2,093 research outputs found

    Scaling law in target-hunting processes

    Full text link
    We study the hunting process for a target, in which the hunter tracks the goal by smelling odors it emits. The odor intensity is supposed to decrease with the distance it diffuses. The Monte Carlo experiment is carried out on a 2-dimensional square lattice. Having no idea of the location of the target, the hunter determines its moves only by random attempts in each direction. By sorting the searching time in each simulation and introducing a variable xx to reflect the sequence of searching time, we obtain a curve with a wide plateau, indicating a most probable time of successfully finding out the target. The simulations reveal a scaling law for the searching time versus the distance to the position of the target. The scaling exponent depends on the sensitivity of the hunter. Our model may be a prototype in studying such the searching processes as various foods-foraging behavior of the wild animals.Comment: 7 figure

    The Passionate Fictions of Eliza Haywood: Essays on Her Life and Work

    Get PDF
    The most prolific woman writer of the eighteenth century, Eliza Haywood (1693-1756?) was a key player in the history of the English novel. Along with her contemporary Defoe, she did more than any other writer to create a market for fiction prior to the emergence of Richardson, Fielding, and Smollett. Also one of Augustan England\u27s most popular authors, Haywood came to fame in 1719 with the publication of her first novel, Love in Excess. In addition to writing fiction, she was a playwright, translator, bookseller, actress, theater critic, and editor of The Female Spectator , the first English periodical written by women for women. Though tremendously popular, her novels and plays from the 1720s and 30s scandalized the reading public with explicit portrayals of female sexuality and led others to call her the Great Arbitress of Passion. Essays in this collection explore themes such as the connections between Haywood\u27s early and late work, her experiments with the form of the novel, her involvement in party politics, her use of myth and plot devices, and her intense interest in the imbalance of power between men and women. Distinguished scholars such as Paula Backschieder, Felicity Nussbaum, and John Richetti approach Haywood from a number of theoretical and topical positions, leading the way in a crucial reexamination of her work. The Passionate Fictions of Eliza Haywood examines the formal and ideological complexities of her prose and demonstrates how Haywood\u27s texts deft traditional schematization. After reading the professionally written essays that provide both historically based analysis and close readings of single texts, we see Eliza Haywood in a different light. -- East-Central Intelligencer The editors approach Haywood from a number of theoretical positions, leading the way in a crucial re-examination of her work. -- Educational Book Review The publication of this welcome volume of essays marks a pivotal moment in Haywood scholarship. . . . Much in the collection will make a decisive contribution. -- Eighteenth-Century Fiction Serves to confirm the increasingly canonical status of Haywood. -- Eighteenth-Century Studies Saxton and Bocchicchio deserve congratulations and applause for their initiative in putting together this long-needed collection of critical essays on Eliza Haywood. The great strength of the collection is its range. It will be welcomed as an extremely important contribution by a large and varied community of scholars and critics. -- Jerry C. Beasley Provides an excellent comprehensive variety of approaches to the work of Eliza Haywood, whose novels and writing have in the past few years come to be essentially canonical. -- Martha Bowden Marks a new stage in Haywood criticism. . . . The Haywood that emerges from this collection is as varied and complex as the different approaches now being taken to her work. -- Review of English Studies Will be required reading not just for students of eighteenth-century literature but also for feminist critics and historians of the novel. -- Sandra M. Gilbert The deliberative and complex Haywood who emerges from this collection is a welcome advance over earlier images of a lightweight hack driven by market forces. -- Studies in the Novelhttps://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_english_language_and_literature_british_isles/1002/thumbnail.jp

    Economic Analysis of Children's Surgical Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Analysis.

    Get PDF
    BackgroundUnderstanding the economic value of health interventions is essential for policy makers to make informed resource allocation decisions. The objective of this systematic review was to summarize available information on the economic impact of children's surgical care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).MethodsWe searched MEDLINE (Pubmed), Embase, and Web of Science for relevant articles published between Jan. 1996 and Jan. 2015. We summarized reported cost information for individual interventions by country, including all costs, disability weights, health outcome measurements (most commonly disability-adjusted life years [DALYs] averted) and cost-effectiveness ratios (CERs). We calculated median CER as well as societal economic benefits (using a human capital approach) by procedure group across all studies. The methodological quality of each article was assessed using the Drummond checklist and the overall quality of evidence was summarized using a scale adapted from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.FindingsWe identified 86 articles that met inclusion criteria, spanning 36 groups of surgical interventions. The procedure group with the lowest median CER was inguinal hernia repair (15/DALY).Theproceduregroupwiththehighestmediansocietaleconomicbenefitwasneurosurgicalprocedures(15/DALY). The procedure group with the highest median societal economic benefit was neurosurgical procedures (58,977). We found a wide range of study quality, with only 35% of studies having a Drummond score ≥ 7.InterpretationOur findings show that many areas of children's surgical care are extremely cost-effective in LMICs, provide substantial societal benefits, and are an appropriate target for enhanced investment. Several areas, including inguinal hernia repair, trichiasis surgery, cleft lip and palate repair, circumcision, congenital heart surgery and orthopedic procedures, should be considered "Essential Pediatric Surgical Procedures" as they offer considerable economic value. However, there are major gaps in existing research quality and methodology which limit our current understanding of the economic value of surgical care

