17,195 research outputs found
Thermodynamics of the L\'evy spin glass
We investigate the L\'evy glass, a mean-field spin glass model with power-law
distributed couplings characterized by a divergent second moment. By combining
extensively many small couplings with a spare random backbone of strong bonds
the model is intermediate between the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick and the
Viana-Bray model. A truncated version where couplings smaller than some
threshold \eps are neglected can be studied within the cavity method
developed for spin glasses on locally tree-like random graphs. By performing
the limit \eps\to 0 in a well-defined way we calculate the thermodynamic
functions within replica symmetry and determine the de Almeida-Thouless line in
the presence of an external magnetic field. Contrary to previous findings we
show that there is no replica-symmetric spin glass phase. Moreover we determine
the leading corrections to the ground-state energy within one-step replica
symmetry breaking. The effects due to the breaking of replica symmetry appear
to be small in accordance with the intuitive picture that a few strong bonds
per spin reduce the degree of frustration in the system
Spin Hall Drag
We predict a new effect in electronic bilayers: the {\it Spin Hall Drag}. The
effect consists in the generation of spin accumulation across one layer by an
electric current along the other layer. It arises from the combined action of
spin-orbit and Coulomb interactions. Our theoretical analysis, based on the
Boltzmann equation formalism, identifies two main contributions to the spin
Hall drag resistivity: the side-jump contribution, which dominates at low
temperature, going as , and the skew-scattering contribution, which is
proportional to . The induced spin accumulation is large enough to be
detected in optical rotation experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
Public Release of 2dF data from the Fornax Cluster Spectroscopic Survey
Thanks to the 2dF spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope, we have
recently completed the first stage of a complete spectroscopic survey more than
one order of magnitude larger than any previous study, measuring 7000 spectra
in a 6 sq.deg. area as part of our study of the Fornax Cluster. In this article
we describe the public release of 3600 spectra from our first field. We hope
that this public release will encourage colleagues making surveys for rare
objects to choose these fields, as much of the follow-up spectroscopy that
might be required is available from our data.Comment: To appear in the AAO Newsletter. Data online at
http://astro.ph.unimelb.edu.au/data
Population-based patient care study for breast cancer
Background: Different approaches for an effective quality management are funded by the Ministry of Health to verify, to assess and, if necessary to optimize the quality of health care using the tracer diagnoses of breast, rectal, and lung cancer in eight regions in Germany. The conception of these observational studies and initial findings are shown here, using breast cancer in the region of Munich (population 2.4 million) as an example. Patients and Methods: The study started on April 1, 1996. The recruitment phase for all primary boast cancer patients in this region is planned for 2 years with a 3-5-year follow-up. Established documentation sheets are used to document basic medical information of each patient, along with the original reports (pathology: radiotherapy, doctors' reports, etc.), follow-up reports and quality of life questionnaires (QLQ, including the EORTC QLQ C30). Results: In 1996, the Munich region has a crude incidence of 125/100,000 women (world standard 71.5). After almost complete documentation the incidence is 10-15% higher. In the period from April 1 1996 to June 30, 1997 1,360 patients have been recruited into the study. 79% of the patients were 50 years of age or older. pT stages are distributed as follows: pTIS 5%, pT1 54%, pT2 32%, pT3 4%, pT4 6%. 4.5% had primary metastases. Breast-conserving therapy (BCT) was performed in 57% of patients. Five of the 46 departments involved recruited more than 50 patients each within these 14 months. These larger departments treat 59% of all patients. The proportion of older patients and pT4 stages is significantly higher in the smaller departments. BCT is performed significantly more often in the larger departments. First results of quality of life show dependencies on age, but no differences between mastectomy and BCT 3 months after operation. Not only the addressed patients (response rate to QLQ over 80%) but also almost all hospitals and many physicians are milling to support and to partake in quality assurance. 35 hospitals, 46 surgical departments. 80 heads of department and surgically: active general practioners, 330 general practioners. 7 radiotherapy departments, and 13 pathology departments have so far documented for this study. Conclusions: An effective quality management in oncology needs a modern cancer registry which uses documentation sheets as well as original reports and organizes the complicated infrastructure for an interdisciplinary cooperation. To be able to evaluate the health care reality it is necessary to carry out a data analysis and assess each individual case. A feedback of the results have to be available for each physician and each department. The cost of this information management is approximately 0.3% of the health care cost for this group of patients
Trispectrum versus Bispectrum in Single-Field Inflation
In the standard slow-roll inflationary cosmology, quantum fluctuations in a
single field, the inflaton, generate approximately Gaussian primordial density
perturbations. At present, the bispectrum and trispectrum of the density
perturbations have not been observed and the probability distribution for these
perturbations is consistent with Gaussianity. However, Planck satellite data
