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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Mode-Sum Prescription For The Vacuum Polarization In Odd Dimensions, Peter Taylor, Cormac Breen Dec 2016

Mode-Sum Prescription For The Vacuum Polarization In Odd Dimensions, Peter Taylor, Cormac Breen

Articles

We present a new mode-sum regularization prescription for computing the vacuum polarization of a scalar field in static spherically-symmetric black hole spacetimes in odd dimensions. This is the first general and systematic approach to regularized vacuum polarization in higher dimensions. Remarkably, the regularization parameters can be computed in closed form in arbitrary dimensions and for arbitrary metric function $f(r)$. In fact, we show that in spite of the increasing severity and number of the divergences to be regularized, the method presented is mostly agnostic to the number of dimensions. Finally, as an explicit example of our method, we show plots …


An Examination Of The Neural Unreliability Thesis Of Autism, John Butler, Sophie Molholm, Gizely Andrade, John J. Foxe Dec 2016

An Examination Of The Neural Unreliability Thesis Of Autism, John Butler, Sophie Molholm, Gizely Andrade, John J. Foxe

Articles

An emerging neuropathological theory of Autism, referred to here as “the neural unreliability thesis,” proposes greater variability in moment-to-moment cortical representation of environmental events, such that the system shows general instability in its impulse response function. Leading evidence for this thesis derives from functional neuroimaging, a methodology ill-suited for detailed assessment of sensory transmission dynamics occurring at the millisecond scale. Electrophysiological assessments of this thesis, however, are sparse and unconvincing. We conducted detailed examination of visual and somatosensory evoked activity using high-density electrical mapping in individuals with autism (N = 20) and precisely matched neurotypical controls (N = 20), recording …


Hawking Radiation Screening And Penrose Process Shielding In The Kerr Black Hole, Eamon Mccaughey Mar 2016

Hawking Radiation Screening And Penrose Process Shielding In The Kerr Black Hole, Eamon Mccaughey

Articles

The radial motion of massive particles in the equatorial plane of aKerr black hole is considered. Screening of the Hawking radiation and shielding of the Penrose process are examined (both inside and outside the ergosphere) and their effect on the evaporation of the black hole is studied. In particular, the locus and width of a classically forbidden region and their dependence on the particle’s angular momentum and energy is analysed. Tunneling of particles between the boundaries of this region is considered and the transmission coefficient determined.


Second Order Approximation For Heat Conduction: Dissipation Principle And Free Energies, Giovambattista Amendola, Mauro Fabrizio, John Murrough Golden, Barbara Lazzari Feb 2016

Second Order Approximation For Heat Conduction: Dissipation Principle And Free Energies, Giovambattista Amendola, Mauro Fabrizio, John Murrough Golden, Barbara Lazzari

Articles

In the context of new models of heat conduction, the second-order approximation of Tzou’s theory, derived by Quintanilla and Racke, has been studied recently by two of the present authors, where it was proved equivalent to a fading memory material. The importance of determining free energy functionals for such materials, and indeed for any material with memory, is emphasized. Because the kernel does not satisfy certain convexity restrictions that allow us to obtain various traditional free energies for materials with fading memory, it is necessary to restrict the study to the minimum and related free energies, which do not require …


Atypical Visual And Somatosensory Adaptation In Schizophrenia-Spectrum Disorders, Gizely Andrade, John Butler, Gregory Peter, Sophie Molholm, John J. Foxe Jan 2016

Atypical Visual And Somatosensory Adaptation In Schizophrenia-Spectrum Disorders, Gizely Andrade, John Butler, Gregory Peter, Sophie Molholm, John J. Foxe

Articles

Neurophysiological investigations in patients with schizophrenia consistently show early sensory processing deficits in the visual system. Importantly, comparable sensory deficits have also been established in healthy first-degree biological relatives of patients with schizophrenia and in first-episode drug-naive patients. The clear implication is that these measures are endophenotypic, related to the underlying genetic liability for schizophrenia. However, there is significant overlap between patient response distributions and those of healthy individuals without affected first-degree relatives. Here we sought to develop more sensitive measures of sensory dysfunction in this population, with an eye to establishing endophenotypic markers with better predictive capabilities. We used …


