The importance of planetary rotation period for ocean heat transport

The climate, and hence potential habitability, of a planet crucially depends on how its atmospheric and oceanic circulation transports heat from warmer to cooler regions. However, previous studies of planetary climate have concentrated on modelling the dynamics of their atmospheres whilst dramatically simplifying the treatment of the oceans, which neglects or misrepresents the effect of the ocean in the total heat transport. Even the majority of studies with a dynamic ocean have used a simple so-called aquaplanet having no continental barriers, which is a configuration which dramatically changes the oceanic dynamics. Here the significance of the response of poleward ocean heat transport to planetary rotation period is shown with a simple meridional barrier – the simplest representation of any continental configuration. The poleward ocean heat transport increases significantly as the planetary rotation period is increased. The peak heat transport more than doubles when the rotation period is increased by a factor of ten. There are also significant changes to ocean temperature at depth, with implications for the carbon cycle. There is strong agreement between the model results and a scale analysis of the governing equations. This result highlights the importance of both planetary rotation period and the ocean circulation when considering planetary habitability

Four layer bandage compared with short stretch bandage for venous leg ulcers: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials with data from individual patients

<p><b>Objective:</b> To compare the effectiveness of two types of compression treatment (four layer bandage and short stretch bandage) in people with venous leg ulceration.</p> <p><b>Design:</b> Systematic review and meta-analysis of patient level data.</p> <p><b>Data:</b> sources Electronic databases (the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, the Cochrane Wounds Group Specialised Register, Medline, Embase, CINAHL, and National Research Register) and reference lists of retrieved articles searched to identify relevant trials and primary investigators. Primary investigators of eligible trials were invited to contribute raw data for re-analysis.</p> <p><b>Review:</b> methods Randomised controlled trials of four layer bandage compared with short stretch bandage in people with venous leg ulceration were eligible for inclusion. The primary outcome for the meta-analysis was time to healing. Cox proportional hazards models were run to compare the methods in terms of time to healing with adjustment for independent predictors of healing. Secondary outcomes included incidence and number of adverse events per patient.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> Seven eligible trials were identified (887 patients), and patient level data were retrieved for five (797 patients, 90% of known randomised patients). The four layer bandage was associated with significantly shorter time to healing: hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) from multifactorial model based on five trials was 1.31 (1.09 to 1.58), P=0.005. Larger ulcer area at baseline, more chronic ulceration, and previous ulceration were all independent predictors of delayed healing. Data from two trials showed no evidence of a difference in adverse event profiles between the two bandage types.</p> <p><b>Conclusions:</b> Venous leg ulcers in patients treated with four layer bandages heal faster, on average, than those of people treated with the short stretch bandage. Benefits were consistent across patients with differing prognostic profiles.</p&gt

Local electronic nematicity in the one-band Hubbard model

Nematicity is a well known property of liquid crystals and has been recently discussed in the context of strongly interacting electrons. An electronic nematic phase has been seen by many experiments in certain strongly correlated materials, in particular, in the pseudogap phase generic to many hole-doped cuprate superconductors. Recent measurements in high $T_c$ superconductors has shown even if the lattice is perfectly rotationally symmetric, the ground state can still have strongly nematic local properties. Our study of the two-dimensional Hubbard model provides strong support of the recent experimental results on local rotational $C_4$ symmetry breaking. The variational cluster approach is used here to show the possibility of an electronic nematic state and the proximity of the underlying symmetry-breaking ground state within the Hubbard model. We identify this nematic phase in the overdoped region and show that the local nematicity decreases with increasing electron filling. Our results also indicate that strong Coulomb interaction may drive the nematic phase into a phase similar to the stripe structure. The calculated spin (magnetic) correlation function in momentum space shows the effects resulting from real-space nematicity

High Speed Phase-Resolved 2-d UBV Photometry of the Crab pulsar

We report a phase-resolved photometric and morphological analysis of UBV data of the Crab pulsar obtained with the 2-d TRIFFID high speed optical photometer mounted on the Russian 6m telescope. By being able to accurately isolate the pulsar from the nebular background at an unprecedented temporal resolution (1 \mu s), the various light curve components were accurately fluxed via phase-resolved photometry. Within the $UBV$ range, our datasets are consistent with the existing trends reported elsewhere in the literature. In terms of flux and phase duration, both the peak Full Width Half Maxima and Half Width Half Maxima decrease as a function of photon energy. This is similarly the case for the flux associated with the bridge of emission. Power-law fits to the various light curve components are as follows; \alpha = 0.07 \pm 0.19 (peak 1), \alpha = -0.06 \pm 0.19 (peak 2) and \alpha = -0.44 \pm 0.19 (bridge) - the uncertainty here being dominated by the integrated CCD photometry used to independently reference the TRIFFID data. Temporally, the main peaks are coincident to \le 10 \mu s although an accurate phase lag with respect to the radio main peak is compromised by radio timing uncertainties. The plateau on the Crab's main peak was definitively determined to be \leq 55 \mu s in extent and may decrease as a function of photon energy. There is no evidence for non-stochastic activity over the light curves or within various phase regions, nor is there evidence of anything akin to the giant pulses noted in the radio. Finally, there is no evidence to support the existence of a reported 60 second modulation suggested to be as a consequence of free precession.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Inelastic effects in electron transport studied with wave packet propagation

