2,241 research outputs found
A comparison of short-term and long-term air pollution exposure associations with mortality in two cohorts in Scotland
Air pollutionâmortality risk estimates are generally larger at longer-term, compared with short-term, exposure time scales. We compared associations between short-term exposure to black smoke (BS) and mortality with long-term exposureâmortality associations in cohort participants and with short-term exposureâmortality associations in the general population from which the cohorts were selected. We assessed short-to-mediumâterm exposureâmortality associations in the RenfrewâPaisley and Collaborative cohorts (using nested caseâcontrol data sets), and compared them with long-term exposureâmortality associations (using a multilevel spatiotemporal exposure model and survival analyses) and short-to-mediumâterm exposureâmortality associations in the general population (using time-series analyses). For the RenfrewâPaisley cohort (15,331 participants), BS exposureâmortality associations were observed in nested caseâcontrol analyses that accounted for spatial variations in pollution exposure and individual-level risk factors. These cohort-based associations were consistently greater than associations estimated in time-series analyses using a single monitoring site to represent general population exposure {e.g., 1.8% [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.1, 3.4%] vs. 0.2% (95% CI: 0.0, 0.4%) increases in mortality associated with 10-ÎŒg/m3 increases in 3-day lag BS, respectively}. Exposureâmortality associations were of larger magnitude for longer exposure periods [e.g., 3.4% (95% CI: â0.7, 7.7%) and 0.9% (95% CI: 0.3, 1.5%) increases in all-cause mortality associated with 10-ÎŒg/m3 increases in 31-day BS in caseâcontrol and time-series analyses, respectively; and 10% (95% CI: 4, 17%) increase in all-cause mortality associated with a 10-ÎŒg/m3 increase in geometic mean BS for 1970â1979, in survival analysis]. After adjusting for individual-level exposure and potential confounders, short-term exposureâmortality associations in cohort participants were of greater magnitude than in comparable general population time-series study analyses. However, short-term exposureâmortality associations were substantially lower than equivalent long-term associations, which is consistent with the possibility of larger, more persistent cumulative effects from long-term exposures
Water intake, faecal output and intestinal motility in horses moved from pasture to a stabled management regime with controlled exercise
Reasons for performing study: A change in management from pasture to stabling is a risk factor for equine colic.
Objectives: To investigate the effect of a management change from pasture with no controlled exercise to stabling with light exercise on aspects of gastrointestinal function related to large colon impaction. The hypothesis was that drinking water intake, faecal output, faecal water content and large intestinal motility would be altered by a transition from a pastured to a stabled regime.
Study design: Within-subject management intervention trial involving changes in feeding and exercise using noninvasive techniques.
Methods: Seven normal horses were evaluated in a within-subjects study design. Horses were monitored while at pasture 24âh/day, and for 14 days following a transition to a stabling regime with light controlled exercise. Drinking water intake, faecal output and faecal dry matter were measured. Motility of the caecum, sternal flexure and left colon (contractions/min) were measured twice daily by transcutaneous ultrasound. Mean values were pooled for the pastured regime and used as a reference for comparison with stabled data (Days 1â14 post stabling) for multilevel statistical analysis.
Results: Drinking water intake was significantly increased (mean ± s.d. pasture 2.4 ± 1.8 vs. stabled 6.4 ± 0.6 l/100âkg bwt/day), total faecal output was significantly decreased (pasture 4.62 ± 1.69 vs. stabled 1.81 ± 0.5âkg/100âkg bwt/day) and faecal dry matter content was significantly increased (pasture 18.7 ± 2.28 vs. stabled 27.2 ± 1.93% DM/day) on all days post stabling compared with measurements taken at pasture (P<0.05). Motility was significantly decreased in all regions of the large colon collectively on Day 2 post stabling (-0.76 contractions/min), and in the left colon only on Day 4 (-0.62 contractions/min; P<0.05).
