1,016 research outputs found
Creep motion in a random-field Ising model
We analyze numerically a moving interface in the random-field Ising model
which is driven by a magnetic field. Without thermal fluctuations the system
displays a depinning phase transition, i.e., the interface is pinned below a
certain critical value of the driving field. For finite temperatures the
interface moves even for driving fields below the critical value. In this
so-called creep regime the dependence of the interface velocity on the
temperature is expected to obey an Arrhenius law. We investigate the details of
this Arrhenius behavior in two and three dimensions and compare our results
with predictions obtained from renormalization group approaches.Comment: 6 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Low frequency response of a collectively pinned vortex manifold
A low frequency dynamic response of a vortex manifold in type-II
superconductor can be associated with thermally activated tunneling of large
portions of the manifold between pairs of metastable states (two-level
systems). We suggest that statistical properties of these states can be
verified by using the same approach for the analysis of thermal fluctuations
the behaviour of which is well known. We find the form of the response for the
general case of vortex manifold with non-dispersive elastic moduli and for the
case of thin superconducting film for which the compressibility modulus is
always non-local.Comment: 8 pages, no figures, ReVTeX, the final version. Text strongly
modified, all the results unchange
Worst case and probabilistic analysis of the 2-Opt algorithm for the TSP
2-Opt is probably the most basic local search heuristic for the TSP. This heuristic achieves amazingly good results on âreal worldâ Euclidean instances both with respect to running time and approximation ratio. There are numerous experimental studies on the performance of 2-Opt. However, the theoretical knowledge about this heuristic is still very limited. Not even its worst case running time on 2-dimensional Euclidean instances was known so far. We clarify this issue by presenting, for every pâN , a family of L p instances on which 2-Opt can take an exponential number of steps.
Previous probabilistic analyses were restricted to instances in which n points are placed uniformly at random in the unit square [0,1]2, where it was shown that the expected number of steps is bounded by O~(n10) for Euclidean instances. We consider a more advanced model of probabilistic instances in which the points can be placed independently according to general distributions on [0,1] d , for an arbitrary dâ„2. In particular, we allow different distributions for different points. We study the expected number of local improvements in terms of the number n of points and the maximal density Ï of the probability distributions. We show an upper bound on the expected length of any 2-Opt improvement path of O~(n4+1/3â
Ï8/3) . When starting with an initial tour computed by an insertion heuristic, the upper bound on the expected number of steps improves even to O~(n4+1/3â1/dâ
Ï8/3) . If the distances are measured according to the Manhattan metric, then the expected number of steps is bounded by O~(n4â1/dâ
Ï) . In addition, we prove an upper bound of O(Ïâd) on the expected approximation factor with respect to all L p metrics.
Let us remark that our probabilistic analysis covers as special cases the uniform input model with Ï=1 and a smoothed analysis with Gaussian perturbations of standard deviation Ï with ÏâŒ1/Ï d
Is the readmission rate a valid quality indicator? A review of the evidence
Conclusions: Although readmission rates are a promising quality indicator, several methodological concerns identified in this study need to be addressed, especially when the indi
Exceptionally Slow Rise in Differential Reflectivity Spectra of Excitons in GaN: Effect of Excitation-induced Dephasing
Femtosecond pump-probe (PP) differential reflectivity spectroscopy (DRS) and
four-wave mixing (FWM) experiments were performed simultaneously to study the
initial temporal dynamics of the exciton line-shapes in GaN epilayers. Beats
between the A-B excitons were found \textit{only for positive time delay} in
both PP and FWM experiments. The rise time at negative time delay for the
differential reflection spectra was much slower than the FWM signal or PP
differential transmission spectroscopy (DTS) at the exciton resonance. A
numerical solution of a six band semiconductor Bloch equation model including
nonlinearities at the Hartree-Fock level shows that this slow rise in the DRS
results from excitation induced dephasing (EID), that is, the strong density
dependence of the dephasing time which changes with the laser excitation
energy.Comment: 8 figure
Using quality measures for quality improvement: The perspective of hospital staff
