234 research outputs found
Trends in the distribution of South African health care expenditure
The lack of critical distinction between the public and the private health sectors and what they represent has allowed the claim to be made that South African health care expenditure levels compare favourably with international standards. This paper considers the distribution of health expenditure between the public and the private sectors in South Africa, within these sectors and also on the basis of population group.The extent of maldistribution of health care resources among the people of South Africa is highlighted. The data analysed in this paper indicate that an increasing proportion of public sector expenditure has been spent on curative services, that the gap in real per capita expenditure between the 'homelands' and other public sector departments has been widening, and that per capita expenditure has been increasing more rapidly in the private sector than in the public sector, particularly in the 1980s
Anisotropic optical response of the diamond (111)-2x1 surface
The optical properties of the 21 reconstruction of the diamond (111)
surface are investigated. The electronic structure and optical properties of
the surface are studied using a microscopic tight-binding approach. We
calculate the dielectric response describing the surface region and investigate
the origin of the electronic transitions involving surface and bulk states. A
large anisotropy in the surface dielectric response appears as a consequence of
the asymmetric reconstruction on the surface plane, which gives rise to the
zigzag Pandey chains. The results are presented in terms of the reflectance
anisotropy and electron energy loss spectra. While our results are in good
agreement with available experimental data, additional experiments are proposed
in order to unambiguously determine the surface electronic structure of this
interesting surface.Comment: REVTEX manuscript with 6 postscript figures, all included in uu file.
Also available at http://www.phy.ohiou.edu/~ulloa/ulloa.html Submitted to
Phys. Rev.
Patterned nanostructure in AgCo/Pt/MgO(001) thin film
The formation of patterned nanostructure in AgCo/Pt/MgO(001) thin film is
simulated by a technique of combining molecular dynamics and phase-field
theory. The dislocation (strain) network existing in Pt/MgO is used as a
template whose pattern is transferred to AgCo phase in spinodal decomposition,
resulting in regular arrays of Co islands that are attracted by the
dislocations. The influence of various factors, such as component concentration
and film thickness, is studied. It is found that the spinodal decomposition of
AgCo in this system is mainly characterized by a competition between a
surface-directed layer structure and the strain-induced patterned structure,
where the patterned Ag-Co structure only dominates in a small range near the
interface (less than 10 atomic layers). However, if the interlayer diffusion
can be minimized by controlling film growth conditions, it is shown that the
patterned structure can be formed throughout the entire film.Comment: 8 pages, 12 figure
Shrinking a large dataset to identify variables associated with increased risk of Plasmodium falciparum infection in Western Kenya
Large datasets are often not amenable to analysis using traditional single-step approaches. Here, our general objective was to apply imputation techniques, principal component analysis (PCA), elastic net and generalized linear models to a large dataset in a systematic approach to extract the most meaningful predictors for a health outcome. We extracted predictors for Plasmodium falciparum infection, from a large covariate dataset while facing limited numbers of observations, using data from the People, Animals, and their Zoonoses (PAZ) project to demonstrate these techniques: data collected from 415 homesteads in western Kenya, contained over 1500 variables that describe the health, environment, and social factors of the humans, livestock, and the homesteads in which they reside. The wide, sparse dataset was simplified to 42 predictors of P. falciparum malaria infection and wealth rankings were produced for all homesteads. The 42 predictors make biological sense and are supported by previous studies. This systematic data-mining approach we used would make many large datasets more manageable and informative for decision-making processes and health policy prioritization
Global Search for New Physics with 2.0/fb at CDF
Data collected in Run II of the Fermilab Tevatron are searched for
indications of new electroweak-scale physics. Rather than focusing on
particular new physics scenarios, CDF data are analyzed for discrepancies with
the standard model prediction. A model-independent approach (Vista) considers
gross features of the data, and is sensitive to new large cross-section
physics. Further sensitivity to new physics is provided by two additional
algorithms: a Bump Hunter searches invariant mass distributions for "bumps"
that could indicate resonant production of new particles; and the Sleuth
procedure scans for data excesses at large summed transverse momentum. This
combined global search for new physics in 2.0/fb of ppbar collisions at
sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV reveals no indication of physics beyond the standard model.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures. Final version which appeared in Physical Review D
Rapid Communication
Observation of Orbitally Excited B_s Mesons
We report the first observation of two narrow resonances consistent with
states of orbitally excited (L=1) B_s mesons using 1 fb^{-1} of ppbar
collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV collected with the CDF II detector at the
Fermilab Tevatron. We use two-body decays into K^- and B^+ mesons reconstructed
as B^+ \to J/\psi K^+, J/\psi \to \mu^+ \mu^- or B^+ \to \bar{D}^0 \pi^+,
\bar{D}^0 \to K^+ \pi^-. We deduce the masses of the two states to be m(B_{s1})
= 5829.4 +- 0.7 MeV/c^2 and m(B_{s2}^*) = 5839.7 +- 0.7 MeV/c^2.Comment: Version accepted and published by Phys. Rev. Let
Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set
We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s
using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays
in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at
production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton
collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment
at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity.
We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the
B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2,
-1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in
agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model
value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +-
0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +-
0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by
other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012
Rapid and highly variable warming of lake surface waters around the globe
In this first worldwide synthesis of in situ and satellite-derived lake data, we find that lake summer surface water temperatures rose rapidly (global mean = 0.34°C decade−1) between 1985 and 2009. Our analyses show that surface water warming rates are dependent on combinations of climate and local characteristics, rather than just lake location, leading to the counterintuitive result that regional consistency in lake warming is the exception, rather than the rule. The most rapidly warming lakes are widely geographically distributed, and their warming is associated with interactions among different climatic factors—from seasonally ice-covered lakes in areas where temperature and solar radiation are increasing while cloud cover is diminishing (0.72°C decade−1) to ice-free lakes experiencing increases in air temperature and solar radiation (0.53°C decade−1). The pervasive and rapid warming observed here signals the urgent need to incorporate climate impacts into vulnerability assessments and adaptation efforts for lakes.Peer reviewe
E-retailing ethics in Egypt and its effect on customer repurchase intention
The theoretical understanding of online shopping behaviour has received much attention. Less focus has been given to the formation of the ethical issues that result from online shopper interactions with e-retailers. The vast majority of earlier research on this area is conceptual in nature and limited in scope by focusing on consumers’ privacy issues. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical model explaining what factors contribute to online retailing ethics and its effect on customer repurchase intention. The data were analysed using variance-based structural equation modelling, employing partial least squares regression. Findings indicate that the five factors of the online retailing ethics (security, privacy, non- deception, fulfilment/reliability, and corporate social responsibility) are strongly predictive of online consumers’ repurchase intention. The results offer important implications for e-retailers and are likely to stimulate further research in the area of e-ethics from the consumers’ perspective
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