Precise measurement of positronium hyperfine splitting using the Zeeman effect

Positronium is an ideal system for the research of the quantum electrodynamics (QED) in bound state. The hyperfine splitting (HFS) of positronium, $\Delta_{\mathrm{HFS}}$, gives a good test of the bound state calculations and probes new physics beyond the Standard Model. A new method of QED calculations has revealed the discrepancy by 15\,ppm (3.9$\sigma$) of $\Delta_{\mathrm{HFS}}$ between the QED prediction and the experimental average. There would be possibility of new physics or common systematic uncertainties in the previous all experiments. We describe a new experiment to reduce possible systematic uncertainties and will provide an independent check of the discrepancy. We are now taking data and the current result of $\Delta_{\mathrm{HFS}} = 203.395\,1 \pm 0.002\,4 (\mathrm{stat.}, 12\,\mathrm{ppm}) \pm 0.001\,9 (\mathrm{sys.}, 9.5\,\mathrm{ppm})\,\mathrm{GHz}$ has been obtained so far. A measurement with a precision of $O$(ppm) is expected within a year.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, proceeding of LEAP2011, accepted by Hyperfine Interaction

Adherence to Antihypertensive Medications andCardiovascular Morbidity Among Newly DiagnosedHypertensive Patients

Background—Nonadherence to antihypertensive treatment is a common problem in cardiovascular prevention and may influence prognosis. We explored predictors of adherence to antihypertensive treatment and the association of adherence with acute cardiovascular events. Methods and Results—Using data obtained from 400 Italian primary care physicians providing information to the Health Search/Thales Database, we selected 18 806 newly diagnosed hypertensive patients 35 years of age during the years 2000 to 2001. Subjects included were newly treated for hypertension and initially free of cardiovascular diseases. Patient adherence was subdivided a priori into 3 categories— high (proportion of days covered, 80%), intermediate (proportion of days covered, 40% to 79%), and low (proportion of days covered, 40%)—and compared with the long-term occurrence of acute cardiovascular events through the use of multivariable models adjusted for demographic factors, comorbidities, and concomitant drug use. At baseline (ie, 6 months after index diagnosis), 8.1%, 40.5%, and 51.4% of patients were classified as having high, intermediate, and low adherence levels, respectively. Multiple drug treatment (odds ratio, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.43 to 1.83), dyslipidemia (odds ratio, 1.52; 95% CI, 1.24 to 1.87), diabetes mellitus (odds ratio, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.15 to 1.71), obesity (odds ratio, 1.50; 95% CI, 1.26 to 1.78), and antihypertensive combination therapy (odds ratio, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.15 to 1.45) were significantly (P0.001) associated with high adherence to antihypertensive treatment. Compared with their low-adherence counterparts, only high adherers reported a significantly decreased risk of acute cardiovascular events (hazard ratio, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.40 to 0.96; P0.032). Conclusions—The long-term reduction of acute cardiovascular events associated with high adherence to antihypertensive treatment underscores its importance in assessments of the beneficial effects of evidence-based therapies in the population. An effort focused on early antihypertensive treatment initiation and adherence is likely to provide major benefits

Integrated Blast and Weed Management and Microdosing in Finger Millet: A HOPE Project Manual for Increasing Finger Millet Productivity

Finger millet is a staple food for millions of resource poor people in the semi-arid regions of Africa and Asia. In eastern Africa, it is cultivated in the lake regions of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda, and in Ethiopia. In Kenya, the crop is grown in western, Nyanza and eastern regions; in Tanzania it is mainly grown in Singida, Arusha, Mbeya, Rukwa and Kilimanjaro regions, and in Uganda it is grown in the eastern and northern regions. In Rwanda, it grows in semi-arid hilly areas. Finger millet grows well in altitudes from sea level to 2,400 m in a variety of soil types ranging from poor to fertile but well drained

Holographic Anyons in the ABJM Theory

We consider the holographic anyons in the ABJM theory from three different aspects of AdS/CFT correspondence. First, we identify the holographic anyons by using the field equations of supergravity, including the Chern-Simons terms of the probe branes. We find that the composite of Dp-branes wrapped over CP3 with the worldvolume magnetic fields can be the anyons. Next, we discuss the possible candidates of the dual anyonic operators on the CFT side, and find the agreement of their anyonic phases with the supergravity analysis. Finally, we try to construct the brane profile for the holographic anyons by solving the equations of motion and Killing spinor equations for the embedding profile of the wrapped branes. As a by product, we find a BPS spiky brane for the dual baryons in the ABJM theory.Comment: 1+33 pages, 3 figures; v2 discussion for D4-D6 case added, references added; v3 comments adde

Classical skyrmions in SU(N)/SO(N) cosets

We construct the skyrmion solutions appearing in the coset spaces SU(N)/SO(N) for N > 2 and compute their classical mass. For N = 3, the third homotopy group pi_3(SU(3)/SO(3)) = Z_4 implies the existence of two distinct solutions: the skyrmion of winding number two has spherical symmetry and is found to be the lightest non-trivial field configuration; the skyrmion and antiskyrmion of winding number plus and minus one are slightly heavier and of toroidal shape. For N >= 4, there is only one skyrmion since the third homotopy group is Z_2. It is found to have spherical symmetry and is significantly lighter than the N = 3 solutions.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures; v2: discussion improve

