Target selection of classical pulsating variables for space-based photometry

In a few years the Kepler and TESS missions will provide ultra-precise photometry for thousands of RR Lyrae and hundreds of Cepheid stars. In the extended Kepler mission all targets are proposed in the Guest Observer (GO) Program, while the TESS space telescope will work with full frame images and a ~15-16th mag brightness limit with the possibility of short cadence measurements for a limited number of pre-selected objects. This paper highlights some details of the enormous and important work of the target selection process made by the members of Working Group 7 (WG#7) of the Kepler and TESS Asteroseismic Science Consortium.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, proceedings of the RRL2015 - High-Precision Studies of RR Lyrae Stars conference, to appear in the Communications from the Konkoly Observator

Challenges and benefits of working in teams – Interpersonal interactions in health care

Teamwork has become the accepted way of doing one’s job. This is so true even profession’s that were considered an exception are shifting towards teamwork. Apart from the well-known benefits, there seems to be a downside of the enforcement of this work strategy. Conflicts, frictions, frustration in working groups can affect the dignity, psychological or physical integrity of team members, generally referred to as psychological harassment, workplace bullying or mobbing. The outcomes of the phenomenon are various negative organizational responses. Health care is somewhat lagging behind in this shift towards working in teams, but with increasing specialization greater coordination is needed between health care professionals. Above all, the patient wishes to be more involved in the health care process. Research suggests that patient involvement and working in teams have a positive impact on effectiveness and patient mortality, respectively. One of the challenges for health care is to include the patient in the teamwork process as an equal member of the group and at the same time overcome the drawbacks mentioned above, in a setting where a traditional, paternalistic approach is still present and the vulnerability of the patient (and his/her dignity) is evident

Differences in Beliefs About Cholesterol-Lowering Medications Among the Visegrad Group Countries: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: New cholesterol guidelines highlight more personalized risk assessments and new cholesterol-lowering drugs for people at the highest risk for cardiovascular disease. Adherence due to fear of and lack of trust in medications prevents treatment to provide better health outcomes. / Objectives: The aim of our study was to investigate the possible differences in the beliefs about the necessity and concerns regarding lipid-lowering drugs among the Visegrad Group countries. / Methods: The Beliefs About Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ-Specific) was used in our research. The responses of 205 Hungarian, 200 Slovak, 235 Czech, and 200 Polish participants, all taking cholesterol-lowering medications, were compared to each other. / Results: Hungarian participants' belief in the necessity of cholesterol-lowering drugs was significantly lower compared to the Slovak (P = 0.001), Czech (P = 0.037), and Polish (P < 0.001) participants. While no difference was observed between the Czech and Slovak responses (P = 0.154), both the Czech (P < 0.001) and Slovak (P = 0.006) respondents' belief regarding necessity was lower than that of the Polish. Regarding concerns, the only significant difference was observed between the Czech and the Polish respondents (P = 0.011). / Conclusions: While the beliefs about benefits (necessity) are most prominent among the Polish participants, except in comparison to Czech responses, the Visegrad Group countries do not differ considerably regarding their beliefs about the fear (concerns) of the treatment

Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Lingual Validation of the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ)-Specific for Cholesterol Lowering Drugs in the Visegrad Countries

The goal of this study was to translate the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire—Specific (BMQ-Specific) for cholesterol-lowering drugs, into the Hungarian, Slovak, Czech and Polish languages and test their reliability with statistical methods. For this purpose, Cronbach’s alpha, confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses were conducted. The analyses included 235 Czech, 205 Hungarian, 200 Polish, and 200 Slovak respondents, all of whom were taking cholesterol-lowering drugs. The translations from English into the target languages were always done by two independent translators. As part of the validation process these translations were pilot tested and after the necessary alterations, they were translated back into English by a third translator. After the approval by the creator of the questionnaire, nationwide surveys were conducted in all four countries. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis were exceptionally good for the Czech and Slovak translations, while the Polish and Hungarian translations marginally crossed the predetermined thresholds. With the exception of a single Polish question, the results of the exploratory factor analysis were deemed acceptable. The translated versions of BMQ-Specific are reliable and valid tools to assess patients’ beliefs about medication, especially medication adherence among patients taking cholesterol-lowering medication. A comparison between the four countries with this questionnaire is now possible

