21,355 research outputs found
Daytime lidar measurements of tidal winds in the mesospheric sodium layer at Urbana, Illinois
For more than 15 years lidar systems have been used to study the chemistry and dynamics of the mesospheric sodium layer. Because the layer is an excellent tracer of atmospheric wave motions, sodium lidar has proven to be particularly useful for studying the influence of gravity waves and tides on mesospheric dynamics. These waves, which originate in the troposphere and stratosphere, propagate through the mesosphere and dissipate their energy near the mesopause making important contributions to the momentum and turbulence budget in this region of the atmosphere. Recently, the sodium lidar was modified for daytime operation so that wave phenomena and chemical effects could be monitored throughout the complete diurnal cycle. The results of continuous 24 hour lidar observations of the sodium layer structure are presented alond with measurement of the semidiurnal tidal winds
Early Surgery for Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury: Where Are We Now?
Study Design: Narrative review.
Objective: There is a strong biological rationale to perform early decompression after traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). With an enlarging clinical evidence base, most spine surgeons internationally now favor early decompression for the majority of SCI patients; however, a number of pertinent questions remain surrounding this therapy.
Methods: A narrative review evaluating the status of early surgery for SCI. In particular, we addressed the following questions: (1) Which patients stand to benefit most from early surgery? 2) What is the most appropriate time threshold defining early surgery?
Results: Although heterogeneity exists, the evidence generally seems to support early surgery. While the best evidence exists for cervical SCI, there is insufficient data to support a differential effect for early surgery depending on neurological level or injury severity. When comparing thresholds to define early versus late surgery-including a later threshold (48-72 hours), an earlier threshold (24 hours), and an ultra-early threshold (8-12 hours)-the 2 earlier time points seem to be associated with the greatest potential for improved outcomes. However, existing prehospital and hospital logistics pose barriers to early surgery in a significant proportion of patients. An overview of recommendations from the recent AOSpine guidelines is provided.
Conclusion: In spite of increasing acceptance of early surgery post SCI, further research is needed to (1) identify subgroups of patients who stand to derive particular benefit-in particular to develop more evidence-based approaches for central cord syndrome and (2) investigate the efficacy and feasibility of ultra-early surgery targeting more aggressive timelines
Non-Classical Response from Quench-Cooled Solid Helium Confined in Porous Gold
We have investigated the non-classical response of solid 4He confined in
porous gold set to torsional oscillation. When solid helium is grown rapidly,
nearly 7% of the solid helium appears to be decoupled from the oscillation
below about 200 mK. Dissipation appears at temperatures where the decoupling
shows maximum variation. In contrast, the decoupling is substantially reduced
in slowly grown solid helium. The dynamic response of solid helium was also
studied by imposing a sudden increase in the amplitude of oscillation. Extended
relaxation in the resonant period shift, suggesting the emergence of the
pinning of low energy excitations, was observed below the onset temperature of
the non-classical response. The motion of a dislocation or a glassy solid is
restricted in the entangled narrow pores and is not likely responsible for the
period shift and long relaxation
Neutron-rich rare isotope production from projectile fission of heavy beams in the energy range of 20 MeV/nucleon
We investigate the possibilities of producing neutron-rich nuclides in
projectile fission of heavy beams in the energy range of 20 MeV/nucleon
expected from low-energy facilities. We report our efforts to theoretically
describe the reaction mechanism of projectile fission following a multinucleon
transfer collision at this energy range. Our calculations are mainly based on a
two-step approach: the dynamical stage of the collision is described with
either the phenomenological Deep-Inelastic Transfer model (DIT), or with the
microscopic Constrained Molecular Dynamics model (CoMD). The
deexcitation/fission of the hot heavy projectile fragments is performed with
the Statistical Mul- tifragmentation Model (SMM). We compared our model
calculations with our previous experimental projectile-fission data of 238U (20
MeV/nucleon)+208Pb and 197Au (20 MeV/nucleon)+197Au and found an overall
reasonable agreement. Our study suggests that projectile fission following
periph- eral heavy-ion collisions at this energy range offers an effective
route to access very neutron-rich rare isotopes toward and beyond the
astrophysical r-process path
Collimating lenses from non-Euclidean transformation optics
Based on the non-Euclidean transformation optics, we design a thin
metamaterial lens that can achieve wide-beam radiation by embedding a simple
source (a point source in three-dimensional case or a line current source in
two-dimensional case). The scheme is performed on a layer-by-layer geometry to
convert curved surfaces in virtual space to flat sheets, which pile up and form
the entire lens in physical space. Compared to previous designs, the lens has
no extreme material parameters. Simulation results confirm its functionality.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure
Condensation phase transitions of symmetric conserved-mass aggregation model on complex networks
We investigate condensation phase transitions of symmetric conserved-mass
aggregation (SCA) model on random networks (RNs) and scale-free networks (SFNs)
with degree distribution . In SCA model, masses diffuse
with unite rate, and unit mass chips off from mass with rate . The
dynamics conserves total mass density . In the steady state, on RNs and
SFNs with for , we numerically show that SCA
model undergoes the same type condensation transitions as those on regular
lattices. However the critical line depends on network
structures. On SFNs with , the fluid phase of exponential mass
distribution completely disappears and no phase transitions occurs. Instead,
the condensation with exponentially decaying background mass distribution
always takes place for any non-zero density. For the existence of the condensed
phase for at the zero density limit, we investigate one
lamb-lion problem on RNs and SFNs. We numerically show that a lamb survives
indefinitely with finite survival probability on RNs and SFNs with ,
and dies out exponentially on SFNs with . The finite life time
of a lamb on SFNs with ensures the existence of the
condensation at the zero density limit on SFNs with at which
direct numerical simulations are practically impossible. At ,
we numerically confirm that complete condensation takes place for any on RNs. Together with the recent study on SFNs, the complete condensation
always occurs on both RNs and SFNs in zero range process with constant hopping
rate.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
Effects of Backflow Correlation in the Three-Dimensional Electron Gas: Quantum Monte Carlo Study
The correlation energy of the homogeneous three-dimensional interacting
electron gas is calculated using the variational and fixed-node diffusion Monte
Carlo methods, with trial functions that include backflow and three-body
correlations. In the high density regime the effects of backflow dominate over
those due to three-body correlations, but the relative importance of the latter
increases as the density decreases. Since the backflow correlations vary the
nodes of the trial function, this leads to improved energies in the fixed-node
diffusion Monte Carlo calculations. The effects are comparable to those found
for the two-dimensional electron gas, leading to much improved variational
energies and fixed-node diffusion energies equal to the release-node energies
of Ceperley and Alder within statistical and systematic errors.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Physical Review
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