5,799 research outputs found
The importance of scattering, surface potential, and vanguard counter-potential in terahertz emission from gallium arsenide
It is well established that under excitation by short (<1 ps), above-band-gap optical pulses, semiconductor surfaces may emit terahertz-frequency electromagnetic radiation via photocarrier diffusion (the dominant mechanism in InAs) or photocarrier drift (dominant in GaAs). Our three-dimensional ensemble Monte Carlo simulations allow multiple physical parameters to vary over wide ranges and provide unique direct insight into the factors controlling terahertz emission. We find for GaAs (in contrast to InAs), scattering and the surface potential are key factors. We further delineate in GaAs (as in InAs) the role of a vanguard counter-potential. The effects of varying dielectric constant, band-gap, and effective mass are similar in both emitter types. © 2012, American Institute of Physics
The C@merata Task at MediaEval 2015: Natural Language Queries on Classical Music Scores
This was the second year of the C@merata task [16,1] which relates natural language processing to music inform ation retrieval. Participants each build a system which takes as input a query and a music score and produces as output one or more ma tching passages in the score. This year, questions were mo re difficult and scores were more complex. Participants were the same as last year and once again CLAS was the best with a Beat F-Score of 0.620
Cerebral blood flow response to flavanol-rich cocoa in healthy elderly humans
Farzaneh A Sorond1,2, Lewis A Lipsitz2,4, Norman K Hollenberg3,5, Naomi DL Fisher31Department of Neurology, Stroke Division; 2Institute for Aging Research, Hebrew SeniorLife, Boston, MA; 3Department of Medicine, Endocrine-Hypertension Division; 4Department of Medicine, Gerontology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA; 5Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women&rsquo;s Hospital, Boston, MABackground and Purpose: Cerebral ischemia is a common, morbid condition accompanied by cognitive decline. Recent reports on the vascular health benefits of flavanol-containing foods signify a promising approach to the treatment of cerebral ischemia. Our study was designed to investigate the effects of flavanol-rich cocoa (FRC) consumption on cerebral blood flow in older healthy volunteers.Methods: We used transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasound to measure mean blood flow velocity (MFV) in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) in thirty-four healthy elderly volunteers (72 &plusmn; 6 years) in response to the regular intake of FRC or flavanol-poor cocoa (FPC).Results: In response to two weeks of FRC intake, MFV increased by 8% &plusmn; 4% at one week (p = 0.01) and 10% &plusmn; 4% (p = 0.04) at two weeks. In response to one week of cocoa, significantly more subjects in the FRC as compared with the FPC group had an increase in their MFV (p &lt; 0.05).Conclusions: In summary, we show that dietary intake of FRC is associated with a significant increase in cerebral blood flow velocity in the MCA as measured by TCD. Our data suggest a promising role for regular cocoa flavanol&rsquo;s consumption in the treatment of cerebrovascular ischemic syndromes, including dementias and stroke.Keywords: cerebral blood flow, flavanol, cocoa, transcranial Doppler ultrasoun
Super-resolution far-field ghost imaging via compressive sampling
Much more image details can be resolved by improving the system's imaging
resolution and enhancing the resolution beyond the system's Rayleigh
diffraction limit is generally called super-resolution. By combining the sparse
prior property of images with the ghost imaging method, we demonstrated
experimentally that super-resolution imaging can be nonlocally achieved in the
far field even without looking at the object. Physical explanation of
super-resolution ghost imaging via compressive sampling and its potential
applications are also discussed.Comment: 4pages,4figure
Safety, Tolerability, and Pharmacokinetics of ARC-520 Injection, an RNA Interference-Based Therapeutic for the Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection, in Healthy Volunteers
published_or_final_versio
Plasma Perturbations and Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy in the Linearly Expanding Milne-like Universe
We expose the scenarios of primordial baryon-photon plasma evolution within
the framework of the Milne-like universe models. Recently, such models find a
second wind and promise an inflation-free solution of a lot of cosmological
puzzles including the cosmological constant one. Metric tensor perturbations
are considered using the five-vectors theory of gravity admitting the Friedmann
equation satisfied up to some constant. The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)
spectrum is calculated qualitatively.Comment: 20 page
The Social context of motorcycle riding and the key determinants influencing rider behavior: A qualitative investigation