A time-dependent approach is used to explore inelastic effects during electron transport through few-level systems. We study a tight-binding chain with one and two sites connected to vibrations. This simple but transparent model gives insight about inelastic effects, their meaning and the approximations currently used to treat them. Our time-dependent approach allows us to trace back the time sequence of vibrational excitation and electronic interference, the ibrationally introduced time delay and the electronic phase shift. We explore a full range of parameters going from weak to strong electron-vibration coupling, from tunneling to contact, from one-vibration description to the need of including all vibrations for a correct description of inelastic effects in transport. We explore the validity of single-site resonant models as well as its extension to more sites via molecular orbitals and the conditions under which multi-orbital, multi-vibrational descriptions cannot be simplified. We explain the physical meaning of the spectral features in the second derivative of the electron current with respect to the bias voltage. This permits us to nuance the meaning of the energy value of dips and peaks. Finally, we show that finite-band effects lead to electron back-scattering off the molecular vibrations in the regime of high-conductance, although the drop in conductance at the vibrational threshold is rather due to the rapid variation of the vibronic density of states.Comment: 38 pages, 14 figure

Differences in the potential for dementia prevention between major ethnic groups within one country: A cross sectional analysis of population attributable fraction of potentially modifiable risk factors in New Zealand

Background: Twelve potentially modifiable risk factors (less education, hypertension, obesity, alcohol, traumatic brain injury (TBI), hearing loss, smoking, depression, physical inactivity, social isolation, diabetes, air pollution) account for an estimated 40% of worldwide dementia cases. We aimed to calculate population attributable fractions (PAFs) for dementia for the four largest New Zealand ethnic groups (European, Māori, Asian, and Pacific peoples) to identify whether optimal dementia prevention targets differed by ethnicity. Methods: We calculated risk factor prevalence for 10 risk factors using the New Zealand Health Survey 2018/19 and published reports for hearing loss and TBI prevalences. We calculated the PAF for each risk factor using calculated prevalence and relative risk estimates from previous meta-analyses. To account for risk factor overlap, we calculated communality of risk factors and a weighted PAF. Findings: The weighted PAF for dementia was 47•7% overall in New Zealand, 47•6% for Europeans, 51•4% for Māori, 50•8% for Pacific peoples, and 40•8% for Asians. Highest PAFs for Europeans were hearing loss (8%) and social isolation (5•7%), and for Asians hearing loss (7•3%) and physical inactivity (5•5%). For Māori and Pacific peoples, highest PAFs were for obesity (7•3% and 8•9% respectively) and hearing loss (6•5% and 6•6%). Interpretation: New Zealand has higher dementia prevention potential than worldwide estimates with high prevalences of untreated hearing loss and obesity. The relative contribution of individual risk factors PAFs varies by ethnic group. Public health strategies for dementia prevention need to be tailored to these differences

Nonperturbative Scaling Theory of Free Magnetic Moment Phases in Disordered Metals

The crossover between a free magnetic moment phase and a Kondo phase in low dimensional disordered metals with dilute magnetic impurities is studied. We perform a finite size scaling analysis of the distribution of the Kondo temperature as obtained from a numerical renormalization group calculation of the local magnetic susceptibility and from the solution of the self-consistent Nagaoka-Suhl equation. We find a sizable fraction of free (unscreened) magnetic moments when the exchange coupling falls below a disorder-dependent critical value $J_{\rm c}$. Our numerical results show that between the free moment phase due to Anderson localization and the Kondo screened phase there is a phase where free moments occur due to the appearance of random local pseudogaps at the Fermi energy whose width and power scale with the elastic scattering rate $1/\tau$.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

