405 research outputs found
The "mirror box" illusion: effect of visual information on bimanual coordination in children with spastic hemiparetic cerebral palsy
The study examined symmetrical bimanual coordination of children with spastic hemiparetic cerebral palsy (SHCP) and a typically developing (TD) control group under conditions of visual feedback created by placing a glass screen, opaque screen or a mirror (âmirror boxâ) between the arms. The âmirror boxâ creates a visual illusion, which gives rise to a visual perception of a zero lag, symmetric movement between the two arms. Children with SHCP exhibited a similar mean coordination pattern as the TD control group, but had greater movement variability between the arms. Furthermore, movement variability in children with SHCP was significantly greater in the screen condition compared with the glass and mirror condition, which were similar to each other. The effects of the availability of visual feedback in individuals with hemiparesis are discussed with reference to central and peripheral mechanisms
Inducing safer oblique trees without costs
Decision tree induction has been widely studied and applied. In safety applications, such as determining whether a chemical process is safe or whether a person has a medical condition, the cost of misclassification in one of the classes is significantly higher than in the other class. Several authors have tackled this problem by developing cost-sensitive decision tree learning algorithms or have suggested ways of changing the
distribution of training examples to bias the decision tree learning process so as to take account of costs. A prerequisite for applying such algorithms is the availability of costs of misclassification.
Although this may be possible for some applications, obtaining reasonable estimates of costs of misclassification is not easy in the area of safety.
This paper presents a new algorithm for applications where the cost of misclassifications cannot be quantified, although the cost of misclassification in one class is known to be significantly higher than in another class. The algorithm utilizes linear discriminant analysis to identify oblique relationships between continuous attributes and then carries out an appropriate modification to ensure that the resulting tree errs on the side of safety. The algorithm is evaluated with respect to one of the best known cost-sensitive algorithms (ICET), a well-known oblique decision tree algorithm (OC1) and an algorithm that utilizes robust linear programming
Quantum Stabilizer Codes and Classical Linear Codes
We show that within any quantum stabilizer code there lurks a classical
binary linear code with similar error-correcting capabilities, thereby
demonstrating new connections between quantum codes and classical codes. Using
this result -- which applies to degenerate as well as nondegenerate codes --
previously established necessary conditions for classical linear codes can be
easily translated into necessary conditions for quantum stabilizer codes.
Examples of specific consequences are: for a quantum channel subject to a
delta-fraction of errors, the best asymptotic capacity attainable by any
stabilizer code cannot exceed H(1/2 + sqrt(2*delta*(1-2*delta))); and, for the
depolarizing channel with fidelity parameter delta, the best asymptotic
capacity attainable by any stabilizer code cannot exceed 1-H(delta).Comment: 17 pages, ReVTeX, with two figure
Revisiting consistency conditions for quantum states of systems on closed timelike curves: an epistemic perspective
There has been considerable recent interest in the consequences of closed
timelike curves (CTCs) for the dynamics of quantum mechanical systems. A vast
majority of research into this area makes use of the dynamical equations
developed by Deutsch, which were developed from a consistency condition that
assumes that mixed quantum states uniquely describe the physical state of a
system. We criticise this choice of consistency condition from an epistemic
perspective, i.e., a perspective in which the quantum state represents a state
of knowledge about a system. We demonstrate that directly applying Deutsch's
condition when mixed states are treated as representing an observer's knowledge
of a system can conceal time travel paradoxes from the observer, rather than
resolving them. To shed further light on the appropriate dynamics for quantum
systems traversing CTCs, we make use of a toy epistemic theory with a strictly
classical ontology due to Spekkens and show that, in contrast to the results of
Deutsch, many of the traditional paradoxical effects of time travel are
present.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, comments welcome; v2 added references and
clarified some points; v3 published versio
Creating Bell states and decoherence effects in quantum dots system
We show how to improve the efficiency for preparing Bell states in coupled
two quantum dots system. A measurement to the state of driven quantum laser
field leads to wave function collapse. This results in highly efficiency
preparation of Bell states. The effect of decoherence on the efficiency of
generating Bell states is also discussed in this paper. The results show that
the decoherence does not affect the relative weight of and in the
