748 research outputs found
Alien Registration- Kemp, William J. (Portland, Cumberland County)
https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/21748/thumbnail.jp
A superconducting qubit as a quantum transformer routing entanglement between a microscopic quantum memory and a macroscopic resonator
We demonstrate experimentally the creation and measurement of an entangled
state between a microscopic two level system and a macroscopic superconducting
resonator where their indirect interaction is mediated by an artificial atom, a
superconducting persistent current qubit (PCQB). We show that the microscopic
two level system, formed by a defect in an oxide layer, exhibits an order of
magnitude longer dephasing time than the PCQB, while the dephasing time of the
entangled states between the microscopic two level system and macroscopic
superconducting resonator is significantly longer than the dephasing time in
the persistent current qubits. This demonstrates the possibility that a qubit
of moderate coherence properties can be used in practice to address low
decoherence quantum memories by connecting them to macroscopic circuit QED
quantum buses, leading future important implications for quantum information
processing tasks.Comment: 4 figure
Wind-tunnel Measurements of Wing Buffeting on 1/16-scale Model of Douglas D-558-II Research Airplane
Cushing's ulcer: Further reflections
BACKGROUND:
Brain tumors, traumatic head injury, and other intracranial processes including infections, can cause increased intracranial pressure and lead to overstimulation of the vagus nerve. As a result, increased secretion of gastric acid may occur which leads to gastro-duodenal ulcer formation known as Cushing's ulcer.
METHODS:
A review of original records of Dr. Harvey Cushing's patients suffering from gastro-duodenal ulcers was performed followed by a discussion of the available literature. We also reviewed the clinical records of the patients never reported by Cushing to gain his perspective in describing this phenomenon. Dr. Cushing was intrigued to investigate gastro-duodenal ulcers as he lost patients to acute gastrointestinal perforations following successful brain tumor operations. It is indeed ironic that Harvey Cushing developed a gastro-duodenal ulcer in his later years with failing health.
RESULTS:
Clinically shown by Cushing's Yale Registry, a tumor or lesion can disrupt this circuitry, leading to gastroduodenal ulceration. Cushing said that it was "reasonable to believe that the perforations following posterior fossa cerebellar operations were produced in like fashion by an irritative disturbance either of fiber tracts or vagal centers in the brain stem."
CONCLUSION:
Harvey Cushing's pioneering work depicted in his Yale registry serves as a milestone for continuing research that can further discern this pathway
Unravelling overlaps and torsion-facilitated coupling using two-dimensional laser-induced fluorescence
Two-dimensional laser-induced fluorescence (2D-LIF) spectroscopy is employed to identify contributions to fluorescence excitation spectra that arise from both overlapping bands and coupling between zero-order states (ZOSs). Evidence is found for the role of torsional motion in facilitating the coupling between vibrations that particularly involves the lowest-wavenumber out-of-plane vibrational modes. The experiments are carried out on jet-cooled p-fluorotoluene, where the molecules are initially in the lowest two torsional levels. Here we concentrate on the 390–420 cm−1 features in the S1 ← S0 excitation spectrum, assigning the features seen in the 2D-LIF spectrum, aided by separate dispersed fluorescence spectra. The 2D-LIF spectra allow the overlapping contributions to be cleanly separated, including some that arise from vibrational-torsional coupling. Various coupling routes open up because of the different symmetries of the lowest two torsional modes; these combine with the vibrational symmetry to provide new symmetry-allowed vibration-torsion (‘vibtor’) interactions, and the role of the excited m = 1 torsional level is found to be significant
CitDet: A Benchmark Dataset for Citrus Fruit Detection
In this letter, we present a new dataset to advance the state of the art in
detecting citrus fruit and accurately estimate yield on trees affected by the
Huanglongbing (HLB) disease in orchard environments via imaging. Despite the
fact that significant progress has been made in solving the fruit detection
problem, the lack of publicly available datasets has complicated direct
comparison of results. For instance, citrus detection has long been of interest
