Creation and manipulation of Feshbach resonances with radio-frequency radiation

We present a simple technique for studying collisions of ultracold atoms in the presence of a magnetic field and radio-frequency radiation (rf). Resonant control of scattering properties can be achieved by using rf to couple a colliding pair of atoms to a bound state. We show, using the example of 6Li, that in some ranges of rf frequency and magnetic field this can be done without giving rise to losses. We also show that halo molecules of large spatial extent require much less rf power than deeply bound states. Another way to exert resonant control is with a set of rf-coupled bound states, linked to the colliding pair through the molecular interactions that give rise to magnetically tunable Feshbach resonances. This was recently demonstrated for 87Rb [Kaufman et al., Phys. Rev. A 80:050701(R), 2009]. We examine the underlying atomic and molecular physics which made this possible. Lastly, we consider the control that may be exerted over atomic collisions by placing atoms in superpositions of Zeeman states, and suggest that it could be useful where small changes in scattering length are required. We suggest other species for which rf and magnetic field control could together provide a useful tuning mechanism.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures, submitted to New Journal of Physic

‘The Invisible Chain by Which All Are Bound to Each Other’: Civil Defence Magazines and the Development of Community During the Second World War

This article uses local collaboratively produced civil defence magazines to examine how community spirit was developed and represented within the civil defence services during the Second World War. It highlights the range of functions which the magazines performed, as well as the strategies employed by civil defence communities to manage their emotions in order to keep morale high and distract personnel from the fear and boredom experienced while on duty. The article also discusses silences in the magazines — especially around the experience of air raids — and argues that this too reflects group emotional management strategies. The significance of local social groups in developing narratives about civil defence and their workplace communities is demonstrated, and the article shows how personnel were able to engage with and refashion dominant cultural narratives of the ‘people’s war’ in order to assert their own status within the war effort

A Support Vector Machine Application for the Detection of Pupillary Markers of Cognitive Workload

A high percentage of road accidents is caused by driver errors. As such, a first step toward preventing these accidents is the prediction of driver errors. Modern theories of attention suggest that the potential for errors increases with the amount of mental resources demanded from an activity (Kato, Endo, and Kizuka, 2009). In other words, monitoring the amount of mental resources may provide a viable way to predict driver errors. Pupillometry, the study of pupil dimensions and their reactivity, proposes that the diameter of the pupil expands concomitantly with the amount of mental resources mobilized. Pupillometry, therefore, offers a measure of mental resources that seems well suited for the problem at hand. However, because the diameter of the pupil is also responsive to brightness, an application of pupillometry in a driving environment represents a challenge. The present study proposes to overcome this challenge by discriminating the pupillary signature of mental effort from the pupillary markers of light responses. Through a frequency-based analysis of pupillary diameters recorded in response to both light and mental activity, several viable features (phase and log of the average magnitude of short-time Fourier transform of pupil signal) and methods of analysis are highlighted. Additionally, a support-vector machine algorithm suited for recognition across intermittent time series is used for the extraction of patterns from the recorded data

Semi-analytical model of acoustic-wave generation by a laser line pulse in an optically absorptive isotropic cylinder

Semi-analytical model for calculating acoustic response to a line-focused laser pulse in an optically absorptive isotropic cylinder is proposed and implemented. It is assumed that the laser input is absorbed over the volume and thus creates a radially distributed thermoelastic source. Closed-form solution is obtained in the Fourier domain. Two inverse Fourier transforms in frequency and circumferential wave number yield the sought waveforms of acoustic response in the time-space domain. Numerical simulation is compared to the calculation based on a surface dipole source. The two signals have essentially different shapes of the wave-arrival peaks when the optical penetration is large enough.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure

Prevalence of Grey Matter Pathology in Early Multiple Sclerosis Assessed by Magnetization Transfer Ratio Imaging

The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence, the distribution and the impact on disability of grey matter (GM) pathology in early multiple sclerosis. Eighty-eight patients with a clinically isolated syndrome with a high risk developing multiple sclerosis were included in the study. Forty-four healthy controls constituted the normative population. An optimized statistical mapping analysis was performed to compare each subject's GM Magnetization Transfer Ratio (MTR) imaging maps with those of the whole group of controls. The statistical threshold of significant GM MTR decrease was determined as the maximum p value (p<0.05 FDR) for which no significant cluster survived when comparing each control to the whole control population. Using this threshold, 51% of patients showed GM abnormalities compared to controls. Locally, 37% of patients presented abnormalities inside the limbic cortex, 34% in the temporal cortex, 32% in the deep grey matter, 30% in the cerebellum, 30% in the frontal cortex, 26% in the occipital cortex and 19% in the parietal cortex. Stepwise regression analysis evidenced significant association (p = 0.002) between EDSS and both GM pathology (p = 0.028) and T2 white matter lesions load (p = 0.019). In the present study, we evidenced that individual analysis of GM MTR map allowed demonstrating that GM pathology is highly heterogeneous across patients at the early stage of MS and partly underlies irreversible disability

