Increased choroidal thickness in a patient with acquired hyperopia and choroidal folds syndrome.

Purpose: syndrome of acquired hyperopia with choroidal folds is a rare syndrome characterized by flattening of the posterior pole with subsequent hyperopization of the eye and a creation of a space between the optic nerve and its sheath. Though uncommon and more often benign, it represents a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. Correct diagnosis is helpful to exclude other possible causes of choroidal folds. Observations: here we report a case of a 39-year-old woman who presented with sudden monolateral hyperopia and choroidal folds in the affected eye. Conclusions and Importance: we performed a specific assessment of the thickness of choroid with the purpose to give further information for the understanding of the underlying condition. To date, the aspect and the thickness of the choroid in this condition, has not been evaluated yet.

VIP-2 -High-Sensitivity Tests on the Pauli Exclusion Principle for Electrons.

The VIP collaboration is performing high sensitivity tests of the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons in the extremely low cosmic background environment of the underground Gran Sasso National Laboratory INFN (Italy). In particular, the VIP-2 Open Systems experiment was conceived to put strong constraints on those Pauli Exclusion Principle violation models which respect the so-called Messiah-Greenberg superselection rule. The experimental technique consists of introducing a direct current in a copper conductor, and searching for the X-rays emission coming from a forbidden atomic transition from the L shell to the K shell of copper when the K shell is already occupied by two electrons. The analysis of the first three months of collected data (in 2018) is presented. The obtained result represents the best bound on the Pauli Exclusion Principle violation probability which fulfills the Messiah-Greenberg rule.

Transgranular Cracking in a Liquid Zn Embrittled High Strength Steel.

Intergranular Zn-assisted liquid metal embrittlement (LME) cracks have been frequently reported in steels, involving austenite grain boundary penetration of liquid Zn at high temperature. In the present study, a Zn-coated high strength steel was deformed at an intercritical temperature, and the characteristics of LME cracking were studied in a mixed microstructure composed of ferrite and austenite. Crack propagation was intergranular in austenite; in contrast, the ferrite exhibited both intergranular LME and transgranular LME. Trace analysis of the crack plane orientation was consistent with cracking along {100} cleavage planes in ferrite.

On the Importance of Electron Diffusion in a Bulk-Matter Test of the Pauli Exclusion Principle.

The VIolation of Pauli (VIP) experiment (and its upgraded version, VIP-2) uses the Ramberg and Snow (RS) method (Phys. Lett. B 1990, 238, 438) to search for violations of the Pauli exclusion principle in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory. The RS method consists of feeding a copper conductor with a high direct current, so that the large number of newly-injected conduction electrons can interact with the copper atoms and possibly cascade electromagnetically to an already occupied atomic ground state if their wavefunction has the wrong symmetry with respect to the atomic electrons, emitting characteristic X-rays as they do so. In their original data analysis, RS considered a very simple path for each electron, which is sure to return a bound, albeit a very weak one, because it ignores the meandering random walks of the electrons as they move from the entrance to the exit of the copper sample. These complex walks bring the electrons close to many more atoms than in the RS calculation. Here, we consider the full description of these walks and show that this leads to a nontrivial and nonlinear X-ray emission rate. Finally, we obtain an improved bound, which sets much tighter constraints on the violation of the Pauli exclusion principle for electrons.

Toward an Interactive Reinforcement Based Learning Framework for Human Robot Collaborative Assembly Processes.

As manufacturing demographics change from mass production to mass customization, advances in human-robot interaction in industries have taken many forms. However, the topic of reducing the programming effort required by an expert using natural modes of communication is still open. To answer this challenge, we propose an approach based on Interactive Reinforcement Learning that learns a complete collaborative assembly process. The learning approach is done in two steps. First step consists of modeling simple tasks that compose the assembly process, using task based formalism. The robotic system then uses these modeled simple tasks and proposes to the user a set of possible actions at each step of the assembly process via a GUI. The user then "interacts" with the robotic system by selecting an option from the given choice. The robot records the action chosen and performs it, progressing the assembly process. Thereby, the user teaches the system which task to perform when. In order to reduce the number of actions proposed, the system considers additional information such as user and robot capabilities and object affordances. These set of action proposals are further reduced by modeling the proposed actions into a goal based hierarchy and by including action prerequisites. The learning framework highlights its ability to learn a complicated human robot collaborative assembly process in a user intuitive fashion. The framework also allows different users to teach different assembly processes to the robot.