628 research outputs found
Electron corrected Lorentz forces in solids and molecules in magnetic field
We describe the effective Lorentz forces on the ions of a generic insulating
system in an magnetic field, in the context of Born-Oppenheimer ab-initio
molecular dynamics. The force on each ion includes an important contribution of
electronic origin, which depends explicitly on the velocity of all other ions.
It is formulated in terms of a Berry curvature, in a form directly suitable for
future first principles classical dynamics simulations based {\it e.g.,} on
density functional methods. As a preliminary analytical demonstration we
present the dynamics of an H molecule in a field of intermediate strength,
approximately describing the electrons through Slater's variational
wavefunction.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures; to appear in Phys. Rev.
Optical Flow Distillation: Towards Efficient and Stable Video Style Transfer
Video style transfer techniques inspire many exciting applications on mobile
devices. However, their efficiency and stability are still far from
satisfactory. To boost the transfer stability across frames, optical flow is
widely adopted, despite its high computational complexity, e.g. occupying over
97% inference time. This paper proposes to learn a lightweight video style
transfer network via knowledge distillation paradigm. We adopt two teacher
networks, one of which takes optical flow during inference while the other does
not. The output difference between these two teacher networks highlights the
improvements made by optical flow, which is then adopted to distill the target
student network. Furthermore, a low-rank distillation loss is employed to
stabilize the output of student network by mimicking the rank of input videos.
Extensive experiments demonstrate that our student network without an optical
flow module is still able to generate stable video and runs much faster than
the teacher network
Evaluation of a Liquid Amine System for Spacecraft Carbon Dioxide Control
The analytical and experimental studies are described which were directed toward the acquisition of basic information on utilizing a liquid amine sorbent for in use in a CO2 removal system for manned spacecraft. Liquid amine systems are successfully used on submarines for control of CO2 generated by the crew, but liquid amines were not previously considered for spacecraft applications due to lack of development of satisfactory rotary phase separators. Developments in this area now make consideration of liquid amines practical for spacecraft system CO2 removal. The following major tasks were performed to evaluate liquid amine systems for spacecraft: (1) characterization, through testing, of the basic physical and thermodynamic properties of the amine solution; (2) determination of the dynamic characteristics of a cocurrent flow absorber; and (3) evaluation, synthesis, and selection of a liquid amine system concept oriented toward low power requirements. A low weight, low power system concept was developed. Numerical and graphical data are accompanied by pertinent observations
Spectroscopic Constraints on the Surface Magnetic Field of the Accreting Neutron Star EXO 0748-676
Gravitationally redshifted absorption lines of Fe XXVI, Fe XXV, and O VIII
were inferred recently in the X-ray spectrum of the bursting neutron star EXO
0748-676. We place an upper limit on the stellar magnetic field based on the
iron lines. The oxygen absorption feature shows a multiple component profile
that is consistent with Zeeman splitting in a magnetic field of ~(1-2)x10^9
gauss, and for which the corresponding Zeeman components of the iron lines are
expected to be blended together. In other systems, a field strength >5x10^{10}
gauss could induce a blueshift of the line centroids that would counteract
gravitational redshift and complicate the derivation of constraints on the
equation of state of the neutron star.Comment: 5 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Tetrachloroethylene-contaminated drinking water and the risk of breast cancer.
We conducted a population-based case-control study to evaluate the relationship between cases of breast cancer and exposure to tetrachloroethylene (PCE) from public drinking water ( n = 258 cases and 686 controls). Women were exposed to PCE when it leached from the vinyl lining of water distribution pipes. The relative delivered dose was estimated using an algorithm that accounted for residential history, water flow, and pipe characteristics. Only small increases in breast cancer risk were seen among ever-exposed women either when latency was ignored or when 5 to 15 years of latency was considered. No or small increases were seen among highly exposed women either when latency was ignored or when 5 years of latency was considered. However, the adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were more increased for highly exposed women when 7 and 9 years of latency, respectively, were considered (OR 1.5 95% CI 0.5-4.7 and OR 2.3, 95% CI 0.6-8.8 for the 75th percentile, and OR 2.7, 95% CI 0.4-15.8 and OR 7.6, 95% CI 0.9-161.3 for the 90th percentile). The number of highly exposed women was too small for meaningful analysis when more years of latency were considered. Because firm conclusions from these data are limited, we recently undertook a new study with a large number of more recently diagnosed cases
Presurgical tear characteristics and estimated shear modulus as predictors of repair integrity and shoulder function one year after rotator cuff repair
Background: Rotator cuff repair provides pain relief for many patients; however, retears are relatively common and affect approximately 20%-70% of patients after repair. Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers the ability to assess tissue characteristics such as tear size, retraction, and fatty infiltration, it provides little insight into the quality of the musculotendinous tissues the surgeon will encounter during surgery. However, shear wave elastography (SWE) could provide an indirect assessment of quality (ie, stiffness) by measuring the speed of shear waves propagating through tissue. The objective of this study was to determine the extent to which estimated shear modulus predicts repair integrity and functional outcomes 1 year after rotator cuff repair.
