35,254 research outputs found
Tracking in a space variant active vision system
Without the ability to foveate on and maintain foveation, active vision for applications such as surveillance, object recognition and object tracking are difficult to build. Although foveation in cartesian coordinates is being actively pursued by many, multi-resolution high accuracy foveation in log polar space has not been given much attention. This paper addresses the use of foveation to track a single object as well as multiple objects for a simulated space variant active vision system. Complex logarithmic mapping is chosen firstly because it provides high resolution and wide angle viewing. Secondly, the spatially variant structure of log polar space leads to an object increasing in size as it moves towards the fovea. This is important as we know which object is closer to the fovea at any instant in time.<br /
Reversibility of Red blood Cell deformation
The ability of cells to undergo reversible shape changes is often crucial to
their survival. For Red Blood Cells (RBCs), irreversible alteration of the cell
shape and flexibility often causes anemia. Here we show theoretically that RBCs
may react irreversibly to mechanical perturbations because of tensile stress in
their cytoskeleton. The transient polymerization of protein fibers inside the
cell seen in sickle cell anemia or a transient external force can trigger the
formation of a cytoskeleton-free membrane protrusion of micrometer dimensions.
The complex relaxation kinetics of the cell shape is shown to be responsible
for selecting the final state once the perturbation is removed, thereby
controlling the reversibility of the deformation. In some case, tubular
protrusion are expected to relax via a peculiar "pearling instability".Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
A novel human glucocorticoid receptor SNP results in increased transactivation potential.
Glucocorticoids are one of the most widely used therapeutics in the treatment of a variety of inflammatory disorders. However, it is known that there are variable patient responses to glucocorticoid treatment; there are responders and non-responders, or those that need higher dosages. Polymorphisms in the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) have been implicated in this variability. In this study, ninety-seven volunteers were surveyed for polymorphisms in the human GR-alpha (hGRα), the accepted biologically active reference isoform. One isoform identified in our survey, named hGR DL-2, had four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), one synonymous and three non-synonymous, and a four base pair deletion resulting in a frame shift and early termination to produce a 743 amino acid putative protein. hGR DL-2 had a decrease in transactivation potential of more than 90%. Upon further analysis of the individual SNPs and deletion, one SNP, A829G, which results in a lysine to glutamic acid amino acid change at position 277, was found to increase the transactivation potential of hGR more than eight times the full-length reference. Furthermore, the hGRα-A829G isoform had a differential hyperactive response to various exogenous steroids. Increasing our knowledge as to how various SNPs affect hGR activity may help in understanding the unpredictable patient response to steroid treatment, and is a step towards personalizing patient care
A scheme for symmetrization verification
We propose a scheme for symmetrization verification in two-particle systems,
based on one-particle detection and state determination. In contrast to
previous proposals, it does not follow a Hong-Ou-Mandel-type approach.
Moreover, the technique can be used to generate superposition states of single
particles
Transport properties of a molecule embedded in an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer
We theoretically investigate the transport properties of a molecule embedded
in one arm of a mesoscopic Aharonov-Bohm interferometer. Due to the presence of
phonons the molecule level position () and the electron-electron
interaction () undergo a \emph{polaronic shift} which affects dramatically
the electronic transport through the molecular junction. When the
electron-phonon interaction is weak the linear conductance presents Fano-line
shapes as long as the direct channel between the electrodes is opened. The
observed Fano resonances in the linear conductance are originated from the
interference between the spin Kondo state and the direct path. For strong
enough electron-phonon interaction, the electron-electron interaction is
renormalized towards negative values, {\it i.e.} becomes effectively
attractive. This scenario favors fluctuations between the empty and doubly
occupied charge states and therefore promotes a charge Kondo effect. However,
the direct path between the contacts breaks the electron-hole symmetry which
can efficiently suppress this charge Kondo effect. Nevertheless, we show that a
proper tuning of the gate voltage is able to revive the Kondo resonance. Our
results are obtained by using the Numerical Renormalization approximation to
compute the electronic spectral function and the linear conductance.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figure
Unexpected phase locking of magnetic fluctuations in the multi-k magnet USb
The spin waves in the multi-k antiferromagnet USb soften and become quasielastic well below the antiferromagnetic ordering temperature TN. This occurs without a magnetic or structural transition. It has been suggested that this change is in fact due to dephasing of the different multi-k components: a switch from 3-k to 1-k behavior. In this work, we use inelastic neutron scattering with tridirectional polarization analysis to probe the quasielastic magnetic excitations and reveal that the 3-k structure does not dephase. More surprisingly, the paramagnetic correlations also maintain the same clear phase correlations well above TN (up to at least 1.4TN)
Resonant Coherent Phonon Spectroscopy of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
Using femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy with pulse shaping techniques, one
can generate and detect coherent phonons in chirality-specific semiconducting
single-walled carbon nanotubes. The signals are resonantly enhanced when the
pump photon energy coincides with an interband exciton resonance, and analysis
of such data provides a wealth of information on the chirality-dependence of
light absorption, phonon generation, and phonon-induced band structure
modulations. To explain our experimental results, we have developed a
microscopic theory for the generation and detection of coherent phonons in
single-walled carbon nanotubes using a tight-binding model for the electronic
states and a valence force field model for the phonons. We find that the
coherent phonon amplitudes satisfy a driven oscillator equation with the
driving term depending on photoexcited carrier density. We compared our
theoretical results with experimental results on mod 2 nanotubes and found that
our model provides satisfactory overall trends in the relative strengths of the
coherent phonon signal both within and between different mod 2 families. We
also find that the coherent phonon intensities are considerably weaker in mod 1
nanotubes in comparison with mod~2 nanotubes, which is also in excellent
agreement with experiment.Comment: 21 pages, 22 figure
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