Accurate and efficient spin integration for particle accelerators

Accurate spin tracking is a valuable tool for understanding spin dynamics in particle accelerators and can help improve the performance of an accelerator. In this paper, we present a detailed discussion of the integrators in the spin tracking code gpuSpinTrack. We have implemented orbital integrators based on drift-kick, bend-kick, and matrix-kick splits. On top of the orbital integrators, we have implemented various integrators for the spin motion. These integrators use quaternions and Romberg quadratures to accelerate both the computation and the convergence of spin rotations. We evaluate their performance and accuracy in quantitative detail for individual elements as well as for the entire RHIC lattice. We exploit the inherently data-parallel nature of spin tracking to accelerate our algorithms on graphics processing units.Comment: 43 pages, 17 figure

Auto-titrating continuous positive airway pressure for patients with acute transient ischemic attack: a randomized feasibility trial

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Transient ischemic attack (TIA) patients are at risk of recurrent vascular events. The primary objectives were to evaluate among TIA patients the prevalence of sleep apnea and among patients with sleep apnea auto-titrating continuous positive airway pressure (auto-CPAP) adherence. The secondary objective was to describe among TIA patients with sleep apnea the recurrent vascular event rate by auto-CPAP use category. METHODS: All intervention patients received auto-CPAP for 2 nights, but only intervention patients with evidence of sleep apnea received auto-CPAP for the remainder of the 90-day period. Intervention patients received polysomnography at 90 days after TIA. Control patients received polysomnography at baseline and at 90 days. Acceptable auto-CPAP adherence was defined as >or=4 hours per night for >or=75% of nights. Vascular events included recurrent TIA, stroke, hospitalization for congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction, or death. RESULTS: We enrolled 70 acute TIA patients: 45 intervention and 25 control. The majority of patients had sleep apnea: 57% at baseline and 59% at 90 days. Among the 30 intervention patients with airflow obstruction, 12 (40%) had acceptable auto-CPAP adherence, 18 (60%) had some use, and none had no use. Three intervention patients (12%) had recurrent events compared with 1 (2%;P=0.13) control patient. The vascular event rate was highest among sleep apnea patients with no CPAP use: none, 16%;some, 5%;acceptable adherence 0% (P=0.08). CONCLUSIONS: Sleep apnea is common among acute TIA patients. It appears feasible to provide auto-CPAP in the acute TIA period. Larger studies should evaluate whether a strategy of diagnosing and treating sleep apnea can reduce recurrent vascular events after TIA

Hair analysis by means of laser induced breakdown spectroscopy technique and support vector machine model for diagnosing addiction

Along with the development of laboratory methods for diagnosing addiction, concealment ways, either physically or chemically, for creating false results have been in progress. In this research based on the Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy technique (LIBS) and analyzing hair of addicted and normal people, we are proposing a new method to overcome problems in conventional methods and reduce possibility of cheating in the process of diagnosing addiction. For this purpose, at first we have sampled hair of 17 normal and addicted people and recorded 5 spectrums for each sample, overall 170 spectrums. After analyzing the recorded LIBS spectra and detecting the atomic and ionic lines as well as molecular bands, relative intensities of emission lines for Aluminum to Calcium (Al/Ca) and Aluminum to Sodium (Al/Na) were selected as the input variables for the Support Vector Machine model (SVM).The Radial Basis, Polynomial Kernel functions and a linear function were chosen for classifying the data in SVM model. The results of this research showed that by the combination of LIBS technique and SVM one can distinguish addicted person with precision of 100%. Because of several advantages of LIBS such as high speed analysis and being portable, this method can be used individually or together with available methods as an automatic method for diagnosing addiction through hair analysis

Nutraceutical Potential of Apiaceae

Apiaceae family is large, with over 3.000 species worldwide cultivated for many purposes. Some plants in this family such as carrots, parsley, parsnip and celery are common vegetable crops, while other members like anise, caraway, coriander, cumin, fennel, lovage, angelica and dill are famous for their medicinal and aromatic properties. Usage of these plants is very popular in everyday diet because of their documented health benefits. Apiaceae are a very important source of phytochemicals – chemicals with biological activity. However, phytochemicals are non-nutritive plant chemicals, also called nutraceuticals. They are widely used for prevention, treatment or cure of conditions or diseases. Bioactive compounds with nutraceutical potential are polyphenolic compounds, polyacetylenes and terpenoids. The aim of this review is to represent selected plants of Apiaceae family currently used as nutraceuticals and describe their nutritional benefits