3,708 research outputs found
Stable chromium isotopic composition of meteorites and metal-silicate experiments: Implications for fractionation during core formation
We present new mass independent and mass dependent Cr isotope compositions for meteorites measured by double spike thermal ionisation mass spectrometry. Small differences in both mass independent 53Cr and 54Cr relative to the Bulk Silicate Earth are reported and are very similar to previously published values. Carbonaceous chondrites are characterised by an excess in 54Cr compared to ordinary and enstatite chondrites which make mass independent Cr isotopes a useful tool for distinguishing between meteoritic groups. Mass dependent stable Cr isotope compositions for the same samples are also reported. Carbonaceous and ordinary chondrites are identical within uncertainty with average δ53Crδ53Cr values of −0.118±0.040‰−0.118±0.040‰ and −0.143±0.074‰−0.143±0.074‰ respectively. The heaviest isotope compositions are recorded by an enstatite chondrite and a CO carbonaceous chondrite, both of which have relatively reduced chemical compositions implying some stable Cr isotope fractionation related to redox processes in the circumstellar disk. The average δ53Crδ53Cr values for chondrites are within error of the estimate for the Bulk Silicate Earth (BSE) also determined by double spiking. The lack of isotopic difference between chondritic material and the BSE provides evidence that Cr isotopes were not fractionated during core formation on Earth. A series of high-pressure experiments was also carried out to investigate stable Cr isotope fractionation between metal and silicate and no demonstrable fractionation was observed, consistent with our meteorites data. Mass dependent Cr isotope data for achondrites suggest that Cr isotopes are fractionated during magmatic differentiation and therefore further work is required to constrain the Cr isotopic compositions of the mantles of Vesta and Mars.
Clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of pegvisomant for the treatment of acromegaly: a systematic review and economic evaluation
Background: Acromegaly, an orphan disease usually caused by a benign pituitary tumour, is characterised by hyper-secretion of growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-1). It is associated with reduced life expectancy, cardiovascular problems, a variety of insidiously progressing detrimental symptoms and metabolic malfunction. Treatments include surgery, radiotherapy and pharmacotherapy. Pegvisomant (PEG) is a genetically engineered GH analogue licensed as a third or fourth line option when other treatments have failed to normalise IGF-1 levels.
Methods: Evidence about effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of PEG was systematically reviewed. Data were extracted from published studies and used for a narrative synthesis of evidence. A decision analytical economic model was identified and modified to assess the cost-effectiveness of PEG.
Results: One RCT and 17 non-randomised studies were reviewed for effectiveness. PEG substantially reduced and rapidly normalised IGF-1 levels in the majority of patients, approximately doubled GH levels, and improved some of the signs and symptoms of the disease. Tumour size was unaffected at least in the short term. PEG had a generally safe adverse event profile but a few patients were withdrawn from treatment because of raised liver enzymes. An economic model was identified and adapted to estimate the lower limit for the cost-effectiveness of PEG treatment versus standard care. Over a 20 year time horizon the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was pound81,000/QALY and pound212,000/LYG. To reduce this to pound30K/QALY would require a reduction in drug cost by about one third.
Conclusion: PEG is highly effective for improving patients' IGF-1 level. Signs and symptoms of disease improve but evidence is lacking about long term effects on improved signs and symptoms of disease, quality of life, patient compliance and safety. Economic evaluation indicated that if current standards (UK) for determining cost-effectiveness of therapies were to be applied to PEG it would be considered not to represent good value for money
Novel massless phase of Haldane-gap antiferromagnets in magnetic field
The behavior of Haldane-gap antiferromagnets in strong magnetic field is not
universal. While the low-energy physics of the conventional 1D spin-1
Heisenberg model in its magnetized regime is described by one incommensurate
soft mode, other systems with somewhat perturbed coupling constants can possess
two characteristic soft modes in a certain range of the field strength. Such a
{\em two}-component Lutinger liquid phase is realised above the massive
Haldane-gap phase, and in general above any massive nonmagnetic phase, when the
ground state exhibits short range incommensurate fluctuations already in the
absence of the field.Comment: 4 pages, 2 eps figures, to appear in Phys Rev B: Rapid Communication
Use of Machine Learning for gamma/hadron separation with HAWC
Background showers triggered by hadrons represent over 99.9% of all particles
arriving at ground-based gamma-ray observatories. An important stage in the
data analysis of these observatories, therefore, is the removal of
hadron-triggered showers. Currently, the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC)
gamma-ray observatory employs an algorithm based on a single cut in two
variables, unlike other ground-based gamma-ray observatories (e.g. H.E.S.S.,
VERITAS), which employ a large number of variables to separate the primary
particles. In this work, we explore machine learning techniques (Boosted
Decision Trees and Neural Networks) to identify the primary particles detected
by HAWC. Our new gamma/hadron separation techniques were tested on data from
the Crab nebula, the standard reference in Very High Energy astronomy, showing
an improvement compared to the standard HAWC background rejection method.Comment: Presented at the 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2021),
Berlin, Germany - Onlin
Heat Capacity of PbS: Isotope Effects
In recent years, the availability of highly pure stable isotopes has made
possible the investigation of the dependence of the physical properties of
crystals, in particular semiconductors, on their isotopic composition.
