Fluorescein angiography compared to three-dimensional measurements by the retinal thickness analyzer in classic choroidal neovascularization

Purpose: To compare and correlate imaging of classic subfoveal choroidal neovascularization (CNV) with noninvasive 3-dimensional imaging by the retinal thickness analyzer (RTA) to conventional fluorescein angiography (FA). Methods: A total of 29 eyes of 29 consecutive patients with predominantly classic CNV eligible for photodynamic therapy underwent FA and RTA imaging. The FA dimensions of the CNV were measured independently by two graders. With the RTA, masked to FA the size of the CNV itself as imaged in 3-dimensional reconstruction, the size of significantly thickened retina overlying the CNV and the maximum retinal thickness were measured. Results: The mean diameter of the CNV determined from 3-dimensional RTA reconstructions showed an excellent correlation with measurements from FA (r = 0.91, p < 0.001). The area of retinal thickening was by a mean of 0.7 mm in diameter larger and correlated moderately well with the size of the CNV on FA (r = 0.65, p < 0.001). In contrast, there was no correlation between the absolute retinal thickness and the CNV size on FA. Conclusions: Noninvasive quantitative mapping of predominantly classic CNV by RTA is feasible and also allows 3-dimensional measurement of the lesion itself. The results correlate well with FA assessment but visualize different properties of the disease. Copyright (c) 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel

Well-posedness, energy and charge conservation for nonlinear wave equations in discrete space-time

We consider the problem of discretization for the U(1)-invariant nonlinear wave equations in any dimension. We show that the classical finite-difference scheme used by Strauss and Vazquez \cite{MR0503140} conserves the positive-definite discrete analog of the energy if the grid ratio is $dt/dx\le 1/\sqrt{n}$, where $dt$ and $dx$ are the mesh sizes of the time and space variables and $n$ is the spatial dimension. We also show that if the grid ratio is $dt/dx=1/\sqrt{n}$, then there is the discrete analog of the charge which is conserved. We prove the existence and uniqueness of solutions to the discrete Cauchy problem. We use the energy conservation to obtain the a priori bounds for finite energy solutions, thus showing that the Strauss -- Vazquez finite-difference scheme for the nonlinear Klein-Gordon equation with positive nonlinear term in the Hamiltonian is conditionally stable.Comment: 10 page

Matter and dynamics in closed cosmologies

To systematically analyze the dynamical implications of the matter content in cosmology, we generalize earlier dynamical systems approaches so that perfect fluids with a general barotropic equation of state can be treated. We focus on locally rotationally symmetric Bianchi type IX and Kantowski-Sachs orthogonal perfect fluid models, since such models exhibit a particularly rich dynamical structure and also illustrate typical features of more general cases. For these models, we recast Einstein's field equations into a regular system on a compact state space, which is the basis for our analysis. We prove that models expand from a singularity and recollapse to a singularity when the perfect fluid satisfies the strong energy condition. When the matter source admits Einstein's static model, we present a comprehensive dynamical description, which includes asymptotic behavior, of models in the neighborhood of the Einstein model; these results make earlier claims about ``homoclinic phenomena and chaos'' highly questionable. We also discuss aspects of the global asymptotic dynamics, in particular, we give criteria for the collapse to a singularity, and we describe when models expand forever to a state of infinite dilution; possible initial and final states are analyzed. Numerical investigations complement the analytical results.Comment: 23 pages, 24 figures (compressed), LaTe

Why We Read Wikipedia

Wikipedia is one of the most popular sites on the Web, with millions of users relying on it to satisfy a broad range of information needs every day. Although it is crucial to understand what exactly these needs are in order to be able to meet them, little is currently known about why users visit Wikipedia. The goal of this paper is to fill this gap by combining a survey of Wikipedia readers with a log-based analysis of user activity. Based on an initial series of user surveys, we build a taxonomy of Wikipedia use cases along several dimensions, capturing users' motivations to visit Wikipedia, the depth of knowledge they are seeking, and their knowledge of the topic of interest prior to visiting Wikipedia. Then, we quantify the prevalence of these use cases via a large-scale user survey conducted on live Wikipedia with almost 30,000 responses. Our analyses highlight the variety of factors driving users to Wikipedia, such as current events, media coverage of a topic, personal curiosity, work or school assignments, or boredom. Finally, we match survey responses to the respondents' digital traces in Wikipedia's server logs, enabling the discovery of behavioral patterns associated with specific use cases. For instance, we observe long and fast-paced page sequences across topics for users who are bored or exploring randomly, whereas those using Wikipedia for work or school spend more time on individual articles focused on topics such as science. Our findings advance our understanding of reader motivations and behavior on Wikipedia and can have implications for developers aiming to improve Wikipedia's user experience, editors striving to cater to their readers' needs, third-party services (such as search engines) providing access to Wikipedia content, and researchers aiming to build tools such as recommendation engines.Comment: Published in WWW'17; v2 fixes caption of Table

