1,041 research outputs found
Community based interventions for problematic substance use in later life: a systematic review of evaluated studies and their outcomes
Problematic substance use (PSU) in later life is a growing global problem of significant concern in tandem with a rapidly ageing global population. Prevention and interventions specifically designed for older people are not common, and those designed for mixed-age groups may fail to address the unique and sometimes complex needs of ageing communities. We report findings from a systematic review of the empirical evidence from studies which formally evaluated interventions used with older people and reported their outcomes. Nineteen studies were included, of which thirteen focused solely on alcohol-related problems. Eight interventions utilised different types of screening, brief advice and education. The remaining drew on behavioural, narrative and integrated or multi-disciplinary approaches, which aimed to meet older people’s needs holistically. Quality assessment of study design helped to review evaluation practice. Findings point to recommendations for sustainable and well-designed intervention strategies for PSU in later life, which purposefully align with other areas of health and well-being and are delivered in locations where older people normally seek, or receive, help. There is further scope for engagement with older people’s own perspectives on their needs and help-seeking behaviours. Economic evaluation of the outcome of interventions would also be useful to establish the value of investing in targeted services to this underserved population
Stochastic thermodynamics of chemical reaction networks
For chemical reaction networks described by a master equation, we define
energy and entropy on a stochastic trajectory and develop a consistent
nonequilibrium thermodynamic description along a single stochastic trajectory
of reaction events. A first-law like energy balance relates internal energy,
applied (chemical) work and dissipated heat for every single reaction. Entropy
production along a single trajectory involves a sum over changes in the entropy
of the network itself and the entropy of the medium. The latter is given by the
exchanged heat identified through the first law. Total entropy production is
constrained by an integral fluctuation theorem for networks arbitrarily driven
by time-dependent rates and a detailed fluctuation theorem for networks in the
steady state. Further exact relations like a generalized Jarzynski relation and
a generalized Clausius inequality are discussed. We illustrate these results
for a three-species cyclic reaction network which exhibits nonequilibrium
steady states as well as transitions between different steady states.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in J. Chem. Phy
On Calculation of Thermal Conductivity from Einstein Relation in Equilibrium MD
In equilibrium molecular dynamics, Einstein relation can be used to calculate
the thermal conductivity. This method is equivalent to Green-Kubo relation and
it does not require a derivation of an analytical form for the heat current.
However, it is not commonly used as Green-Kubo relationship. Its wide use is
hindered by the lack of a proper definition for integrated heat current (energy
moment) under periodic boundary conditions. In this paper, we developed an
appropriate definition for integrated heat current to calculate thermal
conductivity of solids under periodic conditions. We applied this method to
solid argon and silicon based systems; compared and contrasted with the
Green-Kubo approach.Comment: We updated this manuscript from second version by changing the title
and abstract. This paper is submitted to J. Chem. Phy
Controlled DNA compaction within chromatin: the tail-bridging effect
We study the mechanism underlying the attraction between nucleosomes, the
fundamental packaging units of DNA inside the chromatin complex. We introduce a
simple model of the nucleosome, the eight-tail colloid, consisting of a charged
sphere with eight oppositely charged, flexible, grafted chains that represent
the terminal histone tails. We demonstrate that our complexes are attracted via
the formation of chain bridges and that this attraction can be tuned by
changing the fraction of charged monomers on the tails. This suggests a
physical mechanism of chromatin compaction where the degree of DNA condensation
can be controlled via biochemical means, namely the acetylation and
deacetylation of lysines in the histone tails.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, submitte
Hard-wall Potential Function for Transport Properties of Alkali Metals Vapor
This study demonstrates that the transport properties of alkali metals are
determined principally by the repulsive wall of the pair interaction potential
function. The (hard-wall) Lennard-Jones(15-6) effective pair potential function
is used to calculate transport collision integrals. Accordingly, reduced
collision integrals of K, Rb, and Cs metal vapors are obtained from
Chapman-Enskog solution of the Boltzman equation. The law of corresponding
states based on the experimental-transport reduced collision integral is used
to verify the validity of a LJ(15-6) hybrid potential in describing the
transport properties. LJ(8.5-4) potential function and a simple thermodynamic
argument with the input PVT data of liquid metals provide the required
molecular potential parameters. Values of the predicted viscosity of monatomic
alkali metals vapor are in agreement with typical experimental data with the
average absolute deviation 2.97% for K in the range 700-1500 K, 1.69% for Rb,
and 1.75% for Cs in the range 700-2000 K. In the same way, the values of
predicted thermal conductivity are in agreement with experiment within 2.78%,
