Cubic Dresselhaus Spin-Orbit Coupling in 2D Electron Quantum Dots

We study effects of the oft-neglected cubic Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling (i.e., $\propto p^3$) in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dots. Using a semiclassical billiard model, we estimate the magnitude of the spin-orbit induced avoided crossings in a closed quantum dot in a Zeeman field. Using these results, together with previous analyses based on random matrix theory, we calculate corresponding effects on the conductance through an open quantum dot. Combining our results with an experiment on conductance through an 8 um^2 quantum dot [D M Zumbuhl et al., Phys. Rev. B 72, 081305 (2005)] suggests that 1) the GaAs Dresselhaus coupling constant, $\gamma$, is approximately 9 eVA^3, significantly less than the commonly cited value of 27.5 eVA^3 and 2) the majority of the spin-flip component of spin-orbit coupling can come from the cubic Dresselhaus term.Comment: 4 pages plus supplementary tabl

Data-driven design of targeted gene panels for estimating immunotherapy biomarkers

We introduce a novel data-driven framework for the design of targeted gene panels for estimating exome-wide biomarkers in cancer immunotherapy. Our first goal is to develop a generative model for the profile of mutation across the exome, which allows for gene- and variant type-dependent mutation rates. Based on this model, we then propose a new procedure for estimating biomarkers such as Tumour Mutation Burden and Tumour Indel Burden. Our approach allows the practitioner to select a targeted gene panel of a prespecified size, and then construct an estimator that only depends on the selected genes. Alternatively, the practitioner may apply our method to make predictions based on an existing gene panel, or to augment a gene panel to a given size. We demonstrate the excellent performance of our proposal using an annotated mutation dataset from 1144 Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer patients.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figure

Health Literacy and Some Socio-Demographic Aspects under One Health Approach in Eastern Tanzania: Connections and Realities

Health Literacy significantly contributes towards attaining good health particularly when taken into the context of the interface of humans, animals and the environment. This cross-sectional study assessed health literacy and its connections to other socio-demographic aspects under One Health Approach in Morogoro municipality and Mvomero districts in Tanzania. A structured questionnaire administered through a Computer Aided Personal Interviewing (CAPI) electronic platform was used to collect data from 240 respondents obtained through a multistage sampling procedure. Health Literacy was assessed using context specific assessment tool. IBM-SPSS v20 and Gretl software were used to analyze data. The results revealed Inadequate Health Literacy at 36.3%, Moderate Health Literacy at 30.8% and Adequate Health Literacy standing at 32.9%. There was no association between educational attainment and the level of Health Literacy revealed. Health Literacy was lower among older individuals, with 40.2% of those who had Inadequate Health Literacy were from the elderly age category, more females (56.3%) had Inadequate Health Literacy than males (43.7%), Adequate Health Literacy was observed among married respondents at 65.8% in the category. Health literacy varies across some socio-demographic aspects. It therefore remains imperative that interventions in scale up health literacy by various stakeholders to consider these socio-demographic aspects

Mapping isoprene emissions over North America using formaldehyde column observations from space

We present a methodology for deriving emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) using space-based column observations of formaldehyde (HCHO) and apply it to data from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) satellite instrument over North America during July 1996. The HCHO column is related to local VOC emissions, with a spatial smearing that increases with the VOC lifetime. Isoprene is the dominant HCHO precursor over North America in summer, and its lifetime (≃1 hour) is sufficiently short that the smearing can be neglected. We use the Goddard Earth Observing System global 3-D model of tropospheric chemistry (GEOS-CHEM) to derive the relationship between isoprene emissions and HCHO columns over North America and use these relationships to convert the GOME HCHO columns to isoprene emissions. We also use the GEOS-CHEM model as an intermediary to validate the GOME HCHO column measurements by comparison with in situ observations. The GEOS-CHEM model including the Global Emissions Inventory Activity (GEIA) isoprene emission inventory provides a good simulation of both the GOME data (r2 = 0.69, n = 756, bias = +11%) and the in situ summertime HCHO measurements over North America (r2 = 0.47, n = 10, bias = −3%). The GOME observations show high values over regions of known high isoprene emissions and a day-to-day variability that is consistent with the temperature dependence of isoprene emission. Isoprene emissions inferred from the GOME data are 20% less than GEIA on average over North America and twice those from the U.S. EPA Biogenic Emissions Inventory System (BEIS2) inventory. The GOME isoprene inventory when implemented in the GEOS-CHEM model provides a better simulation of the HCHO in situ measurements than either GEIA or BEIS2 (r2 = 0.71, n = 10, bias = −10%)

