5,984 research outputs found
Brillouin amplification in phase coherent transfer of optical frequencies over 480 km fiber
We describe the use of fiber Brillouin amplification (FBA) for the coherent
transmission of optical frequencies over a 480 km long optical fiber link. FBA
uses the transmission fiber itself for efficient, bi-directional coherent
amplification of weak signals with pump powers around 30 mW. In a test setup we
measured the gain and the achievable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of FBA and
compared it to that of the widely used uni-directional Erbium doped fiber
amplifiers (EDFA) and to our recently built bi-directional EDFA. We measured
also the phase noise introduced by the FBA and used a new and simple technique
to stabilize the frequency of the FBA pump laser. We then transferred a
stabilized laser frequency over a wide area network with a total fiber length
of 480 km using only one intermediate FBA station. After compensating the noise
induced by the fiber, the frequency is delivered to the user end with an
uncertainty below 2x10-18 and an instability sigma(tau) = 2x10-14/(tau/second)
Organoids as host models for infection biology – a review of methods
Infectious diseases are a major threat worldwide. With the alarming rise of antimicrobial resistance and emergence of new potential pathogens, a better understanding of the infection process is urgently needed. Over the last century, the development of in vitro and in vivo models has led to remarkable contributions to the current knowledge in the field of infection biology. However, applying recent advances in organoid culture technology to research infectious diseases is now taking the field to a higher level of complexity. Here, we describe the current methods available for the study of infectious diseases using organoid cultures.We thank Rike Zietlow for editing of the manuscript. This work was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program under grant agreement No. 857491 to A.S.O., M.Sa., and S.B.; BMBF grant NUM-COVID 19 Organo-Strat 01KX2021 to S.B.; and FCT, grant CEEC, to M.Sa
New and unusual O alleles at the ABO locus are implicated in unexpected blood group phenotypes
Meteor showers of comet C/1917 F1 Mellish
December Monocerotids and November Orionids are weak but established annual
meteor showers active throughout November and December. Analysis of a high
quality orbits subset of the SonotaCo video meteor database shows that the
distribution of orbital elements, geocentric velocity and also the orbital
evolution of the meteors and potential parent body may imply a common origin
for these meteors coming from the parent comet C/1917 F1 Mellish. This is also
confirmed by the physical properties and activity of these shower meteors. An
assumed release of meteoroids at the perihelion of the comet in the past and
the sky-plane radiant distribution reveal that the December Monocerotid stream
might be younger than the November Orionids. A meteoroid transversal component
of ejection velocity at the perihelion must be larger than 100 m/s. A few
authors have also associated December Canis Minorids with the comet C/1917 F1
Mellish. However, we did not find any connection.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures and 5 table
Antibodies to the Mr 64,000 (64K) protein in islet cell antibody positive non-diabetic individuals indicate high risk for impaired Beta-cell function
A prospective study of a normal childhood population identified 44 islet cell antibody positive individuals. These subjects were typed for HLA DR and DQ alleles and investigated for the presence of antibodies to the Mr 64,000 (64K) islet cell antigen, complement-fixing islet cell antibodies and radiobinding insulin autoantibodies to determine their potency in detecting subjects with impaired Beta-cell function. At initial testing 64K antibodies were found in six of 44 islet cell antibody positive subjects (13.6%). The same sera were also positive for complement-fixing islet cell antibodies and five of them had insulin autoantibodies. During the follow-up at 18 months, islet cell antibodies remained detectable in 50% of the subjects studied. In all six cases who were originally positive, 64K antibodies were persistently detectable, whereas complement-fixing islet cell antibodies became negative in two of six and insulin autoantibodies in one of five individuals. HLA DR4 (p < 0.005) and absence of asparic acid (Asp) at position 57 of the HLA DQ chain (p < 0.05) were significantly increased in subjects with 64K antibodies compared with control subjects. Of 40 individuals tested in the intravenous glucose tolerance test, three had a first phase insulin response below the first percentile of normal control subjects. Two children developed Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus after 18 and 26 months, respectively. Each of these subjects was non-Asp homozygous and had persistent islet cell and 64K antibodies. We conclude that 64K antibodies, complement-fixing islet cell antibodies and insulin autoantibodies represent sensitive serological markers in assessing high risk for a progression to Type 1 diabetes in islet cell antibody positive non-diabetic individuals
Gas phase potassium release from a single particle of biomass during high temperature combustion
