14,849 research outputs found
Inverse design and implementation of a wavelength demultiplexing grating coupler
Nanophotonics has emerged as a powerful tool for manipulating light on chips.
Almost all of today's devices, however, have been designed using slow and
ineffective brute-force search methods, leading in many cases to limited device
performance. In this article, we provide a complete demonstration of our
recently proposed inverse design technique, wherein the user specifies design
constraints in the form of target fields rather than a dielectric constant
profile, and in particular we use this method to demonstrate a new
demultiplexing grating. The novel grating, which has not been developed using
conventional techniques, accepts a vertical-incident Gaussian beam from a
free-space and separates O-band and C-band
light into separate waveguides. This inverse design concept
is simple and extendable to a broad class of highly compact devices including
frequency splitters, mode converters, and spatial mode multiplexers.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. A supplementary section describing the
inverse-design algorithm in detail has been added, in addition to minor
corrections and updated reference
Precise Particle Tracking Against a Complicated Background: Polynomial Fitting with Gaussian Weight
We present a new particle tracking software algorithm designed to accurately
track the motion of low-contrast particles against a background with large
variations in light levels. The method is based on a polynomial fit of the
intensity around each feature point, weighted by a Gaussian function of the
distance from the centre, and is especially suitable for tracking endogeneous
particles in the cell, imaged with bright field, phase contrast or fluorescence
optical microscopy. Furthermore, the method can simultaneously track particles
of all different sizes, and allows significant freedom in their shape. The
algorithm is evaluated using the quantitative measures of accuracy and
precision of previous authors, using simulated images at variable
signal-to-noise ratios. To these we add a new test of the error due to a
non-uniform background. Finally the tracking of particles in real cell images
is demonstrated. The method is made freely available for non-commencial use as
a software package with a graphical user-inferface, which can be run within the
Matlab programming environment
Long-Term Physical Exercise and Mindfulness Practice in an Aging Population
Previous studies have shown that physical exercise and mindfulness meditation can both lead to improvement in physical and mental health. However, it is unclear whether these two forms of training share the same underlying mechanisms. We compared two groups of older adults with 10 years of mindfulness meditation (integrative body-mind training, IBMT) or physical exercise (PE) experience to demonstrate their effects on brain, physiology and behavior. Healthy older adults were randomly selected from a large community health project and the groups were compared on measures of quality of life, autonomic activity (heart rate, heart rate variability, skin conductance response, respiratory amplitude/rate), immune function (secretory Immunoglobulin A, sIgA), stress hormone (cortisol) and brain imaging (resting state functional connectivity, structural differences). In comparison with PE, we found significantly higher ratings for the IBMT group on dimensions of life quality. Parasympathetic activity indexed by skin conductance response and high-frequency heart rate variability also showed more favorable outcomes in the IBMT group. However, the PE group showed lower basal heart rate and greater chest respiratory amplitude. Basal sIgA level was significantly higher and cortisol concentration was lower in the IBMT group. Lastly, the IBMT group had stronger brain connectivity between the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the striatum at resting state, as well as greater volume of gray matter in the striatum. Our results indicate that mindfulness meditation and physical exercise function in part by different mechanisms, with PE increasing physical fitness and IBMT inducing plasticity in the central nervous systems. These findings suggest combining physical and mental training may achieve better health and quality of life results for an aging population
Incorporating published univariable associations in diagnostic and prognostic modeling
Background: Diagnostic and prognostic literature is overwhelmed with studies reporting univariable predictor-outcome associations. Currently, methods to incorporate such information in the construction of a prediction model are underdeveloped and unfamiliar to many researchers. Methods. This article aims to improve upon an adaptation method originally proposed by Greenland (1987) and Steyerberg (2000) to incorporate previously published univariable associations in the construction of a novel prediction model. The proposed method improves upon the variance estimation component by reconfiguring the adaptation process in established theory and making it more robust. Different variants of the proposed method were tested in a simulation study, where performance was measured by comparing estimated associations with their predefined values according to the Mean Squared Error and coverage of the 90% confidence intervals. Results: Results demonstrate that performance of estimated multivariable associations considerably improves for small datasets where external evidence is included. Although the error of estimated associations decreases with increasing amount of individual participant data, it does not disappear completely, even in very large datasets. Conclusions: The proposed method to aggregate previously published univariable associations with individual participant data in the construction of a novel prediction models outperforms established approaches and is especially worthwhile when relatively limited individual participant data are available
Contact Interactions and Resonance-Like Physics at Present and Future Colliders from Unparticles
High scale conformal physics can lead to unusual unparticle stuff at our low
energies. In this paper we discuss how the exchange of unparticles between
Standard Model fields can lead to new contact interaction physics as well as a
pseudoresonance-like structure, an unresonance, that might be observable at the
Tevatron or LHC in, e.g., the Drell-Yan channel. The specific signatures of
this scenario are quite unique and can be used to easily identify this new
physics given sufficient integrated luminosity.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figs; minor text changes, ref added; typos correcte
Axial form factor of the nucleon in the perturbative chiral quark model
We apply the perturbative chiral quark model (PCQM) at one loop to analyze
the axial form factor of the nucleon. This chiral quark model is based on an
effective Lagrangian, where baryons are described by relativistic valence
quarks and a perturbative cloud of Goldstone bosons as dictated by chiral
symmetry. We apply the formalism to obtain analytical expressions for the axial
form factor of the nucleon, which is given in terms of fundamental parameters
of low-energy pion-nucleon physics (weak pion decay constant, strong
pion-nucleon form factor) and of only one model parameter (radius of the
nucleonic three-quark core).Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in J. Phys.
- ā¦