Effects of Negative Energy Components in the Constituent Quark Model

Relativistic covariance requires that in the constituent quark model for mesons the positive energy states as well as the negative energy states are included. Using relativistic quasi-potential equations the contribution of the negative energy states is studied for the light and charmonium mesons. It is found that these states change the meson mass spectrum significantly but leave its global structure untouched.Comment: 14 pages revtex 3.0, 4 figures uudecoded attached in postscript format, THU-93/1

COS-Speech: Protocol to develop a core outcome set for dysarthria after stroke for use in clinical practice and research

BACKGROUND: Dysarthria after stroke is when speech intelligibility is impaired, and this occurs in half of all stroke survivors. Dysarthria often leads to social isolation, poor psychological well-being and can prevent return to work and social lives. Currently, a variety of outcome measures are used in clinical research and practice when monitoring recovery for people who have dysarthria. When research studies use different measures, it is impossible to compare results from trials and delays our understanding of effective clinical treatments. The aim of this study is to develop a core outcome set (COS) to agree what aspects of speech recovery should be measured for dysarthria after stroke (COS-Speech) in research and clinical practice. METHODS: The COS-Speech study will include five steps: (1) development of a long list of possible outcome domains of speech that should be measured to guide the survey; (2) recruitment to the COS-Speech study of three key stakeholder groups in the UK and Australia: stroke survivors, communication researchers and speech and language therapists/pathologists; (3) two rounds of the Delphi survey process; (4) a consensus meeting to agree the speech outcomes to be measured and a follow-up consensus meeting to match existing instruments/measures (from parallel systematic review) to the agreed COS-Speech; (5) dissemination of COS-Speech. DISCUSSION: There is currently no COS for dysarthria after stroke for research trials or clinical practice. The findings from this research study will be a minimum COS, for use in all dysarthria research studies and clinical practice looking at post-stroke recovery of speech. These findings will be widely disseminated using professional and patient networks, research and clinical forums as well as using a variety of academic papers, videos, accessible writing such as blogs and links on social media. TRIAL REGISTRATION: COS-Speech is registered with the Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness Trials (COMET) database, October 2021 https://www.comet-initiative.org/Studies/Details/1959. In addition, “A systematic review of the psychometric properties and clinical utility of instruments measuring dysarthria after stroke” will inform the consensus meeting to match measures to COS-Speech. The protocol for the systematic reviews registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42022302998. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13063-022-06958-7

Exact Path-Integral Representations for the TT-Matrix in Nonrelativistic Potential Scattering

Several path integral representations for the $T$-matrix in nonrelativistic potential scattering are given which produce the complete Born series when expanded to all orders and the eikonal approximation if the quantum fluctuations are suppressed. They are obtained with the help of "phantom" degrees of freedom which take away explicit phases that diverge for asymptotic times. Energy conservation is enforced by imposing a Faddeev-Popov-like constraint in the velocity path integral. An attempt is made to evaluate stochastically the real-time path integral for potential scattering and generalizations to relativistic scattering are discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. Contribution to the workshop "Relativistic Description of Two- and Three-Body Systems in Nuclear Physics", ETC*, October 19-23, 2009. v2: typo corrected, matches published version + additional reference

Relativistic Coulomb Sum Rules for (e,e′)(e,e^\prime)

A Coulomb sum rule is derived for the response of nuclei to $(e,e^\prime)$ scattering with large three-momentum transfers. Unlike the nonrelativistic formulation, the relativistic Coulomb sum is restricted to spacelike four-momenta for the most direct connection with experiments; an immediate consequence is that excitations involving antinucleons, e.g., $N{\bar N}$ pair production, are approximately eliminated from the sum rule. Relativistic recoil and Fermi motion of target nucleons are correctly incorporated. The sum rule decomposes into one- and two-body parts, with correlation information in the second. The one-body part requires information on the nucleon momentum distribution function, which is incorporated by a moment expansion method. The sum rule given through the second moment (RCSR-II) is tested in the Fermi gas model, and is shown to be sufficiently accurate for applications to data.Comment: 32 pages (LaTeX), 4 postscript figures available from the author

