2,639 research outputs found
Exact and quasiexact solvability of second-order superintegrable quantum systems: I. Euclidean space preliminaries
We show that second-order superintegrable systems in two-dimensional and three-dimensional Euclidean space generate both exactly solvable (ES) and quasiexactly solvable (QES) problems in quantum mechanics via separation of variables, and demonstrate the increased insight into the structure of such problems provided by superintegrability. A principal advantage of our analysis using nondegenerate superintegrable systems is that they are multiseparable. Most past separation of variables treatments of QES problems via partial differential equations have only incorporated separability, not multiseparability. Also, we propose another definition of ES and QES. The quantum mechanical problem is called ES if the solution of Schrödinger equation can be expressed in terms of hypergeometric functions mFn and is QES if the Schrödinger equation admits polynomial solutions with coefficients necessarily satisfying a three-term or higher order of recurrence relations. In three dimensions we give an example of a system that is QES in one set of separable coordinates, but is not ES in any other separable coordinates. This example encompasses Ushveridze's tenth-order polynomial QES problem in one set of separable coordinates and also leads to a fourth-order polynomial QES problem in another separable coordinate set
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Designing a Mobile Assistive Application with and for Older Adults with AMD: A Case Study
Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is the UK’s leading cause of severe visual impairment amongst the elderly. It accounts for 16,000 blind/partial sight registrations per year and is the leading cause of blindness among people aged 55 years and older in western countries (Bressler, 2004). Our research aims to design and develop a self-monitoring, ability-reactive technology (SMART) for users with AMD to support their dietary-based AMD risk mitigation and progression retardation over time. In this paper, we reflect on our experience of adapting and applying a participatory design (PD) approach to support the effective design of our application with and for older adults with AMD. We introduce the outcome of a series of PD sessions with older adults with AMD – that is, a paper prototype of our proposed application which focuses on accessibility for our target users – and discuss implications for the eventual prototype development
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Understanding the IT-Related Attitudes and Needs of Persons with Age-Related Macular Degeneration: A Case Study
In the UK, 20 per cent of people aged 75 years and over are living with sight loss; this percentage is expected to increase as the population ages (RNIB, 2011). Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is the UK’s leading cause of severe visual impairment amongst the elderly. It accounts for 16,000 blind/partial sight registrations per year and is the leading cause of blindness among people aged 55 years and older in western countries (Bressler, 2004). Our ultimate goal is to develop an assistive mobile application to support accurate and convenient diet data collection on which basis to then provide customised dietary advice and recommendations in order to help support individuals with AMD to mitigate their ongoing risk and retard the progression of the disease. In this paper, we focus on our knowledge elicitation activities conducted to help us achieve a deep and relevant understanding of our target user group. We report on qualitative findings from focus groups and observational studies with persons with AMD and interviews with domain experts which enable us to fully appreciate the impact that technology may have on our intended users as well as to inform the design and structure of our proposed mobile assistive application
Blue light regenerates functional visual pigments in mammals through a retinyl-phospholipid intermediate.
The light absorbing chromophore in opsin visual pigments is the protonated Schiff base of 11-cis-retinaldehyde (11cRAL). Absorption of a photon isomerizes 11cRAL to all-trans-retinaldehyde (atRAL), briefly activating the pigment before it dissociates. Light sensitivity is restored when apo-opsin combines with another 11cRAL to form a new visual pigment. Conversion of atRAL to 11cRAL is carried out by enzyme pathways in neighboring cells. Here we show that blue (450-nm) light converts atRAL specifically to 11cRAL through a retinyl-phospholipid intermediate in photoreceptor membranes. The quantum efficiency of this photoconversion is similar to rhodopsin. Photoreceptor membranes synthesize 11cRAL chromophore faster under blue light than in darkness. Live mice regenerate rhodopsin more rapidly in blue light. Finally, whole retinas and isolated cone cells show increased photosensitivity following exposure to blue light. These results indicate that light contributes to visual-pigment renewal in mammalian rods and cones through a non-enzymatic process involving retinyl-phospholipids.It is currently thought that visual pigments in vertebrate photoreceptors are regenerated exclusively through enzymatic cycles. Here the authors show that mammalian photoreceptors also regenerate opsin pigments in light through photoisomerization of N-ret-PE (N-retinylidene-phosphatidylethanolamine
Supernovae and their host galaxies - V. The vertical distribution of supernovae in disc galaxies
We present an analysis of the height distributions of the different types of
supernovae (SNe) from the plane of their host galaxies. We use a well-defined
sample of 102 nearby SNe appeared inside high-inclined (i > 85 deg),
morphologically non-disturbed S0-Sd host galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky
Survey. For the first time, we show that in all the subsamples of spirals, the
vertical distribution of core-collapse (CC) SNe is about twice closer to the
plane of host disc than the distribution of SNe Ia. In Sb-Sc hosts, the
exponential scale height of CC SNe is consistent with those of the younger
stellar population in the Milky Way (MW) thin disc, while the scale height of
SNe Ia is consistent with those of the old population in the MW thick disc. We
show that the ratio of scale lengths to scale heights of the distribution of CC
SNe is consistent with those of the resolved young stars with ages from ~ 10
Myr up to ~ 100 Myr in nearby edge-on galaxies and the unresolved stellar
population of extragalactic thin discs. The corresponding ratio for SNe Ia is
