4,957 research outputs found
Reconstruction of deglacial sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific from selective analysis of a fossil coral
The Sr/Ca of coral skeletons demonstrates potential as an indicator of sea surface temperatures (SSTs). However, the glacial-interglacial SST ranges predicted from Sr/Ca of fossil corals are usually higher than from other marine proxies. We observed infilling of secondary aragonite, characterised by high Sr/Ca ratios, along intraskeletal pores of a fossil coral from Papua New Guinea that grew during the penultimate deglaciation (130 +/- 2 ka). Selective microanalysis of unaltered areas of the fossil coral indicates that SSTs at similar to 130 ka were <= 1 degrees C cooler than at present in contrast with bulk measurements ( combining infilled and unaltered areas) which indicate a difference of 6-7 degrees C. The analysis of unaltered areas of fossil skeletons by microprobe techniques may offer a route to more accurate reconstruction of past SSTs.</p
Spacetime geometry of static fluid spheres
We exhibit a simple and explicit formula for the metric of an arbitrary
static spherically symmetric perfect fluid spacetime. This class of metrics
depends on one freely specifiable monotone non-increasing generating function.
We also investigate various regularity conditions, and the constraints they
impose. Because we never make any assumptions as to the nature (or even the
existence) of an equation of state, this technique is useful in situations
where the equation of state is for whatever reason uncertain or unknown.
To illustrate the power of the method we exhibit a new form of the
``Goldman--I'' exact solution and calculate its total mass. This is a
three-parameter closed-form exact solution given in terms of algebraic
combinations of quadratics. It interpolates between (and thereby unifies) at
least six other reasonably well-known exact solutions.Comment: Plain LaTeX 2e -- V2: now 22 pages; minor presentation changes in the
first part of the paper -- no physics modifications; major additions to the
examples section: the Gold-I solution is shown to be identical to the G-G
solution. The interior Schwarzschild, Stewart, Buch5 XIII, de Sitter, anti-de
Sitter, and Einstein solutions are all special cases. V3: Reference,
footnotes, and acknowledgments added, typos fixed -- no physics
modifications. V4: Technical problems with mass formula fixed -- affects
discussion of our examples but not the core of the paper. Version to appear
in Classical and Quantum Gravit
Statistical Properties of the Final State in One-dimensional Ballistic Aggregation
We investigate the long time behaviour of the one-dimensional ballistic
aggregation model that represents a sticky gas of N particles with random
initial positions and velocities, moving deterministically, and forming
aggregates when they collide. We obtain a closed formula for the stationary
measure of the system which allows us to analyze some remarkable features of
the final `fan' state. In particular, we identify universal properties which
are independent of the initial position and velocity distributions of the
particles. We study cluster distributions and derive exact results for extreme
value statistics (because of correlations these distributions do not belong to
the Gumbel-Frechet-Weibull universality classes). We also derive the energy
distribution in the final state. This model generates dynamically many
different scales and can be viewed as one of the simplest exactly solvable
model of N-body dissipative dynamics.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures include
Site percolation and random walks on d-dimensional Kagome lattices
The site percolation problem is studied on d-dimensional generalisations of
the Kagome' lattice. These lattices are isotropic and have the same
coordination number q as the hyper-cubic lattices in d dimensions, namely q=2d.
The site percolation thresholds are calculated numerically for d= 3, 4, 5, and
6. The scaling of these thresholds as a function of dimension d, or
alternatively q, is different than for hypercubic lattices: p_c ~ 2/q instead
of p_c ~ 1/(q-1). The latter is the Bethe approximation, which is usually
assumed to hold for all lattices in high dimensions. A series expansion is
calculated, in order to understand the different behaviour of the Kagome'
lattice. The return probability of a random walker on these lattices is also
shown to scale as 2/q. For bond percolation on d-dimensional diamond lattices
these results imply p_c ~ 1/(q-1).Comment: 11 pages, LaTeX, 8 figures (EPS format), submitted to J. Phys.