New Forms of Deuteron Equations and Wave Function Representations

A recently developed helicity basis for nucleon-nucleon (NN) scattering is applied to th e deuteron bound state. Here the total spin of the deuteron is treated in such a helicity representation. For the bound state, two sets of two coupled eigenvalue equations are developed, where the amplitudes depend on two and one variable, respectively. Numerical illustrations based on the realistic Bonn-B NN potential are given. In addition, an `operator form' of the deuteron wave function is presented, and several momentum dependent spin densities are derived and shown, in which the angular dependence is given analytically.Comment: 19 pages (Revtex), 9 fig

Incidence Of Pododermatitis In Broiler Reared Under Two Types Of Environment

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Housing environment is essential to achieve good broiler performance and to prevent diseases, including footpad dermatitis (FPD). The objective of this study was to determine the incidence of footpad dermatitis in broilers chickens according to housing type. The study was carried out with broilers reared for 5, 12, 19, 29 and 40 days. Four houses were used in this observational study. House 1 (A1) had positive pressure and reused litter; house 2 (A2) had positive pressure and new litter (sawdust); house 3 (A3) had positive pressure and new litter (rice husks); and house 4 (A4) had negative pressure and reused litter. During the entire experiment, air environmental and litter surface temperatures, and litter compaction were recorded. Pododermatitis was assessed by visual scoring of the footpads. Footpads were scored as function of the severity of the lesion. The comparison of means by the test of Bonferroni at 95% confidence interval showed higher incidence of footpad dermatitis in A3, probably due to the particle size of litter substrate. The lowest footpad dermatitis incidence was found in A1, with reused sawdust litter.182247253Coordination of Higher Education (CAPES)Research Support Foundation of Sao Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

A Self-consistent DFT+DMFT scheme in the Projector Augmented Wave : Applications to Cerium, Ce2O3 and Pu2O3 with the Hubbard I solver and comparison to DFT+U

An implementation of full self-consistency over the electronic density in the DFT+DMFT framework on the basis of a plane wave-projector augmented wave (PAW) DFT code is presented. It allows for an accurate calculation of the total energy in DFT+DMFT within a plane wave approach. In contrast to frameworks based on the maximally localized Wannier function, the method is easily applied to f electron systems, such as cerium, cerium oxide (Ce2O3) and plutonium oxide (Pu2O3). In order to have a correct and physical calculation of the energy terms, we find that the calculation of the self-consistent density is mandatory. The formalism is general and does not depend on the method used to solve the impurity model. Calculations are carried out within the Hubbard I approximation, which is fast to solve, and gives a good description of strongly correlated insulators. We compare the DFT+DMFT and DFT+U solutions, and underline the qualitative differences of their converged densities. We emphasize that in contrast to DFT+U, DFT+DMFT does not break the spin and orbital symmetry. As a consequence, DFT+DMFT implies, on top of a better physical description of correlated metals and insulators, a reduced occurrence of unphysical metastable solutions in correlated insulators in comparison to DFT+U.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures. This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. IOP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The Version of Record is available online at doi: 10.1088/0953-8984/24/7/07560

Predicting Adverse Outcomes in End Stage Renal Disease: Machine Learning Applied to the United States Renal Data System

We examined machine learning methods to predict death within six months using data derived from the United States Renal Data System (USRDS). We specifically evaluated a generalized linear model, a support vector machine, a decision tree and a random forest evaluated within the context of K-10 fold validation using the CARET package available within the open source architecture R program. We compared these models with the feed forward neural network strategy that we previously reported on with this data set