1,134 research outputs found
Evaluation of fate of added copper and zinc in prairie soils using chemical speciation and XANES spectroscopy
Non-Peer Reviewe
Water facilities in retrospect and prospect: An illuminating tool for vehicle design
Water facilities play a fundamental role in the design of air, ground, and marine vehicles by providing a qualitative, and sometimes quantitative, description of complex flow phenomena. Water tunnels, channels, and tow tanks used as flow-diagnostic tools have experienced a renaissance in recent years in response to the increased complexity of designs suitable for advanced technology vehicles. These vehicles are frequently characterized by large regions of steady and unsteady three-dimensional flow separation and ensuing vortical flows. The visualization and interpretation of the complicated fluid motions about isolated vehicle components and complete configurations in a time and cost effective manner in hydrodynamic test facilities is a key element in the development of flow control concepts, and, hence, improved vehicle designs. A historical perspective of the role of water facilities in the vehicle design process is presented. The application of water facilities to specific aerodynamic and hydrodynamic flow problems is discussed, and the strengths and limitations of these important experimental tools are emphasized
The effect of developmental vitamin D deficiency in male and female Sprague-Dawley rats on decision-making using a rodent gambling task
Developmental vitamin D (DVD) deficiency is a plausible risk factor for schizophrenia that has been associated with behavioural alterations including disruptions in latent inhibition and response inhibition. The rodent gambling task (rGT) assesses risk-based decision-making, which is a key cognitive deficit observed in schizophrenia patients. The primary aim of this study was to examine risk-based decision-making in DVD-deficient and control rats on the rGT. We also evaluated the performance of female Sprague–Dawley rats on the rGT for the first time. Adult male and female Sprague–Dawley rats from control and vitamin D deficient dams were trained to perform the rGT in standard operant chambers and their performance and choice-preferences were assessed. Female rats were significantly faster to reach rGT training criteria compared with male rats and DVD-deficient rats were faster to reach training criteria than control animals. After reaching stable performance on the rGT DVD-deficient and control rats showed a significant preference for the optimal choice-option in the rGT, but there were no significant effects of sex or diet on these responses. DVD deficiency did not alter the decision-making processes on the rGT because no significant changes in choice-preferences were evident. This is the first study to demonstrate that once established, the performance of females is comparable to male Sprague–Dawley rats on the rGT
A systematic review of current knowledge of HIV epidemiology and of sexual behaviour in Nepal
OBJECTIVE: To systematically review information on HIV epidemiology and on sexual behaviour in Nepal with a view to identifying gaps in current knowledge.
METHODS: Systematic review covering electronic databases, web-based information, personal contact with experts and hand searching of key journals.
RESULTS: HIV-1 seroprevalence has been rising rapidly in association with high-risk behaviours, with current levels of 40% amongst the nation's injecting drug users and approaching 20% amongst Kathmandu's female commercial sex workers (FCSWs). HIV seroprevalence remains low in the general population (0.29% of 15–49 year olds). There are significant methodological limitations in many of the seroprevalence studies identified, and these estimates need to be treated with caution. There are extensive migration patterns both within the country and internationally which provide the potential for considerable sexual networking. However, studies of sexual behaviour have focused on FCSWs and the extent of sexual networks within the general population is largely unknown.
