7,352 research outputs found
Microwave oven fabricated hybrid memristor devices for non-volatile memory storage
Ā© 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd. Novel hybrid non-volatile memories made using an ultra-fast microwave heating method are reported for the first time. The devices, consisting of aligned ZnO nanorods embedded in poly (methyl methacrylate), require no forming step and exhibit reliable and reproducible bipolar resistive switching at low voltages and with low power usage. We attribute these properties to a combination of the high aspect ratio of the nanorods and the polymeric hybrid structure of the device. The extremely easy, fast and low-cost solution based method of fabrication makes possible the simple and quick production of cheap memory cells
Spinorial Characterizations of Surfaces into 3-dimensional pseudo-Riemannian Space Forms
We give a spinorial characterization of isometrically immersed surfaces of
arbitrary signature into 3-dimensional pseudo-Riemannian space forms. For
Lorentzian surfaces, this generalizes a recent work of the first author in
to other Lorentzian space forms. We also characterize
immersions of Riemannian surfaces in these spaces. From this we can deduce
analogous results for timelike immersions of Lorentzian surfaces in space forms
of corresponding signature, as well as for spacelike and timelike immersions of
surfaces of signature (0,2), hence achieving a complete spinorial description
for this class of pseudo-Riemannian immersions.Comment: 9 page
A Morse-theoretical analysis of gravitational lensing by a Kerr-Newman black hole
Consider, in the domain of outer communication of a Kerr-Newman black hole, a
point (observation event) and a timelike curve (worldline of light source).
Assume that the worldline of the source (i) has no past end-point, (ii) does
not intersect the caustic of the past light-cone of the observation event, and
(iii) goes neither to the horizon nor to infinity in the past. We prove that
then for infinitely many positive integers k there is a past-pointing lightlike
geodesic of (Morse) index k from the observation event to the worldline of the
source, hence an observer at the observation event sees infinitely many images
of the source. Moreover, we demonstrate that all lightlike geodesics from an
event to a timelike curve in the domain of outer communication are confined to
a certain spherical shell. Our characterization of this spherical shell shows
that in the Kerr-Newman spacetime the occurrence of infinitely many images is
intimately related to the occurrence of centrifugal-plus-Coriolis force
reversal.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures; REVTEX; submitted to J. Math. Phy
Demography and disorders of the French Bulldog population under primary veterinary care in the UK in 2013
Abstract Background Despite its Gallic name, the French Bulldog is a breed of both British and French origin that was first recognised by The Kennel Club in 1906. The French Bulldog has demonstrated recent rapid rises in Kennel Club registrations and is nowĀ (2017) the second most commonly registered pedigree breed in the UK. However, the breed has been reported to be predisposed to several disorders including ocular, respiratory, neurological and dermatological problems. The VetCompassā¢ Programme collates de-identified clinical data from primary-care veterinary practices in the UK for epidemiological research. Using VetCompassā¢ clinical data, this study aimed to characterise the demography and common disorders of the general population of French Bulldogs under veterinary care in the UK. Results French Bulldogs comprised 2228 (0.49%) of 445,557 study dogs under veterinary care during 2013. Annual proportional birth rates showed that the proportional ownership of French Bulldog puppies rose steeply from 0.02% of the annual birth cohort attending VetCompassā¢ practices in 2003 to 1.46% in 2013. The median age of the French Bulldogs overall was 1.3Ā years (IQR 0.6ā2.5, range 0.0ā13.0). The most common colours of French Bulldogs were brindle (solid or main) (32.36%) and fawn (solid or main) (29.9%). Of the 2228 French Bulldogs under veterinary care during 2013, 1612 (72.4%) had at least one disorder recorded. The most prevalent fine-level precision disorders recorded were otitis externa (14.0%, 95% CI: 12.6ā15.5), diarrhoea (7.5%, 95% CI: 6.4ā8.7), conjunctivitis (3.2%, 95% CI: 2.5ā4.0), nails overlong (3.1%, 95% CI% 2.4ā3.9) and skin fold dermatitis (3.0%, 95% CI% 2.3ā3.8). The most prevalent disorder groups were cutaneous (17.9%, 95% CI: 16.3ā19.6), enteropathy (16.7%, 95% CI: 15.2ā18.3), aural (16.3%, 95% CI: 14.8ā17.9), upper respiratory tract (12.7%, 95% CI: 11.3ā14.1) and ophthalmological (10.5%, 95% CI: 9.3ā11.9). Conclusions Ownership of French Bulldogs in the UK is rising steeply. This means that the disorder profiles reported in this study reflect a current young UK population and are likely to shift as this cohort ages. Otitis externa, diarrhoea and conjunctivitis were the most common disorders in French Bulldogs. Identification of health priorities based on VetCompassā¢ data can support evidenceābased reforms to improve health and welfare within the breed
