Number-neutral bare plurals and the multiplicity implicature

Bare plurals (dogs) behave in ways that quantified plurals (some dogs) do not. For instance, while the sentence John owns dogs implies that John owns more than one dog, its negation John does not own dogs does not mean "John does not own more than one dog", but rather "John does not own a dog". A second puzzling behavior is known as the dependent plural reading; when in the scope of another plural, the 'more than one' meaning of the plural is not distributed over, but the existential force of the plural is. For example, My friends attend good schools requires that each of my friends attend one good school, not more, while at the same time being inappropriate if all my friends attend the same school. This paper shows that both these phenomena, and others, arise from the same cause. Namely, the plural noun itself does not assert 'more than one', but rather the plural denotes a predicate that is number neutral (unspecified for cardinality). The 'more than one' meaning arises as an scalar implicature, relying on the scalar relationship between the bare plural and its singular alternative, and calculated in a sub-sentential domain; namely, before existential closure of the event variable. Finally, implications of this analysis will be discussed for the analysis of the quantified noun phrases that interact with bare plurals, such as indefinite numeral DPs (three boys), and singular universals (every boy)

The complex relation between production and scattering amplitudes

The unitarity relation, Im(A)=T* A, is derived for a three-body production amplitude, A, that consists of a complex linear combination of elements of the two-body scattering amplitude, T. We conclude that the unitarity relation does not impose a realness condition on the coefficients in the expansion of, A, in terms of, T.Comment: 4 pages plain LaTe

Vaccine stability monitoring using the LifeTrack® electronic stability monitor

AbstractLifeTrack® technology enables the time-temperature stability profiles of even complex freeze-sensitive vaccines to be monitored in real time. Unlike freeze-resistant vaccines, freeze-sensitive vaccines do not obey a simple exponential Arrhenius law degradation equation. As a result, present vaccine stability indicators, such as Vaccine Vial Monitors (VVM), do not function adequately for these vaccines. LifeTrack electronic stability tags allow even a complex freeze-sensitive vaccine's fitness for use to be instantly evaluated by unsophisticated users with no knowledge of the vaccine, and with no special equipment. This novel electronic tag technology takes advantage of advances in low-cost microprocessors, batteries, and visual displays to compare a vaccine's real-life environmental history versus a sophisticated stability model, and continually determine if the vaccine's stability remains acceptable. This technology enables “at a glance” assessment of a vaccine's suitability and remaining lifetime, and also allows for more detailed supplemental statistical data to be obtained in order to determine exactly how and when stability failures occurred. This ability to allow users to visually detect deteriorated freeze-sensitive vaccines, coupled with an ability to determine exactly where in the supply chain unwanted levels of vaccine deterioration have occurred, could potentially bring an entirely new level of precision to vaccine supply chain management. The LifeTrack electronic stability monitoring tag may be a particularly useful tool to help address the present high rate of accidental freezing of freeze-sensitive vaccines in the cold chain

Production of f0(1710)f_0(1710), f0(1500)f_0(1500), and f0(1370)f_0(1370) in J/ψJ/\psi hadronic decays

A coherent study of the production of $f_0^i$ ($i=1$, 2, 3 corresponding to $f_0(1710)$, $f_0(1500)$, and $f_0(1370)$) in $J/\psi\to V f_0 \to V PP$ is reported based on a previously proposed glueball and $Q\bar{Q}$ nonet mixing scheme, and a factorization for the decay of $J/\psi\to V f_0^i$, where $V$ denotes the isoscalar vector mesons $\phi$ and $\omega$, and $P$ denotes pseudoscalar mesons. The results show that the $J/\psi$ decays are very sensitive to the structure of those scalar mesons, and suggest a glueball in the $1.5-1.7$ GeV region, in line with Lattice QCD. The presence of significant glueball mixings in the scalar wavefunctions produces peculiar patterns in the branching ratios for $J/\psi\to V f_0^i\to VPP$, which are in good agreement with the recently published experimental data from the BES collaboration.Comment: Version accepted by PRD; Numerical results in Tab IV and VI changed due to correction of an error in quoting an experimental datum; Conclusion is not change

The Symmetries of Nature

The study of the symmetries of nature has fascinated scientists for eons. The application of the formal mathematical description of symmetries during the last century has produced many breakthroughs in our understanding of the substructure of matter. In this talk, a number of these advances are discussed, and the important role that George Sudarshan played in their development is emphasize

The Active Traveling Wave in the Cochlea

A sound stimulus entering the inner ear excites a deformation of the basilar membrane which travels along the cochlea towards the apex. It is well established that this wave-like disturbance is amplified by an active system. Recently, it has been proposed that the active system consists of a set of self-tuned critical oscillators which automatically operate at an oscillatory instability. Here, we show how the concepts of a traveling wave and of self-tuned critical oscillators can be combined to describe the nonlinear wave in the cochlea.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

SWISSspine: a nationwide registry for health technology assessment of lumbar disc prostheses

