441 research outputs found
Why are the fastest runners of intermediate size? Contrasting scaling of mechanical demands and muscle supply of work and power
The fastest land animals are of intermediate size. Cheetah, antelope, greyhounds and racehorses have been measured running much faster than reported for elephants or elephant shrews. Can this be attributed to scaling of physical demands and explicit physiological constraints to supply? Here, we describe the scaling of mechanical work demand each stride, and the mechanical power demand each stance. Unlike muscle stress, strain and strain rate, these mechanical demands cannot be circumvented by changing the muscle gearing with minor adaptations in bone geometry or trivial adjustments to limb posture. Constraints to the capacity of muscle to supply work and power impose fundamental limitations to maximum speed. Given an upper limit to muscle work capacity each contraction, maximum speeds in big animals are constrained by the mechanical work demand each step. With an upper limit to instantaneous muscle power production, maximal speeds in small animals are limited by the high power demands during brief stance periods. The high maximum speed of the cheetah may therefore be attributed as much to its size as to its other anatomical and physiological adaptations
Accretion in the Early Kuiper Belt II. Fragmentation
We describe new planetesimal accretion calculations in the Kuiper Belt that
include fragmentation and velocity evolution. All models produce two power law
cumulative size distributions, N_C propto r^{-q}, with q = 2.5 for radii less
than 0.3-3 km and q = 3 for radii exceeding 1-3 km. The power law indices are
nearly independent of the initial mass in the annulus, the initial eccentricity
of the planetesimal swarm, and the initial size distribution of the
planetesimal swarm. The transition between the two power laws moves to larger
radii as the initial eccentricity increases. The maximum size of objects
depends on their intrinsic tensile strength; Pluto formation requires a
strength exceeding 300 erg per gram. Our models yield formation timescales for
Pluto-sized objects of 30-40 Myr for a minimum mass solar nebula. The
production of several `Plutos' and more than 10^5 50 km radius Kuiper Belt
objects leaves most of the initial mass in 0.1-10 km radius objects that can be
collisionally depleted over the age of the solar system. These results resolve
the puzzle of large Kuiper Belt objects in a small mass Kuiper Belt.Comment: to appear in the Astronomical Journal (July 1999); 54 pages including
7 tables and 13 figure
Asteroids in the Inner Solar System I - Existence
Ensembles of in-plane and inclined orbits in the vicinity of the Lagrange
points of the terrestrial planets are integrated for up to 100 million years.
The integrations incorporate the gravitational effects of Sun and the eight
planets (Pluto is neglected). Mercury is the least likely planet, as it is
unable to retain tadpole orbits over 100 million year timescales. Both Venus
and the Earth are much more promising, as they possess rich families of stable
tadpole and horseshoe orbits. Our survey of Trojans in the orbital plane of
Venus is undertaken for 25 million years. Some 40% of the survivors are on
tadpole orbits. For the Earth, the integrations are pursued for 50 million
years. The stable zones in the orbital plane are larger for the Earth than for
Venus, but fewer of the survivors are tadpoles. Both Venus and the Earth also
have regions in which inclined test particles can endure near the Lagrange
points. For Venus, only test particles close to the orbital plane are stable.
For the Earth, there are two bands of stability, one at low inclinations (i <
16 degrees) and one at moderate inclinations (between 24 degrees and 34
degrees). The inclined test particles that evade close encounters are primarily
moving on tadpole orbits. Our survey of in-plane test particles near the
Martian Lagrange points shows no survivors after 60 million years. Low
inclination test particles do not persist, as their inclinations are quickly
increased until the effects of a secular resonance with Jupiter cause
de-stabilisation. Numerical integrations of inclined test particles for
timespans of 25 million years show stable zones for inclinations between 14 and
40 degrees.Comment: 20 pages, 21 figures, Monthly Notices (in press
Planet Formation in the Outer Solar System
This paper reviews coagulation models for planet formation in the Kuiper
Belt, emphasizing links to recent observations of our and other solar systems.
