing Jaw Movements of Young Children who Stutter.
Objective: In this longitudinal study, we investigated the hypothesis that kinematic measures of jaw movement produced by children who stuttered (CWS) and children who did not stutter (CWNS) would differ between opening and closing speech gestures, across phonetic contexts, and across development.
Methods: Mean amplitude, velocity, and duration of jaw opening and closing gestures during repeated productions of bilabial syllables were analyzed longitudinally at 1-year intervals for 13 CWS and 7 children CWNS. The utterances ranged across four phonetic contexts: single-syllable, two-syllable, three-syllable, and six-syllable. For jaw movement transduction, a strain gauge was attached to a football helmet in a novel design to minimize head movement. All kinematic measures were made from jaw movement tracings in Windaq (Dataq Instruments, Inc.) software, based on a standard millimeter to voltage conversion.
Results: The main finding of the study was that opening gestures were produced by both CWS and CWNS with greater amplitude and duration compared to closing gestures. However, the kinematics associated with opening and closing jaw movements did not differ between CWS and CWNS, suggesting that the intrinsic articulatory dynamics of the two groups were similar. In addition, adapting the kinematics of opening and closing jaw movements across the four phonetic contexts did not differ between the groups for either movement amplitude or velocity. However, CWS produced the closing gesture with significantly greater duration compared to multi-syllable conditions, relative to CWNS. Finally, CWS and CWNS exhibited different longitudinal patterns for jaw amplitude and peak velocity.
Conclusion: The speech motor systems of CWS and CWNS exhibited broadly similar organization of intrinsic articulatory dynamics, but groups may differ in how underlying dynamics are adapted to changing phonetic contexts across development. It is possible that the speech fluency of CWS might benefit from greater articulatory constraints, as the main between-group difference was identified when degrees of freedom of movement were greatest. Implications of findings are discussed within the development of a hierarchically organized speech motor system
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