225 research outputs found
Lattice dynamics and reduced thermal conductivity of filled skutterudites
The great reduction in thermal conductivity of skutterudites upon filling the
``void'' sites with Rare Earth (RE) ions is key to their favorable
thermoelectric properties but remains to be understood. Using lattice dynamic
models based on first principles calculations, we address the most popular
microscopic mechanism, reduction via rattling ions. The model withstands
inelastic neutron scattering and specific heat measurements, and refutes
hypotheses of an anharmonic RE potential and of two distinct localized RE
vibrations of disparate frequencies. It does indicate a strong hybridization
between bare La vibrations and certain Sb-like phonon branches, suggesting
anharmonic scattering by harmonic RE motions as an important mechanism for
suppression of heat conductivity.Comment: modified version resubmitted to PRB. Results unchanged, text changed
substantiall
A Monte Carlo study of temperature-programmed desorption spectra with attractive lateral interactions
We present results of a Monte Carlo study of temperature-programmed
desorption in a model system with attractive lateral interactions. It is shown
that even for weak interactions there are large shifts of the peak maximum
temperatures with initial coverage. The system has a transition temperature
below which the desorption has a negative order. An analytical expression for
this temperature is derived. The relation between the model and real systems is
discussed.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.B15, 10 pages (REVTeX), 2
figures (PostScript); discussion about Xe/Pt(111) adde
The usefulness of serum adenosine deaminase 2 (ADA2) activity in adults for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis
AbstractRapid diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis remains an obstacle for therapy of tuberculosis (TB). Adenosine deaminase isoform 2 (ADA2) is produced by activated macrophages and has been used for diagnosis of TB from extra-pulmonary sites. However, few studies adequately address whether serum ADA2 activity is useful for diagnosis of active pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). We prospectively measured serum ADA2 activity in 110 patients with pulmonary disease (65 cases with active PTB and 45 cases with other respiratory diseases) and 78 healthy volunteers (eight with tuberculin skin test positive). The serum ADA2 for the diagnosis of PTB had the sensitivity of 36·9%, the specificity of 84·5%, the positive predictive value of 10·9% and the negative predictive value of 96·2%. We concluded that serum ADA2 activity is neither useful to diagnosis of active PTB nor to differentiate from other respiratory diseases
Real spin glasses relax slowly in the shade of hierarchical trees
The Parisi solution of the mean-field spin glass has been widely accepted and
celebrated. Its marginal stability in 3d and its complexity however raised the
question of its relevance to real spin glasses. This paper gives a short
overview of the important experimental results which could be understood within
the mean-field solution. The existence of a true phase transition and the
particular behaviour of the susceptibility below the freezing temperature,
predicted by the theory, are clearly confirmed by the experimental results. The
behaviour of the complex order parameter and of the Fluctuation Dissipation
ratio are in good agreement with results of spontaneous noise measurements. The
very particular ultrametric symmetry, the key feature of the theory, provided
us with a simple description of the rejuvenation and memory effects observed in
experiment. Finally, going a step beyond mean-field, the paper shortly
discusses new analyses in terms of correlated domains characterized by their
length scales, as well as new experiments on superspin glasses which compare
well with recent theoretical simulations.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of "Wandering with Curiosity in Complex
Landscapes", a scientific conference in honour of Giorgio Parisi for his 60th
birthday, Roma, September 8-10 2008 (submitted for the special issue of the
Journal of Statistical Physics, 2009
Automatic segmentation of cerebral infarcts in follow-up computed tomography images with convolutional neural networks
Background and purpose: Infarct volume is a valuable outcome measure in treatment trials of acute ischemic stroke and is strongly associated with functional outcome. Its manual volumetric assessment is, however, too demanding to be implemented in clinical practice. Objective: To assess the value of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in the automatic segmentation of infarct volume in follow-up CT images in a large population of patients with acute ischemic stroke. Materials and methods: We included CT images of 1026 patients from a large pooling of patients with acute ischemic stroke. A reference standard for the infarct segmentation was generated by manual delineation. We introduce three CNN models for the segmentati
Central Santa Catarina coastal dunefields chronology and their relation to relative sea level and climatic changes
During the past decades, there have been contrarian explanations for the formation and stabilization of coastal dunefields: while many authors believe the dunes formation would be enhanced by falling sea level, others argue that a rising or stable sea level context would be favorable. For Brazilian coastal dunefields, the second hypothesis seems to be more consistent with the luminescence ages found so far; however, most of these data were obtained without using the SAR protocol. Another point of concern is the role of climate change in the aeolian system, which is still not very clear. The aim of this paper is to try to clarify these two questions. To this end, five coastal dunefields were selected in central Santa Catarina coast. The remote sensing and dating results allowed the discrimination and mapping of at least four aeolian generations. Their age distribution in relation to the global curve of relative sea level variation during the Late Pleistocene allows us to suggest that the formation of Aeolian dunefields in the coastal context is supported by stable relative sea level. However, relative sea level is not the only determinant for the formation and preservation of the aeolian coastal dunes. Evidences of climatic control indicate that the initiation of dunefields would be favored by periods of less humidity while their stabilization would occur preferably during the periods of rain intensification, connected to monsoon activity
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