The cessation in pregnancy incentives trial (CPIT): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background: Seventy percent of women in Scotland have at least one baby, making pregnancy an opportunity to help most young women quit smoking before their own health is irreparably compromised. By quitting during pregnancy their infants will be protected from miscarriage and still birth as well as low birth weight, asthma, attention deficit disorder and adult cardiovascular disease. In the UK, the NICE guidelines: 'How to stop smoking in pregnancy and following childbirth' (June 2010) highlighted that little evidence exists in the literature to confirm the efficacy of financial incentives to help pregnant smokers to quit. Its first research recommendation was to determine: Within a UK context, are incentives an acceptable, effective and cost-effective way to help pregnant women who smoke to quit? <p/>Design and Methods: This study is a phase II exploratory individually randomised controlled trial comparing standard care for pregnant smokers with standard care plus the additional offer of financial voucher incentives to engage with specialist cessation services and/or to quit smoking during pregnancy. Participants (n=600) will be pregnant smokers identified at maternity booking who when contacted by specialist cessation services agree to having their details passed to the NHS Smokefree Pregnancy Study Helpline to discuss the trial. The NHS Smokefree Pregnancy Study Helpline will be responsible for telephone consent and follow-up in late pregnancy. The primary outcome will be self reported smoking in late pregnancy verified by cotinine measurement. An economic evaluation will refine cost data collection and assess potential cost-effectiveness while qualitative research interviews with clients and health professionals will assess the level of acceptance of this form of incentive payment. Research questions What is the likely therapeutic efficacy? Are incentives potentially cost-effective? Is individual randomisation an efficient trial design without introducing outcome bias? Can incentives be introduced in a way that is feasible and acceptable? <p/>Discussion: This phase II trial will establish a workable design to reduce the risks associated with a future definitive phase III multicentre randomised controlled trial and establish a framework to assess the costs and benefits of financial incentives to help pregnant smokers to quit

Thermodynamic properties of the periodic Anderson model:X-boson treatment

We study the specific dependence of the periodic Anderson Model (PAM) in the limit of $U=\infty$ employing the X-boson treatment in two fifferent regimes of the PAM: the heavy fermion Kondo (HF-K) and the heavy fermion local magnetic regime (HF-LMM). We obtain a multiple peak structure for the specific heat in agreement with experimental results as well as the increase of the electronic effective mass at low temperatures associated with the HF-K regime. The entropy per site at low T tends to zero in the HF-K regime, corresponding to a singlet ground state, and it tends to $k_{B}ln(2)$ in the HF-LMM, corresponding to a doublet ground state at each site. The linear coefficient $\gamma(T)=C_{v}/T$ of the specific heat qualitatively agrees with the experimental results obtained for differents materials in the two regimes considered here.Comment: 9 pages, 14 figure

Optimal low-thrust trajectories to asteroids through an algorithm based on differential dynamic programming

In this paper an optimisation algorithm based on Differential Dynamic Programming is applied to the design of rendezvous and fly-by trajectories to near Earth objects. Differential dynamic programming is a successive approximation technique that computes a feedback control law in correspondence of a fixed number of decision times. In this way the high dimensional problem characteristic of low-thrust optimisation is reduced into a series of small dimensional problems. The proposed method exploits the stage-wise approach to incorporate an adaptive refinement of the discretisation mesh within the optimisation process. A particular interpolation technique was used to preserve the feedback nature of the control law, thus improving robustness against some approximation errors introduced during the adaptation process. The algorithm implements global variations of the control law, which ensure a further increase in robustness. The results presented show how the proposed approach is capable of fully exploiting the multi-body dynamics of the problem; in fact, in one of the study cases, a fly-by of the Earth is scheduled, which was not included in the first guess solution

Fano resonance in electronic transport through a quantum wire with a side-coupled quantum dot: X-boson treatment

The transport through a quantum wire with a side coupled quantum dot is studied. We use the X-boson treatment for the Anderson single impurity model in the limit of $U=\infty$. The conductance presents a minimum for values of T=0 in the crossover from mixed-valence to Kondo regime due to a destructive interference between the ballistic channel associated with the quantum wire and the quantum dot channel. We obtain the experimentally studied Fano behavior of the resonance. The conductance as a function of temperature exhibits a logarithmic and universal behavior, that agrees with recent experimental results.Comment: 6 pages, 10 eps figs., revtex

Theory of the first-order isostructural valence phase transitions in mixed valence compounds YbIn_{x}Ag_{1-x}Cu_{4}

For describing the first-order isostructural valence phase transition in mixed valence compounds we develop a new approach based on the lattice Anderson model. We take into account the Coulomb interaction between localized f and conduction band electrons and two mechanisms of electron-lattice coupling. One is related to the volume dependence of the hybridization. The other is related to local deformations produced by f- shell size fluctuations accompanying valence fluctuations. The large f -state degeneracy allows us to use the 1/N expansion method. Within the model we develop a mean-field theory for the first-order valence phase transition in YbInCu_{4}. It is shown that the Coulomb interaction enhances the exchange interaction between f and conduction band electron spins and is the driving force of the phase transition. A comparison between the theoretical calculations and experimental measurements of the valence change, susceptibility, specific heat, entropy, elastic constants and volume change in YbInCu_{4} and YbAgCu_{4} are presented, and a good quantitative agreement is found. On the basis of the model we describe the evolution from the first-order valence phase transition to the continuous transition into the heavy-fermion ground state in the series of compounds YbIn_{1-x}Ag_{x}Cu_{4}. The effect of pressure on physical properties of YbInCu_{4} is studied and the H-T phase diagram is found.Comment: 17 pages RevTeX, 9 Postscript figures, to be submitted to Phys.Rev.

