2,356 research outputs found
Improved nanopatterning for YBCO nanowires approaching the depairing current
An improved nanopatterning procedure has been developed to obtain YBCO
nanowires with cross sections as small as 50x50 nm^2, protected by an Au
capping layer. To probe the effective role of the Au protecting layer, we have
measured the current-voltage characteristics and the resistive transition in
temperature of the nanowires. Critical current densities up to 10^8 A/cm^2 have
been achieved at T=4.2 K, approaching the theoretical depairing current limit.
The resistance, measured as a function of temperature close to Tc, has been
fitted with a thermal activated phase slip model, including the effect of the
gold layer. The extracted values of the superconducting coherence length and of
the London penetration depth give current densities consistent with the
measured ones. These results cannot be achieved with same nanowires, without
the Au capping layer.Comment: ASC 2012 conference contributio
The effect of quantum memory on quantum games
We study quantum games with correlated noise through a generalized
quantization scheme. We investigate the effects of memory on quantum games,
such as Prisoner's Dilemma, Battle of the Sexes and Chicken, through three
prototype quantum-correlated channels. It is shown that the quantum player
enjoys an advantage over the classical player for all nine cases considered in
this paper for the maximally entangled case. However, the quantum player can
also outperform the classical player for subsequent cases that can be noted in
the case of the Battle of the Sexes game. It can be seen that the Nash
equilibria do not change for all the three games under the effect of memory.Comment: 26 pages, 7 ps figure
Extraocular Muscle Imbalance and Outcomes of Scleral Buckling Surgery for Primary Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachment
Objective: The objective was to study the muscle imbalance, restrictive motility in unlike gazes and the outcomes of the scleral buckling surgery for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment.
Study design: Prospective follow-up study
Settings and duration: The study was conducted at Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital Rawalpindi from Aug 2015 to Jan 2016.
Methodology: The patients were checked prior to surgery and two follow up visits were done afterwards. Thorough history was taken along with full orthoptic assessment and ocular motility in all four main gazes including elevation, depression, adduction and abduction. Vision, type and position of explants, site of detachment, and risk factors of detachment were also observed.
Results: A total of 48 eyes of 46 patients were taken. Mean age of the study participants was 37.16±20.37 years. Horizontal, vertical and combined deviations were observed in study population. Exo deviation was most common deviation among patients. Most reported risk factors of retinal detachment included trauma, pseudophakia, aphakia and myopia. Motility limitations of all four gazes was observed and it was found out that after buckling the squint and restriction is been increased up till two months.
Conclusion: Ocular restriction among the patients was observed over a period of 2 months and it depicted that encircling with sclera buckling elicited an increase in restrictive ocular motility from pre-operative to 1 week and 2 months after surgery
Impact of internet experience on citizens’ adoption of e‐government in Sri Lanka
Electronic Government implementation and
adoption of its services are in early stage in many
developing countries. The fruitful outcome of this
effort not only depends on the government side but
also the citizen’s side as well. This study amended and
used Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of
Technology (UTAUT) model to identify the factors
influencing citizens’ adoption of electronic government
and moderating effect of citizens’ internet experience.
University students from Sri Lanka were the
participants of the study. The real data disclosed that
factors such as performance expectancy, effort
expectancy and social influence determine the
participants’ behavioural intention to use electronic
government services, and these factors are influenced
by the participants’ internet experienc
Evaluating the Adoption of Enterprise Applications by Small and Medium Enterprises in Sri Lanka
Adoption of information and communication technology has various factors’ influence; Enterprise Applications’ (EAs) adoption is not an exception. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that share around 80 percent of Sri Lankan economy also confront the same kind of influence from various factors. Although the adoption of EAs brings various advantages for such enterprises, many firms are reluctant to make adoption decision. Vendors of such applications would be willing to know about which factors to address to motivate these SMEs’ to adopt their applications. This study aims to delineate the factors influencing SMEs’ adoption of EAs. Many adoption models have been studied in many contexts by researchers; however, these studies address selected fragmented variables. In order to provide a holistic view of factors influencing such adoption by SMEs, this study used Technology, Organization and Environment (TOE) framework. Population for this study is from the North and the Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka. Analysis revealed that technological, organizational and environmental factors significantly influence SMEs’ adoption of EA. Keywords: Small and Medium Enterprises, Enterprise Applications, Adoption, TOE Framework, Sri Lank
Comparison of the optimized conditions for genotyping of ACE ID polymorphism using conventional and direct blood PCR
ACE ID polymorphism is inevitable for genetic epidemiology of several cardiovascular and non cardiovascular diseases due to its direct influence on ACE activity level. In the present work, conditions were optimized for its analysis using conventional and direct blood PCR (DB PCR). Blood samples from nine normotensive male donors preserved in EDTA and lithium-heparin coated vacuatainers separately were used directly as template for DB PCR. Genomic DNA was isolated from each vacuatainer for theconventional PCR and DB PCR also. Conditions were optimized by adjusting the suitable annealing temperature, amount of MgCl2 (in case of conventional PCR) and amount of blood used as DNA template for DB PCR. In case of DNA from EDTA treated blood, maximum amplification of targetsequence occurred at 53oC with 2 mM concentration of MgCl2 in all samples. However, when DNA from lithium heparin treated blood was used as template, 6 out of 9 samples gave amplification results with 4mM concentration of MgCl2 at the same temperature. When 1 ìl genomic DNA from EDTA and lithium heparin treated blood was used as DNA template in DB PCR, all samples gave maximum yield at 53oC.DB PCR successfully amplified the target region when 1 ìl blood treated with EDTA and 0.5 ìl lithium heparin treated blood was used per 50 microliter reaction mixture at 51oC as annealing temperature. Itcan be concluded from the study that EDTA treated blood is more suitable for conventional and DB PCR
Sri Lankan Citizens’ Use Behaviour towards E-Government Services
This research study focused on the main factors influencing Sri Lankan citizens’ adoption of e-Government services. After reviewing existing literatures on technology adoption, the researchers chose the UTAUT model and picked up key determinants from it. The researchers aimed at answering research questions and testing the credibility of hypotheses brought about from the model. Entire Sri Lankan populations’ internet users were selected as the population of this study and sample size was calculated properly for collecting data. Questionnaire was developed and made available in three languages; English, Sinhala and Tamil. Reliability test was carried out to see the internal consistency of the data. The collected data were analysed using SPSS 20 and Minitab 16, and Excel 2010 was also used at times. Correlation and regressions were calculated to see the underlying relationships among the constructs and their impacts. Analysis found that Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence had influence on Sri Lankan citizens’ Intention to Use e-Government services and this intention influenced Use Behaviour of the citizens. Keywords: E-Government, Adoption, UTAUT, Use Behaviour, Citizens, Sri Lank
- …