Conclusions: There were significant changes in large intestinal motility patterns and parameters relating to gastrointestinal water balance during a transition from pasture to stabled management, particularly during the first 5 days
Reconstruction of inhomogeneous metric perturbations and electromagnetic four-potential in Kerr spacetime
We present a procedure that allows the construction of the metric
perturbations and electromagnetic four-potential, for gravitational and
electromagnetic perturbations produced by sources in Kerr spacetime. This may
include, for example, the perturbations produced by a point particle or an
extended object moving in orbit around a Kerr black hole. The construction is
carried out in the frequency domain. Previously, Chrzanowski derived the vacuum
metric perturbations and electromagnetic four-potential by applying a
differential operator to a certain potential . Here we construct
for inhomogeneous perturbations, thereby allowing the application of
Chrzanowski's method. We address this problem in two stages: First, for vacuum
perturbations (i.e. pure gravitational or electromagnetic waves), we construct
the potential from the modes of the Weyl scalars or .
Second, for perturbations produced by sources, we express in terms of
the mode functions of the source, i.e. the energy-momentum tensor or the electromagnetic current vector .Comment: 20 pages; few typos corrected and minor modifications made; accepted
to Phys. Rev.
Effective Values of Komar Conserved Quantities and Their Applications
We calculate the effective Komar angular momentum for the Kerr-Newman (KN)
black hole. This result is valid at any radial distance on and outside the
black hole event horizon. The effcetive values of mass and angular momentum are
then used to derive an identity () which relates the Komar
conserved charge () corresponding to the null Killing vector
() with the thermodynamic quantities of this black hole. As an
application of this identity the generalised Smarr formula for this black hole
is derived. This establishes the fact that the above identity is a local form
of the inherently non-local generalised Smarr formula.Comment: v3, minor modifications over v2; LaTex, 9 pages, no figures, to
appear in Int. Jour. Theo. Phy
An evaluation of the relative efficacy of an open airway, an oxygen reservoir and continuous positive airway pressure 5 cmH2O on the non-ventilated lung
Publisher's copy made available with the permission of the publisher © Australian Society of AnaesthetistsThe aim of this study, during one-lung ventilation, was to evaluate if oxygenation could be improved by use of a simple oxygen reservoir or application of 5 cmH2O continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) to the non-ventilated lung compared with an open airway. Twenty-three patients with lung malignancy, undergoing thoracotomy requiring at least 60 minutes of one-lung ventilation before lung lobe excision, were studied. After routine induction and establishment of one-lung ventilation, the three treatments were applied in turn to the same patient in a sequence selected randomly. The first treatment was repeated as a fourth treatment and these results of the repeated treatment averaged to minimize the effect of slow changes. Arterial oxygenation was measured by an arterial blood gas 15 minutes after the application of each treatment. Twenty patients completed the study. Mean PaO2 (in mmHg) was 210.3 (SD 105.5) in the 'OPEN' treatment, 186.0 (SD 109.2) in the 'RESERVOIR' treatment, and 240.5 (SD 116.0) in the 'CPAP' treatment. This overall difference was not quite significant (P=0.058, paired ANOVA), but comparison of the pairs showed that there was a significant better oxygenation only with the CPAP compared to the reservoir treatments (t=2.52, P=0.021). While the effect on the surgical field was not apparent in most patients, in one patient surgery was impeded during CPAP. Our results show that the use of a reservoir does not give oxygenation better than an open tube, and is less effective than the use of CPAP 5 cmH2O on the non-ventilated lung during one-lung ventilation.J. Slimani, W. J. Russell, C. Jurisevichttp://www.aaic.net.au/Article.asp?D=200404
Entrance-channel Mass-asymmetry Dependence of Compound-nucleus Formation Time in Light Heavy-ion Reactions
The entrance-channel mass-asymmetry dependence of the compound nucleus
formation time in light heavy-ion reactions has been investigated within the
framework of semiclassical dissipative collision models. the model calculations
have been succesfully applied to the formation of the Ar compound
nucleus as populated via the Be+Si, B+Al,
C+Mg and F+F entrance channels. The shape evolution
of several other light composite systems appears to be consistent with the
so-called "Fusion Inhibition Factor" which has been experimentally observed. As
found previously in more massive systems for the fusion-evaporation process,
the entrance-channel mass-asymmetry degree of freedom appears to determine the
competition between the different mechanisms as well as the time scales
involved.Comment: 12 pages, 3 Figures available upon request, Submitted at Phys. Rev.
