191 research outputs found
BIOMECHANICS OF SURFING: DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF AN INSTRUMENTED SURFBOARD TO MEASURE SURFBOARD KINETICS
The purpose of this study was to investigate the different relations between the actions of a surfer and the kinematic behaviour of his surfboard. An instrumented surfboard has been designed with a force platform synchronized with an inertial measurement unit and acquisition system. An experimental campaign has been carried out in situ, where different waves have been surfed to validate the device. Results revealed that measured efforts of the surfer and kinematics of his surfboard are consistent regarding the expected behaviour. Instrumented surfboards will help coaches by giving them a new performance analysis tool. It will also provide an experimental database for the development of numerical models about interactions Surfer/Surfboard/Wave
A Top-Down Technique as an Analysis Tool for Auger Fluorescence Data
Abstract The Auger Observatory aims at the detection of Ultra-High-Energy CosmicRays by employing an array of ground-particle counters overviewed by atmospheric fluorescence telescopes -a mini prototype of which has been operative since 12/2001 near the town of Malargue in the province of Mendoza, Argentina. Conventional bottomup fluorescence data analyses techniques convert photons entering the telescope's diaphragm to shower size; energy and primary composition are then estimated by fitting a Gaisser-Hillas distribution. In this paper we discuss the potential capabilities of a top-down technique based on a robust primary energy estimator. Such technique uses hundreds of very fast-simulated shower longitudinal profiles and calculates their corresponding photon profiles seen by the telescopes. Primary energy and composition follow from maximum likelihood or chi-squared analyses
Contribution to the understanding of tribological properties of graphite intercalation compounds with metal chloride
Intrinsic tribological properties of lamellar compounds are usually attributed to the presence of van der Waals gaps in their structure through which interlayer interactions are weak. The controlled variation of the distances and interactions between graphene layers by intercalation of electrophilic species in graphite is used in order to explore more deeply the friction reduction properties of low-dimensional compounds. Three graphite intercalation compounds with antimony pentachloride, iron trichloride and aluminium trichloride are studied. Their tribological properties are correlated to their structural parameters, and the interlayer interactions are deduced from ab initio bands structure calculations
Cosmic dust grains strike again
A detailed simulation of air showers produced by dust grains has been
performed by means of the {\sc aires} Monte Carlo code with the aim of
comparing with experimental data. Our analysis indicates that extensive dust
grain air showers must yet be regarded as highly speculative but they cannot be
completely ruled out.Comment: Improved revised version with comments by an anonymous referee.
Accepted for publication in Physical review
Cross-domain interference costs during concurrent verbal and spatial serial memory tasks are asymmetric
Some evidence suggests that memory for serial order is domain-general. Evidence also points to asymmetries in interference between verbal and visual-spatial tasks. We confirm that concurrently remembering verbal and spatial serial lists provokes substantial interference compared with remembering a single list, but we further investigate the impact of this interference throughout the serial position curve, where asymmetries are indeed apparent. A concurrent verbal order memory task affects spatial memory performance throughout the serial positions of the list, but performing a spatial order task affects memory for the verbal serial list only for early list items; in the verbal task only, the final items are unaffected by a concurrent task. Adding suffixes eliminates this asymmetry, resulting in impairment throughout the list for both tasks. These results suggest that domain-general working memory resources may be supplemented with resources specific to the verbal domain, but perhaps not with equivalent spatial resources
Overt is no better than covert when rehearsing visuo-spatial information in working memory
In the present study, we examined whether eye movements facilitate retention of visuo-spatial information in working memory. In two experiments, participants memorised the sequence of the spatial locations of six digits across a retention interval. In some conditions, participants were free to move their eyes during the retention interval, but in others they either were required to remain fixated or were instructed to move their eyes exclusively to a selection of the memorised locations. Memory performance was no better when participants were free to move their eyes during the memory interval than when they fixated a single location. Furthermore, the results demonstrated a primacy effect in the eye movement behaviour that corresponded with the memory performance. We conclude that overt eye movements do not provide a benefit over covert attention for rehearsing visuo-spatial information in working memory
A Decommissioned LHC Model Magnet as an Axion Telescope
The 8.4 Tesla, 10 m long transverse magnetic field of a twin aperture LHC
bending magnet can be utilized as a macroscopic coherent solar axion-to-photon
converter. Numerical calculations show that the integrated time of alignment
with the Sun would be 33 days per year with the magnet on a tracking table
capable of in the vertical direction and in the horizontal
direction. The existing lower bound on the axion-to-photon coupling constant
can be improved by a factor between 50 and 100 in 3 years, i.e.,
for axion masses
1 eV. This value falls within the existing open axion mass window.
The same set-up can simultaneously search for low- and high-energy celestial
axions, or axion-like particles, scanning the sky as the Earth rotates and
orbits the Sun.Comment: Final version, accepted for publication in Nucl. Instr. Meth. A. More
information can be found at http://wwwinfo.cern.ch/~collar/SATAN/alvaro.htm
Experimental Search for Solar Axions via Coherent Primakoff Conversion in a Germanium Spectrometer
Results are reported of an experimental search for the unique, rapidly
varying temporal pattern of solar axions coherently converting into photons via
the Primakoff effect in a single crystal germanium detector. This conversion is
predicted when axions are incident at a Bragg angle with a crystalline plane.
The analysis of approximately 1.94 kg.yr of data from the 1 kg DEMOS detector
in Sierra Grande, Argentina, yields a new laboratory bound on axion-photon
coupling of GeV, independent of
axion mass up to ~ 1 keV.Comment: RevTeX, 11 pages, figures can be obtained by fax from
[email protected]. Submitted to Phys. Lett.
Recommended from our members
How do things become strategic? âStrategifyingâ corporate social responsibility
How do things become âstrategicâ? Despite the development of strategy-as-practice studies and the recognized institutional importance of strategy as a social practice, little is known about how strategy boundaries change within organizations. This article focuses on this gap by conceptualizing âstrategifyingâ â or making something strategic â as a type of institutional work that builds on the institution of strategy to change the boundaries of what is regarded as strategy within organizations. We empirically investigate how corporate social responsibility has been turned into strategy at a UK electricity company, EnergyCorp. Our findings reveal the practices that constitute three types of strategifying work â cognitive coupling, relational coupling and material coupling â and show how, together and over time, these types of work changed the boundaries of strategy so that corporate social responsibility became included in EnergyCorpâs official strategy, became explicitly attended to by strategists and corporate executives and became inscribed within strategy devices. By disambiguating the notions of strategifying and strategizing, our study introduces new perspectives for analysing the institutional implications of the practice of strategy
Machina ex Deus? From Distributed to Orchestrated Agency
In this chapter, the author draws on a historical case study of the Australian wine industry to explore variations in collective agency. The inductively derived process model illustrates the emergence of a new profession of scientific win- emaking, which unfolds in three phases. Each phase is characterized by a dis- tinct form of agency: distributed agency during the earliest phase, coordinated agency during later phases, and orchestrated agency during consolidation. In addition to exploring the temporal shifts in agency, the study includes a detailed analysis of the early stages of distributed agency, examining how col- lective agency is achieved in the absence of shared intentions
- âŠ