3,014 research outputs found
Micromachined membrane particle filters
We report here several particle membrane filters (8 x 8 mm^2) with circular, hexagonal and rectangular through holes. By varying hole dimensions from 6 to 12 pm, opening factors from 4 to 45 % are achieved. In order to improve the filter robustness, a composite silicon nitride/Parylene membrane technology is developed. More importantly, fluid dynamic performance of the filters is also studied by both experiments and numerical simulations. It is found that the gaseous flow through the filters depends strongly on opening factors, and the measured pressure drops are much lower than that from numerical simulation using the Navier-Stokes equation. Interestingly, surface velocity slip can only account for a minor part of the discrepancy. This suggests that a very interesting topic for micro fluid mechanics research is identified
Nonlinear Near-Field Microwave Microscope For RF Defect Localization in Superconductors
Niobium-based Superconducting Radio Frequency (SRF) cavity performance is
sensitive to localized defects that give rise to quenches at high accelerating
gradients. In order to identify these material defects on bulk Nb surfaces at
their operating frequency and temperature, it is important to develop a new
kind of wide bandwidth microwave microscopy with localized and strong RF
magnetic fields. By taking advantage of write head technology widely used in
the magnetic recording industry, one can obtain ~200 mT RF magnetic fields,
which is on the order of the thermodynamic critical field of Nb, on submicron
length scales on the surface of the superconductor. We have successfully
induced the nonlinear Meissner effect via this magnetic write head probe on a
variety of superconductors. This design should have a high spatial resolution
and is a promising candidate to find localized defects on bulk Nb surfaces and
thin film coatings of interest for accelerator applications.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures Journal-ref: 2010 Applied Superconductivity
Conferenc
Mgb2 Nonlinear Properties Investigated under Localized High RF Magnetic Field Excitation
In order to increase the accelerating gradient of Superconducting Radio
Frequency (SRF) cavities, Magnesium Diboride (MgB2) opens up hope because of
its high transition temperature and potential for low surface resistance in the
high RF field regime. However, due to the presence of the small superconducting
gap in the {\pi} band, the nonlinear response of MgB2 is potentially quite
large compared to a single gap s-wave superconductor (SC) such as Nb.
Understanding the mechanisms of nonlinearity coming from the two-band structure
of MgB2, as well as extrinsic sources, is an urgent requirement. A localized
and strong RF magnetic field, created by a magnetic write head, is integrated
into our nonlinear-Meissner-effect scanning microwave microscope [1]. MgB2
films with thickness 50 nm, fabricated by a hybrid physical-chemical vapor
deposition technique on dielectric substrates, are measured at a fixed location
and show a strongly temperature-dependent third harmonic response. We propose
that at least two mechanisms are responsible for this nonlinear response, one
of which involves vortex nucleation and penetration into the film. [1] T. M.
Tai, X. X. Xi, C. G. Zhuang, D. I. Mircea, S. M. Anlage, "Nonlinear Near-Field
Microwave Microscope for RF Defect Localization in Superconductors", IEEE
Trans. Appl. Supercond. 21, 2615 (2011).Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
Hyperphosphorylated tau in patients with refractory epilepsy correlates with cognitive decline: a study of temporal lobe resections
Temporal lobe epilepsy, the most prevalent form of chronic focal epilepsy, is associated with a high prevalence of cognitive impairment but the responsible underlying pathological mechanisms are unknown. Tau, the microtubule-associated protein, is a hallmark of several neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimerâs disease and chronic traumatic encephalopathy. We hypothesized that hyperphosphorylated tau pathology is associated with cognitive decline in temporal lobe epilepsy and explored this through clinico-pathological study. We first performed pathological examination on tissue from 33 patients who had undergone temporal lobe resection between ages 50 and 65 years to treat drug-refractory temporal lobe epilepsy. We identified hyperphosphorylated tau protein using AT8 immunohistochemistry and compared this distribution to Braak patterns of Alzheimerâs disease and patterns of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. We quantified tau pathology using a modified tau score created specifically for analysis of temporal lobectomy tissue and the Braak staging, which was limited without extra-temporal brain areas available. Next, we correlated tau pathology with pre- and postoperative cognitive test scores and clinical risk factors including age at time of surgery, duration of epilepsy, history of secondary generalized seizures, history of head injury, handedness and side of surgery. Thirty-one of 33 cases (94%) showed hyperphosphorylated tau pathology in the form of neuropil threads and neurofibrillary tangles and pre-tangles. Braak stage analysis showed 12% of our epilepsy cohort had a Braak staging III-IV compared to an age-matched non-epilepsy control group from the literature (8%). We identified a mixture of tau pathology patterns characteristic of Alzheimerâs disease and chronic traumatic encephalopathy. We also found unusual patterns of subpial tau deposition, sparing of the hippocampus and co-localization with mossy fibre sprouting, a feature of temporal lobe epilepsy. We demonstrated that the more extensive the tau pathology, the greater the decline in verbal learning (Spearman correlation, r = â0.63), recall (r = â0.44) and graded naming test scores (r = â0.50) over 1-year post-temporal lobe resection (P < 0.05). This relationship with tau burden was also present when examining decline in verbal learning from 3 months to 1 year post-resection (r = â0.54). We found an association between modified tau score and history of secondary generalized seizures (likelihood-ratio Ï2, P < 0.05) however there was no clear relationship between tau pathology and other clinical risk factors assessed. Our findings suggest an epilepsy-related tauopathy in temporal lobe epilepsy, which contributes to accelerated cognitive decline and has diagnostic and treatment implications
