4,248 research outputs found
From Peierls brackets to a generalized Moyal bracket for type-I gauge theories
In the space-of-histories approach to gauge fields and their quantization,
the Maxwell, Yang--Mills and gravitational field are well known to share the
property of being type-I theories, i.e. Lie brackets of the vector fields which
leave the action functional invariant are linear combinations of such vector
fields, with coefficients of linear combination given by structure constants.
The corresponding gauge-field operator in the functional integral for the
in-out amplitude is an invertible second-order differential operator. For such
an operator, we consider advanced and retarded Green functions giving rise to a
Peierls bracket among group-invariant functionals. Our Peierls bracket is a
Poisson bracket on the space of all group-invariant functionals in two cases
only: either the gauge-fixing is arbitrary but the gauge fields lie on the
dynamical sub-space; or the gauge-fixing is a linear functional of gauge
fields, which are generic points of the space of histories. In both cases, the
resulting Peierls bracket is proved to be gauge-invariant by exploiting the
manifestly covariant formalism. Moreover, on quantization, a gauge-invariant
Moyal bracket is defined that reduces to i hbar times the Peierls bracket to
lowest order in hbar.Comment: 14 pages, Late
Self-force on a scalar charge in radial infall from rest using the Hadamard-WKB expansion
We present an analytic method based on the Hadamard-WKB expansion to
calculate the self-force for a particle with scalar charge that undergoes
radial infall in a Schwarzschild spacetime after being held at rest until a
time t = 0. Our result is valid in the case of short duration from the start.
It is possible to use the Hadamard-WKB expansion in this case because the value
of the integral of the retarded Green's function over the particle's entire
past trajectory can be expressed in terms of two integrals over the time period
that the particle has been falling. This analytic result is expected to be
useful as a check for numerical prescriptions including those involving mode
sum regularization and for any other analytical approximations to self-force
calculations.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figures, Physical Review D version along with the
corrections given in the erratu
Path-Integral Formulation of Pseudo-Hermitian Quantum Mechanics and the Role of the Metric Operator
We provide a careful analysis of the generating functional in the path
integral formulation of pseudo-Hermitian and in particular PT-symmetric quantum
mechanics and show how the metric operator enters the expression for the
generating functional.Comment: Published version, 4 page
Evaluation of the InDUCKtion project at UCL
Executive summary: There is evidence that a good induction to university life can help with student retention; however, there is also a danger of overwhelming students during the intense period of fresher’s week. Under the auspices of a small grant from the Higher Education Academy’s ‘Changing the Learning Landscape’ funding stream, staff at two universities (University College London and Southampton Solent University) collaborated to produce an innovative and engaging induction project entitled ‘InDUCKtion’, based on the idea of an induction duck being a fun character for students to interact with. At UCL, the InDUCKtion duck existed in the form of a physical plastic duck included in international postgraduate student induction packs, and they were encouraged to take photos of themselves in and around UCL and London as part of a photo challenge using social media. It was anticipated that this would enable students to familiarise themselves with the locale, make friends and have fun at the same time. The InDUCKtion duck was also evident on flyers and posters with QR codes advertising an online tour to enable students to gain an accelerated familiarisation with the campus and its facilities. Within UCL, the project was a collaborative, cross-departmental venture instigated by members of UCL’s E-Learning Environments (ELE) working in partnership with the Centre for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching (CALT) and Student Support and Wellbeing (SSW). The logistics of the project meant that the team members also had to liaise with a number of other individuals and departments around UCL, to help promote and implement the project. Despite a rapid following on Twitter in a relatively short period, a reasonable hit rate on the QR code for the main page of the online tour resource, and some engagement with the photo challenges using social media, participation in the project was lower than anticipated. Lessons learned from an evaluation perspective revealed that adding another activity to an already overwhelming fresher’s week was problematic, despite its innovative and interactive nature. The use of QR codes was problematic for a number of reasons, and the project needed more buy-in from student representatives and academics to provide institutional endorsement. Recommendations for future instances of the project include securing student representation and academic endorsement, integrating the activity with parallel induction activities – particularly with academic departments, replacing QR codes with an alternative technology-enhanced learning approach and optimising the learning design to better motivate students and promote groupwork
EUS-Guided Pancreatic Cyst Ablation: a Clinical and Technical Review
Purpose of Review
Pancreatic cystic lesions represent a growing public health dilemma, particularly as our population ages and cross-sectional imaging becomes more sensitive. Mucinous cysts carry a clinically significant risk of developing pancreatic cancer, which carries an extremely poor prognosis. Determining which cysts will develop cancer may be challenging, and surgical resection of the pancreas carries significant morbidity. The goal of this paper is to review the rationale for cyst ablation and discuss prior and current research on cyst ablation techniques and efficacy. Indications, contraindications, and factors related to optimal patient selection are outlined.
