Vortex-Bright Soliton Dipoles: Bifurcations, Symmetry Breaking and Soliton Tunneling in a Vortex-Induced Double Well

The emergence of vortex-bright soliton dipoles in two-component Bose-Einstein condensates through bifurcations from suitable eigenstates of the underlying linear system is examined. These dipoles can have their bright solitary structures be in phase (symmetric) or out of phase (anti-symmetric). The dynamical robustness of each of these two possibilities is considered and the out-of-phase case is found to exhibit an intriguing symmetry-breaking instability that can in turn lead to tunneling of the bright wavefunction between the two vortex "wells". We interpret this phenomenon by virtue of a vortex-induced double well system, whose spontaneous symmetry breaking leads to asymmetric vortex-bright dipoles, in addition to the symmetric and anti-symmetric ones. The theoretical prediction of these states is corroborated by detailed numerical computations.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure

Synthesizing SystemC Code from Delay Hybrid CSP

Delay is omnipresent in modern control systems, which can prompt oscillations and may cause deterioration of control performance, invalidate both stability and safety properties. This implies that safety or stability certificates obtained on idealized, delay-free models of systems prone to delayed coupling may be erratic, and further the incorrectness of the executable code generated from these models. However, automated methods for system verification and code generation that ought to address models of system dynamics reflecting delays have not been paid enough attention yet in the computer science community. In our previous work, on one hand, we investigated the verification of delay dynamical and hybrid systems; on the other hand, we also addressed how to synthesize SystemC code from a verified hybrid system modelled by Hybrid CSP (HCSP) without delay. In this paper, we give a first attempt to synthesize SystemC code from a verified delay hybrid system modelled by Delay HCSP (dHCSP), which is an extension of HCSP by replacing ordinary differential equations (ODEs) with delay differential equations (DDEs). We implement a tool to support the automatic translation from dHCSP to SystemC

Assessment of an evaluative tool for nursing college students: the tests for Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE)

Background: the OSCE test is a tool used to assess the competence of Health Sciences' students in a planned and structured way. It assesses their clinical skills based on simulations, specially designed according to the test objectives. More than 1,800 nursing students took an OSCE test which was implemented in 13 schools of nursing from to 2001 to 2011 in Catalunya. Objective: to assess the efficiency of an OSCE test from the students' and lecturer's point of view. The test has been done over ten years as part of the university nursing training. Materials and methods: a qualitative research method of the Grounded Theory was used. The tools chosen to collect information were a questionnaire with open questions, a focus group with students, and personal interviews with faculty. The method of constant comparisons and the software Atlas-ti were used to analyze the data. Results: professors and students almost unanimously agree about the credibility of the staging and the contents of the situations posed in the test. It is positive that the simulations are carried out in a healthcare environment. However, some students manifest that it bothers them and they feel uncomfortable to act in front of professors who evaluate them. Students and professors agree on rating the content of the OSCE as appropriate in relation to the nurses' role and representative of different areas of nursing practice. In general, the students believe that the difficulty of the test is reasonable. Coinciding with results from other studies [2], students considered that the OSCE test is stressful but a worthwhile experience. Conclusions: the OSCE test has been evaluated as an effective tool to assess skills in nursing students. Previous test information must be improved to decrease the stress generated by the students

Revisión del género indopacífico Nembrotha Bergh, 1877 (Mollusca: Nudibranchia: Polyceridae), con la descripción de dos nuevas especies

