3,893 research outputs found
Decision making processes in people with symptoms of acute myocardial infarction: qualitative study
Objective To identify, the themes that influence decision making processes used by patients with symptoms of acute myocardial infarction. Design Qualitative study using semistructured interviews. Setting Two district hospitals in North Yorkshire. Participants 22 patients admitted to hospital with confirmed second, third, or fourth acute myocardial infarction. Main outcome measure Patients' perceptions of their experience between the onset of symptoms and the decision to seek medical help. Results Six main themes that influence the decision making process were identified: appraisal of In symptoms, perceived risk, previous experience, psychological and emotional factors, use of the NHS, and context of the event. Conclusions Knowledge of symptoms may not be enough to promote prompt action in the event of an acute myocardial infarction. Cognitive and emotional processes, individual beliefs and values, and the influence of the context of the event should also be considered in individual interventions designed to reduce delay in the event of symptoms of acute myocardial infarction
Evaluation of a ln tan integral arising in quantum field theory
We analytically evaluate a dilogarithmic integral that is prototypical of
volumes of ideal tetrahedra in hyperbolic geometry. We additionally obtain new
representations of the Clausen function Cl_2 and the Catalan constant
G=Cl_2(\pi/2), as well as new relations between sine and Clausen function
values.Comment: 24 pages, no figure
Association between match activity variables, measures of fatigue and neuromuscular performance capacity following elite competitive soccer matches
The aim of the study was to assess the relationships between match activity variables, subsequent fatigue and neuromuscular performance capacity in elite soccer players. Subjects (n = 10) were professional soccer players participating in the English Championships. Match activity variables and markers of fatigue status were measured before and following two matches. Creatine kinase (CK) and muscle soreness were measured at baseline, immediately following, as well as 40 and 64 h post-match. Countermovement jump performance and perceived ratings of wellness were measured at baseline, then 40 and 64 h post-match. Relationships were shown between CK and the total number of accelerations and decelerations immediately (r = 0.63; large), 40 h (r = 0.45; moderate) and 64 h post-match (r = 0.35; moderate) (p < 0.05). Relationships between CK and total sprint distance (r = 0.39; moderate) and the number of sprints (r = 0.35; moderate) 40 h post-match (p < 0.05) were observed. Furthermore, relationships were shown between the perceived rating of wellness and number of accelerations 40 (r = 0.52; large) and 64 h (r = 0.40; moderate) post-match, sprint distance 40 h post-match (r = 0.40; moderate) and the total number of sprints 40 h post-match (r = 0.51; large) (p < 0.05). The quantification of match activity variables, particularly the total number of accelerations and decelerations and the number of sprints, provides insights into the fatigue status in elite soccer players 40 and 64 h post-match
Common vacuum conservation amplitude in the theory of the radiation of mirrors in two-dimensional space-time and of charges in four-dimensional space-time
The action changes (and thus the vacuum conservation amplitudes) in the
proper-time representation are found for an accelerated mirror interacting with
scalar and spinor vacuum fields in 1+1 space. They are shown to coincide to
within the multiplier e^2 with the action changes of electric and scalar
charges accelerated in 3+1 space. This coincidence is attributed to the fact
that the Bose and Fermi pairs emitted by a mirror have the same spins 1 and 0
as do the photons and scalar quanta emitted by charges. It is shown that the
propagation of virtual pairs in 1+1 space can be described by the causal
Green's function \Delta_f(z,\mu) of the wave equation for 3+1 space. This is
because the pairs can have any positive mass and their propagation function is
represented by an integral of the causal propagation function of a massive
particle in 1+1 space over mass which coincides with \Delta_f(z,\mu). In this
integral the lower limit \mu is chosen small, but nonzero, to eliminate the
infrared divergence. It is shown that the real and imaginary parts of the
action change are related by dispersion relations, in which a mass parameter
serves as the dispersion variable. They are a consequence of the same relations
for \Delta_f(z,\mu). Therefore, the appearance of the real part of the action
change is a direct consequence of the causality, according to which real part
of \Delta_f(z,\mu) is nonzero only for timelike and zero intervals.Comment: 23 pages, Latex, revte
Vortex pinning by a columnar defect in planar superconductors with point disorder
We study the effect of a single columnar pin on a dimensional array
of vortex lines in planar type II superconductors in the presence of point
disorder. In large samples, the pinning is most effective right at the
temperature of the vortex glass transition. In particular, there is a
pronounced maximum in the number of vortices which are prevented from tilting
by the columnar defect in a weak transverse magnetic field. Using
renormalization group techniques we show that the columnar pin is irrelevant at
long length scales both above and below the transition, but due to very
different mechanisms. This behavior differs from the disorder-free case, where
the pin is relevant in the low temperature phase. Solutions of the
renormalization equations in the different regimes allow a discussion of the
crossover between the pure and disordered cases. We also compute density
oscillations around the columnar pin and the response of these oscillations to
a weak transverse magnetic field.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, minor typos corrected, a new reference adde
INTEGRAL/RossiXTE high-energy observation of a state transition of GX 339-4
On 2004 August 15, we observed a fast (shorter than 10 hours) state
transition in the bright black-hole transient GX 339-4 simultaneously with
RossiXTE and INTEGRAL. This transition was evident both in timing and spectral
properties. Combining the data from PCA, HEXTE and IBIS, we obtained good
quality broad-band (3-200 keV) energy spectra before and after the transition.
