Cauchy horizon stability in self-similar collapse: scalar radiation

The stability of the Cauchy horizon in spherically symmetric self-similar collapse is studied by determining the flux of scalar radiation impinging on the horizon. This flux is found to be finite.Comment: 10 pages. To appear in Phys Rev

Concerns with AED conversion: comparison of patient and physician perspectives.

When discussing AED conversion in the clinic, both the patient and physician perspectives on the goals and risks of this change are important to consider. To identify patient-reported and clinician-perceived concerns, a panel of epilepsy specialists was questioned about the topics discussed with patients and the clinician's perspective of patient concerns. Findings of a literature review of articles that report patient-expressed concerns regarding their epilepsy and treatment were also reviewed. Results showed that the specialist panel appropriately identified patient-reported concerns of driving ability, medication cost, seizure control, and medication side effects. Additionally, patient-reported concerns of independence, employment issues, social stigma, medication dependence, and undesirable cognitive effects are important to address when considering and initiating AED conversion

Gauge invariant perturbations of self-similar Lema\^itre-Tolman-Bondi spacetime: even parity modes with l≥2l\geq 2

In this paper we consider gauge invariant linear perturbations of the metric and matter tensors describing the self-similar Lema\^itre-Tolman-Bondi (timelike dust) spacetime containing a naked singularity. We decompose the angular part of the perturbation in terms of spherical harmonics and perform a Mellin transform to reduce the perturbation equations to a set of ordinary differential equations with singular points. We fix initial data so the perturbation is finite on the axis and the past null cone of the singularity, and follow the perturbation modes up to the Cauchy horizon. There we argue that certain scalars formed from the modes of the perturbation remain finite, indicating linear stability of the Cauchy horizon.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure

Patient coping strategies in COPD across disease severity and quality of life: a qualitative study

Quality of life (QoL) has a weak relationship with lung function (LF) impairment in COPD; some cope well despite poor LF, while others suffer disproportionate QoL impairment despite well-preserved LF. Adjuvant non-pharmacological interventions such as rehabilitation and psychological/behavioural support may help if acceptable and targeted appropriately, but are under-used and sometimes declined by patients. This study aimed to explore and understand variations in experiences and coping strategies in patients with different severities of disease and disease-specific QoL. Thirty four participants were purposively sampled across a spectrum of LF and QoL impairment, to cover a grid of sub-groups (‘very severe LF, good QoL’, moderate LF, poor QoL’ etc.). Semi-structured interviews, digitally recorded, were analysed by thematic analysis. Data saturation was achieved. Four themes emerged: symptom impact, coping strategies, coping challenges, support needs. Most described employing multiple coping strategies yet over half reported significant challenges coping with COPD including: psychological impact, non-acceptance of diagnosis and/or disease progression, effects of comorbidities and inadequate self-management skills. Approximately half wanted further help, ideally nonpharmacological, across all LF impairment groups but mainly with lower QoL. Those with lower QoL additionally reported greater psychological distress and greater use of non-pharmacological support strategies where accessible. Patients who develop effective coping strategies, have better quality of life independent of objective LF, whereas others cope poorly, are aware of this, and report more use of non-pharmacological approaches. This study suggests that severely impaired QoL, irrelevant of lung function, is a powerful patient centred indication to explore the positive benefits of psychological and behavioural support for distressed

Évaluation de stratégies augmentant potentiellement la résilience des cultures de soya québécoises face aux changements climatiques

