8,831 research outputs found
Coalescing Binary Neutron Stars
Coalescing compact binaries with neutron star or black hole components
provide the most promising sources of gravitational radiation for detection by
the LIGO/VIRGO/GEO/TAMA laser interferometers now under construction. This fact
has motivated several different theoretical studies of the inspiral and
hydrodynamic merging of compact binaries. Analytic analyses of the inspiral
waveforms have been performed in the Post-Newtonian approximation. Analytic and
numerical treatments of the coalescence waveforms from binary neutron stars
have been performed using Newtonian hydrodynamics and the quadrupole radiation
approximation. Numerical simulations of coalescing black hole and neutron star
binaries are also underway in full general relativity. Recent results from each
of these approaches will be described and their virtues and limitations
summarized.Comment: Invited Topical Review paper to appear in Classical and Quantum
Gravity, 35 pages, including 5 figure
Split-off dimer defects on the Si(001)2x1 surface
Dimer vacancy (DV) defect complexes in the Si(001)2x1 surface were
investigated using high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy and first
principles calculations. We find that under low bias filled-state tunneling
conditions, isolated 'split-off' dimers in these defect complexes are imaged as
pairs of protrusions while the surrounding Si surface dimers appear as the
usual 'bean-shaped' protrusions. We attribute this to the formation of pi-bonds
between the two atoms of the split-off dimer and second layer atoms, and
present charge density plots to support this assignment. We observe a local
brightness enhancement due to strain for different DV complexes and provide the
first experimental confirmation of an earlier prediction that the 1+2-DV
induces less surface strain than other DV complexes. Finally, we present a
previously unreported triangular shaped split-off dimer defect complex that
exists at SB-type step edges, and propose a structure for this defect involving
a bound Si monomer.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Direct observation of active material concentration gradients and crystallinity breakdown in LiFePO4 electrodes during charge/discharge cycling of lithium batteries
The phase changes that occur during discharge of an electrode comprised of LiFePO4, carbon, and PTFE binder have been studied in lithium half cells by using X-ray diffraction measurements in reflection geometry. Differences in the state of charge between the front and the back of LiFePO4 electrodes have been visualized. By modifying the X-ray incident angle the depth of penetration of the X-ray beam into the electrode was altered, allowing for the examination of any concentration gradients that were present within the electrode. At high rates of discharge the electrode side facing the current collector underwent limited lithium insertion while the electrode as a whole underwent greater than 50% of discharge. This behavior is consistent with depletion at high rate of the lithium content of the electrolyte contained in the electrode pores. Increases in the diffraction peak widths indicated a breakdown of crystallinity within the active material during cycling even during the relatively short duration of these experiments, which can also be linked to cycling at high rate
On the relative merits of simple and advanced constitutive models in dynamic analysis of tunnels
Adipocyte-specific protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B deletion increases lipogenesis, adipocyte cell size and is a minor regulator of glucose homeostasis
Peer reviewedPublisher PD
The read-across hypothesis and environmental risk assessment of pharmaceuticals
This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. Copyright © 2013 American Chemical Society.Pharmaceuticals in the environment have received increased attention over the past decade, as they are ubiquitous in rivers and waterways. Concentrations are in sub-ng to low μg/L, well below acute toxic levels, but there are uncertainties regarding the effects of chronic exposures and there is a need to prioritise which pharmaceuticals may be of concern. The read-across hypothesis stipulates that a drug will have an effect in non-target organisms only if the molecular targets such as receptors and enzymes have been conserved, resulting in a (specific) pharmacological effect only if plasma concentrations are similar to human therapeutic concentrations. If this holds true for different classes of pharmaceuticals, it should be possible to predict the potential environmental impact from information obtained during the drug development process. This paper critically reviews the evidence for read-across, and finds that few studies include plasma concentrations and mode of action based effects. Thus, despite a large number of apparently relevant papers and a general acceptance of the hypothesis, there is an absence of documented evidence. There is a need for large-scale studies to generate robust data for testing the read-across hypothesis and developing predictive models, the only feasible approach to protecting the environment.BBSRC Industrial Partnership Award BB/
I00646X/1 and BBSRC Industrial CASE Partnership Studentship
BB/I53257X/1 with AstraZeneca Safety Health and
Environment Research Programme
Dilatonic global strings
We examine the field equations of a self-gravitating global string in low
energy superstring gravity, allowing for an arbitrary coupling of the global
string to the dilaton. Massive and massless dilatons are considered. For the
massive dilaton the spacetime is similar to the recently discovered
non-singular time-dependent Einstein self-gravitating global string, but the
massless dilaton generically gives a singular spacetime, even allowing for
time-dependence. We also demonstrate a time-dependent non-singular
string/anti-string configuration, in which the string pair causes a
compactification of two of the spatial dimensions, albeit on a very large
scale.Comment: 18 pages RevTeX, 3 figures, references amende
Epidural Hematoma Following Cervical Spine Surgery.
STUDY DESIGN: A multicentered retrospective case series.
OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence and circumstances surrounding the development of a symptomatic postoperative epidural hematoma in the cervical spine.
METHODS: Patients who underwent cervical spine surgery between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2011, at 23 institutions were reviewed, and all patients who developed an epidural hematoma were identified.
RESULTS: A total of 16 582 cervical spine surgeries were identified, and 15 patients developed a postoperative epidural hematoma, for a total incidence of 0.090%. Substantial variation between institutions was noted, with 11 sites reporting no epidural hematomas, and 1 site reporting an incidence of 0.76%. All patients initially presented with a neurologic deficit. Nine patients had complete resolution of the neurologic deficit after hematoma evacuation; however 2 of the 3 patients (66%) who had a delay in the diagnosis of the epidural hematoma had residual neurologic deficits compared to only 4 of the 12 patients (33%) who had no delay in the diagnosis or treatment (P = .53). Additionally, the patients who experienced a postoperative epidural hematoma did not experience any significant improvement in health-related quality-of-life metrics as a result of the index procedure at final follow-up evaluation.
CONCLUSION: This is the largest series to date to analyze the incidence of an epidural hematoma following cervical spine surgery, and this study suggest that an epidural hematoma occurs in approximately 1 out of 1000 cervical spine surgeries. Prompt diagnosis and treatment may improve the chance of making a complete neurologic recovery, but patients who develop this complication do not show improvements in the health-related quality-of-life measurements
Experimental observation of the optical spin-orbit torque
Spin polarized carriers electrically injected into a magnet from an external
polarizer can exert a spin transfer torque (STT) on the magnetization. The phe-
nomenon belongs to the area of spintronics research focusing on manipulating
magnetic moments by electric fields and is the basis of the emerging
technologies for scalable magnetoresistive random access memories. In our
previous work we have reported experimental observation of the optical
counterpart of STT in which a circularly polarized pump laser pulse acts as the
external polarizer, allowing to study and utilize the phenomenon on several
orders of magnitude shorter timescales than in the electric current induced
STT. Recently it has been theoretically proposed and experimentally
demonstrated that in the absence of an external polarizer, carriers in a magnet
under applied electric field can develop a non-equilibrium spin polarization
due to the relativistic spin-orbit coupling, resulting in a current induced
spin-orbit torque (SOT) acting on the magnetization. In this paper we report
the observation of the optical counterpart of SOT. At picosecond time-scales,
we detect excitations of magnetization of a ferromagnetic semiconductor
(Ga,Mn)As which are independent of the polarization of the pump laser pulses
and are induced by non-equilibrium spin-orbit coupled photo-holes.Comment: 4 figure, supplementary information. arXiv admin note: text overlap
with arXiv:1101.104
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