10,727 research outputs found
Nuclear Corrections to Hyperfine Structure in Light Hydrogenic Atoms
Hyperfine intervals in light hydrogenic atoms and ions are among the most
accurately measured quantities in physics. The theory of QED corrections has
recently advanced to the point that uncalculated terms for hydrogenic atoms and
ions are probably smaller than 0.1 parts per million (ppm), and the experiments
are even more accurate. The difference of the experiments and QED theory is
interpreted as the effect on the hyperfine interaction of the (finite) nuclear
charge and magnetization distributions, and this difference varies from tens to
hundreds of ppm. We have calculated the dominant component of the 1s hyperfine
interval for deuterium, tritium and singly ionized helium, using modern
second-generation potentials to compute the nuclear component of the hyperfine
splitting for the deuteron and the trinucleon systems. The calculated nuclear
corrections are within 3% of the experimental values for deuterium and tritium,
but are about 20% discrepant for singly ionized helium. The nuclear corrections
for the trinucleon systems can be qualitatively understood by invoking SU(4)
symmetry.Comment: 26 pages, 1 figure, latex - submitted to Physical Review
Frequency spectrum of gravitational radiation from global hydromagnetic oscillations of a magnetically confined mountain on an accreting neutron star
Recent time-dependent, ideal-magnetohydrodynamic (ideal-MHD) simulations of
polar magnetic burial in accreting neutron stars have demonstrated that stable,
magnetically confined mountains form at the magnetic poles, emitting
gravitational waves at (stellar spin frequency) and . Global
MHD oscillations of the mountain, whether natural or stochastically driven, act
to modulate the gravitational wave signal, creating broad sidebands (full-width
half-maximum ) in the frequency spectrum around and . The oscillations can enhance the signal-to-noise ratio achieved by a
long-baseline interferometer with coherent matched filtering by up to 15 per
cent, depending on where lies relative to the noise curve minimum.
Coherent, multi-detector searches for continuous waves from nonaxisymmetric
pulsars should be tailored accordingly.Comment: 4 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Validity, reliability, acceptability, and utility of the Social Inclusion Questionnaire User Experience (SInQUE): a clinical tool to facilitate social inclusion amongst people with severe mental health problems.
BACKGROUND: Individuals with severe mental health problems are at risk of social exclusion, which may complicate their recovery. Mental health and social care staff have, until now, had no valid or reliable way of assessing their clients' social inclusion. The Social Inclusion Questionnaire User Experience (SInQUE) was developed to address this. It assesses five domains: social integration; productivity; consumption; access to services; and political engagement, in the year prior to first psychiatric admission (T1) and the year prior to interview (T2) from which a total score at each time point can be calculated. AIMS: To establish the validity, reliability, and acceptability of the SInQUE in individuals with a broad range of psychiatric diagnoses receiving care from community mental health services and its utility for mental health staff. METHOD: Participants were 192 mental health service users with psychosis, personality disorder, or common mental disorder (e.g., depression, anxiety) who completed the SInQUE alongside other validated outcome measures. Test-retest reliability was assessed in a sub-sample of 30 participants and inter-rater reliability was assessed in 11 participants. SInQUE ratings of 28 participants were compared with those of a sibling with no experience of mental illness to account for shared socio-cultural factors. Acceptability and utility of the tool were assessed using completion rates and focus groups with staff. RESULTS: The SInQUE demonstrated acceptable convergent validity. The total score and the Social Integration domain score were strongly correlated with quality of life, both in the full sample and in the three diagnostic groups. Discriminant validity and test-retest reliability were established across all domains, although the test-retest reliability on scores for the Service Access and Political Engagement domains prior to first admission to hospital (T1) was lower than other domains. Inter-rater reliability was excellent for all domains at T1 and T2. CONCLUSIONS: The component of the SInQUE that assesses current social inclusion has good psychometric properties and can be recommended for use by mental health staff
Multifrequency Radio Observations of a SNR in the LMC. The Case of SNR J0527-6549 (DEM l204)
We present a detailed study and results of new Australia Telescope Compact
Array (ATCA) observations of supernova remnant, SNR J0527-6549. This Large
Magellanic Cloud (LMC) ob ject follows a typical supernova remnant (SNR)
horseshoe morphology with a diameter of D=(66x58)+-1 pc which is among the
largest SNRs in the LMC. Its relatively large size indicates older age while a
steeper than expected radio spectral index of aplha=-0.92+-0.11 is more typical
for younger and energetic SNRs. Also, we report detections of regions with a
high order of polarization at a peak value of ~54+-17% at 6 cm.Comment: 9 Pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in SA
High-concentration Er:YAG single-crystal fibers grown by laser-heated pedestal growth technique
High-concentration Er:YAG single-crystal fibers have been grown using the laser-heated pedestal growth technique. Instability in the melt and concomitant opacity of fibers were observed at source concentrations higher than 15 mol.%. Spectroscopic examination shows that broadening of the linewidth of the I<sub>13/2</sub>4→I<sub>15/2</sub>4 transition is strongly dependent on Er<sup>3+</sup> concentration
Magnetic structure of free cobalt clusters studied with Stern-Gerlach deflection experiments
We have studied the magnetic properties of free cobalt clusters in two
semi-independent Stern-Gerlach deflection experiments at temperatures between
60 and 307 K. We find that clusters consisting of 13 to 200 cobalt atoms
exhibit behavior that is entirely consistent with superparamagnetism, though
