Crossover and coexistence of quasiparticle excitations in the fractional quantum Hall regime at nu <= 1/3

New low-lying excitations are observed by inelastic light scattering at filling factors nu=p/(phip+/-1) of the fractional quantum Hall regime with phi=4. Coexisting with these modes throughout the range nuless than or equal to1/3 are phi=2 excitations seen at 1/3. Both phi=2 and phi=4 excitations have distinct behaviors with temperature and filling factor. The abrupt first appearance of the new modes in the low-energy excitation spectrum at nuless than or similar to1/3 suggests a marked change in the quantum ground state on crossing the phi=2-->phi=4 boundary at nu=1/3

Spin texture and magnetoroton excitations at nu=1/3

Neutral spin texture (ST) excitations at nu=1/3 are directly observed for the first time by resonant inelastic light scattering. They are determined to involve two simultaneous spin flips. At low magnetic fields, the ST energy is below that of the magnetoroton minimum. With increasing in-plane magnetic field these mode energies cross at a critical ratio of the Zeeman and Coulomb energies of eta(c)=0.020 +/- 0.001. Surprisingly, the intensity of the ST mode grows with temperature in the range in which the magnetoroton modes collapse. The temperature dependence is interpreted in terms of a competition between coexisting phases supporting different excitations. We consider the role of the ST excitations in activated transport at nu=1/3

An assessment of job satisfaction among primary health care workers in Rivers state, Nigeria

Background: Primary Health Care (PHC) is considered to be a more appropriate approach to health, and the health system, improving access to health services, as well as disease prevention. The availability and efficiency of PHC is a key determinant of the overall health and wellbeing of a people, and a useful yardstick for assessment of a nation's health system. Hence, PHC workforce are at the vanguard of essential health service delivery through direct contact with grassroots community members, within and without the health facilities, for provision of preventive, treatment, referral and follow-up health services. Poor motivation and non-retention of PHC workers weakens the health systems' ability to meet the above goals.Aim: To assessed the job satisfaction of primary health care workers in Rivers State, Nigeria.Methodology: The study utilized the descriptive cross-sectional design and the mixed methods of data collection. The quantitative method used semi-structured, pretested, self- administered questionnaires to obtain information on socio-demographic and occupational characteristics, job satisfaction, motivation, frustration, retention potentials and awareness of existing policies and incentives of respondents. The respondents which included Community Health Extension Workers (CHEW), Community Health Officers (CHO), nurses and doctors in Primary health facilities in the State, were selected using the multistage sampling method. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 software and results presented using tables and charts.Results: A total of 378 respondents participated in the study. Nurses constituted 47.6% of the respondents, with equal proportions of CHEWs and CHOs [23.8% and 23.8% respectively] and 4.8% were doctors. The mean age of the respondents was39.8±8.1 years; with 89.7% females and 10.3% males. Of all the respondents, 79.6% were married,82% were senior cadre staff and 78.8% were Pentecostal Christians. Ikwerre, Ogoni and Kalabari had the highest distribution in ethnicity (19.3%, 14.8% and14.0% respectively). Among the respondents, 75.7% had worked for less than 7 years in their current facility while 82.9% had worked for same duration in their previous facility. Almost two third 240 (63.5%) reported that their workplace was far from their residence while 12 (3.2%) stated that it was very close. A high proportion of the respondents (78.3%) were satisfied with the general working condition in their Primary Health Care facility while 21.7% of the respondents were satisfied with the pay and promotion potentials of their work place. Notably, while 97.9% of the respondents were satisfied with their work relationships, 57.7% were satisfied with the use of their skills and abilities at their workplace and 88.1% of the respondents were satisfied with their work activities. These gave a good job satisfaction score for 88.9% of the respondents. Profession, community, distance from work and duration of work were significant factors (p &lt; 0.05).Conclusion: This study concluded that age, marital status, profession, and location of health facility, duration of work played vital roles in level of satisfaction of PHC workers. Hence, offering opportunities for professional advancement through training of the healthcare workers though already included in the Nigerian National Healthcare policy, should be efficiently implemented and monitored by the government and other relevant stakeholders to improve job satisfaction and in turn quality health service delivery.Keywords: Job Satisfaction, Healthcare Worker

Towards 100 % recycling of reclaimed asphalt in road surface courses: binder design methodology and case studies

Reclaimed Asphalt (RA) has shown great potential to be reused in new asphalt mixtures, however its incorporation in top asphalt pavement layers is still very limited (10-30%). In fact, despite the advantages that its use implies, RA content in road pavement surface courses is still restricted in most countries due to mainly legislation limitations, but also some technical issues. This paper aims at being a step further to improve the latter by providing a methodology that allows producing fundamental inputs for confidently performing mix design of asphalt mixtures incorporating up to 100% RA. The methodology consists in an advanced preliminary binder’s blend design that can be used with any type of RA and also in presence of rejuvenators. This procedure includes in the production of blending charts and laws that considers the uncertainties on accounting the extent of final binder content, Degree of Blending and Replaced Virgin Binder. The description of the methodology is accompanied with results of two extreme case studies consisting in the preliminary design of binders for asphalt mixtures with high content of two types of RA corresponding to extreme cases: the short-term aged RA (STA-RA), having a very soft residual binder (Pen> 20dmm) and the long-term aged RA, having a much harder residual binder (Pen <10dmm). As a result, the proposed methodology allowed assessing the feasibility of using up to 90% of RA and determining whether the use of rejuvenating agents was needed

