836 research outputs found
Influence of damping on the vanishing of the electro-optic effect in chiral isotropic media
Using first principles, it is demonstrated that radiative damping alone
cannot lead to a nonvanishing electro-optic effect in a chiral isotropic
medium. This conclusion is in contrast with that obtained by a calculation in
which damping effects are included using the standard phenomenological model.
We show that these predictions differ because the phenomenological damping
equations are valid only in regions where the frequencies of the applied
electromagnetic fields are nearly resonant with the atomic transitions. We also
show that collisional damping can lead to a nonvanishing electrooptic effect,
but with a strength sufficiently weak that it is unlikely to be observable
under realistic laboratory conditions
Time trends in survival and readmission following coronary artery bypass grafting in Scotland, 1981-96: retrospective observational study
Improvements in coronary revascularisation techniques and an increase in the use of percutaneous interventions1 have led to a rise in the number of coronary artery bypass grafting operations in older patients with more severe cardiac disease and worse comorbidity and who have previously undergone revascularisation procedures. 2 3 Advances in surgical and anaesthetic techniques have prevented a worsening risk profile from being translated into an increase in perioperative deaths. 2 3 The aim of our study was to examine time trends in major outcomes up to two years after coronary artery bypass grafting
Influence of radiative damping on the optical-frequency susceptibility
Motivated by recent discussions concerning the manner in which damping
appears in the electric polarizability, we show that (a) there is a dependence
of the nonresonant contribution on the damping and that (b) the damping enters
according to the "opposite sign prescription." We also discuss the related
question of how the damping rates in the polarizability are related to
energy-level decay rates
Radiative Proton Capture Studies at Intermediate Energies
This work was supported by National Science Foundation Grants PHY 76-84033A01, PHY 78-22774, and Indiana Universit
Radiative Proton Capture: Recent Results
Supported by the National Science Foundation and Indiana Universit
Charmonium production at neutrino factories
At existing and planned neutrino factories (high energy and high intensity
neutrino beam facilities) precision studies of QCD in neutrino-nucleon
interactions are a realistic opportunity. We investigate charmonium production
in fixed target neutrino experiments. We find that production in
neutrino-nucleon collision is dominated by the color octet NRQCD matrix
element in a neutral current process, which is not accessible in photo or
leptoproduction. Neutrino experiments at a future Muon Collider will acquire
sufficient event rate to accurately measure color octet matrix element
contributions. The currently running high energy neutrino experiments, NOMAD
and NuTeV could also observe several such events.Comment: 13 pages Latex, with five embedded eps figures. Cosmetic fixups in
the figures, otherwise unchange
Long-distance dispersal of pigeons and doves generated new ecological opportunities for host-switching and adaptive radiation by their parasites.
Adaptive radiation is an important mechanism of organismal diversification and can be triggered by new ecological opportunities. Although poorly studied in this regard, parasites are an ideal group in which to study adaptive radiations because of their close associations with host species. Both experimental and comparative studies suggest that the ectoparasitic wing lice of pigeons and doves have adaptively radiated, leading to differences in body size and overall coloration. Here, we show that long-distance dispersal by dove hosts was central to parasite diversification because it provided new ecological opportunities for parasites to speciate after host-switching. We further show that among extant parasite lineages host-switching decreased over time, with cospeciation becoming the more dominant mode of parasite speciation. Taken together, our results suggest that host dispersal, followed by host-switching, provided novel ecological opportunities that facilitated adaptive radiation by parasites
Renormalization Group Summation and the Free Energy of Hot QCD
Using an approach developed in the context of zero-temperature QCD to
systematically sum higher order effects whose form is fixed by the
renormalization group equation, we sum to all orders the leading log (LL) and
next-to-leading log (NLL) contributions to the thermodynamic free energy in hot
QCD. While the result varies considerably less with changes in the
renormalization scale than does the purely perturbative result, a novel
ambiguity arises which reflects the strong scheme dependence of thermal
perturbation theory.Comment: 7 pages REVTEX4, 2 figures; v2: typos correcte
Quantum coherence in a degenerate two-level atomic ensemble: for a transition
For a transition driven by a linearly polarized
light and probed by a circularly light, quantum coherence effects are
investigated. Due to the coherence between the drive Rabi frequency and Zeeman
splitting, electromagnetically induced transparency, electromagnetically
induced absorption, and the transition from positive to negative dispersion are
obtained, as well as the populations coherently oscillating in a wide spectral
region. At the zero pump-probe detuning, the subluminal and superluminal light
propagation is predicted. Finally, coherent population trapping states are not
highly sensitive to the refraction and absorption in such ensemble.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
Getting Better Hospital Alarm Sounds Into a Global Standard
The reserved set of audible alarm signals embodied within the global medical device safety standard, IEC 60601-1-8, is known to be problematic and in need of updating. The current alarm signals are not only suboptimal, but there is also little evidence beyond learnability (which is known to be poor) that demonstrates their performance in realistic and representative clinical environments. In this article, we describe the process of first designing and then testing potential replacement audible alarm signals for IEC 60601-1-8, starting with the design of several sets of candidate sounds and initial tests on learnability and localizability, followed by testing in simulated clinical environments. We demonstrate that in all tests, the alarm signals selected for further development significantly outperform the current alarm signals. We describe the process of collecting considerably more data on the performance of the new sounds than exists for the current sounds, which ultimately will be of use to end users. We also reflect on the process and practice of working with the relevant committees and other practical issues beyond the science, which also need constant attention if the alarms we have developed are to be included successfully in an updated version of the standard
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