The effect of core polarization on longitudinal form factors in 10^{10}B

Electron scattering Coulomb form factors for the single-particle quadrupole transitions in $p$-shell $^{10}$B nucleus have been studied. Core polarization effects are included through a microscopic theory that includes excitations from the core orbits up to higher orbits with 2$\hbar$$\omega$ excitations. The modified surface delta interaction (MSDI) is employed as a residual interaction. The effect of core polarization is found essential in both the transition strengths and momentum transfer dependence of form factors, and gives a remarkably good agreement with the measured data with no adjustable parameters.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Fusion and Breakup Reactions of 17S + 208Pb and 15C + 232ThHalo Nuclei Systems

In this study the calculations of the total fusion reaction cross section have been performed for fusion reaction systems 17F + 208Pb and 15C + 232Th which involving halo nuclei by using a semiclassical approach.The semiclassical treatment is comprising the WKB approximation to describe the relative motion between target and projectile nuclei, and Continuum Discretized Coupled Channel (CDCC) method to describe the intrinsic motion for both target and projectile nuclei. For the same of comparsion a full quantum mechanical clacualtions have been preforemd using the (CCFULL) code. Our theorticalrestuls are compared with the full quantum mechaincialcalcuations and with the recent experimental data for the total fusion reaction  checking the stability of the distancesThe coupled channel calculations of the total fusion cross section σfus, and the fusion barrier distribution Dfus. The comparsion with experiment proves that the semiclassiacl approach adopted in the present work reproduce the experimental data better that the full quantal mechanical calcautions

Fusion Reaction of Weakly Bound Nuclei

Semiclassical and full quantum mechanical approaches are used to study the effect of channel coupling on the calculations of the total fusion reaction cross section σfus and the fusion barrier distribution Dfus for the systems 6Li + 64Ni, 11B + 159Tb, and 12C + 9Be. The semiclassical approach used in the present work is based on the method of the Alder and Winther for Coulomb excitation. Full quantum coupled-channel calculations are carried out using CCFULL code with all order coupling in comparison with our semiclassical approach. The semiclassical calculations agree remarkably with the full quantum mechanical calculations. The results obtained from our semiclassical calculations are compared with the available experimental data and with full quantum coupled-channel calculations. The comparison with the experimental data shows that the full quantum coupled channels are better than semiclassical approach in the calculations of the total fusion cross section σfus and the fusion barrier distribution Dfus

Shell Model Investigation of Some p and sd-Shell Nuclei with Harmonic Oscillator and Skyrme Interactions

In this study, the longitudinal charge and form factors for the nuclei 9Be and 28Si lying in the p and sd shells are studied by employing the Harmonic Oscillator potential (HO) and Skyrme effective interaction (Sk35−Skzs∗). The C0 and C2 from factors calculated for the ground state 3/2-, the 5/2- (2.429 MeV) and 7/2- (6.380 MeV) for 9Be, while the ground state 0+ and 2+ (1.779 MeV) state for 28Si nucleus. Calculations of microscopic perturbations that involve intermediate one-particle, one-hole excitation from the core and MS orbits into all upper orbits with excitations are utilized to generate the effective charges necessary to account for the “core polarization effect”. The shell model calculations are utilized on the extended model space to include all 1s, 1p, 2s–1d, 2p‑1f orbits with  truncation. Bohr-Mottelson collective model and Tassie model with properly estimated effective neutron and proton charges are taken into account to consider the effect of the core contribution. The estimated form factors were compared with the measured available data and they were in good agreement for most of the studied states. A conclusion can be drawn that  truncation is very good choice to study the longitudinal form factors. The choice of Harmonic Oscillator potential (HO) and Skyrme effective interaction (Sk35−Skzs∗) is adequate for form estimation of longitudinal form factors. The estimation of the effective charges based on microscopic perturbations that involve intermediate one-particle, one-hole excitation from the core and MS orbits into all upper orbits with excitations is adequate. The truncation proves to be very successful to perform the study

Volunteer Bias in Recruitment, Retention, and Blood Sample Donation in a Randomised Controlled Trial Involving Mothers and Their Children at Six Months and Two Years: A Longitudinal Analysis

