Solar System Small-Body Demographics with the Palomar Transient Factory Survey

Observational studies of our solar system's small-body populations (asteroids and comets) offer insight into the history of our planetary system, as these minor planets represent the left-over building blocks from its formation. The Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) survey began in 2009 as the latest wide-field sky-survey program to be conducted on the 1.2-meter Samuel Oschin telescope at Palomar Observatory. Though its main science program has been the discovery of high-energy extragalactic sources (such as supernovae), during its first five years PTF has collected nearly five million observations of over half a million unique solar system small bodies. This thesis begins to analyze this vast data set to address key population-level science topics, including: the detection rates of rare main-belt comets and small near-Earth asteroids, the spin and shape properties of asteroids as inferred from their lightcurves, the applicability of this visible light data to the interpretation of ultraviolet asteroid observations, and a comparison of the physical properties of main-belt and Jovian Trojan asteroids. Future sky-surveys would benefit from application of the analytical techniques presented herein, which include novel modeling methods and unique applications of machine-learning classification. The PTF asteroid small-body data produced in the course of this thesis work should remain a fertile source of solar system science and discovery for years to come.

Full and Model-Reduced Structure-Preserving Simulation of Incompressible Fluids

This thesis outlines the construction of several types of structured integrators for incompressible fluids. We first present a vorticity integrator, which is the Hamiltonian counterpart of the existing Lagrangian-based fluid integrator. We next present a model-reduced variational Eulerian integrator for incompressible fluids, which combines the efficiency gains of dimension reduction, the qualitative robustness to coarse spatial and temporal resolutions of geometric integrators, and the simplicity of homogenized boundary conditions on regular grids to deal with arbitrarily-shaped domains with sub-grid accuracy.

Both these numerical methods involve approximating the Lie group of volume-preserving diffeomorphisms by a finite-dimensional Lie-group and then restricting the resulting variational principle by means of a non-holonomic constraint. Advantages and limitations of this discretization method will be outlined. It will be seen that these derivation techniques are unable to yield symplectic integrators, but that energy conservation is easily obtained, as is a discretized version of Kelvin's circulation theorem.

Finally, we outline the basis of a spectral discrete exterior calculus, which may be a useful element in producing structured numerical methods for fluids in the future.

Everybody Farts: Celebrating the Body and Refuting Medical Paternalism in Joyce's Ulysses

James Joyce’s Ulysses celebrates all facets of daily life in its refusal to censor raw human emotions and emissions. He adopts a critically medical perspective to portray this honest, unfiltered narrative. In doing so, he reveals the ineffectiveness of the physician-patient relationship due to doctors’ paternalistic attitudes that hinder nonjudgmental, open listening of this unfiltered narrative. His exploration of the doctor’s moral scrutiny, cultural prejudices, and authoritative estrangement from the patient underscore the importance in remembering that physicians and patients alike are ultimately just fellow human beings. Wryly, he drives this point to literal nausea, as his narrative proudly asserts the revulsive details of public health, digestion, and death. In his gritty ruminations on the human body’s material reality, Joyce mocks the physician’s highbrow paternalism by forcing him to identify with the farting, vomiting, decaying bodies around him. In celebrating the uncensored human narrative, Joyce challenges physician and patient alike to openly listen to the stories of others.

A molecular dynamics study of the microscopic properties of simple dense fluids

The microscopic properties of a two-dimensional model dense fluid of Lennard-Jones disks have been studied using the so-called "molecular dynamics" method. Analyses of the computer-generated simulation data in terms of "conventional" thermodynamic and distribution functions verify the physical validity of the model and the simulation technique.

The radial distribution functions g(r) computed from the simulation data exhibit several subsidiary features rather similar to those appearing in some of the g(r) functions obtained by X-ray and thermal neutron diffraction measurements on real simple liquids. In the case of the model fluid, these "anomalous" features are thought to reflect the existence of two or more alternative configurations for local ordering.

