927 research outputs found
The role of cortical activity in experience-dependent potentiation and depression of sensory responses in rat barrel cortex
Microscopic models for fractionalized phases in strongly correlated systems
We construct explicit examples of microscopic models that stabilize a variety
of fractionalized phases of strongly correlated systems in spatial dimension
bigger than one, and in zero external magnetic field. These include models of
charge fractionalization in boson-only systems, and various kinds of
spin-charge separation in electronic systems. We determine the excitation
spectrum and show the consistency with that expected from field theoretic
descriptions of fractionalization. Our results are further substantiated by
direct numerical calculation of the phase diagram of one of the models.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Assessment of tobacco control advocacy behavioural capacity among students at schools of public health in China
OBJECTIVES. To evaluate student tobacco control advocacy behavioural capacity using longitudinal trace data. METHODS. A tobacco control advocacy curriculum was developed and implemented at schools of public health (SPH) or departments of public health in seven universities in China. Participants comprised undergraduate students studying the public health curriculum in these 13 Universities. A standardised assessment tool was used to evaluate their tobacco control advocacy behavioural capacity. Repeated measures analysis of variance, paired t tests and paired ?2 tests were used to determine differences between dependent variables across time. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and multivariate logistic regression were used to assess treatment effects between intervention and control sites. RESULTS. Respective totals of 426 students in the intervention group and 338 in the control group were available for the evaluation. Approximately 90% of respondents were aged 21 years or older and 56% were women. Findings show that the capacity building program significantly improved public health student advocacy behavioural capacity, including advocacy attitude, interest, motivation and anti-secondhand smoke behaviours. The curriculum did not impact student smoking behaviour. CONCLUSIONS. This study provides sufficient evidence to support the implementation of tobacco control advocacy training at Chinese schools of public health.International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease(U-China-1-15
Projected wave functions for fractionalized phases of quantum spin systems
Gutzwiller projection allows a construction of an assortment of variational
wave functions for strongly correlated systems. For quantum spin S=1/2 models,
Gutzwiller-projected wave functions have resonating-valence-bond structure and
may represent states with fractional quantum numbers for the excitations. Using
insights obtained from field-theoretical descriptions of fractionalization in
two dimensions, we construct candidate wave functions of fractionalized states
by projecting specific superconducting states. We explicitly demonstrate the
presence of topological order in these states.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
The emission positions of kHz QPOs and Kerr spacetime influence
Based the Alfven wave oscillation model (AWOM) and relativistic precession
model (RPM) for twin kHz QPOs, we estimate the emission positions of most
detected kHz QPOs to be at r=18+-3 km (R/15km) except Cir X-1 at r = 30\+-5 km
(R/15km). For the proposed Keplerian frequency as an upper limit to kHz QPO,
the spin effects in Kerr Spacetime are discussed, which have about a 5% (2%)
modification for that of the Schwarzchild case for the spin frequency of 1000
(400) Hz.The application to the four typical QPO sources, Cir X-1, Sco X-1, SAX
J1808.4-3658 and XTE 1807-294, is mentioned.Comment: Science China, Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy, 2010, 53, NO.
