188 research outputs found
A perturbative approach to non-Markovian stochastic Schr\"odinger equations
In this paper we present a perturbative procedure that allows one to
numerically solve diffusive non-Markovian Stochastic Schr\"odinger equations,
for a wide range of memory functions. To illustrate this procedure numerical
results are presented for a classically driven two level atom immersed in a
environment with a simple memory function. It is observed that as the order of
the perturbation is increased the numerical results for the ensembled average
state approach the exact reduced state found via
Imamo\=glu's enlarged system method [Phys. Rev. A. 50, 3650 (1994)].Comment: 17 pages, 4 figure
Text mining for improved exposure assessment
Chemical exposure assessments are based on information collected via different methods, such as biomonitoring, personal monitoring, environmental monitoring and questionnaires. The vast amount of chemical-specific exposure information available from web-based databases, such as PubMed, is undoubtedly a great asset to the scientific community. However, manual retrieval of relevant published information is an extremely time consuming task and overviewing the data is nearly impossible. Here, we present the development of an automatic classifier for chemical exposure information. First, nearly 3700 abstracts were manually annotated by an expert in exposure sciences according to a taxonomy exclusively created for exposure information. Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques were used to extract semantic and syntactic features relevant to chemical exposure text. Using these features, we trained a supervised machine learning algorithm to automatically classify PubMed abstracts according to the exposure taxonomy. The resulting classifier demonstrates good performance in the intrinsic evaluation. We also show that the classifier improves information retrieval of chemical exposure data compared to keyword-based PubMed searches. Case studies demonstrate that the classifier can be used to assist researchers by facilitating information retrieval and classification, enabling data gap recognition and overviewing available scientific literature using chemical-specific publication profiles. Finally, we identify challenges to be addressed in future development of the system.S.B. received funding from Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (http://cscuk.dfid.gov.uk/), Cambridge Trust (https://www.cambridgetrust.org/). A.K. received funding from Medical Research Council UK grant MR/M013049/1
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Cancer Hallmarks Analytics Tool (CHAT): A text mining approach to organise and evaluate scientific literature on cancer
Motivation: To understand the molecular mechanisms involved in cancer development, significant efforts are being invested in cancer research. This has resulted in millions of scientific articles. An efficient and thorough review of the existing literature is crucially important to drive new research.
This time-demanding task can be supported by emerging computational approaches based on text mining which offer a great opportunity to organise and retrieve the desired information efficiently from sizable databases. One way to organise existing knowledge on cancer is to utilise the widely accepted framework of the Hallmarks of Cancer. These hallmarks refer to the alterations in cell behaviour
that characterise the cancer cell.
Results: We created an extensive Hallmarks of Cancer taxonomy and developed automatic text mining methodology and a tool (CHAT) capable of retrieving and organising millions of cancer-related references from PubMed into the taxonomy. The efficiency and accuracy of the tool was evaluated intrinsically as well as extrinsically by case studies. The correlations identified by the tool show that it offers a great potential to organise and correctly classify cancer-related literature. Furthermore, the
tool can be useful, for example, in identifying hallmarks associated with extrinsic factors, biomarkers and therapeutics targets
Non-Markovian Decay of a Three Level Cascade Atom in a Structured Reservoir
We present a formalism that enables the study of the non-Markovian dynamics
of a three-level ladder system in a single structured reservoir. The
three-level system is strongly coupled to a bath of reservoir modes and two
quantum excitations of the reservoir are expected. We show that the dynamics
only depends on reservoir structure functions, which are products of the mode
density with the coupling constant squared. This result may enable pseudomode
theory to treat multiple excitations of a structured reservoir. The treatment
uses Laplace transforms and an elimination of variables to obtain a formal
solution. This can be evaluated numerically (with the help of a numerical
inverse Laplace transform) and an example is given. We also compare this result
with the case where the two transitions are coupled to two separate structured
reservoirs (where the example case is also analytically solvable)
