Stereotactic radiosurgery for vestibular schwannomas.

Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) maintains an important role in managing vestibular schwannoma (VS). Long-term clinical data have clearly established the safety and efficacy of the procedure for managing Koos low grade to intermediate grade VS. Historically, the procedure was developed via a multidisciplinary approach that involves physicians (eg, neurosurgeons and radiation oncologists) as well as clinical specialists (eg, radiation physicists). In this paper, we have reviewed current technical and clinical practices of SRS for VS from a procedural specialist's perspective and from a clinician's perspective

Tuning Optical Properties of Transparent Conducting Barium Stannate by Dimensional Reduction

We report calculations of the electronic structure and optical properties of doped $n$-type perovskite BaSnO3 and layered perovskites. While doped BaSnO$_3$ retains its transparency for energies below the valence to conduction band onset, the doped layered compounds exhibit below band edge optical conductivity due to transitions from the lowest conduction band. This gives absorption in the visible for Ba2SnO4. Thus it is important to minimize this phase in transparent conducting oxide (TCO) films. Ba3Sn2O7 and Ba4Sn3O10 have strong transitions only in the red and infrared, respectively. Thus there may be opportunities for using these as wavelength filtering TCO

An Analysis of Thickness-shear Vibrations of an Annular Plate with the Mindlin Plate Equations

The Mindlin plate equations with the consideration of thickness-shear deformation as an independent variable have been used for the analysis of vibrations of quartz crystal resonators of both rectangular and circular types. The Mindlin or Lee plate theories that treat thickness-shear deformation as an independent higher-order vibration mode in a coupled system of two-dimensional variables are the choice of theory for analysis. For circular plates, we derived the Mindlin plate equations in a systematic manner as demonstrated by Mindlin and others and obtained the truncated two-dimensional equations of closely coupled modes in polar coordinates. We simplified the equations for vibration modes in the vicinity of fundamental thickness-shear frequency and validated the equations and method. To explore newer structures of quartz crystal resonators, we utilized the Mindlin plate equations for the analysis of annular plates with fixed inner and free outer edges for frequency spectra. The detailed analysis of vibrations of circular plates for the normalized frequency versus dimensional parameters provide references for optimal selection of parameters based on the principle of strong thickness-shear mode and minimal presence of other modes to enhance energy trapping through maintaining the strong and pure thickness-shear vibrations insensitive to some complication factors such as thermal and initial stresses.Comment: Paper to be presented to the 2015 IEEE International Frequency Control Symposium and European Frequency and Time Forum, Denver, CO, USA. April 12-16, 201

Spin Squeezing, Negative Correlations, and Concurrence in the Quantum Kicked Top Model

We study spin squeezing, negative correlations, and concurrence in the quantum kicked top model. We prove that the spin squeezing and negative correlations are equivalent for spin systems with only symmetric Dicke states populated. We numerically analyze spin squeezing parameters and concurrence in this model, and find that the maximal spin squeezing direction, which refers to the minimal pairwise correlation direction, is strongly influenced by quantum chaos. Entanglement (spin squeezing) sudden death and sudden birth occur alternatively for the periodic and quasi-periodic cases, while only entanglement (spin squeezing) sudden death is found for the chaotic case.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Universal Thermoelectric Effect of Dirac Fermions in Graphene

We numerically study the thermoelectric transports of Dirac fermions in graphene in the presence of a strong magnetic field and disorder. We find that the thermoelectric transport coefficients demonstrate universal behavior depending on the ratio between the temperature and the width of the disorder-broadened Landau levels(LLs). The transverse thermoelectric conductivity $\alpha_{xy}$ reaches a universal quantum value at the center of each LL in the high temperature regime, and it has a linear temperature dependence at low temperatures. The calculated Nernst signal has a peak at the central LL with heights of the order of $k_B/e$, and changes sign near other LLs, while the thermopower has an opposite behavior, in good agreement with experimental data. The validity of the generalized Mott relation between the thermoelectric and electrical transport coefficients is verified in a wide range of temperatures.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, published versio

A Comparative Study of Physicochemical, Dielectric and Thermal Properties of Pressboard Insulation Impregnated with Natural Ester and Mineral Oil

Natural ester is considered to be a substitute of mineral oil in the future. To apply natural ester in large transformers safely, natural ester impregnated solid insulation should be proved to have comparable dielectric strength and thermal stability to mineral oil impregnated solid insulation. This paper mainly focuses on a comparative study of physicochemical, ac breakdown strength and thermal stability behavior of BIOTEMP natural ester/pressboard insulation and Karamay 25# naphthenic mineral oil/pressboard insulation after long term thermal ageing. The physicochemical and dielectric parameters including moisture, acids and the ac breakdown strength of these two oil/pressboard insulation systems at different ageing status were compared. The permittivity and ac breakdown strength of these two oil/pressboard insulation systems at different temperatures were also investigated. And a comparative result of the thermal stability behavior of these two oil/pressboard insulation systems with different ageing status was provided at last. Results show that though natural ester has higher absolute humidity and acidity during the long ageing period, the lower relative humidity of natural ester helps to keep its ac breakdown strength higher than mineral oil. The pressboard aged in natural ester also has higher ac breakdown strength than that aged in mineral oil. The lower relative permittivity ratio of natural ester impregnated paper to natural ester is beneficial to its dielectric strength. Using natural ester in transformer, the resistance to thermal decomposition of the oil/pressboard insulation system could be also effectively improved