Physical Size Research Articles

Number, size, and space associated in a common system by distinct mechanisms.

The spatial numerical association of response codes (SNARC) effect demonstrates that people respond faster to small numbers with their left hand and faster to large numbers with their right hand. The size congruity effect (SCE) refers to the fact that congruent trials between numerical values and physical sizes are faster than incongruent trials. Previous studies have found that the SNARC effect and SCE are independent when magnitudes or sizes are processed explicitly. This study aimed to explore whether number, size, and space are common and distinct mechanisms using an implicit parity judgment task. The results showed that the SNARC effect, SCE, and SNARC-like effect all co-existed. Furthermore, there was a significant interaction between the SNARC effect and SCE, in which the SNARC effect in the SCE-congruent condition was larger than in the SCE-incongruent condition, whereas SCE merely emerged in the SNARC-compatible trials. However, participants responded to small numbers in large size faster than to large numbers in small size with the left hand in SCE-incongruent trials, which reflected that number-space mapping (SNARC effect) was stronger than size-space mapping (SNARC-like effect). These findings provide new evidence for A Theory of Magnitude (ATOM), which suggests that number, size, and space are associated with a common generalized magnitude system through distinct mechanisms.

Emergent local negative electrostriction induced by oxygen vacancy in BaHfO3: Defect engineering

Realization of ultrasmall scale electromechanical materials has been promising for advanced functional devices. Recently, single-atom devices have been proposed as the ultimate miniaturization of functional devices beyond the nanoscale; however, achieving an atomic-scale local electromechanical response is still challenging due to physical size limitation of electromechanical properties as well as technical difficulties in fabricating the functional materials in a single atom precision. Here, we demonstrate a non-trivial negative electromechanical response at an oxygen vacancy in paraelectric BaHfO3 using first-principles finite electric field calculations. We find an electrostrictive response at the vacancy site in the same order of magnitude in well-known oxide materials. Surprisingly, we also discover an unusual “negative” sign of electrostriction in the oxygen vacancy. The detailed electronic structure analysis demonstrates that a unique electric field response of a localized defect electronic structure is the origin of this negative electrostriction of vacancy. The present results provide an important implication for the design of ultra-small electromechanical functions at an atomic scale.

Time-division multiplexing cascaded active phase-locking method for an all-fiber coherent beam combining system

Coherent beam combining (CBC) is an effective approach to exceed the power limitation of fiber lasers by combining multiple laser sources. Phase-locking is one of the important steps in an active CBC system. Many phase-locking methods have already been developed and have effectively achieved phase control. Generally, the phase control bandwidth decreases accordingly as the number of combined lasers increases. This will hamper the development of CBC systems to larger scales. At the same time, the structure of traditional tiled-aperture CBC systems is also a potential limiting factor in the aspect of feedback configuration. An all-fiber CBC structure based on active phase control can avoid physical size limitations on traditional structures and greatly expand the scale of tiled-aperture CBC arrays to over tens of thousands of sub-beams. In such a large array scale, existing phase control methods will inevitably encounter the problem of bandwidth reduction. To solve this problem, we propose a time-division multiplexing cascaded (TDMC) active phase-locking method in this paper. Simulation studies on phase control of over 10,000 laser beams are conducted. The method shows huge bandwidth enhancement in control phases of a large number of lasers. This will lay the technological foundation for further expanding the number of an all-fiber tiled-aperture array.

Microfluidic Constant Composition Expansion for Black Oils and Retrograde Gas Condensates

