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Regional Electricity Supply and Consumption in Developing Countries, 1980-1986 Database Report
On the Numerical Dispersion of Electromagnetic Particle-In-Cell Code : Finite Grid Instability
The Particle-In-Cell (PIC) method is widely used in relativistic particle
beam and laser plasma modeling. However, the PIC method exhibits numerical
instabilities that can render unphysical simulation results or even destroy the
simulation. For electromagnetic relativistic beam and plasma modeling, the most
relevant numerical instabilities are the finite grid instability and the
numerical Cherenkov instability. We review the numerical dispersion relation of
the electromagnetic PIC algorithm to analyze the origin of these instabilities.
We rigorously derive the faithful 3D numerical dispersion of the PIC algorithm,
and then specialize to the Yee FDTD scheme. In particular, we account for the
manner in which the PIC algorithm updates and samples the fields and
distribution function. Temporal and spatial phase factors from solving
Maxwell's equations on the Yee grid with the leapfrog scheme are also
explicitly accounted for. Numerical solutions to the electrostatic-like modes
in the 1D dispersion relation for a cold drifting plasma are obtained for
parameters of interest. In the succeeding analysis, we investigate how the
finite grid instability arises from the interaction of the numerical 1D modes
admitted in the system and their aliases. The most significant interaction is
due critically to the correct represenation of the operators in the dispersion
relation. We obtain a simple analytic expression for the peak growth rate due
to this interaction.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure
Predicting the size and probability of epidemics in a population with heterogeneous infectiousness and susceptibility
We analytically address disease outbreaks in large, random networks with
heterogeneous infectivity and susceptibility. The transmissibility
(the probability that infection of causes infection of ) depends on the
infectivity of and the susceptibility of . Initially a single node is
infected, following which a large-scale epidemic may or may not occur. We use a
generating function approach to study how heterogeneity affects the probability
that an epidemic occurs and, if one occurs, its attack rate (the fraction
infected). For fixed average transmissibility, we find upper and lower bounds
on these. An epidemic is most likely if infectivity is homogeneous and least
likely if the variance of infectivity is maximized. Similarly, the attack rate
is largest if susceptibility is homogeneous and smallest if the variance is
maximized. We further show that heterogeneity in infectious period is
important, contrary to assumptions of previous studies. We confirm our
theoretical predictions by simulation. Our results have implications for
control strategy design and identification of populations at higher risk from
an epidemic.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to Physical Review Letter
Non-Operative Management of a Common Bile Duct Injury Sustained During Cholecystectomy in a Morbidly Obese Patient. (Non-Operative Repair of CBD Injury)
A 29 year old morbidly obese patient suffered injury to his common bile duct during cholecystectomy.
Subsequent access to the biliary tree was obtained by using a long heavy gauge needle after
first opacifying the system with contrast injection through a nasobiliary tube. It is now twenty six
months after initial percutaneous biliary drainage placement and eighteen months after removal
of all biliary access. The patient is asymptomatic and has normal liver function tests. This
technique can be useful in morbidly obese patients who are at increased risk from surgical repair
of biliary duct injuries
Anisotropy effects in a mixed quantum-classical Heisenberg model in two dimensions
We analyse a specific two dimensional mixed spin Heisenberg model with
exchange anisotropy, by means of high temperature expansions and Monte Carlo
simulations. The goal is to describe the magnetic properties of the compound
(NBu_{4})_{2}Mn_{2}[Cu(opba)]_{3}\cdot 6DMSO\cdot H_{2}O which exhibits a
ferromagnetic transition at . Extrapolating our analysis on the
basis of renormalisation group arguments, we find that this transition may
result from a very weak anisotropy effect.Comment: 8 pages, 10 Postscript figure
Behavioral Patterns Associated with Chemotherapy-Induced Emesis: A Potential Signature for Nausea in Musk Shrews
Nausea and vomiting are common symptoms in patients with many diseases, including cancer and its treatments. Although the neurological basis of vomiting is reasonably well known, an understanding of the physiology of nausea is lacking. The primary barrier to mechanistic research on the nausea system is the lack of an animal model. Indeed investigating the effects of anti-nausea drugs in pre-clinical models is difficult because the primary readout is often emesis. It is known that animals show a behavioral profile of sickness, associated with reduced feeding and movement, and possibly these general measures are signs of nausea. Studies attempting to relate the occurrence of additional behaviors to emesis have produced mixed results. Here we applied a statistical method, temporal pattern (t-pattern) analysis, to determine patterns of behavior associated with emesis. Musk shrews were injected with the chemotherapy agent cisplatin (a gold standard in emesis research) to induce acute (<24 h) and delayed (>24 h) emesis. Emesis and other behaviors were coded and tracked from video files. T-pattern analysis revealed hundreds of non-random patterns of behavior associated with emesis, including sniffing, changes in body contraction, and locomotion. There was little evidence that locomotion was inhibited by the occurrence of emesis. Eating, drinking, and other larger body movements including rearing, grooming, and body rotation, were significantly less common in emesis-related behavioral patterns in real versus randomized data. These results lend preliminary evidence for the expression of emesis-related behavioral patterns, including reduced ingestive behavior, grooming, and exploratory behaviors. In summary, this statistical approach to behavioral analysis in a pre-clinical emesis research model could be used to assess the more global effects and limitations of drugs used to control nausea and its potential correlates, including reduced feeding and activity levels
Psychological Safety and Norm Clarity in Software Engineering Teams
In the software engineering industry today, companies primarily conduct their
work in teams. To increase organizational productivity, it is thus crucial to
know the factors that affect team effectiveness. Two team-related concepts that
have gained prominence lately are psychological safety and team norms. Still,
few studies exist that explore these in a software engineering context.
Therefore, with the aim of extending the knowledge of these concepts, we
examined if psychological safety and team norm clarity associate positively
with software developers' self-assessed team performance and job satisfaction,
two important elements of effectiveness.
We collected industry survey data from practitioners (N = 217) in 38
development teams working for five different organizations. The result of
multiple linear regression analyses indicates that both psychological safety
and team norm clarity predict team members' self-assessed performance and job
satisfaction. The findings also suggest that clarity of norms is a stronger
(30\% and 71\% stronger, respectively) predictor than psychological safety.
This research highlights the need to examine, in more detail, the
relationship between social norms and software development. The findings of
this study could serve as an empirical baseline for such, future work.Comment: Submitted to CHASE'201
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