656 research outputs found
Intrinsic Decoherence Dynamics in Smooth Hamiltonian Systems: Quantum-classical Correspondence
A direct classical analog of the quantum dynamics of intrinsic decoherence in
Hamiltonian systems, characterized by the time dependence of the linear entropy
of the reduced density operator, is introduced. The similarities and
differences between the classical and quantum decoherence dynamics of an
initial quantum state are exposed using both analytical and computational
results. In particular, the classicality of early-time intrinsic decoherence
dynamics is explored analytically using a second-order perturbative treatment,
and an interesting connection between decoherence rates and the stability
nature of classical trajectories is revealed in a simple approximate classical
theory of intrinsic decoherence dynamics. The results offer new insights into
decoherence, dynamics of quantum entanglement, and quantum chaos.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, to appear in Physical Review
Assessing patient-reported outcomes for automated insulin delivery systems: the psychometric properties of the INSPIRE measures.
AIM: Participants in clinical trials assessing automated insulin delivery systems report perceived benefits and burdens that reflect their experiences and may predict their likelihood of uptake and continued use of this novel technology. Despite the importance of understanding their perspectives, there are no available validated and reliable measures assessing the psychosocial aspects of automated insulin delivery systems. The present study assesses the initial psychometric properties of the INSPIRE measures, which were developed for youth and adults with Type 1 diabetes, as well as parents and partners. METHODS: Data from 292 youth, 159 adults, 150 parents of youth and 149 partners of individuals recruited from the Type 1 Diabetes Exchange Registry were analysed. Participants completed INSPIRE questionnaires and measures of quality of life, fear of hypoglycaemia, diabetes distress, glucose monitoring satisfaction. Exploratory factor analysis assessed factor structures. Associations between INSPIRE scores and other measures, HbA1c , and technology use assessed concurrent and discriminant validity. RESULTS: Youth, adult, parent and partner measures assess positive expectancies of automated insulin delivery systems. Measures range from 17 to 22 items and are reliable (α = 0.95-0.97). Youth, adult and parent measures are unidimensional; the partner measure has a two-factor structure (perceptions of impact on partners versus the person with diabetes). Measures showed concurrent and discriminant validity. CONCLUSIONS: INSPIRE measures assessing the positive expectancies of automated insulin delivery systems for youth, adults, parents and partners have meaningful factor structures and are internally consistent. The developmentally sensitive INSPIRE measures offer added value as clinical trials test newer systems, systems become commercially available and clinicians initiate using these systems
A model of the Universe including Dark Energy accounted for by both a Quintessence Field and a (negative) Cosmological Constant
In this work we present a model of the universe in which dark energy is
modelled explicitely with both a dynamical quintessence field and a
cosmological constant. Our results confirm the possibility of a future
collapsing universe (for a given region of the parameter space), which is
necessary for a consistent formulation of string theory and quantum field
theory. We have also reproduced the measurements of modulus distance from
supernovae with good accuracy.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, only the results for the single exponential
potential are preserved. One author added. Some changes in the reference
section. Submitted to Physical Review
Equatorial circular orbits in the Kerr-de Sitter spacetimes
Equatorial motion of test particles in the Kerr-de Sitter spacetimes is
considered. Circular orbits are determined, their properties are discussed for
both the black-hole and naked-singularity spacetimes, and their relevance for
thin accretion discs is established.Comment: 24 pages, 19 figures, REVTeX
Magnetic and charge structures in itinerant-electron magnets: Coexistence of multiple SDW and CDW
A theory of Kondo lattices is applied to studying possible magnetic and
charge structures of itinerant-electron antiferromagnets. Even helical spin
structures can be stabilized when the nesting of the Fermi surface is not sharp
and the superexchange interaction, which arises from the virtual exchange of
pair excitations across the Mott-Hubbard gap, is mainly responsible for
magnetic instability. Sinusoidal spin structures or spin density waves (SDW)
are only stabilized when the nesting of the Fermi surface is sharp enough and a
novel exchange interaction arising from that of pair excitations of
quasi-particles is mainly responsible for magnetic instability. In particular,
multiple SDW are stabilized when their incommensurate ordering wave-numbers
are multiple; magnetizations of different components
are orthogonal to each other in double and triple SDW when magnetic anisotropy
is weak enough. Unless are commensurate, charge density waves
(CDW) with coexist with SDW with . Because the
quenching of magnetic moments by the Kondo effect depends on local numbers of
electrons, the phase of CDW or electron densities is such that magnetic moments
are large where the quenching is weak. It is proposed that the so called stipe
order in cuprate-oxide high-temperature superconductors must be the coexisting
state of double incommensurate SDW and CDW.Comment: 10 pages, no figure
Lubricating Bacteria Model for Branching growth of Bacterial Colonies
Various bacterial strains (e.g. strains belonging to the genera Bacillus,
Paenibacillus, Serratia and Salmonella) exhibit colonial branching patterns
during growth on poor semi-solid substrates. These patterns reflect the
bacterial cooperative self-organization. Central part of the cooperation is the
collective formation of lubricant on top of the agar which enables the bacteria
to swim. Hence it provides the colony means to advance towards the food. One
method of modeling the colonial development is via coupled reaction-diffusion
