Contributions to imaging.

Four topics are considered - each associated with a different aspect of imaging. Using X-ray diffraction it is possible to say much about the structure of molecules. Two models for the D.N.A. molecule are analysed with respect to the diffraction data. The models are Watson and Crick's "Double Helix" and Rodley's, recently developed, "Side-by-Side". It is demonstrated that the side-by-side is a viable alternative model for D.N.A. However the low quality of the data precludes a definitive decision as to the actual structure of the molecule. Conventional X-ray computed tomography body scanners, while producing impressive results when imaging stationary objects, can not image rapidly moving organs such as the beating heart. As the heart motion is periodic, it has been suggested that stroboscopic techniques be employed. However the resulting imaging quality is poor when standard image reconstruction methods are used. By taking account of the fact that the region surrounding the heart is stationary, though, a significant improvement in image quality can be obtained. A simple procedure for achieving this improvement is presented here. Ultrasonic transmission tomography is more complicated than the X-ray case because ultrasonic rays, unlike X-rays, are diffracted as they pass through a body. Therefore they are generally curved. It is shown how ray curvature makes it impossible to image certain types of objects exactly. Nevertheless it seems that useful results can be obtained by treating the rays as being straight, and using X-ray computed tomography image reconstruction algorithms. Imaging using electric currents is examined. The types of independent measurements that can be made are discussed. The imaging problem is far from. trivial and, in the general case, largely unsolved. Here a method for uniquely imaging circularly symmetric conductivity distributions is outlined

First-principles prediction of redox potentials in transition-metal compounds with LDA+U

First-principles calculations within the Local Density Approximation (LDA) or Generalized Gradient Approximation (GGA), though very successful, are known to underestimate redox potentials, such as those at which lithium intercalates in transition metal compounds. We argue that this inaccuracy is related to the lack of cancellation of electron self-interaction errors in LDA/GGA and can be improved by using the DFT+$U$ method with a self-consistent evaluation of the $U$ parameter. We show that, using this approach, the experimental lithium intercalation voltages of a number of transition metal compounds, including the olivine Li$_{x}$MPO$_{4}$ (M=Mn, Fe Co, Ni), layered Li$_{x}$MO$_{2}$ ($x=$Co, Ni) and spinel-like Li$_{x}$M$_{2}$O$_{4}$ (M=Mn, Co), can be reproduced accurately.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures, Phys. Rev. B 70, 235121 (2004

Lymphocytes of BRCA1 and BRCA2 germ-line mutation carriers, with or without breast cancer, are not abnormally sensitive to the chromosome damaging effect of moderate folate deficiency

Mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes may cause defective DNA repair and increase risk for breast cancer. Folate deficiency is associated with increased breast cancer risk and induces chromosome abnormalities. We hypothesised that BRCA1 and BRCA2 germ-line mutation carriers are more sensitive to the genome damaging effect of folate deficiency compared to healthy non-carrier controls and that this sensitivity is further increased in those carriers who develop breast cancer. We tested these hypotheses in lymphocytes cultured in medium containing 12 nM or 120 nM folic acid (FA) for 9 days and measured proliferative capacity and chromosomal instability using the cytokinesis-block micronucleus (CBMN) assay. BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers with or without breast cancer were not abnormally sensitive to FA deficiency-induced chromosome instability however BRCA2 mutation carriers had significantly reduced cell proliferation. FA deficiency reduced cell proliferation and increased micronucleus formation significantly accounting for 45-59% and 70-75% of the variance in these parameters compared to 0.3-8.5% and 0.2-0.3% contributed by BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation carrier status respectively. The results of this study suggest that moderate folate deficiency has a stronger effect on chromosomal instability than BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations found in breast cancer families.Sasja Beetstra, Carolyn Salisbury, Julie Turner, Meryl Altree, Ross McKinnon, Graeme Suthers and Michael Fenec

Self-aligned fabrication process for silicon quantum computer devices

We describe a fabrication process for devices with few quantum bits (qubits), which are suitable for proof-of-principle demonstrations of silicon-based quantum computation. The devices follow the Kane proposal to use the nuclear spins of 31P donors in 28Si as qubits, controlled by metal surface gates and measured using single electron transistors (SETs). The accurate registration of 31P donors to control gates and read-out SETs is achieved through the use of a self-aligned process which incorporates electron beam patterning, ion implantation and triple-angle shadow-mask metal evaporation