At heliocentric distances of 35-50 AU, single annulus and multiannulus
planetesimal accretion calculations produce several 1000 km or larger planets
and many 50-500 km objects on timescales of 10-30 Myr in a Minimum Mass Solar
Nebula. Planets form more rapidly in more massive nebulae. All models yield two
power law cumulative size distributions, N_C propto r^{-q} with q = 3.0-3.5 for
radii larger than 10 km and N_C propto r^{-2.5} for radii less than 1 km. These
size distributions are consistent with observations of Kuiper Belt objects
acquired during the past decade. Once large objects form at 35-50 AU,
gravitational stirring leads to a collisional cascade where 0.1-10 km objects
are ground to dust. The collisional cascade removes 80% to 90% of the initial
mass in the nebula in roughly 1 Gyr. This dust production rate is comparable to
rates inferred for alpha Lyr, beta Pic, and other extrasolar debris disk
systems.Comment: invited review for PASP, March 2002. 33 pages of text and 12 figure
Structure of Possible Long-lived Asteroid Belts
High resolution simulations are used to map out the detailed structure of two
long-lived stable belts of asteroid orbits in the inner Solar system. The
Vulcanoid belt extends from 0.09 to 0.20 astronomical units (au), though with a
gaps at 0.15 and 0.18 au corresponding to de-stabilising mean motion resonances
with Mercury and Venus. As collisional evolution proceeds slower at larger
heliocentric distances, kilometre-sized or larger Vulcanoids are most likely to
be found in the region between 0.16 and 0.18 au. The optimum location in which
to search for Vulcanoids is at geocentric ecliptic longitudes roughly between 9
and 10 degrees. Dynamically speaking, the Earth-Mars belt between 1.08-1.28 au
is an extremely stable repository for asteroids on nearly circular orbits. It
is interrupted at 1.21 au due to the 3:4 commensurability with the Earth, while
secular resonances with Saturn are troublesome beyond 1.17 au. These detailed
maps of the fine structure of the belts can be used to plan search
methodologies. Strategies for detecting members of the belts are discussed,
including the use of infrared wide-field imaging with VISTA, and forthcoming
European Space Agency satellite missions like GAIA and BepiColombo.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, in press at MNRAS as a Lette
On the construction of high-order force gradient algorithms for integration of motion in classical and quantum systems
A consequent approach is proposed to construct symplectic force-gradient
algorithms of arbitrarily high orders in the time step for precise integration
of motion in classical and quantum mechanics simulations. Within this approach
the basic algorithms are first derived up to the eighth order by direct
decompositions of exponential propagators and further collected using an
advanced composition scheme to obtain the algorithms of higher orders. Contrary
to the scheme by Chin and Kidwell [Phys. Rev. E 62, 8746 (2000)], where
high-order algorithms are introduced by standard iterations of a force-gradient
integrator of order four, the present method allows to reduce the total number
of expensive force and its gradient evaluations to a minimum. At the same time,
the precision of the integration increases significantly, especially with
increasing the order of the generated schemes. The algorithms are tested in
molecular dynamics and celestial mechanics simulations. It is shown, in
particular, that the efficiency of the new fourth-order-based algorithms is
better approximately in factors 5 to 1000 for orders 4 to 12, respectively. The
results corresponding to sixth- and eighth-order-based composition schemes are
also presented up to the sixteenth order. For orders 14 and 16, such highly
precise schemes, at considerably smaller computational costs, allow to reduce
unphysical deviations in the total energy up in 100 000 times with respect to
those of the standard fourth-order-based iteration approach.Comment: 23 pages, 2 figures; submitted to Phys. Rev.
