25,932 research outputs found
Attitudes to telecare among older people, professional care workers and informal carers: a preventative strategy or crisis management?
This paper reports findings from an attitudinal survey towards telecare that emerged from twenty-two focus groups comprising ninety-two older people, fifty-five professional stakeholders and thirty-nine carers. These were convened in three different regions of England as a precursor to telecare service development. The results from this study suggest that informants’ views were shaped by prior knowledge of conventional health and social care delivery in their locality and the implication is that expectations and requirements in respect of telecare services in general are likely to be informed by wider perceptions about the extent to which community care should operate as a preventative strategy or as a mechanism for crisis management
Aquatic Vegetation, Largemouth Bass and Water Quality Responses to Low-Dose Fluridone Two Years Post Treatment
Whole-lake techniques are increasingly being used to selectively
remove exotic plants, including Eurasian watermilfoil
(
Myriophyllum spicatum
L.). Fluridone (1-methyl-3-phenyl-
5-[3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-4(1
H
)-pyridinone), a systemic
whole-lake herbicide, is selective for Eurasian watermilfoil
within a narrow low concentration range. Because fluridone
applications have the potential for large effects on plant assemblages
and lake food webs, they should be evaluated at
the whole-lake scale. We examined effects of low-dose (5 to 8
ppb) fluridone applications by comparing submersed plant
assemblages, water quality and largemouth bass (
Micropterus
salmoides
) growth rates and diets between three reference
lakes and three treatment lakes one- and two-years post treatment.
In the treatment lakes, fluridone reduced Eurasian watermilfoil
cover without reducing native plant cover, although
the duration of Eurasian watermilfoil reduction varied among
treatment lakes. (PDF has 11 pages.
Diagnostics Of Disks Around Hot Stars
We discuss three different observational diagnostics related to disks around hot stars: absorption line determinations of rotational velocities of Be stars; polarization diagnostics of circumstellar disks; and X-ray line diagnostics of one specific magnetized hot star, theta(1) Ori C. Some common themes that emerge from these studies include (a) the benefits of having a specific physical model as a framework for interpreting diagnostic data; (b) the importance of combining several different types of observational diagnostics of the same objects; and (c) that while there is often the need to reinterpret traditional diagnostics in light of new theoretical advances, there are many new and powerful diagnostics that are, or will soon be, available for the study of disks around hot stars
Inferring the three-dimensional distribution of dust in the Galaxy with a non-parametric method: Preparing for Gaia
We present a non-parametric model for inferring the three-dimensional (3D)
distribution of dust density in the Milky Way. Our approach uses the extinction
measured towards stars at different locations in the Galaxy at approximately
known distances. Each extinction measurement is proportional to the integrated
dust density along its line-of-sight. Making simple assumptions about the
spatial correlation of the dust density, we can infer the most probable 3D
distribution of dust across the entire observed region, including along sight
lines which were not observed. This is possible because our model employs a
Gaussian Process to connect all lines-of-sight. We demonstrate the capability
of our model to capture detailed dust density variations using mock data as
well as simulated data from the Gaia Universe Model Snapshot. We then apply our
method to a sample of giant stars observed by APOGEE and Kepler to construct a
3D dust map over a small region of the Galaxy. Due to our smoothness constraint
and its isotropy, we provide one of the first maps which does not show the
"fingers of god" effect.Comment: Minor changes applied. Final version accepted for publication in A&A.
15 pages, 17 figure
Malmquist Bias and the Distance to the Virgo Cluster
This paper investigates the impact of Malmquist bias on the distance to the
Virgo cluster determined by the H_0 Key Project using M100, and consequently on
the derived value of H_0. Malmquist bias is a volume-induced statistical effect
which causes the most probable distance to be different from the raw distance
measured. Consideration of the bias in the distance to the Virgo cluster raises
this distance and lowers the calculated value of H_0. Monte Carlo simulations
of the cluster have been run for several possible distributions of spirals
within the cluster and of clusters in the local universe. Simulations
consistent with known information regarding the cluster and the errors of
measurement result in a bias of about 6.5%-8.5%. This corresponds to an
unbiased distance of 17.2-17.4 Mpc and a value of H_0 in the range 80-82
km/s/Mpc.
The problem of determining the bias to Virgo illustrates several key points
regarding Malmquist bias. Essentially all conventional astronomical distance
measurements are subject to this bias. In addition, the bias accumulates when
an attempt is made to construct "distance ladders" from measurements which are
individually biased. As will be shown in the case of Virgo, the magnitude and
direction of the bias are sensitive to the spatial distribution of the parent
poputation from which the observed object is drawn - a distribution which is
often poorly known. This leads to uncertainty in the magnitude of the bias, and
adds to the importance of minimizing the number of steps in "distance ladders".Comment: 19 pages, 3 figures, Latex, To appear in Ap
Spin-Dependent Tunneling of Single Electrons into an Empty Quantum Dot
Using real-time charge sensing and gate pulsing techniques we measure the
ratio of the rates for tunneling into the excited and ground spin states of a
single-electron AlGaAs/GaAs quantum dot in a parallel magnetic field. We find
that the ratio decreases with increasing magnetic field until tunneling into
the excited spin state is completely suppressed. However, we find that by
adjusting the voltages on the surface gates to change the orbital configuration
of the dot we can restore tunneling into the excited spin state and that the
ratio reaches a maximum when the dot is symmetric.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Electrical control of spin relaxation in a quantum dot
We demonstrate electrical control of the spin relaxation time T_1 between
Zeeman split spin states of a single electron in a lateral quantum dot. We find
that relaxation is mediated by the spin-orbit interaction, and by manipulating
the orbital states of the dot using gate voltages we vary the relaxation rate
W= (T_1)^-1 by over an order of magnitude. The dependence of W on orbital
confinement agrees with theoretical predictions and from these data we extract
the spin-orbit length. We also measure the dependence of W on magnetic field
and demonstrate that spin-orbit mediated coupling to phonons is the dominant
relaxation mechanism down to 1T, where T_1 exceeds 1s.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Noise Correlations in a Coulomb Blockaded Quantum Dot
We report measurements of current noise auto- and cross-correlation in a
tunable quantum dot with two or three leads. As the Coulomb blockade is lifted
at finite source-drain bias, the auto-correlation evolves from super-Poissonian
to sub-Poissonian in the two-lead case, and the cross-correlation evolves from
positive to negative in the three-lead case, consistent with transport through
multiple levels. Cross-correlations in the three-lead dot are found to be
proportional to the noise in excess of the Poissonian value in the limit of
weak output tunneling
Translations and dynamics
We analyze the role played by local translational symmetry in the context of
gauge theories of fundamental interactions. Translational connections and
fields are introduced, with special attention being paid to their universal
coupling to other variables, as well as to their contributions to field
equations and to conserved quantities.Comment: 22 Revtex pages, no figures. Published version with minor correction
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