Closing a Loophole in Factorization Proofs

We address the possibility in factorization proofs that low-energy collinear gluons can couple to soft gluons.Comment: 3 pages, 5 figures, contribution to the proceedings of Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum I

Factorization theorems for exclusive heavy-quarkonium production

We outline the proofs of the factorization theorems for exclusive two-body charmonium production in B-meson decay and e^+e^- annihilation to all orders in perturbation theory in quantum chromodynamics. We find that factorized expressions hold up to corrections of order m_c/m_b in B-meson decay and corrections of order m_c^2/s in e^+e^- annihilation, where m_c is the charm-quark mass, m_b is the bottom-quark mass, and root-s is the e^+e^- center-of-momentum energy.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Factorization of low-energy gluons in exclusive processes

We outline a proof of factorization in exclusive processes, taking into account the presence of soft and collinear modes of arbitrarily low energy, which arise when the external lines of the process are taken on shell. Specifically, we examine the process of e^+e^- annihilation through a virtual photon into two light mesons. In an intermediate step, we establish a factorized form that contains a soft function that is free of collinear divergences. In contrast, in soft-collinear effective theory, the low-energy collinear modes factor most straightforwardly into the soft function. We point out that the cancellation of the soft function, which relies on the color-singlet nature of the external hadrons, fails when the soft function contains low-energy collinear modes.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables, version published in Physical Review

Factorization in exclusive quarkonium production

We present factorization theorems for two exclusive heavy-quarkonium production processes: production of two quarkonia in e^+e^- annihilation and production of a quarkonium and a light meson in B-meson decays. We describe the general proofs of factorization and supplement them with explicit one-loop analyses, which illustrate some of the features of the soft-gluon cancellations. We find that violations of factorization are generally suppressed relative to the factorized contributions by a factor v^2m_c/Q for each S-wave charmonium and a factor m_c/Q for each L-wave charmonium with L>0. Here, v is the velocity of the heavy quark or antiquark in the quarkonium rest frame, Q=sqrt{s} for e^+e^- annihilation, Q=m_B for B-meson decays, sqrt{s} is the e^+e^- center-of-momentum energy, m_c is the charm-quark mass, and m_B is the B-meson mass. There are modifications to the suppression factors if quantum-number restrictions apply for the specific process.Comment: 69 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables. v2: Version published in Physical Review

A Hemispherical Contact Model for Simplifying 3D Occlusal Surfaces

Statement of problem Currently, dental articulators can recreate mandibular movements and occlusal contacts. However, whether virtual articulators can also provide information about occluding dental surfaces, functional movements, and the mandibular condyles is unclear. Purpose The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the occluding surfaces on dental casts obtained from a patient and approximate them to a hemispherical contact model. Both models were tested by digitizing the Dentatus ARL dental articulator. Material and methods A combination of photogrammetry and structure from motion methods were used to scan a Dentatus ARL articulator and representative dental casts. Using computer-aided engineering and finite element analysis, contact points and action vectors to the forces on occluding surfaces and condyles were obtained for cast and hemispherical models. This experiment was performed using centric occlusion and 3 different condylar inclinations. The Kruskal-Wallis 1-way analysis of variance on ranks test was used to allow all pairwise comparisons between condylar inclination and mechanical action vector values in each location (α=.05). Results Action vectors from the cast model and each location of the hemispherical model were calculated to show the mechanical consequences and the similarity among models. Overall, no significant differences were observed for action vectors (A20 versus A40 versus A60) at each location (dental cast/hemisphere, right condylar, and left condylar) in the analysis of dental casts and the hemisphere model (.382≤P≤.999). Conclusions This study provided graphical information that may assist the dental professional in determining which occlusal contacts should be modified to attain condylar and balanced centric occlusion

Une approche logicielle du traitement de la dyslexie : étude de modèles et applications

