Non-classical non-Gaussian state of a mechanical resonator via selectively incoherent damping in three-mode optomechanical systems

We theoretically propose a scheme for the generation of a non-classical single-mode motional state of a mechanical resonator (MR) in the three-mode optomechanical systems, in which two optical modes of the cavities are linearly coupled to each other and one mechanical mode of the MR is optomechanically coupled to the two optical modes with the same coupling strength simultaneously. One cavity is driven by a coherent laser light. By properly tuning the frequency of the weak driving field, we obtain engineered Liouvillian superoperator via engineering the selective interaction Hamiltonian confined to the Fock subspaces. In this case, the motional state of the MR can be prepared into a non-Gaussian state, which possesses the sub-Poisson statistics although its Wigner function is positive.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Clinical study on the optic nerve protection of calcium dobesilate in treating glaucoma

AIM:To observe the protective effect of calcium dobesilate on optic nerve of glaucoma patients whose intraocular pressure has been under control through operation.<p>METHODS: A total of 78 inpatients(89 eyes)with glaucoma in this hospital from January, 2011 to February, 2012 were enrolled. All patients were randomly divided into treatment group and control group with 6 months in a course. The visual acuity, visual field(mean sensibility, MS), and intraocular pressure were measured at the experiment onset and 6 months later to evaluate the clinical effect.<p>RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in the visual acuity, intraocular pressure between the two groups neither at the experiment onset nor after 6 months(<i>P</i>>0.05). The mean sensibility(MS)of the treatment group was obviously improved(14.56±5.03 <i>vs </i>18.9±5.77, <i>P</i><0.05)with statistically significant differences before and after the treatment, while the MS remained unchanged in the control group(14.75±5.17 <i>vs </i>13.48±4.69). There are statistically significant difference between the treatment group and the control group. Compared to the ratio of improvement, stability, and deterioration in the control group(10.3%, 48.7%, 41.0%), the indexes were changed obviously in the treatment group(64.1%, 28.2%, 7.7%,<i>P</i><0.05)with statistically significant difference between the two groups.<p>CONCLUSION:Calcium dobesilate can improve mean retinal sensitivity and protect the optic nerve in glaucoma patients whose intraocular pressure has been controlled

Absence of a transport signature of spin-orbit coupling in graphene with indium adatoms

Enhancement of the spin-orbit coupling in graphene may lead to various topological phenomena and also find applications in spintronics. Adatom absorption has been proposed as an effective way to achieve the goal. In particular, great hope has been held for indium in strengthening the spin-orbit coupling and realizing the quantum spin Hall effect. To search for evidence of the spin-orbit coupling in graphene absorbed with indium adatoms, we carry out extensive transport measurements, i.e., weak localization magnetoresistance, quantum Hall effect and non-local spin Hall effect. No signature of the spin-orbit coupling is found. Possible explanations are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, with supplementary material

Nonholonomic Motion Planning for a Free-Falling Cat Using Quasi-Newton Method

The motion planning problem of a free-falling cat is investigated. Nonholonomicity arises in a free-falling cat subject to nonintegrable velocity constraints or nonintegrable conservation laws. When the total angular momentum is zero, the rotational motion of the cat subjects to nonholonomic constraints. The equation of dynamics of a free-falling cat is obtained by using the model of two symmetric rigid bodies. The control of system can be converted to the motion planning problem for a driftless system. Based on the input parameterization, the continuous optimal control problem is transformed into the discrete one. The quasi-Newton method of motion planning for nonholonomic multibody system is proposed. The effectiveness of the numerical algorithm is demonstrated by numerical simulation

Cost-effectiveness analysis of malaria rapid diagnostic test in the elimination setting