On the spectral properties of L_{+-} in three dimensions

This paper is part of the radial asymptotic stability analysis of the ground state soliton for either the cubic nonlinear Schrodinger or Klein-Gordon equations in three dimensions. We demonstrate by a rigorous method that the linearized scalar operators which arise in this setting, traditionally denoted by L_{+-}, satisfy the gap property, at least over the radial functions. This means that the interval (0,1] does not contain any eigenvalues of L_{+-} and that the threshold 1 is neither an eigenvalue nor a resonance. The gap property is required in order to prove scattering to the ground states for solutions starting on the center-stable manifold associated with these states. This paper therefore provides the final installment in the proof of this scattering property for the cubic Klein-Gordon and Schrodinger equations in the radial case, see the recent theory of Nakanishi and the third author, as well as the earlier work of the third author and Beceanu on NLS. The method developed here is quite general, and applicable to other spectral problems which arise in the theory of nonlinear equations

Rotation and activity of pre-main-sequence stars

We present a study of rotation (vsini) and chromospheric activity (Halpha EW) based on an extensive set of high-resolution optical spectra obtained with MIKE on the 6.5m Magellan Clay telescope. Our targets are 74 F-M dwarfs in the young stellar associations Eta Cha, TW Hydrae, Beta Pic, and Tuc-Hor, spanning ages from 6 to 30 Myr. While the Halpha EW for most F and G stars are consistent with pure photospheric absorption, most K and M stars show chromospheric emission. By comparing Halpha EW in our sample to results in the literature, we see a clear evolutionary sequence: Chromospheric activity declines steadily from the T Tauri phase to the main sequence. Using activity as an age indicator, we find a plausible age range for the Tuc-Hor association of 10-40 Myr. Between 5 and 30 Myr, we do not see evidence for rotational braking in the total sample, thus angular momentum is conserved, in contrast to younger stars. This difference indicates a change in the rotational regulation at 5-10 Myr, possibly because disk braking cannot operate longer than typical disk lifetimes, allowing the objects to spin up. The rotation-activity relation is flat in our sample; in contrast to main-sequence stars, there is no linear correlation for slow rotators. We argue that this is because young stars generate their magnetic fields in a fundamentally different way from main-sequence stars, and not just the result of a saturated solar-type dynamo. By comparing our rotational velocities with published rotation periods for a subset of stars, we determine ages of 13 (7-20) Myr and 9 (7-17} Myr for the Eta Cha and TWA associations, respectively, consistent with previous estimates. Thus we conclude that stellar radii from evolutionary models by Baraffe et al. (1998) are in agreement with the observed radii within +-15%. (abridged)Comment: 40 pages, 8 figures, ApJ, in pres

Simulation of the Thermal Performance of HTS Coated Conductors for HVDC SFCL

Within the EU-funded project FastGrid a resistive superconducting fault current limiter for DC-application is actually under development. To reduce substantially the amount of deployed superconducting tape an increase of voltage per length in the limitation case is needed. Moreover, the resistive transition (quench) should be fast and uniform. In the present work, the thermal behavior of three different architectures of coated conductors are investigated by means of transient simulations. The first architecture is composed by an additional Hastelloy shunt layer, which is supposed to avoid overheating of the conductor during fault limitation. The other architectures include layers of silver and copper as stabilizers. Our parameter study including the geometries of the different layers and the inhomogeneity of the critical current density of the superconducting tape shall lead to an optimized tape layout. First comparisons with experiment indicate, that, with the first architecture, electric field strength up to 100 V/m should be within reach

24^{24}Mg(pp, α\alpha)21^{21}Na reaction study for spectroscopy of 21^{21}Na

The $^{24}$Mg($p$, $\alpha$)$^{21}$Na reaction was measured at the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in order to better constrain spins and parities of energy levels in $^{21}$Na for the astrophysically important $^{17}$F($\alpha, p$)$^{20}$Ne reaction rate calculation. 31 MeV proton beams from the 25-MV tandem accelerator and enriched $^{24}$Mg solid targets were used. Recoiling $^{4}$He particles from the $^{24}$Mg($p$, $\alpha$)$^{21}$Na reaction were detected by a highly segmented silicon detector array which measured the yields of $^{4}$He particles over a range of angles simultaneously. A new level at 6661 $\pm$ 5 keV was observed in the present work. The extracted angular distributions for the first four levels of $^{21}$Na and Distorted Wave Born Approximation (DWBA) calculations were compared to verify and extract angular momentum transfer.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Accelerators and Beam Utilization (ICABU2014

Global dynamics above the ground state for the nonlinear Klein-Gordon equation without a radial assumption

We extend our previous result on the focusing cubic Klein-Gordon equation in three dimensions to the non-radial case, giving a complete classification of global dynamics of all solutions with energy at most slightly above that of the ground state.Comment: 40 page