421 research outputs found
Twisted mass fermions: neutral pion masses from disconnected contributions
Twisted mass fermions allow light quarks to be explored but with the
consequence that there are mass splittings, such as between the neutral and
charged pion. Using a direct calculation of the connected neutral pion
correlator and stochastic methods to evaluate the disconnected correlations, we
determine the neutral pion mass. We explore the dependence on lattice spacing
and quark mass in quenched QCD. For dynamical QCD, we determine the sign of the
splitting which is linked, via chiral PT, to the nature of the phase transition
at small quark mass.Comment: 6 pages, poster (hadron spectrum and quark masses) at Lattice
2005,Dublin, July 25-3
Optimization of Drug Prescription and Medication Management in Older Adults with Cardiovascular Disease
Cardiovascular disease increases incrementally with age and elderly patients concomitantly sustain multimorbidities, with resultant prescription of multiple medications. Despite conforming with disease-specific cardiovascular clinical practice guidelines, this polypharmacy predisposes many elderly individuals with cardiovascular disease to adverse drug events and non-adherence. Patient-centered care requires that the clinician explore with each patient his or her goals of care and that this shared decision-making constitutes the basis for optimization of medication management. This approach to aligning therapies with patient preferences is likely to promote patient satisfaction, to limit morbidity, and to favorably affect healthcare costs
Glueballs and k-strings in SU(N) gauge theories : calculations with improved operators
We test a variety of blocking and smearing algorithms for constructing
glueball and string wave-functionals, and find some with much improved overlaps
onto the lightest states. We use these algorithms to obtain improved results on
the tensions of k-strings in SU(4), SU(6), and SU(8) gauge theories. We
emphasise the major systematic errors that still need to be controlled in
calculations of heavier k-strings, and perform calculations in SU(4) on an
anisotropic lattice in a bid to minimise one of these. All these results point
to the k-string tensions lying part-way between the `MQCD' and `Casimir
Scaling' conjectures, with the power in 1/N of the leading correction lying in
[1,2]. We also obtain some evidence for the presence of quasi-stable strings in
calculations that do not use sources, and observe some near-degeneracies
between (excited) strings in different representations. We also calculate the
lightest glueball masses for N=2, ...,8, and extrapolate to N=infinity,
obtaining results compatible with earlier work. We show that the N=infinity
factorisation of the Euclidean correlators that are used in such mass
calculations does not make the masses any less calculable at large N.Comment: 49 pages, 15 figure
Panchromatic engineering for dye-sensitized solar cells
The dye-sensitized mesoscopic solar cell has been intensively investigated as a promising photovoltaic cell. Its ecological and economical fabrication processes make it attractive and credible alternative to conventional photovoltaic systems. In contrast to the latter design, the DSC approach separates tasks of light absorption and charge transport. The primary step of light absorption is performed by a sensitizer anchored to the surface of a wide band gap semiconductor. In order to reach a high conversion efficiency, the first requirement is that the sensitizer should absorb as much as possible of the incoming sunlight. Strategies for achieving panchromatic response in dye-sensitized mesoscopic solar cells are discussed
Electron donor-acceptor distance dependence of the dynamics of light-induced interfacial charge transfer in the dye-sensitization of nanocrystalline oxide semiconductors
The effect of electronic and nuclear factors on the dynamics of dye-to-semiconductor electron transfer was studied employing RuII(terpy)(NCS)3 sensitizers grafted onto transparent films made of titanium dioxide nanoparticles. Various approaches were strived to understand the dependence of the kinetics of charge injection and recombination processes upon the distance separating the dye molecules and the redox active surface. A series of bridged sensitizers containing p- phenylene spacers of various lengths and phosphonic anchoring groups were adsorbed onto TiO2 films. The kinetics of interfacial charge transfer was recorded by use of time-resolved spectroscopy in the fs-ps domain. The electron injection process was found to be biphasic with a clear exponential distance dependence of the fast kinetic component. The slower part of the kinetics was essentially unaffected by the length of the spacer bridge and was attributed to sensitizer molecules that are weakly bound to the surface with no direct contact of the anchoring group with the semiconductor. In a second approach, the kinetics of both forward- and back-electron transfer across a layer of insulating Al2O3 deposited onto TiO2 nanocrystalline particles was investigated. Efficient charge injection was observed over distances up to 3 nm
Elucidating the long-range charge carrier mobility in metal halide perovskite thin films
Many optoelectronic properties have been reported for lead halide perovskite
polycrystalline films. However, ambiguities in the evaluation of these
properties remain, especially for long-range lateral charge transport, where
ionic conduction can complicate interpretation of data. Here we demonstrate a
new technique to measure the long-range charge carrier mobility in such