Evaluation of the Interfacial Sliding Stress of Ceramic Matrix Composites Under Tensile Loading

The fundamental strain mechanisms of Ceramic Matrix Composites are the matrix microcracking that induces a loss of stiffness and the fiber-matrix debonding that leads to interfacial frictional sliding [1]. The interfacial sliding stress is thus a key parameter in the global behavior. The use of an experimental device coupling an ultrasonic immersion tank to a tensile machine and an extensometer allows to detect the anisotropy of the damage mechanisms of a material as well as to perform a strain partition under load because it makes it possible to identify the elastic tensor variation. The inelastic strain identified this way comes from the transverse cracks opening due to both the fiber/matrix elasticity mismatch and relative sliding at the interface. It is then possible to assess the value of the interfacial sliding stress with a micromechanical model derived from the analytical expressions of the elastic properties of a fibrous composite containing cracks and a shear-lag analysis. This can be done because the experimental variation of the compliances gives access to the constitutive law of the transverse crack densities and allows to estimate the debonding length.</p

Commensal Rats and Humans: : Integrating Rodent Phylogeography and Zooarchaeology to Highlight Connections between Human Societies

Phylogeography and zooarchaeology are largely separate disciplines, yet each interrogates relationships between humans and commensal species. Knowledge gained about human history from studies of four commensal rats (Rattus rattus, R. tanezumi, R. exulans, and R. norvegicus) is outlined, and open questions about their spread alongside humans are identified. Limitations of phylogeographic and zooarchaeological studies are highlighted, then how integration would increase understanding of species’ demographic histories and resultant inferences about human societies is discussed. How rat expansions have informed the understanding of human migration, urban settlements, trade networks, and intra- and interspecific competition is reviewed. Since each rat species is associated with different human societies, they identify unique ecological and historical/cultural conditions that influenced their expansion. Finally, priority research areas including nuclear genome based phylogeographies are identified using archaeological evidence to understand R. norvegicus expansion across China, multi-wave colonization of R. rattus across Europe, and competition between R. rattus and R. norvegicus

Longitudinal Assessment of Antisaccades in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

We have previously demonstrated that assessment of antisaccades (AS) provides not only measures of motor function in multiple sclerosis (MS), but measures of cognitive control processes in particular, attention and working memory. This study sought to demonstrate the potential for AS measures to sensitively reflect change in functional status in MS. Twenty-four patients with relapsing-remitting MS and 12 age-matched controls were evaluated longitudinally using an AS saccade task. Compared to control subjects, a number of saccade parameters changed significantly over a two year period for MS patients. These included saccade error rates, latencies, and accuracy measures. Further, for MS patients, correlations were retained between OM measures and scores on the PASAT, which is considered the reference task for the cognitive evaluation of MS patients. Notably, EDSS scores for these patients did not change significantly over this period. These results demonstrate that OM measures may reflect disease evolution in MS, in the absence of clinically evident changes as measured using conventional techniques. With replication, these markers could ultimately be developed into a cost-effective, non-invasive, and well tolerated assessment tool to assist in confirming progression early in the disease process, and in measuring and predicting response to therapy

Gray matter imaging in multiple sclerosis: what have we learned?

At the early onset of the 20th century, several studies already reported that the gray matter was implicated in the histopathology of multiple sclerosis (MS). However, as white matter pathology long received predominant attention in this disease, and histological staining techniques for detecting myelin in the gray matter were suboptimal, it was not until the beginning of the 21st century that the true extent and importance of gray matter pathology in MS was finally recognized. Gray matter damage was shown to be frequent and extensive, and more pronounced in the progressive disease phases. Several studies subsequently demonstrated that the histopathology of gray matter lesions differs from that of white matter lesions. Unfortunately, imaging of pathology in gray matter structures proved to be difficult, especially when using conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques. However, with the recent introduction of several more advanced MRI techniques, the detection of cortical and subcortical damage in MS has considerably improved. This has important consequences for studying the clinical correlates of gray matter damage. In this review, we provide an overview of what has been learned about imaging of gray matter damage in MS, and offer a brief perspective with regards to future developments in this field