Kinetics of four-wave mixing for a 2D magneto-plasma in strong magnetic fields

We investigate the femtosecond kinetics of an optically excited 2D magneto-plasma at intermediate and high densities under a strong magnetic field perpendicular to the quantum well (QW). We assume an additional weak lateral confinement which lifts the degeneracy of the Landau levels partially. We calculate the femtosecond dephasing and relaxation kinetics of the laser pulse excited magneto-plasma due to bare Coulomb potential scattering, because screening is under these conditions of minor importance. In particular the time-resolved and time-integrated four-wave mixing (FWM) signals are calculated by taking into account three Landau subbands in both the valance and the conduction band assuming an electron-hole symmetry. The FWM signals exhibit quantum beats mainly with twice the cyclotron frequency. Contrary to general expectations, we find no pronounced slowing down of the dephasing with increasing magnetic field. On the contrary, one obtains a decreasing dephasing time because of the increase of the Coulomb matrix elements and the number of states in a given Landau subband. In the situation when the loss of scattering channels exceeds these increasing effects, one gets a slight increase at the dephasing time. However, details of the strongly modulated scattering kinetics depend sensitively on the detuning, the plasma density, and the spectral pulse width relative to the cyclotron frequency.Comment: 13 pages, in RevTex format, 10 figures, Phys. Rev B in pres

Policy responses to problematic video game use: a systematic review of current measures and future possibilities

Background and aims: Empirical research into problematic video game playing suggests that overuse might cause functional and psychological impairments for a minority of gamers. Therefore, the need for regulation in the case of video games (whether governmental or self-imposed) has arisen but has only been implemented in a few countries around the world, and predominantly in Asia. This paper provides a systematic review of current and potential policies addressing problematic gaming. Methods: After conducting a systematic search in the areas of prevention, treatment, and policy measures relating to problematic Internet and video game use, papers were selected that targeted problematic gaming policies (N = 12; six in English and six in Korean). These papers served as the basis of this review. Results: Policies were classified into three major groups: (i) policy measures limiting availability of video games (e.g., shutdown policy, fatigue system, and parental controls), (ii) measures aiming to reduce risk and harm (e.g., warning messages), and (iii) measures taken to provide help services for gamers. Beyond the attempt to classify the current and potential policy measures, the authors also tried to evaluate their efficiency theoretically and (if data were available) empirically. Discussion and conclusions: Overall, it appears that although several steps have been taken to address problematic video game playing, most of these steps were not as effective as expected, or had not been evaluated empirically for efficacy. The reason for this may lie in the fact that the policies outlined only addressed or influenced specific aspects of the problem instead of using a more integrative approach

Variability of M giant stars based on Kepler photometry: general characteristics

M giants are among the longest-period pulsating stars which is why their studies were traditionally restricted to analyses of low-precision visual observations, and more recently, accurate ground-based data. Here we present an overview of M giant variability on a wide range of time-scales (hours to years), based on analysis of thirteen quarters of Kepler long-cadence observations (one point per every 29.4 minutes), with a total time-span of over 1000 days. About two-thirds of the sample stars have been selected from the ASAS-North survey of the Kepler field, with the rest supplemented from a randomly chosen M giant control sample. We first describe the correction of the light curves from different quarters, which was found to be essential. We use Fourier analysis to calculate multiple frequencies for all stars in the sample. Over 50 stars show a relatively strong signal with a period equal to the Kepler-year and a characteristic phase dependence across the whole field-of-view. We interpret this as a so far unidentified systematic effect in the Kepler data. We discuss the presence of regular patterns in the distribution of multiple periodicities and amplitudes. In the period-amplitude plane we find that it is possible to distinguish between solar-like oscillations and larger amplitude pulsations which are characteristic for Mira/SR stars. This may indicate the region of the transition between two types of oscillations as we move upward along the giant branch.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS. The normalized light curves are available upon reques

Absorption and wavepackets in optically excited semiconductor superlattices driven by dc-ac fields

