14,749 research outputs found
Some new results concerning the vacuum in Dirac Hole Theory
In Dirac's hole theory the vacuum state is generally believed to be the state
of minimum energy. It will be shown that this is not, in fact, the case and
that there must exist states in hole theory with less energy than the vacuum
state. It will be shown that energy can be extracted from the hole theory
vacuum state through the application of an electric field.Comment: Accepted by Physica Scripta, 19 page
Aldosterone status associates with insulin resistance in patients with heart failure-data from the ALOFT study
<b>Background</b>: Aldosterone plays a key role in the pathophysiology of heart failure. In around 50% of such patients, aldosterone 'escapes' from inhibition by drugs that interrupt the renin-angiotensin axis; such patients have a worse clinical outcome. Insulin resistance is a risk factor in heart failure and cardiovascular disease. The relationship between aldosterone status and insulin sensitivity was investigated in a cohort of heart failure patients.
<b>Methods</b>: 302 patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) class II-IV heart failure on conventional therapy were randomized in ALiskiren Observation of heart Failure Treatment study (ALOFT), designed to test the safety of a directly acting renin inhibitor. Plasma aldosterone and 24-hour urinary aldosterone excretion as well as fasting insulin and Homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were measured. Subjects with aldosterone escape and high urinary aldosterone were identified according to previously accepted definitions.
<b>Results</b>: Twenty per-cent of subjects demonstrated aldosterone escape and 34% had high urinary aldosterone levels. At baseline, there was a positive correlation between fasting insulin and plasma(r=0.22 p<0.01) and urinary aldosterone(r=0.19 p<0.03). Aldosterone escape and high urinary aldosterone subjects both demonstrated higher levels of fasting insulin (p<0.008, p<0.03), HOMA-IR (p<0.06, p<0.03) and insulin-glucose ratios (p<0.006, p<0.06) when compared to low aldosterone counterparts. All associations remained significant when adjusted for potential confounders.
<b>Conclusions</b>: This study demonstrates a novel direct relationship between aldosterone status and insulin resistance in heart failure. This observation merits further study and may identify an additional mechanism that contributes to the adverse clinical outcome associated with aldosterone escape
Application of remote sensing to state and regional problems
The methods and procedures used, accomplishments, current status, and future plans are discussed for each of the following applications of LANDSAT in Mississippi: (1) land use planning in Lowndes County; (2) strip mine inventory and reclamation; (3) white-tailed deer habitat evaluation; (4) remote sensing data analysis support systems; (5) discrimination of unique forest habitats in potential lignite areas; (6) changes in gravel operations; and (7) determining freshwater wetlands for inventory and monitoring. The documentation of all existing software and the integration of the image analysis and data base software into a single package are now considered very high priority items
Dynamical Scaling from Multi-Scale Measurements
We present a new measure of the Dynamical Critical behavior: the "Multi-scale
Dynamical Exponent (MDE)"Comment: 9 pages,Latex, Request figures from [email protected]
Phase transitions in the q-voter model with two types of stochastic driving
In this paper we study nonlinear -voter model with stochastic driving on a
complete graph. We investigate two types of stochasticity that, using the
language of social sciences, can be interpreted as different kinds of
nonconformity. From a social point of view, it is very important to distinguish
between two types nonconformity, so called anti-conformity and independence. A
majority of works suggests that these social differences may be completely
irrelevant in terms of microscopic modeling that uses tools of statistical
physics and that both types of nonconformity play the role of so called 'social
temperature'. In this paper we clarify the concept of 'social temperature' and
show that different type of 'noise' may lead to qualitatively different
emergent properties. In particularly, we show that in the model with
anti-conformity the critical value of noise increases with parameter ,
whereas in the model with independence the critical value of noise decreases
with the . Moreover, in the model with anti-conformity the phase transition
is continuous for any value of , whereas in the model with independence the
transition is continuous for and discontinuous for
55 Eplerenone benefit in patients with elevated baseline heart rate in the EPHESUS trial
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/106670/1/ehfs80020-7.pd
Structure and dynamics of colloidal depletion gels: coincidence of transitions and heterogeneity
Transitions in structural heterogeneity of colloidal depletion gels formed
through short-range attractive interactions are correlated with their dynamical
arrest. The system is a density and refractive index matched suspension of 0.20
volume fraction poly(methyl methacyrlate) colloids with the non-adsorbing
depletant polystyrene added at a size ratio of depletant to colloid of 0.043.
As the strength of the short-range attractive interaction is increased,
clusters become increasingly structurally heterogeneous, as characterized by
number-density fluctuations, and dynamically immobilized, as characterized by
the single-particle mean-squared displacement. The number of free colloids in
the suspension also progressively declines. As an immobile cluster to gel
transition is traversed, structural heterogeneity abruptly decreases.
Simultaneously, the mean single-particle dynamics saturates at a localization
length on the order of the short-range attractive potential range. Both
immobile cluster and gel regimes show dynamical heterogeneity. Non-Gaussian
distributions of single particle displacements reveal enhanced populations of
dynamical trajectories localized on two different length scales. Similar
dependencies of number density fluctuations, free particle number and dynamical
length scales on the order of the range of short-range attraction suggests a
collective structural origin of dynamic heterogeneity in colloidal gels.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figure
Tracer Applications of Noble Gas Radionuclides in the Geosciences
The noble gas radionuclides, including 81Kr (half-life = 229,000 yr), 85Kr
(11 yr), and 39Ar (269 yr), possess nearly ideal chemical and physical
properties for studies of earth and environmental processes. Recent advances in
Atom Trap Trace Analysis (ATTA), a laser-based atom counting method, have
enabled routine measurements of the radiokrypton isotopes, as well as the
demonstration of the ability to measure 39Ar in environmental samples. Here we
provide an overview of the ATTA technique, and a survey of recent progress made
in several laboratories worldwide. We review the application of noble gas
radionuclides in the geosciences and discuss how ATTA can help advance these
fields, specifically determination of groundwater residence times using 81Kr,
85Kr, and 39Ar; dating old glacial ice using 81Kr; and an 39Ar survey of the
main water masses of the oceans, to study circulation pathways and estimate
mean residence times. Other scientific questions involving deeper circulation
of fluids in the Earth's crust and mantle also are within the scope of future
applications. We conclude that the geoscience community would greatly benefit
from an ATTA facility dedicated to this field, with instrumentation for routine
measurements, as well as for research on further development of ATTA methods
Exciton and negative trion dissociation by an external electric field in vertically coupled quantum dots
We study the Stark effect for an exciton confined in a pair of vertically
coupled quantum dots. A single-band approximation for the hole and a parabolic
lateral confinement potential are adopted which allows for the separation of
the lateral center-of-mass motion and consequently for an exact numerical
solution of the Schr\"odinger equation. We show that for intermediate tunnel
coupling the external electric field leads to the dissociation of the exciton
via an avoided crossing of bright and dark exciton energy levels which results
in an atypical form of the Stark shift. The electric-field-induced dissociation
of the negative trion is studied using the approximation of frozen lateral
degrees of freedom. It is shown that in a symmetric system of coupled dots the
trion is more stable against dissociation than the exciton. For an asymmetric
system of coupled dots the trion dissociation is accompanied by a positive
curvature of the recombination energy line as a function of the electric field.Comment: PRB - in prin
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