5,734 research outputs found
Magnetic fields and spiral arms in the galaxy M51
(Abridged) We use new multi-wavelength radio observations, made with the VLA
and Effelsberg telescopes, to study the magnetic field of the nearby galaxy M51
on scales from 200\pc to several \kpc. Interferometric and single dish data
are combined to obtain new maps at \wwav{3}{6} in total and polarized emission,
and earlier \wav{20} data are re-reduced. We compare the spatial distribution
of the radio emission with observations of the neutral gas, derive radio
spectral index and Faraday depolarization maps, and model the large-scale
variation in Faraday rotation in order to deduce the structure of the regular
magnetic field. We find that the \wav{20} emission from the disc is severely
depolarized and that a dominating fraction of the observed polarized emission
at \wav{6} must be due to anisotropic small-scale magnetic fields. Taking this
into account, we derive two components for the regular magnetic field in this
galaxy: the disc is dominated by a combination of azimuthal modes, , but
in the halo only an mode is required to fit the observations. We disuss
how the observed arm-interarm contrast in radio intensities can be reconciled
with evidence for strong gas compression in the spiral shocks. The average
arm--interam contrast, representative of the radii r>2\kpc where the spiral
arms are broader, is not compatible with straightforward compression: lower
arm--interarm contrasts than expected may be due to resolution effects and
\emph{decompression} of the magnetic field as it leaves the arms. We suggest a
simple method to estimate the turbulent scale in the magneto-ionic medium from
the dependence of the standard deviation of the observed Faraday rotation
measure on resolution. We thus obtain an estimate of 50\pc for the size of
the turbulent eddies.Comment: 21 pages, 18 figures (some at lower resolution than submitted
version), accepted for publication in MNRA
Retrospective Illumination Correction of Retinal Images
A method for correction of nonhomogenous illumination based on optimization of parameters of B-spline shading model with respect to Shannon's entropy is presented. The evaluation of Shannon's entropy is based on Parzen windowing method (Mangin, 2000) with the spline-based shading model. This allows us to express the derivatives of the entropy criterion analytically, which enables efficient use of gradient-based optimization algorithms. Seven different gradient- and nongradient-based optimization algorithms were initially tested on a set of 40 simulated retinal images, generated by a model of the respective image acquisition system. Among the tested optimizers, the gradient-based optimizer with varying step has shown to have the fastest convergence while providing the best precision. The final algorithm proved to be able of suppressing approximately 70% of the artificially introduced non-homogenous illumination. To assess the practical utility of the method, it was qualitatively tested on a set of 336 real retinal images; it proved the ability of eliminating the illumination inhomogeneity substantially in most of cases. The application field of this method is especially in preprocessing of retinal images, as preparation for reliable segmentation or registration
Role of MRI and ultrasonography in evaluation of multifidus muscle in chronic low back pain patients
Background: Low back pain (LBP) is a condition that will affect 60-80% of the population at some stage in their life. Epidemiological studies have shown that simple backache has point prevalence and a 1-month prevalence of 15-30% and 30-40% respectively. Studies that have been performed state that LBP is a self-limiting condition, but many people who have suffered from LBP will experience recurring episodes, which could lead to the development of chronic LBP. The objective of the study was to assess the role of MRI and USG in evaluating degenerative changes in multifidus muscle in chronic low back pain patients.Methods: A Cross-sectional Observational study was done in 30 patients. Adult patients of either sex who presented with low back pain for 6 weeks or more and Grade 1 and grade 2 degenerative intervertebral disc changes as seen on plain skiagrams of L-S spine, A-P and lateral views were subjected to MRI and Ultrasound.Results: Multifidus and paraspinal muscle atrophy and fatty degeneration should be considered in association with the clinical presentation and other abnormalities seen in MRI examination.Conclusions: Whether LBP duration, severity and associated functional disability affect the degree of paraspinal muscle degenerative changes remains unclear. Possible reasons underlying the discrepant findings include variations among the age and symptoms of duration of the studied populations and small sample size
Ultra-High Carrier Mobilities in Ferroelectric Domain Wall Corbino Cones at Room Temperature
Recently, electrically conducting heterointerfaces between dissimilar band-insulators (such as lanthanum aluminate and strontium titanate) have attracted considerable research interest. Charge transport has been thoroughly explored and fundamental aspects of conduction firmly established. Perhaps surprisingly, similar insights into conceptually much simpler conducting homointerfaces, such as the domain walls that separate regions of different orientations of electrical polarisation within the same ferroelectric band-insulator, are not nearly so well-developed. Addressing this disparity, we herein report magnetoresistance in approximately conical 180° charged domain walls, which occur in partially switched ferroelectric thin film single crystal lithium niobate. This system is ideal for such measurements: firstly, the conductivity difference between domains and domain walls is extremely and unusually large (a factor of at least 1013) and hence currents driven through the thin film, between planar top and bottom electrodes, are overwhelmingly channelled along the walls; secondly, when electrical contact is made to the top and bottom of the domain walls and a magnetic field is applied along their cone axes (perpendicular to the thin film surface), then the test geometry mirrors that of a Corbino disc, which is a textbook arrangement for geometric magnetoresistance measurement. Our data imply carriers at the domain walls with extremely high room temperature Hall mobilities of up to ~ 3,700cm2V-1s-1. This is an unparalleled value for oxide interfaces (and for bulk oxides too) and is most comparable to mobilities in other systems typically seen at cryogenic, rather than at room, temperature
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