Physical interpretation of stochastic Schroedinger equations in cavity QED
We propose physical interpretations for stochastic methods which have been
developed recently to describe the evolution of a quantum system interacting
with a reservoir. As opposed to the usual reduced density operator approach,
which refers to ensemble averages, these methods deal with the dynamics of
single realizations, and involve the solution of stochastic Schr\"odinger
equations. These procedures have been shown to be completely equivalent to the
master equation approach when ensemble averages are taken over many
realizations. We show that these techniques are not only convenient
mathematical tools for dissipative systems, but may actually correspond to
concrete physical processes, for any temperature of the reservoir. We consider
a mode of the electromagnetic field in a cavity interacting with a beam of two-
or three-level atoms, the field mode playing the role of a small system and the
atomic beam standing for a reservoir at finite temperature, the interaction
between them being given by the Jaynes-Cummings model. We show that the
evolution of the field states, under continuous monitoring of the state of the
atoms which leave the cavity, can be described in terms of either the Monte
Carlo Wave-Function (quantum jump) method or a stochastic Schr\"odinger
equation, depending on the system configuration. We also show that the Monte
Carlo Wave-Function approach leads, for finite temperatures, to localization
into jumping Fock states, while the diffusion equation method leads to
localization into states with a diffusing average photon number, which for
sufficiently small temperatures are close approximations to mildly squeezed
states.Comment: 12 pages RevTeX 3.0 + 6 figures (GIF format; for higher-resolution
postscript images or hardcopies contact the authors.) Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Management of asthma in pregnant women by general practitioners: A cross sectional survey
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Poorly controlled asthma can lead to maternal and fetal complications. Despite the known risks of poorly controlled asthma during pregnancy and the need for stepping up therapy when appropriate, there are concerns that management is suboptimal in primary care.</p> <p>Our objective was to investigate the management of asthma during pregnancy by general practitioners providing shared maternity care.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A pre-piloted, anonymous mail survey was sent to all general practitioners (n = 842) involved in shared maternity care at six maternity hospitals in Victoria, Australia. Respondents were asked about their perceived safety of individual asthma medications during pregnancy. Approach to asthma management during pregnancy was further explored using scenarios of pregnant women with stable and deteriorating asthma and poor medication adherence.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) were perceived to be the safest and were the preferred preventive medication in first trimester (74.1%), whilst leukotriene receptor antagonists were the least preferred (2.9%). A quarter (25.8%) of respondents would stop or decrease patients' ICS doses during pregnancy, even when their asthma was well controlled by current therapy. In addition, 12.1% of respondents were not sure how to manage deteriorating asthma during pregnancy and opted to refer to another health professional. Almost half the respondents (48.9%) reported encountering medication nonadherence during pregnancy.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A lack of confidence and/or knowledge among general practitioners in managing deteriorating asthma in pregnancy was observed despite a good understanding of the safety of asthma medications during pregnancy, compliance with evidence-based guidelines in the selection of preventive medications, and self reported good asthma knowledge.</p
Bose-Einstein statistics in thermalization and photoluminescence of quantum well excitons
Quasi-equilibrium relaxational thermodynamics is developed to understand
LA-phonon-assisted thermalization of Bose-Einstein distributed excitons in
quantum wells. We study the quantum-statistical effects in the relaxational
dynamics of the effective temperature of excitons . When is less
than the degeneracy temperature , well-developed Bose-Einstein statistics
of quantum well excitons leads to nonexponential and density-dependent
thermalization. At low bath temperatures the thermalization of
quantum-statistically degenerate excitons effectively slows down and . We also analyze the optical decay of Bose-Einstein
distributed excitons in perfect quantum wells and show how nonclassical
statistics influences the effective lifetime . In particular,
of a strongly degenerate gas of excitons is given by ,
where is the intrinsic radiative lifetime of quasi-two-dimensional
excitons. Kinetics of resonant photoluminescence of quantum well excitons
during their thermalization is studied within the thermodynamic approach and