Analyse multicritère d'une sélection de stratégies agricoles pouvant augmenter la résilience des cultures de soya québécoises aux changements climatiques. L'analyse et les recommandations sont précédées d'une mise en contexte (La résilience climatique et ses enjeux et Le portrait de l'agriculture au Québec), des Impacts de la culture du soya québécois sur l'environnement et des Effets directs et indirects des changements climatiques sur l'agriculture.L’objectif de cet essai est d’évaluer la performance de sept stratégies pouvant potentiellement contribuer à la résilience des cultures de soya québécoises face aux changements climatiques. Afin de bien saisir les enjeux entourant l’objectif, un portrait de l’agriculture au Québec, les conséquences du soya sur l’environnement et les effets directs et indirects des changements climatiques sur l’agriculture sont préalablement détaillés, servant du même coup de synthèse des savoirs. L’évaluation est ensuite menée à l’aide de critères et est présentée dans une analyse multicritère. Les critères d’évaluation ont été choisis en fonction des principaux enjeux influençant la résilience du soya aux CC. Ils visent l’adoption des stratégies et des effets bénéfiques à court/moyen terme. Les conclusions de l’évaluation mènent à la recommandation de mise en action à court/moyen terme de six stratégies sur sept, soit celles de se tourner vers l’agriculture biologique, d’implanter des cultures de couverture intercalaire en début de saison, de miser sur les technologies génétiques comme outil de sélection des variétés, d’adopter un marché du carbone en agriculture, de mettre en place un programme de valorisation monétaire des biens et services écologiques et finalement d’élargir l’accès au réseau électrique triphasé afin d’accélérer la transition énergétique. Seuls les résultats de la stratégie consistant à effectuer une migration des cultures de soya vers les régions nordiques du Québec se sont avérés négatifs à l’égard des critères d’évaluation, et n’est donc pas recommandé à court/moyen terme

The silicon cold-electron bolometer

This thesis describes the development and testing of two cold-electron bolometers using highly-doped silicon as the absorber. These detectors exhibit both high sensitivity and low time constants. High sensitivity is achieved due to the weak thermal-link between the electrons and the phonons in the silicon absorber at low temperature (< 1 K). Schottky barriers form naturally between the highly-doped silicon absorber and the superconducting contacts. Selective tunnelling of electrons across these Schottky barriers allows the electron temperature in the silicon absorber to be cooled to below the thermal bath temperature. This direct electron-cooling acts as thermoelectric feedback, reducing the time constant of a cold-electron bolometer to below 1 µs. In this work, the underlying physics of these devices is discussed and two devices are presented: one with a highly-doped silicon absorber and the other with strained highly-doped silicon used as the absorber. The design of these detectors is discussed and results are found from numerous characterisation experiments, including optical measurements. These measurements show that a prototype device, using a strained and highly-doped silicon absorber, has a noise-equivalent power of 6.6 × 10^-17 W/rtHz. When photon noise (which dominated this measurement) and noise from the amplifier are disregarded, the underlying device-limited noise-equivalent power is 2.0 × 10^-17 W/rtHz. By measuring the photon noise, the time constant of this detector has been determined to be less than 1.5 µs. When compared to the device using unstrained silicon, it is clear that the straining of the silicon absorber, which reduces the electron-phonon coupling, produces a notable improvement in detector performance. Furthermore, a novel amplifier-readout technique, whereby the outputs of two matched amplifiers are cross correlated is introduced; this technique reduces the input-referred amplifier noise from 1 nV/rtHz to 300 pV/rtHz

The edentulous patient: attitudes toward oral health status

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75662/1/j.1754-4505.1983.tb01340.x.pd

Design and characterisation of titanium nitride sub-arrays of kinetic inductance detectors for passive terahertz imaging

We report on the investigation of titanium nitride (TiN) thin films deposited via atomic layer deposition (ALD) for microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKID). Using our in-house ALD process, we have grown a sequence of TiN thin films (thickness 15, 30, 60 nm). The films have been characterised in terms of superconducting transition temperature Tc , sheet resistance Rs and microstructure. We have fabricated test resonator structures and characterised them at a temperature of 300 mK. At 350 GHz, we report an optical noise equivalent power NEPopt≈2.3×10−15 W/√Hz , which is promising for passive terahertz imaging applications

Determination of Fluoxetine and Norfluoxetine Concentrations in Cadaveric Allograft Skin

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90146/1/j.1875-9114.1998.tb03908.x.pd