Neuropsychological disorders are widespread and generate real public health problems. In particular in our modern society, where written communication is ubiquitous, dyslexia can be extremely disabling. Nevertheless we can note that the diagnosis and remediation of this pathology are fastidious and lack of standardization. Unfortunately it seems inherent to the clinical characterization of dyslexia by exclusion, to the multitude of different practitioners involved in such treatment and to the lack of objectivity of some existing methods. In this respect, we decided to investigate the possibilities offered by modern computing to overcome these barriers. Indeed we have assumed that the democratization of computer systems and their computing power could make of them a perfect tool to alleviate the difficulties encountered in the treatment of dyslexia. This research has led us to study the techniques software as well as hardware, which can conduct to the development of an inexpensive and scalable system able to attend a beneficial and progressive changing of practices in this pathology field. With this project we put ourselves definitely in an innovative stream serving quality of care and aid provided to people with disabilities. Our work has been identifying different improvement areas that the use of computers enables. Then each of these areas could then be the subject of extensive research, modeling and prototype developments. We also considered the methodology for designing this kind of system as a whole. In particular our thoughts and these accomplishments have allowed us to define a software framework suitable for implementing a software platform that we called the PAMMA. This platform should theoretically have access to all the tools required for the flexible and efficient development of medical applications integrating business processes. In this way it is expected that this system allows the development of applications for caring dyslexic patients thus leading to a faster and more accurate diagnosis and a more appropriate and effective remediation. Of our innovation efforts emerge encouraging perspectives. However such initiatives can only be achieved within multidisciplinary collaborations with many functional, technical and financial means. Creating such a consortium seems to be the next required step to get a funding necessary for realizing a first functional prototype of the PAMMA, as well as its first applications. Some clinical studies may be conducted to prove undoubtedly the effectiveness of such an approach for treating dyslexia and eventually other neuropsychological disorders.Les troubles neuropsychologiques sont très répandus et posent de réels problèmes de santé publique. En particulier, dans notre société moderne où la communication écrite est omniprésente, la dyslexie peut s’avérer excessivement handicapante. On remarque néanmoins que le diagnostic et la remédiation de cette pathologie restent délicats et manquent d’uniformisation. Ceci semble malheureusement inhérent à la caractérisation clinique par exclusion de la dyslexie, à la multitude de praticiens différents impliqués dans une telle prise en charge ainsi qu’au manque d’objectivité de certaines méthodes existantes. A ce titre, nous avons décidé d’investiguer les possibilités offertes par l’informatique actuelle pour surmonter ces barrières. Effectivement, nous avons supposé que la démocratisation des systèmes informatiques et leur puissance de calcul pourraient en faire un outil de choix pour pallier les difficultés rencontrées lors de la prise en charge de la dyslexie. Cette recherche nous a ainsi mené à étudier les techniques, aussi bien logicielles que matérielles, pouvant conduire au développement d’un système bon marché et évolutif qui serait capable d’assister un changement bénéfique et progressif des pratiques qui entourent cette pathologie. Avec ce projet, nous nous plaçons définitivement dans un courant innovant au service de la qualité des soins et des aides apportées aux personnes souffrant d’un handicap. Notre travail a ainsi consisté à identifier différents axes d’amélioration que l’utilisation de l’outil informatique rend possible. Chacun de ces axes a alors pu faire l’objet de recherches exhaustives, de modélisations et de développements de prototypes. Nous avons également réfléchi à la méthodologie à mettre en œuvre pour concevoir un tel système dans sa globalité. En particulier, nos réflexions et ces différents accomplissements nous ont permis de définir un framework logiciel propice à l’implémentation d’une plate-forme logicielle que nous avons appelée la PAMMA. Cette plate-forme devrait théoriquement pouvoir disposer de tous les outils permettant le développement souple et efficace d’applications médicales intégrant des processus métiers. Il est ainsi attendu de ce système qu’il permette le développement d’applications, pour la prise en charges des patients dyslexiques, conduisant à un diagnostic plus rapide et plus précis ainsi qu’à une remédiation plus adaptée et plus efficace. De notre effort d’innovation ressortent des perspectives encourageantes. Cependant, ce type d’initiative ne peut se concrétiser qu’autour de collaborations pluridisciplinaires disposant de nombreux moyens fonctionnels, techniques et financiers. La constitution d’un tel consortium semble donc être la prochaine étape nécessaire à l’obtention des financements pour réaliser un premier prototype fonctionnel de la PAMMA, ainsi que de premières applications. Des études cliniques pourront être alors menées pour prouver indubitablement l’efficacité d’une telle approche dans le cadre de la prise en charge de la dyslexie, ainsi qu’éventuellement d’autres troubles neuropsychologiques

