Non-standard connections in classical mechanics

In the jet-bundle description of first-order classical field theories there are some elements, such as the lagrangian energy and the construction of the hamiltonian formalism, which require the prior choice of a connection. Bearing these facts in mind, we analyze the situation in the jet-bundle description of time-dependent classical mechanics. So we prove that this connection-dependence also occurs in this case, although it is usually hidden by the use of the ``natural'' connection given by the trivial bundle structure of the phase spaces in consideration. However, we also prove that this dependence is dynamically irrelevant, except where the dynamical variation of the energy is concerned. In addition, the relationship between first integrals and connections is shown for a large enough class of lagrangians.Comment: 17 pages, Latex fil

Hyaluronic acid combined with mannitol to improve protection against free-radical endothelial damage: Experimental Model

Purpose: To evaluate the protective properties of combined sodium hyaluronate2% and mannitol 0.5% (Visiol) on the corneal endothelium in the presence of oxidative stress induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Setting: Instituto Oftalmolo´ gico de Alicante, Universidad Miguel Herna´ ndez, Alicante, Spain. Methods: This was an exploratory randomized controlled parallel-group, maskedassessor study of 3 sodium hyaluronate-based ophthalmic viscosurgical devices (OVDs): Visiol, Healon (sodium hyaluronate 1%), and Viscoat (sodium hyaluronate 3%–chondroitin sodium 4%). The OVDs were tested for protective effects on the endothelium following oxidative stress induced by H2O2 at increased concentrations: control (lactated Ringer’s solution), 1mM, 10mM, and 100 mM. Groups without OVD were used as controls at the same concentrations of peroxide. Each animal received the same treatment in both eyes (10 eyes per group). Endothelial cell lesion was assessed using the Janus green photometry absorbance technique. Results: At 10 mM peroxide concentration, the value of endothelial cell lesion was significantly lower in the Visiol (16.8%, P Z .0056), Healon (22.2%, P Z .0302), and Viscoat (21.6%, PZ .0336) groups than in the control group (29.4%, no OVD). There was a trend in favor of Visiol to more efficiently reduce cell lesions of the endothelium, than Healon (PZ .055) and Viscoat (P Z .1013). Values of endothelial cell lesion at peroxide concentrations of 1 mM and 100 mM showed the same trends than those observed at 10 mM. Conclusions: All of the OVDs tested efficiently reduced endothelial lesions against free radicals compared with the control group in which no OVD was used. The following sequence for the efficacy of endothelial cell protection was established: Visiol O Viscoat O Healon O no OVD

Unbounded violation of tripartite Bell inequalities

We prove that there are tripartite quantum states (constructed from random unitaries) that can lead to arbitrarily large violations of Bell inequalities for dichotomic observables. As a consequence these states can withstand an arbitrary amount of white noise before they admit a description within a local hidden variable model. This is in sharp contrast with the bipartite case, where all violations are bounded by Grothendieck's constant. We will discuss the possibility of determining the Hilbert space dimension from the obtained violation and comment on implications for communication complexity theory. Moreover, we show that the violation obtained from generalized GHZ states is always bounded so that, in contrast to many other contexts, GHZ states do in this case not lead to extremal quantum correlations. The results are based on tools from the theories of operator spaces and tensor norms which we exploit to prove the existence of bounded but not completely bounded trilinear forms from commutative C*-algebras.Comment: Substantial changes in the presentation to make the paper more accessible for a non-specialized reade

Label swapper device for spectral amplitude coded optical packet networks monolithically integrated on InP

