4,804 research outputs found
Robot-Assisted Radical Cystectomy as a Treatment Modality for Patients with Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer
Alternative Buffer-Layers for the Growth of SrBi2Ta2O9 on Silicon
In this work we investigate the influence of the use of YSZ and CeO2/YSZ as
insulators for Metal- Ferroelectric-Insulator-Semiconductor (MFIS) structures
made with SrBi2Ta2O9 (SBT). We show that by using YSZ only the a-axis oriented
Pyrochlore phase could be obtained. On the other hand the use of a CeO2/YSZ
double-buffer layer gave a c-axis oriented SBT with no amorphous SiO2 inter-
diffusion layer. The characteristics of MFIS diodes were greatly improved by
the use of the double buffer. Using the same deposition conditions the memory
window could be increased from 0.3 V to 0.9 V. From the piezoelectric response,
nano-meter scale ferroelectric domains could be clearly identified in SBT thin
films.Comment: 5 pages, 9 figures, 13 refernece
Pathophysiological Factors in the Relationship between Chronological Age and Calculated Lung Age as Detected in a Screening Setting in Community-Dwelling Subjects
Aim: To explore the relationship between pathophysiological factors and premature lung ageing in a cohort of community-dwelling subjects in a health-screening setting. Methods: 16,107 pharmacy customers in Germany (5954 males, 10153 females; mean age 59.7 years)) participated in a lung function screening project by providing demographic data including smoking status and known airway conditions and performing spirometry with a Vitalograph, a spirometry screening device. Lung age was calculated from the spirometric findings, and the difference between chronological age and calculated lung age was analyzed in its relationship to the demographic data in general linear models. Results: In the overall cohort, calculated lung age exceeded chronological age by 10.0 years. Based on the subset of non-smokers not reporting any airway conditions, Vitalograph data in this setting may underestimate FEV1 to some degree but this apparently had little impact on the detection of association of lung age with pathophysiological factors or the corresponding effect sizes. The most important factors associated with greater lung age based on strength of association were presence of dyspnea, being a smoker and reporting a history of COPD or asthma. Corresponding effect sizes for the difference between age and lung age were 6.5, 5.7, 13.9 and 8.3 years over the chronological age. Discussion and Conclusions: These data confirm the usefulness of screening devices of lung function testing for epidemiological but potentially also for pharmaco-epidemiological studies
Observation of the Higgs Boson of strong interaction via Compton scattering by the nucleon
It is shown that the Quark-Level Linear Model (QLLM) leads
to a prediction for the diamagnetic term of the polarizabilities of the nucleon
which is in excellent agreement with the experimental data. The bare mass of
the meson is predicted to be MeV and the two-photon
width keV. It is argued that the
mass predicted by the QLLM corresponds to the reaction, i.e. to a -channel pole of the reaction.
Large -angle Compton scattering experiments revealing effects of the
meson in the differential cross section are discussed. Arguments are presented
that these findings may be understood as an observation of the Higgs boson of
strong interaction while being part of the constituent quark.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure
Ultrasonic Phased Array Inspection Simulations of Welded Components at NASA
Comprehensive and accurate inspections of welded components have become of increasing importance as NASA develops new hardware such as Ares rocket segments for future exploration missions. Simulation and modeling will play an increased role in the future for nondestructive evaluation in order to better understand the physics of the inspection process and help explain the experimental results. It will also help to prove or disprove the feasibility for an inspection method or inspection scenario, help optimize inspections, and allow to a first approximation limits of detectability. This study presents simulation and experimental results for an ultrasonic phased array inspection of a critical welded structure important for NASA future exploration vehicles
Turbulence and passive scalar transport in a free-slip surface
We consider the two-dimensional (2D) flow in a flat free-slip surface that
bounds a three-dimensional (3D) volume in which the flow is turbulent. The
equations of motion for the two-dimensional flow in the surface are neither
compressible nor incompressible but strongly influenced by the 3D flow
underneath the surface. The velocity correlation functions in the 2D surface
and in the 3D volume scale with the same exponents. In the viscous subrange the
amplitudes are the same, but in the inertial subrange the 2D one is reduced to
2/3 of the 3D amplitude. The surface flow is more strongly intermittent than
the 3D volume flow. Geometric scaling theory is used to derive a relation
between the scaling of the velocity field and the density fluctuations of a
passive scalar advected on the surface.Comment: 11 pages, 10 Postscript figure
Ultrasonic Phased Array Inspection for an Isogrid Structural Element with Cracks
In this investigation, a T-shaped aluminum alloy isogrid stiffener element used in aerospace applications was inspected with ultrasonic phased array methods. The isogrid stiffener element had various crack configurations emanating from bolt holes. Computational simulation methods were used to mimic the experiments in order to help understand experimental results. The results of this study indicate that it is at least partly feasible to interrogate this type of geometry with the given flaw configurations using phased array ultrasonics. The simulation methods were critical in helping explain the experimental results and, with some limitation, can be used to predict inspection results
Adaptive Baseline Finder, a statistical data selection strategy to identify atmospheric CO2 baseline levels and its application to European elevated mountain stations [Discussion paper]
This paper presents a novel statistical data selection method for CO2 measurements at elevated mountain measuring stations. It provides insights on how data processing techniques are critical for measurements and data analyses. By applying different methods on atmospheric CO2 of various mountain stations, our method appears to be a good option as a generalized approach with improved comparability, which is important for researches on station characteristics or data analyses between stations.This work is supported by the scholarship from China Scholarship Council (CSC) under the Grant CSC No. 201508080110
Inflationary Perturbations: the Cosmological Schwinger Effect
This pedagogical review aims at presenting the fundamental aspects of the
theory of inflationary cosmological perturbations of quantum-mechanical origin.
The analogy with the well-known Schwinger effect is discussed in detail and a
systematic comparison of the two physical phenomena is carried out. In
particular, it is demonstrated that the two underlying formalisms differ only
up to an irrelevant canonical transformation. Hence, the basic physical
mechanisms at play are similar in both cases and can be reduced to the
quantization of a parametric oscillator leading to particle creation due to the
interaction with a classical source: pair production in vacuum is therefore
equivalent to the appearance of a growing mode for the cosmological
fluctuations. The only difference lies in the nature of the source: an electric
field in the case of the Schwinger effect and the gravitational field in the
case of inflationary perturbations. Although, in the laboratory, it is
notoriously difficult to produce an electric field such that pairs extracted
from the vacuum can be detected, the gravitational field in the early universe
can be strong enough to lead to observable effects that ultimately reveal
themselves as temperature fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background.
Finally, the question of how quantum cosmological perturbations can be
considered as classical is discussed at the end of the article.Comment: 49 pages, 6 figures, to appear in a LNP volume "Inflationary
Cosmology
- …