Sighting optics including an optical element having a first focal length and a second focal length

Science.gov (United States)

Crandall, David Lynn [Idaho Falls, ID

2011-08-01

One embodiment of sighting optics according to the teachings provided herein may include a front sight and a rear sight positioned in spaced-apart relation. The rear sight includes an optical element having a first focal length and a second focal length. The first focal length is selected so that it is about equal to a distance separating the optical element and the front sight and the second focal length is selected so that it is about equal to a target distance. The optical element thus brings into simultaneous focus, for a user, images of the front sight and the target.

The influence of tyre contact patch and on the stopping distance of automotive vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Selig, M.; Ball, A.; Ash, J.; Schmidt, K.

2012-05-01

This contribution presents the experimental tests results about the influence of the tyre contact patch on the stopping distance of automotive vehicles. The objective of the performed tests is the evaluation of the effect of tyre inflation pressure, hence the resulting tyre contact patch on the braking system and the brake distance. The conditions of the experiment are a dry and level road surface without steering inputs. To record scientific results, a brake robot system is used. The benefit of a robotic system is the elimination of the interfering variable driver, who is not able to apply the brake system at the same time with the same force. State-of-the-art data acquisition tools are used to log the data.

The influence of tyre contact patch and on the stopping distance of automotive vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Selig, M; Ball, A; Ash, J; Schmidt, K

2012-01-01

This contribution presents the experimental tests results about the influence of the tyre contact patch on the stopping distance of automotive vehicles. The objective of the performed tests is the evaluation of the effect of tyre inflation pressure, hence the resulting tyre contact patch on the braking system and the brake distance. The conditions of the experiment are a dry and level road surface without steering inputs. To record scientific results, a brake robot system is used. The benefit of a robotic system is the elimination of the interfering variable driver, who is not able to apply the brake system at the same time with the same force. State-of-the-art data acquisition tools are used to log the data.

A unique concept for automatically controlling the braking action of wheeled vehicles during minimum distance stops

Science.gov (United States)

Barthlome, D. E.

1975-01-01

Test results of a unique automatic brake control system are outlined and a comparison is made of its mode of operation to that of an existing skid control system. The purpose of the test system is to provide automatic control of braking action such that hydraulic brake pressure is maintained at a near constant, optimum value during minimum distance stops.

Correcting for long-alpha stopping distances in (U-Th)/He dating

Science.gov (United States)

Glotzbach, Christoph; Lang, Karl; Avdievitch, Nikita; Flowers, Rebecca; Metcalf, James; Ehlers, Todd

2017-04-01

Conventional (U-Th)/He dating requires a correction of measured He content for the effect of He loss by alpha particle ejection (e.g. Farley et al. 1996). Compared to typical mineral grain sizes ( 100 µm), the relatively long stopping distance of alpha particles ( 22 µm) results in a significant volume of lost He that systematically bias age calculations (e.g. Ketcham et al. 2011). For example, only 65% of radiogenic He ingrowth will remain within an apatite grain with a radius of 40 µm, assuming a spherical grain shape (Ft=0.65). With such a significant correction to (U-Th)/He age calculations, accurate characterization of grain shape and precise measurement of grain dimensions may often be the largest source of analytical uncertainty. Indeed, difficulty in calculating grain shape may explain at least part of commonly observed overdispersion in (U-Th)/He ages (e.g. Dobson et al. 2008; Horne et al. 2016). For example, the widely used Fish Canyon standard yields 11% dispersion in zircon (U-Th)/He ages(e.g. Dobson et al. 2008; Horne et al. 2016), although the analytical error in He and U-Th-Sm measurement is typically 2%. Most laboratories measure apatite and zircon grain dimensions with a stereo microscope under 200x magnification. Grains are often elongated and therefore measurements are often based on photomicrographs with the crystallographic c-axis parallel to the field of view. Grain dimensions measured this way cannot account for cross sectional variation perpendicular to the crystallographic c-axis, despite this assumption in commonly used analytical calculations of the Ft correction factor (e.g. Ketcham et al. 2011). Moreover, grains with morphologies not well described by frusta or pyramidal-terminated box, cylindrical or hexagonal shapes do not have simple analytical solutions for the Ft correction factor, and must be neglected from subsequent analysis. Here we introduce an advanced numerical approach to measure grain shape and calculate Ft correction

Characteristics of Loads of Cattle Stopping for Feed, Water and Rest during Long-Distance Transport in Canada

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hannah E. Flint

2014-03-01

Full Text Available This study is the first comprehensive examination of long-haul cattle being transported across Canada and off-loaded for feed, water and rest. A total of 129 truckloads were observed at one of two commercial rest stations near Thunder Bay, Ontario. Data collected included information regarding the truck driver, the trailer, the trip, the animals and animal handling. The majority of the loads stopping were feeder calves (60.94% while 21.09% were weaned calves, and the remaining 14.84% were market weight cattle. The truck loads surveyed were in transit for, on average, 28.2 ± 5.0 hours before stopping and cattle were rested for an average of 11.2 ± 2.8 hours. These data suggest that loads stopping at the rest station were adhering to the regulations stated in the Health of Animals Act, which outline a maximum of 48 hours in transit before a mandatory stop of at least 5 hours for feed, water and rest. There was a large amount of variability around how well recommendations, such as stocking density were followed. Further research is required to assess how well cattle are coping with long-distance transport under current regulations and industry practices.

Short distance line of sight laser communication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mudassar, A.A.; Hussain, H.; Jamil-ur-Rehman

1998-01-01

Communication methods based on lasers as carrier are well known. In our work we have made a two way laser based communication system for short range (<2 Km) line of sight communication. A small piece of plane mirror (100% reflector) was mounted on the centre of a speaker cone. The speaker was positioned close to the opening of laser such that He-Ne laser beam (10 mW) after reflection from the mirror is directed towards the receiver. There is a pre-amplifier and an amplifier between a microphone and the speaker. When the diagram of the speaker vibrates, it positionally modulates the laser beam. On the receiving end, there is a photo diode, a pre-amplifier, an amplifier and a head phone. So the man on the receiving end can decode the sound signal. On each stage there is a transmitter and a receiver assembled close to each other. So the two way communication is possible in the range 20 to 20 Khz. (author)

Using robotics in kinematics classes: exploring braking and stopping distances

Science.gov (United States)

Brockington, Guilherme; Schivani, Milton; Barscevicius, Cesar; Raquel, Talita; Pietrocola, Maurício

2018-03-01

Research in the field of physics teaching has revealed high school students’ difficulties in establishing relations between kinematic equations and real movements. Moreover, there are well-known and significant challenges in their comprehension of graphic language content. Thus, this article explores a didactic activity which utilized robotics in order to investigate significant aspects of kinematics, gathering data and performing analyses and descriptions via graphs and mathematical equations which were indispensable for the analysis of the phenomena in question. Traffic safety appears as a main theme, with particular emphasis on the distinction between braking and stopping distances in harsh conditions, as observed in the robot vehicle’s tires and track. This active-learning investigation allows students to identify significant differences between the average value of the initial empirical braking position and that of the vehicle’s programmed braking position, enabling them to more deeply comprehend the relations between mathematical and graphic representations of this real phenomenon and the phenomenon itself, thereby providing a sense of accuracy to this study.

Clinical Characteristics and Low Vision Rehabilitation Methods for Partially Sighted School-Age Children.

Science.gov (United States)

Özen Tunay, Zuhal; Çalışkan, Deniz; İdil, Aysun; Öztuna, Derya

2016-04-01

To determine the clinical features and the distribution of diagnosis in partially sighted school-age children, to report the chosen low vision rehabilitation methods and to emphasize the importance of low vision rehabilitation. The study included 150 partially sighted children between the ages of 6 and 18 years. The distribution of diagnosis, accompanying ocular findings, visual acuity of the children both for near and distance with and without low vision devices, and the methods of low vision rehabilitation (for distance and for near) were determined. The demographic characteristics of the children and the parental consanguinity were recorded. The mean age of children was 10.6 years and the median age was 10 years; 88 (58.7%) of them were male and 62 (41.3%) of them were female. According to distribution of diagnoses among the children, the most frequent diagnosis was hereditary fundus dystrophies (36%) followed by cortical visual impairment (18%). The most frequently used rehabilitation methods were: telescopic lenses (91.3%) for distance vision; magnifiers (38.7%) and telemicroscopic systems (26.0%) for near vision. A significant improvement in visual acuity both for distance and near vision were determined with low vision aids. A significant improvement in visual acuity can be achieved both for distance and near vision with low vision rehabilitation in partially sighted school-age children. It is important for ophthalmologists and pediatricians to guide parents and children to low vision rehabilitation.

Integrated Sight Boresighting

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Gilstrap, Jeff

1998-01-01

... (IR) pointer into an advanced weapon sight and surveillance system. The Integrated Sight is being developed as a technology demonstrator and potential future upgrade to the Land Warrior and Thermal Weapon Sight Programs...

Sequential vs simultaneous encoding of spatial information: a comparison between the blind and the sighted.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruotolo, Francesco; Ruggiero, Gennaro; Vinciguerra, Michela; Iachini, Tina

2012-02-01

The aim of this research is to assess whether the crucial factor in determining the characteristics of blind people's spatial mental images is concerned with the visual impairment per se or the processing style that the dominant perceptual modalities used to acquire spatial information impose, i.e. simultaneous (vision) vs sequential (kinaesthesis). Participants were asked to learn six positions in a large parking area via movement alone (congenitally blind, adventitiously blind, blindfolded sighted) or with vision plus movement (simultaneous sighted, sequential sighted), and then to mentally scan between positions in the path. The crucial manipulation concerned the sequential sighted group. Their visual exploration was made sequential by putting visual obstacles within the pathway in such a way that they could not see simultaneously the positions along the pathway. The results revealed a significant time/distance linear relation in all tested groups. However, the linear component was lower in sequential sighted and blind participants, especially congenital. Sequential sighted and congenitally blind participants showed an almost overlapping performance. Differences between groups became evident when mentally scanning farther distances (more than 5m). This threshold effect could be revealing of processing limitations due to the need of integrating and updating spatial information. Overall, the results suggest that the characteristics of the processing style rather than the visual impairment per se affect blind people's spatial mental images. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ball Screw Actuator Including an Axial Soft Stop

Science.gov (United States)

Wingett, Paul T. (Inventor); Forrest, Steven Talbert (Inventor); Abel, Steve (Inventor); Woessner, George (Inventor); Hanlon, Casey (Inventor)

2016-01-01

An actuator includes an actuator housing, a ball screw, and an axial soft stop assembly. The ball screw extends through the actuator housing and has a first end and a second end. The ball screw is coupled to receive a drive force and is configured, upon receipt of the drive force, to selectively move in a retract direction and an extend direction. The axial soft stop assembly is disposed within the actuator housing. The axial soft stop assembly is configured to be selectively engaged by the ball screw and, upon being engaged thereby, to translate, with compliance, a predetermined distance in the extend direction, and to prevent further movement of the ball screw upon translating the predetermined distance.

Intelligent Bus Stops in the Flexible Bus Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Razi Iqbal

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to discuss Intelligent Bus Stops in a special Demand Responsive Transit (DRT, the Flexible Bus System. These Intelligent Bus Stops are more efficient and information rich than Traditional Bus Stops. The real time synchronization of the Flexible Bus System makes it unique as compared to Traditional Bus Systems. The Main concern is to make Bus Stops intelligent and information rich. Buses are informed about the no. of passengers waiting at the upcoming Bus Stops. If there are no passengers to ride or get off on upcoming Bus Stop, the Bus can skip that Bus Stop and head towards the next Bus Stop where passenger is waiting, which will decrease the ride time of the passengers on the Bus and also the wait time of the passengers waiting on the upcoming Bus Stops. Providing more information at Bus Stops about the Destination (Time to Destination, Distance to Destination etc. and Buses (Bus Location, Arrival Time of Bus etc. makes it easier for the passengers to decide whether to ride a particular Bus or not.

Optimal Locations of Bus Stops Connecting Subways near Urban Intersections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuan Cui

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Unsuitable locations of bus stops which provide feeder transportation connecting subways near urban intersections usually lead to the low efficiency of public transport and level of passenger service. A multiobjective optimization model to distribute such stop locations is proposed to attain the shortest total walk distance of passengers and minimum delay time of cars through intersections and travel time of buses. The Pareto frontier and optimal solutions for the proposed model are given by the distance-based and enumerative methods. The Xizhimen bus stop is selected to implement case studies for verifying the validity of the proposed model. The analysis of sensitivity on possible solutions is also carried out in the case studies. The results show that the proposed model is capable of optimizing the locations of bus stops connecting subways near intersections and helpful to improve the level of passengers service and operational efficiency of public transportation.

375-nm ultraviolet-laser based non-line-of-sight underwater optical communication

KAUST Repository

Sun, Xiaobin

2018-05-04

For circumventing the alignment requirement of line-of-sight (LOS) underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC), we demonstrated a non-line-of-sight (NLOS) UWOC link adequately enhanced using ultraviolet (UV) 375-nm laser. Path loss was chosen as a figure-of-merit for link performance in this investigation, which considers the effects of geometries, water turbidity, and transmission wavelength. The experiments suggest that path loss decreases with smaller azimuth angles, higher water turbidity, and shorter wavelength due in part to enhanced scattering utilizing 375-nm radiation. We highlighted that it is feasible to extend the current findings for long distance NLOS UWOC link in turbid water, such as harbor water.

Auditory cues for orientation and postural control in sighted and congenitally blind people

Science.gov (United States)

Easton, R. D.; Greene, A. J.; DiZio, P.; Lackner, J. R.

1998-01-01

This study assessed whether stationary auditory information could affect body and head sway (as does visual and haptic information) in sighted and congenitally blind people. Two speakers, one placed adjacent to each ear, significantly stabilized center-of-foot-pressure sway in a tandem Romberg stance, while neither a single speaker in front of subjects nor a head-mounted sonar device reduced center-of-pressure sway. Center-of-pressure sway was reduced to the same level in the two-speaker condition for sighted and blind subjects. Both groups also evidenced reduced head sway in the two-speaker condition, although blind subjects' head sway was significantly larger than that of sighted subjects. The advantage of the two-speaker condition was probably attributable to the nature of distance compared with directional auditory information. The results rule out a deficit model of spatial hearing in blind people and are consistent with one version of a compensation model. Analysis of maximum cross-correlations between center-of-pressure and head sway, and associated time lags suggest that blind and sighted people may use different sensorimotor strategies to achieve stability.

Ball Screw Actuator Including a Compliant Ball Screw Stop

Science.gov (United States)

Wingett, Paul T. (Inventor); Hanlon, Casey (Inventor)

2017-01-01

An actuator includes a ball nut, a ball screw, and a ball screw stop. The ball nut is adapted to receive an input torque and in response rotates and supplies a drive force. The ball screw extends through the ball nut and has a first end and a second end. The ball screw receives the drive force from the ball nut and in response selectively translates between a retract position and a extend position. The ball screw stop is mounted on the ball screw proximate the first end to translate therewith. The ball screw stop engages the ball nut when the ball screw is in the extend position, translates, with compliance, a predetermined distance toward the first end upon engaging the ball nut, and prevents further rotation of the ball screw upon translating the predetermined distance.

A methodology for rearranging transit stops for enhancing transit users generalized travel time

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Nurul Hassan

2017-02-01

Full Text Available This study develops a methodology to consolidate transit stops. It develops a mathematical model and a program which takes stop consolidation decision(s according to users generalized travel time savings and desired accessibility. The model iterates until the users generalized travel time savings are maximized. The study tests this mathematical model in different hypothetical scenarios. Six factors (distance between stops, passenger activity, average cruising speed, maximum walking distance, service frequency, and percentage of decreased passengers with multiple levels were set to build the scenarios. Three responses (percentage of consolidated stops, percentages of travel time and operating time savings were observed. The findings showed that the distance between the stops the passenger activity, and the probable demand change (or the percentage of decreased passengers are the most influential factors. The frequency of service was found to be influential as well. The average cruising speed has very little influence on the response variables. Finally, the model is tested on two routes (route 900 and 930 of Al Ain City public bus service. It shows that 22 and 32 out of 98 and 126 stops can be consolidated in route 900 and 930 respectively. This can save considerable amounts of users travel and operating times. In monetary values, the savings are about $329,827 and $491,094 per year for routes 900 and 930, respectively.

MiSight Assessment Study Spain (MASS). A 2-year randomized clinical trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruiz-Pomeda, Alicia; Pérez-Sánchez, Belén; Valls, Isabel; Prieto-Garrido, Francisco Luis; Gutiérrez-Ortega, Ramón; Villa-Collar, César

2018-05-01

To compare myopia progression in children randomized to MiSight contact lenses (CLs) versus children corrected with single-vision spectacles (SV) over a 2-year period. Subjects aged 8 to 12 with myopia (-0.75 to -4.00 D sphere) and astigmatism (< -1.00 D cylinder) were assigned to the lens study group (MiSight) or the control group (single vision). Measurements of visual acuity and subjective refraction were taken at 6-month intervals, and axial length, anterior chamber, corneal power, and cycloplegic autorefraction were measured at the baseline, 12-month, and 24-month visits. Eighty-nine subjects were recruited. Forty-fix children were assigned to the MiSight group, and 33 to the single-vision spectacle group. In total, 74 children completed the clinical trial, with the following parameters at the beginning of the study: n =  41 in the MiSight group (age: 11.01 ± 1.23 years, spherical equivalent: -2.16 ± 0.94 D, gender: male: 21, female: 20) and n = 33 in the single-vision group (age: 10.12 ± 1.38 years, spherical equivalent: -1.75 ± 0.94 D, gender: male: 12, female: 21). After 2 years of follow-up, myopia progressed slowly in the MiSight group compared to the control group (0.45 D vs 0.74 D, p < 0.001) and there was less axial elongation in the MiSight group compared to the single-vision group (0.28 mm vs 0.44 mm, p < 0.001). Therefore, use of MiSight CLs produced lower myopia progression (39.32%) and lower axial growth of the eye (36.04%) at 2 years compared to spectacle use. MiSight contact lens wear reduces axial elongation and myopia progression in comparison to distance single-vision spectacles in children. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01917110.

Station Stopping of Freight Trains with Pneumatic Braking

OpenAIRE

Yun Bai; Baohua Mao; Tinkin Ho; Yu Feng; Shaokuan Chen

2014-01-01

In Chinese mainline railway, freight trains need to stop within passenger stations at times because of the delayed passenger trains. Without any decision-support system, it is very difficult for drivers to stop trains within stations with consistency in one braking action. The reasons are that braking performance of train changes with the conditions of braking equipment and the drivers’ subjective evaluations of track profiles and braking distance are vague and imprecise. This paper presents ...

Construction dust amelioration techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

2012-04-01

Dust produced on seasonal road construction sites in Alaska is both a traffic safety and environmental concern. Dust emanating from : unpaved road surfaces during construction severely reduces visibility and impacts stopping sight distance, and contr...

Evaluation of Effective Factors on Travel Time in Optimization of Bus Stops Placement Using Genetic Algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Bargegol, Iraj; Ghorbanzadeh, Mahyar; Ghasedi, Meisam; Rastbod, Mohammad

2017-10-01

In congested cities, locating and proper designing of bus stops according to the unequal distribution of passengers is crucial issue economically and functionally, since this subject plays an important role in the use of bus system by passengers. Location of bus stops is a complicated subject; by reducing distances between stops, walking time decreases, but the total travel time may increase. In this paper, a specified corridor in the city of Rasht in north of Iran is studied. Firstly, a new formula is presented to calculate the travel time, by which the number of stops and consequently, the travel time can be optimized. An intended corridor with specified number of stops and distances between them is addressed, the related formulas to travel time are created, and its travel time is calculated. Then the corridor is modelled using a meta-heuristic method in order that the placement and the optimal distances of bus stops for that are determined. It was found that alighting and boarding time along with bus capacity are the most effective factors affecting travel time. Consequently, it is better to have more concentration on indicated factors for improving the efficiency of bus system.

Braille in the Sighted: Teaching Tactile Reading to Sighted Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Bola, Łukasz; Siuda-Krzywicka, Katarzyna; Paplińska, Małgorzata; Sumera, Ewa; Hańczur, Paweł; Szwed, Marcin

2016-01-01

Blind people are known to have superior perceptual abilities in their remaining senses. Several studies suggest that these enhancements are dependent on the specific experience of blind individuals, who use those remaining senses more than sighted subjects. In line with this view, sighted subjects, when trained, are able to significantly progress in relatively simple tactile tasks. However, the case of complex tactile tasks is less obvious, as some studies suggest that visual deprivation itself could confer large advantages in learning them. It remains unclear to what extent those complex skills, such as braille reading, can be learnt by sighted subjects. Here we enrolled twenty-nine sighted adults, mostly braille teachers and educators, in a 9-month braille reading course. At the beginning of the course, all subjects were naive in tactile braille reading. After the course, almost all were able to read whole braille words at a mean speed of 6 words-per-minute. Subjects with low tactile acuity did not differ significantly in braille reading speed from the rest of the group, indicating that low tactile acuity is not a limiting factor for learning braille, at least at this early stage of learning. Our study shows that most sighted adults can learn whole-word braille reading, given the right method and a considerable amount of motivation. The adult sensorimotor system can thus adapt, to some level, to very complex tactile tasks without visual deprivation. The pace of learning in our group was comparable to congenitally and early blind children learning braille in primary school, which suggests that the blind's mastery of complex tactile tasks can, to a large extent, be explained by experience-dependent mechanisms.

Biomechanical evaluation of the X-Stop device for surgical treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Wan, Zongmiao; Wang, Shaobai; Kozánek, Michal; Passias, Peter G; Mansfield, Frederick L; Wood, Kirkham B; Li, Guoan

2012-10-01

Controlled experimental study. To evaluate the kinematical effects of X-Stop device on the spinal process at the operated and the adjacent segments before and after X-Stop surgeries during various weight-bearing postures in elderly patients with lumbar spine stenosis. The mechanism of interspinous process (ISP) devices is to directly distract the ISP of the implanted level to indirectly decompress the intervertebra foramen and spinal canal. Few studies have investigated the changes of ISP gap caused by X-Stop implantation using magnetic resonance imaging or radiography, but the effect of X-Stop surgery on the kinematics of spinous processes during functional activities is still unclear. Eight patients were tested before and, on average, 7 months after surgical implantation of the X-Stop devices using a combined computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging and dual fluoroscopic imaging system during weight-bearing standing, flexion-extension, left-right bending, and left-right twisting positions of the torso. The shortest distances of the ISPs at the operated and the adjacent levels were measured using iterative closest point method and was dissected into vertical (gap) and horizontal (lateral translation) components. At the operated levels, the shortest vertical ISP distances (gap) significantly (P0.05) in right twist, left bend, and right bend after the X-Stop implantation. The lateral translations were not significantly affected. At both cephalad and caudad adjacent levels, the ISP distances (vertical and horizontal) were not significantly affected during all postures after X-Stop implantation. The findings of this study indicate that implantation of the X-Stop devices can effectively distract the ISP space at the diseased level without causing apparent kinematic changes at the adjacent segments during the studied postures.

Transfer of learning on a spatial memory task between the blind and sighted people.

Science.gov (United States)

Akpinar, Selcuk; Popović, Stevo; Kirazci, Sadettin

2012-12-01

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of two different types of feedback on a spatial memory task between the blind and blindfolded-sighted participants. Participants tried to estimate the predetermined distance by using their dominant hands. Both blind and blindfolded-sighted groups were randomly divided into two feedback subgroups as "100% frequency" and "10% bandwidth". The score of the participants was given verbally to the participants as knowledge of results (KR). The target distance was set as 60 cm. Sixty acquisition trials were performed in 4 sets each including 15 repetition afterwards immediate and delayed retention tests were undertaken. Moreover, 24 hours past the delayed retention test, the participants completed 15 no-KR trials as a transfer test (target distance was 30 cm). The results of the statistical analyses revealed no significant differences for both acquisition and retention tests. However, a significant difference was found at transfer test. 100% frequency blind group performed significantly less accurate than all other groups. As a result, it can be concluded that different types of feedback have similar effect on spatial memory task used in this study. However, types of feedback can change the performance of accuracy on transferring this skill among the blind.

A Depth-Based Head-Mounted Visual Display to Aid Navigation in Partially Sighted Individuals

Science.gov (United States)

Hicks, Stephen L.; Wilson, Iain; Muhammed, Louwai; Worsfold, John; Downes, Susan M.; Kennard, Christopher

2013-01-01

Independent navigation for blind individuals can be extremely difficult due to the inability to recognise and avoid obstacles. Assistive techniques such as white canes, guide dogs, and sensory substitution provide a degree of situational awareness by relying on touch or hearing but as yet there are no techniques that attempt to make use of any residual vision that the individual is likely to retain. Residual vision can restricted to the awareness of the orientation of a light source, and hence any information presented on a wearable display would have to limited and unambiguous. For improved situational awareness, i.e. for the detection of obstacles, displaying the size and position of nearby objects, rather than including finer surface details may be sufficient. To test whether a depth-based display could be used to navigate a small obstacle course, we built a real-time head-mounted display with a depth camera and software to detect the distance to nearby objects. Distance was represented as brightness on a low-resolution display positioned close to the eyes without the benefit focussing optics. A set of sighted participants were monitored as they learned to use this display to navigate the course. All were able to do so, and time and velocity rapidly improved with practise with no increase in the number of collisions. In a second experiment a cohort of severely sight-impaired individuals of varying aetiologies performed a search task using a similar low-resolution head-mounted display. The majority of participants were able to use the display to respond to objects in their central and peripheral fields at a similar rate to sighted controls. We conclude that the skill to use a depth-based display for obstacle avoidance can be rapidly acquired and the simplified nature of the display may appropriate for the development of an aid for sight-impaired individuals. PMID:23844067

Nuclear stopping power at high energies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Date, S.; Gyulassy, M.; Sumiyoshi, H.

1985-03-01

Recent p + A → p + X data are analyzed within the context of the multi-chain and additive quark models. We deduce the average energy loss of a baryon as a function of distance traversed in nuclear matter. Consistency of the multi-chain model is checked by comparing the predictions for p + A → π +- + X with data. We discuss the space-time development of baryon stopping and show how longitudinal growth limits the energy deposition per unit length. Predictions are made for the proton spectra to be measured in nucleus-nucleus collisions at CERN and BNL. Finally, we conclude that the stopping domain for central collisions of heavy ions extends up to center of mass kinetic energies KEsub(em) asymptotically equals 3 +- 1 AGev. (author)

50 CFR 218.23 - Mitigation.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... to avoid a collision with any marine animal and can be stopped within a distance appropriate to the... for marine mammals and shall report any sightings to the surface observers. These animals shall be... and Fisheries NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION...

Stopping at the sight of food - How gender and obesity impact on response inhibition.

Science.gov (United States)

Mühlberg, Christoph; Mathar, David; Villringer, Arno; Horstmann, Annette; Neumann, Jane

2016-12-01

Recent research indicates that reduced inhibitory control is associated with higher body mass index (BMI), higher food craving and increased food intake. However, experimental evidence for the relationship between response inhibition and weight status is inconsistent and to date has been investigated predominantly in women. In the current study, 56 participants (26 obese, 30 lean; 27 female, 29 male) performed a Food Picture Rating Task followed by a Stop Signal Task where pictures of palatable high or low caloric food or non-food items were presented prior to the Go signal. We further assessed participants' self-reported eating behavior and trait impulsivity as potential factors influencing response inhibition, in particular within the food context. Independent of BMI, women showed significantly higher liking for low caloric food items than men. This was accompanied by shorter Stop Signal Reaction Times (SSRT) after high compared to low caloric food pictures for women, and shorter SSRT in women compared to men for high caloric food. No influence of gender on SSRT was observable outside of the food context. While SSRTs did not differ between obese and lean participants across the three picture categories, we found a moderating effect of trait impulsivity on the relationship between BMI and SSRT, specifically in the high caloric food context. Higher BMI was predictive of longer SSRT only for participants with low to normal trait impulsivity, pointing at a complex interplay between response inhibition, general impulsivity and weight status. Our results support the notion that individuals with obesity do not suffer from diminished response inhibition capacity per se. Rather, the ability to withhold a response depends on context and social norms, and strongly interacts with factors like gender and trait impulsivity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sea turtles sightings in North Carolina

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Sea turtles sightings are reported to the NMFS Beaufort Laboratory sea turtle program by the general public as they are fishing, boating, etc. These sightings...

Microwave line of sight link engineering

CERN Document Server

Angueira, Pablo

2012-01-01

A comprehensive guide to the design, implementation, and operation of line of sight microwave link systems The microwave Line of Sight (LOS) transport network of any cellular operator requires at least as much planning effort as the cellular infrastructure itself. The knowledge behind this design has been kept private by most companies and has not been easy to find. Microwave Line of Sight Link Engineering solves this dilemma. It provides the latest revisions to ITU reports and recommendations, which are not only key to successful design but have changed dramatically in

On a rational stopping rule for facilities location algorithms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Juel, Henrik

1984-01-01

In the multifacility location problem, a number of new facilities are to be located so as to minimize a sum of weighted distances. Love and Yeong (1981) developed a lower bound on the optimal value for use in deciding when to stop an iterative solution procedure. The authors develop a stronger...

Uncertain sightings and the extinction of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.

Science.gov (United States)

Solow, Andrew; Smith, Woollcott; Burgman, Mark; Rout, Tracy; Wintle, Brendan; Roberts, David

2012-02-01

The extinction of a species can be inferred from a record of its sightings. Existing methods for doing so assume that all sightings in the record are valid. Often, however, there are sightings of uncertain validity. To date, uncertain sightings have been treated in an ad hoc way, either excluding them from the record or including them as if they were certain. We developed a Bayesian method that formally accounts for such uncertain sightings. The method assumes that valid and invalid sightings follow independent Poisson processes and use noninformative prior distributions for the rate of valid sightings and for a measure of the quality of uncertain sightings. We applied the method to a recently published record of sightings of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis). This record covers the period 1897-2010 and contains 39 sightings classified as certain and 29 classified as uncertain. The Bayes factor in favor of extinction was 4.03, which constitutes substantial support for extinction. The posterior distribution of the time of extinction has 3 main modes in 1944, 1952, and 1988. The method can be applied to sighting records of other purportedly extinct species. ©2011 Society for Conservation Biology.

Design and development of radiation absorber for sighting beam line

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sridhar, R.; Shukla, S.K.

2005-01-01

During the commissioning of Indus-2 , it is necessary to view the synchrotron radiation that will be emanating from the dipole exit ports. The 10 0 beam line from dipole 11 was earmarked for sighting beam line. The synchrotron radiation power density would be around 340 watts on the photon absorber inside the radiation absorber module, at the specified beam power of Indus-2. The beam striking on this photon absorber produces x-rays and Bremsstrahlung radiation. These are to be stopped and absorbed by radiation absorber. The photon absorber and the radiation absorber are integrated in a single vacuum chamber and actuated by a pneumatic cylinder connected using a bellow. Radiation absorber was needed to isolate the diagnostic components and to protect them from radiation a well as heat when they were not in use. The paper describes the design, calculation and development of the dynamic photon cum radiation absorber. The ultimate vacuum performance is also described. (author)

Megaptera Novaeangliae sightings recorder (Borowski, 1781) in the capixaba coast during marine seismic survey; Registro de avistagens de Megaptera Novaeangliae (Borowski, 1781) no litoral capixaba durante levantamento sismico maritimo

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Costa, Leandro Damiao S. da; Almeida, Alexandre N. Ferraz de [Okeanos Consultoria e Meio Ambiente Ltda. (Brazil); Uller, George A.; Oliveira, Joao Luiz Martinez de [CGG do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Derntl, Jose Renato; Pereira, Edisio; Silva, Camila C. da [GEOCOOP Cooperativa de Trabalho, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Miranda, Cristina M. de [Nautilus Cooperativa de Trabalho (Brazil)

2004-07-01

This work presents Megaptera novaeangliae (Humpback Whale) sightings recorded during CGG seismic survey along south of Espirito Santo coast. The seismic vessel executed transects perpendicular to the coastline between 50 and 3.200 m depth. Two environmental technicians recorded all sightings during seismic survey; They worked on the highest point of the vessel (bridge) observing the presence and behavior of the marine biota around vessel. There were recorded 38 sightings of Humpback Whales and a total of 81 organisms. 61% of the sightings were concentrated between 40 and 80 m depth. About 60,5% of the sightings were recorded females with puppies, mainly in the afternoon. There were observed no difference between sightings with the source working on and off. The results obtained suggest similarity between the number of sightings and the distance of the animals related to seismic source activity, suggesting non evasive behavior, as well as any indicative change on the behavior regarding to the presence of the Seismic Vessel. Nevertheless, we know that it's necessary to make more studies to obtain definitive conclusions about the subject. (author)

Megaptera Novaeangliae sightings recorder (Borowski, 1781) in the capixaba coast during marine seismic survey; Registro de avistagens de Megaptera Novaeangliae (Borowski, 1781) no litoral capixaba durante levantamento sismico maritimo

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Costa, Leandro Damiao S. da; Almeida, Alexandre N. Ferraz de [Okeanos Consultoria e Meio Ambiente Ltda. (Brazil); Uller, George A; Oliveira, Joao Luiz Martinez de [CGG do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Derntl, Jose Renato; Pereira, Edisio; Silva, Camila C. da [GEOCOOP Cooperativa de Trabalho, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Miranda, Cristina M. de [Nautilus Cooperativa de Trabalho (Brazil)

2004-07-01

This work presents Megaptera novaeangliae (Humpback Whale) sightings recorded during CGG seismic survey along south of Espirito Santo coast. The seismic vessel executed transects perpendicular to the coastline between 50 and 3.200 m depth. Two environmental technicians recorded all sightings during seismic survey; They worked on the highest point of the vessel (bridge) observing the presence and behavior of the marine biota around vessel. There were recorded 38 sightings of Humpback Whales and a total of 81 organisms. 61% of the sightings were concentrated between 40 and 80 m depth. About 60,5% of the sightings were recorded females with puppies, mainly in the afternoon. There were observed no difference between sightings with the source working on and off. The results obtained suggest similarity between the number of sightings and the distance of the animals related to seismic source activity, suggesting non evasive behavior, as well as any indicative change on the behavior regarding to the presence of the Seismic Vessel. Nevertheless, we know that it's necessary to make more studies to obtain definitive conclusions about the subject. (author)

Investigation of RADTRAN Stop Model input parameters for truck stops

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Griego, N.R.; Smith, J.D.; Neuhauser, K.S.

1996-01-01

RADTRAN is a computer code for estimating the risks and consequences as transport of radioactive materials (RAM). RADTRAN was developed and is maintained by Sandia National Laboratories for the US Department of Energy (DOE). For incident-free transportation, the dose to persons exposed while the shipment is stopped is frequently a major percentage of the overall dose. This dose is referred to as Stop Dose and is calculated by the Stop Model. Because stop dose is a significant portion of the overall dose associated with RAM transport, the values used as input for the Stop Model are important. Therefore, an investigation of typical values for RADTRAN Stop Parameters for truck stops was performed. The resulting data from these investigations were analyzed to provide mean values, standard deviations, and histograms. Hence, the mean values can be used when an analyst does not have a basis for selecting other input values for the Stop Model. In addition, the histograms and their characteristics can be used to guide statistical sampling techniques to measure sensitivity of the RADTRAN calculated Stop Dose to the uncertainties in the stop model input parameters. This paper discusses the details and presents the results of the investigation of stop model input parameters at truck stops

Typewriting: The Sight Method of Teaching Typewriting

Science.gov (United States)

Ruddle, Eleanor S.

1970-01-01

Research with beginning typewriting students supports the use of the sight method-looking at the fingers and keyboard during the initial learning stages. The sight method increases the rate and degree of accuracy. (CH)

Non-line-of-sight ultraviolet communication based on DHT ACO-OFDM

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Qian; Chen, Gang

2012-10-01

Free space optical (FSO) communication has attracted tremendous research interest in the recent year. Most existing works focus only on the line-of-sight (LOS) transmission by infrared (IR) or visible light lasers/LEDs, while this article suggested a framework of non-line-of-sight (NLOS) FSO, motivated by our recent experimental results on the successful transmission of NLOS ultraviolet (UV) beams for up to kilometers, which is comparable to the typical distance a LOS FSO transmission. The NLOS provides an alternate path when the LOS path is shadowed or is highly attenuated. In order to mitigate the multipath dispersion of the NLOS FSO, a baseband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation scheme was proposed, based on Discrete Hartley Transform (DHT) and asymmetric clipping to guarantee the positive-realness of the transmitted optical intensity. The proposed system could reduce the hardware complexity of transmitter and receiver. Minimum mean square error (MMSE) precoder was applied before the DHT to remove the crosstalk between subcarriers, i.e. the frequency domain orthogonality of OFDM was preserved. Performance of the BPSK modulated communication system was given under lognormal atmospheric turbulence for demonstration of the feasibility of the proposed method.

Recent sightings of marine mammals in Andaman Islands, India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bitopan Malakar

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This study reports opportunistic sightings of marine mammals between August 2013 and January 2014 in the Andaman region.  Seven sightings were recorded during this period out of which one was of a Dugong, which is significant considering its small population size in India and limited data on its distribution and abundance.  The rest were 24 dolphins (Tursiops sp..  Four sightings were of the same pod of dolphins on different days at the same location.  Two sightings occurred during regular coral reef monitoring survey and the other five during fishery resource survey by trawling operations.  These sightings are of great significance as there is a lack of studies on marine mammals from the region.  Sighting records are useful for understanding aggregation site, behaviour, habits and habitat and residency patterns and provide important information for conservation of marine mammals. 

Miniaturized day/night sight in Soldato Futuro program

Science.gov (United States)

Landini, Alberto; Cocchi, Alessandro; Bardazzi, Riccardo; Sardelli, Mauro; Puntri, Stefano

2013-06-01

The market of the sights for the 5.56 mm assault rifles is dominated by mainly three types of systems: TWS (Thermal Weapon Sight), the Pocket Scope with Weapon Mount and the Clip-on. The latter are designed primarily for special forces and snipers use, while the TWS design is triggered mainly by the DRI (Detection, Recognition, Identification) requirements. The Pocket Scope design is focused on respecting the SWaP (Size, Weight and Power dissipation) requirements. Compared to the TWS systems, for the last two years there was a significant technological growth of the Pocket Scope/Weapon Mount solutions, concentrated on the compression of the overall dimensions. The trend for the assault rifles is the use of small size/light weight (SWaP) IR sights, suitable mainly for close combat operations but also for extraordinary use as pocket scopes - handheld or helmet mounted. The latest developments made by Selex ES S.p.A. are responding precisely to the above-mentioned trend, through a miniaturized Day/Night sight embedding state-of-the art sensors and using standard protocols (USB 2.0, Bluetooth 4.0) for interfacing with PDAs, Wearable computers, etc., while maintaining the "shoot around the corner" capability. Indeed, inside the miniaturized Day/Night sight architecture, a wireless link using Bluetooth technology has been implemented to transmit the video streaming of the rifle sight to an helmet mounted display. The video of the rifle sight is transmitted only to the eye-piece of the soldier shouldering the rifle.

Archiving InSight Lander Science Data Using PDS4 Standards

Science.gov (United States)

Stein, T.; Guinness, E. A.; Slavney, S.

2017-12-01

The InSight Mars Lander is scheduled for launch in 2018, and science data from the mission will be archived in the NASA Planetary Data System (PDS) using the new PDS4 standards. InSight is a geophysical lander with a science payload that includes a seismometer, a probe to measure subsurface temperatures and heat flow, a suite of meteorology instruments, a magnetometer, an experiment using radio tracking, and a robotic arm that will provide soil physical property information based on interactions with the surface. InSight is not the first science mission to archive its data using PDS4. However, PDS4 archives do not currently contain examples of the kinds of data that several of the InSight instruments will produce. Whereas the existing common PDS4 standards were sufficient for most of archiving requirements of InSight, the data generated by a few instruments required development of several extensions to the PDS4 information model. For example, the seismometer will deliver a version of its data in SEED format, which is standard for the terrestrial seismology community. This format required the design of a new product type in the PDS4 information model. A local data dictionary has also been developed for InSight that contains attributes that are not part of the common PDS4 dictionary. The local dictionary provides metadata relevant to all InSight data sets, and attributes specific to several of the instruments. Additional classes and attributes were designed for the existing PDS4 geometry dictionary that will capture metadata for the lander position and orientation, along with camera models for stereo image processing. Much of the InSight archive planning and design work has been done by a Data Archiving Working Group (DAWG), which has members from the InSight project and the PDS. The group coordinates archive design, schedules and peer review of the archive documentation and test products. The InSight DAWG archiving effort for PDS is being led by the PDS Geosciences

iSIGHT-FD scalability test report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Clay, Robert L.; Shneider, Max S.

2008-07-01

The engineering analysis community at Sandia National Laboratories uses a number of internal and commercial software codes and tools, including mesh generators, preprocessors, mesh manipulators, simulation codes, post-processors, and visualization packages. We define an analysis workflow as the execution of an ordered, logical sequence of these tools. Various forms of analysis (and in particular, methodologies that use multiple function evaluations or samples) involve executing parameterized variations of these workflows. As part of the DART project, we are evaluating various commercial workflow management systems, including iSIGHT-FD from Engineous. This report documents the results of a scalability test that was driven by DAKOTA and conducted on a parallel computer (Thunderbird). The purpose of this experiment was to examine the suitability and performance of iSIGHT-FD for large-scale, parameterized analysis workflows. As the results indicate, we found iSIGHT-FD to be suitable for this type of application.

Instant EdgeSight for XenApp

CERN Document Server

Hasan, Vaqar

2013-01-01

Filled with practical, step-by-step instructions and clear explanations for the most important and useful tasks. Instant EdgeSight for XenApp is a practical, hands-on guide that contains instruction-based examples from basic to advanced level topics. Instant EdgeSight for XenApp will serve as an excellent source of information for Citrix XenApp professionals and novices alike. It is assumed that readers have experience working with Citrix products and have some sort of familiarity with monitoring.

Theoretical studies on the stopping power of deuterium-tritium mixed with uranium plasmas for α particles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Zhigang; Fu, Zhen-Guo; Zhang, Ping

2014-01-01

The stopping power of a compressed and highly ionized deuterium-tritium (DT) and uranium (U) plasma for α particles at very high temperatures (T = 5 keV) is examined theoretically with the dimensional continuation method. We show that with increasing density of U, both the magnitude and width of the resonance peak in the stopping power (as a function of the α particle energy), increases because of the ions, while the penetration distance of the α particles decreases. A simple relation of decreasing penetration distance as a function of plasma density is observed, which may be useful for inertial confinement fusion experiments. Moreover, by comparing the results with the case of a DT plasma mixed with beryllium, we find that the effect of a higher Z plasma is stronger, with regard to energy loss as well as the penetration distance of α particles, than that of a lower Z plasma

Distance estimation experiment for aerial minke whale surveys

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lars Witting

2009-09-01

Full Text Available A comparative study between aerial cue–counting and digital photography surveys for minke whales conducted in Faxaflói Bay in September 2003 is used to check the perpendicular distances estimated by the cue-counting observers. The study involved 2 aircraft with the photo plane at 1,700 feet flying above the cue–counting plane at 750 feet. The observer–based distance estimates were calculated from head angles estimated by angle-boards and declination angles estimated by declinometers. These distances were checked against image–based estimates of the perpendicular distance to the same whale. The 2 independent distance estimates were obtained for 21 sightings of minke whale, and there was a good agreement between the 2 types of estimates. The relative absolute deviations between the 2 estimates were on average 23% (se: 6%, with the errors in the observer–based distance estimates resembling that of a log-normal distribution. The linear regression of the observer–based estimates (obs on the image–based estimates (img was Obs=1.1Img (R2=0.85 with an intercept fixed at zero. There was no evidence of a distance estimation bias that could generate a positive bias in the absolute abundance estimated by cue–counting.

Second stop and sbottom searches with a stealth stop

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cheng, Hsin-Chia; Li, Lingfeng; Qin, Qin [Department of Physics, University of California,Davis, California 95616 (United States)

2016-11-29

The top squarks (stops) may be the most wanted particles after the Higgs boson discovery. The searches for the lightest stop have put strong constraints on its mass. However, there is still a search gap in the low mass region if the spectrum of the stop and the lightest neutralino is compressed. In that case, it may be easier to look for the second stop since naturalness requires both stops to be close to the weak scale. The current experimental searches for the second stop are based on the simplified model approach with the decay modes t̃{sub 2}→t̃{sub 1}Z and t̃{sub 2}→t̃{sub 1}h. However, in a realistic supersymmetric spectrum there is always a sbottom lighter than the second stop, hence the decay patterns are usually more complicated than the simplified model assumptions. In particular, there are often large branching ratios of the decays t̃{sub 2}→b̃{sub 1}W and b̃{sub 1}→t̃{sub 1}W as long as they are open. The decay chains can be even more complex if there are intermediate states of additional charginos and neutralinos in the decays. By studying several MSSM benchmark models at the 14 TeV LHC, we point out the importance of the multi-W final states in the second stop and the sbottom searches, such as the same-sign dilepton and multilepton signals, aside from the traditional search modes. The observed same-sign dilepton excesses at LHC Run 1 and Run 2 may be explained by some of our benchmark models. We also suggest that the vector boson tagging and a new kinematic variable may help to suppress the backgrounds and increase the signal significance for some search channels. Due to the complex decay patterns and lack of the dominant decay channels, the best reaches likely require a combination of various search channels at the LHC for the second stop and the lightest sbottom.

Anti-TNF-alpha therapy for sight threatening uveitis.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

E.W. Lindstedt (Eric); G.S. Baarsma (Seerp); R.W.A.M. Kuijpers (Robert); P.M. van Hagen (Martin)

2005-01-01

textabstractAIM: To describe the effect of additional treatment with anti-TNF-alpha therapy in a case series of 13 patients with serious sight threatening uveitis. METHODS: 13 patients with serious sight threatening uveitis were included, of whom six had Behcet's disease, five had idiopathic

Sight-Singing Pedagogy: A Content Analysis of Choral Methods Textbooks

Science.gov (United States)

Floyd, Eva G.; Haning, Marshall A.

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the sight-singing pedagogy content of choral methods textbooks, with the intent of determining what elements of sight-singing pedagogy are most commonly included in these resources. A content analysis was conducted to analyze information related to sight-singing pedagogy in 10 textbooks that are commonly…

A heuristic statistical stopping rule for iterative reconstruction in emission tomography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ben Bouallegue, F.; Mariano-Goulart, D.; Crouzet, J.F.

2013-01-01

We propose a statistical stopping criterion for iterative reconstruction in emission tomography based on a heuristic statistical description of the reconstruction process. The method was assessed for maximum likelihood expectation maximization (MLEM) reconstruction. Based on Monte-Carlo numerical simulations and using a perfectly modeled system matrix, our method was compared with classical iterative reconstruction followed by low-pass filtering in terms of Euclidian distance to the exact object, noise, and resolution. The stopping criterion was then evaluated with realistic PET data of a Hoffman brain phantom produced using the Geant4 application in emission tomography (GATE) platform for different count levels. The numerical experiments showed that compared with the classical method, our technique yielded significant improvement of the noise-resolution tradeoff for a wide range of counting statistics compatible with routine clinical settings. When working with realistic data, the stopping rule allowed a qualitatively and quantitatively efficient determination of the optimal image. Our method appears to give a reliable estimation of the optimal stopping point for iterative reconstruction. It should thus be of practical interest as it produces images with similar or better quality than classical post-filtered iterative reconstruction with a mastered computation time. (author)

Socio-Emotional Effects of the Transition from Sight to Blindness

Science.gov (United States)

Thurston, Mhairi; Thurston, Allen; McLeod, John

2010-01-01

The research examined the socio-emotional impact of sight loss on a sample of 18 blind and partially sighted adults from the east coast of Scotland (average age 64). The impact of sight loss in four core areas (mood, self-concept, social connectedness and loss) was explored. Data were collected using the mental health and social functioning…

Statistical simulation of information transfer through non-line-of-sight atmospheric optical communication channels

Science.gov (United States)

Tarasenkov, M. V.; Belov, V. V.; Poznakharev, E. S.

2017-11-01

Impulse response of non-line-of-sight atmospheric communication channels at wavelengths of 0.3, 0.5, and 0.9 μm are compared for the case in which the optical axes of the receiver and laser radiation lie in the plane perpendicular to the Earth's surface. The most efficient communication channel depending on the base distance is determined. For a wavelength of 0.5 μm and a concrete variant of the transceiving part of the communication system, the limiting communication range and the limiting repetition frequency of pulses that can be transmitted through the communication channel are estimated.

The Development of a String Sight-Reading Pitch Skill Hierarchy

Science.gov (United States)

Alexander, Michael L.; Henry, Michele L.

2012-01-01

This study was designed to determine a pitch skill hierarchy for string sight-reading, to determine the effects of key on string sight-reading achievement, and to determine the validity of a tonal pattern system as a measurement of melodic sight-reading skill for string players. High school string students (n = 94) obtained a mean score of 27.28…

Metacognitive strategies in learning sight-singing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bogunović Blanka

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a part of a wider study that is based on interdisciplinary research of sight-singing (psychology and music education. Our intention was to join the psychological knowledge of cognitive processes on the one hand, and the practical approach of music teachers, based on methods, techniques and procedures of mastering sight-reading-singing skills on the other. We aimed: 1. to determine the kinds and levels of strategies that music students use in the cognitive processes involved during sight-singing; 2. to explore strategies of problem solving when difficulties appear; 3. to investigate the self-evaluation perspectives of students; and 4. to relate students' learning experience to the strategies used. The sample consisted of 89 music students from higher music education in Belgrade and The Hague. They filled in the questionnaire based on self-reports, covering general data about their music education background, different issues of sight-singing, such as planning, problem solving, monitoring and evaluation of outcomes, and three melodic examples written in different musical styles. Results showed that strategies used during sight-singing can be roughly sorted into three groups that differ according to the 'key accent' given: cognitive, intuitive and no-strategy. The music cognitive strategies involved cover three levels of musical organization and representation: a relying on smaller chunks of the musical piece, referring to existing knowledge and learning experience; b leaning on a slightly 'bigger picture' of familiar patterns; and c mental representation of melodic/rhythmic/harmonic structures. When faced with a problem, half of the students employed analytic approaches. Comparisons between sub-samples showed, for example, that future performing musicians more often used 'tone-to-tone' thinking and 'bottom-up' strategies in approaching musical structure, while music theory students had better insight into the whole and used

Optimal short-sighted rules

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sacha eBourgeois-Gironde

2012-09-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to assess the relevance of methodological transfers from behavioral ecology to experimental economics with respect to the elicitation of intertemporal preferences. More precisely our discussion will stem from the analysis of Stephens and Anderson’s (2001 seminal article. In their study with blue jays they document that foraging behavior typically implements short sighted choice rules which are beneficial in the long-run. Such long term profitability of short-sighted behavior cannot be evidenced when using a self-control paradigm (one which contrasts in a binary way sooner smaller and later larger payoffs but becomes apparent when ecological patch-paradigms (replicating economic situations in which the main trade-off consists in staying on a food patch or leaving for another patch are implemented. We transfer this methodology in view of contrasting foraging strategies and self-control in human intertemporal choices.

Towards a Dynamic Model of Skills Involved in Sight Reading Music

Science.gov (United States)

Kopiez, Reinhard; Lee, Ji In

2006-01-01

This study investigates the relationship between selected predictors of achievement in playing unrehearsed music (sight reading) and the changing complexity of sight reading tasks. The question under investigation is, how different variables gain or lose significance as sight reading stimuli become more difficult. Fifty-two piano major graduates…

Measurements of x-rays and γ-rays from stopped kaons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Godfrey, G.L.

1975-01-01

Intensities of x rays and γ rays from negative kaons stopped in elements, pure isotopes, and some compounds ranging from Z = 2 through Z = 92 have been measured. Included were x rays from K - atoms, Σ - atoms, and π - atoms. Also some nuclear γ rays associated with the stopped kaons were observed. The kaonic x-ray intensities for low n, Δn = 1 transitions, varied from .1 to .5 x rays/K/sub stop/ and showed a remarkable oscillation as Z changed. Peaks occurred near elements with closed electron shells. Within experimental accuracy, isotopes of the same elements yielded equal intensities. By searching for μ - from K - → μ - anti ν it was concluded that less than or equal to 5 percent of the stopped kaons decayed before nuclear capture in those elements studied. A cascade calculation was performed that reasonably reproduced the Δn = 1 intensities but gave Δn = 2 intensities high by a factor of 2. Initial kaon distributions in n = 30 proportional to (2l + 1) out to some l/sub max/ were used to begin the cascade. The value of l/sub max/ changed with Z. It is suggested that l/sub max/ might be related to an impact parameter picture with the lever arm equal to one-half the distance between the atoms in their lattice. (U.S.)

