In this paper, using the FP-LAPW technique as implemented in the Wien2k code, we have studied the structural, electronic, optical, and mechanical properties of strontium-based compound Sr2VRuO6. In ...this study, we explore the properties of Sr2VRuO6 using various approximations. We present the total energy versus energy, employing the Wu-Cohen-Generalized Gradients Approximation (WC-GGA) for both nonmagnetic and ferromagnetic states. To determine the stability of this material in cubic structure, the tolerance factor (t) and octahedral factor (μ) have been calculated. The lattice parameters of Sr2VRuO6 were determined, and subsequent calculations yielded the compressive modulus, Young's modulus, shear modulus, and Poisson's ratio in both two and three dimensions. Analyzing the band structure of Sr2VRuO6 within the mBJ-GGA approximation the half metallic character is observed with an indirect bandgap of 2.34 eV. In addition, the total and partial density of states, as well as charge density maps for Sr2VRuO6 have been calculated. Furthermore, we investigated the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric function as functions of energy for Sr2VRuO6. Additionally, the study delved into the variation of the refractive index, absorption coefficient, reflectivity, and energy loss with respect to energy for Sr2VRuO6.
Thermoluminescence dosemeters are commonly used in various fields of dosimetry. During the elapsed time between irradiation and readout, dosemeters are affected by thermal fading. As a result the ...measured signal is reduced resulting in an underestimation of the irradiation dose. This is a challenging issue, especially in personal dosimetry. Different techniques have been developed in the past to overcome the influence of fading. These techniques often come along with a loss of information which reduces the accuracy of the irradiation dose estimation. In this work, a method is developed which is based on glow curve deconvolution and which results in an irradiation dose estimation with no fading time dependence. The method also gives an estimation of the fading time.
Context. Diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) is the most promising mechanism that accelerates Galactic cosmic rays (CRs) in the shocks of supernova remnants (SNRs). It is based on particles scattering ...caused by turbulence ahead and behind the shock. The turbulence upstream is supposedly generated by the CRs, but this process is not well understood. The dominant mechanism may depend on the evolutionary state of the shock and can be studied via the CRs escaping upstream into the interstellar medium (ISM). Aims. Previous observations of the γ Cygni SNR showed a difference in morphology between GeV and TeV energies. Since this SNR has the right age and is at the evolutionary stage for a significant fraction of CRs to escape, our aim is to understand γ-ray emission in the vicinity of the γ Cygni SNR. Methods. We observed the region of the γ Cygni SNR with the MAGIC Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes between 2015 May and 2017 September recording 87 h of good-quality data. Additionally, we analysed Fermi-LAT data to study the energy dependence of the morphology as well as the energy spectrum in the GeV to TeV range. The energy spectra and morphology were compared against theoretical predictions, which include a detailed derivation of the CR escape process and their γ-ray generation. Results. The MAGIC and Fermi-LAT data allowed us to identify three emission regions that can be associated with the SNR and that dominate at different energies. Our hadronic emission model accounts well for the morphology and energy spectrum of all source components. It constrains the time-dependence of the maximum energy of the CRs at the shock, the time-dependence of the level of turbulence, and the diffusion coefficient immediately outside the SNR shock. While in agreement with the standard picture of DSA, the time-dependence of the maximum energy was found to be steeper than predicted, and the level of turbulence was found to change over the lifetime of the SNR.
The periodontal status of patients with reduced immunocapacity was assessed. Gingival inflammation, periodontal destruction, and plaque accumulation were compared in three groups--renal transplant ...patients, dialysis patients, and normal individuals. The levels of all parameters were similar in the three groups indicating that immunosuppression does not affect the clinical appearance of periodontal disease when measurements are made in a single examination. In the transplant group, however, there is a lack of correlation between P.I. and G.I. and between P.I. and P.D.I., indicating a dissociation between plaque accumulation and the tissue response. Long-term longitudinal studies of periodontal disease in such patients are needed in order to obtain more meaningful information on the role of the immune system in affecting the rate of periodontal destruction. This study suggests that nonimmune mechanisms such as the direct effect of bacterial products on supporting tissues can account for at least some of the clinical manifestations of periodontal disease.
A&A 670, A8 (2023) Context. Diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) is the most promising mechanism
to accelerate Galactic cosmic rays (CRs) in the shocks of supernova remnants
(SNRs). The turbulence ...upstream is supposedly generated by the CRs, but this
process is not well understood. The dominant mechanism may depend on the
evolutionary state of the shock and can be studied via the CRs escaping
upstream into the interstellar medium (ISM). Aims. Previous observations of the
$\gamma$-Cygni SNR showed a difference in morphology between GeV and TeV
energies. Since this SNR has the right age and is at the evolutionary stage for
a significant fraction of CRs to escape, we aim to understand $\gamma$-ray
emission in the vicinity of the $\gamma$-Cygni SNR. Methods. We observed the
region of the $\gamma$-Cygni SNR with the MAGIC Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov
telescopes between May 2015 and September 2017 recording 87 h of good-quality
data. Additionally we analysed Fermi-LAT data to study the energy dependence of
the morphology as well as the energy spectrum in the GeV to TeV range. The
energy spectra and morphology were compared against theoretical predictions,
which include a detailed derivation of the CR escape process and their
$\gamma$-ray generation. Results. The MAGIC and Fermi-LAT data allowed us to
identify three emission regions, which can be associated with the SNR and
dominate at different energies. Our hadronic emission model accounts well for
the morphology and energy spectrum of all source components. It constrains the
time-dependence of the maximum energy of the CRs at the shock, the
time-dependence of the level of turbulence, and the diffusion coefficient
immediately outside the SNR shock. While in agreement with the standard picture
of DSA, the time-dependence of the maximum energy was found to be steeper than
predicted and the level of turbulence was found to change over the lifetime of
the SNR.
