8,638 research outputs found
Towards gravitationally assisted negative refraction of light by vacuum
Propagation of electromagnetic plane waves in some directions in
gravitationally affected vacuum over limited ranges of spacetime can be such
that the phase velocity vector casts a negative projection on the time-averaged
Poynting vector. This conclusion suggests, inter alia, gravitationally assisted
negative refraction by vacuum.Comment: 6 page
Electronic structure of periodic curved surfaces -- topological band structure
Electronic band structure for electrons bound on periodic minimal surfaces is
differential-geometrically formulated and numerically calculated. We focus on
minimal surfaces because they are not only mathematically elegant (with the
surface characterized completely in terms of "navels") but represent the
topology of real systems such as zeolites and negative-curvature fullerene. The
band structure turns out to be primarily determined by the topology of the
surface, i.e., how the wavefunction interferes on a multiply-connected surface,
so that the bands are little affected by the way in which we confine the
electrons on the surface (thin-slab limit or zero thickness from the outset).
Another curiosity is that different minimal surfaces connected by the Bonnet
transformation (such as Schwarz's P- and D-surfaces) possess one-to-one
correspondence in their band energies at Brillouin zone boundaries.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures, eps files will be sent on request to
[email protected]
Developing Interventions for Children's Exercise (DICE): a pilot evaluation of school-based exercise interventions for primary school children aged 7 to 8 years.
BACKGROUND: Developing Interventions for Children's Exercise (DICE) is an initiative aimed at determining effective school-based exercise programs. To assess feasibility, we conducted a pilot study of exercise sessions which varied in duration and frequency. METHODS: Exercise interventions were delivered to Year 3 pupils (age 7-8 years; n = 73) in primary schools within Yorkshire, UK. Evaluations were conducted using focus group sessions, questionnaires and observations. RESULTS: The study revealed positive aspects of all interventions, including favorable effects on children's concentration during lessons and identified the value of incorporation of the DICE concept into curriculum lessons. Children appeared enthused and reported well-being and enjoyment. Areas requiring attention were the need for appropriate timetabling of sessions and ensuring the availability of space. CONCLUSION: The concept and sessions were well-accepted by teachers who confirmed their full support of any future implementation There appears to be potential for the encouragement and empowerment of teachers to support physical activity and healthy school environments, and to take an interest in the health of their pupils. Ultimately, these findings should assist in the design of successful exercise interventions in the school setting
Kramers-Kronig, Bode, and the meaning of zero
The implications of causality, as captured by the Kramers-Kronig relations
between the real and imaginary parts of a linear response function, are
familiar parts of the physics curriculum. In 1937, Bode derived a similar
relation between the magnitude (response gain) and phase. Although the
Kramers-Kronig relations are an equality, Bode's relation is effectively an
inequality. This perhaps-surprising difference is explained using elementary
examples and ultimately traces back to delays in the flow of information within
the system formed by the physical object and measurement apparatus.Comment: 8 pages; American Journal of Physics, to appea
Electronic structure of periodic curved surfaces -- continuous surface versus graphitic sponge
We investigate the band structure of electrons bound on periodic curved
surfaces. We have formulated Schr\"{o}dinger's equation with the Weierstrass
representation when the surface is minimal, which is numerically solved. Bands
and the Bloch wavefunctions are basically determined by the way in which the
``pipes'' are connected into a network, where the Bonnet(conformal)-transformed
surfaces have related electronic strucutres. We then examine, as a realisation
of periodic surfaces, the tight-binding model for atomic networks
(``sponges''), where the low-energy spectrum coincides with those for
continuous curved surfaces.Comment: 4 page
The Use of Self-Expanding Plastic Stents in the Management of Oesophageal Leaks and Spontaneous Oesophageal Perforations
Leakage after oesophageal anastomosis or perforation remains a challenge for the surgeon. Traditional management has been operative repair or intensive conservative management. Both treatments are associated with prolonged hospitalisation and high morbidity and mortality rates. Self-expanding metallic stents have played an important role in the palliation of malignant oesophageal strictures and the treatment of tracheoesophageal fistulae. However, self-expanding metal stents in benign oesophageal disease are associated with complications such as bleeding, food bolus impaction, stent migration, and difficulty in retrieval. The Polyflex stent is the only commercially available self-expanding plastic stent which has been used in the management of malignant oesophageal strictures with good results. This review will consider the literature concerning the use of self-expanding plastic stents in the treatment of oesophageal anastomotic leakage and spontaneous perforations of the oesophagus
