1,860 research outputs found
Surface electrons at plasma walls
In this chapter we introduce a microscopic modelling of the surplus electrons
on the plasma wall which complements the classical description of the plasma
sheath. First we introduce a model for the electron surface layer to study the
quasistationary electron distribution and the potential at an unbiased plasma
wall. Then we calculate sticking coefficients and desorption times for electron
trapping in the image states. Finally we study how surplus electrons affect
light scattering and how charge signatures offer the possibility of a novel
charge measurement for dust grains.Comment: To appear in Complex Plasmas: Scientific Challenges and Technological
Opportunities, Editors: M. Bonitz, K. Becker, J. Lopez and H. Thomse
Skin Lesion Analyser: An Efficient Seven-Way Multi-Class Skin Cancer Classification Using MobileNet
Skin cancer, a major form of cancer, is a critical public health problem with
123,000 newly diagnosed melanoma cases and between 2 and 3 million non-melanoma
cases worldwide each year. The leading cause of skin cancer is high exposure of
skin cells to UV radiation, which can damage the DNA inside skin cells leading
to uncontrolled growth of skin cells. Skin cancer is primarily diagnosed
visually employing clinical screening, a biopsy, dermoscopic analysis, and
histopathological examination. It has been demonstrated that the dermoscopic
analysis in the hands of inexperienced dermatologists may cause a reduction in
diagnostic accuracy. Early detection and screening of skin cancer have the
potential to reduce mortality and morbidity. Previous studies have shown Deep
Learning ability to perform better than human experts in several visual
recognition tasks. In this paper, we propose an efficient seven-way automated
multi-class skin cancer classification system having performance comparable
with expert dermatologists. We used a pretrained MobileNet model to train over
HAM10000 dataset using transfer learning. The model classifies skin lesion
image with a categorical accuracy of 83.1 percent, top2 accuracy of 91.36
percent and top3 accuracy of 95.34 percent. The weighted average of precision,
recall, and f1-score were found to be 0.89, 0.83, and 0.83 respectively. The
model has been deployed as a web application for public use at
(https://saketchaturvedi.github.io). This fast, expansible method holds the
potential for substantial clinical impact, including broadening the scope of
primary care practice and augmenting clinical decision-making for dermatology
specialists.Comment: This is a pre-copyedited version of a contribution published in
Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, Hassanien A., Bhatnagar R.,
Darwish A. (eds) published by Chaturvedi S.S., Gupta K., Prasad P.S. The
definitive authentication version is available online via
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3383-9_1
The Discovery of Two New Satellites of Pluto
Pluto's first known moon, Charon, was discovered in 1978 (Christy 1978) and
has a diameter about half that of Pluto (Buie 1992,Young 1994, Sicardy 2005),
which makes it larger relative to its primary than any other moon in the Solar
System. Previous searches for other satellites around Pluto have been
unsuccessful (Stern 1991, Stern 1994, Stern 2003), but they were not sensitive
to objects <=150 km in diameter and there are no fundamental reasons why Pluto
should not have more satellites (Stern 1994). Here we report the discovery of
two additional moons around Pluto, provisionally designated S/2005 P1
(hereafter P1) and S/2005 P2 (hereafter P2), which makes Pluto the first Kuiper
belt object (KBO) known to have multiple satellites. These new satellites are
much smaller than Charon (diameter~1200 km), with P1 ranging in diameter from
60-165 km depending on the surface reflectivity, and P2 about 20% smaller than
P1. Although definitive orbits cannot be derived, both new satellites appear to
be moving in circular orbits in the same orbital plane as Charon, with orbital
periods of ~38 days (P1) and ~25 days (P2). The implications of the discovery
of P1 and P2 for the origin and evolution of the Pluto system, and for the
satellite formation process in the Kuiper belt, are discussed in a companion
paper (Stern 2006).Comment: Preprint of a paper accepted for publication in the journal Natur
Wigner Crystallization in a Quasi-3D Electronic System
When a strong magnetic field is applied perpendicularly (along z) to a sheet
confining electrons to two dimensions (x-y), highly correlated states emerge as
a result of the interplay between electron-electron interactions, confinement
and disorder. These so-called fractional quantum Hall (FQH) liquids form a
series of states which ultimately give way to a periodic electron solid that
crystallizes at high magnetic fields. This quantum phase of electrons has been
identified previously as a disorder-pinned two-dimensional Wigner crystal with
broken translational symmetry in the x-y plane. Here, we report our discovery
of a new insulating quantum phase of electrons when a very high magnetic field,
up to 45T, is applied in a geometry parallel (y-direction) to the
two-dimensional electron sheet. Our data point towards this new quantum phase
being an electron solid in a "quasi-3D" configuration induced by orbital
coupling with the parallel field
Monotone Drawings of -Inner Planar Graphs
A -inner planar graph is a planar graph that has a plane drawing with at
most {internal vertices}, i.e., vertices that do not lie on the boundary of
the outer face of its drawing. An outerplanar graph is a -inner planar
graph. In this paper, we show how to construct a monotone drawing of a
-inner planar graph on a grid. In the special case
of an outerplanar graph, we can produce a planar monotone drawing on a grid, improving previously known results.Comment: Appears in the Proceedings of the 26th International Symposium on
Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2018). Revised introductio
Composite Fermion Metals from Dyon Black Holes and S-Duality
We propose that string theory in the background of dyon black holes in
four-dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime is holographic dual to conformally
invariant composite Dirac fermion metal. By utilizing S-duality map, we show
that thermodynamic and transport properties of the black hole match with those
of composite fermion metal, exhibiting Fermi liquid-like. Built upon