This paper was published in OPTICS EXPRESS and is made available as an electronic reprint with the permission of OSA. The paper can be found at the following URL on the OSA website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.19.013540. Systematic or multiple reproduction or distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means is prohibited and is subject to penalties under lawIn this paper the design, fabrication and experimental characterization of an spectral amplitude coded (SAC) optical label swapper monolithically integrated on Indium Phosphide (InP) is presented. The device has a footprint of 4.8x1.5 mm 2 and is able to perform label swapping operations required in SAC at a speed of 155 Mbps. The device was manufactured in InP using a multiple purpose generic integration scheme. Compared to previous SAC label swapper demonstrations, using discrete component assembly, this label swapper chip operates two order of magnitudes faster. © 2011 Optical Society of America.The activities have been carried out in the framework of the Joint Research Activity (JRA) 'Active-phased Arrayed Devices' (WP 44) of the European Commission FP6 Network of Excellence ePIXnet (European Network of Excellence on Photonic Integrated Components and Circuits), Project Reference: 004525, http://www.epixnet.org/. This work has been partially funded through the Spanish Plan Nacional de I+D+i 2008-2011 project TEC2008-06145/TEC. It has also been partially supported by the Canadian Institute for Photonic Innovations. Devices are presently being fabricated through the InP Photonic Integration Platform JePPIX (coordinator D J Robbins), at the COBRA fab, http://www.jeppix.eu/Muñoz Muñoz, P.; Garcia-Olcina, R.; Habib, C.; Chen, LR.; Leijtens, XJM.; De Vries, T.; Robbins, D.... (2011). Label swapper device for spectral amplitude coded optical packet networks monolithically integrated on InP. Optics Express. 19(14):13540-13550. https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.19.013540S13540135501914Yoo, S. J. B. (2006). Optical Packet and Burst Switching Technologies for the Future Photonic Internet. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 24(12), 4468-4492. doi:10.1109/jlt.2006.886060Blumenthal, D. J., Olsson, B.-E., Rossi, G., Dimmick, T. E., Rau, L., Masanovic, M., … Barton, J. (2000). All-optical label swapping networks and technologies. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 18(12), 2058-2075. doi:10.1109/50.908817Srivatsa, A., d. Waardt, H., Hill, M. T., Khoe, G. D., & Dorren, H. J. S. (2001). All-optical serial header processing based on two-pulse correlation. Electronics Letters, 37(4), 234. doi:10.1049/el:20010178Gordon, R. E., & Chen, L. R. (2006). Demonstration of all-photonic spectral label-switching for optical MPLS networks. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 18(4), 586-588. doi:10.1109/lpt.2006.870188Habib, C., Baby, V., Chen, L. R., Delisle-Simard, A., & LaRochelle, S. (2008). All-Optical Swapping of Spectral Amplitude Code Labels Using Nonlinear Media and Semiconductor Fiber Ring Lasers. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, 14(3), 879-888. doi:10.1109/jstqe.2008.918047Cole, C., Huebner, B., & Johnson, J. (2009). Photonic integration for high-volume, low-cost applications. IEEE Communications Magazine, 47(3), S16-S22. doi:10.1109/mcom.2009.4804385Calabretta, N., Jung, H.-D., Llorente, J. H., Tangdiongga, E., Koonen, T. A. M. J., & Dorren, H. J. S. (2009). All-Optical Label Swapping of Scalable In-Band Address Labels and 160-Gb/s Data Packets. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 27(3), 214-223. doi:10.1109/jlt.2008.2009319Smit, M. K., & Van Dam, C. (1996). PHASAR-based WDM-devices: Principles, design and applications. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, 2(2), 236-250. doi:10.1109/2944.577370Eisenstein, G. (1989). Semiconductor optical amplifiers. IEEE Circuits and Devices Magazine, 5(4), 25-30. doi:10.1109/101.29899Munoz, P., Pastor, D., & Capmany, J. (2002). Modeling and design of arrayed waveguide gratings. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 20(4), 661-674. doi:10.1109/50.996587Soldano, L. B., & Pennings, E. C. M. (1995). Optical multi-mode interference devices based on self-imaging: principles and applications. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 13(4), 615-627. doi:10.1109/50.372474Zilkie, A. J., Meier, J., Mojahedi, M., Poole, P. J., Barrios, P., Poitras, D., … Aitchison, J. S. (2007). Carrier Dynamics of Quantum-Dot, Quantum-Dash, and Quantum-Well Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers Operating at 1.55 $\mu{\hbox {m}}$. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, 43(11), 982-991. doi:10.1109/jqe.2007.90447

Ionoluminescent response of several phosphor screens to keV ions of different masses

We have characterized the ionoluminescent response of several phosphor powder materials when irradiated with ions of different masses H+ ,He+ ,Ar+ accelerated to keV energies. In particular, we have determined the absolute luminosity in terms of the number of photons per incident ion emitted by luminescent screens of Y2O2S:Tb P45, Y3Al5O12 :Ce P46, Y2SiO5 :Ce P47, Y2O3 :Eu P56, and SrGa2S4 :Eu TG-green. Their ionoluminescence has been studied as a function of ion beam energy and current and ion fluency. The energy trend and mass dependence of selected experimental results are compared relative to stopping and range of ions in matter SRIM code predictions.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia FTN2003-090