Comparison between RVG UI sensor and Kodak InSight film for detection of incipient proximal caries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsuda, Yukiko; Hanazawa, Tomomi; Seki, Kenji; Araki, Kazuyuki; Okano, Tomohiro

2002-01-01

The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of the four combination modes of Trophy Radio Visio Graphy (RVG) UI sensor (Trex-Trophy Radiology Inc., Marne-la-Valee, France) and Kodak InSight film (Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, NY) for detecting proximal dental caries. Thirty extracted human upper premolars were selected. Of 60 surfaces, 25 had carious lesions in the form of small cavities, and the rest showed no evidence of caries as verified by a micro computed tomogram (micro CT; XCT Research SA+, Stratec Medizintechnik GmbH, Pforzheim, Germany). All teeth were radiographed with the paralleling technique (60 kV, 40 cm focus-to-sensor distance). Four combination modes (high-resolution caries mode-HRC; high-sensitivity caries mode-HSC; high-resolution periodontal mode-HRP; and high-resolution endo mode-HRE) were used. Exposure was set at 0.12 sec for HRC, 0.08 sec for HSC, 0.16 sec for HRP, 0.12 sec for HRE, and 0.16 sec for the Kodak InSight film. The resulting images were evaluated by three oral radiologists. The same three observers evaluated the digital images, and were allowed to use the contrast and brightness controls in doing so. Possible differences in receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve areas among image modalities were assessed by the Friedman test. The mean ROC curve areas were 0.66±0.11 for HRC, 0.78±0.02 for HSC, 0.76±0.04 for HRE, 0.77±0.04 for HRP, and 0.71±0.09 for the Kodak InSight film. There were no statistically significant differences between HRC, HSC, HRE, HRP and the Kodak InSight film in terms of proximal caries detection. The four modes of RVG UI system are each a viable alternative to intraoral film for the detection of incipient dental caries. (author)

Artificial Sight Basic Research, Biomedical Engineering, and Clinical Advances

CERN Document Server

Humayun, Mark S; Chader, Gerald; Greenbaum, Elias

2008-01-01

Artificial sight is a frontier area of modern ophthalmology combining the multidisciplinary skills of surgical ophthalmology, biomedical engineering, biological physics, and psychophysical testing. Many scientific, engineering, and surgical challenges must be surmounted before widespread practical applications can be realized. The goal of Artificial Sight is to summarize the state-of-the-art research in this exciting area, and to describe some of the current approaches and initiatives that may help patients in a clinical setting. The Editors are active researchers in the fields of artificial sight, biomedical engineering and biological physics. They have received numerous professional awards and recognition for their work. The artificial sight team at the Doheny Eye Institute, led by Dr. Mark Humayun, is a world leader in this area of biomedical engineering and clinical research. Key Features Introduces and assesses the state of the art for a broad audience of biomedical engineers, biophysicists, and clinical...

Lack of motor prediction, rather than perceptual conflict, evokes an odd sensation upon stepping onto a stopped escalator

Science.gov (United States)

Gomi, Hiroaki; Sakurada, Takeshi; Fukui, Takao

2014-01-01

When stepping onto a stopped escalator, we often perceive an “odd sensation” that is never felt when stepping onto stairs. The sight of an escalator provides a strong contextual cue that, in expectation of the backward acceleration when stepping on, triggers an anticipatory forward postural adjustment driven by a habitual and implicit motor process. Here we contrast two theories about why this postural change leads to an odd sensation. The first theory links the odd sensation to a lack of sensorimotor prediction from all low-level implicit motor processes. The second theory links the odd sensation to the high-level conflict between the conscious awareness that the escalator is stopped and the implicit perception that evokes an endogenous motor program specific to a moving escalator. We show very similar postural changes can also arise from reflexive responses to visual stimuli, such as contracting/expanding optic flow fields, and that these reflexive responses produce similar odd sensations to the stopped escalator. We conclude that the high-level conflict is not necessary for such sensations. In contrast, the implicitly driven behavioral change itself essentially leads to the odd sensation in motor perception since the unintentional change may be less attributable to self-generated action because of a lack of motor predictions. PMID:24688460

Inferring about the extinction of a species using certain and uncertain sightings.

Science.gov (United States)

Kodikara, Saritha; Demirhan, Haydar; Stone, Lewi

2018-04-07

The sighting record of threatened species is often used to infer the possibility of extinction. Most of these sightings have uncertain validity. Solow and Beet(2014) developed two models using a Bayesian approach which allowed for uncertainty in the sighting record by formally incorporating both certain and uncertain sightings, but in different ways. Interestingly, the two methods give completely different conclusions concerning the extinction of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. We further examined these two methods to provide a mathematical explanation, and to explore in more depth, as to why the results differed from one another. It was found that the first model was more sensitive to the last uncertain sighting, while the second was more sensitive to the last certain sighting. The difficulties in choosing the appropriate model are discussed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Empirical Analysis and Modeling of Stop-Line Crossing Time and Speed at Signalized Intersections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Keshuang Tang

2016-12-01

Full Text Available In China, a flashing green (FG indication of 3 s followed by a yellow (Y indication of 3 s is commonly applied to end the green phase at signalized intersections. Stop-line crossing behavior of drivers during such a phase transition period significantly influences safety performance of signalized intersections. The objective of this study is thus to empirically analyze and model drivers’ stop-line crossing time and speed in response to the specific phase transition period of FG and Y. High-resolution trajectories for 1465 vehicles were collected at three rural high-speed intersections with a speed limit of 80 km/h and two urban intersections with a speed limit of 50 km/h in Shanghai. With the vehicle trajectory data, statistical analyses were performed to look into the general characteristics of stop-line crossing time and speed at the two types of intersections. A multinomial logit model and a multiple linear regression model were then developed to predict the stop-line crossing patterns and speeds respectively. It was found that the percentage of stop-line crossings during the Y interval is remarkably higher and the stop-line crossing time is approximately 0.7 s longer at the urban intersections, as compared with the rural intersections. In addition, approaching speed and distance to the stop-line at the onset of FG as well as area type significantly affect the percentages of stop-line crossings during the FG and Y intervals. Vehicle type and stop-line crossing pattern were found to significantly influence the stop-line crossing speed, in addition to the above factors. The red-light-running seems to occur more frequently at the large intersections with a long cycle length.

Building Astronomy Curriculum to Include the Sight Impaired: Week long summer camp activities for Middle School Students adherent to Washington State Curriculum Standards (EALR's)

Science.gov (United States)

Ramien, Natalie; Loebman, S. R.; Player, V.; Larson, A.; Torcolini, N. B.; Traverse, A.

2011-01-01

Currently astronomy learning is heavily geared towards visual aids; however, roughly 10 million people in North America are sight impaired. Every student should have access to meaningful astronomy curriculum; an understanding of astronomy is an expectation of national and state science learning requirements. Over the last ten years, Noreen Grice has developed Braille and large print astronomy text books aimed at sight impaired learners. We build upon Grice's written work and present here a five day lesson plan that integrates 2D reading with 3D activities. Through this curriculum, students develop an intuitive understanding of astronomical distance, size, composition and lifetimes. We present five distinct lesson modules that can be taught individually or in a sequential form: the planets, our sun, stars, stellar evolution and galaxies. We have tested these modules on sight impaired students and report the results here. Overall, we find the work presented here lends itself equally well to a week long science camp geared toward middle school sight impaired taught by astronomers or as supplemental material integrated into a regular classroom science curriculum. This work was made possible by a 2007 Simple Effective Education and Dissemination (SEED) Grant For Astronomy Researchers, Astronomical Society of the Pacific through funds provided by the Planck Mission, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.

Micro-Doppler extraction of a small UAV in a non-line-of-sight urban scenario

Science.gov (United States)

Gustavsson, Magnus; Andersson, Åsa; Johansson, Tommy; Jonsson, Rolf; Karlsson, Nils; Nilsson, Stefan

2017-05-01

The appearance of small UAVs on the commercial market poses a real threat to both civilian safety and to military operations. In open terrain a radar can detect and track even small UAVs at long distances. In an urban environment with limited line-of-sight and strong static and non-static background, this capability can be severely reduced. The radar cross section of these UAVs are normally small compared to the background. However, the rotors of the UAVs produce a characteristic micro-Doppler signature that can be exploited for detection and classification. In this paper, we investigate in an experimental set-up whether it is possible in the radar non-line-of-sight to retrieve the micro-Doppler signature of the UAV rotors. This is done by exploring up to three multipath bounces in the measured signal. The measurements were made with a semi-monostatic single receiver-transmitter radar system operating at X-band in a pulsed single frequency mode. The radar response of the UAV, with plastic and metallic rotors, was measured at several positions inside a 4 m wide corridor with metallic walls. In this paper, data from one line-of-sight and two non-line-ofsight positions are presented. Results show that we are able to detect the micro-Doppler of the rotors and to retrieve the number of revolutions per minute, for both rotor types. Free space Finite-Difference Time-Domain calculations have also been performed on a CAD-model of the UAV rotor to determine the optimal choice of polarization and the short-time Fourier transform filter length.

Tactile-Sight: A Sensory Substitution Device Based on Distance-Related Vibrotactile Flow

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leandro Cancar

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Sensory substitution is a research field of increasing interest with regard to technical, applied and theoretical issues. Among the latter, it is of central interest to understand the form in which humans perceive the environment. Ecological psychology, among other approaches, proposes that we can detect higher-order informational variables (in the sense that they are defined over substantial spatial and temporal intervals that specify our interaction with the environment. When using a vibrotactile sensory substitution device, it is reasonable to ask if stimulation on the skin may be exploitable to detect higher-order variables. Motivated by this question, a portable vibrotactile sensory substitution device was built, using distance-based information as a source and driving a large number of vibrotactile actuators (72 in the reported version, 120 max. The portable device was designed to explore real environments, allowing natural unrestricted movement for the user while providing contingent real-time vibrotactile information. Two preliminary experiments were performed. In the first one, participants were asked to detect the time to contact of an approaching ball in a simulated (desktop environment. Reasonable performance was observed in all experimental conditions, including the one with only tactile stimulation. In the second experiment, a portable version of the device was used in a real environment, where participants were asked to hit an approaching ball. Participants were able to coordinate their arm movements with vibrotactile stimulation in appropriate timing. We conclude that vibrotactile flow can be generated by distance-based activation of the actuators and that this stimulation on the skin allows users to perceive time-to-contact related environmental properties.

Evaluation of the Legibility of Broken Lines for Partial Sight

OpenAIRE

小林, 秀之

2000-01-01

The present study was designed to investigate the legibility of broken lines for persons with partial sight. The subjects were 10 persons with simulated partial sight, and 4 persons with partial sight. The simulation was obtained using filters and convex lenses. The 30 kind of broken lines was evaluated by the original test that the subjects were read directions of the broken lines in distinction from solid lines. The thickness of lines varied from 0.1mm. to 0.7mm. in 4 steps. The results...

The Effect of Key on Vocal Sight-Reading Achievement

Science.gov (United States)

Henry, Michele L.

2013-01-01

At its most basic level, sight-reading can be defined as the production of accurate pitch and rhythm from a previously unseen musical score. For vocalists, sight-reading principally involves the production of pitches by determining their relationship within a tonal framework. The ability to mentally conceive tonal function and convert it into…

Inseparability of Go and Stop in Inhibitory Control: Go Stimulus Discriminability Affects Stopping Behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Ning; Yu, Angela J

2016-01-01

Inhibitory control, the ability to stop or modify preplanned actions under changing task conditions, is an important component of cognitive functions. Two lines of models of inhibitory control have previously been proposed for human response in the classical stop-signal task, in which subjects must inhibit a default go response upon presentation of an infrequent stop signal: (1) the race model, which posits two independent go and stop processes that race to determine the behavioral outcome, go or stop; and (2) an optimal decision-making model, which posits that observers decides whether and when to go based on continually (Bayesian) updated information about both the go and stop stimuli. In this work, we probe the relationship between go and stop processing by explicitly manipulating the discrimination difficulty of the go stimulus. While the race model assumes the go and stop processes are independent, and therefore go stimulus discriminability should not affect the stop stimulus processing, we simulate the optimal model to show that it predicts harder go discrimination should result in longer go reaction time (RT), lower stop error rate, as well as faster stop-signal RT. We then present novel behavioral data that validate these model predictions. The results thus favor a fundamentally inseparable account of go and stop processing, in a manner consistent with the optimal model, and contradicting the independence assumption of the race model. More broadly, our findings contribute to the growing evidence that the computations underlying inhibitory control are systematically modulated by cognitive influences in a Bayes-optimal manner, thus opening new avenues for interpreting neural responses underlying inhibitory control.

Inseparability of Go and Stop in Inhibitory Control: Go Stimulus Discriminability Affects Stopping Behavior

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ning eMa

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Inhibitory control, the ability to stop or modify preplanned actions under changing task conditions, is an important component of cognitive functions. Two lines of models of inhibitory control have previously been proposed for human response in the classical stop-signal task, in which subjects must inhibit a default go response upon presentation of an infrequent stop signal: (1 the race model, which posits two independent go and stop processes that race to determine the behavioral outcome, go or stop; and (2 an optimal decision-making model, which posits that observers decides whether and when to go based on continually (Bayesian updated information about both the go and stop stimuli. In this work, we probe the relationship between go and stop processing by explicitly manipulating the discrimination difficulty of the go stimulus. While the race model assumes the go and stop processes are independent, and therefore go stimulus discriminability should not affect the stop stimulus processing, we simulate the optimal model to show that it predicts harder go discrimination results in a longer go reaction time (RT, a lower stop error rate, as well as a faster stop-signal RT. We then present novel behavioral data that validate these model predictions. The results thus favor a fundamentally inseparable account of go and stop processing, in a manner consistent with the optimal model, and contradicting the independence assumption of the race model. More broadly, our findings contribute to the growing evidence that the computations underlying inhibitory control are systematically modulated by cognitive influences in a Bayes-optimal manner, thus opening new avenues for interpreting neural responses underlying inhibitory control.

OnSight: Multi-platform Visualization of the Surface of Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Abercrombie, S. P.; Menzies, A.; Winter, A.; Clausen, M.; Duran, B.; Jorritsma, M.; Goddard, C.; Lidawer, A.

2017-12-01

A key challenge of planetary geology is to develop an understanding of an environment that humans cannot (yet) visit. Instead, scientists rely on visualizations created from images sent back by robotic explorers, such as the Curiosity Mars rover. OnSight is a multi-platform visualization tool that helps scientists and engineers to visualize the surface of Mars. Terrain visualization allows scientists to understand the scale and geometric relationships of the environment around the Curiosity rover, both for scientific understanding and for tactical consideration in safely operating the rover. OnSight includes a web-based 2D/3D visualization tool, as well as an immersive mixed reality visualization. In addition, OnSight offers a novel feature for communication among the science team. Using the multiuser feature of OnSight, scientists can meet virtually on Mars, to discuss geology in a shared spatial context. Combining web-based visualization with immersive visualization allows OnSight to leverage strengths of both platforms. This project demonstrates how 3D visualization can be adapted to either an immersive environment or a computer screen, and will discuss advantages and disadvantages of both platforms.

Sight Restrictions in Maghrib Muslim Architecture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mustapha Ben Hamouche

1999-12-01

Full Text Available Sight in Islamic culture is subject to legal restrictions that aim at preserving moral consciousness in Muslim societies. These restrictions have a direct impact on architecture in traditional Muslim cities. Details such as placement of doors and windows, the use of balconies and rooftops, and building heights were shaped by legal reasoning based on sight restrictions. The present study aims at highlighting this legal reasoning system by analyzing legal opinions that were continuously advocated by jurists in response to daily practices, and the legal principles on which these opinions were based. This is expected to contribute in developing a new intellectual discourse on Muslim architecture that could go beyond the present design theories.

Drivers' smart advisory system improves driving performance at STOP sign intersections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qing Li

2017-06-01

Full Text Available STOP signs are often physically blocked by obstacles at the corner, forming a safety threat. To enhance the safety at an un-signalized intersection like a STOP sign intersection, a radio frequency identification (RFID based drivers smart advisory system (DSAS was developed, which provides drivers with an earlier warning message when they are approaching an un-signalized intersection. In this research, a pilot field test was conducted with the DSAS alarm on an approach towards a STOP sign intersection in a residential area in Houston, Texas. The designed test route covers all turning movements, including left turn, through movement, and right turn. GPS units recorded test drivers' driving behaviors. A self-developed MATLAB program and statistically significant difference t-test were applied to analyze the impacts of the DSAS messages on drivers' driving performance, in terms of approaching speed profile, acceleration/deceleration rates, braking distance, and possible extra vehicle emissions induced by the introduction of the DSAS message. Drivers' preference on the DSAS was investigated by a designed survey questionnaire among test drivers. Results showed that the DSAS alarm was able to induce drivers to drive significantly slower to approach a STOP sign intersection, perform smaller fluctuation in acceleration/deceleration rates, and be more aware of a coming STOP sign indicated by decelerating earlier. All test drivers preferred to follow the DSAS alarm on roads for a safety concern. Further, the DSAS alarm caused the reduction in emission rates through movement. For a general observation, more road tests with more participants and different test routes were recommended.

Galactic Structure in the Outer Disk: The Field in the Line of Sight to the Intermediate-Age open Cluster Tombaugh 1

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carraro, Giovanni [Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Universitá di Padova Vicolo Osservatorio 3 I-35122, Padova (Italy); Silva, Joao Victor Sales [Observatorio Nacional/MCT Rua Gen. José Cristino 77 20291-400, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); Bidin, Christian Moni [Instituto de Astronomia, Universidad Catolica del Norte Av. Angamos 0610, Casilla 1280 Antofagasta (Chile); Vazquez, Ruben A., E-mail: giovanni.carraro@unipd.it [Instituto de Astrofisica de La Plata CONICET/ UNLP, Paseo del Bosque s/n La Plata (Argentina)

2017-03-01

We employ optical photometry and high-resolution spectroscopy to study a field toward the open cluster Tombaugh 1, where we identify a complex population mixture that we describe in terms of young and old Galactic thin disks. Of particular interest is the spatial distribution of the young population, which consists of dwarfs with spectral types as early as B6 and is distributed in a blue plume feature in the color–magnitude diagram. For the first time, we confirm spectroscopically that most of these stars are early-type stars and not blue stragglers or halo/thick-disk subdwarfs. Moreover, they are not evenly distributed along the line of sight but crowd at heliocentric distances between 6.6 and 8.2 kpc. We compare these results with present-day understanding of the spiral structure of the Galaxy and suggest that they trace the outer arm. This range of distances challenges current Galactic models adopting a disk cutoff at 14 kpc from the Galactic center. The young dwarfs overlap in space with an older component, which is identified as an old Galactic thin disk. Both young and old populations are confined in space since the disk is warped at the latitude and longitude of Tombaugh 1. The main effects of the warp are that the line of sight intersects the disk and entirely crosses it at the outer arm distance and that there are no traces of the closer Perseus arm, which would then be either unimportant in this sector or located much closer to the formal Galactic plane. Finally, we analyze a group of giant stars, which turn out to be located at very different distances and to possess very different chemical properties, with no obvious relation to the other populations.

Sight Word and Phonics Training in Children with Dyslexia

Science.gov (United States)

McArthur, Genevieve; Castles, Anne; Kohnen, Saskia; Larsen, Linda; Jones, Kristy; Anandakumar, Thushara; Banales, Erin

2015-01-01

The aims of this study were to (a) compare sight word training and phonics training in children with dyslexia, and (b) determine if different orders of sight word and phonics training have different effects on the reading skills of children with dyslexia. One group of children (n = 36) did 8 weeks of phonics training (reading via grapheme-phoneme…

Stopping, goal-conflict, trait anxiety and frontal rhythmic power in the stop-signal task.

Science.gov (United States)

Neo, Phoebe S-H; Thurlow, Jane K; McNaughton, Neil

2011-12-01

The medial right frontal cortex is implicated in fast stopping of an initiated motor action in the stop-signal task (SST). To assess whether this region is also involved in the slower behavioural inhibition induced by goal conflict, we tested for effects of goal conflict (when stop and go tendencies are balanced) on low-frequency rhythms in the SST. Stop trials were divided, according to the delays at which the stop signal occurred, into short-, intermediate-, and long-delay trials. Consistent with goal-conflict processing, intermediate-delay trials were associated with greater 7-8 Hz EEG power than short- or long-delay trials at medial right frontal sites (Fz, F4, and F8). At F8, 7-8 Hz power was linked to high trait anxiety and neuroticism. A separate 4-7 Hz power increase was also seen in stop, relative to go, trials, but this was independent of delay, was maximal at the central midline site Cz, and predicted faster stopping. Together with previous data on the SST, these results suggest that the right frontal region could be involved in multiple inhibition mechanisms. We propose a hierarchical model of the control of stopping that integrates the literature on the neural control of fast motor stopping with that on slower, motive-directed behavioural inhibition.

Clamped seismic metamaterials: ultra-low frequency stop bands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Achaoui, Y; Enoch, S; Guenneau, S; Antonakakis, T; Brûlé, S; Craster, R V

2017-01-01

The regularity of earthquakes, their destructive power, and the nuisance of ground vibration in urban environments, all motivate designs of defence structures to lessen the impact of seismic and ground vibration waves on buildings. Low frequency waves, in the range 1–10 Hz for earthquakes and up to a few tens of Hz for vibrations generated by human activities, cause a large amount of damage, or inconvenience; depending on the geological conditions they can travel considerable distances and may match the resonant fundamental frequency of buildings. The ultimate aim of any seismic metamaterial, or any other seismic shield, is to protect over this entire range of frequencies; the long wavelengths involved, and low frequency, have meant this has been unachievable to date. Notably this is scalable and the effects also hold for smaller devices in ultrasonics. There are three approaches to obtaining shielding effects: bragg scattering, locally resonant sub-wavelength inclusions and zero-frequency stop-band media. The former two have been explored, but the latter has not and is examined here. Elastic flexural waves, applicable in the mechanical vibrations of thin elastic plates, can be designed to have a broad zero-frequency stop-band using a periodic array of very small clamped circles. Inspired by this experimental and theoretical observation, all be it in a situation far removed from seismic waves, we demonstrate that it is possible to achieve elastic surface (Rayleigh) wave reflectors at very large wavelengths in structured soils modelled as a fully elastic layer periodically clamped to bedrock. We identify zero frequency stop-bands that only exist in the limit of columns of concrete clamped at their base to the bedrock. In a realistic configuration of a sedimentary basin 15 m deep we observe a zero frequency stop-band covering a broad frequency range of 0–30 Hz. (paper)

Improvement in spatial imagery following sight onset late in childhood.

Science.gov (United States)

Gandhi, Tapan K; Ganesh, Suma; Sinha, Pawan

2014-03-01

The factors contributing to the development of spatial imagery skills are not well understood. Here, we consider whether visual experience shapes these skills. Although differences in spatial imagery between sighted and blind individuals have been reported, it is unclear whether these differences are truly due to visual deprivation or instead are due to extraneous factors, such as reduced opportunities for the blind to interact with their environment. A direct way of assessing vision's contribution to the development of spatial imagery is to determine whether spatial imagery skills change soon after the onset of sight in congenitally blind individuals. We tested 10 children who gained sight after several years of congenital blindness and found significant improvements in their spatial imagery skills following sight-restoring surgeries. These results provide evidence of vision's contribution to spatial imagery and also have implications for the nature of internal spatial representations.

The importance of sight for drivers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alicja Pas-Wyroślak

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Sight is the basic sense for drivers. Condition of the eye determines correct, comfortable and safe performance of the work as drivers. This article presents various factors influencing the sight condition. There are two groups of factors, external (environment, the kind and time of work, stress caused by work and internal (systemic and local disorders. All these factors can reduce significantly visual functions, such as visual acuity, field of vision, color vision, strereoscopic vision, twilight vision and glare sensitivity. There are also presented actual requirements for drivers and causes of the car accidents in various age groups. Impairments in vision functions can be dangerous for both the driver and other road users. Med Pr 2013;64(3:419–425

Measuring the Dust Grains and Distance to X Persei Via Its X-ray Halo

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Randall

2006-09-01

We propose to observe the X-ray halo of the high mass X-ray binary pulsar X Per to measure interstellar dust grains along the line of sight (LOS) and to determine the distance to X Per. The X-ray halo is formed by scattering from grains along the LOS, which for X Per appear to be concentrated in one molecular cloud. Unlike many other X-ray halo observations, this low-absorption high-latitude sightline is well-characterized from absorption spectroscopy done with HST, Copernicus, and FUSE. This halo observation will measure the distance to the cloud and the dust size distribution in it. We will also be able to determine the distance to X Per by measuring the time delayed pulses in the X-ray halo.

Glaucoma: Screening Can Save Your Sight!

Science.gov (United States)

... of this page please turn Javascript on. Feature: Glaucoma Glaucoma: Screening Can Save Your Sight! Past Issues / Fall 2009 Table of Contents People with glaucoma see the world through a tunnel. Glaucoma is ...

Right Whale Sightings Advisory System (RWSAS)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Right Whale Sighting Advisory System (RWSAS) is a NOAA Fisheries program which was designed to reduce collisions between ships and the critically endangered...

A large catalog of accurate distances to molecular clouds from PS1 photometry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schlafly, E. F.; Rix, H.-W.; Martin, N. F. [Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany); Green, G.; Finkbeiner, D. P. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Bell, E. F. [Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, 500 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States); Burgett, W. S.; Chambers, K. C.; Hodapp, K. W.; Kaiser, N.; Magnier, E. A.; Tonry, J. L. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Draper, P. W.; Metcalfe, N. [Department of Physics, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom); Price, P. A. [Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States)

2014-05-01

Distance measurements to molecular clouds are important but are often made separately for each cloud of interest, employing very different data and techniques. We present a large, homogeneous catalog of distances to molecular clouds, most of which are of unprecedented accuracy. We determine distances using optical photometry of stars along lines of sight toward these clouds, obtained from PanSTARRS-1. We simultaneously infer the reddenings and distances to these stars, tracking the full probability distribution function using a technique presented in Green et al. We fit these star-by-star measurements using a simple dust screen model to find the distance to each cloud. We thus estimate the distances to almost all of the clouds in the Magnani et al. catalog, as well as many other well-studied clouds, including Orion, Perseus, Taurus, Cepheus, Polaris, California, and Monoceros R2, avoiding only the inner Galaxy. Typical statistical uncertainties in the distances are 5%, though the systematic uncertainty stemming from the quality of our stellar models is about 10%. The resulting catalog is the largest catalog of accurate, directly measured distances to molecular clouds. Our distance estimates are generally consistent with available distance estimates from the literature, though in some cases the literature estimates are off by a factor of more than two.

Distance still matters. The hard reality of global expansion.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghemawat, P

2001-09-01

Companies routinely overestimate the attractiveness of foreign markets. Dazzled by the sheer size of untapped markets, they lose sight of the difficulties of pioneering new, often very different territories. The problem is rooted in the analytic tools (the most prominent being country portfolio analysis, or CPA) that managers use to judge international investments. By focusing on national wealth, consumer income, and people's propensity to consume, CPA emphasizes potential sales, ignoring the costs and risks of doing business in a new market. Most of these costs and risks result from the barriers created by distance. "Distance," however, does not refer only to geography; its other dimensions can make foreign markets considerably more or less attractive. The CAGE framework of distance presented here considers four attributes: cultural distance (religious beliefs, race, social norms, and language that are different for the target country and the country of the company considering expansion); administrative or political distance (colony-colonizer links, common currency, and trade arrangements); geographic distance (the physical distance between the two countries, the size of the target country, access to waterways and the ocean, internal topography, and transportation and communications infrastructures); and economic distance (disparities in the two countries' wealth or consumer income and variations in the cost and quality of financial and other resources). This framework can help to identify the ways in which potential markets may be distant from existing ones. The article explores how (and by how much) various types of distance can affect different types of industries and shows how dramatically an explicit consideration of distance can change a company's picture of its strategic options.

The processing of music notation: some implications for piano sight ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Most piano pupils and many professional pianists find it difficult to sight-read music fluently. A major reason for this phenomenon is the complexity of the piano sight-reading process. Cognitive research reveals an intricate system of neural networks spread over all four cortical lobes of the brain, which are involved in ...

Interactive SIGHT: textual access to simple bar charts

Science.gov (United States)

Demir, Seniz; Oliver, David; Schwartz, Edward; Elzer, Stephanie; Carberry, Sandra; Mccoy, Kathleen F.; Chester, Daniel

2010-12-01

Information graphics, such as bar charts and line graphs, are an important component of many articles from popular media. The majority of such graphics have an intention (a high-level message) to communicate to the graph viewer. Since the intended message of a graphic is often not repeated in the accompanying text, graphics together with the textual segments contribute to the overall purpose of an article and cannot be ignored. Unfortunately, these visual displays are provided in a format which is not readily accessible to everyone. For example, individuals with sight impairments who use screen readers to listen to documents have limited access to the graphics. This article presents a new accessibility tool, the Interactive SIGHT (Summarizing Information GrapHics Textually) system, that is intended to enable visually impaired users to access the knowledge that one would gain from viewing information graphics found on the web. The current system, which is implemented as a browser extension that works on simple bar charts, can be invoked by a user via a keystroke combination while navigating the web. Once launched, Interactive SIGHT first provides a brief summary that conveys the underlying intention of a bar chart along with the chart's most significant and salient features, and then produces history-aware follow-up responses to provide further information about the chart upon request from the user. We present two user studies that were conducted with sighted and visually impaired users to determine how effective the initial summary and follow-up responses are in conveying the informational content of bar charts, and to evaluate how easy it is to use the system interface. The evaluation results are promising and indicate that the system responses are well-structured and enable visually impaired users to answer key questions about bar charts in an easy-to-use manner. Post-experimental interviews revealed that visually impaired participants were very satisfied with

Assessing distances and consistency of kinematics in Gaia/TGAS

Science.gov (United States)

Schönrich, Ralph; Aumer, Michael

2017-12-01

We apply the statistical methods by Schönrich, Binney & Asplund to assess the quality of distances and kinematics in the Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE)-Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS) and Large Sky Area Multiobject Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST)-TGAS samples of Solar neighbourhood stars. These methods yield a nominal distance accuracy of 1-2 per cent. Other than common tests on parallax accuracy, they directly test distance estimations including the effects of distance priors. We show how to construct these priors including the survey selection functions (SSFs) directly from the data. We demonstrate that neglecting the SSFs causes severe distance biases. Due to the decline of the SSFs in distance, the simple 1/parallax estimate only mildly underestimates distances. We test the accuracy of measured line-of-sight velocities (vlos) by binning the samples in the nominal vlos uncertainties. We find: (i) the LAMOST vlos have a ∼-5 km s-1 offset; (ii) the average LAMOST measurement error for vlos is ∼7 km s-1, significantly smaller than, and nearly uncorrelated with the nominal LAMOST estimates. The RAVE sample shows either a moderate distance underestimate, or an unaccounted source of vlos dispersion (e∥) from measurement errors and binary stars. For a subsample of suspected binary stars in RAVE, our methods indicate significant distance underestimates. Separating a sample in metallicity or kinematics to select thick-disc/halo stars, discriminates between distance bias and e∥. For LAMOST, this separation yields consistency with pure vlos measurement errors. We find an anomaly near longitude l ∼ (300 ± 60)° and distance s ∼ (0.32 ± 0.03) kpc on both sides of the galactic plane, which could be explained by either a localized distance error or a breathing mode.

Metabolic profile of long-distance migratory flight and stopover in a shorebird

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Landys, MM; Piersma, T; Guglielmo, CG; Jukema, J; Ramenofsky, M; Wingfield, JC; Guglielmo, Christopher G.; Wingfield, John C.

2005-01-01

Migrating birds often complete long non-stop flights during which body energy stores exclusively support energetic demands. The metabolic correlates of such long-distance travel in free-living migrants are as yet poorly studied. Bar-tailed godwits, Limosa lapponica taymyrensis, undertake a 4500 km

Quality of life in blind and partially sighted people

OpenAIRE

Vuletić, Gorka; Šarlija, Tea; Benjak, Tomislav

2016-01-01

The aim of this research was to examine the subjective quality of life in blind and partially sighted people in relation to the type of impairment, duration of impairment and participation in psychosocial rehabilitation. The study used a sociodemographic and health questionnaire, and the Personal Wellbeing Index for adults to examine participant satisfaction with different life domains. The results have shown that subjective quality of life in blind and partially sighted people is within the ...

ESTIMATION OF DISTANCES TO STARS WITH STELLAR PARAMETERS FROM LAMOST

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carlin, Jeffrey L.; Newberg, Heidi Jo [Department of Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180 (United States); Liu, Chao; Deng, Licai; Li, Guangwei; Luo, A-Li; Wu, Yue; Yang, Ming; Zhang, Haotong [Key Lab of Optical Astronomy, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012 (China); Beers, Timothy C. [Department of Physics and JINA: Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, 225 Nieuwland Science Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556 (United States); Chen, Li; Hou, Jinliang; Smith, Martin C. [Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, 80 Nandan Road, Shanghai 200030 (China); Guhathakurta, Puragra [UCO/Lick Observatory, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Hou, Yonghui [Nanjing Institute of Astronomical Optics and Technology, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210042 (China); Lépine, Sébastien [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Georgia State University, 25 Park Place, Suite 605, Atlanta, GA 30303 (United States); Yanny, Brian [Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510 (United States); Zheng, Zheng, E-mail: jeffreylcarlin@gmail.com [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah, UT 84112 (United States)

2015-07-15

We present a method to estimate distances to stars with spectroscopically derived stellar parameters. The technique is a Bayesian approach with likelihood estimated via comparison of measured parameters to a grid of stellar isochrones, and returns a posterior probability density function for each star’s absolute magnitude. This technique is tailored specifically to data from the Large Sky Area Multi-object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) survey. Because LAMOST obtains roughly 3000 stellar spectra simultaneously within each ∼5° diameter “plate” that is observed, we can use the stellar parameters of the observed stars to account for the stellar luminosity function and target selection effects. This removes biasing assumptions about the underlying populations, both due to predictions of the luminosity function from stellar evolution modeling, and from Galactic models of stellar populations along each line of sight. Using calibration data of stars with known distances and stellar parameters, we show that our method recovers distances for most stars within ∼20%, but with some systematic overestimation of distances to halo giants. We apply our code to the LAMOST database, and show that the current precision of LAMOST stellar parameters permits measurements of distances with ∼40% error bars. This precision should improve as the LAMOST data pipelines continue to be refined.

COMPARISON OF SOLAR SURFACE FLOWS INFERRED FROM TIME-DISTANCE HELIOSEISMOLOGY AND COHERENT STRUCTURE TRACKING USING HMI/SDO OBSERVATIONS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Švanda, Michal; Roudier, Thierry; Rieutord, Michel; Burston, Raymond; Gizon, Laurent

2013-01-01

We compare measurements of horizontal flows on the surface of the Sun using helioseismic time-distance inversions and coherent structure tracking of solar granules. Tracking provides two-dimensional horizontal flows on the solar surface, whereas the time-distance inversions estimate the full three-dimensional velocity flows in the shallow near-surface layers. Both techniques use Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager observations as input. We find good correlations between the various measurements resulting from the two techniques. Further, we find a good agreement between these measurements and the time-averaged Doppler line-of-sight velocity, and also perform sanity checks on the vertical flow that resulted from the three-dimensional time-distance inversion.

Progress in understanding heavy-ion stopping

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sigmund, P., E-mail: sigmund@sdu.dk [Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Southern Denmark, DK-5230 Odense M (Denmark); Schinner, A. [Institut für Experimentalphysik, Johannes Kepler Universität, A-4040 Linz (Austria)

2016-09-01

We report some highlights of our work with heavy-ion stopping in the energy range where Bethe stopping theory breaks down. Main tools are our binary stopping theory (PASS code), the reciprocity principle, and Paul’s data base. Comparisons are made between PASS and three alternative theoretical schemes (CasP, HISTOP and SLPA). In addition to equilibrium stopping we discuss frozen-charge stopping, deviations from linear velocity dependence below the Bragg peak, application of the reciprocity principle in low-velocity stopping, modeling of equilibrium charges, and the significance of the so-called effective charge.

Progress in understanding heavy-ion stopping

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sigmund, P.; Schinner, A.

2016-01-01

We report some highlights of our work with heavy-ion stopping in the energy range where Bethe stopping theory breaks down. Main tools are our binary stopping theory (PASS code), the reciprocity principle, and Paul’s data base. Comparisons are made between PASS and three alternative theoretical schemes (CasP, HISTOP and SLPA). In addition to equilibrium stopping we discuss frozen-charge stopping, deviations from linear velocity dependence below the Bragg peak, application of the reciprocity principle in low-velocity stopping, modeling of equilibrium charges, and the significance of the so-called effective charge.

Electrophysiological correlates of mental navigation in blind and sighted people.

Science.gov (United States)

Kober, Silvia Erika; Wood, Guilherme; Kampl, Christiane; Neuper, Christa; Ischebeck, Anja

2014-10-15

The aim of the present study was to investigate functional reorganization of the occipital cortex for a mental navigation task in blind people. Eight completely blind adults and eight sighted matched controls performed a mental navigation task, in which they mentally imagined to walk along familiar routes of their hometown during a multi-channel EEG measurement. A motor imagery task was used as control condition. Furthermore, electrophysiological activation patterns during a resting measurement with open and closed eyes were compared between blind and sighted participants. During the resting measurement with open eyes, no differences in EEG power were observed between groups, whereas sighted participants showed higher alpha (8-12Hz) activity at occipital sites compared to blind participants during an eyes-closed resting condition. During the mental navigation task, blind participants showed a stronger event-related desynchronization in the alpha band over the visual cortex compared to sighted controls indicating a stronger activation in this brain region in the blind. Furthermore, groups showed differences in functional brain connectivity between fronto-central and parietal-occipital brain networks during mental navigation indicating stronger visuo-spatial processing in sighted than in blind people during mental navigation. Differences in electrophysiological parameters between groups were specific for mental navigation since no group differences were observed during motor imagery. These results indicate that in the absence of vision the visual cortex takes over other functions such as spatial navigation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Agutaynen Glottal Stop.

Science.gov (United States)

Quakenbush, J. Stephen

A study investigated the phonemic and morphophonemic patterning of the glottal stop in Agutaynen, a Meso-Philippine language, and some comparison with two northern Philippine languages. Agutaynen glottal stop has as its sole origin a neutralization of contrast rule, the operation of which can be noted in three different linguistic environments.…

Preferred viewing distance and screen angle of electronic paper displays.

Science.gov (United States)

Shieh, Kong-King; Lee, Der-Song

2007-09-01

This study explored the viewing distance and screen angle for electronic paper (E-Paper) displays under various light sources, ambient illuminations, and character sizes. Data analysis showed that the mean viewing distance and screen angle were 495 mm and 123.7 degrees. The mean viewing distances for Kolin Chlorestic Liquid Crystal display was 500 mm, significantly longer than Sony electronic ink display, 491 mm. Screen angle for Kolin was 127.4 degrees, significantly greater than that of Sony, 120.0 degrees. Various light sources revealed no significant effect on viewing distances; nevertheless, they showed significant effect on screen angles. The screen angle for sunlight lamp (D65) was similar to that of fluorescent lamp (TL84), but greater than that of tungsten lamp (F). Ambient illumination and E-paper type had significant effects on viewing distance and screen angle. The higher the ambient illumination was, the longer the viewing distance and the lesser the screen angle. Character size had significant effect on viewing distances: the larger the character size, the longer the viewing distance. The results of this study indicated that the viewing distance for E-Paper was similar to that of visual display terminal (VDT) at around 500 mm, but greater than normal paper at about 360 mm. The mean screen angle was around 123.7 degrees, which in terms of viewing angle is 29.5 degrees below horizontal eye level. This result is similar to the general suggested viewing angle between 20 degrees and 50 degrees below the horizontal line of sight.

All in One Stop? The Accessibility of Work Support Programs at One-Stop Centers.

Science.gov (United States)

Richer, Elise; Kubo, Hitomi; Frank, Abbey

The accessibility of work support programs at one-stop centers was examined in a study during which 33 telephone directors or managers of one-stop centers in 22 states were interviewed by telephone. The interviews established the existence of extensive differences between one-stop centers from the standpoint of all aspects of their operation,…

LHC Availability 2017: Technical Stop 1 to Technical Stop 2

CERN Document Server

Todd, Benjamin; Apollonio, Andrea; Walsh, David John; CERN. Geneva. ATS Department

2017-01-01

This document summarises the LHC machine availability for the period of Technical Stop 1 (TS1) to Technical Stop 2 (TS2) in 2017. This period was dedicated to proton physics with a bunch spacing of 25ns. This note has been produced and ratified by the Availability Working Group which has complied fault information for the period in question using the Accelerator Fault Tracker.

Sight threatening retinopathy in a child with sickle cell &beta ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Sight threatening changes in the retina are a well-recognized complication of sickle cell disease (SCD). However they usually occur in older patients with Haemoglobin SC or Sβ+thal patterns. It is rarely found under the age of 20 years in patients who are Hb SS or Sβ<°thal. This is a report of sight threatening retinopathy in ...

Luminescent beam stop

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bryant, Diane; Morton, Simon A.

2017-10-25

This disclosure provides systems, methods, and apparatus related to beam stops. In one aspect, a device comprises a luminescent material, a beam stop plate, and an optical fiber. The luminescent material is a parallelepiped having a first side and a second side that are squares and having a third side that is a rectangle or a square. The first side and the second side are perpendicular to the third side. The beam stop plate is attached to the first side of the luminescent material. The optical fiber has a first end and a second end, with the first end of the optical fiber attached to the third side of the luminescent material.

Probing Light Stops with Stoponium

CERN Document Server

Batell, Brian

2015-01-01

We derive new limits on light stops from diboson resonance searches in the $\\gamma\\gamma$, $Z \\gamma$, $ZZ$, $WW$ and $hh$ channels from the first run of the LHC. If the two-body decays of the light stop are mildly suppressed or kinematically forbidden, stoponium bound states will form in $pp$ collisions and subsequently decay via the pair annihilation of the constituent stops to diboson final states, yielding striking resonance signatures. Remarkably, we find that stoponium searches are highly complementary to direct collider searches and indirect probes of light stops such as Higgs coupling measurements. Using an empirical quarkonia potential model and including the first two $S$-wave stoponium states, we find that in the decoupling limit $m_{\\widetilde t_1} \\lesssim 130$ GeV is excluded for any value of the stop mixing angle and heavy stop mass by the combination of the latest resonance searches and the indirect constraints. The $\\gamma \\gamma$ searches are the most complementary to the indirect constraint...

Stop smoking support programs

Science.gov (United States)

Smokeless tobacco - stop smoking programs; Stop smoking techniques; Smoking cessation programs; Smoking cessation techniques ... You can find out about smoking cessation programs from: Your ... Your employer Your local health department The National Cancer ...

Vocal Sight-Reading Assessment: Technological Advances, Student Perceptions, and Instructional Implications

Science.gov (United States)

Henry, Michele

2015-01-01

This study investigated choral singers' comfort level using computer technology for vocal sight-reading assessment. High school choral singers (N = 138) attending a summer music camp completed a computer-based sight-reading assessment and accompanying pre- and posttest surveys on their musical backgrounds and perceptions about technology. A large…

CALCULATION OF A GLARE STOP FOR TWO-MIRROR EXTRA-FOCAL OBJECTIVE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. F. Zambrano

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Recently, efforts to improve optical characteristics in canonical mirror systems, including aspherical surfaces and corrective aberration capabilities. At the same time, much attention is paid to the development of new optical schemes of two-mirror objectives. Development measures to protect the image plane from stray light and harmful flows with minimal vignetting and screening is one of the most perspective ways for improving the image quality objectives. The only method to eliminate or even reduce these non-constructive rays is to set glare stops. The aim of the work was an improving method for constructing a glare stop to protect the image plane and the creation of a calculation algorithm of glare stop for protecting the image plane based on two-mirror extra-focal objectives.The study was conducted in two stages. In the course of the first stage, the positions of screening and intermediate image plane were obtained, as well as the central screening coefficient. At the second stage, an arrangement for the position of glare stop is proposed using the algorithm calculation. Thus, mathematical expressions were achieved by geometric constructions. The relation of the screening coefficient with the distance between the surfaces of the mirrors and the height of the paraxial rays is established. А representation of vignetting diagram for two-mirror extra-focal objective with D/f´ = 1 : 1,3 and 2ω = 4° was realized. The Q estimation of vignetting of inclined light beams is k= 0,56.

Retroactive Stop Loss Special Pay

Science.gov (United States)

Pay (RSLSP), providing $500 for each month/partial month served in stop loss status. Service members served under stop loss must submit a claim for the special pay. Throughout the year, the services have or extension of service, became ineligible to receive retroactive stop loss special pay. There may be

375-nm ultraviolet-laser based non-line-of-sight underwater optical communication

KAUST Repository

Sun, Xiaobin; Cai, Wenqi; Alkhazragi, Omar; Ooi, Ee-Ning; He, Hongsen; Chaaban, Anas; Shen, Chao; Oubei, Hassan M.; Khan, Mohammed Zahed Mustafa; Ng, Tien Khee; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim; Ooi, Boon S.

2018-01-01

For circumventing the alignment requirement of line-of-sight (LOS) underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC), we demonstrated a non-line-of-sight (NLOS) UWOC link adequately enhanced using ultraviolet (UV) 375-nm laser. Path loss was chosen

Stop feeling: inhibition of emotional interference following stop-signal trials.

Science.gov (United States)

Kalanthroff, Eyal; Cohen, Noga; Henik, Avishai

2013-01-01

Although a great deal of literature has been dedicated to the mutual links between emotion and the selective attention component of executive control, there is very little data regarding the links between emotion and the inhibitory component of executive control. In the current study we employed an emotional stop-signal task in order to examine whether emotion modulates and is modulated by inhibitory control. Results replicated previous findings showing reduced inhibitory control [longer stop-signal reaction time (SSRT)] following negative, compared to neutral pictures. Most importantly, results show decreased emotional interference following stop-signal trials. These results show that the inhibitory control component of executive control can serve to decrease emotional effects. We suggest that inhibitory control and emotion have a two-way connection in which emotion disrupts inhibitory control and activation of inhibitory control disrupts emotion.

Stop feeling: Inhibition of emotional interference following stop-signal trials

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eyal eKalanthroff

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Although a great deal of literature has been dedicated to the mutual links between emotion and the selective attention component of executive control, there is very little data regarding the links between emotion and the inhibitory component of executive control. In the current study we employed an emotional stop-signal task in order to examine whether emotion modulates and is modulated by inhibitory control. Results replicated previous findings showing reduced inhibitory control (longer stop-signal reaction time following negative, compared to neutral pictures. Most importantly, results show decreased emotional interference following stop-signal trials. These results show that the inhibitory control component of executive control can serve to decrease emotional effects. We suggest that inhibitory control and emotion have a two-way connection in which emotion disrupts inhibitory control and activation of inhibitory control disrupts emotion.

Clustering of galaxies around gamma-ray burst sight-lines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sudilovsky, V.; Greiner, J.; Rau, A.

2013-01-01

-lines, as strong MgII tends to trace these sources. In this work, we test this expectation by calculating the two point angular correlation function of galaxies within 120'' (~470 h Kpc470h71-1Kpc at z ~ 0.4) of GRB afterglows. We compare the gamma-ray burst optical and near-infrared detector (GROND) GRB afterglow.......3. This result is contrary to the expectations from the MgII excess derived from GRB afterglow spectroscopy, although many confirmed galaxy counterparts to MgII absorbers may be too faint to detect in our sample-especially those at z > 1. We note that the addition of higher sensitivity Spitzer/IRAC or HST/WFC3......There is evidence of an overdensity of strong intervening MgII absorption line systems distributed along the lines of sight toward gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows relative to quasar sight-lines. If this excess is real, one should also expect an overdensity of field galaxies around GRB sight...

Trends in anecdotal fox sightings in Tasmania accounted for by psychological factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Marks, Clive A; Clark, Malcolm; Obendorf, David; Hall, Graham P; Soares, Inês; Pereira, Filipe

2017-12-01

There has been little evaluation of anecdotal sightings as a means to confirm new incursions of invasive species. This paper explores the potential for equivocal information communicated by the media to account for patterns of anecdotal reports. In 2001, it was widely reported that red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) had been deliberately released in the island state of Tasmania (Australia), although this claim was later revealed to be baseless. Regardless, by 2013 a total of 3153 anecdotal fox sightings had been reported by members of the public, which implied their distribution was wide. For each month in 2001-2003, we defined a monthly media index (MMI) of fox-related media coverage, an index of their relative seasonal abundance (abundance), and a factor denoting claims of fox evidence (claimed evidence) regardless of its evidentiary quality. We fitted a generalized linear model with Poisson error for monthly totals of anecdotal sightings with factors of year and claimed evidence and covariates of MMI, abundance, and hours of darkness. The collective effect of psychological factors (MMI, claimed evidence, and year) relative to biophysical factors (photoperiod and abundance) was highly significant (χ 2 = 122.1, df = 6, p fox media from 2001 to 2010 was strongly associated with the yearly tally of anecdotal sightings (p = 0.018). The odds ratio of sightings ranked as reliable by the fox eradication program in any year decreased exponentially at a rate of 0.00643 as the total number of sightings increased (p < 0.0001) and was indicative of an observer-expectancy bias. Our results suggest anecdotal sightings are highly susceptible to cognitive biases and when used to qualify and quantify species presence can contribute to flawed risk assessments. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

Stop feeling: Inhibition of emotional interference following stop-signal trials

OpenAIRE

Eyal eKalanthroff; Noga eCohen; Avishai eHenik

2013-01-01

Although a great deal of literature has been dedicated to the mutual links between emotion and the selective attention component of executive control, there is very little data regarding the links between emotion and the inhibitory component of executive control. In the current study we employed an emotional stop-signal task in order to examine whether emotion modulates and is modulated by inhibitory control. Results replicated previous findings showing reduced inhibitory control [longer stop...

Creating a store environment that encourages buying: A study on sight atmospherics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yolande Hefer

2015-11-01

Full Text Available More than ever, consumers respond to more than just the physical product when making a decision to purchase a product. One of the most noteworthy features of a product is the atmosphere of the place in which the product is bought. From time to time, the store atmosphere is more powerful than the product itself. This study focused specifically on the most important atmospheric element – sight. The main research question explored the effect of sight atmospherics on consumer perceptions. Explorative research was conducted together with qualitative research by means of focus groups. Purposive sampling was deemed the most appropriate sampling method for this study. The findings indicated that sight atmospherics can influence consumers’ perceptions either subconsciously or consciously, and have a direct influence on the amount of time consumers spend in a specific store. Consumers perceived sight atmospherics as a tool to establish a ‘purchasing’ atmosphere and as a means of communication to represent the brand of the store. It was established that sight atmospherics create visual attraction and stimulation with consumers, and that they contribute to the image and the character of the store.

Spatial Memory by Blind and Sighted Children

Science.gov (United States)

Millar, Susanna

1975-01-01

Non-verbal recall of haptically presented spatial positions by three age groups of blind and sighted children was tested under conditions varying cuing, recall type and stimulus position in a within-subject design. (Editor)

A whistle-stop tour of statistics

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Everitt, Brian

2012-01-01

"Preface according to my Penguin English dictionary, whistle-stop, used before a noun means 'consisting of brief stops in several places' and this whistle-stop tour of statistics does just that, with...

An extended car-following model considering random safety distance with different probabilities

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jufeng; Sun, Fengxin; Cheng, Rongjun; Ge, Hongxia; Wei, Qi

2018-02-01

Because of the difference in vehicle type or driving skill, the driving strategy is not exactly the same. The driving speeds of the different vehicles may be different for the same headway. Since the optimal velocity function is just determined by the safety distance besides the maximum velocity and headway, an extended car-following model accounting for random safety distance with different probabilities is proposed in this paper. The linear stable condition for this extended traffic model is obtained by using linear stability theory. Numerical simulations are carried out to explore the complex phenomenon resulting from multiple safety distance in the optimal velocity function. The cases of multiple types of safety distances selected with different probabilities are presented. Numerical results show that the traffic flow with multiple safety distances with different probabilities will be more unstable than that with single type of safety distance, and will result in more stop-and-go phenomena.

Haptic cues for orientation and postural control in sighted and blind individuals

Science.gov (United States)

Jeka, J. J.; Easton, R. D.; Bentzen, B. L.; Lackner, J. R.

1996-01-01

Haptic cues from fingertip contact with a stable surface attenuate body sway in subjects even when the contact forces are too small to provide physical support of the body. We investigated how haptic cues derived from contact of a cane with a stationary surface at low force levels aids postural control in sighted and congenitally blind individuals. Five sighted (eyes closed) and five congenitally blind subjects maintained a tandem Romberg stance in five conditions: (1) no cane; (2,3) touch contact (postural sway in all subjects, compared to the no-cane condition. A slanted cane was far more effective in reducing postural sway than was a perpendicular cane. Cane use also decreased head displacement of sighted subjects far more than that of blind subjects. These results suggest that head movement control is linked to postural control through gaze stabilization reflexes in sighted subjects; such reflexes are absent in congenitally blind individuals and may account for their higher levels of head displacement.

