1,798 research outputs found
Cochlear implant positioning:development and validation of an automatic method using computed tomography image analysis
The aim of this study was to preoperatively asses the feasibility of drilling a bony recess for the fixation of a cochlear implant in the temporal bone. Even though complications are rare with cochlear implantations, drilling at the site of implantation have resulted in hematoma or cerebrospinal fluid leakage. Mainly in cases with a reduced temporal bone thickness, the risk for complications has increased, such as in paediatric patients.Methods An in-house designed semi-automatic algorithm was developed to analyse a 3D model of the skull. The feasibility of drilling the recess was determined by a gradient descent method to search for the thickest part of the temporal bone. Feasibility was determined by the residual bone thickness which was calculated after a simulated drilling of the recess at the thickest position. An initial validation of the algorithm was performed by measuring the accuracy of the algorithm on five 3D models with known thickest locations for the recess. The accuracy was determined by a part comparison between the known position and algorithm provided position.Results In four of the five validation models a standard deviation for accuracy below the predetermined cut-off value of 4.2 mm was achieved between the actual thickest position and the position determined by the algorithm. Furthermore, the residual thickness calculated by the algorithm showed a high agreement (max. 0.02 mm difference) with the actual thickness.Conclusion With the developed algorithm, a semi-automatic method was created to analyse the temporal bone thickness within a specified region of interest on the skull. Thereby, providing indications for surgical feasibility, potential risks for anatomical structures and impact on procedure time of cochlear implantation. This method could be a valuable research tool to objectively assess feasibility of drilling a recess in patients with thin temporal bones preoperatively
Thermodynamic properties and thermal correlation lengths of a Hubbard model with bond-charge interaction
We investigate the thermodynamics of a one-dimensional Hubbard model with
bond-charge interaction X using the transfer matrix renormalization group
method (TMRG). Numerical results for various quantities like spin and charge
susceptibilities, particle densities, specific heat and thermal correlation
lengths are presented and discussed. We compare our data also to results for
the exactly solvable case X/t=1 as well as to bosonisation results for weak
coupling X/t << 1, which shows excellent agreement. We confirm the existence of
a Tomonaga-Luttinger and a Luther-Emery liquid phase, in agreement with
previous studies at zero temperature. Thermal singlet-pair correlation lengths
are shown to dominate density and spin correlations for finite temperatures in
certain parameter regimes.Comment: 13 pages, revte
Ageing phenomena without detailed balance: the contact process
The long-time dynamics of the 1D contact process suddenly brought out of an
uncorrelated initial state is studied through a light-cone transfer-matrix
renormalisation group approach. At criticality, the system undergoes ageing
which is characterised through the dynamical scaling of the two-times
autocorrelation and autoresponse functions. The observed non-equality of the
ageing exponents a and b excludes the possibility of a finite
fluctuation-dissipation ratio in the ageing regime. The scaling form of the
critical autoresponse function is in agreement with the prediction of local
scale-invariance.Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures, Latex2e with IOP macro
Anisotropic Impurity-States, Quasiparticle Scattering and Nematic Transport in Underdoped Ca(Fe1-xCox)2As2
Iron-based high temperature superconductivity develops when the `parent'
antiferromagnetic/orthorhombic phase is suppressed, typically by introduction
of dopant atoms. But their impact on atomic-scale electronic structure, while
in theory quite complex, is unknown experimentally. What is known is that a
strong transport anisotropy with its resistivity maximum along the crystal
b-axis, develops with increasing concentration of dopant atoms; this
`nematicity' vanishes when the `parent' phase disappears near the maximum
superconducting Tc. The interplay between the electronic structure surrounding
each dopant atom, quasiparticle scattering therefrom, and the transport
nematicity has therefore become a pivotal focus of research into these
materials. Here, by directly visualizing the atomic-scale electronic structure,
we show that substituting Co for Fe atoms in underdoped Ca(Fe1-xCox)2As2
generates a dense population of identical anisotropic impurity states. Each is
~8 Fe-Fe unit cells in length, and all are distributed randomly but aligned
with the antiferromagnetic a-axis. By imaging their surrounding interference
patterns, we further demonstrate that these impurity states scatter
quasiparticles in a highly anisotropic manner, with the maximum scattering rate
concentrated along the b-axis. These data provide direct support for the recent
proposals that it is primarily anisotropic scattering by dopant-induced
impurity states that generates the transport nematicity; they also yield simple
explanations for the enhancement of the nematicity proportional to the dopant
