189 research outputs found
A new approach to evaluate gamma-ray measurements
Misunderstandings about the term random samples its implications may easily arise. Conditions under which the phases, obtained from arrival times, do not form a random sample and the dangers involved are discussed. Watson's U sup 2 test for uniformity is recommended for light curves with duty cycles larger than 10%. Under certain conditions, non-parametric density estimation may be used to determine estimates of the true light curve and its parameters
Color Screening and the Suppression of the Charmonium State Yield in Nuclear Reactions
We discuss the new data for the production of the meson in pA
collisions at 450 GeV at CERN-SPS (of the NA50-collaboration) [1]. We extract
from the CERN data mb under the assumption that the
is produced as a result of the space-time evolution of a point-like
pair which expands with time to the full size of the charmonium
state. In the analysis we assume the existence of a relationship between the
distribution of color in a hadron and the cross section of its interaction with
a nucleon. However, our result is rather sensitive to the pattern of the
expansion of the wave packet and significantly larger values of are not ruled out by the data. We show that recent CERN data confirm the
suggestion of [2] that color fluctuations of the strengths in
charmonium-nucleon interaction are the major source of suppression of the
yield as observed at CERN in both pA and AA collisions.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures (one with color
A Pair Polarimeter for Linearly Polarized High Energy Photons
A high quality beam of linearly polarized photons of several GeV will become
available with the coherent bremsstrahlung technique at JLab. We have developed
a polarimeter which requires about two meters of the beam line, has an
analyzing power of 20% and an efficiency of 0.02%. The layout and first results
of a polarimeter test on the laser back-scattering photon beam at SPring-8/LEPS
are presented
Flare energetics
In this investigation of flare energetics, researchers sought to establish a comprehensive and self-consistent picture of the sources and transport of energy within a flare. To achieve this goal, they chose five flares in 1980 that were well observed with instruments on the Solar Maximum Mission, and with other space-borne and ground-based instruments. The events were chosen to represent various types of flares. Details of the observations available for them and the corresponding physical parameters derived from these data are presented. The flares were studied from two perspectives, the impulsive and gradual phases, and then the results were compared to obtain the overall picture of the energics of these flares. The role that modeling can play in estimating the total energy of a flare when the observationally determined parameters are used as the input to a numerical model is discussed. Finally, a critique of the current understanding of flare energetics and the methods used to determine various energetics terms is outlined, and possible future directions of research in this area are suggested
Impact of a Community Pharmacist-Delivered Information Program on the Follow-up of Type-2 Diabetic Patients: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Study.
Low-quality communication between patients and care providers and limited patient knowledge of the disease and the therapy are important factors associated with poor glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. We conducted a multicenter study to determine whether structured and tailored information delivered by pharmacists to type 2 diabetic patients could improve patient treatment adherence, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels and knowledge about diabetes.
One hundred seventy-four pharmacies were randomized to deliver an educational program on diet, drug treatment, disease and complications during three 30-min interviews over a 6-month period, or to provide no intervention, to type 2 diabetic patients treated with oral antidiabetic agents. Medication adherence was assessed by measuring the medication possession ratio and diabetes control by collecting HbA1c values. Levels of patient treatment self-management and disease knowledge were assessed using self-questionnaires.
Three hundred seventy-seven patients were analyzed. The medication possession ratio, already very high at baseline in the intervention (94.8%) and control (92.3%) groups, did not vary significantly after 6 months with no difference between the two groups. Significant decreases in HbA1c were observed in both groups at 6 months (p < 0.001) and 12 months (p < 0.01), with significantly greater changes from baseline in the intervention group than in the control group at 6 months (- 0.5% vs. - 0.2%, p = 0.0047) and 12 months (- 0.6% vs. - 0.2%, p = 0.0057). Patients in the intervention group showed greater improvement in their ability to self-manage treatment (+ 4.86 vs. + 1.58, p = 0.0014) and in the extent of their knowledge about diabetes (+ 0.6 vs. + 0.2, p < 0.01) at 6 months versus baseline compared with the control group.
Tailored information provided by the pharmacist to patients with type 2 diabetes did not significantly improve the already high adherence rates, but was associated with a significant decrease in HbA1c and an improvement of patient knowledge about diabetes.
ISRCTN33776525.
MSD France
Changes in Prandial Glucagon Levels After a 2-Year Treatment With Vildagliptin or Glimepiride in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Inadequately Controlled With Metformin Monotherapy
OBJECTIVE - To determine if the dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor vildagliptin more effectively inhibits glucagon levels than the sulfonylurea glimepiride during a meal. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS - Glucagon responses to a standard meal were measured at baseline and study end point (mean 1.8 years) in a trial evaluating add-on therapy to metformin with 50 mg vildagliptin bid. compared with glimepiride up to 6 mg q.d. in type 2 diabetes (baseline MC 7.3 +/- 0.6%). RESULTS - A1C and prandial glucose area under the curve (AUC)(0-2 h) were reduced similarly in both groups, whereas prandial insulin AUC(0-2 h) increased to a greater extent by glimepiride. Prandial glucagon AUC(0-2 h) (baseline 66.6 +/- 2.3 pmol . h(-1) . l(-1)) decreased by 3.4 +/- 1.6 pmol . h(-1) . l(-1) by vildagliptin (n = 137) and increased by 3.8 +/- 1.7 pmol . h(-1) . l(-1) by glimepiride (n = 121). The between-group difference was 7.3 +/- 2.1 pmol . h(-1) . l(-1) (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS - Vildagliptin therapy but not glimepiride improves postprandial a-cell function, which persists for at least 2 years
Cluster coherent potential approximation for electronic structure of disordered alloys
We extend the single-site coherent potential approximation (CPA) to include
the effects of non-local disorder correlations (alloy short-range order) on the
electronic structure of random alloy systems. This is achieved by mapping the
original Anderson disorder problem to that of a selfconsistently embedded
cluster. This cluster problem is then solved using the equations of motion
technique. The CPA is recovered for cluster size , and the disorder
averaged density-of-states (DOS) is always positive definite. Various new
features, compared to those observed in CPA, and related to repeated scattering
on pairs of sites, reflecting the effect of SRO are clearly visible in the DOS.
It is explicitly shown that the cluster-CPA method always yields
positive-definite DOS. Anderson localization effects have been investigated
within this approach. In general, we find that Anderson localization sets in
before band splitting occurs, and that increasing partial order drives a
continuous transition from an Anderson insulator to an incoherent metal.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures. submitted to PR
J/\Psi production, polarization and Color Fluctuations
The hard contributions to the heavy quarkonium-nucleon cross sections are
calculated based on the QCD factorization theorem and the nonrelativistic
quarkonium model. We evaluate the nonperturbative part of these cross sections
which dominates at GeV at the Cern Super Proton
Synchrotron (SPS) and becomes a correction at TeV at
the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). \J production at the CERN SPS is well
described by hard QCD, when the larger absorption cross sections of the
states predicted by QCD are taken into account. We predict an -dependent
polarization of the states. The expansion of small wave packets is
discussed.Comment: 13 pages REVTEX, 1 table, 2 PostScript, corrected some typo
Constructing Dirac linear fermions in terms of non-linear Heisenberg spinors
We show that the massive (or massless) neutrinos can be described as special
states of Heisenberg nonlinear spinors. As a by-product of this decomposition a
particularly attractive consequence appears: the possibility of relating the
existence of only three species of mass-less neutrinos to such internal
non-linear structure. At the same time it allows the possibility that neutrino
oscillation can occurs even for massless neutrinos
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