Generalized Geometry and M theory

We reformulate the Hamiltonian form of bosonic eleven dimensional supergravity in terms of an object that unifies the three-form and the metric. For the case of four spatial dimensions, the duality group is manifest and the metric and C-field are on an equal footing even though no dimensional reduction is required for our results to hold. One may also describe our results using the generalized geometry that emerges from membrane duality. The relationship between the twisted Courant algebra and the gauge symmetries of eleven dimensional supergravity are described in detail.Comment: 29 pages of Latex, v2 References added, typos fixed, v3 corrected kinetic term and references adde

Higher-Energy Composite Fermion Levels in the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect

Even though composite fermions in the fractional quantum Hall liquid are well established, it is not yet known up to what energies they remain intact. We probe the high-energy spectrum of the 1/3 liquid directly by resonant inelastic light scattering, and report the observation of a large number of new collective modes. Supported by our theoretical calculations, we associate these with transitions across two or more composite fermions levels. The formation of quasiparticle levels up to high energies is direct evidence for the robustness of topological order in the fractional quantum Hall effect

Common genetic variation associated with increased susceptibility to prostate cancer does not increase risk of radiotherapy toxicity.

BACKGROUND: Numerous germline single-nucleotide polymorphisms increase susceptibility to prostate cancer, some lying near genes involved in cellular radiation response. This study investigated whether prostate cancer patients with a high genetic risk have increased toxicity following radiotherapy. METHODS: The study included 1560 prostate cancer patients from four radiotherapy cohorts: RAPPER (n=533), RADIOGEN (n=597), GenePARE (n=290) and CCI (n=150). Data from genome-wide association studies were imputed with the 1000 Genomes reference panel. Individuals were genetically similar with a European ancestry based on principal component analysis. Genetic risks were quantified using polygenic risk scores. Regression models tested associations between risk scores and 2-year toxicity (overall, urinary frequency, decreased stream, rectal bleeding). Results were combined across studies using standard inverse-variance fixed effects meta-analysis methods. RESULTS: A total of 75 variants were genotyped/imputed successfully. Neither non-weighted nor weighted polygenic risk scores were associated with late radiation toxicity in individual studies (P>0.11) or after meta-analysis (P>0.24). No individual variant was associated with 2-year toxicity. CONCLUSION: Patients with a high polygenic susceptibility for prostate cancer have no increased risk for developing late radiotherapy toxicity. These findings suggest that patients with a genetic predisposition for prostate cancer, inferred by common variants, can be safely treated using current standard radiotherapy regimens

Genome Wide Transcriptome Analysis of Dendritic Cells Identifies Genes with Altered Expression in Psoriasis

Activation of dendritic cells by different pathogens induces the secretion of proinflammatory mediators resulting in local inflammation. Importantly, innate immunity must be properly controlled, as its continuous activation leads to the development of chronic inflammatory diseases such as psoriasis. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or peptidoglycan (PGN) induced tolerance, a phenomenon of transient unresponsiveness of cells to repeated or prolonged stimulation, proved valuable model for the study of chronic inflammation. Thus, the aim of this study was the identification of the transcriptional diversity of primary human immature dendritic cells (iDCs) upon PGN induced tolerance. Using SAGESeq approach, a tag-based transcriptome sequencing method, we investigated gene expression changes of primary human iDCs upon stimulation or restimulation with Staphylococcus aureus derived PGN, a widely used TLR2 ligand. Based on the expression pattern of the altered genes, we identified non-tolerizeable and tolerizeable genes. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (Kegg) analysis showed marked enrichment of immune-, cell cycle- and apoptosis related genes. In parallel to the marked induction of proinflammatory mediators, negative feedback regulators of innate immunity, such as TNFAIP3, TNFAIP8, Tyro3 and Mer are markedly downregulated in tolerant cells. We also demonstrate, that the expression pattern of TNFAIP3 and TNFAIP8 is altered in both lesional, and non-lesional skin of psoriatic patients. Finally, we show that pretreatment of immature dendritic cells with anti-TNF-α inhibits the expression of IL-6 and CCL1 in tolerant iDCs and partially releases the suppression of TNFAIP8. Our findings suggest that after PGN stimulation/restimulation the host cell utilizes different mechanisms in order to maintain critical balance between inflammation and tolerance. Importantly, the transcriptome sequencing of stimulated/restimulated iDCs identified numerous genes with altered expression to date not associated with role in chronic inflammation, underlying the relevance of our in vitro model for further characterization of IFNprimed iDCs