Structure of the neutron-rich N=7 isotones 10Li and 9He

The near threshold structure of the unbound N=7 isotones 10Li and 9He has been investigated using proton removal and breakup from intermediate energy (35 MeV/nucleon) secondary beams of 11Be and 14,15B. The coincident detection of the beam velocity 9Li and 8He fragments and neutrons permitted the relative energy of the in-flight decay of 10Li and 9He to be reconstructed. Both systems were found to exhibited virtual s-wave strength near threshold together with a higher-lying resonance.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, Contribution to INPC2010 - "International Nuclear Physics Conference", Vancouver, Canada, 4-9 July 2010, Proceedings to be published in Journal of Physics: Conference Serie

Soliton localization in Bose-Einstein condensates with time-dependent harmonic potential and scattering length

We derive exact solitonic solutions of a class of Gross-Pitaevskii equations with time-dependent harmonic trapping potential and interatomic interaction. We find families of exact single-solitonic, multi-solitonic, and solitary wave solutions. We show that, with the special case of an oscillating trapping potential and interatomic interaction, a soliton can be localized indefinitely at an arbitrary position. The localization is shown to be experimentally possible for sufficiently long time even with only an oscillating trapping potential and a constant interatomic interaction.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in J.Phys.

Factors Affecting Malaysian young consumers’ online purchase intention in social media websites

AbstractThe objective of this study was to examine factors that influence Malaysian young consumers’ online purchase intention through social media. The technology acceptance model and the theory of reasoned action were employed to develop the conceptual framework. Three factors, namely perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and subjective norm were tested. Data were gathered from 297 undergraduate students using the stratified sampling method and multiple regression analysis were conducted to analyse the data. The results revealed that perceived usefulness was the most dominant factors that influence young consumers’ online purchase intention through social media, followed by perceived ease of use and subjective norm. The practical implications of this study were discussed

Compendium in Vehicle Motion Engineering

This compendium is written for the course “MMF062 Vehicle Motion Engineering” at Chalmers University of Technology. The compendium covers more than included in that course; both in terms of subsystem designs and in terms of some teasers for more advanced studies of vehicle dynamics. Therefore, it is also useful for the more advanced courses, such as “TME102 Vehicle Modelling and Control”.The overall objective of the compendium is to educate engineers that understand and can contribute to development of good motion and energy functionality of vehicles. The compendium focuses on road vehicles, primarily passenger cars and commercial vehicles. Smaller road vehicles, such as bicycles and single-person cars, are only very briefly addressed. It can be mentioned that there exist a lot of ground-vehicle types not covered at all, such as: off-road/construction vehicles, tracked vehicles, horse wagons, hovercrafts, and railway vehicles.Functions are needed for requirement setting, design and verification. The overall order within the compendium is that models/methods/tools needed to understand each function are placed before the functions. Chapters 3-5 describes (complete vehicle) “functions”, organised after vehicle motion directions:\ub7\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0 Chapter 3:\ua0Longitudinal\ua0dynamics\ub7\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0 Chapter 4:\ua0Lateral\ua0dynamics\ub7\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0 Chapter 5:\ua0Vertical\ua0dynamicsChapter 1 introduces automotive industry and the overall way of working there and defines required pre-knowledge from “product-generic” engineering, e.g. modelling of dynamic systems.Chapter 2 also describes the subsystems relevant for vehicle dynamics:• Wheels and Tyre\ua0• Suspension\ua0• Propulsion\ua0• Braking System\ua0• Steering System\ua0• Environment Sensing SystemThe compendium is released in a new version each year, around October, which is the version your read now. A "latest draft" is more frequently updated and often includes some more, sometimes unfinished, material: https://chalmersuniversity.box.com/s/6igaen1ugcjzuhjziuon08axxiy817f

Holographic Multiverse

We explore the idea that the dynamics of the inflationary multiverse is encoded in its future boundary, where it is described by a lower dimensional theory which is conformally invariant in the UV. We propose that a measure for the multiverse, which is needed in order to extract quantitative probabilistic predictions, can be derived in terms of the boundary theory by imposing a UV cutoff. In the inflationary bulk, this is closely related (though not identical) to the so-called scale factor cutoff measure.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures. Replaced to match published versio

Early life secondhand smoke exposure assessed by hair nicotine biomarker may reduce children's neurodevelopment at 2 years of age

Exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) can affect fetal brain development as well as subsequent neurodevelopment. This study aimed to determine the association between prenatal and postnatal SHS exposure with children's neurodevelopment at 2 years of age. Among 107 mother-child pairs from a Malaysia prospective cohort, prenatal and postnatal SHS exposure was determined based on maternal and child hair nicotine concentrations. Multiple linear regressions were used to determine the association between prenatal and postnatal levels of nicotine in maternal and children's' hair with children's neurodevelopment. After adjustment for confounders, prenatal nicotine concentration levels were negatively associated with communication (β = − 2.059; p = 0.015) and fine motor skills (β = − 2.120; p = 0.002) while postnatal nicotine concentration levels were inversely associated with fine motors (β = − 0.124; p = 0.004) and problem solving skills (β = − 0.117; p = 0.013). In conclusion, this study suggests that early life exposure to SHS may affect children's neurodevelopment

Assisted extraction of the energy level spacings and lever arms in direct current bias measurements of one-dimensional quantum wires, using an image recognition routine

A multiplexer technique is used to individually measure an array of 256 split gates on a single GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. This results in the generation of large volumes of data, which requires the development of automated data analysis routines. An algorithm is developed to find the spacing between discrete energy levels, which form due to transverse confinement from the split gate. The lever arm, which relates split gate voltage to energy, is also found from the measured data. This reduces the time spent on the analysis. Comparison with estimates obtained visually show that the algorithm returns reliable results for subband spacing of split gates measured at 1:4 K. The routine is also used to assess DC bias spectroscopy measurements at lower temperatures (50 mK). This technique is versatile and can be extended to other types of measurements. For example, it is used to extract the magnetic field at which Zeeman-split 1D subbands cross one another.This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council grant No. EP/IO14268/1.This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available from AIP at http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jap/117/1/10.1063/1.4905484