1,929 research outputs found
Time and Amplitude of Afterpulse Measured with a Large Size Photomultiplier Tube
We have studied the afterpulse of a hemispherical photomultiplier tube for an
upcoming reactor neutrino experiment. The timing, the amplitude, and the rate
of the afterpulse for a 10 inch photomultiplier tube were measured with a 400
MHz FADC up to 16 \ms time window after the initial signal generated by an LED
light pulse. The time and amplitude correlation of the afterpulse shows several
distinctive groups. We describe the dependencies of the afterpulse on the
applied high voltage and the amplitude of the main light pulse. The present
data could shed light upon the general mechanism of the afterpulse.Comment: 11 figure
A survey of bariatric surgical and reproductive health professionals' knowledge and provision of contraception to reproductive-aged bariatric surgical patients
BACKGROUND:
Over 80 % of bariatric surgical patients are women with obesity in their reproductive years. Obesity adversely affects fertility; the rapid weight loss following bariatric surgery can increase fecundity. Current guidelines recommend avoiding pregnancy for up to 24 months following surgery, but little is known about current contraceptive care of women who undergo bariatric surgery. Two surveys were undertaken with bariatric surgical and contraceptive practitioners in England to establish current contraceptive practices in both groups.
METHODS:
Two anonymous on-line surveys were sent to all 382 members of the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society (BOMSS) and an estimated 300 contraceptive practitioners in the North East of England.
RESULTS:
The BOMSS survey elicited a response rate of 17 % (nâ=â65), mainly from bariatric surgeons (nâ=â24 (36 %)). Most respondents (97 %) acknowledged the need to educate patients, but contraceptive information was only provided by 7 % (nâ=â4) of respondents in bariatric surgical clinics. Less than half of respondents were confident discussing contraception, and the majority requested further training, guidance and communication with contraceptive practitioners. The majority of respondents to the contraceptive practitioner survey were general practitioners (28 %, nâ=â20). Three quarters of respondents reported little knowledge of bariatric surgery, and many reported not seeing women with obesity requiring contraception before (66 %, nâ=â45) or after surgery (71 %, nâ=â49).
CONCLUSIONS:
There is a need to increase knowledge levels of contraception within bariatric surgical teams and to understand why, despite increasing levels of bariatric surgery, women do not seem to be appearing for advice in contraceptive settings
Recognizing graphs close to bipartite graphs.
We continue research into a well-studied family of problems that ask if the vertices of a graph can be partitioned into sets A and B, where A is an independent set and B induces a graph from some specified graph class G. We let G be the class of k-degenerate graphs. The problem is known to be polynomial-time solvable if k=0 (bipartite graphs) and NP-complete if k=1 (near-bipartite graphs) even for graphs of diameter 4, as shown by Yang and Yuan, who also proved polynomial-time solvability for graphs of diameter 2. We show that recognizing near-bipartite graphs of diameter 3 is NP-complete resolving their open problem. To answer another open problem, we consider graphs of maximum degree D on n vertices. We show how to find A and B in O(n) time for k=1 and D=3, and in O(n^2) time for k >= 2 and D >= 4. These results also provide an algorithmic version of a result of Catlin [JCTB, 1979] and enable us to complete the complexity classification of another problem: finding a path in the vertex colouring reconfiguration graph between two given k-colourings of a graph of bounded maximum degree
Finite Size and Current Effects on IV Characteristics of Josephson Junction Arrays
The effects of finite size and of finite current on the current-voltage
characteristics of Josephson junction arrays is studied both theoretically and
by numerical simulations. The cross-over from non-linear to linear behavior at
low temperature is shown to be a finite size effect and the non-linear behavior
at higher temperature, , is shown to be a finite current effect.
These are argued to result from competition between the three length scales
characterizing the system. The importance of boundary effects is discussed and
it is shown that these may dominate the behavior in small arrays.Comment: 5 pages, figures included, to appear in PR
N=2 Topological Yang-Mills Theory on Compact K\"{a}hler Surfaces
We study a topological Yang-Mills theory with fermionic symmetry. Our
formalism is a field theoretical interpretation of the Donaldson polynomial
invariants on compact K\"{a}hler surfaces. We also study an analogous theory on
compact oriented Riemann surfaces and briefly discuss a possible application of
the Witten's non-Abelian localization formula to the problems in the case of
compact K\"{a}hler surfaces.Comment: ESENAT-93-01 & YUMS-93-10, 34pages: [Final Version] to appear in
Comm. Math. Phy
Clique-width for graph classes closed under complementation.
Clique-width is an important graph parameter due to its algorithmic and structural properties. A graph class is hereditary if it can be characterized by a (not necessarily finite) set H of forbidden induced subgraphs. We initiate a systematic study into the boundedness of clique-width of hereditary graph classes closed under complementation. First, we extend the known classification for the |H|=1 case by classifying the boundedness of clique-width for every set H of self-complementary graphs. We then completely settle the |H|=2 case. In particular, we determine one new class of (H1, complement of H1)-free graphs of bounded clique-width (as a side effect, this leaves only six classes of (H1, H2)-free graphs, for which it is not known whether their clique-width is bounded). Once we have obtained the classification of the |H|=2 case, we research the effect of forbidding self-complementary graphs on the boundedness of clique-width. Surprisingly, we show that for a set F of self-complementary graphs on at least five vertices, the classification of the boundedness of clique-width for ({H1, complement of H1} + F)-free graphs coincides with the one for the |H|=2 case if and only if F does not include the bull (the only non-empty self-complementary graphs on fewer than five vertices are P_1 and P_4, and P_4-free graphs have clique-width at most 2). Finally, we discuss the consequences of our results for COLOURING
Dynamic wormholes, anti-trapped surfaces, and energy conditions
Adapting and extending a suggestion due to Page, we define a wormhole throat
to be a marginally anti-trapped surface, that is, a closed two-dimensional
spatial hypersurface such that one of the two future-directed null geodesic
congruences orthogonal to it is just beginning to diverge. Typically a dynamic
wormhole will possess two such throats, corresponding to the two orthogonal
null geodesic congruences, and these two throats will not coincide, (though
they do coalesce into a single throat in the static limit). The divergence
property of the null geodesics at the marginally anti-trapped surface
generalizes the ``flare-out'' condition for an arbitrary wormhole. We derive
theorems regarding violations of the null energy condition (NEC) at and near
these throats and find that, even for wormholes with arbitrary time-dependence,
the violation of the NEC is a generic property of wormhole throats. We also
discuss wormhole throats in the presence of fully antisymmetric torsion and
find that the energy condition violations cannot be dumped into the torsion
degrees of freedom. Finally by means of a concrete example we demonstrate that
even temporary suspension of energy-condition violations is incompatible with
the flare-out property of dynamic throats.Comment: 32 pages in plain LaTex, no figures. Additional text and references
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