1,671 research outputs found
Pairing in spin polarized two-species fermionic mixtures with mass asymmetry
We discuss on the pairing mechanism of fermions with mismatch in their fermi
momenta due to a mass asymmetry. Using a variational ansatz for the ground
state we also discuss the BCS -BEC crossover of this system. It is shown that
the breached pairing solution with a single fermi surface is stable in the BEC
regime. We also include the temperatures effect on the fermion pairing within
an approximation that is valid for temperatures much below the critical
temperature.Comment: 8 pages and 6 figures, few typos corrected, version to appear in EPJ
Asymmetric Fermi superfluid with different atomic species in a harmonic trap
We study the dilute fermion gas with pairing between two species and unequal
concentrations in a harmonic trap using the mean field theory and the local
density approximation. We found that the system can exhibit a superfluid shell
structure sandwiched by the normal fermions. This superfluid shell structure
occurs if the mass ratio is larger then certain critical value which increases
from the weak-coupling BCS region to the strong-coupling BEC side. In the
strong coupling BEC regime, the radii of superfluid phase are less sensitive to
the mass ratios and are similar to the case of pairing with equal masses.
However, the lighter leftover fermions are easier to mix with the superfluid
core than the heavier ones. A partially polarized superfluid can be found if
the majority fermions are lighter, whereas phase separation is still found if
they are heavier.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure
p-wave phase shift and scattering length of Li
We have calculated the p-wave phase shifts and scattering length of Li.
For this we solve the partial wave Schr\"odinger equation and analyze the
validity of adopting the semiclassical solution to evaluate the constant
factors in the solution. Unlike in the wave case, the semiclassical
solution does not provide unique value of the constants. We suggest an
approximate analytic solution, which provides reliable results in special
cases. Further more, we also use the variable phase method to evaluate the
phase shifts. The p-wave scattering lengths of Cs and Cs are
calculated to validate the schemes followed. Based on our calculations, the
value of the wave scattering length of Li is .Comment: 10 figure
High Adult Sex Ratios and Risky Sexual Behaviors: A Systematic Review
BackgroundThirty-four countries worldwide have abnormally high sex ratios (>102 men per 100 women), resulting in over 100 million missing women. Widespread sex selective abortion, neglect of young girls leading to premature mortality, and gendered migration have contributed to these persistent and increasing distortions. Abnormally high adult sex ratios in communities may drive sexually transmitted disease (STD) spread where women are missing and men cannot find stable partners. We systematically reviewed evidence on the association between high community sex ratios and individual sexual behaviors.Methods and FindingsSeven databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Scopus, The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Sociological Abstracts, and PopLINE) were searched without restrictions on time or location. We followed PRISMA guidelines and evaluated quality according to STROBE criteria. 1093 citations were identified and six studies describing 57,054 individuals were included for review. All six studies showed an association between high community sex ratios and individual sexual risk behaviors. In high sex ratio communities, women were more likely to have multiple sex partners and men were more likely to delay first sexual intercourse and purchase sex. Only two studies included STD outcomes.ConclusionsHigh community sex ratios were associated with increased individual sexual risk behavior among both men and women. However, none of the studies examined unprotected sex or appropriately adjusted for gendered migration. Further studies are needed to understand the effect of community sex ratios on sexual health and to inform comprehensive STD control interventions
Mycobacterium tuberculosis ClpP Proteases Are Co-transcribed but Exhibit Different Substrate Specificities
PMCID: PMC3613350This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
In-hospital Depression Predicts Early Hospital Readmission after an Acute Coronary Syndrome: Preliminary Data from TRACE-CORE
Background: Hospital systems, patients and providers seek to avert rehospitalizations within 30 days for patients admitted with an acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Rehospitalizations within 30 days of discharge are often considered preventable and to reflect poor in-hospital management or discharge practices. However, independent associations of psychosocial factors with early rehospitalization in patients admitted with an ACS have not been examined.
Methods: A multi-racial cohort of 1,540 patients admitted with an ACS reported psychosocial factors via standardized questionnaires in an in-hospital interview. One month following discharge, patients were interviewed via phone and reported hospital readmissions. We used logistic regression models to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of the association between in-hospital psychosocial characteristics (depression, anxiety, and perceived stress), health literacy and numeracy, and cognitive status, with self-reported readmission within 30 days.
Results: Participants were 34% female and 17% non-white, with a mean age of 62 years and a mean length of stay of 4.1 days. Rehospitalization was reported for 14% (n=208) of participants, 77% of which were due to CVD. In univariate analyses, in-hospital severe depression, anxiety, and high stress were associated with higher odds of early readmission, whereas low health numeracy was associated with lower odds of early readmission. Severe depression remained associated with higher odds and low health numeracy remained associated with lower odds of early readmission in a multivariable model including covariates associated on univariate testing with rehospitalization.
