20,028 research outputs found
Gastric perforation and pancreatitis manifesting after an inadvertent nissen fundoplication in a patient with superior mesenteric artery syndrome.
Superior mesenteric artery (SMA) syndrome is an uncommon but well-recognized clinical entity. It can lead to proximal small bowel obstruction and severe morbidity and mortality in lieu of late diagnosis and concomitant existing comorbidities. We report a 54-year-old female, with SMA syndrome which manifested itself after Nissen fundoplication along with two major complications. The diagnosis of SMA was established by clinical symptoms and radiological findings
Methods for the identification of material parameters in distributed models for flexible structures
Theoretical and numerical results are presented for inverse problems involving estimation of spatially varying parameters such as stiffness and damping in distributed models for elastic structures such as Euler-Bernoulli beams. An outline of algorithms used and a summary of computational experiences are presented
On a generalized quantum SWAP gate
The SWAP gate plays a central role in network designs for qubit quantum computation. However, there has been a view to generalize qubit quantum computing to higher dimensional quantum systems. In this paper we construct a generalized SWAP gate using only instances of the generalized controlled-NOT gate to cyclically permute the states of d qudits for d prime
ORFEUS II and IUE Spectroscopy of EX Hydrae
Using ORFEUS-SPAS II FUV spectra, IUE UV spectra, and archival EUVE deep
survey photometry, we present a detailed picture of the behavior of the
magnetic cataclysmic variable EX Hydrae. Like HUT spectra of this source, the
FUV and UV spectra reveal broad emission lines of He II, C II-IV, N III and V,
O VI, Si III-IV, and Al III superposed on a continuum which is blue in the UV
and nearly flat in the FUV. Like ORFEUS spectra of AM Her, the O VI doublet is
resolved into broad and narrow emission components. Consistent with its
behavior in the optical, the FUV and UV continuum flux densities, the FUV and
UV broad emission line fluxes, and the radial velocity of the O VI broad
emission component all vary on the spin phase of the white dwarf, with the
maximum of the FUV and UV continuum and broad emission line flux light curves
coincident with maximum blueshift of the broad O VI emission component. On the
binary phase, the broad dip in the EUV light curve is accompanied by strong
eclipses of the UV emission lines and by variations in both the flux and radial
velocity of the O VI narrow emission component. The available data are
consistent with the accretion funnel being the source of the FUV and UV
continuum and the O VI broad emission component, and the white dwarf being the
source of the O VI narrow emission component.Comment: 21 pages, 10 Postscript figures; LaTeX format, uses aaspp4.sty;
table2.tex included separately because it must be printed sideways - see
instructions in the file; accepted on 1999 Feb 20 for publication in The
Astrophysical Journa
Training a perceptron in a discrete weight space
On-line and batch learning of a perceptron in a discrete weight space, where
each weight can take different values, are examined analytically and
numerically. The learning algorithm is based on the training of the continuous
perceptron and prediction following the clipped weights. The learning is
described by a new set of order parameters, composed of the overlaps between
the teacher and the continuous/clipped students. Different scenarios are
examined among them on-line learning with discrete/continuous transfer
functions and off-line Hebb learning. The generalization error of the clipped
weights decays asymptotically as / in the case of on-line learning with binary/continuous activation
functions, respectively, where is the number of examples divided by N,
the size of the input vector and is a positive constant that decays
linearly with 1/L. For finite and , a perfect agreement between the
discrete student and the teacher is obtained for . A crossover to the generalization error ,
characterized continuous weights with binary output, is obtained for synaptic
depth .Comment: 10 pages, 5 figs., submitted to PR
Geodetic, teleseismic, and strong motion constraints on slip from recent southern Peru subduction zone earthquakes
