Exact solutions of the radial Schrodinger equation for some physical potentials

By using an ansatz for the eigenfunction, we have obtained the exact analytical solutions of the radial Schrodinger equation for the pseudoharmonic and Kratzer potentials in two dimensions. The energy levels of all the bound states are easily calculated from this eigenfunction ansatz. The normalized wavefunctions are also obtained.Comment: 13 page

The diet of bushpigs in a sugarcane agro-ecosystem.

Bushpigs, Potamochoerus porcus, in a sugar-farming area of Natal, South Africa, were found to be omnivorous, but plant material dominated their diet year round. Sugar-cane stem was the main item identified in faeces collected on farmland during all seasons and in faeces from adjacent forest during winter and spring. Fruits were probably preferred to sugar cane by animals defecating in the forest during summer and autumn

Can more appropriate support and services be provided for people who attend the emergency department frequently? National Health Service staff views

BACKGROUND: Interventions designed to help Emergency Department (ED) staff manage frequent attenders are labour-intensive and only benefit a small sample of frequent attenders. We aimed to use the in-depth knowledge of health professionals with experience of working with ED frequent attenders to understand the challenges of managing this group of patients and their opinions on providing more appropriate support. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with medical and nursing ED staff, mental health liaison nurses and general practitioners (GPs). Interviews covered the following: definitions and experiences of treating frequent attenders and thoughts on alternative service provision. Vignettes of frequent attenders were used to elicit discussions on these topics. Thematic analysis of transcribed interviews was undertaken. RESULTS: Twelve health professionals were interviewed. Three groups of frequent attenders were identified: people with long-term physical conditions, mental health problems and health-related anxiety. Underlying reasons for attendance differed between the groups, highlighting the need for targeted interventions. Suggested interventions included improving self-management of long-term physical conditions; creating a 'go-to' place away from the ED for patients experiencing a mental health crisis; increasing the provision of mental health liaison services; and for patients with health-related anxiety, the role of the GP in the patients' care pathway was emphasised, as were the benefits of providing additional training for ED staff to help identify and support this group. CONCLUSION: Interventions to address frequent attendance should focus on redirection to and liaison with more appropriate services, located on the hospital site or in the community, tailored to each identified patient group

DTI Strategic Environmental Assessment Area 4 (SEA4) : sub seabed geology

The SEA 4 region is underlain by continental crust situated on the north-western part of the Eurasian tectonic plate. The oldest continental crust >590Ma (Pre-Cambrian) of interest to oil production, it is divided by a major fault, the Moine Thrust, into ages ranging in age from >2500Ma (Archaean) to the west in which potentially commercial hydrocarbons been discovered and 2500 - 590 Ma (Proterozoic) to the east which is not currently prospective for commerciallyproduced hydrocarbons. The <590Ma sedimentary basins and intervening highs have evolved from pre-, syn- and postdepositional responses to deformation during crustal compression and extension. Many of the modern regional crustal structures retain a NE-SW trend, inherited from events 440-410Ma year ago (Caledonian Orogeny). The results from <65Ma regional NW-SE trending deformation events are also included within the major basin structural configurations. During 60-50 Ma (Late Paleocene to Early Eocene) the region was affected by uplift and in the NW by extrusion of thick volcanic lavas and intrusion of igneous sills. Interactions between historically significant shifts of long-term global climate cooling, an increase in the short-term periodicity and intensity of global climate change and changes to the rates and orientation of crust deformation have been particularly important from 25Ma to the present day (Neogene to Quaternary). These interactions have driven global-to-local changes to basin geological structure, marine circulation, sea level and sediment supply and removal rates and have resulted in the evolutionary changes to submarine basin geometries and lithologies. The modern seabed habitat has thus resulted from the remoulding of inherited basin geometries and lithologies by the processes affecting seabed. The structural history of the region has created a wide variety of potential hydrocarbon trapping mechanisms. The 154-136Ma (Late Jurassic, Kimmeridgian to Ryazanian) Kimmeridge Clay Formation is the principal source rock of the area. The Foinaven and Schiehallion oilfields started production in late 1997 and 1998 respectively both from 60-55Ma (Upper Paleocene) sandstone reservoirs. Geological and technical problems have so far prevented the development of the massive 440-390Ma (Devono-Carboniferous) Clair Field which is the largest undeveloped oilfield on the UK continental shelf. Other hydrocarbon accumulations have been discovered in 245-208Ma (Triassic), 208-146Ma (Jurassic) and 146-65Ma (Cretaceous) intervals in the West Shetland area in the most prospective parts of the SEA 4 region