The mismeasure of conservation

One of the basic purposes of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation interventions is to achieve conservation impact, the sum of avoided biodiversity loss and promoted recovery relative to outcomes without protection. In the context of the Convention on Biological Diversity's negotiations on the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, we find that targets for area-based interventions are framed overwhelmingly with measures that fail to inform decision-makers about impact and that risk diverting limited resources away from achieving it. We show that predicting impact in space and time is feasible and can provide the basis for global guidance for jurisdictions to develop targets for conservation impact and shift investment priorities to areas where impact can be most effectively achieved

Characterizing and modeling backscattering in silicon microring resonators

This paper was published in OPTICS EXPRESS and is made available as an electronic reprint with the permission of OSA. The paper can be found at the following URL on the OSA website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.19.024980. Systematic or multiple reproduction or distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means is prohibited and is subject to penalties under lawWe present an experimental technique to characterize back-scattering in silicon microring resonators, together with a simple analytical model that reproduces the experimental results. The model can extract all the key parameters of an add-drop-type resonator, which are the loss, both coupling coefficients and backscattering. We show that the backscattering effect strongly affects the resonance shape, and that consecutive resonances of the same ring can have very different backscattering parameters. © 2011 Optical Society of America.The authors acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through contract SINADEC (TEC2008-06333). Joaquin Matres is supported by the Formacion de Personal Investigador grant program of the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia.Ballesteros García, G.; Matres Abril, J.; Martí Sendra, J.; Oton Nieto, CJ. (2011). Characterizing and modeling backscattering in silicon microring resonators. Optics Express. 19(25):24980-24985. https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.19.024980S24980249851925De Vos, K., Bartolozzi, I., Schacht, E., Bienstman, P., & Baets, R. (2007). Silicon-on-Insulator microring resonator for sensitive and label-free biosensing. Optics Express, 15(12), 7610. doi:10.1364/oe.15.007610Almeida, V. R., Barrios, C. A., Panepucci, R. R., & Lipson, M. (2004). All-optical control of light on a silicon chip. Nature, 431(7012), 1081-1084. doi:10.1038/nature02921Dumon, P., Bogaerts, W., Wiaux, V., Wouters, J., Beckx, S., Van Campenhout, J., … Baets, R. (2004). Low-Loss SOI Photonic Wires and Ring Resonators Fabricated With Deep UV Lithography. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 16(5), 1328-1330. doi:10.1109/lpt.2004.826025Morichetti, F., Canciamilla, A., Martinelli, M., Samarelli, A., De La Rue, R. M., Sorel, M., & Melloni, A. (2010). Coherent backscattering in optical microring resonators. Applied Physics Letters, 96(8), 081112. doi:10.1063/1.3330894Little, B. E., Laine, J.-P., & Chu, S. T. (1997). Surface-roughness-induced contradirectional coupling in ring and disk resonators. Optics Letters, 22(1), 4. doi:10.1364/ol.22.000004Kippenberg, T. J., Spillane, S. M., & Vahala, K. J. (2002). Modal coupling in traveling-wave resonators. Optics Letters, 27(19), 1669. doi:10.1364/ol.27.001669Zhang, Z., Dainese, M., Wosinski, L., & Qiu, M. (2008). Resonance-splitting and enhanced notch depth in SOI ring resonators with mutual mode coupling. Optics Express, 16(7), 4621. doi:10.1364/oe.16.004621Morichetti, F., Canciamilla, A., Ferrari, C., Torregiani, M., Melloni, A., & Martinelli, M. (2010). Roughness Induced Backscattering in Optical Silicon Waveguides. Physical Review Letters, 104(3). doi:10.1103/physrevlett.104.033902Little, B. E., Chu, S. T., Haus, H. A., Foresi, J., & Laine, J.-P. (1997). Microring resonator channel dropping filters. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 15(6), 998-1005. doi:10.1109/50.588673Morichetti, F., Canciamilla, A., & Melloni, A. (2010). Statistics of backscattering in optical waveguides. Optics Letters, 35(11), 1777. doi:10.1364/ol.35.001777McKinnon, W. R., Xu, D. X., Storey, C., Post, E., Densmore, A., Delâge, A., … Janz, S. (2009). Extracting coupling and loss coefficients from a ring resonator. Optics Express, 17(21), 18971. doi:10.1364/oe.17.01897

