Finding lumbar vertebrae by evidence gathering

Low back pain is a very common problem and lumbar segmental instability is one of the causes. It is essential to investigate lumbar spine movement in order to understand instability better and as an aid to diagnosis. Digital videofluoroscopy (DVF) provides a method of quantifying the motion of individual vertebra. In this paper, we apply a new version of the Hough transform (HT) to locate the lumbar vertebra automatically in DVF image sequences. At present, this algorithm has been applied to a calibration model and to the vertebra L3 in DVF images, and has shown to provide satisfactory results. Further work will concentrate on reducing the computational time for realtime application, on developing a spatiotemporal sequences method and on determining the spinal kinematics based on the extracted parameters

Thermodynamic evidence for pressure-induced bulk superconductivity in the Fe-As pnictide superconductor CaFe2As2

We report specific-heat and resistivity experiments performed in parallel in a Bridgman-type of pressure cell in order to investigate the nature of pressure-induced superconductivity in the iron pnictide compound CaFe2As2. The presence of a pronounced specific-heat anomaly at Tc reveals a bulk nature of the superconducting state. The thermodynamic transition temperature differs dramatically from the onset of the resistive transition. Our data indicates that superconductivity occurs in the vicinity of a crystallographic phase transition. We discuss the discrepancy between the two methods as caused by strain-induced superconducting precursors formed above the bulk thermodynamic transition due to the vicinity of the structural instability

Spin relaxation and decoherence of two-level systems

We revisit the concepts of spin relaxation and spin decoherence of two level (spin-1/2) systems. From two toy-models, we clarify two issues related to the spin relaxation and decoherence: 1) For an ensemble of two-level particles each subjected to a different environmental field, there exists an ensemble relaxation time $T_1^*$ which is fundamentally different from $T_1$. When the off-diagonal coupling of each particle is in a single mode with the same frequency but a random coupling strength, we show that $T_1^*$ is finite while the spin relaxation time of a single spin $T_1$ and the usual ensemble decoherence time $T_2^*$ are infinite. 2) For a two-level particle under only a random diagonal coupling, its relaxation time $T_1$ shall be infinite but its decoherence time $T_2$ is finite.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Is the f0(600)f_0(600) meson a dynamically generated resonance? -- a lesson learned from the O(N) model and beyond

O(N) linear $\sigma$ model is solvable in the large $N$ limit and hence provides a useful theoretical laboratory to test various unitarization approximations. We find that the large $N_c$ limit and the $m_\sigma\to \infty$ limit do not commute. In order to get the correct large $N_c$ spectrum one has to firstly take the large $N_c$ limit. We argue that the $f_0(600)$ meson may not be described as generated dynamically. On the contrary, it is most appropriately described at the same level as the pions, i.e, both appear explicitly in the effective lagrangian. Actually it is very likely the $\sigma$ meson responsible for the spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking in a lagrangian with linearly realized chiral symmetry.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figurs; references added; discussions slightly modified; revised version accepted by IJMP

Optimal Geo-Indistinguishable Mechanisms for Location Privacy

We consider the geo-indistinguishability approach to location privacy, and the trade-off with respect to utility. We show that, given a desired degree of geo-indistinguishability, it is possible to construct a mechanism that minimizes the service quality loss, using linear programming techniques. In addition we show that, under certain conditions, such mechanism also provides optimal privacy in the sense of Shokri et al. Furthermore, we propose a method to reduce the number of constraints of the linear program from cubic to quadratic, maintaining the privacy guarantees and without affecting significantly the utility of the generated mechanism. This reduces considerably the time required to solve the linear program, thus enlarging significantly the location sets for which the optimal mechanisms can be computed.Comment: 13 page

Optical study of phase transitions in single-crystalline RuP

RuP single crystals of MnP-type orthorhombic structure were synthesized by the Sn flux method. Temperature-dependent x-ray diffraction measurements reveal that the compound experiences two structural phase transitions, which are further confirmed by enormous anomalies shown in temperature-dependent resistivity and magnetic susceptibility. Particularly, the resistivity drops monotonically upon temperature cooling below the second transition, indicating that the material shows metallic behavior, in sharp contrast with the insulating ground state of polycrystalline samples. Optical conductivity measurements were also performed in order to unravel the mechanism of these two transitions. The measurement revealed a sudden reconstruction of band structure over a broad energy scale and a significant removal of conducting carriers below the first phase transition, while a charge-density-wave-like energy gap opens below the second phase transition.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

^{115}In-NQR evidence for unconventional superconductivity in CeIn_3 under pressure

We report evidence for unconventional superconductivity in CeIn_3 at a pressure P = 2.65 GPa above critical pressure (P_c ~ 2.5 GPa) revealed by the measurements of nuclear-spin-lattice-relaxation time (T_1) and ac-susceptibility (ac-chi). Both the measurements of T_1 and ac-chi have pointed to a superconducting transition at T_c = 95 mK, which is much lower than an onset temperature T_{onset} = 0.15 K at zero resistance. The temperature dependence of 1/T_1 shows no coherence peak just below T_c, indicative of an unconventional nature for the superconductivity induced in CeIn_3.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Phys.Rev.