BACKGROUND: As more and more countries approaching the goal of malaria elimination, malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) was recomendated to be a diagnostic strategy to achieve and maintain the statute of malaria free, as it’s less requirments on equipment and experitise than microscopic examination. But there are very few economic evaluations to confirm whether RDT was cost-effective in the setting of malaria elimination. This research aimed to offer evidence for helping decision making on malaria diagnosis strategy. METHODS: A cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted to compare RDT with microscopy examination for malaria diagnosis, by using a decision tree model. There were three strategies of malaria diagnostic testing evaluated in the model, 1) microscopy, 2) RDT, 3) RDT followed by microscopy. The effect indicator was defined as the number of malaria cases treated appropriately. Based on the joint perspective of health sector and patient, costs data were collected from hospital information systems, key informant interviews, and patient surveys. Data collection was conducted in Jiangsu from September 2018 to January 2019. Epidemiological data were obtained from local malaria surveillance reports. A hypothetical cohort of 300 000 febrile patients were simulated to calculate the total cost and effect of each strategy. One-way, two-way, and probabilistic sensitivity analysis were performed to test the robustness of the result. RESULTS: The results showed that RDT strategy was the most effective (245 cases) but also the most costly (United States Dollar [USD] 4.47 million) compared to using microscopy alone (238 cases, USD 3.63 million), and RDT followed by microscopy (221 cases, USD 2.75 million). There was no strategy dominated. One-way sensitivity analysis reflected that the result was sensitive to the change in labor cost and two-way sensitivity analysis indicated that the result was not sensitive to the proportion of falciparum malaria. The result of Monte Carlo simulation showed that RDT strategy had higher effects and higher cost than other strategies with a high probability. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to microscopy and RDT followed by microscopy, RDT strategy had higher effects and higher cost in the setting of malaria elimination

Expressive Text-to-Image Generation with Rich Text

Plain text has become a prevalent interface for text-to-image synthesis. However, its limited customization options hinder users from accurately describing desired outputs. For example, plain text makes it hard to specify continuous quantities, such as the precise RGB color value or importance of each word. Furthermore, creating detailed text prompts for complex scenes is tedious for humans to write and challenging for text encoders to interpret. To address these challenges, we propose using a rich-text editor supporting formats such as font style, size, color, and footnote. We extract each word's attributes from rich text to enable local style control, explicit token reweighting, precise color rendering, and detailed region synthesis. We achieve these capabilities through a region-based diffusion process. We first obtain each word's region based on cross-attention maps of a vanilla diffusion process using plain text. For each region, we enforce its text attributes by creating region-specific detailed prompts and applying region-specific guidance. We present various examples of image generation from rich text and demonstrate that our method outperforms strong baselines with quantitative evaluations.Comment: Project webpage: https://rich-text-to-image.github.io

Making meaning from student evaluations of teaching: Seeing beyond our own horizons

Within postsecondary education, the assessment of effective teaching has largely relied upon student evaluations of teaching. However, the process through which teachers make sense of their student evaluations is unclear. A research team of six undergraduate nursing students and four nursing educators explored the research question: How do nursing educators make meaning from their student evaluations of teaching? Gadamerian hermeneutics guided unstructured interviews with nursing educators working at a Middle East campus of a Canadian university. The interview transcripts were interpreted through a process of naïve readings, rereadings, interpretive dialogues, and interpretive writing that generated the following hermeneutic interpretations: Teachers make meaning of their student evaluation through generalized subjective characterizations of students and through their expressed intentions for their teacher-student relationships. Some of these characterizations and expressed intentions obscured what truths could be learned from the student evaluations of teaching. The experience of receiving critical student feedback invoked a personal response, at the same time, paradoxically, teachers worked hard to “not take it personally.” We suggest the practice of deep listening as a way to understand students’ feedback. The main takeaway message from this research is that teachers need a supportive and sustaining community of peers who are also open to listening deeply to the truths embedded in student evaluations of teaching

Clinical study of retinal detachment associated with choroidal detachment

AIM: To analyze the clinical characteristics of retinal detachment associated with choroidal detachment and to evaluate the surgical techniques, the efficacy and operation time for treatment.<p>METHODS: We reviewed and analyzed the operative effects of vitreoretinal surgeries in 45 patients(45 eyes)with retinal and choroidal detachment in our hospital from January, 2010 to January, 2012. In these 45 patients, there were 38 patients of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment associated with choroidal detachment, 7 patients of retinal redetachment associated with choroidal detachment. The surgical techniques include scleral encircling operation, epichoroidal space drainage by sclerocentesis intraocular photocoagulation, gas-fluid exchange, perfluoropropane(C₃F₈)or silicone oil intraocular tamponade and vitreoretinal surgery.<p>RESULTS: The drainage of the suprachoroidal space liquid and blood was successful in 45 eyes. Silicone oil tamponade was performed for 39 eyes and C₃F₈ tamponade for 6 eyes. Retinas and choroids were all reattached and retinal holes were closed. Visual acuities were improved, ≥0.1 in 23 eyes.<p>CONCLUSION: The vitreoretinal surgery and external drainage by sclerocentesis and scleral encircling operation is an effective operating method for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment associated with choroidal detachment