New and Simple Endo-extra Oesophagotracheal Method of Developing the Fistula for the Implantation of a Voice Prosthesis

The author has simplified the Blom-Singer1 puncture. The fistula is formed with the help of his new device, the endo-extralaryngeal needle carrier and pointed metal cone fixed to a catheter. The voice prosthesis is placed in the fistula formed thus in an endo-extra oesophagotracheal way. The advantage of the method is, that when the fistula being formed from inside out, the back wall of the oesophagus will not become injured

Initial stage of the 2D-3D transition of a strained SiGe layer on a pit-patterned Si(001) template

We investigate the initial stage of the 2D-3D transition of strained Ge layers deposited on pit-patterned Si(001) templates. Within the pits, which assume the shape of inverted, truncated pyramids after optimized growth of a Si buffer layer, the Ge wetting layer develops a complex morphology consisting exclusively of {105} and (001) facets. These results are attributed to a strain-driven step-meandering instability on the facetted side-walls of the pits, and a step-bunching instability at the sharp concave intersections of these facets. Although both instabilities are strain-driven, their coexistence becomes mainly possible by the geometrical restrictions in the pits. It is shown that the morphological transformation of the pit surface into low-energy facets has strong influence on the preferential nucleation of Ge islands at the flat bottom of the pits.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figure

A Schr¨odinger-Poisson-Boltzmann system applied to the charge carrier transport in strained silicon

In this paper, a kinetic modeling of the electron transport inside a strained-silicon device structure is established. The reduced conduction band energy of a strained layer gives rise to a potential well structure, which may have a varying bottom energy. Electrons are introduced into the well by remote antimony doping, where they form a two-dimensional electron gas. Quantum-mechanical aspects are treated by using a self-consistent Schr¨odinger-Poisson block (subband model). To account for the transport properties of the strained-silicon device structure, an adapted semi-classical formulation of the Boltzmann transport equation is applied. This approach allows us to consistently include the relevant scattering mechanisms. The resulting coupled Schr¨odinger-Poisson-Boltzmann system is used for a phononlimited mobility estimate

Searching for electromagnetic counterpart of LIGO gravitational waves in the Fermi GBM data with ADWO

The Fermi collaboration identified a possible electromagnetic counterpart of the gravitational wave event of September 14, 2015. Our goal is to provide an unsupervised data analysis algorithm to identify similar events in Fermi's Gamma-ray Burst Monitor CTTE data stream. We are looking for signals that are typically weak. Therefore, they can only be found by a careful analysis of count rates of all detectors and energy channels simultaneously. Our Automatized Detector Weight Optimization (ADWO) method consists of a search for the signal, and a test of its significance. We developed ADWO, a virtual detector analysis tool for multi-channel multi-detector signals, and performed successful searches for short transients in the data-streams. We have identified GRB150522B, as well as possible electromagnetic candidates of the transients GW150914 and LVT151012. ADWO is an independently developed, unsupervised data analysis tool that only relies on the raw data of the Fermi satellite. It can therefore provide a strong, independent test to any electromagnetic signal accompanying future gravitational wave observations.Comment: 4 pages and 4 figures, A&A Letters accepte

Fluorescent visualization of a spreading surfactant

The spreading of surfactants on thin films is an industrially and medically important phenomenon, but the dynamics are highly nonlinear and visualization of the surfactant dynamics has been a long-standing experimental challenge. We perform the first quantitative, spatiotemporally-resolved measurements of the spreading of an insoluble surfactant on a thin fluid layer. During the spreading process, we directly observe both the radial height profile of the spreading droplet and the spatial distribution of the fluorescently-tagged surfactant. We find that the leading edge of spreading circular layer of surfactant forms a Marangoni ridge in the underlying fluid, with a trough trailing the ridge as expected. However, several novel features are observed using the fluorescence technique, including a peak in the surfactant concentration which trails the leading edge, and a flat, monolayer-scale spreading film which differs from concentration profiles predicted by current models. Both the Marangoni ridge and surfactant leading edge can be described to spread as $R \propto t^{\delta}$. We find spreading exponents, $\delta_H \approx 0.30$ and $\delta_\Gamma \approx 0.22$ for the ridge peak and surfactant leading edge, respectively, which are in good agreement with theoretical predictions of $\delta = 1/4$. In addition, we observe that the surfactant leading edge initially leads the peak of the Marangoni ridge, with the peak later catching up to the leading edge

