3,979 research outputs found
Proca equations derived from first principles
Gersten has shown how Maxwell equations can be derived from first principles,
similar to those which have been used to obtain the Dirac relativistic electron
equation. We show how Proca equations can be also deduced from first
principles, similar to those which have been used to find Dirac and Maxwell
equations. Contrary to Maxwell equations, it is necessary to introduce a
potential in order to transform a second order differential equation, as the
Klein-Gordon equation, into a first order differential equation, like Proca
equations.Comment: 6 page
Measurement of retinal vessel widths from fundus images based on 2-D modeling
Changes in retinal vessel diameter are an important sign of diseases such as hypertension, arteriosclerosis and diabetes mellitus. Obtaining precise measurements of vascular widths is a critical and demanding process in automated retinal image analysis as the typical vessel is only a few pixels wide. This paper presents an algorithm to measure the vessel diameter to subpixel accuracy. The diameter measurement is based on a two-dimensional difference of Gaussian model, which is optimized to fit a two-dimensional intensity vessel segment. The performance of the method is evaluated against Brinchmann-Hansen's half height, Gregson's rectangular profile and Zhou's Gaussian model. Results from 100 sample profiles show that the presented algorithm is over 30% more precise than the compared techniques and is accurate to a third of a pixel
Optic nerve head segmentation
Reliable and efficient optic disk localization and segmentation are important tasks in automated retinal screening. General-purpose edge detection algorithms often fail to segment the optic disk due to fuzzy boundaries, inconsistent image contrast or missing edge features. This paper presents an algorithm for the localization and segmentation of the optic nerve head boundary in low-resolution images (about 20 /spl mu//pixel). Optic disk localization is achieved using specialized template matching, and segmentation by a deformable contour model. The latter uses a global elliptical model and a local deformable model with variable edge-strength dependent stiffness. The algorithm is evaluated against a randomly selected database of 100 images from a diabetic screening programme. Ten images were classified as unusable; the others were of variable quality. The localization algorithm succeeded on all bar one usable image; the contour estimation algorithm was qualitatively assessed by an ophthalmologist as having Excellent-Fair performance in 83% of cases, and performs well even on blurred image
Comment on "Plasma ionization by annularly bounded helicon waves" [Phys . Plasmas 13, 063501 (2006)]
The neoclassical calculation of the helicon wave theory contains a
fundamental flaw. Use is made of a proportional relationship between the
magnetic field and its curl to derive the Helmholtz equation describing helicon
wave propagation; however, by the fundamental theorem of Stokes, the curl of
the magnetic field must be perpendicular to that portion of the field
contributing to the local curl. Reexamination of the equations of motion
indicates that only electromagnetic waves propagate through a stationary region
of constant pressure in a fully ionized, neutral medium.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, to be published in Phys. Plasmas,
http://link.aip.org/link/?PHPAEN/16/054701/
Classical Physics and Quantum Loops
The standard picture of the loop expansion associates a factor of h-bar with
each loop, suggesting that the tree diagrams are to be associated with
classical physics, while loop effects are quantum mechanical in nature. We
discuss examples wherein classical effects arise from loop contributions and
display the relationship between the classical terms and the long range effects
of massless particles.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure
Topologically Massive Gauge Theory: A Lorentzian Solution
We obtain a lorentzian solution for the topologically massive non-abelian
gauge theory on AdS space by means of a SU(1, 1) gauge transformation of the
previously found abelian solution. There exists a natural scale of length which
is determined by the inverse topological mass. The topological mass is
proportional to the square of the gauge coupling constant. In the topologically
massive electrodynamics the field strength locally determines the gauge
potential up to a closed 1-form via the (anti-)self-duality equation. We
introduce a transformation of the gauge potential using the dual field strength
which can be identified with an abelian gauge transformation. Then we present
the map from the AdS space to the pseudo-sphere including the topological mass.
This is the lorentzian analog of the Hopf map. This map yields a global
decomposition of the AdS space as a trivial circle bundle over the upper
portion of the pseudo-sphere which is the Hyperboloid model for the Lobachevski
geometry. This leads to a reduction of the abelian field equation onto the
pseudo-sphere using a global section of the solution on the AdS space. Then we
discuss the integration of the field equation using the Archimedes map from the
pseudo-sphere to the cylinder over the ideal Poincare circle. We also present a
brief discussion of the holonomy of the gauge potential and the dual-field
strength on the upper portion of the pseudo-sphere.Comment: 23 pages, 1 postscript figur
Note on Comparability of MicroCog Test Forms
This study investigated the differences between the Standard and Short forms of MicroCog by comparing Domain scores for a clinical sample of 351 substance abusers which gave a significant difference between scores on the Spatial Processing Domain. Implications for research and clinical use are discussed
The economic optimisation of the main parameters of the 3-GeV electron booster synchrotron for DIAMOND
A possible genetic interpretation of the colour variants in the fleece of the Gotland and Goth sheep
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