10,786 research outputs found
On Logical Depth and the Running Time of Shortest Programs
The logical depth with significance of a finite binary string is the
shortest running time of a binary program for that can be compressed by at
most bits. There is another definition of logical depth. We give two
theorems about the quantitative relation between these versions: the first
theorem concerns a variation of a known fact with a new proof, the second
theorem and its proof are new. We select the above version of logical depth and
show the following. There is an infinite sequence of strings of increasing
length such that for each there is a such that the logical depth of the
th string as a function of is incomputable (it rises faster than any
computable function) but with replaced by the resuling function is
computable. Hence the maximal gap between the logical depths resulting from
incrementing appropriate 's by 1 rises faster than any computable function.
All functions mentioned are upper bounded by the Busy Beaver function. Since
for every string its logical depth is nonincreasing in , the minimal
computation time of the shortest programs for the sequence of strings as a
function of rises faster than any computable function but not so fast as
the Busy Beaver function.Comment: 12 pages LaTex (this supercedes arXiv:1301.4451
A new method based on noise counting to monitor the frontend electronics of the LHCb muon detector
A new method has been developed to check the correct behaviour of the
frontend electronics of the LHCb muon detector. This method is based on the
measurement of the electronic noise rate at different thresholds of the
frontend discriminator. The method was used to choose the optimal discriminator
thresholds. A procedure based on this method was implemented in the detector
control system and allowed the detection of a small percentage of frontend
channels which had deteriorated. A Monte Carlo simulation has been performed to
check the validity of the method
Mediastinitis after aorto-coronary bypass surgery
OBJECTIVES: To identify risk factors in 60 cases of mediastinitis amongst 2512 patients (2.3%) subjected to isolated coronary bypass surgery from March 1988 through December 1995, treated by a closed irrigation/drainage system.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: The mean age of the 60 patients was 56.9 +/- 6.8 years (45-81 years) and 55 (91.6%) were male. Early mediastinal reexploration was performed in all cases immediately after the diagnosis of mediastinitis, with debridement of necrosed tissues, followed by implantation of a closed-circuit irrigation system of the mediastinum constituted by irrigation catheter and drain, closure of the sternum and skin, and specific systemic antibiotic therapy. The mean interval between the original surgery and reexploration was 9.4 days (range 6-14 days). No patient required more extensive procedures, namely omental or muscular flaps. Twenty potential risk factors in patients with mediastinitis, including diabetes mellitus, obesity, coexistence of peripheral vascular disease, decreased LV function, use of inotropes, mediastinal blood drainage and utilization of double IMA, were compared with the group without mediastinitis.
RESULTS: Mean cardiopulmonary bypass time was 74.1 +/- 8.1 min, anesthetic time 3.5 +/- 0.8 h and postoperative mechanical ventilation 18 +/- 3 h. A total of 23 patients (38.3%) received one IMA and 35 (58.3%) two IMAs. In the postoperative period, 7 of the 60 patients (11.6%) had required inotropes because of low output. Mediastinal blood loss was 1112cc +/- 452cc and 9 patients (15%) were transfused. Cultures were positive in 40 cases (66.6%) and the most frequent infecting agent was the Staph. epidermidis in 25 cases (62.5%), followed by Candida albicans and Enterobacter and Serratia species (7.5% each); 1 patient (1.7%) died and 9 (15%) had renal failure. The irrigation/drainage was maintained for a mean of 9.1 days (5-83 days). Patients with mediastinitis had a significantly higher prevalence of diabetes (41.6% vs. 18.8%; P < 0.01), obesity (48.3% vs. 15.2%; P < 0.001), peripheral vascular disease (11.6% vs. 4.0%; P < 0.05), but a lower incidence of poor LV function (18.3% vs. 32.7%; P < 0.05). A double IMA was used more frequently in patients who had mediastinitis (58.3% vs. 23.5%; P < 0.001)
CONCLUSIONS: Diabetes mellitus, obesity, co-existence of peripheral vascular disease and use of double IMA are risk factors for mediastinitis after coronary artery surgery. The efficacy of the closed method of treatment with a mediastinal irrigation/drainage system was increased with early diagnosis and reintervention
Thermoelectric response of FeTeSe: evidence for strong correlation and low carrier density
We present a study of the Seebeck and Nernst coefficients of
FeTeSe extended up to 28 T. The large magnitude of the
Seebeck coefficient in the optimally doped sample tracks a remarkably low
normalized Fermi temperature, which, like other correlated superconductors, is
only one order of magnitude larger than T. We combine our data with other
experimentally measured coefficients of the system to extract a set of
self-consistent parameters, which identify FeTeSe as a
low-density correlated superconductor barely in the clean limit. The system is
subject to strong superconducting fluctuations with a sizeable vortex Nernst
signal in a wide temperature window.Comment: 4 pages including 4 figure
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