Scaling relation for determining the critical threshold for continuum percolation of overlapping discs of two sizes

We study continuum percolation of overlapping circular discs of two sizes. We propose a phenomenological scaling equation for the increase in the effective size of the larger discs due to the presence of the smaller discs. The critical percolation threshold as a function of the ratio of sizes of discs, for different values of the relative areal densities of two discs, can be described in terms of a scaling function of only one variable. The recent accurate Monte Carlo estimates of critical threshold by Quintanilla and Ziff [Phys. Rev. E, 76 051115 (2007)] are in very good agreement with the proposed scaling relation.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Impact of violence against women on severe acute maternal morbidity in the intensive care unit, including neonatal outcomes: a case–control study protocol in a tertiary healthcare facility in Lima, Peru

Introduction Preventing and reducing violence against women (VAW) and maternal mortality are Sustainable Development Goals. Worldwide, the maternal mortality ratio has fallen about 44% in the last 25 years, and for one maternal death there are many women affected by severe acute maternal morbidity (SAMM) requiring management in the intensive care unit (ICU). These women represent the most critically ill obstetric patients of the maternal morbidity spectrum and should be studied to complement the review of maternal mortality. VAW has been associated with all-cause maternal deaths, and since many women (30%) endure violence usually exerted by their intimate partners and this abuse can be severe during pregnancy, it is important to determine whether it impacts SAMM. Thus, this study aims to investigate the impact of VAW on SAMM in the ICU. Methods and analysis This will be a prospective case-control study undertaken in a tertiary healthcare facility in Lima-Peru, with a sample size of 109 cases (obstetric patients admitted to the ICU) and 109 controls (obstetric patients not admitted to the ICU selected by systematic random sampling). Data on social determinants, medical and obstetric characteristics, VAW, pregnancy and neonatal outcome will be collected through interviews and by extracting information from the medical records using a pretested form. Main outcome will be VAW rate and neonatal mortality rate between cases and controls. VAW will be assessed by using the WHO instrument. Binary logistic followed by stepwise multivariate regression and goodness of fit test will assess any association between VAW and SAMM. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval has been granted by the La Trobe University, Melbourne-Australia and the tertiary healthcare facility in Lima-Peru. This research follows the WHO ethical and safety recommendations for research on VAW. Findings will be presented at conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals

New measuring techniques using holographic and speckle interferometric recording

Electronic and photographic interferometric recording, and their combination, result in several novel optical measuring techniques. The interferometric properties of holographic and speckle processes in these techniques encompass fields such as lapse time, real time and time average holographic interferometry, two-wavelength and multiple-index speckle contouring, figure (moire) interference, photographic bleach processes and electronic processing. Each of these fields is analysed and conclusions are drawn in their interaction with the proposed techniques. A clear and simple approach to optical wave theory is intended with emphasis in scalar wave theory. [Continues.

Strictly correlated uniform electron droplets

We study the energetic properties of finite but internally homogeneous D-dimensional electron droplets in the strict-correlation limit. The indirect Coulomb interaction is found to increase as a function of the electron number, approaching the tighter forms of the Lieb-Oxford bound recently proposed by Rasanen et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 206406 (2009)]. The bound is satisfied in three-, two-, and one-dimensional droplets, and in the latter case it is reached exactly - regardless of the type of interaction considered. Our results provide useful reference data for delocalized strongly correlated systems, and they can be used in the development and testing of exchange-correlation density functionals in the framework of density-functional theory

Exponential stability to localized type III thermoelasticity

This paper investigates the system proposed by a wave equation and a heat equation of type III in one part of the domain; a wave equation and a heat equation of type II in another part of the domain, coupled in a certain pattern. In this paper we prove the exponential stability of the solutions under suitable conditions for the thermal conductivity and coupling term.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Combined effects of aldehyde dehydrogenase variants and maternal mitochondrial genes on alcohol consumption

Two lines of rats bred to differ in their voluntary alcohol consumption — the alcohol-abstaining UChA rats and the alcohol-drinking UChB rats — differ in how effectively toxic acetaldehyde is removed during alcohol metabolism. UChB animals carry efficient variants of the aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) genes and have active mitochondria, resulting in fast removal of acetaldehyde. UChA animals, in contrast, carry less efficient ALDH2 variants and less active mitochondria, which result in transient elevations of acetaldehyde levels after alcohol ingestion. Cross-breeding studies have demonstrated that the presence of active mitochondria inherited from UChB females can fully abolish the reduction of alcohol consumption associated with the presence of less efficient ALDH2 variants — a phenomenon known as epistasis. These and other findings suggest that mitochondrial activity during alcohol metabolism should be considered a new modulator of alcohol consumption not only in rats but also in other species, including humans