Summary Building a robust pressure/volume/temperature (PVT) model critically relies on accurate phase behavior data, traditionally obtained using PVT cells. While the PVT cell can provide accurate data, it requires a large volume of downhole or recombined samples, which are usually expensive to collect or time-consuming to create. A novel microfluidic chip design and method are presented in this work to rapidly measure saturation pressure, relative volume, and liquid volume percentages of black oils and retrograde gas condensates (RGCs). The chip was initially charged with the single-phase sample at a given temperature, and the saturation pressure, relative volume, and liquid volume percentages were quantified at prescribed pressure steps. The waiting time at each pressure step was adjusted to ensure that the equilibrium condition is achieved. The measurements were conducted for various oil and RGC samples with a wide range of API gravity. The high-resolution optical access along with an in-house-developed automated image analysis algorithm was used to detect the saturation pressures and quantify the phase volumes. The saturation pressures, relative volumes, and liquid volume percentages measured by microfluidics were compared with those obtained from conventional constant composition expansion (CCE) method, showing a strong agreement between the data (i.e., within less than 5% deviation). The microfluidic platform developed in this work can be an alternative approach to some of the conventional PVT tests with an order of magnitude higher laboratory throughput but similar accuracy. This makes PVT data accessible by reducing cost and sample size, and potentially moves the energy industry to a data-on-demand model. With a much smaller physical size inherent to microfluidic devices, this platform can be deployed to operation sites, alleviating the logistical challenges associated with sample handling and shipment that the industry currently struggles with.

Simultaneous two colour intensity interferometry with H.E.S.S.

Abstract In recent years, intensity interferometry has been successfully applied to the Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes H.E.S.S. , MAGIC, and VERITAS. All three telescope systems have proven the feasibility and capability of this method. After our first campaign in 2022, when two of the H.E.S.S. telescopes in Namibia were equipped with our external setup and the angular diameter of two stars was measured, our setup was upgraded for a second campaign in 2023, where the goal is to perform simultaneous two colour measurements. The second campaign not only involves a third equipped telescope, but also each mechanical setup now includes two interference filters at two different wavelengths (375 nm and 470 nm) with a broader bandwidth of 10 nm. This enables having simultaneous two-colour measurements, which yields information about the star’s physical size at different wavelengths. This is the first time that simultaneous dual-waveband intensity interferometry measurements are performed. The angular diameter results of the 4 stars, Mimosa (β Cru), Eta Centauri (η Cen), Nunki (σ Sgr) and Dschubba (δ Sco), are reported, where the effects of limb darkening are also taken into account.

A draft genome assembly of the reef-building coral Acropora hemprichii from the central Red Sea

Coral reef ecosystems are under threat from climate change. Thus, active interventions to spur coral conservation/restoration are critical to support reef survival, greatly informed by a molecular understanding of resilience. The genus Acropora is a species-rich and globally prevalent reef builder that has experienced dramatic declines in the Caribbean. Here we generated a draft genome of the common coral Acropora hemprichii from the central Red Sea, one of the warmest water bodies in the world. We assembled the genome using 10x Chromium sequencing with subsequent scaffolding using a reference genome and Illumina short-read sequencing contigs. The A. hemprichii genome has an assembly size of 495.6 Mb confirmed using physical size estimation, of which 247.8 Mb (50%) are repeats. The scaffold N50 is 1.38 Mb with 99.6% of BUSCO genes identified (93.7% complete, 5.9% fragmented), providing a set of 26,865 protein-coding genes. The Red Sea A. hemprichii reference genome provides a valuable resource for studies aiming to decode the genomic architecture of resilience, e.g. through comparative analyses with other Acropora genomes.

“It Wasn’t What I Expected”: Students’ Perspectives and Experiences on a Higher Education Merger

ABSTRACT The changing landscape of higher education in the past decade has resulted in an increase in the number of colleges that have closed or merged with another academic institution. Although college mergers are complex, their destabilizing impact is undoubtedly felt among key stakeholders, not the least of whom are enrolled students. Guided by the Campus Environments for Student Success Model, we examined the experiences and perspectives of undergraduate students who experienced an academic merger, using both survey and semi-structured interview methods. Quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed that factors such as physical size, loss of community, learning new academic systems and approaches, relationships with significant adults, and managing emotions in response to perceived negative reception were particularly impactful for students. Our findings also revealed important sources of growth and resilience in students, such as self-reflection, increased sense of agency, self-advocacy, and strategies for self-care. The importance of providing optimal student supports during a college merger experience that are grounded in students’ lived experiences is discussed.