Dirac-Schwinger-Zwanziger quantization condition, we argue that turning on
magnetic charges to electric black hole along the orbit of Gamma(2) subgroup of
SL(2,Z) is equivalent to attaching even unit of statistical flux quanta to
constituent fermions. Being at metallic point, the statistical magnetic flux is
interlocked to the background magnetic field. We find supporting evidences for
proposed holographic duality from study of internal energy of black hole and
probe bulk fermion motion in black hole background. They show good agreement
with ground-state energy of composite fermion metal in Thomas-Fermi
approximation and cyclotron motion of a constituent or composite fermion
excitation near Fermi-point.Comment: 30 pages, v2. 1 figure added, minor typos corrected; v3. revised
version to be published in JHE
Cognitive dysfunction in naturally occurring canine idiopathic epilepsy
Globally, epilepsy is a common serious brain disorder. In addition to seizure activity, epilepsy is associated with cognitive impairments including static cognitive impairments present at onset, progressive seizure-induced impairments and co-morbid dementia. Epilepsy occurs naturally in domestic dogs but its impact on canine cognition has yet to be studied, despite canine cognitive dysfunction (CCD) recognised as a spontaneous model of dementia. Here we use data from a psychometrically validated tool, the canine cognitive dysfunction rating (CCDR) scale, to compare cognitive dysfunction in dogs diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy (IE) with controls while accounting for age. An online cross-sectional study resulted in a sample of 4051 dogs, of which n = 286 had been diagnosed with IE. Four factors were significantly associated with a diagnosis of CCD (above the diagnostic cut-off of CCDR ≥50): (i) epilepsy diagnosis: dogs with epilepsy were at higher risk; (ii) age: older dogs were at higher risk; (iii) weight: lighter dogs (kg) were at higher risk; (iv) training history: dogs with more exposure to training activities were at lower risk. Impairments in memory were most common in dogs with IE, but progression of impairments was not observed compared to controls. A significant interaction between epilepsy and age was identified, with IE dogs exhibiting a higher risk of CCD at a young age, while control dogs followed the expected pattern of low-risk throughout middle age, with risk increasing exponentially in geriatric years. Within the IE sub-population, dogs with a history of cluster seizures and high seizure frequency had higher CCDR scores. The age of onset, nature and progression of cognitive impairment in the current IE dogs appear divergent from those classically seen in CCD. Longitudinal monitoring of cognitive function from seizure onset is required to further characterise these impairments
The hand of Homo naledi
A nearly complete right hand of an adult hominin was recovered from the Rising Star cave system, South Africa. Based on associated hominin material, the bones of this hand are attributed to Homo naledi. This hand reveals a long, robust thumb and derived wrist morphology that is shared with Neandertals and modern humans, and considered adaptive for intensified manual manipulation. However, the finger bones are longer and more curved than in most australopiths, indicating frequent use of the hand during life for strong grasping during locomotor climbing and suspension. These markedly curved digits in combination with an otherwise human-like wrist and palm indicate a significant degree of climbing, despite the derived nature of many aspects of the hand and other regions of the postcranial skeleton in H. naledi
Health-related quality of life following a clinical weight loss intervention among overweight and obese adults: intervention and 24 month follow-up effects
BACKGROUND: Despite a growing literature on the efficacy of behavioral weight loss interventions, we still know relatively little about the long terms effects they have on HRQL. Therefore, we conducted a study to investigate the immediate post-intervention (6 months) and long-term (12 and 24 months) effects of clinically based weight management programs on HRQL. METHODS: We conducted a randomized clinical trial in which all participants completed a 6 month clinical weight loss program and were randomized into two 6-month extended care groups. Participants then returned at 12 and 24 months for follow-up assessments. A total of 144 individuals (78% women, M age = 50.2 (9.2) yrs, M BMI = 32.5 (3.8) kg/m(2)) completed the 6 month intervention and 104 returned at 24 months. Primary outcomes of weight and HRQL using the SF-36 were analyzed using multivariate repeated measures analyses. RESULTS: There was complete data on 91 participants through the 24 months of the study. At baseline the participants scored lower than U.S. age-specific population norms for bodily pain, vitality, and mental health. At the completion of the 6 month clinical intervention there were increases in the physical and mental composite measures as well as physical functioning, general health, vitality, and mental health subscales of the SF-36. Despite some weight regain, the improvements in the mental composite scale as well as the physical functioning, vitality, and mental health subscales were maintained at 24 months. There were no significant main effects or interactions by extended care treatment group or weight loss group (whether or not they maintained 5% loss at 24 months). CONCLUSION: A clinical weight management program focused on behavior change was successful in improving several factors of HRQL at the completion of the program and many of those improvements were maintained at 24 months. Maintaining a significant weight loss (> 5%) was not necessary to have and maintain improvements in HRQL
Estimating equations for biomarker based exposure estimation under non-steady-state conditions
Unrealistic steady-state assumptions are often used to estimate toxicant exposure rates from biomarkers. A biomarker may instead be modeled as a weighted sum of historical time-varying exposures. Estimating equations are derived for a zero-inflated gamma distribution for daily exposures with a known exposure frequency. Simulation studies suggest that the estimating equations can provide accurate estimates of exposure magnitude at any reasonable sample size, and reasonable estimates of the exposure variance at larger sample sizes
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