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Portable Perimetry Using Eye-Tracking on a Tablet Computer—A Feasibility Assessment
Purpose: Visual field (VF) examination by standard automated perimetry (SAP) is an important method of clinical assessment. However, the complexity of the test, and its use of bulky, expensive equipment makes it impractical for case-finding. We propose and evaluate a new approach to paracentral VF assessment that combines an inexpensive eye-tracker with a portable tablet computer (“Eyecatcher”).
Methods: Twenty-four eyes from 12 glaucoma patients, and 12 eyes from six age-similar controls were examined. Participants were tested monocularly (once per eye), with both the novel Eyecatcher test and traditional SAP (HFA SITA standard 24-2). For Eyecatcher, the participant's task was to simply to look at a sequence of fixed-luminance dots, presented relative to the current point of fixation. Start and end fixations were used to determine locations where stimuli were seen/unseen, and to build a continuous map of sensitivity loss across a VF of approximately 20°.
Results: Eyecatcher was able to clearly separate patients from controls, and the results were consistent with those from traditional SAP. In particular, mean Eyecatcher scores were strongly correlated with mean deviation scores (r2 = 0.64, P < 0.001), and there was good concordance between corresponding VF locations (∼84%). Participants reported that Eyecatcher was more enjoyable, easier to perform, and less tiring than SAP (all P < 0.001).
Conclusions: Portable perimetry using an inexpensive eye-tracker and a tablet computer is feasible, although possible means of improvement are suggested.
Translational Relevance: Such a test could have significant utility as a case finding device
Difference of optical conductivity between one- and two-dimensional doped nickelates
We study the optical conductivity in doped nickelates, and find the dramatic
difference of the spectrum in the gap (\alt4 eV) between one- (1D)
and two-dimensional (2D) nickelates. The difference is shown to be caused by
the dependence of hopping integral on dimensionality. The theoretical results
explain consistently the experimental data in 1D and
2D nickelates, YCaBaNiO and LaSrNiO,
respectively. The relation between the spectrum in the X-ray aborption
experiments and the optical conductivity in LaSrNiO is
discussed.Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages, 4 figure
Fluctuations in Shear-Jammed States: A Statistical Ensemble Approach
Granular matter exists out of thermal equilibrium, i.e. it is athermal. While
conventional equilibrium statistical mechanics is not useful for characterizing
granular materials, the idea of constructing a statistical ensemble analogous
to its equilibrium counterpart to describe static granular matter was proposed
by Edwards and Oakshott more than two decades ago. Recent years have seen
several implementations of this idea. One of these is the stress ensemble,
which is based on properties of the force moment tensor, and applies to
frictional and frictionless grains. We demonstrate the full utility of this
statistical framework in shear jammed (SJ) experimental states [1,2], a special
class of granular solids created by pure shear, which is a strictly
non-equilbrium protocol for creating solids. We demonstrate that the stress
ensemble provides an excellent quantitative description of fluctuations in
experimental SJ states. We show that the stress fluctuations are controlled by
a single tensorial quantity: the angoricity of the system, which is a direct
analog of the thermodynamic temperature. SJ states exhibit significant
correlations in local stresses and are thus inherently different from
density-driven, isotropically jammed (IJ) states.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
The Low Column Density Lyman-alpha Forest
We develop an analytical method based on the lognormal approximation to
compute the column density distribution of the Lyman-alpha forest in the low
column density limit. We compute the column density distributions for six
different cosmological models and found that the standard, COBE-normalized CDM
model cannot fit the observations of the Lyman-alpha forest at z=3. The
amplitude of the fluctuations in that model has to be lowered by a factor of
almost 3 to match observations. However, the currently viable cosmological
models like the lightly tilted COBE-normalized CDM+Lambda model, the CHDM model
with 20% neutrinos, and the low-amplitude Standard CDM model are all in
agreement with observations, to within the accuracy of our approximation, for
the value of the cosmological baryon density at or higher than the old Standard
Bing Bang Nucleosynthesis value of 0.0125 for the currently favored value of
the ionizing radiation intensity. With the low value for the baryon density
inferred by Hogan & Rugers (1996), the models can only marginally match
observations.Comment: three postscript figures included, submitted to ApJ
Muon anomalous magnetic moment and lepton flavor violation in MSSM
We give a thorough analysis of the correlation between the muon anomalous
magnetic moment and the radiative lepton flavor violating (LFV) processes
within the minimal supersymmetric standard model. We find that in the case when
the slepton mass eigenstates are nearly degenerate, , coming from
SUSY contributions, hardly depends on the lepton flavor mixing and, thus, there
is no direct relation between and the LFV processes. On the
contrary, if the first two generations' sleptons are much heavier than the 3rd
one, i.e., in the effective SUSY scenario, the two quantities are closely
related. In the latter scenario, the SUSY parameter space to account for the
experimental is quite different from the case of no lepton
flavor mixing. Especially, the Higgsino mass parameter can be either
positive or negative.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures; Some discussions are modifie
Anti Microbial Resistance Profile of E. coli isolates From Tropical Free Range Chickens
Normal intestinal flora of humans and animals constitute enormous reservoir of resistance genes for potentially pathogenic bacteria and may serve as major indictors of selection pressure exerted by anti-microbial use in a given population. A study was conducted in September 2003 at 3 purposively selected peri-urban sites spread across 3 senatorial zones of Imo state, Nigeria to determines the anti-microbial resistance profile of commensal E. coli isolated from free range chickens. The isolates were screened for anti-microbial resistance profile against 10 antibiotics using the disc diffusion method. E. coli strains from local fowls, recorded 100 and 78.9% resistances against ampicillin and cotrimoxazole respectively, while resistance rates against ciprofloxacin, gentamycin and norfloxacin were 0.0, 5.3 and 5.3% respectively. Isolates from free-range cockerels recorded 100% resistance against norfloxacin, cotrimoxazole and ampicillin and 83.3% against nitrofurantoin. Similarly, isolates from old layers, recorded 100% resistance against nitrofurantoin, cotrimoxazole, tetracycline, chloramphenicol and ampicillin and 80% against nalidixic acid. Similar resistance trends were observed in E. coli isolates from free-range turkeys and broiler roosters against the inexpensive broad-spectrum first line antibiotics (ampicillin, nalidixic acid, cotrimoxazole, nitrofurantoin and chloramphenicol), although values varied slightly across poultry types. Resistances against gentamycin were consistently low in isolates from the different types of poultry. Twenty-nine resistance patterns were observed in the E. coli isolates with predominant patterns being distributed widely across poultry types indicating a striking diversity of resistance patterns in the areas
Why Do Granular Materials Stiffen with Shear Rate? : Test of Novel Stress-Based Statistics
Peer reviewedPublisher PD
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