Hypercrosslinked polymer membranes via interfacial polymerization for organic dye separations

Hypercrosslinked polymers (HCPs) have gained attention as promising materials for separation membranes due to their abundant porosity, low cost, ease of preparation, and excellent stability. Here, we demonstrate an interfacial-assisted polymerization approach to prepare continuous HCP membranes at room temperature. The method demonstrates versatility in constructing HCP membranes using various precursors, including small molecules and polymers. Specifically, the HCP membranes prepared using benzene as the monomer exhibit controllable thickness and a remarkable Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area of up to 855 m2 g−1. Leveraging physical size sieving and electrostatic interaction, the fabricated benzene-based membranes effectively reject small anionic dye molecules, such as Congo Red, Acid Fuchsin, and Methyl Orange, achieving rejection rates exceeding 93% while maintaining a high-water flux of up to 55 L m−2 h−1 bar−1. This study shows a versatile approach for the design of HCP membranes capable of efficiently separating mixtures containing small molecules.

Where does the processing of size meet the processing of space?

Previous studies revealed an S-R compatibility effect between physical stimulus size and response location, with faster left (right) responses to small (large) stimuli, respectively, as compared to the reverse assignments. Here, we investigated the locus of interactions between the processing of size and spatial locations. In Experiment 1, we explored whether stimulus size and stimulus location interact at a perceptual level of processing when responses lack spatiality. The stimuli varied on three feature dimensions (color, size, location), and participants responded vocally to each feature in a separate task. Most importantly, we failed to observe a size-location congruency effect in the color-naming task where S-R compatibility effects were excluded. In Experiment 2, responses to color were spatial, that is, key-presses with the left and right hand. With these responses there was a congruency effect. In addition, we tested the interaction of the size-location compatibility effect with the Simon effect, which is known to originate at the stage of response selection. We observed an interaction between the two effects only with a subsample of participants with slower reaction times (RTs) and a larger size-location compatibility effect in a control condition. Together, the results suggest that the size-location compatibility effect arises at the response selection stage. An extended leaky, competing accumulator model with independent staggered impacts of stimulus size and stimulus location on response selection fits the data of Experiment 2 and specifies how the size-location compatibility effect and the Simon effect can arise during response selection.

On the role of fiducial structures in minisuperspace reduction and quantum fluctuations in LQC

Abstract In spatially non-compact homogeneous minisuperpace models, spatial integrals in the Hamiltonian and symplectic form must be regularised by confining them to a finite volume Vo , known as the fiducial cell. As this restriction is unnecessary in the complete field theory before homogeneous reduction, the physical significance of the fiducial cell has been largely debated, especially in the context of (loop) quantum cosmology. Understanding the role of Vo is in turn essential for assessing the minisuperspace description’s validity and its connection to the full theory. In this work we present a systematic procedure for the field theory reduction to spatially homogeneous and isotropic minisuperspaces within the canonical framework and apply it to both a massive scalar field theory and gravity. Our strategy consists in implementing spatial homogeneity via second-class constraints for the discrete field modes over a partitioning of the spatial slice into countably many disjoint cells. The reduced theory’s canonical structure is then given by the corresponding Dirac bracket. Importantly, the latter can only be defined on a finite number of cells homogeneously patched together. This identifies a finite region, the fiducial cell, whose physical size acquires then a precise meaning already at the classical level as the scale over which homogeneity is imposed. Additionally, the procedure allows us to track the information lost during homogeneous reduction and how the error depends on Vo . We then move to the quantisation of the classically reduced theories, focusing in particular on the relation between the theories for different Vo , and study the implications for statistical moments, quantum fluctuations, and semiclassical states. In the case of a quantum scalar field, a subsector of the full quantum field theory where the results from the ‘first reduced, then quantised’ approach can be reproduced is identified and the conditions for this to be a good approximation are also determined.

Verbal stimuli allow for symmetrical S-R priming effects between size and space.