Graphical display techniques have been used extensively to provide some intuitive insight into the various microscopic phenomena occurring in the model. For example, "snapshots" of the instantaneous system configurations for different times show that the "excess" area allotted to the fluid is collected into relatively large, irregular, and surprisingly persistent "holes". Plots of the particle trajectories over intervals of 2.0 to 6.0 x 10^-12 sec indicate that the mechanism for diffusion in the dense model fluid is "cooperative" in nature, and that extensive diffusive migration is generally restricted to groups of particles in the vicinity of a hole.

A quantitative analysis of diffusion in the model fluid shows that the cooperative mechanism is not inconsistent with the statistical predictions of existing theories of singlet, or self-diffusion in liquids. The relative diffusion of proximate particles is, however, found to be retarded by short-range dynamic correlations associated with the cooperative mechanism--a result of some importance from the standpoint of bimolecular reaction kinetics in solution.

A new, semi-empirical treatment for relative diffusion in liquids is developed, and is shown to reproduce the relative diffusion phenomena observed in the model fluid quite accurately. When incorporated into the standard Smoluchowski theory of diffusion-controlled reaction kinetics, the more exact treatment of relative diffusion is found to lower the predicted rate of reaction appreciably.

Finally, an entirely new approach to an understanding of the liquid state is suggested. Our experience in dealing with the simulation data--and especially, graphical displays of the simulation data--has led us to conclude that many of the more frustrating scientific problems involving the liquid state would be simplified considerably, were it possible to describe the microscopic structures characteristic of liquids in a concise and precise manner. To this end, we propose that the development of a formal language of partially-ordered structures be investigated.

The instability of fluids with time dependent heating

The stability of a fluid having a non-uniform temperature stratification is examined analytically for the response of infinitesimal disturbances. The growth rates of disturbances have been established for a semi-infinite fluid for Rayleigh numbers of 10³, 10⁴, and 10⁵ and for Prandtl numbers of 7.0 and 0.7.

The critical Rayleigh number for a semi-infinite fluid, based on the effective fluid depth, is found to be 32, while it is shown that for a finite fluid layer the critical Rayleigh number depends on the rate of heating. The minimum critical Rayleigh number, based on the depth of a fluid layer, is found to be 1340.

The stability of a finite fluid layer is examined for two special forms of heating. The first is constant flux heating, while in the second, the temperature of the lower surface is increased uniformly in time. In both cases, it is shown that for moderate rates of heating the critical Rayleigh number is reduced, over the value for very slow heating, while for very rapid heating the critical Rayleigh number is greatly increased. These results agree with published experimental observations.

The question of steady, non-cellular convection is given qualitative consideration. It is concluded that, although the motion may originate from infinitesimal disturbances during non-uniform heating, the final flow field is intrinsically non-linear.

An investigation of the three-body reaction He^3(He^3, 2p)He^4

Reactions produced by the He³ bombardment of the He³ have been investigated for bombarding energies from 1 to 20 MeV using a tandem Van de Graaff accelerator. Proton spectra from the three-body reaction He³(He³, 2p)He⁴ have been measured with a counter telescope at 13 angles for 9 bombarding energies between 3 and 18 MeV. The results are compared with a model for the reaction which includes a strong p-He⁴ final-state interaction. Alpha-particle spectra have been obtained at 12 and 18 MeV for forward angles with a magnetic spectrometer. These spectra indicate a strongly forward-peaked mechanism involving the ¹S₀ p-p interaction in addition to the p-He⁴ interaction. Measurements of p-He⁴ and p-p coincidence spectra at 10 MeV confirm these features of the reaction mechanism. Deuteron spectra from the reaction of He³(He³, d)pHe³ have been measured at 18 MeV. A triton spectrum from the reaction He³(He³, t)3p at 20 MeV and 4⁰ is interpreted in terms of a sequential decay through an excited state of the alpha particle at 20.0 MeV. No effects are observed which would indicate an interaction in the residual (3p) system. Below 3 MeV the He³(He³, 2p)He⁴ reaction mechanism is observed to be changing and further measurements are suggested in view of the importance of this reaction in stellar interiors.

