252 research outputs found
Robust evolution system for Numerical Relativity
The paper combines theoretical and applied ideas which have been previously
considered separately into a single set of evolution equations for Numerical
Relativity. New numerical ingredients are presented which avoid gauge
pathologies and allow one to perform robust 3D calculations. The potential of
the resulting numerical code is demonstrated by using the Schwarzschild black
hole as a test-bed. Its evolution can be followed up to times greater than one
hundred black hole masses.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures; figure correcte
Management of wet age-related macular degeneration in Spain: challenges for treat and extend implementation in routine clinical practice
Age-related macular degeneration; Ophthalmology services; Anti-VEGFDegeneraciĂłn macular relacionada con la edad; Servicios de oftalmologĂa; Anti-VEGFDegeneraciĂł macular relacionada amb l’edat; Serveis d’oftalmologia; Anti-VEGFPurpose. To ascertain wet AMD (wAMD) management patterns in Spain. Methods. A two-round Delphi study conducted through a questionnaire-based survey designed from literature review and validated by an independent Steering Committee. Results. Forty-nine retina specialists experienced in wAMD participated by answering the two-round study questionnaire. Retina specialists are the main responsible for wAMD diagnosis and monitoring, including visits and associated procedures, with a median time per visit of 15 minutes. Standard treatment strategies are based on anti-VEGF administration, including standard loading dose administration followed by maintenance with aflibercept or ranibizumab (81% of patients). Although treat and extend (T&E) dosing strategy is considered as optimal for wAMD management (78% of the panelists), the main routine healthcare limitations (i.e., visits overload, reduced staff, short visit time, coordination issues, lack of facilities) conduct to self-defined “flexible” strategies, based on T&E and pro-re-nata (PRN) protocols. Conclusion. Proactive treatment patterns (T&E) are the preferred ones by the retina specialists in Spain. However, their proper implementation is difficult due to healthcare resource limitations, as well as organisation and logistic issues. The use of anti-VEGF agents with longer duration of action could facilitate the use of strict T&E approaches according to routine clinical practices
Management of wet age-related macular degeneration in Spain: Challenges for treat and extend implementation in routine clinical practice
Purpose. To ascertain wet AMD (wAMD) management patterns in Spain. Methods. A two-round Delphi study conducted through
a questionnaire-based survey designed from literature review and validated by an independent Steering Committee. Results.
Forty-nine retina specialists experienced in wAMD participated by answering the two-round study questionnaire. Retina
specialists are the main responsible for wAMD diagnosis and monitoring, including visits and associated procedures, with a
median time per visit of 15 minutes. Standard treatment strategies are based on anti-VEGF administration, including standard
loading dose administration followed by maintenance with aflibercept or ranibizumab (81% of patients). Although treat and
extend (T&E) dosing strategy is considered as optimal for wAMD management (78% of the panelists), the main routine healthcare
limitations (i.e., visits overload, reduced staff, short visit time, coordination issues, lack of facilities) conduct to self-defined
“flexible” strategies, based on T&E and pro-re-nata (PRN) protocols. Conclusion. Proactive treatment patterns (T&E) are the
preferred ones by the retina specialists in Spain. However, their proper implementation is difficult due to healthcare resource
limitations, as well as organisation and logistic issues. .e use of anti-VEGF agents with longer duration of action could facilitate
the use of strict T&E approaches according to routine clinical practicesThe study has been sponsored by Bayer Hispania S.L. Logistic
Advantages of modified ADM formulation: constraint propagation analysis of Baumgarte-Shapiro-Shibata-Nakamura system
Several numerical relativity groups are using a modified ADM formulation for
their simulations, which was developed by Nakamura et al (and widely cited as
Baumgarte-Shapiro-Shibata-Nakamura system). This so-called BSSN formulation is
shown to be more stable than the standard ADM formulation in many cases, and
there have been many attempts to explain why this re-formulation has such an
advantage. We try to explain the background mechanism of the BSSN equations by
using eigenvalue analysis of constraint propagation equations. This analysis
has been applied and has succeeded in explaining other systems in our series of
works. We derive the full set of the constraint propagation equations, and
