254 research outputs found
First order quantum phase transitions
Quantum phase transitions have been the subject of intense investigations in
the last two decades [1]. Among other problems, these phase transitions are
relevant in the study of heavy fermion systems, high temperature
superconductors and Bose-Einstein condensates. More recently there is
increasing evidence that in many systems which are close to a quantum critical
point (QCP) different phases are in competition. In this paper we show that the
main effect of this competition is to give rise to inhomogeneous behavior
associated with quantum first order transitions. These effects are described
theoretically using an action that takes into account the competition between
different order parameters. The method of the effective potential is used to
calculate the quantum corrections to the classical functional. These
corrections generally change the nature of the QCP and give rise to interesting
effects even in the presence of non-critical fluctuations. An unexpected result
is the appearance of an inhomogeneous phase with two values of the order
parameter separated by a first order transition. Finally, we discuss the
universal behavior of systems with a weak first order zero temperature
transition in particular as the transition point is approached from finite
temperatures. The thermodynamic behavior along this line is obtained and shown
to present universal features.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. Invited talk at ICM2006, Kyoto. To appear in JMM
Hunger among Inuit children in Canada
Background and objectives. Inuit populations may be at increased risk for experiencing poor nutrition or hunger due to limited access and availability to food. The prevalence and correlates of parental perceptions of hunger among a nationally representative sample of Inuit children in Canada have not yet been reported. Design. Data are from the 2006 Aboriginal Children's Survey (ACS). Sociodemographic information, dietary behaviours and hunger status were parent-reported via a household interview for Inuit children aged 2–5 years (n=1,234). Prevalence of hunger was calculated among Inuit children by sociodemographic factors and by dietary behaviours. In addition, a multivariate logistic regression model was conducted to determine factors associated with parental perception of ever experiencing hunger. Results. The prevalence of Inuit children in Canada aged 2–5 years ever experiencing hunger was 24.4%. Children who were reported to have experienced hunger consumed milk and milk products (p<0.001); fish, eggs and meat (p<0.05); fruits (p<0.001); and vegetables (p<0.001) significantly less often than never-hungry children. Fast food and processed foods, soft drinks and juice, and salty snacks, sweets and desserts were consumed as often as never-hungry children (all p>0.05). The majority (81%) of Inuit parents/guardians of ever-hungry children sought help from family or friends. Factors associated with an increased likelihood of experiencing hunger include sociodemographic characteristics (such as income and household size), living in an Inuit region and living in a community with cultural activities. Conclusion. About 1 in 4 Inuit children were reported by their parents to have experienced hunger, and hunger was associated with region, sociodemographic and community factors. Future research could further examine the impact of ever experiencing hunger on the health status of Inuit children and their families in Canada
The costs of respiratory illnesses arising from Florida gulf coast Karenia brevis blooms
This is the final version of the article. Available from NIEHS via the DOI in this recordBACKGROUND: Algal blooms of Karenia brevis, a harmful marine algae, occur almost annually off the west coast of Florida. At high concentrations, K. brevis blooms can cause harm through the release of potent toxins, known as brevetoxins, to the atmosphere. Epidemiologic studies suggest that aerosolized brevetoxins are linked to respiratory illnesses in humans. OBJECTIVES: We hypothesized a relationship between K. brevis blooms and respiratory illness visits to hospital emergency departments (EDs) while controlling for environmental factors, disease, and tourism. We sought to use this relationship to estimate the costs of illness associated with aerosolized brevetoxins. METHODS: We developed a statistical exposure-response model to express hypotheses about the relationship between respiratory illnesses and bloom events. We estimated the model with data on ED visits, K. brevis cell densities, and measures of pollen, pollutants, respiratory disease, and intra-annual population changes. RESULTS: We found that lagged K. brevis cell counts, low air temperatures, influenza outbreaks, high pollen counts, and tourist visits helped explain the number of respiratory-specific ED diagnoses. The capitalized estimated marginal costs of illness for ED respiratory illnesses associated with K. brevis blooms in Sarasota County, Florida, alone ranged from 4 million, depending on bloom severity. CONCLUSIONS: Blooms of K. brevis lead to significant economic impacts. The costs of illness of ED visits are a conservative estimate of the total economic impacts. It will become increasingly necessary to understand the scale of the economic losses associated with K. brevis blooms to make rational choices about appropriate mitigation.This research was sponsored by the Florida Fish
& Wildlife Conservation Commission (07182) and
the Departments of Environmental Protection and
Health; the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention; the Center for Oceans and Human
Health at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
[National Science Foundation (NSF) OCE-0430724;
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
(NIEHS) P50 ES012742]; the Ocean and Human
Health Center at the University of Miami Rosenstiel
School (NSF 0CE0432368; NIEHS 1 P50 ES12736);
and the NIEHS (PO1 ES 10594)
Characterization of Marine Aerosol for Assessment of Human Exposure to Brevetoxins
Red tides in the Gulf of Mexico are commonly formed by the fish-killing dinoflagellate Karenia brevis, which produces nine potent polyether brevetoxins (PbTxs). Brevetoxins can be transferred from water to air in wind-powered white-capped waves. Inhalation exposure to marine aerosol containing brevetoxins causes respiratory symptoms. We describe detailed characterization of aerosols during an epidemiologic study of occupational exposure to Florida red tide aerosol in terms of its concentration, toxin profile, and particle size distribution. This information is essential in understanding its source, assessing exposure to people, and estimating dose of inhaled aerosols. Environmental sampling confirmed the presence of brevetoxins in water and air during a red tide exposure period (September 2001) and lack of significant toxin levels in the water and air during an unexposed period May 2002). Water samples collected during a red tide bloom in 2001 showed moderate-to-high concentrations of K. brevis cells and PbTxs. The daily mean PbTx concentration in water samples ranged from 8 to 28 μg/L from 7 to 11 September 2001; the daily mean PbTx concentration in air samples ranged from 1.3 to 27 ng/m(3). The daily aerosol concentration on the beach can be related to PbTx concentration in water, wind speed, and wind direction. Personal samples confirmed human exposure to red tide aerosols. The particle size distribution showed a mean aerodynamic diameter in the size range of 6–12 μm, with deposits mainly in the upper airways. The deposition pattern correlated with the observed increase of upper airway symptoms in healthy lifeguards during the exposure periods
Dissipative effects on quantum glassy systems
We discuss the behavior of a quantum glassy system coupled to a bath of
quantum oscillators. We show that the system localizes in the absence of
interactions when coupled to a subOhmic bath. When interactions are switched on
localization disappears and the system undergoes a phase transition towards a
glassy phase. We show that the position of the critical line separating the
disordered and the ordered phases strongly depends on the coupling to the bath.
