Orientation Sensitive Terahertz Resonances Observed in Protein Crystals

A method is presented for measuring anisotropic THz response for small crystals, Crystal Anisotropy Terahertz Microscopy (CATM). Sucrose CATM measurements find the expected anisotropic phonon resonances. CATM measurements of protein crystals find the expected broadband water absorption is suppressed and strong orientation and hydration dependent resonant features.Comment: 3 page

A systematic review of weight-related communication trainings for physicians: What do we know and how can we inform future development of training programs?

It is reported that physicians lack training to address weight-related concerns with patients. To overcome this, training programs have been implemented in medical settings to prepare physicians to have conversations with patients. However, it is unclear the degree of consistency among existing training programs and factors associated with better outcomes. The objective of this study was to systematically review the existing literature in this area to determine differences in content, outcomes, and implementation of existing studies that test weight-related communication training programs for physicians. A systematic literature review of online databases including PubMed, PsycINFO, and Proquest was conducted with the assistance of a librarian. Search terms included: health communication, training, physician training, weight, and obesity. Studies were selected based on the following inclusion criteria: physicians are post-graduate medical doctors; trainings encompassed weight-related communication; and outcomes were tied to physician uptake of skills, knowledge, and self-efficacy, or patient-related outcomes. Two coders reviewed studies using detailed inclusion criteria. Disagreements were resolved by consensus among authors. Half of studies assessed outcomes in both patients and physicians. Trainings including motivational interviewing (MI) assessing patient outcomes found increases in patient knowledge, satisfaction, motivation, and weight loss, respectively. Whereas, non-MI trainings assessing patient outcomes found an increase in patient weight loss, confidence and motivation, or no changes in patient outcomes. This review was the first to examine programs aimed to teach physicians to communicate with patients about weight. Future studies should examine the effect of physician communication on BMI.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1025/thumbnail.jp

High resolution observations of the L1551 bipolar outflow

The nearby dark cloud Lynds 1551 contains one of the closest examples of a well-collimated bipolar molecular outflow. This source has the largest angular size of any known outflow and was the first bipolar outflow to be detected. The outflow originates from a low-luminosity young stellar object, IRS-5. Optical and radio continuum observations show the presence of a highly collimated, ionized stellar wind orginating from close to IRS-5 and aligned with the molecular outflow. However, we have little information on the actual mechanism that generates the stellar wind and collimates it into opposed jets. The Very Large Array (VLA) observations indicate that the winds originate within 10(15) cm of IRS-5, unfortunately at a size scale difficult to resolve. For these reasons, observations of the structure and dynamics of the hypersonic molecular gas may provide valuable information on the origin and evolution of these outflows. In addition, the study of the impact of the outflowing gas on the surrounding molecular material is essential to understand the consequence these outflows have on the evolution and star formation history of the entire cloud. Moriarty-Schieven et al. (1986) obtained a oversampled map of the CO emission of a portion of both the blueshifted and redshifted outflows in LI551 using Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory 14 m telescope. The oversampled maps have been reconstructed to an effective angular resolution of 20 arcsec using a maximum entropy algorithm. A continuation of the study of Moriarty-Schieven et al. is presented. The entire L1551 outflow has now been mapped at 12 arcsec sampling requiring roughly 4000 spectra. This data has been constructed to 20 arcsec resolution to provide the first high resolution picture of the entire L1551 outflow. This new data has shown that the blueshifted lobe is more extended than previously thought and has expanded downstream sufficiently to break out of the dense molecular cloud, but the redshifted outflow is still confined within the molecular cloud. Details of the structure and kinematics of the high velocity gas are used to test the various models of the origin and evolution of outflows

Microstructure Effects on Daily Return Volatility in Financial Markets

We simulate a series of daily returns from intraday price movements initiated by microstructure elements. Significant evidence is found that daily returns and daily return volatility exhibit first order autocorrelation, but trading volume and daily return volatility are not correlated, while intraday volatility is. We also consider GARCH effects in daily return series and show that estimates using daily returns are biased from the influence of the level of prices. Using daily price changes instead, we find evidence of a significant GARCH component. These results suggest that microstructure elements have a considerable influence on the return generating process.Comment: 15 pages, as presented at the Complexity Workshop in Aix-en-Provenc

Excessive functions of continuous time Markov chains

AbstractWe consider transient continuous time Markov chains P(t) with P′ij(0)=qiΠij for i≠j and −qi for i=j. We assume 0<qi<∞ for all i. Then 1/qi is the mean time the process remains in state i, and Π is the transition matrix of the imbedded jump process. We let q be a diagonal matrix with diagonal entries qi.A non-negative function h is P(t)-excessive (invariant) if h≥P(t)h, (h=P(t) h) for all t. It is Π-superregular (regular) if h≥Πh (h=Πh). Our main results characterize the excessive functions of the minimal process in terms of q and Π. These results can also be used to characterize excessive functions of certain non-minimal processes