1,335 research outputs found
Applications of control theory
Applications of control theory are considered in the areas of decoupling and wake steering control of submersibles, a method of electrohydraulic conversion with no moving parts, and socio-economic system modelling
Women with a Reduced Ovarian Complement May Have an Increased Risk for a Child with Down Syndrome
Advanced maternal age is the only well-established risk factor for trisomy 21 Down syndrome (DS), but the basis of the maternal-age effect is not known. In a population-based, case-control study of DS, women who reported surgical removal of all or part of an ovary or congenital absence of one ovary were significantly more likely to have delivered a child with DS than were women who did not report a reduced ovarian complement (odds ratio 9.61; 95% confidence interval 1.18–446.3). Because others have observed that women who have had an ovary removed exhibit elevated levels of FSH and similar hallmarks of advanced maternal age, our finding suggests that the physiological status of the ovary is key to the maternal-age effect. In addition, it suggests that women with a reduced ovarian complement should be offered prenatal diagnosis
Anisotropy of graphite optical conductivity
The graphite conductivity is evaluated for frequencies between
0.1 eV, the energy of the order of the electron-hole overlap, and 1.5 eV, the
electron nearest hopping energy. The in-plane conductivity per single atomic
sheet is close to the universal graphene conductivity and,
however, contains a singularity conditioned by peculiarities of the electron
dispersion. The conductivity is less in the direction by the factor of the
order of 0.01 governed by electron hopping in this direction.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure
Development and validation of the brief esophageal dysphagia questionnaire
BackgroundEsophageal dysphagia is common in gastroenterology practice and has multiple etiologies. A complication for some patients with dysphagia is food impaction. A valid and reliable questionnaire to rapidly evaluate esophageal dysphagia and impaction symptoms can aid the gastroenterologist in gathering information to inform treatment approach and further evaluation, including endoscopy.Methods1638 patients participated over two study phases. 744 participants completed the Brief Esophageal Dysphagia Questionnaire (BEDQ) for phase 1; 869 completed the BEDQ, Visceral Sensitivity Index, Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease Questionnaire, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale for phase 2. Demographic and clinical data were obtained via the electronic medical record. The BEDQ was evaluated for internal consistency, split‐half reliability, ceiling and floor effects, and construct validity.Key ResultsThe BEDQ demonstrated excellent internal consistency, reliability, and construct validity. The symptom frequency and severity scales scored above the standard acceptable cutoffs for reliability while the impaction subscale yielded poor internal consistency and split‐half reliability; thus the impaction items were deemed qualifiers only and removed from the total score. No significant ceiling or floor effects were found with the exception of 1 item, and inter‐item correlations fell within accepted ranges. Construct validity was supported by moderate yet significant correlations with other measures. The predictive ability of the BEDQ was small but significant.Conclusions & InferencesThe BEDQ represents a rapid, reliable, and valid assessment tool for esophageal dysphagia with food impaction for clinical practice that differentiates between patients with major motor dysfunction and mechanical obstruction.Validated, rapid clinical assessment tools for esophageal dysphagia are lacking. The brief esophageal dysphagia questionnaire aims to gauge the severity and frequency of dysphagia with additional items to gauge food impaction. The BEDQ is a reliable and valid tool to assess esophageal dysphagia.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135130/1/nmo12889.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135130/2/nmo12889_am.pd
Results from 2014 Vegetation Monitoring in Prairie and Old Field Habitats Following Shrub Removal at the North Chicago Wetland Mitigation Site, Lake County, Illinois
This report focuses on results from vegetation monitoring in terrestrial plant communities during 2014 and compares trends among reference prairie, transect prairie, and old field habitats. There are four main questions: 1. What are the site-level comparative trends in species composition, total richness, and floristic quality and, for old field and prairie habitats (combining reference prairie and transect prairie habitats), what are the changes in species composition and abundance? 2. Based on 2014 sample data, are there significant between-subjects differences (vegetation types) with regard to ground layer and shrub/sapling parameters (e.g., composition, species richness, diversity, and cover - see Methods for full list and parameter definitions)?3. Are there significant within-subjects differences (year) in these parameters since the 2009 baseline data for each vegetation type and when (what year) do the differences occur?4. What are the between-subjects and within-subjects interactions (i.e., vegetation type x sample year) for selected vegetation parameters since 2009?unpublishednot peer reviewe
Rotational modes in molecular magnets with antiferromagnetic Heisenberg exchange
In an effort to understand the low temperature behavior of recently
synthesized molecular magnets we present numerical evidence for the existence
of a rotational band in systems of quantum spins interacting with
nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic Heisenberg exchange. While this result has
previously been noted for ring arrays with an even number of spin sites, we
find that it also applies for rings with an odd number of sites as well as for
all of the polytope configurations we have investigated (tetrahedron, cube,
octahedron, icosahedron, triangular prism, and axially truncated icosahedron).
