Rigid motions: action-angles, relative cohomology and polynomials with roots on the unit circle

Revisiting canonical integration of the classical solid near a uniform rotation, canonical action angle coordinates, hyperbolic and elliptic, are constructed in terms of various power series with coefficients which are polynomials in a variable $r^2$ depending on the inertia moments. Normal forms are derived via the analysis of a relative cohomology problem and shown to be obtainable without the use of ellitptic integrals (unlike the derivation of the action-angles). Results and conjectures also emerge about the properties of the above polynomials and the location of their roots. In particular a class of polynomials with all roots on the unit circle arises.Comment: 26 pages, 1 figur

The Population Biology and Transmission Dynamics of Loa loa

Endemic to Central Africa, loiasis – or African eye worm (caused by the filarial nematode Loa loa) – affects more than 10 million people. Despite causing ocular and systemic symptoms, it has typically been considered a benign condition, only of public health relevance because it impedes mass drug administration-based interventions against onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis in co-endemic areas. Recent research has challenged this conception, demonstrating excess mortality associated with high levels of infection, implying that loiasis warrants attention as an intrinsic public health problem. This review summarises available information on the key parasitological, entomological, and epidemiological characteristics of the infection and argues for the mobilisation of resources to control the disease, and the development of a mathematical transmission model to guide deployment of interventions

Speech-plans: Generating evaluative responses in spoken dialogue

Recent work on evaluation of spoken dialogue systems indicates that better algorithms are needed for the presentation of complex information in speech. Current dialogue systems often rely on presenting sets of options and their attributes sequentially. This places a large memory burden on users, who have to remember complex trade-offs between multiple options and their attributes. To address these problems we build on previous work using multiattribute decision theory to devise speech-planning algorithms that present usertailored summaries, comparisons and recommendations that allow users to focus on critical differences between options and their attributes. We discuss the differences between speech and text planning that result from the particular demands of the speech situation.

Academic hospital accreditation strengthens postgraduate training programmes: Case study from Universitas Academic Hospital

Benefits derived from the Council for Health Services AccreditationSouth Africa (COHSASA) accreditation of the UniversitasAcademic Hospital (UAH) in Bloemfontein are illustrated.Accreditation assessments were performed between 2001 and 2007,and full compliance with the COHSASA standards for AcademicHospitals was achieved. An initiative to develop thoracic surgeryin central South Africa (SA) was launched by the Department ofCardiothoracic Surgery at UAH. The synergistic effects of qualityimprovements in healthcare provision owing to the accreditationprocess, and the project to increase service provision in thoracicsurgery in central SA, have led to a qualitative and quantitativeincrease in thoracic surgical service provision. The importanceof academic hospital accreditation in strengthening postgraduatetraining programmes is shown, and the accreditation process isrecommended for all South African academic teaching hospitals tosupport, improve and sustain our training platforms

From non-degenerate conducting polymers to dense matter in the massive Gross-Neveu model

Using results from the theory of non-degenerate conducting polymers like cis-polyacetylene, we generalize our previous work on dense baryonic matter and the soliton crystal in the massless Gross-Neveu model to finite bare fermion mass. In the large N limit, the exact crystal ground state can be constructed analytically, in close analogy to the bipolaron lattice in polymers. These findings are contrasted to the standard scenario with homogeneous phases only and a first order phase transition at a critical chemical potential.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, revtex; v2: improved readability, following advice of PRD referee; accepted for publicatio

Anomalous relaxation kinetics of biological lattice-ligand binding models

We discuss theoretical models for the cooperative binding dynamics of ligands to substrates, such as dimeric motor proteins to microtubules or more extended macromolecules like tropomyosin to actin filaments. We study the effects of steric constraints, size of ligands, binding rates and interaction between neighboring proteins on the binding dynamics and binding stoichiometry. Starting from an empty lattice the binding dynamics goes, quite generally, through several stages. The first stage represents fast initial binding closely resembling the physics of random sequential adsorption processes. Typically this initial process leaves the system in a metastable locked state with many small gaps between blocks of bound molecules. In a second stage the gaps annihilate slowly as the ligands detach and reattach. This results in an algebraic decay of the gap concentration and interesting scaling behavior. Upon identifying the gaps with particles we show that the dynamics in this regime can be explained by mapping it onto various reaction-diffusion models. The final approach to equilibrium shows some interesting dynamic scaling properties. We also discuss the effect of cooperativity on the equilibrium stoichiometry, and their consequences for the interpretation of biochemical and image reconstruction results.Comment: REVTeX, 20 pages, 17 figures; review, to appear in Chemical Physics; v2: minor correction

Long-Time Asymptotics of the Toda Lattice for Decaying Initial Data Revisited

The purpose of this article is to give a streamlined and self-contained treatment of the long-time asymptotics of the Toda lattice for decaying initial data in the soliton and in the similarity region via the method of nonlinear steepest descent.Comment: 41 page

Generating Complex Potentials with Real Eigenvalues in Supersymmetric Quantum Mechanics

In the framework of SUSYQM extended to deal with non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, we analyze three sets of complex potentials with real spectra, recently derived by a potential algebraic approach based upon the complex Lie algebra sl(2, C). This extends to the complex domain the well-known relationship between SUSYQM and potential algebras for Hermitian Hamiltonians, resulting from their common link with the factorization method and Darboux transformations. In the same framework, we also generate for the first time a pair of elliptic partner potentials of Weierstrass $\wp$ type, one of them being real and the other imaginary and PT symmetric. The latter turns out to be quasiexactly solvable with one known eigenvalue corresponding to a bound state. When the Weierstrass function degenerates to a hyperbolic one, the imaginary potential becomes PT non-symmetric and its known eigenvalue corresponds to an unbound state.Comment: 20 pages, Latex 2e + amssym + graphics, 2 figures, accepted in Int. J. Mod. Phys.

On the instability of classical dynamics in theories with higher derivatives

The development of instability in the dynamics of theories with higher derivatives is traced in detail in the framework of the Pais-Uhlenbeck fourth oder oscillator. For this aim the external friction force is introduced in the model and the relevant solutions to equations of motion are investigated. As a result, the physical implication of the energy unboundness from below in theories under consideration is revealed.Comment: 9 pages, no figures and no tables, revtex4; a few misprints are correcte

Dynamic Fano Resonance of Quasienergy Excitons in Superlattices

The dynamic Fano resonance (DFR) between discrete quasienergy excitons and sidebands of their ionization continua is predicted and investigated in dc- and ac-driven semiconductor superlattices. This DFR, well controlled by the ac field, delocalizes the excitons and opens an intrinsic decay channel in nonlinear four-wave mixing signals.Comment: 4pages, 4figure