will bring a new level of precision to bear on this issue, and it is possible
that evidence for non-Gaussian effects in the primordial distribution will be
discovered. One possibility is that a trispectrum will be observed without
evidence for a non-zero bispectrum. It is not difficult for this to occur in
inflationary models where quantum fluctuations in a field other than the
inflaton contribute to the density perturbations. A natural question to ask is
whether such an observation would rule out the standard scenarios. We explore
this issue and find that it is possible to construct single-field models in
which inflaton-generated primordial density perturbations have an observable
trispectrum, but a bispectrum that is too small to be observed by the Planck
satellite. However, an awkward fine tuning seems to be unavoidable.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures; journal versio
Storage capacity of correlated perceptrons
We consider an ensemble of single-layer perceptrons exposed to random
inputs and investigate the conditions under which the couplings of these
perceptrons can be chosen such that prescribed correlations between the outputs
occur. A general formalism is introduced using a multi-perceptron costfunction
that allows to determine the maximal number of random inputs as a function of
the desired values of the correlations. Replica-symmetric results for and
are compared with properties of two-layer networks of tree-structure and
fixed Boolean function between hidden units and output. The results show which
correlations in the hidden layer of multi-layer neural networks are crucial for
the value of the storage capacity.Comment: 16 pages, Latex2
Ab Initio Treatment of Collective Correlations and the Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay of Ca
Working with Hamiltonians from chiral effective field theory, we develop a
novel framework for describing arbitrary deformed medium-mass nuclei by
combining the in-medium similarity renormalization group with the generator
coordinate method. The approach leverages the ability of the first method to
capture dynamic correlations and the second to include collective correlations
without violating symmetries. We use our scheme to compute the matrix element
that governs the neutrinoless double beta decay of Ca to Ti, and
find it to have the value , near or below the predictions of most
phenomenological methods. The result opens the door to ab initio calculations
of the matrix elements for the decay of heavier nuclei such as Ge,
Te, and Xe.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures and 1 table. supplementary material included.
version to be publishe
The Effect of Fatigue on Essential Element Distribution in the Rabbit Masseter
The rabbit masseter is composed of mainly fast fatiguable type IIB fibers which give a positive mATPase reaction at pH 9.3. To study the effect of fatigue on the distribution of some crucial elements, the masseter was stimulated electrically for 45 minutes. The contralateral muscle served as a control. Control and experimental tissues were rapidly excised, and frozen in isopentane cooled to -150°C in liquid nitrogen. Sections were cut in a cryostat and prepared by freeze-drying. Water content of fatigued muscle was significantly higher than controls: 79.3% versus 77.3%. The fatigued state was verified by glycogen depletion viewed in PAS-stained sections. Ice crystal artifacts were more prominent in stimulated muscle, suggesting cytoplasmic edema and/or a change in water state. Element analysis of myofibers, using an scanning electron microscope equipped with a computer assisted energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer was performed at 15 kV for 100 seconds. Counts were recorded for Na, Mg, P, S, Cl, K and Ca ( Mg and Ca counts were too low to evaluate). Counts were converted to concentrations using a gelatin element standard. The most striking finding in fatigued muscle was a decrease in K concentration (33%) and an increase in Na (100%) and Cl (75%). P and S values were slightly lower. An interpretation of these findings is made in relation to a) changes in water structure and b) conformational changes in myofibril macromolecules
Microprobe Analysis of Element Distribution in Bovine Extracellular Matrices and Muscle
The concentrations of some essential elements, Na, K, P, S and Cl were determined by microprobe analysis in bovine extracellular matrices of cartilage, tendon and elastic tissue (ligamentum nuchae) and in muscle cells. The values for the different tissues were compared and related to the blood electrolyte concentrations. Among the connective tissues the highest Na and lowest Cl values were found for cartilage which bears a high negative charge. The lowest concentrations of these elements occurred in elastic tissue which is relatively non-polar. In the three extracellular matrices sodium levels exceeded potassium. In myofibers potassium was the major cation at 30 times the blood value and about 3 times the concentration of sodium. Chlorine values were around 0.4 that of blood. Sulfur and phosphorus are components of the tissue macromolecules. The negative charge on the extracellular matrices is a function of carboxyl and sulfate radicals. In the myofiber this property is largely attributable to carboxyl and phosphate groups. Differences in potassium-sodium distribution in cells and extracellular matrices are attributed partly to the microtrabecular lattice and to the ordered state of cell water. In general the element concentrations and selective distribution can be related to the chemical composition and organization of the tissue, the net immobile charge, the nature of the dispersion medium (water) and changes in its dielectric constant, and to the physico-chemical properties of the individual ions
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