Antenatal influenza and pertussis vaccination in Western Australia: A cross-sectional survey of vaccine uptake and influencing factors

Background: Influenza and pertussis vaccines have been recommended in Australia for women during each pregnancy since 2010 and 2015, respectively. Estimating vaccination coverage and identifying factors affecting uptake are important for improving antenatal immunisation services. Methods: A random sample of 800 Western Australian women ≥18 years of age who gave birth between 4th April and 4th October 2015 were selected. Of the 454 (57%) who were contactable by telephone, 424 (93%) completed a survey. Data were weighted by maternal age and area of residence to ensure representativeness. The proportion immunised against influenza and pertussis was the main outcome measure; multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors significantly associated with antenatal vaccination. Results from the 2015 study were compared to similar surveys conducted in 2012–2014. Results: In 2015, 71% (95% CI 66–75) of women received pertussis-containing vaccine and 61% (95% CI 56–66) received influenza vaccine during pregnancy; antenatal influenza vaccine coverage was 18% higher than in 2014 (43%; 95% CI: 34–46). Pertussis and influenza vaccine were co-administered for 68% of the women who received both vaccines. The majority of influenza vaccinations in 2015 were administered during the third trimester of pregnancy, instead of the second trimester, as was observed in prior years. Women whose care provider recommended both antenatal vaccinations had significantly higher odds of being vaccinated against both influenza and pertussis (OR 33.3, 95% CI: 15.15–73.38). Of unvaccinated mothers, 53.6% (95% CI: 45.9–61.3) and 78.3% (95% CI: 70.4–85.3) reported that they would have been vaccinated against influenza and pertussis, respectively, if their antenatal care provider had recommended it. Conclusions: Pertussis vaccination coverage was high in the first year of an antenatal immunisation program in Western Australia. Despite a substantial increase in influenza vaccination uptake between 2014 and 2015, coverage remained below that for pertussis. Our data suggest influenza and pertussis vaccination rates of 83% and 94%, respectively, are achievable if providers were to recommend them to all pregnant women

Observation of the Crab Nebula with the HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory

The Crab Nebula is the brightest TeV gamma-ray source in the sky and has been used for the past 25 years as a reference source in TeV astronomy, for calibration and verification of new TeV instruments. The High Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory (HAWC), completed in early 2015, has been used to observe the Crab Nebula at high significance across nearly the full spectrum of energies to which HAWC is sensitive. HAWC is unique for its wide field-of-view, nearly 2 sr at any instant, and its high-energy reach, up to 100 TeV. HAWC's sensitivity improves with the gamma-ray energy. Above $\sim$1 TeV the sensitivity is driven by the best background rejection and angular resolution ever achieved for a wide-field ground array. We present a time-integrated analysis of the Crab using 507 live days of HAWC data from 2014 November to 2016 June. The spectrum of the Crab is fit to a function of the form $\phi(E) = \phi_0 (E/E_{0})^{-\alpha -\beta\cdot{\rm{ln}}(E/E_{0})}$. The data is well-fit with values of $\alpha=2.63\pm0.03$, $\beta=0.15\pm0.03$, and log$_{10}(\phi_0~{\rm{cm}^2}~{\rm{s}}~{\rm{TeV}})=-12.60\pm0.02$ when $E_{0}$ is fixed at 7 TeV and the fit applies between 1 and 37 TeV. Study of the systematic errors in this HAWC measurement is discussed and estimated to be $\pm$50\% in the photon flux between 1 and 37 TeV. Confirmation of the Crab flux serves to establish the HAWC instrument's sensitivity for surveys of the sky. The HAWC survey will exceed sensitivity of current-generation observatories and open a new view of 2/3 of the sky above 10 TeV.Comment: Submitted 2017/01/06 to the Astrophysical Journa

Long-term adherence to IFN beta-1a treatment when using rebismart1device in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis

