104,986 research outputs found
How do patients' clinical phenotype and the physiological mechanisms of the operations impact the choice of bariatric procedure?
Bariatric surgery is currently the most effective option for the treatment of morbid obesity and its associated comorbidities. Recent clinical and experimental findings have challenged the role of mechanical restriction and caloric malabsorption as the main mechanisms for weight loss and health benefits. Instead, other mechanisms including increased levels of satiety gut hormones, altered gut microbiota, changes in bile acid metabolism, and/or energy expenditure have been proposed as explanations for benefits of bariatric surgery. Beside the standard proximal Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and the biliopancreatic diversion with or without duodenal switch, where parts of the small intestine are excluded from contact with nutrients, resectional techniques like the sleeve gastrectomy (SG) have recently been added to the armory of bariatric surgeons. The variation of weight loss and glycemic control is vast between but also within different bariatric operations. We surveyed members of the Swiss Society for the Study of Morbid Obesity and Metabolic Disorders to assess the extent to which the phenotype of patients influences the choice of bariatric procedure. Swiss bariatric surgeons preferred Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and SG for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and patients with a body mass index >50 kg/m(2), which is consistent with the literature. An SG was preferred in patients with a high anesthetic risk or previous laparotomy. The surgeons' own experience was a major determinant as there is little evidence in the literature for this approach. Although trends will come and go, evidence-based medicine requires a rigorous examination of the proof to inform clinical practice
Weak local rules for planar octagonal tilings
We provide an effective characterization of the planar octagonal tilings
which admit weak local rules. As a corollary, we show that they are all based
on quadratic irrationalities, as conjectured by Thang Le in the 90s.Comment: 23 pages, 6 figure
and mesons at finite temperature and density in the NJL model with dimensional regularization
Dynamical Symmetry breaking and meson masses are studied in the
Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model at finite temperature and chemical potential
using the dimensional regularization. Since the model is not renormalizable in
four space-time dimensions, physical results and parameters depend on the
regularization method. Following the imaginary time formalism, we introduce the
temperature, and the chemical potential, . The parameters in the model
are fixed by calculating the pion mass and decay constant in the dimensional
regularization at .Comment: 28 pages, 9 figures, v2: a few points corrected and references adde
A mathematical formalization of the parallel replica dynamics
The purpose of this article is to lay the mathematical foundations of a well
known numerical approach in computational statistical physics and molecular
dynamics, namely the parallel replica dynamics introduced by A.F. Voter. The
aim of the approach is to efficiently generate a coarse-grained evolution (in
terms of state-to-state dynamics) of a given stochastic process. The approach
formally consists in concurrently considering several realizations of the
stochastic process, and tracking among the realizations that which, the
soonest, undergoes an important transition. Using specific properties of the
dynamics generated, a computational speed-up is obtained. In the best cases,
this speed-up approaches the number of realizations considered. By drawing
connections with the theory of Markov processes and, in particular, exploiting
the notion of quasi-stationary distribution, we provide a mathematical setting
appropriate for assessing theoretically the performance of the approach, and
possibly improving it
Thermodynamic dislocation theory of high-temperature deformation in aluminum and steel
The statistical-thermodynamic dislocation theory developed in previous papers
is used here in an analysis of high-temperature deformation of aluminum and
steel. Using physics-based parameters that we expect theoretically to be
independent of strain rate and temperature, we are able to fit experimental
stress-strain curves for three different strain rates and three different
temperatures for each of these two materials. Our theoretical curves include
yielding transitions at zero strain in agreement with experiment. We find that
thermal softening effects are important even at the lowest temperatures and
smallest strain rates.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure
Pareto-optimal pilot design for cellular massive MIMO systems