Fast and flexible selection with a single switch
Selection methods that require only a single-switch input, such as a button
click or blink, are potentially useful for individuals with motor impairments,
mobile technology users, and individuals wishing to transmit information
securely. We present a single-switch selection method, "Nomon," that is general
and efficient. Existing single-switch selection methods require selectable
options to be arranged in ways that limit potential applications. By contrast,
traditional operating systems, web browsers, and free-form applications (such
as drawing) place options at arbitrary points on the screen. Nomon, however,
has the flexibility to select any point on a screen. Nomon adapts automatically
to an individual's clicking ability; it allows a person who clicks precisely to
make a selection quickly and allows a person who clicks imprecisely more time
to make a selection without error. Nomon reaps gains in information rate by
allowing the specification of beliefs (priors) about option selection
probabilities and by avoiding tree-based selection schemes in favor of direct
(posterior) inference. We have developed both a Nomon-based writing application
and a drawing application. To evaluate Nomon's performance, we compared the
writing application with a popular existing method for single-switch writing
(row-column scanning). Novice users wrote 35% faster with the Nomon interface
than with the scanning interface. An experienced user (author TB, with > 10
hours practice) wrote at speeds of 9.3 words per minute with Nomon, using 1.2
clicks per character and making no errors in the final text.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, presented at NIPS 2009 Mini-symposi
Global-Scale Consequences of Magnetic-Helicity Injection and Condensation on the Sun
In the recent paper of Antiochos, a new concept for the injection of magnetic helicity into the solar corona by small-scale convective motions and its condensation onto polarity inversion lines (PILs) has been developed. We investigate this concept through global simulations of the Sun's photospheric and coronal magnetic fields and compare the results with the hemispheric pattern of solar filaments. Assuming that the vorticity of the cells is predominately counter-clockwise/clockwise in the northern/southern hemisphere, the convective motions inject negative/positive helicity into each hemisphere. The simulations show that: (i) On a north-south orientated PIL, both differential rotation and convective motions inject the same sign of helicity which matches that required to reproduce the hemispheric pattern of filaments. (ii) On a high latitude east-west orientated polar crown or sub-polar crown PIL, the vorticity of the cells has to be approximately 2-3 times greater than the local differential rotation gradient in order to overcome the incorrect sign of helicity injection from differential rotation. (iii) In the declining phase of the cycle, as a bipole interacts with the polar field, in some cases helicity condensation can reverse the effect of differential rotation along the East-West lead arm, but not in all cases. The results show that this newly developed concept of magnetic helicity injection and condensation is a viable method to explain the hemispheric pattern of filaments in conjunction with the mechanisms used in Yeates et al. (2008). Future observational studies should focus on determining the vorticity component within convective motions to determine, both its magnitude and latitudinal variation relative to the differential rotation gradient on the Sun
Ground states and formal duality relations in the Gaussian core model
We study dimensional trends in ground states for soft-matter systems.
Specifically, using a high-dimensional version of Parrinello-Rahman dynamics,
we investigate the behavior of the Gaussian core model in up to eight
dimensions. The results include unexpected geometric structures, with
surprising anisotropy as well as formal duality relations. These duality
relations suggest that the Gaussian core model possesses unexplored symmetries,
and they have implications for a broad range of soft-core potentials.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, appeared in Physical Review E (http://pre.aps.org
Inference and Optimization of Real Edges on Sparse Graphs - A Statistical Physics Perspective
Inference and optimization of real-value edge variables in sparse graphs are
studied using the Bethe approximation and replica method of statistical
physics. Equilibrium states of general energy functions involving a large set
of real edge-variables that interact at the network nodes are obtained in
various cases. When applied to the representative problem of network resource
allocation, efficient distributed algorithms are also devised. Scaling
properties with respect to the network connectivity and the resource
availability are found, and links to probabilistic Bayesian approximation
methods are established. Different cost measures are considered and algorithmic
solutions in the various cases are devised and examined numerically. Simulation
results are in full agreement with the theory.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, major changes: Sections IV to VII updated,
Figs. 1 to 3 replace
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