How Do Socio-Demographic Characteristics Affect Users’ Perception of Place Quality at Station Areas? Evidence from Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Incorporating users’ experiences in transport hub (re)development has become paramount, especially in the case of (high-speed) railway stations located in central urban locations. Designing “quality” according to users’ perspectives requires that we rethink about the dimensions to be prioritized, but also consider the variegated perspectives of users. Drawing on data from a survey of 452 users of the Amsterdam Central station area in the Netherlands, the relative importance of three value perspectives (node, place, and experience) on place quality were assessed through exploratory factor analysis. Seven quality factors were identified. Furthermore, relationships between socio-demographic characteristics and quality perceptions were simultaneously analyzed using a path analysis. The outcome showed that age and gender play a key role in explaining different quality perceptions. Senior citizens attach a higher importance to basic needs and safety and advanced services, while women also find wayfinding important. Moreover, education and visiting purpose influence other aspects of place quality perception, such as shopping or transfer. These findings provide a better understanding of place quality considerations in railway station areas in general and can serve as guidelines for the improvement of Amsterdam Central station, in particular

Critical Viscosity Exponent for Fluids: What Happend to the Higher Loops

We arrange the loopwise perturbation theory for the critical viscosity exponent $x_{\eta}$, which happens to be very small, as a power series in $x_{\eta}$ itself and argue that the effect of loops beyond two is negligible. We claim that the critical viscosity exponent should be very closely approximated by $x_{\eta}=\frac{8}{15 \pi^2}(1+\frac{8}{3 \pi^2})\simeq 0.0685$.Comment: 9 pages and 3 figure

On the nature of Bose-Einstein condensation in disordered systems

We study the perfect Bose gas in random external potentials and show that there is generalized Bose-Einstein condensation in the random eigenstates if and only if the same occurs in the one-particle kinetic-energy eigenstates, which corresponds to the generalized condensation of the free Bose gas. Moreover, we prove that the amounts of both condensate densities are equal. Our method is based on the derivation of an explicit formula for the occupation measure in the one-body kinetic-energy eigenstates which describes the repartition of particles among these non-random states. This technique can be adapted to re-examine the properties of the perfect Bose gas in the presence of weak (scaled) non-random potentials, for which we establish similar results

Generalized Bose-Einstein Condensation

Generalized Bose-Einstein condensation (GBEC) involves condensates appearing simultaneously in multiple states. We review examples of the three types in an ideal Bose gas with different geometries. In Type I there is a discrete number of quantum states each having macroscopic occupation; Type II has condensation into a continuous band of states, with each state having macroscopic occupation; in Type III each state is microscopically occupied while the entire condensate band is macroscopically occupied. We begin by discussing Type I or "normal" BEC into a single state for an isotropic harmonic oscillator potential. Other geometries and external potentials are then considered: the {}"channel" potential (harmonic in one dimension and hard-wall in the other), which displays Type II, the {}"cigar trap" (anisotropic harmonic potential), and the "Casimir prism" (an elongated box), the latter two having Type III condensations. General box geometries are considered in an appendix. We particularly focus on the cigar trap, which Van Druten and Ketterle first showed had a two-step condensation: a GBEC into a band of states at a temperature $T_{c}$ and another "one-dimensional" transition at a lower temperature $T_{1}$ into the ground state. In a thermodynamic limit in which the ratio of the dimensions of the anisotropic harmonic trap is kept fixed, $T_{1}$ merges with the upper transition, which then becomes a normal BEC. However, in the thermodynamic limit of Beau and Zagrebnov, in which the ratio of the boundary lengths increases exponentially, $T_{1}$ becomes fixed at the temperature of a true Type I phase transition. The effects of interactions on GBEC are discussed and we show that there is evidence that Type III condensation may have been observed in the cigar trap.Comment: 17 pages; 6 figures. Intended for American Journal of Physic

Identity and integration of Russian speakers in the Baltic states: a framework for analysis

