1,002 research outputs found
Testing a health research instrument to develop a statewide survey on maternity care
Partnerships between researchers and end users are an important strategy for research uptake in policy and practice. This paper describes how collaboration between an academic research organisation (the Kolling Institute) and a government performance reporting agency (the NSW Bureau of Health Information (BHI)), contributed to the development of a new statewide maternity care survey for NSW.NHMR
The Solar Neighborhood XXVII: Discovery of New Proper Motion Stars with mu > 0.18 "/yr in the Southern Sky with 16.5 > R_59F > 18.0
Here we present 1584 new southern proper motion systems with mu > 0.18 "/yr
and 16.5 > R_59F > 18.0. This search complements the six previous
SuperCOSMOS-RECONS (SCR) proper motion searches of the southern sky for stars
within the same proper motion range, but with R_59F < 16.5. As in previous
papers, we present distance estimates for these systems and find that three
systems are estimated to be within 25 pc, including one, SCR 1546-5534,
possibly within the RECONS 10 pc horizon at 6.7 pc, making it the second
nearest discovery of the searches. We find 97 white dwarf candidates with
distance estimates between 10 and 120 pc, as well as 557 cool subdwarf
candidates. The subdwarfs found in this paper make up nearly half of the
subdwarf systems reported from our SCR searches, and are significantly redder
than those discovered thus far. The SCR searches have now found 155 red dwarfs
estimated to be within 25 pc, including 10 within 10 pc. In addition, 143 white
dwarf candidates and 1155 cool subdwarf candidates have been discovered. The
1584 systems reported here augment the sample of 4724 systems previously
discovered in our SCR searches, and imply that additional systems fainter than
R_59F = 18.0 are yet to be discovered.Comment: 11 pages of text, seven figure
Variational density matrix optimization using semidefinite programming
We discuss how semidefinite programming can be used to determine the
second-order density matrix directly through a variational optimization. We
show how the problem of characterizing a physical or N -representable density
matrix leads to matrix-positivity constraints on the density matrix. We then
formulate this in a standard semidefinite programming form, after which two
interior point methods are discussed to solve the SDP. As an example we show
the results of an application of the method on the isoelectronic series of
Beryllium.Comment: corrected typos, added do
A new Lenstra-type Algorithm for Quasiconvex Polynomial Integer Minimization with Complexity 2^O(n log n)
We study the integer minimization of a quasiconvex polynomial with
quasiconvex polynomial constraints. We propose a new algorithm that is an
improvement upon the best known algorithm due to Heinz (Journal of Complexity,
2005). This improvement is achieved by applying a new modern Lenstra-type
algorithm, finding optimal ellipsoid roundings, and considering sparse
encodings of polynomials. For the bounded case, our algorithm attains a
time-complexity of s (r l M d)^{O(1)} 2^{2n log_2(n) + O(n)} when M is a bound
on the number of monomials in each polynomial and r is the binary encoding
length of a bound on the feasible region. In the general case, s l^{O(1)}
d^{O(n)} 2^{2n log_2(n) +O(n)}. In each we assume d>= 2 is a bound on the total
degree of the polynomials and l bounds the maximum binary encoding size of the
input.Comment: 28 pages, 10 figure
Semileptonic form factors - a model-independent approach
We demonstrate that the B->D(*) l nu form factors can be accurately predicted
given the slope parameter rho^2 of the Isgur-Wise function. Only weak
assumptions, consistent with lattice results, on the wavefunction for the light
degrees of freedom are required to establish this result. We observe that the
QCD and 1/m_Q corrections can be systematically represented by an effective
Isgur-Wise function of shifted slope. This greatly simplifies the analysis of
semileptonic B decay. We also investigate what the available semileptonic data
can tell us about lattice QCD and Heavy Quark Effective Theory. A rigorous
identity relating the form factor slope difference rho_D^2-rho_A1^2 to a
combination of form factor intercepts is found. The identity provides a means
of checking theoretically evaluated intercepts with experiment.Comment: 18 pages, Revtex, 4 postscript figures, uses epsfig.st
Role of Acetaldehyde in Ethanol-Induced Elevation of the Neuroactive Steroid 3α-Hydroxy-5α-Pregnan-20-One in Rats
Systemic ethanol administration increases neuroactive steroid levels that increase ethanol sensitivity. Acetaldehyde is a biologically active compound that may contribute to behavioral and rewarding effects of ethanol. We investigated the role of acetaldehyde in ethanol–induced elevations of 3α-hydroxy-5α-pregnan-20-one (3α,5α-THP) levels in cerebral cortex
Ethanol-induced GABAA receptor alpha4 subunit plasticity involves phosphorylation and neuroactive steroids
GABAA receptors containing α4 subunits are widely implicated in acute ethanol sensitivity, and their spatial and temporal regulation prominently contributes to ethanol-induced neuroplasticity in hippocampus and cortex. However, it is unknown if α4-containing GABAA receptors in the thalamus, an area of high α4 expression, display similar regulatory patterns following ethanol administration, and if so, by which molecular mechanisms. In the current study, thalamic GABAA receptor α4 subunit levels were increased following a 6-week, but not a 2-week chronic ethanol diet. Following acute high-dose ethanol administration, thalamic GABAA receptor α4 subunit levels were regulated in a temporal fashion, as a decrease was observed at 2 hours followed by a delayed transient increase. PKCγ and PKCδ levels paralleled α4 temporal expression patterns following ethanol exposure. Initial decreases in α4 subunit expression were associated with reduced serine phosphorylation. Delayed increases in expression were not associated with a change in phosphorylation state, but were prevented by inhibiting neuroactive steroid production with the 5α-reductase inhibitor finasteride. Overall, these studies indicate that thalamic GABAA receptor α4 subunit expression following acute and chronic ethanol administration exhibits similar regulatory patterns as other regions and that transient expression patterns following acute exposure in vivo are likely dependent on both subunit phosphorylation state and neuroactive steroids
- …