Robotic ubiquitous cognitive ecology for smart homes
Robotic ecologies are networks of heterogeneous robotic devices pervasively embedded in everyday environments, where they cooperate to perform complex tasks. While their potential makes them increasingly popular, one fundamental problem is how to make them both autonomous and adaptive, so as to reduce the amount of preparation, pre-programming and human supervision that they require in real world applications. The project RUBICON develops learning solutions which yield cheaper, adaptive and efficient coordination of robotic ecologies. The approach we pursue builds upon a unique combination of methods from cognitive robotics, machine learning, planning and agent- based control, and wireless sensor networks. This paper illustrates the innovations advanced by RUBICON in each of these fronts before describing how the resulting techniques have been integrated and applied to a smart home scenario. The resulting system is able to provide useful services and pro-actively assist the users in their activities. RUBICON learns through an incremental and progressive approach driven by the feed- back received from its own activities and from the user, while also self-organizing the manner in which it uses available sensors, actuators and other functional components in the process. This paper summarises some of the lessons learned by adopting such an approach and outlines promising directions for future work
Quantum disorder in the two-dimensional pyrochlore Heisenberg antiferromagnet
We present the results of an exact diagonalization study of the spin-1/2
Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a two-dimensional version of the pyrochlore
lattice, also known as the square lattice with crossings or the checkerboard
lattice. Examining the low energy spectra for systems of up to 24 spins, we
find that all clusters studied have non-degenerate ground states with total
spin zero, and big energy gaps to states with higher total spin. We also find a
large number of non-magnetic excitations at energies within this spin gap.
Spin-spin and spin-Peierls correlation functions appear to be short-ranged, and
we suggest that the ground state is a spin liquid.Comment: 7 pages, 11 figures, RevTeX minor changes made, Figure 6 correcte
Comparative chromosome painting discloses homologous Segments in distantly related mammals
Comparative chromosome painting, termed ZOO-FISH, using DNA libraries from flow
sorted human chromosomes 1,16,17 and X, and mouse chromosome 11 discloses the
presence of syntenic groups in distantly related mammalian Orders ranging from
primates (Homo sapiens), rodents (Mus musculus), even-toed ungulates (Muntiacus
muntjak vaginalis and Muntiacus reevesi) and whales (Balaenoptera physalus). These
mammalian Orders have evolved separately for 55-80 million years (Myr). We conclude
that ZOO-FISH can be used to generate comparative chromosome maps of a large
number of mammalian species
Singularly Perturbed Monotone Systems and an Application to Double Phosphorylation Cycles
The theory of monotone dynamical systems has been found very useful in the
modeling of some gene, protein, and signaling networks. In monotone systems,
every net feedback loop is positive. On the other hand, negative feedback loops
are important features of many systems, since they are required for adaptation
and precision. This paper shows that, provided that these negative loops act at
a comparatively fast time scale, the main dynamical property of (strongly)
monotone systems, convergence to steady states, is still valid. An application
is worked out to a double-phosphorylation ``futile cycle'' motif which plays a
central role in eukaryotic cell signaling.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures, corrected typos, references remove
Quantum magnetism in two dimensions: From semi-classical N\'eel order to magnetic disorder
This is a review of ground-state features of the s=1/2 Heisenberg
antiferromagnet on two-dimensional lattices. A central issue is the interplay
of lattice topology (e.g. coordination number, non-equivalent nearest-neighbor
bonds, geometric frustration) and quantum fluctuations and their impact on
possible long-range order. This article presents a unified summary of all 11
two-dimensional uniform Archimedean lattices which include e.g. the square,
triangular and kagome lattice. We find that the ground state of the spin-1/2
Heisenberg antiferromagnet is likely to be semi-classically ordered in most
cases. However, the interplay of geometric frustration and quantum fluctuations
gives rise to a quantum paramagnetic ground state without semi-classical
long-range order on two lattices which are precisely those among the 11 uniform
Archimedean lattices with a highly degenerate ground state in the classical
limit. The first one is the famous kagome lattice where many low-lying singlet
excitations are known to arise in the spin gap. The second lattice is called
star lattice and has a clear gap to all excitations.
Modification of certain bonds leads to quantum phase transitions which are
also discussed briefly. Furthermore, we discuss the magnetization process of
the Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the 11 Archimedean lattices, focusing on
anomalies like plateaus and a magnetization jump just below the saturation
field. As an illustration we discuss the two-dimensional Shastry-Sutherland
model which is used to describe SrCu2(BO3)2.Comment: This is now the complete 72-page preprint version of the 2004 review
article. This version corrects two further typographic errors (three total
with respect to the published version), see page 2 for detail
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