Following the investigation of the specific heat (, ) of monatomic
crystals such as diamond, silicon, and germanium, similar investigations have
been undertaken for the tetrahedral diatomic systems ZnO and GaN (wurtzite
structure), for which the effect of the mass of the cation differs from that of
the anion. In this article we present measurements for a semiconductor with
rock salt structure, namely lead sulfide. Because of the large difference in
the atomic mass of both constituents (= 207.21 and (=32.06 a.m.u., for the natural isotopic abundance) the effects of varying
the cation and that of the anion mass are very different for this canonical
semiconductor. We compare the measured temperature dependence of , and the corresponding derivatives with respect to ( and
), with \textit{\textit{ab initio}} calculations based on the
lattice dynamics obtained from the local density approximation (LDA) electronic
band structure. Quantitative deviations between theory and experiment are
attributed to the absence of spin-orbit interaction in the ABINIT program used
for the electronic band structure calculations.Comment: 17 pages including 10 Fig
Delta-Function Bose Gas Picture of S=1 Antiferromagnetic Quantum Spin Chains Near Critical Fields
We study the zero-temperature magnetization curve (M-H curve) of the S=1
bilinear-biquadratic spin chain, whose Hamiltonian is given by 0 \leq \beta <1H_sH_cH_scH_c\beta\beta_c(\approx 0.41)0<\beta<\beta_cccM\sim \sqrt{H-H_c}\beta \to \beta_c-0M\sim (H-H_c)^{1/4}\beta_c<\beta <1c$ becomes negative.Comment: 6 pages, RevTeX, 8 ps figure
Scenario planning for the Edinburgh city region
This paper examines the application of scenario planning techniques to the detailed and daunting challenge of city re-positioning when policy makers are faced with a heavy history and a complex future context. It reviews a process of scenario planning undertaken in the Edinburgh city region, exploring the scenario process and its contribution to strategies and policies for city repositioning. Strongly rooted in the recent literature on urban and regional economic development, the text outlines how key individuals and organisations involved in the process participated in far-reaching analyses of the possible future worlds in which the Edinburgh city region might find itself
Quantum Spin Chains and the Conformal Anomaly
The conformal anomaly c determines the universality class of a model system in statistical mechanics. The value of c characterizes both 2D classical models and their 1D quantum counterparts. The conformal anomaly may therefore be determined numerically for quantum spin chains using the relation: E 0(N)≂E 0(∞)−(NΔE/12)c(1/N 2), where E 0 (N) is the ground‐state energy of an N‐spin finite system, E 0 (∞) is the ground‐state energy in the thermodynamic limit, and ΔE is the energy gap between the ground state at k=0 and the first excited state of the dispersion curve at k=2π/N. The numerical approach is highly successful when tested on the integrable s= 1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnetic X X Z chain and the integrable s=1 SU(2) model. The method gives c=1 to within 2% accuracy for the s=1 and (3)/(2) X Y chains, placing them in the universality class of the 2D X Y model. The result c=1 (2% accuracy) is obtained for the s= (3)/(2) Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chain, in agreement with the Haldane prediction. The s=1 pure antiferromagnetic biquadratic chain and the s=1 X X Z model with uniaxial anisotropy in the vicinity of the critical point Δ=Δ2 ∼1.15 −1.18 have also been studied
Field-Induced Transition in the S=1 Antiferromagnetic Chain with Single-Ion Anisotropy in a Transverse Magnetic Field
The field-induced transition in one-dimensional S=1 Heisenberg
antiferromagnet with single-ion anisotropy in the presence of a transverse
magnetic field is obtained on the basis of the Schwinger boson mean-field
theory. The behaviors of the specific heat and susceptibility as functions of
temperature as well as the applied transverse field are explored, which are
found to be different from the results obtained under a longitudinal field. The
anomalies of the specific heat at low temperatures, which might be an
indicative of a field-induced transition from a Luttinger liquid phase to an
ordered phase, are explicitly uncovered under the transverse field. A schematic
phase diagram is proposed. The theoretical results are compared with
experimental observations.Comment: Revtex, 7 figure
Correlating the nanostructure and electronic properties of InAs nanowires
The electronic properties and nanostructure of InAs nanowires are correlated
by creating multiple field effect transistors (FETs) on nanowires grown to have
low and high defect density segments. 4.2 K carrier mobilities are ~4X larger
in the nominally defect-free segments of the wire. We also find that dark field
optical intensity is correlated with the mobility, suggesting a simple route
for selecting wires with a low defect density. At low temperatures, FETs
fabricated on high defect density segments of InAs nanowires showed transport
properties consistent with single electron charging, even on devices with low
resistance ohmic contacts. The charging energies obtained suggest quantum dot
formation at defects in the wires. These results reinforce the importance of
controlling the defect density in order to produce high quality electrical and
optical devices using InAs nanowires.Comment: Related papers at http://pettagroup.princeton.ed
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