12,919 research outputs found
Seeing is believing: How people fail to identify fake images on the web
The growing ease with which digital images can be convincingly manipulated and widely distributed on the Internet makes viewers increasingly susceptible to visual misinformation and deception. In situations where ill-intentioned individuals seek to deliberately mislead and influence viewers through fake online images, the harmful consequences could be substantial. We describe an exploratory study of how individuals react, respond to, and evaluate the authenticity of images that accompany online stories in Internet-enabled communications channels. Our preliminary findings support the assertion that people perform poorly at detecting skillful image manipulation, and that they often fail to question the authenticity of images even when primed regarding image forgery through discussion. We found that viewers make credibility evaluation based mainly on non-image cues rather than the content depicted. Moreover, our study revealed that in cases where context leads to suspicion, viewers apply post-hoc analysis to support their suspicions regarding the authenticity of the image
Exact zero-point energy shift in the , many modes dynamic Jahn-Teller systems at strong coupling
We find the exact semiclassical (strong coupling) zero-point energy shifts
applicable to the and dynamic Jahn-Teller
problems, for an arbitrary number of discrete vibrational modes
simultaneously coupled to one single electronic level. We also obtain an
analytical formula for the frequency of the resulting normal modes, which has
an attractive and apparently general Slater-Koster form. The limits of validity
of this approach are assessed by comparison with O'Brien's previous
effective-mode approach, and with accurate numerical diagonalizations.
Numerical values obtained for with and coupling
constants appropriate to C are used for this purpose, and are
discussed in the context of fullerene.Comment: 20 pages, 4 ps figure
Liver Adiposity and Metabolic Profile in Individuals with Chronic Spinal Cord Injury
Purpose. To quantify liver adiposity using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and to determine its association with metabolic profile in men with spinal cord injury (SCI). Materials and Methods. MRI analysis of liver adiposity by fat signal fraction (FSF) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) was completed on twenty participants. Intravenous glucose tolerance test was conducted to measure glucose effectiveness (g) and insulin sensitivity (i ). Lipid panel, fasting glucose, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), and inflammatory cytokines were also analyzed. Results. Average hepatic FSF was 3.7% ± 2.1. FSF was positively related to TG, non-HDL-C, fasting glucose, HbA1c, VAT, and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-). FSF was negatively related to i and testosterone. FSF was positively related to VAT ( = 0.48, = 0.032) and TNF- ( = 0.51, = 0.016) independent of age, level of injury (LOI), and time since injury (TSI). The associations between FSF and metabolic profile were independent of VAT. Conclusions. MRI noninvasively estimated hepatic adiposity in men with chronic SCI. FSF was associated with dysfunction in metabolic profile, central adiposity, and inflammation. Importantly, liver adiposity influenced metabolic profile independently of VAT. These findings highlight the significance of quantifying liver adiposity after SCI to attenuate the development of metabolic disorders
Evidence for nonlinear diffusive shock acceleration of cosmic-rays in the 2006 outburst of the recurrent nova RS Ophiuchi
Spectroscopic observations of the 2006 outburst of the recurrent nova RS
Ophiuchi at both infrared (IR) and X-ray wavelengths have shown that the blast
wave has decelerated at a higher rate than predicted by the standard
test-particle adiabatic shock-wave model. Here we show that the observed
evolution of the nova remnant can be explained by the diffusive shock
acceleration of particles at the blast wave and the subsequent escape of the
highest energy ions from the shock region. Nonlinear particle acceleration can
also account for the difference of shock velocities deduced from the IR and
X-ray data. The maximum energy that accelerated electrons and protons can have
achieved in few days after outburst is found to be as high as a few TeV. Using
the semi-analytic model of nonlinear diffusive shock acceleration developed by
Berezhko & Ellison, we show that the postshock temperature of the shocked gas
measured with RXTE/PCA and Swift/XRT imply a relatively moderate acceleration
efficiency.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ
Detection of Coronal Mass Ejections in V471 Tauri with the Hubble Space Telescope
V471 Tauri, an eclipsing system consisting of a hot DA white dwarf (WD) and a
dK2 companion in a 12.5-hour orbit, is the prototype of the pre-cataclysmic
binaries. The late-type component is magnetically active, due to its being
constrained to rotate synchronously with the short orbital period. During a
program of UV spectroscopy of V471 Tau, carried out with the Goddard High
Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS) onboard the Hubble Space Telescope, we
serendipitously detected two episodes in which transient absorptions in the Si
III 1206 A resonance line appeared suddenly, on a timescale of <2 min. The
observations were taken in a narrow spectral region around Ly-alpha, and were
all obtained near the two quadratures of the binary orbit, i.e., at maximum
projected separation (~3.3 Rsun) of the WD and K star.
