987 research outputs found
Random Diffusion Model with Structure Corrections
The random diffusion model is a continuum model for a conserved scalar
density field driven by diffusive dynamics where the bare diffusion coefficient
is density dependent. We generalize the model from one with a sharp wavenumber
cutoff to one with a more natural large-wavenumber cutoff. We investigate
whether the features seen previously -- namely a slowing down of the system and
the development of a prepeak in the dynamic structure factor at a wavenumber
below the first structure peak -- survive in this model. A method for
extracting information about a hidden prepeak in experimental data is
presented.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure
Extended 1D Method for Coherent Synchrotron Radiation including Shielding
Coherent Synchrotron Radiation can severely limit the performance of
accelerators designed for high brightness and short bunch length. Examples
include light sources based on ERLs or FELs, and bunch compressors for linear
colliders. In order to better simulate Coherent Synchrotron Radiation, the
established 1-dimensional formalism is extended to work at lower energies, at
shorter bunch lengths, and for an arbitrary configuration of multiple bends.
Wide vacuum chambers are simulated by means of vertical image charges. This
formalism has been implemented in the general beam dynamics code "Bmad" and its
results are here compared to analytical approximations, to numerical solutions
of the Maxwell equations, and to the simulation code "elegant"
Computational Efficiency of Frequency-- and Time--Domain Calculations of Extreme Mass--Ratio Binaries: Equatorial Orbits
Gravitational waveforms and fluxes from extreme mass--ratio inspirals can be
computed using time--domain methods with accuracy that is fast approaching that
of frequency--domain methods. We study in detail the computational efficiency
of these methods for equatorial orbits of fast spinning Kerr black holes, and
find the number of modes needed in either method --as functions of the orbital
parameters-- in order to achieve a desired accuracy level. We then estimate the
total computation time and argue that for high eccentricity orbits the
time--domain approach is more efficient computationally. We suggest that in
practice low-- modes are computed using the frequency--domain approach, and
high-- modes are computed using the time--domain approach, where is the
azimuthal mode number.Comment: 19 figures, 6 table
Two-photon ionization of Helium studied with the multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree-Fock method
The multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree-Fock method (MCTDHF) is
applied for simulations of the two-photon ionization of Helium. We present
results for the single- and double ionization from the groundstate for photon
energies in the non-sequential regime, and compare them to direct solutions of
the Schr\"odinger equation using the time-dependent (full) Configuration
Interaction method (TDCI). We find that the single-ionization is accurately
reproduced by MCTDHF, whereas the double ionization results correctly capture
the main trends of TDCI
Common Raven Impacts on the Productivity of a Small Breeding Population of Snowy Plovers
Common ravens (ravens; Corvus corax), an adaptable, synanthropic generalist, have thrived coincident with increasing human landscape modifications and fragmentation, consequently affecting their prey, which are often sensitive native and protected species. Ravens are a conservation concern for the protected western snowy plover (plover; Charadrius nivosus nivosus), causing low nest and chick survival in some breeding areas along the Pacific coast of North America. We used a long-term dataset from a breeding snowy plover monitoring program in Point Reyes National Seashore (PRNS) to investigate potential impacts of ravens on snowy plover nest and fledging success. Between 2002 and 2020, ravens accounted for 33.7% of all plover nest failures and 40.8% of unexclosed plover nest failures. Raven activity varied by plover breeding site, with more ravens observed per survey hour at Kehoe Beach and the Abbotts Lagoon restoration area, sites that had lower fledge success than other breeding areas. Binomial generalized linear mixed models found that plover nest success was best explained by raven activity (negative relationship) and use of nest exclosures (positive relationship). Our model results on snowy plover fledge success were less apparent, resulting in difficult management planning for this vital rate when using exclosures. Furthermore, nest exclosures were effective in increasing long-term snowy plover nest success in an ecosystem inundated by high raven activity. Evidence from PRNS and other plover breeding sites along the Pacific coast point to long-term negative impacts from ravens
Measuring the effective complexity of cosmological models
We introduce a statistical measure of the effective model complexity, called
the Bayesian complexity. We demonstrate that the Bayesian complexity can be
used to assess how many effective parameters a set of data can support and that
it is a useful complement to the model likelihood (the evidence) in model
selection questions. We apply this approach to recent measurements of cosmic
microwave background anisotropies combined with the Hubble Space Telescope
measurement of the Hubble parameter. Using mildly non-informative priors, we
show how the 3-year WMAP data improves on the first-year data by being able to
measure both the spectral index and the reionization epoch at the same time. We
also find that a non-zero curvature is strongly disfavored. We conclude that
although current data could constrain at least seven effective parameters, only
six of them are required in a scheme based on the Lambda-CDM concordance
cosmology.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, revised version accepted for publication in PRD,
updated with WMAP3 result
Impact of breast cancer subtypes on 3-year survival among adolescent and young adult women.
