On the exactness of the Semi-Classical Approximation for Non-Relativistic One Dimensional Propagators

For one dimensional non-relativistic quantum mechanical problems, we investigate the conditions for all the position dependence of the propagator to be in its phase, that is, the semi-classical approximation to be exact. For velocity independent potentials we find that: (i) the potential must be quadratic in space, but can have arbitrary time dependence. (ii) the phase may be made proportional to the classical action, and the magnitude (``fluctuation factor'') can also be found from the classical solution. (iii) for the driven harmonic oscillator the fluctuation factor is independent of the driving term.Comment: 7 pages, latex, no figures, published in journal of physics

European wildcat populations are subdivided into five main biogeographic groups: consequences of Pleistocene climate changes or recent anthropogenic fragmentation?

Extant populations of the European wildcat are fragmented across the continent, the likely consequence of recent extirpations due to habitat loss and over-hunting. However, their underlying phylogeographic history has never been reconstructed. For testing the hypothesis that the European wildcat survived the Ice Age fragmented in Mediterranean refuges, we assayed the genetic variation at 31 microsatellites in 668 presumptive European wildcats sampled in 15 European countries. Moreover, to evaluate the extent of subspecies/population divergence and identify eventual wild × domestic cat hybrids, we genotyped 26 African wildcats from Sardinia and North Africa and 294 random-bred domestic cats. Results of multivariate analyses and Bayesian clustering confirmed that the European wild and the domestic cats (plus the African wildcats) belong to two well-differentiated clusters (average Ф ST = 0.159, r st = 0.392, P > 0.001; Analysis of molecular variance [AMOVA]). We identified from c. 5% to 10% cryptic hybrids in southern and central European populations. In contrast, wild-living cats in Hungary and Scotland showed deep signatures of genetic admixture and introgression with domestic cats. The European wildcats are subdivided into five main genetic clusters (average Ф ST = 0.103, r st = 0.143, P > 0.001; AMOVA) corresponding to five biogeographic groups, respectively, distributed in the Iberian Peninsula, central Europe, central Germany, Italian Peninsula and the island of Sicily, and in north-eastern Italy and northern Balkan regions (Dinaric Alps). Approximate Bayesian Computation simulations supported late Pleistocene-early Holocene population splittings (from c. 60 k to 10 k years ago), contemporary to the last Ice Age climatic changes. These results provide evidences for wildcat Mediterranean refuges in southwestern Europe, but the evolution history of eastern wildcat populations remains to be clarified. Historical genetic subdivisions suggest conservation strategies aimed at enhancing gene flow through the restoration of ecological corridors within each biogeographic units. Concomitantly, the risk of hybridization with free-ranging domestic cats along corridor edges should be carefully monitored

Prospects for detection of Υ(1D)→Υ(1S)ππ\Upsilon(1D) \to \Upsilon(1S) \pi \pi via Υ(3S)→Υ(1D)+X\Upsilon(3S) \to \Upsilon(1D) + X

At least one state in the first family of D-wave $b \bar b$ quarkonium levels has been discovered near the predicted mass of 10.16 GeV/$c^2$. This state is probably the one with J=2. This state and the ones with J=1 and J=3 may contribute a detectable amount to the decay $\Upsilon(1D) \to \Upsilon(1S) \pi \pi$, depending on the partial widths for these decays for which predictions vary considerably. The prospects for detection of the chain $\Upsilon(3S) \to \Upsilon(1D) + X \to \Upsilon \pi \pi + X$ are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX, 1 figure, to be published in Phys. Rev. D, comment added after Eq. (2

Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) for Global Health

Purpose As global health education and training shift toward competency-based approaches, academic institutions and organizations must define appropriate assessment strategies for use across health professions. The authors aim to develop entrustable professional activities (EPAs) for global health to apply across academic and workplace settings. Method In 2019, the authors invited 55 global health experts from medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and public health to participate in a multiround, online Delphi process; 30 (55%) agreed. Experts averaged 17 years of global health experience, and 12 (40%) were from low-to middle-income countries. In round one, participants listed essential global health activities. The authors used in vivo coding for round one responses to develop initial EPA statements. In subsequent rounds, participants used 5-point Likert-Type scales to evaluate EPA statements for importance and relevance to global health across health professions. The authors elevated statements that were rated 4 (important/relevant to most) or 5 (very important/relevant to all) by a minimum of 70% of participants (decided a priori) to the final round, during which participants evaluated whether each statement represented an observable unit of work that could be assigned to a trainee. Descriptive statistics were used for quantitative data analysis. The authors used participant comments to categorize EPA statements into role domains. Results Twenty-Two EPA statements reached at least 70% consensus. The authors categorized these into 5 role domains: partnership developer, capacity builder, data analyzer, equity advocate, and health promoter. Statements in the equity advocate and partnership developer domains had the highest agreement for importance and relevance. Several statements achieved 100% agreement as a unit of work but achieved lower levels of agreement regarding their observability. Conclusions EPAs for global health may be useful to academic institutions and other organizations to guide the assessment of trainees within education and training programs across health professions

Towards understanding interactions between Sustainable Development Goals: the role of environment–human linkages

