40,533 research outputs found
Concept for controlled transverse emittance transfer within a linac ion beam
For injection of beams into circular machines with different horizontal and
vertical emittance acceptance, the injection efficiency can be increased if
these beams are flat, i.e. if they feature unequal transverse emittances.
Generation of flat electron beams is well known and has been demonstrated
already in beam experiments. It was proposed also for ion beams that were
generated in an Electron Cyclotron-Resonance (ECR) source. We introduce an
extension of the method to beams that underwent charge state stripping without
requiring their generation inside an ECR source. Results from multi-particle
simulations are presented to demonstrate the validity of the method.Comment: 23 pages (preprint style), 14 Figures, submitted to PRST-A
The impact of Chinese import penetration on the South African manufacturing sector
This article uses a Chenery-type decomposition and econometric estimation to evaluate the impact of Chinese trade on production and employment in South African manufacturing from 1992 to 2010. The results suggest that increased import penetration from China caused South African manufacturing output to be 5 per cent lower in 2010 than it otherwise would have been. The estimated reduction of total employment in manufacturing as a result of trade with China is larger – in 2010 about 8 per cent – because the declines in output were concentrated on labour-intensive industries and because the increase in imports raised labour productivity within industries
UK open source crime data: accuracy and possibilities for research
In the United Kingdom, since 2011 data regarding individual police recorded crimes have been made openly available to the public via the police.uk website. To protect the location privacy of victims these data are obfuscated using geomasking techniques to reduce their spatial accuracy. This paper examines the spatial accuracy of the police.uk data to determine at what level(s) of spatial resolution – if any – it is suitable for analysis in the context of theory testing and falsification, evaluation research, or crime analysis. Police.uk data are compared to police recorded data for one large metropolitan Police Force and spatial accuracy is quantified for four different levels of geography across five crime types. Hypotheses regarding systematic errors are tested using appropriate statistical approaches, including methods of maximum likelihood. Finally, a “best-fit” statistical model is presented to explain the error as well as to develop a model that can correct it. The implications of the findings for researchers using the police.uk data for spatial analysis are discussed
Acting without being in control: Exploring volition in Parkinson's disease with impulsive compulsive behaviours.
BACKGROUND: Several aspects of volitional control of action may be relevant in the pathophysiology of impulsive-compulsive behaviours (ICB) in Parkinson's disease (PD). We aimed to explore multiple aspects of action control, assessing reward-related behaviour, inhibition (externally and internally triggered) and sense of agency in PD patients, with and without ICB compared to healthy subjects. METHODS: Nineteen PD patients with ICB (PD-ICB), 19 PD without ICB (PD-no-ICB) and 19 healthy controls (HC) underwent a battery of tests including: Intentional Binding task which measures sense of agency; Stop Signal Reaction Time (SSRT) measuring capacity for reactive inhibition; the Marble task, assessing intentional inhibition; Balloon Analog Risk Task for reward sensitivity. RESULTS: One-way ANOVA showed significant main effect of group for action binding (p = 0.004, F = 6.27). Post hoc analysis revealed that PD-ICB had significantly stronger action binding than HC (p = 0.004), and PD-no-ICB (p = 0.04). There was no difference between PD-no-ICB and HC. SSRT did not differ between PD groups, whereas a significant difference between PD-no-ICB and HC was detected (p = 0.01). No other differences were found among groups in the other tasks. CONCLUSIONS: PD patients with ICB have abnormal performance on a psychophysical task assessing sense of agency, which might be related to a deficit in action representation at cognitive/experiential level. Yet, they have no deficit on tasks evaluating externally and internally triggered inhibitory control, or in reward-based decision-making. We conclude that impaired sense of agency may be a factor contributing to ICB in PD patients
Magnetic properties of strongly disordered electronic systems
We present a unified, global perspective on the magnetic properties of
strongly disordered electronic systems, with special emphasis on the case where
the ground state is metallic. We review the arguments for the instability of
the disordered Fermi liquid state towards the formation of local magnetic
moments, and argue that their singular low temperature thermodynamics are the
``quantum Griffiths'' precursors of the quantum phase transition to a metallic
spin glass; the local moment formation is therefore not directly related to the
metal-insulator transition. We also review the the mean-field theory of the
disordered Fermi liquid to metallic spin glass transition and describe the
separate regime of ``non-Fermi liquid'' behavior at higher temperatures near
the quantum critical point. The relationship to experimental results on doped
semiconductors and heavy-fermion compounds is noted.Comment: 25 pages; Contribution to the Royal Society Discussion Meeting on
"The Metal-Non Metal Transition in Macroscopic and Microscopic Systems",
March 5-6, 199
Matter-wave dark solitons in a double-well potential
We study stability of the first excited state of quasi-one-dimensional
Bose-Einstein condensates in a double-well potential, which is called
"-state". The density notch in the -state can be regarded as a
standing dark soliton. From the excitation spectrum, we determine the critical
barrier height, above which the -state is dynamically unstable. We find
that the critical barrier height decreases monotonically as the number of
condensate atoms increases. We also simulate the dynamics of the -state by
solving the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We show that due to the
dynamical instability the dark soliton starts to move away from the trap center
and exhibits a large-amplitude oscillation.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figure
Models of stress fluctuations in granular media
We investigate in detail two models describing how stresses propagate and
fluctuate in granular media. The first one is a scalar model where only the
vertical component of the stress tensor is considered. In the continuum limit,
this model is equivalent to a diffusion equation (where the r\^ole of time is
played by the vertical coordinate) plus a randomly varying convection term. We
calculate the response and correlation function of this model, and discuss
several properties, in particular related to the stress distribution function.
We then turn to the tensorial model, where the basic starting point is a wave
equation which, in the absence of disorder, leads to a ray-like propagation of
stress. In the presence of disorder, the rays acquire a diffusive width and the
angle of propagation is shifted. A striking feature is that the response
function becomes negative, which suggests that the contact network is
mechanically unstable to very weak perturbations. The stress correlation
function reveals characteristic features related to the ray-like propagation,
which are absent in the scalar description. Our analytical calculations are
confirmed and extended by a numerical analysis of the stochastic wave equation.Comment: 32 pages, latex, 18 figures and 6 diagram
Simulation of time-varying ascent loads on arrays of shuttle tiles in a large transonic tunnel
For abstract, see A82-24682
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Healthy shopper? Blood pressure testing in a shopping centre Pop-Up in England
Background: Improving detection of elevated blood pressure (BP) remains a public health need. We present results from a Pop-Up health check stationed in shopping centres in England. We hypothesise the rate of case detection is related to measurable ‘unhealthiness’ of the shopping centres.
Methods: A Pop-Up health check was sited in four and three shopping centres sampled from the top ten unhealthiest and top 15 healthiest shopping regions respectively, following a report ranking towns/cities based on their unhealthy and healthy retail outlets. On one day in each shopping centre, people were approached and consented to BP testing. Outcome measure was people flagged with BP ≥ 140/90 mmHg (cases).
Results: We detected 45 (22.6%) and 20 (13.1%) cases from testing 199 and 152 adults in the unhealthy and healthy locations respectively (relative risk 1.72; 95% confidence interval: 1.06 to 2.78). A measure of unhealthy retail outlets (e.g. fast-food outlets) within each shopping centre was associated with detection rate (R2 = 0.61; p = 0.04).
Conclusion: An association exists between cases of suspect hypertension found in a health check Pop-Up and measured ‘unhealthiness’ of the shopping centre site. Results hint at strategies for public testing of BP, potentially in the context of reducing health inequalities
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