35,958 research outputs found
Improved shape-signature and matching methods for model-based robotic vision
Researchers describe new techniques for curve matching and model-based object recognition, which are based on the notion of shape-signature. The signature which researchers use is an approximation of pointwise curvature. Described here is curve matching algorithm which generalizes a previous algorithm which was developed using this signature, allowing improvement and generalization of a previous model-based object recognition scheme. The results and the experiments described relate to 2-D images. However, natural extensions to the 3-D case exist and are being developed
Effects of low energy electron irradiation on formation of nitrogen-vacancy centers in single-crystal diamond
Exposure to beams of low energy electrons (2 to 30 keV) in a scanning
electron microscope locally induces formation of NV-centers without thermal
annealing in diamonds that have been implanted with nitrogen ions. We find that
non-thermal, electron beam induced NV-formation is about four times less
efficient than thermal annealing. But NV-center formation in a consecutive
thermal annealing step (800C) following exposure to low energy electrons
increases by a factor of up to 1.8 compared to thermal annealing alone. These
observations point to reconstruction of nitrogen-vacancy complexes induced by
electronic excitations from low energy electrons as an NV-center formation
mechanism and identify local electronic excitations as a means for spatially
controlled room-temperature NV-center formation
Ion kinetic energy conservation and magnetic field strength constancy in multi-fluid solar wind Alfv\'enic turbulence
We investigate properties of the plasma fluid motion in the large amplitude
low frequency fluctuations of highly Alfv\'enic fast solar wind. We show that
protons locally conserve total kinetic energy when observed from an effective
frame of reference comoving with the fluctuations. For typical properties of
the fast wind, this frame can be reasonably identified by alpha particles,
which, owing to their drift with respect to protons at about the Alfv\'en speed
along the magnetic field, do not partake in the fluid low frequency
fluctuations. Using their velocity to transform proton velocity into the frame
of Alfv\'enic turbulence, we demonstrate that the resulting plasma motion is
characterized by a constant absolute value of the velocity, zero electric
fields, and aligned velocity and magnetic field vectors as expected for
unidirectional Alfv\'enic fluctuations in equilibrium. We propose that this
constraint, via the correlation between velocity and magnetic field in
Alfv\'enic turbulence, is at the origin of the observed constancy of the
magnetic field: while the constant velocity corresponding to constant energy
can be only observed in the frame of the fluctuations, the correspondingly
constant total magnetic field, invariant for Galilean transformations, remains
the observational signature, in the spacecraft frame, of the constant total
energy in the Alfv\'en turbulence frame.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journa
Influence of substrate temperature on lattice strain field and phase transition in MeV oxygen ion implanted GaAs crystals
A detailed study of the influence of substrate temperature on the radiation-induced lattice strain field and crystalline-to-amorphous (c-a) phase transition in MeV oxygen ion implanted GaAs crystals has been made using channeling Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry, and the x-ray rocking curve technique. A comparison has been made between the cases of room temperature (RT) and low temperature (LT) (about 100 K) implantation. A strong in situ dynamic annealing process is found in RT implantation at a moderate beam current, resulting in a uniform positive strain field in the implanted layer. LT implantation introduces a freeze-in effect which impedes the recombination and diffusion of initial radiation-created lattice damage and defects, and in turn drives more efficiently the c-a transition as well as strain saturation and relaxation. The results are interpreted with a spike damage model in which the defect production process is described in terms of the competition between defect generation by nuclear spikes and defects diffusion and recombination stimulated by electronic spikes. It is also suggested that the excess population of vacancies and their complexes is responsible for lattice spacing expansion in ion-implanted GaAs crystals
Temporal Correlations and Persistence in the Kinetic Ising Model: the Role of Temperature
We study the statistical properties of the sum , that is the difference of time spent positive or negative by the
spin , located at a given site of a -dimensional Ising model
evolving under Glauber dynamics from a random initial configuration. We
investigate the distribution of and the first-passage statistics
(persistence) of this quantity. We discuss successively the three regimes of
high temperature (), criticality (), and low temperature
(). We discuss in particular the question of the temperature
dependence of the persistence exponent , as well as that of the
spectrum of exponents , in the low temperature phase. The
probability that the temporal mean was always larger than the
equilibrium magnetization is found to decay as . This
yields a numerical determination of the persistence exponent in the
whole low temperature phase, in two dimensions, and above the roughening
transition, in the low-temperature phase of the three-dimensional Ising model.Comment: 21 pages, 11 PostScript figures included (1 color figure
Development of high critical current density in multifilamentary round-wire Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x by strong overdoping
Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x is the only cuprate superconductor that can be made into a
round-wire conductor form with a high enough critical current density Jc for
applications. Here we show that the Jc(5 T,4.2 K) of such Ag-sheathed
filamentary wires can be doubled to more than 1.4x10^5 A/cm^2 by low
temperature oxygenation. Careful analysis shows that the improved performance
is associated with a 12 K reduction in transition temperature Tc to 80 K and a
significant enhancement in intergranular connectivity. In spite of the
macroscopically untextured nature of the wire, overdoping is highly effective
in producing high Jc values.Comment: 4 figure
W4 theory for computational thermochemistry: in pursuit of confident sub-kJ/mol predictions
In an attempt to improve on our earlier W3 theory [J. Chem. Phys. {\bf 120},
4129 (2004)] we consider such refinements as more accurate estimates for the
contribution of connected quadruple excitations (), inclusion of
connected quintuple excitations (), diagonal Born-Oppenheimer
corrections (DBOC), and improved basis set extrapolation procedures. Revised
experimental data for validation purposes were obtained from the latest version
of the ATcT (Active Thermochemical Tables) Thermochemical Network. We found
that the CCSDTQCCSDT(Q) difference converges quite rapidly with the basis
set, and that the formula
1.10[CCSDT(Q)/cc-pVTZ+CCSDTQ/cc-pVDZCCSDT(Q)/cc-pVDZ] offers a very reliable
as well as fairly cost-effective estimate of the basis set limit
contribution. The largest contribution found in the present work is
on the order of 0.5 kcal/mol (for ozone). DBOC corrections are significant at
the 0.1 kcal/mol level in hydride systems. . Based on the accumulated
experience, a new computational thermochemistry protocol for first-and
second-row main-group systems, to be known as W4 theory, is proposed. Our W4
atomization energies for a number of key species are in excellent agreement
(better than 0.1 kcal/mol on average, 95% confidence intervals narrower than 1
kJ/mol) with the latest experimental data obtained from Active Thermochemical
Tables. A simple {\em a priori} estimate for the importance of post-CCSD(T)
correlation contributions (and hence a pessimistic estimate for the error in a
W2-type calculation) is proposed.Comment: J. Chem. Phys., in press; electronic supporting information available
at http://theochem.weizmann.ac.il/web/papers/w4.htm
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