To selectively remove mercury(II), 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HM) and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate/acrylamide (HM/ACR) hydrogels were synthesized using radiation. These hydrogels were used in ...swelling, diffusion, and binding studies. Swelling parameters for HM/ACR−Hg2+ system are higher than those of HM−Hg2+ systems. Binding of Hg2+ has been observed to be C-type for HM and L-type for HM/ACR hydrogels. Binding parameters were calculated using Freundlich, Langmuir and Henry models. Effects of Hg2+ concentration, radiation dose, ACR ratio, temperature, counter ions were investigated. Binding and swelling of HM increased with the incorporation of acrylamide. HM/ACR hydrogels absorbed only Hg2+, and did not absorb heavy metal ions.
We study a self-organising neural network model of how visual representations in the primate dorsal visual pathway are transformed from an eye-centred to head-centred frame of reference. The model ...has previously been shown to robustly develop head-centred output neurons with a standard trace learning rule, but only under limited conditions. Specifically it fails when incorporating visual input neurons with monotonic gain modulation by eye-position. Since eye-centred neurons with monotonic gain modulation are so common in the dorsal visual pathway, it is an important challenge to show how efferent synaptic connections from these neurons may self-organise to produce head-centred responses in a subpopulation of postsynaptic neurons. We show for the first time how a variety of modified, yet still biologically plausible, versions of the standard trace learning rule enable the model to perform a coordinate transformation from eye-centred to head-centred reference frames when the visual input neurons have monotonic gain modulation by eye-position.
Snakebite envenoming (SBE) leads to significant morbidity and mortality, resulting in over 90,000 deaths and approximately 400,000 amputations annually. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) alone, SBE ...accounts for over 30,000 deaths per annum. Since 2017, SBE has been classified as a priority Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The major species responsible for mortality from SBE within SSA are from the Bitis, Dendroaspis, Echis and Naja genera. Pharmacologically active toxins such as metalloproteinases, serine proteinases, 3-finger toxins, kunitz-type toxins, and phospholipase A
s are the primary snake venom components. These toxins induce cytotoxicity, coagulopathy, hemorrhage, and neurotoxicity in envenomed victims. Antivenom is currently the only available venom-specific treatment for SBE and contains purified equine or ovine polyclonal antibodies, collected from donor animals repeatedly immunized with low doses of adjuvanted venom. The resulting plasma or serum contains a high titre of specific antibodies, which can then be collected and stored until required. The purified antibodies are either whole IgG, monovalent fragment antibody (Fab) or divalent fragment antibody F(ab')
. Despite pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic differences, all three are effective in the treatment of SBE. No antivenom is without adverse reactions but, the level of their impact and severity varies from benign early adverse reactions to the rarely occurring fatal anaphylactic shock. However, the major side effects are largely reversible with immediate administration of adrenaline and corticosteroids. There are 16 different antivenoms marketed within SSA, but the efficacy and safety profiles are only published for less than 50% of these products.
Despite the rapid progress and interest in brain-machine interfaces that restore motor function, the performance of prosthetic fingers and limbs has yet to mimic native function. The algorithm that ...converts brain signals to a control signal for the prosthetic device is one of the limitations in achieving rapid and realistic finger movements. To achieve more realistic finger movements, we developed a shallow feed-forward neural network to decode real-time two-degree-of-freedom finger movements in two adult male rhesus macaques. Using a two-step training method, a recalibrated feedback intention-trained (ReFIT) neural network is introduced to further improve performance. In 7 days of testing across two animals, neural network decoders, with higher-velocity and more natural appearing finger movements, achieved a 36% increase in throughput over the ReFIT Kalman filter, which represents the current standard. The neural network decoders introduced herein demonstrate real-time decoding of continuous movements at a level superior to the current state-of-the-art and could provide a starting point to using neural networks for the development of more naturalistic brain-controlled prostheses.
We present a hypothesis for how head-centered visual representations in primate parietal areas could self-organize through visually-guided learning, and test this hypothesis using a neural network ...model. The model consists of a competitive output layer of neurons that receives afferent synaptic connections from a population of input neurons with eye position gain modulated retinal receptive fields. The synaptic connections in the model are trained with an associative trace learning rule which has the effect of encouraging output neurons to learn to respond to subsets of input patterns that tend to occur close together in time. This network architecture and synaptic learning rule is hypothesized to promote the development of head-centered output neurons during periods of time when the head remains fixed while the eyes move. This hypothesis is demonstrated to be feasible, and each of the core model components described is tested and found to be individually necessary for successful self-organization.
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