Labrador retrievers under primary veterinary care in the UK: demography, mortality and disorders
Abstract Background Labrador retrievers are reportedly predisposed to many disorders but accurate prevalence information relating to the general population are lacking. This study aimed to describe demography, mortality and commonly recorded diseases in Labrador retrievers under UK veterinary care. Methods The VetCompassā¢ programme collects electronic patient record data on dogs attending UK primary-care veterinary practices. Demographic analysis covered all33,320 Labrador retrievers in the VetCompassā¢ database under veterinary care during 2013 while disorder and mortality data were extracted from a random sample of 2074 (6.2%) of these dogs. Results Of the Labrador retrievers with information available, 15,427 (46.4%) were female and 15,252 (53.6%) were male. Females were more likely to be neutered than males (59.7% versus 54.8%, Pā<āĀ 0.001). The overall mean adult bodyweight was 33.0Ā kg (SD 6.1). Adult males were heavier (35.2Ā kg, SD 5.9Ā kg) than adult females (30.4Ā kg, SD 5.2Ā kg) (Pā<āĀ 0.001). The median longevity of Labrador retrievers overall was 12.0Ā years (IQR 9.9ā13.8, range 0.0ā16.0). The most common recorded colours were black (44.6%), yellow (27.8%) and liver/chocolate (reported from hereon as chocolate) (23.8%). The median longevity of non-chocolate coloured dogs (nā=ā139, 12.1Ā years, IQR 10.2ā13.9, range 0.0ā16.0) was longer than for chocolate coloured animals (nā=ā34, 10.7Ā years, IQR 9.0ā12.4, range 3.8ā15.5) (Pā=ā0.028). Of a random sample of 2074 (6.2%) Labrador retrievers under care in 2013 that had full disorder data extracted, 1277 (61.6%) had at least one disorder recorded. The total number of dogs who died at any date during the study was 176. The most prevalent disorders recorded were otitis externa (nā=ā215, prevalence 10.4%, 95% CI: 9.1ā11.8), overweight/obesity (183, 8.8%, 95% CI: 7.6ā10.1) and degenerative joint disease (115, 5.5%, 95% CI: 4.6ā6.6). Overweight/obesity was not statistically significantly associated with neutering in females (8.3% of entire versus 12.5% of neutered, Pā=ā0.065) but was associated with neutering in males (4.1% of entire versus 11.4% of neutered, Pā<ā0.001). The prevalence of otitis externa in black dogs was 12.8%, in yellow dogs it was 17.0% but, in chocolate dogs, it rose to 23.4% (Pā<ā0.001). Similarly, the prevalence of pyo-traumatic dermatitis in black dogs was 1.1%, in yellow dogs it was 1.6% but in chocolate dogs it rose to 4.0% (Pā=ā0.011). Conclusions The current study assists prioritisation of health issues within Labrador retrievers. The most common disorders were overweight/obesity, otitis externa and degenerative joint disease. Males were significantly heavier females. These results can alert prospective owners to potential health issues and inform breed-specific wellness checks
Integration of the Friedmann equation for universes of arbitrary complexity
An explicit and complete set of constants of the motion are constructed
algorithmically for Friedmann-Lema\^{i}tre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) models
consisting of an arbitrary number of non-interacting species. The inheritance
of constants of the motion from simpler models as more species are added is
stressed. It is then argued that all FLRW models admit what amounts to a unique
candidate for a gravitational epoch function (a dimensionless scalar invariant
derivable from the Riemann tensor without differentiation which is monotone
throughout the evolution of the universe). The same relations that lead to the
construction of constants of the motion allow an explicit evaluation of this
function. In the simplest of all models, the CDM model, it is shown
that the epoch function exists for all models with , but for
almost no models with .Comment: Final form to appear in Physical Review D1
Program trace optimization