Research objective: This study examines the perspectives of a range of key hospital staff on the use, importance, scientific background, availability of data, feasibility of data collection, cost benefit aspects and availability of professional personnel for measurement of quality indicators among Iranian hospitals. The study aims to facilitate the use of quality indicators to improve quality of care in hospitals. Study design: A cross-sectional study was conducted over the period 2009 to 2010. Staff at Iranian hospitals completed a self-administered questionnaire eliciting their views on organizational, clinical process, and outcome (clinical effectiveness, patient safety and patient centeredness) indicators. Population studied: 93 hospital frontline staff including hospital/nursing managers, medical doctors, nurses, and quality improvement/medical records officers in 48 general and specialized hospitals in Iran. Principal findings: On average, only 69% of respondents reported using quality indicators in practice at their affiliated hospitals. Respondents varied significantly in their reported use of organizational, clinical process and outcome quality indicators. Overall, clinical process and effectiveness indicators were reported to be least used. The reported use of indicators corresponded with their perceived level of importance. Quality indicators were reported to be used among clinical staff significantly more than among managerial staff. In total, 74% of the respondents reported to use obligatory indicators, while this was 68% for voluntary indicators (p<0.05). Conclusions: There is a general awareness of the importance and usability of quality indicators among hospital staff in Iran, but their use is currently mostly directed towards external accountability purposes. To increase the formative use of quality indicators, creation of a common culture and feeling of shared ownership, alongside an increased uptake of clinical process and effectiveness indicators is needed to support internal quality improvement processes at hospital level
Quantum field theory of metallic spin glasses
We introduce an effective field theory for the vicinity of a zero temperature
quantum transition between a metallic spin glass (``spin density glass'') and a
metallic quantum paramagnet. Following a mean field analysis, we perform a
perturbative renormalization-group study and find that the critical properties
are dominated by static disorder-induced fluctuations, and that dynamic
quantum-mechanical effects are dangerously irrelevant. A Gaussian fixed point
is stable for a finite range of couplings for spatial dimensionality ,
but disorder effects always lead to runaway flows to strong coupling for . Scaling hypotheses for a {\em static\/} strong-coupling critical field
theory are proposed. The non-linear susceptibility has an anomalously weak
singularity at such a critical point. Although motivated by a perturbative
study of metallic spin glasses, the scaling hypotheses are more general, and
could apply to other quantum spin glass to paramagnet transitions.Comment: 16 pages, REVTEX 3.0, 2 postscript figures; version contains
reference to related work in cond-mat/950412
Physical, chemical, and sensory properties of water kefir produced from Aronia melanocarpa juice and pomace
Water kefir is widely consumed all over the world due to its potential health benefits. The aim of this current study was to compare non-fermented juice and fermented beverage of water kefir produced from Aronia melanocarpa juice and pomace in terms of chemical, physical and sensory quality as well as valorisation of pomace in the production of water kefir. When compared to water kefir made with aronia juice, less reduction in total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) and total anthocyanin content (TAC) was observed in samples made with aronia pomace during the fermentation process. Similarly, greater antioxidant activity was demonstrated in water kefir made with aronia pomace than juice. Based on sensory evaluation, no difference was found in overall acceptability, taste, aroma/odor, and turbidity of water kefir made with aronia pomace before and after fermentation. Results indicated that aronia pomace has potential in water kefir production
Improved lower bounds for the ground-state energy of many-body systems
New lower bounds for the binding energy of a quantum-mechanical system of
interacting particles are presented. The new bounds are expressed in terms of
two-particle quantities and improve the conventional bounds of the Hall-Post
type. They are constructed by considering not only the energy in the
two-particle system, but also the structure of the pair wave function. We apply
the formal results to various numerical examples, and show that in some cases
dramatic improvement over the existing bounds is reached.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.
Chaotic, memory and cooling rate effects in spin glasses: Is the Edwards-Anderson model a good spin glass?
We investigate chaotic, memory and cooling rate effects in the three
dimensional Edwards-Anderson model by doing thermoremanent (TRM) and AC
susceptibility numerical experiments and making a detailed comparison with
laboratory experiments on spin glasses. In contrast to the experiments, the
Edwards-Anderson model does not show any trace of re-initialization processes
in temperature change experiments (TRM or AC). A detailed comparison with AC
relaxation experiments in the presence of DC magnetic field or coupling
distribution perturbations reveals that the absence of chaotic effects in the
Edwards-Anderson model is a consequence of the presence of strong cooling rate
effects. We discuss possible solutions to this discrepancy, in particular the
smallness of the time scales reached in numerical experiments, but we also
question the validity of the Edwards-Anderson model to reproduce the
experimental results.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures. The original version of the paper has been
split in two parts. The second part is now available as cond-mat/010224
- âŠ