consistent with the same ratios of the two populations of resolved stars with
ages from a few 100 Myr up to a few Gyr and from a few Gyr up to ~ 10 Gyr, as
well as with the unresolved population of the thick disc. These results can be
explained considering the age-scale height relation of the distribution of
stellar population and the mean age difference between Type Ia and CC SNe
progenitors.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, 6 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA
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A longitudinal evaluation of the acceptability and impact of a diet diary app for older adults with age-related macular degeneration
Ongoing advances in technology are increasing the scope for enhancing and supporting older adults’ daily living. The digital divide between older and younger adults raises concerns, however, about the suitability of technological solutions for older adults, especially for those with impairments. Taking older adults with Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) as a case study, we used user-centred and participatory design approaches to develop an assistive mobile app for self-monitoring their intake of food [12,13]. In this paper we report on findings of a longitudinal field evaluation of our app that was conducted to investigate how it was received and adopted by older adults with AMD and its impact on their lives. Demonstrating the benefit of applying inclusive design methods for technology for older adults, our findings reveal how the use of the app raises participants’ awareness and facilitates self-monitoring of diet, encourages positive (diet) behaviour change, and encourages learning
The impact of bars on the radial distribution of supernovae in disc galaxies
We present an analysis of the impact of bars on the radial distributions of
the different types of supernovae (SNe) in the stellar discs of host galaxies
with various morphologies. We find that in Sa-Sbc galaxies, the radial
distribution of core-collapse (CC) SNe in barred hosts is inconsistent with
that in unbarred ones, while the distributions of SNe Ia are not significantly
different. At the same time, the radial distributions of both types of SNe in
Sc-Sm galaxies are not affected by bars. We propose that the additional
mechanism shaping the distributions of Type Ia and CC SNe can be explained
within the framework of substantial suppression of massive star formation in
the radial range swept by strong bars, particularly in early-type spirals. The
radial distribution of CC SNe in unbarred Sa-Sbc galaxies is more centrally
peaked and inconsistent with that in unbarred Sc-Sm hosts, while the
distribution of SNe Ia in unbarred galaxies is not affected by host morphology.
These results can be explained by the distinct distributions of massive stars
in the discs of early-and late-type spirals.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure. This is a brief summary of arXiv:1511.08896,
written for a short contribution in the EWASS-2016 Symposium 16 "Frontiers of
massive-star evolution and core-collapse supernovae
Measurement of transparency ratios for protons from short-range correlated pairs
Nuclear transparency, Tp(A), is a measure of the average probability for a
struck proton to escape the nucleus without significant re-interaction.
Previously, nuclear transparencies were extructed for quasi-elastic A(e,e'p)
knockout of protons with momentum below the Fermi momentum, where the spectral
functions are well known. In this paper we extract a novel observable, the
transparency ratio, Tp(A)/T_p(12C), for knockout of high-missing-momentum
protons from the breakup of short range correlated pairs (2N-SRC) in Al, Fe and
Pb nuclei relative to C. The ratios were measured at momentum transfer Q^2 >
1.5 (GeV/c)^2 and x_B > 1.2 where the reaction is expected to be dominated by
electron scattering from 2N-SRC. The transparency ratios of the knocked-out
protons coming from 2N-SRC breakup are 20 - 30% lower than those of previous
results for low missing momentum. They agree with Glauber calculations and
agree with renormalization of the previously published transparencies as
proposed by recent theoretical investigations. The new transparencies scale as
A^-1/3, which is consistent with dominance of scattering from nucleons at the
nuclear surface.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Paired galaxies with different activity levels and their supernovae
We investigate the influence of close neighbor galaxies on the properties of
supernovae (SNe) and their host galaxies using 56 SNe located in pairs of
galaxies with different levels of star formation (SF) and nuclear activity. The
statistical study of SN hosts shows that there is no significant difference
between morphologies of hosts in our sample and the larger general sample of SN
hosts in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 8 (DR8). The mean
distance of type II SNe from nuclei of hosts is greater by about a factor of 2
than that of type Ibc SNe. The distributions and mean distances of SNe are
consistent with previous results compiled with the larger sample. For the first
time it is shown that SNe Ibc are located in pairs with significantly smaller
difference of radial velocities between components than pairs containing SNe Ia
and II. We consider this as a result of higher star formation rate (SFR) of
these closer systems of galaxies. SN types are not correlated with the
luminosity ratio of host and neighbor galaxies in pairs. The orientation of SNe
with respect to the preferred direction toward neighbor galaxy is found to be
isotropic and independent of kinematical properties of the galaxy pair.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, 5 tables, online data, published in Astrophysics
and Space Scienc
On the Nature of Unconfirmed Supernovae
We study the nature of 39 unconfirmed supernovae (SNe) from the sky area
covered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 8 (DR8), using
available photometric and imaging data and intensive literature search. We
confirm that 21 objects are real SNe, 2 are Galactic stars, 4 are probable SNe,
and 12 remain unconfirmed events. The probable types for 4 objects are
suggested: 3 SNe are of probable type Ia, and SN 1953H is probable type II SN.
In addition, we identify the host galaxy of SN 1976N and correct the
offsets/coordinates of SNe 1958E, 1972F, and 1976N.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, 5 tables, published in Astrophysics (English
translation of Astrofizika
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