output state, but the efficiency of finding Bell states.Comment: 4 pages, 2figures, corrected some typo
Nano-Immunodetection and Quantification of Mycobacteria in Metalworking Fluids
The accurate detection and enumeration of mycobacteria in metalworking fluids (MWFs) is imperative from an environmental protection and occupational health perspective. We report here on a comparison of the labeling efficiency of nano-immunomagnetic particles (NIMP) and free antibody (FAb) to detect mycobacteria in semisynthetic MWF by using both traditional visualization analysis and cluster analysis aided visualization analysis (CAAVA). The NIMP labeling method involved coating nanometer-scale magnetic particles with Protein A, and oriented conjugation of polyclonal antibodies specific to Mycobacterium spp. The FAb labeling method is modified from the traditional immunofluorescence (IF) method for more efficient detection of mycobacteria in a model MWF. The labeling efficiency of NIMP and FAb were 7.2 ± 4.6 and 16.3 ± 5.5%, and the specificity 85.0 ± 6.1 and 88.1 ± 10.5%, respectively, based on traditional visualization analysis. Based on CAAVA analysis, the labeling efficiency of NIMP and FAb increased to 12.4 ± 1.6 and 20.5 ± 3.9%, and the specificity to 97.8 ± 3.2 and 98.5 ± 2.5%, respectively. A linear relationship of FCM counts and seeded concentrations was observed over four orders of magnitude (R 2 †0.99) in pure and ternary cultures. The results strongly support the applicability of either FAb or NIMP coupled with CAAVA and flow cytometry for rapid detection and enumeration of mycobacteria in complex matrices.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/63114/1/ees.2007.24.58.pd
Quantifying Entanglement Production of Quantum Operations
The problem of entanglement produced by an arbitrary operator is formulated
and a related measure of entanglement production is introduced. This measure of
entanglement production satisfies all properties natural for such a
characteristic. A particular case is the entanglement produced by a density
operator or a density matrix. The suggested measure is valid for operations
over pure states as well as over mixed states, for equilibrium as well as
nonequilibrium processes. Systems of arbitrary nature can be treated, described
either by field operators, spin operators, or any other kind of operators,
which is realized by constructing generalized density matrices. The interplay
between entanglement production and phase transitions in statistical systems is
analysed by the examples of Bose-Einstein condensation, superconducting
transition, and magnetic transitions. The relation between the measure of
entanglement production and order indices is analysed.Comment: 20 pages, Revte
Spin-gravity coupling and gravity-induced quantum phases
External gravitational fields induce phase factors in the wave functions of
particles. The phases are exact to first order in the background gravitational
field, are manifestly covariant and gauge invariant and provide a useful tool
for the study of spin-gravity coupling and of the optics of particles in
gravitational or inertial fields. We discuss the role that spin-gravity
coupling plays in particular problems.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figur
Towards a unified theory of Sobolev inequalities
We discuss our work on pointwise inequalities for the gradient which are
connected with the isoperimetric profile associated to a given geometry. We
show how they can be used to unify certain aspects of the theory of Sobolev
inequalities. In particular, we discuss our recent papers on fractional order
inequalities, Coulhon type inequalities, transference and dimensionless
inequalities and our forthcoming work on sharp higher order Sobolev
inequalities that can be obtained by iteration.Comment: 39 pages, made some changes to section 1
Changes of solar cell parameters during damp-heat exposure
The electrical ageing of photovoltaic modules during extended damp-heat tests at different stress levels is investigated for three types of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules with different backsheets, encapsulants and cell types. Deploying different stress levels allows determination of an equivalent stress dose function, which is a first step towards a lifetime prediction of devices. The derived humidity dose is used to characterise the degradation of power as well as that of the solar cell's equivalent circuit parameters calculated from measured currentâvoltage characteristics. An application of this to the samples demonstrates different modes in the degradation and thus enables better understanding of the module's underlying ageing mechanisms. The analysis of changes in the solar cell equivalent circuit parameters identified the primary contributors to the power degradation and distinguished the potential ageing mechanism for each types of module investigated in this paper. © 2016 The Authors. Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. © 2016 The Authors. Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.This work was supported in part by the European Commission under FP7 grant N° 262533 SOPHIA (INFRA-2010-
1.1.22_CP-CSA-Infra) and by the Research Councils UK (RCUK) under project âStability and Performance of Photovoltaics
(STAPP)â (contract no: EP/H040331/1)
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