'Learning together': Sharing international experience on new models of primary care

No abstract available

Domain effects and financial risk attitudes

We investigated whether financial risk preferences are dependent on the financial domain (i.e., the context) in which the risky choice options are presented. Previous studies have demonstrated that risk attitudes change when gambles are framed as gains, losses, or as insurance. Our study explores this directly by offering choices between identical gambles, framed in terms of seven financial domains. Three factors were extracted, explaining 68.6% of the variance: Factor 1 (Positive)—opportunity to win, pension provision, and job salary change; Factor 2 (Positive-Complex)—investments and mortgage buying; Factor 3 (Negative)—possibility of loss and insurance. Inspection of the solution revealed context effects on risk perceptions across the seven scenarios. We also found that the commonly accepted assumption that women are more risk averse cannot be confirmed with the context structure suggested in this research; however, it is acknowledged that in the students’ population the variance across genders might be considerably less. These results suggest that our financial risk attitude measures may be tapping into a stable aspect of “context dependence” of relevance to real-world decision making

Effects of weak anchoring on C1 and C2 chevron structures

We present a theoretical study of the effect of weak anchoring on the transition between C1 and C2 chevron structures in smectic C liquid crystals. We employ a continuum theory which allows for variable cone, azimuthal and layer tilt angles. Equilibrium profiles for the director cone and azimuthal angles in the C1 and C2 states are calculated from the standard Euler-Lagrange minimisation of the total energy of the system. By comparing the total energies of the C1 and C2 states we can determine the globally stable chevron profile and calculate the critical temperature for the C1-C2 transition, which depends on anchoring strength and pretilt angle variations

Stabilising the Blue Phases

We present an investigation of the phase diagram of cholesteric liquid crystals within the framework of Landau - de Gennes theory. The free energy is modified to incorporate all three Frank elastic constants and to allow for a temperature dependent pitch in the cholesteric phase. It is found that the region of stability of the cubic blue phases depends significantly on the value of the elastic constants, being reduced when the bend elastic constant is larger than splay and when twist is smaller than the other two. Most dramatically we find a large increase in the region of stability of blue phase I, and a qualitative change in the phase diagram, in a system where the cholesteric phase displays helix inversion.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figure

Variability of the X-ray P Cygni Line Profiles from Circinus X-1 Near Zero Phase

The luminous X-ray binary Circinus X-1 has been observed twice near zero orbital phase using the High-Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (HETGS) onboard Chandra. The source was in a high-flux state during a flare for the first observation, and it was in a low-flux state during a dip for the second. Spectra from both flux states show clear P Cygni lines, predominantly from H-like and He-like ion species. These indicate the presence of a high-velocity outflow from the Cir X-1 system which we interpret as an equatorial accretion-disk wind, and from the blueshifted resonance absorption lines we determine outflow velocities of 200 - 1900 km/s with no clear velocity differences between the two flux states. The line strengths and profiles, however, are strongly variable both between the two observations as well as within the individual observations. We characterize this variability and suggest that it is due to both changes in the amount of absorbing material along the line of sight as well as changes in the ionization level of the wind. We also refine constraints on the accretion-disk wind model using improved plasma diagnostics such as the He-like Mg XI triplet, and we consider the possibility that the X-ray absorption features seen from superluminal jet sources can generally be explained via high-velocity outflows.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted by ApJ (Main

Cooperative resonance linewidth narrowing in a planar metamaterial

We theoretically analyze the experimental observations of a spectral line collapse in a metamaterial array of asymmetric split ring resonators [Fedotov et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 223901 (2010)]. We show that the ensemble of closely-spaced resonators exhibits cooperative response, explaining the observed system-size dependent narrowing of the transmission resonance linewidth. We further show that this cooperative narrowing depends sensitively on the lattice spacing and that significantly stronger narrowing could be achieved in media with suppressed ohmic losses.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures, to appear in New Journal of Physic