The effectiveness of disease-modifying drugs in the treatment of multiple sclerosis is associated with adherence. RebiSmart® electronic device provides useful information about adherence to the treatment with subcutaneous (sc) interferon (IFN) ß-1a (Rebif®). The aim of the study was to determine long-term adherence to this treatment in patients with relapsing- remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). This retrospective multicentre observational study analysed 258 patients with RRMS who were receiving sc IFN ß-1a (Rebif®) treatment by using RebiSmart® until replacement (36 months maximum lifetime) or treatment discontinuation. Adherence was calculated with data (injection dosage, time, and date) automatically recorded by RebiSmart®. Patients in the study had a mean age of 41 years with a female proportion of 68%. Mean EDSS score at start of treatment was 1.8 (95% CI, 1.6-1.9). Overall adherence was 92.6%(95% CI, 90.6-94.5%). A total of 30.2% of patients achieved an adherence rate of 100%, 80.6% at least 90%, and only 13.2% of patients showed a suboptimal adherence (<80%). A total of 59.9% of subjects were relapse-free after treatment initiation. Among 106 subjects (41.1%) who experienced, on average, 1.4 relapses, the majority were mild (40.6%) or moderate (47.2%). Having experienced relapses from the beginning of the treatment was the only variable significantly related to achieving an adherence of at least 80% (OR = 3.06, 1.28-7.31). Results of this study indicate that sc IFN ß-1a administration facilitated by RebiSmart® could lead to high rates of adherence to a prescribed dose regimen over 36 months

Bronchial Thermoplasty Global Registry (BTGR) : 2-year results

Funding This study was sponsored by Boston Scientific Corporation, Marlborough, MA, USA.Objectives Bronchial thermoplasty (BT) is a device-based treatment for subjects ≥18 years with severe asthma not well controlled with inhaled corticosteroids and long-acting beta-agonists. The Bronchial Thermoplasty Global Registry (BTGR) collected real-world data on subjects undergoing this procedure. Design The BTGR is an all-comer, prospective, open-label, multicentre study enrolling adult subjects indicated for and treated with BT. Setting Eighteen centres in Spain, Italy, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, South Africa and Australia Participants One hundred fifty-seven subjects aged 18 years and older who were scheduled to undergo BT treatment for asthma. Subjects diagnosed with other medical conditions which, in the investigator's opinion, made them inappropriate for BT treatment were excluded. Primary and secondary outcome measures Baseline characteristics collected included demographics, Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ), Asthma Control Test (ACT), medication usage, forced expiratory volume in one second and forced vital capacity, medical history, comorbidities and 12-month baseline recall data (severe exacerbations (SE) and healthcare utilisation). SE incidence and healthcare utilisation were summarised at 1 and 2 years post-BT. Results Subjects' baseline characteristics were representative of persons with severe asthma. A comparison of the proportion of subjects experiencing events during the 12 months prior to BT to the 2-year follow-up showed a reduction in SE (90.3% vs 56.1%, p<0.0001), emergency room visits (53.8% vs 25.5%, p<0.0001) and hospitalisations (42.9% vs 23.5 %, p=0.0019). Reductions in asthma maintenance medication dosage were also observed. AQLQ and ACT scores improved from 3.26 and 11.18 at baseline to 4.39 and 15.54 at 2 years, respectively (p<0.0001 for both AQLQ and ACT). Conclusions The BTGR demonstrates sustained improvement in clinical outcomes and reduction in asthma medication usage 2 years after BT in a real-world population. This is consistent with results from other BT randomised controlled trials and registries and further supports improvement in asthma control after BT. Trial registration number NCT02104856

Advances in ab-initio theory of Multiferroics. Materials and mechanisms: modelling and understanding

Within the broad class of multiferroics (compounds showing a coexistence of magnetism and ferroelectricity), we focus on the subclass of "improper electronic ferroelectrics", i.e. correlated materials where electronic degrees of freedom (such as spin, charge or orbital) drive ferroelectricity. In particular, in spin-induced ferroelectrics, there is not only a {\em coexistence} of the two intriguing magnetic and dipolar orders; rather, there is such an intimate link that one drives the other, suggesting a giant magnetoelectric coupling. Via first-principles approaches based on density functional theory, we review the microscopic mechanisms at the basis of multiferroicity in several compounds, ranging from transition metal oxides to organic multiferroics (MFs) to organic-inorganic hybrids (i.e. metal-organic frameworks, MOFs)Comment: 22 pages, 9 figure