We suggest that these transient features arise when coronal mass ejections
(CME's) from the K2 dwarf pass across the line of sight to the WD. Estimates of
the velocities, densities, and masses of the events in V471 Tau are generally
consistent with the properties of solar CME's. Given our detection of 2 events
during 6.8 hr of GHRS observing, along with a consideration of the restricted
range of latitudes and longitudes on the K star's surface that can give rise to
trajectories passing in front of the WD as seen from Earth, we estimate that
the active V471 Tau dK star emits some 100-500 CME's per day, as compared to
1-3 per day for the Sun. The K dwarf's mass-loss rate associated with CME's is
at least (5-25) x 10^{-14} Msun/yr, but it may well be orders of magnitude
higher if most of the silicon is in ionization states other than Si III.Comment: 24 pages AASTeX, 4 figures. Accepted by Astrophysical Journa
High-Fidelity Z-Measurement Error Correction of Optical Qubits
We demonstrate a quantum error correction scheme that protects against
accidental measurement, using an encoding where the logical state of a single
qubit is encoded into two physical qubits using a non-deterministic photonic
CNOT gate. For the single qubit input states |0>, |1>, |0>+|1>, |0>-|1>,
|0>+i|1>, and |0>-i|1> our encoder produces the appropriate 2-qubit encoded
state with an average fidelity of 0.88(3) and the single qubit decoded states
have an average fidelity of 0.93(5) with the original state. We are able to
decode the 2-qubit state (up to a bit flip) by performing a measurement on one
of the qubits in the logical basis; we find that the 64 1-qubit decoded states
arising from 16 real and imaginary single qubit superposition inputs have an
average fidelity of 0.96(3).Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, comments welcom
Finite energy/action solutions of Yang-Mills equations on Schwarzschild and deSitter backgrounds for dimension
Physically relevant gauge and gravitational theories can be seen as special
members of hierarchies of more elaborate systems. The Yang-Mills (YM) system is
the first member of a hierarchy of Lagrangians which we will index by ,
and the Einstein-Hilbert (EH) system of general relativity is the first member
of another hierarchy which we index by . In this paper, we study the
classical equations of the YM hierarchy considered in the
background of special geometries (Schwarzschild, deSitter,anti-deSitter) of the
EH hierarchy. Solutions are obtained in various dimensions and lead
to several examples of non-self-dual YM fields. When self-dual
solutions exist in addition. Their action is equal to the Chern-Pontryagin
charge and can be compared with that of the non-self-dual solutions.Comment: LaTeX, 25 pages, 2 figures, new title, minor change
Prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia in adults
Ventilator-associated pneumonia, broadly defined as pneumonia that develops after 48 hours of intubation, is a common mechanical ventilation complication that causes significant morbidity and mortality in critically ill patients. Prevention strategies are continually evolving to decrease the impact of this serious and costly disease
Quantum gate characterization in an extended Hilbert space
We describe an approach for characterizing the process of quantum gates using
quantum process tomography, by first modeling them in an extended Hilbert
space, which includes non-qubit degrees of freedom. To prevent unphysical
processes from being predicted, present quantum process tomography procedures
incorporate mathematical constraints, which make no assumptions as to the
actual physical nature of the system being described. By contrast, the
procedure presented here ensures physicality by placing physical constraints on
the nature of quantum processes. This allows quantum process tomography to be
performed using a smaller experimental data set, and produces parameters with a
direct physical interpretation. The approach is demonstrated by example of
mode-matching in an all-optical controlled-NOT gate. The techniques described
are non-specific and could be applied to other optical circuits or quantum
computing architectures.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, REVTeX (published version
Quantum Non-demolition Measurements on Qubits
We discuss the characterization and properties of quantum non-demolition
(QND) measurements on qubit systems. We introduce figures of merit which can be
applied to systems of any Hilbert space dimension thus providing universal
criteria for characterizing QND measurements. We discuss the controlled-NOT
gate and an optical implementation as examples of QND devices for qubits. We
also discuss the QND measurement of weak values
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