A variational perturbation scheme for many-particle systems in the functional integral approach

A variational Perturbation theory based on the functional integral approach is formulated for many-particle systems. Using the variational action obtained through Jensen-Peierls' inequality, a perturbative expansion scheme for the thermodynamic potential is established. A modified Wick's theorem is obtained for the variational perturbation expansions. This theorem allows one to carry out systematic calculations of higher order terms without worrying about the double counting problem. A model numerical calculation was carried out on a nucleon gas system interacting through the Yukawa-type potential to test the efficiency of the present method.Comment: accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

A Near-Infrared Study of the Highly-Obscured Active Star-Forming Region W51B

We present wide-field JHKs-band photometric observations of the three compact HII regions G48.9-0.3, G49.0-0.3, and G49.2-0.3 in the active star-forming region W51B. The star clusters inside the three compact HII regions show the excess number of stars in the J-Ks histograms compared with reference fields. While the mean color excess ratio E(J-H)/E(H-Ks) of the three compact HII regions are similar to ~ 2.07, the visual extinctions toward them are somewhat different: ~ 17 mag for G48.9-0.3 and G49.0-0.3; ~ 23 mag for G49.2-0.3. Based on their sizes and brightnesses, we suggest that the age of each compact HII region is =< 2 Myr. The inferred total stellar mass, ~ 1.4 x 10^4 M_sun, of W51B makes it one of the most active star forming regions in the Galaxy with the star formation efficiency of ~ 10 %.Comment: 12 pages, 10 eps figures, uses jkas.st

Near-Infrared Spectroscopy of Infrared-Excess Stellar Objects in the Young Supernova Remnant G54.1+0.3

We present the results of broadband near-infrared spectroscopic observations of the recently discovered mysterious stellar objects in the young supernova remnant G54.1+0.3. These objects, which show significant mid-infrared-excess emission, are embedded in a diffuse loop structure of ~1' in radius. Their near-infrared spectra reveal characteristics of late O- or early B-type stars with numerous H and He I absorption lines, and we classify their spectral types to be between O9 and B2 based on an empirical relation derived here between the equivalent widths of the H lines and stellar photospheric temperatures. The spectral types, combined with the results of spectral energy distribution fits, constrain the distance to the objects to be 6.0 ± 0.4 kpc. The photometric spectral types of the objects are consistent with those from the spectroscopic analyses, and the extinction distributions indicate a local enhancement of matter in the western part of the loop. If these objects originate via triggered formation by the progenitor star of G54.1+0.3, then their formations likely began during the later evolutionary stages of the progenitor, although a rather earlier formation may still be possible. If the objects and the progenitor belong to the same cluster of stars, then our results constrain the progenitor mass of G54.1+0.3 to be between 18 and ~35 M_☉ and suggest that G54.1+0.3 was either a Type IIP supernova or, with a relatively lower possibility, Type Ib/c from a binary system

Non-invasive algorithm for bowel motility estimation using a back-propagation neural network model of bowel sounds

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Radiological scoring methods such as colon transit time (CTT) have been widely used for the assessment of bowel motility. However, these radiograph-based methods need cumbersome radiological instruments and their frequent exposure to radiation. Therefore, a non-invasive estimation algorithm of bowel motility, based on a back-propagation neural network (BPNN) model of bowel sounds (BS) obtained by an auscultation, was devised.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Twelve healthy males (age: 24.8 ± 2.7 years) and 6 patients with spinal cord injury (6 males, age: 55.3 ± 7.1 years) were examined. BS signals generated during the digestive process were recorded from 3 colonic segments (ascending, descending and sigmoid colon), and then, the acoustical features (jitter and shimmer) of the individual BS segment were obtained. Only 6 features (<it>J_{1, 3}, J_{3, 3}, S_{1, 2}, S_{2, 1}, S_{2, 2}, S_{3, 2}</it>), which are highly correlated to the CTTs measured by the conventional method, were used as the features of the input vector for the BPNN.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>As a results, both the jitters and shimmers of the normal subjects were relatively higher than those of the patients, whereas the CTTs of the normal subjects were relatively lower than those of the patients (<it>p </it>< 0.01). Also, through <it>k</it>-fold cross validation, the correlation coefficient and mean average error between the CTTs measured by a conventional radiograph and the values estimated by our algorithm were 0.89 and 10.6 hours, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The jitter and shimmer of the BS signals generated during the peristalsis could be clinically useful for the discriminative parameters of bowel motility. Also, the devised algorithm showed good potential for the continuous monitoring and estimation of bowel motility, instead of conventional radiography, and thus, it could be used as a complementary tool for the non-invasive measurement of bowel motility.</p