9,779 research outputs found
Metered oxygen supply aids treatment of domestic sewage
Microbiological fixed-bed process was developed in which supplementary oxygen required by microbial species is supplied by electrochemical device. Rate of addition of oxygen to waste treatment process is controlled to maintain aerobic metabolism and prevent anaerobic metabolisms which produce odorous or toxic products
Chiral molecules split light: Reflection and refraction in a chiral liquid
A light beam changes direction as it enters a liquid at an angle from another
medium, such as air. Should the liquid contain molecules that lack mirror
symmetry, then it has been predicted by Fresnel that the light beam will not
only change direction, but will actually split into two separate beams with a
small difference in the respective angles of refraction. Here we report the
observation of this phenomenon. We also demonstrate that the angle of
reflection does not equal the angle of incidence in a chiral medium. Unlike
conventional optical rotation, which depends on the path-length through the
sample, the reported reflection and refraction phenomena arise within a few
wavelengths at the interface and thereby suggest a new approach to polarimetry
that can be used in microfluidic volumes
Some genus 3 curves with many points
Using an explicit family of plane quartic curves, we prove the existence of a
genus 3 curve over any finite field of characteristic 3 whose number of
rational points stays within a fixed distance from the Hasse-Weil-Serre upper
bound. We also provide an intrinsic characterization of so-called Legendre
elliptic curves
Searching for the expelled hydrogen envelope in Type I supernovae via late-time H-alpha emission
We report the first results from our long-term observational survey aimed at
discovering late-time interaction between the ejecta of hydrogen-poor Type I
supernovae and the hydrogen-rich envelope expelled from the progenitor star
several decades/centuries before explosion. The expelled envelope, moving with
a velocity of ~10 -- 100 km s, is expected to be caught up by the
fast-moving SN ejecta several years/decades after explosion depending on the
history of the mass-loss process acting in the progenitor star prior to
explosion. The collision between the SN ejecta and the circumstellar envelope
results in net emission in the Balmer-lines, especially in H-alpha. We look for
signs of late-time H-alpha emission in older Type Ia/Ibc/IIb SNe having
hydrogen-poor ejecta, via narrow-band imaging. Continuum-subtracted H-alpha
emission has been detected for 13 point sources: 9 SN Ibc, 1 SN IIb and 3 SN Ia
events. Thirty-eight SN sites were observed on at least two epochs, from which
three objects (SN 1985F, SN 2005kl, SN 2012fh) showed significant temporal
variation in the strength of their H-alpha emission in our DIAFI data. This
suggests that the variable emission is probably not due to nearby H II regions
unassociated with the SN, and hence is an important additional hint that
ejecta-CSM interaction may take place in these systems. Moreover, we
successfully detected the late-time H-alpha emission from the Type Ib SN 2014C,
which was recently discovered as a strongly interacting SN in various (radio,
infrared, optical and X-ray) bands.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, accepted in Ap
Dissipation enhanced vibrational sensing in an olfactory molecular switch
Motivated by a proposed olfactory mechanism based on a
vibrationally-activated molecular switch, we study electron transport within a
donor-acceptor pair that is coupled to a vibrational mode and embedded in a
surrounding environment. We derive a polaron master equation with which we
study the dynamics of both the electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom
beyond previously employed semiclassical (Marcus-Jortner) rate analyses. We
show: (i) that in the absence of explicit dissipation of the vibrational mode,
the semiclassical approach is generally unable to capture the dynamics
predicted by our master equation due to both its assumption of one-way
(exponential) electron transfer from donor to acceptor and its neglect of the
spectral details of the environment; (ii) that by additionally allowing strong
dissipation to act on the odorant vibrational mode we can recover exponential
electron transfer, though typically at a rate that differs from that given by
the Marcus-Jortner expression; (iii) that the ability of the molecular switch
to discriminate between the presence and absence of the odorant, and its
sensitivity to the odorant vibrational frequency, are enhanced significantly in
this strong dissipation regime, when compared to the case without mode
dissipation; and (iv) that details of the environment absent from previous
Marcus-Jortner analyses can also dramatically alter the sensitivity of the
molecular switch, in particular allowing its frequency resolution to be
improved. Our results thus demonstrate the constructive role dissipation can
play in facilitating sensitive and selective operation in molecular switch
devices, as well as the inadequacy of semiclassical rate equations in analysing
such behaviour over a wide range of parameters.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, close to published version, comments welcom
Topological phase for entangled two-qubit states and the representation of the SO(3)group
We discuss the representation of the group by two-qubit maximally
entangled states (MES). We analyze the correspondence between and the
set of two-qubit MES which are experimentally realizable. As a result, we offer
a new interpretation of some recently proposed experiments based on MES.
Employing the tools of quantum optics we treat in terms of two-qubit MES some
classical experiments in neutron interferometry, which showed the -phase
accrued by a spin- particle precessing in a magnetic field. By so doing,
we can analyze the extent to which the recently proposed experiments - and
future ones of the same sort - would involve essentially new physical aspects
as compared with those performed in the past. We argue that the proposed
experiments do extend the possibilities for displaying the double connectedness
of , although for that to be the case it results necessary to map
elements of onto physical operations acting on two-level systems.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figure
The Full Range of Predictions for B Physics From Iso-singlet Down Quark Mixing
We extend the range of predictions of the isosinglet (or vector) down quark
model to the fully allowed physical ranges, and also update this with the
effect of new physics constraints. We constrain the present allowed ranges of
sin(2*beta) and sin(2*alpha), gamma, x_s, and A_{B_s}. In models allowing
mixing to a new isosinglet down quark (as in E_6) flavor changing neutral
currents are induced that allow a Z^0 mediated contribution to B-Bbar mixing
and which bring in new phases. In (rho, eta), (x_s, sin(gamma)), and (x_s,
A_{B_s}) plots for the extra isosinglet down quark model which are herein
extended to the full physical range, we find new allowed regions that will
require experiments on sin(gamma) and/or x_s to verify or to rule out an extra
down quark contribution.Comment: 13 pages in RevTeX, 7 postscript figure
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Measuring Venous Oxygen Saturation Using the Photoplethysmograph Waveform
The pulse oximeter is now a standard-of-care monitor. In its most basic form it measures the arterial oxygenation saturation. It accomplishes this through the use of the photoplethysmograph waveform (PPG) at two or more wavelengths. Advances in digital signal processing are allowing for a re-examination of these waveforms. It has been recognized for some time that the movement of venous blood can be detected (1, 2) using the PPG. For the most part, this phenomenon has been seen as a source of artifact which interferes with calculation of arterial saturation. On the other hand, if venous saturation can be reliably measured, interesting new possibilities are opened. We hypothesize that the PPG waveform, obtained non-invasively by modern pulse oximeters, can be analyzed via digital signal processing to infer the venous oxygen saturation
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