From 3D Point Clouds to Pose-Normalised Depth Maps

We consider the problem of generating either pairwise-aligned or pose-normalised depth maps from noisy 3D point clouds in a relatively unrestricted poses. Our system is deployed in a 3D face alignment application and consists of the following four stages: (i) data filtering, (ii) nose tip identification and sub-vertex localisation, (iii) computation of the (relative) face orientation, (iv) generation of either a pose aligned or a pose normalised depth map. We generate an implicit radial basis function (RBF) model of the facial surface and this is employed within all four stages of the process. For example, in stage (ii), construction of novel invariant features is based on sampling this RBF over a set of concentric spheres to give a spherically-sampled RBF (SSR) shape histogram. In stage (iii), a second novel descriptor, called an isoradius contour curvature signal, is defined, which allows rotational alignment to be determined using a simple process of 1D correlation. We test our system on both the University of York (UoY) 3D face dataset and the Face Recognition Grand Challenge (FRGC) 3D data. For the more challenging UoY data, our SSR descriptors significantly outperform three variants of spin images, successfully identifying nose vertices at a rate of 99.6%. Nose localisation performance on the higher quality FRGC data, which has only small pose variations, is 99.9%. Our best system successfully normalises the pose of 3D faces at rates of 99.1% (UoY data) and 99.6% (FRGC data)

Imaging isodensity contours of molecular states with STM

We present an improved way for imaging the local density of states with a scanning tunneling microscope, which consists in mapping the surface topography while keeping the differential conductance (d$I$/d$V$) constant. When archetypical C$_{60}$ molecules on Cu(111) are imaged with this method, these so-called iso-d$I$/d$V$ maps are in excellent agreement with theoretical simulations of the isodensity contours of the molecular orbitals. A direct visualization and unambiguous identification of superatomic C$_{60}$ orbitals and their hybridization is then possible

Ternary Inorganic Electrides with Mixed Bonding

A high-throughput screening based on first-principles calculations was performed to search for new ternary inorganic electrides. From the available materials database, we identified three new thermodynamically stable materials (Li12Mg3Si4, NaBa2O, and Ca5Ga2N4) as potential electrides made by main group elements, in addition to the well known mayenite based electride (C12A7:e−). Different from those conventional inorganic electrides in which the excess electrons play only the role of anions, the three new materials, resembling the electrides found in simple metals under high pressure, possess mixed ionic and metallic bonding. The interplay between two competing mechanisms, together with the different crystal packing motifs, gives rise to a variety of geometries in anionic electrons and rich physical phenomena such as ferromagnetism, superconductivity, and metal-insulator transition. Our finding here bridges the gap between electrides found at ambient and high-pressure conditions

The Effect of Projection on Derived Mass-Size and Linewidth-Size Relationships

Power law mass-size and linewidth-size correlations, two of "Larson's laws," are often studied to assess the dynamical state of clumps within molecular clouds. Using the result of a hydrodynamic simulation of a molecular cloud, we investigate how geometric projection may affect the derived Larson relationships. We find that large scale structures in the column density map have similar masses and sizes to those in the 3D simulation (PPP). Smaller scale clumps in the column density map are measured to be more massive than the PPP clumps, due to the projection of all emitting gas along lines of sight. Further, due to projection effects, structures in a synthetic spectral observation (PPV) may not necessarily correlate with physical structures in the simulation. In considering the turbulent velocities only, the linewidth-size relationship in the PPV cube is appreciably different from that measured from the simulation. Including thermal pressure in the simulated linewidths imposes a minimum linewidth, which results in a better agreement in the slopes of the linewidth-size relationships, though there are still discrepancies in the offsets, as well as considerable scatter. Employing commonly used assumptions in a virial analysis, we find similarities in the computed virial parameters of the structures in the PPV and PPP cubes. However, due to the discrepancies in the linewidth- and mass- size relationships in the PPP and PPV cubes, we caution that applying a virial analysis to observed clouds may be misleading due to geometric projection effects. We speculate that consideration of physical processes beyond kinetic and gravitational pressure would be required for accurately assessing whether complex clouds, such as those with highly filamentary structure, are bound.Comment: 25 pages, including 7 Figures; Accepted for publication in Ap

Vesivirus 2117 capsids more closely resemble sapovirus and lagovirus particles than other known vesivirus structures

Vesivirus 2117 is an adventitious agent that in 2009, was identified as a contaminant of CHO cells propagated in bioreactors at a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant belonging to Genzyme. The consequent interruption in supply of Fabrazyme and Cerezyme (drugs used to treat Fabry and Gaucher disease respectively), caused significant economic losses. Vesivirus 2117 is a member of the Caliciviridae; a family of small icosahedral viruses encoding a positive sense RNA genome. We have used cryo-electron microscopy and three dimensional image reconstruction to calculate a structure of vesivirus 2117 virus like particles as well as feline calicivirus and a chimeric sapovirus. We present a structural comparison of several members of the Caliciviridae, showing that the distal P domain of vesivirus 2117 is morphologically distinct from that seen in other known vesivirus structures. Furthermore, at intermediate resolutions we found a high level of structural similarity between vesivirus 2117 and Caliciviridae from other genera, such as sapovirus and rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus. Phylogenetic analysis confirms vesivirus 2117 as a vesivirus closely related to canine vesiviruses. We postulate that morphological differences in virion structure seen between vesivirus clades may reflect differences in receptor usage

Computational Design of Flexible Electride with Nontrivial Band Topology

Electrides, with their excess electrons distributed in crystal cavities playing the role of anions, exhibit a variety of unique electronic and magnetic properties. In this work, we employ the first-principles crystal structure prediction to identify a new prototype of A3B electride in which both interlayer spacings and intralayer vacancies provide channels to accommodate the excess electrons in the crystal. This A3B type of structure is calculated to be thermodynamically stable for two alkaline metals oxides (Rb3O and K3O). Remarkably, the unique feature of multiple types of cavities makes the spatial arrangement of anionic electrons highly flexible via elastic strain engineering and chemical substitution, in contrast to the previously reported electrides characterized by a single topology of interstitial electrons. More importantly, our first-principles calculations reveal that Rb3O is a topological Dirac nodal line semimetal, which is induced by the band inversion at the general electronic k momentums in the Brillouin zone associated with the intersitial electric charges. The discovery of flexible electride in combining with topological electronic properties opens an avenue for electride design and shows great promises in electronic device applications

The quasi-periodic doubling cascade in the transition to weak turbulence

The quasi-periodic doubling cascade is shown to occur in the transition from regular to weakly turbulent behaviour in simulations of incompressible Navier-Stokes flow on a three-periodic domain. Special symmetries are imposed on the flow field in order to reduce the computational effort. Thus we can apply tools from dynamical systems theory such as continuation of periodic orbits and computation of Lyapunov exponents. We propose a model ODE for the quasi-period doubling cascade which, in a limit of a perturbation parameter to zero, avoids resonance related problems. The cascade we observe in the simulations is then compared to the perturbed case, in which resonances complicate the bifurcation scenario. In particular, we compare the frequency spectrum and the Lyapunov exponents. The perturbed model ODE is shown to be in good agreement with the simulations of weak turbulence. The scaling of the observed cascade is shown to resemble the unperturbed case, which is directly related to the well known doubling cascade of periodic orbits