975 research outputs found
Novel Quenched Disorder Fixed Point in a Two-Temperature Lattice Gas
We investigate the effects of quenched randomness on the universal properties
of a two-temperature lattice gas. The disorder modifies the dynamical
transition rates of the system in an anisotropic fashion, giving rise to a new
fixed point. We determine the associated scaling form of the structure factor,
quoting critical exponents to two-loop order in an expansion around the upper
critical dimension d. The close relationship with another quenched
disorder fixed point, discovered recently in this model, is discussed.Comment: 11 pages, no figures, RevTe
Stability of a Nonequilibrium Interface in a Driven Phase Segregating System
We investigate the dynamics of a nonequilibrium interface between coexisting
phases in a system described by a Cahn-Hilliard equation with an additional
driving term. By means of a matched asymptotic expansion we derive equations
for the interface motion. A linear stability analysis of these equations
results in a condition for the stability of a flat interface. We find that the
stability properties of a flat interface depend on the structure of the driving
term in the original equation.Comment: 14 pages Latex, 1 postscript-figur
Supersymmetric Extensions of the Harry Dym Hierarchy
We study the supersymmetric extensions of the Harry Dym hierarchy of
equations. We obtain the susy-B extension, the doubly susy-B extension as well
as the N=1 and the N=2 supersymmetric extensions for this system. The N=2
supersymmetric extension is particularly interesting, since it leads to new
classical integrable systems in the bosonic limit. We prove the integrability
of these systems through the bi-Hamiltonian formulation of integrable models
and through the Lax description. We also discuss the supersymmetric extension
of the Hunter-Zheng equation which belongs to the Harry Dym hierarchy of
equations.Comment: 15 pages, Latex fil
Determinants of Oral Corticosteroid Responsiveness in Wheezing Asthmatic Youth (DOORWAY): Protocol for a prospective multicentre cohort study of children with acute moderate-to-severe asthma exacerbations
Introduction: Oral corticosteroids are the cornerstone of acute asthma management in the emergency department. Recent evidence has raised doubts about the efficacy of this treatment in preschool-aged children with viral-induced wheezing and in smoking adults. The aims of the study were to: (1) document the magnitude of response to oral corticosteroids in children presenting to the emergency department with moderate or severe asthma; (2) quantify potential determinants of response to corticosteroids and (3) explore the role of gene polymorphisms associated with the responsiveness to corticosteroids. Methods and analysis: The design is a prospective cohort study of 1008 children aged 1-17 years meeting a strict definition of asthma and presenting with a clinical score of ≥4 on the validated Pediatric Respiratory Assessment Measure. All children will receive standardised severity-specific treatment with prednisone/prednisolone and cointerventions (salbutamol with/without ipratropium bromide). Determinants, namely viral aetiology, environmental tobacco smoke and single nucleotide polymorphism, will be objectively documented. The primary efficacy endpoint is the failure of emergency department (ED) management within 72 h of the ED visit. Secondary endpoints include other measures of asthma severity and time to recovery within 7 days of the index visit. The study has 80% power for detecting a risk difference of 7.5% associated with each determinant from a baseline risk of 21%, at an α of 0.05. Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval has been obtained from all participating institutions. An impaired response to systemic steroids in certain subgroups will challenge the current standard of practice and call for the immediate search for better approaches. A potential host-environment interaction will broaden our understanding of corticosteroid responsiveness in children. Documentation of similar effectiveness of corticosteroids across determinants will provide the needed reassurance regarding current treatment recommendations. Results: Results will be disseminated at international conferences and manuscripts targeted at emergency physicians, paediatricians, geneticists and respirologists. Trial registration number: This study is registered at Clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02013076)
Review of the k-Body Embedded Ensembles of Gaussian Random Matrices
The embedded ensembles were introduced by Mon and French as physically more
plausible stochastic models of many--body systems governed by one--and
two--body interactions than provided by standard random--matrix theory. We
review several approaches aimed at determining the spectral density, the
spectral fluctuation properties, and the ergodic properties of these ensembles:
moments methods, numerical simulations, the replica trick, the eigenvector
decomposition of the matrix of second moments and supersymmetry, the binary
correlation approximation, and the study of correlations between matrix
elements.Comment: Final version. 29 pages, 4 ps figures, uses iopart.st
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