350 research outputs found
Wideband and on-chip excitation for dynamical spin injection into graphene
Graphene is an ideal material for spin transport as very long spin relaxation
times and lengths can be achieved even at room temperature. However, electrical
spin injection is challenging due to the conductivity mismatch problem. Spin
pumping driven by ferromagnetic resonance is a neat way to circumvent this
problem as it produces a pure spin current in the absence of a charge current.
Here, we show spin pumping into single layer graphene in micron scale devices.
A broadband on-chip RF current line is used to bring micron scale permalloy
(NiFe) pads to ferromagnetic resonance with a magnetic field
tunable resonance condition. At resonance, a spin current is emitted into
graphene, which is detected by the inverse spin hall voltage in a close-by
platinum electrode. Clear spin current signals are detected down to a power of
a few milliwatts over a frequency range of 2 GHz to 8 GHz. This compact device
scheme paves the way for more complex device structures and allows the
investigation of novel materials.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
A note on computing a maximal planar subgraph using PQ-trees
The problem of computing a maximal planar subgraph of a non planar graph has been deeply investigated over the last 20 years. Several attempts have been tried to solve the problem with the help of PQ-trees. The latest attempt has been reported by Jayakumar et al. [10]. In this paper we show that the algorithm presented by Jayakumar et al. is not correct. We show that it does not necessarily compute a maximal planar subgraph and we note that the same holds for a modified version of the algorithm presented by Kant [12]. Our conclusions most likely suggest not to use PQ-trees at all for this specific problem
Ordered Level Planarity, Geodesic Planarity and Bi-Monotonicity
We introduce and study the problem Ordered Level Planarity which asks for a
planar drawing of a graph such that vertices are placed at prescribed positions
in the plane and such that every edge is realized as a y-monotone curve. This
can be interpreted as a variant of Level Planarity in which the vertices on
each level appear in a prescribed total order. We establish a complexity
dichotomy with respect to both the maximum degree and the level-width, that is,
the maximum number of vertices that share a level. Our study of Ordered Level
Planarity is motivated by connections to several other graph drawing problems.
Geodesic Planarity asks for a planar drawing of a graph such that vertices
are placed at prescribed positions in the plane and such that every edge is
realized as a polygonal path composed of line segments with two adjacent
directions from a given set of directions symmetric with respect to the
origin. Our results on Ordered Level Planarity imply -hardness for any
with even if the given graph is a matching. Katz, Krug, Rutter and
Wolff claimed that for matchings Manhattan Geodesic Planarity, the case where
contains precisely the horizontal and vertical directions, can be solved in
polynomial time [GD'09]. Our results imply that this is incorrect unless
. Our reduction extends to settle the complexity of the Bi-Monotonicity
problem, which was proposed by Fulek, Pelsmajer, Schaefer and
\v{S}tefankovi\v{c}.
Ordered Level Planarity turns out to be a special case of T-Level Planarity,
Clustered Level Planarity and Constrained Level Planarity. Thus, our results
strengthen previous hardness results. In particular, our reduction to Clustered
Level Planarity generates instances with only two non-trivial clusters. This
answers a question posed by Angelini, Da Lozzo, Di Battista, Frati and Roselli.Comment: Appears in the Proceedings of the 25th International Symposium on
Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2017
Straight-line Drawability of a Planar Graph Plus an Edge
We investigate straight-line drawings of topological graphs that consist of a
planar graph plus one edge, also called almost-planar graphs. We present a
characterization of such graphs that admit a straight-line drawing. The
characterization enables a linear-time testing algorithm to determine whether
an almost-planar graph admits a straight-line drawing, and a linear-time
drawing algorithm that constructs such a drawing, if it exists. We also show
that some almost-planar graphs require exponential area for a straight-line
drawing
Optimization by thermal cycling
Thermal cycling is an heuristic optimization algorithm which consists of
cyclically heating and quenching by Metropolis and local search procedures,
respectively, where the amplitude slowly decreases. In recent years, it has
been successfully applied to two combinatorial optimization tasks, the
traveling salesman problem and the search for low-energy states of the Coulomb
glass. In these cases, the algorithm is far more efficient than usual simulated
annealing. In its original form the algorithm was designed only for the case of
discrete variables. Its basic ideas are applicable also to a problem with
continuous variables, the search for low-energy states of Lennard-Jones
clusters.Comment: Submitted to Proceedings of the Workshop "Complexity, Metastability
and Nonextensivity", held in Erice 20-26 July 2004. Latex, 7 pages, 3 figure
Simultaneous Orthogonal Planarity
We introduce and study the problem: Given planar
graphs each with maximum degree 4 and the same vertex set, do they admit an
OrthoSEFE, that is, is there an assignment of the vertices to grid points and
of the edges to paths on the grid such that the same edges in distinct graphs
are assigned the same path and such that the assignment induces a planar
orthogonal drawing of each of the graphs?
