8,905 research outputs found
IR optical fiber-based noncontact pyrometer for drop tube instrumentation
The design of a two color pyrometer with infrared optical fiber bundles for collection of the infrared radiation is described. The pyrometer design is engineered to facilitate its use for measurement of the temperature of small, falling samples in a microgravity materials processing experiment using a 100 meter long drop tube. Because the samples are small and move rapidly through the field of view of the pyrometer, the optical power budget of the detection system is severly limited. Strategies for overcoming this limitation are discussed
Can Long-Range Nuclear Properties Be Influenced By Short Range Interactions? A chiral dynamics estimate
Recent experiments and many-body calculations indicate that approximately
20\% of the nucleons in medium and heavy nuclei () are part of
short-range correlated (SRC) primarily neutron-proton () pairs. We find
that using chiral dynamics to account for the formation of pairs due to
the effects of iterated and irreducible two-pion exchange leads to values
consistent with the 20\% level. We further apply chiral dynamics to study how
these correlations influence the calculations of nuclear charge radii, that
traditionally truncate their effect, to find that they are capable of
introducing non-negligible effects.Comment: 6 pages, 0 figures. This version includes many improvement
Measurement of transparency ratios for protons from short-range correlated pairs
Nuclear transparency, Tp(A), is a measure of the average probability for a
struck proton to escape the nucleus without significant re-interaction.
Previously, nuclear transparencies were extructed for quasi-elastic A(e,e'p)
knockout of protons with momentum below the Fermi momentum, where the spectral
functions are well known. In this paper we extract a novel observable, the
transparency ratio, Tp(A)/T_p(12C), for knockout of high-missing-momentum
protons from the breakup of short range correlated pairs (2N-SRC) in Al, Fe and
Pb nuclei relative to C. The ratios were measured at momentum transfer Q^2 >
1.5 (GeV/c)^2 and x_B > 1.2 where the reaction is expected to be dominated by
electron scattering from 2N-SRC. The transparency ratios of the knocked-out
protons coming from 2N-SRC breakup are 20 - 30% lower than those of previous
results for low missing momentum. They agree with Glauber calculations and
agree with renormalization of the previously published transparencies as
proposed by recent theoretical investigations. The new transparencies scale as
A^-1/3, which is consistent with dominance of scattering from nucleons at the
nuclear surface.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
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Radiation exposure awareness from patients undergoing nuclear medicine diagnostic 99mTc-MDP bone scans and 2-deoxy-2-(18F) fluoro-D-glucose PET/computed tomography scans
INTRODUCTION: Medical imaging is on average the largest source of artificial radiation exposure worldwide. This study seeks to understand patient's awareness of radiation exposure derived from nuclear medicine diagnostic scans and assess if current information provided by leaflets is adequate.
METHODS: Single-centre cross-sectional questionnaire study applied to bone scan and FDG PET/computed tomography patients, at a nuclear medicine and PET/computed tomography department over a 15-week period in 2018. Questionnaires on dose comparators were designed in collaboration with patients, public, and experts in radiation exposure. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis and quantitative data using SPSS (V. 24).
RESULTS: A total of 102 questionnaires were completed (bone scan = 50; FDG PET/computed tomography = 52). Across both groups, 33/102 (32.4%) patients reported having a reasonable understanding of nuclear medicine and 21/102 (20.6%) reported a reasonable knowledge of ionising radiations. When asked to compare the exposure dose of respective scans with common comparators 8/50 (16%) of bone scan patients and 11/52 (21.2%) FDG PET/computed tomography answered correctly. On leaflet information, 15/85 (17.6%) patients reported the leaflets do not provide enough information on radiation exposure and of these 10/15 (66.7%) commented the leaflets should incorporate more information on radiation exposure dose.
CONCLUSION: More observational and qualitative studies in collaboration with patients are warranted to evaluate patients' understanding and preferences in communication of radiation exposure from nuclear medicine imaging. This will ensure communication tools and guidelines developed to comply with ionising radiation (medical exposure) regulation 2017 are according to patients needs and preferences
Nonmonotonic energy harvesting efficiency in biased exciton chains
We theoretically study the efficiency of energy harvesting in linear exciton
chains with an energy bias, where the initial excitation is taking place at the
high-energy end of the chain and the energy is harvested (trapped) at the other
end. The efficiency is characterized by means of the average time for the
exciton to be trapped after the initial excitation. The exciton transport is
treated as the intraband energy relaxation over the states obtained by
numerically diagonalizing the Frenkel Hamiltonian that corresponds to the
biased chain. The relevant intraband scattering rates are obtained from a
linear exciton-phonon interaction. Numerical solution of the Pauli master
equation that describes the relaxation and trapping processes, reveals a
complicated interplay of factors that determine the overall harvesting
efficiency. Specifically, if the trapping step is slower than or comparable to
the intraband relaxation, this efficiency shows a nonmonotonic dependence on
the bias: it first increases when introducing a bias, reaches a maximum at an
optimal bias value, and then decreases again because of dynamic (Bloch)
localization of the exciton states. Effects of on-site (diagonal) disorder,
leading to Anderson localization, are addressed as well.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Journal of Chemical Physic
Laser Control of Dissipative Two-Exciton Dynamics in Molecular Aggregates
There are two types of two-photon transitions in molecular aggregates, that
is, non-local excitations of two monomers and local double excitations to some
higher excited intra-monomer electronic state. As a consequence of the
inter-monomer Coulomb interaction these different excitation states are coupled
to each other. Higher excited intra-monomer states are rather short-lived due
to efficient internal conversion of electronic into vibrational energy.