density and for the occurrence of the highest resistivity along the b-axis
Population of bound excited states in intermediate-energy fragmentation reactions
Fragmentation reactions with intermediate-energy heavy-ion beams exhibit a
wide range of reaction mechanisms, ranging from direct reactions to statistical
processes. We examine this transition by measuring the relative population of
excited states in several sd-shell nuclei produced by fragmentation with the
number of removed nucleons ranging from two to sixteen. The two-nucleon removal
is consistent with a non-dissipative process whereas the removal of more than
five nucleons appears to be mainly statistical.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure
The Truncated Disk of CoKu Tau/4
We present a model of a dusty disk with an inner hole which accounts for the
Spitzer Space Telescope Infrared Spectrograph observations of the low-mass
pre-main sequence star CoKu Tau/4. We have modeled the mid-IR spectrum (between
8 and 25 mic) as arising from the inner wall of a disk. Our model disk has an
evacuated inner zone of radius ~ 10 AU, with a dusty inner ``wall'', of
half-height ~ 2 AU, that is illuminated at normal incidence by the central
star. The radiative equilibrium temperature decreases from the inner disk edge
outward through the optically-thick disk; this temperature gradient is
responsible for the emission of the silicate bands at 10 and 20 mic. The
observed spectrum is consistent with being produced by Fe-Mg amorphous glassy
olivine and/or pyroxene, with no evidence of a crystalline component. The
mid-infrared spectrum of CoKu Tau/4 is reminiscent of that of the much older
star TW Hya, where it has been suggested that the significant clearing of its
inner disk is due to planet formation. However, no inner disk remains in CoKu
Tau/4, consistent with the star being a weak-emission (non-accreting) T Tauri
star. The relative youth of CoKu Tau/4 (~ 1 Myr) may indicate much more rapid
planet formation than typically assumed.Comment: 32 pages, 9 figures, accepted in Ap
Sensitivity of the superconducting state and magnetic susceptibility to key aspects of electronic structure in ferropnictides
Experiments on the iron-pnictide superconductors appear to show some
materials where the ground state is fully gapped, and others where low-energy
excitations dominate, possibly indicative of gap nodes. Within the framework of
a 5-orbital spin fluctuation theory for these systems, we discuss how changes
in the doping, the electronic structure or interaction parameters can tune the
system from a fully gapped to nodal sign-changing gap with s-wave ()
symmetry (). In particular we focus on the role of the hole pocket at
the point of the unfolded Brillouin zone identified as crucial to
the pairing by Kuroki {\it et al.}, and show that its presence leads to
additional nesting of hole and electron pockets which stabilizes the isotropic
state. The pocket's contribution to the pairing can be tuned by doping,
surface effects, and by changes in interaction parameters, which we examine.
Analytic expressions for orbital pairing vertices calculated within the RPA
fluctuation exchange approximation allow us to draw connections between aspects
of electronic structure, interaction parameters, and the form of the
superconducting gap
Cochlear implant positioning: development and validation of an automatic method using computed tomography image analysis
The aim of this study was to preoperatively asses the feasibility of drilling a bony recess for the fixation of a cochlear implant in the temporal bone. Even though complications are rare with cochlear implantations, drilling at the site of implantation have resulted in hematoma or cerebrospinal fluid leakage. Mainly in cases with a reduced temporal bone thickness, the risk for complications has increased, such as in paediatric patients.MethodsAn in-house designed semi-automatic algorithm was developed to analyse a 3D model of the skull. The feasibility of drilling the recess was determined by a gradient descent method to search for the thickest part of the temporal bone. Feasibility was determined by the residual bone thickness which was calculated after a simulated drilling of the recess at the thickest position. An initial validation of the algorithm was performed by measuring the accuracy of the algorithm on five 3D models with known thickest locations for the recess. The accuracy was determined by a part comparison between the known position and algorithm provided position.ResultsIn four of the five validation models a standard deviation for accuracy below the predetermined cut-off value of 4.2â
mm was achieved between the actual thickest position and the position determined by the algorithm. Furthermore, the residual thickness calculated by the algorithm showed a high agreement (max. 0.02â
mm difference) with the actual thickness.ConclusionWith the developed algorithm, a semi-automatic method was created to analyse the temporal bone thickness within a specified region of interest on the skull. Thereby, providing indications for surgical feasibility, potential risks for anatomical structures and impact on procedure time of cochlear implantation. This method could be a valuable research tool to objectively assess feasibility of drilling a recess in patients with thin temporal bones preoperatively
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