Quasiballistic correction to the density of states in three-dimensional metal

We study the exchange correction to the density of states in the three-dimensional metal near the Fermi energy. In the ballistic limit, when the distance to the Fermi level exceeds the inverse transport relaxation time $1/\tau$, we find the correction linear in the distance from the Fermi level. By a large parameter $\epsilon_{\rm F} \tau$ this ballistic correction exceeds the diffusive correction obtained earlier.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figur

The point prevalence and associated factors of nasal methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonisation in eight geriatric hospitals in Korea

ABSTRACTThe prevalence and associated factors of nasal methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonisation were investigated among patients in geriatric hospitals in Korea. S. aureus was isolated from 317 (50.2%) of 632 patients. The nasal MRSA colonisation prevalence was 36.1%. In bivariate analysis, stay in an intensive care unit, decreased functional status, recent use of antibiotics, use of urinary catheters and the existence of skin breaks were associated with nasal MRSA colonisation (p < 0.05). Of these factors, only decreased functional status and recent use of systemic antibiotics were associated independently with nasal MRSA colonisation following logistic regression analysis

A Fast and Accurate Diagnostic Test for Severe Sepsis Using Kernel Classifiers

Severe sepsis occurs frequently in the intensive care unit (ICU) and is a leading cause of admission, mortality, and cost. Treatment guidelines recommend early intervention, however gold standard blood culture test results may return in up to 48 hours. Insulin sensitivity (SI) is known to decrease with worsening condition and inflammatory response, and could thus be used to aid clinical treatment decisions. Some glycemic control protocols are able to accurately identify SI in real-time. A biomarker for severe sepsis was developed from retrospective SI and concurrent temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and SIRS score from 36 adult patients with sepsis. Patients were identified as having sepsis based on a clinically validated sepsis score (ss) of 2 or higher (ss = 0–4 for increasing severity). Kernel density estimates were used for the development of joint probability density profiles for ss = 2 and ss < 2 data hours (213 and 5858 respectively of 6071 total hours) and for classification. From the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve, the optimal probability cutoff values for classification were determined for in-sample and out-of-sample estimates. A biomarker including concurrent insulin sensitivity and clinical data for the diagnosis of severe sepsis (ss = 2) achieves 69–94% sensitivity, 75–94% specificity, 0.78–0.99 AUC, 3–17 LHR+, 0.06–0.4 LHR-, 9–38% PPV, 99–100% NPV, and a diagnostic odds ratio of 7–260 for optimal probability cutoff values of 0.32 and 0.27 for in-sample and out-of-sample data, respectively. The overall result lies between these minimum and maximum error bounds. Thus, the clinical biomarker shows good to high accuracy and may provide useful information as a real-time diagnostic test for severe sepsis

1/f Noise in Electron Glasses

We show that 1/f noise is produced in a 3D electron glass by charge fluctuations due to electrons hopping between isolated sites and a percolating network at low temperatures. The low frequency noise spectrum goes as \omega^{-\alpha} with \alpha slightly larger than 1. This result together with the temperature dependence of \alpha and the noise amplitude are in good agreement with the recent experiments. These results hold true both with a flat, noninteracting density of states and with a density of states that includes Coulomb interactions. In the latter case, the density of states has a Coulomb gap that fills in with increasing temperature. For a large Coulomb gap width, this density of states gives a dc conductivity with a hopping exponent of approximately 0.75 which has been observed in recent experiments. For a small Coulomb gap width, the hopping exponent approximately 0.5.Comment: 8 pages, Latex, 6 encapsulated postscript figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Endoscopy in Renal Cancer Organ Preservation Treatments

This chapter traces the shift in treatment of localised renal cancer from major open surgery to endoscopic (ie laparoscopy) techniques. It also details the shift in treatment intent for localised Renal cancer toward Organ preservation. With advancement in technology and experience, the principles of endoscopic surgery have been adapted to treat renal malignancy with minimum complications and with maximal preservation of Renal function so much so that endoscopic techniques are seen as the “gold standard” by many. The chapter details these minimally invasive techniques of laparoscopic and Robotic partial nephrectomy and compares and contrasts both Oncological and Functional outcomes from both

Time evolution of the classical and quantum mechanical versions of diffusive anharmonic oscillator: an example of Lie algebraic techniques

We present the general solutions for the classical and quantum dynamics of the anharmonic oscillator coupled to a purely diffusive environment. In both cases, these solutions are obtained by the application of the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff (BCH) formulas to expand the evolution operator in an ordered product of exponentials. Moreover, we obtain an expression for the Wigner function in the quantum version of the problem. We observe that the role played by diffusion is to reduce or to attenuate the the characteristic quantum effects yielded by the nonlinearity, as the appearance of coherent superpositions of quantum states (Schr\"{o}dinger cat states) and revivals.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, 2 table

Variability of organic and elemental carbon, water soluble organic carbon, and isotopes in Hong Kong

International audienceTo determine the levels and variations of carbonaceous aerosol in Hong Kong, PM2.5 and PM10 samples were collected by high volume (Hi-vol) samplers at three monitoring stations (representing middle-scale roadside, urban-, and regional-scale environments) during winter (November 2000 to February 2001) and summer (June 2001 to August 2001) periods. The highest concentrations of organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), and water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) were found at the middle-scale roadside site with the lowest at the regional-scale site. The percentages of WSOC in total carbon at these sites were inversely correlated with their concentrations (i.e., the highest percentages of WSOC were observed at the regional-scale site). A high WSOC fraction may be associated with aged aerosol because of the secondary formation by photochemical oxidation of organic precursors of anthropogenic pollutants during transport. The annual average of isotope abundances (?13C) of OC and EC were ?26.9±0.5? and ?25.6±0.1?, respectively. There were no notable differences for seasonal distributions of carbon isotopic composition, consistent with motor vehicle emissions being the main source contributors of carbonaceous aerosol in Hong Kong. OC 13C abundances at the regional-scale site were higher than those at the middle-scale roadside and urban sites, consistent with secondary organic aerosols of biogenic origin

Long term verification of glucose-insulin regulatory system model dynamics

doi: 10.1109/IEMBS.2004.1403269Hyperglycaemia in critically ill patients increases the risk of further complications and mortality. A long-term verification of a model that captures the essential glucose- and insulin-kinetics is presented, using retrospective data gathered in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The model uses only two patient specific parameters, for glucose clearance and insulin sensitivity. The optimization of these parameters is accomplished through a novel integration-based fitting approach, and a piecewise linearization of the parameters. This approach reduces the non-linear, non-convex optimization problem to a simple linear equation system. The method was tested on long-term blood glucose recordings from 17 ICU-patients, resulting in an average error of 7%, which is in the range of the sensor error. One-hour predictions of blood glucose data proved acceptable with an error range between 7- 11%. These results verify the model’s ability to capture longterm observed glucose-insulin dynamics in hyperglycaemic ICU patients

Toroidal mode number estimation of the edge-localized modes using the KSTAR 3-D electron cyclotron emission imaging system

A new and more accurate technique is presented for determining the toroidal mode number n of edge-localized modes (ELMs) using two independent electron cyclotron emission imaging (ECEI) systems in the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) device. The technique involves the measurement of the poloidal spacing between adjacent ELM filaments, and of the pitch angle ?? O of filaments at the plasma outboard midplane. Equilibrium reconstruction verifies that ?? O is nearly constant and thus well-defined at the midplane edge. Estimates of n obtained using two ECEI systems agree well with n measured by the conventional technique employing an array of Mirnov coils.open3