These spectra indicate that the hard component steepened. Also, the high-energy
cutoff that was present at ~70 keV before the transition was not detected after
the transition. This is the first time that an accurate determination of the
broad-band spectrum across such a transition has been measured on a short time
scale. It shows that, although some spectral parameters do not change abruptly
through the transition, the high-energy cutoff increases/disappears rather
fast. These results constitute a benchmark on which to test theoretical models
for the production of the hard component in these systems.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS (9 pages, 6 figures
Next-to-leading Log Resummation of Scalar and Pseudoscalar Higgs Boson Differential Cross-Sections at the LHC and Tevatron
The region of small transverse momentum in q qbar- and gg-initiated processes
must be studied in the framework of resummation to account for the large,
logarithmically-enhanced contributions to physical observables. In this paper,
we will calculate the fixed order next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative
total and differential cross-sections for both a Standard Model (SM) scalar
Higgs boson and the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model's (MSSM) pseudoscalar
Higgs boson in the Heavy Quark Effective Theory (HQET) where the mass of the
top quark is taken to be infinite. Resummation coefficients B^2_g, C^2_gg for
the total cross-section resummation for the pseudoscalar case are given, as
well as C^1_gg for the differential cross-section.Comment: 18 pages, REVTeX4, 5 eps figures. v2: Typos corrected, references
added, a discussion of uncertainties was adde
Quantum criticality of dipolar spin chains
We show that a chain of Heisenberg spins interacting with long-range dipolar
forces in a magnetic field h perpendicular to the chain exhibits a quantum
critical point belonging to the two-dimensional Ising universality class.
Within linear spin-wave theory the magnon dispersion for small momenta k is
[Delta^2 + v_k^2 k^2]^{1/2}, where Delta^2 \propto |h - h_c| and v_k^2 \propto
|ln k|. For fields close to h_c linear spin-wave theory breaks down and we
investigate the system using density-matrix and functional renormalization
group methods. The Ginzburg regime where non-Gaussian fluctuations are
important is found to be rather narrow on the ordered side of the transition,
and very broad on the disordered side.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Hard X-ray Bursts Recorded by the IBIS Telescope of the INTEGRAL Observatory in 2003-2009
To find X-ray bursts from sources within the field of view of the
IBIS/INTEGRAL telescope, we have analysed all the archival data of the
telescope available at the time of writing the paper (the observations from
January 2003 to April 2009). We have detected 834 hard (15-25 keV) X-ray
bursts, 239 of which were simultaneously recorded by the JEM-X/INTEGRAL
telescope in the standard X-ray energy range. More than 70% of all bursts (587
events) have been recorded from the well-known X-ray burster GX 354-0. We have
found upper limits on the distances to their sources by assuming that the
Eddington luminosity limit was reached at the brightness maximum of the
brightest bursts.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures, 2 table
Outburst of the X-ray transient SAX J1818.6-1703 detected by INTEGRAL in September 2003
During the observation of the Galactic-center field by the INTEGRAL
observatory on September 9, 2003, the IBIS/ISGRI gamma-ray telescope detected a
short (several-hours-long) intense (~380 mCrab at the peak) outburst of hard
radiation from the X-ray transient SAX J1818.6-1703. Previously, this source
was observed only once in 1998 during a similar short outburst. We present the
results of our localization, spectral and timing analyses of the object and
briefly discuss the possible causes of the outburst. The release time of the
bulk of the energy in such an outburst is appreciably shorter than the
accretion (viscous) time that characterizes the flow of matter through a
standard accretion disk.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, to be published in Astronomy Letters, v. 31, n.
10, p. 672 (2005
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