Interaction effects and quantum phase transitions in topological insulators

We study strong correlation effects in topological insulators via the Lanczos algorithm, which we utilize to calculate the exact many-particle ground-state wave function and its topological properties. We analyze the simple, noninteracting Haldane model on a honeycomb lattice with known topological properties and demonstrate that these properties are already evident in small clusters. Next, we consider interacting fermions by introducing repulsive nearest-neighbor interactions. A first-order quantum phase transition was discovered at finite interaction strength between the topological band insulator and a topologically trivial Mott insulating phase by use of the fidelity metric and the charge-density-wave structure factor. We construct the phase diagram at $T = 0$ as a function of the interaction strength and the complex phase for the next-nearest-neighbor hoppings. Finally, we consider the Haldane model with interacting hard-core bosons, where no evidence for a topological phase is observed. An important general conclusion of our work is that despite the intrinsic nonlocality of topological phases their key topological properties manifest themselves already in small systems and therefore can be studied numerically via exact diagonalization and observed experimentally, e.g., with trapped ions and cold atoms in optical lattices.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures. Published versio

Electronic structure of and Quantum size effect in III-V and II-VI semiconducting nanocrystals using a realistic tight binding approach

We analyze the electronic structure of group III-V semiconductors obtained within full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method and arrive at a realistic and minimal tight-binding model, parameterized to provide an accurate description of both valence and conduction bands. It is shown that cation sp3 - anion sp3d5 basis along with the next nearest neighbor model for hopping interactions is sufficient to describe the electronic structure of these systems over a wide energy range, obviating the use of any fictitious s* orbital, employed previously. Similar analyses were also performed for the II-VI semiconductors, using the more accurate FP-LAPW method compared to previous approaches, in order to enhance reliability of the parameter values. Using these parameters, we calculate the electronic structure of III-V and II-VI nanocrystals in real space with sizes ranging upto about 7 nm in diameter, establishing a quantitatively accurate description of the band-gap variation with sizes for the various nanocrystals by comparing with available experimental results from the literature.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures, Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Montreal Cognitive Assessment for the detection of dementia

Background: Dementia is a progressive syndrome of global cognitive impairment with significant health and social care costs. Global prevalence is projected to increase, particularly in resource‐limited settings. Recent policy changes in Western countries to increase detection mandates a careful examination of the diagnostic accuracy of neuropsychological tests for dementia. Objectives: To determine the accuracy of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) for the detection of dementia. Search methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, BIOSIS Previews, Science Citation Index, PsycINFO and LILACS databases to August 2012. In addition, we searched specialised sources containing diagnostic studies and reviews, including MEDION (Meta‐analyses van Diagnostisch Onderzoek), DARE (Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects), HTA (Health Technology Assessment Database), ARIF (Aggressive Research Intelligence Facility) and C‐EBLM (International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine Committee for Evidence‐based Laboratory Medicine) databases. We also searched ALOIS (Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group specialized register of diagnostic and intervention studies). We identified further relevant studies from the PubMed ‘related articles’ feature and by tracking key studies in Science Citation Index and Scopus. We also searched for relevant grey literature from the Web of Science Core Collection, including Science Citation Index and Conference Proceedings Citation Index (Thomson Reuters Web of Science), PhD theses and contacted researchers with potential relevant data. // Selection criteria: Cross‐sectional designs where all participants were recruited from the same sample were sought; case‐control studies were excluded due to high chance of bias. We searched for studies from memory clinics, hospital clinics, primary care and community populations. We excluded studies of early onset dementia, dementia from a secondary cause, or studies where participants were selected on the basis of a specific disease type such as Parkinson’s disease or specific settings such as nursing homes. // Data collection and analysis: We extracted dementia study prevalence and dichotomised test positive/test negative results with thresholds used to diagnose dementia. This allowed calculation of sensitivity and specificity if not already reported in the study. Study authors were contacted where there was insufficient information to complete the 2x2 tables. We performed quality assessment according to the QUADAS‐2 criteria. Methodological variation in selected studies precluded quantitative meta‐analysis, therefore results from individual studies were presented with a narrative synthesis. // Main results: Seven studies were selected: three in memory clinics, two in hospital clinics, none in primary care and two in population‐derived samples. There were 9422 participants in total, but most of studies recruited only small samples, with only one having more than 350 participants. The prevalence of dementia was 22% to 54% in the clinic‐based studies, and 5% to 10% in population samples. In the four studies that used the recommended threshold score of 26 or over indicating normal cognition, the MoCA had high sensitivity of 0.94 or more but low specificity of 0.60 or less. // Authors' conclusions: The overall quality and quantity of information is insufficient to make recommendations on the clinical utility of MoCA for detecting dementia in different settings. Further studies that do not recruit participants based on diagnoses already present (case‐control design) but apply diagnostic tests and reference standards prospectively are required. Methodological clarity could be improved in subsequent DTA studies of MoCA by reporting findings using recommended guidelines (e.g. STARDdem). Thresholds lower than 26 are likely to be more useful for optimal diagnostic accuracy of MoCA in dementia, but this requires confirmation in further studies