The spatial-size association of response codes (SSARC) effect refers to the observation that left responses are faster and more accurate to small stimuli whereas right responses are faster and more accurate to large stimuli, as compared to the reverse assignment. The underlying spatial-size associations are strongly asymmetrical with physical size/location stimuli and vocal location/size responses and allow for regular but not reciprocal SSARC effects. Recent evidence, however, points towards an important role of stimulus mode in the emergence of reciprocal compatibility effects. We investigated the reciprocity of the SSARC effect with a different stimulus mode, namely with verbal size/location stimuli and vocal responses. In a size-location task, participants vocally responded to the words "small" or "large" by saying "left" or "right" according to a compatible ("small"-"left"/"large"-"right") or an incompatible mapping ("small"-"right"/"large"-"left"). In a location-size task, participants vocally responded to the words "left" or "right" by saying "small" or "large" according to a compatible ("left"-"small"/"right"-"large") or an incompatible ("left"-"large"/"right"-"small") mapping. We observed a regular and a reciprocal SSARC effect of similar size indicating symmetrical spatial-size associations. While regular SSARC effects thus emerge with verbal and physical size stimuli, reciprocal SSARC effects only emerge with verbal but not with physical location stimuli and vocal responses. Theoretical accounts of the SSARC effect differ in whether they predict reciprocal effects and whether they can account for the effect of stimulus mode on the reciprocal SSARC effect.

Astroparticles from X-Ray Binary Coronae

The recent observation of high-energy neutrinos from the Galactic plane implies an abundant population of hadronic cosmic-ray sources in the Milky Way. We explore the role of the coronae of accreting stellar-mass black holes as such astroparticle emitters. We show that the particle acceleration and interaction timescales in the coronal region are tied to the compactness of the X-ray source. Thus, neutrino emission processes may similarly happen in the cores of active galactic nuclei and black hole X-ray binaries (XRBs), despite their drastically different masses and physical sizes. We apply the model to the well-measured XRB Cygnus X-1 and find that the cascaded gamma rays accompanying the neutrino emission naturally explain the GeV emission that only presents during the source’s hard state, while the state-averaged gamma-ray emission explains the LHAASO observation above 20 TeV. We show that XRB coronae could contribute significantly to the Galactic cosmic-ray and Galactic plane neutrino fluxes. Our model predicts variable high-energy neutrino emission from bright Galactic XRBs that may be observed by IceCube and future neutrino observatories.

Is Biobanding the Future of Youth Sport Participation?

Traditionally, sports participation has been based on the chronological age of the individual with year of birth determining participation grouping. However, grouping by chronological age can result in individuals who are nearly a full year different in age competing within the same age group. Moreover, during the pubertal years, age grouping may provide physical (size) advantage to early maturers and disadvantage to late maturers. These advantages/disadvantages could impact talent selection, psychosocial aspects of sport participation, technical and tactical skill development, competitiveness, and injury risk. Biobanding is an alternative method for determining sport participation categorization and uses factors of growth and/or maturation, rather than traditional chronological age, for grouping athletes. Implementation of biobanding in sports may be advantageous to both early and late-maturing athlete development.

New tile-based circuits converting BCD code to gray, excess-3, and aiken codes in quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) nanotechnology

The development of new methods and technologies for improving the stability and reducing the power consumption of electronic devices is a crucial area of research. Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA) has emerged as a promising alternative to the traditional Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) technology, offering superior optimization in terms of physical size and energy efficiency. This paper introduces three novel digital code converters, designed using the tile-based approach to simplify circuit implementation and enhance integration through optimized majority and inverter gate structures. The proposed converters include: (1) a BCD to gray code converter with 127 cells, 0.18 μm2 occupied area, 3 clock phases, and zero NOT gate achieving a 7.3 % and 100 % reduction in the number of cells and NOT gates, respectively, compared to the most similar design; (2) a BCD to excess-3 code converter with 190 cells, 0.25 μm2 occupied area, 7 clock phases, and 3 NOT gates, showing a 0.5 %, 13.8 %, 41.7 %, and 25 % reduction in cells, area, used clock phases, and NOT gates, respectively, compared to the closest alternative; and (3) a BCD to aiken (2421) code converter with 287 cells, 0.22 μm2 occupied area, zero NOT gate, and 5 clock phases. The energy dissipation for these converters is measured at 55.3 meV, 53.7 meV, and 102 meV, respectively. Simulations are performed using QCADesigner-E version 2.2, validating the functionality and performance of the designs. These results demonstrate the potential of the proposed converters to offer efficient, compact, and low-power solutions for digital systems.