    Adhesives for laminating polyimide insulated flat conductor cable

    Get PDF
    Polymer adhesive laminates polyimide-film flat conductor cable. It is obtained by reacting an appropriate diamine with a dianhydride. The adhesive has also been used in the lamination of copper to copper for the preparation of multilayer circuit boards

    Effectiveness of diet and physical activity interventions amongst adults attending colorectal and breast cancer screening: a systematic review and meta-analysis

    Get PDF
    Purpose: To estimate the effectiveness of tailored physical activity and dietary interventions amongst adults attending colorectal and breast cancer screening. Methods: Five literature databases were systematically searched to identify randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of tailored physical activity and/or dietary interventions with follow-up support initiated through colorectal and breast cancer screening programmes. Outcomes included markers of body fatness, physical activity, and dietary intake. Mean differences (MDs) or standardised mean differences (SMDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were pooled using random effects models. Results: Five RCTs met the inclusion criteria encompassing a total of 722 participants. Diet and physical activity interventions led to statistically significant reductions in body mass (MD − 1.6 kg, 95% CI − 2.7 to − 0.39 kg; I2 = 81%; low quality evidence), body mass index (MD − 0.78 kg/m2, 95% CI − 1.1 to − 0.50 kg/m2; I2 = 21%; moderate quality evidence), and waist circumference (MD − 2.9 cm, 95% CI − 3.8 to − 1.91; I2 = 0%; moderate quality evidence), accompanied by an increase in physical activity (SMD 0.31, 95% CI 0.13 to 0.50; I2 = 0%; low quality evidence) and fruit and vegetable intake (SMD 0.33, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.64; I2 = 51%; low quality evidence). Conclusion: There is low quality evidence that lifestyle interventions involving follow-up support lead to modest weight loss and increased physical activity and fruit and vegetable intake. Due to the modest intervention effects, low quality of evidence and small number of studies, further rigorously designed RCTs with long-term follow-up of modifiable risk factors and embedded cost–benefit analyses are warranted (PROSPERO ref: CRD42020179960)

    Facial resemblance between women's partners and brothers

    Get PDF
    Research on optimal outbreeding describes the greater reproductive success experienced on average by couples who are neither too closely related, nor too genetically dissimilar. How is optimal outbreeding achieved? Faces that subtly resemble family members could present useful cues to a potential reproductive partner with an optimal level of genetic dissimilarity. Here, we present the first empirical data that heterosexual women select partners who resemble their brothers. Raters ranked the facial similarity between a woman's male partner, and that woman's brother compared to foils. In a multilevel ordinal logistic regression that modeled variability in both the stimuli and the raters, there was clear evidence for perceptual similarity in facial photographs of a woman's partner and her brother. That is, although siblings themselves are sexually aversive, sibling resemblance is not. The affective responses of disgust and attraction may be calibrated to distinguish close kin from individuals with some genetic dissimilarity during partner choice

    The Dynamics of Radiative Shock Waves: Linear and Nonlinear Evolution

    Get PDF
    The stability properties of one-dimensional radiative shocks with a power-law cooling function of the form Λρ2Tα\Lambda \propto \rho^2T^\alpha are the main subject of this work. The linear analysis originally presented by Chevalier & Imamura, is thoroughfully reviewed for several values of the cooling index α\alpha and higher overtone modes. Consistently with previous results, it is shown that the spectrum of the linear operator consists in a series of modes with increasing oscillation frequency. For each mode a critical value of the cooling index, αc\alpha_\textrm{c}, can be defined so that modes with α<αc\alpha < \alpha_\textrm{c} are unstable, while modes with α>αc\alpha > \alpha_\textrm{c} are stable. The perturbative analysis is complemented by several numerical simulations to follow the time-dependent evolution of the system for different values of α\alpha. Particular attention is given to the comparison between numerical and analytical results (during the early phases of the evolution) and to the role played by different boundary conditions. It is shown that an appropriate treatment of the lower boundary yields results that closely follow the predicted linear behavior. During the nonlinear regime, the shock oscillations saturate at a finite amplitude and tend to a quasi-periodic cycle. The modes of oscillations during this phase do not necessarily coincide with those predicted by linear theory, but may be accounted for by mode-mode coupling.Comment: 33 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication on the Astrophysical Journa
    corecore