Study Protocol for Investigating Physician Communication Behaviours that Link Physician Implicit Racial Bias and Patient Outcomes in Black Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Using an Exploratory Sequential Mixed Methods Design

Introduction Patient-physician racial discordance is associated with Black patient reports of dissatisfaction and mistrust, which in turn are associated with poor adherence to treatment recommendations and underutilisation of healthcare. Research further has shown that patient dissatisfaction and mistrust are magnified particularly when physicians hold high levels of implicit racial bias. This suggests that physician implicit racial bias manifests in their communication behaviours during medical interactions. The overall goal of this research is to identify physician communication behaviours that link physician implicit racial bias and Black patient immediate (patient-reported satisfaction and trust) and long-term outcomes (eg, medication adherence, self-management and healthcare utilisation) as well as clinical indicators of diabetes control (eg, blood pressure, HbA1c and history of diabetes complication). Methods and analysis Using an exploratory sequential mixed methods research design, we will collect data from approximately 30 family medicine physicians and 300 Black patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The data sources will include one physician survey, three patient surveys, medical interaction videos, video elicitation interviews and medical chart reviews. Physician implicit racial bias will be assessed with the physician survey, and patient outcomes will be assessed with the patient surveys and medical chart reviews. In video elicitation interviews, a subset of patients (approximately 20–40) will watch their own interactions while being monitored physiologically to identify evocative physician behaviours. Information from the interview will determine which physician communication behaviours will be coded from medical interactions videos. Coding will be done independently by two trained coders. A series of statistical analyses (zero-order correlations, partial correlations, regressions) will be conducted to identify physician behaviours that are associated significantly with both physician implicit racial bias and patient outcomes

Three fermions with six single particle states can be entangled in two inequivalent ways

Using a generalization of Cayley's hyperdeterminant as a new measure of tripartite fermionic entanglement we obtain the SLOCC classification of three-fermion systems with six single particle states. A special subclass of such three-fermion systems is shown to have the same properties as the well-known three-qubit ones. Our results can be presented in a unified way using Freudenthal triple systems based on cubic Jordan algebras. For systems with an arbitrary number of fermions and single particle states we propose the Pl\"ucker relations as a sufficient and necessary condition of separability.Comment: 23 pages LATE

Clues to the nature of the Delta^*(1700) resonance from pion- and photon-induced reactions

We make a study of the (pi^- p --> K^0 pi^0 Lambda), (pi^+ p --> K^+ pi^+ Lambda), (K^+\bar{K}^0 p), (K^+ pi^+ Sigma^0), (K^+ pi^0 Sigma^+), and (eta pi^+ p) reactions, in which the basic dynamics is given by the excitation of the Delta^*(1700) resonance which subsequently decays into (K Sigma^*(1385)) or (Delta(1232) eta). In a similar way we also study the (gamma p --> K^0 pi^+ Lambda), (K^+ pi^- Sigma^+), (K^+ pi^+ Sigma^-), (K^0 pi^0 Sigma^+), and (eta pi^0 p) related reactions. The cross sections are proportional to the square of the coupling of Delta^*(1700) to (Sigma^*K), (Delta eta) for which there is no experimental information but which is provided in the context of coupled channels chiral unitary theory where the Delta^*(1700) is dynamically generated. Within present theoretical and experimental uncertainties one can claim a global qualitative agreement between theory and experiment. We provide a list of items which need to be improved in order to make further progress along these lines.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Delta rho pi interaction leading to N* and Delta* resonances

We have performed a calculation for the three body $\Delta \rho \pi$ system by using the fixed center approximation to Faddeev equations, taking the interaction between $\Delta$ and $\rho$, $\Delta$ and$\pi$, and $\rho$ and $\pi$ from the chiral unitary approach. We find several peaks in the modulus squared of the three-body scattering amplitude, indicating the existence of resonances, which can be associated to known $I=1/2, 3/2$ and $J^P=1/2^+, 3/2^+$ and $5/2^+$ baryon states.Comment: Presented at the 21st European Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics, Salamanca, Spain, 30 August - 3 September 201

Properties of ρ\rho and ω\omega Mesons at Finite Temperature and Density as Inferred from Experiment