BACKGROUND: The vulnerability of clinical trials to volunteer bias is under-reported. Volunteer bias is systematic error due to differences between those who choose to participate in studies and those who do not. METHODS AND RESULTS: This paper extends the applications of the concept of volunteer bias by using data from a trial of probiotic supplementation for childhood atopy in healthy dyads to explore 1) differences between a) trial participants and aggregated data from publicly available databases b) participants and non-participants as the trial progressed 2) impact on trial findings of weighting data according to deprivation (Townsend) fifths in the sample and target populations. 1) a) Recruits (n = 454) were less deprived than the target population, matched for area of residence and delivery dates (n = 6,893) (mean [SD] deprivation scores 0.09[4.21] and 0.79[4.08], t = 3.44, df = 511, p<0.001). b) i) As the trial progressed, representation of the most deprived decreased. These participants and smokers were less likely to be retained at 6 months (n = 430[95%]) (OR 0.29,0.13-0.67 and 0.20,0.09-0.46), and 2 years (n = 380[84%]) (aOR 0.68,0.50-0.93 and 0.55,0.28-1.09), and consent to infant blood sample donation (n = 220[48%]) (aOR 0.72,0.57-0.92 and 0.43,0.22-0.83). ii) Mothers interested in probiotics or research or reporting infants' adverse events or rashes were more likely to attend research clinics and consent to skin-prick testing. Mothers participating to help children were more likely to consent to infant blood sample donation. 2) In one trial outcome, atopic eczema, the intervention had a positive effect only in the over-represented, least deprived group. Here, data weighting attenuated risk reduction from 6.9%(0.9-13.1%) to 4.6%(-1.4-+10.5%), and OR from 0.40(0.18-0.91) to 0.56(0.26-1.21). Other findings were unchanged. CONCLUSIONS: Potential for volunteer bias intensified during the trial, due to non-participation of the most deprived and smokers. However, these were not the only predictors of non-participation. Data weighting quantified volunteer bias and modified one important trial outcome. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This randomised, double blind, parallel group, placebo controlled trial is registered with the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trials Register, Number (ISRCTN) 26287422. Registered title: Probiotics in the prevention of atopy in infants and children

Burnout among surgeons before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: an international survey

Background: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had many significant impacts within the surgical realm, and surgeons have been obligated to reconsider almost every aspect of daily clinical practice. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study reported in compliance with the CHERRIES guidelines and conducted through an online platform from June 14th to July 15th, 2020. The primary outcome was the burden of burnout during the pandemic indicated by the validated Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure. Results: Nine hundred fifty-four surgeons completed the survey. The median length of practice was 10&nbsp;years; 78.2% included were male with a median age of 37&nbsp;years old, 39.5% were consultants, 68.9% were general surgeons, and 55.7% were affiliated with an academic institution. Overall, there was a significant increase in the mean burnout score during the pandemic; longer years of practice and older age were significantly associated with less burnout. There were significant reductions in the median number of outpatient visits, operated cases, on-call hours, emergency visits, and research work, so, 48.2% of respondents felt that the training resources were insufficient. The majority (81.3%) of respondents reported that their hospitals were included in the management of COVID-19, 66.5% felt their roles had been minimized; 41% were asked to assist in non-surgical medical practices, and 37.6% of respondents were included in COVID-19 management. Conclusions: There was a significant burnout among trainees. Almost all aspects of clinical and research activities were affected with a significant reduction in the volume of research, outpatient clinic visits, surgical procedures, on-call hours, and emergency cases hindering the training. Trial registration: The study was registered on clicaltrials.gov "NCT04433286" on 16/06/2020

Calculations of Gamow–Teller Transition Strengths in fp-Shell Nuclei Using Shell Model

The Gamow–Teller (GT) strength transitions in nuclear structures and astrophysical processes proved to be very important to understand the mechanisms of formation of neutron stars and black holes, therefore the GT transitions in the 46Ti→46V, 47Ti→47V, 48Ti→48V, and 50Cr→50Mn charge-exchange reactions have been studied. The shell model calculations have been carried out in the fp-model space without any restrictions using the GXFP1A, KB3G, and FPD6 effective interactions. The calculation of the GT distribution is compared with recent available experimental data. The theoretical calculations are in reasonably good agreement with the experimental GT distributions and with the summed transition strengths B(GT). For the individual transformations we have reached a qualitative agreement, while the measured cumulative transformation strengths are closely matched by the observed ones.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Fusion reaction study of halo system by quantum mechanical-based model for ⁶He+⁶⁴Zn, ⁸B+⁵⁸Ni and 8He+¹⁹⁷Au systems

In the current work the calculations of the reaction cross-section of total fusion σ fus, the fusion barrier distribution D fus, and the probability P fus were achieved for systems ⁶He+⁶⁴Zn, ⁸B+⁵⁸Ni and ⁸He+¹⁹⁷Au which involve halo nuclei by using a semiclassical approach. The semiclassical and quantum mechanics treatments comprise the approximation of WKB for describing the relative motion among projectile nuclei and target nuclei, and the method of CDCC (Continuum Discretized Coupled Channel) for describing the intrinsic motion for the projectile and target nuclei. Our semiclassical calculations yielded findings that were compared to obtainable experimental data as well as quantum mechanics calculations. For fusion cross-sections σ fus below and above the Coulomb barrier Vb, the quantum mechanics coupled channels are very similar, according to the experimental results