A model based framework for air quality indices and population risk evaluation, with an application to the analysis of Scottish air quality data

The paper is devoted to the development of a statistical framework for air quality assessment at the country level and for the evaluation of the ambient population exposure and risk with respect to airborne pollutants. The framework is based on a multivariate space–time model and on aggregated indices defined at different levels of aggregation in space and time. The indices are evaluated, uncertainty included, by considering both the model outputs and the information on the population spatial distribution. The framework is applied to the analysis of air quality data for Scotland for 2009 referring to European and Scottish air quality legislation

On the robustness of acoustic black hole spectra

We study the robustness of the spectrum emitted by an acoustic black hole by considering series of stationary flows that become either subsonic or supersonic, i.e. when the horizon disappears. We work with the superluminal Bogoliubov dispersion of Bose--Einstein condensates. We find that the spectrum remains remarkably Planckian until the horizon disappears. When the flow is everywhere supersonic, new pair creation channels open. This will be the subject of a forthcoming work.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure, jpconf.cls; to appear in the proceedings of the Spanish Relativity Meeting ERE201

Coherency in space of lake and river temperature and water quality records

Environmental time series observed over 100’s of monitoring locations usually possess some spatial structure in terms of common patterns throughout time, commonly described as temporal coherence. This paper will apply, develop and compare two methods for clustering time series on the basis of their patterns over time. The first approach treats the time series as functional data and applies hierarchical clustering while the second uses a state-space model based clustering approach. Both methods are developed to incorporate spatial correlation and stopping criteria are investigated to identify an appropriate number of clusters. The methods are applied to Total Organic Carbon data from river sites across Scotland

Hawking radiation in dispersive theories, the two regimes

We compute the black hole radiation spectrum in the presence of high-frequency dispersion in a large set of situations. In all cases, the spectrum diverges like the inverse of the Killing frequency. When studying the low-frequency spectrum, we find only two regimes: an adiabatic one where the corrections with respect to the standard temperature are small, and an abrupt one regulated by dispersion, in which the near-horizon metric can be replaced by step functions. The transition from one regime to the other is governed by a single parameter which also governs the net redshift undergone by dispersive modes. These results can be used to characterize the quasiparticles spectrum of recent and future experiments aiming to detect the analogue Hawking radiation. They also apply to theories of quantum gravity which violate Lorentz invariance.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure

Modification of magnetic and transport properties of manganite layers in Au/La_0.67Sr_0.33MnO_3/SrTiO_3 interfaces

The effect of gold capping on magnetic and transport properties of optimally doped manganite thin films is studied. An extraordinary suppression of conductivity and magnetic properties occurs in epitaxial (001) La_0.67Sr_0.33MnO_3 (LSMO) films grown on SrTiO_3 upon deposition of 2 nm of Au: in the case of ultrathin films of LSMO (4 nm thick) the resistivity increases by four orders of magnitude while the Curie temperature decreases by 180 K. Zero-field 55Mn nuclear magnetic resonance reveals a significant reduction of ferromagnetic double-exchange mechanism in manganite films upon the gold capping. We find evidence for the formation of a 1.9-nm thick magnetic "dead-layer" at the Au/LSMO interface, associated with the creation of interfacial non double-exchange insulating phases.Comment: 4 figure

Black hole lasers in Bose-Einstein condensates

We consider elongated condensates that cross twice the speed of sound. In the absence of periodic boundary conditions, the phonon spectrum possesses a discrete and finite set of complex frequency modes that induce a laser effect. This effect constitutes a dynamical instability and is due to the fact that the supersonic region acts as a resonant cavity. We numerically compute the complex frequencies and density-density correlation function. We obtain patterns with very specific signatures. In terms of the gravitational analogy, the flows we consider correspond to a pair of black hole and white hole horizons, and the laser effect can be conceived as a self-amplified Hawking radiation. This is verified by comparing the outgoing flux at early time with the standard black hole radiation.Comment: iopams, 37 pages, 14 figures, 1 table; for associated gif animations, see http://people.sissa.it/~finazzi/bec_bhlasers/movies/ or http://iopscience.iop.org/1367-2630/12/9/095015/media. Published on New. J. Phys. (http://iopscience.iop.org/1367-2630/12/9/095015/). V2: few new comments, modified figure