Measurement of stopping power of heavy ions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kitahara, Tetsuo

1981-01-01

The stopping power of heavy ions is discussed. In the low energy region, heavy ions keep some of their orbital electrons, and have equilibrium electron charge. The stopping power of penetrating particles depends on this effective charge. At present, it is hard to estimate this effective charge theoretically, accordingly, the estimation is made experimentally. Another difficulty in this estimation is that the Born approximation is not effective for heavy ions. In the low energy region, electronic stopping and nuclear stopping contribute to the stopping power. For the electronic stopping, a formula for the stopping power was given by Lindhard et al. The experimental values were obtained at GSI, and are inconsistent with the estimation by the Lindhard's formula. In the high energy region, where the Born approximation can be used, the Bethe's formula is applied, but the experimental data are scarce. Oscillations are seen in the Z dependence graph of the experimental stopping cross sections. Experimental works on the stopping power have been done. The differential and the integral methods were carried out. (Kato, T.)

New method for distance-based close following safety indicator.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharizli, A A; Rahizar, R; Karim, M R; Saifizul, A A

2015-01-01

The increase in the number of fatalities caused by road accidents involving heavy vehicles every year has raised the level of concern and awareness on road safety in developing countries like Malaysia. Changes in the vehicle dynamic characteristics such as gross vehicle weight, travel speed, and vehicle classification will affect a heavy vehicle's braking performance and its ability to stop safely in emergency situations. As such, the aim of this study is to establish a more realistic new distance-based safety indicator called the minimum safe distance gap (MSDG), which incorporates vehicle classification (VC), speed, and gross vehicle weight (GVW). Commercial multibody dynamics simulation software was used to generate braking distance data for various heavy vehicle classes under various loads and speeds. By applying nonlinear regression analysis to the simulation results, a mathematical expression of MSDG has been established. The results show that MSDG is dynamically changed according to GVW, VC, and speed. It is envisaged that this new distance-based safety indicator would provide a more realistic depiction of the real traffic situation for safety analysis.

Pedestrian Safety in Road Traffic in Poland

Science.gov (United States)

Budzynski, Marcin; Jamroz, Kazimierz; Mackun, Tomasz

2017-10-01

Every third road accident in Poland involves a pedestrian as a participant or, most of the time, a casualty. Pedestrian accidents are usually the result of complex situations and the outcome of a number of factors related to driver and pedestrian behaviour and road infrastructure. Safety depends largely on how well the traffic condition is perceived and on visibility in traffic. The paper presents the results of analyses of methodologies for systematic studies of pedestrian behaviour and pedestrian-driver relations. The effects of the location of the site, type of cross-section and other selected parameters on pedestrian and driver behaviour are demonstrated. The analyses showed that pedestrians are most often put at risk by too long pedestrian crossings, vehicles going too fast around pedestrian crossings, lack of proper sight distance and poorly lit or unlit pedestrian crossings. The reason for such defective infrastructure is that planners, designers, contractors and maintenance services are not receiving any support from design, marking and maintenance regulations for pedestrian traffic. In addition, the Road Traffic Law is not restrictive enough when it comes to drivers’ obligations towards pedestrian safety. Polish design regulations allow long pedestrian crossings up to four lanes in one direction or three lanes in two directions irrespective of traffic control and speed limits. Pedestrian crossings should be kept at a maximum of three lanes. There is nothing in the design regulations about the required driver-pedestrian sight distance. Neither does the Road Traffic Law help engineers with that. It is legal to park vehicles within 10 m of a pedestrian crossing which does not guarantee the necessary sight distance. Drivers must be able to see a pedestrian waiting or stepping onto the crossing from a distance that will help them come to a stop safely. It is safer to follow the principle of providing adequate pedestrian sight distance. Recommendations for

20 CFR 662.430 - Under what conditions may One-Stop operators designated to operate in a One-Stop delivery system...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... designated to operate in a One-Stop delivery system established prior to the enactment of WIA be designated... DESCRIPTION OF THE ONE-STOP SYSTEM UNDER TITLE I OF THE WORKFORCE INVESTMENT ACT One-Stop Operators § 662.430 Under what conditions may One-Stop operators designated to operate in a One-Stop delivery system...

Static balance control and lower limb strength in blind and sighted women.

Science.gov (United States)

Giagazoglou, Paraskevi; Amiridis, Ioannis G; Zafeiridis, Andreas; Thimara, Maria; Kouvelioti, Vassiliki; Kellis, Elefthrerios

2009-11-01

The aim of the present study was to examine isokinetic and isometric strength of the knee and ankle muscles and to compare center of pressure (CoP) sway between blind and sighted women. A total of 20 women volunteered to participate in this study. Ten severe blind women (age 33.5 +/- 7.9 years; height 163 +/- 5 cm; mass 64.5 +/- 12.2 kg) and 10 women with normal vision (age 33.5 +/- 8.3 years; height 164 +/- 6 cm; mass 61.9 +/- 14.5 kg) performed 3 different tasks of increasing difficulty: Normal Quiet Stance (1 min), Tandem Stance (20 s), and One-Leg Stance (10 s). Participants stood barefoot on two adjacent force platforms and the CoP variations [peak-to-peak amplitude (CoPmax) and SD of the CoP displacement (CoPsd)] were analyzed. Sighted participants performed the tests in eyes open and eyes closed conditions. Torque/angular velocity and torque/angular position relationships were also established using a Cybex dynamometer for knee extensors and flexors as well as for ankle plantar and dorsiflexors. The main finding of this study was that the ability to control balance in both anterior/posterior and medio/lateral directions was inferior in blind than in sighted women. However, when sighted participants performed the tests blindfolded, their CoP sway increased significantly in both directions. There were no differences in most isometric and concentric strength measurements of the lower limb muscles between the blind and sighted individuals. Our results demonstrate that vision is a more prominent indicator of performance during the postural tasks compared to strength of the lower limbs. Despite similar level of strength, blind individuals performed significantly worse in all balance tests compared to sighted individuals.

Future of clip-on weapon sights: pros and cons from an applications perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Knight, C. Reed; Greenslade, Ken; Francisco, Glen

2015-05-01

US Domestic, International, allied Foreign National Warfighters and Para-Military First Responders (Police, SWAT, Special Operations, Law Enforcement, Government, Security and more) are put in harm's way all the time. To successfully complete their missions and return home safely are the primary goals of these professionals. Tactical product improvements that affect mission effectiveness and solider survivability are pivotal to understanding the past, present and future of Clip-On in-line weapon sights. Clip-On Weapon Sight (WS) technology was deemed an interim solution by the US Government for use until integrated and fused (day/night multi-sensor) Weapon Sights (WSs) were developed/fielded. Clip-On has now become the solution of choice by Users, Warriors, Soldiers and the US Government. SWaP-C (size, weight and power -cost) has been improved through progressive advances in Clip-On Image Intensified (I2), passive thermal, LL-CMOS and fused technology. Clip-On Weapon Sights are now no longer mounting position sensitive. Now they maintain aim point boresight, so they can be used for longer ranges with increased capabilities while utilizing the existing zeroed weapon and daysight optic. Active illuminated low-light level (both analog I2 and digital LL-CMOS) imaging is rightfully a real-world technology, proven to deliver daytime and low-light level identification confidence. Passive thermal imaging is also a real-world technology, proven to deliver daytime, nighttime and all-weather (including dirty battlefield) target detection confidence. Image processing detection algorithms with intelligent analytics provide documented promise to improve confidence by reducing Users, Warriors and Soldiers' work-loads and improving overall system engagement solution outcomes. In order to understand the future of Clip-On in-line weapon sights, addressing pros and cons, this paper starts with an overview of historical weapon sight applications, technologies and stakeholder decisions

A Nationwide Overview of Sight-Singing Requirements of Large-Group Choral Festivals

Science.gov (United States)

Norris, Charles E.

2004-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine sight-singing requirements at junior and senior high school large-group ratings-based choral festivals throughout the United States. Responses to the following questions were sought from each state: (1) Are there ratings-based large-group choral festivals? (2) Is sight-singing a requirement? (3) Are there…

Immediate Memory for Haptically-Examined Braille Symbols by Blind and Sighted Subjects.

Science.gov (United States)

Newman, Slater E.; And Others

The paper reports on two experiments in Braille learning which compared blind and sighted subjects on the immediate recall of haptically-examined Braille symbols. In the first study, sighted subjects (N=64) haptically examined each of a set of Braille symbols with their preferred or nonpreferred hand and immediately recalled the symbol by drawing…

Perceptual assessment of fricative--stop coarticulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Repp, B H; Mann, V A

1981-04-01

The perceptual dependence of stop consonants on preceding fricatives [Mann and Repp, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 69, 548--558 (1981)] was further investigated in two experiments employing both natural and synthetic speech. These experiments consistently replicated our original finding that listeners, report velar stops following [s]. In addition, our data confirmed earlier reports that natural fricative noises (excerpted from utterances of [st alpha], [sk alpha], [(formula: see text)k alpha]) contain cues to the following stop consonants; this was revealed in subjects' identifications of stops from isolated fricative noises and from stimuli consisting of these noises followed by synthetic CV portions drawn from a [t alpha]--[k alpha] continuum. However, these cues in the noise portion could not account for the contextual effect of fricative identity ([formula: see text] versus [sp) on stop perception (more "k" responses following [s]). Rather, this effect seems to be related to a coarticulatory influence of a preceding fricative on stop production; Subjects' responses to excised natural CV portions (with bursts and aspiration removed) were biased towards a relatively more forward place of stop articulation when the CVs had originally been preceded by [s]; and the identification of a preceding ambiguous fricative was biased in the direction of the original fricative context in which a given CV portion had been produced. These findings support an articulatory explanation for the effect of preceding fricatives on stop consonant perception.

The dialectics of vision: Oskar Kokoschka and the historiography of expressionistic sight

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nathan J. Timpano

2011-12-01

Full Text Available In his seminal essay ‘On the Nature of Visions’, Oskar Kokoschka proposes a theory of expressionistic sight that advocates the centrality of both optical and psychological processes in the development of this sensorial construct. The present study argues that Kokoschka’s novel handling of the role of vision in the image forming process implicitly elucidates expressionistic sight as a process fashioned through the dialectical tension that arises from these two prevalent, though oppositional views of artistic vision in the early twentieth century. As such, the historiography of expressionistic sight offered by Kokoschka stands in stark contrast to other prevailing histories written by his interlocutors in fin-de-siècle Germany and Austria.

Definition of interstellar wind parameters by means of Lsub(α) background noise observations at large distances from the Sun

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burgin, M.S.

1982-01-01

Multiple scattering of solar photons on interstellar hydrogen and an exitence of galactic background lead to the fact that far from the Sun Lsub(α)-radiation intensity dependence on a distance from the Sun and on the direction of a ray of sight differs from the dependence predicted by the optically fine model. It is possible to evaluate hydrogen density in interstellar wind and galactic background intensity considering no absolute device calibration and having no proper information on a flux in Lsub(α) solar line by means of Lsub(α) background intensity measurings at sufficiently great distances from the Sun

Stopping of hypervelocity clusters in solids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anders, Christian; Ziegenhain, Gerolf; Urbassek, Herbert M; Bringa, Eduardo M

2011-01-01

Using molecular-dynamics simulations, we study the processes underlying the stopping of energetic clusters upon impact in matter. We investigate self-bombardment of both a metallic (Cu) and a van-der-Waals bonded (frozen Ar) target. Clusters with sizes up to N = 10 4 atoms and with energies per atom of E/N = 0.1-1600 eV atom -1 were studied. We find that the stopping force exerted on a cluster follows an N 2/3 -dependence with cluster size N; thus large clusters experience less stopping than equi-velocity atoms. In the course of being stopped, the cluster is strongly deformed and attains a roughly pancake shape. Due to the cluster inertia, maximum deformation occurs later than the maximum stopping force. The time scale of projectile stopping is set by t 0 , the time the cluster needs to cover its own diameter before impacting the target; it thus depends on both cluster size and velocity. The time when the cluster experiences its maximum stopping force is around (0.7-0.8)t 0 . We find that the cluster is deformed with huge strain rates of around 1/2t 0 ; this amounts to 10 11 -10 13 s -1 for the cases studied here. (paper)

How far are transmission measurements of pre-equilibrium stopping influenced by impact parameter selection?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Semrad, D.; Bergsmann, M.; Bauer, P.; Diez-Muino, R.; Arnau, S.A.

2000-01-01

A slow ion that impinges on a target will need to travel a certain distance within the target - called pre-equilibrium length - in order to reach charge equilibrium. In this transient region, projectiles may suffer energy loss different from the mean value. For gas targets, most of the relevant cross-sections and energy transfers can be determined separately by experiment. This allows one to relate these data to the stopping cross-section and to simulate the passage of ions through gas by Monte-Carlo techniques. For solid targets matter is worse, but a universal formalism how pre-equilibrium processes may be determined from transmission data is well documented by Sigmund [14-15]. In transmission experiments usually only these projectiles are analyzed that have missed the central region of the target atoms. It is, however, a matter of fact that projectiles passing closer to the nucleus are more likely to lose energy. In the case of thin targets these projectiles are deflected out of the detector acceptance leading to a reduction of the measured average energy loss. Hence, stopping data may be influenced by so-called impact parameter selection (IPS) according to the layout of the experiment. This IPS clearly acts also in the regime of pre-equilibrium stopping. Using Monte-Carlo simulation we studied to which extent in a typical transmission experiment energy loss is influenced by pre-equilibrium stopping and by IPS, respectively. For feasibility, instead of a solid target, we follow the trajectories through a dense gas target. We find that in an actual experiment with small detector opening angle the formalism to describe pre-equilibrium stopping has to include IPS

Long distance elementary measurement of the radiation dose ratio produced by neutron activation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Changgeng; Lou Benchao; Wu Chunlei; Hu Yonghong; Li Yan

2009-04-01

The working principle and the structure and performances of a long distance controllable individual radiation dose ratio instrument are described. The radiation dose ratio produced by neutron activation is elementarily measured by using this instrument in the neutron generator hall with high neutron yield. When neutron yield arrives to 2 x 10 11 s -1 , the radiation dose ratio produced by neutron activation is 99.9 μSv/h in 1 h after the generator being stopped. The radiation dose ratio is reduced to 24.4 μSv/h in 39 h after the generator being stopped. When neutron yield is 3.2 x 10 10 s -1 , the radiation dose ratio produced by neutron activation is 21.9 μSv/h in 36 min, after the generator being stopped. The measurement results may provide reference for physical experimenters and neutron generator operators. (authors)

Functional claudication distance: a reliable and valid measurement to assess functional limitation in patients with intermittent claudication

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Prins Martin H

2009-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Disease severity and functional impairment in patients with intermittent claudication is usually quantified by the measurement of pain-free walking distance (intermittent claudication distance, ICD and maximal walking distance (absolute claudication distance, ACD. However, the distance at which a patient would prefer to stop because of claudication pain seems a definition that is more correspondent with the actual daily life walking distance. We conducted a study in which the distance a patient prefers to stop was defined as the functional claudication distance (FCD, and estimated the reliability and validity of this measurement. Methods In this clinical validity study we included patients with intermittent claudication, following a supervised exercise therapy program. The first study part consisted of two standardised treadmill tests. During each test ICD, FCD and ACD were determined. Primary endpoint was the reliability as represented by the calculated intra-class correlation coefficients. In the second study part patients performed a standardised treadmill test and filled out the Rand-36 questionnaire. Spearman's rho was calculated to assess validity. Results The intra-class correlation coefficients of ICD, FCD and ACD were 0.940, 0.959, and 0.975 respectively. FCD correlated significantly with five out of nine domains, namely physical function (rho = 0.571, physical role (rho = 0.532, vitality (rho = 0.416, pain (rho = 0.416 and health change (rho = 0.414. Conclusion FCD is a reliable and valid measurement for determining functional capacity in trained patients with intermittent claudication. Furthermore it seems that FCD better reflects the actual functional impairment. In future studies, FCD could be used alongside ICD and ACD.

Evaluating the Effects of Traffic on Driver Stopping and Turn Signal Use at a Stop Sign: A Systematic Replication

Science.gov (United States)

Lebbon, Angela R.; Austin, John; Van Houten, Ron; Malenfant, Louis E.

2007-01-01

The current analyses of observational data found that oncoming traffic substantially affected driver stopping patterns and turn signal use at the target stop sign. The percentage of legal stops and turn signal use by drivers in the presence and absence of traffic was analyzed using a multi-element design. The results showed that legal stops were…

How Can I Stop Cutting?

Science.gov (United States)

... Educators Search English Español How Can I Stop Cutting? KidsHealth / For Teens / How Can I Stop Cutting? ... in a soft, cozy blanket Substitutes for the Cutting Sensation You'll notice that all the tips ...

Northern Fur Seal Captures and Tag Sightings Data

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This dataset contains information regarding the capture, tagging and re-sighting of northern fur seals on the Pribilof Islands and Bogoslof Island, Alaska, from 1986...

A Path Loss Model for Non-Line-of-Sight Ultraviolet Multiple Scattering Channels

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Sadler BrianM

2010-01-01

Full Text Available An ultraviolet (UV signal transmission undergoes rich scattering and strong absorption by atmospheric particulates. We develop a path loss model for a Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS link. The model is built upon probability theory governing random migration of photons in free space, undergoing scattering, in terms of angular direction and distance. The model analytically captures the contributions of different scattering orders. Thus it relaxes the assumptions of single scattering theory and provides more realistic results. This allows us to assess the importance of high-order scattering, such as in a thick atmosphere environment, where short range NLOS UV communication is enhanced by hazy or foggy weather. By simulation, it is shown that the model coincides with a previously developed Monte Carlo model. Additional numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the effects of link geometry and atmospheric conditions. The results indicate the inherent tradeoffs in beamwidth, pointing angles, range, absorption, and scattering and so are valuable for NLOS communication system design.

Photovoltaic restoration of sight with high visual acuity

Science.gov (United States)

Lorach, Henri; Goetz, Georges; Smith, Richard; Lei, Xin; Mandel, Yossi; Kamins, Theodore; Mathieson, Keith; Huie, Philip; Harris, James; Sher, Alexander; Palanker, Daniel

2015-01-01

Patients with retinal degeneration lose sight due to gradual demise of photoreceptors. Electrical stimulation of the surviving retinal neurons provides an alternative route for delivery of visual information. We demonstrate that subretinal arrays with 70 μm photovoltaic pixels provide highly localized stimulation, with electrical and visual receptive fields of comparable sizes in rat retinal ganglion cells. Similarly to normal vision, retinal response to prosthetic stimulation exhibits flicker fusion at high frequencies, adaptation to static images and non-linear spatial summation. In rats with retinal degeneration, these photovoltaic arrays provide spatial resolution of 64 ± 11 μm, corresponding to half of the normal visual acuity in pigmented rats. Ease of implantation of these wireless and modular arrays, combined with their high resolution opens the door to functional restoration of sight. PMID:25915832

Looking at eye dominance from a different angle: is sighting strength related to hand preference?

Science.gov (United States)

Carey, David P; Hutchinson, Claire V

2013-10-01

Sighting dominance (the behavioural preference for one eye over the other under monocular viewing conditions) has traditionally been thought of as a robust individual trait. However, Khan and Crawford (2001) have shown that, under certain viewing conditions, eye preference reverses as a function of horizontal gaze angle. Remarkably, the reversal of sighting from one eye to the other depends on which hand is used to reach out and grasp the target. Their procedure provides an ideal way to measure the strength of monocular preference for sighting, which may be related to other indicators of hemispheric specialisation for speech, language and motor function. Therefore, we hypothesised that individuals with consistent side preferences (e.g., right hand, right eye) should have more robust sighting dominance than those with crossed lateral preferences. To test this idea, we compared strength of eye dominance in individuals who are consistently right or left sided for hand and foot preference with those who are not. We also modified their procedure in order to minimise a potential image size confound, suggested by Banks et al. (2004) as an explanation of Khan and Crawford's results. We found that the sighting dominance switch occurred at similar eccentricities when we controlled for effects of hand occlusion and target size differences. We also found that sighting dominance thresholds change predictably with the hand used. However, we found no evidence for relationships between strength of hand preference as assessed by questionnaire or by pegboard performance and strength of sighting dominance. Similarly, participants with consistent hand and foot preferences did not show stronger eye preference as assessed using the Khan and Crawford procedure. These data are discussed in terms of indirect relationships between sighting dominance, hand preference and cerebral specialisation for language and motor control. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Parameters Optimizing Design of Double Suspension Arm Torsion Bar in the Electric Sight-Seeing Car by Random Vibration Analyzing Method

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Shui-Ting Zhou

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This study is about the impact of the performance and the sensitivity analysis for parameters of the torsion bar suspension in the electric sight-seeing car, which the authors’ laboratory designed and which is used in the authors’ university. The suspension stiffness was calculated by using the virtual work principle, the vector algebra, and tensor of finite rotation methods and was verified by the ADAMS software. Based on the random vibration analysis method, the paper analyzed the dynamic tire load (DTL, suspension working space (SWS, and comfort performance parameters. For the purpose of decreasing the displacement of the suspension and limiting the frequency of impacting the stop block, the paper examined the three parameters and optimized the basic parameters of the torsion bar. The results show that the method achieves a great effect and contributes an accurate value for the general layout design.

TOWARD A NEW GEOMETRIC DISTANCE TO THE ACTIVE GALAXY NGC 4258. III. FINAL RESULTS AND THE HUBBLE CONSTANT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Humphreys, E. M. L.; Reid, M. J.; Moran, J. M.; Greenhill, L. J.; Argon, A. L.

2013-01-01

We report a new geometric maser distance estimate to the active galaxy NGC 4258. The data for the new model are maser line-of-sight (LOS) velocities and sky positions from 18 epochs of very long baseline interferometry observations, and LOS accelerations measured from a 10 yr monitoring program of the 22 GHz maser emission of NGC 4258. The new model includes both disk warping and confocal elliptical maser orbits with differential precession. The distance to NGC 4258 is 7.60 ± 0.17 ± 0.15 Mpc, a 3% uncertainty including formal fitting and systematic terms. The resulting Hubble constant, based on the use of the Cepheid variables in NGC 4258 to recalibrate the Cepheid distance scale, is H 0 = 72.0 ± 3.0 km s –1 Mpc –1

Biobjective Optimization and Evaluation for Transit Signal Priority Strategies at Bus Stop-to-Stop Segment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rui Li

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a new optimization framework for the transit signal priority strategies in terms of green extension, red truncation, and phase insertion at the stop-to-stop segment of bus lines. The optimization objective is to minimize both passenger delay and the deviation from bus schedule simultaneously. The objective functions are defined with respect to the segment between bus stops, which can include the adjacent signalized intersections and downstream bus stops. The transit priority signal timing is optimized by using a biobjective optimization framework considering both the total delay at a segment and the delay deviation from the arrival schedules at bus stops. The proposed framework is evaluated using a VISSIM model calibrated with field traffic volume and traffic signal data of Caochangmen Boulevard in Nanjing, China. The optimized TSP-based phasing plans result in the reduced delay and improved reliability, compared with the non-TSP scenario under the different traffic flow conditions in the morning peak hour. The evaluation results indicate the promising performance of the proposed optimization framework in reducing the passenger delay and improving the bus schedule adherence for the urban transit system.

Bubble formation after a 20-m dive: deep-stop vs. shallow-stop decompression profiles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schellart, Nico A. M.; Corstius, Jan-Jaap Brandt; Germonpré, Peter; Sterk, Wouter

2008-01-01

OBJECTIVES: It is claimed that performing a "deep stop," a stop at about half of maximal diving depth (MDD), can reduce the amount of detectable precordial bubbles after the dive and may thus diminish the risk of decompression sickness. In order to ascertain whether this reduction is caused by the

Loneliness among Students with Blindness and Sighted Students in Jordan: A Brief Report

Science.gov (United States)

Hadidi, Muna S.; Al Khateeb, Jamal M.

2013-01-01

This study investigated loneliness among students with blindness and those who are sighted in Jordan, and examined whether loneliness levels vary according to gender. Students included 90 students with blindness and 79 sighted students selected from high schools and universities in the capital city of Amman. The instrument used to collect…

Problem Behavior and Developmental Tasks in Adolescents with Visual Impairment and Sighted Peers

Science.gov (United States)

Pfeiffer, Jens P.; Pinquart, Martin

2013-01-01

This longitudinal study analyzed associations of problem behavior with the attainment of developmental tasks in 133 adolescents with visual impairment and 449 sighted peers. Higher levels of initial problem behavior predicted less progress in the attainment of developmental tasks at the one-year follow-up only in sighted adolescents. This…

No Sensory Compensation for Olfactory Memory: Differences between Blind and Sighted People

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Agnieszka Sorokowska

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Blindness can be a driving force behind a variety of changes in sensory systems. When vision is missing, other modalities and higher cognitive functions can become hyper-developed through a mechanism called sensory compensation. Overall, previous studies suggest that olfactory memory in blind people can be better than that of the sighted individuals. Better performance of blind individuals in other-sensory modalities was hypothesized to be a result of, among others, intense perceptual training. At the same time, if the superiority of blind people in olfactory abilities indeed results from training, their scores should not decrease with age to such an extent as among the sighted people. Here, this hypothesis was tested in a large sample of 94 blind individuals. Olfactory memory was assessed using the Test for Olfactory Memory, comprising episodic odor recognition (discriminating previously presented odors from new odors and two forms of semantic memory (cued and free identification of odors. Regarding episodic olfactory memory, we observed an age-related decline in correct hits in blind participants, but an age-related increase in false alarms in sighted participants. Further, age moderated the between-group differences for correct hits, but the direction of the observed effect was contrary to our expectations. The difference between blind and sighted individuals younger than 40 years old was non-significant, but older sighted individuals outperformed their blind counterparts. In conclusion, we found no positive effect of visual impairment on olfactory memory. We suggest that daily perceptual training is not enough to increase olfactory memory function in blind people.

No Sensory Compensation for Olfactory Memory: Differences between Blind and Sighted People.

Science.gov (United States)

Sorokowska, Agnieszka; Karwowski, Maciej

2017-01-01

Blindness can be a driving force behind a variety of changes in sensory systems. When vision is missing, other modalities and higher cognitive functions can become hyper-developed through a mechanism called sensory compensation. Overall, previous studies suggest that olfactory memory in blind people can be better than that of the sighted individuals. Better performance of blind individuals in other-sensory modalities was hypothesized to be a result of, among others, intense perceptual training. At the same time, if the superiority of blind people in olfactory abilities indeed results from training, their scores should not decrease with age to such an extent as among the sighted people. Here, this hypothesis was tested in a large sample of 94 blind individuals. Olfactory memory was assessed using the Test for Olfactory Memory, comprising episodic odor recognition (discriminating previously presented odors from new odors) and two forms of semantic memory (cued and free identification of odors). Regarding episodic olfactory memory, we observed an age-related decline in correct hits in blind participants, but an age-related increase in false alarms in sighted participants. Further, age moderated the between-group differences for correct hits, but the direction of the observed effect was contrary to our expectations. The difference between blind and sighted individuals younger than 40 years old was non-significant, but older sighted individuals outperformed their blind counterparts. In conclusion, we found no positive effect of visual impairment on olfactory memory. We suggest that daily perceptual training is not enough to increase olfactory memory function in blind people.

No Sensory Compensation for Olfactory Memory: Differences between Blind and Sighted People

Science.gov (United States)

Sorokowska, Agnieszka; Karwowski, Maciej

2017-01-01

Blindness can be a driving force behind a variety of changes in sensory systems. When vision is missing, other modalities and higher cognitive functions can become hyper-developed through a mechanism called sensory compensation. Overall, previous studies suggest that olfactory memory in blind people can be better than that of the sighted individuals. Better performance of blind individuals in other-sensory modalities was hypothesized to be a result of, among others, intense perceptual training. At the same time, if the superiority of blind people in olfactory abilities indeed results from training, their scores should not decrease with age to such an extent as among the sighted people. Here, this hypothesis was tested in a large sample of 94 blind individuals. Olfactory memory was assessed using the Test for Olfactory Memory, comprising episodic odor recognition (discriminating previously presented odors from new odors) and two forms of semantic memory (cued and free identification of odors). Regarding episodic olfactory memory, we observed an age-related decline in correct hits in blind participants, but an age-related increase in false alarms in sighted participants. Further, age moderated the between-group differences for correct hits, but the direction of the observed effect was contrary to our expectations. The difference between blind and sighted individuals younger than 40 years old was non-significant, but older sighted individuals outperformed their blind counterparts. In conclusion, we found no positive effect of visual impairment on olfactory memory. We suggest that daily perceptual training is not enough to increase olfactory memory function in blind people. PMID:29276494

Incubator embedded cell culture imaging system (EmSight) based on Fourier ptychographic microscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jinho; Henley, Beverley M; Kim, Charlene H; Lester, Henry A; Yang, Changhuei

2016-08-01

Multi-day tracking of cells in culture systems can provide valuable information in bioscience experiments. We report the development of a cell culture imaging system, named EmSight, which incorporates multiple compact Fourier ptychographic microscopes with a standard multiwell imaging plate. The system is housed in an incubator and presently incorporates six microscopes. By using the same low magnification objective lenses as the objective and the tube lens, the EmSight is configured as a 1:1 imaging system that, providing large field-of-view (FOV) imaging onto a low-cost CMOS imaging sensor. The EmSight improves the image resolution by capturing a series of images of the sample at varying illumination angles; the instrument reconstructs a higher-resolution image by using the iterative Fourier ptychographic algorithm. In addition to providing high-resolution brightfield and phase imaging, the EmSight is also capable of fluorescence imaging at the native resolution of the objectives. We characterized the system using a phase Siemens star target, and show four-fold improved coherent resolution (synthetic NA of 0.42) and a depth of field of 0.2 mm. To conduct live, long-term dopaminergic neuron imaging, we cultured ventral midbrain from mice driving eGFP from the tyrosine hydroxylase promoter. The EmSight system tracks movements of dopaminergic neurons over a 21 day period.

Sighting of Elymnias panthera (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae in West Bengal, eastern India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A.B. Roy

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The Tawny Palmfly butterfly, Elymnias panthera (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae, is a Malayan species that is also known from the Nicobar Islands. Here we report sighting of E. panthera from the Bethuadahari Wildlife Sanctuary in West Bengal, eastern India. This is the first sighting of the species from mainland India, and is a possible range extension of the species into northeastern India.

The critical distance in laser-induced plasmas: an operative definition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Side, D. Delle; Giuffreda, E.; Nassisi, V.

2016-01-01

We propose a method to estimate a precise value for the critical distance L cr after which three-body recombination stops to produce charge losses in an expanding laser-induced plasma. We show in particular that the total charge collected has a ''reversed sigmoid'' shape as a function of the target-to-detector distance. Fitting the total charge data with a logistic related function, we could consider as L cr the intercept of the tangent to this curve in its inflection point. Furthermore, this value scales well with theoretical predictions. From the application point of view, this could be of great practical interest, since it provide a reliable way to precisely determine the geometry of the extraction system in Laser Ion Sources.

The critical distance in laser-induced plasmas: an operative definition

Science.gov (United States)

Delle Side, D.; Giuffreda, E.; Nassisi, V.

2016-05-01

We propose a method to estimate a precise value for the critical distance Lcr after which three-body recombination stops to produce charge losses in an expanding laser-induced plasma. We show in particular that the total charge collected has a ``reversed sigmoid'' shape as a function of the target-to-detector distance. Fitting the total charge data with a logistic related function, we could consider as Lcr the intercept of the tangent to this curve in its inflection point. Furthermore, this value scales well with theoretical predictions. From the application point of view, this could be of great practical interest, since it provide a reliable way to precisely determine the geometry of the extraction system in Laser Ion Sources.

Optimal Stopping and Policyholder Behaviour in Life Insurance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gad, Kamille Sofie Tågholt

. Below, I give a brief overview of the results of each of the chapters. A more thorough overview is presented in Chapter 1. In Chapter 2 we consider a general geometric Lévy process and solve the non-linear optimal stopping problem of maximizing the variance at the stopping time. For solving this problem...... we solve an auxiliary quadratic optimal stopping problem. We show that the solution to maximizing variance depends on whether randomized stopping times are included in the set of stopping times we maximize over. For some problems the inclusion of randomized stopping times increase the value function...... and for some it does not. Even when the value function is not affected by inclusion of randomized stopping times, a solution may be easier to identify when they are. In Chapter 3 we consider the non-linear optimal stopping problem of maximizing the mean minus a positive constant times the variance...

An electrostatic plunger device and the analysis of recoil-distance spectra

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marchie van Voorthuysen, E.H. du; Smith, Ph.B.

1975-01-01

In the electrostatic plunger apparatus, a large stopper foil is drawn towards the target electrostatically. The attracting field is controlled in a feedback loop by the capacity, so that the distance is stabilized during the measurement. Formulae for line-shape analysis of γ-ray spectra from recoil-distance lifetime measurements (RDM) are given. A measurement of the life-time of the 1759 keV level in 26 Al is reported yielding (3.4+-0.6)ps, in agreement with results from Doppler-shift attenuation, but in disagreement with other RDM results. In addition, accurate stopping-power measurements are reported for 2-9MeV alpha particles in Al, Ni, Cu, Au and Mylar. (Auth.)

Short term memory and working memory in blind versus sighted children.

Science.gov (United States)

Withagen, Ans; Kappers, Astrid M L; Vervloed, Mathijs P J; Knoors, Harry; Verhoeven, Ludo

2013-07-01

There is evidence that blind people may strengthen their memory skills to compensate for absence of vision. However, which aspects of memory are involved is open to debate and a developmental perspective is generally lacking. In the present study, we compared the short term memory (STM) and working memory (WM) of 10-year-old blind children and sighted children. STM was measured using digit span forward, name learning, and word span tasks; WM was measured using listening span and digit span backward tasks. The blind children outperformed their sighted peers on both STM and WM tasks. The enhanced capacity of the blind children on digit span and other STM tasks confirms the results of earlier research; the significantly better performance of the blind children relative to their sighted peers on verbal WM tasks is a new interesting finding. Task characteristics, including the verbal nature of the WM tasks and strategies used to perform these tasks, are discussed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bolide Airbursts as a Seismic Source for the 2018 Mars InSight Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Stevanović, J.; Teanby, N. A.; Wookey, J.; Selby, N.; Daubar, I. J.; Vaubaillon, J.; Garcia, R.

2017-10-01

In 2018, NASA will launch InSight, a single-station suite of geophysical instruments, designed to characterise the martian interior. We investigate the seismo-acoustic signal generated by a bolide entering the martian atmosphere and exploding in a terminal airburst, and assess this phenomenon as a potential observable for the SEIS seismic payload. Terrestrial analogue data from four recent events are used to identify diagnostic airburst characteristics in both the time and frequency domain. In order to estimate a potential number of detectable events for InSight, we first model the impactor source population from observations made on the Earth, scaled for planetary radius, entry velocity and source density. We go on to calculate a range of potential airbursts from the larger incident impactor population. We estimate there to be {˜} 1000 events of this nature per year on Mars. To then derive a detectable number of airbursts for InSight, we scale this number according to atmospheric attenuation, air-to-ground coupling inefficiencies and by instrument capability for SEIS. We predict between 10-200 detectable events per year for InSight.

Optimally Stopped Optimization

Science.gov (United States)

Vinci, Walter; Lidar, Daniel

We combine the fields of heuristic optimization and optimal stopping. We propose a strategy for benchmarking randomized optimization algorithms that minimizes the expected total cost for obtaining a good solution with an optimal number of calls to the solver. To do so, rather than letting the objective function alone define a cost to be minimized, we introduce a further cost-per-call of the algorithm. We show that this problem can be formulated using optimal stopping theory. The expected cost is a flexible figure of merit for benchmarking probabilistic solvers that can be computed when the optimal solution is not known, and that avoids the biases and arbitrariness that affect other measures. The optimal stopping formulation of benchmarking directly leads to a real-time, optimal-utilization strategy for probabilistic optimizers with practical impact. We apply our formulation to benchmark the performance of a D-Wave 2X quantum annealer and the HFS solver, a specialized classical heuristic algorithm designed for low tree-width graphs. On a set of frustrated-loop instances with planted solutions defined on up to N = 1098 variables, the D-Wave device is between one to two orders of magnitude faster than the HFS solver.

Simulating fail-stop in asynchronous distributed systems

Science.gov (United States)

Sabel, Laura; Marzullo, Keith

1994-01-01

The fail-stop failure model appears frequently in the distributed systems literature. However, in an asynchronous distributed system, the fail-stop model cannot be implemented. In particular, it is impossible to reliably detect crash failures in an asynchronous system. In this paper, we show that it is possible to specify and implement a failure model that is indistinguishable from the fail-stop model from the point of view of any process within an asynchronous system. We give necessary conditions for a failure model to be indistinguishable from the fail-stop model, and derive lower bounds on the amount of process replication needed to implement such a failure model. We present a simple one-round protocol for implementing one such failure model, which we call simulated fail-stop.

Sex Difference in Bottlenose Dolphin Sightings during a Long-term Bridge Construction Project

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ann Weaver

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Almost nothing is known about the effect of long-term bridge construction on free-ranging bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus. The species’ natural history predicts that there should be sex differences in reaction to construction because bottlenose dolphins show sex differences in most of their behaviors. A 5-year bridge construction project over a narrow but important dolphin corridor at John’s Pass tidal inlet, St. Petersburg FL, brought chronic environmental changes. The purpose of this 8-year study was to determine if bridge construction was associated with changes in dolphin sightings. The sex difference hypothesis was tested with a comparison of sighting probabilities before, during and after bridge construction. Sighting probabilities were generated for 68 adults seen n = 6504 times during N = 951 small-boat surveys of the 6.5-mile estuarine study area, documented with photo identification June 2005-December 2012. The sex difference hypothesis was supported with a significant interaction between construction and gender. Female sightings showed a significant linear decline across construction. Male sightings did not change across construction. The main conclusion is that adult males and females may react differently to habitat changes associated with anthropogenic activities. Sex differences in environmental monitoring and vigilance associated with maternal behavior may have played a role. This is the first report on John’s Pass dolphins that evaluates changes in their behavior during a major construction project across a narrow but important dolphin corridor.

Can pictures promote the acquisition of sight-word reading? An evaluation of two potential instructional strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Richardson, Amy R; Lerman, Dorothea C; Nissen, Melissa A; Luck, Kally M; Neal, Ashley E; Bao, Shimin; Tsami, Loukia

2017-01-01

Sight-word instruction can be a useful supplement to phonics-based methods under some circumstances. Nonetheless, few studies have evaluated the conditions under which pictures may be used successfully to teach sight-word reading. In this study, we extended prior research by examining two potential strategies for reducing the effects of overshadowing when using picture prompts. Five children with developmental disabilities and two typically developing children participated. In the first experiment, the therapist embedded sight words within pictures but gradually faded in the pictures as needed using a least-to-most prompting hierarchy. In the second experiment, the therapist embedded text-to-picture matching within the sight-word reading sessions. Results suggested that these strategies reduced the interference typically observed with picture prompts and enhanced performance during teaching sessions for the majority of participants. Text-to-picture matching also accelerated mastery of the sight words relative to a condition under which the therapist presented text without pictures. © 2016 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

OB Stars and Cepheids From the Gaia TGAS Catalogue: Test of their Distances and Proper Motions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bobylev Vadim V.

2017-12-01

Full Text Available We consider young distant stars from the Gaia TGAS catalog. These are 250 classical Cepheids and 244 OB stars located at distances up to 4 kpc from the Sun. These stars are used to determine the Galactic rotation parameters using both trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions of the TGAS stars. In this case the considered stars have relative parallax errors less than 200%. Following the well-known statistical approach, we assume that the kinematic parameters found from the line-of-sight velocities Vr are less dependent on errors of distances than the found from the velocity components Vl. From values of the first derivative of the Galactic rotation angular velocity ′0, found from the analysis of velocities Vr and Vl separately, the scale factor of distances is determined.We found that from the sample of Cepheids the scale of distances of the TGAS should be reduced by 3%, and from the sample of OB stars, on the contrary, the scale should be increased by 9%.

Development of a new lines of sight analyzer while playing sport

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shinya Mochiduki

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The Olympics will be held in Tokyo in 2020, and the training of the athlete using technology has been gaining attention. In an effort to refine the competitive ability of top athletes by evaluating their performance objectively, we have focused on eye movement and head movement. Since the field of view moves according to the athlete’s head movement, which is a problem for the conventional method of measuring eye movement, we proposed a new method of analysis of lines of sight which can record head movement during a competition and make it easier to analyze by superimposing the lines of sight on an externally recorded fixed image. With the goal of measuring the lines of sight of an athlete during an actual competition, we made a video during a competition and had an athlete observe the video in a laboratory. First we compared the video in which only the eye movement was measured and the field-of-view image moved according to the head movement with another video in which the head movement and eye movement were measured and the image did not move in spite of the occurrence of head movement. The results of the experiment, which involved baseball as the competitive sport, showed the effectiveness of our proposed system. Furthermore, we showed the difference between the lines of sight of an experienced and an inexperienced catcher.

Frame by frame stop motion non-traditional approaches to stop motion animation

CERN Document Server

Gasek, Tom

2011-01-01

In a world that is dominated by computer images, alternative stop motion techniques like pixilation, time-lapse photography and down-shooting techniques combined with new technologies offer a new, tangible and exciting approach to animation. With over 25 years professional experience, industry veteran, Tom Gasek presents a comprehensive guide to stop motion animation without the focus on puppetry or model animation. With tips, tricks and hands-on exercises, Frame by Frame will help both experienced and novice filmmakers get the most effective results from this underutilized branch of animation

A light sneutrino rescues the light stop

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chala, M. [Departament de Física Tèorica, Universitat de València and IFIC, Universitat de València-CSIC,Dr. Moliner 50, E-46100 Burjassot (València) (Spain); Delgado, A. [Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, 225 Nieuwland Science Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556 (United States); Nardini, G. [Albert Einstein Center (AEC), Institute for Theoretical Physics (ITP), University of Bern,Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern (Switzerland); Quirós, M. [Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST),Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats - ICREA, Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona (Spain)

2017-04-18

Stop searches in supersymmetric frameworks with R-parity conservation usually assume the lightest neutralino to be the lightest supersymmetric particle. In this paper we consider an alternative scenario in which the left-handed tau sneutrino is lighter than neutralinos and stable at collider scales, but possibly unstable at cosmological scales. Moreover the (mostly right-handed) stop t̃ is lighter than all electroweakinos, and heavier than the scalars of the third generation lepton doublet, whose charged component, τ̃, is heavier than the neutral one, ν̃. The remaining supersymmetric particles are decoupled from the stop phenomenology. In most of the parameter space, the relevant stop decays are only into tτ̃τ, tν̃ν and bν̃τ via off-shell electroweakinos. We constrain the branching ratios of these decays by recasting the most sensitive stop searches. Due to the “double invisible” kinematics of the t̃→tν̃ν process, and the low efficiency in tagging the tτ̃τ decay products, light stops are generically allowed. In the minimal supersymmetric standard model with ∼ 100 GeV sneutrinos, stops with masses as small as ∼ 350 GeV turn out to be allowed at 95% CL.

Aesthetics of movement with sight disabled children - pilot study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mirosław Górny

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the study was to establish the aesthetics of movement in people with vision defects. This knowledge will provide tools to improve the methodology of study in the area of assessment of movement aesthetics in people with disabilities. In order to establish its level a test was used which measured its selected elements such as precision, rhythm, harmony, fluidity and speed. The aesthetics of movement was assessed using exercise tests which were to represent the components of aesthetics of movement. Individual tests were carried out on blind and partially sighted children aged 6 to 15 years and on a group of healthy children of the same age. Using the test tasks a general indicator of movement aesthetics in blind children was obtained. The participants of the study were 145 children from four School and Education Centres for Blind Children in Poland and the control group consisted of 310 children from a primary school in Poznań. The studies confirmed a lower level of movement aesthetics in children with vision defects, but the differences in groups between the partially sighted children and children with correct vision were definitely smaller. A higher level of aesthetics of movement characterised children from older groups irrespective of their sex. The best developed property in blind and partially sighted children was precision.

Advanced Mathematics Communication beyond Modality of Sight

Science.gov (United States)

Sedaghatjou, Mina

2018-01-01

This study illustrates how mathematical communication and learning are inherently multimodal and embodied; hence, sight-disabled students are also able to conceptualize visuospatial information and mathematical concepts through tactile and auditory activities. Adapting a perceptuomotor integration approach, the study shows that the lack of access…

How to Stop Biting Your Nails

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Full Text Available ... Mohs AUC MyDermPath+ Psoriasis Patient education resources ... Try to gradually stop biting your nails: Some doctors recommend taking a gradual approach to break the habit. Try to stop biting ...

Polymer deposition morphology by electrospray deposition - Modifications through distance variation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Altmann, K.; Schulze, R.-D.; Friedrich, J.

2014-01-01

Electrospray deposition (ESD) of highly diluted polymers was examined with regard to the deposited surface structure. Only the flight distance (flight time) onto the resulting deposited surface was varied from 20 to 200 mm. An apparatus without any additional heating or gas flows was used. Polyacrylic acid (PAA) and polyallylamine (PAAm) in methanol were deposited on Si wafers. The polymer layers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, derivatization reactions and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy using a grazing incidence unit. SEM images illustrated the changing structures of PAA and PAAm. For PAA the deposited structure changed from a smooth film (20 mm) to a film with individual droplets on the coated surface (100 mm and 200 mm), while for PAAm individual droplets can be seen at all distances. The ESD process with cascades of splitting droplets slows down for PAA after distances greater than 40 mm. In contrast, the ESD process for PAAm is nearly stopped within the first flight distance of 20 mm. Residual solvent analysis showed that most of the solvent evaporated within the first 20 mm capillary-sample distance. - Highlights: • We deposited polyacrylic acid and polyallylamine by electrospray ionization (ESI). • The morphology in dependence of flight distance (20 mm to 200 mm) was analyzed. • The amount of residual solvent after deposition was determined. • ESI-process slows down for polyacrylic acid after 40 mm flight distance. • ESI-Process is complete for polyallylamine within the first 20 mm

Posture of Twig Figures: Reactions by the Blind and the Sighted. Brief Research Report.

Science.gov (United States)

Kennedy, John M.; Domander, Ramona

1986-01-01

Eighteen congenitally blind adolescents and adults and 29 sighted children and adults were asked to select one of two identifying labels for six pairs of highly schematic line figures portraying simple events, relationships between people, and expressive emotional states. Blind subjects agreed with sighted interpretations on 77% of the response…

H0LiCOW - III. Quantifying the effect of mass along the line of sight to the gravitational lens HE 0435-1223 through weighted galaxy counts★

Science.gov (United States)

Rusu, Cristian E.; Fassnacht, Christopher D.; Sluse, Dominique; Hilbert, Stefan; Wong, Kenneth C.; Huang, Kuang-Han; Suyu, Sherry H.; Collett, Thomas E.; Marshall, Philip J.; Treu, Tommaso; Koopmans, Leon V. E.

2017-06-01

Based on spectroscopy and multiband wide-field observations of the gravitationally lensed quasar HE 0435-1223, we determine the probability distribution function of the external convergence κext for this system. We measure the under/overdensity of the line of sight towards the lens system and compare it to the average line of sight throughout the Universe, determined by using the CFHTLenS (The Canada France Hawaii Lensing Survey) as a control field. Aiming to constrain κext as tightly as possible, we determine under/overdensities using various combinations of relevant informative weighting schemes for the galaxy counts, such as projected distance to the lens, redshift and stellar mass. We then convert the measured under/overdensities into a κext distribution, using ray-tracing through the Millennium Simulation. We explore several limiting magnitudes and apertures, and account for systematic and statistical uncertainties relevant to the quality of the observational data, which we further test through simulations. Our most robust estimate of κext has a median value κ^med_ext = 0.004 and a standard deviation σκ = 0.025. The measured σκ corresponds to 2.5 per cent relative uncertainty on the time delay distance, and hence the Hubble constant H0 inferred from this system. The median κ^med_ext value varies by ˜0.005 with the adopted aperture radius, limiting magnitude and weighting scheme, as long as the latter incorporates galaxy number counts, the projected distance to the main lens and a prior on the external shear obtained from mass modelling. This corresponds to just ˜0.5 per cent systematic impact on H0. The availability of a well-constrained κext makes HE 0435-1223 a valuable system for measuring cosmological parameters using strong gravitational lens time delays.

Shape anisotropy: tensor distance to anisotropy measure

Science.gov (United States)

Weldeselassie, Yonas T.; El-Hilo, Saba; Atkins, M. S.

2011-03-01

Fractional anisotropy, defined as the distance of a diffusion tensor from its closest isotropic tensor, has been extensively studied as quantitative anisotropy measure for diffusion tensor magnetic resonance images (DT-MRI). It has been used to reveal the white matter profile of brain images, as guiding feature for seeding and stopping in fiber tractography and for the diagnosis and assessment of degenerative brain diseases. Despite its extensive use in DT-MRI community, however, not much attention has been given to the mathematical correctness of its derivation from diffusion tensors which is achieved using Euclidean dot product in 9D space. But, recent progress in DT-MRI has shown that the space of diffusion tensors does not form a Euclidean vector space and thus Euclidean dot product is not appropriate for tensors. In this paper, we propose a novel and robust rotationally invariant diffusion anisotropy measure derived using the recently proposed Log-Euclidean and J-divergence tensor distance measures. An interesting finding of our work is that given a diffusion tensor, its closest isotropic tensor is different for different tensor distance metrics used. We demonstrate qualitatively that our new anisotropy measure reveals superior white matter profile of DT-MR brain images and analytically show that it has a higher signal to noise ratio than fractional anisotropy.

How to Stop Biting Your Nails

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Full Text Available ... your fingers and from your nails to your face and mouth. To help you stop biting your ... re inclined to bite may help solve the problem. Try to gradually stop biting your nails: Some ...

Application of the RADTRAN 5 stop model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neuhauser, K.S.; Kanipe, R.L.; Weiner, R.F.

1997-01-01

A number of environmental impact analyses with the RADTRAN computer code have shown that dose to persons at stops is one of the largest components of incident-free dose during overland carriage of spent fuel and other radioactive materials (e.g., USDOE, 1994). The input data used in these analyses were taken from a 1983 study that reports actual observations of spent fuel shipments by truck. Early RADTRAN stop models, however, were insufficiently flexible to take advantage of the detailed information in the study. A more recent study of gasoline service stations that specialize in servicing large trucks, which are the most likely stop locations for shipments of Type B packages in the United States, has provided additional, detailed data on refueling/meal stops. The RADTRAN 5 computer code for transportation risk analysis allows exposures at stops to be more fully modeled than have previous releases of the code and is able to take advantage of detailed data. It is the intent of this paper first to compare results from RADTRAN and RADTRAN 5 for the old, low-resolution form of input data, and then to demonstrate what effect the new data and input format have on stop-dose estimates for an individual stop and for a hypothetical shipment route. Finally, these estimated public doses will be contrasted with doses calculated for a special population group -- inspectors

Application of the radtran 5 stop model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neuhauser, K.S.; Kanipe, R.L.; Weiner, R.F.

1998-01-01

A number of environmental impact analyzes with the RADTRAN computer code have shown that dose to persons at stops is one of the largest components of incident-free dose during overland carriage of spent fuel and other radioactive materials. The input data used in these analyses were taken from a 1983 study that reports actual observations of spent fuel shipments by truck. Early RADTRAN stop models, however, were insufficiently flexible to take advantage of the detailed information in the study. A more recent study of gasoline service stations that specialize in servicing large trucks, which are the most likely stop locations for shipments of Type B packages in the United States, has provided additional, detailed data on refueling/meal stops. The RADTRAN 5 computer code for transportation risk analysis allows exposures at stops to be more fully modelled than have previous releases of the code and is able to take advantage of detailed data. It is the intent of this paper first to compare results from RADTRAN 4 and RADTRAN 5 for the old, low-resolution form of input data, and then to demonstrate what effect the new data and input format have on stop-dose estimates for an individual stop and for a hypothetical shipment route. Finally, these estimated public doses will be contrasted with doses calculated for a special population group-inspectors. (authors)

Lifespan changes in global and selective stopping and performance adjustments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Christina Van De Laar

2011-12-01

Full Text Available This study examined stopping and performance adjustments in four age groups (M ages: 8, 12, 21, and 76 years. All participants performed on three tasks, a standard two-choice task and the same task in which stop-signal trials were inserted requiring either the suppression of the response activated by the choice stimulus (global stop task or the suppression of the response when one stop signal was presented but not when the other stop signal occurred (selective stop task. The results showed that global stopping was faster than selective stopping in all age groups. Global stopping matured more rapidly than selective stopping. The developmental gain in stopping was considerably more pronounced compared to the loss observed during senescence. All age groups slowed the response on trials without a stop signal in the stop task compared to trials in the choice task, the elderly in particular. In addition, all age groups slowed on trials following stop-signal trials, except the elderly who did not slow following successful inhibits. By contrast, the slowing following failed inhibits was disproportionally larger in the elderly compared to young adults. Finally, sequential effects did not alter the pattern of performance adjustments. The results were interpreted in terms of developmental change in the balance between proactive and reactive control.

Lifespan Changes in Global and Selective Stopping and Performance Adjustments

Science.gov (United States)

van de Laar, Maria C.; van den Wildenberg, Wery P. M.; van Boxtel, Geert J. M.; van der Molen, Maurits W.