Has the Palomar 14 Globular Cluster Been Captured by the Milky Way?

We examine a new scenario to model the outer halo globular cluster (GC) Palomar 14 (Pal 14) over its lifetime by performing a comprehensive set of direct N-body calculations. We assume Pal 14 was born in a now detached/disrupted dwarf galaxy with a strong tidal field. Pal 14 evolved there until the slope of the stellar mass function (MF) became close to the measured value, which is observed to be significantly shallower than in most GCs. After about 2–3 Gyr, Pal 14 was then captured by the Milky Way (MW). Although the physical size of such a cluster is indistinguishable from a cluster that has lived its entire life in the MW, other parameters like its mass and the MF slope, strongly depend on the time the cluster is taken from the dwarf galaxy. After being captured by the MW on a new orbit, the cluster expands and eventually reaches the appropriate mass and size of Pal 14 after 11.5 Gyr while reproducing the observed MF. These simulations thus suggest that Pal 14 may have formed in a dwarf galaxy with a post-gas expulsion initial half-mass radius and mass of r h = 7 pc and 8 < M/104 < 10 M ⊙, respectively, with a high degree of primordial mass segregation.

Revisiting the Velocity Dispersion–Size Relation in Molecular Cloud Structures

Structures in molecular ISM are observed to follow a power-law relation between the velocity dispersion and spatial size, known as Larson’s first relation, which is often attributed to the turbulent nature of molecular ISM and imprints the dynamics of molecular cloud structures. Using the 13CO (J = 1–0) data from the Milky Way Imaging Scroll Painting survey, we built a sample with 360 structures having relatively accurate distances obtained from either the reddened background stars with Gaia parallaxes or associated maser parallaxes, spanning from 0.4 to ∼15 kpc. Using this sample and about 0.3 million pixels, we analyzed the correlations between velocity dispersion, surface/column density, and spatial scales. Our structure-wise results show power-law indices smaller than 0.5 in both the σ v –R eff and σ v –R eff · Σ relations. In the pixel-wise results, the σvpix is statistically scaling with the beam physical size (R s ≡ ΘD/2) in form of σvpix∝Rs0.43±0.03 . Meanwhile, σvpix in the inner Galaxy is statistically larger than the outer side. We also analyzed correlations between σvpix and the H2 column density N(H2), finding that σvpix stops increasing with N(H2) after ≳1022 cm−2. The structures with and without high-column-density (>1022 cm−2) pixels show different σvpix∝N(H2)ξ relations, where the mean (std) ξ values are 0.38 (0.14) and 0.62 (0.27), respectively.

A position-based method for detecting orbital angular momentum modes

Abstract Due to the inherent limitations of current orbital angular momentum (OAM) mode detection methods and constraints posed by the physical size of receiving antennas, accurately identifying higher-order OAM modes represents a significant challenge. Therefore, there is a pressing necessity to overcome these hurdles. This paper introduces a new approach to OAM mode detection that exploits positional information. Our methodology ascertains the OAM mode by examining the phase and position data of the electric field at any two randomly chosen points within the energy’s spatial distribution radiated by vortex electromagnetic waves. This innovation promises not only to precisely detect higher-order OAM modes but also grants greater versatility in the placement of receiving antennas. Moreover, the study delves into the correlation between the electric field phase of vortex electromagnetic waves, the azimuth angle, and the receiving distance. The validity of our approach is confirmed through both simulation outcomes and experimental data derived from physical tests.