3.25%, and 3.63% for K, Rb, and Cs, respectively. The LJ(15-6) hybrid potential
with a hard-wall repulsion character conclusively predicts best transport
properties of the three alkali metals vapor.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, 41 reference
Stability of adhesion clusters under constant force
We solve the stochastic equations for a cluster of parallel bonds with shared
constant loading, rebinding and the completely dissociated state as an
absorbing boundary. In the small force regime, cluster lifetime grows only
logarithmically with bond number for weak rebinding, but exponentially for
strong rebinding. Therefore rebinding is essential to ensure physiological
lifetimes. The number of bonds decays exponentially with time for most cases,
but in the intermediate force regime, a small increase in loading can lead to
much faster decay. This effect might be used by cell-matrix adhesions to induce
signaling events through cytoskeletal loading.Comment: Revtex, 4 pages, 4 Postscript files include
Virial series for inhomogeneous fluids applied to the Lennard-Jones wall-fluid surface tension at planar and curved walls
We formulate a straightforward scheme of statistical mechanics for
inhomogeneous systems that includes the virial series in powers of the activity
for the grand free energy and density distributions. There, cluster integrals
formulated for inhomogeneous systems play a main role. We center on second
order terms that were analyzed in the case of hard-wall confinement, focusing
in planar, spherical and cylindrical walls. Further analysis was devoted to the
Lennard-Jones system and its generalization the 2k-k potential. For this
interaction potentials the second cluster integral was evaluated analytically.
We obtained the fluid-substrate surface tension at second order for the planar,
spherical and cylindrical confinement. Spherical and cylindrical cases were
analyzed using a series expansion in the radius including higher order terms.
We detected a dependence of the surface tension for the
standard Lennard-Jones system confined by spherical and cylindrical walls, no
matter if particles are inside or outside of the hard-walls. The analysis was
extended to bending and Gaussian curvatures, where exact expressions were also
obtained.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figure
Terahertz response of dipolar impurities in polar liquids: On anomalous dielectric absorption of protein solutions
A theory of radiation absorption by dielectric mixtures is presented. The
coarse-grained formulation is based on the wavevector-dependent correlation
functions of molecular dipoles of the host polar liquid and a density-density
structure factor of the positions of the solutes. A nonlinear dependence of the
absorption coefficient on the solute concentration is predicted and originates
from the mutual polarization of the liquid surrounding the solutes by the
collective field of the solute dipoles aligned along the radiation field. The
theory is applied to terahertz absorption of hydrated saccharides and proteins.
While the theory gives an excellent account of the observations for saccharides
without additional assumptions and fitting parameters, experimental absorption
coefficient of protein solutions significantly exceeds theoretical calculations
within standard dielectric models and shows a peak against the protein
concentration. A substantial polarization of protein's hydration shell is
required to explain the differences between standard theories and experiment.
When the correlation function of the total dipole moment of the protein with
its hydration shell from numerical simulations is used in the present
analytical model an absorption peak similar to that seen is experiment is
obtained. The result is sensitive to the specifics of protein-protein
interactions in solution. Numerical testing of the theory requires the
combination of terahertz dielectric and small-angle scattering measurements.Comment: 11 p
Kinetic theory of age-structured stochastic birth-death processes
Classical age-structured mass-action models such as the McKendrick-von Foerster equation have been extensively studied but are unable to describe stochastic fluctuations or population-size-dependent birth and death rates. Stochastic theories that treat semi-Markov age-dependent processes using, e.g., the Bellman-Harris equation do not resolve a population's age structure and are unable to quantify population-size dependencies. Conversely, current theories that include size-dependent population dynamics (e.g., mathematical models that include carrying capacity such as the logistic equation) cannot be easily extended to take into account age-dependent birth and death rates. In this paper, we present a systematic derivation of a new, fully stochastic kinetic theory for interacting age-structured populations. By defining multiparticle probability density functions, we derive a hierarchy of kinetic equations for the stochastic evolution of an aging population undergoing birth and death. We show that the fully stochastic age-dependent birth-death process precludes factorization of the corresponding probability densities, which then must be solved by using a Bogoliubov-–Born–-Green–-Kirkwood-–Yvon-like hierarchy. Explicit solutions are derived in three limits: no birth, no death, and steady state. These are then compared with their corresponding mean-field results. Our results generalize both deterministic models and existing master equation approaches by providing an intuitive and efficient way to simultaneously model age- and population-dependent stochastic dynamics applicable to the study of demography, stem cell dynamics, and disease evolution
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