7,395 research outputs found
Weak values and the quantum phase space
We address the issue of how to properly treat, and in a more general setting,
the concept of a weak value of a weak measurement in quantum mechanics. We show
that for this purpose, one must take in account the effects of the measuring
process on the entire phase space of the measuring system. By using coherent
states, we go a step further than Jozsa in a recent paper, and we present an
example where the result of the measurement is symmetrical in the position and
momentum observables and seems to be much better suited for quantum optical
implementation.Comment: 07 pages, accepted for PR
Errors on the inverse problem solution for a noisy spherical gravitational wave antenna
A single spherical antenna is capable of measuring the direction and
polarization of a gravitational wave. It is possible to solve the inverse
problem using only linear algebra even in the presence of noise. The simplicity
of this solution enables one to explore the error on the solution using
standard techniques. In this paper we derive the error on the direction and
polarization measurements of a gravitational wave. We show that the solid angle
error and the uncertainty on the wave amplitude are direction independent. We
also discuss the possibility of determining the polarization amplitudes with
isotropic sensitivity for any given gravitational wave source.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, LaTeX2e, IOP style, submitted to CQ
Results on a pedagogic approach for tailoring public health interventions to minimise opportunistic infections.
We are performing curriculum modifications on the first year BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science module âBasic Microbiologyâ (De Montfort University, UK) to increase studentsâ knowledge of basic medical parasitology and infectious diseases, so these students can acquire the necessary skills to tackle their final degree module âMedical Microbiologyâ. Following student feedback on a novel short intervention in 2017/18 to promote awareness about human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), we have created an engaging workshop session to cover not only HIV but also the opportunistic infections that can affect HIV patients that have developed acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and how to prevent them. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effectiveness of the improved workshop developed and to collect studentsâ impressions to perform further modifications if needed. Briefly, students were required to develop public health measures for HIV positive patients with two different degrees of immunosuppression (i.e. with CD4+ T cells in peripheral blood above and below 200 cells/ÎŒl) to prevent exposure and infection from opportunistic pathogens such as Cryptosporidium spp., Toxoplasma gondii or Pneumocystis jirovecii from: a) sexual exposures; b) intravenous drug use; b) environment and work; c) food and water; d) foreign travel. Students, following evidence-based public health methodology, tailored their measures or interventions using the most up-to-date information reported in the literature regarding HIV chemoprophylaxis and recent guidelines published by US Department of Health and Human Services on HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention. Interventions were critically analysed with all students in the last 20 min. of the workshop, which was repeated several times due to the number of students (n=203). The objectives of this workshop were evaluated by careful analysis of a specific feedback questionnaire (n=46 out of 203) voluntarily completed by students at the end of the workshop. The questionnaire showed the following feedback: 80.4% (65.2% agreed; 15.2% strongly agreed) indicated that they learnt how to identify public health interventions; and 95.7% (56.5% agreed; 39.1% strongly agreed) indicated that they would be able to establish measures to reduce HIV transmission and prevent opportunistic infections. Additionally, 95.7% (39.1% agreed; 56.5% strongly agreed) indicated that the workshop helped them to understand the relevance of local and global interventions. Finally, 97.8% of responders considered that the content (52.2% agreed; 45.7% strongly agreed) and duration (60.9% agreed; 37% strongly agreed) of the workshop was appropriate; and 89.1% (58.7% agreed; 30.4% strongly agreed) and 73.9% (41.3% agreed; 32.6% strongly agreed) enjoyed and were satisfied with the workshop provided, respectively. In conclusion, the improved workshop developed would seem to be effective for promoting sexual and public health education to minimise opportunistic pathogen infections in relevant patients when delivered to students with a basic knowledge of microbiology and parasitology
Specific heat of a non-local attractive Hubbard model
The specific heat of an attractive (interaction ) non-local Hubbard
model is investigated. We use a two-pole approximation which leads to a set of
correlation functions. In particular, the correlation function $\
G\delta\delta=1-n_Tn_T=n_{\uparrow}+n_{\downarrow}(0,\pm\pi)(\pm\pi,0)$ eliminates the two peak structure, the low
temperature peak remaining. The effects of the second nearest neighbor hopping
on the specific heat are also investigated.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figure
Public Health England's recovery tools: potential teaching resources?