Recent finding and new technologies in nephrolithiasis: a review of the recent literature

This review summarizes recent literature on advances regarding renal and ureteral calculi, with particular focus in areas of recent advances in the overall field of urolithiasis. Clinical management in everyday practice requires a complete understanding of the issues regarding metabolic evaluation and subgrouping of stone-forming patients, diagnostic procedures, effective treatment regime in acute stone colic, medical expulsive therapy, and active stone removal. In this review we focus on new perspectives in managing nephrolitihiasis and discuss recentadvances, including medical expulsive therapy, new technologies, and refinements of classical therapy such as shock wave lithotripsy, give a fundamental modification of nephrolithiasis management. Overall, this field appears to be the most promising, capable of new developments in ureterorenoscopy and percutaneous approaches. Further improvements are expected from robotic-assisted procedures, such as flexible robotics in ureterorenoscopy

The prognostic importance of chronic end-stage diseases in geriatric patients admitted to 163 Italian ICUs

BACKGROUND: The number of elderly patients undergoing major surgical interventions and then needing admission to intensive care unit (ICU) grows steadily. We investigated this issue in a cohort of 232,278 patients admitted in five years (2011-2015) to 163 Italian general ICUs. METHODS: Surgical patients older than 75 registered in the GiViTI MargheritaPROSAFE project were analyzed. The impact on hospital mortality of important chronic conditions (severe COPD, NYHA class IV, dementia, end-stage renal disease, cirrhosis with portal hypertension) was investigated with two prognostic models developed yearly on patients staying in the ICU less or more than 24 hours. RESULTS: 44,551 elderly patients (19.2%) underwent emergency (47.3%) or elective surgery (52.7%). At least one severe comorbidity was present in 14.6% of them, yielding a higher hospital mortality (32.4%, vs. 21.1% without severe comorbidity). In the models for patients staying in the ICU 24 hours or more, cirrhosis, NYHA class IV, and severe COPD were constant independent predictors of death (adjusted odds ratios [ORs] range 1.67-1.97, 1.54-1.91, and 1.34-1.50, respectively), while dementia was statistically significant in four out of five models (adjusted ORs 1.23-1.28). End-stage renal disease, instead, never resulted to be an independent prognostic factor. For patients staying in the ICU less than 24 hours, chronic comorbidities were only occasionally independent predictors of death. CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirms that elderly surgical patients represent a relevant part of all ICUs admissions. About one of seven bear at least one severe chronic comorbidity, that, excluding end-stage renal disease, are all strong independent predictors of hospital death

The treatment of polycythaemia vera: an update in the JAK2 era

The clinical course of polycythaemia vera is marked by a high incidence of thrombotic complications, which represent the main cause of morbidity and mortality. Major predictors of vascular events are increasing age and previous thrombosis. Myelosuppressive drugs can reduce the rate of thrombosis, but there is concern that their use raises the risk of transformation into acute leukaemia. To tackle this dilemma, a risk-oriented management strategy is recommended. Low-risk patients should be treated with phlebotomy and low-dose aspirin. Cytotoxic therapy is indicated in high-risk patients, with the drug of choice being hydroxyurea because its leukaemogenicity is low. The recent discovery of JAK2 V617F mutation in the vast majority of polycythaemia vera patients opens new avenues for the treatment of this disease. Novel therapeutic options theoretically devoid of leukaemic risk, such as alpha-interferon and imatinib, affect JAK2 expression in some patients. Nevertheless, these drugs require further clinical experience and, for the time being, should be reserved for selected cases