Probability density functions for the variable solar wind near the solar cycle minimum

Unconditional and conditional statistics are used for studying the histograms of magnetic field multiscale fluctuations in the solar wind near the solar cycle minimum in 2008. The unconditional statistics involves the magnetic data during the whole year in 2008. The conditional statistics involves the magnetic field time series split into concatenated subsets of data according to a threshold in dynamic pressure. The threshold separates fast-stream leading edge compressional and trailing edge uncompressional fluctuations. The histograms obtained from these data sets are associated with both multiscale (B) and small-scale (δB) magnetic fluctuations, the latter corresponding to time-delayed differences. It is shown here that, by keeping flexibility but avoiding the unnecessary redundancy in modeling, the histograms can be effectively described by a limited set of theoretical probability distribution functions (PDFs), such as the normal, lognormal, kappa, and log-kappa functions. In a statistical sense the model PDFs correspond to additive and multiplicative processes exhibiting correlations. It is demonstrated here that the skewed small-scale histograms inherent in turbulent cascades are better described by the skewed log-kappa than by the symmetric kappa model. Nevertheless, the observed skewness is rather small, resulting in potential difficulties of estimation of the third-order moments. This paper also investigates the dependence of the statistical convergence of PDF model parameters, goodness of fit, and skewness on the data sample size. It is shown that the minimum lengths of data intervals required for the robust estimation of parameters is scale, process, and model dependent. ©2015. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved

The unitary ability of IQ and indexes in WAIS-IV

Lichtenberger and Kaufman (2009, p. 167) defined unitary ability as ‘an ability […] that is represented by a cohesive set of scaled scores, each reflecting slightly different or unique aspects of the ability’. Flanagan and Kaufman (2009) and Lichtenberger and Kaufman (2012) used a difference of 23 IQ points between the highest score (Max) and the lowest score (Min) obtained by a subject in the four Indexes of the WAIS-IV to define unitarity of the total IQ score. A similar method has been used to assess the unitary ability of the four Indexes, with a threshold of 5 points. Such difference scores (of 23 for IQ and 5 for Indexes) are considered high and infrequent and the authors therefore conclude that the corresponding Full-Scale IQ score or Index score is uninterpretable. In this paper we argue that these thresholds are inappropriate because they are based on the wrong standard deviation. The main aim of this study was to establish variability thresholds for IQ and the WAIS-IV Indexes for the American standardization sample and to compare these thresholds with those for the Italian standardization sample. We also consider an alternative approach to determining whether an IQ score represents a unitary ability, based on the maximum difference score for the 10 core subtests that contribute to Full-Scale IQ scores

Coulomb Blockade and Coherent Single-Cooper-Pair Tunneling in Single Josephson Junctions

We have measured the current-voltage characteristics of small-capacitance single Josephson junctions at low temperatures (T < 0.04 K), where the strength of the coupling between the single junction and the electromagnetic environment was controlled with one-dimensional arrays of dc SQUIDs. We have clearly observed Coulomb blockade of Cooper-pair tunneling and even a region of negative differential resistance, when the zero-bias resistance of the SQUID arrays is much higher than the quantum resistance h/e^2 = 26 kohm. The negative differential resistance is evidence of coherent single-Cooper-pair tunneling in the single Josephson junction.Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages with 6 embedded figure

Quantum Effects in Small-Capacitance Single Josephson Junctions

We have measured the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of small-capacitance single Josephson junctions at low temperatures (T=0.02-0.6 K), where the strength of the coupling between the single junction and the electromagnetic environment was controlled with one-dimensional arrays of dc SQUIDs. The single-junction I-V curve is sensitive to the impedance of the environment, which can be tuned IN SITU. We have observed Coulomb blockade of Cooper-pair tunneling and even a region of negative differential resistance, when the zero-bias resistance R_0' of the SQUID arrays is much higher than the quantum resistance R_K = h/e^2 = 26 kohm. The negative differential resistance is evidence of coherent single-Cooper-pair tunneling within the theory of current-biased single Josephson junctions. Based on the theory, we have calculated the I-V curves numerically in order to compare with the experimental ones at R_0' >> R_K. The numerical calculation agrees with the experiments qualitatively. We also discuss the R_0' dependence of the single-Josephson-junction I-V curve in terms of the superconductor-insulator transition driven by changing the coupling to the environment.Comment: 11 pages with 14 embedded figures, RevTeX4, final versio