Bayesian Exponential Random Graph Modeling Of Whole-Brain Structural Networks Across Lifespan, Michel Sinke, Rick Dijkhuizen, Alberto Caimo, Cornelis Stam, Willem Otte Jan 2016

Bayesian Exponential Random Graph Modeling Of Whole-Brain Structural Networks Across Lifespan, Michel Sinke, Rick Dijkhuizen, Alberto Caimo, Cornelis Stam, Willem Otte

Articles

No abstract provided.


The Neural Dynamics Of Somatosensory Processing And Adaptation Across Childhood: A High-Density Electrical Mapping Study, Neha Uppal, John J. Foxe, John Butler, Frantzy Acluche, Sophie Molholm Jan 2016

The Neural Dynamics Of Somatosensory Processing And Adaptation Across Childhood: A High-Density Electrical Mapping Study, Neha Uppal, John J. Foxe, John Butler, Frantzy Acluche, Sophie Molholm

Articles

Young children are often hyperreactive to somatosensory inputs hardly noticed by adults, as exemplified by irritation to seams or labels in clothing. The neurodevelopmental mechanisms underlying changes in sensory reactivity are not well understood. Based on the idea that neurodevelopmental changes in somatosensory processing and/or changes in sensory adaptation might underlie developmental differences in somatosensory reactivity, high-density electroencephalography was used to examine how the nervous system responds and adapts to repeated vibrotactile stimulation over childhood. Participants aged 6–18 yr old were presented with 50-ms vibrotactile stimuli to the right wrist over the median nerve at 5 blocked interstimulus intervals (ranging …


Bayesian Exponential Random Graph Models With Nodal Random Effects, Stephanie Thiemichen, Nial Friel, Alberto Caimo, Goeran Kauermann Jan 2016

Bayesian Exponential Random Graph Models With Nodal Random Effects, Stephanie Thiemichen, Nial Friel, Alberto Caimo, Goeran Kauermann

Articles

We extend the well-known and widely used Exponential Random Graph Model (ERGM) by including nodal random effects to compensate for heterogeneity in the nodes of a network. The Bayesian framework for ERGMs proposed by Caimo and Friel (2011) yields the basis of our modelling algorithm. A central question in network models is the question of model selection and following the Bayesian paradigm we focus on estimating Bayes factors. To do so we develop an approximate but feasible calculation of the Bayes factor which allows one to pursue model selection. Two data examples and a small simulation study illustrate our mixed …


Free Energies For Singleton Minimal States, John Murrough Golden Jan 2016

Free Energies For Singleton Minimal States, John Murrough Golden

Articles

It is assumed that any free energy funcuon exhibits strict periodic benav10r tor histories that have been periodic for all past times. This is not the case for the work function, which, however, has the usual defining properties of a free energy. Fonns given m fairly recent years for the minimum and related free energies of linear materials with memory have this property. Materials for which the minimal states are all singletons are those for which at least some of the singularities of the Fourier transfonn of the relaxation function are not isolated. For such materials, the maximum free energy …


Application Of Virtual Reality Head Mounted Display For Investigation Of Movement: A Novel Effect Of Orientation Of Attention, Brendan Quinlivan, John Butler, Ines Beiser, Laura Williams, Eavan Mcgovern, Sean O'Riordan, Michael Hutchinson, Richard Reilly Jan 2016

Application Of Virtual Reality Head Mounted Display For Investigation Of Movement: A Novel Effect Of Orientation Of Attention, Brendan Quinlivan, John Butler, Ines Beiser, Laura Williams, Eavan Mcgovern, Sean O'Riordan, Michael Hutchinson, Richard Reilly