Anatomical examination of new material collected from the Indo-Pacific and the review of several collections from around the world allows for the revision of the genus Nembrotha Bergh, 1877. Two new species, Nembrotha rosannulata n. sp. and Nembrotha aurea n. sp., are described. The oldest available name for the genus is Nembrotha nigerrima Bergh, 1877, which was subsequently designated as the type species by O’Donoghue, 1924. The study of the original type material of N. nigerrima confirmed that it is a senior synonym of another name introduced subsequently, Nembrotha kubaryana Bergh, 1877, the name most commonly used for this species. However, according to the provisions of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (Article 23.9.1), there is no reason to invalidate the senior name Nembrotha nigerrima, since it has been used as valid after 1899. Nembrotha cristata Bergh, 1877, N. lineolata Bergh, 1905, N. purpureolineata O’Donoghue, 1924, N. livingstonei Allan, 1933, N. megalocera Yonow, 1990 and N. guttata Yonow, 1993, which are poorly known, are redescribed. Nembrotha rutilans (Pruvot-Fol, 1931) is synonymised with N. purpureolineata. Nembrotha yonowae Goethel and Debelius, 1992 is synonymised with N. guttata. The radulae of Nembrotha milleri Gosliner and Behrens, 1997 and N. mullineri Gosliner and Behrens, 1997 are redescribed.El estudio anatómico de nuevo material procedente del Indo-Pacífico así como el examen de diferentes colecciones de todo el mundo ha permitido la revisión del género Nembrotha Bergh, 1877. Se describen dos nuevas especies, Nembrotha rosannulata n. sp. y Nembrotha aurea n. sp. El nombre disponible más antiguo relativo a este género es Nembrotha nigerrima Bergh, 1877, que fue designado subsiguientemente como especie tipo por O’Donoghue, 1924. El estudio del material tipo original de N. nigerrima confirmó que se trata de un sinónimo más antiguo de otro nombre introducido con posterioridad, Nembrotha kubaryana Bergh, 1877, el nombre usado más comúnmente para esta especie. Sin embargo, según lo previsto en el Código Internacional de Nomenclatura Zoológica (Artículo 23.9.1), no hay razón alguna para invalidar el sinónimo más antiguo, Nembrotha nigerrima, ya que este nombre ha sido utilizado como válido después de 1899. Nembrotha cristata Bergh, 1877, N. lineolata Bergh, 1905, N. purpureolineata O’Donoghue, 1924, N. livingstonei Allan, 1933, N. megalocera Yonow, 1990 and N. guttata Yonow, 1993, especies pobremente conocidas, son redescritas. Nembrotha rutilans (Pruvot-Fol, 1931) es sinonimizada con N. purpureolineata. N. Nembrotha yonowae Goethel and Debelius, 1992 es sinonimizada con N. guttata. Se redescriben las rádulas de Nembrotha milleri Gosliner and Behrens, 1997 and N. mullineri Gosliner and Behrens, 1997

Mossbauer and magnetization studies of amorphous NdFeB compositionally modulated thin films

Several NdFeB compositionally modulated thin films are studied by using both conversion electron Mossbauer spectra and SQUID (superconducting quantum-interference-device) magnetometry. Both the hyperfine fields and the easy magnetization magnitude are not correlated with the modulation characteristic length (lambda) while the magnetization perpendicular to the thin-film plane decreases as lambda increases. The spectra were recorded at room temperature being the gamma rays perpendicular to the substrate plane. The magnetization measurements were recorded by using a SHE SQUID magnetometer in applied magnetic fields up to 5.5 T and in the temperature range between 1.8 and 30 K

Neural Network Controller Design for a Mobile Robot Navigation; a Case Study

Mobile robot are widely applied in various aspect of human  life. The main issue of this type of robot is how to navigate safely to reach the goal or finish the assigned task  when applied autonomously in dynamic and uncertain environment. The  ap- plication of artificial intelligence, namely neural   network,  can provide a ”brain” for the robot to navigate safely in completing the assigned task. By applying neural network, the complexity of mobile robot control can be  reduced by choosing the right model of the system, either   from mathematical modeling or directly taken from the input of sensory data  information. In this study, we compare the presented methods of previous  researches that applies neural network to mobile robot navigation. The comparison  is started  by considering  the right  mathematical model for the robot, getting the Jacobian  matrix  for online training, and giving the achieved input model to  the designed neural network layers in order to get the estimated position of the robot. From this literature study, it  is concluded that the consideration of both kinematics and dynamics modeling  of the robot will result in better performance since the exact parameters of the system are known

New Insights into the Photophysics of DNA Nucleobases

We report the results of an extended time-resolved study of DNA nucleobases in aqueous solutions conducted in the deep UV using broad-band femtosecond transient absorption and electronic two-dimensional spectroscopies. We found that the photodeactivation in all DNA nucleobases occurs in two steps: fast relaxation (500-700 fs) from the excited state ππ* to a "dark" state and its depopulation to the ground state within 1-2 ps. Our experimental observations and performed theoretical modeling allow us to conclude that this dark state can be associated with the nπ* electronic state, which is connected to the excited and ground states via conical intersections

A telescope detection system for direct and high resolution spectrometry of intense neutron fields

