351 research outputs found
Asymptotically cylindrical 7-manifolds of holonomy G_2 with applications to compact irreducible G_2-manifolds
We construct examples of exponentially asymptotically cylindrical Riemannian
7-manifolds with holonomy group equal to G_2. To our knowledge, these are the
first such examples. We also obtain exponentially asymptotically cylindrical
coassociative calibrated submanifolds. Finally, we apply our results to show
that one of the compact G_2-manifolds constructed by Joyce by desingularisation
of a flat orbifold T^7/\Gamma can be deformed to one of the compact
G_2-manifolds obtainable as a generalized connected sum of two exponentially
asymptotically cylindrical SU(3)-manifolds via the method given by the first
author (math.DG/0012189).Comment: 36 pages; v2: corrected trivial typos; v3: some arguments corrected
and improved; v4: a number of improvements on presentation, paritularly in
sections 4 and 6, including an added picture
Economic Impact of Withdrawing Specific Agricultural Pesticides in the Lower Rio Grande Valley
The Air, Pesticides, and Toxics Division of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has encouraged all states to develop a plan to manage the use of pesticides to prevent application that would result in unreasonable risks to human health and the environment from contamination of ground water. In February, 1988, EPA proposed a strategy where by they would regulate certain pesticides by prohibiting their use in areas vulnerable to leaching unless a state develops and implements a management plan acceptable to EPA. However, banning the use of a pesticide in a region is the worst case scenario available to the TWC for managing water quality.
The Texas Water Commission (TWC) assessed the State for areas vulnerable to leaching and found the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) to be a highly vulnerable area. This study examines three pesticides (atrazine, dicrotophos, and aldicarb) currently used in the LRGV that were identified by the TWC as potential contaminants of ground water. Alternative methods of controlling pests in this region were identified, and the economic impacts of withdrawing one or all three of these pesticides from the study area were estimated.
Regional impacts on gross receipts (sales), variable costs, and net returns were determined. If atrazine use were banned in the LRGV, corn and sorghum sales would decrease by approximately 2 million dollars, leaving farmers in the region with a 600,000 for the region as a whole. Banning aldicarb use in the study area would reduce citrus sales by almost 200,000, and reduce farmer net income by over $3 million annually
Type IIA Orientifold Limit of M-Theory on Compact Joyce 8-Manifold of Spin(7)-Holonomy
We show that M-theory compactified on a compact Joyce 8-manifold of
-holonomy, which yields an effective theory in with = 1
supersymmetry, admits at some special points in it moduli space a description
in terms of type IIA theory on an orientifold of compact Joyce 7-manifold of
-holonomy. We find the evidence in favour of this duality by computing the
massless spectra on both M-thory side and type IIA side. For the latter, we
compute the massless spectra by going to the orbifold limit of the Joyce
7-manifold.Comment: 26 pages, 2 eps figures, Latex file, two references and one footnote
added, corrected some typo
The art of Patient and Public Involvement : Exploring ways to research and reduce air pollution through art-based community workshops - a reflective paper
In this reflective paper we outline and discuss our art-based Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) approach. This exercise held two broad objectives. Firstly, to assist policy makers in understanding the types of interventions communities will find acceptable to address the problem of poor air quality, and secondly, to ascertain community views about our research plans to explore the impact of the planned interventions on neighbourhoods. We reflect on both our approach and the emergent conversations from the PPI activity. Attendees contributed to the process and stressed the importance of not burdening poor neighbourhoods with costly charges as that would ameliorate one health problem but generate others as a consequence of additional financial burden. Equally, they stressed the need to conduct research on matters which they could connect with such as the impact of clean air plans on young children and how information about air pollution is disseminated in their neighbourhoods as and when research findings emerge. This paper offers a conceptual analysis of the art-based PPI method and uniquely draws a connection to the philosophical traditions of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Specifically, we demonstrate how art is conducive to creating a dialogue which is specifically helpful for PPI purposes for both researchers and implementers, and conversely, why traditional conversational approaches may have fallen short of the adequacy mark in this regard
Composite Fermion Description of Correlated Electrons in Quantum Dots: Low Zeeman Energy Limit
We study the applicability of composite fermion theory to electrons in
two-dimensional parabolically-confined quantum dots in a strong perpendicular
magnetic field in the limit of low Zeeman energy. The non-interacting composite
fermion spectrum correctly specifies the primary features of this system.
Additional features are relatively small, indicating that the residual
interaction between the composite fermions is weak. \footnote{Published in
Phys. Rev. B {\bf 52}, 2798 (1995).}Comment: 15 pages, 7 postscript figure
Economic Impact of Withdrawing Specific Agricultural Pesticides in the Lower Rio Grande Valley
The Air, Pesticides, and Toxics Division of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has encouraged all states to develop a plan to manage the use of pesticides to prevent application that would result in unreasonable risks to human health and the environment from contamination of ground water. In February, 1988, EPA proposed a strategy where by they would regulate certain pesticides by prohibiting their use in areas vulnerable to leaching unless a state develops and implements a management plan acceptable to EPA. However, banning the use of a pesticide in a region is the worst case scenario available to the TWC for managing water quality.
The Texas Water Commission (TWC) assessed the State for areas vulnerable to leaching and found the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) to be a highly vulnerable area. This study examines three pesticides (atrazine, dicrotophos, and aldicarb) currently used in the LRGV that were identified by the TWC as potential contaminants of ground water. Alternative methods of controlling pests in this region were identified, and the economic impacts of withdrawing one or all three of these pesticides from the study area were estimated.