Risk-Based Capital in General Insurance

This paper looks at the problems of assessing, for solvency purposes, the capital requirements of a non-life insurer in the context of the United Kingdom. It considers how these capital requirements might vary according to the different risks to which an insurer is subject and how this Risk-Based Capital (RBC) might be measured in practice, using as a case study the RBC formula recently introduced in the United States of America. The paper also discusses the application of RBC concepts to the problem of internal capital allocation, to assist in measuring an insurer's rate of return to shareholders by business unit, as well as the more obvious regulatory application. The advantages and disadvantages of a formula-based approach to capital requirements for solvency purposes are discussed in comparison with possible alternative approaches to insurance supervisio

Sedation for fibre optic bronchoscopy

AbstractMost current sedative regimens for fibre optic bronchoscopy use an opioid, a benzodiazepine or a combination of both. This study compares midazolam (M) (a benzodiazepine), alfentanil (A) (an opioid) and a combination of both drugs (M + A).One hundred and three patients were randomized in double-blind manner into groups M(35), A(33) and M + A(35). The number of coughs, number of additional aliquots of lignocaine and duration of the procedures were recorded along with oxygen desaturation. The patient's level of discomfort was assessed by patient and bronchoscopist and expressed as a visual analogue score.There were significantly fewer coughs per minute in Group A compared with Group M (P=0·0053), and significantly less lignocaine was required in Group A (P=0·005) and in Groups M + A (P<0·002) compared with Group M. There was no significant difference in the assessment of discomfort between the groups. There was a trend for Group M + A to desaturate more than the other two with a significant difference between desaturation in Group M + A and Group A (P=0·033).Alfentanil is a more effective anti-tussive agent than midazolam for outpatient fibre optic bronchoscopy. The combination of alfentanil and midazolam does not provide any better anti-tussive effect and may have the risk of a greater degree of desaturation secondary to increased sedation

Free expansion of lowest Landau level states of trapped atoms: a wavefunction microscope

We show that for any lowest-Landau-level state of a trapped, rotating, interacting Bose gas, the particle distribution in coordinate space in a free expansion (time of flight) experiment is related to that in the trap at the time it is turned off by a simple rescaling and rotation. When the lowest-Landau-level approximation is valid, interactions can be neglected during the expansion, even when they play an essential role in the ground state when the trap is present. The correlations in the density in a single snapshot can be used to obtain information about the fluid, such as whether a transition to a quantum Hall state has occurred.Comment: 5 pages, no figures. v2: discussion of neglect of interactions during expansion improved, refs adde

Microscopic Theory of the Reentrant IQHE in the First and Second Excited LLs

We present a microscopic theory for the recently observed reentrant integral quantum Hall effect in the n=1 and n=2 Landau levels. Our energy investigations indicate an alternating sequence of M-electron-bubble and quantum-liquid ground states in a certain range of the partial filling factor of the n-th level. Whereas the quantum-liquid states display the fractional quantum Hall effect, the bubble phases are insulating, and the Hall resistance is thus quantized at integral values of the total filling factor.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; minor corrections include

Black American Fathers Employed in Higher-Risk Contexts for Contracting COVID-19: Implications for Individual Wellbeing and Work-Family Spillover

Black Americans remain disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Emerging data suggests that employment in certain occupations (e.g., essential; frontline) may place individuals at higher-risk for contracting COVID-19. The current investigation examined how Black American fathers’ COVID-19 perceived work risk was associated with their individual well-being (COVID-19 diagnosis; depressive and anxiety symptoms; sleep disturbance; sleep quality) as well as spillover into family contexts. Participants were 466 Black American fathers (M = 36.63; SD = 11.00) who completed online surveys in June–July 2020. Adjusted binomial logistic and multiple regressions were estimated to examine how fathers’ work context was associated with COVID-19 health outcomes, psychological functioning, sleep health, and family stress. Descriptive analyses revealed that 32% of fathers reported a personal diagnosis of COVID-19 and 21% indicated that an immediate family member had been diagnosed. Adjusted binomial logistic regression analyses revealed that fathers working in higher-risk contexts for contracting COVID-19 had a greater odds ratio for both a personal (OR: 1.68, 95% CI: 1.05, 2.68) and an immediate family member diagnosis (OR: 2.58, 95% CI: 1.52, 4.36). Working in a higher-risk context for contracting COVID-19 was associated with poorer psychological functioning, greater sleep disturbance, and higher levels of family discord. Findings suggest that Black fathers working in higher risk contexts may be at risk for COVID-19 exposure and infection. Further, this study indicates that these effects extend to their own well-being, including mental and sleep health as well as increased family stress

A General Approach for the Exact Solution of the Schrodinger Equation

The Schr\"{o}dinger equation is solved exactly for some well known potentials. Solutions are obtained reducing the Schr\"{o}dinger equation into a second order differential equation by using an appropriate coordinate transformation. The Nikiforov-Uvarov method is used in the calculations to get energy eigenvalues and the corresponding wave functions.Comment: 20 page