Effective diffusion constant in a two dimensional medium of charged point scatterers

We obtain exact results for the effective diffusion constant of a two dimensional Langevin tracer particle in the force field generated by charged point scatterers with quenched positions. We show that if the point scatterers have a screened Coulomb (Yukawa) potential and are uniformly and independently distributed then the effective diffusion constant obeys the Volgel-Fulcher-Tammann law where it vanishes. Exact results are also obtained for pure Coulomb scatterers frozen in an equilibrium configuration of the same temperature as that of the tracer.Comment: 9 pages IOP LaTex, no figure

India's Health Initiative: Financing Issues and Options

In response to the challenge of sustaining the health gains achieved in the better-performing states and ensuring that the lagging states catch up with the rest of the country, the Indian government has launched the National Rural Health Mission. A central goal of the effort is to increase public spending on health from the current 1.1 percent of GDP to roughly 2–3 percent of GDP within the next five years. In this paper, we examine the current status of health financing in India, as well as alternatives for realizing maximal health gains for the incremental expenditures.health financing, public spending, India, cost-effectiveness

Solution of large scale nuclear structure problems by wave function factorization

Low-lying shell model states may be approximated accurately by a sum over products of proton and neutron states. The optimal factors are determined by a variational principle and result from the solution of rather low-dimensional eigenvalue problems. Application of this method to sd-shell nuclei, pf-shell nuclei, and to no-core shell model problems shows that very accurate approximations to the exact solutions may be obtained. Their energies, quantum numbers and overlaps with exact eigenstates converge exponentially fast as the number of retained factors is increased.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures (from 15 eps files) include

Continuum Derrida Approach to Drift and Diffusivity in Random Media

By means of rather general arguments, based on an approach due to Derrida that makes use of samples of finite size, we analyse the effective diffusivity and drift tensors in certain types of random medium in which the motion of the particles is controlled by molecular diffusion and a local flow field with known statistical properties. The power of the Derrida method is that it uses the equilibrium probability distribution, that exists for each {\em finite} sample, to compute asymptotic behaviour at large times in the {\em infinite} medium. In certain cases, where this equilibrium situation is associated with a vanishing microcurrent, our results demonstrate the equality of the renormalization processes for the effective drift and diffusivity tensors. This establishes, for those cases, a Ward identity previously verified only to two-loop order in perturbation theory in certain models. The technique can be applied also to media in which the diffusivity exhibits spatial fluctuations. We derive a simple relationship between the effective diffusivity in this case and that for an associated gradient drift problem that provides an interesting constraint on previously conjectured results.Comment: 18 pages, Latex, DAMTP-96-8

Randomized, double-blind comparison of patient-controlled epidural infusion vs nurse-administered epidural infusion for postoperative analgesia in patients undergoing colonic resection

Background. There is little published evidence of the analgesic efficacy of patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) for postoperative pain relief. The aim of this study was to compare the analgesic efficacy of epidural infusion of bupivacaine 0.125% and fentanyl 4 μg ml-1 administered by either PCEA with a background infusion or nurse-administered continuous epidural infusion (CEI) after major intra-abdominal surgery. Methods. In a double-blind, randomized clinical trial, 205 adult patients undergoing colonic resection by laparotomy received either PCEA or CEI. Pain scores were recorded via a fourpoint verbal rating scale at 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h after surgery. The administration of epidural top-ups and systemic analgesia over the same period was also recorded, and patient satisfaction questionnaires completed. Results. The median area under the curve of pain against time was significantly lower in the PCEA group (2 vs 24, P<0.001) as were median summary pain scores on movement (0.67 vs 1.33, P<0.001). Significantly fewer patients in the PCEA group received one or more epidural top-ups (13 vs 36%, P=0.0002) or any systemic analgesics (41 vs 63%, P=0.0021). Patients in the PCEA group were significantly more likely to be very satisfied than in the CEI group (76 vs 43%, P<0.0001). Conclusions. PCEA provides greater analgesic efficacy than CEI for postoperative analgesia after major intra-abdominal surgery, and a decreased requirement for physician or nurse intervention

Ab-initio computation of neutron-rich oxygen isotopes

We compute the binding energy of neutron-rich oxygen isotopes and employ the coupled-cluster method and chiral nucleon-nucleon interactions at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order with two different cutoffs. We obtain rather well-converged results in model spaces consisting of up to 21 oscillator shells. For interactions with a momentum cutoff of 500 MeV, we find that 28O is stable with respect to 24O, while calculations with a momentum cutoff of 600 MeV result in a slightly unbound 28O. The theoretical error estimates due to the omission of the three-nucleon forces and the truncation of excitations beyond three-particle-three-hole clusters indicate that the stability of 28O cannot be ruled out from ab-initio calculations, and that three-nucleon forces and continuum effects play the dominant role in deciding this question.Comment: 5 pages + eps, 3 figure

Determinants of Corporate Performance (CP) in Public Health Service Organizations (PHSO) in Eastern Province of Sri Lanka: A Use of Balanced Score Card (BSC)

Corporate performance in public health service organizations is how public health service organization looks at its patients, key disease treatment service lines, learning &amp; growth and resources. Therefore, many authors have used BSC for organisational performance. This study tries to determine factors affecting performance of PHSOs; know the reliability and validity of items &amp; factors and to create a mathematical equation model. Data are collected in both secondary and primary sources. Researcher collected 54 from corporate performance in public health service organisations’ performance during the period of 2012 to 1996. Primary data have been collected using questionnaire. Since this is a pilot study researcher selected only 100 hospital employees out of 3 selected government hospitals in Addalaichenai Divisional Secretariat of Ampara District. Collected questionnaires have been analysed by a factor analysis and regression analysis. Results found that patient, key service line, learning &amp; growth and resource factors have been identified as performance of public health service organizations. Cronbach alpha for items in these factors are 0.888, 0.807, 0.651 and 0.857. It shows high reliability for items. KMO is used to know the statistical validity of factors. In this study, values of KMO for patient, key service line, learning &amp; growth and resource are 0.687, 0.502, 0.559 and 0.818. Content validity and convergent validity are higher. Discriminant validity are lower statistically. Log log model is the best fitted model than linear models. Keywords: Corporate performance, Public Health Service Organizations, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, Balanced Score Card (BSC

Imaging Polarimeter Arrays for Near-Millimeter Waves

An integrated-circuit antenna array has been developed that images both polarization and intensity. The array consists of a row of antennas that lean alternately left and right, creating two interlaced sub-arrays that respond to different polarizations. The arrays and the bismuth bolometer detectors are made by a photoresist shadowing technique that requires only one photolithographic mask. The array has measured polarization at a wavelength of 800 µm with an absolute accuracy of 0.8° and a relative precision of 7 arc min. and has demonstrated nearly diffraction-Iimited resolutiort of a 20° step in polarization

Evaluation of an E-Learning Online Pecan Management Course

In February 2004, an online pecan management course was launched to educate pecan growers and assist them with decision-making. The interactive course was designed for both experienced pecan producers and first-time pecan producers. Since the inception of the course, only 24 persons have paid the registration fee. Several potential problems underlie the poor registration numbers, including low level of computer literacy, limited access to the Internet, download times, previous grower experience, cost, and awareness. Low registration numbers indicate that a more active approach to improve enrollment is needed to increase awareness