Turbulent buoyant jets into stratified or flowing ambient fluids

Theoretical and experimental studies were made on two classes of buoyant jet problems, namely:

1) an inclined, round buoyant yet in a stagnant environment with linear density-stratification;

2) a round buoyant jet in a uniform cross stream of homogenous density.

Using the integral technique of analysis, assuming similarity, predictions can be made for jet trajectory, widths, and dilution ratios, in a density-stratified or flowing environment. Such information is of great importance in the design of disposal systems for sewage effluent into the ocean or waste gases into the atmosphere.

The present study of a buoyant jet in a stagnant environment has extended the Morton type of analysis to cover the effect of the initial angle of discharge. Numerical solutions have been presented for a range of initial conditions. Laboratory experiments were conducted for photographic observations of the trajectories of dyed jets. In general the observed jet forms agreed well with the calculated trajectories and nominal half widths when the value of the entrainment coefficient was taken to be α = 0.082, as previously suggested by Morton.

The problem of a buoyant jet in a uniform cross stream was analyzed by assuming an entrainment mechanism based upon the vector difference between the characteristic jet velocity and the ambient velocity. The effect of the unbalanced pressure field on the sides of the jet flow was approximated by a gross drag term. Laboratory flume experiments with sinking jets which are directly analogous to buoyant jets were performed. Salt solutions were injected into fresh water at the free surface in a flume. The jet trajectories, dilution ratios and jet half widths were determined by conductivity measurements. The entrainment coefficient, α, and drag coefficient, C_d, were found from the observed jet trajectories and dilution ratios. In the ten cases studied where jet Froude number ranged from 10 to 80 and velocity ratio (jet: current) K from 4 to 16, α varied from 0.4 to 0.5 and C_d from 1.7 to 0.1. The jet mixing motion for distance within 250D was found to be dominated by the self-generated turbulence, rather than the free-stream turbulence. Similarity of concentration profiles has also been discussed.

Gênero e erotismo: etnografia de um clube de mulheres no Rio de Janeiro.

Esta tese baseia-se em trabalho etnográfico que investiga performances de gênero em um Clube de Mulheres no Rio de Janeiro, onde, após um show de strip-tease masculino para uma platéia exclusivamente feminina, tem início uma festa dançante com a presença de público masculino. No espetáculo são encenados atos (hetero)sexuais em duplas ou em grupo, envolvendo os strippers e as mulheres que voluntariamente sobem ao palco. A trilha sonora, marcada pelo estilo pornofunk, traz elementos alusivos à infidelidade conjugal masculina e feminina, à orgia e à prostituição masculina e feminina. Como em rituais de inversão, há, durante o show, tanto uma suspensão controlada das convenções de gênero tradicionais, quanto sua paradoxal reafirmação. Para o deleite de um público feminino, os strippers mantêm no palco a representação do papel ativo na cópula, e tanto sua hexis corporal quanto suas performances realçam a prontidão para o ato sexual, a virilidade e o controle sobre a conduta feminina. As mulheres, por sua vez, encenam uma parcial submissão ao controle masculino. Elas manifestam alguma reatividade e heteronomia em relação aos homens na festa que acontece depois, quando pares heterossexuais relativamente anônimos interagem através de aproximações sucessivas que englobam carícias e beijos na boca. Neste contexto, como sujeitos ou objetos, tanto os strippers quanto as mulheres desempenham posições conflitantes com as tradicionais expectativas de gênero, que permanecem, entretanto, preservadas em grande medida pela idéia de que elas dependem de estímulos especiais para, no campo do erotismo e da sexualidade, desejar ou fazer coisas para as quais os homens estariam supostamente sempre prontos. A tese procura mostrar que, como espécie de preço a pagar pelas inversões que ocorrem nesse espaço, tanto a imagem das mulheres quanto a dos strippers é desvalorizada, recaindo sobre eles os estigmas que ainda cercam as rupturas relativas às convenções de gênero.