Photometry and kinematics of dwarf galaxies from the Apertif HI survey

Understanding the dwarf galaxy population in low density environments (in the field) is crucial for testing the current Lambda Cold Dark Matter cosmological model. The increase in diversity toward low-mass galaxies is seen as an increase in the scatter of scaling relations, such as the stellar mass--size and the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation (BTFR), and is also demonstrated by recent in-depth studies of an extreme sub-class of dwarf galaxies with low surface brightnesses but large physical sizes called ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs). We aim to select dwarf galaxies independent of their stellar content and to make a detailed study of their gas and stellar properties. We selected galaxies from the APERture Tile In Focus (Apertif) survey and applied a constraint on their $i$-band absolute magnitude in order to exclude high-mass systems. The sample consists of 24 galaxies, 22 of which are resolved in by at least three beams, and they span mass ranges of 8.6 $ lesssim 9.7 and a stellar mass range of 8.0 $ lesssim 9.7 (with only three galaxies having log ( msun)&gt;9). We determined the geometrical parameters of the and stellar disks, built kinematic models from the data using and extracted surface brightness profiles in the g-, r- and i- bands from the Pan-STARRS 1 photometric survey. We used these measurements to place our galaxies on the stellar mass--size relation and the BTFR, and we compared them with other samples from the literature. We find that at a fixed stellar mass, our dwarfs have larger optical effective radii than isolated optically selected dwarfs from the literature, and we found misalignments between the optical and morphologies for some of our sample. For most of our galaxies, we used the morphology to determine their kinematics, and we stress that deep optical observations are needed to trace the underlying stellar disks. Standard dwarfs in our sample follow the same BTFR of high-mass galaxies, whereas UDGs are slightly offset toward lower rotational velocities, in qualitative agreement with results from previous studies. Finally, our sample features a fraction (25&lt;!PCT!&gt;) of dwarf galaxies in pairs that is significantly larger with respect to previous estimates based on optical spectroscopic data.

Formulation of Polyethylene Glycol Based Ibuprofen Nanosuppository Preparations and Assesment of Dissolution

Ibuprofen is widely formulated in oral and rectal dosage forms. Ibuprofen in the rectal route shows c max and t max longer than syrup preparations, this is due to the low solubility of ibuprofen. Nanoparticles are one of the technologies that are widely used to increase the solubility of an active substance. Nanoscale particle size, can increase the solubility of ibuprofen and allow dose reduction. This study aims to formulate ibuprofen nanosuppository preparations, and test the percent dissolution of nanosuppositories compared to conventional suppositories. The ibuprofen nanosuppository formulation consists of ibuprofen lipid component and PEG mix component (PEG 4000: PEG 6000). The ibuprofen lipid component consisted of ibuprofen VCO oil, tween 80 and propylenglycol. This lipid component was then tested for physical characteristics, transmittance, particle size and zeta potential, then the lipid was added to the suppository base component. The responses observed were disintegration time, hardness, and non-intrinsic dissolution efficiency. The test results showed transmittance values of 91.98%, 92.99%, 93.26%. Particle size and potential zeta values of FI = 107, 5 nm, FII 102 nm and FIII 103 nm. The zeta potential were -16.19 mV, -12.44 and -13.25 mV in the lipid component. The test results of the disintegration time of F1, F2, F3 nanosuppositories were 12 minutes, 11 minutes and 10 minutes. The hardness of F1, F2, and F3 were 1.53 kg, 1.43 kg and 1.26 kg and the dissolution efficiency value was higher than conventional suppositories. Modification of ibuprofen nanosuppositories had a significant effect on the percent dissolution of ibuprofen.

A Method of Dynamic Spatial Positioning of the Eyeball Based on Optic Disc Feature Following in Infants and Young Children

The dynamic spatial positioning of infants' eyes is crucial in ophthalmic retinal screening and medical imaging research. It plays an important role in the diagnosis of retinal diseases, the design of personalized treatment plans, and the monitoring of ophthalmic surgery. In order to solve the defects of existing eye tracking equipment and technology, such as complex implementation, sensitivity to environmental conditions, and limited long-term use, this study proposed a dynamic spatial positioning method of the eye based on the characteristics of the optic disc of infants. This method calibrates the size of the eye and retinal image through digital-analog linkage technology. It establishes a mapping relationship between pixels and physical sizes, and effectively solves the perspective distortion problem in retinal image acquisition, improving positioning accuracy and reliability. The centroid of the optic disc is selected as the reference point for spatial transformation, and the dynamic spatial changes of the eye are converted into changes in the centroid of the optic disc. Experimental results show that this method has good accuracy and robustness. The accuracy of dynamic spatial positioning of the eye is 0.0001 mm, and its average error is 0.000888 mm.