We use seismic and geodetic data both jointly and separately to constrain coseismic slip from the 12 November 1996 M_w 7.7 and 23 June 2001 M_w 8.5 southern Peru subduction zone earthquakes, as well as two large aftershocks following the 2001 earthquake on 26 June and 7 July 2001. We use all available data in our inversions: GPS, interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) from the ERS-1, ERS-2, JERS, and RADARSAT-1 satellites, and seismic data from teleseismic and strong motion stations. Our two-dimensional slip models derived from only teleseismic body waves from South American subduction zone earthquakes with M_w > 7.5 do not reliably predict available geodetic data. In particular, we find significant differences in the distribution of slip for the 2001 earthquake from models that use only seismic (teleseismic and two strong motion stations) or geodetic (InSAR and GPS) data. The differences might be related to postseismic deformation or, more likely, the different sensitivities of the teleseismic and geodetic data to coseismic rupture properties. The earthquakes studied here follow the pattern of earthquake directivity along the coast of western South America, north of 5°S, earthquakes rupture to the north; south of about 12°S, directivity is southerly; and in between, earthquakes are bilateral. The predicted deformation at the Arequipa GPS station from the seismic-only slip model for the 7 July 2001 aftershock is not consistent with significant preseismic motion
Interstitial gas and density-segregation in vertically-vibrated granular media
We report experimental studies of the effect of interstitial gas on
mass-density-segregation in a vertically-vibrated mixture of equal-sized bronze
and glass spheres. Sufficiently strong vibration in the presence of
interstitial gas induces vertical segregation into sharply separated bronze and
glass layers. We find that the segregated steady state (i.e., bronze or glass
layer on top) is a sensitive function of gas pressure and viscosity, as well as
vibration frequency and amplitude. In particular, we identify distinct regimes
of behavior that characterize the change from bronze-on-top to glass-on-top
steady-state.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PRL; accepted in PRE as rapid
communication, with revised text and reference
MSW-like Enhancements without Matter
We study the effects of a scalar field, coupled only to neutrinos, on
oscillations among weak interaction current eigenstates. The effect of a real
scalar field appears as effective masses for the neutrino mass eigenstates, the
same for \nbar as for \n. Under some conditions, this can lead to a
vanishing of , giving rise to MSW-like effects. We discuss some
examples and show that it is possible to resolve the apparent discrepancy in
spectra required by r-process nucleosynthesis in the mantles of supernovae and
by Solar neutrino solutions.Comment: 9 pages, latex, 1 figur
Attorney-Client Confidentiality and the Assessment of Claimants Who Allege Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was first recognized by the American Psychiatric Association in 1980. A PTSD diagnosis requires an individual or individual\u27s loved ones to have experienced a traumatic event that was a threat to life or physical integrity and caused the individual to react to the incident with a specific number of avoidance, reexperiencing, and hyper-arousal symptoms. Obtaining a PTSD diagnosis can be of great value to a personal-injury plaintiff who claims damages due to a traumatic event. Further, if the traumatic event is unquestioned and the individual reports the classic symptoms, a PTSD diagnosis is relatively easy to apply and difficult to disprove. These plaintiffs will most often be examined and evaluated by mental-health professionals retained by the defendants. The question of whether the claimant was told or provided materials about common PTSD symptoms is crucial to the defense evaluator\u27s accurate PTSD assessment. One source of such information would be plaintiffs counsel, but questions concerning information provided by counsel implicate the attorney-client privilege. This Article suggests that the policy bases underlying the attorney-client privilege and protecting a defendant\u27s right to test the validity of a plaintiff\u27s claims are best served by the creation of a narrowly drawn waiver or exception to the attorney-client privilege. Consistent with the patient-litigant exception to the physician-patient privilege, the proposed exception would be limited to those matters directly related to the nature, diagnosis, and symptoms of PTSD placed in issue by the plaintiff. The exception would also be limited to statements and materials about PTSD symptoms the attorney provided the client. This Article also notes the difficult ethical boundary between an attorney providing essential advice to a client about the nature of emotional and psychological damages versus improper coaching. The proposed exception would help discourage improper coaching and lead to the discovery of any improper coaching that had already occurred. Even where the information provided by the attorney was appropriate from an ethical standpoint, discovery of that information is essential to an accurate diagnosis and fairness to defendants
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