Deuterium-deuterium nuclear cross-sections in insulator and metallic environments

The three-dimensional Thomas-Fermi (TF) model is used to simulate the variation of the d+d to t + p cross-section at low impact energies, when the target deuterium nucleus is embedded in metallic or insulator environments. Comparison of the computational results to recent experiments demonstrates that even though the TF model can explain some increase in the low energy cross section for metallic host, a full explanation of the experimental results is still lacking. Possible reasons for the disagreement are discussed.Comment: 6 pages;6 figures. Accepted for publication in Eur. Phys. Jour.

Generalised Decision Level Ensemble Method for Classifying Multi-media Data

In recent decades, multimedia data have been commonly generated and used in various domains, such as in healthcare and social media due to their ability of capturing rich information. But as they are unstructured and separated, how to fuse and integrate multimedia datasets and then learn from them eectively have been a main challenge to machine learning. We present a novel generalised decision level ensemble method (GDLEM) that combines the multimedia datasets at decision level. After extracting features from each of multimedia datasets separately, the method trains models independently on each media dataset and then employs a generalised selection function to choose the appropriate models to construct a heterogeneous ensemble. The selection function is dened as a weighted combination of two criteria: the accuracy of individual models and the diversity among the models. The framework is tested on multimedia data and compared with other heterogeneous ensembles. The results show that the GDLEM is more exible and eective

Dark matter-baryons separation at the lowest mass scale: the Bullet Group

We report on the X-ray observation of a strong lensing selected group, SL2S J08544-0121, with a total mass of $2.4 \pm 0.6 \times 10^{14}$ $\rm{M_\odot}$ which revealed a separation of $124\pm20$ kpc between the X-ray emitting collisional gas and the collisionless galaxies and dark matter (DM), traced by strong lensing. This source allows to put an order of magnitude estimate to the upper limit to the interaction cross section of DM of 10 cm$^2$ g$^{-1}$. It is the lowest mass object found to date showing a DM-baryons separation and it reveals that the detection of bullet-like objects is not rare and confined to mergers of massive objects opening the possibility of a statistical detection of DM-baryons separation with future surveys.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters. Typos correcte

A new quadruple gravitational lens from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Survey: the puzzle of HSC~J115252+004733

We report the serendipitous discovery of a quadruply lensed source at $z_{\rm s}=3.76$, HSC~J115252+004733, from the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Survey. The source is lensed by an early-type galaxy at $z_{\rm l}=0.466$ and a satellite galaxy. Here, we investigate the properties of the source by studying its size and luminosity from the imaging and the luminosity and velocity width of the Ly-$\alpha$ line from the spectrum. Our analyses suggest that the source is most probably a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus (LLAGN) but the possibility of it being a compact bright galaxy (e.g., a Lyman-$\alpha$ emitter or Lyman Break Galaxy) cannot be excluded. The brighter pair of lensed images appears point-like except in the HSC $i$-band (with a seeing $\sim0.5"$). The extended emission in the $i$-band image could be due to the host galaxy underneath the AGN, or alternatively, due to a highly compact lensed galaxy (without AGN) which appears point-like in all bands except in $i$-band. We also find that the flux ratio of the brighter pair of images is different in the Ks-band compared to optical wavelengths. Phenomena such as differential extinction and intrinsic variability cannot explain this chromatic variation. While microlensing from stars in the foreground galaxy is less likely to be the cause, it cannot be ruled out completely. If the galaxy hosts an AGN, then this represents the highest redshift quadruply imaged AGN known to date, enabling study of a distant LLAGN. Discovery of this unusually compact and faint source demonstrates the potential of the HSC survey.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, 3 Tables, MNRAS accepted, text reduce

Electrical field induced shift of the Mott Metal-Insulator transition in thin films

The ground state properties of a paramagnetic Mott insulator are investigated in the presence of an external electrical field using the inhomogeneous Gutzwiller approximation for a single band Hubbard model in a slab geometry. The metal insulator transition is shifted towards higher Hubbard repulsions by applying an electric field perpendicular to the slab. The spatial distribution of site dependent quasiparticle weight shows that the quasiparticle weight is maximum in few layers beneath the surface. Moreover only at higher Hubbard repulsion, larger than the bulk critical U, the electric field will be totally screened only for centeral cites. Our results show that by presence of an electric field perpendicular to a thin film made of a strongly correlated material, states near the surface will remain metallic while the bulk becomes insulating after some critical U. In contrast, in the absence of the electric field the surface becomes insulating before the bulk

Using assignment data to analyse a blended information literacy intervention: a quantitative approach