Articles

Objective. To date human kinematics research has relied on video processing, motion capture and magnetic search coil data acquisition techniques. However, the use of head mounted display virtual reality systems, as a novel research tool, could facilitate novel studies into human movement and movement disorders. These systems have the unique ability of presenting immersive 3D stimulus while also allowing participants to make ecologically valid movement-based responses. Approach. We employed one such system (Oculus Rift DK2) in this study to present visual stimulus and acquire head-turn data from a cohort of 40 healthy adults. Participants were asked to complete head movements …


On The N-Wave Equations With Pt-Symmetry, Vladimir Gerdjikov, Georgi Grahovski, Rossen Ivanov Jan 2016

On The N-Wave Equations With Pt-Symmetry, Vladimir Gerdjikov, Georgi Grahovski, Rossen Ivanov

Articles

We study extensions of N-wave systems with PT-symmetry. The types of (nonlocal) reductions leading to integrable equations invariant with respect to P- (spatial reflection) and T- (time reversal) symmetries is described. The corresponding constraints on the fundamental analytic solutions and the scattering data are derived. Based on examples of 3-wave (related to the algebra sl(3,C)) and 4-wave (related to the algebra so(5,C)) systems, the properties of different types of 1- and 2-soliton solutions are discussed. It is shown that the PT symmetric 3-wave equations may have regular multi-soliton solutions for some specific choices of their parameters.


Mathematics Learning Support Across A Multi-Campus Institution: A Prototype Of Virtual Support, Cormac Breen, Ciaran O'Sullivan, Damian Cox Jan 2016

Mathematics Learning Support Across A Multi-Campus Institution: A Prototype Of Virtual Support, Cormac Breen, Ciaran O'Sullivan, Damian Cox

Articles

In this paper, a study on Mathematics Learning Support (MLS) that was undertaken across three institutes intending to form the Technological University for Dublin is outlined. This study consisted of a survey that was circulated to both staff and students in each of the three institutes. The survey had two objectives. Firstly it sought to identify the students’ needs for MLS in each of the three institutes. Secondly, it sought to ascertain the preferred method of provision of MLS, on a scale ranging from exclusively online, to exclusively in person. Following on the results of this survey it was decided …


The Dynamics Of Flat Surface Internal Geophysical Waves With Currents, Alan Compelli, Rossen Ivanov Jan 2016

The Dynamics Of Flat Surface Internal Geophysical Waves With Currents, Alan Compelli, Rossen Ivanov

Articles

A two-dimensional water wave system is examined consisting of two discrete incompressible fluid domains separated by a free common interface. In a geophysical context this is a model of an internal wave, formed at a pycnocline or thermocline in the ocean. The system is considered as being bounded at the bottom and top by a flatbed and wave-free surface respectively. A current profile with depth-dependent currents in each domain is considered. The Hamiltonian of the system is determined and expressed in terms of canonical wave-related variables. Limiting behavior is examined and compared to that of other known models. The linearised …


Unique Characterization Of Materials With Memory, John Murrough Golden Jan 2016

Unique Characterization Of Materials With Memory, John Murrough Golden

Articles

In general, materials with linear memory constitutive relations are characterized by a relaxation function. This leads to a situation where the free energy for most materials with memory is not unique. There is a convex set of free energy functionals with a minimum and a maximum element. An alternative procedure is proposed which characterizes a material by the kernel of the rate of dissipation functional. Using some recent results, we find that a unique free energy and relaxation function may then be deduced. An example is given for discrete spectrum materials. Also, the new results are used to show that …


Hamiltonian Formulation For Wave-Current Interactions In Stratified Rotational Flows, Adrian Constantin, Rossen Ivanov, Calin-Iulian Martin Jan 2016

Hamiltonian Formulation For Wave-Current Interactions In Stratified Rotational Flows, Adrian Constantin, Rossen Ivanov, Calin-Iulian Martin

Articles

We show that the Hamiltonian framework permits an elegant formulation of the nonlinear governing equations for the coupling between internal and surface waves in stratified water flows with piecewise constant vorticity.