GEODYN system description, volume 1

A computer program for the estimation of orbit and geodetic parameters is presented. The areas in which the program is operational are defined. The specific uses of the program are given as: (1) determination of definitive orbits, (2) tracking instrument calibration, (3) satellite operational predictions, and (4) geodetic parameter estimation. The relationship between the various elements in the solution of the orbit and geodetic parameter estimation problem is analyzed. The solution of the problems corresponds to the orbit generation mode in the first case and to the data reduction mode in the second case

Schwannomatosis of the Spinal Accessory Nerve: A Case Report.

Schwannomatosis is a distinct syndrome characterized by multiple peripheral nerve schwannomas that can be sporadic or familial in nature. Cases affecting the lower cranial nerves are infrequent. Here, the authors present a rare case of schwannomatosis affecting the left spinal accessory nerve. Upon genetic screening, an in-frame insertion at codon p.R177 of the Sox 10 gene was observed. There were no identifiable alterations in NF1, NF2, LZTR1, and SMARCB1. This case demonstrates a rare clinical presentation of schwannomatosis in addition to a genetic aberration that has not been previously reported in this disease context

Efficient creation of molecules from a cesium Bose-Einstein condensate

We report a new scheme to create weakly bound Cs$_2$ molecules from an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. The method is based on switching the magnetic field to a narrow Feshbach resonance and yields a high atom-molecule conversion efficiency of more than 30%, a factor of three higher than obtained with conventional magnetic-field ramps. The Cs$_2$ molecules are created in a single $g$-wave rotational quantum state. The observed dependence of the conversion efficiency on the magnetic field and atom density shows scattering processes beyond two-body coupling to occur in the vicinity of the Feshbach resonance.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Europhysics Letter

Ocean warming-acidification synergism undermines dissolved organic matter assembly.

Understanding the influence of synergisms on natural processes is a critical step toward determining the full-extent of anthropogenic stressors. As carbon emissions continue unabated, two major stressors--warming and acidification--threaten marine systems on several scales. Here, we report that a moderate temperature increase (from 30°C to 32°C) is sufficient to slow--even hinder--the ability of dissolved organic matter, a major carbon pool, to self-assemble to form marine microgels, which contribute to the particulate organic matter pool. Moreover, acidification lowers the temperature threshold at which we observe our results. These findings carry implications for the marine carbon cycle, as self-assembled marine microgels generate an estimated global seawater budget of ~1016 g C. We used laser scattering spectroscopy to test the influence of temperature and pH on spontaneous marine gel assembly. The results of independent experiments revealed that at a particular point, both pH and temperature block microgel formation (32°C, pH 8.2), and disperse existing gels (35°C). We then tested the hypothesis that temperature and pH have a synergistic influence on marine gel dispersion. We found that the dispersion temperature decreases concurrently with pH: from 32°C at pH 8.2, to 28°C at pH 7.5. If our laboratory observations can be extrapolated to complex marine environments, our results suggest that a warming-acidification synergism can decrease carbon and nutrient fluxes, disturbing marine trophic and trace element cycles, at rates faster than projected

Nonlinear Evolution of Very Small Scale Cosmological Baryon Perturbations at Recombination

The evolution of baryon density perturbations on very small scales is investigated. In particular, the nonlinear growth induced by the radiation drag force from the shear velocity field on larger scales during the recombination epoch, which is originally proposed by Shaviv in 1998, is studied in detail. It is found that inclusion of the diffusion term which Shaviv neglected in his analysis results in rather mild growth whose growth rate is $\ll 100$ instead of enormous amplification $\sim 10^4$ of Shaviv's original claim since the diffusion suppresses the growth. The growth factor strongly depends on the amplitude of the large scale velocity field. The nonlinear growth mechanism is applied to density perturbations of general adiabatic cold dark matter (CDM) models. In these models, it has been found in the previous works that the baryon density perturbations are not completely erased by diffusion damping if there exists gravitational potential of CDM. With employing the perturbed rate equation which is derived in this paper, the nonlinear evolution of baryon density perturbations is investigated. It is found that: (1) The nonlinear growth is larger for smaller scales. This mechanism only affects the perturbations whose scales are smaller than $\sim 10^2M_\odot$, which are coincident with the stellar scales. (2) The maximum growth factors of baryon density fluctuations for various COBE normalized CDM models are typically less than factor 10 for $3-\sigma$ large scale velocity peaks. (3) The growth factor depends on $\Omega_{\rm b}$.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Ap

An automatic visual analysis system for tennis

This article presents a novel video analysis system for coaching tennis players of all levels, which uses computer vision algorithms to automatically edit and index tennis videos into meaningful annotations. Existing tennis coaching software lacks the ability to automatically index a tennis match into key events, and therefore, a coach who uses existing software is burdened with time-consuming manual video editing. This work aims to explore the effectiveness of a system to automatically detect tennis events. A secondary aim of this work is to explore the bene- fits coaches experience in using an event retrieval system to retrieve the automatically indexed events. It was found that automatic event detection can significantly improve the experience of using video feedback as part of an instructional coaching session. In addition to the automatic detection of key tennis events, player and ball movements are automati- cally tracked throughout an entire match and this wealth of data allows users to find interesting patterns in play. Player and ball movement information are integrated with the automatically detected tennis events, and coaches can query the data to retrieve relevant key points during a match or analyse player patterns that need attention. This coaching software system allows coaches to build advanced queries, which cannot be facilitated with existing video coaching solutions, without tedious manual indexing. This article proves that the event detection algorithms in this work can detect the main events in tennis with an average precision and recall of 0.84 and 0.86, respectively, and can typically eliminate man- ual indexing of key tennis events

Comment on anomalous dispersion and scattering rates for multiphonon spontaneous decay in He II

We report on new measurements of the spontaneous decay threshold energy Ec for high-frequency phonon propagation in He II at saturated vapor pressure at T=0.1 K. Superconducting tin tunnel generators and aluminum tunnel detectors were used in this study. The measurements show that the mean free path becomes much larger than the propagation length of 1.1 mm for a value of Ec =9.8±0.15 K. This agrees with the value originally reported (Ec =9.5±0.4 K) by Dynes and Narayanamurti using aluminum tunnel generators, but is shown to correspond to the point where the phase velocity equals the sound velocity, when the phonons become stable, as first proposed by Pitayevski and Levinson. Evidence for n-phonon decay at energies lower than Ec is presented for n≥2 with a short mean free path (<0.3 mm) at the two-phonon decay energy. The measured values of the dispersion parameters are shown to agree closely with the spline fit to neutron data due to donnelly, donnelly, and Hills

Fermion Masses and Mixings in GUTs with Non-Canonical U(1)_Y

We discuss fermion masses and mixings in models derived from orbifold GUTs such that gauge coupling unification is achieved without low energy supersymmetry by utilizing a non-canonical U(1)_Y. A gauged U(1)_X flavor symmetry plays an essential role, and the Green-Schwarz mechanism is invoked in anomaly cancellations. Models containing vector-like particles with masses close to M_{GUT} are also discussed.Comment: 18 page