6,636 research outputs found

    Power calculation for gravitational radiation: oversimplification and the importance of time scale

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    A simplified formula for gravitational-radiation power is examined. It is shown to give completely erroneous answers in three situations, making it useless even for rough estimates. It is emphasized that short timescales, as well as fast speeds, make classical approximations to relativistic calculations untenable.Comment: Three pages, no figures, accepted for publication in Astronomische Nachrichte

    Epiluminescence microscopy for the diagnosis of doubtful melanocytic skin lesions: Comparison of the ABCD rule of dermatoscopy and a new 7-point checklist based on pattern analysis

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    Objective: To compare the reliability of a new 7-point checklist based on simplified epiluminescence microscopy (ELM) pattern analysis with the ABCD rule of dermatoscopy and standard pattern analysis for the diagnosis of clinically doubtful melanocytic skin lesions. Design: In a blind study, ELM images of 342 histologically proven melanocytic skin lesions were evaluated for the presence of 7 standard criteria that we called the 'ELM 7-point checklist.' For each lesion, 'overall' and 'ABCD scored' diagnoses were recorded. From a training set of 57 melanomas and 139 atypical non-melanomas, odds ratios were calculated to create a simple diagnostic model based on identification of major and minor criteria for the '7-point scored' diagnosis. A test set of 60 melanomas and 86 atypical non-melanomas was used for model validation and was then presented to 2 less experienced ELM observers, who recorded the ABCD and 7-point scored diagnoses. Settings: University medical centers. Patients: A sample of patients with excised melanocytic lesions. Main Outcome Measures: Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the models for diagnosing melanoma. Results: From the total combined sets, the 7-point checklist gave a sensitivity of 95% and a specificity of 75% compared with 85% sensitivity and 66% specificity using the ABCD rule and 91% sensitivity and 90% specificity using standard pattern analysis (overall ELM diagnosis). Compared with the ABCD rule, the 7-point method allowed less experienced observers to obtain higher diagnostic accuracy values. Conclusions: The ELM 7-point checklist provides a simplification of standard pattern analysis because of the low number of features to identify and the scoring diagnostic system. As with the ABCD rule, it can be easily learned and easily applied and has proven to be reliable in diagnosing melanoma

    Migrant workers and psychological health: A systematic review

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    Migrant workers show an increase in the incidence of serious, psychotic, anxiety, and post-traumatic disorders due to a series of socio-environmental variables, such as loss of social status, discrimination, and separations from the family. The purpose is to elaborate a systematic review and highlight the prevailing psychological pathologies of these workers and categories most at risk. Our research included articles published from 2009 to 2019 on the major databases (Pub Med, Cochrane Library, and Scopus) using a combination of some keywords. The online search indicated 1.228 references. Using inclusion and exclusion criteria, we analyzed 127 articles, in particular 12 reviews and 115 original articles. Principal emerging disorders from the research are depressive syndrome (poor concentration at work, feeling down, or anger and somatization), anxiety, alcohol or substance abuse, and poor sleep quality. This causes low life conditions, which is also due to marginalization from the social context and strenuous work; in fact, migrant workers may suffer verbal or physical abuse, and they are often employed in dangerous, unhealthy jobs. It is therefore essential to increase the role of occupational medicine and promote wellbeing for this vulnerable job categor

    Lower bounds on the blow-up rate of the axisymmetric Navier-Stokes equations II

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    Consider axisymmetric strong solutions of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in R3\R^3 with non-trivial swirl. Let zz denote the axis of symmetry and rr measure the distance to the z-axis. Suppose the solution satisfies either v(x,t)Ct1/2|v (x,t)| \le C_*{|t|^{-1/2}} or, for some \e > 0, v(x,t)Cr1+ϵtϵ/2|v (x,t)| \le C_* r^{-1+\epsilon} |t|^{-\epsilon /2} for T0t<0-T_0\le t < 0 and 0<C<0<C_*<\infty allowed to be large. We prove that vv is regular at time zero.Comment: More explanations and a new appendi

    SBV regularity for Hamilton-Jacobi equations in Rn\mathbb R^n

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    In this paper we study the regularity of viscosity solutions to the following Hamilton-Jacobi equations tu+H(Dxu)=0inΩR×Rn. \partial_t u + H(D_{x} u)=0 \qquad \textrm{in} \Omega\subset \mathbb R\times \mathbb R^{n} . In particular, under the assumption that the Hamiltonian HC2(Rn)H\in C^2(\mathbb R^n) is uniformly convex, we prove that DxuD_{x}u and tu\partial_t u belong to the class SBVloc(Ω)SBV_{loc}(\Omega).Comment: 15 page

    Boundary Asymptotic Analysis for an Incompressible Viscous Flow: Navier Wall Laws