study it in the flat background space-time. We carefully examine how the
replacements and adjustments in the equations change the propagation structure
of the constraints, i.e. whether violation of constraints (if it exists) will
decay or propagate away. We conclude that the better stability of the BSSN
system is obtained by their adjustments in the equations, and that the
combination of the adjustments is in a good balance, i.e. a lack of their
adjustments might fail to obtain the present stability. We further propose
other adjustments to the equations, which may offer more stable features than
the current BSSN equations.Comment: 10 pages, RevTeX4, added related discussion to gr-qc/0209106, the
version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Strongly hyperbolic second order Einstein's evolution equations
BSSN-type evolution equations are discussed. The name refers to the
Baumgarte, Shapiro, Shibata, and Nakamura version of the Einstein evolution
equations, without introducing the conformal-traceless decomposition but
keeping the three connection functions and including a densitized lapse. It is
proved that a pseudo-differential first order reduction of these equations is
strongly hyperbolic. In the same way, densitized Arnowitt-Deser-Misner
evolution equations are found to be weakly hyperbolic. In both cases, the
positive densitized lapse function and the spacelike shift vector are arbitrary
given fields. This first order pseudodifferential reduction adds no extra
equations to the system and so no extra constraints.Comment: LaTeX, 16 pages, uses revtex4. Referee corections and new appendix
added. English grammar improved; typos correcte
Constraint propagation in the family of ADM systems
The current important issue in numerical relativity is to determine which
formulation of the Einstein equations provides us with stable and accurate
simulations. Based on our previous work on "asymptotically constrained"
systems, we here present constraint propagation equations and their eigenvalues
for the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner (ADM) evolution equations with additional
constraint terms (adjusted terms) on the right hand side. We conjecture that
the system is robust against violation of constraints if the amplification
factors (eigenvalues of Fourier-component of the constraint propagation
equations) are negative or pure-imaginary. We show such a system can be
obtained by choosing multipliers of adjusted terms. Our discussion covers
Detweiler's proposal (1987) and Frittelli's analysis (1997), and we also
mention the so-called conformal-traceless ADM systems.Comment: 11 pages, RevTeX, 2 eps figure
Generalized harmonic formulation in spherical symmetry
In this pedagogically structured article, we describe a generalized harmonic
formulation of the Einstein equations in spherical symmetry which is regular at
the origin. The generalized harmonic approach has attracted significant
attention in numerical relativity over the past few years, especially as
applied to the problem of binary inspiral and merger. A key issue when using
the technique is the choice of the gauge source functions, and recent work has
provided several prescriptions for gauge drivers designed to evolve these
functions in a controlled way. We numerically investigate the parameter spaces
of some of these drivers in the context of fully non-linear collapse of a real,
massless scalar field, and determine nearly optimal parameter settings for
specific situations. Surprisingly, we find that many of the drivers that
perform well in 3+1 calculations that use Cartesian coordinates, are
considerably less effective in spherical symmetry, where some of them are, in
fact, unstable.Comment: 47 pages, 15 figures. v2: Minor corrections, including 2 added
references; journal version
A hyperbolic slicing condition adapted to Killing fields and densitized lapses
We study the properties of a modified version of the Bona-Masso family of
hyperbolic slicing conditions. This modified slicing condition has two very
important features: In the first place, it guarantees that if a spacetime is
static or stationary, and one starts the evolution in a coordinate system in
which the metric coefficients are already time independent, then they will
remain time independent during the subsequent evolution, {\em i.e.} the lapse
will not evolve and will therefore not drive the time lines away from the
Killing direction. Second, the modified condition is naturally adapted to the
use of a densitized lapse as a fundamental variable, which in turn makes it a
good candidate for a dynamic slicing condition that can be used in conjunction
with some recently proposed hyperbolic reformulations of the Einstein evolution
equations.Comment: 11 page
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