taking into account Bose-Einstein statistics. We find density-dependent
photoluminescence dynamics of statistically degenerate excitons. Numerical
modeling of the thermalization and photoluminescence kinetics of
quasi-two-dimensional excitons are given for GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures. Phys. Rev. B (accepted for publication
Theory of Pseudomodes in Quantum Optical Processes
This paper deals with non-Markovian behaviour in atomic systems coupled to a
structured reservoir of quantum EM field modes, with particular relevance to
atoms interacting with the field in high Q cavities or photonic band gap
materials. In cases such as the former, we show that the pseudo mode theory for
single quantum reservoir excitations can be obtained by applying the Fano
diagonalisation method to a system in which the atomic transitions are coupled
to a discrete set of (cavity) quasimodes, which in turn are coupled to a
continuum set of (external) quasimodes with slowly varying coupling constants
and continuum mode density. Each pseudomode can be identified with a discrete
quasimode, which gives structure to the actual reservoir of true modes via the
expressions for the equivalent atom-true mode coupling constants. The quasimode
theory enables cases of multiple excitation of the reservoir to now be treated
via Markovian master equations for the atom-discrete quasimode system.
Applications of the theory to one, two and many discrete quasimodes are made.
For a simple photonic band gap model, where the reservoir structure is
associated with the true mode density rather than the coupling constants, the
single quantum excitation case appears to be equivalent to a case with two
discrete quasimodes
Meaning and Dialogue Coherence: A Proof-theoretic Investigation
This paper presents a novel proof-theoretic account of dialogue coherence. It focuses on an abstract class of cooperative information-oriented dialogues and describes how their structure can be accounted for in terms of a multi-agent hybrid inference system that combines natural deduction with information transfer and observation. We show how certain dialogue structures arise out of the interplay between the inferential roles of logical connectives (i.e., sentence semantics), a rule for transferring information between agents, and a rule for information flow between agents and their environment. The order of explanation is opposite in direction to that adopted in game-theoretic semantics, where sentence semantics (or a notion of valid inference) is derived from winning dialogue strategies. That approach and the current one may, however, be reconcilable, since we focus on cooperative dialogue, whereas the game-theoretic tradition concentrates on adversarial dialogue
Evaluating the effectiveness of a schools-based programme to promote exercise self-efficacy in children and young people with risk factors for obesity: Steps to active kids (STAK)
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Low levels of physical activity in children have been linked to an increased risk of obesity, but many children lack confidence in relation to exercise (exercise self-efficacy). Factors which can impact on confidence include a chronic health condition such as asthma, poor motor skills and being overweight. Increasing levels of physical activity have obvious benefits for children with asthma and children who are overweight, but few activity interventions with children specifically target children with low exercise self-efficacy (ESE). This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of a schools-based activity programme suitable for children with risk factors for adult obesity, including asthma, overweight and low exercise self-efficacy.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>A clustered (at the level of school) RCT will be used to compare a targeted, 10 week, stepped activity programme (activity diary, dance DVD, circuit-training and motivational interviewing) designed to promote ESE. We will recruit 20 primary schools to participate in the intervention and 9-11 year old children will be screened for low levels of ESE, asthma and overweight. In order to provide sufficient power to detect a difference in primary outcomes (Body Mass Index-BMI & ESE at 12 month follow-up) between children in the intervention schools and control schools, the target sample size is 396. Assessments of BMI, ESE, waist circumference, peak flow, activity levels and emotional and behavioural difficulties will be made at baseline, 4 months and 12 month follow-up.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>We aim to increase ESE and levels of physical activity in children with risk factors for adult obesity. The outcomes of this study will inform policy makers about the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of delivering targeted health interventions within a school setting.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>ISRCTN Register no. <a href="http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN12650001">ISRCTN12650001</a></p
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