470 research outputs found
The gender and access to health services study: final report
Men and women frequently think and behave differently. To observe this is not to suggest anything so absurdly simple as that there are only male and female ways of being; behaviours and thought processes vary according to numerous other factors besides gender. That this is very generally the case however, does mean that there are broad - and often broadly predictable - differences in the way men and women engage with the world. Most commercial organisations understand this very well and plan accordingly. Many public authorities recognise it too and take these differences into account when developing and providing services. For historical reasons however the NHS has rarely done so. It is widely known that there are differences between men and women in the incidence and prevalence of most health conditions. Sometimes there are clear biological reasons for these differences but often there are not. Where biology offers little or no enlightenment, other questions need to be asked: · Do men and women behave in ways that predispose them to particular health conditions to different degrees? · Do men and women use health services with different degrees of effectiveness? · Do men and women receive differerent kinds of service from the NHS? The answer is â yes, these things happen frequently. This is sometimes to the disadvantage of one sex and sometimes to the disadvantage of the other. Sometimes it is to the disadvantage of both. And when these things happen, health outcomes are often affected. This report looks at the reasons why gender is such an important and fundamental determinant of health status and considers the ways in which gender inequalities can be tackled within the present legislative and policy framework. It also brings together the knowledge and evidence in relation to six specific areas of health concerns
Integral Difference Ratio Functions on Integers
number theoryInternational audienceTo Jozef, on his 80th birthday, with our gratitude for sharing with us his prophetic vision of Informatique Abstract. Various problems lead to the same class of functions from integers to integers: functions having integral difference ratio, i.e. verifying f (a) â f (b) ⥠0 (mod (a â b)) for all a > b. In this paper we characterize this class of functions from Z to Z via their a la Newton series expansions on a suitably chosen basis of polynomials (with rational coefficients). We also exhibit an example of such a function which is not polynomial but Bessel like
Arithmetic properties of blocks of consecutive integers
This paper provides a survey of results on the greatest prime factor, the
number of distinct prime factors, the greatest squarefree factor and the
greatest m-th powerfree part of a block of consecutive integers, both without
any assumption and under assumption of the abc-conjecture. Finally we prove
that the explicit abc-conjecture implies the Erd\H{o}s-Woods conjecture for
each k>2.Comment: A slightly corrected and extended version of a paper which will
appear in January 2017 in the book From Arithmetic to Zeta-functions
published by Springe
Principal forms X^2 + nY^2 representing many integers
In 1966, Shanks and Schmid investigated the asymptotic behavior of the number
of positive integers less than or equal to x which are represented by the
quadratic form X^2+nY^2. Based on some numerical computations, they observed
that the constant occurring in the main term appears to be the largest for n=2.
In this paper, we prove that in fact this constant is unbounded as n runs
through positive integers with a fixed number of prime divisors.Comment: 10 pages, title has been changed, Sections 2 and 3 are new, to appear
in Abh. Math. Sem. Univ. Hambur
Heat and spin transport in magnetic nanowires
Transport measurements are carried out in which temperature oscillation is applied to magnetic nanostructures. Using spin valves, this measurement reveals aspects of the spin transport in non-collinear configurations. In one implementation, an AC voltage is detected when a DC current is driven through the nanostructure under test and its temperature is made to oscillate by illuminating it with a laser diode. A simpler approach is presented that relies on Joule heating to generate the temperature oscillation, thus eliminating the need for any optical component. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Le marché des stupéfiants dans le canton de Vaud. Partie 3 : Les cannabinoïdes
Le projet « Structure et produits du marchĂ© des stupĂ©fiants » (MARSTUP) est nĂ© d'une volontĂ© decollaboration de trois Instituts de recherche lausannois qui travaillent depuis de nombreuses annĂ©es sur la question des stupĂ©fiants : Addiction Suisse (AS), l'Ecole des sciences criminelles (ESC) de l'UniversitĂ© de Lausanne et UnisantĂ©1. Tous trois ont pris conscience de l'intĂ©rĂȘt d'Ă©tudier cette dimension souvent ignorĂ©e de la problĂ©matique des stupĂ©fiants. L'objectif de la collaboration est de dĂ©velopper une comprĂ©hension de la structure et de lâorganisation du marchĂ© des stupĂ©fiants qui puisse contribuer Ă amĂ©liorer les politiques publiques et Ă promouvoir des dĂ©bats plus factuels Ă ce sujet. Il s'agit aussi de dĂ©velopper un outil de monitorage qui permette de suivre lâĂ©volution temporelle de ce marchĂ©. Le canton de Vaud a acceptĂ© de cofinancer ce projet.
