Short-Wavelength Light-Blocking Eyeglasses Attenuate Symptoms of Eye Fatigue

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether subjects who wear short wavelength–blocking eyeglasses during computer tasks exhibit less visual fatigue and report fewer symptoms of visual discomfort than subjects wearing eyeglasses with clear lenses.Methods: A total of 36 healthy subjects (20 male; 16 female) was randomized to wearing no-block, low-blocking, or high-blocking eyeglasses while performing a 2-hour computer task. A masked grader measured critical flicker fusion frequency (CFF) as a metric of eye fatigue and evaluated symptoms of eye strain with a 15-item questionnaire before and after computer use.Results: We found that the change in CFF after the computer task was significantly more positive (i.e., less eye fatigue) in the high-block versus the no-block (P = 0.027) and low-block (P = 0.008) groups. Moreover, random assignment to the high-block group but not to the low-block group predicted a more positive change in CFF (i.e., less eye fatigue) following the computer task (adjusted β = 2.310; P = 0.002). Additionally, subjects wearing high-blocking eyeglasses reported significantly less feeling pain around/inside the eye (P = 0.0063), less feeling that the eyes were heavy (P = 0.0189), and less feeling that the eyes were itchy (P = 0.0043) following the computer task, when compared to subjects not wearing high-blocking lenses.Conclusions: Our results support the hypothesis that short-wavelength light-blocking eyeglasses may reduce eye strain associated with computer use based on a physiologic correlate of eye fatigue and on subjects\u27 reporting of symptoms typically associated with eye strain

Strongly correlated wave functions for artificial atoms and molecules

A method for constructing semianalytical strongly correlated wave functions for single and molecular quantum dots is presented. It employs a two-step approach of symmetry breaking at the Hartree-Fock level and of subsequent restoration of total spin and angular momentum symmetries via Projection Techniques. Illustrative applications are presented for the case of a two-electron helium-like single quantum dot and a hydrogen-like quantum dot molecule.Comment: 9 pages. Revtex with 2 GIF and 1 EPS figures. Published version with extensive clarifications. A version of the manuscript with high quality figures incorporated in the text is available at http://calcite.physics.gatech.edu/~costas/qdhelproj.html For related papers, see http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~ph274c

Centre-of-mass separation in quantum mechanics: Implications for the many-body treatment in quantum chemistry and solid state physics

We address the question to what extent the centre-of-mass (COM) separation can change our view of the many-body problem in quantum chemistry and solid state physics. It was shown that the many-body treatment based on the electron-vibrational Hamiltonian is fundamentally inconsistent with the Born-Handy ansatz so that such a treatment can never respect the COM problem. Born-Oppenheimer (B-O) approximation reveals some secret: it is a limit case where the degrees of freedom can be treated in a classical way. Beyond the B-O approximation they are inseparable in principle. The unique covariant description of all equations with respect to individual degrees of freedom leads to new types of interaction: besides the known vibronic (electron-phonon) one the rotonic (electron-roton) and translonic (electron-translon) interactions arise. We have proved that due to the COM problem only the hypervibrations (hyperphonons, i.e. phonons + rotons + translons) have true physical meaning in molecules and crystals; nevertheless, the use of pure vibrations (phonons) is justified only in the adiabatic systems. This fact calls for the total revision of our contemporary knowledge of all non-adiabatic effects, especially the Jahn-Teller effect and superconductivity. The vibronic coupling is responsible only for removing of electron (quasi)degeneracies but for the explanation of symmetry breaking and forming of structure the rotonic and translonic coupling is necessary.Comment: 39 pages, 11 sections, 3 appendice

Validity of rating scale measures of voice quality

The validity of perceptual measures of vocal quality has been neglected in studies of voice, which focus more commonly on rater reliability. Validity depends in part on reliability, because an unreliable test does not measure what it is intended to measure. However, traditional measures of rating reliability only partially represent interrater agreement, because they cannot reflect variations or patterns of agreement for specific voice samples. In this paper the likelihood that two raters would agree in their ratings of a single voice is examined, for each voice in five previously gathered data sets. Results do not support the continued assumption that traditional rating procedures produce useful indices of listeners' perceptions. Listeners agreed very poorly in the midrange of scales for breathiness and roughness, and mean ratings in the midrange of such scales did not represent the extent to which a voice possesses a quality, but served only to indicate that listeners disagreed. Techniques like analysis by synthesis or judgment of similarity avoid decomposing quality into constituent dimensions, and do not require a listener to compare an external stimulus to an unstable internal representation, thus decreasing the error in measures of quality. Modeling individual differences in perception can increase the variance accounted for in models of quality, further reducing the error in perceptual measures. Thus such techniques may provide valid alternatives to current approaches

Phonons and related properties of extended systems from density-functional perturbation theory

This article reviews the current status of lattice-dynamical calculations in crystals, using density-functional perturbation theory, with emphasis on the plane-wave pseudo-potential method. Several specialized topics are treated, including the implementation for metals, the calculation of the response to macroscopic electric fields and their relevance to long wave-length vibrations in polar materials, the response to strain deformations, and higher-order responses. The success of this methodology is demonstrated with a number of applications existing in the literature.Comment: 52 pages, 14 figures, submitted to Review of Modern Physic

Perception of aperiodicity in pathological voice

Although jitter, shimmer, and noise acoustically characterize all voice signals, their perceptual importance in naturally produced pathological voices has not been established psychoacoustically. To determine the role of these attributes in the perception of vocal quality, listeners were asked to adjust levels of jitter, shimmer, and the noise-to-signal ratio in a speech synthesizer, so that synthetic voices matched naturally produced tokens. Results showed that, although listeners agreed well in their judgments of the noise-to-signal ratio, they did not agree with one another in their chosen settings for jitter and shimmer. Noise-dependent differences in listeners' ability to detect changes in amounts of jitter and shimmer implicate both listener insensitivity and inability to isolate jitter and shimmer as separate dimensions in the overall pattern of aperiodicity in a voice as causes of this poor agreement. These results suggest that jitter and shimmer are not useful as independent indices of perceived vocal quality, apart from their acoustic contributions to the overall pattern of spectrally shaped noise in a voice. (c) 2005 Acoustical Society of America

Size-scale affects the upper limit of elastic energy storage

Elastically-driven motion has been used as a strategy to achieve high speeds in small organisms and engineered micro-robotic devices. We examine the size-scaling relations determining the limit of elastic energy release from elastomer bands that efficiently cycle mechanical energy with minimal loss. The maximum center-of-mass velocity of the elastomer bands was found to be size-scale independent, while smaller bands demonstrated larger accelerations and shorter durations of elastic energy release. Scaling relationships determined from these measurements are consistent with the performance of small organisms and engineered devices which utilize elastic elements to power motion

A variation-perturbation method for atomic and molecular interactions. II. The interaction potential and van der Waals molecule for Ne–HF

A recently developed variation-perturbation theory for calculating intermolecular forces has been applied to the Ne–HF system for fixed H–F distances. The maximum well depth is 0.49 kJ/mol (41 cm-1) for a linear configuration with the H between the Ne and F and the Ne–H distance approximately 5.5 bohr. A secondary minimum of depth 0.24 kJ/mol (20 cm-1) was found for the other linear configuration at a Ne–F distance of about 7.0 bohr. A saddle point, about 0.20 kJ/mol (17 cm-1) deep, for the T-shaped configuration is present also at about 7.0 bohr. The potential has been used to calculate some of the bound state internal energies of the Ne–HF van der Waals molecule. The dissociation energy is 15 cm-1 from the lowest state. The Journal of Chemical Physics is copyrighted by The American Institute of Physics