SWISSspine is a so-called pragmatic trial for assessment of safety and efficiency of total disc arthroplasty (TDA). It follows the new health technology assessment (HTA) principle of "coverage with evidence development”. It is the first mandatory HTA registry of its kind in the history of Swiss orthopaedic surgery. Its goal is the generation of evidence for a decision by the Swiss federal office of health about reimbursement of the concerned technologies and treatments by the basic health insurance of Switzerland. During the time between March 2005 and 2008, 427 interventions with implantation of 497 lumbar total disc arthroplasties have been documented. Data was collected in a prospective, observational multicenter mode. The preliminary timeframe for the registry was 3years and has already been extended. Data collection happens pre- and perioperatively, at the 3months and 1-year follow-up and annually thereafter. Surgery, implant and follow-up case report forms are administered by spinal surgeons. Comorbidity questionnaires, NASS and EQ-5D forms are completed by the patients. Significant and clinically relevant reduction of low back pain VAS (70.3-29.4 points preop to 1-year postop, p<0.0001) leg pain VAS (55.5-19.1 points preop to 1-year postop, p<0.001), improvement of quality of life (EQ-5D, 0.32-0.73 points preop to 1-year postop, p<0.001) and reduction of pain killer consumption was revealed at the 1-year follow-up. There were 14 (3.9%) complications and 7 (2.0%) revisions within the same hospitalization reported for monosegmental TDA; there were 6 (8.6%) complications and 8 (11.4%) revisions for bisegmental surgery. There were 35 patients (9.8%) with complications during followup in monosegmental and 9 (12.9%) in bisegmental surgery and 11 (3.1%) revisions with new hospitalization in monosegmental and 1 (1.4%) in bisegmental surgery. Regression analysis suggested a preoperative VAS "threshold value” of about 44 points for increased likelihood of a minimum clinically relevant back pain improvement. In a short-term perspective, lumbar TDA appears as a relatively safe and efficient procedure concerning pain reduction and improvement of quality of life. Nevertheless, no prediction about the long-term goals of TDA can be made yet. The SWISSspine registry proofs to be an excellent tool for collection of observational data in a nationwide framework whereby advantages and deficits of its design must be considered. It can act as a model for similar projects in other health-care domain

Development of a documentation instrument for the conservative treatment of spinal disorders in the International Spine Registry, Spine Tango

Spine Tango is the first and only International Spine Registry in operation to date. So far, only surgical spinal interventions have been recorded and no comparable structured and comprehensive documentation instrument for conservative treatments of spinal disorders is available. This study reports on the development of a documentation instrument for the conservative treatment of spinal disorders by using the Delphi consensus method. It was conducted with a group of international experts in the field. We also assessed the usability of this new assessment tool with a prospective feasibility study on 97 outpatients and inpatients with low back or neck pain undergoing conservative treatment. The new ‘Spine Tango conservative' questionnaire proved useful and suitable for the documentation of pathologies, conservative treatments and outcomes of patients with low back or neck problems. A follow-up questionnaire seemed less important in the predominantly outpatient setting. In the feasibility study, between 43 and 63% of patients reached the minimal clinically important difference in pain relief and Core Outcome Measures Index at 3months after therapy; 87% of patients with back pain and 85% with neck pain were satisfied with the received treatment. With ‘Spine Tango conservative' a first step has been taken to develop and implement a complementary system for documentation and evaluation of non-surgical spinal interventions and outcomes within the framework of the International Spine Registry. It proved useful and feasible in a first pilot study, but it will take the experience of many more cases and therapists to develop a version similarly mature as the surgical instruments of Spine Tang

Computer aided diagnosis for cardiovascular diseases based on ECG signals : a survey

The interpretation of Electroencephalography (ECG) signals is difficult, because even subtle changes in the waveform can indicate a serious heart disease. Furthermore, these waveform changes might not be present all the time. As a consequence, it takes years of training for a medical practitioner to become an expert in ECG-based cardiovascular disease diagnosis. That training is a major investment in a specific skill. Even with expert ability, the signal interpretation takes time. In addition, human interpretation of ECG signals causes interoperator and intraoperator variability. ECG-based Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) holds the promise of improving the diagnosis accuracy and reducing the cost. The same ECG signal will result in the same diagnosis support regardless of time and place. This paper introduces both the techniques used to realize the CAD functionality and the methods used to assess the established functionality. This survey aims to instill trust in CAD of cardiovascular diseases using ECG signals by introducing both a conceptional overview of the system and the necessary assessment method

Analysis of electroencephalograms in Alzheimer's disease patients with multiscale entropy

The aim of this study was to analyse the electroencephalogram (EEG) background activity of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients using the Multiscale Entropy (MSE). The MSE is a recently developed method that quantifies the regularity of a signal on different time scales. These time scales are inspected by means of several coarse-grained sequences formed from the analysed signals. We recorded the EEGs from 19 scalp electrodes in 11 AD patients and 11 age-matched controls and estimated the MSE profile for each epoch of the EEG recordings. The shape of the MSE profiles reveals the EEG complexity, and it suggests that the EEG contains information in deeper scales than the smallest one. Moreover, the results showed that the EEG background activity is less complex in AD patients than control subjects. We found significant difference