Le projet a Ă©tĂ© divisĂ© en trois parties successives qui correspondent Ă trois familles de produits : le marchĂ© des opioĂŻdes, celui des stimulants et celui des cannabinoĂŻdes. Chacun fait l'objet d'une analyse de marchĂ© Ă quatre niveaux : les produits proposĂ©s, les volumes consommĂ©s, la structure et l'organisation du marchĂ©, ainsi que sa valeur. Les donnĂ©es utilisĂ©es comprennent des enquĂȘtes et statistiques existantes, et de nouvelles Ă©tudes, notamment des entretiens avec des professionnels concernĂ©s par ce marchĂ© et avec des usagers de stupĂ©fiants. Des approches innovantes comme lâanalyse des eaux usĂ©es et celle du contenu rĂ©siduel des seringues usagĂ©es ont Ă©galement Ă©tĂ© intĂ©grĂ©es dans le projet. Il s'agit de la premiĂšre Ă©tude interdisciplinaire de ce type en Suisse. Le prĂ©sent rapport â le troisiĂšme du projet â porte sur le marchĂ© des cannabinoĂŻdes
Regular graphs of large girth and arbitrary degree
For every integer d > 9, we construct infinite families {G_n}_n of
d+1-regular graphs which have a large girth > log_d |G_n|, and for d large
enough > 1,33 log_d |G_n|. These are Cayley graphs on PGL_2(q) for a special
set of d+1 generators whose choice is related to the arithmetic of integral
quaternions. These graphs are inspired by the Ramanujan graphs of
Lubotzky-Philips-Sarnak and Margulis, with which they coincide when d is prime.
When d is not equal to the power of an odd prime, this improves the previous
construction of Imrich in 1984 where he obtained infinite families {I_n}_n of
d+1-regular graphs, realized as Cayley graphs on SL_2(q), and which are
displaying a girth > 0,48 log_d |I_n|. And when d is equal to a power of 2,
this improves a construction by Morgenstern in 1994 where certain families
{M_n}_n of 2^k+1-regular graphs were shown to have a girth > 2/3 log_d |M_n|.Comment: (15 pages) Accepted at Combinatorica. Title changed following
referee's suggestion. Revised version after reviewing proces
Zeros of analytic functions, with or without multiplicities
The classical Mason-Stothers theorem deals with nontrivial polynomial
solutions to the equation . It provides a lower bound on the number of
distinct zeros of the polynomial in terms of the degrees of , and
. We extend this to general analytic functions living on a reasonable
bounded domain , rather than on the whole of . The estimates obtained are sharp, for any , and a generalization of
the original result on polynomials can be recovered from them by a limiting
argument.Comment: This is a retitled and slightly revised version of my paper
arXiv:1004.359
Identifiable Acetylene Features Predicted for Young Earth-like Exoplanets with Reducing Atmospheres Undergoing Heavy Bombardment
The chemical environments of young planets are assumed to be largely influenced by the impacts of bodies lingering on unstable trajectories after the dissolution of the protoplanetary disk. We explore the chemical consequences of impacts within the context of reducing planetary atmospheres dominated by carbon monoxide, methane, and molecular nitrogen. A terawatt high-power laser was selected in order to simulate the airglow plasma and blast wave surrounding the impactor. The chemical results of these experiments are then applied to a theoretical atmospheric model. The impact simulation results in substantial volume mixing ratios within the reactor of 5% hydrogen cyanide (HCN), 8% acetylene (C2H2), 5% cyanoacetylene (HC3N), and 1% ammonia (NH3). These yields are combined with estimated impact rates for the early Earth to predict surface boundary conditions for an atmospheric model. We show that impacts might have served as sources of energy that would have led to steady-state surface quantities of 0.4% C2H2, 400 ppm HCN, and 40 ppm NH3. We provide simulated transit spectra for an Earth-like exoplanet with this reducing atmosphere during and shortly after eras of intense impacts. We predict that acetylene is as observable as other molecular features on exoplanets with reducing atmospheres that have recently gone through their own "heavy bombardments," with prominent features at 3.05 and 10.5 ÎŒm
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