95 research outputs found
Screening properties and phase transitions in unconventional plasmas for Ising-type quantum Hall states
Utilizing large-scale Monte-Carlo simulations, we investigate an
unconventional two-component classical plasma in two dimensions which controls
the behavior of the norms and overlaps of the quantum-mechanical wavefunctions
of Ising-type quantum Hall states. The plasma differs fundamentally from that
which is associated with the two-dimensional XY model and Abelian fractional
quantum Hall states. We find that this unconventional plasma undergoes a
Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition from an insulator to a metal.
The parameter values corresponding to Ising-type quantum Hall states lie on the
metallic side of this transition. This result verifies the required properties
of the unconventional plasma used to demonstrate that Ising-type quantum Hall
states possess quasiparticles with non-Abelian braiding statistics.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures. Submitted to Physical Review
The phases of deuterium at extreme densities
We consider deuterium compressed to higher than atomic, but lower than
nuclear densities. At such densities deuterium is a superconducting quantum
liquid. Generically, two superconducting phases compete, a "ferromagnetic" and
a "nematic" one. We provide a power counting argument suggesting that the
dominant interactions in the deuteron liquid are perturbative (but screened)
Coulomb interactions. At very high densities the ground state is determined by
very small nuclear interaction effects that probably favor the ferromagnetic
phase. At lower densities the symmetry of the theory is effectively enhanced to
SU(3), and the quantum liquid enters a novel phase, neither ferromagnetic nor
nematic. Our results can serve as a starting point for investigations of the
phase dynamics of deuteron liquids, as well as exploration of the stability and
dynamics of the rich variety of topological objects that may occur in phases of
the deuteron quantum liquid, which range from Alice strings to spin skyrmions
to Z_2 vortices.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures; v2: fixed typo
The health economic impact of disease management programs for COPD: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis
__Abstract__
Background: There is insufficient evidence of the cost-effectiveness of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Disease Management (COPD-DM) programs. The aim of this review is to evaluate the economic impact of COPD-DM programs and investigate the relation between the impact on healthcare costs and health outcomes. We also investigated the impact of patient-, intervention, and study-characteristics.Methods: We conducted a systematic literature review to identify cost-effectiveness studies of COPD-DM. Where feasible, results were pooled using random-effects meta-analysis and explorative subgroup analyses were performed.Results: Sixteen papers describing 11 studies were included (7 randomized control trials (RCT), 2 pre-post, 2 case-control). Meta-analysis showed that COPD-DM led to hospitalization savings of €1060 (95% CI: €2040 to €80) per patient per year and savings in total healthcare uti
Adding non-randomised studies to a Cochrane review brings complementary information for healthcare stakeholders: an augmented systematic review and meta-analysis
Priming nanoparticle-guided diagnostics and therapeutics towards human organs-on-chips microphysiological system
Conjugated Polymers for Assessing and Controlling Biological Functions
The field of organic bioelectronics is advancing rapidly in the development of materials and devices to precisely monitor and control biological signals. Electronics and biology can interact on multiple levels: organs, complex tissues, cells, cell membranes, proteins, and even small molecules. Compared to traditional electronic materials such as metals and inorganic semiconductors, conjugated polymers (CPs) have several key advantages for biological interactions: tunable physiochemical properties, adjustable form factors, and mixed conductivity (ionic and electronic). Herein, the use of CPs in five biologically oriented research topics, electrophysiology, tissue engineering, drug release, biosensing, and molecular bioelectronics, is discussed. In electrophysiology, implantable devices with CP coating or CP-only electrodes are showing improvements in signal performance and tissue interfaces. CP-based scaffolds supply highly favorable static or even dynamic interfaces for tissue engineering. CPs also enable delivery of drugs through a variety of mechanisms and form factors. For biosensing, CPs offer new possibilities to incorporate biological sensing elements in a conducting matrix. Molecular bioelectronics is today used to incorporate (opto)electronic functions in living tissue. Under each topic, the limits of the utility of CPs are discussed and, overall, the major challenges toward implementation of CPs and their devices to real-world applications are highlighted
Metamodeling of the Electrical Conditions in Submerged Arc Furnaces
Physics-based Finite Element Methods models can be used to investigate the electrical conditions in submerged arc furnaces (SAFs). However, their explicit solution may be very demanding in terms of time and computational resources. This makes these models difficult to employ during control operations and in fast prototyping. To obviate these inconveniences, we developed metamodels that are grounded on the physics-based model. In this context, a metamodel is a surrogate of an original model obtained using statistical analysis tools to determine approximate input–output relationships in a database of simulations from the original model. The metamodels for the SAF electrical conditions are shown to retain the same generalization capabilities as the original model while being computationally lightweight
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