4,221 research outputs found
Optimum Monte Carlo Simulations: Some Exact Results
We obtain exact results for the acceptance ratio and mean squared
displacement in Monte Carlo simulations of the simple harmonic oscillator in
dimensions. When the trial displacement is made uniformly in the radius, we
demonstrate that the results are independent of the dimensionality of the
space. We also study the dynamics of the process via a spectral analysis and we
obtain an accurate description for the relaxation time.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures. submitted to J. Phys.
Unexpected Effect of Internal Degrees of Freedom on Transverse Phonons in Supercooled Liquids
We show experimentally that in a supercooled liquid composed of molecules
with internal degrees of freedom the internal modes contribute to the frequency
dependent shear viscosity and damping of transverse phonons, which results in
an additional broadening of the transverse Brillouin lines. Earlier, only the
effect of internal modes on the frequency dependent bulk viscosity and damping
of longitudinal phonons was observed and explained theoretically in the limit
of weak coupling of internal degrees of freedom to translational motion. A new
theory is needed to describe this new effect. We also demonstrate, that the
contributions of structural relaxation and internal processes to the width of
the Brillouin lines can be separated by measurements under high pressure
Preventative tele-health supported services for early stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a protocol for a pragmatic randomized controlled trial pilot
Background
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a prevalent debilitating long term condition. It is the second most common cause of emergency admission to hospital in the UK and remains one of the most costly conditions to treat through acute care.
Tele-health monitoring offers potential to reduce the rates of re-hospitalisation and emergency department visits and improve quality of life for people with COPD. However, the current evidence base to support technology adoption and implementation is limited and the resource implications for implementing tele-health in practice can be very high. This trial will employ tele-health monitoring in a preventative capacity for patients diagnosed with early stage COPD following discharge from hospital to determine whether it reduces their need for additional health service support or hospital admission and improves their quality of life.
Methods/Design
We describe a pilot study for a two arm, one site randomized controlled trial (RCT) to determine the effect of tele-health monitoring on self-management, quality of life and patient satisfaction. Sixty patients who have been discharged from one acute trust with a primary diagnosis of COPD and who have agreed to receive community clinical support following discharge from acute care will be randomly assigned to one of two groups: (a) Tele-health supported Community COPD Service; or (b) Usual Care. The tele-health supported service involves the patient receiving two home visits with a specialist COPD clinician (nurse or physiotherapist) then participating in daily tele-monitoring over an eight week period. Usual care consists of six home visits to the patient by specialist COPD clinicians again over eight successive weeks. Health status and quality of life data for all participants will be measured at baseline, on discharge from the service and at six months post discharge from the service.
Discussion
The tele-health service under study is a complex service delivered through a collaboration between local authority and health care partners. The implementation of this service demanded significant changes to established working patterns and has been a challenging process requiring considerable planning - a challenge that many providers are likely to face in the future.
Trial registration
Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN6885601
Evidence of two viscous relaxation processes in the collective dynamics of liquid lithium
New inelastic X-ray scattering experiments have been performed on liquid
lithium in a wide wavevector range. With respect to the previous measurements,
the instrumental resolution, improved up to 1.5 meV, allows to accurately
investigate the dynamical processes determining the observed shape of the the
dynamic structure factor, . A detailed analysis of the lineshapes
shows the co-existence of relaxation processes with both a slow and a fast
characteristic timescales, and therefore that pictures of the relaxation
mechanisms based on a simple viscoelastic model must be abandoned.Comment: 5 pages, 4 .PS figure
Dynamic structure factors of a dense mixture
We compute the dynamic structure factors of a dense binary liquid mixture.
These describe dynamics on molecular length scales, where structural relaxation
is important. We find that the presence of a few large particles in a dense
fluid of small particles slows down the dynamics considerably. We also observe
a deep narrowing of the spectrum for a disordered mixture composed of a nearly
equal packing of the two species. In contrast, a few small particles diffuse
easily in the background of a dense fluid of large particles. We expect our
results to describe neutron scattering from a dense mixture
Coupling of thermal and mass diffusion in regular binary thermal lattice-gases
We have constructed a regular binary thermal lattice-gas in which the thermal
diffusion and mass diffusion are coupled and form two nonpropagating diffusive
modes. The power spectrum is shown to be similar in structure as for the one in
real fluids, in which the central peak becomes a combination of coupled entropy
and concentration contributions. Our theoretical findings for the power spectra
are confirmed by computer simulations performed on this model.Comment: 5 pages including 3 figures in RevTex
JHK Magnitudes for L and T Dwarfs and Infrared Photometric Systems
L and T dwarfs emit most of their radiation in the near infrared and their
spectral energy distributions are dominated by strong molecular absorption
bands. These highly structured energy distributions lead to JHK magnitudes that
are extremely sensitive to the exact filter bandpass used. In the case of the T
dwarfs, the differences between commonly used photometric systems can be as
large as 0.4 mag at J and 0.5 mag at J-K. To address this problem, we have
synthesized J,H and K magnitudes for some of the common photometric systems and
present transformation equations. If the spectral type of the dwarf is known,
our transformations allow data to be converted between systems to 0.01 mag,
which is better than the typical measurement uncertainty. Transforming on the
basis of color alone is more difficult because of the degeneracy and intrinsic
scatter in near-infrared colors of L and T dwarfs; in this case J magnitudes
can only be transformed to < 0.05 mag and H and K to < 0.02 mag.Comment: 26 pages including 9 figures, uses aastex, to be published in PASP
Jan 200
The Approach to Ergodicity in Monte Carlo Simulations
The approach to the ergodic limit in Monte Carlo simulations is studied using
both analytic and numerical methods. With the help of a stochastic model, a
metric is defined that enables the examination of a simulation in both the
ergodic and non-ergodic regimes. In the non-ergodic regime, the model implies
how the simulation is expected to approach ergodic behavior analytically, and
the analytically inferred decay law of the metric allows the monitoring of the
onset of ergodic behavior. The metric is related to previously defined measures
developed for molecular dynamics simulations, and the metric enables the
comparison of the relative efficiencies of different Monte Carlo schemes.
Applications to Lennard-Jones 13-particle clusters are shown to match the model
for Metropolis, J-walking and parallel tempering based approaches. The relative
efficiencies of these three Monte Carlo approaches are compared, and the decay
law is shown to be useful in determining needed high temperature parameters in
parallel tempering and J-walking studies of atomic clusters.Comment: 17 Pages, 7 Figure
The Magnetic Distortion Calibration System of the LHCb RICH1 Detector
The LHCb RICH1 detector uses hybrid photon detectors (HPDs) as its optical
sensors. A calibration system has been constructed to provide corrections for
distortions that are primarily due to external magnetic fields. We describe
here the system design, construction, operation and performance.Comment: 9 pages, 14 figure
High-Temperature series for the lattice spin model (generalized Maier-Saupe model of nematic liquid crystals) in two space dimensions and with general spin dimensionality n
High temperature series expansions of the spin-spin correlation functions of
the RP^{n-1} spin model on the square lattice are computed through order
beta^{8} for general spin dimensionality n. Tables are reported for the
expansion coefficients of the energy per site, the susceptibility and the
second correlation moment.Comment: 6 pages, revtex, IFUM 419/FT, 2 figures not include
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