Interference enhanced thermoelectricity in quinoid type structures

Quantum interference (QI) effects in molecular junctions may be used to obtain large thermoelectric responses. We study the electrical conductance G and the thermoelec- tric response of a series of molecules featuring a quinoid core using density functional theory (DFT), as well as a semi-empirical interacting model Hamiltonian describing the {\pi}-system of the molecule which we treat in the GW approximation. Molecules with a quinoid type structure are shown to have two distinct destructive QI features close to the frontier orbital energies. These manifest themselves as two dips in the transmission, that remain separated, even when either electron donating or withdraw- ing side groups are added. We find that the position of the dips in the transmission and the frontier molecular levels can be chemically controlled by varying the electron donating or withdrawing character of the side groups as well as the conjugation length inside the molecule. This feature results in a very high thermoelectric power factor S^2G and figure of merit ZT, where S is the Seebeck coefficient, making quinoid type molecules potential candidates for efficient thermoelectric devices.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figure

Exploiting flow dynamics for super-resolution in contrast-enhanced ultrasound

Ultrasound localization microscopy offers new radiation-free diagnostic tools for vascular imaging deep within the tissue. Sequential localization of echoes returned from inert microbubbles with low-concentration within the bloodstream reveal the vasculature with capillary resolution. Despite its high spatial resolution, low microbubble concentrations dictate the acquisition of tens of thousands of images, over the course of several seconds to tens of seconds, to produce a single super-resolved image. %since each echo is required to be well separated from adjacent microbubbles. Such long acquisition times and stringent constraints on microbubble concentration are undesirable in many clinical scenarios. To address these restrictions, sparsity-based approaches have recently been developed. These methods reduce the total acquisition time dramatically, while maintaining good spatial resolution in settings with considerable microbubble overlap. %Yet, non of the reported methods exploit the fact that microbubbles actually flow within the bloodstream. % to improve recovery. Here, we further improve sparsity-based super-resolution ultrasound imaging by exploiting the inherent flow of microbubbles and utilize their motion kinematics. While doing so, we also provide quantitative measurements of microbubble velocities. Our method relies on simultaneous tracking and super-localization of individual microbubbles in a frame-by-frame manner, and as such, may be suitable for real-time implementation. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach on both simulations and {\it in-vivo} contrast enhanced human prostate scans, acquired with a clinically approved scanner.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure

Complex band structure and electronic transmission

The function of nano-scale devices critically depends on the choice of materials. For electron transport junctions it is natural to characterize the materials by their conductance length dependence, $\beta$. Theoretical estimations of $\beta$ are made employing two primary theories: complex band structure and DFT-NEGF Landauer transport. Both reveal information on $\beta$ of individual states; i.e. complex Bloch waves and transmission eigenchannels, respectively. However, it is unclear how the $\beta$-values of the two approaches compare. Here, we present calculations of decay constants for the two most conductive states as determined by complex band structure and standard DFT-NEGF transport calculations for two molecular and one semi-conductor junctions. Despite the different nature of the two methods, we find strong agreement of the calculated decay constants for the molecular junctions while the semi-conductor junction shows some discrepancies. The results presented here provide a template for studying the intrinsic, channel resolved length dependence of the junction through complex band structure of the central material in the heterogeneous nano-scale junction.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Acute military psychiatric casualties from the war in Iraq

Background: The view that most military personnel evacuated from war zones are suffering from combat stress reactions, or are otherwise traumatised by the horrors of war, has an impact on all aspects of military psychiatry. Aims: To delineate the reasons for psychiatric aeromedical evacuation from Iraq from the start of build-up of UK forces in January 2003 until the end of October that year, 6 months after the end of formal hostilities. Method: A retrospective study was conducted of field and in-patient psychiatric assessments of 116 military personnel evacuated to the UK military psychiatric in-patient facility in Catterick Garrison. Results: Evacuees were mainly non-combatants (69%). A significant proportion were in reserve service (21%) and had a history of contact with mental health services (37%). Only 3% had a combat stress reaction. In over 85% of cases evacuation was for low mood attributed to separation from friends or family, or difficulties adjusting to the environment. Conclusions: These findings have implications especially for screening for suitability for deployment, and for understanding any longer-term mental health problems arising in veterans from Iraq

Quantum wires from coupled InAs/GaAs strained quantum dots

The electronic structure of an infinite 1D array of vertically coupled InAs/GaAs strained quantum dots is calculated using an eight-band strain-dependent k-dot-p Hamiltonian. The coupled dots form a unique quantum wire structure in which the miniband widths and effective masses are controlled by the distance between the islands, d. The miniband structure is calculated as a function of d, and it is shown that for d>4 nm the miniband is narrower than the optical phonon energy, while the gap between the first and second minibands is greater than the optical phonon energy. This leads to decreased optical phonon scattering, providing improved quantum wire behavior at high temperatures. These miniband properties are also ideal for Bloch oscillation.Comment: 5 pages revtex, epsf, 8 postscript figure

Hopf algebras: motivations and examples

This paper provides motivation as well as a method of construction for Hopf algebras, starting from an associative algebra. The dualization technique involved relies heavily on the use of Sweedler's dual

Dobinski-type relations: Some properties and physical applications

We introduce a generalization of the Dobinski relation through which we define a family of Bell-type numbers and polynomials. For all these sequences we find the weight function of the moment problem and give their generating functions. We provide a physical motivation of this extension in the context of the boson normal ordering problem and its relation to an extension of the Kerr Hamiltonian.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figur

Application of remote sensing to state and regional problems

The author has identified the following significant results. The Lowndes County data base is essentially complete with 18 primary variables and 16 proximity variables encoded into the geo-information system. The single purpose, decision tree classifier is now operational. Signatures for the thematic extraction of strip mines from LANDSAT Digital data were obtained by employing both supervised and nonsupervised procedures. Dry, blowing sand areas of beach were also identified from the LANDSAT data. The primary procedure was the analysis of analog data on the I2S signal slicer