15,792 research outputs found
The neural basis of unwanted thoughts during resting state.
Human beings are constantly engaged in thought. Sometimes thoughts occur repetitively and can become distressing. Up to now the neural bases of these intrusive or unwanted thoughts is largely unexplored. To study the neural correlates of unwanted thoughts, we acquired resting-state fMRI data of 41 female healthy subjects and assessed the self-reported amount of unwanted thoughts during measurement. We analyzed local connectivity by means of regional homogeneity (ReHo) and functional connectivity of a seed region. More unwanted thoughts (state) were associated with lower ReHo in right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and higher ReHo in left striatum (putamen). Additional seed-based analysis revealed higher functional connectivity of the left striatum with left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) in participants reporting more unwanted thoughts. The state-dependent higher connectivty in left striatum was positively correlated with rumination assessed with a dedicated questionnaire focussing on trait aspects. Unwanted thoughts are associated with activity in the fronto-striatal brain circuitry. The reduction of local connectivity in DLPFC could reflect deficiencies in thought suppression processes, whereas the hightened activity in left striatum could imply an imbalance of gating mechanisms housed in basal ganglia. Its functional connectivity to left IFG is discussed as the result of thought-related speech processes
An Optimization Model for the Banana Northern Prawn Fishery
This study presents an optimal control model of the Banana Northern Prawn Fishery, one of the most important fisheries in Australia. The life cycle of this species involves migration between the sea, where the catch takes place, and the estuary, where post-larvae and juveniles develop. The model combines a stage-matrix population dynamics model and an economic model of sustainable catch. The controls involve the amount of effort allowed and the length of the fishing season. Life stages are defined in terms of prawn size, allowing catch revenue to be adjusted to the expected proportion of specific sized classes caught in a particular month of the year, hence providing a more realistic projection of profits when price is influenced by size. The model is calibrated based on 18 years of detailed catch data.fisheries management, Australia, optimal control, profit maximisation, banana prawns., Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,
Theory of continuum percolation II. Mean field theory
I use a previously introduced mapping between the continuum percolation model
and the Potts fluid to derive a mean field theory of continuum percolation
systems. This is done by introducing a new variational principle, the basis of
which has to be taken, for now, as heuristic. The critical exponents obtained
are , and , which are identical with the mean
field exponents of lattice percolation. The critical density in this
approximation is \rho_c = 1/\ve where \ve = \int d \x \, p(\x) \{ \exp [-
v(\x)/kT] - 1 \}. p(\x) is the binding probability of two particles
separated by \x and v(\x) is their interaction potential.Comment: 25 pages, Late
Quantum theory of intersubband polarons
We present a microscopic quantum theory of intersubband polarons,
quasiparticles originated from the coupling between intersubband transitions
and longitudinal optical phonons. To this aim we develop a second quantized
theory taking into account both the Fr\"ohlich interaction between phonons and
intersubband transitions and the Coulomb interaction between the intersubband
transitions themselves. Our results show that the coupling between the phonons
and the intersubband transitions is extremely intense, thanks both to the
collective nature of the intersubband excitations and to the natural tight
confinement of optical phonons. Not only the coupling is strong enough to
spectroscopically resolve the resonant splitting between the modes (strong
coupling regime), but it can become comparable to the bare frequency of the
excitations (ultrastrong coupling regime). We thus predict the possibility to
exploit intersubband polarons both for applied optoelectronic research, where a
precise control of the phonon resonances is needed, and also to observe
fundamental quantum vacuum physics, typical of the ultrastrong coupling regime
Nonequilibrium critical scaling from quantum thermodynamics
The emerging field of quantum thermodynamics is contributing important
results and insights into archetypal many-body problems, including quantum
phase transitions. Still, the question whether out-of-equilibrium quantities,
such as fluctuations of work, exhibit critical scaling after a sudden quench in
a closed system has remained elusive. Here, we take a novel approach to the
problem by studying a quench across an impurity quantum critical point. By
performing density matrix renormalization group computations on the
two-impurity Kondo model, we are able to establish that the irreversible work
produced in a quench exhibits finite-size scaling at quantum criticality. This
scaling faithfully predicts the equilibrium critical exponents for the
crossover length and the order parameter of the model, and, moreover, implies a
new exponent for the rescaled irreversible work. By connecting the irreversible
work to the two-impurity spin correlation function, our findings can be tested
experimentally.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Quantum model of microcavity intersubband electroluminescent devices
We present a quantum theoretical analysis of the electroluminescence from an
intersubband transition of a quantum well structure embedded in a planar
microcavity. By using a cluster factorization method, we have derived a closed
set of dynamical equations for the quantum well carrier and cavity photon
occupation numbers, the correlation between the cavity field and the
intersubband polarization, as well as polarization-polarization contributions.