For a given type of bath, the ordered glassy phase is favored by a stronger
coupling. Ohmic, subOhmic and superOhmic baths lead to different transition
lines. We draw our conclusions from the analysis of the partition function
using the replicated imaginary-time formalism and from the study of the
real-time dynamics of the coupled system using the Schwinger-Keldysh closed
time-path formalism.Comment: 39 pages, 13 figures, RevTe
Metal-Insulator Transition of Disordered Interacting Electrons
We calculate the corrections to the conductivity and compressibility of a
disordered metal when the mean free path is smaller than the screening length.
Such a condition is shown to be realized for low densities and large disorder.
Analysis of the stability of the metallic state reveals a transition to the
insulating state in two-dimensions.Comment: 11 pages, REVTEX, 1 figure included; Final versio
Environmental and Parental Influences on Offspring Health and Growth in Great Tits (Parus major)
PMCID: PMC3728352This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Emergence of quasi-metallic state in disordered 2D electron gas due to strong interactions
The interrelation between disorder and interactions in two dimensional
electron liquid is studied beyond weak coupling perturbation theory. Strong
repulsion significantly reduces the electronic density of states on the Fermi
level. This makes the electron liquid more rigid and strongly suppresses
elastic scattering off impurities. As a result the weak localization, although
ultimately present at zero temperature and infinite sample size, is
unobservable at experimentally accessible temperature at high enough densities.
Therefore practically there exists a well defined metallic state. We study
diffusion of electrons in this state and find that the diffusion pole is
significantly modified due to "mixture" with static photons similar to the
Anderson - Higgs mechanism in superconductivity. As a result several effects
stemming from the long range nature of diffusion like the Aronov - Altshuler
logarithmic corrections to conductivity are less pronounced.Comment: to appear in Phys. Rev.
The Parallel Magnetoconductance of Interacting Electrons in a Two Dimensional Disordered System
The transport properties of interacting electrons for which the spin degree
of freedom is taken into account are numerically studied for small two
dimensional diffusive clusters. On-site electron-electron interactions tend to
delocalize the electrons, while long-range interactions enhance localization.
On careful examination of the transport properties, we reach the conclusion
that it does not show a two dimensional metal insulator transition driven by
interactions. A parallel magnetic field leads to enhanced resistivity, which
saturates once the electrons become fully spin polarized. The strength of the
magnetic field for which the resistivity saturates decreases as electron
density goes down. Thus, the numerical calculations capture some of the
features seen in recent experimental measurements of parallel
magnetoconductance.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
Quantum phase transitions
In recent years, quantum phase transitions have attracted the interest of
both theorists and experimentalists in condensed matter physics. These
transitions, which are accessed at zero temperature by variation of a
non-thermal control parameter, can influence the behavior of electronic systems
over a wide range of the phase diagram. Quantum phase transitions occur as a
result of competing ground state phases. The cuprate superconductors which can
be tuned from a Mott insulating to a d-wave superconducting phase by carrier
doping are a paradigmatic example. This review introduces important concepts of
phase transitions and discusses the interplay of quantum and classical
fluctuations near criticality. The main part of the article is devoted to bulk
quantum phase transitions in condensed matter systems. Several classes of
transitions will be briefly reviewed, pointing out, e.g., conceptual
differences between ordering transitions in metallic and insulating systems. An
interesting separate class of transitions are boundary phase transitions where
only degrees of freedom of a subsystem become critical; this will be
illustrated in a few examples. The article is aimed on bridging the gap between
high-level theoretical presentations and research papers specialized in certain
classes of materials. It will give an overview over a variety of different
quantum transitions, critically discuss open theoretical questions, and
frequently make contact with recent experiments in condensed matter physics.Comment: 50 pages, 7 figs; (v2) final version as publishe
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