535 research outputs found
Quantum effective potential, electron transport and conformons in biopolymers
In the Kirchhoff model of a biopolymer, conformation dynamics can be
described in terms of solitary waves, for certain special cross-section
asymmetries. Applying this to the problem of electron transport, we show that
the quantum effective potential arising due to the bends and twists of the
polymer enables us to formalize and quantify the concept of a {\it conformon}
that has been hypothesized in biology. Its connection to the soliton solution
of the cubic nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equation emerges in a natural fashion.Comment: to appear in J. Phys.
Sputum microbiome profiling in COPD: beyond singular pathogen detection.
Culture-independent microbial sequencing techniques have revealed that the respiratory tract harbours a complex microbiome not detectable by conventional culturing methods. The contribution of the microbiome to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) pathobiology and the potential for microbiome-based clinical biomarkers in COPD are still in the early phases of investigation. Sputum is an easily obtainable sample and has provided a wealth of information on COPD pathobiology, and thus has been a preferred sample type for microbiome studies. Although the sputum microbiome likely reflects the respiratory microbiome only in part, there is increasing evidence that microbial community structure and diversity are associated with disease severity and clinical outcomes, both in stable COPD and during the exacerbations. Current evidence has been limited to mainly cross-sectional studies using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, attempting to answer the question 'who is there?' Longitudinal studies using standardised protocols are needed to answer outstanding questions including differences between sputum sampling techniques. Further, with advancing technologies, microbiome studies are shifting beyond the examination of the 16S rRNA gene, to include whole metagenome and metatranscriptome sequencing, as well as metabolome characterisation. Despite being technically more challenging, whole-genome profiling and metabolomics can address the questions 'what can they do?' and 'what are they doing?' This review provides an overview of the basic principles of high-throughput microbiome sequencing techniques, current literature on sputum microbiome profiling in COPD, and a discussion of the associated limitations and future perspectives
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Youth Gambling: The health and wellbeing of New Zealand secondary school students in 2012
Gambling has become a widely available activity in todayâs society (Hardoon & Derevensky, 2002; Turchi & Derevensky, 2006). In fact, many researchers âhave noted that an entire generation has now grown up in an era when lottery and casino gambling is widely available and heavily advertisedâ (Volberg, Gupta, Griffiths, Ălason, & Delfabbro, 2010, p. 3). Evidence suggests that it has become a popular past-time not only for adults, but also for children and young people (Derevensky & Gupta, 2000; Gupta & Derevensky, 1998a; Hardoon & Derevensky, 2002; Jacobs, 2000; Splevins, Mireskandari, Clayton, & Blaszczynski, 2010; Turchi & Derevensky, 2006). Moreover, research indicates that gambling is one of the first risky activities that adolescents become involved with (i.e. they begin gambling prior to experimentation with alcohol, drugs, sexual behaviour) (Volberg, et al., 2010). Whilst for many youth involvement in gambling does not result in problematic behaviour, others go on to experience serious problems (Dickson, Derevensky, & Gupta, 2003).
A vast range of adolescent gambling prevalence studies that have been undertaken over the past 25 years, across different countries, and incorporating general populations as well as youth specifically. Rates of youth problem gambling have often been found to be higher than the rates identified for adults (Huang & Boyer, 2007; Shaffer & Hall, 1996; Welte, Barnes, Tidwell, & Hoffman, 2008; Williams, Page, Parke, & Rigbye, 2008), with some estimating them to be more than double those of adults (Gupta & Derevensky, 1998a; Jackson, Dowling, Thomas, Bond, & Patton, 2008; Lesieur, et al., 1991), or up to three times as high (Rigbye, 2010). However, it has also been recognised that there is far less research in this field compared to that which has explored other youth risk behaviours such as substance use (Blinn-Pike, Worthy, & Jonkman, 2010).
The gap in New Zealand-based information regarding prevalence of youth gambling has been identified previously (Bellringer, et al., 2003; Rossen, Tse, & Vaidya, 2009) and in 2003 it was recommended that research be undertaken to measure the involvement of New Zealand youth in gambling as well as associated factors and gambling-related problems (Bellringer, et al., 2003). A limited body of research has since employed various sources of data to consider youth gambling in New Zealand (e.g. Gray, 2010; Ministry of Health, 2008, 2009; Rossen, 2008; Rossen, Butler, & Denny, 2011).
An extremely valuable source of information on New Zealand youth is the University of Aucklandâs (UoA) National youth health and wellbeing surveys. To date, the UoAâs Adolescent Health Research Group (AHRG) has completed three National youth health and wellbeing surveys.
The Youth2000 Survey Series aim to provide nationally representative information on the health and wellbeing of young people attending New Zealand secondary schools. The Survey Series includes a wide range of questions about issues that contribute to the health and wellbeing of young people (such as substance use, injuries and violence, home and family) and allow researchers to take an ecological approach to identifying overall risk and protective factors in young peopleâs lives. Youthâ12, a survey of 8,500 secondary school students throughout New Zealand, is the most recent survey to be undertaken by the AHRG. The inclusion of gambling items in the Youthâ12 survey provides a unique opportunity to examine the impacts of gambling and problem gambling on secondary school students throughout New Zealand within an ecological framework.