It is demonstrated how the rotational band levels can in many cases be
accurately predicted using the underlying sublattice structure of the spin
array. We illustrate how the characteristics of the rotational band can provide
valuable estimates for the low temperature magnetic susceptibility.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.
Neutron-Capture Elements in the Early Galaxy: Insights from a Large Sample of Metal-Poor Giants
New abundances for neutron-capture (n-capture) elements in a large sample of
metal-poor giants from the Bond survey are presented. The spectra were acquired
with the KPNO 4-m echelle and coude feed spectrographs, and have been analyzed
using LTE fine-analysis techniques with both line analysis and spectral
synthesis. Abundances of eight n-capture elements (Sr, Y, Zr, Ba, La, Nd, Eu,
Dy) in 43 stars have been derived from blue (lambda = 4070--4710, R~20,000, S/N
ratio~100-200) echelle spectra and red (lambda = 6100--6180, R~22,000, S/N
ratio~100-200) coude spectra, and the abundance of Ba only has been derived
from the red spectra for an additional 27 stars. Overall, the abundances show
clear evidence for a large star-to-star dispersion in the heavy element-to-iron
ratios. The new data also confirm that at metallicities [Fe/H] <~ --2.4, the
abundance pattern of the heavy (Z >= 56) n-capture elements in most giants is
well-matched to a scaled Solar System r-process nucleosynthesis pattern. The
onset of the main r-process can be seen at [Fe/H] ~ --2.9. Contributions from
the s-process can first be seen in some stars with metallicities as low as
[Fe/H] ~ --2.75, and are present in most stars with metallicities [Fe/H] >
--2.3. The lighter n-capture elements (Sr-Y-Zr) are enhanced relative to the
heavier r-process element abundances. Their production cannot be attributed
solely to any combination of the Solar System r- and main s-processes, but
requires a mixture of material from the r-process and from an additional
n-capture process which can operate at early Galactic time.Comment: Text + 5 Tables and 11 Figures: Submitted to the Astrophysical
Journa
Model Exact Low-Lying States and Spin Dynamics in Ferric Wheels; Fe to Fe
Using an efficient numerical scheme that exploits spatial symmetries and
spin-parity, we have obtained the exact low-lying eigenstates of exchange
Hamiltonians for ferric wheels up to Fe. The largest calculation
involves the Fe ring which spans a Hilbert space dimension of about 145
million for M=0 subspace. Our calculated gaps from the singlet ground state
to the excited triplet state agrees well with the experimentally measured
values. Study of the static structure factor shows that the ground state is
spontaneously dimerized for ferric wheels. Spin states of ferric wheels can be
viewed as quantized states of a rigid rotor with the gap between the ground and
the first excited state defining the inverse of moment of inertia. We have
studied the quantum dynamics of Fe as a representative of ferric wheels.
We use the low-lying states of Fe to solve exactly the time-dependent
Schr\"odinger equation and find the magnetization of the molecule in the
presence of an alternating magnetic field at zero temperature. We observe a
nontrivial oscillation of magnetization which is dependent on the amplitude of
the {\it ac} field. We have also studied the torque response of Fe as a
function of magnetic field, which clearly shows spin-state crossover.Comment: Revtex, 24 pages, 8 eps figure
Cost-Effectiveness of Health Care Interventions to Address Intimate Partner Violence: What Do We Know and What Else Should We Look for?
Intimate partner violence (IPV) creates a substantial burden of disease and significant costs to families, communities, and governments. Building the evidence for effective interventions to reduce violence and its sequelae requires increased use of economic evaluation to inform policy through the analysis of costs and potential savings of interventions. The authors review existing economic evaluations and present case studies of current research from the United Kingdom and Australia to illustrate the strengths and limitations of two approaches to generating economic evidence: economic evaluation alongside randomized controlled trials and economic modeling. Economic evaluation should always be considered in the design of IPV intervention research
Ferromagnetic coupling and magnetic anisotropy in molecular Ni(II) squares
We investigated the magnetic properties of two isostructural Ni(II) metal
complexes [Ni4Lb8] and [Ni4Lc8]. In each molecule the four Ni(II) centers form
almost perfect regular squares. Magnetic coupling and anisotropy of single
crystals were examined by magnetization measurements and in particular by
high-field torque magnetometry at low temperatures. The data were analyzed in
terms of an effective spin Hamiltonian appropriate for Ni(II) centers. For both
compounds, we found a weak intramolecular ferromagnetic coupling of the four
Ni(II) spins and sizable single-ion anisotropies of the easy-axis type. The
coupling strengths are roughly identical for both compounds, whereas the
zero-field-splitting parameters are significantly different. Possible reasons
for this observation are discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure
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