Formation of oligopeptides in high yield under simple programmable conditions

Many high-yielding reactions for forming peptide bonds have been developed but these are complex, requiring activated amino-acid precursors and heterogeneous supports. Herein we demonstrate the programmable one-pot dehydration–hydration condensation of amino acids forming oligopeptide chains in around 50% yield. A digital recursive reactor system was developed to investigate this process, performing these reactions with control over parameters such as temperature, number of cycles, cycle duration, initial monomer concentration and initial pH. Glycine oligopeptides up to 20 amino acids long were formed with very high monomer-to-oligomer conversion, and the majority of these products comprised three amino acid residues or more. Having established the formation of glycine homo-oligopeptides, we then demonstrated the co-condensation of glycine with eight other amino acids (Ala, Asp, Glu, His, Lys, Pro, Thr and Val), incorporating a range of side-chain functionality

Interview with Caroline Twist

Supporting oral interview conducted for the The Norquest Family: a porción of Edinburg publication.https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/chapsoralhistories/1031/thumbnail.jp

Investigating BGS and CEH data integration: using DiGMapGB and Land Cover Map 2000 as a test case. British Geological Survey Internal Report, IR/04/154

This report describes the results of a joint project between CEH and BGS. The project ran from October 2003 to March 2004 and was funded by NERC Executive Board. The first aim of the project was to carry out focussed scientific comparisons of two key datasets, the BGS Digital Map of Great Britain (DiGMapGB) and the CEH Land Cover Map 2000 (LCM2000). The second aim was to build on this by investigating other areas of potential scientific and data integration between BGS and CEH, to see how much potential there is for future collaborative work. In terms of achieving the first aim, the project has shown successfully how a variety of statistical GIS, database and manual (‘by eye’) techniques can be employed to compare the two major datasets, DiGMapGB and LCM2000, providing valuable lessons for future similar work on other combinations of NERC data. The comparison work between DiGMapGB and LCM2000 has demonstrated that the distribution of land cover types is not random when compared to geology, but any natural correlations tend to be heavily masked by anthropogenic effects. The project has been very successful in achieving the second aim; with a wide-ranging review across both BGS and CEH demonstrating how much could be gained from bringing the environmental data and expertise of the two organisations more closely together. An extensive list of potential areas of collaborative work, which would benefit from sharing of BGS and CEH environmental datasets, has been produced. This should prove invaluable for planning any future collaborative programmes within and between BGS and CEH. These include various aspects of hydrogeology and groundwater contamination, biogeographical and ecological risk assessment, heavy metal critical load mapping, urban planning, prediction of natural ground instability, and even forensic scienc

Stress, Motivation and Professional Satisfaction among Health Care Workers in HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment Centers in Urban Tanzania: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Shortages of health care workers (HCWs) represents a serious challenge to ensuring effective HIV care in resource-limited settings (RLS). Stress, motivation, and job satisfaction have been linked with HCW retention and are important in addressing HCW shortages. In this cross-sectional study HCW stress, motivation and perceived ability to meet patient needs were assessed in PEPFAR-supported urban HIV care and treatment clinics (CTCs) in Tanzania. A self-administered questionnaire measuring motivation, stress, and perceived ability to and meet patient needs was given to HCWs at 16 CTCs. Scales measuring HCW satisfaction, motivation, and stress were developed using principle components analysis. Hierarchical linear models were used to explore the association of HCW and site characteristics with reported satisfaction, stress, motivation, and ability to meet patients' needs.\ud Seventy-three percent (279) of HCWs completed the questionnaire. Most (73%) HCWs reported minimal/no work-related stress, with 48% reporting good/excellent motivation, but 41% also reporting feeling emotionally drained. Almost all (98%) reported feeling able to help their patients, with 68% reporting work as rewarding. Most reported receipt of training and supervision, with good availability of resources. In the multivariate model, direct clinical providers reported lower motivation than management (p < 0.05) and HCWs at medium-sized sites reported higher motivation than HCWs at larger sites (p < 0.05). HCWs at small and medium sites were more likely to feel able to help patients than those from larger sites (p < 0.05 and p < 0.001 respectively). Despite significant patient loads, HCWs in these PEPFAR-supported CTCs reported high levels of motivation, job satisfaction, ability to meet patients' needs, low levels of stress but significant emotional toll. Understanding the relationship between support systems such as strong supervision and training and these outcomes is critical in designing interventions to improve motivation, reduce stress and increase retention of HCWs