A model of a pumped continuous atom laser

We present a model of a cw atom laser based on a system of coupled GP equations. The model incorporates continuous Raman outcoupling, pumping and three-body recombination. The outcoupled field has minimal atomic density fluctuations and is locally monochromatic.Comment: 10 pages, 8 eps figures, typos fixe

FAS Behavioral Survey of Traits: Screening for Effects of Prenatal Exposure to Alcohol

The FAS BeST was developed by parents and educators of children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome rating behaviors characteristic of FASD including; easily influenced by others, difficulty learning from experience, appearing and declaring innocence even when confronted with evidence to the contrary, and experiencing difficulties in other domains. The FAS BeST differentiates between children with PEA, dysgenesis of the corpus callosum (DCC), and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; Porter & Andrews, 2004). The sample included 294 participants. Using the cutoff score suggested by Porter and Andrews (2004) the accuracy rates were 78% for FAS/E, 100% for controls, 85% for DCC, and 100% for ADHD. Reliability for the FASD BeST was established for all groups using split-half analysis. Criterion validity was verified using the Achenbach behavioral checklists (2002). A factor analysis indicated the FAS BeST denotes a general factor. The FAS BeST is a reliable and valid measure that is easily administered and scored. Children with PEA can be screened to determine whether further evaluation is warranted and differentiate between disorders with similar behaviors, enabling professionals to better serve the child and assist the care providers

User-driven design of robot costume for child-robot interactions among children with cognitive impairment

The involvement of arts and psychology elements in robotics research for children with cognitive impairment is still limited. However, the combination of robots, arts, psychology and education in the development of robots could significantly contribute to the improvement of social interaction skills among children with cognitive impairment. In this article, we would like to share our work on building and innovating the costume of LUCA's robot, which incorporating the positive psychological perspectives and arts values for children with cognitive impairment. Our goals are (1) to educate arts students in secondary arts school on the importance of social robot appearance for children with cognitive impairment, and (2) to select the best costume for future child-robot interaction study with children with cognitive impairments

Stability of continuously pumped atom lasers

A multimode model of a continuously pumped atom laser is shown to be unstable below a critical value of the scattering length. Above the critical scattering length, the atom laser reaches a steady state, the stability of which increases with pumping. Below this limit the laser does not reach a steady state. This instability results from the competition between gain and loss for the excited states of the lasing mode. It will determine a fundamental limit for the linewidth of an atom laser beam.Comment: 4 page

Statistical Mechanics of Steiner trees

The Minimum Weight Steiner Tree (MST) is an important combinatorial optimization problem over networks that has applications in a wide range of fields. Here we discuss a general technique to translate the imposed global connectivity constrain into many local ones that can be analyzed with cavity equation techniques. This approach leads to a new optimization algorithm for MST and allows to analyze the statistical mechanics properties of MST on random graphs of various types

Artificial neural networks and player recruitment in professional soccer

The aim was to objectively identify key performance indicators in professional soccer that influence outfield players’ league status using an artificial neural network. Mean technical performance data were collected from 966 outfield players’ (mean SD; age: 25 ± 4 yr, 1.81 ±) 90-minute performances in the English Football League. ProZone’s MatchViewer system and online databases were used to collect data on 347 indicators assessing the total number, accuracy and consistency of passes, tackles, possessions regained, clearances and shots. Players were assigned to one of three categories based on where they went on to complete most of their match time in the following season: group 0 (n = 209 players) went on to play in a lower soccer league, group 1 (n = 637 players) remained in the Football League Championship, and group 2 (n = 120 players) consisted of players who moved up to the English Premier League. The models created correctly predicted between 61.5% and 78.8% of the players’ league status. The model with the highest average test performance was for group 0 v 2 (U21 international caps, international caps, median tackles, percentage of first time passes unsuccessful upper quartile, maximum dribbles and possessions gained minimum) which correctly predicted 78.8% of the players’ league status with a test error of 8.3%. To date, there has not been a published example of an objective method of predicting career trajectory in soccer. This is a significant development as it highlights the potential for machine learning to be used in the scouting and recruitment process in a professional soccer environment

The Role of Source Coherence in Atom Interferometery

The role of source cloud spatial coherence in a Mach-Zehnder type atom interferometer is experimentally investigated. The visibility and contrast of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) and three thermal sources with varying spatial coherence are compared as a function of interferometer time. At short times, the fringe visibility of a BEC source approaches 100 % nearly independent of pi pulse efficiency, while thermal sources have fringe visibilities limited to the mirror efficiency. More importantly for precision measurement systems, the BEC source maintains interference at interferometer times significantly beyond the thermal source