1,488 research outputs found
Polarization singularities from unfolding an optical vortex through a birefringent crystal
Optical vortices (nodal lines and phase singularities) are the generic singularities of scalar optics but are unstable in vector optics. We investigate experimentally and theoretically the unfolding of a uniformly polarized optical vortex beam on propagation through a birefringent crystal and characterize the output field in terms of polarization singularities (C lines and points of circular polarization; L surfaces and lines of linear polarization). The field is described both in the 2-dimensional transverse plane, and in three dimensions, where the third is abstract, representing an optical path length propagated through the crystal. Many phenomena of singular optics, such as topological charge conservation and singularity reconnections, occur naturally in the description
Polarization singularities from unfolding an optical vortex through a birefringent crystal
Optical vortices (nodal lines and phase singularities) are the generic singularities of scalar optics but are unstable in vector optics. We investigate experimentally and theoretically the unfolding of a uniformly polarized optical vortex beam on propagation through a birefringent crystal and characterize the output field in terms of polarization singularities (C lines and points of circular polarization; L surfaces and lines of linear polarization). The field is described both in the 2-dimensional transverse plane, and in three dimensions, where the third is abstract, representing an optical path length propagated through the crystal. Many phenomena of singular optics, such as topological charge conservation and singularity reconnections, occur naturally in the description
Protocol for the Reconstructing Consciousness and Cognition (ReCCognition) Study
Important scientific and clinical questions persist about general anesthesia despite the ubiquitous clinical use of anesthetic drugs in humans since their discovery. For example, it is not known how the brain reconstitutes consciousness and cognition after the profound functional perturbation of the anesthetized state, nor has a specific pattern of functional recovery been characterized. To date, there has been a lack of detailed investigation into rates of recovery and the potential orderly return of attention, sensorimotor function, memory, reasoning and logic, abstract thinking, and processing speed. Moreover, whether such neurobehavioral functions display an invariant sequence of return across individuals is similarly unknown. To address these questions, we designed a study of healthy volunteers undergoing general anesthesia with electroencephalography and serial testing of cognitive functions (NCT01911195). The aims of this study are to characterize the temporal patterns of neurobehavioral recovery over the first several hours following termination of a deep inhaled isoflurane general anesthetic and to identify common patterns of cognitive function recovery. Additionally, we will conduct spectral analysis and reconstruct functional networks from electroencephalographic data to identify any neural correlates (e.g., connectivity patterns, graph-theoretical variables) of cognitive recovery after the perturbation of general anesthesia. To accomplish these objectives, we will enroll a total of 60 consenting adults aged 20–40 across the three participating sites. Half of the study subjects will receive general anesthesia slowly titrated to loss of consciousness (LOC) with an intravenous infusion of propofol and thereafter be maintained for 3 h with 1.3 age adjusted minimum alveolar concentration of isoflurane, while the other half of subjects serves as awake controls to gauge effects of repeated neurobehavioral testing, spontaneous fatigue and endogenous rest-activity patterns
Performance update of an event-type based analysis for the Cherenkov Telescope Array
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be the next-generation observatory
in the field of very-high-energy (20 GeV to 300 TeV) gamma-ray astroparticle
physics. The traditional approach to data analysis in this field is to apply
quality cuts, optimized using Monte Carlo simulations, on the data acquired to
maximize sensitivity. Subsequent steps of the analysis typically use the
surviving events to calculate one set of instrument response functions (IRFs)
to physically interpret the results. However, an alternative approach is the
use of event types, as implemented in experiments such as the Fermi-LAT. This
approach divides events into sub-samples based on their reconstruction quality,
and a set of IRFs is calculated for each sub-sample. The sub-samples are then
combined in a joint analysis, treating them as independent observations. In
previous works we demonstrated that event types, classified using Machine
Learning methods according to their expected angular reconstruction quality,
have the potential to significantly improve the CTA angular and energy
resolution of a point-like source analysis. Now, we validated the production of
event-type wise full-enclosure IRFs, ready to be used with science tools (such
as Gammapy and ctools). We will report on the impact of using such an