The body social: an enactive approach to the self

This paper takes a new look at an old question: what is the human self? It offers a proposal for theorizing the self from an enactive perspective as an autonomous system that is constituted through interpersonal relations. It addresses a prevalent issue in the philosophy of cognitive science: the body-social problem. Embodied and social approaches to cognitive identity are in mutual tension. On the one hand, embodied cognitive science risks a new form of methodological individualism, implying a dichotomy not between the outside world of objects and the brain-bound individual but rather between body-bound individuals and the outside social world. On the other hand, approaches that emphasize the constitutive relevance of social interaction processes for cognitive identity run the risk of losing the individual in the interaction dynamics and of downplaying the role of embodiment. This paper adopts a middle way and outlines an enactive approach to individuation that is neither individualistic nor disembodied but integrates both approaches. Elaborating on Jonas' notion of needful freedom it outlines an enactive proposal to understanding the self as co-generated in interactions and relations with others. I argue that the human self is a social existence that is organized in terms of a back and forth between social distinction and participation processes. On this view, the body, rather than being identical with the social self, becomes its mediator

Modeling habits as self-sustaining patterns of sensorimotor behavior

In the recent history of psychology and cognitive neuroscience, the notion of habit has been reduced to a stimulus-triggered response probability correlation. In this paper we use a computational model to present an alternative theoretical view (with some philosophical implications), where habits are seen as self-maintaining patterns of behavior that share properties in common with self-maintaining biological processes, and that inhabit a complex ecological context, including the presence and influence of other habits. Far from mechanical automatisms, this organismic and self-organizing concept of habit can overcome the dominating atomistic and statistical conceptions, and the high temporal resolution effects of situatedness, embodiment and sensorimotor loops emerge as playing a more central, subtle and complex role in the organization of behavior. The model is based on a novel "iterant deformable sensorimotor medium (IDSM)," designed such that trajectories taken through sensorimotor-space increase the likelihood that in the future, similar trajectories will be taken. We couple the IDSM to sensors and motors of a simulated robot, and show that under certain conditions, the IDSM conditions, the IDSM forms self-maintaining patterns of activity that operate across the IDSM, the robot's body, and the environment. We present various environments and the resulting habits that form in them. The model acts as an abstraction of habits at a much needed sensorimotor "meso-scale" between microscopic neuron-based models and macroscopic descriptions of behavior. Finally, we discuss how this model and extensions of it can help us understand aspects of behavioral self-organization, historicity and autonomy that remain out of the scope of contemporary representationalist frameworks.

Self-Organized Criticality, Plasticity and Sensorimotor Coupling. Explorations with a Neurorobotic Model in a Behavioural Preference Task

During the last two decades, analysis of 1/f noise in cognitive science has led to a considerable progress in the way we understand the organization of our mental life. However, there is still a lack of specific models providing explanations of how 1/f noise is generated in coupled brain-body-environment systems, since existing models and experiments typically target either externally observable behaviour or isolated neuronal systems but do not address the interplay between neuronal mechanisms and sensorimotor dynamics. We present a conceptual model of a minimal neurorobotic agent solving a behavioural task that makes it possible to relate mechanistic (neurodynamic) and behavioural levels of description. The model consists of a simulated robot controlled by a network of Kuramoto oscillators with homeostatic plasticity and the ability to develop behavioural preferences mediated by sensorimotor patterns. With only three oscillators, this simple model displays self-organized criticality in the form of robust 1/f noise and a wide multifractal spectrum. We show that the emergence of self-organized criticality and 1/f noise in our model is the result of three simultaneous conditions: a) non-linear interaction dynamics capable of generating stable collective patterns, b) internal plastic mechanisms modulating the sensorimotor flows, and c) strong sensorimotor coupling with the environment that induces transient metastable neurodynamic regimes. We carry out a number of experiments to show that both synaptic plasticity and strong sensorimotor coupling play a necessary role, as constituents of self-organized criticality, in the generation of 1/f noise. The experiments also shown to be useful to test the robustness of 1/f scaling comparing the results of different techniques. We finally discuss the role of conceptual models as mediators between nomothetic and mechanistic models and how they can inform future experimental research where self-organized critically includes sensorimotor coupling among the essential interaction-dominant process giving rise to 1/f noise.