Probability distribution of arrival times in quantum mechanics

In a previous paper [V. Delgado and J. G. Muga, Phys. Rev. A 56, 3425 (1997)] we introduced a self-adjoint operator $\hat {{\cal T}}(X)$ whose eigenstates can be used to define consistently a probability distribution of the time of arrival at a given spatial point. In the present work we show that the probability distribution previously proposed can be well understood on classical grounds in the sense that it is given by the expectation value of a certain positive definite operator $\hat J^{(+)}(X)$ which is nothing but a straightforward quantum version of the modulus of the classical current. For quantum states highly localized in momentum space about a certain momentum $p_0 \neq 0$, the expectation value of $\hat J^{(+)}(X)$ becomes indistinguishable from the quantum probability current. This fact may provide a justification for the common practice of using the latter quantity as a probability distribution of arrival times.Comment: 21 pages, LaTeX, no figures; A Note added; To be published in Phys. Rev.

Severe COVID-19 is associated with endothelial activation and abnormal glycosylation of von Willebrand factor in patients undergoing hemodialysis

Background: A major clinical feature of severe coronavirus diease 2019 (COVID-19) is microvascular thrombosis linked to endothelial cell activation. Consistent with this, a number of studies have shown that patients with severe COVID-19 have highly elevated plasma levels of von Willebrand Factor (VWF) that may contribute to the prothrombotic phenotype. In the current study, we investigated the extent of endothelial activation in patients receiving hemodialysis who had either mild or severe COVID-19. Methods: Plasma VWF, ADAMTS-13, angiopoietin-2 (Ang2), and syndecan-1 levels were determined by ELISA. The sialic acid content of VWF was investigated using a modified ELISA to measure elderberry bark lectin, specific for sialic acid residues, binding to VWF. Results: Patients receiving hemodialysis with severe COVID-19 had significantly higher plasma levels of VWF and lower ADAMTS-13. VWF levels peaked and were sustained during the first 10 days after positive confirmation of infection. While Ang2 trended toward being higher in severely ill patients, this did not reach significance; however, severely ill patients had significantly higher soluble syndecan-1 levels, with high levels related to risk of death. Finally, higher VWF levels in severely ill patients were correlated with lower VWF sialic acid content. Conclusions: Severe COVID-19 in patients undergoing hemodialysis is associated with both acute and sustained activation of the endothelium, leading to alteration of the VWF/ADAMTS-13 axis. Lower VWF sialic acid content represents altered VWF processing and further confirms the disturbance caused to the endothelium in COVID-19

Profile instabilities of the millisecond pulsar PSR J1022+1001

We present evidence that the integrated profiles of some millisecond pulsars exhibit severe changes that are inconsistent with the moding phenomenon as known from slowly rotating pulsars. We study these profile instabilities in particular for PSR J1022+1001 and show that they occur smoothly, exhibiting longer time constants than those associated with moding. In addition, the profile changes of this pulsar seem to be associated with a relatively narrow-band variation of the pulse shape. Only parts of the integrated profile participate in this process which suggests that the origin of this phenomenon is intrinsic to the pulsar magnetosphere and unrelated to the interstellar medium. A polarization study rules out profile changes due to geometrical effects produced by any sort of precession. However, changes are observed in the circularly polarized radiation component. In total we identify four recycled pulsars which also exhibit instabilities in the total power or polarization profiles due to an unknown phenomenon (PSRs J1022+1001, J1730-2304, B1821-24, J2145-0750). The consequences for high precision pulsar timing are discussed in view of the standard assumption that the integrated profiles of millisecond pulsars are stable. As a result we present a new method to determine pulse times-of-arrival that involves an adjustment of relative component amplitudes of the template profile. Applying this method to PSR J1022+1001, we obtain an improved timing solution with a proper motion measurement of -17 \pm 2 mas/yr in ecliptic longitude. Assuming a distance to the pulsar as inferred from the dispersion measure this corresponds to an one-dimensional space velocity of 50 km/s.Comment: 29 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Ap