Critical comments on the constancy of the speed of light

Criticisms on the theory of the constancy of the speed of light are answered. It is shown that the new theory is not logically inconsistent for the reasons expressed

Speed of light as measured by two terrestrial stable clocks

Despite the recent criticism within the special theory of relativity, there exists an arrangement of stable clocks rotating with the earth which predicts diurnal variations of the one-way speed of light, as suggested previously

Ferromagnetic insulating state in tensile-strained LaCoO3_3 thin films

With local density approximation + Hubbard $U$ (LDA+$U$) calculations, we show that the ferromagnetic (FM) insulating state observed in tensile-strained LaCoO$_3$ epitaxial thin films is most likely a mixture of low-spin (LS) and high-spin (HS) Co, namely, a HS/LS mixture state. Compared with other FM states, including the intermediate-spin (IS) state (\textit{metallic} within LDA+$U$), which consists of IS Co only, and the insulating IS/LS mixture state, the HS/LS state is the most favorable one. The FM order in HS/LS state is stabilized via the superexchange interactions between adjacent LS and HS Co. We also show that Co spin state can be identified by measuring the electric field gradient (EFG) at Co nucleus via nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy

Recycle-GAN: Unsupervised Video Retargeting

We introduce a data-driven approach for unsupervised video retargeting that translates content from one domain to another while preserving the style native to a domain, i.e., if contents of John Oliver's speech were to be transferred to Stephen Colbert, then the generated content/speech should be in Stephen Colbert's style. Our approach combines both spatial and temporal information along with adversarial losses for content translation and style preservation. In this work, we first study the advantages of using spatiotemporal constraints over spatial constraints for effective retargeting. We then demonstrate the proposed approach for the problems where information in both space and time matters such as face-to-face translation, flower-to-flower, wind and cloud synthesis, sunrise and sunset.Comment: ECCV 2018; Please refer to project webpage for videos - http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~aayushb/Recycle-GA

Sagnac Interferometer Enhanced Particle Tracking in Optical Tweezers

A setup is proposed to enhance tracking of very small particles, by using optical tweezers embedded within a Sagnac interferometer. The achievable signal-to-noise ratio is shown to be enhanced over that for a standard optical tweezers setup. The enhancement factor increases asymptotically as the interferometer visibility approaches 100%, but is capped at a maximum given by the ratio of the trapping field intensity to the detector saturation threshold. For an achievable visibility of 99%, the signal-to-noise ratio is enhanced by a factor of 200, and the minimum trackable particle size is 2.4 times smaller than without the interferometer

In-situ integrated processing and characterization of thin films of high temperature superconductors, dielectrics and semiconductors by MOCVD

In this strategy of depositing the basic building blocks of superconductors, semiconductors, and dielectric having common elements, researchers deposited superconducting films of Y-Ba-Cu-O, semiconductor films of Cu2O, and dielectric films of BaF2 and Y2O3 by metal oxide chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). By switching source materials entering the chamber, and by using direct writting capability, complex device structures like three-terminal hybrid semiconductors/superconductors transistors can be fabricated. The Y-Ba-Cu-O superconducting thin films on BaF2/YSZ substrates show a T(sub c) of 80 K and are textured with most of the grains having their c-axis or a-axis perpendicular to the substrate. Electrical characteristics as well as structural characteristics of superconductors and related materials obtained by x-ray defraction, electron microscopy, and energy dispersive x-ray analysis are discussed

In-situ integrated processing and characterization of thin films of high temperature superconductors, dielectrics and semiconductors by MOCVD

In this strategy of depositing the basic building blocks of superconductors, semiconductors, and dielectrics having common elements, researchers deposited superconducting films of Y-Ba-Cu-O, semiconductor films of Cu2O, and dielectric films of BaF2 and Y2O3 by metal oxide chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). By switching source materials entering the chamber, and by using direct writing capability, complex device structures like three terminal hybrid semiconductor/superconductor transistors can be fabricated. The Y-Ba-Cu-O superconducting thin films on BaF2/YSZ substrates show a T(sub c) of 80 K and are textured with most of the grains having their c-axis or a-axis perpendicular to the substrate. Electrical characteristics as well as structural characteristics of superconductors and related materials obtained by x-ray deffraction, electron microscopy, and energy dispersive x-ray analysis are discussed

Improvement of aerosol optical depth retrieval from MODIS spectral reflectance over the global ocean using new aerosol models archived from AERONET inversion data and tri-axial ellipsoidal dust database

New over-ocean aerosol models are developed by integrating the inversion data from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sun/sky radiometers with a database for the optical properties of tri-axial ellipsoid particles. The new aerosol models allow more accurate retrieval of aerosol optical depth (AOD) from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) in the case of high AOD (AOD > 0.3). The aerosol models are categorized by using the fine-mode fraction (FMF) at 550 nm and the single-scattering albedo (SSA) at 440 nm from the AERONET inversion data to include a variety of aerosol types found around the globe. For each aerosol model, the changes in the aerosol optical properties (AOPs) as functions of AOD are considered to better represent aerosol characteristics. Comparisons of AODs between AERONET and MODIS for the period from 2003 to 2010 show that the use of the new aerosol models enhances the AOD accuracy with a Pearson coefficient of 0.93 and a regression slope of 0.99 compared to 0.92 and 0.85 calculated using the MODIS Collection 5 data. Moreover, the percentage of data within an expected error of ± (0.03 + 0.05 × AOD) is increased from 62% to 64% for overall data and from 39% to 5% for AOD > 0.3. Errors in the retrieved AOD are further characterized with respect to the Ångström exponent (AE), scattering angle (Θ), SSA, and air mass factor (AMF). Due to more realistic AOPs assumptions, the new algorithm generally reduces systematic errors in the retrieved AODs compared with the current operational algorithm. In particular, the underestimation of fine-dominated AOD and the scattering angle dependence of dust-dominated AOD are significantly mitigated as results of the new algorithm's improved treatment of aerosol size distribution and dust particle nonsphericity