We show that the problem is NP-complete for even if the shared
graph is a Hamiltonian cycle and has sunflower intersection and for
even if the shared graph consists of a cycle and of isolated vertices. Whereas
the problem is polynomial-time solvable for when the union graph has
maximum degree five and the shared graph is biconnected. Further, when the
shared graph is biconnected and has sunflower intersection, we show that every
positive instance has an OrthoSEFE with at most three bends per edge.Comment: Appears in the Proceedings of the 24th International Symposium on
Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2016
Improved limits on nuebar emission from mu+ decay
We investigated mu+ decays at rest produced at the ISIS beam stop target.
Lepton flavor (LF) conservation has been tested by searching for \nueb via the
detection reaction p(\nueb,e+)n. No \nueb signal from LF violating mu+ decays
was identified. We extract upper limits of the branching ratio for the LF
violating decay mu+ -> e+ \nueb \nu compared to the Standard Model (SM) mu+ ->
e+ nue numub decay: BR < 0.9(1.7)x10^{-3} (90%CL) depending on the spectral
distribution of \nueb characterized by the Michel parameter rho=0.75 (0.0).
These results improve earlier limits by one order of magnitude and restrict
extensions of the SM in which \nueb emission from mu+ decay is allowed with
considerable strength. The decay \mupdeb as source for the \nueb signal
observed in the LSND experiment can be excluded.Comment: 10 pages, including 1 figure, 1 tabl
Using Sifting for k-Layer Straightline Crossing Minimization
We present a new algorithm for k-layer straightline crossing minimization which is based on sifting that is a heuristic for dynamic reordering of decision diagrams used during logic synthesis and formal verification of logic circuits. The experiments prove sifting to be very efficient. In particular it outperforms the traditional layer by layer sweep based heuristics known from literature by far when applied to k-layered graphs with k \ge 3
Galactic vs. Extragalactic Origin of the Peculiar Transient SCP 06F6
We study four scenarios for the SCP 06F6 transient event that was announced
recently. Some of these were previously briefly discussed as plausible models
for SCP 06F6, in particular with the claimed detection of a z=0.143
cosmological redshift of a Swan spectrum of a carbon rich envelope. We adopt
this value of z for extragalactic scenarios. We cannot rule out any of these
models, but can rank them from most to least preferred. Our favorite model is a
tidal disruption of a CO white dwarf (WD) by an intermediate-mass black hole
(IMBH). To account for the properties of the SCP 06F6 event, we have to assume
the presence of a strong disk wind that was not included in previous numerical
simulations. If the IMBH is the central BH of a galaxy, this explains the non
detection of a bright galaxy in the direction of SCP 06F6. Our second favorite
scenario is a type Ia-like SN that exploded inside the dense wind of a carbon
star. The carbon star is the donor star of the exploded WD. Our third favorite
model is a Galactic source of an asteroid that collided with a WD. Such a
scenario was discussed in the past as the source of dusty disks around WDs, but
no predictions exist regarding the appearance of such an event. Our least
favorite model is of a core collapse SN. The only way we can account for the
properties of SCP 06F6 with a core collapse SN is if we assume the occurrence
of a rare type of binary interaction.Comment: Accepted by New Astronom
Enhancing medical students' communication skills: development and evaluation of an undergraduate training program
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is a relative lack of current research on the effects of specific communication training offered at the beginning of the medical degree program. The newly developed communication training "Basics and Practice in Communication Skills" was pilot tested in 2008 and expanded in the following year at the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany. The goal was to promote and improve the communicative skills of participants and show the usefulness of an early offered intervention on patient-physician communication within the medical curriculum.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The students participating in the project and a comparison group of students from the standard degree program were surveyed at the beginning and end of the courses. The survey consisted of a self-assessment of their skills as well as a standardised expert rating and an evaluation of the modules by means of a questionnaire.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Students who attended the communication skills course exhibited a considerable increase of communication skills in this newly developed training. It was also observed that students in the intervention group had a greater degree of self-assessed competence following training than the medical students in the comparison group. This finding is also reflected in the results from a standardised objective measure.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The empirical results of the study showed that the training enabled students to acquire specialised competence in communication through the course of a newly developed training program. These findings will be used to establish new communication training at the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf.</p
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