We introduce a non-orthogonal pilot design scheme that simultaneously minimizes two contradicting targets of channel estimation errors of all base stations (BSs) and the total pilot power consumptions of all users in a multi-cell massive MIMO system, subject to the transmit power constraints of the users in the network. We formulate a multi-objective optimization problem (MOP) with two objective functions capturing the contradicting targets and find the Pareto optimal solutions for the pilot signals. Using weighted-sum-scalarization technique, we first convert the MOP to an equivalent single-objective optimization problem (SOP), which is not convex. Assuming that each BS is provided with the most recent knowledge of the pilot signals of the other BSs, we then decompose the SOP into a set of distributed non-convex optimization problems to be solved at individual BSs. Finally, we introduce an alternating optimization approach to cast each one of the resulting distributed optimization problems into a convex linear matrix inequality (LMI) form. We provide a mathematical proof for the convergence of the proposed alternating approach and a complexity analysis for the LMI optimization problem. Simulation results confirm that the proposed approach significantly reduces pilot power, whilst maintaining the same level of channel estimation error as in [1]
Answering Mermin's Challenge with Conservation per No Preferred Reference Frame
In 1981, Mermin published a now famous paper titled, "Bringing home the
atomic world: Quantum mysteries for anybody" that Feynman called, "One of the
most beautiful papers in physics that I know." Therein, he presented the
"Mermin device" that illustrates the conundrum of quantum entanglement per the
Bell spin states for the "general reader." He then challenged the "physicist
reader" to explain the way the device works "in terms meaningful to a general
reader struggling with the dilemma raised by the device." Herein, we show how
"conservation per no preferred reference frame (NPRF)" answers that challenge.
In short, the explicit conservation that obtains for Alice and Bob's
Stern-Gerlach spin measurement outcomes in the same reference frame holds only
on average in different reference frames, not on a trial-by-trial basis. This
conservation is SO(3) invariant in the relevant symmetry plane in real space
per the SU(2) invariance of its corresponding Bell spin state in Hilbert space.
Since NPRF is also responsible for the postulates of special relativity, and
therefore its counterintuitive aspects of time dilation and length contraction,
we see that the symmetry group relating non-relativistic quantum mechanics and
special relativity via their "mysteries" is the restricted Lorentz group.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures. This version as revised and resubmitted to
Scientific Report
HI Observations of the Asymptotic Giant Branch Star X Herculis: Discovery of an Extended Circumstellar Wake Superposed on a Compact High-Velocity Cloud
We report HI 21-cm line observations of the AGB star X Her obtained with the
Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and the Very Large Array (VLA). We have detected HI
emission totaling M_HI=2.1e-03 M_sun associated with the circumstellar envelope
of the star. The HI distribution exhibits a head-tail morphology, similar to
those previously observed around Mira and RS Cnc. The tail extends ~6.0' (0.24
pc) in the plane of the sky, along the direction of the star's space motion. We
also detect a velocity gradient of ~6.5 km/s across the envelope, consistent
with the HI tracing a turbulent wake that arises from the motion of a
mass-losing star through the ISM. GBT mapping of a 2x2deg region around X Her
reveals that the star lies (in projection) near the periphery of a much larger
HI cloud that also exhibits signatures of ISM interaction. The properties of
the cloud are consistent with those of compact high-velocity clouds. Using CO
observations, we have placed an upper limit on its molecular gas content of
N_H2<1.3e20 cm^-2. Although the distance to the cloud is poorly constrained,
the probability of a chance coincidence in position, velocity, and apparent
position angle of space motion between X Her and the cloud is extremely small,
suggesting a possible physical association. However, the large HI mass of the
cloud (~>2.4~M_sun) and the blueshift of its mean velocity relative to X Her
are inconsistent with an origin tied directly to stellar ejection. (abridged)Comment: Accepted to AJ; 47 pages, 15 figures; version with full resolution
figures available at
http://www.haystack.mit.edu/hay/staff/lmatthew/matthews_XHer.pd
Efficiency optimization for Atomic Frequency Comb storage
We study the efficiency of the Atomic Frequency Comb storage protocol. We
show that for a given optical depth, the preparation procedure can be optimize
to significantly improve the retrieval. Our prediction is well supported by the
experimental implementation of the protocol in a \TMYAG crystal. We observe a
net gain in efficiency from 10% to 17% by applying the optimized preparation
procedure. In the perspective of high bandwidth storage, we investigate the
protocol under different magnetic fields. We analyze the effect of the Zeeman
and superhyperfine interaction
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