Review of the Literature on the Economics of Central Anaerobic Digesters

Minnesota can improve the utilization of manure and organic wastes via the production of biogas that can be used to produce heat and electricity. Denmark serves as a role model for Minnesota in the number of central anaerobic digesters that it supports. During anaerobic digestion methane is produced when naturally occurring anaerobic bacteria decompose organic matter in the absence of oxygen. This process produces what is called biogas, which usually is a mixture of 55 – 65 percent methane plus carbon dioxide with trace gases such as hydrogen sulfide. Co-generation using manure and other feedstocks can produce more energy than manure alone. Central digesters are more likely to process wastes from food processing plants and other sources resulting in the need for more specialized unloading facilities and larger storage spaces. Digesters can be owned by farmers or consumers cooperatives, third party/non-farming investor(s), state or municipal government, or established as a cooperative or limited liability corporation. Problems associated with centralized digester operation include capital constraints, low profitability, lower-than-expected waste availability, electricity connection and pricing, and waste disposal constraints.Livestock Production/Industries, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Tau Polarization in Λb→Xcτνˉ \Lambda_b \to X_c \tau \bar{\nu} and B→XcτνˉB \to X_c \tau \bar{\nu}

We discuss the longitudinal and transverse $\tau$-polarization in inclusive decays of hadrons containing $b$-quarks. The calculation is performed by means of an OPE in HQET. Some mathematical difficulties in calculating transverse polarizations are explained. Numerical results are presented for longitudinal and for transverse polarizations, both in and perpendicular to the decay plane.Comment: LATEX, 20 pages, 5 Postscript figure

Investigation of Planar Pick-up and Kicker Electrodes for Stochastic Cooling

The success of stochastic cooling crucially depends on the interaction between the beam and high frequency devices for detection (pick-up electrodes) and deflection (kicker electrodes). This contribution shows the theoretical investigation of a planar electrode to be used for stochastic cooling of secondary particles with a beta of 0.83. The coupling to the beam is realised by a slot line. Transition networks are added to extract the signal. The detailed investigation is performed via a numerical electromagnetic field analysis. The longitudinal kick of the deflectors is calculated as a function of the beam position and scaled to the applied voltage. According to the Panofsky-Wenzel theorem the transverse kick is obtained simultaneously. The electromagnetic properties of the discussed electrode are compared to existing ones as currently in use in the ESR storage ring (GSI, Darmstadt)

A heavy quark effective field lagrangian keeping particle and antiparticle mixed sectors

We derive a tree-level heavy quark effective Lagrangian keeping particle-antiparticle mixed sectors allowing for heavy quark-antiquark pair annihilation and creation. However, when removing the unwanted degrees of freedom from the effective Lagrangian one has to be careful in using the classical equations of motion obeyed by the effective fields in order to get a convergent expansion on the reciprocal of the heavy quark mass. Then the application of the effective theory to such hard processes should be sensible for special kinematic regimes as for example heavy quark pair production near threshold.Comment: LaTeX, 14 pages, 1 EPS figure

Clinico-radiological dissociation of disease activity in MS patients: frequency and clinical relevance

Objective: To investigate the prevalence and clinical relevance regarding disability progression in multiple sclerosis patients with a dissociation in clinical and radiological disease expression. / Methods: We prospectively selected patients with early relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) or a clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) from the Amsterdam MS cohort. Patients underwent clinical examination at baseline, after 2 years, 6 years and a subset also after 11 years, including the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), 25-foot walk test (25-FWT) and 9-hole peg test (9-HPT). Brain and spinal cord MRI scans were obtained at baseline and after 2 years. Two years after baseline, patients with dissociation in their clinical and radiological disease progression were identified as: (1) patients with high clinical disease activity (defined by relapses) and low radiological disease activity (defined by white-matter lesions on T2-weighted imaging); or (2) patients with low clinical disease activity and high radiological disease activity. Binary logistic regression analyses were performed to predict disability progression after 6 and 11 years of follow-up. Patients with low clinical and low radiological disease activity were used as the reference group. / Results: The prevalence of clinico-radiological dissociation was low (6.4% had high clinical and low radiological disease activity and 5.1% had a combination of low clinical and high radiological disease activity) compared to 88.5% of patients without a dissociation. Patients with a dissociation of clinical and radiological disease activity did not show a statistically significant difference in risk of disability progression after 6 and 11 years. / Conclusions: A clinico-radiological dissociation is rather a rare phenomenon in MS patients. The clinical relevance of such a dissociation regarding the prediction of disability progression is questionable

Stochastic dynamics and control of a driven nonlinear spin chain: the role of Arnold diffusion