2011-01-01

This study examined stopping and performance adjustments in four age groups (M ages: 8, 12, 21, and 76 years). All participants performed on three tasks, a standard two-choice task and the same task in which stop-signal trials were inserted requiring either the suppression of the response activated by the choice stimulus (global stop task) or the suppression of the response when one stop-signal was presented but not when the other stop-signal occurred (selective stop task). The results showed that global stopping was faster than selective stopping in all age groups. Global stopping matured more rapidly than selective stopping. The developmental gain in stopping was considerably more pronounced compared to the loss observed during senescence. All age groups slowed the response on trials without a stop-signal in the stop task compared to trials in the choice task, the elderly in particular. In addition, all age groups slowed on trials following stop-signal trials, except the elderly who did not slow following successful inhibits. By contrast, the slowing following failed inhibits was disproportionally larger in the elderly compared to young adults. Finally, sequential effects did not alter the pattern of performance adjustments. The results were interpreted in terms of developmental change in the balance between proactive and reactive control. PMID:22180746

Preventing sight loss in older people. A qualitative study exploring barriers to the uptake of regular sight tests of older people living in socially deprived communities in South Wales.

Science.gov (United States)

Biddyr, S; Jones, A

2015-02-01

This paper describes research findings that try to understand some of the reasons that prevent older people in deprived communities in South Wales from accessing NHS funded sight tests and leads to a discussion of suitable interventions that seek to improve access to primary eye care services and prevent avoidable sight loss. Data were collected from eight focus groups (n = 63) of mixed gender and ages (60-80+ years), of white origin living in deprived communities in South Wales. Individuals were recruited for the focus groups by extensively publicizing the project, with a range of health and older people's community services and groups such as sheltered housing complexes, stroke support groups and coffee morning groups. The study included people who attended optometry services and people not engaged with services. A purposive sampling technique summarizes the sampling approach taken, an approach which the team utilized to recruit 'information rich' cases, namely individuals, groups and organizations that provided the greatest insight into the research question. Focus groups were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data underwent thematic content analysis and subsequent interpretations were corroborated by expert advisors and a project steering group. Cost was perceived as a significant barrier to accessing sight tests, particularly in relation to purchasing glasses. Other barriers included the perceived pressure to buy glasses associated with visits to the optometrists; poor understanding of the purpose of a sight test in a health prevention context and acceptance of deteriorating sight loss due to the ageing process. Areas of improvement for the delivery of preventative eye health services to older people are identified, as are areas for reflection on the part of those who work within the eye health industry. Copyright © 2014 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Skin surface hydration decreases rapidly during long distance flights.

Science.gov (United States)

Guéhenneux, Sabine; Gardinier, Sophie; Morizot, Frederique; Le Fur, Isabelle; Tschachler, Erwin

2012-05-01

Dehydration of the stratum corneum leads to sensations and symptoms of 'dry skin' such as skin tightness and itchiness. As these complaints are frequently experienced by airline travellers, the aim of this study was to investigate the changes in skin surface hydration during long distance flights. The study was performed on four healthy Caucasian, and on four Japanese women aged 29-39 years, travelling on long distance flights. They had stopped using skin care products at least 12 h before, and did not apply them during the flights. The air temperature and relative humidity inside the cabin, as well as skin capacitance of the face and forearm of participants, were registered at several time points before and during the flights. Relative humidity of the aircraft cabin dropped to levels below 10% within 2 h after take-off and stayed at this value throughout the flight. Skin capacitance decreased rapidly on both the face and forearms with most pronounced changes on the cheeks where it decreased by up to 37%. Our results demonstrate that during long distance flights, the aircraft cabin environment leads to a rapid decrease in stratum corneum hydration, an alteration, which probably accounts for the discomfort experienced by long distance aircraft travellers. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Applying Sight Translation as a Means to Enhance Reading Ability of Iranian EFL Students

Science.gov (United States)

Fatollahi, Moslem

2016-01-01

Sight translation is the oral translation of a written text and is a mixture of translation and interpreting. Sight translation is a widely-used activity in translation training programs. Yet, this mode of translation has rarely been applied as a reading instruction technique in Iranian EFL instruction context in spite of the growing interest in…

Note on measuring electronic stopping of slow ions

Science.gov (United States)

Sigmund, P.; Schinner, A.

2017-11-01

Extracting stopping cross sections from energy-loss measurements requires careful consideration of the experimental geometry. Standard procedures for separating nuclear from electronic stopping treat electronic energy loss as a friction force, ignoring its dependence on impact parameter. In the present study we find that incorporating this dependence has a major effect on measured stopping cross sections, in particular for light ions at low beam energies. Calculations have been made for transmission geometry, nuclear interactions being quantified by Bohr-Williams theory of multiple scattering on the basis of a Thomas-Fermi-Molière potential, whereas electronic interactions are characterized by Firsov theory or PASS code. Differences between the full and the restricted stopping cross section depend on target thickness and opening angle of the detector and need to be taken into account in comparisons with theory as well as in applications of stopping data. It follows that the reciprocity principle can be violated when checked on restricted instead of full electronic stopping cross sections. Finally, we assert that a seeming gas-solid difference in stopping of low-energy ions is actually a metal-insulator difference. In comparisons with experimental results we mostly consider proton data, where nuclear stopping is only a minor perturbation.

Stop searches in flavourful supersymmetry

CERN Document Server

Crivellin, Andreas; Tunstall, Lewis C.

2016-01-01

Natural realisations of supersymmetry require light stops ${\\tilde t}_1$, making them a prime target of LHC searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. Depending on the kinematic region, the main search channels are ${\\tilde t_1}\\to t \\tilde \\chi^0_1$, ${\\tilde t_1}\\to W b \\tilde \\chi^0_1$ and ${\\tilde t_1}\\to c \\tilde \\chi^0_1$. We first examine the interplay of these decay modes with ${\\tilde c_1}\\to c \\tilde \\chi^0_1$ in a model-independent fashion, revealing the existence of large regions in parameter space which are excluded for any ${\\tilde t_1}\\to c \\tilde \\chi^0_1$ branching ratio. This effect is then illustrated for scenarios with stop-scharm mixing in the right-handed sector, where it has previously been observed that the stop mass limits can be significantly weakened for large mixing. Our analysis shows that once the LHC bounds from ${\\tilde c_1}\\to c \\tilde \\chi^0_1$ searches are taken into account, non-zero stop-scharm mixing leads only to a modest increase in the allowed regions of parameter...

Stopping power for heavy ions in low energy region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kitagawa, Mitsuo

1983-01-01

Review is made for the study on the power for stopping heavy ions. The studies on the power for stopping heavy ions passing through materials have been developed in the last twenty years due to the accuracy improvement in the data analysis of the power for stopping light ions, the requirement of data establishment on the power for stopping heavy ions from fusion research and the development of the experimental studies by heavy-ion accelerators. The relation between the analysis of the power for stopping heavy ions and the power for stopping light ions is described from the standpoint that the results on the power for stopping light ions serve as the guide for the study on the power for stopping heavy ions. Both at present and in future. The analysis of stopping power data with the accuracy from +-10 to 20 % is possible from the theoretical analysis of effective electric charge and its systematic table of the numerical data. The outline of the scaling rule on effective electric charge is discussed. The deviation of the experimental data from the scaling rule is discussed by comparing with the measured values of effective electric charge ratio. Various analyses of the power for stopping heavy ions are summarized. (Asami, T.)

Phonological processing skills in 6 year old blind and sighted Persian speakers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maryam Sadat Momen Vaghefi

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Background and Aim: Phonological processing skills include the abilities to restore, retrieve and use memorized phonological codes. The purpose of this research is to compare and evaluate phonological processing skills in 6-7 year old blind and sighted Persian speakers in Tehran, Iran.Methods: This research is an analysis-comparison study. The subjects were 24 blind and 24 sighted children. The evaluation test of reading and writing disorders in primary school students, linguistic and cognitive abilities test, and the naming subtest of the aphasia evaluation test were used as research tools.Results: Sighted children were found to perform better on phoneme recognition of nonwords and flower naming subtests; and the difference was significant (p<0.001. Blind children performed better in words and sentence memory; the difference was significant (p<0.001. There were no significant differences in other subtests.Conclusion: Blind children's better performance in memory tasks is due to the fact that they have powerful auditory memory.

Sweet Spots and Door Stops

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Michael; Tsui, Stella; Leung, Chi Fan

2011-01-01

A sweet spot is referred to in sport as the perfect place to strike a ball with a racquet or bat. It is the point of contact between bat and ball where maximum results can be produced with minimal effort from the hand of the player. Similar physics can be applied to the less inspiring examples of door stops; the perfect position of a door stop is…

BioSIGHT: Interactive Visualization Modules for Science Education

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Wee Ling

1998-01-01

Redefining science education to harness emerging integrated media technologies with innovative pedagogical goals represents a unique challenge. The Integrated Media Systems Center (IMSC) is the only engineering research center in the area of multimedia and creative technologies sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The research program at IMSC is focused on developing advanced technologies that address human-computer interfaces, database management, and high- speed network capabilities. The BioSIGHT project at IMSC is a demonstration technology project in the area of education that seeks to address how such emerging multimedia technologies can make an impact on science education. The scope of this project will help solidify NASA's commitment for the development of innovative educational resources that promotes science literacy for our students and the general population as well. These issues must be addressed as NASA marches towards the goal of enabling human space exploration that requires an understanding of life sciences in space. The IMSC BioSIGHT lab was established with the purpose of developing a novel methodology that will map a high school biology curriculum into a series of interactive visualization modules that can be easily incorporated into a space biology curriculum. Fundamental concepts in general biology must be mastered in order to allow a better understanding and application for space biology. Interactive visualization is a powerful component that can capture the students' imagination, facilitate their assimilation of complex ideas, and help them develop integrated views of biology. These modules will augment the role of the teacher and will establish the value of student-centered interactivity, both in an individual setting as well as in a collaborative learning environment. Students will be able to interact with the content material, explore new challenges, and perform virtual laboratory simulations. The BioSIGHT effort is truly cross

Intelligent Bus Stops in the Flexible Bus Systems

OpenAIRE

Razi Iqbal; Muhammad Usman Ghani

2014-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to discuss Intelligent Bus Stops in a special Demand Responsive Transit (DRT), the Flexible Bus System. These Intelligent Bus Stops are more efficient and information rich than Traditional Bus Stops. The real time synchronization of the Flexible Bus System makes it unique as compared to Traditional Bus Systems. The Main concern is to make Bus Stops intelligent and information rich. Buses are informed about the no. of passengers waiting at the upcoming ...

Impacts of battery characteristics, driver preferences and road network features on travel costs of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) for long-distance trips

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arslan, Okan; Yıldız, Barış; Ekin Karaşan, Oya

2014-01-01

In a road network with refueling and fast charging stations, the minimum-cost driving path of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) depends on factors such as location and availability of refueling/fast charging stations, capacity and cost of PHEV batteries, and driver tolerance towards extra mileage or additional stopping. In this paper, our focus is long-distance trips of PHEVs. We analyze the impacts of battery characteristics, often-overlooked driver preferences and road network features on PHEV travel costs for long-distance trips and compare the results with hybrid electric and conventional vehicles. We investigate the significance of these factors and derive critical managerial insights for shaping the future investment decisions about PHEVs and their infrastructure. In particular, our findings suggest that with a certain level of deployment of fast charging stations, well established cost and emission benefits of PHEVs for the short range trips can be extended to long distance. Drivers' stopping intolerance may hamper these benefits; however, increasing battery capacity may help overcome the adverse effects of this intolerance. - Highlights: • We investigate the travel costs of CVs, HEVs and PHEVs for long-distance trips. • We analyze the impacts of battery, driver and road network characteristics on the costs. • We provide critical managerial insights to shape the investment decisions about PHEVs. • Drivers' stopping intolerance may hamper the cost and emission benefits of PHEVs. • Negative effect of intolerance on cost may be overcome by battery capacity expansion

Inertial-confinement-fusion applications of ion-stopping theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

More, R.M.; Lee, Y.T.; Bailey, D.S.

1982-01-01

Methods were developed to calculate: (1) the stopping power of a hot plasma target, (2) the charge-state of a fast ion projectile, and (3) the final disposition of the deposited energy. The first issue refers to the stopping power for protons. The proton stopping power is altered in high-density or high-temperature targets, especially at velocities below the stopping peak. The second issue concerns the application of a proton stopping curve to the arbitrary projectile. The third topic is more specialized to inertial fusion and concerns the partition of deposited energy between ion (nuclear motion) degrees of freedom and those corresponding to bound and free electrons. The question here is whether a thermal equilibrium plasma is produced

The Stop Transmission of Polio Data Management (STOP DM) assignment and its role in polio eradication and immunization data improvement in Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Benke, Amalia; Williams, Alford Joseph; MacNeil, Adam

2017-01-01

The availability and use of high quality immunization and surveillance data are crucial for monitoring all components of the Global Polio Eradication Program (GPEI). The Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP) program was initiated in 1999 to train and mobilize human resources to provide technical support to polio endemic and at-risk countries and in 2002 the STOP data management (STOP DM) deployment was created to provide capacity development in the area of data management for immunization and surveillance data for these countries. Since 2002, Africa has received the majority of support from the STOP DM program, with almost 80% of assignments being placed in African countries. The STOP DM program has played a valuable role in improving the quality and use of data for the GPEI and has increasingly supported other immunization program data needs. In this report we provide an overview of the history, current status, and future of the STOP DM program, with a specific focus on the African continent.

Music Memory Following Short-term Practice and Its Relationship with the Sight-reading Abilities of Professional Pianists

OpenAIRE

Aiba, Eriko; Matsui, Toshie

2016-01-01

This study investigated the relationship between the ability to sight-read and the ability to memorize a score using a behavioral experiment. By measuring the amount of memorization following short-term practice, we examined whether better sight-readers not only estimate forthcoming notes but also memorize musical structures and phrases with more practice. Eleven pianists performed the music first by sight-reading. After a 20-minute practice, the participants were asked to perform from memory...

Knowledge of Dental Health and Oral Hygiene Practices of Taiwanese Visually Impaired and Sighted Students

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Chien-Huey Sophie; Shih, Yeng-Hung

2004-01-01

This study investigated the dental health knowledge and oral hygiene practices of 95 students with visual impairments and 286 sighted students in Taiwan. It found that the students with visual impairments were less knowledgeable about dental health and less frequently completed oral hygiene practices than did the sighted students.

An Exploration into Self Concept: A Comparative Analysis between the Adolescents Who Are Sighted and Blind in India

Science.gov (United States)

Halder, Santoshi; Datta, Poulomee

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the self concept of adolescents who are sighted and blind with respect to gender in India. The sample was made up of 160 participants aged 15 to 18 years: of whom 100 were sighted and 60 were blind. The results of the t-tests illustrated that sighted male adolescents scored higher in the overall…

Putting a Stop to Smoky Thinking

Science.gov (United States)

It can be easy to lose sight of the benefits of quitting when a strong craving for a cigarette hits. You might start to lose your focus on staying smokefree. There is no good reason to smoke. You know this.

From perception to metacognition: Auditory and olfactory functions in early blind, late blind, and sighted individuals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stina Cornell Kärnekull

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Although evidence is mixed, studies have shown that blind individuals perform better than sighted at specific auditory, tactile, and chemosensory tasks. However, few studies have assessed blind and sighted individuals across different sensory modalities in the same study. We tested early blind (n = 15, late blind (n = 15, and sighted (n = 30 participants with analogous olfactory and auditory tests in absolute threshold, discrimination, identification, episodic recognition, and metacognitive ability. Although the multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA showed no overall effect of blindness and no interaction with modality, follow-up between-group contrasts indicated a blind-over-sighted advantage in auditory episodic recognition, that was most pronounced in early blind individuals. In contrast to the auditory modality, there was no empirical support for compensatory effects in any of the olfactory tasks. There was no conclusive evidence for group differences in metacognitive ability to predict episodic recognition performance. Taken together, the results showed no evidence of an overall superior performance in blind relative sighted individuals across olfactory and auditory functions, although early blind individuals exceled in episodic auditory recognition memory. This observation may be related to an experience-induced increase in auditory attentional capacity.

Empirical stopping powers for ions in solids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ziegler, J.F.; Biersack, J.P.; Littmark, U.

1983-01-01

The work of Brandt and collaborators on low energy ion stopping powers has been extended to create an empirical formulation for the stopping of ions in solids. The result is a simple computer program (about 60 lines of code) which calculates stopping powers from zero to 100 MeV/amu for all ions in all elemental solids. This code has been compared to the data in about 2000 papers, and has a standard error of 9% for energies above keV/amu. This approach includes high energy relativistic effects and shell-corrections. In the medium energy range it uses stopping theory based on the local-density approximation and Lindhard stopping in a free electron gas. This is applied to realistic Hartree-Fock charge distributions for crystalline solids. In the low energy range it uses the Brandt concepts of ion stripping relative to the Fermi velocity of solids, and also his formalism for the relation of projectile ionization to its effective charge. The details of the calculation are presented, and a broad comparison is shown with experiment. Special comparative examples are shown of both the low energy stopping power oscillations which depend on the atomic number of the ion, and also of the target

Dust devil track survey at Elysium Planitia, Mars: Implications for the InSight landing sites

Science.gov (United States)

Reiss, Dennis; Lorenz, Ralph D.

2016-03-01

The InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) robotic lander is scheduled to land in Elysium Planitia on Mars in September 2016. InSight will perform the first comprehensive surface-based geophysical investigation including seismic measurements. Knowledge about encounter rates of dust devils with the InSight lander are important for two main reasons: (1) dust devils will affect the scientific measurements, i.e., wind-induced seismic noise, and (2) the power-supply of the InSight lander and instruments is provided by solar arrays and previous landers and rovers on Mars were affected by a steady decline in electrical power output due to atmospheric dust deposition on the solar panels. Long term science operations were only made possible by dust clearing events of the solar arrays caused by wind gusts and dust devils. In this study we analyzed dust devil tracks (DDTs) at the final InSight landing site region in Elysium Planitia. Formation of DDTs is caused by the removal of a layer of dust by passing dust devils, hence in principle the same process as clearing of dust from solar panels. We mapped the number, size (width and length), and orientation of DDTs in repeat observations using High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) images covering the exact same surface area acquired within a relatively short time span (solar panel clearing recurrence interval estimate of ∼11 Mars years using the mean annual DDT formation rate, and the mean DDT width and length from all measured DDTs. Due to several uncertainties this solar panel clearing recurrence interval for the InSight landing should be seen as an upper limit estimate.

Limitations to mapping habitat-use areas in changing landscapes using the Mahalanobis distance statistic

Science.gov (United States)

Knick, Steven T.; Rotenberry, J.T.

1998-01-01

We tested the potential of a GIS mapping technique, using a resource selection model developed for black-tailed jackrabbits (Lepus californicus) and based on the Mahalanobis distance statistic, to track changes in shrubsteppe habitats in southwestern Idaho. If successful, the technique could be used to predict animal use areas, or those undergoing change, in different regions from the same selection function and variables without additional sampling. We determined the multivariate mean vector of 7 GIS variables that described habitats used by jackrabbits. We then ranked the similarity of all cells in the GIS coverage from their Mahalanobis distance to the mean habitat vector. The resulting map accurately depicted areas where we sighted jackrabbits on verification surveys. We then simulated an increase in shrublands (which are important habitats). Contrary to expectation, the new configurations were classified as lower similarity relative to the original mean habitat vector. Because the selection function is based on a unimodal mean, any deviation, even if biologically positive, creates larger Malanobis distances and lower similarity values. We recommend the Mahalanobis distance technique for mapping animal use areas when animals are distributed optimally, the landscape is well-sampled to determine the mean habitat vector, and distributions of the habitat variables does not change.

Cognitive aspects of haptic form recognition by blind and sighted subjects.

Science.gov (United States)

Bailes, S M; Lambert, R M

1986-11-01

Studies using haptic form recognition tasks have generally concluded that the adventitiously blind perform better than the congenitally blind, implicating the importance of early visual experience in improved spatial functioning. The hypothesis was tested that the adventitiously blind have retained some ability to encode successive information obtained haptically in terms of a global visual representation, while the congenitally blind use a coding system based on successive inputs. Eighteen blind (adventitiously and congenitally) and 18 sighted (blindfolded and performing with vision) subjects were tested on their recognition of raised line patterns when the standard was presented in segments: in immediate succession, or with unfilled intersegmental delays of 5, 10, or 15 seconds. The results did not support the above hypothesis. Three main findings were obtained: normally sighted subjects were both faster and more accurate than the other groups; all groups improved in accuracy of recognition as a function of length of interstimulus interval; sighted subjects tended to report using strategies with a strong verbal component while the blind tended to rely on imagery coding. These results are explained in terms of information-processing theory consistent with dual encoding systems in working memory.

Nuclear stopping in transmission experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Glazov, Lev G.; Sigmund, Peter

2003-01-01

Energy-loss spectra, mean and peak energy loss, and straggling due to elastic nuclear scattering have been studied theoretically as a function of target thickness and deflection angle of an initially monochromatic and well-collimated ion beam. The goal of this work has been to provide a generally valid scheme for nuclear-stopping corrections, allowing to determine electronic-stopping forces from energy-loss spectra measured in transmission geometry. Calculations have been based on the generalized Bothe-Landau theory of energy loss and multiple scattering. Our peak energy losses at zero emergence angle show close (∼10%) agreement with predictions of Fastrup et al. on the basis of the Bohr-Williams theory. However, predicted mean and peak energy losses are found to more sensitively depend on the underlying interatomic potential than unrestricted, i.e. angle-integrated mean or peak energy losses. Both elastic energy loss and multiple scattering are known to obey scaling laws involving only two combinations of the pertinent variables and atomic parameters. The dependence on deflection angle and foil thickness of mean and peak energy loss obeys a simple combination of these scaling laws. Comments are made on potential errors due to uncertainties in the nuclear-stopping correction applied in the literature with specific reference to central papers in low-velocity stopping

Correlated ion stopping in plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zwicknagel, G.; Deutsch, C.

1997-01-01

The basic features of correlated ion stopping in plasmas are demonstrated by employing two opposite extremes of cluster structures, a statistical model with a spatial ion distribution of Gaussian shape and the highly regular configuration of N-ion chains and cubic boxes. In the case of the ion chains the resonant character of correlated stopping due to the interference of the excited wake fields is discussed in detail. The general behavior of correlation effects is summarized and its dependence on the ratio of cluster size and interion spacing to the screening length in the plasma, as well as the ratio of the cluster velocity to the mean electron velocity in the target, is stressed out. The validity and applicability of the dielectric response formalism used for describing correlated stopping is critically reviewed. A scheme is presented to extend the linear formalism to weak nonlinear situations that occur, in particular, for small highly charged clusters at moderate or low velocities. For the Gaussian cluster a fit formula is given, which allows a fast and accurate calculation of the enhancement of stopping due to correlation effects and applies for all degrees of degeneracy of the electrons and arbitrary cluster velocities. copyright 1997 The American Physical Society

Line-of-sight extrapolation noise in dust polarization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Poh, Jason; Dodelson, Scott

2017-05-19

The B-modes of polarization at frequencies ranging from 50-1000 GHz are produced by Galactic dust, lensing of primordial E-modes in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) by intervening large scale structure, and possibly by primordial B-modes in the CMB imprinted by gravitational waves produced during inflation. The conventional method used to separate the dust component of the signal is to assume that the signal at high frequencies (e.g., 350 GHz) is due solely to dust and then extrapolate the signal down to lower frequency (e.g., 150 GHz) using the measured scaling of the polarized dust signal amplitude with frequency. For typical Galactic thermal dust temperatures of about 20K, these frequencies are not fully in the Rayleigh-Jeans limit. Therefore, deviations in the dust cloud temperatures from cloud to cloud will lead to different scaling factors for clouds of different temperatures. Hence, when multiple clouds of different temperatures and polarization angles contribute to the integrated line-of-sight polarization signal, the relative contribution of individual clouds to the integrated signal can change between frequencies. This can cause the integrated signal to be decorrelated in both amplitude and direction when extrapolating in frequency. Here we carry out a Monte Carlo analysis on the impact of this line-of-sight extrapolation noise, enabling us to quantify its effect. Using results from the Planck experiment, we find that this effect is small, more than an order of magnitude smaller than the current uncertainties. However, line-of-sight extrapolation noise may be a significant source of uncertainty in future low-noise primordial B-mode experiments. Scaling from Planck results, we find that accounting for this uncertainty becomes potentially important when experiments are sensitive to primordial B-mode signals with amplitude r < 0.0015 .

Observational constraints on interstellar depletion mechanisms in lines of sight exhibiting peculiar extinction curves

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Joseph, C.L.

1985-01-01

The nature of dust-gas interactions, which are capable of modifying the size distribution of the grains and thus causing changes in the selective extinction curve, are investigated through depletion studies. The gaseous abundances of 16 elements were determined for several lines of sight toward moderately reddened stars, each having a so called anomalous extinction curve. Four lines of sight in the rho Ophiuchi dark cloud complexes as well as several lines of sight through the diffuse interstellar medium were also analyzed for comparison. Two approaches are used to assess the strength of density dependent depletion processes. First, the depletion pattern from element-to-element for each integrated line of sight is studied with particular emphasis being given to those species that are potential discriminators between the two major competing models of grain formation and growth. In the second approach, the relative abundancies of neutral atoms, which are thought to form primarily in the densest portions of interstellar clouds, are studied. Both of these constraints are then compared to a theoretical extinction curve derived from a simple model for the size distribution of the grains based on the degree of mantling

Stop Negative Thinking Effects for Drug Dependence

OpenAIRE

Windiarti, Sri Endang; Indriati, Indriati; Surachmi, Fajar

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of therapy stop thinking negatively against drug addiction in Rehabilitation Orphanage Rumah Damai Gunung Pati Semarang. This research is quasy experiment with pretest - posttes without the control group design. Thirty respondents were taken to the reseach sujects. Stop thinking negative therapy before and after thebehavior of drug addiction there are differences (t = 0.00), so it can be stated that the therapy stop thinking negatively inf...

"Stop Diabetes Now!"

Science.gov (United States)

... of this page please turn Javascript on. Feature: Diabetes "Stop Diabetes Now!" Past Issues / Fall 2009 Table of Contents ... Tips for Seniors at Risk for Type 2 Diabetes Lifestyle changes that lead to weight loss—such ...

Midcourse Guidance Law Based on High Target Acquisition Probability Considering Angular Constraint and Line-of-Sight Angle Rate Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiao Liu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Random disturbance factors would lead to the variation of target acquisition point during the long distance flight. To acquire a high target acquisition probability and improve the impact precision, missiles should be guided to an appropriate target acquisition position with certain attitude angles and line-of-sight (LOS angle rate. This paper has presented a new midcourse guidance law considering the influences of random disturbances, detection distance restraint, and target acquisition probability with Monte Carlo simulation. Detailed analyses of the impact points on the ground and the random distribution of the target acquisition position in the 3D space are given to get the appropriate attitude angles and the end position for the midcourse guidance. Then, a new formulation biased proportional navigation (BPN guidance law with angular constraint and LOS angle rate control has been derived to ensure the tracking ability when attacking the maneuvering target. Numerical simulations demonstrates that, compared with the proportional navigation guidance (PNG law and the near-optimal spatial midcourse guidance (NSMG law, BPN guidance law demonstrates satisfactory performances and can meet both the midcourse terminal angular constraint and the LOS angle rate requirement.

Marine biota sightings during 3D marine seismic surveys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oliveira, Joao Luiz Martinez de; Uller, George A. [CGG do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Derntl, Jose Renato; Ribeiro, Camila Castroviejo da Silva; Pereira, Edisio [GEOCOOP Cooperativa de Trabalho, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Miranda, Cristina Maschio de [Nautilus Cooperativa de Trabalho (Brazil); Ferraz, Alexandre Almeida; Costa, Leandro Damiao Soares da [Okeanos Consultoria e Meio Ambiente Ltda. (Brazil)

2004-07-01

This work intends to make a correlation between the presence of the marine biota and the seismic source activity (air guns) during seismic surveys, in Campos (BM-C-25 and BM-C-16) and Santos (BM-S-3) Basin, since July 2003 until March 2004. Environmental data were acquired onboard of the Seismic Vessel CGG Harmattan by a team of four oceanographers (environmental technicians), working on the highest place of the Vessel to record and identify the animals whenever was possible. The data were recorded in forms where fields about the biotic and environmental aspects were filled. In 212 days of observations, 2580,1 hours of sighting's effort were recorded; the air guns worked during 37,6% of the time of the effort. These efforts were made during the daylight reaching an average value of 11,35 hours/day. Sightings were divided into the suborders Odontocetes and Mysticetes, and others (fishes, turtles and non identified mammals). 175 sightings were recorded, being 54% when the air gun was off (24% Mysticetes, 56% Odontocetes, 20% others). Similarly, when the air gun was working, 46% of the records were made (24% Mysticetes, 61% Odontocetes, 6% others); the major concentration (58%) of individuals was inside the 1000 m radius around the ship, followed by 14% of the individuals occurring between 3001-4000 m radius away from the ship. The analysis of the data suggests a non-evasive behavior related to the working of the seismic source, corroborating the results reached by other publications using the data collected onboard CGG Vessels. (author)

Six Sensational Dots: Braille Literacy for Sighted Classmates

Science.gov (United States)

Swenson, Anna M.; Cozart, Nancy

2010-01-01

From the moment sighted children see their first dot, teachers find that they are fascinated by the braille code. If they are fortunate enough to have a classmate who reads braille, they have daily opportunities to observe braille used for a variety of purposes, from reading chapter books to solving problems with tactile graphics. Teachers of…

Multi-arm group sequential designs with a simultaneous stopping rule.

Science.gov (United States)

Urach, S; Posch, M

2016-12-30

Multi-arm group sequential clinical trials are efficient designs to compare multiple treatments to a control. They allow one to test for treatment effects already in interim analyses and can have a lower average sample number than fixed sample designs. Their operating characteristics depend on the stopping rule: We consider simultaneous stopping, where the whole trial is stopped as soon as for any of the arms the null hypothesis of no treatment effect can be rejected, and separate stopping, where only recruitment to arms for which a significant treatment effect could be demonstrated is stopped, but the other arms are continued. For both stopping rules, the family-wise error rate can be controlled by the closed testing procedure applied to group sequential tests of intersection and elementary hypotheses. The group sequential boundaries for the separate stopping rule also control the family-wise error rate if the simultaneous stopping rule is applied. However, we show that for the simultaneous stopping rule, one can apply improved, less conservative stopping boundaries for local tests of elementary hypotheses. We derive corresponding improved Pocock and O'Brien type boundaries as well as optimized boundaries to maximize the power or average sample number and investigate the operating characteristics and small sample properties of the resulting designs. To control the power to reject at least one null hypothesis, the simultaneous stopping rule requires a lower average sample number than the separate stopping rule. This comes at the cost of a lower power to reject all null hypotheses. Some of this loss in power can be regained by applying the improved stopping boundaries for the simultaneous stopping rule. The procedures are illustrated with clinical trials in systemic sclerosis and narcolepsy. © 2016 The Authors. Statistics in Medicine Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. © 2016 The Authors. Statistics in Medicine Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Imaging x-ray sources at a finite distance in coded-mask instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Donnarumma, Immacolata; Pacciani, Luigi; Lapshov, Igor; Evangelista, Yuri

2008-01-01

We present a method for the correction of beam divergence in finite distance sources imaging through coded-mask instruments. We discuss the defocusing artifacts induced by the finite distance showing two different approaches to remove such spurious effects. We applied our method to one-dimensional (1D) coded-mask systems, although it is also applicable in two-dimensional systems. We provide a detailed mathematical description of the adopted method and of the systematics introduced in the reconstructed image (e.g., the fraction of source flux collected in the reconstructed peak counts). The accuracy of this method was tested by simulating pointlike and extended sources at a finite distance with the instrumental setup of the SuperAGILE experiment, the 1D coded-mask x-ray imager onboard the AGILE (Astro-rivelatore Gamma a Immagini Leggero) mission. We obtained reconstructed images of good quality and high source location accuracy. Finally we show the results obtained by applying this method to real data collected during the calibration campaign of SuperAGILE. Our method was demonstrated to be a powerful tool to investigate the imaging response of the experiment, particularly the absorption due to the materials intercepting the line of sight of the instrument and the conversion between detector pixel and sky direction

Are Stopped Strings Preferred in Sad Music?

OpenAIRE

David Huron; Caitlyn Trevor

2017-01-01

String instruments may be played either with open strings (where the string vibrates between the bridge and a hard wooden nut) or with stopped strings (where the string vibrates between the bridge and a performer's finger pressed against the fingerboard). Compared with open strings, stopped strings permit the use of vibrato and exhibit a darker timbre. Inspired by research on the timbre of sad speech, we test whether there is a tendency to use stopped strings in nominally sad music. Specifica...

The subject-fixated coaxially sighted corneal light reflex: a clinical marker for centration of refractive treatments and devices.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Daniel H; Waring, George O

2014-11-01

To describe the inconsistencies in definition, application, and usage of the ocular reference axes (optical axis, visual axis, line of sight, pupillary axis, and topographic axis) and angles (angle kappa, lambda, and alpha) and to propose a precise, reproducible, clinically defined reference marker and axis for centration of refractive treatments and devices. Perspective. Literature review of papers dealing with ocular reference axes, angles, and centration. The inconsistent definitions and usage of the current ocular axes, as derived from eye models, limit their clinical utility. With a clear understanding of Purkinje images and a defined alignment of the observer, light source/fixation target, and subject eye, the subject-fixated coaxially sighted corneal light reflex can be a clinically useful reference marker. The axis formed by connecting the subject-fixated coaxially sighted corneal light reflex and the fixation point, the subject-fixated coaxially sighted corneal light reflex axis, is independent of pupillary dilation and phakic status of the eye. The relationship of the subject-fixated coaxially sighted corneal light reflex axis to a refined definition of the visual axis without reference to nodal points, the foveal-fixation axis, is discussed. The displacement between the subject-fixated coaxially sighted corneal light reflex and pupil center is described not by an angle, but by a chord, here termed chord mu. The application of the subject-fixated coaxially sighted corneal light reflex to the surgical centration of refractive treatments and devices is discussed. As a clinically defined reference marker, the subject-fixated coaxially sighted corneal light reflex avoids the shortcomings of current ocular axes for clinical application and may contribute to better consensus in the literature and improved patient outcomes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Resonant charging and stopping power of slow channelling atoms in a crystalline metal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mason, D R; Race, C P; Foo, M H F; Horsfield, A P; Foulkes, W M C; Sutton, A P

2012-01-01

Fast moving ions travel great distances along channels between low-index crystallographic planes, slowing through collisions with electrons, until finally they hit a host atom initiating a cascade of atomic displacements. Statistical penetration ranges of incident particles are reliably used in ion-implantation technologies, but a full, necessarily quantum-mechanical, description of the stopping of slow, heavy ions is challenging and the results of experimental investigations are not fully understood. Using a self-consistent model of the electronic structure of a metal, and explicit treatment of atomic structure, we find by direct simulation a resonant accumulation of charge on a channelling ion analogous to the Okorokov effect but originating in electronic excitation between delocalized and localized valence states on the channelling ion and its transient host neighbours, stimulated by the time-periodic potential experienced by the channelling ion. The charge resonance reduces the electronic stopping power on the channelling ion. These are surprising and interesting new chemical aspects of channelling, which cannot be predicted within the standard framework of ions travelling through homogeneous electron gases or by considering either ion or target in isolation. (paper)

Representing distance, consuming distance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Gunvor Riber

Title: Representing Distance, Consuming Distance Abstract: Distance is a condition for corporeal and virtual mobilities, for desired and actual travel, but yet it has received relatively little attention as a theoretical entity in its own right. Understandings of and assumptions about distance...... are being consumed in the contemporary society, in the same way as places, media, cultures and status are being consumed (Urry 1995, Featherstone 2007). An exploration of distance and its representations through contemporary consumption theory could expose what role distance plays in forming...

The Stop Transmission of Polio Data Management (STOP DM) assignment and its role in polio eradication and immunization data improvement in Africa

OpenAIRE

Benke, Amalia; Williams, Alford Joseph; MacNeil, Adam

2017-01-01

The availability and use of high quality immunization and surveillance data are crucial for monitoring all components of the Global Polio Eradication Program (GPEI). The Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP) program was initiated in 1999 to train and mobilize human resources to provide technical support to polio endemic and at-risk countries and in 2002 the STOP data management (STOP DM) deployment was created to provide capacity development in the area of data management for immunization and sur...

Measurement of Antenna Bore-Sight Gain

Science.gov (United States)

Fortinberry, Jarrod; Shumpert, Thomas H.

2016-01-01

The absolute or free-field gain of a simple antenna can be approximated using standard antenna theory formulae or for a more accurate prediction, numerical methods may be employed to solve for antenna parameters including gain. Both of these methods will result in relatively reasonable estimates but in practice antenna gain is usually verified and documented via measurements and calibration. In this paper, a relatively simple and low-cost, yet effective means of determining the bore-sight free-field gain of a VHF/UHF antenna is proposed by using the Brewster angle relationship.

NWHI Basking Green Turtle Data (Turtle Sightings from Seal Surveys)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This data set contains records of green turtle sightings in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) since 1982 at Lisianski Island, and since 1983 for most other...

Repeated sightings of Alexandrine parakeet Psittacula eupatria in Rome (Central Italy and its likely acclimatization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesco Maria Angelici

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Alexandrine parakeet sightings have repeatedly occurred in the city of Rome, Italy in the Caffarella valley, within the ‘Regional Park of Appia Antica’ starting from March 2010. Several other sightings have been made since December 2014 onwards. Until now, nesting has not been proven, but it is believed that this may have already occurred.

49 CFR 392.22 - Emergency signals; stopped commercial motor vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... REGULATIONS DRIVING OF COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLES Stopped Commercial Motor Vehicles § 392.22 Emergency signals; stopped commercial motor vehicles. (a) Hazard warning signal flashers. Whenever a commercial motor vehicle... than necessary traffic stops, the driver of the stopped commercial motor vehicle shall immediately...

Persisting roughness when deposition stops.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwartz, Moshe; Edwards, S F

2004-12-01

Useful theories for growth of surfaces under random deposition of material have been developed by several authors. The simplest theory is that introduced by Edwards and Wilkinson (EW), which is linear and soluble. Its nonlinear generalization by Kardar, Parisi, and Zhang (KPZ) resulted in many subsequent studies. Yet both EW and KPZ theories contain an unphysical feature. When deposition of material is stopped, both theories predict that as time tends to infinity, the surface becomes flat. In fact, of course, the final surface is not flat, but simply has no gradients larger than the gradient related to the angle of repose. We modify the EW and KPZ theories to accommodate this feature and study the consequences for the simpler system which is a modification of the EW equation. In spite of the fact that the equation describing the evolution of the surface is not linear, we find that the steady state in the presence of noise is not very different in the long-wavelength limit from that of the linear EW equation. The situation is quite different from that of EW when deposition stops. Initially there is still some rearrangement of the surface, but that stops as everywhere on the surface the gradient is less than that related to the angle of repose. The most interesting feature observed after deposition stops is the emergence of history-dependent steady-state distributions.

Behaviors of Sighted Individuals Perceived by Blind Persons as Hindrances to Self-Reliance in Blind Persons.

Science.gov (United States)

Rickelman, Bonnie L.; Blaylock, Jerry N.

1983-01-01

Situations in which sighted people behaved inappropiately toward blind individuals were recalled by 60 blind subjects, who described their reactions and feelings and offered suggestions for sighted people. A lack of knowledge and understanding of the skills, abilities, and feelings of visually impaired individuals were revealed. (SEW)

How to Stop Biting Your Nails

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... of hangnails, or other triggers, such as boredom, stress, or anxiety. By figuring out what causes you to bite your nails, you can figure out how to avoid these situations and develop a plan to stop. Just knowing when you’re inclined to bite may help solve the problem. Try to gradually stop biting ...

Physical exercises to improve the stability of the target sight in sport shooting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mercedes Miló Dubé

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Sport shooting stands for a highly technical sport, and a competitive art. It is the target sight one of the more important technical elements because it favors the sport performance and it must be considered in the training sessions from the junior school categories. This research meets the goals of proposing a set of physical exercises to improve the stability of the target sight technique for the Shooting athletes, category 13-16, field Standard gun pistol in the Sport School “Ormani Arenado Llonch” in Pinar del Río, Cuba. To fulfill this objective it was applied scientific observation, surveys and interviews, theoretical methods were also used in this research adjusted to 11 athletes and 3 coaches as the sample of research belonging to this school under study. Based on the diagnosed weaknesses found along the training was selected a set of physical exercise to improve the target sight empowering the pedagogical implication and without breaking the planning process of the sport.

Absolute distance measurement with micrometer accuracy using a Michelson interferometer and the iterative synthetic wavelength principle.

Science.gov (United States)

Alzahrani, Khaled; Burton, David; Lilley, Francis; Gdeisat, Munther; Bezombes, Frederic; Qudeisat, Mohammad

2012-02-27

We present a novel system that can measure absolute distances of up to 300 mm with an uncertainty of the order of one micrometer, within a timeframe of 40 seconds. The proposed system uses a Michelson interferometer, a tunable laser, a wavelength meter and a computer for analysis. The principle of synthetic wave creation is used in a novel way in that the system employs an initial low precision estimate of the distance, obtained using a triangulation, or time-of-flight, laser system, or similar, and then iterates through a sequence of progressively smaller synthetic wavelengths until it reaches micrometer uncertainties in the determination of the distance. A further novel feature of the system is its use of Fourier transform phase analysis techniques to achieve sub-wavelength accuracy. This method has the major advantages of being relatively simple to realize, offering demonstrated high relative precisions better than 5 × 10(-5). Finally, the fact that this device does not require a continuous line-of-sight to the target as is the case with other configurations offers significant advantages.

Leptonic mono-top from single stop production at the LHC

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Duan, Guang Hua [CAS Key Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Institute of Theoretical Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100190 (China); Hikasa, Ken-ichi [Department of Physics, Tohoku University,Sendai 980-8578 (Japan); Wu, Lei [Department of Physics and Institute of Theoretical Physics, Nanjing Normal University,Nanjing, Jiangsu 210023 (China); ARC Centre of Excellence for Particle Physics at the Terascale,School of Physics, The University of Sydney,NSW 2006 (Australia); Yang, Jin Min [CAS Key Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Institute of Theoretical Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100190 (China); Department of Physics, Tohoku University,Sendai 980-8578 (Japan); Zhang, Mengchao [Center for Theoretical Physics and Universe, Institute for Basic Science (IBS),Daejeon 34051 (Korea, Republic of)

2017-03-16

Top squark (stop) can be produced via QCD interaction but also the electroweak interaction at the LHC. In this paper, we investigate the observability of the associated production of stop and chargino, pp→t̃{sub 1}χ̃{sub 1}{sup −}, in compressed electroweakino scenarios at 14 TeV LHC. Due to small mass splitting between the lightest neutralino (χ̃{sub 1}{sup 0}) and chargino (χ̃{sub 1}{sup −}), the single stop production can give the mono-top signature through the stop decay t̃{sub 1}→tχ̃{sub 1}{sup 0}. We analyze the leptonic mono-top channel of the single stop production and propose a lab-frame observable cos θ{sub bℓ} to reduce the SM backgrounds. We find that such leptonic mono-top events from the single stop production can be probed at 2σ level at the HL-LHC if m{sub t̃{sub 1}}<760 GeV and m{sub χ̃{sub 1{sup 0}}}<150 GeV. Given a discovery of the stop and a measurement of the single stop production cross section, the stop mixing angle can also be determined from the single stop production at the HL-LHC.

A Comparative Study of the Manneristic Behaviour of Blind and Sighted Children. Research Series No. 1.

Science.gov (United States)

Indian National Inst. for the Visually Handicapped, Dehra Dun.

Examination of the manneristic behavior (stereotyped or repetitive movement) of 542 blind and 365 sighted children was undertaken. Seventeen types of manneristic behavior were investigated, including head movement, eye poking and rubbing, body rocking, kicking, and posture distortion. Comparison of the behaviors observed in sighted and blind Ss…

Silicon Graphics' IRIS InSight: An SGML Success Story.

Science.gov (United States)

Glushko, Robert J.; Kershner, Ken

1993-01-01

Offers a case history of the development of the Silicon Graphics "IRIS InSight" system, a system for viewing on-line documentation using Standard Generalized Markup Language. Notes that SGML's explicit encoding of structure and separation of structure and presentation make possible structure-based search, alternative structural views of…

Experience, but not distance, influences the recruitment precision in the stingless bee Scaptotrigona mexicana

Science.gov (United States)

Sánchez, Daniel; Kraus, F. Bernhard; Hernández, Manuel De Jesús; Vandame, Rémy

2007-07-01

Recruitment precision, i.e. the proportion of recruits that reach an advertised food source, is a crucial adaptation of social bees to their environment. Studies with honeybees showed that recruitment precision is not a fixed feature, but it may be enhanced by factors like experience and distance. However, little is known regarding the recruitment precision of stingless bees. Hence, in this study, we examined the effects of experience and spatial distance on the precision of the food communication system of the stingless bee Scaptotrigona mexicana. We conducted the experiments by training bees to a three-dimensional artificial patch at several distances from the colony. We recorded the choices of individual recruited foragers, either being newcomers (foragers without experience with the advertised food source) or experienced (foragers that had previously visited the feeder). We found that the average precision of newcomers (95.6 ± 2.61%) was significantly higher than that of experienced bees (80.2 ± 1.12%). While this might seem counter-intuitive on first sight, this “loss” of precision can be explained by the tendency of experienced recruits to explore nearby areas to find new rewarding food sources after they had initially learned the exact location of the food source. Increasing the distance from the colony had no significant effect on the precision of the foraging bees. Thus, our data show that experience, but not the distance of the food source, affected the patch precision of S. mexicana foragers.

On poisson-stopped-sums that are mixed poisson

OpenAIRE

Valero Baya, Jordi; Pérez Casany, Marta; Ginebra Molins, Josep

2013-01-01

Maceda (1948) characterized the mixed Poisson distributions that are Poisson-stopped-sum distributions based on the mixing distribution. In an alternative characterization of the same set of distributions here the Poisson-stopped-sum distributions that are mixed Poisson distributions is proved to be the set of Poisson-stopped-sums of either a mixture of zero-truncated Poisson distributions or a zero-modification of it. Peer Reviewed

Electron stopping powers for transport calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berger, M.J.

1988-01-01

The reliability of radiation transport calculations depends on the accuracy of the input cross sections. Therefore, it is essential to review and update the cross sections from time to time. Even though the main interest of the author's group at NBS is in transport calculations and their applications, the group spends almost as much time on the analysis and preparation of cross sections as on the development of transport codes. Stopping powers, photon attenuation coefficients, bremsstrahlung cross sections, and elastic-scattering cross sections in recent years have claimed attention. This chapter deals with electron stopping powers (with emphasis on collision stopping powers), and reviews the state of the art as reflected by Report 37 of the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements

Stop search in the compressed region via semileptonic decays

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cheng, Hsin-Chia; Gao, Christina; Li, Lingfeng; Neill, Nicolás A. [Department of Physics, University of California,Davis, California 95616 (United States)

2016-05-05

In supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model, the superpartners of the top quark (stops) play the crucial role in addressing the naturalness problem. For direct pair-production of stops with each stop decaying into a top quark plus the lightest neutralino, the standard stop searches have difficulty finding the stop for a compressed spectrum where the mass difference between the stop and the lightest neutralino is close to the top quark mass, because the events look too similar to the large tt̄ background. With an additional hard ISR jet, the two neutralinos from the stop decays are boosted in the opposite direction and they can give rise to some missing transverse energy. This may be used to distinguish the stop decays from the backgrounds. In this paper we study the semileptonic decay of such signal events for the compressed mass spectrum. Although the neutrino from the W decay also produces some missing transverse energy, its momentum can be reconstructed from the kinematic assumptions and mass-shell conditions. It can then be subtracted from the total missing transverse momentum to obtain the neutralino contribution. Because it suffers from less backgrounds, we show that the semileptonic decay channel has a better discovery reach than the fully hadronic decay channel along the compressed line m{sub t̃}−m{sub χ̃}≈m{sub t}. With 300 fb{sup −1}, the 13 TeV LHC can discover the stop up to 500 GeV, covering the most natural parameter space region.

STARCODES, Stopping Power and Ranges for Electrons, Protons, He

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2000-01-01

1 - Description of program or function: The 'STAR CODES', ESTAR, PSTAR, and ASTAR, calculate stopping-power and range tables for electrons, protons, and helium ions (alphas), according to methods described in ICRU Reports 37 and 39. 2 - Method of solution: Collision stopping powers are calculated from the theory of Bethe (1930, 1932), with a density-effect correction evaluated according to Sternheimer (1952, 1982). The stopping-power formula contains an important parameter, the mean excitation energy (I-value), which characterizes the stopping properties of a material. The codes provide output for electrons in any stopping material (279 provided) and for protons and helium ions in 74 materials. The calculations include the 1) Collision stopping power, 2) Radiative stopping power (electrons only), 3) Nuclear stopping power (protons and helium ions), 4) Total stopping power, 5) CSDA range, 6) Projected range (protons and helium ions), 7) Density effect parameter (electrons), 8) Radiation yield (electrons), and 9) Detour factor (protons and helium ions). Standard energy grids and files of elements w/ionization-excitation information are included with lookup table capabilities. 3 - Restrictions on the complexity of the problem: The minimum energies used in the calculations are at 1 KeV (protons and helium ions) and 10 KeV (electrons), and the maximum are 1 GeV. The standard energy grids are set at 81 for electrons, equally spaced (logarithmically), 133 for protons, and 122 for helium ions. The lower energy electron calculations (< 10 KeV) have up to 5-10% errors and are considered too fallable

Ready to stop

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Molitoris, Joseph; Dribe, Martin

2016-01-01

the Roteman Database for Stockholm, Sweden between 1878 and 1926 to examine the association of socioeconomic status and fertility and the adoption of stopping behaviour during the city's transition. Using piecewise constant hazard models and logistic regression, we find that a clear class pattern arises...

Multidisciplinary Optimization Branch Experience Using iSIGHT Software

Science.gov (United States)

Padula, S. L.; Korte, J. J.; Dunn, H. J.; Salas, A. O.

1999-01-01

The Multidisciplinary Optimization (MDO) Branch at NASA Langley is investigating frameworks for supporting multidisciplinary analysis and optimization research. A framework provides software and system services to integrate computational tasks and allows the researcher to concentrate more on the application and less on the programming details. A framework also provides a common working environment and a full range of optimization tools, and so increases the productivity of multidisciplinary research teams. Finally, a framework enables staff members to develop applications for use by disciplinary experts in other organizations. This year, the MDO Branch has gained experience with the iSIGHT framework. This paper describes experiences with four aerospace applications, including: (1) reusable launch vehicle sizing, (2) aerospike nozzle design, (3) low-noise rotorcraft trajectories, and (4) acoustic liner design. Brief overviews of each problem are provided, including the number and type of disciplinary codes and computation time estimates. In addition, the optimization methods, objective functions, design variables, and constraints are described for each problem. For each case, discussions on the advantages and disadvantages of using the iSIGHT framework are provided as well as notes on the ease of use of various advanced features and suggestions for areas of improvement.

Inferring Stop-Locations from WiFi.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Kofoed Wind

Full Text Available Human mobility patterns are inherently complex. In terms of understanding these patterns, the process of converting raw data into series of stop-locations and transitions is an important first step which greatly reduces the volume of data, thus simplifying the subsequent analyses. Previous research into the mobility of individuals has focused on inferring 'stop locations' (places of stationarity from GPS or CDR data, or on detection of state (static/active. In this paper we bridge the gap between the two approaches: we introduce methods for detecting both mobility state and stop-locations. In addition, our methods are based exclusively on WiFi data. We study two months of WiFi data collected every two minutes by a smartphone, and infer stop-locations in the form of labelled time-intervals. For this purpose, we investigate two algorithms, both of which scale to large datasets: a greedy approach to select the most important routers and one which uses a density-based clustering algorithm to detect router fingerprints. We validate our results using participants' GPS data as well as ground truth data collected during a two month period.

Light stops and fine-tuning in MSSM

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cici, Ali; Kirca, Zerrin; Uen, Cem Salih [Uludag Univ., Department of Physics, Bursa (Turkey)

2018-01-15

We discuss the fine-tuning issue within the MSSM framework. Following the idea that the fine-tuning can measure effects of some missing mechanism, we impose non-universal gaugino masses at the GUT scale, and explore the low scale implications. We realize that the fine-tuning parametrized with Δ{sub EW} can be as low as zero. We consider the stop mass with a special importance and focus on the mass scales as m{sub t} ≤ 700 GeV, which are excluded by the current experiments when the stop decays into a neutralino along with a top quark or a chargino along with a bottom quark. We find that the stop mass can be as low as about 250 GeV with Δ{sub EW} ∝ 50. We find that the solutions in this region can be excluded only up to 60% when stop decays into a neutralino-top quark, and 50% when it decays into a chargino-b quark. Setting 65% CL to be potential exclusion and 95% to be pure exclusion limit such solutions will be tested in near future experiments, which are conducted with higher luminosity. In addition to stop, the region with low fine-tuning and light stops predicts masses for the other supersymmetric particles such as m{sub b} >or similar 700 GeV, m{sub τ} >or similar 1 TeV, m{sub χ{sub 1}{sup {sub ±}}} >or similar 120 GeV. The details for the mass scales and decay rates are also provided by tables of benchmark points. (orig.)

