1,609 research outputs found
Molecular Fine Structure from Water Window X-rays
Postprint (published version
Evidence of Deep Water Penetration in Silica during Stress Corrosion Fracture
We measure the thickness of the heavy water layer trapped under the stress corrosion fracture surface of silica using neutron reflectivity experiments. We show that the penetration depth is 65â85âĂ
, suggesting the presence of a damaged zone of ~100âĂ
extending ahead of the crack tip during its propagation. This estimate of the size of the damaged zone is compatible with other recent results
Mass Density of Individual Cobalt Nanowires
The mass density of nanowires is determined using in-situ resonance frequency
experiments combined with quasi-static nanotensile tests. Our results reveal a
mass density of 7.36 g/cm3 on average which is below the theoretical density of
bulk cobalt. Also the density of electrodeposited cobalt nanowires is found to
decrease with the aspect ratio. The results are discussed in terms of the
measurement accuracy and the microstructure of the nanowires.Comment: 3 Figure
Cooperative Reinforcement Learning Using an Expert-Measuring Weighted Strategy with WoLF
Gradient descent learning algorithms have proven effective in solving mixed strategy games. The policy hill climbing (PHC) variants of WoLF (Win or Learn Fast) and PDWoLF (Policy Dynamics based WoLF) have both shown rapid convergence to equilibrium solutions by increasing the accuracy of their gradient parameters over standard Q-learning. Likewise, cooperative learning techniques using weighted strategy sharing (WSS) and expertness measurements improve agent performance when multiple agents are solving a common goal. By combining these cooperative techniques with fast gradient descent learning, an agentâs performance converges to a solution at an even faster rate. This statement is verified in a stochastic grid world environment using a limited visibility hunter-prey model with random and intelligent prey. Among five different expertness measurements, cooperative learning using each PHC algorithm converges faster than independent learning when agents strictly learn from better performing agents
WoLF Ant
Ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithms can generate quality solutions to combinatorial optimization problems. However, like many stochastic algorithms, the quality of solutions worsen as problem sizes grow. In an effort to increase performance, we added the variable step size off-policy hill-climbing algorithm called PDWoLF (Policy Dynamics Win or Learn Fast) to several ant colony algorithms: Ant System, Ant Colony System, Elitist-Ant System, Rank-based Ant System, and Max-Min Ant System. Easily integrated into each ACO algorithm, the PDWoLF component maintains a set of policies separate from the ant colony\u27s pheromone. Similar to pheromone but with different update rules, the PDWoLF policies provide a second estimation of solution quality and guide the construction of solutions. Experiments on large traveling salesman problems (TSPs) show that incorporating PDWoLF with the aforementioned ACO algorithms that do not make use of local optimizations produces shorter tours than the ACO algorithms alone
Synaptophysin Is Required for Synaptobrevin Retrieval during Synaptic Vesicle Endocytosis
The integral synaptic vesicle (SV) protein synaptophysin forms approximately 10% of total SV protein content, but has no known function in SV physiology. Synaptobrevin (sybII) is another abundant integral SV protein with an essential role in SV exocytosis. Synaptophysin and sybII form a complex in nerve terminals, suggesting this interaction may have a key role in presynaptic function. To determine how synaptophysin controls sybII traffic in nerve terminals, we used a combination of optical imaging techniques in cultures derived from synaptophysin knockout mice. We show that synaptophysin is specifically required for the retrieval of the pH-sensitive fluorescent reporter sybII-pHluorin from the plasma membrane during endocytosis. The retrieval of other SV protein cargo reporters still occurred, however their recapture proceeded with slower kinetics. This slowing of SV retrieval kinetics in the absence of synaptophysin did not impact on global SV turnover. These results identify a specific and selective requirement for synaptophysin in the retrieval of sybII during SV endocytosis and suggest that their interaction may act as an adjustable regulator of SV retrieval efficiency
On a system of KleinâGordon type equations with acoustic boundary conditions
AbstractWe prove the existence, uniqueness and uniform stabilization of global solutions for a generalized system of KleinâGordon type equations with acoustic boundary conditions on a portion of the boundary and the Dirichlet boundary condition on the rest
Attosecond Streaking in the Water Window: A New Regime of Attosecond Pulse Characterization
We report on the first streaking measurement of water-window attosecond
pulses generated via high harmonic generation, driven by sub-2-cycle,
CEP-stable, 1850 nm laser pulses. Both the central photon energy and the energy
bandwidth far exceed what has been demonstrated thus far, warranting the
investigation of the attosecond streaking technique for the soft X-ray regime
and the limits of the FROGCRAB retrieval algorithm under such conditions. We
also discuss the problem of attochirp compensation and issues regarding much
lower photo-ionization cross sections compared with the XUV in addition to the
fact that several shells of target gases are accessed simultaneously. Based on
our investigation, we caution that the vastly different conditions in the soft
X-ray regime warrant a diligent examination of the fidelity of the measurement
and the retrieval procedure.Comment: 14 Pages, 12 figure
Three-wave mixing mediated femtosecond pulse compression in BBO
Nonlinear pulse compression mediated by three-wave mixing is demonstrated for ultrashort Ti:sapphire pulses in a type II phase-matched ïżœÎČ-barium borate (BBO) crystal using noncollinear geometry. 170 ÎŒJ pulses at 800 nm with a pulse duration of 74 fs are compressed at their sum frequency to 32 fs with 55 ÎŒJ of pulse energy. Experiments and computer simulations demonstrate the potential of sum-frequency pulse compression to match the group velocities of the interacting waves to crystals that were initially not considered in the context of nonlinear pulse compression.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft
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