On some aspects of the noise propagation from supersonic aircraft

The noise problem associated with an aircraft flying at supersonic speeds is shown to depend primarily on the shock wave pattern formed by the aircraft. The noise intensity received by a ground observer from a supersonic aircraft flying at high as well as low altitudes, is shown to be high although it is of a transient nature. Continues

Monotone Regression: A Simple and Fast O(n) PAVA Implementation

Efficient coding and improvements in the execution order of the up-and-down-blocks algorithm for monotone or isotonic regression leads to a significant increase in speed as well as a short and simple O(n) implementation. Algorithms that use monotone regression as a subroutine, e.g., unimodal or bivariate monotone regression, also benefit from the acceleration. A substantive comparison with and characterization of currently available implementations provides an extensive overview of up-and-down-blocks implementations for the pool-adjacent-violators algorithm for simple linear ordered monotone regression

Nonmetric Unfolding of Marketing Data: Degeneracy and Stability

Nonmetric unfolding is a powerful (nonparametric) analytical tool generating a preference-based joint display of subjects (e.g., customers) and objects (e.g., brands or products). Systematic patterns in customers’ preferences can be directly inferred from this display, and may provide valuable input for making important marketing decisions such as deciding what new product to launch. Unfortunately, nonmetric unfolding frequently produces degenerate unfolding solutions (i.e., unfolding solutions showing close-to-perfect model fit irrespective of the data analyzed). As a degenerated display shows ill-positioned customers and brands/products, the chance of making an incorrect marketing decision (e.g., launching the wrong product) is very high. To solve this problem adequately, we combine bootstrapping with penalized nonmetric unfolding (Prefscal) to obtain an accurate, nondegenerate and stable unfolding solution

The effect of relationship status on communicating emotions through touch

Research into emotional communication to date has largely focused on facial and vocal expressions. In contrast, recent studies by Hertenstein, Keltner, App, Bulleit, and Jaskolka (2006) and Hertenstein, Holmes, McCullough, and Keltner (2009) exploring nonverbal communication of emotion discovered that people could identify anger, disgust, fear, gratitude, happiness, love, sadness and sympathy from the experience of being touched on either the arm or body by a stranger, without seeing the touch. The study showed that strangers were unable to communicate the self-focused emotions embarrassment, envy and pride, or the universal emotion surprise. Literature relating to touch indicates that the interpretation of a tactile experience is significantly influenced by the relationship between the touchers (Coan, Schaefer, & Davidson, 2006). The present study compared the ability of romantic couples and strangers to communicate emotions solely via touch. Results showed that both strangers and romantic couples were able to communicate universal and prosocial emotions, whereas only romantic couples were able to communicate the self-focused emotions envy and pride

Molecular dynamics simulation of the fragile glass former ortho-terphenyl: a flexible molecule model

We present a realistic model of the fragile glass former orthoterphenyl and the results of extensive molecular dynamics simulations in which we investigated its basic static and dynamic properties. In this model the internal molecular interactions between the three rigid phenyl rings are described by a set of force constants, including harmonic and anharmonic terms; the interactions among different molecules are described by Lennard-Jones site-site potentials. Self-diffusion properties are discussed in detail together with the temperature and momentum dependencies of the self-intermediate scattering function. The simulation data are compared with existing experimental results and with the main predictions of the Mode Coupling Theory.Comment: 20 pages and 28 postscript figure

Towards an effective potential for the monomer, dimer, hexamer, solid and liquid forms of hydrogen fluoride

We present an attempt to build up a new two-body effective potential for hydrogen fluoride, fitted to theoretical and experimental data relevant not only to the gas and liquid phases, but also to the crystal. The model is simple enough to be used in Molecular Dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations. The potential consists of: a) an intra-molecular contribution, allowing for variations of the molecular length, plus b) an inter-molecular part, with three charged sites on each monomer and a Buckingham "exp-6" interaction between fluorines. The model is able to reproduce a significant number of observables on the monomer, dimer, hexamer, solid and liquid forms of HF. The shortcomings of the model are pointed out and possible improvements are finally discussed.Comment: LaTeX, 24 pages, 2 figures. For related papers see also http://www.chim.unifi.it:8080/~valle