The final publication is available at link.springer.com. An Optimal Control Approach to Find Sparse Data for Laplace Interpolation
Abstract. Finding optimal data for inpainting is a key problem in the context of partial differential equation-based image compression. We present a new model for optimising the data used for the reconstruction by the underlying homogeneous diffusion process. Our approach is based on an optimal control framework with a strictly convex cost functional containing an L1 term to enforce sparsity of the data and non-convex constraints. We propose a numerical approach that solves a series of convex optimisation problems with linear constraints. Our numerical examples show that it outperforms existing methods with respect to quality and computation time
Efficient magneto-optical trapping of Yb atoms with a violet laser diode
We report the first efficient trapping of rare-earth Yb atoms with a
high-power violet laser diode (LD). An injection-locked violet LD with a 25 mW
frequency-stabilized output was used for the magneto-optical trapping (MOT) of
fermionic as well as bosonic Yb isotopes. A typical number of
atoms for Yb with a trap density of cm was
obtained. A 10 mW violet external-cavity LD (ECLD) was used for the
one-dimensional (1D) slowing of an effusive Yb atomic beam without a Zeeman
slower resulting in a 35-fold increase in the number of trapped atoms. The
overall characteristics of our compact violet MOT, e.g., the loss time of 1 s,
the loading time of 400 ms, and the cloud temperature of 0.7 mK, are comparable
to those in previously reported violet Yb MOTs, yet with a greatly reduced cost
and complexity of the experiment.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, Phys. Rev. A (to be published
Threshold production in nucleon-nucleon collisions
We analyze production in nucleon-nucleon collisions near threshold
in the framework of a general model independent formalism, which can be applied
to any reaction , where , , or . Such
reactions show large isotopic effects: a large difference for - and
-collisions, which is due to the different spin structure of the
corresponding matrix elements. The analysis of the spin structure and of the
polarization observables is based on symmetry properties of the strong
interaction. Using existing experimental data on the different decays of
meson, we suggest a model for , based on
channel -exchanges. We predict polarization phenomena for the
-reaction and the ratio of cross sections for and
-collisions. For the processes we apply two
different approaches: vector meson exchange and local four-particle
interaction. In both cases we find larger -production in
-collisions, with respect to -collisions.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure
Hierarchically heterostructured metal hydr(oxy)oxides for efficient overall water splitting
The design of highly efficient electrocatalysts containing non-precious metals is crucial for promoting overall water splitting in alkaline media. In particular, Janus catalysts simultaneously facilitating the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are desirable. Herein, we fabricated a unique hierarchical heterostructure via growing Ni4W6O21(OH)2·4H2O (denoted as Ni-W-O) nanosheets on NiMoO4 rods, which was indispensable for regulating the morphology of the Ni-W-O structure. This heterostructure of Ni-W-O/NiMoO4 could be utilized as an electrocatalyst to realize superior activity for overall water splitting in 1.0 M KOH. It substantially promoted overall water splitting with 1.6 V at 30 mA cm-2, outperforming numerous bifunctional electrocatalysts under the same conditions. Notably, the remarkable stability for continuously splitting water endowed this hierarchical heterostructure with potential applications on a large scale. This work emphasizes the effectively controlled growth of heterostructured non-noble-metal catalysts for energy-conversion reaction
Symbiotic Bright Solitary Wave Solutions of Coupled Nonlinear Schrodinger Equations
Conventionally, bright solitary wave solutions can be obtained in
self-focusing nonlinear Schrodinger equations with attractive self-interaction.
However, when self-interaction becomes repulsive, it seems impossible to have
bright solitary wave solution. Here we show that there exists symbiotic bright
solitary wave solution of coupled nonlinear Schrodinger equations with
repulsive self-interaction but strongly attractive interspecies interaction.
For such coupled nonlinear Schrodinger equations in two and three dimensional
domains, we prove the existence of least energy solutions and study the
location and configuration of symbiotic bright solitons. We use Nehari's
manifold to construct least energy solutions and derive their asymptotic
behaviors by some techniques of singular perturbation problems.Comment: to appear in Nonlinearit
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