Dynamic Tracking with Zero Variation and Disturbance Rejection Applied to Discrete-Time Systems

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Disturbance chemical cues determine changes in spatial occupation by the convict cichlid Archocentrus nigrofasciatus

I studied the effect of disturbance chemical cues on fish that make trade-offs between foraging in an open area and remaining in a safe refuge. I used convict cichlids Archocentrus nigrofasciatus that were either visually exposed to a predator (n = 8) or exposed to water conditioned by chemical cues from disturbed conspecifics (n = 8). Fish visually exposed to a predator decreased their ingestion rate and spent more time in the refuge than in the foraging area, while fish receiving water from frightened conspecifics did not alter their ingestion rate or time spent in the refuge and foraging site, but increased their spatial occupation (i.e., motion). These results suggest that convict cichlids recognized the predator by visual cues. Moreover, disturbance cues are a form of threatening public information that may increase fish spatial occupation due to increased exploring behaviour; but is not sufficiently alarming to alter feeding or increase refuge use. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Gap disturbance regime and composition in the Atlantic Montane Rain Forest: the influence of topography

In the Atlantic Montane Rain Forest of south-eastern Brazil, a field study was carried out to describe the forest disturbance regime, analyse canopy gap composition and evaluate the influence of habitat parameters on gap tree species composition. We characterized canopy gaps considering the group of variables as follows: area, type and number of tree/branch falls, topographic position, soil coverage and surrounding canopy trees. Gap composition was assessed at species level by measuring all individuals inside gaps higher than one meter. Mean gap area of the 42 canopy gaps analysed was 71.9 +/- 9.0 m(2) (mean +/- SE). Out of the studied gaps, 35.7% were created by uprooted and by snapped trees, 16.7% by dead-standing trees and 11.9% by the fall of large branches. The disturbance regime was characterized by gap openings predominantly smaller than 150 m(2) and by spatial patterning related to topography. Ridges had smaller gaps and higher proportions of gaps created by branch falls; slopes had bigger gaps generally created by uprooting events. The more abundant and frequent species were shade tolerant and the more species-rich families found inside gaps did not differ from the forest as a whole. Pioneer species were rare and restricted to medium and large size classes. The Indicator Species Analysis and the Canonical Correspondence Analysis indicated gap area, topography and the percentage of soil cover by the genera Calathea and Ctenanthe were the predominant variables correlated with woody species distribution. So, topography emerged as an important issue not only to the gap disturbance regime, but also to gap colonization. In respect to the influence of gap processes on the Atlantic Montane Rain Forest regeneration, our results support the view that canopy gap events may not be working as promoters of community wide floristic shifts.

Latência e amplitude do P300 auditivo na doença de Alzheimer: uma revisão sistemática

O P300 desempenha um papel fundamental como método de avaliação e monitoramento das demências, entre elas a doença de Alzheimer. OBJETIVO: Realizar uma busca por artigos que analisaram os valores de latência e amplitude de P300 na doença de Alzheimer. MÉTODOS: Foi realizada uma busca nas seguintes bases de dados: Web of Science, PubMed/Medline, Psyc Info, Biological Abstracts e Scielo. Utilizaram-se as seguintes palavras-chave: speed of information processing, speed of processing, information processing, aged, older, elderly, older people, alzheimer dementia, alzheimer disease, Alzheimer, além de referências cruzadas dos artigos selecionados. RESULTADOS: Foram encontrados oito estudos que preencheram os critérios de inclusão adotados para o presente trabalho. Estes estudos mostraram que existe um consenso em relação ao aumento da latência de P300 de idosos com doença de Alzheimer quando comparados com idosos sem a doença. Porém, verifica-se que, com relação à amplitude de P300, ainda não há um consenso, mas, isso pode estar relacionado às diferentes variáveis metodológicas adotadas nos estudos revisados. CONCLUSÃO: Há necessidade de se padronizar as variáveis envolvidas no método de avaliação do P300 para idosos com doença de Alzheimer, para que seja possível comparar os valores de latência e amplitude de P300 dessa população.

EMG amplitude and frequency parameters of muscular activity: Effect of resistance training based on electromyographic fatigue threshold

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Fish as Indicators of Disturbance in Streams Used for Snorkeling Activities in a Tourist Region

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Four-point amplitude from open superstring field theory

An open superstring field theory action has been proposed which does not suffer from contact term divergences. In this paper, we compute the on-shell four-point tree amplitude fi om this action using the Giddings map. After including contributions from the quartic term in the action, the resulting amplitude agrees with the first-quantized prescription. (C) 2000 Elsevier B.V. B.V. All rights reserved.

Dual superconformal symmetry, and the amplitude/Wilson loop connection

We show that tree level superstring theories on certain supersymmetric backgrounds admit a symmetry which we call "fermionic T-duality". This is a non-local redefinition of the fermionic worldsheet fields similar to the redefinition we perform on bosonic variables when we do an ordinary T-duality. This duality maps a supersymmetric background to another supersymmetric background with different RR fields and a different dilaton. We show that a certain combination of bosonic and fermionic T-dualities maps the full superstring theory on AdS(5) x S-5 back to itself in such a way that gluon scattering amplitudes in the original theory map to something very close to Wilson loops in the dual theory. This duality maps the "dual superconformal symmetry" of the original theory to the ordinary superconformal symmetry of the dual model. This explains the dual superconformal invariance of planar scattering amplitudes of N = 4 super Yang Mills and also sheds some light on the connection between amplitudes and Wilson loops. In the appendix, we propose a simple prescription for open superstring MHV tree amplitudes in a flat background.

One-loop superstring amplitude from integrals on pure spinors space

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Pure spinor vertex operators in Siegel gauge and loop amplitude regularization

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Notes on the overall coefficient of the two-loop superstring amplitude using pure spinor

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

A Study of Scattering Amplitude Regularization in the NN System: Two Pions Contributions

In a simplest case we employ dimensional regularization method in order to evaluate the contribution of two pion exchanges to the NN interaction. The method allows one to treat the infinities of scattering amplitude in a way consistent with the symmetries of the theory.

First study of the radiation-amplitude zero in W gamma production and limits on anomalous WW gamma couplings at root s=1.96 TeV

We present results from a study of p (p) over bar -> W gamma+X events utilizing data corresponding to 0.7 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity at root s = 1.96 TeV collected by the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. We set limits on anomalous WW gamma couplings at the 95% C.L. The one-dimensional 95% C.L. limits are 0.49 amplitude zero in the W gamma system.

Basins of attraction changes by amplitude constraining of oscillators with limited power supply

We investigate the dynamics of a Duffing oscillator driven by a limited power supply, such that the source of forcing is considered to be another oscillator, coupled to the first one. The resulting dynamics come from the interaction between both systems. Moreover, the Duffing oscillator is subjected to collisions with a rigid wall (amplitude constraint). Newtonian laws of impact are combined with the equations of motion of the two coupled oscillators. Their solutions in phase space display periodic (and chaotic) attractors, whose amplitudes, especially when they are too large, can be controlled by choosing the wall position in suitable ways. Moreover, their basins of attraction are significantly modified, with effects on the final state system sensitivity. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.