A Search for sub-km KBOs with the Method of Serendipitous Stellar Occultations
The results of a search for sub-km Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) with the method
of serendipitous stellar occultations are reported. Photometric time series
were obtained on the 1.8m telescope at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory
(DAO) in Victoria, BC, and were analyzed for the presence of occultation
events. Observations were performed at 40 Hz and included a total of 5.0
star-hours for target stars in the ecliptic open cluster M35 (beta=0.9deg), and
2.1 star-hours for control stars in the off-ecliptic open cluster M34
(beta=25.7deg). To evaluate the recovery fraction of the analysis method, and
thereby determine the limiting detectable size, artificial occultation events
were added to simulated time series (1/f scintillation-like power-spectra), and
to the real data. No viable candidate occultation events were detected. This
limits the cumulative surface density of KBOs to 3.5e10 deg^{-2} (95%
confidence) for KBOs brighter than m_R=35.3 (larger than ~860m in diameter,
assuming a geometric albedo of 0.04 and a distance of 40 AU). An evaluation of
TNO occultations reported in the literature suggests that they are unlikely to
be genuine, and an overall 95%-confidence upper limit on the surface density of
2.8e9 deg^{-2} is obtained for KBOs brighter than m_R=35 (larger than ~1 km in
diameter, assuming a geometric albedo of 0.04 and a distance of 40 AU) when all
existing surveys are combined.Comment: Accepted for publication in A
Why are family carers of people with dementia dissatisfied with general hospital care?: a qualitative study
Background
Families and other carers report widespread dissatisfaction with general hospital care for confused older people.
Methods
We undertook a qualitative interviews study of 35 family carers of 34 confused older patients to ascertain their experiences of care on geriatric and general medical, and orthopaedic wards of a large English hospital. Transcripts were analysed using a grounded theory approach. Themes identified in interviews were categorised, and used to build a model explaining dissatisfaction with care.
Results
The experience of hospital care was often negative. Key themes were events (illness leading to admission, experiences in the hospital, adverse occurrences including deterioration in health, or perceived poor care); expectations (which were sometimes unrealistic, usually unexplored by staff, and largely unmet from the carers’ perspective); and relationships with staff (poor communication and conflict over care). Expectations were influenced by prior experience. A cycle of discontent is proposed. Events (or ‘crises’) are associated with expectations. When these are unmet, carers become uncertain or suspicious, which leads to a period of ‘hyper vigilant monitoring’ during which carers seek out evidence of poor care, culminating in challenge, conflict with staff, or withdrawal, itself a crisis. The cycle could be completed early during the admission pathway, and multiple cycles within a single admission were seen.
Conclusion
People with dementia who have family carers should be considered together as a unit. Family carers are often stressed and tired, and need engaging and reassuring. They need to give and receive information about the care of the person with dementia, and offered the opportunity to participate in care whilst in hospital. Understanding the perspective of the family carer, and recognising elements of the ‘cycle of discontent’, could help ward staff anticipate carer needs, enable relationship building, to pre-empt or avoid dissatisfaction or conflict
Large-scale, prospective, observational studies in patients with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis: A systematic and critical review
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Observational studies, if conducted appropriately, play an important role in the decision-making process providing invaluable information on effectiveness, patient-reported outcomes and costs in a real-world environment. We conducted a systematic review of large-scale, prospective, cohort studies with the aim of (a) summarising design characteristics, the interventions or aspects of the disease studied and the outcomes measured and (b) investigating methodological quality.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We included prospective, cohort studies which included at least 100 adults with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis. Studies were identified through searches in electronic databases (Pubmed, Medline, Cochrane library, Centre for Reviews and Dissemination). Information on study characteristics were extracted and tabulated and quality assessment, using a checklist of 18 questions, was conducted.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Thirty five papers covering 16 cohorts met the inclusion criteria. There were ten treatment-related studies, only two of which provided a comparison between treatments, and six non-treatment studies which examined a number of characteristics of the disease including mortality, morbidity, cost of illness and health-related quality of life. All studies included a clinical outcome measure and 11 included patient-reported outcomes, however only two studies reported information on patient utilities and two on costs. The quality of the assessed studies varied widely. Studies did well on a number of quality assessment questions including having clear objectives, documenting selection criteria, providing a representative sample, defining interventions/characteristics under study, defining and using appropriate outcomes, describing results clearly and using appropriate statistical tests. The quality assessment criteria least adhered to involved questions regarding sample size calculations, describing potential selection bias, defining and adjusting for confounders and losses to follow-up, and defining and describing a comparison group.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The review highlights the need for well designed prospective observational studies on the effectiveness, patient-reported outcomes and economic impact of treatment regimes for patients with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis in a real-world environment.</p
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