This research sought to determine whether a blended information literacy learning and teaching intervention could statistically significantly enhance undergraduates’ information discernment compared to standard face-to-face delivery. A mixture of face-to-face and online activities, including online social media learning, was used. Three interventions were designed to develop the information literacies of first-year undergraduates studying Sport and Exercise at Staffordshire University and focused on one aspect of information literacy: the ability to evaluate source material effectively. An analysis was devised where written evaluations of found information for an assessment were converted into numerical scores and then measured statistically. This helped to evaluate the efficacy of the interventions and provided data for further analysis. An insight into how the information literacy pedagogical intervention and the cognitive processes involved in enabling participants to interact critically with information is provided. The intervention which incorporated social media learning proved to be the most successful learning and teaching approach. The data indicated that undergraduate students’ information literacy can be developed. However, additional long-term data is required to establish whether this intervention would have a lasting impact

Drug utilization review of anticancer drugs in cancer outpatient department of the Government Medical College, Aurangabad

Background: To study drug utilization of anticancer drugs in cancer outpatient department (OPD) of Government Medical College, Aurangabad.Methods: Five hundred and twelve prescription records were screened and analyzed as per the study parameters from cancer OPD of Government Medical College and Hospital, Aurangabad. Commonly used anticancer drugs were recorded; furthermore, different types of carcinomas were noted.Results: Age group of patients was in between 30 and 70, 267 were females and 245 were male patients. The most common type of carcinoma was carcinoma of the breast (17.9%). Carboplatin was the most commonly used anticancer drug (26.56%). The average number of anticancer drugs received per patient was three.Conclusion: WHO suggested drug utilization studies are needed in every health care setting. For a developing country like India, National Drug Policy and Drugs and Therapeutic Committee are a must

Community resource centres to improve the health of women and children in Mumbai slums: study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial

Background: The trial addresses the general question of whether community resource centers run by a non-government organization improve the health of women and children in slums. The resource centers will be run by the Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action, and the trial will evaluate their effects on a series of public health indicators. Each resource center will be located in a vulnerable Mumbai slum area and will serve as a base for salaried community workers, supervised by officers and coordinators, to organize the collection and dissemination of health information, provision of services, home visits to identify and counsel families at risk, referral of individuals and families to appropriate services and support for their access, meetings of community members and providers, and events and campaigns on health issues. Methods/design: A cluster randomized controlled trial in which 20 urban slum areas with resource centers are compared with 20 control areas. Each cluster will contain approximately 600 households and randomized allocation will be in three blocked phases, of 12, 12 and 16 clusters. Any resident of an intervention cluster will be able to participate in the intervention, but the resource centers will target women and children, particularly women of reproductive age and children under 5. The outcomes will be assessed through a household census after 2 years of resource center operations. The primary outcomes are unmet need for family planning in women aged 15 to 49 years, proportion of children under 5 years of age not fully immunized for their ages, and proportion of children under 5 years of age with weight for height less than 2 standard deviations below the median for age and sex. Secondary outcomes describe adolescent pregnancies, home deliveries, receipt of conditional cash transfers for institutional delivery, other childhood anthropometric indices, use of public sector health and nutrition services, indices of infant and young child feeding, and consultation for violence against women and children

Nucleus-Electron Model for States Changing from a Liquid Metal to a Plasma and the Saha Equation

We extend the quantal hypernetted-chain (QHNC) method, which has been proved to yield accurate results for liquid metals, to treat a partially ionized plasma. In a plasma, the electrons change from a quantum to a classical fluid gradually with increasing temperature; the QHNC method applied to the electron gas is in fact able to provide the electron-electron correlation at arbitrary temperature. As an illustrating example of this approach, we investigate how liquid rubidium becomes a plasma by increasing the temperature from 0 to 30 eV at a fixed normal ion-density $1.03 \times 10^{22}/cm^3$. The electron-ion radial distribution function (RDF) in liquid Rb has distinct inner-core and outer-core parts. Even at a temperature of 1 eV, this clear distinction remains as a characteristic of a liquid metal. At a temperature of 3 eV, this distinction disappears, and rubidium becomes a plasma with the ionization 1.21. The temperature variations of bound levels in each ion and the average ionization are calculated in Rb plasmas at the same time. Using the density-functional theory, we also derive the Saha equation applicable even to a high-density plasma at low temperatures. The QHNC method provides a procedure to solve this Saha equation with ease by using a recursive formula; the charge population of differently ionized species are obtained in Rb plasmas at several temperatures. In this way, it is shown that, with the atomic number as the only input, the QHNC method produces the average ionization, the electron-ion and ion-ion RDF's, and the charge population which are consistent with the atomic structure of each ion for a partially ionized plasma.Comment: 28 pages(TeX) and 11 figures (PS