Solution generating theorems for perfect fluid spheres
The first static spherically symmetric perfect fluid solution with constant
density was found by Schwarzschild in 1918. Generically, perfect fluid spheres
are interesting because they are first approximations to any attempt at
building a realistic model for a general relativistic star. Over the past 90
years a confusing tangle of specific perfect fluid spheres has been discovered,
with most of these examples seemingly independent from each other. To bring
some order to this collection, we develop several new transformation theorems
that map perfect fluid spheres into perfect fluid spheres. These transformation
theorems sometimes lead to unexpected connections between previously known
perfect fluid spheres, sometimes lead to new previously unknown perfect fluid
spheres, and in general can be used to develop a systematic way of classifying
the set of all perfect fluid spheres. In addition, we develop new ``solution
generating'' theorems for the TOV, whereby any given solution can be
``deformed'' to a new solution. Because these TOV-based theorems work directly
in terms of the pressure profile and density profile it is relatively easy to
impose regularity conditions at the centre of the fluid sphere.Comment: 8 pages, no figures, to appear in the proceedings of the NEB XII
Conference (Recent Developments in Gravity), 29 June - 2 July, 2006, Napflio,
Greec
Micronutrients: highlights and research challenges from the 1994-5 National Diet and Nutrition Survey of people aged 65 years and over
The aims of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey series are summarized, and the new National Diet and Nutrition Survey of people aged 65 years and over is explored, with particular emphasis on micronutrient intakes and status indices. Mean nutrient intakes were generally satisfactory for most micronutrients, but intakes of vitamin D, Mg, K and Cu were low. Intakes of vitamin D were far below the reference nutrient intake for people aged 65 years and over, and there was also biochemical evidence of vitamin D deficiency, for 8% of free-living and 37% of institution participants, attributed partly to limited exposure to sunlight. A substantial proportion of people living in institutions had inadequate biochemical status indices, notably for vitamin C, Fe and folate. Relationships between intake and status were close for vitamins. Mineral intakes did not correlate well with currently used status indices. Some intakes and indices, especially those of vitamin C, carotenoids, Na and K, were strongly correlated with socio-economic status and with north-south gradients in Britain. Future research challenges should address the functional and health significance of low intakes and sub-optimal biochemical indices for certain micronutrients, especially for people living in institutions; the shortcomings of mineral status indices especially as indicators of mineral intake; the social and geographical inequalities of micronutrient intakes and status, and why micronutrient status deteriorates with increasing age. The answers to these questions will help to define the characteristics of nutritional risk for older people in Britain, and to clarify future needs for education and intervention
Use of Temporally Validated Machine Learning Models To Predict Outcomes of Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy Using Data from the British Association of Urological Surgeons Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy Audit
\ua9 2024 European Association of Urology. Background and objective: Machine learning (ML) is a subset of artificial intelligence that uses data to build algorithms to predict specific outcomes. Few ML studies have examined percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) outcomes. Our objective was to build, streamline, temporally validate, and use ML models for prediction of PCNL outcomes (intensive care admission, postoperative infection, transfusion, adjuvant treatment, postoperative complications, visceral injury, and stone-free status at follow-up) using a comprehensive national database (British Association of Urological Surgeons PCNL). Methods: This was an ML study using data from a prospective national database. Extreme gradient boosting (XGB), deep neural network (DNN), and logistic regression (LR) models were built for each outcome of interest using complete cases only, imputed, and oversampled and imputed/oversampled data sets. All validation was performed with complete cases only. Temporal validation was performed with 2019 data only. A second round used a composite of the most important 11 variables in each model to build the final model for inclusion in the shiny application. We report statistics for prognostic accuracy. Key findings and limitations: The database contains 12 810 patients. The final variables included were age, Charlson comorbidity index, preoperative haemoglobin, Guy\u27s stone score, stone location, size of outer sheath, preoperative midstream urine result, primary puncture site, preoperative dimercapto-succinic acid scan, stone size, and image guidance (https://endourology.shinyapps.io/PCNL_Demographics/). The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve was >0.6 in all cases. Conclusions and clinical implications: This is the largest ML study on PCNL outcomes to date. The models are temporally valid and therefore can be implemented in clinical practice for patient-specific risk profiling. Further work will be conducted to externally validate the models. Patient summary: We applied artificial intelligence to data for patients who underwent a keyhole surgery to remove kidney stones and developed a model to predict outcomes for this procedure. Doctors could use this tool to advise patients about their risk of complications and the outcomes they can expect after this surgery
Neutral-current neutrino cross section and expected supernova signals for Ar from a three-fold increase in the magnetic dipole strength
In view of the great interest in liquid argon neutrino detectors, the
Ar()Ar reaction was revisited to guide a
calculation of the neutral current neutrino cross section at supernova
energies. Using the nuclear resonance fluorescence technique with a
monoenergetic, 99% linearly polarized photon beam, we report a three-fold
increase in magnetic dipole strength at around 10 MeV in Ar. Based on
shell-model calculations, and using the experimentally identified transitions,
the neutral current neutrino cross sections for low-energy reactions on
Ar are calculated
- …