1,998 research outputs found
Condensing Nielsen-Olesen strings and the vortex-boson duality in 3+1 and higher dimensions
The vortex-boson (or Abelian-Higgs, XY) duality in 2+1 dimensions
demonstrates that the quantum disordered superfluid is equivalent to an ordered
superconductor and the other way around. Such a duality structure should be
ubiquitous but in 3+1 (and higher) dimensions a precise formulation of the
duality is lacking. The problem is that the topological defects become extended
objects, strings in 3+1D. We argue how the condensate of such vortex strings
must behave from the known physics of the disordered superfluid, namely the
Bose-Mott insulator. A flaw in earlier proposals is repaired, and a more direct
viewpoint, avoiding gauge fields, in terms of the physical supercurrent is laid
out, that also easily generalizes to higher-dimensional and more complicated
systems. Furthermore topological defects are readily identified; we demonstrate
that the Bose-Mott insulator supports line defects, which may be seen in cold
atom experiments.Comment: LaTeX, 25 pages, 5 figures; several revisions and addition
Application of Modern Fortran to Spacecraft Trajectory Design and Optimization
In this paper, applications of the modern Fortran programming language to the field of spacecraft trajectory optimization and design are examined. Modern object-oriented Fortran has many advantages for scientific programming, although many legacy Fortran aerospace codes have not been upgraded to use the newer standards (or have been rewritten in other languages perceived to be more modern). NASA's Copernicus spacecraft trajectory optimization program, originally a combination of Fortran 77 and Fortran 95, has attempted to keep up with modern standards and makes significant use of the new language features. Various algorithms and methods are presented from trajectory tools such as Copernicus, as well as modern Fortran open source libraries and other projects
Fabrication and Characterization of Topological Insulator BiSe Nanocrystals
In the recently discovered class of materials known as topological
insulators, the presence of strong spin-orbit coupling causes certain
topological invariants in the bulk to differ from their values in vacuum. The
sudden change of invariants at the interface results in metallic, time reversal
invariant surface states whose properties are useful for applications in
spintronics and quantum computation. However, a key challenge is to fabricate
these materials on the nanoscale appropriate for devices and probing the
surface. To this end we have produced 2 nm thick nanocrystals of the
topological insulator BiSe via mechanical exfoliation. For crystals
thinner than 10 nm we observe the emergence of an additional mode in the Raman
spectrum. The emergent mode intensity together with the other results presented
here provide a recipe for production and thickness characterization of
BiSe nanocrystals.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures (accepted for publication in Applied Physics
Letters
A Musical instrument in MEMS
In this work we describe a MEMS instrument that resonates at audible frequencies, and with which music can be made. The sounds are generated by mechanical resonators and capacitive displacement sensors. Damping by air scales unfavourably for generating audible frequencies with small devices. Therefore a vacuum of 1.5 mbar is used to increase the quality factor and consequently the duration of the sounds to around 0.25 s. The instrument will be demonstrated during the MME 2010 conference opening, in a musical composition especially made for the occasion
Do Positive Psychological Characteristics Modify the Associations of Physical Performance With Functional Decline and Institutionalization? Findings From the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam
Objectives. To investigate whether 3 positive psychological characteristics, related to sense of control, modify the associations of physical performance levels with subsequent functional decline and institutionalization.Method. One thousand five hundred and thirty-two men and women participating in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam and not living in an institution in 2005-2006 were included. Mastery, self-efficacy, investment in independence, and objective physical performance scores were ascertained in 2005-2006. Functional decline and institutionalization were assessed after 3 years of follow-up.Results. The association between lower physical performance levels and increased odds of functional decline was modified by investment in independence, with a weaker association found among people with higher investment in independence scores than in people with lower scores even after adjustment for covariates. The association between lower physical performance levels and higher odds of institutionalization was marginally weaker among those people with above median levels of mastery (test of interaction p = .08). In men, an association between general self-efficacy and functional decline was found and maintained after adjustments.Conclusions. Positive psychological characteristics, related to sense of control, play a role in the transition between stages in the disablement process. Specific psychological characteristics may be associated with different stages of the disablement process and may in turn be affected by disablement
The violation of the Hund's rule in semiconductor artificial atoms
The unrestricted Pople-Nesbet approach for real atoms is adapted to quantum
dots, the man-made artificial atoms, under applied magnetic field. Gaussian
basis sets are used instead of the exact single-particle orbitals in the
construction of the appropriated Slater determinants. Both system chemical
potential and charging energy are calculated, as also the expected values for
total and z-component in spin states. We have verified the validity of the
energy shell structure as well as the Hund's rule state population at zero
magnetic field. Above given fields, we have observed a violation of the Hund's
rule by the suppression of triplets and quartets states at the 1p energy shell,
taken as an example. We also compare our present results with those obtained
using the LS-coupling scheme for low electronic occupations. We have focused
our attention to ground-state properties for GaAs quantum dots populated up to
forty electrons.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Semic. Sci. Techno
Physical health and the onset and persistence of depression in older adults: an eight-wave prospective community based study.
Background. Poor physical health has long been recognized to be one of the most important risk factors for depression in older adults. Since many aspects of physical health can be targeted for improvement in primary care, it is important to know whether physical health problems predict the onset and/or the persistence of depression. Methods. The study is based on a sample which at the outset consisted of 327 depressed and 325 non-depressed older adults (55-85) drawn from a larger random community-based sample in the Netherlands. Depression was measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CES-D) at eight successive waves. Results. From all incident episodes, the majority (57%) was short-lived. These short episodes could generally not be predicted by physical health problems. The remaining incident episodes (43%) were not short-lived and could be predicted by poor physical health. Chronicity (34%) was also predicted by physical health problems. Conclusions. The study design with its frequent measurements recognized more incident cases than previous studies; these cases however did have a better prognosis than is often assumed. The prognosis of prevalent cases was rather poor. Physical health problems were demonstrated to be a predictor of both the onset and the persistence of depression. This may well have implications for prevention and intervention
The association between depressive symptoms in the community, non-psychiatric hospital admission and hospital outcomes: a systematic review.
OBJECTIVES: This paper aims to systematically review observational studies that have analysed whether depressive symptoms in the community are associated with higher general hospital admissions, longer hospital stays and increased risk of re-admission. METHODS: We identified prospective studies that looked at depressive symptoms in the community as a risk factor for non-psychiatric general hospital admissions, length of stay or risk of re-admission. The search was carried out on MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library Database, and followed up with contact with authors and scanning of reference lists. RESULTS: Eleven studies fulfilled our inclusion and exclusion criteria, and all were deemed to be of moderate to high quality. Meta-analysis of seven studies with relevant data suggested that depressive symptoms may be a predictor of subsequent admission to a general hospital in unadjusted analyses (RR=1.36, 95% CI: 1.28-1.44), but findings after adjustment for confounding variables were inconsistent. The narrative synthesis also reported depressive symptoms to be independently associated with longer length of stay, and higher re-admission risk. CONCLUSIONS: Depressive symptoms are associated with a higher risk of hospitalisation, longer length of stay and a higher re-admission risk. Some of these associations may be mediated by other factors, and should be explored in more details.No funding bodies had any role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The authors have no competing interests to report. No specific funding was set aside for this project. Matthew Prina was supported by the Medical Research Council [grant number RG56433].This is the final published version. It first appeared from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2014.11.00
- …