Aims. The aim of the study is to constrain the physics of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) by analysing the multi-wavelength afterglow data set of GRB 121024A that covers the full range from radio to X-rays. Methods. Using multi-epoch broad-band observations of the GRB 121024A afterglow, we measured the three characteristic break frequencies of the synchrotron spectrum. We used six epochs of combined XR...

We investigate stellar microlensing of the collimated gamma-ray burst afterglows. A spherical afterglow appears on the sky as a superluminally expanding thin ring (“ring-like” image), which is maximally amplified as it crosses the lens. We find that the image of the collimated afterglow becomes quite uniform (“disk-like” image) after the jet break time (after the Lorentz factor of the jet drops...

We study numerically the dynamics of spiral waves in an excitable medium with negative restitution. For our study we use two models of the excitable medium: a cellular automaton and a reaction-diffusion model. There are no significant effects of negative restitution as long as the slope of the restitution curve is less steep than -1. In media with slopes steeper than -1, the dynamics of spiral ...

We study fragmentation of small atomistic clusters via molecular dynamics. We calculate the time scales related to fragment formation and emission. We also show that some degree of thermalization is achieved during the expansion process, which allows the determination of a local temperature. In this way we can calculate the break-up temperature as a function of excitation energy, i.e. the fragm...

A major cryptanalytic computation is currently underway on multiple platforms, including standard CPUs, FPGAs, PlayStations and GPUs, to break the Certicom ECC2K-130 challenge. This challenge is to compute an elliptic-curve discrete logarithm on a Koblitz curve over F2131 . Optimizations have reduced the cost of the computation to approximately 2 bit operations in 2 iterations. GPUs are not des...

Using the electroretinogram as the criterion of retinal activity the flicker fusion frequency, course of dark adaptation, and spectral sensitivity of the pure cone retina of the diurnal gecko, Phelsuma inunguis, were investigated. Both the curve relating flicker fusion frequency to stimulus intensity and that relating the amplitude of the flicker response to stimulus intensity showed a break as...

We study fragmentation of small atomistic clusters via molecular dynamics. We calculate the time scales related to fragment formation and emission. We also show that some degree of thermalization is achieved during the expansion process, which allows the determination of a local temperature. In this way we can calculate the break-up temperature as a function of excita-tion energy, i.e. the frag...

This article uses models to propose an explanation for three observations in community ecology: the apparent overreaction of prey to attack by specialist predators, the existence of a common trade-off among components of competitive ability in communities of unrelated competitors, and the ability of invading species to break the native trade-off. Strategies that increase resource collection abi...

BACKGROUND Surgical interventions are complex, which complicates their rigorous assessment through randomised clinical trials. An important component of complexity relates to surgeon experience and the rate at which the required level of skill is achieved, known as the learning curve. There is considerable evidence that operator performance for surgical innovations will change with increasing e...

Elliptic curve cryptography is today the prevailing approach to get efficient public-key cryptosystems and digital signatures. Most of elliptic curve signature schemes use a nonce in the computation of each signature and the knowledge of this nonce is sufficient to fully recover the secret key of the scheme. Even a few bits of the nonce over several signatures allow a complete break of the sche...