Effects of the Nearest-Neighbour Coulomb Interactions on the Ground State of the Periodic Anderson Model

The magnetic and non-magnetic ground states of the periodic Anderson model with Coulomb interaction between $f$-electrons on the nearest-neighbour(NN) sites are investigated using a variational method, which gives exact calculation of the expectation values in the limit of infinite dimensions. It is shown that for a critical value of NN Coulomb interactions the magnetic ground state of the periodic Anderson model in the Kondo regime is unstable. Factors in terms of the physical processes responsible for instability of the magnetic ground state are also discussed. Our study indicates the importance of the NN Coulomb interactions for correlated two band models.Comment: RevTeX, 6 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Serum uric acid as marker of severity of pre-eclampsia

Background: In pre-eclampsia, there is increased uteroplacental resistance and reduced foetal perfusion due to inadequate invasion of spiral arterioles by trophoblast cells. This causes impaired foetal growth and foetal hypoxia. To assess the usefulness of foetal Doppler in predicting adverse perinatal outcome in preeclampsia.Methods: All the women with preeclampsia from 30 weeks onwards were enrolled in the study. The umblical artery (UA) Systolic-diastolic (S/D) ratio >2 standard deviation (SD) or UA - Pulsatility Index (PI) and UA - Resistive Index (RI) >2 SD were taken as abnormal. The middle cerebral artery (MCA) was visualised and cerebroumblical PI ratio calculated. MCA-RI 2SD (RR 4.46, 95%, CI 1.40-14.17) and RI >2SD (RR 3.36, 95%, CI 1.03-10.61) and MCA RI 2SD predicted acute foetal distress in labour (RR 2.33, 95% CI 1.21-4.47), there was no association on multivariate regression analysis.Conclusions: This study showed UA-S/D ratio and UA-RI >2SD are significant predictors of perinatal deaths and immediate neonatal resuscitation in preeclampsia. Acute foetal distress in labour or neonatal nursery admission could not be predicted

Cooperating Agents for 3D Scientific Data Interpretation

Many organizations collect vast quantities of three-dimensional (3-D) scientific data in volumetric form for a range of purposes, including resource exploration, market forecasting, and process modelling. Traditionally, these data have been interpreted by human experts with only minimal software assistance. However, such manual interpretation is a painstakingly slow and tedious process. Moreover, since interpretation involves subjective judgements and each interpreter has different scientific knowledge and experience, formulation of an effective interpretation often requires the cooperation of numerous such experts. Hence, there is a pressing need for a software system in which individual interpretations can be generated automatically and then refined through the use of cooperative reasoning and information sharing. To this end, a prototype system, SurfaceMapper, has been developed in which a community of cooperating software agents automatically locate and display interpretations in a volume of 3-D scientific data. The challenges and experiences in designing and building such a system are discussed. Particular emphasis is given to the agents' interactions and an empirical evaluation of the effectiveness of different cooperation strategies is presented

Maternal mortality: a tertiary centre panic

Background: Maternal death has a serious implication on the family, society and nation. The preventable and avoidable factors have been noted in most of the maternal deaths and these can be reduced by effective and affordable actions. The objective of present study was to evaluate the causes of maternal mortality in a tertiary care hospital, assess its epidemiological aspects and suggest remedial measures to reduce the same.Methods: A retrospective study of all hospital records and death summaries of all maternal deaths over a period of 16 months from April 2015 to July 2016 was carried out and epidemiological factors and causes affecting maternal mortality were assessed.Results: A total of 100 maternal deaths occurred over a period of 15 months out of which unbooked and late referrals constituted 75.55 % of maternal deaths. Most maternal deaths occurred in the age group of 20–30 years, multiparous women (73%) and women from rural areas (71.%). Direct obstetric causes were responsible for 91 maternal deaths whereas 50 maternal deaths were due to indirect causes. Most common cause of death (41) was hemorrhage, followed by pregnancy-induced hypertension including eclampsia (15) and sepsis (21).Conclusions: Hemorrhage, sepsis and hypertension including eclampsia were seen as the direct major causes of death. There is a wide scope of improvement because a large proportion of the observed deaths are preventable

Just wrong? Or just WEIRD? Investigating the prevalence of moral dumbfounding in non-Western samples

Moral dumbfounding is the phenomenon that is observed when people defend a moral judgement even though they cannot provide a reason for this judgement. Dumbfounded responding may include admitting to not having reasons, or the use of unsupported declarations (e.g., “It’s just wrong”) as justification for a judgement. Published evidence for dumbfounding has drawn exclusively on samples of WEIRD backgrounds (Western, educated, industrialised, rich, and democratic), and it remains unclear whether the phenomenon is generalilsable to other populations. In three studies we apply a standardised moral dumbfounding task, and show evidence for moral dumbfounding in a Chinese sample (Study 1), an Indian sample (Study 2), and a mixed sample primarily from North Africa and the Middle East (MENA region, Study 3)

Thermal stress analysis in a functionally graded hollow elliptic-cylinder subjected to uniform temperature distribution

In this paper, an analytical method of a thermoelastic problem for a medium with functionally graded material properties is developed in a theoretical manner for the elliptic-cylindrical coordinate system under the assumption that the material properties except for Poisson’s ratio and density are assumed to vary arbitrarily with the exponential law in the radial direction. An attempt has been made to reconsider the fundamental system of equations for functionally graded solids in a two-dimensional state under thermal and mechanical loads. The general solution of displacement formulation is obtained by the introduction of appropriate transformation and carried out the analysis by taking into account the variation of inhomogeneity parameters. Furthermore, the aforementioned problem degenerated into the problem of the circular region by applying limiting conditions, and the results are validated. Numerical computations are carried out for ceramic-metal-based functionally graded material, in which zirconia is selected as ceramic and aluminium as metal and are represented graphically

Thermoelastic analysis of a nonhomogeneous hollow cylinder with internal heat generation

In the present paper, we have determined the heat conduction and thermal stresses of a hollow cylinder with inhomogeneous material properties and internal heat generation. All the material properties except Poisson’s ratio and density are assumed to be given by a simple power law in axial direction. We have obtained the solution of the two dimensional heat conduction equation in the transient state in terms of Bessel’s and trigonometric functions. The influence of inhomogeneity on the thermal and mechanical behavior is examined. Numerical computations are carried out for both homogeneous and nonhomogeneous cylinders and are represented graphically

Magnetic properties of polypyrrole - coated iron oxide nanoparticles

Iron oxide nanoparticles were prepared by sol -gel process. Insitu polymerization of pyrrole monomer in the presence of oxygen in iron oxide ethanol suspension resulted in a iron oxide - polypyrrole nanocomposite. The structure and magnetic properties were investigated for varying pyrrole concentrations. The presence of the gamma - iron oxide phase and polypyrrole were confirmed by XRD and FTIR respectively. Agglomeration was found to be comparatively much reduced for the coated samples, as shown by TEM. AC susceptibility measurements confirmed the superparamagnetic behaviour. Numerical simulations performed for an interacting model system are performed to estimate the anisotropy and compare favourably with experimental results.Comment: 11 pages,8 figure

An Unusual Case of Urinary Tract Infection in a Pregnant Woman With Photobacterium damsela

We describe a case of a urinary tract infection with an unusual pathogen, Photobacterium damsela, in a pregnant female. This pathogen has been described as having a virulent life threatening nature, so a detailed history and prompt treatment is needed