Regional impacts on gross receipts (sales), variable costs, and net returns were determined. If atrazine use were banned in the LRGV, corn and sorghum sales would decrease by approximately 2 million dollars, leaving farmers in the region with a 600,000 for the region as a whole. Banning aldicarb use in the study area would reduce citrus sales by almost 200,000, and reduce farmer net income by over $3 million annually
Differences in public's perception of air quality and acceptability of a clean air zone : A mixed-methods cross sectional study
Background: Air pollution is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Clean Air Zones (CAZs) which restrict the entry of polluting vehicles in targeted areas have been identified as potentially effective in improving health and reducing air pollution; however, their implementation can be controversial. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was completed by 1949 respondents who lived or worked in Bradford, a multi-cultural deprived city in England, between April and December 2021. Of these, 1137 were recruited from the longitudinal Born in Bradford (BiB) family cohort (families with children born in the city during 2007–2011) and 812 were from the general public. Bradford is the seventh largest metropolitan district in England and Wales with a population of over half a million mainly white British and Pakistani origin. The BiB families cohort and the general public respondents were used for descriptive analysis of perception of air quality and acceptability of CAZ, then the relationship between participants responses with demographic characteristics were investigated using the BiB families cohort. Outcomes included perceptions of air quality and acceptability of the CAZ supplemented by free-text questions. Thematic analysis was used to code free-text data. Descriptive analyses were performed on the entire sample. Latent class analysis was used to characterise participants was performed in the BiB dataset for whom detailed existing socio-demographic data were available. Results: The majority of participants (67%) considered improving air quality in Bradford as extremely important; 70% supported implementation of the CAZ. Three latent classes were identified within the BiB sample: deprived white British families (25%), more affluent white British families (32%) and deprived Pakistani-origin families (43%). Deprived white British (OR = 0.54, 95% CI: 0.34 to 0.84) and more affluent white British families (OR = 0.53, 95% CI: 0.36 to 0.79) were less likely to say the air quality was good/excellent when compared with deprived Pakistani-origin families. Affluent White British families were more likely to support the CAZ compared with deprived white British families (OR = 2.24; 95% CI: 1.55. to 3.25) and deprived Pakistani-origin families (OR = 2.06, 95% CI: 1.50 to 2.85). Qualitative analysis suggested that a perceived lack of cohesion in the policy and concerns about financial impacts drove negative attitudes. Conclusion: Families in Bradford were generally supportive of the planned CAZ and efforts to reduce pollution; however, support was weaker in more deprived communities. Pakistani-origin communities living in deprived areas perceived air quality as better than other groups. Tailored approaches to communicate about the proposed benefits of policies such as CAZ prior to implementation may be an important way to increase acceptability amongst vulnerable groups
Electronic structure of rectangular quantum dots
We study the ground state properties of rectangular quantum dots by using the
spin-density-functional theory and quantum Monte Carlo methods. The dot
geometry is determined by an infinite hard-wall potential to enable comparison
to manufactured, rectangular-shaped quantum dots. We show that the electronic
structure is very sensitive to the deformation, and at realistic sizes the
non-interacting picture determines the general behavior. However, close to the
degenerate points where Hund's rule applies, we find spin-density-wave-like
solutions bracketing the partially polarized states. In the
quasi-one-dimensional limit we find permanent charge-density waves, and at a
sufficiently large deformation or low density, there are strongly localized
stable states with a broken spin-symmetry.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, submitted to PR
Spin interactions and switching in vertically tunnel-coupled quantum dots
We determine the spin exchange coupling J between two electrons located in
two vertically tunnel-coupled quantum dots, and its variation when magnetic (B)
and electric (E) fields (both in-plane and perpendicular) are applied. We
predict a strong decrease of J as the in-plane B field is increased, mainly due
to orbital compression. Combined with the Zeeman splitting, this leads to a
singlet-triplet crossing, which can be observed as a pronounced jump in the
magnetization at in-plane fields of a few Tesla, and perpendicular fields of
the order of 10 Tesla for typical self-assembled dots. We use harmonic
potentials to model the confining of electrons, and calculate the exchange J
using the Heitler-London and Hund-Mulliken technique, including the long-range
Coulomb interaction. With our results we provide experimental criteria for the
distinction of singlet and triplet states and therefore for microscopic spin
measurements. In the case where dots of different sizes are coupled, we present
a simple method to switch on and off the spin coupling with exponential
sensitivity using an in-plane electric field. Switching the spin coupling is
essential for quantum computation using electronic spins as qubits.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figure
Maternal psychological distress in primary care and association with child behavioural outcomes at age three
Observational studies indicate children whose mothers have poor mental health are at increased risk of socio-emotional behavioural difficulties, but it is unknown whether these outcomes vary by the mothers’ mental health recognition and treatment status. To examine this question, we analysed linked longitudinal primary care and research data from 1078 women enrolled in the Born in Bradford cohort. A latent class analysis of treatment status and self-reported distress broadly categorised women as (a) not having a common mental disorder (CMD) that persisted through pregnancy and the first 2 years after delivery (N = 756, 70.1 %), (b) treated for CMD (N = 67, 6.2 %), or (c) untreated (N = 255, 23.7 %). Compared to children of mothers without CMD, 3-year-old children with mothers classified as having untreated CMD had higher standardised factor scores on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (d = 0.32), as did children with mothers classified as having treated CMD (d = 0.27). Results were only slightly attenuated in adjusted analyses. Children of mothers with CMD may be at risk for socio-emotional and behavioural difficulties. The development of effective treatments for CMD needs to be balanced by greater attempts to identify and treat women. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00787-015-0777-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users
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