Frontotemporal dementia: the impact of patient behavioral symptoms on the physical and mental health of family caregivers.

BackgroundProviding informal support to someone with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) could be very stressful. Clarifying the relationship between patient behavioral problems and caregiver health could spur future research on effective symptom management strategies.MethodsSixty-one FTD family caregivers participated in a postal survey.ResultsPatient symptom severity was negatively associated with caregiver mental health (r = -0.26, p < 0.05) but not significantly associated with caregiver physical health. In a regression analysis, caregiver emotional distress from patient behaviors made a statistically significant contribution to caregiver mental health, explaining approximately 10% of its variance.ConclusionThis study underscores the importance of focusing on FTD caregivers' perceived emotional distress from patient behavioral problems and ensuring they are getting the appropriate support they need

Spin Hall and longitudinal conductivity of a conserved spin current in two dimensional heavy-hole gases

The spin Hall and longitudinal conductivity of a 2D heavy-hole gas with {\it k}-cubic Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction is studied in the ac frequency domain. Using Kubo linear-response theory and a recently proposed definition for the (conserved) spin current operator suitable for spin-3/2 holes, it is shown that the spin conductivity tensor exhibit very distinguishable features from those obtained with the standard definition of the spin current. This is due to a significant contribution of the spin-torque term arisen from the alternative definition of spin current which strongly affects the magnitude and the sign of the dynamic spin current. In the dc (free of disorder) limit, the spin Hall conductivity for only (or dominant) {\it k}-cubic Rashba coupling is $\sigma^{s,z}_{xy}(0)=-9e/8\pi$, whereas $\sigma^{s,z}_{xy}(0)=-3e/8\pi$ for only (or dominant) {\it k}-cubic Dresselhaus coupling. Such anisotropic response is understood in terms of the absence of mapping the {\it k}-cubic Rashba $\leftrightarrow$ Dresselhaus Hamiltonians. This asymmetry is also responsible for the non-vanishing dc spin Hall conductivity ($\sigma^{s,z}_{xy}(0)=-6e/8\pi$) when the Rashba and Dresselhaus parameters have the same strength, in contrast with its corresponding case for electrons. These results are of relevance to validate the alternative definition of spin-current through measurements in the frequency domain of the spin accumulation and/or spin currents in 2D hole gases.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures; typos added; Recommendations from referees added. Title change

Market Structure, Technology Spillovers, and Persistence in Productivity Differentials

Using data from 11 main manufacturing industries in 17 OECD countries, this paper empirically investigates the determinants of cross-country differences in the persistence of productivity differentials Specifically, we focus on the effects of product market structure and technology diffusion. It is found that the manufacturing industries display a wide range of convergence rates. Consistent with theories, the persistence of productivity differentials is found to be positively correlated with the price-cost margin and the intra-industry trade index - the proxies for market monopolistic behavior. The proxies for tecnology diffusion, however, do not exhibit consistently significant effect. Among the conditioning macro variables, productivity convergence appears to be enhanced by human capital but deterred by government spending.Total factor productivity, convergence, market structure, technology diffusion

Strength Modeling Report

Strength modeling is a complex and multi-dimensional issue. There are numerous parameters to the problem of characterizing human strength, most notably: (1) position and orientation of body joints; (2) isometric versus dynamic strength; (3) effector force versus joint torque; (4) instantaneous versus steady force; (5) active force versus reactive force; (6) presence or absence of gravity; (7) body somatotype and composition; (8) body (segment) masses; (9) muscle group envolvement; (10) muscle size; (11) fatigue; and (12) practice (training) or familiarity. In surveying the available literature on strength measurement and modeling an attempt was made to examine as many of these parameters as possible. The conclusions reached at this point toward the feasibility of implementing computationally reasonable human strength models. The assessment of accuracy of any model against a specific individual, however, will probably not be possible on any realistic scale. Taken statistically, strength modeling may be an effective tool for general questions of task feasibility and strength requirements

Testing for Output Convergence: A Re-Examination

This paper investigates output convergence for the G7 countries using multivariate time series techniques. We consider both the null hypotheses of no convergence and convergence. It is shown that inferences on output convergence depend on which one of the two null hypotheses is considered. Further, the no convergence results reported in previous studies using the time series definition may be attributed to the low power of the test procedures being used. Our results also highlight some potential problems on interpreting results from some typical multivariate unit root and stationarity tests.Output convergence, multivariate test, unit root test, stationarity test

A New Hybrid Framework to Efficiently Model Lines of Sight to Gravitational Lenses

In strong gravitational lens systems, the light bending is usually dominated by one main galaxy, but may be affected by other mass along the line of sight (LOS). Shear and convergence can be used to approximate the contributions from less significant perturbers (e.g. those that are projected far from the lens or have a small mass), but higher order effects need to be included for objects that are closer or more massive. We develop a framework for multiplane lensing that can handle an arbitrary combination of tidal planes treated with shear and convergence and planes treated exactly (i.e., including higher order terms). This framework addresses all of the traditional lensing observables including image positions, fluxes, and time delays to facilitate lens modelling that includes the non-linear effects due to mass along the LOS. It balances accuracy (accounting for higher-order terms when necessary) with efficiency (compressing all other LOS effects into a set of matrices that can be calculated up front and cached for lens modelling). We identify a generalized multiplane mass sheet degeneracy, in which the effective shear and convergence are sums over the lensing planes with specific, redshift-dependent weighting factors.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figure

Interference effects in f-deformed fields

We show how the introduction of an algeabric field deformation affects the interference phenomena. We also give a physical interpretation of the developed theory.Comment: 6 pages, Latex file, no figures, accepted by Physica Script

A Modified "Bottom-up" Thermalization in Heavy Ion Collisions

In the initial stage of the bottom-up picture of thermalization in heavy ion collisions, the gluon distribution is highly anisotropic which can give rise to plasma instability. This has not been taken account in the original paper. It is shown that in the presence of instability there are scaling solutions, which depend on one parameter, that match smoothly onto the late stage of bottom-up when thermalization takes place.Comment: 8 pages and 1 embedded figure, talk presented at the Workshop on "Quark-Gluon Plasma Thermalization", Vienna, Austria, 10-12 August 200