Combining both processes leads to the annihilation of an electronic excitation
state, which is a major loss channel for establishing high excitation densities
in molecular aggregates. Applying theoretical pulse optimization techniques to
a Frenkel exciton model it is shown that the dynamics of two-exciton states in
linear aggregates (dimer to tetramer) can be influenced by ultrafast shaped
laser pulses. In particular, it is studied to what extent the decay of the
two-exciton population by inter-band transitions can be transiently suppressed.
Intra-band dynamics is described by a dissipative hierarchy equation approach,
which takes into account strong exciton-vibrational coupling in the
non-Markovian regime.Comment: revised version, fig. 8 ne
Systems, interactions and macrotheory
A significant proportion of early HCI research was guided by one very clear vision: that the existing theory base in psychology and cognitive science could be developed to yield engineering tools for use in the interdisciplinary context of HCI design. While interface technologies and heuristic methods for behavioral evaluation have rapidly advanced in both capability and breadth of application, progress toward deeper theory has been modest, and some now believe it to be unnecessary. A case is presented for developing new forms of theory, based around generic âsystems of interactors.â An overlapping, layered structure of macro- and microtheories could then serve an explanatory role, and could also bind together contributions from the different disciplines. Novel routes to formalizing and applying such theories provide a host of interesting and tractable problems for future basic research in HCI
Phonon density of states and heat capacity of La_(3âx)Te_4
The phonon density of states (DOS) of La_(3âx)Te_4 compounds (x=0.0,0.18,0.32) was measured at 300, 520, and 780 K, using inelastic neutron scattering. A significant stiffening of the phonon DOS and a large broadening of features were observed upon introduction of vacancies on La sites (increasing x). Heat-capacity measurements were performed at temperatures 1.85 †T †1200âK and were analyzed to quantify the contributions of phonons and electrons. The Debye temperature and the electronic coefficient of heat capacity determined from these measurements are consistent with the neutron-scattering results, and with previously reported first-principles calculations. Our results indicate that La vacancies in La_(3âx)Te_4 strongly scatter phonons and this source of scattering appears to be independent of temperature. The stiffening of the phonon DOS induced by the introduction of vacancies is explained in terms of the electronic structure and the change in bonding character. The temperature dependence of the phonon DOS is captured satisfactorily by the quasiharmonic approximation
Protecting Preteens on Facebook: An Exploratory Examination of Parental Mediation Strategies for Childrenâs Facebook Use in Singapore
Children are particularly vulnerable to the risks of going online, yet the profile of the child Internet user is becoming younger, particularly on social media. Parental mediation describes efforts by parents to translate the complexities of the physical/social environment as well as mass media into terms that children at various levels of cognitive development can understand. This exploratory study examined parental mediation strategies as predictors of parentsâ intention to control underage use of Facebook in Singapore, a country with high internet penetration but little data protection regulation. The study found that parents with mediation styles that were highest on Regulated mediation (Restrictive and Selective mediation) as well as parents whose eldest child was female showed the highest level of intentions to control underage Facebook usage. Additionally, the younger the age group of the eldest child in the family, the more likely parents were to express intentions to control Facebook usage
Regulation of Marginal Zone B-Cell Differentiation by MicroRNA-146a.
B-cell development in the bone marrow is followed by specification into functional subsets in the spleen, including marginal zone (MZ) B-cells. MZ B-cells are classically characterized by T-independent antigenic responses and require the elaboration of distinct gene expression programs for development. Given their role in gene regulation, it is not surprising that microRNAs are important factors in B-cell development. Recent work demonstrated that deficiency of the NFÎșB feedback regulator, miR-146a, led to a range of hematopoietic phenotypes, but B-cell phenotypes have not been extensively characterized. Here, we found that miR-146a-deficient mice demonstrate a reduction in MZ B-cells, likely from a developmental block. Utilizing high-throughput sequencing and comparative analysis of developmental stage-specific transcriptomes, we determined that MZ cell differentiation was impaired due to decreases in Notch2 signaling. Our studies reveal miR-146a-dependent B-cell phenotypes and highlight the complex role of miR-146a in the hematopoietic system
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