The MS Symptom and Impact Diary (MSSID): psychometric evaluation of a new instrument to measure the day to day impact of multiple sclerosis

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to develop further a diary originally devised to measure the impact of multiple sclerosis (MS) as part of a cost utility study of beta interferon, and to evaluate its reliability, validity, and responsiveness in an outpatient sample of people with MS. METHODS: The original diary was further developed using qualitative and quantitative methods to ensure that it addressed the views of people with MS. The psychometric properties of the MS Symptom and Impact Diary (MSSID) were evaluated in a sample of 77 people who completed the MSSID daily for 12 weeks. Internal and test–retest reliability, discriminant and convergent validity, and responsiveness were assessed using traditional psychometric methods. RESULTS: The MSSID formed three, internally consistent scales that measured mobility, fatigue, and the overall impact of MS. The test–retest reliability of the mobility scale was adequate for individual comparisons (ICC.0.90) and the fatigue and overall impact scales were adequate for group comparisons (ICC.0.70). The MSSID was able to distinguish between clinical groups depending on clinical course, indoor ambulation status, and relapse status. It demonstrated associations with other single point instruments in the expected direction. Compared with single point instruments, its responsiveness was similar or better, especially in detecting short term improvements in functioning. CONCLUSIONS: The MSSID may provide a useful complement to currently available instruments to measure the outcomes of MS within clinical trials. Further research is needed to explore its feasibility in the context of a randomised controlled trial and its utility for clinicians

Space for inclusion? The Construction of Sport and Leisure Spaces as Places for Migrant Communities

The research on which this paper is based started from the proposition that sport and leisure spaces can support processes of social inclusion (Amara et al., 2005), yet may also serve to exclude certain groups. As such, these spaces may be seen as contested and racialised places that shape behaviour. We shall use this paper not just to explore how those spaces are perceived by new migrants, but how those interpretations may vary with time and processes of social change. That involves examining how sport and leisure spaces are encoded in different ways, thereby affecting people’s experience, while at the same time recognising that their sport and leisure practices shape those social constructions. We argue that such an understanding is necessary to inform policies and practices that could promote the development of mutual and shared spaces rather than disconnected multiple occupations of spaces. Our goal is not only to contribute to the development of theory, but also to the debate that has counterposed multiculturalism and integrationism. Our recent systematic review, conducted for Sporting Equals and the sports councils (Long et al., 2009), synthesised literature on participation in sport and physical recreation by people from Black and Minority Ethnic Communities (BME) in the UK. That review identified a growing body of research, but one focussing primarily on the experiences of Black and Asian groupings. That has led us to turn to a consideration of new migrant communities. In this paper we shall be reporting on empirical research conducted with ‘new migrants’ now living in Leeds

Thermally activated reversal in exchange-coupled structures

In this paper, we study the thermally activated reversal of IrMn/CoFe exchange-coupled structures using Lorentz microscopy and magnetometry. An asymmetry and a training effect were found on the hysteresis loops both with and without holding the film at negative saturation of the ferromagnetic layer. Holding the film at negative saturation results in the hysteresis loop shifting toward zero field. We believe that, in this system, two energy barrier distributions with different time constants coexist. The large-time-constant thermally activated reversal of the antiferromagnetic layer contributes to a increasing shift of the entire hysteresis loop toward zero field with increased period of time spent at negative saturation of the ferromagnetic layer. The small-time-constant thermal activation contributes to asymmetry in the magnetization reversal and training effects

Pressure Contact Sounding Data for NASA's Atmospheric Variability Experiment (AVE 3)

The basic rawinsonde data are described at each pressure contact from the surface to sounding termination for the 41 stations participating in the AVE III measurement program that began at 0000 GMT on February 6 and ended at 1200 GMT on February 7, 1975. Soundings were taken at 3-hour intervals during a large period of the experiment from most stations within the United States east of about 105 degrees west longitude. Methods of data processing, change in reduction scheme since the AVE II pilot experiment, and data accuracy are briefly discussed. An example of contact data is presented, and microfiche cards of all the contact data are included in the appendix. The AVE III project was conducted to better understand and establish the extent of applications for meteorological satellite sensor data through correlative ground truth experiments and to provide basic experimental data for use in studies of atmospheric scales of-motion interrelationships

Energy Efficient User Association and Power Allocation in Millimeter Wave Based Ultra Dense Networks with Energy Harvesting Base Stations