CONCLUSIONS: Whilst some of the ingredients are present for an explosive HIV epidemic in Nepal, crucial knowledge on sexual behaviour in the general population is missing. Research on sexual networking is urgently required to guide HIV control in Nepal. There is also a need for further good-quality epidemiological studies of HIV seroprevalence
Quantisation without Gauge Fixing: Avoiding Gribov Ambiguities through the Physical Projector
The quantisation of gauge invariant systems usually proceeds through some
gauge fixing procedure of one type or another. Typically for most cases, such
gauge fixings are plagued by Gribov ambiguities, while it is only for an
admissible gauge fixing that the correct dynamical description of the system is
represented, especially with regards to non perturbative phenomena. However,
any gauge fixing procedure whatsoever may be avoided altogether, by using
rather a recently proposed new approach based on the projection operator onto
physical gauge invariant states only, which is necessarily free on any such
issues. These different aspects of gauge invariant systems are explicitely
analysed within a solvable U(1) gauge invariant quantum mechanical model
related to the dimensional reduction of Yang-Mills theory.Comment: 22 pages, no figures, plain LaTeX fil
Risky driving or risky drivers? Exploring driving and crash histories of illegal street racing offenders
Illegal street racing has received increased attention in recent years from road safety professionals and the media as jurisdictions in Australia, Canada, and the United States have implemented laws to address the problem, which primarily involves young male drivers. Although some evidence suggests that the prevalence of illegal street racing is increasing, obtaining accurate estimates of the crash risk of this behavior is difficult because of limitations in official data sources. Although crash risk can be explored by examining the proportion of incidents of street racing that result in crashes, or the proportion of all crashes that involve street racing, this paper reports on the findings of a study that explored the riskiness of involved drivers. The driving histories of 183 male drivers with an illegal street racing conviction in Queensland, Australia, were compared with a random sample of 183 male Queensland drivers with the same age distribution. The offender group was found to have significantly more traffic infringements, license sanctions, and crashes than the comparison group. Drivers in the offender group were more likely than the comparison group to have committed infringements related to street racing, such as speeding, "hooning," and offenses related to vehicle defects or illegal modifications. Insufficient statistical capacity prevented full exploration of group differences in the type and nature of earlier crashes. It was concluded, however, that street racing offenders generally can be considered risky drivers who warrant attention and whose risky behavior cannot be explained by their youth alone
Pole structure of the Hamiltonian -function for a singular potential
We study the pole structure of the -function associated to the
Hamiltonian of a quantum mechanical particle living in the half-line
, subject to the singular potential . We show that
admits nontrivial self-adjoint extensions (SAE) in a given range of values
of the parameter . The -functions of these operators present poles
which depend on and, in general, do not coincide with half an integer (they
can even be irrational). The corresponding residues depend on the SAE
considered.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, RevTeX. References added. Version to appear in
Jour. Phys. A: Math. Ge
Exact expression for the diffusion propagator in a family of time-dependent anharmonic potentials
We have obtained the exact expression of the diffusion propagator in the
time-dependent anharmonic potential . The
underlying Euclidean metric of the problem allows us to obtain analytical
solutions for a whole family of the elastic parameter a(t), exploiting the
relation between the path integral representation of the short time propagator
and the modified Bessel functions. We have also analyzed the conditions for the
appearance of a non-zero flow of particles through the infinite barrier located
at the origin (b<0).Comment: RevTex, 19 pgs. Accepted in Physical Review
Path Integral Approach for Superintegrable Potentials on Spaces of Non-constant Curvature: II. Darboux Spaces DIII and DIV
This is the second paper on the path integral approach of superintegrable
systems on Darboux spaces, spaces of non-constant curvature. We analyze in the
spaces \DIII and \DIV five respectively four superintegrable potentials,
which were first given by Kalnins et al. We are able to evaluate the path
integral in most of the separating coordinate systems, leading to expressions
for the Green functions, the discrete and continuous wave-functions, and the
discrete energy-spectra. In some cases, however, the discrete spectrum cannot
be stated explicitly, because it is determined by a higher order polynomial
equation.
We show that also the free motion in Darboux space of type III can contain
bound states, provided the boundary conditions are appropriate. We state the
energy spectrum and the wave-functions, respectively
Study of time-dependent CP violation in B0 -> J/Psi pi0 decays
We report a measurement of CP asymmetry parameters in the decay B0(B0bar) ->
J/Psi pi0, which is governed by the b->c cbar d transition. The analysis is
based on a 140/fb data sample accumulated at the Upsilon(4S) resonance by the
belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider. We fully
reconstruct one neutral B meson in the J/Psi pi0 final state. The accompanying
B meson flavor is identified by its decay products. From the distribution of
proper time intervals between the two B decays, we obtain the following
CP-violating parameters: S_{J/Psi pi0}=-0.72+-0.42+-0.09 and A_{J/Psi
pi0}=-0.01 +-0.29+-0.03.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PR
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