357 research outputs found
Older Adults’ Perceptions of Intergenerational Support After Widowhood: How Do Men and Women Differ?
Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142784/1/Nesse-Ha-InternSupport-FamIssues-2006.pd
Convergence to equilibrium for the discrete coagulation-fragmentation equations with detailed balance
Under the condition of detailed balance and some additional restrictions on
the size of the coefficients, we identify the equilibrium distribution to which
solutions of the discrete coagulation-fragmentation system of equations
converge for large times, thus showing that there is a critical mass which
marks a change in the behavior of the solutions. This was previously known only
for particular cases as the generalized Becker-D\"oring equations. Our proof is
based on an inequality between the entropy and the entropy production which
also gives some information on the rate of convergence to equilibrium for
solutions under the critical mass.Comment: 28 page
Unrestricted Hartree-Fock theory of Wigner crystals
We demonstrate that unrestricted Hartree-Fock theory applied to electrons in
a uniform potential has stable Wigner crystal solutions for in
two dimensions and in three dimensions. The correlation energies
of the Wigner crystal phases are considerably smaller than those of the fluid
phases at the same density.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
New Lower Bound on Fermion Binding Energies
We derive a new lower bound for the ground state energy of N
fermions with total spin S in terms of binding energies of (N-1) fermions. Numerical examples are provided for some simple
short-range or confining potentials.Comment: 4 pages, 1 eps figur
Rat eradication restores nutrient subsidies from seabirds across terrestrial and marine ecosystems
Biological invasions pose a threat to nearly every ecosystem worldwide.1,2 Although eradication programs can successfully eliminate invasive species and enhance native biodiversity, especially on islands,3 the effects of eradication on cross-ecosystem processes are unknown. On islands where rats were never introduced, seabirds transfer nutrients from pelagic to terrestrial and nearshore marine habitats, which in turn enhance the productivity, biomass, and functioning of recipient ecosystems.4–6 Here, we test whether rat eradication restores seabird populations, their nutrient subsidies, and some of their associated benefits for ecosystem function to tropical islands and adjacent coral reefs. By comparing islands with different rat invasion histories, we found a clear hierarchy whereby seabird biomass, seabird-driven nitrogen inputs, and the incorporation of seabird-derived nutrients into terrestrial and marine food chains were highest on islands where rats were never introduced, intermediate on islands where rats were eradicated 4–16 years earlier, and lowest on islands with invasive rats still present. Seabird-derived nutrients diminished from land to sea and with increasing distance to rat-eradicated islands, but extended at least 300 m from shore. Although rat eradication enhanced seabird-derived nutrients in soil, leaves, marine algae, and herbivorous reef fish, reef fish growth was similar around rat-eradicated and rat-infested islands. Given that the loss of nutrient subsidies is of global concern,7 that removal of invasive species restores previously lost nutrient pathways over relatively short timescales is promising. However, the full return of cross-ecosystem nutrient subsidies and all of their associated demographic benefits may take multiple decades
Fast Diffusion Process in Quenched hcp Dilute Solid He-He Mixture
The study of phase structure of dilute He - He solid mixture of
different quality is performed by spin echo NMR technique. The diffusion
coefficient is determined for each coexistent phase. Two diffusion processes
are observed in rapidly quenched (non-equilibrium) hcp samples: the first
process has a diffusion coefficient corresponding to hcp phase, the second one
has huge diffusion coefficient corresponding to liquid phase. That is evidence
of liquid-like inclusions formation during fast crystal growing. It is
established that these inclusions disappear in equilibrium crystals after
careful annealing.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, QFS200
Observational diagnostics of gas in protoplanetary disks
Protoplanetary disks are composed primarily of gas (99% of the mass).
Nevertheless, relatively few observational constraints exist for the gas in
disks. In this review, I discuss several observational diagnostics in the UV,
optical, near-IR, mid-IR, and (sub)-mm wavelengths that have been employed to
study the gas in the disks of young stellar objects. I concentrate in
diagnostics that probe the inner 20 AU of the disk, the region where planets
are expected to form. I discuss the potential and limitations of each gas
tracer and present prospects for future research.Comment: Review written for the proceedings of the conference "Origin and
Evolution of Planets 2008", Ascona, Switzerland, June 29 - July 4, 2008. Date
manuscript: October 2008. 17 Pages, 6 graphics, 134 reference
Existence and stability of viscoelastic shock profiles
We investigate existence and stability of viscoelastic shock profiles for a
class of planar models including the incompressible shear case studied by
Antman and Malek-Madani. We establish that the resulting equations fall into
the class of symmetrizable hyperbolic--parabolic systems, hence spectral
stability implies linearized and nonlinear stability with sharp rates of decay.
The new contributions are treatment of the compressible case, formulation of a
rigorous nonlinear stability theory, including verification of stability of
small-amplitude Lax shocks, and the systematic incorporation in our
investigations of numerical Evans function computations determining stability
of large-amplitude and or nonclassical type shock profiles.Comment: 43 pages, 12 figure
A multistate model of health transitions in older people: a secondary analysis of ASPREE clinical trial data
Background: Understanding the nature of transitions from a healthy state to chronic diseases and death is important for planning health-care system requirements and interventions. We aimed to quantify the trajectories of disease and disability in a population of healthy older people. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of data from the ASPREE trial, which was done in 50 sites in Australia and the USA and recruited community-dwelling, healthy individuals who were aged 70 years or older (≥65 years for Black and Hispanic people in the USA) between March 10, 2010, and Dec 24, 2014. Participants were followed up with annual face-to-face visits, biennial assessments of cognitive function, and biannual visits for physical function until death or June 12, 2017, whichever occurred first. We used multistate models to examine transitions from a healthy state to first intermediate disease events (ie, cancer events, stroke events, cardiac events, and physical disability or dementia) and, ultimately, to death. We also examined the effects of age and sex on transition rates using Cox proportional hazards regression models. Findings: 19 114 participants with a median age of 74·0 years (IQR 71·6–77·7) were included in our analyses. During a median follow-up of 4·7 years (IQR 3·6–5·7), 1933 (10·1%) of 19 114 participants had an incident cancer event, 487 (2·5%) had an incident cardiac event, 398 (2·1%) had an incident stroke event, 924 (4·8%) developed persistent physical disability or dementia, and 1052 (5·5%) died. 15 398 (80·6%) individuals did not have any of these events during follow-up. The highest proportion of deaths followed incident cancer (501 [47·6%] of 1052) and 129 (12·3%) participants transitioned from disability or dementia to death. Among 12 postulated transitions, transitions from the intermediate states to death had much higher rates than transitions from a healthy state to death. The progression rates to death were 158 events per 1000 person-years (95% CI 144–172) from cancer, 112 events per 1000 person-years (86–145) from stroke, 88 events per 1000 person-years (68–111) from cardiac disease, 69 events per 1000 person-years (58–82) from disability or dementia, and four events per 1000 person-years (4–5) from a healthy state. Age was significantly associated with an accelerated rate for most transitions. Male sex (vs female sex) was significantly associated with an accelerate rate for five of 12 transitions. Interpretation: We describe a multistate model in a healthy older population in whom the most common transition was from a healthy state to cancer. Our findings provide unique insights into the frequency of events, their transition rates, and the impact of age and sex. These results have implications for preventive health interventions and planning for appropriate levels of residential care in healthy ageing populations. Funding: The National Institutes of Health
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