LHCD during current ramp experiments on Alcator C-Mod

The lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) system on Alcator C-Mod is capable of sustaining fully non-inductive discharges for multiple current relaxation times (τcr ∼ 200 ms) at line averaged densities in the range of 5x1019 m-3. Some of these non-inductive discharges develop unstable MHD modes that can greatly reduce current drive performance, particularly in discharges with plasma current of 0.5 MA or less [1,2]. Avoiding these unstable MHD modes motivated an experiment to test if the stable current profile shape of a higher current non-inductive discharge could be achieved in a lower current discharge. Starting from a discharge at 0.8 MA, the plasma current was ramped down to 0.5 MA over 200 ms. The surface voltage of the plasma swings negative during the ramp, with the loop voltage reversal impacting the edge fast electron measurements immediately. Little change can be seen during the Ip ramp in the core fast electron measurements, indicating that the loop voltage reversal does not penetrate fully to the magnetic axis on the timescale of the current ramp. The resulting discharge did not exhibit deleterious MHD instabilities, however the existence of this one discharge does not necessarily represent a robust solution to the problem

Spin-orbit final state interaction in the framework of Glauber theory for (e,e'p) reactions

We investigate the reactions D(e,e'p)n and D(\vec e,e'p)n at GeV energies and discuss the opportunities to distinguish between different models for the nuclear ground state by measuring the response functions. In calculating the final-state interaction (FSI) we employ Glauber theory, and we also include relativistic effects in the electromagnetic current. We include not only the central FSI, but also the spin-orbit FSI which is usually neglected in (e,e'p) calculations within the Glauber framework and we show that this contribution plays a crucial role for the fifth response function. All of the methods developed here can be applied to any target nucleus.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures, minor change in figures 3 and 4 (changed beam energy), correction of error in figure 4 in the previous replacemen

Complex differences in infection rates between ethnic groups in Scotland: a retrospective, national census-linked cohort study of 1.65 million cases

Background Ethnicity can influence susceptibility to infection, as COVID-19 has shown. Few countries have systematically investigated ethnic variations in infection. Methods We linked the Scotland 2001 Census, including ethnic group, to national databases of hospitalizations/deaths and serological diagnoses of bloodborne viruses for 2001–2013. We calculated age-adjusted rate ratios (RRs) in 12 ethnic groups for all infections combined, 15 infection categories, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV) viruses. Results We analysed over 1.65 million infection-related hospitalisations/deaths. Compared with White Scottish, RRs for all infections combined were 0.8 or lower for Other White British, Other White and Chinese males and females, and 1.2–1.4 for Pakistani and African males and females. Adjustment for socioeconomic status or birthplace had little effect. RRs for specific infection categories followed similar patterns with striking exceptions. For HIV, RRs were 136 in African females and 14 in males; for HBV, 125 in Chinese females and 59 in males, 55 in African females and 24 in males; and for HCV, 2.3–3.1 in Pakistanis and Africans. Conclusions Ethnic differences were found in overall rates and many infection categories, suggesting multiple causative pathways. We recommend census linkage as a powerful method for studying the disproportionate impact of COVID-19

Characterising wood properties for deployment of elite subtropical and tropical hardwoods.

Queensland has over 42,000 hectares of hardwood plantations, with 13,700 hectares currently managed for sawn timber and high-value products. Previously, a major impediment to expansion of the hardwood sawn timber and high-value products industry in Queensland was that improved varieties of the key subtropical and tropical species were not available for plantation establishment. Trees from earlier projects, such as Hardwoods Queensland and the Private Plantations Initiative, have now reached an age where selection for growth, form and wood properties is possible. The current project used non-destructive and destructive wood evaluation techniques to characterise the timber quality of 443 subtropical and tropical Corymbia and Eucalyptus trees in these plantings, allowing selection of trees with the best growth, form and wood properties under Queensland conditions. Ecological assessments were also undertaken in the Corymbia plantings to identify germplasm that posed minimal risk of gene flow into native forests. Elite varieties are being fast tracked for deployment in Queensland using economical systems for germplasm capture and nursery production. The project identified and captured 108 new Corymbia and Eucalyptus varieties that can be grown with confidence in Queensland over a shorter rotation length and which produce well-characterised high-quality hardwood timber

Relativistic effects and quasipotential equations

We compare the scattering amplitude resulting from the several quasipotential equations for scalar particles. We consider the Blankenbecler-Sugar, Spectator, Thompson, Erkelenz-Holinde and Equal-Time equations, which were solved numerically without decomposition into partial waves. We analyze both negative-energy state components of the propagators and retardation effects. We found that the scattering solutions of the Spectator and the Equal-Time equations are very close to the nonrelativistic solution even at high energies. The overall relativistic effect increases with the energy. The width of the band for the relative uncertainty in the real part of the scattering $T$ matrix, due to different dynamical equations, is largest for backward-scattering angles where it can be as large as 40%.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.