Conclusions: Early readmission after hospitalization for an ACS was common and associated with in-hospital depression and health numeracy. Notably, depression and health numeracy were the only predictors independently associated with readmission in multivariable analyses. We speculate that the lower likelihood of readmission for those with low numeracy may be related to less engagement with the healthcare system. In-hospital screening for depression and characterization of health numeracy may help stratify risk for early rehospitalization after an ACS
Spin-Imbalance in a One-Dimensional Fermi Gas
Superconductivity and magnetism generally do not coexist. Changing the
relative number of up and down spin electrons disrupts the basic mechanism of
superconductivity, where atoms of opposite momentum and spin form Cooper pairs.
Nearly forty years ago Fulde and Ferrell and Larkin and Ovchinnikov proposed an
exotic pairing mechanism (FFLO) where magnetism is accommodated by formation of
pairs with finite momentum. Despite intense theoretical and experimental
efforts, however, polarized superconductivity remains largely elusive. Here we
report experimental measurements of density profiles of a two spin mixture of
ultracold 6Li atoms trapped in an array of one dimensional (1D) tubes, a system
analogous to electrons in 1D wires. At finite spin imbalance, the system phase
separates with an inverted phase profile in comparison to the three-dimensional
case. In 1D we find a partially polarized core surrounded by wings composed of
either a completely paired BCS superfluid or a fully polarized Fermi gas,
depending on the degree of polarization. Our observations are in quantitative
agreement with theoretical calculations in which the partially polarized phase
is found to be a 1D analogue of the FFLO state. This study demonstrates how
ultracold atomic gases in 1D may be used to create non-trivial new phases of
matter, and also paves the way for direct observation and further study of the
FFLO phase.Comment: 30 pages, 7 figure
Sensitive Detection of Gene Expression in Mycobacteria under Replicating and Non-Replicating Conditions Using Optimized Far-Red Reporters
Fluorescent reporter proteins have proven useful for imaging techniques in many organisms. We constructed optimized expression systems for several fluorescent proteins from the far-red region of the spectrum and analyzed their utility in several mycobacterial species. Plasmids expressing variants of the Discosoma Red fluorescent protein (DsRed) from the Mycobacterium bovis hsp60 promoter were unstable; in contrast expression from the Mycobacterium smegmatis rpsA promoter was stable. In Mycobacterium tuberculosis expression of several of the far-red reporters was readily visualised by eye and three reporters (mCherry, tdTomato, and Turbo-635) fluoresced at a high intensity. Strains expressing mCherry showed no fitness defects in vitro or in macrophages. Treatment of cells with antibiotics demonstrated that mCherry could also be used as a reporter for cell death, since fluorescence decreased in the presence of a bactericidal compound, but remained stable in the presence of a bacteriostatic compound. mCherry was functional under hypoxic conditions; using mCherry we demonstrated that the PmtbB is expressed early in hypoxia and progressively down-regulated. mCherry and other far-red fluorescent proteins will have multiple uses in investigating the biology of mycobacteria, particularly under non-replicating, or low cell density conditions, as well as providing a novel means of detecting cell death rapidly
Theory of ultracold Fermi gases
The physics of quantum degenerate Fermi gases in uniform as well as in
harmonically trapped configurations is reviewed from a theoretical perspective.
Emphasis is given to the effect of interactions which play a crucial role,
bringing the gas into a superfluid phase at low temperature. In these dilute
systems interactions are characterized by a single parameter, the s-wave
scattering length, whose value can be tuned using an external magnetic field
near a Feshbach resonance. The BCS limit of ordinary Fermi superfluidity, the
Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of dimers and the unitary limit of large
scattering length are important regimes exhibited by interacting Fermi gases.
In particular the BEC and the unitary regimes are characterized by a high value
of the superfluid critical temperature, of the order of the Fermi temperature.
Different physical properties are discussed, including the density profiles and
the energy of the ground-state configurations, the momentum distribution, the
fraction of condensed pairs, collective oscillations and pair breaking effects,
the expansion of the gas, the main thermodynamic properties, the behavior in
the presence of optical lattices and the signatures of superfluidity, such as
the existence of quantized vortices, the quenching of the moment of inertia and
the consequences of spin polarization. Various theoretical approaches are
considered, ranging from the mean-field description of the BCS-BEC crossover to
non-perturbative methods based on quantum Monte Carlo techniques. A major goal
of the review is to compare the theoretical predictions with the available
experimental results.Comment: Revised and abridged version accepted for publication in Rev. Mod.
Phys.: 63 pages, 36 figure
Uncanny Objects and the Fear of the Familiar:Hiding from Akan Witches in New York City
This article examines the cosmology and secret practices of West African traditional priests in New York City in preventing the spread of witchcraft, an evil invisible spirit transmitted between female members of the Akan matrilineage. Explored is an uncanny dynamic as everyday habitus becomes increasingly strange in the world of a young Ghanaian woman in the Bronx, who has become petrified of insinuations of witchcraft from close family members. In trying to hide the young woman from infection by her fellow witches, Akan priests attempt to ‘capture’ her habits and everyday routines, calling upon the iconic magic of New York City in order to ‘misplace’ familiarity within the anonymity of Manhattan. In this process, the transmission of the witch’s spirit to the intended victim is disturbed as the victim’s life and things are moved. Nowhere to be found, the witch shifts her attention to other victims
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