Interaction Potential between the Ground States of H and Hˉ

An investigation of the interaction potential for H and H- in both ungerade and gerade modes is carried out by a semiempirical method in which the recently observed isotope effect in dissociative attachment of electrons to hydrogen molecules is used. The interaction obtained is complex, and the imaginary parts of the interaction account for electron emissions during the course of the interaction. A comparison of the present result with other calculations is presented. The isotope effect in dissociative attachment is also discussed. It is shown that the ratios of the survival probabilities alone do not provide an adequate approximation for the isotope effect

Survival Probability in Dissociative Attachment

The survival probability in dissociative attachment is investigated with special attention to the (e, H2 ) system. It is shown that the simple expression for the dissociative-attachment cross section, as given by the product of a capture cross section and a survival probability, is equivalent to the s -wave approximation for the g → g dissociative attachment. This expression, however, does not constitute an approximation for the g → u dissociative attachment, since the parity of the initial rotational states of H2 is always opposite to that of the relative angular momentum states of H and H- and the capture cross section appearing in the simple expression is identically zero. According to the Kronig selection rules and the symmetry requirements, only odd partial waves of the incident electron may contribute to the g → u dissociative attachment in the (e, H2 ) system. Consequently, the lowest contributing partial wave is not the s wave but the p wave of the incident electron. This, then, destroys the simple proportional dependence of the cross section on the survival probability. However, one may still express the cross section as a sum of products of a capture cross section and a survival probability for the various contributing angular momentum states of the constituent nuclei. The dependence of the survival probability on the angular momentum states of the constituent nuclei is also investigated for the (e, H2) system. It is observed that for the g → u dissociative attachment the survival probability depends strongly on the angular momentum states. This arises because the g → u dissociative attachment occurs at such a low energy that variations in the centrifugal barrier become comparable with the breakup energy of the constituent atoms. This then suggests a strong temperature dependence for the g → u dissociative attachment in the (e, H2) system. For the g → g dissociative attachment, such dependence is much weaker since here the process significant at a somewhat higher energy and the variation in centrifugal energy is overshadowed by the larger break-up energy of the constituent atoms. The validity of the commonly adopted approximation for survival probability (involving the auto-ionization width and relative velocity of the nuclei) is also examined

Associative Detachment: H+Hˉ→₂\u3csup\u3e*\u3c/sup\u3e+e

The process of associative detachment in the (H,H-) collision system is investigated at energies below 12 eV. In this energy region, the interaction potential between H and H- has recently been determined. The energy dependence of the cross section is calculated with explicit allowance for the production of hot hydrogen molecules. It is observed that associative detachment provides a possible mechanism for generating an inverted population of the residual molecule such as H2

Eikonal Approximation for Coupled Equations for Multichannel Scattering

It is well known that the Glauber approximation for scattering amplitudes is obtained by applying the eikonal approximation to the Fourier transform of the transition operator. The eikonal approximation can also be applied to the coupled equations of scattering obtained by the expansion of the state function in terms of a suitable set of functions. The scattering amplitude can thus be obtained by solving the set of eikonal coupled equations. The latter approach is analyzed for a special class of channel-coupling potentials. The first-order approximation to the derived eikonal coupled equations is the eikonal Born approximation. Numerical illustrations in this approximation are given for the 1s-2s and 1s-2p excitations of hydrogen atoms by electron and positron impact. The results are compared with those obtained in the Glauber eikonal approximation and with experimental measurements

Posterior eye shape measurement with retinal OCT compared to MRI

PURPOSE. Posterior eye shape assessment by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used to study myopia. We tested the hypothesis that optical coherence tomography (OCT), as an alternative, could measure posterior eye shape similarly to MRI. METHODS. Macular spectral-domain OCT and brain MRI images previously acquired as part of the Singapore Epidemiology of Eye Diseases study were analyzed. The right eye in the MRI and OCT images was automatically segmented. Optical coherence tomography segmentations were corrected for optical and display distortions requiring biometry data. The segmentations were fitted to spheres and ellipsoids to obtain the posterior eye radius of curvature (Rc) and asphericity (Qxz). The differences in Rc and Qxz measured by MRI and OCT were tested using paired t-tests. Categorical assignments of prolateness or oblateness using Qxz were compared. RESULTS. Fifty-two subjects (67.8 ± 5.6 years old) with spherical equivalent refraction from +0.50 to -5.38 were included. The mean paired difference between MRI and original OCT posterior eye Rc was 24.03 ± 46.49 mm (P = 0.0005). For corrected OCT images, the difference in Rc decreased to -0.23 ± 2.47 mm (P = 0.51). The difference between MRI and OCT asphericity, Qxz, was -0.052 ± 0.343 (P = 0.28). However, categorical agreement was only moderate (j = 0.50). CONCLUSIONS. Distortion-corrected OCT measurements of Rc and Qxz were not statistically significantly different from MRI, although the moderate categorical agreement suggests that individual differences remained. This study provides evidence that with distortion correction, noninvasive office-based OCT could potentially be used instead of MRI for the study of posterior eye shape

