Ferrofluid-based fllow manipulation and locomotion systems

The article demonstrates some examples of locomotion systems with bifluidic flow control using ferrofluid. By controlling the change of shape, position, and pressure of the ferrofluid in a secondary low viscous fluid by magnetic fields locomotion of objects or the ferrofluid itself can be realized. The locomotion of an object is caused, in the first example, by a ferrofluid generated flow of the secondary fluid and in the second and third case by the direct alteration of the ferrofluid position

Changes in quality of life, depression, general anxiety, and heart-focused anxiety after defibrillator implantation

Aims The Anxiety-CHF (Anxiety in patients with Chronic Heart Failure) study investigated heart-focused anxiety (HFA, with the dimensions fear, attention, and avoidance of physical activity), general anxiety, depression, and quality of life (QoL) in patients with heart failure. Psychological measures were assessed before and up to 2 years after the implantation of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) with or without cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D). Methods and results One hundred thirty-two patients were enrolled in this monocentric prospective study (44/88 CRT-D/ICD, mean age 61 ± 14 years, mean left ventricular ejection fraction 31 ± 9%, and 29% women). Psychological assessment was performed before device implantation as well as after 5, 12, and 24 months. After device implantation, mean total HFA, HFA-fear, HFA-attention, general anxiety, and QoL improved significantly. Depression and HFA-related avoidance of physical activity did not change. CRT-D patients compared with ICD recipients and women compared with men reported worse QoL at baseline. Younger patients (<median of 63 years) had higher levels of general anxiety and lower levels of HFA-avoidance at baseline than older patients. After 24 months, groups no longer differed from each other on these scores. Patients with a history of shock or anti-tachycardia pacing (shock/ATP; N = 19) reported no improvements in psychological measures and had significantly higher total HFA and HFA-avoidance levels after 2 years than participants without shock/ATP. Conclusions Anxiety and QoL improved after device implantation, and depression and HFA-avoidance remained unchanged. HFA may be more pronounced after shock/ATP. Psychological counselling in these patients to reduce HFA and increase physical activity should be considered

Quasi-elastic polarization-transfer measurements on the deuteron in anti-parallel kinematics

We present measurements of the polarization-transfer components in the $^2$H$(\vec e,e'\vec p)$ reaction, covering a previously unexplored kinematic region with large positive (anti-parallel) missing momentum, $p_{\rm miss}$, up to 220 MeV$/c$, and $Q^2=0.65$ $({\rm GeV}/c)^2$. These measurements, performed at the Mainz Microtron (MAMI), were motivated by theoretical calculations which predict small final-state interaction (FSI) effects in these kinematics, making them favorable for searching for medium modifications of bound nucleons in nuclei. We find in this kinematic region that the measured polarization-transfer components $P_x$ and $P_z$ and their ratio agree with the theoretical calculations, which use free-proton form factors. Using this, we establish upper limits on possible medium effects that modify the bound proton's form factor ratio $G_E/G_M$ at the level of a few percent. We also compare the measured polarization-transfer components and their ratio for $^2$H to those of a free (moving) proton. We find that the universal behavior of $^2$H, $^4$He and $^{12}$C in the double ratio $\frac{(P_x/P_z)^A}{(P_x/P_z)^{^1\rm H}}$ is maintained in the positive missing-momentum region

Generalized just-in-time trace compilation using a parallel task farm in a dynamic binary translator

Dynamic Binary Translation (DBT) is the key technology behind cross-platform virtualization and allows software compiled for one Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) to be executed on a processor supporting a different ISA. Under the hood, DBT is typically implemented using Just-In-Time (JIT) compilation of frequently executed program regions, also called traces. The main challenge is translating frequently executed program regions as fast as possible into highly efficient native code. As time for JIT compilation adds to the overall execution time, the JIT compiler is often decoupled and operates in a separate thread independent from the main simulation loop to reduce the overhead of JIT compilation. In this paper we present two innovative contributions. The first contribution is a generalized trace compilation approach that considers all frequently executed paths in a program for JIT compilation