Light stops and fine-tuning in MSSM

Science.gov (United States)

Çiçi, Ali; Kırca, Zerrin; Ün, Cem Salih

2018-01-01

We discuss the fine-tuning issue within the MSSM framework. Following the idea that the fine-tuning can measure effects of some missing mechanism, we impose non-universal gaugino masses at the GUT scale, and explore the low scale implications. We realize that the fine-tuning parametrized with Δ _{EW} can be as low as zero. We consider the stop mass with a special importance and focus on the mass scales as m_{\\tilde{t}} ≤ 700 GeV, which are excluded by the current experiments when the stop decays into a neutralino along with a top quark or a chargino along with a bottom quark. We find that the stop mass can be as low as about 250 GeV with Δ _{EW} ˜ 50. We find that the solutions in this region can be exluded only up to 60% when stop decays into a neutralino-top quark, and 50% when it decays into a chargino-b quark. Setting 65% CL to be potential exclusion and 95% to be pure exclusion limit such solutions will be tested in near future experiments, which are conducted with higher luminosity. In addition to stop, the region with low fine-tuning and light stops predicts masses for the other supersymmetric particles such as m_{\\tilde{b}} ≳ 700 GeV, m_{\\tilde{τ }} ≳ 1 TeV, m_{\\tilde{χ }1^{± }} ≳ 120 GeV. The details for the mass scales and decay rates are also provided by tables of benchmark points.

Tactile Acuity in the Blind: A Closer Look Reveals Superiority over the Sighted in Some but Not All Cutaneous Tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Alary, Flamine; Duquette, Marco; Goldstein, Rachel; Chapman, C. Elaine; Voss, Patrice; La Buissonniere-Ariza, Valerie; Lepore, Franco

2009-01-01

Previous studies have shown that blind subjects may outperform the sighted on certain tactile discrimination tasks. We recently showed that blind subjects outperformed the sighted in a haptic 2D-angle discrimination task. The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of the same blind (n = 16) and sighted (n = 17, G1) subjects in three…

Effect of oxygen-breathing during a decompression-stop on bubble-induced platelet activation after an open-sea air dive: oxygen-stop decompression.

Science.gov (United States)

Pontier, J-M; Lambrechts, K

2014-06-01

We highlighted a relationship between decompression-induced bubble formation and platelet micro-particle (PMP) release after a scuba air-dive. It is known that decompression protocol using oxygen-stop accelerates the washout of nitrogen loaded in tissues. The aim was to study the effect of oxygen deco-stop on bubble formation and cell-derived MP release. Healthy experienced divers performed two scuba-air dives to 30 msw for 30 min, one with an air deco-stop and a second with 100% oxygen deco-stop at 3 msw for 9 min. Bubble grades were monitored with ultrasound and converted to the Kisman integrated severity score (KISS). Blood samples for cell-derived micro-particle analysis (AnnexinV for PMP and CD31 for endothelial MP) were taken 1 h before and after each dive. Mean KISS bubble score was significantly lower after the dive with oxygen-decompression stop, compared to the dive with air-decompression stop (4.3 ± 7.3 vs. 32.7 ± 19.9, p air-breathing decompression stop, we observed an increase of the post-dive mean values of PMP (753 ± 245 vs. 381 ± 191 ng/μl, p = 0.003) but no significant change in the oxygen-stop decompression dive (329 ± 215 vs. 381 +/191 ng/μl, p = 0.2). For the post-dive mean values of endothelial MP, there was no significant difference between both the dives. The Oxygen breathing during decompression has a beneficial effect on bubble formation accelerating the washout of nitrogen loaded in tissues. Secondary oxygen-decompression stop could reduce bubble-induced platelet activation and the pro-coagulant activity of PMP release preventing the thrombotic event in the pathogenesis of decompression sickness.

Design of permanent block stopping to resist strata convergence

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ray, R.E.

1985-11-01

Conventional concrete block plastered with a cementitious coating is the most common material used in the construction of permanent stoppings to direct airflow in underground mines in the US. All mines experience various degrees of strata convergence depending on depth of overburden, geological conditions, and type of roof support employed. Strata convergence will cause cracks and joint openings in masonry stoppings, resulting in significant air leakage losses. Where strata convergence is severe, complete structural failure of the stopping can ultimately occur. Reconstruction of damaged or destroyed stoppings adds expensive overheads to mining operations, and even greater expenses are incurred from the additional fan horsepower required to overcome leakage losses. Ideally, a stopping should maintain high resistance to airflow while yielding to strata convergence. By properly incorporating a polyisocyanurate rigid foam material within the masonry block structure, stopping service life can be increased in mines experiencing strata convergence problems such as floor heave, roof loading, and lateral rib movement.

Stop. Write! Writing Grounded Theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Barney G. Glaser, PhD, Hon. PhD

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The message in this book, the dictum in this book, is to stop and write when the Grounded Theory (GT methodology puts you in that ready position. Stop unending conceptualization, unending data coverage, and unending listening to others who would egg you on with additional data, ideas and/or requirements or simply wait too long. I will discuss these ideas in detail. My experience with PhD candidates is that for the few who write when ready, many do not and SHOULD. Simply put, many write-up, but many more should.

Could stops lighten the top?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bilal, A.; Ellis, J.; Fogli, G.L.

1990-01-01

The analysis of the presently available electroweak data including radiative corrections in the standard model suggests that the top quark weighs more than the Z 0 . We examine whether squark loops in the minimal supersymmetric model, particularly those involving stops (partners of the top quark), could reduce substantially the preferred range of top quark masses. Given the present lower bounds on squark masses, we find that stop effects can reduce the central value of m t by at most a few GeV, although they do make a very heavy top quark increasingly unlikely. (orig.)

MGN V RSS LINE OF SIGHT ACCELERATION PROFILES V1.0

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Line of Sight Acceleration Profile Data Records (LOSAPDR) consist of data from Doppler tracking of the orbiting spacecraft. The relative motion of the spacecraft and...

Stopping test of iterative methods for solving PDE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Bangrong

1991-01-01

In order to assure the accuracy of the numerical solution of the iterative method for solving PDE (partial differential equation), the stopping test is very important. If the coefficient matrix of the system of linear algebraic equations is strictly diagonal dominant or irreducible weakly diagonal dominant, the stopping test formulas of the iterative method for solving PDE is proposed. Several numerical examples are given to illustrate the applications of the stopping test formulas

Stopping power, its meaning, and its general characteristics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inokuti, Mitio.

1995-01-01

This essay presents remarks on the meaning of stopping, power and of its magnitude. More precisely, the first set of remarks concerns the connection of stopping power with elements of particle-transport theory, which describes particle transport and its consequences in full detail, including its stochastic aspects. The second set of remarks concerns the magnitude of the stopping power of a material and its relation with the material's electronic structure and other properties

STOP4-7 Nederland. Resultaten 2010-2011

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geijsen, L.; Veerman, J.W.; Bastiaanssen, I.L.W.

2011-01-01

STOP4-7 is een multimodale interventie voor kinderen van 4 tot 7 jaar met ernstige externaliserende gedragsproblemen en hun opvoeders en leerkrachten. Het doel van STOP4-7 is het aanleren en versterken van sociale en probleemoplossende vaardigheden en het verminderen van ongewenst gedrag. Daarvoor

Using the Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP) Program to Develop a South Sudan Expanded Program on Immunization Workforce.

Science.gov (United States)

Tchoualeu, Dieula D; Hercules, Margaret A; Mbabazi, William B; Kirbak, Anthony L; Usman, Abdulmumini; Bizuneh, Ketema; Sandhu, Hardeep S

2017-07-01

In 2009, the international Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP) program began supporting the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in the Republic of South Sudan to address shortages of human resources and strengthen acute flaccid paralysis surveillance. Workforce capacity support is provided to the South Sudan Expanded Program on Immunization by STOP volunteers, implementing partners, and non-governmental organizations. In 2013, the Polio Technical Advisory Group recommended that South Sudan transition key technical support from external partners to national staff as part of the Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan, 2013-2018. To assist in this transition, the South Sudan Expanded Program on Immunization human resources development project was launched in 2015. This 3-year project aims to build national workforce capacity as a legacy of the STOP program by training 56 South Sudanese at national and state levels with the intent that participants would become Ministry of Health staff on their successful completion of the project. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Music memory following short-term practice and its relationship with the sight-reading abilities of professional pianists

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eriko eAiba

2016-05-01

Full Text Available This study investigated the relationship between the ability to sight-read and the ability to memorize a score using a behavioural experiment. By measuring the amount of memorization following short-term practice, we examined whether better sight-readers not only estimate forthcoming notes but also memorize musical structures and phrases with more practice.Eleven pianists performed the music first by sight-reading. After a 20-minute practice, the participants were asked to perform from memory without any advance notice. The number of mistakes was used as an index of performance.There were no correlations in the numbers of mistakes between sight-reading and memory trial performance. Some pianists memorized almost the entire score, while others hardly remembered it despite demonstrating almost completely accurate performance just before memory trial performance. However, judging from the participants’ responses to a questionnaire regarding their practice strategies, we found auditory memory was helpful for memorizing music following short-term practice.

Music Memory Following Short-term Practice and Its Relationship with the Sight-reading Abilities of Professional Pianists.

Science.gov (United States)

Aiba, Eriko; Matsui, Toshie

2016-01-01

This study investigated the relationship between the ability to sight-read and the ability to memorize a score using a behavioral experiment. By measuring the amount of memorization following short-term practice, we examined whether better sight-readers not only estimate forthcoming notes but also memorize musical structures and phrases with more practice. Eleven pianists performed the music first by sight-reading. After a 20-minute practice, the participants were asked to perform from memory without any advance notice. The number of mistakes was used as an index of performance. There were no correlations in the numbers of mistakes between sight-reading and memory trial performance. Some pianists memorized almost the entire score, while others hardly remembered it despite demonstrating almost completely accurate performance just before memory trial performance. However, judging from the participants' responses to a questionnaire regarding their practice strategies, we found auditory memory was helpful for memorizing music following short-term practice.

Where to locate transit stops: Cross-intersection profiles of ultrafine particles and implications for pedestrian exposure.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Wonsik; Ranasinghe, Dilhara; DeShazo, J R; Kim, Jae-Jin; Paulson, Suzanne E

2018-02-01

Epidemiological studies have shown that exposure to traffic-related pollutants increases incidence of adverse health outcomes. Transit users in cities across the globe commonly spend 15-45 min or more waiting at transit stops each day, often at locations with high levels of pollution from traffic. Here, we investigate the characteristics of concentration profiles of ultrafine particles (UFP) with 5 m spatial resolution across intersections, to determine the best place to site transit stops to minimize exposures. Cross-intersection UFP profiles were derived from 1744 profiles covering 90 m before and after each intersection center with a mobile monitoring platform. Measurements were made at 10 signalized intersections located at six urban sites, each with a distinct built environment, during both mornings and afternoons. Measurements were made within 1.5 m of the sidewalk and approximately at breathing height (1.5 m above ground level) to approximate sidewalk exposures. UFP profiles were strongly influenced by high emissions from vehicle stops and accelerations, and peaked within 30 m of intersection centers; from there concentrations decreased sharply with distance. Peak concentrations averaged about 90% higher than the minima along the block. They were accompanied by more frequent and larger transient concentration spikes, increasing the chance of people near the intersection being exposed to both short-term extremely high concentration spikes and higher average concentrations. The decays are somewhat larger before the intersection than after the intersection, however as siting transit stops after intersections is preferred for smooth traffic flow, we focus on after the intersection. Simple time-duration exposure calculations combined with breathing rates suggest moving a bus stop from 20 to 40-50 m after the intersection can reduce transit-users' exposure levels to total UFP substantially, in proportion to the reciprocal of the magnitude of elevation at

Nonlinear effects contributing to hand-stopping tones in a horn.

Science.gov (United States)

Ebihara, Takayasu; Yoshikawa, Shigeru

2013-05-01

Hand stopping is a technique for playing the French horn while closing the bell relatively tightly using the right hand. The resulting timbre is called "penetrating" and "metallic." The effect of hand stopping on the horn input impedance has been studied, but the tone quality has hardly ever been considered. In the present paper, the dominant physical cause of the stopped-tone quality is discussed in detail. Numerical calculations of the transmission function of the stopped-horn model and the measurements of both sound pressure and wall vibration in hand stopping are carried out. They strongly suggest that the metallicness of the stopped tone is characterized by the generation of higher harmonics extending over 10 kHz due to the rapidly corrugating waveform and that the associated wall vibration on the bell may be responsible for this higher harmonic generation. However, excitation experiments and immobilization experiments performed to elucidate the relationship between sound radiation and wall vibration deny their correlation. Instead, the measurement result of the mouthpiece pressure in hand stopping suggests that minute wave corrugations peculiar to the metallic stopped tones are probably formed by nonlinear sound propagation along the bore.

New stopping rules for dendrogram classification in TWINSPAN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Omid Esmailzadeh

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study is to propose a modification of TWINSPAN algorithm with introducing new stopping rules for TWINSPAN. Modified TWINSPAN combines the analysis of heterogeneity of the clusters prior to each division to prevent the imposed divisions of homogeneous clusters and it also solved the limitation of classical TWINSPAN in which the number of clusters increases power of two. For this purpose, ecological groups of Box tree stands in Farim forests were classified with using classical and modified TWINSPAN basis of plant species cover percentage of 60 plots with 400 m2 surface area which were made by releve method (by consideration of indicator stand concept. In this relation, five different heterogeneity measures including Whittaker’s beta diversity and total inertia, Sorensen, Jaccard and Orlo´ci dissimilarity indices which representing diversity and distance indices respectively were involved. Sample plots were also classified from basis of topographical properties using cluster analysis with emphasizing Euclidean distance coefficient and Wards clustering method. Results showed that using of two sets of heterogeneity indices lead to different classification dendrograms. In this relation, results of Whittaker’s beta with total inertia as diversity indices were similar and the other three dissimilarity indices have shown similar behavior. Finally, our results reiterated that modified TWINSPAN did not alter the logic of the TWINSPAN classification, but it increased the flexibility of TWINSPAN dendrogram with changing the hierarchy of divisions in the final classification of ecological groups of Box tree stands in Farim forests.

DISTANCES TO DARK CLOUDS: COMPARING EXTINCTION DISTANCES TO MASER PARALLAX DISTANCES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Foster, Jonathan B.; Jackson, James M.; Stead, Joseph J.; Hoare, Melvin G.; Benjamin, Robert A.

2012-01-01

We test two different methods of using near-infrared extinction to estimate distances to dark clouds in the first quadrant of the Galaxy using large near-infrared (Two Micron All Sky Survey and UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey) surveys. Very long baseline interferometry parallax measurements of masers around massive young stars provide the most direct and bias-free measurement of the distance to these dark clouds. We compare the extinction distance estimates to these maser parallax distances. We also compare these distances to kinematic distances, including recent re-calibrations of the Galactic rotation curve. The extinction distance methods agree with the maser parallax distances (within the errors) between 66% and 100% of the time (depending on method and input survey) and between 85% and 100% of the time outside of the crowded Galactic center. Although the sample size is small, extinction distance methods reproduce maser parallax distances better than kinematic distances; furthermore, extinction distance methods do not suffer from the kinematic distance ambiguity. This validation gives us confidence that these extinction methods may be extended to additional dark clouds where maser parallaxes are not available.

Can I Stop Myself From Having a Wet Dream? (For Teens)

Science.gov (United States)

... Can I Stop Myself From Having a Wet Dream? KidsHealth / For Teens / Can I Stop Myself From Having a Wet Dream? Print Can I stop myself from having a wet dream? – Tom* You really can't stop wet dreams, ...

Dispersion Distance and the Matter Distribution of the Universe in Dispersion Space.

Science.gov (United States)

Masui, Kiyoshi Wesley; Sigurdson, Kris

2015-09-18

We propose that "standard pings," brief broadband radio impulses, can be used to study the three-dimensional clustering of matter in the Universe even in the absence of redshift information. The dispersion of radio waves as they travel through the intervening plasma can, like redshift, be used as a cosmological distance measure. Because of inhomogeneities in the electron density along the line of sight, dispersion is an imperfect proxy for radial distance and we show that this leads to calculable dispersion-space distortions in the apparent clustering of sources. Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are a new class of radio transients that are the prototypical standard ping and, due to their high observed dispersion, have been interpreted as originating at cosmological distances. The rate of fast radio bursts has been estimated to be several thousand over the whole sky per day and, if cosmological, the sources of these events should trace the large-scale structure of the Universe. We calculate the dispersion-space power spectra for a simple model where electrons and FRBs are biased tracers of the large-scale structure of the Universe, and we show that the clustering signal could be measured using as few as 10 000 events. Such a survey is in line with what may be achieved with upcoming wide-field radio telescopes.

Self-Esteem and Empathy in Sighted and Visually Impaired Preadolescents

Science.gov (United States)

Griffin-Shirley, Nora; Nes, Sandra L.

2005-01-01

This article reports on a study of self-esteem and empathy among 71 students with visual impairments and 88 sighted students. No significant difference was found between the two groups of students in their levels of self esteem, empathy toward others, and bonding with pets.

Development of nanostructured protective "sight glasses" for IR gas sensors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bergmann, René; Davis, Zachary James; Schmidt, Michael Stenbæk

2011-01-01

In this work protective "sight glasses" for infrared gas sensors showing a sub-wavelength nanostructure with random patterns have been fabricated by reactive ion etching (RIE) in an easy and comparable cheap single step mask-less process. By an organic coating, the intrinsic water repellent...

Development and psychometric properties of the Suicidality: Treatment Occurring in Paediatrics (STOP) Suicidality Assessment Scale (STOP-SAS) in children and adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Flamarique, I; Santosh, P; Zuddas, A; Arango, C; Purper-Ouakil, D; Hoekstra, P J; Coghill, D; Schulze, U; Dittmann, R W; Buitelaar, J K; Lievesley, K; Frongia, R; Llorente, C; Méndez, I; Sala, R; Fiori, F; Castro-Fornieles, J

2016-12-13

To create a self-reported, internet-based questionnaire for the assessment of suicide risk in children and adolescents. As part of the EU project 'Suicidality: Treatment Occurring in Paediatrics' (STOP project), we developed web-based Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) for children and adolescents and for proxy reports by parents and clinicians in order to assess suicidality. Based on a literature review, expert panels and focus groups of patients, we developed the items of the STOP Suicidality Assessment Scale (STOP-SAS) in Spanish and English, translated it into four more languages, and optimized it for web-based presentation using the HealthTracker TM platform. Of the total 19 questions developed for the STOP-SAS, four questions that assess low-level suicidality were identified as screening questions (three of them for use with children, and all four for use with adolescents, parents and clinicians). A total of 395 adolescents, 110 children, 637 parents and 716 clinicians completed the questionnaire using the HealthTracker TM , allowing us to evaluate the internal consistency and convergent validity of the STOP-SAS with the clinician-rated Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). Validity was also assessed with the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) area of the STOP-SAS with the C-SSRS. The STOP-SAS comprises 19 items in its adolescent, parent, and clinician versions, and 14 items in its children's version. Good internal consistency was found for adolescents (Cronbach's alpha: 0.965), children (Cronbach's alpha: 0.922), parents (Cronbach's alpha: 0.951) and clinicians (Cronbach's alpha: 0.955) versions. A strong correlation was found between the STOP-SAS and the C-SSRS for adolescents (r:0.670), parents (r:0.548), clinicians (r:0.863) and children (r:0.654). The ROC area was good for clinicians' (0.917), adolescents' (0.834) and parents' (0.756) versions but only fair (0.683) for children's version. The STOP-SAS is a comprehensive, web

Start-Stop Test Procedures on the PEMFC Stack Level

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mitzel, Jens; Nygaard, Frederik; Veltzé, Sune

The test is addressed to investigate the influence on stack durability of a long stop followed by a restart of a stack. Long stop should be defined as a stop in which the anodic compartment is fully filled by air due to stack leakages. In systems, leakage level of the stack is low and time to fil...

CDC Vital Signs: New Hope for Stopping HIV

Science.gov (United States)

... 27 MB] Read the MMWR Science Clips New Hope for Stopping HIV Testing and Medical Care Save ... acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) and early death. There's new hope today for stopping HIV in the US. Medicines ( ...

Stopping power for particle therapy: the generic library libdEdx and clinically relevant stopping-power ratios for light ions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lühr, Armin Christian; Toftegaard, Jakob; Kantemiris, Ioannis

2012-01-01

to be known accurately for dosimetry. Methods: An open-source computer library called libdEdx (library for energy loss per unit path length, dE/dx, calculations) is developed, providing stopping-power data from data tables and computer programs as well as a stopping-power formula comprising a large list...

Depression - stopping your medicines

Science.gov (United States)

... this page: //medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000570.htm Depression - stopping your medicines To use the sharing features ... prescription medicines you may take to help with depression, anxiety, or pain. Like any medicine, there are ...

No evidence for an early seventeenth-century Indian sighting of Kepler's supernova (SN1604)

Science.gov (United States)

van Gent, R. H.

2013-03-01

In a recent paper in this journal, Sule et al. (2011) argued that an early 17th-century Indian mural of the constellation Sagittarius with a dragon-headed tail indicated that the bright supernova of 1604 was also sighted by Indian astronomers. In this paper it will be shown that this identification is based on a misunderstanding of traditional Islamic astrological iconography and that the claim that the mural represents an early 17th-century Indian sighting of the supernova of 1604 has to be rejected.

Analysis of local slopes at the InSight landing site on Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Fergason, Robin L.; Kirk, Randolph L.; Cushing, Glen; Galuszka, Donna M.; Golombek, Matthew P.; Hare, Trent M.; Howington-Kraus, Elpitha; Kipp, Devin M; Redding, Bonnie L.

2017-01-01

To evaluate the topography of the surface within the InSight candidate landing ellipses, we generated Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) at lander scales and those appropriate for entry, descent, and landing simulations, along with orthoimages of both images in each stereopair, and adirectional slope images. These products were used to assess the distribution of slopes for each candidate ellipse and terrain type in the landing site region, paying particular attention to how these slopes impact InSight landing and engineering safety, and results are reported here. Overall, this region has extremely low slopes at 1-meter baseline scales and meets the safety constraints of the InSight lander. The majority of the landing ellipse has a mean slope at 1-meter baselines of 3.2°. In addition, a mosaic of HRSC, CTX, and HiRISE DTMs within the final landing ellipse (ellipse 9) was generated to support entry, descent, and landing simulations and evaluations. Several methods were tested to generate this mosaic and the NASA Ames Stereo Pipeline program dem_mosaic produced the best results. For the HRSC-CTX-HiRISE DTM mosaic, more than 99 % of the mosaic has slopes less than 15°, and the introduction of artificially high slopes along image seams was minimized.

HMSRP Hawaiian Monk Seal Shark Predation Mitigation Shark Sightings and Incidents

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Data on direct sightings of large sharks around monk seal pupping sites and shark incidents on preweaned and newly weaned pups at French Frigate Shoals are entered...

Extended Kalman Filter Channel Estimation for Line-of-Sight Detection in WCDMA Mobile Positioning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdelmonaem Lakhzouri

2003-12-01

Full Text Available In mobile positioning, it is very important to estimate correctly the delay between the transmitter and the receiver. When the receiver is in line-of-sight (LOS condition with the transmitter, the computation of the mobile position in two dimensions becomes straightforward. In this paper, the problem of LOS detection in WCDMA for mobile positioning is considered, together with joint estimation of the delays and channel coefficients. These are very challenging topics in multipath fading channels because LOS component is not always present, and when it is present, it might be severely affected by interfering paths spaced at less than one chip distance (closely spaced paths. The extended Kalman filter (EKF is used to estimate jointly the delays and complex channel coefficients. The decision whether the LOS component is present or not is based on statistical tests to determine the distribution of the channel coefficient corresponding to the first path. The statistical test-based techniques are practical, simple, and of low computation complexity, which is suitable for WCDMA receivers. These techniques can provide an accurate decision whether LOS component is present or not.

Are Stopped Strings Preferred in Sad Music?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Huron

2017-01-01

Full Text Available String instruments may be played either with open strings (where the string vibrates between the bridge and a hard wooden nut or with stopped strings (where the string vibrates between the bridge and a performer's finger pressed against the fingerboard. Compared with open strings, stopped strings permit the use of vibrato and exhibit a darker timbre. Inspired by research on the timbre of sad speech, we test whether there is a tendency to use stopped strings in nominally sad music. Specifically, we compare the proportion of potentially open-to-stopped strings in a sample of slow, minor-mode movements with matched major-mode movements. By way of illustration, a preliminary analysis of Samuel Barber's famous Adagio from his Opus 11 string quartet shows that the selected key (B-flat minor provides the optimum key for minimizing open string tones. However, examination of a broader controlled sample of quartet movements by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven failed to exhibit the conjectured relationship. Instead, major-mode movements were found to avoid possible open strings more than slow minor-mode movements.

Working memory for vibrotactile frequencies: comparison of cortical activity in blind and sighted individuals.

Science.gov (United States)

Burton, Harold; Sinclair, Robert J; Dixit, Sachin

2010-11-01

In blind, occipital cortex showed robust activation to nonvisual stimuli in many prior functional neuroimaging studies. The cognitive processes represented by these activations are not fully determined, although a verbal recognition memory role has been demonstrated. In congenitally blind and sighted (10 per group), we contrasted responses to a vibrotactile one-back frequency retention task with 5-s delays and a vibrotactile amplitude-change task; both tasks involved the same vibration parameters. The one-back paradigm required continuous updating for working memory (WM). Findings in both groups confirmed roles in WM for right hemisphere dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPFC) and dorsal/ventral attention components of posterior parietal cortex. Negative findings in bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal cortex suggested task performance without subvocalization. In bilateral occipital cortex, blind showed comparable positive responses to both tasks, whereas WM evoked large negative responses in sighted. Greater utilization of attention resources in blind were suggested as causing larger responses in dorsal and ventral attention systems, right DLPFC, and persistent responses across delays between trials in somatosensory and premotor cortex. In sighted, responses in somatosensory and premotor areas showed iterated peaks matched to stimulation trial intervals. The findings in occipital cortex of blind suggest that tactile activations do not represent cognitive operations for nonverbal WM task. However, these data suggest a role in sensory processing for tactile information in blind that parallels a similar contribution for visual stimuli in occipital cortex of sighted. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Stopping power. Projectile and target modeled as oscillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stevanovic, N.; Nikezic, D.

2005-01-01

In this Letter the collision of two quantum harmonic oscillators was considered. The oscillators interact through the Coulomb interaction. Stopping power of projectile was calculated assuming that both, target and projectile may be excited. It has been shown that the frequency of the projectile oscillation, ω p influences on stopping power, particularly in the region of Bragg peak. If, ω p ->0 is substitute in the expression for stopping power derived in this Letter, then it comes to the form when the projectile has been treated as point like charged particle

A Novel Guidance Law with Line-of-Sight Acceleration Feedback for Missiles against Maneuvering Targets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kemao Ma

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Terminal guidance law design and its implementation are considered for homing missiles against maneuvering targets. The lateral acceleration dynamics are taken into account in the design. In the guidance law design, the line-of-sight acceleration signals are incorporated into the acceleration reference signals to compensate for the targets’ maneuvers. Then the commanded accelerations are designed and the convergent tracking of the lateral accelerations to these signals is proven theoretically. In the guidance implementation, a linear high-gain differentiator is used to estimate the line-of-sight rates and the line-of-sight acceleration signals. To avoid the magnifying effects of higher order differentiation, a practical design of commanded accelerations is given to realize approximate tracking of the lateral accelerations to the given reference signals. Simulation is conducted for both cases with and without measurement noises. The simulation results justify the feasibility of the design and the implementation.

On NonAsymptotic Optimal Stopping Criteria in Monte Carlo Simulations

KAUST Repository

Bayer, Christian; Hoel, Hakon; von Schwerin, Erik; Tempone, Raul

2014-01-01

We consider the setting of estimating the mean of a random variable by a sequential stopping rule Monte Carlo (MC) method. The performance of a typical second moment based sequential stopping rule MC method is shown to be unreliable in such settings both by numerical examples and through analysis. By analysis and approximations, we construct a higher moment based stopping rule which is shown in numerical examples to perform more reliably and only slightly less efficiently than the second moment based stopping rule.

High fluence effects on ion implantation stopping and range

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Selvi, S.; Tek, Z.; Oeztarhan, A.; Akbas, N.; Brown, I.G.

2005-01-01

We have developed a code STOPPO which can be used to modify the more-widely used ion implantation codes to more accurately predict the mean nuclear and electronic stopping power, preferential sputtering and range of heavy ions in monatomic target materials. In our simulations an effective atomic number and effective atomic mass are introduced into conveniently available analytical stopping cross-sections and a better fitting function for preferential sputtering yield is carefully evaluated for each ion implantation. The accuracy of the code confirmed experimentally by comparison with measured Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) concentration profiles for 130 keV Zr ions implanted into Be to fluences of 1 x 10 17 , 2 x 10 17 and 4 x 10 17 ions/cm 2 . We find a steady increase in the mean nuclear and electronic stopping powers of the target; the increase in nuclear stopping power is much greater than the increase in electronic stopping power

Electron and Positron Stopping Powers of Materials

Science.gov (United States)

SRD 7 NIST Electron and Positron Stopping Powers of Materials (PC database for purchase)   The EPSTAR database provides rapid calculations of stopping powers (collisional, radiative, and total), CSDA ranges, radiation yields and density effect corrections for incident electrons or positrons with kinetic energies from 1 keV to 10 GeV, and for any chemically defined target material.

Addressing production stops in the food industry

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Zaza Nadja Lee; Herbert, Luke Thomas; Jacobsen, Peter

2014-01-01

This paper investigates the challenges in the food industry which causes the production lines to stop, illustrated by a case study of an SME size company in the baked goods sector in Denmark. The paper proposes key elements this sector needs to be aware of to effectively address production stops......, and gives examples of the unique challenges faced by the SME food industry....

The stopping rules for winsorized tree

Science.gov (United States)

Ch'ng, Chee Keong; Mahat, Nor Idayu

2017-11-01

Winsorized tree is a modified tree-based classifier that is able to investigate and to handle all outliers in all nodes along the process of constructing the tree. It overcomes the tedious process of constructing a classical tree where the splitting of branches and pruning go concurrently so that the constructed tree would not grow bushy. This mechanism is controlled by the proposed algorithm. In winsorized tree, data are screened for identifying outlier. If outlier is detected, the value is neutralized using winsorize approach. Both outlier identification and value neutralization are executed recursively in every node until predetermined stopping criterion is met. The aim of this paper is to search for significant stopping criterion to stop the tree from further splitting before overfitting. The result obtained from the conducted experiment on pima indian dataset proved that the node could produce the final successor nodes (leaves) when it has achieved the range of 70% in information gain.

A Comparison of Emotion Regulation Strategies of Blind Students With Sighted Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samaneh Salimi

2016-06-01

Discussion: Emotion regulation is a possible influential factor in many problems that blind people suffer from, more than sighted ones, and using interventions that target emotion regulation strategies would be useful.

An analysis of initial acquisition and maintenance of sight words following picture matching and copy cover, and compare teaching methods.

OpenAIRE

Conley, Colleen M; Derby, K Mark; Roberts-Gwinn, Michelle; Weber, Kimberly P; McLaughlin, T E

2004-01-01

This study compared the copy, cover, and compare method to a picture-word matching method for teaching sight word recognition. Participants were 5 kindergarten students with less than preprimer sight word vocabularies who were enrolled in a public school in the Pacific Northwest. A multielement design was used to evaluate the effects of the two interventions. Outcomes suggested that sight words taught using the copy, cover, and compare method resulted in better maintenance of word recognition...

Task demands affect spatial reference frame weighting during tactile localization in sighted and congenitally blind adults

OpenAIRE

Heed, Tobias; Roeder, Brigitte; Badde, Stephanie; Schubert, Jonathan

2017-01-01

Task demands modulate tactile localization in sighted humans, presumably through weight adjustments in the spatial integration of anatomical, skin-based, and external, posture-based information. In contrast, previous studies have suggested that congenitally blind humans, by default, refrain from automatic spatial integration and localize touch using only skin-based information. Here, sighted and congenitally blind participants localized tactile targets on the palm or back of one hand, while i...

One-stop endoscopic hernia surgery: efficient and satisfactory.

Science.gov (United States)

Voorbrood, C E H; Burgmans, J P J; Clevers, G J; Davids, P H P; Verleisdonk, E J M M; Schouten, N; van Dalen, T

2015-06-01

One-stop surgery offers patients diagnostic work-up and subsequent surgical treatment on the same day. In the present study, patient satisfaction and efficiency from an institutional perspective were evaluated in patients who were referred for one-stop endoscopic inguinal hernia repair. In a high-volume inguinal hernia clinic, all consecutive patients referred for one-stop surgical treatment, were registered prospectively. An instructed secretary screened patients for eligibility for the one-stop option when the appointment was made. Totally extraperitoneal hernia repair under general anaesthesia was the preferred operative technique. Patient's satisfaction, successful day surgery and institutional efficiency were evaluated. Between January 2010 and January 2012 a total of 349 patients (17 % of all patients in the hernia clinic) were referred for one-stop hernia repair. Mean age was 47.5 years and 96.3 % were males. Three hundred thirty-six patients underwent hernia surgery on the same day (96.3 %). In thirteen patients (3.7 %) no operative repair was done on the day of presentation due to an incorrect diagnosis (n = 7), a watchful waiting policy for asymptomatic hernia (n = 3), rescheduling due to a large scrotal hernia, and there were two "no shows". Following hernia repair 97 % of the patients were discharged on the same day, while ten patients required hospitalization. Based on the questionnaires the main satisfaction score among patients was 9.0 (8.89-9.17 95 % CI) on a scale ranging from 0 to 10. One-stop hernia surgery is feasible and satisfactory from an institutional as well as from a patient's perspective.

Nitrogen Research Programme STOP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Erisman, J.W.; Van der Eerden, L.

2000-01-01

Nitrogen pollution is one of the main threats to the environment now in the Netherlands as well as other parts of Europe. In order to address the main gaps on the issues of nitrogen pollution related to the local scale, the Ministries of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment (VROM) and of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries (LNV) have initiated a research programme, the Dutch Nitrogen Research Programme (STOP), which aims to provide a scientific basis to develop and implement policy on a local scale for the realisation and conservation of the EHS ('Dutch Mainframe of Natural Landscapes'). The results of the programme show that the description of emissions from manure in the field is difficult to describe and show large uncertainties. On the contrary, emissions from housings could be modelled well, if local actual data were available. The OPS model to describe the dispersion and deposition was evaluated with the measurements and the limitations were quantified. It appears that the model works well on the long term, whereas on the short term (hours) and short distance (tenths of meters) there is large uncertainty, especially in complex terrain. Critical loads for nitrogen for ecosystems were evaluated. Furthermore, the effect of management options was quantified. A method to determine critical loads as a function of soil conditions, such as acidification and water availability was derived. This resulted in a combination of the soil model SMART and the so-called 'nature planner' (Natuurplanner). It was concluded that the combination of SMART, the nature planner and OPS provide a good tool to develop and support policy on the local scale. 4 refs

Cellular Automata Based Modeling for Evaluating Different Bus Stop Designs in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haoyang Ding

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A cellular automaton model is proposed to simulate mixed traffic flow composed of motor vehicles and bicycles near bus stops. Three typical types of bus stops which are common in China are considered in the model, including two types of curbside bus stops and one type of bus bay stops. Passenger transport capacity of three types of bus stops, which is applied to evaluate the bus stop design, is calculated based on the corresponding traffic flow rate. According to the simulation results, the flow rates of both motor vehicles and bicycles exhibit phase transition from free flow to the saturation one at the critical point. The results also show that the larger the interaction between motor vehicle and bicycle flow is near curbside bus stops, the more the value of saturated flows drops. Curbside bus stops are more suitable when the conflicts between two flows are small and the inflow rate of motor vehicles is low. On the contrary, bus bay stops should be applied due to their ability to reduce traffic conflicts. Findings of this study can provide useful suggestions on bus stop selection considering different inflow rate of motor vehicles and bicycles simultaneously.

Simulation on effect of stopping nuclear power generation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yajima, Masayuki; Kumakura, Osamu; Sakurai, Norihisa; Nagata, Yutaka; Hattori, Tsuneaki

1990-01-01

The effects that the stopping of nuclear power generation exerts on the price of primary energy such as petroleum, LNG and coal and the trend of Japanese energy and economy are analyzed by using the medium term economy forecasting system. In the simulation, the case of stopping nuclear power generation in seven countries of OECD is supposed, and as for the process of stopping, two cases of immediate stopping and stopping by gradual reduction are set up. The models used for the simulation are the world energy model, the competition among energies model and the multiple category model. By the decrease of nuclear power generation, thermal power generation increases, and the demand of fossil fuel increases. As the result, the price of fossil fuel rises (the world energy model), and the price of fossil fuel imported to Japan rises. Also the quantity of fossil fuel import to Japan increase. These price rise and quantity increase exert deflation effect to Japanese economy (the multiple category model). The price rise of fossil fuel affects the competition among energies in Japan through the relative change of secondary energy price (the competition among energies model). The impact to the world and to Japan is discussed. (K.I.)

When to stop drying fruit: Insights from hygrothermal modelling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Defraeye, Thijs

2017-01-01

Highlights: • Partial dehydration reduces energy consumption and processing time and improves product quality. • This study gives a quantitative insight in when fruit drying should be stopped. • Decrease in dryer residence time of 2%, 24% and 70% are found for different stopping criteria. - Abstract: Stopping the drying process prior to complete dehydration reduces energy consumption and processing time but can also improve product quality. Using hygrothermal simulations, different stopping criteria are evaluated, which are based on the final water activity and residual moisture content in the fruit. Their impact on drying time and moisture redistribution kinetics inside fruit is quantified. One of the variants leads to a significant reduction in residence time in the dryer (24%), compared to full dehydration. For this variant, drying is stopped when the average moisture content in the sample reaches the value corresponding to an equilibrium water activity of 60% in the sample, as determined from the sorption isotherm. At the same time, this variant does not induce problems with fruit spoilage, as a sufficiently low water activity is reached after moisture redistribution during relaxation in the ambient environment. In addition, the relation of the drying time to the drying air temperature was quantified for all stopping criteria, as well as the impact of the humidity of the ambient environment in which the dried fruits are placed afterwards. This study gives a better quantitative insight in when fruit drying should be stopped, given specific drying conditions, without having to compromise food safety.

Stopping the unstoppable

CERN Multimedia

2002-01-01

How do you stop two very high energy proton beams circulating in opposite directions around a 27-kilometre ring? The answer is the beam dumps. Two tunnels, pointing in opposite directions, are being constructed at point 6 of the LHC. These will allow the beams to be directed into two large beam dumps housed at the ends of the tunnels.

A Pedagogy of Sight: Microscopic Vision in Robert Hooke's "Micrographia"

Science.gov (United States)

Jack, Jordynn

2009-01-01

Robert Hooke's "Micrographia" (1665) holds an important place in the history of scientific visual rhetoric. Hooke's accomplishment lies not only in a stunning array of engravings, but also in a "pedagogy of sight"--a rhetorical framework that instructs readers how to view images in accordance with an ideological or epistemic program. Hooke not…

Noninvasive continuous blood pressure monitoring by the ClearSight system during robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy.

Science.gov (United States)

Sakai, Yoko; Yasuo M, Tsutsumi; Oyama, Takuro; Murakami, Chiaki; Kakuta, Nami; Tanaka, Katsuya

2018-01-01

Robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RALRP) is commonly performed in the surgical treatment of prostate cancer. However, the steep Trendelenburg position (25) and pneumoperitoneum required for this procedure can sometimes cause hemodynamic changes. Although blood pressure is traditionally monitored invasively during RALRP, the ClearSight system (BMEYE, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) enables a totally noninvasive and simple continuous blood pressure and cardiac output monitoring based on finger arterial pressure pulse contour analysis. We therefore investigated whether noninvasive continuous arterial blood pressure measurements using the ClearSight system were comparable to those obtained invasively in patients undergoing RALRP. Ten patients scheduled for RALRP with American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I-II were included in this study. At each of the seven defined time points, noninvasive and invasive blood pressure measurements were documented and compared in each patient using Bland-Altman analysis. Although the blood pressure measured with the ClearSight system correlated with that measured invasively, a large difference between the values obtained by the two devices was noted. The ClearSight system was unable to detect blood pressure accurately during RALRP, suggesting that blood pressure monitoring using this device alone is not feasible in this small patient population. J. Med. Invest. 65:69-73, February, 2018.

Seismic stops for nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cloud, R.L.; Leung, J.S.M.; Anderson, P.H.

1989-01-01

In the regulated world of nuclear power, the need to have analytical proof of performance in hypothetical design-basis events such as earth quakes has placed a premium on design configurations that are mathematically tractable and easily analyzed. This is particularly true for the piping design. Depending on how the piping analyses are organized and on how old the plant is, there may be from 200 to 1000 separate piping runs to be designed, analyzed, and qualified. In this situation, the development of snubbers seemed like the answer to a piping engineer's prayer. At any place where seismic support was required but thermal motion had to be accommodated, a snubber could be specified. But, as experience has now shown, the program was solved only on paper. This article presents an alternative to conventional snubbers. These new devices, termed Seismic Stops are designed to replace snubbers directly and look like snubbers on the outside. But their design is based on a completely different principle. The original concept has adapted from early seismic-resistant pipe support designs used on fossil power plants in California. The fundamental idea is to provide a space envelope in which the pipe can expand freely between the hot and cold positions, but cannot move outside the envelope. Seismic Stops are designed to transmit any possible impact load, as would occur in an earthquake, away from the pipe itself to the Seismic Stop. The Seismic Stop pipe support is shown

SHIFT: server for hidden stops analysis in frame-shifted translation.

Science.gov (United States)

Gupta, Arun; Singh, Tiratha Raj

2013-02-23

Frameshift is one of the three classes of recoding. Frame-shifts lead to waste of energy, resources and activity of the biosynthetic machinery. In addition, some peptides synthesized after frame-shifts are probably cytotoxic which serve as plausible cause for innumerable number of diseases and disorders such as muscular dystrophies, lysosomal storage disorders, and cancer. Hidden stop codons occur naturally in coding sequences among all organisms. These codons are associated with the early termination of translation for incorrect reading frame selection and help to reduce the metabolic cost related to the frameshift events. Researchers have identified several consequences of hidden stop codons and their association with myriad disorders. However the wealth of information available is speckled and not effortlessly acquiescent to data-mining. To reduce this gap, this work describes an algorithmic web based tool to study hidden stops in frameshifted translation for all the lineages through respective genetic code systems. This paper describes SHIFT, an algorithmic web application tool that provides a user-friendly interface for identifying and analyzing hidden stops in frameshifted translation of genomic sequences for all available genetic code systems. We have calculated the correlation between codon usage frequencies and the plausible contribution of codons towards hidden stops in an off-frame context. Markovian chains of various order have been used to model hidden stops in frameshifted peptides and their evolutionary association with naturally occurring hidden stops. In order to obtain reliable and persuasive estimates for the naturally occurring and predicted hidden stops statistical measures have been implemented. This paper presented SHIFT, an algorithmic tool that allows user-friendly exploration, analysis, and visualization of hidden stop codons in frameshifted translations. It is expected that this web based tool would serve as a useful complement for

Theoretical model for calculation of molecular stopping power

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, Y.J.

1984-01-01

A modified local plasma model based on the work of Linhard-Winther, Bethe, Brown, and Walske is established. The Gordon-Kim's molecular charged density model is employed to obtain a formula to evaluate the stopping power of many useful molecular systems. The stopping power of H 2 and He gas was calculated for incident proton energy ranging from 100 KeV to 2.5 MeV. The stopping power of O 2 , N 2 , and water vapor was also calculated for incident proton energy ranging from 40 keV to 2.5 MeV. Good agreement with experimental data was obtained. A discussion of molecular effects leading to departure from Bragg's rule is presented. The equipartition rule and the effect of nuclear momentum recoiling in stopping power are also discussed in the appendix. The calculation procedure presented hopefully can easily be extended to include the most useful organic systems such as the molecules composed of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen which are useful in radiation protection field

Higgs-Stoponium Mixing Near the Stop-Antistop Threshold

CERN Document Server

Bodwin, Geoffrey T; Wagner, Carlos E M

2016-01-01

Supersymmetric extensions of the standard model contain additional heavy neutral Higgs bosons that are coupled to heavy scalar top quarks (stops). This system exhibits interesting field theoretic phenomena when the Higgs mass is close to the stop-antistop production threshold. Existing work in the literature has examined the digluon-to-diphoton cross section near threshold and has focused on enhancements in the cross section that might arise either from the perturbative contributions to the Higgs-to-digluon and Higgs-to-diphoton form factors or from mixing of the Higgs boson with stoponium states. Near threshold, enhancements in the relevant amplitudes that go as inverse powers of the stop-antistop relative velocity require resummations of perturbation theory and/or nonperturbative treatments. We present a complete formulation of threshold effects at leading order in the stop-antistop relative velocity in terms of nonrelativistic effective field theory. We give detailed numerical calculations for the case in ...

Leading causes of certification for blindness and partial sight in England & Wales

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wormald Richard

2006-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Prevention of visual impairment is an international priority agreed at the World Health Assembly of 2002- yet many countries lack contemporary data about incidence and causes from which priorities for prevention, treatment and management can be identified. Methods Registration as blind or partially-sighted in England and Wales is voluntary and is initiated by certification by a consultant ophthalmologist. From all certificates completed during the year April 1999 to March 2000, the main cause of visual loss was ascertained where possible and here we present information on the leading causes observed and comment on changes in the three leading causes since the last analysis conducted for 1990–1991 data. Results 13788 people were certified as blind, 19107 were certified as partially sighted. The majority of certifications were in the older age groups. The most commonly recorded main cause of certifications for both blindness (57.2 % and partial sight (56 % was degeneration of the macula and posterior pole which largely comprises age-related macular degeneration. Glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy were the next most commonly recorded main causes. Overall, the age specific incidence of all three leading causes has increased since 1990–1991 – with changes in diabetic retinopathy being the most marked – particularly in the over 65's where figures have more than doubled. Conclusion The numbers of individuals per 100,000 population being certified blind or partially sighted due to the three leading causes – AMD, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma have increased since 1990. This may to some extent be explained by improved ascertainment. The process of registration for severe visual impairment in England and Wales is currently undergoing review. Efforts must be made to ensure that routine collection of data on causes of severe visual impairment is continued, particularly in this age of improved technology, to allow such trends

THE MEGAMASER COSMOLOGY PROJECT. V. AN ANGULAR-DIAMETER DISTANCE TO NGC 6264 AT 140 Mpc

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuo, C. Y.; Braatz, J. A.; Lo, K. Y.; Condon, J. J.; Impellizzeri, C. M. V.; Reid, M. J.; Henkel, C.

2013-01-01

We present the direct measurement of the Hubble constant, yielding the direct measurement of the angular-diameter distance to NGC 6264 using the H 2 O megamaser technique. Our measurement is based on sensitive observations of the circumnuclear megamaser disk from four observations with the Very Long Baseline Array, the Green Bank Telescope (GBT), and the Effelsberg telescope. We also monitored the maser spectral profile for 2.3 years using the GBT to measure accelerations of maser lines by tracking their line-of-sight velocities as they change with time. The measured accelerations suggest that the systemic maser spots have a significantly wider radial distribution than in the archetypal megamaser in NGC 4258. We model the maser emission as arising from a circumnuclear disk with orbits dominated by the central black hole. The best fit of the data gives a Hubble constant of H 0 = 68 ± 9 km s –1 Mpc –1 , which corresponds to an angular-diameter distance of 144 ± 19 Mpc. In addition, the fit also gives a mass of the central black hole of (3.09 ± 0.42) × 10 7 M ☉ . The result demonstrates the feasibility of measuring distances to galaxies located well into the Hubble flow by using circumnuclear megamaser disks.

Sight-Reading Requirements at Concert Band Festivals: A National Survey

Science.gov (United States)

Paul, Timothy A.

2010-01-01

This study, a replication and extension of work by Norris (2004), examined sight-reading requirements at middle and high school large-group band festivals across the United States. As in the earlier investigation, answers to the following questions were solicited from all 50 states: (1) Are there ratings-based large-group band festivals? (2) Is…

Marine mammal sightings around oil and gas installations in the central North Sea

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Delefosse, Matthieu; Rahbek, Malene Louise; Roesen, Lars

2017-01-01

288 animals were reported between May 2013 and May 2016. A total of seven marine mammal species were identified, five cetaceans: harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), white-beaked dolphin (Lagenorhynchus albirostris), killer whale (Orcinus orca), pilot whales......Relatively little is known about the distribution and diversity of marine mammals around offshore anthropogenic structures. Wepresentresultsobtainedfromincidentalsightings ofmarinemammalsaroundoilandgasinstallationslocated200 kmoff the Danish coast. A total of 131 sightings corresponding to about...... (Globicephala spp.) and two species of pinnipeds: harbour (Phoca vitulina) and grey seals (Halichoerus grypus). The most sighted species were harbour porpoise (41%) and minke whale (31%). Relative counts and biodiversity of marine mammals observed around installations corresponded well with the expected...

Influence of non-line of sight luminescent emitters in visible light communication systems

Science.gov (United States)

Ghorai, Anaranya; Walvekar, Pratik; Nayak, Shreyas; Narayan, K. S.

2018-01-01

We introduce and demonstrate concepts which utilize the non-line of sight fraction of light incident on a detector assembly in a visible-light communication (VLC) system. In addition to ambient light, realistic enclosures where VLC is implemented consist of a sizable fraction of scattered and reflected light. We present results of VLC systems with detectors responding to contributions from the light source scattered off a surface embedded with fluorescent and phosphorescent emitters besides the direct line of sight signal. Contribution from the emitters takes a form of discernible fluctuations in the detector signal. The implication of our results from noise analysis of these fluctuations indicates the possibility of utilizing smart coatings to further tailor VLC capabilities.

49 CFR 236.741 - Distance, stopping.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... portion of railroad at its maximum authorized speed, will travel during a full service application of the brakes, between the point where such application is initiated and the point where the train comes to a...

Stopping time of a one-dimensional bounded quantum walk

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luo Hao; Zhang Peng; Zhan Xiang; Xue Peng

2016-01-01

The stopping time of a one-dimensional bounded classical random walk (RW) is defined as the number of steps taken by a random walker to arrive at a fixed boundary for the first time. A quantum walk (QW) is a non-trivial generalization of RW, and has attracted a great deal of interest from researchers working in quantum physics and quantum information. In this paper, we develop a method to calculate the stopping time for a one-dimensional QW. Using our method, we further compare the properties of stopping time for QW and RW. We find that the mean value of the stopping time is the same for both of these problems. However, for short times, the probability for a walker performing a QW to arrive at the boundary is larger than that for a RW. This means that, although the mean stopping time of a quantum and classical walker are the same, the quantum walker has a greater probability of arriving at the boundary earlier than the classical walker. (paper)

Western Aphrodite Terra, tectonics, geology, and line-of-sight gravity

Science.gov (United States)

Hays, John E.; Morgan, Paul

1992-01-01

Aphrodite Terra is the largest area of high-standing topography on Venus, and isostatic considerations strongly suggest that this high topography is supported at least in part by thickened crust. Previous studies of line-of-sight gravity data from the Pioneer Venus Orbiter indicate rapidly changing apparent depths of compensation across Aphrodite Terra. Magellan imaging data provide the first detailed images of this region, and we are mapping the region along Pioneer Venus orbit 440 to investigate whether the changing apparent depths of compensation correlate with changes in surficial tectonics. Preliminary mapping of geological features on Magellan images along the path of Pioneer Venus orbit 440 do not indicate a first-order correlation among surface features and changes in the apparent depth of compensation of line-of-sight gravity data. The apparent depth of compensation appears to be most variable in regions dominated by tessera, but not all areas of tessera have distinct gravity signatures. There is a weak correlation among areas in which impact craters are relatively common and areas in which the observed and predicted gravity anomalies are poorly correlated.

An Evaluation of Ad Hoc Presence-Only Data in Explaining Patterns of Distribution: Cetacean Sightings from Whale-Watching Vessels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Louisa K. Higby

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The analysis of presence-only data is a problem in determining species distributions and accurately determining population sizes. The collection of such data is common from unequal or nonrandomised effort surveys, such as those surveys conducted by citizen scientists. However, causative regression-based methods have been less well examined using presence-only data. In this study, we examine a range of predictive factors which might influence Cetacean sightings (specifically minke whale sightings from whale-watching vessels in Faxaflói Bay in Iceland. In this case, environmental variables were collected regularly regardless of whether sightings were recorded. Including absences as well as presence in the analysis resulted in a multiple-generalised linear regression model with significantly more explanatory power than when data were presence only. However, by including extra information on the sightings of the whales, in this case, their observed behaviour when the sighting occurred resulted in a significantly improved model over the presence-only data model. While there are limitations of conducting nonrandomised surveys for the use of predictive models such as regression, presence-only data should not be considered as worthless, and the scope of collection of these data by citizen scientists using modern technology should not be underestimated.