equations which describe the time evolution of the bacterial density and the
concentrations of the relevant chemical fields. This idea has been pursued by a
number of groups. Here we present an additional model which specifically
includes an evolution equation for the lubricant excreted by the bacteria. We
show that when the diffusion of the fluid is governed by nonlinear diffusion
coefficient branching patterns evolves. We study the effect of the rates of
emission and decomposition of the lubricant fluid on the observed patterns. The
results are compared with experimental observations. We also include fields of
chemotactic agents and food chemotaxis and conclude that these features are
needed in order to explain the observations.Comment: 1 latex file, 16 jpeg files, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Conformal mapping methods for interfacial dynamics
The article provides a pedagogical review aimed at graduate students in
materials science, physics, and applied mathematics, focusing on recent
developments in the subject. Following a brief summary of concepts from complex
analysis, the article begins with an overview of continuous conformal-map
dynamics. This includes problems of interfacial motion driven by harmonic
fields (such as viscous fingering and void electromigration), bi-harmonic
fields (such as viscous sintering and elastic pore evolution), and
non-harmonic, conformally invariant fields (such as growth by
advection-diffusion and electro-deposition). The second part of the article is
devoted to iterated conformal maps for analogous problems in stochastic
interfacial dynamics (such as diffusion-limited aggregation, dielectric
breakdown, brittle fracture, and advection-diffusion-limited aggregation). The
third part notes that all of these models can be extended to curved surfaces by
an auxilliary conformal mapping from the complex plane, such as stereographic
projection to a sphere. The article concludes with an outlook for further
research.Comment: 37 pages, 12 (mostly color) figure
Results of Prevention of REStenosis with Tranilast and its Outcomes (PRESTO) trial
BACKGROUND: Restenosis after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a major problem affecting 15% to 30% of patients after stent placement. No oral agent has shown a beneficial effect on restenosis or on associated major adverse cardiovascular events. In limited trials, the oral agent tranilast has been shown to decrease the frequency of angiographic restenosis after PCI. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of tranilast (300 and 450 mg BID for 1 or 3 months), 11 484 patients were enrolled. Enrollment and drug were initiated within 4 hours after successful PCI of at least 1 vessel. The primary end point was the first occurrence of death, myocardial infarction, or ischemia-driven target vessel revascularization within 9 months and was 15.8% in the placebo group and 15.5% to 16.1% in the tranilast groups (P=0.77 to 0.81). Myocardial infarction was the only component of major adverse cardiovascular events to show some evidence of a reduction with tranilast (450 mg BID for 3 months): 1.1% versus 1.8% with placebo (P=0.061 for intent-to-treat population). The primary reason for not completing treatment was > or =1 hepatic laboratory test abnormality (11.4% versus 0.2% with placebo, P<0.01). In the angiographic substudy composed of 2018 patients, minimal lumen diameter (MLD) was measured by quantitative coronary angiography. At follow-up, MLD was 1.76+/-0.77 mm in the placebo group, which was not different from MLD in the tranilast groups (1.72 to 1.78+/-0.76 to 80 mm, P=0.49 to 0.89). In a subset of these patients (n=1107), intravascular ultrasound was performed at follow-up. Plaque volume was not different between the placebo and tranilast groups (39.3 versus 37.5 to 46.1 mm(3), respectively; P=0.16 to 0.72). CONCLUSIONS: Tranilast does not improve the quantitative measures of restenosis (angiographic and intravascular ultrasound) or its clinical sequelae
The inverse problem of determining the filtration function and permeability reduction in flow of water with particles in porous media
The original publication can be found at www.springerlink.comDeep bed filtration of particle suspensions in porous media occurs during water injection into oil reservoirs, drilling fluid invasion of reservoir production zones, fines migration in oil fields, industrial filtering, bacteria, viruses or contaminants transport in groundwater etc. The basic features of the process are particle capture by the porous medium and consequent permeability reduction. Models for deep bed filtration contain two quantities that represent rock and fluid properties: the filtration function, which is the fraction of particles captured per unit particle path length, and formation damage function, which is the ratio between reduced and initial permeabilities. These quantities cannot be measured directly in the laboratory or in the field; therefore, they must be calculated indirectly by solving inverse problems. The practical petroleum and environmental engineering purpose is to predict injectivity loss and particle penetration depth around wells. Reliable prediction requires precise knowledge of these two coefficients. In this work we determine these quantities from pressure drop and effluent concentration histories measured in one-dimensional laboratory experiments. The recovery method consists of optimizing deviation functionals in appropriate subdomains; if necessary, a Tikhonov regularization term is added to the functional. The filtration function is recovered by optimizing a non-linear functional with box constraints; this functional involves the effluent concentration history. The permeability reduction is recovered likewise, taking into account the filtration function already found, and the functional involves the pressure drop history. In both cases, the functionals are derived from least square formulations of the deviation between experimental data and quantities predicted by the model.Alvarez, A. C., Hime, G., Marchesin, D., Bedrikovetski, P
Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector
A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results
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