New design of electrostatic mirror actuators for application in high-precision interferometry

We describe a new geometry for electrostatic actuators to be used in sensitive laser interferometers, suited for prototype and table top experiments related to gravitational wave detection with mirrors of 100 g or less. The arrangement consists of two plates at the sides of the mirror (test mass), and therefore does not reduce its clear aperture as a conventional electrostatic drive (ESD) would do. Using the sample case of the AEI-10 m prototype interferometer, we investigate the actuation range and the influence of the relative misalignment of the ESD plates with respect to the test mass. We find that in the case of the AEI-10 m prototype interferometer, this new kind of ESD could provide a range of 0.28 mu m when operated at a voltage of 1 kV. In addition, the geometry presented is shown to provide a reduction factor of about 100 in the magnitude of the actuator motion coupling to the test mass displacement. We show that therefore in the specific case of the AEI-10 m interferometer, it is possible to mount the ESD actuators directly on the optical table without spoiling the seismic isolation performance of the triple stage suspension of the main test masses.

Chiral-symmetry Breaking and Pion Structure in the Covariant Spectator Theory

We introduce a covariant approach in Minkowski space for the description of quarks and mesons that exhibits both chiral-symmetry breaking and confinement. In a simple model for the interquark interaction, the quark mass function is obtained and used in the calculation of the pion form factor. We study the effects of the mass function and the different quark pole contributions on the pion form factor.

THE INTERTEXTUALITY OF OPERA IN THE FICTION OF NELIDA PIÑON

This article examines how Nélida Piñon builds a feminist reader in the novel A força do destino (1978). This work highlights the role of the contemporary writer to read the classics from the post-modern and feminist places. Post-modern because it decentralizes the structural elements of the text, feminist because it opposes to any kind of women oppression. In this novel, the narrator reconstructs the trajectory of the characters Alvaro and Leonora, homonym protagonists of the opera by Giuseppe Verdi, based on her devotion by them, because of this, it becomes a passionate and original reporting. The narrative of Piñon is built from a parodist and irreverent place that updates the plot of Verdi. This is a metanarrative in which the narrator dialogues with her characters and reader. In this case, the reference to the opera by Verdi is, actually, the exploration of artistic and cultural archives in accordance with the interests of the narrator. Methodologically, this paper is guided by the exploitation of intertextuality present in this work and in gender studies to enhance the speaking place of the writer as a real part of contemporary feminist culture.

A INTERTEXTUALIDADE NOS CONTOS MISSA DO GALO, DE MACHADO DE ASSIS E NÉLIDA PIÑON

Este trabalho, sob a luz da intertextualidade e sua fortuna teórica, tenciona analisar de que forma a escritora carioca Nélida Piñon repete, modifica ou acrescenta dados em relação ao conto "Missa do Galo", produzido por Machado de Assis e editado em 1893. Após o transcurso de 71 anos em relação à publicação de um dos mais relevantes trabalhos que compõem a obra machadiana, Osman Lins e Julieta de Godoy Ladeira planejaramreescrever Missa do Galo, inspirados pelo aparecimento de versões derivadas das obras épicas de Homero e pelas retomadas temáticas impelidas na pintura e na música durante a década de 60. Treze anos depois, Nélida Piñon, Antonio Callado, Autran Dourado e Lygia Fagundes Telles aderem ao projeto literário concebido pelos dois autores. O resultado é a elaboração, em Missa do galo: variações sobre o mesmo tema, de seis primorosas propostas de aproximação do texto de Machado, estando os escritores cientes de que, segundo Osman Lins, por melhores que se houvessem nesse desafio, jamais conseguiriam superar o talento e a engenhosidade do criador de Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas.

Web-based and traditional public participation in comprehensive planning : a comparative study

The present paper examines whether the potential advantages of the expanding practice of web-based public participation only complement the benefits of the traditional techniques, or are empowering enough to replace them. The question is examined in a real-world case of neighbourhood revitalization, in which both techniques were practiced simultaneously. Comparisons are made at four major planning junctions, in order to study the contributions of each technique to the qualities of involvement, trust, and empowerment. The results show that web-based participants not only differ from the participants of traditional practices, but they also differ from each other on the basis of their type of web participation. The results indicate that web-based participation is an effective and affective complementary means of public participation, but it cannot replace the traditional unmediated techniques.

Predicting dry eye using non-invasive techniques of tear film surface assessment

PURPOSE. To measure tear film surface quality in healthy and dry eye subjects using three noninvasive techniques of tear film quality assessment and to establish the ability of these noninvasive techniques to predict dry eye. METHODS. Thirty four subjects participated in the study, and were classified as dry eye or normal, based on standard clinical assessments. Three non-invasive techniques were applied for measurement of tear film surface quality: dynamic-area high-speed videokeratoscopy (HSV), wavefront sensing (DWS) and lateral shearing interferometry (LSI). The measurements were performed in both natural blinking conditions (NBC) and in suppressed blinking conditions (SBC). RESULTS. In order to investigate the capability of each method to discriminate dry eye subjects from normal subjects, the receiver operating curve (ROC) was calculated and then the area under the curve (AUC) was extracted. The best result was obtained for the LSI technique (AUC=0.80 in SBC and AUC=0.73 in NBC), which was followed by HSV (AUC=0.72 in SBC and AUC=0.71 in NBC). The best result for DWS was AUC=0.64 obtained for changes in vertical coma in suppressed blinking conditions, while for normal blinking conditions the results were poorer. CONCLUSIONS. Non-invasive techniques of tear film surface assessment can be used for predicting dry eye and this can be achieved in natural blinking as well as suppressed blinking conditions. In this study, LSI showed the best detection performance, closely followed by the dynamic-area HSV. The wavefront sensing technique was less powerful, particularly in natural blinking conditions.

Availability of advance visual information constrains association-football goalkeeping performance during penalty kicks

A pressing concern within the literature on anticipatory perceptual-motor behaviour is the lack of clarity on the applicability of data, observed under video-simulation task constraints, to actual performance in which actions are coupled to perception, as captured during in-situ experimental conditions. We developed an in-situ experimental paradigm which manipulated the duration of anticipatory visual information from a penalty taker’s actions to examine experienced goalkeepers’ vulnerability to deception for the penalty kick in association football. Irrespective of the penalty taker’s kick strategy, goalkeepers initiated movement responses earlier across consecutively earlier presentation points. Overall goalkeeping performance was better in non-deception trials than in deception conditions. In deception trials, the kinematic information presented up until the penalty taker initiated his/her kicking action had a negative effect on goalkeepers’ performance. It is concluded that goalkeepers are likely to benefit from not anticipating a penalty taker’s performance outcome based on information from the run-up, in preference to later information that emerges just before the initiation of the penalty taker’s kicking action.