Distance and total column density to the periodic radio star LSI + 61 deg 303

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frail, D.A.; Hjellming, R.M.

1991-01-01

New observations toward the periodic radio star LSI + 61 deg 303 in the lines of H I at 21 cm and CO-18 at 2.7 mm are reported. Using the kinematic method, H I observations are interpreted in terms of the two-armed spiral shock model of Roberts (1972) to derive a distance to LSI + 61 deg 303 of 2.0 + or - 0.2 kpc. The results clearly show the presence of the Perseus arm shock and locate LSI + 61 deg 303 between this shock and the more distant postshock gas. In addition, by using the H I and CO-18 data, the total neutral and molecular gas column density is derived along the line of sight toward LSI + 61 deg 303. 32 refs

Control of trunk motion following sudden stop perturbations during cart pushing.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Yun-Ju; Hoozemans, Marco J M; van Dieën, Jaap H

2011-01-04

External perturbations during pushing tasks have been suggested to be a risk factor for low-back symptoms. An experiment was designed to investigate whether self-induced and externally induced sudden stops while pushing a high inertia cart influence trunk motions, and how flexor and extensor muscles counteract these perturbations. Twelve healthy male participants pushed a 200 kg cart at shoulder height and hip height. Pushing while walking was compared to situations in which participants had to stop the cart suddenly (self-induced stop) or in which the wheels of the cart were unexpectedly blocked (externally induced stop). For the perturbed conditions, the peak values and the maximum changes from the reference condition (pushing while walking) of the external moment at L5/S1, trunk inclination and electromyographic amplitudes of trunk muscles were determined. In the self-induced stop, a voluntary trunk extension occurred. Initial responses in both stops consisted of flexor and extensor muscle cocontraction. In self-induced stops this was followed by sustained extensor activity. In the externally induced stops, an external extension moment caused a decrease in trunk inclination. The opposite directions of the internal moment and trunk motion in the externally induced stop while pushing at shoulder height may indicate insufficient active control of trunk posture. Consequently, sudden blocking of the wheels in pushing at shoulder height may put the low back at risk of mechanical injury. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Why do People Stop Playing On-Line Games?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sudzina, Frantisek; Razmerita, Liana

2012-01-01

The recent initial public offering of shares of Zynga, probably the most important on-line game provider, drew interest of potential investors but also of general public to their business model. What the most interested people learned so far is that if Zynga had not changed their accounting...... practice, they would be in red numbers for several months already. This is most likely caused by people stopping to play their games. This paper provides an estimate of what proportion of people, who played on-line games, already stopped playing them. Additionally, it analyzed the reasons why people...... stopped playing on-line games. It also compares Facebook and other on-line games....

ELectron stopping of heavy ions in a matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akhiezer, I.A.; Davydov, L.N.

1978-01-01

The theory of heavy ion stopping by electrons in solids is analyzed with an aim to establish which physical mechanisms are of importance at different ion velocity values v. The theory is presented for deep inelastic collisions taking the main part in stopping at v > Zsub(1)sup(1/3) v 0 (z 1 is the atomic number of the ion, v 0 is the Bohr velocity). Elastic scattering (relative to the incident ion) are investigated. It is shown that the contribution from these processes to the stopping cross-section is predominant at Zsub(1)sup(1/3) v 0 > v > Zsub(1)sup(2/3) v 0

The stability of locus equation slopes across stop consonant voicing/aspiration

Science.gov (United States)

Sussman, Harvey M.; Modarresi, Golnaz

2004-05-01

The consistency of locus equation slopes as phonetic descriptors of stop place in CV sequences across voiced and voiceless aspirated stops was explored in the speech of five male speakers of American English and two male speakers of Persian. Using traditional locus equation measurement sites for F2 onsets, voiceless labial and coronal stops had significantly lower locus equation slopes relative to their voiced counterparts, whereas velars failed to show voicing differences. When locus equations were derived using F2 onsets for voiced stops that were measured closer to the stop release burst, comparable to the protocol for measuring voiceless aspirated stops, no significant effects of voicing/aspiration on locus equation slopes were observed. This methodological factor, rather than an underlying phonetic-based explanation, provides a reasonable account for the observed flatter locus equation slopes of voiceless labial and coronal stops relative to voiced cognates reported in previous studies [Molis et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 95, 2925 (1994); O. Engstrand and B. Lindblom, PHONUM 4, 101-104]. [Work supported by NIH.

The global polio eradication initiative Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP) program - 1999-2013.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-21

In 1988, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) was established through a partnership between the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, CDC, and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). By 2012, the annual incidence of polio had decreased by >99%, compared with 1988, and the number of countries in which wild poliovirus (WPV) circulation has never been interrupted was reduced to three: Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. However, because of the persistence of endemic WPV transmission and recurring outbreaks in polio-free countries after the original polio eradication target date of 2000, the World Health Assembly in 2012 declared the completion of polio eradication a programmatic emergency. A key component of GPEI is the Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP) program, which was developed and initiated by CDC with WHO in 1999 to mobilize additional human resources and technical assistance for countries affected by WPV transmission. During 1999-2013, 1,563 volunteers were identified, trained, and deployed for 2,221 assignments in 69 countries. The number of volunteers increased from 90-120 per year during 1999-2011 to 287 in 2012 and 378 in 2013, and the number of volunteer person-months in the field per year increased from 273 in 1999 to 1,456 in 2012. The STOP program has aided GPEI by strengthening the capacity of country-level immunization programs and by allowing a large cohort of volunteers to gain valuable field experience that prepares them well for subsequent work as staff members of WHO, UNICEF, and other public health agencies.

Help Stop the Flu | NIH MedlinePlus the Magazine

Science.gov (United States)

... page please turn Javascript on. Feature: Flu Shot Help Stop the Flu Past Issues / Winter 2011 Table ... CDC recommends that Americans do the following to help stop the flu: Cover nose and mouth with ...

Improving patient access to prevent sight loss: ophthalmic electronic referrals and communication (Scotland).

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, A A; Mustafa, M Z; Sanders, R

2015-02-01

With the number of people with sight loss predicted to double to four million people in the UK by the year 2050, preventable visual loss is a significant public health issue. Sight loss is associated with an increased risk of falls, accidents and depression and evidence suggests that 50% of sight loss can be avoided. Timely diagnosis is central to the prevention of sight loss. Access to care can be a limiting factor in preventable cases. By improving referrals and access to hospital eye services it is possible to treat and minimise the number of patients with preventable sight loss and the impact this has on wider society. In 2005, NHS Fife took part in a flagship pilot funded by the Scottish government e-health department to evaluate the feasibility, safety, clinical effectiveness, and cost of electronic referral with images of patients directly from community optometrists to Hospital Eye Service (HES). The pilot study showed that electronic referral was feasible, fast, safe, and obviated the need for outpatient appointments in 128 (37%) patients with a high patient satisfaction. The results of the pilot study were presented and in May 2007, the electronic referral system was rolled out regionally in southeast Scotland. Referrals were accepted at a single site with vetting by a trained team and appointments were allocated within 48 hours. Following the implementation of electronic referral, waiting times were reduced from a median of 14 to 4 weeks. Significantly fewer new patients were seen (7462 vs 8714 [p electronic communication between community optometry practices and hospital eye departments. Five electronic forms were specifically designed for cataract, glaucoma, macula, paediatric and general ophthalmic disease. A Virtual Private Network was created which enabled optometrists to connect to the Scottish clinical information gateway system and send referrals to hospital and receive referral status feedback. Numerous hurdles have been encountered and overcome

GABA release in the zona incerta of the sheep in response to the sight and ingestion of food and salt.

Science.gov (United States)

Kendrick, K M; Hinton, M R; Baldwin, B A

1991-05-31

In order to establish which neurotransmitters may influence the activity of zona incerta neurones in the sheep which respond selectively to the sight or ingestion of food, we have measured the release of amino acid and monoamine neurotransmitters from this region using microdialysis sampling. Co-ordinates for the placement of microdialysis probes in regions of the zona incerta where cells respond to the sight or ingestion of food were first established by making single-unit extracellular recordings. When animals were food-deprived results showed that release of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) was increased in response to the sight and ingestion of food but not of aspartate, glutamate, taurine, noradrenaline, dopamine or serotonin. This release of GABA was absent when the animals were shown non-food objects or saw or ingested salt solutions. When the same animals were physiologically sodium-depleted GABA release was evoked by the sight and ingestion of salt solutions and release following the sight and ingestion of food was significantly reduced. These results provide further evidence that GABA is an important neurotransmitter in neural circuits controlling the regulation of food intake.

The extent of the stop coannihilation strip

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ellis, John [King' s College London, Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology Group, Department of Physics, London (United Kingdom); CERN, Theory Division, Geneva 23 (Switzerland); Olive, Keith A. [University of Minnesota, School of Physics and Astronomy, Minneapolis, MN (United States); University of Minnesota, William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute, School of Physics and Astronomy, Minneapolis, MN (United States); Zheng, Jiaming [University of Minnesota, School of Physics and Astronomy, Minneapolis, MN (United States)

2014-07-15

Many supersymmetric models such as the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (CMSSM) feature a strip in parameter space where the lightest neutralino χ is identified as the lightest supersymmetric particle, the lighter stop squark t{sub 1} is the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP), and the relic χ cold darkmatter density is brought into the range allowed by astrophysics and cosmology by coannihilation with the lighter stop squark t{sub 1} NLSP. We calculate the stop coannihilation strip in the CMSSM, incorporating Sommerfeld enhancement effects, and we explore the relevant phenomenological constraints and phenomenological signatures. In particular, we show that the t{sub 1} may weigh several TeV, and its lifetime may be in the nanosecond range, features that are more general than the specific CMSSM scenarios that we study in this paper. (orig.)

Task demands affect spatial reference frame weighting during tactile localization in sighted and congenitally blind adults.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonathan T W Schubert

Full Text Available Task demands modulate tactile localization in sighted humans, presumably through weight adjustments in the spatial integration of anatomical, skin-based, and external, posture-based information. In contrast, previous studies have suggested that congenitally blind humans, by default, refrain from automatic spatial integration and localize touch using only skin-based information. Here, sighted and congenitally blind participants localized tactile targets on the palm or back of one hand, while ignoring simultaneous tactile distractors at congruent or incongruent locations on the other hand. We probed the interplay of anatomical and external location codes for spatial congruency effects by varying hand posture: the palms either both faced down, or one faced down and one up. In the latter posture, externally congruent target and distractor locations were anatomically incongruent and vice versa. Target locations had to be reported either anatomically ("palm" or "back" of the hand, or externally ("up" or "down" in space. Under anatomical instructions, performance was more accurate for anatomically congruent than incongruent target-distractor pairs. In contrast, under external instructions, performance was more accurate for externally congruent than incongruent pairs. These modulations were evident in sighted and blind individuals. Notably, distractor effects were overall far smaller in blind than in sighted participants, despite comparable target-distractor identification performance. Thus, the absence of developmental vision seems to be associated with an increased ability to focus tactile attention towards a non-spatially defined target. Nevertheless, that blind individuals exhibited effects of hand posture and task instructions in their congruency effects suggests that, like the sighted, they automatically integrate anatomical and external information during tactile localization. Moreover, spatial integration in tactile processing is, thus, flexibly

Task demands affect spatial reference frame weighting during tactile localization in sighted and congenitally blind adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Schubert, Jonathan T W; Badde, Stephanie; Röder, Brigitte; Heed, Tobias

2017-01-01

Task demands modulate tactile localization in sighted humans, presumably through weight adjustments in the spatial integration of anatomical, skin-based, and external, posture-based information. In contrast, previous studies have suggested that congenitally blind humans, by default, refrain from automatic spatial integration and localize touch using only skin-based information. Here, sighted and congenitally blind participants localized tactile targets on the palm or back of one hand, while ignoring simultaneous tactile distractors at congruent or incongruent locations on the other hand. We probed the interplay of anatomical and external location codes for spatial congruency effects by varying hand posture: the palms either both faced down, or one faced down and one up. In the latter posture, externally congruent target and distractor locations were anatomically incongruent and vice versa. Target locations had to be reported either anatomically ("palm" or "back" of the hand), or externally ("up" or "down" in space). Under anatomical instructions, performance was more accurate for anatomically congruent than incongruent target-distractor pairs. In contrast, under external instructions, performance was more accurate for externally congruent than incongruent pairs. These modulations were evident in sighted and blind individuals. Notably, distractor effects were overall far smaller in blind than in sighted participants, despite comparable target-distractor identification performance. Thus, the absence of developmental vision seems to be associated with an increased ability to focus tactile attention towards a non-spatially defined target. Nevertheless, that blind individuals exhibited effects of hand posture and task instructions in their congruency effects suggests that, like the sighted, they automatically integrate anatomical and external information during tactile localization. Moreover, spatial integration in tactile processing is, thus, flexibly adapted by top

GMSB with Light Stops

CERN Document Server

Delgado, Antonio; Quiros, Mariano

2015-01-01

Gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking (GMSB) is an elegant mechanism to transmit supersymmetry breaking from the hidden to the MSSM observable sector, which solves the supersymmetric flavor problem. However the smallness of the generated stop mixing requires superheavy stops to reproduce the experimental value of the Higgs mass. Two possible ways out are: i) To extend GMSB by direct superpotential messenger-MSSM Yukawa couplings to generate sizeable mixing, thus reintroducing the flavor problem; ii) To extend the MSSM Higgs sector with singlets and/or triplets providing extra tree-level corrections to the Higgs mass. Singlets will not get any soft mass from GMSB and triplets will contribute to the $\\rho$ parameter which could be an issue. In this paper we explore the second way by introducing extra supersymmetric triplets with hypercharges $Y=(0,\\pm 1)$, with a tree-level custodial $SU(2)_L\\otimes SU(2)_R$ global symmetry in the Higgs sector protecting the $\\rho$ parameter: a supersymmetric generalization of ...

IMU and Multiple RGB-D Camera Fusion for Assisting Indoor Stop-and-Go 3D Terrestrial Laser Scanning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jacky C.K. Chow

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Autonomous Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM is an important topic in many engineering fields. Since stop-and-go systems are typically slow and full-kinematic systems may lack accuracy and integrity, this paper presents a novel hybrid “continuous stop-and-go” mobile mapping system called Scannect. A 3D terrestrial LiDAR system is integrated with a MEMS IMU and two Microsoft Kinect sensors to map indoor urban environments. The Kinects’ depth maps were processed using a new point-to-plane ICP that minimizes the reprojection error of the infrared camera and projector pair in an implicit iterative extended Kalman filter (IEKF. A new formulation of the 5-point visual odometry method is tightly coupled in the implicit IEKF without increasing the dimensions of the state space. The Scannect can map and navigate in areas with textureless walls and provides an effective means for mapping large areas with lots of occlusions. Mapping long corridors (total travel distance of 120 m took approximately 30 minutes and achieved a Mean Radial Spherical Error of 17 cm before smoothing or global optimization.

Motor Preparation Disrupts Proactive Control in the Stop Signal Task

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wuyi Wang

2018-05-01

Full Text Available In a study of the stop signal task (SST we employed Bayesian modeling to compute the estimated likelihood of stop signal or P(Stop trial by trial and identified regional processes of conflict anticipation and response slowing. A higher P(Stop is associated with prolonged go trial reaction time (goRT—a form of sequential effect—and reflects proactive control of motor response. However, some individuals do not demonstrate a sequential effect despite similar go and stop success (SS rates. We posited that motor preparation may disrupt proactive control more in certain individuals than others. Specifically, the time interval between trial and go signal onset—the fore-period (FP—varies across trials and a longer FP is associated with a higher level of motor preparation and shorter goRT. Greater motor preparatory activities may disrupt proactive control. To test this hypothesis, we compared brain activations and Granger causal connectivities of 81 adults who demonstrated a sequential effect (SEQ and 35 who did not (nSEQ. SEQ and nSEQ did not differ in regional activations to conflict anticipation, motor preparation, goRT slowing or goRT speeding. In contrast, SEQ and nSEQ demonstrated different patterns of Granger causal connectivities. P(Stop and FP activations shared reciprocal influence in SEQ but FP activities Granger caused P(Stop activities unidirectionally in nSEQ, and FP activities Granger caused goRT speeding activities in nSEQ but not SEQ. These findings support the hypothesis that motor preparation disrupts proactive control in nSEQ and provide direct neural evidence for interactive go and stop processes.

Ab initio electronic stopping power in materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shukri, Abdullah-Atef

2015-01-01

The average energy loss of an ion per unit path length when it is moving through the matter is named the stopping power. The knowledge of the stopping power is essential for a variety of contemporary applications which depend on the transport of ions in matter, especially ion beam analysis techniques and ion implantation. Most noticeably, the use of proton or heavier ion beams in radiotherapy requires the knowledge of the stopping power. Whereas experimental data are readily available for elemental solids, the data are much more scarce for compounds. The linear response dielectric formalism has been widely used in the past to study the electronic stopping power. In particular, the famous pioneering calculations due to Lindhard evaluate the electronic stopping power of a free electron gas. In this thesis, we develop a fully ab initio scheme based on linear response time-dependent density functional theory to predict the impact parameter averaged quantity named the random electronic stopping power (RESP) of materials without any empirical fitting. The purpose is to be capable of predicting the outcome of experiments without any knowledge of target material besides its crystallographic structure. Our developments have been done within the open source ab initio code named ABINIT, where two approximations are now available: the Random-Phase Approximation (RPA) and the Adiabatic Local Density Approximation (ALDA). Furthermore, a new method named 'extrapolation scheme' have been introduced to overcome the stringent convergence issues we have encountered. These convergence issues have prevented the previous studies in literature from offering a direct comparison to experiment. First of all, we demonstrate the importance of describing the realistic ab initio electronic structure by comparing with the historical Lindhard stopping power evaluation. Whereas the Lindhard stopping power provides a first order description that captures the general features of the

CYGNUS X-3: ITS LITTLE FRIEND’S COUNTERPART, THE DISTANCE TO CYGNUS X-3, AND OUTFLOWS/JETS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McCollough, M. L.; Dunham, M. M. [Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Corrales, L., E-mail: mmccollough@cfa.harvard.edu [Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)

2016-10-20

Chandra observations have revealed a feature within 16″ of Cygnus X-3 that varied in phase with Cygnus X-3. This feature was shown to be a Bok globule that is along the line of sight to Cygnus X-3. We report on observations made with the Submillimeter Array to search for molecular emission from this globule, also known as Cygnus X-3's “Little Friend.” We have found a counterpart in both {sup 12}CO (2-1) and {sup 13}CO (2-1) emission. From the velocity shift of the molecular lines we are able to find two probable distances based on the Bayesian model of Milky Way kinematics of Reid et al. For the LF velocity of −47.5 km s{sup −1}, we find distances of 6.1 ± 0.6 kpc (62% probability) and 7.8 ± 0.6 kpc (38% probability). This yields distances to Cyg X-3 of 7.4 ± 1.1 kpc and 10.2 ± 1.2 kpc, respectively. Based on the probabilities entailed, we take 7.4 ± 1.1 kpc as the preferred distance to Cyg X-3. We also report the discovery of bipolar molecular outflow, suggesting that there is active star formation occurring within the Little Friend.

SUSY Higgs at the LHC large stop mixing effects and associated production

CERN Document Server

Bélanger, G; Sridhar, K

2000-01-01

We revisit the effect of the large stop mixing on the decay and production of the lightest SUSY Higgs at the LHC. We stress that whenever the inclusive 2-photon signature is substantially reduced, associated production, $Wh$ and $t\\bar t h$, with the subsequent decay of the Higgs into photons is enhanced and becomes an even more important discovery channel. We also point out that these reductions in the inclusive channel do not occur for the smallest Higgs mass where the significance is known to be lowest. We show that in such scenarios the Higgs can be produced in the decay of the heaviest stop. For not too heavy masses of the pseudo-scalar Higgs where the inclusive channel is even further reduced, we show that large stop mixing also allows the production of the pseudo-scalar Higgs through stop decays. These large mixing scenarios therefore offer much better prospects than previously thought. As a by-product we have recalculated stop1-stop1-h production at the LHC and give a first evaluation of stop1-stop1-Z...

Towards Mobile OCR: How To Take a Good Picture of a Document Without Sight.

Science.gov (United States)

Cutter, Michael; Manduchi, Roberto

The advent of mobile OCR (optical character recognition) applications on regular smartphones holds great promise for enabling blind people to access printed information. Unfortunately, these systems suffer from a problem: in order for OCR output to be meaningful, a well-framed image of the document needs to be taken, something that is difficult to do without sight. This contribution presents an experimental investigation of how blind people position and orient a camera phone while acquiring document images. We developed experimental software to investigate if verbal guidance aids in the acquisition of OCR-readable images without sight. We report on our participant's feedback and performance before and after assistance from our software.

Calculated viscosity-distance dependence for some actively flowing lavas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pieri, D.

1987-01-01

The importance of viscosity as a gauge of the various energy and momentum dissipation regimes of lava flows has been realized for a long time. Nevertheless, despite its central role in lava dynamics and kinematics, it remains among the most difficult of flow physical properties to measure in situ during an eruption. Attempts at reconstructing the actual emplacement viscosities of lava flows from their solidified topographic form are difficult. Where data are available on the position of an advancing flow front as a function of time, it is possible to calculate the effective viscosity of the front as a function of distance from the vent, under the assumptions of a steady state regime. As an application and test of an equation given, relevant parameters from five recent flows on Mauna Loa and Kilauea were utilized to infer the dynamic structure of their aggregate flow front viscosity as they advanced, up to cessation. The observed form of the viscosity-distance relation for the five active Hawaiian flows examined appears to be exponential, with a rapid increase just before the flows stopped as one would expect

The IAEA stopping power database, following the trends in stopping power of ions in matter

Science.gov (United States)

Montanari, C. C.; Dimitriou, P.

2017-10-01

The aim of this work is to present an overview of the state of art of the energy loss of ions in matter, based on the new developments in the stopping power database of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). This exhaustive collection of experimental data, graphs, programs and comparisons, is the legacy of Helmut Paul, who made it accessible to the global scientific community, and has been extensively employed in theoretical and experimental research during the last 25 years. The field of stopping power in matter is evolving, with new trends in materials of interest, including oxides, nitrides, polymers, and biological targets. Our goal is to identify areas of interest and emerging data needs to meet the requirements of a continuously developing user community.

GMSB with light stops

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Delgado, Antonio [Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame,225 Nieuwland Science Hall, IN 46556, Notre Dame (United States); Theory Division, Physics Department CERN,CH-1211 Geneva 23 (Switzerland); Garcia-Pepin, Mateo [Institut de Física d’Altes Energies, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona,08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona (Spain); Quiros, Mariano [ICREA at Institut de Física d’Altes Energies, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona,08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona (Spain)

2015-08-31

Gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking (GMSB) is an elegant mechanism to transmit supersymmetry breaking from the hidden to the MSSM observable sector, which solves the supersymmetric flavor problem. However, the smallness of the generated stop mixing requires superheavy stops to reproduce the experimental value of the Higgs mass. A possible way out is to extend the MSSM Higgs sector with singlets and/or triplets providing extra tree-level corrections to the Higgs mass. Singlets will not get any soft mass from GMSB and triplets will contribute to the ρ parameter which could be an issue. In this paper we explore the second possibility by introducing extra supersymmetric triplets with hypercharges Y=(0,±1), with a tree-level custodial SU(2){sub L}⊗SU(2){sub R} global symmetry in the Higgs sector protecting the ρ parameter: a supersymmetric generalization of the Georgi-Machacek model, dubbed as supersymmetric custodial triplet model (SCTM). The renormalization group running from the messenger to the electroweak scale mildly breaks the custodial symmetry. We will present realistic low-scale scenarios (with the NLSP being a Bino-like neutralino or the right-handed stau) based on general (non-minimal) gauge mediation and consistent with all present experimental data. Their main features are: i) Light (∼1 TeV) stops; ii) Exotic couplings (H{sup ±}W{sup ∓}Z and H{sup ±±}W{sup ∓}W{sup ∓}) absent in the MSSM and proportional to the triplets VEV, v{sub Δ}; and, iii) A possible (measurable) universality breaking of the Higgs couplings λ{sub WZ}=r{sub WW}/r{sub ZZ}≠1.

Exploring the nearly degenerate stop region with sbottom decays

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

An, Haipeng [Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics, California Institute of Technology,1200 E. California Blvd, Pasadena, CA, 91125 (United States); Gu, Jiayin [Center for Future High Energy Physics, Institute of High Energy Physics,19B YuquanLu, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049 (China); DESY,Notkestraße 85, Hamburg, D-22607 (Germany); Wang, Lian-Tao [Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago,5640 S Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL, 60637 (United States); Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago,5640 S Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL, 60637 (United States)

2017-04-13

A light stop with mass almost degenerate with the lightest neutralino has important connections with both naturalness and dark matter relic abundance. This region is also very hard to probe at colliders. In this paper, we demonstrate the potential of searching for such stop particles at the LHC from sbottom decays, focusing on two channels with final states 2ℓ+E{sub T}{sup miss} and 1b1ℓ+E{sub T}{sup miss}. We found that, if the lightest sbottom has mass around or below 1 TeV and has a significant branching ratio to decay to stop and W (b̃→t̃ W), a stop almost degenerate with neutralino can be excluded up to about 500–600 GeV at the 13 TeV LHC with 300 fb{sup −1} data. The searches we propose are complementary to other SUSY searches at the LHC and could have the best sensitivity to the stop-bino coannihilation region. Since they involve final states which have already been used in LHC searches, a reinterpretation of the search results already has sensitivity. Further optimization could deliver the full potential of these channels.

Exploring the nearly degenerate stop region with sbottom decays

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

An, Haipeng [California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (United States). Walter Burke Inst. for Theoretical Physics; Gu, Jiayin [Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China). Inst. of High Energy Physics; Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); Wang, Lian-Tao [Chicago Univ., IL (United States). Enrico Fermi Inst.; Chicago Univ., IL (United States). Kavli Inst. for Cosmological Physics

2016-11-15

A light stop with mass almost degenerate with the lightest neutralino has important connections with both naturalness and dark matter relic abundance. This region is also very hard to probe at colliders. In this paper, we demonstrate the potential of searching for such stop particles at the LHC from sbottom decays, focusing on two channels with final states 2l+E{sup miss}{sub T} and 1b1l+E{sup miss}{sub T}. We found that, if the lightest sbottom has mass around or below 1 TeV and has a significant branching ratio to decay to stop and W (b→tW), a stop almost degenerate with neutralino can be excluded up to about 500-600 GeV at the 13 TeV LHC with 300 fb{sup -1} data. The searches we propose are complementary to other SUSY searches at the LHC and could have the best sensitivity to the stop-bino coannihilation region. Since they involve final states which have already been used in LHC searches, a reinterpretation of the search results already has sensitivity. Further optimization could deliver the full potential of these channels.

A Computer-Based Program to Teach Braille Reading to Sighted Individuals

Science.gov (United States)

Scheithauer, Mindy C.; Tiger, Jeffrey H.

2012-01-01

Instructors of the visually impaired need efficient braille-training methods. This study conducted a preliminary evaluation of a computer-based program intended to teach the relation between braille characters and English letters using a matching-to-sample format with 4 sighted college students. Each participant mastered matching visual depictions…

Short-sighted evolution of virulence in parasitic honeybee workers ( Apis mellifera capensis Esch.)

Science.gov (United States)

Moritz, Robin F. A.; Pirk, Christian W. W.; Hepburn, H. Randall; Neumann, Peter

2008-06-01

The short-sighted selection hypothesis for parasite virulence predicts that winners of within-host competition are poorer at transmission to new hosts. Social parasitism by self-replicating, female-producing workers occurs in the Cape honeybee Apis mellifera capensis, and colonies of other honeybee subspecies are susceptible hosts. We found high within-host virulence but low transmission rates in a clone of social parasitic A. m. capensis workers invading the neighbouring subspecies A. m. scutellata. In contrast, parasitic workers from the endemic range of A. m. capensis showed low within-host virulence but high transmission rates. This suggests a short-sighted selection scenario for the host-parasite co-evolution in the invasive range of the Cape honeybee, probably facilitated by beekeeping-assisted parasite transmission in apiaries.

A Phonemic and Acoustic Analysis of Hindko Oral Stops

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haroon Ur RASHID

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Hindko is an Indo-Aryan language that is mainly spoken in Khyber Pukhtoonkhaw province of Pakistan. This work aims to identify the oral stops of Hindko and determine the intrinsic acoustic cues for them. The phonemic analysis is done with the help of minimal pairs and phoneme distribution in contrastive environments which reveals that Hindko has twelve oral stops with three way series. The acoustic analysis of these segments shows that intrinsically voice onset time (VOT, closure duration and burst are reliable and distinguishing cues of stops in Hindko.

49 CFR 37.201 - Intermediate and rest stops.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... wheelchair, shall be permitted to leave and return to the bus on the same basis as other passengers. The... passenger to get on and off the bus at the stop (e.g., operate the lift and provide assistance with... DISABILITIES (ADA) Over-the-Road Buses (OTRBs) § 37.201 Intermediate and rest stops. (a) Whenever an OTRB makes...

The Distance to NGC 4993: The Host Galaxy of the Gravitational-wave Event GW170817

Science.gov (United States)

Hjorth, Jens; Levan, Andrew J.; Tanvir, Nial R.; Lyman, Joe D.; Wojtak, Radosław; Schrøder, Sophie L.; Mandel, Ilya; Gall, Christa; Bruun, Sofie H.

2017-10-01

The historic detection of gravitational waves from a binary neutron star merger (GW170817) and its electromagnetic counterpart led to the first accurate (sub-arcsecond) localization of a gravitational-wave event. The transient was found to be ˜10″ from the nucleus of the S0 galaxy NGC 4993. We report here the luminosity distance to this galaxy using two independent methods. (1) Based on our MUSE/VLT measurement of the heliocentric redshift (z helio = 0.009783 ± 0.000023), we infer the systemic recession velocity of the NGC 4993 group of galaxies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) frame to be v CMB = 3231 ± 53 km s-1. Using constrained cosmological simulations we estimate the line-of-sight peculiar velocity to be v pec = 307 ± 230 km s-1, resulting in a cosmic velocity of v cosmic = 2924 ± 236 km s-1 (z cosmic = 0.00980 ± 0.00079) and a distance of D z = 40.4 ± 3.4 Mpc assuming a local Hubble constant of H 0 = 73.24 ± 1.74 km s-1 Mpc-1. (2) Using Hubble Space Telescope measurements of the effective radius (15.″5 ± 1.″5) and contained intensity and MUSE/VLT measurements of the velocity dispersion, we place NGC 4993 on the Fundamental Plane (FP) of E and S0 galaxies. Comparing to a frame of 10 clusters containing 226 galaxies, this yields a distance estimate of D FP = 44.0 ± 7.5 Mpc. The combined redshift and FP distance is D NGC 4993 = 41.0 ± 3.1 Mpc. This “electromagnetic” distance estimate is consistent with the independent measurement of the distance to GW170817 as obtained from the gravitational-wave signal ({D}{GW}={43.8}-6.9+2.9 Mpc) and confirms that GW170817 occurred in NGC 4993.

49 CFR 236.335 - Dogs, stops and trunnions of mechanical locking.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Dogs, stops and trunnions of mechanical locking..., AND APPLIANCES Interlocking Rules and Instructions § 236.335 Dogs, stops and trunnions of mechanical locking. Driving pieces, dogs, stops and trunnions shall be rigidly secured to locking bars. Swing dogs...

GALAXY CLUSTERS IN THE LINE OF SIGHT TO BACKGROUND QUASARS. III. MULTI-OBJECT SPECTROSCOPY

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andrews, H.; Barrientos, L. F.; Padilla, N.; Lacerna, I.; López, S.; Lira, P.; Maureira, M. J.; Gilbank, D. G.; Ellingson, E.; Gladders, M. D.; Yee, H. K. C.

2013-01-01

We present Gemini/GMOS-S multi-object spectroscopy of 31 galaxy cluster candidates at redshifts between 0.2 and 1.0 and centered on QSO sight lines taken from López et al. The targets were selected based on the presence of an intervening Mg II absorption system at a similar redshift to that of a galaxy cluster candidate lying at a projected distance 71 -1 Mpc from the QSO sight line (a p hotometric hit ) . The absorption systems span rest-frame equivalent widths between 0.015 and 2.028 Å. Our aim was three-fold: (1) to identify the absorbing galaxies and determine their impact parameters, (2) to confirm the galaxy cluster candidates in the vicinity of each quasar sightline, and (3) to determine whether the absorbing galaxies reside in galaxy clusters. In this way, we are able to characterize the absorption systems associated with cluster members. Our main findings are as follows. (1) We identified 10 out of 24 absorbing galaxies with redshifts between 0.2509 ≤ z gal ≤ 1.0955, up to an impact parameter of 142 h 71 -1 kpc and a maximum velocity difference of 280 km s –1 . (2) We spectroscopically confirmed 20 out of 31 cluster/group candidates, with most of the confirmed clusters/groups at z –1 from galaxy clusters/groups, in addition to two new ones related to galaxy group environments. These numbers imply efficiencies of 71% in finding such systems with MOS spectroscopy. This is a remarkable result since we defined a photometric hit as those cluster-absorber pairs having a redshift difference Δz = 0.1. The general population of our confirmed absorbing galaxies have luminosities L B ∼L B * and mean rest-frame colors (R c – z') typical of S cd galaxies. From this sample, absorbing cluster galaxies hosting weak absorbers are consistent with lower star formation activity than the rest, which produce strong absorption and agree with typical Mg II absorbing galaxies found in the literature. Our spectroscopic confirmations lend support to the selection of

NanoChemistry Group at DTU uses NanoSight's NTA System for Nanoparticle Characterization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2011-01-01

(Nanowerk News) NanoSight, leading manufacturers of unique nanoparticle characterization technology, describes how the Nano Chemistry group at DTU Copenhagen is utilizing nanoparticle tracking analysis, NTA, in its research and teaching programs....

Coastal Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics Imager Pointing Line-of-Sight Solution Development and Testing

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — A stable pointing line of sight solution is developed and tested in support of the Coastal Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics Imager for the GEOstationary Coastal and Air...

Predictors of Music Sight-Reading Ability in High School Wind Players

Science.gov (United States)

Gromko, Joyce Eastlund

2004-01-01

The purpose of this study, grounded in near-transfer theory, was to investigate relationships among music sight-reading and tonal and rhythmic audiation, visual field articulation, spatial orientation and visualization, and achievement in math concepts and reading comprehension. A regression analysis with data from four high schools (N = 98) in…

An analysis of initial acquisition and maintenance of sight words following picture matching and copy cover, and compare teaching methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Conley, Colleen M; Derby, K Mark; Roberts-Gwinn, Michelle; Weber, Kimberly P; McLaughlin, T E

2004-01-01

This study compared the copy, cover, and compare method to a picture-word matching method for teaching sight word recognition. Participants were 5 kindergarten students with less than preprimer sight word vocabularies who were enrolled in a public school in the Pacific Northwest. A multielement design was used to evaluate the effects of the two interventions. Outcomes suggested that sight words taught using the copy, cover, and compare method resulted in better maintenance of word recognition when compared to the picture-matching intervention. Benefits to students and the practicality of employing the word-level teaching methods are discussed.

Who stops selling? A systematic analysis of ex-tobacco retailers.

Science.gov (United States)

Feletto, Eleonora; Burton, Suzan; Williams, Kelly; Fry, Rae; Sutton, Clare; Bagus, Lachlan; Egger, Sam

2016-03-09

There is evidence that wide distribution of cigarettes contributes to smoking, and multiple commentators have called for a review of tobacco retailing. This study analyses retailers who stop selling cigarettes, why they do so, and discusses the implications for tobacco control. An audit of tobacco retailers in the Australian state of NSW was used to identify retailers who had stopped selling tobacco, and they were then compared with current retailers to determine how many, and what types of outlets stop selling tobacco. Attempts were made to contact and interview all former tobacco retailers identified in three audited regions. In-depth interviews were conducted with 13 ex-tobacco retailers, or 31% of the subset of ex-tobacco retailers. Low-volume outlet types were over-represented as a proportion of retailers exiting the market, and some had resumed selling within 18 months of the audit. Low profits were often cited as a contributor to stopping; however, in all but one case, the decision to stop selling was also influenced by a significant change in business circumstances-either legislative or other business changes. Few retailers stop selling tobacco while continuing in the same business, and those who stop disproportionately represent retailer types with low sales volume. The results suggest that legislative changes provide a window where retailers could be prompted to exit the market. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Fricative-stop coarticulation: acoustic and perceptual evidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Repp, B H; Mann, V A

1982-06-01

Eight native speakers of American English each produced ten tokens of all possible CV, FCV, and VFCV utterances with V = [a] or [u], F = [s] or [integral of], and C = [t] or [k]. Acoustic analysis showed that the formant transition onsets following the stop consonant release were systematically influenced by the preceding fricative, although there were large individual differences. In particular, F3 and F4 tended to be higher following [s] than following [integral of]. The coarticulatory effects were equally large in FCV (e.g.,/sta/) and VFCV (e.g.,/asda/) utterances; that is, they were not reduced when a syllable boundary intervened between fricative and stop. In a parallel perceptual study, the CV portions of these utterances (with release bursts removed to provoke errors) were presented to listeners for identification of the stop consonant. The pattern of place-of-articulation confusions, too, revealed coarticulatory effects due to the excised fricative context.

Stopping and energy deposition of hadrons in target nuclei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Strugalski, Z.

1983-01-01

In an analysis of pion-xenon nucleus collisions at 2.34-9 GeV/c momentum events are identified in which incident pions were completely stopped and deposited their energy in target nucleus. Probability of appearance of such ''stopped'' events among any-type pion-xenon collision events depends on the incident pion momentum and is: approximately 0.15 at 2.34 GeV/c, approximately 0.02 at 3.5 GeV/c, and approximately 0 at higher momenta. Formula expressing probability of appearance of the ''stopped'' events is derived. Range-energy relation in nuclear matter for pions and protons is given

IMPACTS OF BUS STOP IMPROVEMENTS

Science.gov (United States)

2018-03-23

Improving bus stops by providing shelters, seating, signage, and sidewalks is relatively inexpensive and popular among riders and local officials. Making such improvements, however, is not often a priority for U.S. transit providers because of compet...

On the Matching of Seen and Felt Shape by Newly Sighted Subjects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Schwenkler

2012-04-01

Full Text Available How do we recognize identities between seen shapes and felt ones? Is this due to associative learning, or intrinsic connections these sensory modalities? We can address this question by testing the capacities of newly sighted subjects to match seen and felt shapes, but only if the subjects can see the objects well enough to form adequate visual representations of their shapes. In light of this, a recent study by R. Held and colleagues fails to demonstrate that their newly sighted subjects' inability to match seen and felt shape was due to a lack of intermodal connections rather than a purely visual deficit, as the subjects may not have been able visually to represent 3D shape in the perspective-invariant manner required for intermodal matching. However, the study could be modified in any of several ways to help avoid this problem.

Motion processing after sight restoration: No competition between visual recovery and auditory compensation.

Science.gov (United States)

Bottari, Davide; Kekunnaya, Ramesh; Hense, Marlene; Troje, Nikolaus F; Sourav, Suddha; Röder, Brigitte

2018-02-15

The present study tested whether or not functional adaptations following congenital blindness are maintained in humans after sight-restoration and whether they interfere with visual recovery. In permanently congenital blind individuals both intramodal plasticity (e.g. changes in auditory cortex) as well as crossmodal plasticity (e.g. an activation of visual cortex by auditory stimuli) have been observed. Both phenomena were hypothesized to contribute to improved auditory functions. For example, it has been shown that early permanently blind individuals outperform sighted controls in auditory motion processing and that auditory motion stimuli elicit activity in typical visual motion areas. Yet it is unknown what happens to these behavioral adaptations and cortical reorganizations when sight is restored, that is, whether compensatory auditory changes are lost and to which degree visual motion processing is reinstalled. Here we employed a combined behavioral-electrophysiological approach in a group of sight-recovery individuals with a history of a transient phase of congenital blindness lasting for several months to several years. They, as well as two control groups, one with visual impairments, one normally sighted, were tested in a visual and an auditory motion discrimination experiment. Task difficulty was manipulated by varying the visual motion coherence and the signal to noise ratio, respectively. The congenital cataract-reversal individuals showed lower performance in the visual global motion task than both control groups. At the same time, they outperformed both control groups in auditory motion processing suggesting that at least some compensatory behavioral adaptation as a consequence of a complete blindness from birth was maintained. Alpha oscillatory activity during the visual task was significantly lower in congenital cataract reversal individuals and they did not show ERPs modulated by visual motion coherence as observed in both control groups. In

Ombuds’ corner: “I want it to stop!”

CERN Multimedia

Vincent Vuillemin

2013-01-01

Most people that seek help from the Ombuds just want that their dispute ended, so they can get back to work in normal, respectful conditions. They clearly express it when I ask them what they want: “I want it to stop!” How should it stop? And who should stop it?   Ideally the interpersonal issues between the people working at or on behalf of CERN should be resolved between the colleagues concerned. This should really be expected in cases where the colleagues are part of the senior staff, for two main reasons: first, their high accountability to the institution should prevent them from falling into ineffective disputes; second, they are in charge of fostering dialogue among their supervisees and should not present such a detrimental image of fighting against each other. Where conflict arises between a manager and a supervisee, and mutual understanding cannot be reached, their management should act and stop the fight right away to prevent further escalation of the dispute. ...

Modeling Stop-and-Go Waves in Pedestrian Dynamics

OpenAIRE

Portz, Andrea; Seyfried, Armin

2010-01-01

Several spatially continuous pedestrian dynamics models have been validated against empirical data. We try to reproduce the experimental fundamental diagram (velocity versus density) with simulations. In addition to this quantitative criterion, we tried to reproduce stop-and-go waves as a qualitative criterion. Stop-and-go waves are a characteristic phenomenon for the single file movement. Only one of three investigated models satisfies both criteria.

The calculation of proton and secondary electron stopping powers in liquid water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marouane, Abdelhak; Inchaouh, Jamal; Ouaskit, Said; Fathi, Ahmed

2012-01-01

The stopping power of energetic protons in liquid water has been calculated using a new model based on different theoretical and semi-empirical approaches. In this model, we consider the relativistic corrections along with the electronic and nuclear stopping power. The present work accounts for the different interactions made with electrons and nuclei inside the target. Interactions of the incident particle with the target's electrons dominate in the high energy regime; in the low energy regime, the interactions of the projectile with the target nuclei contribute importantly and are included in the calculation. We also compute the stopping cross sections and the stopping power of secondary electrons ejected from proton and hydrogen ionization impact, and generated by hydrogen electron loss processes. The consideration of secondary electrons' stopping power can contribute to the study of nano-dosimetry. Our results are in good agreement with existing experimental data. This calculation model can be useful for different applications in medical physics and space radiation health, such as hadron therapy for cancer treatment or radiation protection for astronauts. - Highlights: ► We discussed the stopping cross sections at the Bragg peak region of primary and secondary processes. ► We considered the corrections of incident particle energy focusing on the Rudds semi-empirical model. ► We calculated the electronic and nuclear stopping power, and we deduced the total stopping power. ► We calculated the stopping power of the secondary electrons.

The control of deliberate waiting strategies in a stop-signal task

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R.P. Sylwan

2004-06-01

Full Text Available To inhibit an ongoing flow of thoughts or actions has been largely considered to be a crucial executive function, and the stop-signal paradigm makes inhibitory control measurable. Stop-signal tasks usually combine two concurrent tasks, i.e., manual responses to a primary task (go-task are occasionally countermanded by a stimulus which signals participants to inhibit their response in that trial (stop-task. Participants are always instructed not to wait for the stop-signal, since waiting strategies cause the response times to be unstable, invalidating the data. The aim of the present study was to experimentally control the strategies of waiting deliberately for the stop-signal in a stop-task by means of an algorithm that measured the variation in the reaction times to go-stimuli on-line, and displayed a warning legend urging participants to be faster when their reaction times were more than two standard deviations of the mean. Thirty-four university students performed a stop-task with go- and stop-stimuli, both of which were delivered in the visual modality and were lateralized within the visual field. The participants were divided into two groups (group A, without the algorithm, vs group B, with the algorithm. Group B exhibited lower variability of reaction times to go-stimuli, whereas no significant between-group differences were found in any of the measures of inhibitory control, showing that the algorithm succeeded in controlling the deliberate waiting strategies. Differences between deliberate and unintentional waiting strategies, and anxiety as a probable factor responsible for individual differences in deliberate waiting behavior, are discussed.

A Pause-then-Cancel model of stopping: evidence from basal ganglia neurophysiology.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt, Robert; Berke, Joshua D

2017-04-19

Many studies have implicated the basal ganglia in the suppression of action impulses ('stopping'). Here, we discuss recent neurophysiological evidence that distinct hypothesized processes involved in action preparation and cancellation can be mapped onto distinct basal ganglia cell types and pathways. We examine how movement-related activity in the striatum is related to a 'Go' process and how going may be modulated by brief epochs of beta oscillations. We then describe how, rather than a unitary 'Stop' process, there appear to be separate, complementary 'Pause' and 'Cancel' mechanisms. We discuss the implications of these stopping subprocesses for the interpretation of the stop-signal reaction time-in particular, some activity that seems too slow to causally contribute to stopping when assuming a single Stop processes may actually be fast enough under a Pause-then-Cancel model. Finally, we suggest that combining complementary neural mechanisms that emphasize speed or accuracy respectively may serve more generally to optimize speed-accuracy trade-offs.This article is part of the themed issue 'Movement suppression: brain mechanisms for stopping and stillness'. © 2017 The Author(s).

A Conceptual Approach for Optimising Bus Stop Spacing

Science.gov (United States)

Johar, Amita; Jain, S. S.; Garg, P. k.

2017-06-01

An efficient public transportation system is essential of any country. The growth, development and shape of the urban areas are mainly due to availability of good transportation (Shah et al. in Inst Town Plan India J 5(3):50-59, 1). In developing countries, like India, travel by local bus in a city is very common. The accidents, congestion, pollution and appropriate location of bus stops are the major problems arising in metropolitan cities. Among all the metropolitan cities in India, Delhi has highest percentage of growth of population and vehicles. Therefore, it is important to adopt efficient and effective ways to improve mobility in different metropolitan cities in order to overcome the problem and to reduce the number of private vehicles on the road. The primary objective of this paper is to present a methodology for developing a model for optimum bus stop spacing (OBSS). It describes the evaluation of existing urban bus route, data collection, development of model for optimizing urban bus route and application of model. In this work, the bus passenger generalized cost method is used to optimize the spacing between bus stops. For the development of model, a computer program is required to be written. The applicability of the model has been evaluated by taking the data of urban bus route of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) in Excel sheet in first phase. Later on, it is proposed to develop a programming in C++ language. The developed model is expected to be useful to transport planner for rational design of the spacing of bus stops to save travel time and to generalize operating cost. After analysis it is found that spacing between the bus stop comes out to be between 250 and 500 m. The Proposed Spacing of bus stops is done considering the points that they don't come nearer to metro/rail station, entry or exit of flyover and near traffic signal.

Precision Timing of PSR J0437-4715: An Accurate Pulsar Distance, a High Pulsar Mass, and a Limit on the Variation of Newton's Gravitational Constant

Science.gov (United States)

Verbiest, J. P. W.; Bailes, M.; van Straten, W.; Hobbs, G. B.; Edwards, R. T.; Manchester, R. N.; Bhat, N. D. R.; Sarkissian, J. M.; Jacoby, B. A.; Kulkarni, S. R.

2008-05-01

Analysis of 10 years of high-precision timing data on the millisecond pulsar PSR J0437-4715 has resulted in a model-independent kinematic distance based on an apparent orbital period derivative, dot Pb , determined at the 1.5% level of precision (Dk = 157.0 +/- 2.4 pc), making it one of the most accurate stellar distance estimates published to date. The discrepancy between this measurement and a previously published parallax distance estimate is attributed to errors in the DE200 solar system ephemerides. The precise measurement of dot Pb allows a limit on the variation of Newton's gravitational constant, |Ġ/G| <= 23 × 10-12 yr-1. We also constrain any anomalous acceleration along the line of sight to the pulsar to |a⊙/c| <= 1.5 × 10-18 s-1 at 95% confidence, and derive a pulsar mass, mpsr = 1.76 +/- 0.20 M⊙, one of the highest estimates so far obtained.

Synchro-Betatron Stop-Bands Due to a Single Crab Cavity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chao, A

2004-06-17

We analyze the stop-band due to crab cavities for horizontal tunes that are either close to integers or close to half integers. The latter case is relevant for today's electron/positron colliders. We compare this stop-band to that created by dispersion in an accelerating cavity and show that a single typical crab cavity creates larger stop-bands than a typical dispersion at an accelerating cavity. We furthermore analyze whether it is beneficial to place the crab cavity at a position where the dispersion and its slope vanish. We find that this choice is worth while if the horizontal tune is close to a half integer, but not if it is close to an integer. Furthermore we find that stop-bands can be avoided when the horizontal tune is located at a favorable side of the integer or the half integer. While we are here concerned with the installation of a single crab cavity in a storage ring, we show that the stop-bands can be weakened, although not eliminated, significantly when two crab cavities per ring are chosen suitably.

What kind of love is love at first sight? An empirical investigation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zsok, Florian; Haucke, Matthias; de Wit, Cornelia; Barelds, Dick

2017-01-01

Love at first sight (LAFS) is a commonly known phenomenon, but has barely been investigated scientifically. Major psychological theories of love predict that LAFS is marked by high passion. However, it could also be a memory confabulation construed by couples to enhance their relationship. We

New developments in stopping power for fast ions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paul, Helmut

2007-01-01

We discuss the available stopping power tables and codes, and new experimental methods. Among the semi-empirical stopping power tables, SRIM and MSTAR describe experimental data best. Of the recent theoretical stopping codes CasP, PASS, TCS and dielectric formalism, all describe some data well. PASS is the only theoretical code with an extended table for many ions and targets, but on the average, its predictive value at low energies is less than that of SRIM or MSTAR. The first-principle extended classical trajectory Monte Carlo method is very promising. The ToF-E ERDA arrangements have made it possible to produce accurate data for many ion-target combinations. A new liquid jet target method promises data for liquid water which is an important substance for medical dosimetry

Big Data Discovery and Access Services through NOAA OneStop

Science.gov (United States)

Casey, K. S.; Neufeld, D.; Ritchey, N. A.; Relph, J.; Fischman, D.; Baldwin, R.

2017-12-01

The NOAA OneStop Project was created as a pathfinder effort to to improve the discovery of, access to, and usability of NOAA's vast and diverse collection of big data. OneStop is led by the NOAA/NESDIS National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), and is seen as a key NESDIS contribution to NOAA's open data and data stewardship efforts. OneStop consists of an entire framework of services, from storage and interoperable access services at the base, through metadata and catalog services in the middle, to a modern user interface experience at the top. Importantly, it is an open framework where external tools and services can connect at whichever level is most appropriate. Since the beta release of the OneStop user interface at the 2016 Fall AGU meeting, significant progress has been made improving and modernizing many NOAA data collections to optimize their use within the framework. In addition, OneStop has made progress implementing robust metadata management and catalog systems at the collection and granule level and improving the user experience with the web interface. This progress will be summarized and the results of extensive user testing including professional usability studies will be reviewed. Key big data technologies supporting the framework will be presented and a community input sought on the future directions of the OneStop Project.

Ion Stopping Powers and Ranges Whenever You Need Them

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bassler, Niels; Christensen, Casper; Tørresø, Jesper Rosholm

A new app "Electronic Stopping Power" for Android mobile phones and tablets, looks up stopping powers using the ICRU 49 (protons and alphas) and the revised ICRU 73 (lithium and heavier ions) tables. In addition, also MSTAR and an implementation of the Bethe equation expanded to low energies...

Using a Quadtree Algorithm To Assess Line of Sight

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzalez, Joseph; Chamberlain, Robert; Tailor, Eric; Gutt, Gary

2006-01-01

A matched pair of computer algorithms determines whether line of sight (LOS) is obstructed by terrain. These algorithms were originally designed for use in conjunction with combat-simulation software in military training exercises, but could also be used for such commercial purposes as evaluating lines of sight for antennas or determining what can be seen from a "room with a view." The quadtree preparation algorithm operates on an array of digital elevation data and only needs to be run once for a terrain region, which can be quite large. Relatively little computation time is needed, as each elevation value is considered only one and one-third times. The LOS assessment algorithm uses that quadtree to answer LOS queries. To determine whether LOS is obstructed, a piecewise-planar (or higher-order) terrain skin is computationally draped over the digital elevation data. Adjustments are made to compensate for curvature of the Earth and for refraction of the LOS by the atmosphere. Average computing time appears to be proportional to the number of queries times the logarithm of the number of elevation data points. Accuracy is as high as is possible for the available elevation data, and symmetric results are assured. In the simulation, the LOS query program runs as a separate process, thereby making more random-access memory available for other computations.

