172,227 research outputs found
Polarization and polarizability in extended one-dimensional organic materials
No full textAbstract: The modern theory of polarization in extended insulators is applied to one-dimensional models for conjugated polymers and charge transfer salts. Closed expressions for the dependence of the polarization on the site and bond energy alternations are presented for uncorrelated models, and results from exact real-space diagonalization are obtained for correlated models. Changes in polarization induced by lattice phonons or molecular vibrations are directly related to the intensity of infrared bands in the far and mid-IR, respectively. We model intensities by introducing linear electron-vibration coupling and show that coupling to delocalized electrons generates a combination band consisting of a lattice phonon and a molecular vibration. The displaced dipole operator is defined on a real-space basis allowing for the finite field calculation of linear polarizability in finite size systems with periodic boundary conditions. Size-consistency arguments are used to demonstrate that the resulting polarizability becomes exact in the thermodynamic limit, and numerical calculations demonstrate that this approach leads to reliable results that converge rapidly to the thermodynamic limit. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Enhanced Gaussian Elimination in DPLL-based SAT Solvers
No full textWhen cryptographical problems are treated in SAT solvers, they often contain large set of XOR constraints. Treating these XOR constraints through on-the-fly Gaussian elimination during solving has been shown to be a viable approach by Soos et al. [1]. We describe various enhancements to this scheme which increase the performance and mostly eliminate the need for manual tuning of parameters. With these enhancements, we were able achieve speedups of up to 29% on the Bivium and up to 45% on the Trivium ciphers, contrary to the 1-5% speedup achieved by the original scheme.[1] Soos, M., Nohl, K., Castelluccia, C.: Extending SAT solvers to cryptographic problems. In Kullmann, O., ed.: Theory and Applications of Satisfiability Testing — SAT 2009. Volume 5584 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science., Springer (2009) 244–257</jats:p
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Records of Chrysomya albiceps in Northern Italy: an ecological and forensic perspective
No full textKnowledge of the carrion-breeding insects present at a local level is important and necessary for defining the post-mortem interval. Climate changes and globalisation are affecting species ranges and population dynamics. In this note, we report the incidence of Chrysomya albiceps (Diptera: Calliphoridae) on dead human bodies and carrion in Northern Italy. These data confirm the spread of this species in the Northern regions. The partial sequencing of a 583-bp region of the cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 gene of an Adriatic population did not reveal any difference compared to the same genomic region in the African and South American populations of this specie
Mitomycin C in highly myopic eyes - Author reply
No full textOphthalmology. 2005 Feb;112(2):208-18; discussion 219.
Mitomycin C modulation of corneal wound healing after photorefractive keratectomy in highly myopic eyes.
Gambato C, Ghirlando A, Moretto E, Busato F, Midena E.
SourceRefractive Surgery Service and Antimetabolite Therapy Research Unit, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Abstract
PURPOSE: To evaluate the role of topical mitomycin C in corneal wound healing (CWH) after photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) in highly myopic eyes.
DESIGN: Prospective, double-masked, randomized clinical trial.
PARTICIPANTS: Seventy-two eyes of 36 patients affected by high (>7 diopters) myopia.
METHODS: In each patient, one eye was randomly assigned to PRK with intraoperative topical 0.02% mitomycin C application, and the fellow eye was treated with a placebo. Postoperatively, mitomycin C-treated eyes received artificial tears (3 times daily, tapered in 3 months), whereas the fellow eye was treated with fluorometholone sodium 2% and artificial tears (3 times daily, tapered in 3 months).
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), contrast sensitivity, manifest refraction, and biomicroscopy. Contrast sensitivity was determined using the Pelli-Robson chart. Corneal confocal microscopy documented CWH.
RESULTS: Mean follow-up was 18 months (range, 12-36). No side effects or toxic effects were documented. At 12-month follow-up examination, UCVAs (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution) were 0.4+/-0.48 and 0.5+/-0.53 (P = .03) in mitomycin C-treated eyes and corticosteroid-treated eyes, respectively. At 1 year, corneal haze developed in 20% of corticosteroid-treated eyes, versus 0% of mitomycin C-treated eyes. At 12, 24, and 36 months, corneal confocal microscopy showed activated keratocytes and extracellular matrix significantly more evident in untreated eyes (Ps = 0.004, 0.024, and 0.046, respectively).
CONCLUSION: Topical intraoperative application of 0.02% mitomycin C can reduce haze formation in highly myopic eyes undergoing PRK.
Comment in
Ophthalmology. 2006 Feb;113(2):357; author reply 357-8
Cooperative and non-linear phenomena at the neutral-ionic phase transition
No full textAbstract: The complex interplay among on-site energy, Hubbard U, and coupling to Holstein and Peierls phonons at the neutral-ionic phase transition is discussed using diagrammatic valence bond calculations. The charge transfer and dimerization amplitudes and the infrared intensity of molecular vibrations are studied in the transition region. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
The Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS)
No full textThe importance of the Southern Ocean to the global climate system and the uniqueness of its ecosystems are well known. The region is remote and logistically difficult to access and thus is one of the least sampled regions on the planet. Design and implementation of an observing system that encompasses physical, biogeochemical and ecological processes is therefore a formidable challenge. Building on meetings held in Hobart in 2006, Bremen in 2007 and St Petersburg in 2008 we present a draft plan for a Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS). This document examines: (i) why sustained observations are needed in the Southern Ocean and what science/policy questions they address; (ii) what mix of observations are required to address these questions; (iii) what is presently done and possible and (iv) a vision for the future. SOOS is a key component of the SCAR Pan Antarctic Observing System (PantOS) and is co-sponsored by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR), the Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML), the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO) and the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). Other organisations, in particular the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), have provided significant funding
Coupling NANF to Silicon Photonics circuits
No full textWe present the first demonstration of optical coupling between hollow core fibers and Silicon Photonics circuits. We achieved moderate excess coupling loss with respect to SMF-28 and achieved 25 Gb/s data transmission over NANF fibers.</p
Dielectric response of modified Hubbard models with neutral-ionic and Peierls transitions.
No full textAbstract: The dipole P(F) of systems with periodic boundary conditions in a static electric field F is applied to one-dimensional Peierls-Hubbard models for organic charge-transfer (CT) salts. Exact results for P(F) are obtained for finite systems of N=14 and 16 sites that are almost converged to infinite chains in deformable lattices subject to a Peierls transition. The electronic polarizability per site, alpha(el)=(partial derivativeP/partial derivativeF)(0), of rigid stacks with alternating transfer integrals t(1+/-delta) diverges at the neutral-ionic transition for delta=0 but remains finite for delta>0 in dimerized chains. The Peierls or dimerization mode couples to charge fluctuations along the stack and results in large vibrational contributions alpha(vib) that are related to partial derivativeP/partial derivativedelta and that peak sharply at the Peierls transition. The extension of P(F) to correlated electronic states yields the dielectric response kappa of models with neutral-ionic or Peierls transitions, where kappa peaks >100 are found with parameters used previously for variable ionicity rho and vibrational spectra of CT salts. The calculated kappa accounts for the dielectric response of CT salts based on substituted TTF's (tetrathiafulvalene) and substituted CA's (chloranil). The role of lattice stiffness appears clearly in models: soft systems have a Peierls instability at small rho and continuous crossover to large rho, while stiff stacks such as TTF-CA have a first-order transition with discontinuous rho that is both a neutral-ionic and Peierls transition. The transitions are associated with tuning the electronic ground state of insulators via temperature or pressure in experiments, or via model parameters in calculations. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics
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