Magnetoelectronic Phenomena at a Ferromagnet-Semiconductor Interface

A Comment on the Letter by P. R. Hammar et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 203 (1999)

Possible approach to improve sensitivity of a Michelson interferometer

We propose a possible approach to achieve an 1/N sensitivity of Michelson interferometer by using a properly designed random phase modulation. Different from other approaches, the sensitivity improvement does not depend on increasing optical powers or utilizing the quantum properties of light. Moreover the requirements for optical losses and the quantum efficiencies of photodetection systems might be lower than the quantum approaches and the sensitivity improvement is frequency independent in all detection band.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, new versio

Ephemeral active regions and coronal bright points: A solar maximum Mission 2 guest investigator study

A dominate association of coronal bright points (as seen in He wavelength 10830) was confirmed with the approach and subsequent disappearance of opposite polarity magnetic network. While coronal bright points do occur with ephemeral regions, this association is a factor of 2 to 4 less than with sites of disappearing magnetic flux. The intensity variations seen in He I wavelength 10830 are intermittent and often rapid, varying over the 3 minute time resolution of the data; their bright point counterparts in the C IV wavelength 1548 and 20 cm wavelength show similar, though not always coincident time variations. Ejecta are associated with about 1/3 of the dark points and are evident in the C IV and H alpha data. These results support the idea that the anti-correlation of X-ray bright points with the solar cycle can be explained by the correlation of these coronal emission structures with sites of cancelling flux, indicating that, in some cases, the process of magnetic flux removal results in the release of energy. That the intensity variations are rapid and variable suggests that this process works intermittently

Semantic analysis of field sports video using a petri-net of audio-visual concepts

The most common approach to automatic summarisation and highlight detection in sports video is to train an automatic classifier to detect semantic highlights based on occurrences of low-level features such as action replays, excited commentators or changes in a scoreboard. We propose an alternative approach based on the detection of perception concepts (PCs) and the construction of Petri-Nets which can be used for both semantic description and event detection within sports videos. Low-level algorithms for the detection of perception concepts using visual, aural and motion characteristics are proposed, and a series of Petri-Nets composed of perception concepts is formally defined to describe video content. We call this a Perception Concept Network-Petri Net (PCN-PN) model. Using PCN-PNs, personalized high-level semantic descriptions of video highlights can be facilitated and queries on high-level semantics can be achieved. A particular strength of this framework is that we can easily build semantic detectors based on PCN-PNs to search within sports videos and locate interesting events. Experimental results based on recorded sports video data across three types of sports games (soccer, basketball and rugby), and each from multiple broadcasters, are used to illustrate the potential of this framework

Astragaloside III from Astragalus membranaceus antagonizes breast cancer growth

Background: Astragaloside III has been used to treat different cancers; however their effect on breast cancer remains unknown.Materials and methods: The present study examined the effects of Astragaloside III from Astragalus membranaceus on breast cancer cell lines in vitro as well as xenograft in vivo.Results: The results showed that the Astragaloside III could effectively reduce cancer cell survival in vitro and inhibit the tumor growth in vivo. The potential mechanism is the induction of cell apoptosis signaling pathways.Conclusion: We believe that Astragaloside III provides a new therapeutic tool to treat breast cancer.Keywords: breast cancer; Astragaloside III; apoptosis; treatment