A theoretical framework for estimation of AUCs in complete and incomplete sampling designs.

Nonclinical in vivo animal studies have to be completed before starting clinical studies of the pharmacokinetic behavior of a drug in humans. The drug exposure in animal studies is often measured by the area under the concentration versus time curve (AUC). The classic complete data design, where each animal is sampled for analysis once per time point, is usually only applicable for large animals. In the case of rats and mice, where blood sampling is restricted, the batch design or the serial sampling design needs to be considered. In batch designs samples are taken more than once from each animal, but not at all time points. In serial sampling designs only one sample is taken from each animal. In this paper we present an estimator for the AUC from 0 to the last time point that is applicable to all three designs. The variance and asymptotic distribution of the estimator are derived and confidence intervals based upon the asymptotic results are discussed and evaluated in a simulation study. Further, we define an estimator for linear combinations of AUCs and investigate its asymptotic properties mathematically as well as in simulation

General Analysis of U-Spin Breaking in B Decays

We analyse the breaking of U-spin on a group theoretical basis. Due to the simple behaviour of the weak effective hamiltonian under U-spin and the unique structure of the breaking terms such a group theoretical analysis leads to a manageable number of parameters. Several applications are discussed, including the decays B -> J/psi K and B -> D K.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures; Paragraph added on decays of B0 to P+P- with P=(pi,K), and several minor corrections performed. Version matches the one to appear in Phys. Rev.

Enhancing Care Transitions for Older People through Interprofessional Simulation: A Mixed Method Evaluation

Introduction: The educational needs of the health and social care workforce for delivering effective integrated care are important. This paper reports on the development, pilot and evaluation of an interprofessional simulation course, which aimed to support integrated care models for care transitions for older people from hospital to home. Theory and methods: The course development was informed by a literature review and a scoping exercise with the health and social care workforce. The course ran six times and was attended by health and social care professionals from hospital and community (n=49). The evaluation aimed to elicit staff perceptions of their learning about care transfers of older people and to explore application of learning into practice and perceived outcomes. The study used a sequential mixed method design with questionnaires completed pre (n=44) and post (n=47) course and interviews (n=9) 2-5 months later. Results:Participants evaluated interprofessional simulation as a successful strategy. Post-course, participants identified learning points and at the interviews, similar themes with examples of application in practice were: Understanding individual needs and empathy; Communicating with patients and families; Interprofessional working; Working across settings to achieve effective care transitions. Conclusions and discussion:An interprofessional simulation course successfully brought together health and social care professionals across settings to develop integrated care skills and improve care transitions for older people with complex needs from hospital to home

Resonant Photoelectron Diffraction with circularly polarized light

Resonant angle scanned x-ray photoelectron diffraction (RXPD) allows the determination of the atomic and magnetic structure of surfaces and interfaces. For the case of magnetized nickel the resonant L2 excitation with circularly polarized light yields electrons with a dichroic signature from which the dipolar part may be retrieved. The corresponding L2MM and L3MM Auger electrons carry different angular momenta since their source waves rotate the dichroic dipole in the electron emission patterns by distinct angles

On optimal quantum codes

We present families of quantum error-correcting codes which are optimal in the sense that the minimum distance is maximal. These maximum distance separable (MDS) codes are defined over q-dimensional quantum systems, where q is an arbitrary prime power. It is shown that codes with parameters [[n,n-2d+2,d]]_q exist for all 3 <= n <= q and 1 <= d <= n/2+1. We also present quantum MDS codes with parameters [[q^2,q^2-2d+2,d]]_q for 1 <= d <= q which additionally give rise to shortened codes [[q^2-s,q^2-2d+2-s,d]]_q for some s.Comment: Accepted for publication in the International Journal of Quantum Informatio

Evaluating the genetic progress of wheat in NSW, 1992-2009

Intellectual Property Regimes (IPRs) have been justified on the basis that they promote innovation, but it is not always clear that they do so. Empirical studies of IPRs in an Australian context have been limited. Plant variety protection is one form of IPR. The passing of the Australian Plant Breeder’s Rights Act of 1994 has been followed by significant commercialisation of the wheat breeding industry. The purpose of this paper is to consider whether this commercialisation has benefited wheat productivity through varietal improvement. We estimate a linear crop production function, using a random effects Hausman Taylor estimator to evaluate differences in genetic contributions to productivity between public and private wheat varieties commercially released in NSW over the period 1992-2009 using crop varietal data. Results from the Hausman Taylor estimator show that private varieties, on average, have outperformed public varieties over the period, suggesting that Plant Breeder’s Rights has promoted productive innovation in wheat. However, when we consider the best performing genetics of the varieties, public varieties have, in some years, outperformed privately bred varieties.genetic change, technical change, innovation, wheat breeding, intellectual property, Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Two-Nucleon Systems in a Finite Volume: (II) 3S1-3D1 Coupled Channels and the Deuteron

The energy spectra of two nucleons in a cubic volume provide access to the two phase shifts and one mixing angle that define the S-matrix in the 3S1-3D1 coupled channels containing the deuteron. With the aid of recently derived energy quantization conditions for such systems, and the known scattering parameters, these spectra are predicted for a range of volumes. It is found that extractions of the infinite-volume deuteron binding energy and leading scattering parameters, including the S-D mixing angle at the deuteron pole, are possible from Lattice QCD calculations of two-nucleon systems with boosts of |P| <= 2pi sqrt{3}/L in volumes with 10 fm <~ L <~ 14 fm. The viability of extracting the asymptotic D/S ratio of the deuteron wavefunction from Lattice QCD calculations is discussed.Comment: 31 pages, 17 figure

Two-Baryon Systems with Twisted Boundary Conditions

We explore the use of twisted boundary conditions in extracting the nucleon mass and the binding energy of two-baryon systems, such as the deuteron, from Lattice QCD calculations. Averaging the results of calculations performed with periodic and anti-periodic boundary conditions imposed upon the light-quark fields, or other pair-wise averages, improves the volume dependence of the deuteron binding energy from ~exp(-kappa*L)/L to ~exp(-sqrt(2)kappa*L)/L. However, a twist angle of pi/2 in each of the spatial directions improves the volume dependence from ~exp(-kappa*L)/L to ~exp(-2kappa*L)/L. Twist averaging the binding energy with a random sampling of twist angles improves the volume dependence from ~exp^(-kappa*L)/L to ~exp(-2kappa*L)/L, but with a standard deviation of ~exp(-kappa*L)/L, introducing a signal-to-noise issue in modest lattice volumes. Using the experimentally determined phase shifts and mixing angles, we determine the expected energies of the deuteron states over a range of cubic lattice volumes for a selection of twisted boundary conditions.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figure