23,912 research outputs found
Mapping suspended particle and solute concentrations from satellite data
There are no author-identified significant results in this report
Older people's experiences of changed medication appearance : a survey
This report details a survey of older people's experiences of changed medication appearance. The aims of the study were:
• To develop a questionnaire in partnership with older people to survey older people’s views on fluctuating medication appearance
• To elicit older people’s experiences of medication that changed appearance due to ‘generic prescribing’ and ‘parallel import’ practices and its impact on their medication taking practices.
These common pharmacy practices mean that the same tablet medication can be issued to older people in different colours, sizes and shapes to their previous prescriptions. Older people from a local User/Carer Forum highlighted these problems to the research team and asked that we investigate to explore the extent of the problem.
An eight-item questionnaire was developed and distributed to 2000 older people (50 years+) across participating PCTs in Greater Manchester in 2008. A 29% response rate was achieved. The data was analysed using the SPSS statistical package. Findings include:
•63.3% experienced a change in the appearance of their tablet medications.
•74.1% did not seek advice regarding the change in the appearance of their tablet medications.
•Older people noted changes to the actual tablets, tablet packaging and written information that accompanies tablets. Changes are occurring to the colour, size and shape of tablets more than changes to packaging and written information.
The majority of respondents had experienced changes in the appearance of their prescribed tablet medication in the previous two years which were not due to change in medication or dose etc. Worryingly, for some respondents, these changes prompted negative experiences such as anxiety, confusion and upset. Of particular concern was that a small number omitted the affected tablet medications and did not seek help or advice from GPs, pharmacists or relatives.
Six older people have been study advisors from inception to dissemination of this study and significantly added to its quality. The study demonstrates substantive public engagement / user involvement in research. The findings suggest nurses and others have a role to play in promoting better medicines management and identifying those most at risk from changed appearance of medications
Anomalous enhancement of a penguin hadronic matrix element in B->K eta'
We estimate the density matrix element for the pi^0, eta and eta' production
from the vacuum in the large-N_c limit. As a consequence, we find that the QCD
axial anomaly leads to highly non-trivial corrections to the usual flavour
SU(3) relations between B^0-> K^0 pi^0, B^0-> K^0 eta and B^0-> K^0 eta' decay
amplitudes. These corrections may explain why the B-> K eta' branching ratio is
about six times larger than the B-> K pi one.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur
Sequential Gaussian Processes for Online Learning of Nonstationary Functions
Many machine learning problems can be framed in the context of estimating
functions, and often these are time-dependent functions that are estimated in
real-time as observations arrive. Gaussian processes (GPs) are an attractive
choice for modeling real-valued nonlinear functions due to their flexibility
and uncertainty quantification. However, the typical GP regression model
suffers from several drawbacks: i) Conventional GP inference scales
with respect to the number of observations; ii) updating a GP model
sequentially is not trivial; and iii) covariance kernels often enforce
stationarity constraints on the function, while GPs with non-stationary
covariance kernels are often intractable to use in practice. To overcome these
issues, we propose an online sequential Monte Carlo algorithm to fit mixtures
of GPs that capture non-stationary behavior while allowing for fast,
distributed inference. By formulating hyperparameter optimization as a
multi-armed bandit problem, we accelerate mixing for real time inference. Our
approach empirically improves performance over state-of-the-art methods for
online GP estimation in the context of prediction for simulated non-stationary
data and hospital time series data
Vortex interactions and decay in aircraft wakes
The dynamic interaction of aircraft wake vortices was investigated using both inviscid and viscous models. For the viscous model, a computer code was developed using a second-order closure model of turbulent transport. The phenomenon of vortex merging which results in the rapid aging of a vortex wake was examined in detail. It was shown that the redistribution of vorticity during merging results from both convective and diffusive mechanisms
Time dependent spectral modeling of Markarian 421 during a violent outburst in 2010
We present the results of extensive modeling of the spectral energy
distributions (SEDs) of the closest blazar (z=0.031) Markarian 421 (Mrk 421)
during a giant outburst in February 2010. The source underwent rapid flux
variations in both X-rays and very high energy (VHE) gamma-rays as it evolved
from a low-flux state on 2010 February 13-15 to a high-flux state on 2010
February 17. During this period, the source exhibited significant spectral
hardening from X-rays to VHE gamma-rays while exhibiting a "harder when
brighter" behavior in these energy bands. We reproduce the broadband SED using
a time-dependent multi-zone leptonic jet model with radiation feedback. We find
that an injection of the leptonic particle population with a single power-law
energy distribution at shock fronts followed by energy losses in an
inhomogeneous emission region is suitable for explaining the evolution of Mrk
421 from low- to high-flux state in February 2010. The spectral states are
successfully reproduced by a combination of a few key physical parameters, such