Reconstruction of Black Hole Metric Perturbations from Weyl Curvature
Perturbation theory of rotating black holes is usually described in terms of
Weyl scalars and , which each satisfy Teukolsky's complex
master wave equation and respectively represent outgoing and ingoing radiation.
On the other hand metric perturbations of a Kerr hole can be described in terms
of (Hertz-like) potentials in outgoing or ingoing {\it radiation
gauges}. In this paper we relate these potentials to what one actually computes
in perturbation theory, i.e and . We explicitly construct
these relations in the nonrotating limit, preparatory to devising a
corresponding approach for building up the perturbed spacetime of a rotating
black hole. We discuss the application of our procedure to second order
perturbation theory and to the study of radiation reaction effects for a
particle orbiting a massive black hole.Comment: 6 Pages, Revtex
Neutral perfect fluids of Majumdar-type in general relativity
We consider the extension of the Majumdar-type class of static solutions for
the Einstein-Maxwell equations, proposed by Ida to include charged perfect
fluid sources. We impose the equation of state and discuss
spherically symmetric solutions for the linear potential equation satisfied by
the metric. In this particular case the fluid charge density vanishes and we
locate the arising neutral perfect fluid in the intermediate region defined by
two thin shells with respective charges and . With its innermost flat
and external (Schwarzschild) asymptotically flat spacetime regions, the
resultant condenser-like geometries resemble solutions discussed by Cohen and
Cohen in a different context. We explore this relationship and point out an
exotic gravitational property of our neutral perfect fluid. We mention possible
continuations of this study to embrace non-spherically symmetric situations and
higher dimensional spacetimes.Comment: 9 page
Explosive Percolation in the Human Protein Homology Network
We study the explosive character of the percolation transition in a
real-world network. We show that the emergence of a spanning cluster in the
Human Protein Homology Network (H-PHN) exhibits similar features to an
Achlioptas-type process and is markedly different from regular random
percolation. The underlying mechanism of this transition can be described by
slow-growing clusters that remain isolated until the later stages of the
process, when the addition of a small number of links leads to the rapid
interconnection of these modules into a giant cluster. Our results indicate
that the evolutionary-based process that shapes the topology of the H-PHN
through duplication-divergence events may occur in sudden steps, similarly to
what is seen in first-order phase transitions.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure
New minimal weight representations for left-to-right window methods
Abstract. For an integer w â„ 2, a radix 2 representation is called a width-w nonadjacent form (w-NAF, for short) if each nonzero digit is an odd integer with absolute value less than 2 wâ1, and of any w consecutive digits, at most one is nonzero. In elliptic curve cryptography, the w-NAF window method is used to efficiently compute nP where n is an integer and P is an elliptic curve point. We introduce a new family of radix 2 representations which use the same digits as the w-NAF but have the advantage that they result in a window method which uses less memory. This memory savings results from the fact that these new representations can be deduced using a very simple left-to-right algorithm. Further, we show that like the w-NAF, these new representations have a minimal number of nonzero digits. 1 Window Methods An operation fundamental to elliptic curve cryptography is scalar multiplication; that is, computing nP for an integer, n, and an elliptic curve point, P. A number of different algorithms have been proposed to perform this operation efficiently (see Ch. 3 of [4] for a recent survey). A variety of these algorithms, known as window methods, use the approach described in Algorithm 1.1. For example, suppose D = {0, 1, 3, 5, 7}. Using this digit set, Algorithm 1.1 first computes and stores P, 3P, 5P and 7P. After a D-radix 2 representation of n is computed its digits are read from left to right by the âfor â loop and nP is computed using doubling and addition operations (and no subtractions). One way to compute a D-radix 2 representation of n is to slide a 3-digit window from right to left across the {0, 1}-radix 2 representation of n (see Section 4). Using negative digits takes advantage of the fact that subtracting an elliptic curve point can be done just as efficiently as adding it. Suppose now that D
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