in the agricultural research community, yet there is an absence of work,
particularly involving public datasets of citrus affected by HLB. To address
this issue, we enhance state-of-the-art object detection methods for use in
typical orchard settings. Concretely, we provide high-resolution images of
citrus trees located in an area known to be highly affected by HLB, along with
high-quality bounding box annotations of citrus fruit. Fruit on both the trees
and the ground are labeled to allow for identification of fruit location, which
contributes to advancements in yield estimation and potential measure of HLB
impact via fruit drop. The dataset consists of over 32,000 bounding box
annotations for fruit instances contained in 579 high-resolution images. In
summary, our contributions are the following: (i) we introduce a novel dataset
along with baseline performance benchmarks on multiple contemporary object
detection algorithms, (ii) we show the ability to accurately capture fruit
location on tree or on ground, and finally (ii) we present a correlation of our
results with yield estimations.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L
The extracellular calcium-sensing receptor regulates human fetal lung development via CFTR
Optimal fetal lung growth requires anion-driven fluid secretion into the lumen of the developing organ. The fetus is hypercalcemic compared to the mother and here we show that in the developing human lung this hypercalcaemia acts on the extracellular calcium-sensing receptor, CaSR, to promote fluid-driven lung expansion through activation of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, CFTR. Several chloride channels including TMEM16, bestrophin, CFTR, CLCN2 and CLCA1, are also expressed in the developing human fetal lung at gestational stages when CaSR expression is maximal. Measurements of Cl−-driven fluid secretion in organ explant cultures show that pharmacological CaSR activation by calcimimetics stimulates lung fluid secretion through CFTR, an effect which in humans, but not mice, was also mimicked by fetal hypercalcemic conditions, demonstrating that the physiological relevance of such a mechanism appears to be species-specific. Calcimimetics promote CFTR opening by activating adenylate cyclase and we show that Ca2+-stimulated type I adenylate cyclase is expressed in the developing human lung. Together, these observations suggest that physiological fetal hypercalcemia, acting on the CaSR, promotes human fetal lung development via cAMP-dependent opening of CFTR. Disturbances in this process would be expected to permanently impact lung structure and might predispose to certain postnatal respiratory disease
Skeletal muscle ATP turnover by 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy during moderate and heavy bilateral knee-extension
During constant-power high-intensity exercise, the expected increase in oxygen uptake (V̇O2) is supplemented by a V̇O2 slow component (V̇O2 sc ), reflecting reduced work efficiency, predominantly within the locomotor muscles. The intracellular source of inefficiency is postulated to be an increase in the ATP cost of power production (an increase in P/W). To test this hypothesis, we measured intramuscular ATP turnover with (31)P magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and whole-body V̇O2 during moderate (MOD) and heavy (HVY) bilateral knee-extension exercise in healthy participants (n = 14). Unlocalized (31)P spectra were collected from the quadriceps throughout using a dual-tuned ((1)H and (31)P) surface coil with a simple pulse-and-acquire sequence. Total ATP turnover rate (ATPtot) was estimated at exercise cessation from direct measurements of the dynamics of phosphocreatine (PCr) and proton handling. Between 3 and 8 min during MOD, there was no discernable V̇O2 sc (mean ± SD, 0.06 ± 0.12 l min(-1)) or change in [PCr] (30 ± 8 vs. 32 ± 7 mm) or ATPtot (24 ± 14 vs. 17 ± 14 mm min(-1); each P = n.s.). During HVY, the V̇O2 sc was 0.37 ± 0.16 l min(-1) (22 ± 8%), [PCr] decreased (19 ± 7 vs. 18 ± 7 mm, or 12 ± 15%; P < 0.05) and ATPtot increased (38 ± 16 vs. 44 ± 14 mm min(-1), or 26 ± 30%; P < 0.05) between 3 and 8 min. However, the increase in ATPtot (ΔATPtot) was not correlated with the V̇O2 sc during HVY (r(2) = 0.06; P = n.s.). This lack of relationship between ΔATPtot and V̇O2 sc , together with a steepening of the [PCr]-V̇O2 relationship in HVY, suggests that reduced work efficiency during heavy exercise arises from both contractile (P/W) and mitochondrial sources (the O2 cost of ATP resynthesis; P/O)
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