In order to model the electrical excitation, we have considered electron
population tunneling from an injector and into an extractor contact. The
tunneling rates have been obtained by considering the bare electronic states in
the quantum well and the limit of validity of this approximation (broad-band
injection) are discussed in detail. We apply the present quantum model to
provide a comprehensive description of the electronic transport and optical
properties of an intersubband microcavity light emitting diode, accounting for
non-radiative carrier relaxation and Pauli blocking. We study the enhancement
of the electroluminescence quantum efficiency passing from the weak to the
strong polariton coupling regime.Comment: Published as Phys. Rev. B 77, 155321 (2008
Mechanics of tubular meshes formed by elastic helical fibers
Tubular structures made of elastic helical fibers are widely found in nature and in technology. The complex and highly nonlinear mechanical properties of such assemblies have been understood either through minimal models or through complex simulations describing each individual fiber and their interactions. Here, inspired by Chebyshev’s geometric model of nets, we propose and experimentally validate a modeling framework that treats tubular braided meshes as continuum surfaces corresponding to the virtual envelope defined by the fibers. The key idea is to relate surface geometry and fiber kinematics, enabling us to follow large deformations. This theory is amenable to efficient computations and, in axisymmetric cases, the problem reduces to finding two scalar fields defined over 1D segments. We validate our model against experiments of axial compression, revealing the existence of a plateau with vanishing stiffness in the axial force–displacement curve, a feature that could prove particularly useful in applications where an applied compressive force needs to be held constant even against settlements of the compressed object
A Renormalization Proof of the KAM Theorem for Non-Analytic Perturbations
We shall use a Renormalization Group (RG) scheme in order to prove the
classical KAM result in the case of a non-analytic perturbation (the latter
will be assumed to have continuous derivatives up to a sufficiently large
order). We shall proceed by solving a sequence of problems in which the
perturbations are analytic approximations of the original one. We shall finally
show that the sequence of the approximate solutions will converge to a
differentiable solution of the original problem.Comment: 33 pages, no figure
Glycolaldehyde in Perseus young solar analogs
Aims: In this paper we focus on the occurrence of glycolaldehyde (HCOCH2OH)
in young solar analogs by performing the first homogeneous and unbiased study
of this molecule in the Class 0 protostars of the nearby Perseus star forming
region. Methods: We obtained sub-arcsec angular resolution maps at 1.3mm and
1.4mm of glycolaldehyde emission lines using the IRAM Plateau de Bure (PdB)
interferometer in the framework of the CALYPSO IRAM large program. Results:
Glycolaldehyde has been detected towards 3 Class 0 and 1 Class I protostars out
of the 13 continuum sources targeted in Perseus: NGC1333-IRAS2A1,
NGC1333-IRAS4A2, NGC1333-IRAS4B1, and SVS13-A. The NGC1333 star forming region
looks particularly glycolaldehyde rich, with a rate of occurrence up to 60%.
The glycolaldehyde spatial distribution overlaps with the continuum one,
tracing the inner 100 au around the protostar. A large number of lines (up to
18), with upper-level energies Eu from 37 K up to 375 K has been detected. We
derived column densities > 10^15 cm^-2 and rotational temperatures Trot between
115 K and 236 K, imaging for the first time hot-corinos around NGC1333-IRAS4B1
and SVS13-A. Conclusions: In multiple systems glycolaldehyde emission is
detected only in one component. The case of the SVS13-A+B and IRAS4-A1+A2
systems support that the detection of glycolaldehyde (at least in the present
Perseus sample) indicates older protostars (i.e. SVS13-A and IRAS4-A2), evolved
enough to develop the hot-corino region (i.e. 100 K in the inner 100 au).
However, only two systems do not allow us to firmly conclude whether the
primary factor leading to the detection of glycolaldehyde emission is the
environments hosting the protostars, evolution (e.g. low value of Lsubmm/Lint),
or accretion luminosity (high Lint).Comment: A&A, in pres
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