This report was commissioned by the Ministry of Health and begins with a comprehensive review of the local and international youth gambling literature, followed by an overview of the Youth2000 Survey Series and methodology for Youthâ12. A thorough analysis of Youthâ12 gambling items was undertaken with results being reported under the following eight categories (detailed results for each set of analyses are also provided in the appendices):
- Students and their own gambling (Section Five);
- Unhealthy gambling amongst students (Section Six);
- Attitudes and motivating factors towards gambling (Section Seven);
- The impacts of othersâ gambling on students (Section Eight); and,
- Risk and protective factors for student gambling (Section Nine);
- Gambling and MÄori taitamariki in Aotearoa (Section 10);
- Gambling and Pacific young people in New Zealand (Section 11); and,
- Gambling and Asian young people in New Zealand (Section 12).
Finally, a discussion chapter provides an overview of the findings and implications
Cation- and vacancy-ordering in Li_xCoO_2
Using a combination of first-principles total energies, a cluster expansion
technique, and Monte Carlo simulations, we have studied the Li/Co ordering in
LiCoO_2 and Li-vacancy/Co ordering in CoO_2. We find: (i) A ground state search
of the space of substitutional cation configurations yields the (layered) CuPt
structure as the lowest-energy state in the octahedral system LiCoO_2 (and
CoO_2), in agreement with the experimentally observed phase. (ii) Finite
temperature calculations predict that the solid-state order- disorder
transitions for LiCoO_2 and CoO_2 occur at temperatures (~5100 K and ~4400 K,
respectively) much higher than melting, thus making these transitions
experimentally inaccessible. (iii) The energy of the reaction E(LiCoO_2) -
E(CoO_2) - E(Li) gives the average battery voltage V of a Li_xCoO_2/Li cell.
Searching the space of configurations for large average voltages, we find that
CuPt (a monolayer superlattice) has a high voltage (V=3.78 V), but that
this could be increased by cation randomization (V=3.99 V), partial disordering
(V=3.86 V), or by forming a 2-layer Li_2Co_2O_4 superlattice along
(V=4.90 V).Comment: 12 Pages, RevTeX galley format, 5 figures embedded using epsf Phys.
Rev. B (in press, 1998
Meson Production in p+d Reactions
The production of neutral and charged pions as well as eta mesons is studied
in the Delta and N* resonance region, respectively. Heavy A=3 recoils were
measured with the GEM detector. The differential cross sections covering the
full angular range are compared with model calculations.Comment: 4 pages, latex, 4 figures, talk presented at the XVIIth European
Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics, Evora, Portugal, September 2000;
to be published in Nucl. Phys.
Social Workers' Attitudes Towards Public Accountability
The public demand for accountability of human services has been increasing in the United States. Despite the growing importance of public accountability as a special responsibility of social workers, little information is available in U.S. on how these pro fessionals react to the implementation of accountability programs. The survey reported in this paper was made to explore the attitudes of social workers in U.S. hospitals toward PSRO, a nationwide health care service review system. The paper presents a descriptive overview of significant aspects of American social workers' personal attitudes toward various issues of current concern about this accountability system.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67090/2/10.1177_002087288402700307.pd
On the (Non)-Integrability of KdV Hierarchy with Self-consistent Sources
Non-holonomic deformations of integrable equations of the KdV hierarchy are
studied by using the expansions over the so-called "squared solutions" (squared
eigenfunctions). Such deformations are equivalent to perturbed models with
external (self-consistent) sources. In this regard, the KdV6 equation is viewed
as a special perturbation of KdV equation. Applying expansions over the
symplectic basis of squared eigenfunctions, the integrability properties of the
KdV hierarchy with generic self-consistent sources are analyzed. This allows
one to formulate a set of conditions on the perturbation terms that preserve
the integrability. The perturbation corrections to the scattering data and to
the corresponding action-angle variables are studied. The analysis shows that
although many nontrivial solutions of KdV equations with generic
self-consistent sources can be obtained by the Inverse Scattering Transform
(IST), there are solutions that, in principle, can not be obtained via IST.
Examples are considered showing the complete integrability of KdV6 with
perturbations that preserve the eigenvalues time-independent. In another type
of examples the soliton solutions of the perturbed equations are presented
where the perturbed eigenvalue depends explicitly on time. Such equations,
however in general, are not completely integrable.Comment: 16 pages, no figures, LaTe
Measurement of p + d -> 3He + eta in S(11) Resonance
We have measured the reaction p + d -> 3He + eta at a proton beam energy of
980 MeV, which is 88.5 MeV above threshold using the new ``germanium wall''
detector system. A missing--mass resolution of the detector system of 2.6% was
achieved. The angular distribution of the meson is forward peaked. We found a
total cross section of (573 +- 83(stat.) +- 69(syst.))nb. The excitation
function for the present reaction is described by a Breit Wigner form with
parameters from photoproduction.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, corrected typos in heade
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