IntroductionYoung women have poorer survival after breast cancer than do older women. It is unclear whether this survival difference relates to the unique distribution of hormone receptor (HR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-defined molecular breast cancer subtypes among adolescent and young adult (AYA) women aged 15 to 39 years. The purpose of our study was to examine associations between breast cancer subtypes and short-term survival in AYA women, as well as to determine whether the distinct molecular subtype distribution among AYA women explains the unfavorable overall breast cancer survival statistics reported for AYA women compared with older women.MethodsData for 5,331 AYA breast cancers diagnosed between 2005 and 2009 were obtained from the California Cancer Registry. Survival by subtype (triple-negative; HR+/HER2-; HR+/HER2+; HR-/HER2+) and age-group (AYA versus 40- to 64-year-olds) was analyzed with Cox proportional hazards regression with follow-up through 2010.ResultsWith up to 6 years of follow-up and a mean survival time of 3.1 years (SD = 1.5 years), AYA women diagnosed with HR-/HER + and triple-negative breast cancer experienced a 1.6-fold and 2.7-fold increased risk of death, respectively, from all causes (HR-/HER + hazard ratio: 1.55; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.10 to 2.18; triple-negative HR: 2.75; 95% CI, 2.06 to 3.66) and breast cancer (HR-/HER + hazard ratio: 1.63; 95% CI, 1.12 to 2.36; triple-negative hazard ratio: 2.71; 95% CI, 1.98 to 3.71) than AYA women with HR+/HER2- breast cancer. AYA women who resided in lower socioeconomic status neighborhoods, had public health insurance, and were of Black, compared with White, race/ethnicity experienced worse survival. This race/ethnicity association was attenuated somewhat after adjusting for breast cancer subtypes (hazard ratio, 1.33; 95% CI, 0.98 to 1.82). AYA women had similar all-cause and breast cancer-specific short-term survival as older women for all breast cancer subtypes and across all stages of disease.ConclusionsAmong AYA women with breast cancer, short-term survival varied by breast cancer subtypes, with the distribution of breast cancer subtypes explaining some of the poorer survival observed among Black, compared with White, AYA women. Future studies should consider whether distribution of breast cancer subtypes and other factors, including differential receipt of treatment regimens, influences long-term survival in young compared with older women
Kinetic Analysis of Discrete Path Sampling Stationary Point Databases
Analysing stationary point databases to extract phenomenological rate
constants can become time-consuming for systems with large potential energy
barriers. In the present contribution we analyse several different approaches
to this problem. First, we show how the original rate constant prescription
within the discrete path sampling approach can be rewritten in terms of
committor probabilities. Two alternative formulations are then derived in which
the steady-state assumption for intervening minima is removed, providing both a
more accurate kinetic analysis, and a measure of whether a two-state
description is appropriate. The first approach involves running additional
short kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) trajectories, which are used to calculate
waiting times. Here we introduce `leapfrog' moves to second-neighbour minima,
which prevent the KMC trajectory oscillating between structures separated by
low barriers. In the second approach we successively remove minima from the
intervening set, renormalising the branching probabilities and waiting times to
preserve the mean first-passage times of interest. Regrouping the local minima
appropriately is also shown to speed up the kinetic analysis dramatically at
low temperatures. Applications are described where rates are extracted for
databases containing tens of thousands of stationary points, with effective
barriers that are several hundred times kT.Comment: 28 pages, 1 figure, 4 table
Convergence Characteristics of the Cumulant Expansion for Fourier Path Integrals
The cumulant representation of the Fourier path integral method is examined
to determine the asymptotic convergence characteristics of the imaginary-time
density matrix with respect to the number of path variables included. It is
proved that when the cumulant expansion is truncated at order , the
asymptotic convergence rate of the density matrix behaves like .
The complex algebra associated with the proof is simplified by introducing a
diagrammatic representation of the contributing terms along with an associated
linked-cluster theorem. The cumulant terms at each order are expanded in a
series such that the the asymptotic convergence rate is maintained without the
need to calculate the full cumulant at order . Using this truncated
expansion of each cumulant at order , the numerical cost in developing
Fourier path integral expressions having convergence order is
shown to be approximately linear in the number of required potential energy
evaluations making the method promising for actual numerical implementation.Comment: 47 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PR
Magnetohydrodynamic activity inside a sphere
We present a computational method to solve the magnetohydrodynamic equations
in spherical geometry. The technique is fully nonlinear and wholly spectral,
and uses an expansion basis that is adapted to the geometry:
Chandrasekhar-Kendall vector eigenfunctions of the curl. The resulting lower
spatial resolution is somewhat offset by being able to build all the boundary
conditions into each of the orthogonal expansion functions and by the
disappearance of any difficulties caused by singularities at the center of the
sphere. The results reported here are for mechanically and magnetically
isolated spheres, although different boundary conditions could be studied by
adapting the same method. The intent is to be able to study the nonlinear
dynamical evolution of those aspects that are peculiar to the spherical
geometry at only moderate Reynolds numbers. The code is parallelized, and will
preserve to high accuracy the ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) invariants of the
system (global energy, magnetic helicity, cross helicity). Examples of results
for selective decay and mechanically-driven dynamo simulations are discussed.
In the dynamo cases, spontaneous flips of the dipole orientation are observed.Comment: 15 pages, 19 figures. Improved figures, in press in Physics of Fluid
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