1,133 research outputs found
Coping with refractory epilepsy
AbstractWe investigated the coping behaviour and its correlation with demographic and illness-related data, depression, locus of control and psychosocial adaptation in 40 patients with intractable epilepsy with primarily or secondarily generalized tonic–clonic seizures. Three standardized self-reporting questionnaires were applied, which are the Freiburg Questionnaire of Coping with Illness (FKV), the von Zerssen Depression Scale (D-S), and the IPC-questionnaire measuring generalized locus of control beliefs; the Social Interview Schedule (SIS), a semi-structured interview, was used to measure the psychosocial adaptation. Active, problem-focused and compliance strategies were predominantly used and regarded as most helpful. Hence, the epileptic patients use similar coping patterns reported in patients with other non life-threatening chronic diseases. The level of depression was moderate and in the range of other chronic somatic diseases. The use of coping patterns, which are regarded as maladaptive, was correlated with distinct depression, a small degree of internal locus of control beliefs and poor psychosocial adaption. These results indicate the possibility to improve psychosocial adjustment by supporting effective strategies
Influence of hepatitis G virus infection on liver disease
The influence of hepatitis G virus (HGV) infection on disease activity in hepatitis C related and unrelated liver disease was investigated in 254 individuals using an EIA polymerase chain reaction assay for HGV. One hundred patients had chronic hepatitis C, 26 primary biliary cirrhosis, and 30 alcoholic liver cirrhosis. In addition, 51 hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive and 47 anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV)-positive blood donors were screened. Hepatitis G virus was detected in 18% of patients with chronic hepatitis C, 13% of patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis, 11 % of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, 10% of anti-HCV-positive blood donors, and 2% of HBsAg-positive blood donors. Virus load and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels did not differ significantly in patients with HCV alone versus patients coinfected with HCV and HGV. However, mild liver fibrosis correlated with HGV coinfection. Hepatitis G virus did not influence ALT levels or liver damage in liver disease unrelated to viral infectio
SrCu_2(BO_3)_2 - a Two Dimensional Spin Liquid
We study an extended Shastry-Sutherland model for SrCu_2(BO_3)_2 and analyze
the low lying parts of the energy spectrum by means of a perturbative unitary
transformation based on flow equations. The derivation of the 1-magnon
dispersion (elementary triplets) is discussed. Additionally, we give a
quantitative description (symmetries and energies) of bound states made from
two elementary triplets. Our high order results allow to fix the model
parameters for SrCu_2(BO_3)_2 precisely: J_1=6.16(10)meV, x:=J_2/J_1=0.603(3),
J_\perp=1.3(2)meV. To our knowledge this is the first quantitative treatment of
bound states in a true 2d model.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Proceeding paper of the HFM2000 conference in
Waterloo, Canada, Jun 200
Dispersion and Symmetry of Bound States in the Shastry-Sutherland Model
Bound states made from two triplet excitations on the Shastry-Sutherland
(ShaSu) lattice are investigated. Based on the perturbative unitary
transformation by flow equations quantitative properties like dispersions and
qualitative properties like symmetries are determined. The high order results
(up to (J_2/J_1)^{14}) permit to fix the parameters of SrCu_2(BO_3)_2
precisely: J_1=6.16(10)meV, x:=J_2/J_1=0.603(3), J_\perp=1.3(2)meV. At the
border of the magnetic Brillouin zone (MBZ) a general double degeneracy is
derived. An unexpected instability in the triplet channel at x=0.63 indicates a
first order transition towards a triplet condensate, related to classical
helical order.Comment: 4 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
An investigation into the perspectives of providers and learners on MOOC accessibility
An effective open eLearning environment should consider the target learner’s abilities, learning goals, where learning takes place, and which specific device(s) the learner uses. MOOC platforms struggle to take these factors into account and typically are not accessible, inhibiting access to environments that are intended to be open to all. A series of research initiatives are described that are intended to benefit MOOC providers in achieving greater accessibility and disabled learners to improve their lifelong learning and re-skilling. In this paper, we first outline the rationale, the research questions, and the methodology. The research approach includes interviews, online surveys and a MOOC accessibility audit; we also include factors such the risk management of the research programme and ethical considerations when conducting research with vulnerable learners. Preliminary results are presented from interviews with providers and experts and from analysis of surveys of learners. Finally, we outline the future research opportunities. This paper is framed within the context of the Doctoral Consortium organised at the TEEM'17 conference
Pragmatics
This entry takes an interdisciplinary approach to linguistic pragmatics. It discusses how the meaning of utterances can only be understood in relation to overall cultural, social, and interpersonal contexts, as well as to culture-specific conventions and the speech events in which they are embedded. The entry discusses core issues of pragmatics such as speech act theory, conversational implicature, deixis, gesture, interaction strategies, ritual communication, phatic communion, linguistic relativity, ethnography of speaking, ethnomethodology, and conversation analysis. It takes a transdisciplinary view of the field, showing that linguistic pragmatics has its predecessors in other disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, ethology, ethnology, and sociology
Precision determination of the dpi -> NN transition strength at threshold
An unusual but effective way to determine at threshold the dpi -> NN
transition strength is to exploit the hadronic ground-state broadening in
pionic deuterium, accessible by x-ray spectroscopy. The broadening is dominated
by the true absorption channel dpi- -> nn, which is related to s-wave pion
production pp -> dpi+ by charge symmetry and detailed balance. Using the exotic
atom circumvents the problem of Coulomb corrections to the cross section as
necessary in the production experiments. Our dedicated measurement finds
(1171+23/-49) meV for the broadening yielding (252+5/-11) \mub.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl
Orbital order in the low-dimensional quantum spin system TiOCl probed by ESR
We present electron spin resonance data of Ti (3) ions in single
crystals of the novel layered quantum spin magnet TiOCl. The analysis of the g
tensor yields direct evidence that the d_{xy} orbital from the t_{2g} set is
predominantly occupied and owing to the occurrence of orbital order a linear
spin chain forms along the crystallographic b axis. This result corroborates
recent theoretical LDA+U calculations of the band structure. The temperature
dependence of the parameters of the resonance signal suggests a strong coupling
between spin and lattice degrees of freedom and gives evidence for a transition
to a nonmagnetic ground state at 67 K.Comment: revised version, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B, Rapid Com
Gorenstein homological algebra and universal coefficient theorems
We study criteria for a ring—or more generally, for a small category—to be Gorenstein and for a module over it to be of finite projective dimension. The goal is to unify the universal coefficient theorems found in the literature and to develop machinery for proving new ones. Among the universal coefficient theorems covered by our methods we find, besides all the classic examples, several exotic examples arising from the KK-theory of C*-algebras and also Neeman’s Brown–Adams representability theorem for compactly generated categories
Triplet Dispersion in CuGeO_3: Perturbative Analysis
We reconsider the 2d model for CuGeO_3 introduced previously (Phys. Rev.
Lett. 79, 163 (1997)). Using a computer aided perturbation method based on flow
equations we expand the 1-triplet dispersion up to 10th order. The expansion is
provided as a polynom in the model parameters. The latter are fixed by fitting
the theoretical result to experimental data obtained by INS. For a dimerization
delta = 0.08(1) we find an excellent agreement with experiment. This value is
at least 2 to 3 times higher than values deduced previously from 1d chain
approaches. For the intrachain frustration alpha_0 we find a smaller value of
0.25(3). The existence of interchain frustration conjectured previously is
confirmed by the analysis of temperature dependent susceptibility.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
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