Following a review of current scholarship on identity and integration patterns of Russian speakers in the Baltic states, this article proposes an analytical framework to help understand current trends. Rogers Brubaker's widely employed triadic nexus is expanded to demonstrate why a form of Russian-speaking identity has been emerging, but has failed to become fully consolidated, and why significant integration has occurred structurally but not identificationally. By enumerating the subfields of political, economic, and cultural ‘stances’ and ‘representations’ the model helps to understand the complicated integration processes of minority groups that possess complex relationships with ‘external homelands’, ‘nationalizing states’ and ‘international organizations’. Ultimately, it is argued that socio-economic factors largely reduce the capacity for a consolidated identity; political factors have a moderate tendency to reduce this capacity, whereas cultural factors generally increase the potential for a consolidated group identity

An Integrated TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource to Drive High-Quality Survival Outcome Analytics

For a decade, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program collected clinicopathologic annotation data along with multi-platform molecular profiles of more than 11,000 human tumors across 33 different cancer types. TCGA clinical data contain key features representing the democratized nature of the data collection process. To ensure proper use of this large clinical dataset associated with genomic features, we developed a standardized dataset named the TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource (TCGA-CDR), which includes four major clinical outcome endpoints. In addition to detailing major challenges and statistical limitations encountered during the effort of integrating the acquired clinical data, we present a summary that includes endpoint usage recommendations for each cancer type. These TCGA-CDR findings appear to be consistent with cancer genomics studies independent of the TCGA effort and provide opportunities for investigating cancer biology using clinical correlates at an unprecedented scale. Analysis of clinicopathologic annotations for over 11,000 cancer patients in the TCGA program leads to the generation of TCGA Clinical Data Resource, which provides recommendations of clinical outcome endpoint usage for 33 cancer types

Association of carbohydrate antigen 125 on the response to dapagliflozin in patients with heart failure

Background: Elevated circulating carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125) is a marker of congestion and a predictor of outcomes in acute heart failure (HF). Less is known about CA125 in chronic ambulatory HF with reduced ejection fraction. Objectives: This study examined the association between baseline CA125 (and changes in CA125) and outcomes in patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction in the DAPA-HF (Dapagliflozin and Prevention of Adverse Outcomes in Heart Failure; NCT03036124) trial and its relationship with the effect of dapagliflozin. Methods: The primary outcome was a composite of a first episode of worsening HF or cardiovascular death. CA125 was measured at baseline and 12 months following randomization. Results: Median baseline CA125 was 13.04 U/mL (IQR: 8.78-21.13 U/mL) in 3,123 of 4,774 patients with available data. Compared with CA125 ≤35 U/mL (upper limit of normal), patients with CA125 >35 U/mL were at a higher risk of the primary outcome (adjusted HR: 1.59; 95% CI: 1.29-1.96). The adjusted risks of the primary outcome relative to quartile 1 (Q1) (≤8.78 U/mL) were as follow: Q2, 8.79-13.04 U/mL (HR: 0.94; 95% CI: 0.71-1.24); Q3, 13.05-21.13 U/mL (HR: 1.22; 95% CI: 0.94-1.59); Q4, ≥21.14 U/mL (HR: 1.63; 95% CI: 1.28-2.09). The beneficial effect of dapagliflozin compared with placebo on the primary outcome was consistent whether CA125 was analyzed in quartiles (interaction P = 0.13) or as a continuous variable (interaction P = 0.75). The placebo-corrected relative change in CA125 at 12 months was −5.2% (95% CI: −10.6% to 0.5%; P = 0.07). Conclusions: In DAPA-HF, elevated CA125 levels were an independent predictor of the risk of worsening HF or cardiovascular death. Dapagliflozin reduced the risk of worsening HF or cardiovascular death regardless of baseline CA125

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory is a second generation water Cherenkov detector designed to determine whether the currently observed solar neutrino deficit is a result of neutrino oscillations. The detector is unique in its use of D2O as a detection medium, permitting it to make a solar model-independent test of the neutrino oscillation hypothesis by comparison of the charged- and neutral-current interaction rates. In this paper the physical properties, construction, and preliminary operation of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory are described. Data and predicted operating parameters are provided whenever possible.Comment: 58 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Nucl. Inst. Meth. Uses elsart and epsf style files. For additional information about SNO see http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca . This version has some new reference