Effect of passenger position on fear of danger experienced during sudden bus stops.

Science.gov (United States)

Aoki, Takeo; Uetake, Teruo; Shimoda, Masahiro

2009-06-01

The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of bus passengers' positions on their fear of danger when a bus stopped suddenly. A temporary bus running course with one bus stop was set up on the campus of the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT). The bus ran the course 14 times with the bus stopping twice during the course, once at the bus stop and again just after re-starting from the bus stop. The driver was asked to brake more strongly than usual when stopping. Sixteen students (15 males and 1 female) between the ages of 18 and 21 years participated. In turn, all participants were asked to take 14 different postures in the bus. Participants were also asked to report their level of fear on a rating scale each time the bus stopped. The study showed that (1) passengers' fear of danger at the first sudden stop was typically higher than that at the second stop, (2) standing passengers who held hand straps experienced more fear than those who held fixed safety devices, (3) bus passengers sitting on the centre of the rear seat had a great risk of injury if the bus stopped suddenly, and (4) when passengers faced the window and stood transversely with respect to from the moving direction of the bus and the bus stopped suddenly, passengers' fear of danger was affected by the side of the bus on which they stood as well as which hand they used to grasp a safety device.

Stopping Power Measurements: Implications in Nuclear Astrophysics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carmen Angulo; Thierry Delbar; Jean-Sebastien Graulich; Pierre Leleux

1999-01-01

The stopping powers of C, CH 2 , Al, Ni, and polyvinylchloride (PVC) for several light ions ( 9 Be, 11 B, 12 C, 14 N, 16 O, 19 F, 20 Ne) with an incident energy of 1 MeV/amu have been measured at the Louvain-la-Neuve cyclotron facility. Stopping powers are given relative to the one for 5.5 MeV 4 He ions with an uncertainty of less than 1%. We compare our results with two widely used semiempirical models and we discuss some implications in nuclear astrophysics studies

Water inSight : An exploration into landscape architectonic transformations of polder water

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bobbink, I.; Loen, S.

2013-01-01

Water inSight provides insight into the ‘water machine’ that forms the basis of the Dutch polder landscape. Authors Inge Bobbink and Suzanne Loen approach the polder landscape from a landscape-architectonic point of view, using technical and spatial analysis drawings, images, plans and experiments

On the language of space: Neurocognitive studies in blind and sighted individuals

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Struiksma, M.E.

2011-01-01

In 1688 Molyneux asked the question whether a blind man who knew the difference between a sphere and a cube from touch, with his sight restored would be able to distinguish between them based on vision. One interpretation of Molyneux’s question is whether spatial representations are

Bayesian Ranging for Radio Localization with and without Line-of-Sight Detection

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jing, Lishuai; Pedersen, Troels; Fleury, Bernard Henri

2015-01-01

We consider Bayesian ranging methods for local- ization in wireless communication systems. Based on a channel model and given priors for the range and the line-of-sight (LOS) condition, we propose range estimators with and without LOS detection. Since the pdf of the received frequency...

Stop grating for perfect replication of micro Fresnel lens by thermal imprinting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao, Yulong; Lin, Jie; Jin, Peng; Tan, Jiubin; Davies, Graham; Prewett, Philip D

2012-01-01

A stop grating concept is proposed to improve polymer filling in the thermal imprinting of a micro Fresnel lens structure. The stop grating consists of line and space structures outside the Fresnel lens pattern zone area. The experimental results have proved that the stop grating can help to achieve the complete filling of a mold, at the same time acting as a stop to prevent possible damage to the mold surface relief structures during imprinting press. A computer simulation was carried out to identify the phenomena of micro-holes at the edge of imprinted pattern. By removing the cavity between the pattern area and stop grating, perfect imprinting results have been achieved. (paper)

PROBING THE ROLE OF CARBON IN ULTRAVIOLET EXTINCTION ALONG GALACTIC SIGHT LINES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Parvathi, V. S.; Babu, B. R. S. [Department of Physics, University of Calicut, Kerala 673635 (India); Sofia, U. J. [Department of Physics, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20016 (United States); Murthy, J., E-mail: veena.makesh@gmail.com, E-mail: brsbabu@gmail.com, E-mail: sofia@american.edu, E-mail: jmurthy@yahoo.com [Indian Institute of Astrophysics, II Block, Koramangala, Bangalore 560034 (India)

2012-11-20

We report previously undetermined interstellar gas and dust-phase carbon abundances along 15 Galactic sight lines based on archival data of the strong 1334.5323 A transition observed with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. These are combined with previously reported carbon measurements along six sight lines to produce a complete sample of interstellar C II measurements determined with the 1334 A transition. Our data set includes a variety of Galactic disk environments characterized by different extinctions and samples paths ranging over three orders of magnitude in average density of hydrogen ((n(H))). Our data support the idea that dust, specifically carbon-based grains, are processed in the neutral interstellar medium. We, however, do not find that the abundance of carbon in dust or the grain-size distribution is related to the strength of the 2175 A bump. This is surprising, given that many current models have polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as the bump-producing dust.

Design of rapid prototype of UAV line-of-sight stabilized control system

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Gang; Zhao, Liting; Li, Yinlong; Yu, Fei; Lin, Zhe

2018-01-01

The line-of-sight (LOS) stable platform is the most important technology of UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), which can reduce the effect to imaging quality from vibration and maneuvering of the aircraft. According to the requirement of LOS stability system (inertial and optical-mechanical combined method) and UAV's structure, a rapid prototype is designed using based on industrial computer using Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) and Windows RTX to exchange information. The paper shows the control structure, and circuit system including the inertial stability control circuit with gyro and voice coil motor driven circuit, the optical-mechanical stability control circuit with fast-steering-mirror (FSM) driven circuit and image-deviation-obtained system, outer frame rotary follower, and information-exchange system on PC. Test results show the stability accuracy reaches 5μrad, and prove the effectiveness of the combined line-of-sight stabilization control system, and the real-time rapid prototype runs stable.

STOP-EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS FROM INTRACRANIAL ELECTRODES REVEAL A KEY ROLE OF PREMOTOR AND MOTOR CORTICES IN STOPPING ONGOING MOVEMENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maurizio eMattia

2012-06-01

Full Text Available In humans, the ability to withhold manual motor responses seems to rely on a right-lateralized frontal–basal ganglia–thalamic network, including the pre-supplementary motor area and the inferior frontal gyrus. These areas should drive subthalamic nuclei to implement movement inhibition via the hyperdirect pathway. The output of this network is expected to influence those cortical areas underlying limb movement preparation and initiation, i.e. premotor (PMA and primary motor (M1 cortices. Electroencephalographic (EEG studies have shown an enhancement of the N200/P300 complex in the event-related potentials (ERPs when a planned reaching movement is successfully stopped after the presentation of an infrequent stop-signal. PMA and M1 have been suggested as possible neural sources of this ERP complex but, due to the limited spatial resolution of scalp EEG, it is not yet clear which cortical areas contribute to its generation. To elucidate the role of motor cortices, we recorded epicortical ERPs from the lateral surface of the fronto-temporal lobes of five pharmacoresistant epileptic patients performing a reaching version of the countermanding task while undergoing presurgical monitoring. We consistently found a stereotyped ERP complex on a single-trial level when a movement was successfully cancelled. These ERPs were selectively expressed in M1, PMA and Brodmann's area (BA 9 and their onsets preceded the end of the stop process, suggesting a causal involvement in this executive function. Such ERPs also occurred in unsuccessful-stop trials, that is, when subjects moved despite the occurrence of a stop-signal, mostly when they had long reaction times. These findings support the hypothesis that motor cortices are the final target of the inhibitory command elaborated by the frontal–basal ganglia–thalamic network.

Towards a model-based cognitive neuroscience of stopping - a neuroimaging perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Sebastian, Alexandra; Forstmann, Birte U; Matzke, Dora

2018-07-01

Our understanding of the neural correlates of response inhibition has greatly advanced over the last decade. Nevertheless the specific function of regions within this stopping network remains controversial. The traditional neuroimaging approach cannot capture many processes affecting stopping performance. Despite the shortcomings of the traditional neuroimaging approach and a great progress in mathematical and computational models of stopping, model-based cognitive neuroscience approaches in human neuroimaging studies are largely lacking. To foster model-based approaches to ultimately gain a deeper understanding of the neural signature of stopping, we outline the most prominent models of response inhibition and recent advances in the field. We highlight how a model-based approach in clinical samples has improved our understanding of altered cognitive functions in these disorders. Moreover, we show how linking evidence-accumulation models and neuroimaging data improves the identification of neural pathways involved in the stopping process and helps to delineate these from neural networks of related but distinct functions. In conclusion, adopting a model-based approach is indispensable to identifying the actual neural processes underlying stopping. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Tourette Syndrome: Help Stop Bullying

Science.gov (United States)

... work on Tourette Syndrome Tourette Association information on bullying What it’s like to have Tourette – Mary tells her story What children wish people knew about Tourette Syndrome CDC Children’s Mental Health StopBullying.gov Features Media Sign up for Features ...

Stop researching transformational leadership! Now!

NARCIS (Netherlands)

L.G. Tummers (Lars)

2013-01-01

markdownabstract__Intro__ Researchers all over the world, stop with your research on transformational leadership! Now! This could be the provocative conclusion after reading the recent article of Profs. Daan van Knippenberg and Sim Sitkin in The Academy of Management Annals (2013). These

Stop-loss premiums under dependence

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Albers, Willem/Wim

1999-01-01

Stop-loss premiums are typically calculated under the assumption that the insured lives in the underlying portfolio are independent. Here we study the effects of small departures from this assumption. Using Edgeworth expansions, it is made transparent which configurations of dependence parameters

The effect of weak lensing on distance estimates from supernovae

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Smith, Mathew; Maartens, Roy [Department of Physics, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town 7535 (South Africa); Bacon, David J.; Nichol, Robert C.; Campbell, Heather; D' Andrea, Chris B. [Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, PO1 3FX (United Kingdom); Clarkson, Chris [Astrophysics, Cosmology and Gravity Centre (ACGC), Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701 (South Africa); Bassett, Bruce A. [South African Astronomical Observatory, P.O. Box 9, Observatory 7935 (South Africa); Cinabro, David [Wayne State University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Detroit, MI 48202 (United States); Finley, David A.; Frieman, Joshua A. [Center for Particle Astrophysics, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510 (United States); Galbany, Lluis [CENTRA Centro Multidisciplinar de Astrofísica, Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisbon (Portugal); Garnavich, Peter M. [Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556 (United States); Olmstead, Matthew D. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 (United States); Schneider, Donald P. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Shapiro, Charles [Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, La Canada Flintridge, CA 91109 (United States); Sollerman, Jesper, E-mail: matsmith2@gmail.com [The Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Astronomy, AlbaNova, SE-106 91 Stockholm (Sweden)

2014-01-01

Using a sample of 608 Type Ia supernovae from the SDSS-II and BOSS surveys, combined with a sample of foreground galaxies from SDSS-II, we estimate the weak lensing convergence for each supernova line of sight. We find that the correlation between this measurement and the Hubble residuals is consistent with the prediction from lensing (at a significance of 1.7σ). Strong correlations are also found between the residuals and supernova nuisance parameters after a linear correction is applied. When these other correlations are taken into account, the lensing signal is detected at 1.4σ. We show, for the first time, that distance estimates from supernovae can be improved when lensing is incorporated, by including a new parameter in the SALT2 methodology for determining distance moduli. The recovered value of the new parameter is consistent with the lensing prediction. Using cosmic microwave background data from WMAP7, H {sub 0} data from Hubble Space Telescope and Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Baryon acoustic oscillations measurements, we find the best-fit value of the new lensing parameter and show that the central values and uncertainties on Ω {sub m} and w are unaffected. The lensing of supernovae, while only seen at marginal significance in this low-redshift sample, will be of vital importance for the next generation of surveys, such as DES and LSST, which will be systematics-dominated.

Assessment of different models for computing the probability of a clear line of sight

Science.gov (United States)

Bojin, Sorin; Paulescu, Marius; Badescu, Viorel

2017-12-01

This paper is focused on modeling the morphological properties of the cloud fields in terms of the probability of a clear line of sight (PCLOS). PCLOS is defined as the probability that a line of sight between observer and a given point of the celestial vault goes freely without intersecting a cloud. A variety of PCLOS models assuming the cloud shape hemisphere, semi-ellipsoid and ellipsoid are tested. The effective parameters (cloud aspect ratio and absolute cloud fraction) are extracted from high-resolution series of sunshine number measurements. The performance of the PCLOS models is evaluated from the perspective of their ability in retrieving the point cloudiness. The advantages and disadvantages of the tested models are discussed, aiming to a simplified parameterization of PCLOS models.

The effects of size, clutter, and complexity on vanishing-point distances in visual imagery.

Science.gov (United States)

Hubbard, T L; Baird, J C

1993-01-01

The portrayal of vanishing-point distances in visual imagery was examined in six experiments. In all experiments, subjects formed visual images of squares, and the squares were to be oriented orthogonally to subjects' line of sight. The squares differed in their level of surface complexity, and were either undivided, divided into 4 equally sized smaller squares, or divided into 16 equally sized smaller squares. Squares also differed in stated referent size, and ranged from 3 in. to 128 ft along each side. After subjects had formed an image of a specified square, they transformed their image so that the square was portrayed to move away from them. Eventually, the imaged square was portrayed to be so far away that if it were any further away, it could not be identified. Subjects estimated the distance to the square that was portrayed in their image at that time, the vanishing-point distance, and the relationship between stated referent size and imaged vanishing-point distance was best described by a power function with an exponent less than 1. In general, there were trends for exponents (slopes on log axes) to increase slightly and for multiplicative constants (y intercepts on log axes) to decrease as surface complexity increased. No differences in exponents or in multiplicative constants were found when the vanishing-point was approached from either subthreshold or suprathreshold directions. When clutter in the form of additional imaged objects located to either side of the primary imaged object was added to the image, the exponent of the vanishing-point function increased slightly and the multiplicative constant decreased. The success of a power function (and the failure of the size-distance invariance hypothesis) in describing the vanishing-point distance function calls into question the notions (a) that a constant grain size exists in the imaginal visual field at a given location and (b) that grain size specifies a lower limit in the storage of information in

Stopping powers of energetic electrons penetrating condensed matter-theory and application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tan Zhenyu; Xia Yueyuan

2004-01-01

In this review article, the motivation of studying inelastic energy loss for energetic electrons penetrating through matter and the corresponding technological importance have been outlined. The theoretical development and method for the calculation of stopping powers are described. The stopping power data tables for a group of polymers and bioorganic compounds are presented, and the application aspects of the stopping power data are briefly discussed. (authors)

The frequentist implications of optional stopping on Bayesian hypothesis tests.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanborn, Adam N; Hills, Thomas T

2014-04-01

Null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) is the most commonly used statistical methodology in psychology. The probability of achieving a value as extreme or more extreme than the statistic obtained from the data is evaluated, and if it is low enough, the null hypothesis is rejected. However, because common experimental practice often clashes with the assumptions underlying NHST, these calculated probabilities are often incorrect. Most commonly, experimenters use tests that assume that sample sizes are fixed in advance of data collection but then use the data to determine when to stop; in the limit, experimenters can use data monitoring to guarantee that the null hypothesis will be rejected. Bayesian hypothesis testing (BHT) provides a solution to these ills because the stopping rule used is irrelevant to the calculation of a Bayes factor. In addition, there are strong mathematical guarantees on the frequentist properties of BHT that are comforting for researchers concerned that stopping rules could influence the Bayes factors produced. Here, we show that these guaranteed bounds have limited scope and often do not apply in psychological research. Specifically, we quantitatively demonstrate the impact of optional stopping on the resulting Bayes factors in two common situations: (1) when the truth is a combination of the hypotheses, such as in a heterogeneous population, and (2) when a hypothesis is composite-taking multiple parameter values-such as the alternative hypothesis in a t-test. We found that, for these situations, while the Bayesian interpretation remains correct regardless of the stopping rule used, the choice of stopping rule can, in some situations, greatly increase the chance of experimenters finding evidence in the direction they desire. We suggest ways to control these frequentist implications of stopping rules on BHT.

Uncover compressed supersymmetry via boosted bosons from the heavier stop/sbottom

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kang, Zhaofeng; Li, Jinmian [Korea Institute for Advanced Study, School of Physics, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Zhang, Mengchao [Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Center for Theoretical Physics of the Universe, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2017-06-15

A light stop around the weak scale is a hopeful messenger of natural supersymmetry (SUSY), but it has not shown up at the current stage of LHC. Such a situation raises the question of the fate of natural SUSY. Actually, a relatively light stop can easily be hidden in a compressed spectra such as mild mass degeneracy between stop and neutralino plus top quark. Searching for such a stop at the LHC is a challenge. On the other hand, in terms of the argument of natural SUSY, other members in the stop sector, including a heavier stop t{sub 2} and lighter sbottom b{sub 1} (both assumed to be left-handed-like), are also supposed to be relatively light and therefore searching for them would provide an alternative method to probe natural SUSY with a compressed spectra. In this paper we consider quasi-natural SUSY which tolerates relatively heavy colored partners near the TeV scale, with a moderately large mass gap between the heavier members and the lightest stop. Then W/Z/h as companions of t{sub 2} and b{sub 1} decaying into t{sub 1} generically are well boosted, and they, along with other visible particles from t{sub 1} decay, are a good probe to study compressed SUSY. We find that the resulting search strategy with boosted bosons can have better sensitivity than those utilizing multi-leptons. (orig.)

Blue whale sightings in Antarctica west of the Greenwich meridian, Januart 2015

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geelhoed, S.C.V.; Feij, B.; Franeker, van J.A.; Herr, H.; Janinhoff, N.; McKay, S.J.; Muller, S.; Thomisch, K.; Verdaat, J.P.; Viquerat, S.

2015-01-01

During the RV Polarstern PS 89 (ANT-XXX/2) expedition from Cape Town to Atka Bay and back, 20 sightings of 26 individual blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) were recorded in Antarctic waters west of the Greenwich Meridian between 16-20 January 2015. These observations suggest a more westerly

The use of exploratory procedures by blind and sighted adults and children

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Withagen, A.; Kappers, A.M.L.; Vervloed, M.P.J.; Knoors, H.; Verhoeven, L.

2013-01-01

The study examined exploratory procedures (EPs) of congenitally blind and sighted children and adults on a haptic match-to-sample task. The aim was to examine the influence of age, visual status, and familiarity on the use of EPs when people haptically examine the object properties of weight, size,

The use of Exploratory Procedures by blind and sighted adults and children

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Withagen, A.J.; Kappers, A.M.L.; Vervloed, M.P.J.; Knoors, H.E.T.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.

2013-01-01

The study examined exploratory procedures (EPs) of congenitally blind and sighted children and adults on a haptic match-to-sample task. The aim was to examine the influence of age, visual status, and familiarity on the use of EPs when people haptically examine the object properties of weight, size,

Unsure When to Stop? Ask Your Semantic Neighbors

OpenAIRE

Gonçalves, Ivo; Silva, Sara; Fonseca, Carlos M.; Castelli, Mauro

2017-01-01

In iterative supervised learning algorithms it is common to reach a point in the search where no further induction seems to be possible with the available data. If the search is continued beyond this point, the risk of overfitting increases significantly. Following the recent developments in inductive semantic stochastic methods, this paper studies the feasibility of using information gathered from the semantic neighborhood to decide when to stop the search. Two semantic stopping criteria are...

Broadcasting a Common Message with Variable-Length Stop-Feedback codes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Trillingsgaard, Kasper Fløe; Yang, Wei; Durisi, Giuseppe

2015-01-01

We investigate the maximum coding rate achievable over a two-user broadcast channel for the scenario where a common message is transmitted using variable-length stop-feedback codes. Specifically, upon decoding the common message, each decoder sends a stop signal to the encoder, which transmits...... itself in the absence of a square-root penalty in the asymptotic expansion of the maximum coding rate for large blocklengths, a result also known as zero dispersion. In this paper, we show that this speed-up does not necessarily occur for the broadcast channel with common message. Specifically...... continuously until it receives both stop signals. For the point-to-point case, Polyanskiy, Poor, and Verdú (2011) recently demonstrated that variable-length coding combined with stop feedback significantly increases the speed at which the maximum coding rate converges to capacity. This speed-up manifests...

Analysis and enhancement of flexural wave stop bands in 2D periodic plates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Song, Yubao [Laboratory of Science and Technology on Integrated Logistics Support, National University of Defense Technology, 410073 Changsha (China); The Marcus Wallenberg Laboratory for Sound and Vibration Research, KTH – The Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm (Sweden); Feng, Leping [The Marcus Wallenberg Laboratory for Sound and Vibration Research, KTH – The Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm (Sweden); Wen, Jihong, E-mail: wenjihong_nudt1@vip.sina.com [Laboratory of Science and Technology on Integrated Logistics Support, National University of Defense Technology, 410073 Changsha (China); Yu, Dianlong; Wen, Xisen [Laboratory of Science and Technology on Integrated Logistics Support, National University of Defense Technology, 410073 Changsha (China)

2015-07-17

The band structure and enhancement of flexural wave stop bands in a 2D periodic plate are investigated. A unified method for analysing and designing the stop band of the plates with various attached structures is proposed. The effect of attached structures is considered based on their equivalent parameters (added equivalent mass and equivalent moment of inertia). The influences of the equivalent parameters on the band structures are studied. Three cases are considered: adding pure equivalent mass, pure equivalent moment of inertia and the combination of these two. The stop bands are enhanced via the multi interaction between the host plate and the attached structure. The enhancement pattern is determined, and several ways to obtain a wider combined stop band are presented. The frequency response functions of corresponding finite periodic plates are calculated to verify the stop bands and their enhancement in a number of typical cases. - Highlights: • A unified method for studying the stop band of the plates with various simplified attached structures is proposed. • The enhancement of flexural wave stop bands in a 2D phononic plate is investigated. • The stop bands are widened via multi interaction between the host plate and the attached structure. • The enhancement pattern is determined and several ways to get a wider stop band are presented.

INTERSECTION DETECTION BASED ON QUALITATIVE SPATIAL REASONING ON STOPPING POINT CLUSTERS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Zourlidou

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to propose and test a method for detecting intersections by analysing collectively acquired trajectories of moving vehicles. Instead of solely relying on the geometric features of the trajectories, such as heading changes, which may indicate turning points and consequently intersections, we extract semantic features of the trajectories in form of sequences of stops and moves. Under this spatiotemporal prism, the extracted semantic information which indicates where vehicles stop can reveal important locations, such as junctions. The advantage of the proposed approach in comparison with existing turning-points oriented approaches is that it can detect intersections even when not all the crossing road segments are sampled and therefore no turning points are observed in the trajectories. The challenge with this approach is that first of all, not all vehicles stop at the same location – thus, the stop-location is blurred along the direction of the road; this, secondly, leads to the effect that nearby junctions can induce similar stop-locations. As a first step, a density-based clustering is applied on the layer of stop observations and clusters of stop events are found. Representative points of the clusters are determined (one per cluster and in a last step the existence of an intersection is clarified based on spatial relational cluster reasoning, with which less informative geospatial clusters, in terms of whether a junction exists and where its centre lies, are transformed in more informative ones. Relational reasoning criteria, based on the relative orientation of the clusters with their adjacent ones are discussed for making sense of the relation that connects them, and finally for forming groups of stop events that belong to the same junction.

Mutual Disambiguation of Eye Gaze and Speech for Sight Translation and Reading

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kulkarni, Rucha; Jain, Kritika; Bansal, Himanshu

2013-01-01

and composition of the two modalities was used for integration. F-measure for Eye-Gaze and Word Accuracy for ASR were used as metrics to evaluate our results. In reading task, we demonstrated a significant improvement in both Eye-Gaze f-measure and speech Word Accuracy. In sight translation task, significant...

The Lifestyles of Blind, Low Vision, and Sighted Youths: A Quantitative Comparison.

Science.gov (United States)

Wolffe, K.; Sacks, S. Z.

1997-01-01

Analysis of interviews and time-diary protocols with 48 students (16 blind, 16 low-vision, and 16 sighted), ages 15-21, and their parents focused on four lifestyle areas: academic involvement and performance, daily living and personal care activities, recreation and leisure activities, and work and vocational experiences. Similarities and…

Reparametrizations with given stop data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Raussen, Martin

2009-01-01

In [1] we performed a systematic investigation of reparametrizations of continuous paths in a Hausdorff space that relies crucially on a proper understanding of stop data of a (weakly increasing) reprametrizations of the unit interval. I am grateful to Marco Grandis (Genova) for pointing out to me...

Reparametrizations with given stop data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Raussen, Martin

In [1], we performed a systematic investigation of reparametrizations of continuous paths in a Hausdorff space that relies crucially on a proper understanding of stop data of a (weakly increasing) reparametrization of the unit interval. I am indebted to Marco Grandis (Genova) for pointing out tome...

Mechanical stop mechanism for overcoming MEMS fabrication tolerances

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hussein, Hussein; Bourbon, Gilles; Le Moal, Patrice; Lutz, Philippe; Haddab, Yassine

2017-01-01

A mechanical stop mechanism is developed in order to compensate MEMS fabrication tolerances in discrete positioning. The mechanical stop mechanism is designed to be implemented on SOI wafers using a common DRIE etching process. The various fabrication tolerances obtained due to the etching process are presented and discussed in the paper. The principle and design of the mechanism are then presented. Finally, experiments on microfabricated positioning prototypes show accurate steps unaffected by the fabrication tolerances. (technical note)

STOP-Bang Questionnaire in Patients with Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ki-Hwan Ji

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Background and Objective The snoring, tiredness, observed apnea, and high blood pressure– body mass index, age, neck circumference, and gender (STOP-Bang questionnaire is known as a simple but useful tool for the diagnosis of high-risk obstructive sleep apnea (OSA. However, the utility of STOP-Bang questionnaire in rapid eye movement (REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD populations is not validated. This study aimed to determine the diagnostic value of the STOP-Bang questionnaire in patients with RBD at high risk for OSA. Methods We collected data from 65 consecutive patients who were diagnosed with RBD in a tertiary sleep center (20 women; mean age, 64.3 ± 12.5 years. All the patients visited sleep center with complaints of abnormal behavior during sleep, and underwent testing with STOP-Bang questionnaire and polysomnography. The diagnosis of RBD was based on the International Classification of Sleep Disorders, second edition. We diagnosed OSA when apnea-hypopnea index (AHI was at least 5/h. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC curves were plotted. Results The mean AHI was 18.2 ± 16.5/h, and 75.4% (n = 49 had an AHI ≥ 5. The STOP-Bang (threshold ≥ 3 identified 70.7% of patients as high risk for OSA, and sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were 81.6, 62.5, 87, and 52.6%, respectively. The area under the ROC curve (AUC was 0.79 (p < 0.001. The STOP (threshold ≥ 2 identified 70.7% of patients at high risk for OSA, and sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were 75.5, 87.5, 94.9, and 53.8%, respectively. The AUC was 0.86 (p < 0.001. A pairwise comparison of ROC curve between STOP-Bang and STOP was insignificant (p = 0.145. Conclusions In RBD population, the STOP-Bang or STOP questionnaire is a useful screening tool to identify patients at high risk for OSA.

Advanced mathematics communication beyond modality of sight

Science.gov (United States)

Sedaghatjou, Mina

2018-01-01

This study illustrates how mathematical communication and learning are inherently multimodal and embodied; hence, sight-disabled students are also able to conceptualize visuospatial information and mathematical concepts through tactile and auditory activities. Adapting a perceptuomotor integration approach, the study shows that the lack of access to visual fields in an advanced mathematics course does not obstruct a blind student's ability to visualize, but transforms it. The goal of this study is not to compare the visually impaired student with non-visually impaired students to address the 'differences' in understanding; instead, I discuss the challenges that a blind student, named Anthony, has encountered and the ways that we tackled those problems. I also demonstrate how the proper and precisely crafted tactile materials empowered Anthony to learn mathematical functions.

Density dependence of stopping cross sections measured in liquid ethane

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Both, G.; Krotz, R.; Lohmer, K.; Neuwirth, W.

1983-01-01

Electronic stopping cross sections for 7 Li projectiles (840--175 keV) have been measured with the inverted Doppler-shift attenuation method in liquid ethane (C 2 H 6 ) at two different densities. The density of the target has been varied by changing the temperature, and measurements have been performed at 0.525 g/cm 3 (199 K) and 0.362 g/cm 3 (287 K). At the higher density the stopping cross section is about 2% smaller. This result agrees with a calculation of the stopping cross section of liquid ethane, applying Lindhard's theory in the local-density approximation using a simple model of the liquid. It is also in agreement with various observations of the so-called physical-state effect, which show that the stopping cross section of the same substance is smaller in a condensed phase than in the gaseous one

Auditory motion in the sighted and blind: Early visual deprivation triggers a large-scale imbalance between auditory and "visual" brain regions.

Science.gov (United States)

Dormal, Giulia; Rezk, Mohamed; Yakobov, Esther; Lepore, Franco; Collignon, Olivier

2016-07-01

How early blindness reorganizes the brain circuitry that supports auditory motion processing remains controversial. We used fMRI to characterize brain responses to in-depth, laterally moving, and static sounds in early blind and sighted individuals. Whole-brain univariate analyses revealed that the right posterior middle temporal gyrus and superior occipital gyrus selectively responded to both in-depth and laterally moving sounds only in the blind. These regions overlapped with regions selective for visual motion (hMT+/V5 and V3A) that were independently localized in the sighted. In the early blind, the right planum temporale showed enhanced functional connectivity with right occipito-temporal regions during auditory motion processing and a concomitant reduced functional connectivity with parietal and frontal regions. Whole-brain searchlight multivariate analyses demonstrated higher auditory motion decoding in the right posterior middle temporal gyrus in the blind compared to the sighted, while decoding accuracy was enhanced in the auditory cortex bilaterally in the sighted compared to the blind. Analyses targeting individually defined visual area hMT+/V5 however indicated that auditory motion information could be reliably decoded within this area even in the sighted group. Taken together, the present findings demonstrate that early visual deprivation triggers a large-scale imbalance between auditory and "visual" brain regions that typically support the processing of motion information. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Depression of molecular emission in the line of sight of Sgr A West

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fukui, Y.; Ogawa, H.; Deguchi, S.; Suzuki, H.

1982-01-01

The galatic center region has been mapped in the 4-mm emission lines of HCCCN (J = 8-7) and H 2 CO (JK-K+ = 1 01 -0 00 ) with a 1.5 arc min beam. The molecular lines are found to show depression in intensity in the line of sight of Sgr A West. Comparison with other molecular data indicates that NH 3 also shows a significant depression while HCN and HCO + show little sign of similar depression. Based on some density estimates we suggest that the depression means abnormally reduced abundance in HCCCN, NH 3 , and H 2 CO in the line of sight of Sgr A West. The difference in the degree of depression could be interpreted in terms of a time-dependent ion-molecule reaction scheme because HCO + and HCN are formed much more rapidly than the other molecules in the scheme

Fast steering and quick positioning of large field-of-regard, two-axis, four-gimbaled sight

Science.gov (United States)

Ansari, Zahir Ahmed; Nigam, Madhav Ji; Kumar, Avnish

2017-07-01

Fast steering and quick positioning are prime requirements of the current electro-optical tracking system to achieve quick target acquisition. A scheme has been proposed for realizing these features using two-axis, four-gimbaled sight. For steering the line of sight in the stabilization mode, outer gimbal is slaved to the gyro stabilized inner gimbal. Typically, the inner gimbals have direct drives and outer gimbals have geared drives, which result in a mismatch in the acceleration capability of their servo loops. This limits the allowable control bandwidth for the inner gimbal. However, to achieve high stabilization accuracy, high bandwidth control loops are essential. This contradictory requirement has been addressed by designing a suitable command conditioning module for the inner gimbals. Also, large line-of-sight freedom in pitch axis is required to provide a wide area surveillance capacity for airborne application. This leads to a loss of freedom along the yaw axis as the pitch angle goes beyond 70 deg or so. This is addressed by making the outer gimbal master after certain pitch angle. Moreover, a mounting scheme for gyro has been proposed to accomplish yaw axis stabilization for 110-deg pitch angle movement with a single two-axis gyro.

Reasons for starting and stopping electronic cigarette use.

Science.gov (United States)

Pepper, Jessica K; Ribisl, Kurt M; Emery, Sherry L; Brewer, Noel T

2014-10-03

The aim of our study was to explore reasons for starting and then stopping electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use. Among a national sample of 3878 U.S. adults who reported ever trying e-cigarettes, the most common reasons for trying were curiosity (53%); because a friend or family member used, gave, or offered e-cigarettes (34%); and quitting or reducing smoking (30%). Nearly two-thirds (65%) of people who started using e-cigarettes later stopped using them. Discontinuation was more common among those whose main reason for trying was not goal-oriented (e.g., curiosity) than goal-oriented (e.g., quitting smoking) (81% vs. 45%, p reasons for stopping e-cigarette use were that respondents were just experimenting (49%), using e-cigarettes did not feel like smoking cigarettes (15%), and users did not like the taste (14%). Our results suggest there are two categories of e-cigarette users: those who try for goal-oriented reasons and typically continue using and those who try for non-goal-oriented reasons and then typically stop using. Research should distinguish e-cigarette experimenters from motivated users whose decisions to discontinue relate to the utility or experience of use. Depending on whether e-cigarettes prove to be effective smoking cessation tools or whether they deter cessation, public health programs may need distinct strategies to reach and influence different types of users.

Stopping power of K electrons at extreme relativistic energies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leung, P.T.; Rustgi, M.L.

1983-01-01

The recent work of Anholt on K-vacancy production by relativistic projectiles has been applied to calculate the stopping power of the K electrons. The results show that for protons of energy approx.10 3 GeV and heavy target elements, the relativistic contributions to the stopping power amount to several times the resuls due to the longitudinal terms obtained from Walske's work

Stop valve with automatic control and locking for nuclear reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chung, D.K.

1980-01-01

This invention generally concerns an automatic control and locking stop valve. Specifically it relates to the use of such a valve in a nuclear reactor of the type containing absorber elements supported by a fluid and intended for stopping the reactor in complete safety [fr

Proposal for a CINDA-type stopping data bibliography (CISDA)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ivascu, M.; Bucurescu, D.; Avrigeanu, V.

1980-11-01

The present status and requirements of stopping power data (SD) are reviewed, by considering the significant trends in applications of nuclear data. The need of centralized information on SD is emphasized. If the establishing of compiled and evaluated SD libraries format is possible only through an internationally co-ordinated action, to produce a computerized index to bibliographic references on SD is an easier task. One describes a plan of a CINDA-type SD bibliography (named CISDA - Computer Index of Stopping Data) containing experimental, theoretical and evaluated works for stopping powers, range, energy and range straggling of ions with atomic mass and charge both larger than or equal to 1. The index organization and detailed field descriptions of reference records are presented. (author)

Sight Word Reading in Prereaders: Use of Logographic vs. Alphabetic Access Routes.

Science.gov (United States)

Scott, Judith Anne; Ehri, Linnea C.

1990-01-01

Investigates whether prereaders who knew all their letters are better at forming logographic access routes than letter-sound access routes into memory from words read by sight. Concludes that prereaders become capable of forming letter-sound access routes when they learn letters well enough to take advantage of the phonetic cues the letters…

Divergent Development of Manual Skills in Children Who Are Blind or Sighted

Science.gov (United States)

Brambring, Michael

2007-01-01

This empirical study compared the average ages at which four children with congenital blindness acquired 32 fine motor skills with age norms for sighted children. The results indicated that the children experienced extreme developmental delays in the acquisition of manual skills and a high degree of variability in developmental delays within and…

Multi-objective decoupling algorithm for active distance control of intelligent hybrid electric vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Yugong; Chen, Tao; Li, Keqiang

2015-12-01

The paper presents a novel active distance control strategy for intelligent hybrid electric vehicles (IHEV) with the purpose of guaranteeing an optimal performance in view of the driving functions, optimum safety, fuel economy and ride comfort. Considering the complexity of driving situations, the objects of safety and ride comfort are decoupled from that of fuel economy, and a hierarchical control architecture is adopted to improve the real-time performance and the adaptability. The hierarchical control structure consists of four layers: active distance control object determination, comprehensive driving and braking torque calculation, comprehensive torque distribution and torque coordination. The safety distance control and the emergency stop algorithms are designed to achieve the safety and ride comfort goals. The optimal rule-based energy management algorithm of the hybrid electric system is developed to improve the fuel economy. The torque coordination control strategy is proposed to regulate engine torque, motor torque and hydraulic braking torque to improve the ride comfort. This strategy is verified by simulation and experiment using a forward simulation platform and a prototype vehicle. The results show that the novel control strategy can achieve the integrated and coordinated control of its multiple subsystems, which guarantees top performance of the driving functions and optimum safety, fuel economy and ride comfort.

Optimized Skip-Stop Metro Line Operation Using Smart Card Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peitong Zhang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Skip-stop operation is a low cost approach to improving the efficiency of metro operation and passenger travel experience. This paper proposes a novel method to optimize the skip-stop scheme for bidirectional metro lines so that the average passenger travel time can be minimized. Different from the conventional “A/B” scheme, the proposed Flexible Skip-Stop Scheme (FSSS can better accommodate spatially and temporally varied passenger demand. A genetic algorithm (GA based approach is then developed to efficiently search for the optimal solution. A case study is conducted based on a real world bidirectional metro line in Shenzhen, China, using the time-dependent passenger demand extracted from smart card data. It is found that the optimized skip-stop operation is able to reduce the average passenger travel time and transit agencies may benefit from this scheme due to energy and operational cost savings. Analyses are made to evaluate the effects of that fact that certain number of passengers fail to board the right train (due to skip operation. Results show that FSSS always outperforms the all-stop scheme even when most passengers of the skipped OD pairs are confused and cannot get on the right train.

Imagine stopping the progression of Alzheimer's

Science.gov (United States)

... Issue Past Issues Imagine stopping the progression of Alzheimer's Past Issues / Fall 2006 Table of Contents For ... I have friends and loved ones suffering from Alzheimer's. But I can imagine… and hope for… a ...

The Effects of Land-Use Patterns on Home-Based Tour Complexity and Total Distances Traveled: A Path Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

João de Abreu e Silva

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This work studies the relationships between the number of complex tours (with one or more intermediate stops and simple home-based tours, total distances traveled by mode, and land-use patterns both at the residence and at the workplace using path analysis. The model includes commuting distance, car ownership and motorcycle ownership, which are intermediate variables in the relationship between land use, tour complexity and distances traveled by mode. The dataset used here was collected in a region comprising four municipalities located in the north of Portugal that are made up of urban areas, their sprawling suburbs, and surrounding rural hinterland. The results confirm the association between complex tours and higher levels of car use. Land-use patterns significantly affect travelled distances by mode either directly and indirectly via the influence of longer-term decisions like vehicle ownership and commuting distance. The results obtained highlight the role of socioeconomic variables in influencing tour complexity; in particular, households with children, household income, and workers with a college degree tend to do more complex tours. Land-use patterns mediate the effects of tour complexity on the kilometers travelled by different modes. Increasing densities in central areas, and particularly the concentration of jobs, have relevant benefits by reducing car kilometers driven.

Ratio of deuterium to hydrogen in interstellar space. IV. The lines of sight to delta, epsilon, and iota Orionis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laurent, C.; Vidal-Madjar, A.; York, D.G.

1979-01-01

We have analyzed the deuterium absorption features in the spectra of delta, epsilon, and iota Ori obtained with Copernicus. The iota Ori line-of-sight analysis, which is quite detailed because of the high-velocity H I components superposed on the deuterium features, gives a D/H ratio (which is uncertain because of a complex profile) of 1.4 x 10 -5 . We determined a D/H ratio of the order of 7 x 10 -6 for delta and epsilon Ori. For the complex line profiles involved, one may regard this as a formal lower limit. Several attempts were made to increase the ratio N (DI)/N (H I) in the context of reasonable models for the line of sight, but with no success; we therefore regard the derived values as actual values, not lower limits. Since our derived value is an average on the line of sight, we cannot rule out the possibility that the true ratios N (D I)/N (H I) in individual nearby components (Δν -1 ) differ from the mean values. Our mean value for these two directions is lower by a factor of 4 than our best value for the zeta Pup line of sight

Rat sightings in New York City are associated with neighborhood sociodemographics, housing characteristics, and proximity to open public space

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael G. Walsh

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Rats are ubiquitous in urban environments and, as established reservoirs for infectious pathogens, present a control priority for public health agencies. New York City (NYC harbors one of the largest rat populations in the United States, but surprising little study has been undertaken to define rat ecology across varied features of this urban landscape. More importantly, factors that may contribute to increased encounters between rats and humans have rarely been explored. Using city-wide records of rat sightings reported to the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, this investigation sought to identify sociodemographic, housing, and physical landscape characteristics that are associated with increased rat sightings across NYC census tracts. A hierarchical Bayesian conditional autoregressive Poisson model was used to assess these associations while accounting for spatial heterogeneity in the variance. Closer proximity to both subway lines and recreational public spaces was associated with a higher concentration of rat sightings, as was a greater presence of older housing, vacant housing units, and low education among the population. Moreover, these aspects of the physical and social landscape accurately predicted rat sightings across the city. These findings have identified specific features of the NYC urban environment that may help to provide direct control targets for reducing human–rat encounters.

Rat sightings in New York City are associated with neighborhood sociodemographics, housing characteristics, and proximity to open public space.

Science.gov (United States)

Walsh, Michael G

2014-01-01

Rats are ubiquitous in urban environments and, as established reservoirs for infectious pathogens, present a control priority for public health agencies. New York City (NYC) harbors one of the largest rat populations in the United States, but surprising little study has been undertaken to define rat ecology across varied features of this urban landscape. More importantly, factors that may contribute to increased encounters between rats and humans have rarely been explored. Using city-wide records of rat sightings reported to the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, this investigation sought to identify sociodemographic, housing, and physical landscape characteristics that are associated with increased rat sightings across NYC census tracts. A hierarchical Bayesian conditional autoregressive Poisson model was used to assess these associations while accounting for spatial heterogeneity in the variance. Closer proximity to both subway lines and recreational public spaces was associated with a higher concentration of rat sightings, as was a greater presence of older housing, vacant housing units, and low education among the population. Moreover, these aspects of the physical and social landscape accurately predicted rat sightings across the city. These findings have identified specific features of the NYC urban environment that may help to provide direct control targets for reducing human-rat encounters.

On plasma coupling and turbulence effects in low velocity stopping

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kurilenkov, Yu K [Unified Institute for High Temperatures of Russian Academy of Sciences, 13/19 Izhorskaya Str., 125412 Moscow (Russian Federation); Maynard, G [Laboratoire de Physique des Gaz et des Plasmas, UMR-8578, Bat. 210, Universite Paris XI, F-91405 Orsay (France); Barriga-Carrasco, M D [Laboratoire de Physique des Gaz et des Plasmas, UMR-8578, Bat. 210, Universite Paris XI, F-91405 Orsay (France); Valuev, A A [Unified Institute for High Temperatures of Russian Academy of Sciences, 13/19 Izhorskaya Str., 125412 Moscow (Russian Federation)

2006-04-28

The problem of stopping power (SP) for projectile ions is analysed in terms of the dielectric function and effective collision frequency for moderately dense and strongly coupled plasmas (SCP). We consider several issues regarding the calculation of stopping power for correlated ensembles of particles and oscillators. In particular, effects of group (few particle) modes, transition from positive to negative dispersion and excitation of collective modes up to suprathermal level at plasma targets are addressed. Linear SP of dense suprathermal (nonlinear) plasma targets at different levels of target plasma turbulence is estimated. The force of suprathermal plasma oscillations on the projectile ions is mostly in the nature of increased frictional drag. The results obtained show the possibility of increasing low velocity stopping (up to 'turbulent' values) in comparison with losses in equilibrium dense plasma targets. Experimental conditions to create specific turbulent targets as well as some connection between stopping phenomena and SCP transport properties are discussed briefly.

On plasma coupling and turbulence effects in low velocity stopping

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kurilenkov, Yu K; Maynard, G; Barriga-Carrasco, M D; Valuev, A A

2006-01-01

The problem of stopping power (SP) for projectile ions is analysed in terms of the dielectric function and effective collision frequency for moderately dense and strongly coupled plasmas (SCP). We consider several issues regarding the calculation of stopping power for correlated ensembles of particles and oscillators. In particular, effects of group (few particle) modes, transition from positive to negative dispersion and excitation of collective modes up to suprathermal level at plasma targets are addressed. Linear SP of dense suprathermal (nonlinear) plasma targets at different levels of target plasma turbulence is estimated. The force of suprathermal plasma oscillations on the projectile ions is mostly in the nature of increased frictional drag. The results obtained show the possibility of increasing low velocity stopping (up to 'turbulent' values) in comparison with losses in equilibrium dense plasma targets. Experimental conditions to create specific turbulent targets as well as some connection between stopping phenomena and SCP transport properties are discussed briefly

Stopping powers of solids for low-energy protons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ashley, J.C.; Ritchie, R.H.

1984-01-01

Electron gas models are useful approximations for describing the valence electron response of a solid to the passage of a charged particle. A simple free-electron gas model was used by Fermi and Teller to estimate the time required for a mesotron to be stopped in various solids. More recent work has employed the Lindhard dielectric response function, or approximations thereto, for calculations of the valence electron contributions to energy loss per unit pathlength for protons. Such calculations have generally shown rather poor agreement with experimental data for low-energy protons (velocity small compared to the Fermi velocity, v<< v/sub F/). The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to a recent calculation of the stopping power for slow protons using a density-functional formalism. These new results have been shown to give good agreement with experimental data and thus should provide valuable theoretical guidance in estimating stopping powers of solids for which no experimental data are available

Stop researching transformational leadership! Now!

OpenAIRE

Tummers, Lars

2013-01-01

markdownabstract__Intro__ Researchers all over the world, stop with your research on transformational leadership! Now! This could be the provocative conclusion after reading the recent article of Profs. Daan van Knippenberg and Sim Sitkin in The Academy of Management Annals (2013). These leadership professors write about the problems surrounding transformational leadership.

Family of Advanced Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals (FAB-T)

Science.gov (United States)

2015-12-01

Selected Acquisition Report (SAR) RCS: DD-A&T(Q&A)823-199 Family of Advanced Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals ( FAB -T) As of FY 2017 President’s...Budget Defense Acquisition Management Information Retrieval (DAMIR) March 21, 2016 15:24:15 UNCLASSIFIED FAB -T December 2015 SAR March 21, 2016 15:24...Operational Requirements Document OSD - Office of the Secretary of Defense O&S - Operating and Support PAUC - Program Acquisition Unit Cost FAB -T December 2015

InSight: Single Station Broadband Seismology for Probing Mars' Interior

Science.gov (United States)

Panning, Mark P.; Banerdt, W. Bruce; Beucler, Eric; Boschi, Lapo; Johnson, Catherine; Lognonne, Philippe; Mocquet, Antoine; Weber, Renee C.

2012-01-01

InSight is a proposed Discovery mission which will deliver a lander containing geophysical instrumentation, including a heat flow probe and a seismometer package, to Mars. The aim of this mission is to perform, for the first time, an in-situ investigation of the interior of a truly Earth- like planet other than our own, with the goal of understanding the formation and evolution of terrestrial planets through investigation of the interior structure and processes of Mars.

Effect of STOP technique on safety climate in a construction company.

Science.gov (United States)

Darvishi, Ebrahim; Maleki, Afshin; Dehestaniathar, Saeed; Ebrahemzadih, Mehrzad

2015-01-01

Safety programs are a core part of safety management in workplaces that can reduce incidents and injuries. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of Safety Training Observation Program (STOP) technique as a behavior modification program on safety climate in a construction company. This cross-sectional study was carried out on workers of the Petrochemical Construction Company, western Iran. In order to improve safety climate, an unsafe behavior modification program entitled STOP was launched among workers of project during 12 months from April 2013 and April 2014. The STOP technique effectiveness in creating a positive safety climate was evaluated using the Safety Climate Assessment Toolkit. 76.78% of total behaviors were unsafe. 54.76% of total unsafe acts/ at-risk behaviors were related to the fall hazard. The most cause of unsafe behaviors was associated with habit and unavailability of safety equipment. After 12 month of continuous implementation the STOP technique, 55.8% of unsafe behaviors reduced among workers. The average score of safety climate evaluated using of the Toolkit, before and after the implementation of the STOP technique was 5.77 and 7.24, respectively. The STOP technique can be considered as effective approach for eliminating at-risk behavior, reinforcing safe work practices, and creating a positive safety climate in order to reduction incidents/injuries.

Diagnostic and Treatment Challenges of Sighted Non-24-Hour Sleep-Wake Disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Malkani, Roneil G; Abbott, Sabra M; Reid, Kathryn J; Zee, Phyllis C

2018-04-15

To report the diagnostic and treatment challenges of sighted non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder (N24SWD). We report a series of seven sighted patients with N24SWD clinically evaluated by history and sleep diaries, and when available wrist actigraphy and salivary melatonin levels, and treated with timed melatonin and bright light therapy. Most patients had a history of a delayed sleep-wake pattern prior to developing N24SWD. The typical sleep-wake pattern of N24SWD was seen in the sleep diaries (and in actigraphy when available) in all patients with a daily delay in midpoint of sleep ranging 0.8 to 1.8 hours. Salivary dim light melatonin onset (DLMO) was evaluated in four patients but was missed in one. The estimated phase angle from DLMO to sleep onset ranged from 5.25 to 9 hours. All six patients who attempted timed melatonin and bright light therapy were able to entrain their sleep-wake schedules. Entrainment occurred at a late circadian phase, possibly related to the late timing of melatonin administration, though the patients often preferred late sleep times. Most did not continue treatment and continued to have a non-24-hour sleep-wake pattern. N24SWD is a chronic debilitating disorder that is often overlooked in sighted people and can be challenging to diagnose and treat. Tools to assess circadian pattern and timing can be effectively applied to aid the diagnosis. The progressive delay of the circadian rhythm poses a challenge for determining the most effective timing for melatonin and bright light therapies. Furthermore, once the circadian sleep-wake rhythm is entrained, long-term effectiveness is limited because of the behavioral and environmental structure that is required to maintain stable entrainment. © 2018 American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Shelter from the Storm: Optimizing Distribution of Bus Stop Shelters in Los Angeles

OpenAIRE

Law, Philip; Taylor, Brian D.

2010-01-01

The functions of bus stop shelters and factors affecting their placement at stops in transit systems are analyzed. Drawing on information from a variety of sources, current shelter placement policy in Los Angeles was found to be guided principally by the revenue-generating potential of shelter advertisements, secondarily by political concerns over geographic equity, and only peripherally on the basis of bus stop use. Using data on shelter and stop locations, boardings, and headways, a methodo...

Stashing the stops in multijet events at the LHC

Science.gov (United States)

Diglio, Sara; Feligioni, Lorenzo; Moultaka, Gilbert

2017-09-01

While the presence of a light stop is increasingly disfavored by the experimental limits set on R-parity conserving scenarios, the naturalness of supersymmetry could still be safely concealed in the more challenging final states predicted by the existence of non-null R-parity violating couplings. Although R-parity violating signatures are extensively looked for at the Large Hadron Collider, these searches mostly assume 100% branching ratios for the direct decays of supersymmetric particles into Standard Model ones. In this paper we scrutinize the implications of relaxing this assumption by focusing on one motivated scenario where the lightest stop is heavier than a chargino and a neutralino. Considering a class of R-parity baryon number violating couplings, we show on general grounds that while the direct decay of the stop into Standard Model particles is dominant for large values of these couplings, smaller values give rise, instead, to the dominance of a plethora of longer decay chains and richer final states that have been so far barely analyzed at the LHC, thus weakening the impact of the present experimental stop mass limits. We characterize the case for R-parity baryon number violating couplings in the 10-7-10-1 range, in two different benchmark points scenarios within the model-independent setting of the low-energy phenomenological Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. We identify the different relevant experimental signatures from stop pair production and decays, estimate the corresponding proton-proton cross sections at √{s }=14 TeV and discuss signal versus background issues.

Overriding actions in Parkinson’s disease : Impaired stopping and changing of motor responses

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van den Wildenberg, W.P.M.; Ridderinkhof, K.R.; van Wouwe, N.C.; Neimat, J.S.; Bashore, T.R.; Wylie, S.A.