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    We consider a new way of establishing Navier wall laws. Considering a bounded domain Ω\Omega of R N , N=2,3, surrounded by a thin layer Σϵ\Sigma \epsilon, along a part Γ\Gamma2 of its boundary Ω\partial \Omega, we consider a Navier-Stokes flow in ΩΩΣϵ\Omega \cup \partial \Omega \cup \Sigma \epsilon with Reynolds' number of order 1/ϵ\epsilon in Σϵ\Sigma \epsilon. Using Γ\Gamma-convergence arguments, we describe the asymptotic behaviour of the solution of this problem and get a general Navier law involving a matrix of Borel measures having the same support contained in the interface Γ\Gamma2. We then consider two special cases where we characterize this matrix of measures. As a further application, we consider an optimal control problem within this context

    Real-world efficacy and safety of nivolumab in previously-treated metastatic renal cell carcinoma, and association between immune-related adverse events and survival: the Italian expanded access program

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    Background: The Italian Renal Cell Cancer Early Access Program was an expanded access program that allowed access to nivolumab, for patients (pts) with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) prior to regulatory approval. Methods: Pts with previously treated advanced or mRCC were eligible to receive nivolumab 3 mg/kg every 2 weeks. Pts included in the analysis had received ≥1 dose of nivolumab and were monitored for drug-related adverse events (drAEs) using CTCAE v.4.0. Immune-related (ir) AEs were defined as AEs displaying a certain, likely or possible correlation with immunotherapy (cutaneous, endocrine, hepatic, gastro-intestinal and pulmonary). The association between overall survival (OS) and irAEs was assessed, and associations between variables were evaluated with a logistic regression model. Results: A total of 389 pts were enrolled between July 2015 and April 2016. Overall, the objective response rate was 23.1%. At a median follow-up of 12 months, the median progression-free survival was 4.5 months (95% CI 3.7-6.2) and the 12-month overall survival rate was 63%. Any grade and grade 3-4 drAEs were reported in 124 (32%) and 27 (7%) of pts, respectively, and there were no treatment-related deaths. Any grade irAEs occurred in 76 (20%) of patients, 8% cutaneous, 4% endocrine, 2% hepatic, 5% gastro-intestinal and 1% pulmonary. Of the 22 drAEs inducing treatment discontinuation, 10 (45%) were irAEs. Pts with drAEs had a significantly longer survival than those without drAEs (median OS 22.5 versus 16.4 months, p = 0.01). Pts with irAEs versus without irAEs had a more significant survival benefit (median OS not reached versus 16.8 months, p = 0.002), confirmed at the landmark analysis at 6 weeks. The occurrence of irAEs displayed a strong association with OS in univariable (HR 0.48, p = 0.003) and multivariable (HR 0.57, p = 0.02) analysis. Conclusions: The appearance of irAEs strongly correlates with survival benefit in a real-life population of mRCC pts treated with nivolumab

    TDR-based water content estimation on globigerina limestone through permittivity measurements

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    Most monuments and historical buildings in the Maltese Islands are made of the local Globigerina Limestone (GL). This type of stone, however, is very delicate and prone to degradation caused by the environmental conditions of the islands. Hence, for the preservation of the Cultural Heritage monuments, it is necessary to promptly assess the health status of these structures and, in particular, their water content (which represents one of the major causes of degradation). Starting from these considerations, in this work, a time domain reflectometry (TDR)-based method for estimating water content of GL is presented. More specifically, the proposed method relies on estimating the water content value of the GL structure from TDR-based dielectric permittivity measurements. To verify the suitability of this system, experimental tests were carried out on a GL sample. The results anticipate the strong potential of the proposed method for practical applications in the Cultural Heritage diagnostics

    Ultrafast control of Rabi oscillations in a polariton condensate

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    We report the experimental observation and control of space and time-resolved light-matter Rabi oscillations in a microcavity. Our setup precision and the system coherence are so high that coherent control can be implemented with amplification or switching off of the oscillations and even erasing of the polariton density by optical pulses. The data is reproduced by a fundamental quantum optical model with excellent accuracy, providing new insights on the key components that rule the polariton dynamics.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, supplementary 7 pages, 4 figures. Supplementary videos: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0QCllnLqdyBNjlMLTdjZlNhbTQ&usp=sharin

    The colored Hanbury Brown--Twiss effect

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    The Hanbury Brown--Twiss effect is one of the celebrated phenomenologies of modern physics that accommodates equally well classical (interferences of waves) and quantum (correlations between indistinguishable particles) interpretations. The effect was discovered in the late thirties with a basic observation of Hanbury Brown that radio-pulses from two distinct antennas generate signals on the oscilloscope that wiggle similarly to the naked eye. When Hanbury Brown and his mathematician colleague Twiss took the obvious step to propose bringing the effect in the optical range, they met with considerable opposition as single-photon interferences were deemed impossible. The Hanbury Brown--Twiss effect is nowadays universally accepted and, being so fundamental, embodies many subtleties of our understanding of the wave/particle dual nature of light. Thanks to a novel experimental technique, we report here a generalized version of the Hanbury Brown--Twiss effect to include the frequency of the detected light, or, from the particle point of view, the energy of the detected photons. In addition to the known tendencies of indistinguishable photons to arrive together on the detector, we find that photons of different colors present the opposite characteristic of avoiding each others. We postulate that fermions can be similarly brought to exhibit positive (boson-like) correlations by frequency filtering.Comment: 18 pages, includes supplementary material of the derivation
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