Objective: Given the increasing popularity of motorcycle riding and heightened risk of injury or death associated with being a rider, this study explored rider behaviour as a determinant of rider safety and, in particular, key beliefs and motivations which influence such behaviour. To enhance the effectiveness of future education and training interventions, it is important to understand riders’ own views about what influences how they ride. Specifically, this study sought to identify key determinants of riders’ behaviour in relation to the social context of riding including social and identity-related influences relating to the group (group norms and group identity) as well as the self (moral/personal norm and self-identity). ----- ----- Method: Qualitative research was undertaken via group discussions with motorcycle riders (n = 41). Results: The findings revealed that those in the group with which one rides represent an important source of social influence. Also, the motorcyclist (group) identity was associated with a range of beliefs, expectations, and behaviours considered to be normative. Exploration of the construct of personal norm revealed that riders were most cognizant of the “wrong things to do” when riding; among those issues raised was the importance of protective clothing (albeit for the protection of others and, in particular, pillion passengers). Finally, self-identity as a motorcyclist appeared to be important to a rider’s self-concept and was likely to influence their on-road behaviour. ----- ----- Conclusion: Overall, the insight provided by the current study may facilitate the development of interventions including rider training as well as public education and mass media messages. The findings suggest that these interventions should incorporate factors associated with the social nature of riding in order to best align it with some of the key beliefs and motivations underpinning riders’ on-road behaviours
Intraspecific Correlations of Basal and Maximal Metabolic Rates in Birds and the Aerobic Capacity Model for the Evolution of Endothermy
The underlying assumption of the aerobic capacity model for the evolution of endothermy is that basal (BMR) and maximal aerobic metabolic rates are phenotypically linked. However, because BMR is largely a function of central organs whereas maximal metabolic output is largely a function of skeletal muscles, the mechanistic underpinnings for their linkage are not obvious. Interspecific studies in birds generally support a phenotypic correlation between BMR and maximal metabolic output. If the aerobic capacity model is valid, these phenotypic correlations should also extend to intraspecific comparisons. We measured BMR, Msum (maximum thermoregulatory metabolic rate) and MMR (maximum exercise metabolic rate in a hop-flutter chamber) in winter for dark-eyed juncos (Junco hyemalis), American goldfinches (Carduelis tristis; Msum and MMR only), and black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus; BMR and Msum only) and examined correlations among these variables. We also measured BMR and Msum in individual house sparrows (Passer domesticus) in both summer, winter and spring. For both raw metabolic rates and residuals from allometric regressions, BMR was not significantly correlated with either Msum or MMR in juncos. Moreover, no significant correlation between Msum and MMR or their mass-independent residuals occurred for juncos or goldfinches. Raw BMR and Msum were significantly positively correlated for black-capped chickadees and house sparrows, but mass-independent residuals of BMR and Msum were not. These data suggest that central organ and exercise organ metabolic levels are not inextricably linked and that muscular capacities for exercise and shivering do not necessarily vary in tandem in individual birds. Why intraspecific and interspecific avian studies show differing results and the significance of these differences to the aerobic capacity model are unknown, and resolution of these questions will require additional studies of potential mechanistic links between minimal and maximal metabolic output
Groupwise Multimodal Image Registration using Joint Total Variation
In medical imaging it is common practice to acquire a wide range of
modalities (MRI, CT, PET, etc.), to highlight different structures or
pathologies. As patient movement between scans or scanning session is
unavoidable, registration is often an essential step before any subsequent
image analysis. In this paper, we introduce a cost function based on joint
total variation for such multimodal image registration. This cost function has
the advantage of enabling principled, groupwise alignment of multiple images,
whilst being insensitive to strong intensity non-uniformities. We evaluate our
algorithm on rigidly aligning both simulated and real 3D brain scans. This
validation shows robustness to strong intensity non-uniformities and low
registration errors for CT/PET to MRI alignment. Our implementation is publicly
available at https://github.com/brudfors/coregistration-njtv
Validation of methods for converting the original Disease Activity Score (DAS) to the DAS28
© The Author(s) 2018.The Disease Activity Score (DAS) is integral in tailoring the clinical management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and is an important measure in clinical research. Different versions have been developed over the years to improve reliability and ease of use. Combining the original DAS and the newer DAS28 data in both contemporary and historical studies is important for both primary and secondary data analyses. As such, a methodologically robust means of converting the old DAS to the new DAS28 measure would be invaluable. Using data from The Early RA Study (ERAS), a sub-sample of patients with both DAS and DAS28 data were used to develop new regression imputation formulas using the total DAS score (univariate), and using the separate components of the DAS score (multivariate). DAS were transformed to DAS28 using an existing formula quoted in the literature, and the newly developed formulas. Bland and Altman plots were used to compare the transformed DAS with the recorded DAS28 to ascertain levels of agreement. The current transformation formula tended to overestimate the true DAS28 score, particularly at the higher end of the scale. A formula which uses all separate components of the DAS was found to estimate the scores with a higher level of precision. A new formula is proposed that can be used by other early RA cohorts to convert the original DAS to DAS28.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio
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