2017-01-01

We administered a stop-change paradigm, an extended version of the stop task that requires (a) stopping an ongoing motor response and (b) changing to an alternative (change) response. Performance of a group of patients diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD) and taking dopaminergic medication was

The VBB SEIS experiment of InSight

Science.gov (United States)

De Raucourt, Sebastien; Gabsi, Taoufik; Tanguy, Nebut; Mimoun, David; Lognonne, Philippe; Gagnepain-Beyneix, Jeannine; Banerdt, William; Tillier, Sylvain; Hurst, Kenneth

2012-07-01

SEIS is the core payload of InSight, one of the three missions selected for competitive phase A in the frame of the 2010 Discovery AO. It aims at providing unique observation of the interior structure of Mars and to monitor seismic activity of Mars. SEIS will provide the first seismic model from another planet than Earth. SEIS is an hybrid seismometer composed of 3 SPs and 3 VBBs axes providing ground motion measurement from Dc to 50Hz. A leveling system will ensure the coupling between the ground and the sensors as well as the horizontality of the VBB sphere. This assembly will be deployed on the ground of Mars and will be shielded by a strong thermal insulation and a wind shield. The 24 bits low noise acquisition electronics will remain in the warm electronic box of the lander with the sensors feedback and leveling system electronics. The VBB sphere enclosed three single axis sensors. Those sensors are based on an inverted leaf spring pendulum, which convert ground acceleration into mobile mass displacement. A capacitive displacement sensor monitors this mass displacement to provide a measurement. A force feedback allows transfer function and sensitivity tuning. The VBB sensor has a very strong heritage from previous project and benefits from recent work to improve its performances. Both the mechanical design and the displacement sensors have optimized to improve performances while reducing technological risk and keeping a high TRL. From those development a self-noise well below 10 ^{-9} m.s ^{-2}/sqrt Hz is expected. Environmental sensitivity of SEIS has been minimized by the design of a very efficient wind and thermal shield. Remaining noise is expected to be very close to the VBB self-noise. Associated sources and budget will be discussed. If InSight is selected to fly in 2016, this experiment will provide very high quality seismic signal measurement with a wider bandwidth, higher sensitivity and lower noise than previous Mars seismometer (Viking and Optimism

Search for stop production in R-parity-violating supersymmetry at HERA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chekanov, S.; Derrick, M.; Magill, S.

2006-11-01

A search for stop production in R-parity-violating supersymmetry has been performed in e + p interactions with the ZEUS detector at HERA, using an integrated luminosity of 65 pb -1 . At HERA, the R-parity-violating coupling λ' allows resonant squark production, e + d→q. Since the lowest-mass squark state in most supersymmetry models is the light stop, t, this search concentrated on production of t, followed either by a direct R-parity-violating decay, or by the gauge decay to b χ 1 + . No evidence for stop production was found and limits were set on λ 131 ' as a function of the stop mass in the framework of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. The results have also been interpreted in terms of constraints on the parameters of the minimal Supergravity model. (orig.)

Contribution of inner shell electrons to position-dependent stopping powers of a crystal surface

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Narumi, Kazumasa; Fujii, Yoshikazu; Kishine, Keiji; Kurakake, Hiroshi; Kimura, Kenji; Mannami, Michi-hiko

1994-01-01

Position-dependent stopping powers of the (001) surface of SnTe single crystal for specularly reflected 15 - 200 keV H + ions are studied. The position dependence of the experimental stopping powers varies with the energy of ions. From the comparison with the theoretical stopping powers based on both the single ion-electron collision and the collective excitation of the valence electrons, it is concluded that the observed change in the position-dependent stopping powers with energy of H + is due to the variation of contribution of inner shell electrons to stopping. (author)

Low-bias flat band-stop filter based on velocity modulated gaussian graphene superlattice

Science.gov (United States)

Sattari-Esfahlan, S. M.; Shojaei, S.

2018-05-01

Transport properties of biased planar Gaussian graphene superlattice (PGGSL) with Fermi velocity barrier is investigated by transfer matrix method (TMM). It is observed that enlargement of bias voltage over miniband width breaks the miniband to WSLs leads to suppressing resonant tunneling. Transmission spectrum shows flat wide stop-band property controllable by external bias voltage with stop-band width of near 200 meV. The simulations demonstrate that strong velocity barriers prevent tunneling of Dirac electrons leading to controllable enhancement of stop-band width. By increasing ratio of Fermi velocity in barriers to wells υc stop-band width increase. As wide transmission stop-band width (BWT) of filter is tunable from 40 meV to 340 meV is obtained by enhancing ratio of υc from 0.2 to 1.5, respectively. Proposed structure suggests easy tunable wide band-stop electronic filter with a modulated flat stop-band characteristic by height of electrostatic barrier and structural parameters. Robust sensitivity of band width to velocity barrier intensity in certain bias voltages and flat band feature of proposed filter may be opens novel venue in GSL based flat band low noise filters and velocity modulation devices.

Remote Shutoff Stops Runaway Lawnmower

Science.gov (United States)

Grambo, Alan A.

2007-01-01

In this article, the author describes how electronics students at Central Nine Career Center designed a kill switch circuit to stop a runaway lawnmower. This project is ideal for a career center since the electronics/robotics, small engines and horticulture classes can all work together on their respective parts of the modification, installation…

Revised emission factors for gas engines including start/stop emissions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nielsen, Malene; Boll Illerup, J.; Birr-Petersen, K.

2008-06-15

Liberalisation of the electricity market has led to Danish gas engine plants increasingly converting to the spot and regulating power markets. In order to offer regulating power, plants need to be able to start and stop the engines at the plants quickly. The liberalisation causes a considerable change of operation practice of the engines e.g. less full load operation hours /year. The project provides an inventory determining the scale of the emissions during the start and stop sequence as well as proposals for engine modifications aimed at reducing start/stop emissions. This report includes calculation of emission factors as well as an inventory of total emissions and reduction potentials. (au)

A video-based system for hand-driven stop-motion animation.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Xiaoguang; Fu, Hongbo; Zheng, Hanlin; Liu, Ligang; Wang, Jue

2013-01-01

Stop-motion is a well-established animation technique but is often laborious and requires craft skills. A new video-based system can animate the vast majority of everyday objects in stop-motion style, more flexibly and intuitively. Animators can perform and capture motions continuously instead of breaking them into increments and shooting one still picture per increment. More important, the system permits direct hand manipulation without resorting to rigs, achieving more natural object control for beginners. The system's key component is two-phase keyframe-based capturing and processing, assisted by computer vision techniques. With this system, even amateurs can generate high-quality stop-motion animations.

How to Stop Biting Your Nails

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... and away from your mouth. Identify your triggers: These could be physical triggers, such as the presence ... nails, you can figure out how to avoid these situations and develop a plan to stop. Just ...

How to Stop Biting Your Nails

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Full Text Available ... figure out how to avoid these situations and develop a plan to stop. Just knowing when you’ ... a doctor. If you bite your nails and develop a skin or nail infection, consult a board- ...

How to Stop Biting Your Nails

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Full Text Available ... your nails to your face and mouth. To help you stop biting your nails, dermatologists recommend the ... stress ball or silly putty instead. This will help keep your hands busy and away from your ...

How to Stop Biting Your Nails

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Full Text Available ... Skin dictionary Camp Discovery Good Skin Knowledge lesson plans and activities Video library Find a dermatologist Why ... how to avoid these situations and develop a plan to stop. Just knowing when you’re inclined ...

How to Stop Biting Your Nails

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... Part 2: Origin Part 3: Function Textbook Study notes Image library 3-D animated image library Board ... gradually stop biting your nails: Some doctors recommend taking a gradual approach to break the habit. Try ...

Model of the lines of sight for an off-axis optical instrument Pleiades

Science.gov (United States)

Sauvage, Dominique; Gaudin-Delrieu, Catherine; Tournier, Thierry

2017-11-01

The future Earth observation missions aim at delivering images with a high resolution and a large field of view. These images have to be processed to get a very accurate localisation. In that goal, the individual lines of sight of each photosensitive element must be evaluated according to the localisation of the pixels in the focal plane. But, with off-axis Korsch telescope (like PLEIADES), the classical model has to be adapted. This is possible by using optical ground measurements made after the integration of the instrument. The processing of these results leads to several parameters, which are function of the offsets of the focal plane and the real focal length. All this study which has been proposed for the PLEIADES mission leads to a more elaborated model which provides the relation between the lines of sight and the location of the pixels, with a very good accuracy, close to the pixel size.

Subshell stopping power of the elements for protons in the Born approximation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McGuire, E.J.

1982-01-01

The generalized oscillator-strength formulation of the Born approximation was used to generate a large sample of subshell excitation and ionization generalized oscillator strengths across the periodic table. These were used to calculate the excitation and ionization contributions to the proton stopping power by individual subshells. The subshell ionization stopping powers are expressed in scaled form, depending on the subshell ionization energy. Detailed comparison of the calculated total proton stopping power is in good agreement with experiment across the periodic table. Detailed calculations show the importance of outer-shell ionization and excitation to the total stopping power for protons with energy less than 10 MeV

The Ability to Assume the Upright Position in Blind and Sighted Children.

Science.gov (United States)

Gipsman, Sandra Curtis

To investigate the ability of 48 blind and partially sighted children (8 to 10 and 12 to 14 years old) to assume the upright position, Ss were given six trials in which they were requested to move themselves from a tilted starting position in a specially constructed chair to an upright position. No significant differences were found between three…

Modified energy-deposition model, for the computation of the stopping-power ratio for small cavity sizes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Janssens, A.C.A.

1981-01-01

This paper presents a modification to the Spencer-Attix theory, which allows application of the theory to larger cavity sizes. The modified theory is in better agreement with the actual process of energy deposition by delta rays. In the first part of the paper it is recalled how the Spencer-Attix theory can be derived from basic principles, which allows a physical interpretation of the theory in terms of a function describing the space and direction average of the deposited energy. A realistic model for the computation of this function is described and the resulting expression for the stopping-power ratio is calculated. For the comparison between the Spencer-Attix theory and this modified expression a correction factor to the ''Bragg-Gray inhomogeneous term'' has been defined. This factor has been computed as a function of cavity size for different source energies and mean excitation energies; thus, general properties of this factor have been elucidated. The computations have been extended to include the density effect. It has been shown that the computation of the inhomogeneous term can be performed for any expression describing the energy loss per unit distance of the electrons as a function of their energy. Thus an expression has been calculated which is in agreement with a quadratic range-energy relationship. In conclusion, the concrete procedure for computing the stopping-power ratio is reviewed

Reasons for Starting and Stopping Electronic Cigarette Use

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jessica K. Pepper

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The aim of our study was to explore reasons for starting and then stopping electronic cigarette (e-cigarette use. Among a national sample of 3878 U.S. adults who reported ever trying e-cigarettes, the most common reasons for trying were curiosity (53%; because a friend or family member used, gave, or offered e-cigarettes (34%; and quitting or reducing smoking (30%. Nearly two-thirds (65% of people who started using e-cigarettes later stopped using them. Discontinuation was more common among those whose main reason for trying was not goal-oriented (e.g., curiosity than goal-oriented (e.g., quitting smoking (81% vs. 45%, p < 0.001. The most common reasons for stopping e-cigarette use were that respondents were just experimenting (49%, using e-cigarettes did not feel like smoking cigarettes (15%, and users did not like the taste (14%. Our results suggest there are two categories of e-cigarette users: those who try for goal-oriented reasons and typically continue using and those who try for non-goal-oriented reasons and then typically stop using. Research should distinguish e-cigarette experimenters from motivated users whose decisions to discontinue relate to the utility or experience of use. Depending on whether e-cigarettes prove to be effective smoking cessation tools or whether they deter cessation, public health programs may need distinct strategies to reach and influence different types of users.

Spectroscopy of hypernuclei with stopped kaons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tamura, H.; Brueckner, W.; Doebbeling, H.

1987-09-01

Pion momentum spectra from K - absorption at rest on various nuclear targets were measured by means of a magnetic spectrometer with wide momentum range (100 ∼ 300 MeV/c). The ground state of Σ - hypernucleus, if well bound with a narrow width, is expected to be populated in 12 C(stopped K - , π + ) inclusive (untagged) spectrum, but such a peak was not observed. The spectrum is compared with the DWIA calculations by Morimatsu and Yazaki, indicating that the depth of the nuclear potential of Σ - is shallower than 12 MeV, and that its imaginary part is larger than 5 MeV if the potential depth is about 10 MeV. In the 12 C(stopped K - , π - ) spectrum, the ground state ((p3/2) n -1 (s1/2) Λ ) and the excited states ((p3/2) n -1 (p) Λ ) of Λ 12 C were observed, and their formation probabilities were roughly in agreement with the results of DWIA calculations. In the π - spectra on 12 C, 9 Be, and 7 Li targets a distinct peak was observed at 132.1 ± 0.7 MeV/c. It is ascribed to π - from the mesic decay of Λ 4 H; Λ 4 H → 4 He π - . The formation probability of Λ 4 H on C, Be, or Li target is much larger than those of the discrete states of Λ 12 C via the direct (stopped K - , π - ) reaction. (author)

Stopping power of degenerate electron liquid at metallic densities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanaka, Shigenori; Ichimaru, Setsuo

1985-01-01

We calculate the stopping power of the degenerate electron liquid at metallic densities in the dielectric formalism. The strong Coulomb-coupling effects beyond the random-phase approximation are taken into account through the static and dynamic local-field corrections. It is shown that those strong-coupling and dynamic effects act to enhance the stopping power substantially in the low-velocity regime, leading to an improved agreement with experimental data. (author)

Stop distances for ten studless winter tires

OpenAIRE

Engström, Niclas; Andrén, Henrik; Larsson, Roland; Fransson, Lennart

2009-01-01

Denna rapport innehåller stoppsträckor för tio omgångar dubbfria vinterdäck. Arbetets huvudmål är att kunna skapa en grund för vinterdäcksklassificering. Så småning om skall traffikanter kunna få relevant information om olika däckens förmåga att skapa tillräckligt väggrepp på farliga vinterväglag. Vägverket ser ett ökat behov av kunskap då dubbdäcksanvändandet kommer att minskas i framtiden.

Extracting semantic representations from word co-occurrence statistics: stop-lists, stemming, and SVD.

Science.gov (United States)

Bullinaria, John A; Levy, Joseph P

2012-09-01

In a previous article, we presented a systematic computational study of the extraction of semantic representations from the word-word co-occurrence statistics of large text corpora. The conclusion was that semantic vectors of pointwise mutual information values from very small co-occurrence windows, together with a cosine distance measure, consistently resulted in the best representations across a range of psychologically relevant semantic tasks. This article extends that study by investigating the use of three further factors--namely, the application of stop-lists, word stemming, and dimensionality reduction using singular value decomposition (SVD)--that have been used to provide improved performance elsewhere. It also introduces an additional semantic task and explores the advantages of using a much larger corpus. This leads to the discovery and analysis of improved SVD-based methods for generating semantic representations (that provide new state-of-the-art performance on a standard TOEFL task) and the identification and discussion of problems and misleading results that can arise without a full systematic study.

Single start multiple stop time digitizer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deshpande, P.A.; Mukhopadhyay, P.K.; Gopalakrishnan, K.R.

1997-01-01

A single start multiple stop time digitizer has been developed which can digitize the time between a start pulse and multiple stop pulses. The system has been designed as a PC add on card. The resolution of the instrument is 10 nSecs and the maximum length of time that it can measure is 1.28 milliseconds. Apart from time digitization, it can also resolve the height of the incoming pulses into 64 levels. After each input pulse the system dead time is less than 300 nSecs. The driver software for this card has been developed on DOS platform. It uses graphical user interface to provide a user friendly environment. The system is intended to be used in time of flight mass spectroscopy experiments. It can also be used for time of flight experiments in nuclear physics. (author). 2 figs

Stopping-power ratios for dosimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andreo, P.

1988-01-01

The determination of the absorbed dose at a specified location in a medium irradiated with an electron or photon beam normally consists of two steps: (1) the determination of the mean absorbed dose to a detector by using a calibration factor or performing an absolute measurement, (2) the determination of the absorbed dose to the medium at the point of interest by calculations based on the knowledge of the absorbed dose to the detector and the different stopping and scattering properties of the medium and the detector material. When the influence of the detector is so small that the electron fluence in the medium is not modified, the ratio of the mass collision stopping power of the two materials accounts for the differences in energy deposition, and provides a conversion factor to relate the absorbed dose in both materials. Today, all national and international dosimetry protocols and codes of practice are based on such procedures, and the user easily can carry out these steps using tabulated data to convert a measured quantity to absorbed dose in the irradiated medium at the location of interest. Effects due to the spatial extension of the detector are taken into account using perturbation correction factors. The Monte Carlo method has become the most common and powerful calculational technique for determining the electron fluence (energy spectra) under different irradiation conditions. Cavity theory is then used to calculate stopping-power ratios. In this chapter, the different steps needed to evaluate s-ratios will be considered, emphasizing the different types of cavity-theory integrals and the Monte Carlo techniques used to derive the necessary electron spectra in the range of energies commonly used in radiation dosimetry, i.e., photon and electron beams with energies up to 50 MeV

New Trends Of Measurement And Assessment In Distance Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zeki KAYA

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Distance education is a discipline that offers solutions to some important education problems. Distance education, contribute to the solution to the problems such as; inequality of opportunities, lifelong education, the implementation of a series of individual and social goals that can contribute to and benefit from educational technology and self-learning. In distance education, methods of measurement and assessment must be consistent with the objectives and contents of teaching. A major interest of formative assessment is determining the students’ learning level of each behavior in the interested unit. In summative assessment, performances of students on some units are measured broader than formative assessment. A computerized adaptive testing, CAT, is the test managed by computer in which each item is introduced and the decision to stop are dynamically imposed based on the students answers and his/her estimated knowledge level. In CAT applications, students do not take the same test. Despite item numbers and properties of items are different for the students; the precise of measures improves in positioning students on an ability or success continuum in CAT applications. In CAT applications, questions answered by a student depend on the student's ability or learning level. In item response theory, there are some models to estimate a student’s ability level, such as three-parameter logistic model. Cheating in exams or other academic assignments can be defined as use resources not allowed to use or having someone else to take exams or assignments. Some precautions must be taken about cheating such as a live proctoring, using web cams, and using a plagiarism detection program.

Measurement of the Barkas effect around the stopping-power maximum for light and heavy targets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moeller, S.P.; Knudsen, H.; Mikkelsen, U.; Paludan, K.; Morenzoni, E.

1997-01-01

The first direct measurements of antiproton stopping powers around the stopping power maximum are presented. The LEAR antiproton-beam of 5.9 MeV is degraded to 50-700 keV, and the energy-loss is found by measuring the antiproton velocity before and after the target. The antiproton stopping powers of Si and Au are found to be reduced by 30 and 40% near the electronic stopping power maximum as compared to the equivalent proton stopping power. The Barkas effect, that is the stopping power difference between protons and antiprotons, is extracted and compared to theoretical estimates. (orig.)

Plagiarism: Can It Be Stopped?

Science.gov (United States)

Christensen, G. Jay

2011-01-01

Plagiarism can be controlled, not stopped. The more appropriate question to ask is: What can be done to encourage students to "cheat" correctly by doing the assignment the way it was intended? Cheating by college students continues to reach epidemic proportions on selected campuses, as witnessed by the recent episode at Central Florida University,…

Relativistic theory of stopping for heavy ions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lindhard, J.; So/rensen, A.H.

1996-01-01

We calculate the electronic stopping power and the corresponding straggling for ions of arbitrary charge number, penetrating matter at any relativistic energy. The stopping powers are calculated by a simple method. Its starting point is the deviation of the precise theory from first-order quantum perturbation. We show that this deviation can be expressed in terms of the transport cross section, σ tr , for scattering of a free electron by the ion. In the nonrelativistic case the deviation is precisely the Bloch correction to Bethe close-quote s formula; we look into the nonrelativistic case in order to clarify both some features of our method and a seeming paradox in Rutherford scattering. The corresponding relativistic correction is obtained from σ tr for scattering of a Dirac electron in the ion potential. Here, the major practical advantage of the method shows up; we need not find the scattering distribution, but merely a single quantity, σ tr , determined by differences of successive phase shifts. For a point nucleus our results improve and extend those of Ahlen. Our final results, however, are based on atomic nuclei with standard radii. Thereby, the stopping is changed substantially already for moderate values of γ=(1-v 2 /c 2 ) -1/2 . An asymptotic saturation in stopping is obtained. Because of finite nuclear size, recoil corrections remain negligible at all energies. The average square fluctuation in energy loss is calculated as a simple fluctuation cross section for a free electron. The fluctuation in the relativistic case is generally larger than that of the perturbation formula, by a factor of ∼2 endash 3 for heavy ions. But the finite nuclear radius leads to a strong reduction at high energies and the elimination of the factor γ 2 belonging to point nuclei. copyright 1996 The American Physical Society

78 FR 77705 - Proposed Agency Information Collection Activity: Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Sighting Reporting...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-12-24

... invasion. The USGS provides the tools, technology, and information supporting efforts to prevent, contain..., primarily fish, in open waters of the United States. This is vital information for early detection and rapid... requested includes type of organism, date and location of sighting, photograph(s) if available, and basic...

Tactile band : accessing gaze signals from the sighted in face-to-face communication

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Qiu, S.; Rauterberg, G.W.M.; Hu, J.

2016-01-01

Gaze signals, frequently used by the sighted in social interactions as visual cues, are hardly accessible for low-vision and blind people. A concept is proposed to help the blind people access and react to gaze signals in face-to-face communication. 20 blind and low-vision participants were

Optimal Stopping with Information Constraint

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lempa, Jukka

2012-01-01

We study the optimal stopping problem proposed by Dupuis and Wang (Adv. Appl. Probab. 34:141–157, 2002). In this maximization problem of the expected present value of the exercise payoff, the underlying dynamics follow a linear diffusion. The decision maker is not allowed to stop at any time she chooses but rather on the jump times of an independent Poisson process. Dupuis and Wang (Adv. Appl. Probab. 34:141–157, 2002), solve this problem in the case where the underlying is a geometric Brownian motion and the payoff function is of American call option type. In the current study, we propose a mild set of conditions (covering the setup of Dupuis and Wang in Adv. Appl. Probab. 34:141–157, 2002) on both the underlying and the payoff and build and use a Markovian apparatus based on the Bellman principle of optimality to solve the problem under these conditions. We also discuss the interpretation of this model as optimal timing of an irreversible investment decision under an exogenous information constraint.

How to Stop Biting Your Nails

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... Mohs AUC MyDermPath+ Psoriasis Patient education resources Practice Management Center Coding and reimbursement Coding MACRA Fee schedule ... your nails: Some doctors recommend taking a gradual approach to break the habit. Try to stop biting ...

Positron stopping in elemental systems: Monte Carlo calculations and scaling properties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghosh, V.J.; Aers, G.C.

1995-01-01

The scaling of positron-implantation (stopping) profiles has been reported by Ghosh et al., who used the BNL Monte Carlo scheme to generate stopping profiles in semi-infinite elemental metals. A simple scaling relationship reduced the stopping profiles of positrons implanted at different energies (ranging from 1--10 keV) onto a single universal curve for that particular metal. We have confirmed that the scaling relationship also applies to the quite different Jensen and Walker Monte Carlo scheme, for more materials, and over an expanded energy range of 1--25 keV. The mean depths of the stopping profiles calculated by the two Monte Carlo schemes are found to be different, mainly due to differences in the inelastic mean free paths and the energy-loss functions. However, after scaling, the profiles generated by the two schemes can be superimposed onto a single curve which can be appropriately parametrized. The scaled profiles are found to be only weakly material dependent. The mean depths, backscattered fractions, and scaled stopping profiles are fitted to simple parametric functions, and the values of these parameters are obtained for several elements

Simulations of enhanced ion stopping power experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mehlhorn, T.A.; Maenchen, J.E.; Olsen, J.N.; Johnson, D.J.

1984-01-01

As the material in an ICF target is heated and ionized by an intense ion beam, the ion stopping power changes from that of neutral atoms. This changes the energy deposition characteristics of the ion beam and thereby can profoundly influence the target dynamics. An accurate ion energy deposition model is important for designing ICF targets that perform in an optimal fashion. An experiment to measure a time-resolved ion stopping power history in a partially ionized target is being fielded on the PROTO I accelerator at Sandia Labs. This experiment utilizes a voltage ramped Thomson parabola to provide a time-history of the ion energy incident upon and exiting from a cylindrical target foil

How to Stop Biting Your Nails

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... gloves to prevent biting. Replace the nail-biting habit with a good habit: When you feel like biting your nails, try ... recommend taking a gradual approach to break the habit. Try to stop biting one set of nails, ...

The effect of facial makeup on the frequency of drivers stopping for hitchhikers.

Science.gov (United States)

Guéguen, Nicolas; Lamy, Lubomir

2013-08-01

Judgments of photographs have shown that makeup enhances ratings of women's facial attractiveness. The present study assessed whether makeup affects the stopping behavior of drivers in response to a hitchhiker's signal. Four 20- to 22-year-old female confederates wore facial makeup, or not, while pretending to be hitchhiking. Frequency of stopping was compared in 1,600 male and female drivers. Facial makeup was associated with an increase in the number of male drivers who stopped to offer a ride. Makeup did not affect frequency of stopping by female drivers.

Drinking and driving behavior at stop signs and red lights.

Science.gov (United States)

Wan, Jingyan; Wu, Changxu; Zhang, Yiqi; Houston, Rebecca J; Chen, Chang Wen; Chanawangsa, Panya

2017-07-01

Alcohol is one of the principal risk factors for motor vehicle crashes. One factor that contributes to vehicle crashes is noncompliance with stop signs and red lights. The present experiment investigated the effects of alcohol and drinking patterns on driving behavior at stop signs and red lights. 28 participants participated in drinking and simulated driving sessions during which they received a moderate dose of alcohol (0.08% BAC) or a placebo. Simulated driving tasks measured participants' driving performance at stop signs and red lights in response to each dose. Results suggested that alcohol impaired the driver control of speed and direction and prolonged their simple and complex reaction time, which were exhibited by impaired speed and lateral control, longer reaction time when the lights turned yellow, and lower deceleration towards stop signs and red lights. Visual degradation may also occur under alcohol intake. It was also suggested that alcohol impaired non-binge drinkers more severely. To be specific, higher acceleration was observed in impaired non-binge drinkers. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PERBANDINGAN EUCLIDEAN DISTANCE DENGAN CANBERRA DISTANCE PADA FACE RECOGNITION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sendhy Rachmat Wurdianarto

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Perkembangan ilmu pada dunia komputer sangatlah pesat. Salah satu yang menandai hal ini adalah ilmu komputer telah merambah pada dunia biometrik. Arti biometrik sendiri adalah karakter-karakter manusia yang dapat digunakan untuk membedakan antara orang yang satu dengan yang lainnya. Salah satu pemanfaatan karakter / organ tubuh pada setiap manusia yang digunakan untuk identifikasi (pengenalan adalah dengan memanfaatkan wajah. Dari permasalahan diatas dalam pengenalan lebih tentang aplikasi Matlab pada Face Recognation menggunakan metode Euclidean Distance dan Canberra Distance. Model pengembangan aplikasi yang digunakan adalah model waterfall. Model waterfall beriisi rangkaian aktivitas proses yang disajikan dalam proses analisa kebutuhan, desain menggunakan UML (Unified Modeling Language, inputan objek gambar diproses menggunakan Euclidean Distance dan Canberra Distance. Kesimpulan yang dapat ditarik adalah aplikasi face Recognation menggunakan metode euclidean Distance dan Canverra Distance terdapat kelebihan dan kekurangan masing-masing. Untuk kedepannya aplikasi tersebut dapat dikembangkan dengan menggunakan objek berupa video ataupun objek lainnya.   Kata kunci : Euclidean Distance, Face Recognition, Biometrik, Canberra Distance

Stopping Power for Degenerate Electrons

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Singleton, Jr., Robert [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2016-05-16

This is a first attempt at calculating the BPS stopping power with electron degeneracy corrections. Section I establishes some notation and basic facts. Section II outlines the basics of the calculation, and in Section III contains some brief notes on how to proceed with the details of the calculation. The remaining work for the calculation starts with Section III.

The effects of using flashcards with reading racetrack to teach letter sounds, sight words, and math facts to elementary students with learning disabilities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rachel Erbey

2011-07-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to measure the effects of reading racetrack and flashcards when teaching phonics, sight words, and addition facts. The participants for the sight word and phonics portion of this study were two seven-year-old boys in the second grade. Both participants were diagnosed with a learning disability. The third participant was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder by his pediatrician and with a learning disability and traumatic brain injury by his school’s multi-disciplinary team.. The dependent measures were corrects and errors when reading from a first grade level sight word list. Math facts were selected based on a 100 add fact test for the third participant. The study demonstrated that racetracks paired with the flashcard intervention improved the students’ number of corrects for each subject-matter area (phonics, sight words, and math facts. However, the results show that some students had more success with it than others. These outcomes clearly warrant further research.

The ratio of deuterium to hydrogen in interstellar space. IV - The lines of sight to Delta, Epsilon, and Iota Orionis

Science.gov (United States)

Laurent, C.; Vidal-Madjar, A.; York, D. G.

1979-01-01

Deuterium absorption features in spectra of Delta, Epsilon, and Iota Ori obtained with Copernicus are analyzed. The Iota Ori line-of-sight analysis, which is quite detailed because of the high-velocity H I components superposed on the deuterium features, gives a D/H ratio (which is uncertain because of a complex profile) of 0.000014. A D/H ratio of the order of 7 millionths is determined for Delta and Epsilon Ori. For the complex line profiles involved, one may regard this as a formal lower limit. Several attempts were made to increase the ratio N(D I)/N(H I) in the context of reasonable models for the line of sight, but with no success; the derived values are therefore regarded as actual values, not lower limits. Since the derived value is an average on the line of sight, the possibility cannot be ruled out that the true ratios N(D I)/N(H I) in individual nearby components differ from the mean values. The mean value for these two directions is lower by a factor of 4 than the best value for the Zeta Pup line of sight (the highest yet derived for path lengths greater than 50 pc).

Steller sea lion sightings or recaptures of previously marked animals throughout their range, 1987-2014

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This dataset contains information regarding the sighting and capture of previously marked Steller sea lions from 1987 to the present. Marks are seen and documented...

Association between commercial vehicle driver at-fault crashes involving sleepiness/fatigue and proximity to rest areas and truck stops.

Science.gov (United States)

Bunn, Terry L; Slavova, Svetla; Rock, Peter J

2017-11-22

There is ongoing concern at the national level about the availability of adequate commercial vehicle rest areas and truck stops for commercial vehicle drivers to rest or to wait for a delivery window. A retrospective case-control study was conducted to determine the association between the occurrence of sleepiness/fatigue-related (cases) vs. all other human factor-related commercial vehicle driver at-fault crashes (controls) and proximity to rest areas, weigh stations with rest havens, and truck stops. Commercial vehicle driver at-fault crashes involving sleepiness/fatigue were more likely to occur on roadways where the nearest rest areas/weigh stations with rest havens/truck stops were located 20 miles or more from the commercial vehicle crash site (Odds Ratio [OR]=2.32; Confidence Interval [CI] 1.615, 3.335] for 20-39.9 miles vs. commercial vehicle at-fault driver crashes with human factors other than sleepiness/fatigue cited in crash reports. Commercial vehicle driver at-fault crashes involving sleepiness/fatigue also were more likely to occur on parkways compared to interstates (adjusted OR=3.747 [CI 2.83, 4.95]), during nighttime hours (adjusted OR=6.199 [CI 4.733, 8.119]), and on dry pavement (adjusted OR 1.909, [CI 1.373, 2.655]). The use of statewide crash data analysis coupled with ArcGIS mapping capabilities provided the opportunity to both statistically determine and to visualize the association between rest area/weigh station with rest haven/truck stop distance and the occurrence of commercial vehicle driver at-fault crashes involving sleepiness/fatigue. Implementation and evaluation of commercial vehicle employer policies and interventions such as the use of commercial vehicle driver fatigue alert systems may help to reduce fatigue and sleepiness in commercial vehicle drivers. These results can be used by state and local highway transportation officials to inform and increase truck parking availability, especially on parkways. Copyright © 2017

Exploring EFL Students’ Reading Comprehension Process through Their Life Experiences and the Sight Word Strategy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer Camargo

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Due to the role language and literature play in the construction of social, economic and cultural systems, reading comprehension has become a growing challenge. This study examined how the relationship between English as a foreign language reading comprehension and life experiences while using the Sight Word Strategy could prove significant. Fifth graders at a public school in Bogotá participated in this study. Data were collected using tape recordings, field notes, archival data and students’ reflections. Analysis indicated that comprehension and construction of meaning were generated by sharing life experiences and through the interaction produced in each one of the Sight Word Strategy stages. The study suggested further research into a more encompassing definition of reading comprehension and life experiences correlation as an appropriate goal for English as a foreign language.

Performance Analysis of Millimeter-Wave Multi-hop Machine-to-Machine Networks Based on Hop Distance Statistics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haejoon Jung

2018-01-01

Full Text Available As an intrinsic part of the Internet of Things (IoT ecosystem, machine-to-machine (M2M communications are expected to provide ubiquitous connectivity between machines. Millimeter-wave (mmWave communication is another promising technology for the future communication systems to alleviate the pressure of scarce spectrum resources. For this reason, in this paper, we consider multi-hop M2M communications, where a machine-type communication (MTC device with the limited transmit power relays to help other devices using mmWave. To be specific, we focus on hop distance statistics and their impacts on system performances in multi-hop wireless networks (MWNs with directional antenna arrays in mmWave for M2M communications. Different from microwave systems, in mmWave communications, wireless channel suffers from blockage by obstacles that heavily attenuate line-of-sight signals, which may result in limited per-hop progress in MWNs. We consider two routing strategies aiming at different types of applications and derive the probability distributions of their hop distances. Moreover, we provide their baseline statistics assuming the blockage-free scenario to quantify the impact of blockages. Based on the hop distance analysis, we propose a method to estimate the end-to-end performances (e.g., outage probability, hop count, and transmit energy of the mmWave MWNs, which provides important insights into mmWave MWN design without time-consuming and repetitive end-to-end simulation.

Performance Analysis of Millimeter-Wave Multi-hop Machine-to-Machine Networks Based on Hop Distance Statistics.

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, Haejoon; Lee, In-Ho

2018-01-12

As an intrinsic part of the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem, machine-to-machine (M2M) communications are expected to provide ubiquitous connectivity between machines. Millimeter-wave (mmWave) communication is another promising technology for the future communication systems to alleviate the pressure of scarce spectrum resources. For this reason, in this paper, we consider multi-hop M2M communications, where a machine-type communication (MTC) device with the limited transmit power relays to help other devices using mmWave. To be specific, we focus on hop distance statistics and their impacts on system performances in multi-hop wireless networks (MWNs) with directional antenna arrays in mmWave for M2M communications. Different from microwave systems, in mmWave communications, wireless channel suffers from blockage by obstacles that heavily attenuate line-of-sight signals, which may result in limited per-hop progress in MWNs. We consider two routing strategies aiming at different types of applications and derive the probability distributions of their hop distances. Moreover, we provide their baseline statistics assuming the blockage-free scenario to quantify the impact of blockages. Based on the hop distance analysis, we propose a method to estimate the end-to-end performances (e.g., outage probability, hop count, and transmit energy) of the mmWave MWNs, which provides important insights into mmWave MWN design without time-consuming and repetitive end-to-end simulation.

Review of stopping power and Coulomb explosion for molecular ion in plasmas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guiqiu Wang

2018-03-01

Full Text Available We summarize our theoretical studies for stopping power of energetic heavy ion, diatomic molecular ions and small clusters penetrating through plasmas. As a relevant research field for the heavy ion inertial confinement fusion (HICF, we lay the emphasis on the dynamic polarization and correlation effects of the constituent ion within the molecular ion and cluster for stopping power in order to disclose the role of the vicinage effect on the Coulomb explosion and energy deposition of molecules and clusters in plasma. On the other hand, as a promising scheme for ICF, both a strong laser field and an intense ion beam are used to irradiate a plasma target. So the influence of a strong laser field on stopping power is significant. We discussed a large range of laser and plasma parameters on the coulomb explosion and stopping power for correlated-ion cluster and C60 cluster. Furthermore, in order to indicate the effects of different cluster types and sizes on the stopping power, a comparison is made for hydrogen and carbon clusters. In addition, the deflection of molecular axis for diatomic molecules during the Coulomb explosion is also given for the cases both in the presence of a laser field and laser free. Finally, a future experimental scheme is put forward to measure molecular ion stopping power in plasmas in Xi'an Jiaotong University of China. Keywords: Molecules, Stopping power, Coulomb explosion, Vicinage effect, Laser, PACS Codes: 34.50.Bw, 52.40.Mj, 61.85.+p, 34.50.Dy

Reciprocity in the electronic stopping of slow ions in matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sigmund, P.

2008-01-01

The principle of reciprocity, i.e., the invariance of the inelastic excitation in ion-atom collisions against interchange of projectile and target, has been applied to the electronic stopping cross section of low-velocity ions and tested empirically on ion-target combinations supported by a more or less adequate amount of experimental data. Reciprocity is well obeyed (within ∼10%) for many systems studied, and deviations exceeding ∼20% are exceptional. Systematic deviations such as gas-solid or metal-insulator differences have been looked for but not identified on the present basis. A direct consequence of reciprocity is the equivalence of Z 1 with Z 2 structure for random slowing down. This feature is reasonably well supported empirically for ion-target combinations involving carbon, nitrogen, aluminium and argon. Reciprocity may be utilized as a criterion to reject questionable experimental data. In cases where a certain stopping cross section has not been or cannot be measured, the stopping cross section for the inverted system may be available and serve as a first estimate. It is suggested to build in reciprocity as a fundamental requirement into empirical interpolation schemes directed at the stopping of low-velocity ions. Examination of the SRIM and MSTAR codes reveals cases where reciprocity is obeyed accurately, but deviations of up to a factor of two are common. In case of heavy ions such as gold, electronic stopping cross sections predicted by SRIM are asserted to be almost an order of magnitude too high. (authors)

Reciprocity in the electronic stopping of slow ions in matter

Science.gov (United States)

Sigmund, P.

2008-04-01

The principle of reciprocity, i.e., the invariance of the inelastic excitation in ion-atom collisions against interchange of projectile and target, has been applied to the electronic stopping cross section of low-velocity ions and tested empirically on ion-target combinations supported by a more or less adequate amount of experimental data. Reciprocity is well obeyed (within ~10%) for many systems studied, and deviations exceeding ~20% are exceptional. Systematic deviations such as gas-solid or metal-insulator differences have been looked for but not identified on the present basis. A direct consequence of reciprocity is the equivalence of Z1 with Z2 structure for random slowing down. This feature is reasonably well supported empirically for ion-target combinations involving carbon, nitrogen, aluminium and argon. Reciprocity may be utilized as a criterion to reject questionable experimental data. In cases where a certain stopping cross section has not been or cannot be measured, the stopping cross section for the inverted system may be available and serve as a first estimate. It is suggested to build in reciprocity as a fundamental requirement into empirical interpolation schemes directed at the stopping of low-velocity ions. Examination of the SRIM and MSTAR codes reveals cases where reciprocity is obeyed accurately, but deviations of up to a factor of two are common. In case of heavy ions such as gold, electronic stopping cross sections predicted by SRIM are asserted to be almost an order of magnitude too high.

Search for stop production in R-parity-violating supersymmetry at HERA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chekanov, S.; Derrick, M.; Magill, S. [Argonne National Laboratory, IL (US)] (and others)

2006-11-15

A search for stop production in R-parity-violating supersymmetry has been performed in e{sup +}p interactions with the ZEUS detector at HERA, using an integrated luminosity of 65 pb{sup -1}. At HERA, the R-parity-violating coupling {lambda}' allows resonant squark production, e{sup +}d{yields}q. Since the lowest-mass squark state in most supersymmetry models is the light stop, t, this search concentrated on production of t, followed either by a direct R-parity-violating decay, or by the gauge decay to b{sub {chi}{sub 1}}{sup +}. No evidence for stop production was found and limits were set on {lambda}{sub 131}' as a function of the stop mass in the framework of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. The results have also been interpreted in terms of constraints on the parameters of the minimal Supergravity model. (orig.)

Comparison of SureSight autorefractor and plusoptiX A09 photoscreener for vision screening in rural Honduras.

Science.gov (United States)

Silbert, David I; Matta, Noelle S; Ely, Amanda L

2014-02-01

To evaluate the SureSight autorefractor and compare it to the plusoptiX A09 photoscreener in the detection of amblyopia risk factors in a cohort of Honduran children examined during medical mission work and to assess the utility of both devices in the rural setting. The medical records of patients who had undergone SureSight autorefractor screening, plusoptiX photoscreening, and a gold standard pediatric ophthalmology examination, including cycloplegic refraction, during a recent medical mission trip to Honduras were retrospectively reviewed. A total of 216 children were examined. Of these, 9 (4%) were found to have amblyopia risk factors based on the current referral criteria of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus on ophthalmological examination. The plusoptiX was found to have 89% sensitivity and 80% specificity; the SureSight, using manufacturer's referral criteria, was found to have sensitivity of 89% and specificity of 71%. Both devices were found to be reliable vision screening devices when used on the general population of remote villages in Honduras, although the specificity of the plusoptiX A09 was higher. Copyright © 2014 American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Differences between early-blind, late-blind, and blindfolded-sighted people in haptic spatial-configuration learning and resulting memory traces.

Science.gov (United States)

Postma, Albert; Zuidhoek, Sander; Noordzij, Matthijs L; Kappers, Astrid M L

2007-01-01

The roles of visual and haptic experience in different aspects of haptic processing of objects in peripersonal space are examined. In three trials, early-blind, late-blind, and blindfolded-sighted individuals had to match ten shapes haptically to the cut-outs in a board as fast as possible. Both blind groups were much faster than the sighted in all three trials. All three groups improved considerably from trial to trial. In particular, the sighted group showed a strong improvement from the first to the second trial. While superiority of the blind remained for speeded matching after rotation of the stimulus frame, coordinate positional-memory scores in a non-speeded free-recall trial showed no significant differences between the groups. Moreover, when assessed with a verbal response, categorical spatial-memory appeared strongest in the late-blind group. The role of haptic and visual experience thus appears to depend on the task aspect tested.

Pursit-evasion game analysis in a line of sight coordinate system

Science.gov (United States)

Shinar, J.; Davidovitz, A.

1985-01-01

The paper proposes to use line of sight coordinates for the analysis of pursuit-evasion games. The advantage of this method for two-target games is shown to be evident. As a demonstrative example the game of two identical cars is formulated and solved in such coordinate systems. A new type of singular surface, overlooked in a previous study of the same problem, is discovered as a consequence of the simplicity of the solution.

My4Sight: A Human Computation Platform for Improving Flu Predictions

OpenAIRE

Akupatni, Vivek Bharath

2015-01-01

While many human computation (human-in-the-loop) systems exist in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to solve problems that can't be solved by computers alone, comparatively fewer platforms exist for collecting human knowledge, and evaluation of various techniques for harnessing human insights in improving forecasting models for infectious diseases, such as Influenza and Ebola. In this thesis, we present the design and implementation of My4Sight, a human computation system develope...

Introduction to Stopping Time in Stochastic Finance Theory. Part II

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Jaeger Peter

2017-12-01

Full Text Available We start proceeding with the stopping time theory in discrete time with the help of the Mizar system [1], [4]. We prove, that the expression for two stopping times k1 and k2 not always implies a stopping time (k1 + k2 (see Theorem 6 in this paper. If you want to get a stopping time, you have to cut the function e.g. (k1 + k2 ⋂ T (see [2, p. 283 Remark 6.14]. Next we introduce the stopping time in continuous time. We are focused on the intervals [0, r] where r ∈ ℝ. We prove, that for I = [0, r] or I = [0,+∞[ the set {A ⋂ I : A ∈ Borel-Sets} is a σ-algebra of I (see Definition 6 in this paper, and more general given in [3, p.12 1.8e]. The interval I can be considered as a timeline from now to some point in the future. This set is necessary to define our next lemma. We prove the existence of the σ-algebra of the τ -past, where τ is a stopping time (see Definition 11 in this paper and [6, p.187, Definition 9.19]. If τ1 and τ2 are stopping times with τ1 is smaller or equal than τ2 we can prove, that the σ-algebra of the τ1-past is a subset of the σ-algebra of the τ2-past (see Theorem 9 in this paper and [6, p.187 Lemma 9.21]. Suppose, that you want to use Lemma 9.21 with some events, that never occur, see as a comparison the paper [5] and the example for ST(1={+∞} in the Summary. We don’t have the element +1 in our above-mentioned time intervals [0, r[ and [0,+1[. This is only possible if we construct a new σ-algebra on ℝ {−∞,+∞}. This construction is similar to the Borel-Sets and we call this σ-algebra extended Borel sets (see Definition 13 in this paper and [3, p. 21]. It can be proved, that {+∞} is an Element of extended Borel sets (see Theorem 21 in this paper. Now we use the interval [0,+∞] as a basis. We construct a σ-algebra on [0,+∞] similar to the book ([3, p. 12 18e], see Definition 18 in this paper, and call it extended Borel subsets. We prove for stopping times with this given σ-algebra, that

Book Review: Stop, Write!

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Hans Thulesius

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This book on writing grounded theory is intended for the empirical GT researcher who wants to pursue his/her research until publication. It is the first book devoted entirely to such a crucial issue as writing grounded theory. Thus, Stop, Write: Writing Grounded Theory, is a practical book that fills a gap in GT methodology. In the first chapter of the book, Dr. Glaser says, “Stop unending conceptualization, unending data coverage, and unending listening to others who would egg you on with additional data, ideas and/or requirements or simply wait too long”. The book teaches the reader how to actually write a grounded theory by “simply” writing up the sorted memos. This requires efficient sorting that is dealt with in chapter two on Sorting Memos, which includes precious repetition from Theoretical Sensitivity (1978. How writing can be done effectively is outlined in chapter three The Working Paper. Then follows chapter four on how to rework the first draft with the different tasks of editing for language and professionalism. Thereafter Dr. Glaser discusses Writing Problems in chapter five where he gives useful guidance on how to overcome writing blocks and problems with supervisors and dissertation committees. The book also deals with publishing and with collaboration as experienced between Barney Glaser and the cofounder of grounded theory, Anselm Strauss.

Anatomy of maximal stop mixing in the MSSM

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bruemmer, Felix; Kraml, Sabine; Kulkarni, Suchita

2012-05-01

A Standard Model-like Higgs near 125 GeV in the MSSM requires multi-TeV stop masses, or a near-maximal contribution to its mass from stop mixing. We investigate the maximal mixing scenario, and in particular its prospects for being realized it in potentially realistic GUT models. We work out constraints on the possible GUT-scale soft terms, which we compare with what can be obtained from some well-known mechanisms of SUSY breaking mediation. Finally, we analyze two promising scenarios in detail, namely gaugino mediation and gravity mediation with non-universal Higgs masses.

International Symposium of Scientists for Nuclear test Stopping

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1986-01-01

Problems discussed at International Symposium of Scientists for Nuclear Test Stopping in July 1986 in Moscow were considered. Scientists discussed complex of possible measures directed at strengthening of peace supporting mechanism, spoke in support of prohibition of all nuclear weapon tests. Necessity of measures preventing the weapon delivery to space, construction of the regime of using cosmic equipment exclusively for peace was noted. Attention was paid to the problem of control for test stopping (by means of sattelites and seismic methods), cooperation establishment between the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Council for the protection of the USA Natural Resources

Anatomy of maximal stop mixing in the MSSM

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bruemmer, Felix [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); Kraml, Sabine; Kulkarni, Suchita [CNRS/IN2P3, INPG, Grenoble (France). Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie

2012-05-15

A Standard Model-like Higgs near 125 GeV in the MSSM requires multi-TeV stop masses, or a near-maximal contribution to its mass from stop mixing. We investigate the maximal mixing scenario, and in particular its prospects for being realized it in potentially realistic GUT models. We work out constraints on the possible GUT-scale soft terms, which we compare with what can be obtained from some well-known mechanisms of SUSY breaking mediation. Finally, we analyze two promising scenarios in detail, namely gaugino mediation and gravity mediation with non-universal Higgs masses.

Maintenance cost savings - snubber elimination with limit stops

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cloud, R.L.; Taylor, W.H.

1993-01-01

'Active' snubbers can be replaced with 'passive' Limit Stops using two separate strategies. One is a straightforward piping re-analysis to optimize the number of dynamic supports and replace remaining snubbers with Limit Stops. A second approach is to take implicit advantage of the margins afforded by the ASME Code Case N-411 reduced damping ratios and simply replace snubbers one-for-one with no re-analysis. Both methods result in major maintenance cost savings and both have been discussed with the NRC. Approaches to maintenance cost reduction using these strategies are discussed in this paper

Divergent Development of Gross Motor Skills in Children Who Are Blind or Sighted

Science.gov (United States)

Brambring, Michael

2006-01-01

This empirical study compared the average ages at which four congenitally blind children acquired 29 gross motor skills with age norms for sighted children. The results indicated distinct developmental delays in the acquisition of motor skills and a high degree of variability in developmental delays within and across the six subdomains that were…

Coherent resonance stop bands in alternating gradient beam transport

Science.gov (United States)

Ito, K.; Okamoto, H.; Tokashiki, Y.; Fukushima, K.

2017-06-01

An extensive experimental study is performed to confirm fundamental resonance bands of an intense hadron beam propagating through an alternating gradient linear transport channel. The present work focuses on the most common lattice geometry called "FODO" or "doublet" that consists of two quadrupoles of opposite polarities. The tabletop ion-trap system "S-POD" (Simulator of Particle Orbit Dynamics) developed at Hiroshima University is employed to clarify the parameter-dependence of coherent beam instability. S-POD can provide a non-neutral plasma physically equivalent to a charged-particle beam in a periodic focusing potential. In contrast with conventional experimental approaches relying on large-scale machines, it is straightforward in S-POD to control the doublet geometry characterized by the quadrupole filling factor and drift-space ratio. We verify that the resonance feature does not essentially change depending on these geometric factors. A few clear stop bands of low-order resonances always appear in the same pattern as previously found with the sinusoidal focusing model. All stop bands become widened and shift to the higher-tune side as the beam density is increased. In the space-charge-dominated regime, the most dangerous stop band is located at the bare betatron phase advance slightly above 90 degrees. Experimental data from S-POD suggest that this severe resonance is driven mainly by the linear self-field potential rather than by nonlinear external imperfections and, therefore, unavoidable at high beam density. The instability of the third-order coherent mode generates relatively weak but noticeable stop bands near the phase advances of 60 and 120 degrees. The latter sextupole stop band is considerably enhanced by lattice imperfections. In a strongly asymmetric focusing channel, extra attention may have to be paid to some coupling resonance lines induced by the Coulomb potential. Our interpretations of experimental data are supported by theoretical

Encyclopedia of distances

CERN Document Server

Deza, Michel Marie

2016-01-01

This 4th edition of the leading reference volume on distance metrics is characterized by updated and rewritten sections on some items suggested by experts and readers, as well a general streamlining of content and the addition of essential new topics. Though the structure remains unchanged, the new edition also explores recent advances in the use of distances and metrics for e.g. generalized distances, probability theory, graph theory, coding theory, data analysis. New topics in the purely mathematical sections include e.g. the Vitanyi multiset-metric, algebraic point-conic distance, triangular ratio metric, Rossi-Hamming metric, Taneja distance, spectral semimetric between graphs, channel metrization, and Maryland bridge distance. The multidisciplinary sections have also been supplemented with new topics, including: dynamic time wrapping distance, memory distance, allometry, atmospheric depth, elliptic orbit distance, VLBI distance measurements, the astronomical system of units, and walkability distance. Lea...

Distance Learning

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Braddock, Joseph

1997-01-01

A study reviewing the existing Army Distance Learning Plan (ADLP) and current Distance Learning practices, with a focus on the Army's training and educational challenges and the benefits of applying Distance Learning techniques...

Brownian Optimal Stopping and Random Walks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lamberton, D.

2002-01-01

One way to compute the value function of an optimal stopping problem along Brownian paths consists of approximating Brownian motion by a random walk. We derive error estimates for this type of approximation under various assumptions on the distribution of the approximating random walk

Strong rightward lateralization of the dorsal attentional network in left-handers with right sighting-eye: an evolutionary advantage.

Science.gov (United States)

Petit, Laurent; Zago, Laure; Mellet, Emmanuel; Jobard, Gaël; Crivello, Fabrice; Joliot, Marc; Mazoyer, Bernard; Tzourio-Mazoyer, Nathalie

2015-03-01

Hemispheric lateralization for spatial attention and its relationships with manual preference strength and eye preference were studied in a sample of 293 healthy individuals balanced for manual preference. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to map this large sample while performing visually guided saccadic eye movements. This activated a bilateral distributed cortico-subcortical network in which dorsal and ventral attentional/saccadic pathways elicited rightward asymmetrical activation depending on manual preference strength and sighting eye. While the ventral pathway showed a strong rightward asymmetry irrespective of both manual preference strength and eye preference, the dorsal frontoparietal network showed a robust rightward asymmetry in strongly left-handers, even more pronounced in left-handed subjects with a right sighting-eye. Our findings brings support to the hypothesis that the origin of the rightward hemispheric dominance for spatial attention may have a manipulo-spatial origin neither perceptual nor motor per se but rather reflecting a mechanism by which a spatial context is mapped onto the perceptual and motor activities, including the exploration of the spatial environment with eyes and hands. Within this context, strongly left-handers with a right sighting-eye may benefit from the advantage of having the same right hemispheric control of their dominant hand and visuospatial attention processing. We suggest that this phenomenon explains why left-handed right sighting-eye athletes can outperform their competitors in sporting duels and that the prehistoric and historical constancy of the left-handers ratio over the general population may relate in part on the hemispheric specialization of spatial attention. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.