complicated by finite-system fluctuations in cluster temperature. By fitting
the data to the Langevin function, we report magnetic moments per atom for each
cobalt cluster size and compare the results of our two measurements and all
those performed previously. In addition to a gradual decrease in moment per
atom with increasing size, there are oscillations that appear to be caused by
geometrical shell structure. We discuss our observations in light of the two
competing models for Langevin-like magnetization behavior in free clusters,
superparamagnetism and adiabatic magnetization, and conclude that the evidence
strongly supports the superparamagnetic model
Innovative methods of ground improvement for railway embankment Peat Fens foundation soil
The aim of this research was to assess the feasibility of biocementing a problematic foundation soil of railway embankments from Peat Fens in East Anglia, UK. Biocementation of soil is an emerging, novel ground improvement technique. It has recently attracted the interest of researchers worldwide because it has been proposed as potentially environmentally superior to chemical grouts and other common soil stabilisers e.g. cement or lime (linked to high CO2 11 emissions). In this study we screened and isolated non-pathogenic indigenous ureolytic microbial candidates with potential for biocementation from samples originating from Peat Fens in East Anglia, UK. Four strains were selected as the most suitable candidates, based on their growth rate and their viability in a wide range of temperatures, pH and soil moisture contents corresponding to typical seasonal field conditions. After a number of Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) tests, one strain (Bacillus licheniformis) was selected as the most promising for this soil treatment and used for further study. Two different methods of implementation of the treatments were considered, namely pressure flow soil column and electrokinetic injection. The UCS results supported by CaCO3 measurements as well as microstructural SEM-EDS analysis proved that biocementation did occur for both implementation methods and for a number of treatment combinations. Ongoing work on optimisation of treatments and implementation methods is carried out towards the upscaling of the techniques for in situ implementation which is planned for the next stage of the research
Biocementation of an organic soil using indigenous ureolytic bacteria
This paper describes research aiming at assessing the potential for biocementation of an unsuitable organic foundation soil encountered in the UK railway network. As opposed to the majority of previous studies it focuses on isolation and use of non-pathogenic, indigenous ureolytic bacterial strains from the in situ soil, which are capable of inducing calcite precipitation. The paper describes the procedures for indigenous bacteria isolation and screening, their growth and urease activity and shows results from soil strength and calcite precipitation testing proving biocementation for this type of soil using indigenous bacteria
High fidelity imaging of geosynchronous satellites with the MROI
Interferometry currently provides the only practicable way to image satellites in Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) with sub-meter spatial resolution. The Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer (MROI) is being funded by the US Air Force Research Laboratory to demonstrate the 9.5 magnitude sensitivity (at 2.2 µm wavelength) and baseline-bootstrapping capability that will be needed to realize a useful turn-key GEO imaging capability. This program will utilize the central three telescopes of the MROI and will aim to validate routine acquisition of fringe data on faint well-resolved targets. In parallel with this effort, the University of Cambridge are investigating the spatial resolution and imaging fidelity that can be achieved with different numbers of array elements. We present preliminary simulations of snapshot GEO satellite imaging with the MROI. Our results indicate that faithful imaging of the main satellite components can be obtained with as few as 7 unit telescopes, and that increasing the number of telescopes to 10 improves the effective spatial resolution from 0.75 meter to 0.5 meter and enables imaging of more complex targets.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from SPIE via http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.223247
Towards the Development of Sustainable Ground Improvement Techniques —Biocementation Study of an Organic Soil
Ongoing research effort is dedicated to the development of innovative, superior and cost-effective ground improvement techniques to mitigate natural and man-made hazards while minimising waste and other environmental impacts. In this context, the nature-based process of biocementation of soils has been proposed as a potentially more sustainable technique than conventional chemical ground improvement practices. This paper focuses on the biocementation of an organic soil of the UK railway network. Having
recently proven the feasibility of biocementing this soil using indigenous ureolytic bacteria, in this paper, the authors perform a parametric study to identify treatments successful in increasing the strength of the soil. Selected treatments are then applied to the soil to assess its volume change during consolidation, secondary compression and shrinkage upon drying. The results show that, depending on the treatments used, biocementation has increased the unconfined compressive strength by up to 81% compared to that of the control
samples. For selected treatments and the range of water contents tested (55–33%), shrinkage upon drying reduced by 16%, while the volumetric strains of the soil upon 1-D compression reduced by 32–47%. This was reflected in the values of the coefficient of volume compressibility and the coefficient of secondary compression (the latter either reduced by up to an order of magnitude or secondary compression was not observed altogether in the testing period). Overall, the results proved that biocementation improved
considerably the mechanical properties of the organic soil, which gives promise for addressing the settlement problems of this soil
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