The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version.Training to combat chemical and radiation accidents, incidents or attacks is critical for health professionals
due to recent events involving these hazards or their use as unconventional weapons, such as the use of
the nerve agent novichok in Salisbury, UK. Health professionals need to have appropriate knowledge and
skills to effectively respond to future events involving any of these substances, which requires a rapid and
coordinated response from different professionals to protect the environment and minimise the number of
people exposed and reduce morbidity and mortality. However, despite chemical and radiation incidents
becoming increasingly prevalent, literature reviews have shown that there is a lack of teaching of
appropriate competences to face future crises in Europe, particularly amongst clinicians and other health
professionals that would be part of the initial response. Thus, De Montfort University (DMU, UK) in
collaboration with different academics from the University of AlcalĂĄ (Spain) and researchers from Public
Health England (PHE) with comprehensive experience in environmental decontamination and restoration,
have created a short training course for providing undergraduate/postgraduate students with basic skills
to respond to chemical incidents, basic skills that are based on the major competences recently identified
by the European Commission [1]. This novel training has been tested with students from different
backgrounds in various European universities, recording high degrees of acquisition of the various basic
competences that we developed to initially respond to chemical events [2]. To develop the practical part
of this chemical training, we have incorporated the novel guidance and methodology developed by PHE
to successfully tailor a protection and recovery response to any incident involving chemical substances,
which is available in the âUK Recovery Handbook for Chemical Incidentsâ [3] and its web-based tools:
âChemical Recovery Navigation Toolâ (CRNT, [4]) and âChemical Recovery Record Formâ (CRRF, [5]).
These innovative resources aid the user to select effective protection, decontamination and restoration
techniques or strategies from a pool of up-to-date options applicable to different environments according
to the physicochemical properties of the chemical(s) involved and the area affected. The CRNT is
accompanied by the CRRF, which facilitates collection and analysis of the necessary data to inform
decisions, and an e-learning resource named âChemical Recovery: Backgroundâ (CRB, [6]), which could
facilitate the learning of environmental decontamination and restoration. We are currently developing a
short training course to cover minor radiation incidents; this radiation training will follow the same methods
used to develop the chemical training, but with the specific PHE recovery tools to tackle such events,
specifically the âUK Recovery Handbooks for Radiation Incidentsâ [7] and its associated web-based tools
âRadiation Recovery Navigation Toolâ (Rad RNT, [8]), one for each environment: food production systems,
inhabited areas and drinking water supplies. This communication will explore the use of the PHEâs
Recovery Navigation Tools as potential resources to facilitate the acquisition of basic knowledge to tailor
protection and recovery interventions for minor chemical and radiation incidents to protect the public
Boltzmann equation simulation for a trapped Fermi gas of atoms
The dynamics of an interacting Fermi gas of atoms at sufficiently high
temperatures can be efficiently studied via a numerical simulation of the
Boltzmann equation. In this work we describe in detail the setup we used
recently to study the oscillations of two spin-polarised fermionic clouds in a
trap. We focus here on the evaluation of interparticle interactions. We compare
different ways of choosing the phase space coordinates of a pair of atoms after
a successful collision and demonstrate that the exact microscopic setup has no
influence on the macroscopic outcome
Stable Gravastars of Anisotropic Dark Energy
Dynamical models of prototype gravastars made of phantom energy are
constructed, in which an infinitely thin spherical shell of a perfect fluid
with the equation of state divides the whole spacetime
into two regions, the internal region filled with a dark energy (or phantom)
fluid, and the external Schwarzschild region. It is found that in some cases
the models represent the "bounded excursion" stable gravastars, where the thin
shell is oscillating between two finite radii, while in other cases they
collapse until the formation of black holes or normal stars. In the phase
space, the region for the "bounded excursion" gravastars is very small in
comparison to that of black holes, but not empty, as found in our previous
papers. Therefore, although the existence of gravastars can not be completely
excluded from current analysis, the opposite is not possible either, that is,
even if gravastars exist, they do not exclude the existence of black holes.Comment: 35 pages, 43 figures, added some clarifying texts and corrected some
typos, accepted for publication in JCA
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