1,728 research outputs found
Correlation of Parameters used to Estimate Monomer Conversion in a Light-cured Composite
The sensitivities of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Knoop hardness, water sorption, and resin leaching were compared for their ability to distinguish differences between composite samples cured through different thicknesses of overlying resin. The method developed allowed samples of light-cured composite to be made with controlled conversion for parameter testing, and eliminated effects of resin lost to slurry during polishing or an increase in conversion as a result of heat generated during grinding. Sensitivity to differences was greatest and equal for FTIR spectroscopy and Knoop hardness, while resin leaching proved to have moderate sensitivity, and water sorption none. The ability of these parameters to predict monomer conversion as measured by FTIR spectroscopy was also determined. Knoop hardness proved the best conversion predictor, resin leaching the next best, and water sorption the worst. Water sorption values did not vary with changes in specimen conversion.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67029/2/10.1177_00220345880670060801.pd
The effect of wound instillation of a novel purified capsaicin formulation on postherniotomy pain: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study
BACKGROUND: Acute postoperative pain is common after most surgical procedures. Despite the availability of many analgesic options, postoperative pain management is often unsatisfactory. Purified capsaicin (ALGRX 4975 98% pure) has demonstrated prolong inhibition of C-fiber function in in vitro, preclinical, and clinical studies, and may be an effective adjunct to postoperative pain management.
METHODS: We performed a single-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of the analgesic efficacy of a single intraoperative wound instillation of 1000 mu g ultrapurified capsaicin (ALGRX 4975) after open mesh groin hernia repair in 41 adult male patients. The primary end-point was average daily visual analog scale (VAS) pain scores during the first week after surgery assessed as area under the curve (AUC). Pain was recorded twice daily in a pain diary for 4 wk. Physical examination and laboratory tests were done before and I wk after surgery, together with recordings of adverse events up to 28 days. Adverse events were recorded. Data were also analyzed using a mixed-effects analysis with NONMEM.
RESULTS: VAS AUC was significantly lower during the first 3 days postoperatively (P < 0.05), but not for the whole I or 4 wk postoperatively. Mixed-effects analysis with NONMEM revealed that pain scores were significantly lower (P < 0.05) in the capsaicin group during the first 4 days. No clinically significant serious adverse events were observed, although a mild transient increase in liver enzymes was seen more often in the capsaicin-treated group.
CONCLUSION: In the setting of a well-defined analgesic protocol standard, VAS AUC analysis and a mixed-effect analysis showed superior analgesia of capsaicin relative to placebo during the first 3-4 days after inguinal hernia repair
Implied volatility of basket options at extreme strikes
In the paper, we characterize the asymptotic behavior of the implied
volatility of a basket call option at large and small strikes in a variety of
settings with increasing generality. First, we obtain an asymptotic formula
with an error bound for the left wing of the implied volatility, under the
assumption that the dynamics of asset prices are described by the
multidimensional Black-Scholes model. Next, we find the leading term of
asymptotics of the implied volatility in the case where the asset prices follow
the multidimensional Black-Scholes model with time change by an independent
increasing stochastic process. Finally, we deal with a general situation in
which the dependence between the assets is described by a given copula
function. In this setting, we obtain a model-free tail-wing formula that links
the implied volatility to a special characteristic of the copula called the
weak lower tail dependence function
Single-crossover dynamics: finite versus infinite populations
Populations evolving under the joint influence of recombination and
resampling (traditionally known as genetic drift) are investigated. First, we
summarise and adapt a deterministic approach, as valid for infinite
populations, which assumes continuous time and single crossover events. The
corresponding nonlinear system of differential equations permits a closed
solution, both in terms of the type frequencies and via linkage disequilibria
of all orders. To include stochastic effects, we then consider the
corresponding finite-population model, the Moran model with single crossovers,
and examine it both analytically and by means of simulations. Particular
emphasis is on the connection with the deterministic solution. If there is only
recombination and every pair of recombined offspring replaces their pair of
parents (i.e., there is no resampling), then the {\em expected} type
frequencies in the finite population, of arbitrary size, equal the type
frequencies in the infinite population. If resampling is included, the
stochastic process converges, in the infinite-population limit, to the
deterministic dynamics, which turns out to be a good approximation already for
populations of moderate size.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figure
Tail asymptotics of light-tailed Weibull-like sums
Abstract: We consider sums of n i.i.d. random variables with tails close to exp{−x^β} for some β > 1. Asymptotics developed by Rootzén (1987) and Balkema, Klüppelberg, and Resnick (1993) are discussed from the point of view of tails rather than of densities, using a somewhat different angle, and supplemented with bounds, results on a random number N of terms, and simulation algorithms
Stability of Synchrony against Local Intermittent Fluctuations in Tree-like Power Grids
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS S.A. wants to thank her fellow colleagues Paul Schultz and Jobst Heitzig for helpful discussion and comments. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of BMBF, CoNDyNet, FK. 03SF0472A and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Land Brandenburg for supporting this project by providing resources on the high performance computer system at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Large deviations for a damped telegraph process
In this paper we consider a slight generalization of the damped telegraph
process in Di Crescenzo and Martinucci (2010). We prove a large deviation
principle for this process and an asymptotic result for its level crossing
probabilities (as the level goes to infinity). Finally we compare our results
with the analogous well-known results for the standard telegraph process
Convergence of the all-time supremum of a L\'evy process in the heavy-traffic regime
In this paper we derive a technique of obtaining limit theorems for suprema
of L\'evy processes from their random walk counterparts. For each , let
be a sequence of independent and identically distributed
random variables and be a L\'evy processes such that
, and as . Let .
Then, under some mild assumptions, , for some random variable and some function
. We utilize this result to present a number of limit theorems
for suprema of L\'evy processes in the heavy-traffic regime
A Markovian event-based framework for stochastic spiking neural networks
In spiking neural networks, the information is conveyed by the spike times,
that depend on the intrinsic dynamics of each neuron, the input they receive
and on the connections between neurons. In this article we study the Markovian
nature of the sequence of spike times in stochastic neural networks, and in
particular the ability to deduce from a spike train the next spike time, and
therefore produce a description of the network activity only based on the spike
times regardless of the membrane potential process.
To study this question in a rigorous manner, we introduce and study an
event-based description of networks of noisy integrate-and-fire neurons, i.e.
that is based on the computation of the spike times. We show that the firing
times of the neurons in the networks constitute a Markov chain, whose
transition probability is related to the probability distribution of the
interspike interval of the neurons in the network. In the cases where the
Markovian model can be developed, the transition probability is explicitly
derived in such classical cases of neural networks as the linear
integrate-and-fire neuron models with excitatory and inhibitory interactions,
for different types of synapses, possibly featuring noisy synaptic integration,
transmission delays and absolute and relative refractory period. This covers
most of the cases that have been investigated in the event-based description of
spiking deterministic neural networks
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