Breaking into the blackbox: Trend following, stop losses and the frequency of trading - The case of the S&P500

In this article, we compare a variety of technical trading rules in the context of investing in the S&P500 index. These rules are increasingly popular, both among retail investors and CTAs and similar investment funds. We find that a range of fairly simple rules, including the popular 200-day moving average (MA) trading rule, dominate the long-only, passive investment in the index. In particular, using the latter rule we find that popular stop-loss rules do not add value and that monthly end-of-month investment decision rules are superior to those which trade more frequently: this adds to the growing view that trading can damage your wealth. Finally, we compare the MA rule with a variety of simple fundamental metrics and find the latter far inferior to the technical rules over the last 60 years of investing

Characterization of cumulus cloud fields using trajectories in the center of gravity versus water mass phase space: 1. Cloud tracking and phase space description

We study the evolution of warm convective cloud fields using large eddy simulations of continental and trade cumulus. Individual clouds are tracked a posteriori from formation to dissipation using a 3‐D cloud‐tracking algorithm, and results are presented in the phase space of center of gravity altitude versus cloud liquid water mass (CvM space). The CvM space is shown to contain rich information on cloud field characteristics, cloud morphology, and common cloud development pathways, together facilitating a comprehensive understanding of the cloud field. In this part we show how the meteorological (thermodynamic) conditions that determine the cloud properties are projected on the CvM phase space and how changes in the initial conditions affect the clouds\u27 trajectories in this space. This part sets the stage for a detailed microphysical analysis that will be shown in part II

A cost-effective method to quantify biological surface sediment reworking

We propose a simple and inexpensive method to determine the rate and pattern of surface sediment reworking by benthic organisms. Unlike many existing methods commonly used in bioturbation studies, which usually require sediment sampling, our approach is fully non-destructive and is well suited for investigating non-cohesive fine sediments in streams and rivers. Optical tracer (e.g., luminophores or coloured sand) disappearance or appearance is assessed through time based on optical quantification of surfaces occupied by tracers. Data are used to calculate surface sediment reworking (SSR) coefficients depicting bioturbation intensities. Using this method, we evaluated reworking activity of stream organisms (three benthic invertebrates and a fish) in laboratory microcosms mimicking pool habitats or directly in the field within arenas set in depositional zones. Our method was sensitive enough to measure SSR as low as 0.2 cm2.d-1, such as triggered by intermediate density (774 m-2) of Gammarus fossarum (Amphipoda) in microcosms. In contrast, complex invertebrate community in the field and a fish (Barbatula barabatula) in laboratory microcosms were found to yield to excessively high SSR (>60 cm2.d-1). Lastly, we suggest that images acquired during experiments can be used for qualitative evaluation of species-specific effects on sediment distribution

Process Mining to Explore Variations in Endometrial Cancer Pathways from GP Referral to First Treatment

The main challenge in the pathway analysis of cancer treatments is the complexity of the process. Process mining is one of the approaches that can be used to visualize and analyze these complex pathways. In this study, our purpose was to use process mining to explore variations in the treatment pathways of endometrial cancer. We extracted patient data from a hospital information system, created the process model, and analyzed the variations of the 62-day pathway from a General Practitioner referral to the first treatment in the hospital. We also analyzed the variations based on three different criteria: the type of the first treatment, the age at diagnosis, and the year of diagnosis. This approach should be of interest to others dealing with complex medical and healthcare processes

Interrupt Timed Automata: verification and expressiveness

We introduce the class of Interrupt Timed Automata (ITA), a subclass of hybrid automata well suited to the description of timed multi-task systems with interruptions in a single processor environment. While the reachability problem is undecidable for hybrid automata we show that it is decidable for ITA. More precisely we prove that the untimed language of an ITA is regular, by building a finite automaton as a generalized class graph. We then establish that the reachability problem for ITA is in NEXPTIME and in PTIME when the number of clocks is fixed. To prove the first result, we define a subclass ITA- of ITA, and show that (1) any ITA can be reduced to a language-equivalent automaton in ITA- and (2) the reachability problem in this subclass is in NEXPTIME (without any class graph). In the next step, we investigate the verification of real time properties over ITA. We prove that model checking SCL, a fragment of a timed linear time logic, is undecidable. On the other hand, we give model checking procedures for two fragments of timed branching time logic. We also compare the expressive power of classical timed automata and ITA and prove that the corresponding families of accepted languages are incomparable. The result also holds for languages accepted by controlled real-time automata (CRTA), that extend timed automata. We finally combine ITA with CRTA, in a model which encompasses both classes and show that the reachability problem is still decidable. Additionally we show that the languages of ITA are neither closed under complementation nor under intersection