Millimeter wave (mmWave) communication technologies have recently emerged as an attractive solution to meet the exponentially increasing demand on mobile data traffic. Moreover, ultra dense networks (UDNs) combined with mmWave technology are expected to increase both energy efficiency and spectral efficiency. In this paper, user association and power allocation in mmWave based UDNs is considered with attention to load balance constraints, energy harvesting by base stations, user quality of service requirements, energy efficiency, and cross-tier interference limits. The joint user association and power optimization problem is modeled as a mixed-integer programming problem, which is then transformed into a convex optimization problem by relaxing the user association indicator and solved by Lagrangian dual decomposition. An iterative gradient user association and power allocation algorithm is proposed and shown to converge rapidly to an optimal point. The complexity of the proposed algorithm is analyzed and the effectiveness of the proposed scheme compared with existing methods is verified by simulations.Comment: to appear, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, 201

Probing neutrino and Higgs sectors in SU(2)1×SU(2)2×U(1)YSU(2)_1 \times SU(2)_2 \times U(1)_Y model with lepton-flavor non-universality

The neutrino and Higgs sectors in the \mbox{SU(2)}_1 \times \mbox{SU(2)}_2 \times \mbox{U(1)}_Y model with lepton-flavor non-universality are discussed. We show that active neutrinos can get Majorana masses from radiative corrections, after adding only new singly charged Higgs bosons. The mechanism for generation of neutrino masses is the same as in the Zee models. This also gives a hint to solving the dark matter problem based on similar ways discussed recently in many radiative neutrino mass models with dark matter. Except the active neutrinos, the appearance of singly charged Higgs bosons and dark matter does not affect significantly the physical spectrum of all particles in the original model. We indicate this point by investigating the Higgs sector in both cases before and after singly charged scalars are added into it. Many interesting properties of physical Higgs bosons, which were not shown previously, are explored. In particular, the mass matrices of charged and CP-odd Higgs fields are proportional to the coefficient of triple Higgs coupling $\mu$. The mass eigenstates and eigenvalues in the CP-even Higgs sector are also presented. All couplings of the SM-like Higgs boson to normal fermions and gauge bosons are different from the SM predictions by a factor $c_h$, which must satisfy the recent global fit of experimental data, namely $0.995<|c_h|<1$. We have analyzed a more general diagonalization of gauge boson mass matrices, then we show that the ratio of the tangents of the $W-W'$ and $Z-Z'$ mixing angles is exactly the cosine of the Weinberg angle, implying that number of parameters is reduced by 1. Signals of new physics from decays of new heavy fermions and Higgs bosons at LHC and constraints of their masses are also discussed.Comment: 40 pages, 1 figure; Journal vesio

Ground states with cluster structures in a frustrated Heisenberg chain

We examine the ground state of a Heisenberg model with arbitrary spin S on a one-dimensional lattice composed of diamond-shaped units. A unit includes two types of antiferromagnetic exchange interactions which frustrate each other. The system undergoes phase changes when the ratio $\lambda$ between the exchange parameters varies. In some phases, strong frustration leads to larger local structures or clusters of spins than a dimer. We prove for arbitrary S that there exists a phase with four-spin cluster states, which was previously found numerically for a special value of $\lambda$ in the S=1/2 case. For S=1/2 we show that there are three ground state phases and determine their boundaries.Comment: 4 pages, uses revtex.sty, 2 figures available on request from [email protected], to be published in J. Phys.: Cond. Mat

Is U3Ni3Sn4 best described as near a quantum critical point?

Although most known non-Fermi liquid (NFL) materials are structurally or chemically disordered, the role of this disorder remains unclear. In particular, very few systems have been discovered that may be stoichiometric and well ordered. To test whether U3Ni3Sn4 belongs in this latter class, we present measurements of the x-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) of polycrystalline and single-crystal U3Ni3Sn4 samples that are consistent with no measurable local structural disorder. We also present temperature-dependent specific heat data in applied magnetic fields as high as 8 T that show features that are inconsistent with the antiferromagnetic Griffiths' phase model, but do support the conclusion that a Fermi liquid/NFL crossover temperature increases with applied field. These results are inconsistent with theoretical explanations that require strong disorder effects, but do support the view that U3Ni3Sn4 is a stoichiometric, ordered material that exhibits NFL behavior, and is best described as being near an antiferromagnetic quantum critical point.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, in press with PR

Resource Management for Intelligent Reflecting Surface Assisted THz-MIMO Network

As the preferred frequency band for future high frequency communication, the terahertz (THz) band has at-tracted wide attention. In this paper, an energy efficient resource optimization problem in THz band is studied. The massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology and intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) are adopted to improve the capacity and energy efficiency (EE) of proposed network. An IRS assisted THz-MIMO downlink wireless network system is established. The original EE problem is decomposed into phase-shift matrix optimization and power allocation. On this basis, a distributed EE optimization algorithm is designed, which transforms the original nonlinear problem into a convex optimization problem. The simulation results reveal that the proposed distributed optimization method converges rapidly and abtains the maximum EE. This also proves that it is feasible and effective to apply both the IRS and the massive MIMO technology into THz communication network