A high energy- and spatial-resolution telescope detector was designed and constructed for neutron spectrometry of intense neutron fields. The detector is constituted by a plastic scintillator coupled to a monolithic silicon telescope (MST), in turn consisting of a DE and an E stage. The scintillator behaves as an “active” recoil-proton converter, since it measures the deposited energy of the recoil-protons generated across. The MST measures the residual energy of recoil-protons downstream of the converter and also discriminates recoil-protons from photons associated to the neutron field. The lay-out of the scintillator/MST system was optimized through an analytical model for selecting the angular range of the scattered protons. The use of unfolding techniques for reconstructing the neutron energy distribution was thus avoided with reasonable uncertainty (about 1.6% in neutron energy) and efficiency (of the order of 106 counts per unit neutron fluence). A semi-empirical procedure was also developed for correcting the non-linearity in light emission from the organic scintillator. The spectrometer was characterized with quasi-monoenergetic and continuous fields of neutrons generated at the CN Van De Graaff accelerator of the INFN-Legnaro National Laboratory, Italy, showing satisfactory agreement with literature data

Pulsed Current Effect on the Hard Anodizing of an AlSi10Mg Aluminum Alloy Obtained via Additive Manufacturing

The hard anodizing treatments of cast Al-Si alloys are notoriously difficult. Indeed, their microstructural features hinder the growth of a uniform, compact, and defect-free anodic oxide. In this paper, AlSi10Mg samples, produced via Gravity Casting (GC) and Additive Manufacturing, i.e., Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF), were hard anodized in a sulfuric acid bath, in order to verify how the particular microstructure obtained via L-PBF affects the thickness, hardness, compactness, and defectiveness of the anodic oxide. Moreover, for the first time, Pulsed Direct Current (PDC) procedures were used to perform the hard anodizing treatments on additively manufactured AlSi10Mg alloy. Several combinations of temperature and electrical parameters, i.e., current density, frequency, and Duty Cycle, were tested. The anodized samples were characterized through optical microscopy analysis, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis, and accelerated corrosion tests, i.e., Potentiodynamic Polarization (POL) and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) measurements. The PDC procedures allowed improvement of the compromise between evenness, compactness, and defectiveness. Among the attempted PDC procedures, a specific combination of electrical parameters and temperature allowed the best results to be obtained, i.e., the highest hardness and the lowest volumetric expansion values without compromising the oxide quality rating and the corrosion resistance behavior. However, none of the attempted PCD strategies allowed the hardness values obtained on samples produced via GC to be reached

Health and disease in the movie: una asignatura de cine

Podeu consultar la Vuitena trobada de professorat de Ciències de la Salut completa a: http://hdl.handle.net/2445/66524Se presenta una experiencia docente que conjuga la enseñanza-aprendizaje de contenidos de metodología, ética y clínica de diferentes problemas de salud a través de la asignatura optativa: Health and disease in the movies EUI-UB. El objetivo principal de la asignatura es que los estudiantes sean capaces de: Identificar y comprender las etapas de la investigación, con énfasis en el manejo de bases de datos bibliográficos sobre salud (CINAHL, CUIDEN y MEDLINE) y cine (IMDB), el uso de cuestionarios y la comunicación científica oral. La metodología docente que se aplica en el aula consiste en exposiciones teóricas acompañadas de la visualización de secuencias cinematográficas y actividades autónomas de autoaprendizaje. En grupos de tres, los alumnos seleccionan una película donde un problema de salud tiene carácter argumental, realizan una búsqueda bibliográfica relacionada con dicho problema de salud y responden a un cuestionario prediseñado (variables: clínica, diagnóstico, tratamiento y evolución de la enfermedad; características sociodemográficas del paciente; análisis de la intervención de profesional/es sanitarios y cuidadores; aspectos éticos, valores y creencias). Finalmente, los alumnos realizan una presentación oral en inglés, donde exponen el desarrollo argumental de la película seleccionada, aspectos relacionados con la enfermedad y con el paciente principal. Destacamos los siguientes resultados correspondientes a la edición 2013-14: Se matricularon 54 alumnos y, abandonaron la asignatura 6. Superaron el curso el 98% con una media global de 7,8. Un 87% valoró la experiencia de la presentación oral como muy positiva; el 94% considera que la visualización de una película potencia la observación atenta de la imagen (comunicación no verbal) y la reflexión sobre el enfoque sociocultural de los problemas de salud. Conclusiones: A través de la metodología empleada los alumnos cubren algunas de las etapas de la investigación y aprenden de forma autónoma. Al evaluar la asignatura expresaron satisfacción respecto al esfuerzo que les supuso la presentación oral en inglés, al igual que el responder al cuestionario