Methods: Thirty-three individuals scheduled to undergo arthroscopic rotator cuff repair were enrolled in this study. Before surgery, shear modulus of the supraspinatus tendon and muscle was estimated using ultrasound SWE. MRIs were obtained before and 1 year after surgery to assess tear characteristics and repair integrity, respectively. Shoulder strength, range of motion, and patient-reported pain and function were assessed before and after surgery. Functional outcomes were compared between groups and across time using a two-factor mixed model analysis of variance. Stepwise regression with model comparison was used to investigate the extent to which MRI and shear modulus predicted repair integrity and function at 1 year after surgery.
Results: At 1 year after surgery, 56.5% of patients had an intact repair. No significant differences were found in any demographic variable, presurgical tear characteristic, or shear modulus between patients with an intact repair and those with a recurrent tear. Compared with presurgical measures, patients in both groups demonstrated significant improvements at 1 year after surgery in pain (P \u3c .01), self-reported function (P \u3c .01), range of motion (P \u3c .01), and shoulder strength (P \u3c .01). In addition, neither presurgical MRI variables (P \u3e .16) nor shear modulus (P \u3e .52) was significantly different between groups at 1 year after surgery. Finally, presurgical shear modulus generally did not improve the prediction of functional outcomes above and beyond that provided by MRI variables alone (P \u3e .22).
Conclusion: Although SWE remains a promising modality for many clinical applications, this study found that SWE-estimated shear modulus did not predict repair integrity or functional outcomes at 1 year after surgery, nor did it add to the prediction of outcomes above and beyond that provided by traditional presurgical MRI measures of tear characteristics. Therefore, it appears that further research is needed to fully understand the clinical utility of SWE for musculoskeletal tissue and its potential use for predicting outcomes after surgical rotator cuff repair
Termination of cAMP signals by Ca2+ and Gαi via extracellular Ca2+ sensors: a link to intracellular Ca2+ oscillations
Termination of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) signaling via the extracellular Ca2+-sensing receptor (CaR) was visualized in single CaR-expressing human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells using ratiometric fluorescence resonance energy transfer–dependent cAMP sensors based on protein kinase A and Epac. Stimulation of CaR rapidly reversed or prevented agonist-stimulated elevation of cAMP through a dual mechanism involving pertussis toxin–sensitive Gαi and the CaR-stimulated increase in intracellular [Ca2+]. In parallel measurements with fura-2, CaR activation elicited robust Ca2+ oscillations that increased in frequency in the presence of cAMP, eventually fusing into a sustained plateau. Considering the Ca2+ sensitivity of cAMP accumulation in these cells, lack of oscillations in [cAMP] during the initial phases of CaR stimulation was puzzling. Additional experiments showed that low-frequency, long-duration Ca2+ oscillations generated a dynamic staircase pattern in [cAMP], whereas higher frequency spiking had no effect. Our data suggest that the cAMP machinery in HEK cells acts as a low-pass filter disregarding the relatively rapid Ca2+ spiking stimulated by Ca2+-mobilizing agonists under physiological conditions
Diffusion Monte Carlo calculations for the ground states of atoms and ions in neutron star magnetic fields
The diffusion quantum Monte Carlo method is extended to solve the old
theoretical physics problem of many-electron atoms and ions in intense magnetic
fields. The feature of our approach is the use of adiabatic approximation wave
functions augmented by a Jastrow factor as guiding functions to initialize the
quantum Monte Carlo prodecure. We calcula te the ground state energies of atoms
and ions with nuclear charges from Z= 2, 3, 4, ..., 26 for magnetic field
strengths relevant for neutron stars.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, proceedings of the "9th International Conference
on Path Integrals - New Trends and Perspectives", Max-Planck-Institut fur
Physik komplexer Systeme, Dresden, Germany, September 23 - 28, 2007, to be
published as a book by World Scientific, Singapore (2008
Electronic Structure of Atoms in Magnetic Quadrupole Traps
We investigate the electronic structure and properties of atoms exposed to a
magnetic quadrupole field. The spin-spatial as well as generalized time
reversal symmetries are established and shown to lead to a two-fold degeneracy
of the electronic states in the presence of the field. Low-lying as well as
highly excited Rydberg states are computed and analyzed for a broad regime of
field gradients. The delicate interplay between the Coulomb and various
magnetic interactions leads to complex patterns of the spatial spin
polarization of individual excited states. Electromagnetic transitions in the
quadrupole field are studied in detail thereby providing the selection rules
and in particular the transition wavelengths and corresponding dipole
strengths. The peculiar property that the quadrupole magnetic field induces
permanent electric dipole moments of the atoms is derived and discussed.Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in PR
Direct Immunosensor Design Based on the Electrochemical Reduction of 4-((4-Nitrophenyl) ethynyl) benzenethiol Monolayers
The synthesis and characterization of novel N-arylhydroxylamine-based molecular wires are described for use in the site-directed covalent immobilization of whole IgG antibodies onto gold electrode surfaces. The hydroxylamine, electrochemically generated in situ from reduction of the corresponding nitrobenzene, is stable under a wide range of solution conditions and reacts selectively with carbohydrate away from the antibody-binding site to allow the development of immunosensors with maximal activity. Cyclic voltammetric responses have shown a direct correlation between the structure and length of the molecular wire and its stability and concentration at the electrode surface
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