Only 10 years remain to achieve all Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) globally, so there is a growing need to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of action by targeting multiple SDGs. The SDGs were conceived as an ‘indivisible whole’, but interactions between SDGs need to be better understood. Several previous assessments have begun to explore interactions including synergies and possible conflicts between the SDGs, and differ widely in their conclusions. Although some highlight the role of the more environmentally-focused SDGs in underpinning sustainable development, none specifically focuses on environment-human linkages. Assessing interactions between SDGs, and the influence of environment on them, can make an important contribution to informing decisions in 2020 and beyond. Here, we review previous assessments of interactions among SDGs, apply an influence matrix to assess pairwise interactions between all SDGs, and show how viewing these from the perspective of environment-human linkages can influence the outcome. Environment, and environment-human linkages, influence most interactions between SDGs. Our action-focused assessment enables decision makers to focus environmental management to have the greatest impacts, and to identify opportunities to build on synergies and reduce trade-offs between particular SDGs. It may enable sectoral decision makers to seek support from environment managers for achieving their goals. We explore cross-cutting issues and the relevance and potential application of our approach in supporting decision making for progress to achieve the SDGs

Filtered screens and augmented Teichm\"uller space

We study a new bordification of the decorated Teichm\"uller space for a multiply punctured surface F by a space of filtered screens on the surface that arises from a natural elaboration of earlier work of McShane-Penner. We identify necessary and sufficient conditions for paths in this space of filtered screens to yield short curves having vanishing length in the underlying surface F. As a result, an appropriate quotient of this space of filtered screens on F yields a decorated augmented Teichm\"uller space which is shown to admit a CW decomposition that naturally projects to the augmented Teichm\"uller space by forgetting decorations and whose strata are indexed by a new object termed partially oriented stratum graphs.Comment: Final version to appear in Geometriae Dedicat

A simple mean field model for social interactions: dynamics, fluctuations, criticality

We study the dynamics of a spin-flip model with a mean field interaction. The system is non reversible, spacially inhomogeneous, and it is designed to model social interactions. We obtain the limiting behavior of the empirical averages in the limit of infinitely many interacting individuals, and show that phase transition occurs. Then, after having obtained the dynamics of normal fluctuations around this limit, we analize long time fluctuations for critical values of the parameters. We show that random inhomogeneities produce critical fluctuations at a shorter time scale compared to the homogeneous system.Comment: 37 pages, 2 figure

Adaptive dosing of anticancer drugs in neonates: facilitating evidence-based dosing regimens

PURPOSE: Selection of the most appropriate chemotherapy dosing regimens for neonates treated within the first weeks of life represents a significant clinical dilemma. Due to a lack of information relating to the clinical pharmacology of anticancer drugs in these challenging patients, current dosing guidelines are based on limited scientific rationale. In the current study, we investigate the utilisation of therapeutic drug monitoring approaches in neonates with localised hepatoblastoma, Wilms' tumour and stage 4S neuroblastoma, being treated with widely used anticancer drugs. METHODS: Plasma concentrations of cisplatin, vincristine, etoposide and carboplatin were quantified in two neonates being treated within the first 3 weeks of life and in a 32-week preterm infant treated at a gestational age of 40 weeks. Therapeutic drug monitoring was carried out where appropriate, based on the pharmacokinetic data obtained in conjunction with clinical response and toxicity. RESULTS: Treatment of a child aged 2 weeks with a recommended cisplatin dose reduction for weight to 1.8 mg/kg resulted in achievement of unbound cisplatin plasma concentrations of 0.01-0.08 µg/mL, markedly lower than exposures previously reported in infants and older children. A dose increase to 2.7 mg/kg was implemented, leading to the achievement of levels more in-line with those previously reported. This increased dose level was well tolerated over six courses of treatment, resulting in a good response to cisplatin monotherapy and the patient remains in remission at 3.5 years. In contrast, a 50 % vincristine dose reduction for weight in a 3-week-old neonate resulted in plasma concentrations comparable to levels observed in older children, leading to successful treatment and continued remission at 2 years. In a third patient, etoposide and carboplatin clearance values normalised to body weight were comparable to those reported in older children, resulting in comparatively lower exposures following reduced dosing. CONCLUSIONS: The current report provides unique data on the pharmacokinetics of several widely used anticancer drugs in neonates treated within the first few weeks of life. The provision of these data acts as a useful reference point to support future dosing decisions to be made by clinicians in the treatment of these challenging patients

Boundary and Coulomb Effects on Boson Systems in High-Energy Heavy-Ion Collisions

The boundary of a boson system plays an important role in determining the momentum distribution of the bosons. For a boson system with a cylindrical boundary, the momentum distribution is enhanced at high transverse momenta but suppressed at low transverse momenta, relative to a Bose-Einstein distribution. The boundary effects on systems of massless gluons and massive pions are studied. For gluons in a quark-gluon plasma, the presence of the boundary may modify the signals for the quark-gluon plasma. For pions in a pion system in heavy-ion collisions, Coulomb final-state interactions with the nuclear participants in the vicinity of the central rapidity region further modify the momentum distribution at low transverse momenta. By including both the boundary effect and the Coulomb final-state interactions we are able to account for the behavior of the $\pi^{-}$ transverse momentum spectrum observed in many heavy-ion experiments, notably at low transverse momenta.Comment: 15 pages Postscript uuencoded tar-comprssed file, 9 Postscript figures uuencoded tar-compressed fil