Transferability and Fine Mapping of Type 2 Diabetes Loci in African Americans: The Candidate Gene Association Resource Plus Study

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) disproportionally affects African Americans (AfA) but, to date, genetic variants identified from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are primarily from European and Asian populations. We examined the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and locus transferability of 40 reported T2D loci in six AfA GWAS consisting of 2,806 T2D case subjects with or without end-stage renal disease and 4,265 control subjects from the Candidate Gene Association Resource Plus Study. Our results revealed that seven index SNPs at the TCF7L2, KLF14, KCNQ1, ADCY5, CDKAL1, JAZF1, and GCKR loci were significantly associated with T2D (P < 0.05). The strongest association was observed at TCF7L2 rs7903146 (odds ratio [OR] 1.30; P = 6.86 × 10−8). Locus-wide analysis demonstrated significant associations (Pemp < 0.05) at regional best SNPs in the TCF7L2, KLF14, and HMGA2 loci as well as suggestive signals in KCNQ1 after correction for the effective number of SNPs at each locus. Of these loci, the regional best SNPs were in differential linkage disequilibrium (LD) with the index and adjacent SNPs. Our findings suggest that some loci discovered in prior reports affect T2D susceptibility in AfA with similar effect sizes. The reduced and differential LD pattern in AfA compared with European and Asian populations may facilitate fine mapping of causal variants at loci shared across populations

Toward an internally consistent astronomical distance scale

Accurate astronomical distance determination is crucial for all fields in astrophysics, from Galactic to cosmological scales. Despite, or perhaps because of, significant efforts to determine accurate distances, using a wide range of methods, tracers, and techniques, an internally consistent astronomical distance framework has not yet been established. We review current efforts to homogenize the Local Group's distance framework, with particular emphasis on the potential of RR Lyrae stars as distance indicators, and attempt to extend this in an internally consistent manner to cosmological distances. Calibration based on Type Ia supernovae and distance determinations based on gravitational lensing represent particularly promising approaches. We provide a positive outlook to improvements to the status quo expected from future surveys, missions, and facilities. Astronomical distance determination has clearly reached maturity and near-consistency.Comment: Review article, 59 pages (4 figures); Space Science Reviews, in press (chapter 8 of a special collection resulting from the May 2016 ISSI-BJ workshop on Astronomical Distance Determination in the Space Age

The genetic architecture of type 2 diabetes

The genetic architecture of common traits, including the number, frequency, and effect sizes of inherited variants that contribute to individual risk, has been long debated. Genome-wide association studies have identified scores of common variants associated with type 2 diabetes, but in aggregate, these explain only a fraction of heritability. To test the hypothesis that lower-frequency variants explain much of the remainder, the GoT2D and T2D-GENES consortia performed whole genome sequencing in 2,657 Europeans with and without diabetes, and exome sequencing in a total of 12,940 subjects from five ancestral groups. To increase statistical power, we expanded sample size via genotyping and imputation in a further 111,548 subjects. Variants associated with type 2 diabetes after sequencing were overwhelmingly common and most fell within regions previously identified by genome-wide association studies. Comprehensive enumeration of sequence variation is necessary to identify functional alleles that provide important clues to disease pathophysiology, but large-scale sequencing does not support a major role for lower-frequency variants in predisposition to type 2 diabetes

Post-capitalist property

When writing about property and property rights in his imagined post-capitalist society of the future, Marx seemed to envisage ‘individual property’ co-existing with ‘socialized property’ in the means of production. As the social and political consequences of faltering growth and increasing inequality, debt and insecurity gradually manifest themselves, and with automation and artificial intelligence lurking in the wings, the future of capitalism, at least in its current form, looks increasingly uncertain. With this, the question of what property and property rights might look like in the future, in a potentially post-capitalist society, is becoming ever more pertinent. Is the choice simply between private property and markets, and public (state-owned) property and planning? Or can individual and social property in the (same) means of production co-exist, as Marx suggested? This paper explores ways in which they might, through an examination of the Chinese household responsibility system (HRS) and the ‘fuzzy’ and seemingly confusing regime of land ownership that it instituted. It examines the HRS against the backdrop of Marx’s ideas about property and subsequent (post-Marx) theorizing about the legal nature of property in which property has come widely to be conceptualized not as a single, unitary ‘ownership’ right to a thing (or, indeed, as the thing itself) but as a ‘bundle of rights’. The bundle-of-rights idea of property, it suggests, enables us to see not only that ‘individual’ and ‘socialized’ property’ in the (same) means of production might indeed co-exist, but that the range of institutional possibility is far greater than that between capitalism and socialism/communism as traditionally conceived