Response rates in postal surveys of healthcare professionals between 1996 and 2005: An observational study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Postal surveys are a frequently used method of data collection in health services research. Low response rates increase the potential for bias and threaten study validity. The objectives of this study were to estimate current response rates, to assess whether response rates are falling, to explore factors that might enhance response rates and to examine the potential for non-response bias in surveys mailed to healthcare professionals.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A random sample of postal or electronic surveys of healthcare workers (1996-2005) was identified from Medline, Embase or Psycinfo databases or Biomed Central. Outcome measures were survey response rate and non response analysis. Multilevel, multivariable logistic regression examined the relationship between response rate and publication type, healthcare profession, country and number of survey participants, questionnaire length and use of reminders.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The analysis included 350 studies. Average response rate in doctors was 57.5% (95%CI: 55.2% to 59.8%) and significantly lower than the estimate for the prior 10 year period. Response rates were higher when reminders were sent (adjusted OR 1.3; 95%CI 1.1-1.6) but only half the studies did this. Response rates were also higher in studies with fewer than 1000 participants and in countries other than US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. They were not significantly affected by publication type or healthcare profession (p > 0.05). Only 17% of studies attempted assessment of possible non-response bias.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Response rates to postal surveys of healthcare professionals are low and probably declining, almost certainly leading to unknown levels of bias. To improve the informativeness of postal survey findings, researchers should routinely consider the use of reminders and assess potential for non-response bias.</p

Calculation of The Band Gap Energy and Study of Cross Luminescence in Alkaline-Earth Dihalide Crystals

The band gap energy as well as the possibility of cross luminescence processes in alkaline-earth dihalide crystals have been calculated using the ab initio Perturbed-Ion (PI) model. The gap is calculated in several ways: as a difference between one-electron energy eigenvalues and as a difference between total energies of appropriate electronic states of the crystal, both at the HF level and with inclusion of Coulomb correlation effects. In order to study the possibility of ocurrence of cross luminescence in these materials, the energy difference between the valence band and the upmost core band for some representative crystals has been calculated. Both calculated band gap energies and cross luminescence predictions compare very well with the available experimental results.Comment: LaTeX file containing 8 pages plus 1 postscript figure. Final version accepted for publication in The Journal of the Physical Society of Japan. It contains a more complete list of references, as well as a more detailed comparison with previous theoretical investigations on the subjec

Silent cerebral infarct after cardiac catheterization as detected by diffusion weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging: a randomized comparison of radial and femoral arterial approaches

Background and objective: Cerebral microembolism detected by transcranial Doppler (TCD) occurs systematically during cardiac catheterization, but its clinical relevance, remains unknown. Studies suggest that asymptomatic embolic cerebral infarction detectable by diffusion-weighted (DW) MRI might exist after percutaneous cardiac interventions with a frequency as high as 15 to 22% of cases. We have set up, for the first time, a prospective multicenter trial to assess the rate of silent cerebral infarction after cardiac catheterization and to compare the impact of the arterial access site, comparing radial and femoral access, on this phenomenon. Study design: This prospective study will be performed in patients with severe aortic valve stenosis. To assess the occurrence of cerebral infarction, all patients will undergo cerebral DW-MRI and neurological assessment within 24 hours before, and 48 hours after cardiac catheterization and retrograde catheterization of the aortic valve. Randomization for the access site will be performed before coronary angiography. A subgroup will be monitored by transcranial power M-mode Doppler during cardiac catheterization to observe cerebral blood flow and track emboli. Neuropsychological tests will also be recorded in a subgroup of patients before and after the interventional procedures to assess the impact of silent brain injury on potential cognitive decline. The primary end-point of the study is a direct comparison of ischemic cerebral lesions as detected by serial cerebral DW-MRI between patients explored by radial access and patients explored by femoral access. Secondary end-points include comparison of neuropsychological test performance and number of microembolism signals observed in the two groups. Implications: Using serial DW-MRI, silent cerebral infarction rate will be defined and the potential influence of vascular access site will be evaluated. Silent cerebral infarction might be a major concern during cardiac catheterization and its potential relationship to cognitive decline needs to be assessed. Study registration: The SCIPION study is registered through National Institutes of Health-sponsored clinical trials registry and has been assigned the Identifier: NCT 00329979