We study a chain of non-linear, interacting spins driven by a static and a time-dependent magnetic field. The aim is to identify the conditions for the locally and temporally controlled spin switching. Analytical and full numerical calculations show the possibility of stochastic control if the underlying semi-classical dynamics is chaotic. This is achievable by tuning the external field parameters according to the method described in this paper. We show analytically for a finite spin chain that Arnold diffusion is the underlying mechanism for the present stochastic control. Quantum mechanically we consider the regime where the classical dynamics is regular or chaotic. For the latter we utilize the random matrix theory. The efficiency and the stability of the non-equilibrium quantum spin-states are quantified by the time-dependence of the Bargmann angle related to the geometric phases of the states.Comment: Journal-ref: to appear in J.Phys.

The HQET/NRQCD Lagrangian to order alpha/m^3

The HQET/NRQCD Lagrangian is computed to order alpha/m^3. The computation is performed using dimensional regularization to regulate the ultraviolet and infrared divergences. The results are consistent with reparametrization invariance to order 1/m^3. Some subtleties in the matching conditions for NRQCD are discussed.Comment: Two terms added to Lagrangian. Explicit value of G^3 coefficient given. Some references added, and TeX problems fixed. (18 pages, uses revtex

The Promising Process to Distinguish Supersymmetric Models with Large tanβ\beta from the Standard Model: B→Xsμ+μ−B\to X_s{\mu}^{+}{\mu}^{-}

It is shown that in supersymmetric models (SUSYMs) the large supersymmetric contributions to $B \to X_s{\mu}^{+}{\mu}^{-}$ come from the Feynman diagrams which consist of exchanging neutral Higgs bosons (NHBs) and the chargino-stop loop and are proportional to $m_b m_{\mu}$tan$^3\beta/m_{h}^2$ when tan$\beta$ is large and the mass of the lightest neutral Higgs boson m$_h$ is not too large (say, less than 150 Gev). Numerical results show that the branching ratios of $B \to X_s{\mu}^{+}{\mu}^{-}$ can be enhanced by more than 100% compared to the standard model (SM) and the backward-forward asymmetry of lepton is significantly different from that in SM when tan$\beta \geq 30$.Comment: 8 pages, including 2 figure

Drug–drug interactions in pediatric oncology patients

BackgroundDrug–drug interactions (DDIs) can negatively affect pharmacotherapy. However, pediatric DDI studies are scarce. We undertook an exploratory study to investigate prevalence and clinical relevance of DDIs between cytostatic and noncytostatic drugs in outpatient pediatric oncology patients.ProcedureAfter informed consent and inclusion, the following information was collected: currently prescribed noncytostatic and cytostatic drugs, comorbidities, and use of over‐the‐counter (OTC) drugs, complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs), and dietary supplements. All medication was screened for DDIs according to two databases: Micromedex® Solutions and the Dutch drug database G‐Standard. The researcher presented DDIs with an associated potential for adverse outcome and a proposal for intervention to three independent experts. If the experts considered a DDI to be potentially clinically relevant and requiring intervention, the physician was notified.ResultsSeventy‐three patients were included (median age 8.9 years). A total of 67 different DDIs were counted (66 in Micromedex® Solutions, 14 in G‐Standard, and 13 DDIs in both databases). The medication reviews resulted in 35 interventions related to 11 different DDIs. The majority of DDIs concerned noncytostatic drugs (25/35) and one third occurred between cytostatic and noncytostatic drugs (10/35). The use of QTc‐interval‐prolonging drugs resulted in one intervention. The use of OTC drugs, CAM, or dietary supplements did not lead to DDIs.ConclusionsThis study resulted in a selection of 11 potentially clinically relevant DDIs for 73 outpatients in our pediatric oncology department. Interventions were formulated in close collaboration between physicians and clinical pharmacists. Future research should focus on assessing DDIs concerning QTc‐interval prolongation.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137518/1/pbc26410_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137518/2/pbc26410.pd

Riemann-Hilbert problems for poly-Hardy space on the unit ball

In this paper, we focus on a Riemann–Hilbert boundary value problem (BVP) with a constant coefficients for the poly-Hardy space on the real unit ball in higher dimensions. We first discuss the boundary behaviour of functions in the poly-Hardy class. Then we construct the Schwarz kernel and the higher order Schwarz operator to study Riemann–Hilbert BVPs over the unit ball for the poly- Hardy class. Finally, we obtain explicit integral expressions for their solutions. As a special case, monogenic signals as elements in the Hardy space over the unit sphere will be reconstructed in the case of boundary data given in terms of functions having values in a Clifford subalgebra. Such monogenic signals represent the generalization of analytic signals as elements of the Hardy space over the unit circle of the complex plane