Within the one-dimensional tight-binding minibands and on-site Coloumbic interaction approximation, the absorption spectrum and coherent wavepacket time evolution in an optically excited semiconductor superlattice driven by dc-ac electric fields are investigated using the semiconductor Bloch equations. The dominating roles of the ratios of dc-Stark to external ac frequency, as well as ac-Stark to external ac frequency, is emphasized. If the former is an integer ${\cal N}$, then also ${\cal N}$ harmonics are present within one Stark frequency, while the fractional case leads to the formation of excitonic fractional ladders. The later ratio determines the size and profile of the wavepacket. In the absence of excitonic interaction it controls the maximum size wavepackets reach within one cycle, while the interaction produces a strong anisotropy and tends to palliate the dynamic wavepacket localization.Comment: 14 pages, 7 postscript figure

Increasing the histidine 'density' in tripodal peptides by gradual N-functionalization of tris(2-aminoethyl)amine (tren) with l-histidyl units: The effect on zinc(II) complexes

Tripodal peptidomimetics have received increasing interest among others as efficient metal ion chelators. Most of these studies have focused on symmetrical, tri-substituted ligands. Our aim was to establish how the increasing donor group 'density', i.e. the gradual N-histidyl substitution, alters the coordination chemical properties of the tripodal platform. To this end we synthesized mono-, bis- and tris(l-histidyl)-functionalized tren derivatives (L1, L2 and L3, respectively), and studied their zinc(II) complexes by pH potentiometry, 1H NMR and MS spectroscopy. The three ligands provide a variety of donor sites, and consequently different stability and structure for their zinc(II) complexes depending on the pH and metal-to-ligand ratios. In the neutral pH range histamine-like coordination is operating in all cases. Due to the formation of macrochelate between the two/three (Nim,NH2) binding sites, L2 and L3 have considerably higher zinc(II) binding ability than histamine, or any other simple peptide with N-terminal His unit. The situation is fundamentally different at higher pH. The tren-like subunit in L1 acts as an anchoring site for amide deprotonation, and the (3NH2,N-,Ntert) type coordination, a rare example where zinc(II)-amide N- coordination takes place, results in outstanding stability. Although L1 provides tight binding above pH 7, it forms only mononuclear species. However, the increasing level of functionalization in L2 and L3 allows the formation of oligonuclear complexes, and at threefold zinc(II) excess the three ligands share nearly the same amount of zinc(II). Moreover, the high histidine 'density' in L2 and L3 also provides the formation of imidazolato-bridged structures, which has never been observed before in zinc(II) complexes of simple linear peptides. © 2017

Assignment of the group A rotavirus NSP4 gene into genotypes using a hemi-nested multiplex PCR assay: a rapid and reproducible assay for strain surveillance studies

The rotavirus non-structural protein NSP4 has been implicated in a number of biological functions during the rotavirus cellular cycle and pathogenesis, and has been addressed as a target for vaccine development. The NSP4 gene has been classified into six genotypes (A-F). A semi-nested triplex PCR was developed for genotyping the major human NSP4 genotypes (A-C), which are common in human rotavirus strains but are also shared among most mammalian rotavirus strains. A total of 192 previously characterized human strains representing numerous G and P type specificities (such as G1P[8], G1P[4], G2P[4], G3P[3], G3P[8], G3P[9], G4P[6], G4P[8], G6P[4], G6P[9], G6P[14], G8P[10], G8P[14], G9P[8], G9P[11], G10P[11], G12P[6] and G12P[8]) were tested for NSP4 specificity by the collaborating laboratories. An additional 35 animal strains, including the reference laboratory strains SA11 (simian, G3P[2]), NCDV (bovine, G6P[1]), K9 and CU-1 (canine, G3P[3]), together with 31 field isolates (canine, G3P[3]; feline, G3P[9]; porcine, G2P[23], G3P[6], G4P[6], G5P[6], G5P[7], G5P[26], G5P[27], G9P[6] and G9P[7]) were also successfully NSP4-typed. Four human G3P[9] strains and one feline G3P[9] strain were found to possess an NSP4 A genotype, instead of NSP4 C, suggesting a reassortment event between heterologous strains. Routine NSP4 genotyping may help to determine the genomic constellation of rotaviruses of man and livestock, and identify interspecies transmission of heterologous strain