Recent Findings
Endoscopic ultrasound-guided chemoablation of pancreatic cysts has been performed in neoplastic cysts, with varying levels of efficacy. Safety concerns arose due to the risk of pancreatitis in alcohol-based treatments; however, the most recent data using a non-alcohol chemoablation cocktail suggests that ablation is effective without the need for alcohol, resulting in a significantly more favorable adverse event profile.
Summary
Endoscopic ultrasound-guided chemoablation of neoplastic pancreatic cysts is a promising, minimally invasive approach for treatment of cysts, with recent significant advances in safety and efficacy, suggesting that it should play a role in the treatment algorithm
Counter-term charges generate bulk symmetries
We further explore the counter-term subtraction definition of charges (e.g.,
energy) for classical gravitating theories in spacetimes of relevance to
gauge/gravity dualities; i.e., in asymptotically anti-de Sitter spaces and
their kin. In particular, we show in general that charges defined via the
counter-term subtraction method generate the desired asymptotic symmetries. As
a result, they can differ from any other such charges, such as those defined by
bulk spacetime-covariant techniques, only by a function of auxiliary
non-dynamical structures such as a choice of conformal frame at infinity (i.e.,
a function of the boundary fields alone). Our argument is based on the Peierls
bracket, and in the AdS context allows us to demonstrate the above result even
for asymptotic symmetries which generate only conformal symmetries of the
boundary (in the chosen conformal frame). We also generalize the counter-term
subtraction construction of charges to the case in which additional
non-vanishing boundary fields are present.Comment: 13 pages, Latex, no figures, v3: errors fixed, boundary terms
carefully controlled, awkward assumption removed, references update
Gravitational Self Force in a Schwarzschild Background and the Effective One Body Formalism
We discuss various ways in which the computation of conservative
Gravitational Self Force (GSF) effects on a point mass moving in a
Schwarzschild background can inform us about the basic building blocks of the
Effective One-Body (EOB) Hamiltonian. We display the information which can be
extracted from the recently published GSF calculation of the first-GSF-order
shift of the orbital frequency of the last stable circular orbit, and we
combine this information with the one recently obtained by comparing the EOB
formalism to high-accuracy numerical relativity (NR) data on coalescing binary
black holes. The information coming from GSF data helps to break the degeneracy
(among some EOB parameters) which was left after using comparable-mass NR data
to constrain the EOB formalism. We suggest various ways of obtaining more
information from GSF computations: either by studying eccentric orbits, or by
focussing on a special zero-binding zoom-whirl orbit. We show that logarithmic
terms start entering the post-Newtonian expansions of various (EOB and GSF)
functions at the fourth post-Newtonian (4PN) level, and we analytically compute
the first logarithm entering a certain, gauge-invariant "redshift" GSF function
(defined along the sequence of circular orbits).Comment: 44 page
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Angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia treated with Mohs micrographic surgery
A 60-year-old healthy man presented with several enlarging, tender, spontaneously bleeding, and episodically pruritic nodules on his ear. Five agminated pink-red papulonodules of the superior postauricular sulcus were noted on examination. Pathological examination revealed a lobular dermal vascular proliferation with plump endothelial cells protruding into the lumen in a hobnail pattern, along with a dense perivascular inflammatory infiltrate composed of plasma cells, lymphocytes, and numerous eosinophils. The diagnosis of angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia was confirmed. After discussing treatment modalities, the patient opted for Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS). Three stages of MMS were able to remove all large vessel involvement and clear the peripheral margins, but the tumor had a complex branching pattern of growth in the deep bed of the wound with numerous tiny foci remaining. Owing to risk of disfigurement, no further excision was undertaken. The area was reconstructed with a temporalis fascia flap and a full-thickness skin graft. Despite remaining microscopic disease, the patient remained without recurrence or symptoms at one year of follow up
Renderings of the Self: The Inception of Autobiographical Writing in Robinson, Wollstonecraft, and Wordsworth
This paper covers the origination of British autobiography and investigates why authors began to write autobiographically through the analysis of three pioneering autobiographical works: The Prelude by William Wordsworth, Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark by Mary Wollstonecraft, and Memoirs of Mary Robinson, “Perdita,” by Mary Robinson. In each section of this paper, I examine these stories and authors individually and attempt to unearth what pushed each author toward autobiographical writing in relation to what drove them to publish their work. I argue that autobiography is centered around rendering oneself, and that self-renderings these authors created point to their purposes for writing, publishing, and showing themselves autobiographically, as well as the lack of individuality present in the 18th and early 19thcenturies that these works were founded in
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