Superconductivity in the SU(N) Anderson Lattice at U=\infty

We present a mean-field study of superconductivity in a generalized N-channel cubic Anderson lattice at U=\infty taking into account the effect of a nearest-neighbor attraction J. The condition U=\infty is implemented within the slave-boson formalism considering the slave bosons to be condensed. We consider the $f$-level occupancy ranging from the mixed valence regime to the Kondo limit and study the dependence of the critical temperature on the various model parameters for each of three possible Cooper pairing symmetries (extended s, d-wave and p-wave pairing) and find interesting crossovers. It is found that the d- and p- wave order parameters have, in general, very similar critical temperatures. The extended s-wave pairing seems to be relatively more stable for electronic densities per channel close to one and for large values of the superconducting interaction J.Comment: Seven Figures; one appendix. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Heavy-fermion and spin-liquid behavior in a Kondo lattice with magnetic frustration

We study the competition between the Kondo effect and frustrating exchange interactions in a Kondo-lattice model within a large-${\cal N}$ dynamical mean-field theory. We find a T=0 phase transition between a heavy Fermi-liquid and a spin-liquid for a critical value of the exchange $J_c = T_{K}^0$, the single-impurity Kondo temperature. Close to the critical point, the Fermi liquid coherence scale $T^\star$ is strongly reduced and the effective mass strongly enhanced. The regime $T>T^\star$ is characterized by spin-liquid magnetic correlations and non-Fermi-liquid properties. It is suggested that magnetic frustration is a general mechanism which is essential to explain the large effective mass of some metallic compounds such as LiV$_2$O$_4$.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure. Late

X-boson cumulant approach to the periodic Anderson model

The Periodic Anderson Model (PAM) can be studied in the infinite U limit by employing the Hubbard X operators to project out the unwanted states. We have already studied this problem employing the cumulant expansion with the hybridization as perturbation, but the probability conservation of the local states (completeness) is not usually satisfied when partial expansions like the Chain Approximation (CHA) are employed. Here we treat the problem by a technique inspired in the mean field approximation of Coleman's slave-bosons method, and we obtain a description that avoids the unwanted phase transition that appears in the mean-field slave-boson method both when the chemical potential is greater than the localized level Ef at low temperatures (T) and for all parameters at intermediate T.Comment: Submited to Physical Review B 14 pages, 17 eps figures inserted in the tex

Testing SUSY at the LHC: Electroweak and Dark matter fine tuning at two-loop order

In the framework of the Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (CMSSM) we evaluate the electroweak fine tuning measure that provides a quantitative test of supersymmetry as a solution to the hierarchy problem. Taking account of current experimental constraints we compute the fine tuning at two-loop order and determine the limits on the CMSSM parameter space and the measurements at the LHC most relevant in covering it. Without imposing the LEPII bound on the Higgs mass, it is shown that the fine tuning computed at two-loop has a minimum $\Delta=8.8$ corresponding to a Higgs mass $m_h=114\pm 2$ GeV. Adding the constraint that the SUSY dark matter relic density should be within present bounds we find $\Delta=15$ corresponding to $m_h=114.7\pm 2$ GeV and this rises to $\Delta=17.8$ ($m_h=115.9\pm 2$ GeV) for SUSY dark matter abundance within 3$\sigma$ of the WMAP constraint. We extend the analysis to include the contribution of dark matter fine tuning. In this case the overall fine tuning and Higgs mass are only marginally larger for the case SUSY dark matter is subdominant and rises to $\Delta=28.7$ ($m_h=116.98\pm 2$ GeV) for the case of SUSY dark matter saturates the WMAP bound. For a Higgs mass above these values, fine tuning rises exponentially fast. The CMSSM spectrum that corresponds to minimal fine tuning is computed and provides a benchmark for future searches. It is characterised by heavy squarks and sleptons and light neutralinos, charginos and gluinos.Comment: 36 pages, 24 figure

Structural modulation of the photophysical and electronic properties of pyrene-based 3D metal-organic frameworks derived from s-block metals

Materials in which charge delocalization and migration can be tuned are critical for electronic applications. Crystalline framework materials containing π-rich polycyclic aromatic moieties, such as pyrene, can provide a pathway for fast anisotropic charge transport. The extent of interchromophore interaction for structurally distinct assemblies of the π-conjugated aromatic ligand 4,4′,4′′,4′′′-(1,3,6,8-pyrenetetrayl) tetrabenzoic acid (H4TBAPy) was studied within two novel metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), Na(TBAPy)(DMF) and K(TBAPy)(DMF), via steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopic techniques. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction was used to determine the structures of K(TBAPy)(DMF) and Na(TBAPy)(DMF), which both form 3D MOFs comprising 1D rod-like SBUs surrounded by columnar stacks of TBAPy that are aligned in an eclipsed and x-shaped (staggered) geometry, respectively. Spectroscopic and computational results indicate significant chromophore interactions and potentially fast charge transport. Furthermore, distinct transient emission decay profiles are observed and are attributed to significant differences in the stacking orientation of the organic ligands in the two MOFs. Lastly, the study identifies design principles that may be exploited in the rational construction of s-block based MOFs for microelectronic and sensing applications.Christopher N. Coleman, Patrick C. Tapping, Michael T. Huxley, Tak W. Kee, David M. Huang, Christian J. Doonan and Christopher J. Sumb