A notable characteristic of solid biomass fuels as compared to coal is their significantly higher potassium content. Potassium influences ash deposition and corrosion mechanisms in furnaces and boilers, the effects of which may differ depending on phase transformations of potassium species in the gas phase and condensed phase. An understanding of how potassium is released from biomass fuels during the combustion process is therefore useful for plant designers and operators assessing means of avoiding or mitigating these potential problems. An experimental method is used to measure release patterns from single particles of biomass fuels using flame emission spectroscopy and a single-particle combustion rig. The experimental arrangement also allowed simultaneous thermal imaging of the combusting particle in order to determine the surface temperature. A model of the single particle combustion is presented. Using experimental data on devolatilisation and burnout times for different sized particles and the measured surface temperature profiles, the thermal and kinetic sub-models are verified. A model for potassium release is described and this is integrated to the single particle combustion model to allow prediction of the temporal patterns of release of gas-phase potassium. The modelled release patterns were compared with those observed. Good agreement between modelled and measured potassium release patterns was attained confirming that the proposed mechanisms affecting potassium release are valid
Quantum critical points with the Coulomb interaction and the dynamical exponent: when and why z=1
A general scenario that leads to Coulomb quantum criticality with the
dynamical critical exponent z=1 is proposed. I point out that the long-range
Coulomb interaction and quenched disorder have competing effects on z, and that
the balance between the two may lead to charged quantum critical points at
which z=1 exactly. This is illustrated with the calculation for the Josephson
junction array Hamiltonian in dimensions D=3-\epsilon. Precisely in D=3,
however, the above simple result breaks down, and z>1. Relation to other
theoretical studies is discussed.Comment: RevTex, 4 pages, 1 ps figur
A systematic review of randomised controlled trials on the effectiveness of exercise programs on lumbo pelvic pain among postnatal women
Background: A substantial number of women tend to be affected by Lumbo Pelvic Pain (LPP) following child birth.
Physical exercise is indicated as a beneficial method to relieve LPP, but individual studies appear to suggest mixed
findings about its effectiveness. This systematic review aimed to synthesise evidence from randomised controlled trials on the effectiveness of exercise on LPP among postnatal women to inform policy, practice and future research.
Methods: A systematic review was conducted of all randomised controlled trials published between January 1990 and July 2014, identified through a comprehensive search of following databases: PubMed, PEDro, Embase, Cinahl, Medline, SPORTDiscus, Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group’s Trials Register, and electronic libraries of authors’institutions.
Randomised controlled trials were eligible for inclusion if the intervention comprised of postnatal exercise for women
with LPP onset during pregnancy or within 3 months after delivery and the outcome measures included changes in
LPP. Selected articles were assessed using the PEDro Scale for methodological quality and findings were synthesised narratively as meta-analysis was found to be inappropriate due to heterogeneity among included studies.
Results: Four randomised controlled trials were included, involving 251 postnatal women. Three trials were rated as
of ‘good’ methodological quality. All trials, except one, were at low risk of bias. The trials included physical exercise
programs with varying components, differing modes of delivery, follow up times and outcome measures. Intervention
in one trial, involving physical therapy with specific stabilising exercises, proved to be effective in reducing LPP
intensity. An improvement in gluteal pain on the right side was reported in another trial and a significant difference in
pain frequency in another.
Conclusion: Our review indicates that only few randomised controlled trials have evaluated the effectiveness of
exercise on LPP among postnatal women. There is also a great amount of variability across existing trials in the
components of exercise programs, modes of delivery, follow up times and outcome measures. While there is some
evidence to indicate the effectiveness of exercise for relieving LPP, further good quality trials are needed to ascertain
the most effective elements of postnatal exercise programs suited for LPP treatment
Infrastructure-based Multi-Camera Calibration using Radial Projections
Multi-camera systems are an important sensor platform for intelligent systems
such as self-driving cars. Pattern-based calibration techniques can be used to
calibrate the intrinsics of the cameras individually. However, extrinsic
calibration of systems with little to no visual overlap between the cameras is
a challenge. Given the camera intrinsics, infrastucture-based calibration
techniques are able to estimate the extrinsics using 3D maps pre-built via SLAM
or Structure-from-Motion. In this paper, we propose to fully calibrate a
multi-camera system from scratch using an infrastructure-based approach.
Assuming that the distortion is mainly radial, we introduce a two-stage
approach. We first estimate the camera-rig extrinsics up to a single unknown
translation component per camera. Next, we solve for both the intrinsic
parameters and the missing translation components. Extensive experiments on
multiple indoor and outdoor scenes with multiple multi-camera systems show that
our calibration method achieves high accuracy and robustness. In particular,
our approach is more robust than the naive approach of first estimating
intrinsic parameters and pose per camera before refining the extrinsic
parameters of the system. The implementation is available at
https://github.com/youkely/InfrasCal.Comment: ECCV 202
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