materials. We combine quasi-steady-state photo-conductivity measurements
(electrical probe) with photo-induced transmission and reflection measurements
(optical probe) to simultaneously evaluate the conductivity and charge carrier
density. With this knowledge we determine the lateral mobility to be ~ 2 cm2/Vs
for CH3NH3PbI3 (MAPbI3) polycrystalline perovskite films prepared from the
acetonitrile/methylamine solvent system. Furthermore, we present significant
differences in long-range charge carrier mobilities, from 2.2 to 0.2 cm2/Vs,
between films of contemporary perovskite compositions prepared via different
fabrication processes, including solution and vapour phase deposition
techniques. Arguably, our work provides the first accurate evaluation of the
long-range lateral charge carrier mobility in lead halide perovskite films,
with charge carrier density in the range typically achieved under photovoltaic
operation
Light quark masses and pseudoscalar decay constants from Nf=2 Lattice QCD with twisted mass fermions
We present the results of a lattice QCD calculation of the average up-down
and strange quark masses and of the light meson pseudoscalar decay constants
with Nf=2 dynamical fermions. The simulation is carried out at a single value
of the lattice spacing with the twisted mass fermionic action at maximal twist,
which guarantees automatic O(a)-improvement of the physical quantities. Quark
masses are renormalized by implementing the non-perturbative RI-MOM
renormalization procedure. Our results for the light quark masses are
m_ud^{msbar}(2 GeV)= 3.85 +- 0.12 +- 0.40 MeV, m_s^{msbar}(2 GeV) = 105 +- 3 +-
9 MeV and m_s/m_ud = 27.3 +- 0.3 +- 1.2. We also obtain fK = 161.7 +- 1.2 +-
3.1 MeV and the ratio fK/fpi=1.227 +- 0.009 +- 0.024. From this ratio, by using
the experimental determination of Gamma(K-> mu nu (gamma))/Gamma(pi -> mu nu
(gamma)) and the average value of |Vud| from nuclear beta decays, we obtain
|Vus|=0.2192(5)(45), in agreement with the determination from Kl3 decays and
the unitarity constraint.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure
Properties of the deconfining phase transition in SU(N) gauge theories
We extend our earlier investigation of the finite temperature deconfinement
transition in SU(N) gauge theories, with the emphasis on what happens as N->oo.
We calculate the latent heat in the continuum limit, and find the expected
quadratic in N behaviour at large N. We confirm that the phase transition,
which is second order for SU(2) and weakly first order for SU(3), becomes
robustly first order for N>3 and strengthens as N increases. As an aside, we
explain why the SU(2) specific heat shows no sign of any peak as T is varied
across what is supposedly a second order phase transition. We calculate the
effective string tension and electric gluon masses at T=Tc confirming the
discontinuous nature of the transition for N>2. We explicitly show that the
large-N `spatial' string tension does not vary with T for T<Tc and that it is
discontinuous at T=Tc. For T>Tc it increases as T-squared to a good
approximation, and the k-string tension ratios closely satisfy Casimir Scaling.
Within very small errors, we find a single Tc at which all the k-strings
deconfine, i.e. a step-by-step breaking of the relevant centre symmetry does
not occur. We calculate the interface tension but are unable to distinguish
between linear or quadratic in N variations, each of which can lead to a
striking but different N=oo deconfinement scenario. We remark on the location
of the bulk phase transition, which bounds the range of our large-N
calculations on the strong coupling side, and within whose hysteresis some of
our larger-N calculations are performed.Comment: 50 pages, 14 figure
Examining differential responses to the Take Care of Me trial: A latent class and moderation analysis
Given prevalent alcohol misuse-emotional comorbidities among young adults, we developed an internet-based integrated treatment called Take Care of Me. Although the treatment had an impact on several secondary outcomes, effects were not observed for the primary outcome. Therefore, the goal of the current study was to examine heterogeneity in treatment responses. The initial RCT randomized participants to either a treatment or psychoeducational control condition. We conducted an exploratory latent class analysis to distinguish individuals based on pre-treatment risk and then used moderated regressions to examine differential treatment responses based on class membership. We found evidence for three distinct groups. Most participants fell in the “low severity” group (n = 123), followed by the “moderate severity” group (n = 57) who had a higher likelihood of endorsing a previous mental health diagnosis and treatment and higher symptom severity than the low group. The “high severity” group (n = 42) endorsed a family history of alcoholism, and the highest symptom severity and executive dysfunction. Moderated regressions revealed significant class differences in treatment responses. In the treatment condition, high severity (relative to low) participants reported higher alcohol consumption and hazardous drinking and lower quality of life at follow-up, whereas moderate severity (relative to low) individuals had lower alcohol consumption at follow-up, and lower hazardous drinking at end-of-treatment. No class differences were found for participants in the control group. Higher risk individuals in the treatment condition had poorer responses to the program. Tailoring interventions to severity may be important to examine in future research
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