The mass shift, width broadening, and spectral density for the $\rho$ and $\omega$ mesons in a heat bath of nucleons and pions are calculated using a general formula which relates the self-energy to the real and imaginary parts of the forward scattering amplitude. We use experimental data to saturate the scattering amplitude at low energies with resonances and include a background Pomeron term, while at high energies a Regge parameterization is used. The real part obtained directly is compared with the result of a dispersion integral over the imaginary part. The peaks of the spectral densities are little shifted from their vacuum positions, but the widths are considerably increased due to collisional broadening. Where possible we compare with the UrQMD model and find quite good agreement. At normal nuclear matter density and a temperature of 150 MeV the spectral density of the $\rho$ meson has a width of 345 MeV, while that for the $\omega$ is in the range 90--150 MeV.Comment: 21 pages revtex + 9 postscript figure

Observation of the Crab Nebula Gamma-Ray Emission Above 220 Gev by the Cat Cherenkov Imaging Telescope

The CAT imaging telescope, recently built on the site of the former solar plant Themis (French Pyrenees), observed gamma-rays from the Crab nebula from October 1996 to March 1997. This steady source, often considered as the standard candle of very-high-energy gamma-ray astronomy, is used as a test-beam to probe the performances of the new telescope, particularly its energy threshold (220 GeV at 20 degrees zenith angle) and the stability of its response. Due to the fine-grain camera, an accurate analysis of the longitudinal profiles of shower images is performed, yielding the source position in two dimensions for each individual shower.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, Tex, contribution to 25th ICRC Durba

Kaon photoproduction: background contributions, form factors and missing resonances

The photoproduction p(gamma, K+)Lambda process is studied within a field-theoretic approach. It is shown that the background contributions constitute an important part of the reaction dynamics. We compare predictions obtained with three plausible techniques for dealing with these background contributions. It appears that the extracted resonance parameters drastically depend on the applied technique. We investigate the implications of the corrections to the functional form of the hadronic form factor in the contact term, recently suggested by Davidson and Workman (Phys. Rev. C 63, 025210). The role of background contributions and hadronic form factors for the identification of the quantum numbers of ``missing'' resonances is discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 7 eps figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

The CAT Imaging Telescope for Very-High-Energy Gamma-Ray Astronomy

The CAT (Cherenkov Array at Themis) imaging telescope, equipped with a very-high-definition camera (546 fast phototubes with 0.12 degrees spacing surrounded by 54 larger tubes in two guard rings) started operation in Autumn 1996 on the site of the former solar plant Themis (France). Using the atmospheric Cherenkov technique, it detects and identifies very high energy gamma-rays in the range 250 GeV to a few tens of TeV. The instrument, which has detected three sources (Crab nebula, Mrk 421 and Mrk 501), is described in detail.Comment: 24 pages, 15 figures. submitted to Elsevier Preprin

Measurement of electromagnetic pulses generated during interactions of high power lasers with solid targets

A target irradiated with a high power laser pulse, blows off a large amount of charge and as a consequence the target itself becomes a generator of electromagnetic pulses (EMP) owing to high return current flowing to the ground through the target holder. The first measurement of the magnetic field induced by the neutralizing current reaching a value of a few kA was performed with the use of an inductive target probe at the PALS Laser Facility (Cikhardt et al. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 85 (2014) 103507). A full description of EMP generation should contain information on the spatial distribution and temporal variation of the electromagnetic field inside and outside of the interaction chamber. For this reason, we consider the interaction chamber as a resonant cavity in which different modes of EMP oscillate for hundreds of nanoseconds, until the EMP is transmitted outside through the glass windows and EM waves are attenuated. Since the experimental determination of the electromagnetic field distribution is limited by the number of employed antennas, a mapping of the electromagnetic field has to be integrated with numerical simulations. Thus, this work reports on a detailed numerical mapping of the electromagnetic field inside the interaction chamber at the PALS Laser Facility (covering a frequency spectrum from 100 MHz to 3 GHz) using the commercial code COMSOL Multiphysics 5.2. Moreover we carried out a comparison of the EMP generated in the parallelepiped-like interaction chamber used in the Vulcan Petawatt Laser Facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, against that produced in the spherical interaction chamber of PALS

Spectrum and Variability of Mrk501 as observed by the CAT Imaging Telescope

The CAT Imaging Telescope has observed the BL Lac object Markarian 501 between March and August 1997. We report here on the variability over this time including several large flares. We present also preliminary spectra for all these data, for the low emission state, and for the largest flare.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Late