event-type classification on CTA high-level performance, compared to the
traditional procedure.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, Presented at the 38th International Cosmic Ray
Conference (ICRC 2023), 2023 (arXiv:submit/2309.08219
Lock-in detection for pulsed electrically detected magnetic resonance
We show that in pulsed electrically detected magnetic resonance (pEDMR)
signal modulation in combination with a lock-in detection scheme can reduce the
low-frequency noise level by one order of magnitude and in addition removes the
microwave-induced non-resonant background. This is exemplarily demonstrated for
spin-echo measurements in phosphorus-doped Silicon. The modulation of the
signal is achieved by cycling the phase of the projection pulse used in pEDMR
for the read-out of the spin state.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Tailoring Soft Local Zones in Quenched Blanks of the Steel 22MnB5 by Partial Pre-cooling with Compressed Air
The high-strength boron steel 22MnB5 steel is widely used for automotive lightweight constructions. A novel approach is promising to tailor strength and ductility in the hardened condition using locally pre-tempered sheets for the hot stamping process. It results in the formation of locally soft spots where mechanical joining is subsequently intended. A slow pre-cooling of the later joining zones with cooling rates below a certain critical cooling rate for obtaining a decreased strength in these regions is required. A tubular air cooling system suited for this task is presented and tested in a process where the subsequent quenching of the overall sheet is realized by rapid cooling in a water bath. Varying the air pressure and cooling duration allows controlling the size of the softened local spot in a wide range and still obtaining a bainitic microstructure. Using two-stage cooling with point jet nozzles and a subsequent hot stamping process with water-cooled dies resulted in a main sheet hardness of about 470 HV5 and of 260 HV5 in the pre-cooled spots, respectively
The Geometry of Most Probable Trajectories in Noise-Driven Dynamical Systems
This paper presents a heuristic derivation of a geometric minimum action
method that can be used to determine most-probable transition paths in
noise-driven dynamical systems. Particular attention is focused on systems that
violate detailed balance, and the role of the stochastic vorticity tensor is
emphasized. The general method is explored through a detailed study of a
two-dimensional quadratic shear flow which exhibits bifurcating most-probable
transition pathways.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
2017 Robotic Instrument Segmentation Challenge
In mainstream computer vision and machine learning, public datasets such as
ImageNet, COCO and KITTI have helped drive enormous improvements by enabling
researchers to understand the strengths and limitations of different algorithms
via performance comparison. However, this type of approach has had limited
translation to problems in robotic assisted surgery as this field has never
established the same level of common datasets and benchmarking methods. In 2015
a sub-challenge was introduced at the EndoVis workshop where a set of robotic
images were provided with automatically generated annotations from robot
forward kinematics. However, there were issues with this dataset due to the
limited background variation, lack of complex motion and inaccuracies in the
annotation. In this work we present the results of the 2017 challenge on
robotic instrument segmentation which involved 10 teams participating in
binary, parts and type based segmentation of articulated da Vinci robotic
instruments
The effects of categorical and linguistic adaptation on binocular rivalry initial dominance
Binocular rivalry (BR) is a phenomenon in which visual perception alternates between two different monocular stimuli. There has been a long debate regarding its nature, with a special emphasis on whether low- or high-level mechanisms are involved. Prior adaptation to one of the two monocular stimuli is known to affect initial dominance in the subsequent dichoptic presentation. In the present work, we have used three different types of adaptation in order to investigate how each one affects initial dominance during BR. In the first adaptation type, adapting to a stimulus identical to the one used during rivalry has led to its consequent suppression, verifying previous findings. The binocular presentation which we have used excludes the possibility of eye-adaptation, suggesting that it is the specific stimulus that the brain adapts to. In the second adaptation type, we find suppression effects following adaptation to stimuli belonging to the same category (face or house) but are different from the specific ones used in the following BR presentation. In the final adaptation type, in which the words “face” or “house” are used as adaptors, no statistically significant effect was found. These results suggest that perceptual selection can be directly influenced by the prior presentation of visual stimuli different to the ones used during BR, and thus support a higher-level, cognitive influence on the latter
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