as the maximum minimum cutoffs and power-law slope of the electron
injection energies, magnetic field strength, and bulk Lorentz factor of the
emission region. The simulated light curves and spectral evolution of Mrk 421
during this period imply an almost linear correlation between X-ray flux at
1-10 keV energies and VHE gamma-ray flux above 200 GeV, as has been previously
exhibited by this source. Through this study, a general trend that has emerged
for the role of physical parameters is that, as the flare evolves from a low-
to a high-flux state, higher bulk kinetic energy is injected into the system
with a harder particle population and a lower magnetic field strength.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Optical spectroscopy of single quantum dots at tunable positive, neutral and negative charge states
We report on the observation of photoluminescence from positive, neutral and
negative charge states of single semiconductor quantum dots. For this purpose
we designed a structure enabling optical injection of a controlled unequal
number of negative electrons and positive holes into an isolated InGaAs quantum
dot embedded in a GaAs matrix. Thereby, we optically produced the charge states
-3, -2, -1, 0, +1 and +2. The injected carriers form confined collective
'artificial atoms and molecules' states in the quantum dot. We resolve
spectrally and temporally the photoluminescence from an optically excited
quantum dot and use it to identify collective states, which contain charge of
one type, coupled to few charges of the other type. These states can be viewed
as the artificial analog of charged atoms such as H, H, H,
and charged molecules such as H and H. Unlike higher
dimensionality systems, where negative or positive charging always results in
reduction of the emission energy due to electron-hole pair recombination, in
our dots, negative charging reduces the emission energy, relative to the
charge-neutral case, while positive charging increases it. Pseudopotential
model calculations reveal that the enhanced spatial localization of the
hole-wavefunction, relative to that of the electron in these dots, is the
reason for this effect.Comment: 5 figure
Operational application of a universal turbulence measuring system Final report
Aeronautical turbulence measuring apparatus - gust loadin
High titers of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy infectivity associated with extremely low levels of PrP in vivo
Rona Barron - ORCID: 0000-0003-4512-9177 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4512-9177Diagnosis of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) disease in humans and ruminants relies on the detection in post-mortem brain tissue of the protease-resistant form of the host glycoprotein PrP. The presence of this abnormal isoform (PrPSc) in tissues is taken as indicative of the presence of TSE infectivity. Here we demonstrate conclusively that high titers of TSE infectivity can be present in brain tissue of animals that show clinical and vacuolar signs of TSE disease but contain low or undetectable levels of PrPSc. This work questions the correlation between PrPSc level and the titer of infectivity and shows that tissues containing little or no proteinase K-resistant PrP can be infectious and harbor high titers of TSE infectivity. Reliance on protease-resistant PrPSc as a sole measure of infectivity may therefore in some instances significantly underestimate biological properties of diagnostic samples, thereby undermining efforts to contain and eradicate TSEs.https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M704329200282pubpub4
Perceived vocal morbidity in a problem asthma clinic
<p>Aims: Asthma treatment has the potential to affect patients' voices. We undertook detailed characterisation of voice morbidity in patients attending a problem asthma clinic, and we determined how patients' perceptions related to objective assessment by an experienced observer.</p>
<p>Methods: Forty-three patients took part in the study. Subjects completed the self-administered voice symptom score (VoiSS) questionnaire and underwent digital voice recording. These voice recordings were scored using the grade–roughness–breathiness–asthenicity–strain system (GRBAS). Laryngoscopy was also performed.</p>
<p>Results: The median VoiSS was 26 (range three to 83). VoiSS were significantly lower in the 17 patients with normal laryngeal structure and function (range four to 46; median 22), compared with the 26 patients with functional or structural laryngeal abnormality (range three to 83; median 33) (95 per cent confidence intervals for difference 0.0–21.0; p = 0.044). The overall grade score for the GRBAS scale did not differ between these two groups, and only 13 patients had a GRBAS score of one or more, recognised as indicating a voice problem. There were positive correlations between related GRBAS score and voice symptom score subscales. Although voice symptom scores were significantly more abnormal in patients with structural and functional abnormalities, this score performed only moderately well as a predictive tool (sensitivity 54 per cent; specificity 71 per cent). Nevertheless, the voice symptom score performed as well as the more labour-intensive GRBAS score (sensitivity 57 per cent; specificity 60 per cent). Patients' inhaled corticosteroid dose (median dose 1000 µg beclomethasone dipropionate or equivalent) had a statistically significant relationship with their overall grade score for the GRBAS scale (r = 0.56; p < 0.001), but not with their VoiSS. Only one patient had evidence of laryngeal candidiasis, and only two had any evidence of abnormality suggesting steroid-induced myopathy.</p>
<p>Conclusions: Vocal morbidity is common in patients with asthma, and should not be immediately attributed to steroid-related candidiasis. The VoiSS merits further, prospective validation as a screening tool for ENT and/or speech and language therapy referral in patients with asthma.</p>
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