This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer via the DOI in this record.Paper to be presented at the Fifteenth International Conference on Parallel Problem Solving from Nature (PPSN XV), Coimbra, Portugal on 8-12 September 2018.We introduce Program Trace Optimization (PTO), a system for `universal heuristic optimization made easy'. This is achieved by strictly separating the problem from the search algorithm. New problem definitions and new generic search algorithms can be added to PTO easily and independently, and any algorithm can be used on any problem. PTO automatically extracts knowledge from the problem specifi cation and designs search operators for the problem. The operators designed by PTO for standard representations coincide with existing ones, but PTO automatically designs operators for arbitrary representations
Measures of gravitational entropy I. Self-similar spacetimes
We examine the possibility that the gravitational contribution to the entropy
of a system can be identified with some measure of the Weyl curvature. In this
paper we consider homothetically self-similar spacetimes. These are believed to
play an important role in describing the asymptotic properties of more general
models. By exploiting their symmetry properties we are able to impose
significant restrictions on measures of the Weyl curvature which could reflect
the gravitational entropy of a system. In particular, we are able to show, by
way of a more general relation, that the most widely used "dimensionless"
scalar is \textit{not} a candidate for this measure along homothetic
trajectories.Comment: revtex, minor clarifications, to appear in Physical Review
Reconsidering "the love of art" : evaluating the potential of art museum outreach
Art museums have long been identified as bastions of social and cultural exclusion. This conclusion was best evidenced by the large-scale 1967 French study by Bourdieu and Darbel demonstrating the exclusionary nature of āThe Love of Art.ā However, in recent years there have been increasing efforts to reach out to a broader range of visitors beyond conventional
audiences. The present study investigates the impacts of an outreach program at a UK art museum, which sought to engage socially excluded young mothers. This study employs ethnographic research methods on a longitudinal basis to develop qualitative insights about the program seeking to mitigate cultural exclusion. While the studyās findings uphold many longstanding critiques of art museumsā conventional approaches, the study also indicates that carefully designed outreach activities can overcome such limitations and enhance cultural
engagement. Thus, art museumsā limited appeal is tied to problematic public engagement practices that can be changed
3D Simulations of MHD Jet Propagation Through Uniform and Stratified External Environments
We present a set of high-resolution 3D MHD simulations of steady light,
supersonic jets, exploring the influence of jet Mach number and the ambient
medium on jet propagation and energy deposition over long distances. The
results are compared to simple self-similar scaling relations for the
morphological evolution of jet-driven structures and to previously published 2D
simulations. For this study we simulated the propagation of light jets with
internal Mach numbers 3 and 12 to lengths exceeding 100 initial jet radii in
both uniform and stratified atmospheres.
The propagating jets asymptotically deposit approximately half of their
energy flux as thermal energy in the ambient atmosphere, almost independent of
jet Mach number or the external density gradient. Nearly one-quarter of the jet
total energy flux goes directly into dissipative heating of the ICM, supporting
arguments for effective feedback from AGNs to cluster media. The remaining
energy resides primarily in the jet and cocoon structures. Despite having
different shock distributions and magnetic field features, global trends in
energy flow are similar among the different models.
As expected the jets advance more rapidly through stratified atmospheres than
uniform environments. The asymptotic head velocity in King-type atmospheres
shows little or no deceleration. This contrasts with jets in uniform media with
heads that are slowed as they propagate. This suggests that the energy
deposited by jets of a given length and power depends strongly on the structure
of the ambient medium. While our low-Mach jets are more easily disrupted, their
cocoons obey evolutionary scaling relations similar to the high-Mach jets.Comment: Accepted in ApJ, 32 pages, 18 figures, animations available from:
http://www.msi.umn.edu/Projects/twj/newsite/projects/radiojets/movies
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