A solution to a countable system of equations arising in Markovian decision processes Technical report no. 89

Optimal rules for controlling Markovian decision processes applied to solutions for problems dealing with ordering inventory supplie

Analgesic Management of Pain in Elite Athletes: A Systematic Review

Objective: To identify the prevalence, frequency of use, and effects of analgesic pain management strategies used in elite athletes. Design: Systematic literature review. Data Sources: Six databases: Ovid/Medline, SPORTDiscus, CINAHL, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Scopus. Eligibility Criteria for Selecting Studies: Empirical studies involving elite athletes and focused on the use or effects of medications used for pain or painful injury. Studies involving recreational sportspeople or those that undertake general exercise were excluded. Main Results: Of 70 articles found, the majority examined the frequency with which elite athletes use pain medications, including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), corticosteroids, anesthetics, and opioids. A smaller set of studies assessed the effect of medications on outcomes such as pain, function, and adverse effects. Oral NSAIDs are reported to be the most common medication, being used in some international sporting events by over 50% of athletes. Studies examining the effects of pain medications on elite athletes typically involved small samples and lacked control groups against which treated athletes were compared. Conclusions: Existing empirical research does not provide a sufficient body of evidence to guide athletes and healthcare professionals in making analgesic medication treatment decisions. Based on the relatively robust evidence regarding the widespread use of NSAIDs, clinicians and policymakers should carefully assess their current recommendations for NSAID use and adhere to a more unified consensus-based strategy for multidisciplinary pain management in elite athletes. In the future, we hope to see more rigorous, prospective studies of various pain management strategies in elite athletes, thus enabling a shift from consensus-based recommendations to evidence-based recommendations

Electroweak Radiative Corrections To Polarized M{\o}ller Scattering Asymmetries

One loop electroweak radiative corrections to left-right parity violating M{\o}ller scattering ($e^-e^-\to e^-e^-$) asymmetries are presented. They reduce the standard model (tree level) prediction by 40$\pm 3$ \% where the main shift and uncertainty stem from hadronic vacuum polarization loops. A similar reduction also occurs for the electron-electron atomic parity violating interaction. That effect can be attributed to an increase of $\sin^2\theta_W(q^2)$ by $3\%$ in running from $q^2=m_Z^2$ to 0. The sensitivity of the asymmetry to ``new physics'' is also discussed.Comment: 14 pages, Revtex, postscript file including figures is available at ftp://ttpux2.physik.uni-karlsruhe.de/ttp95-14/ttp95-14.ps or via WWW at http://ttpux2.physik.uni-karlsruhe.de/cgi-bin/preprints/ (129.13.102.139

Polarized deep inelastic scattering at high energies and parity violating structure functions

A comprehensive analysis of deep inelastic scattering of polarized charged leptons on polarized nucleons is presented; weak interaction contributions, both in neutral and charged current processes, are taken into account and the parity violating polarized nucleon structure functions are studied. Possible ways of their measurements and their interpretations in the parton model are discussed.Comment: (slightly modified version, includes a few new references and corrects few misprints for publication), 14 pages in TeX (needs harvmac) no figure, DFTT 80/9

Transit Timing Analysis in the HAT-P-32 System

We present the results of 45 transit observations obtained for the transiting exoplanet HATP- 32b. The transits have been observed using several telescopes mainly throughout the YETI (Young Exoplanet Transit Initiative) network. In 25 cases, complete transit light curves with a timing precision better than 1.4 min have been obtained. These light curves have been used to refine the system properties, namely inclination i, planet-to-star radius ratio Rp/Rs, and the ratio between the semimajor axis and the stellar radius a/Rs. First analyses by Hartman et al. suggests the existence of a second planet in the system, thus we tried to find an additional body using the transit timing variation (TTV) technique. Taking also the literature data points into account, we can explain all mid-transit times by refining the linear ephemeris by 21 ms. Thus, we can exclude TTV amplitudes of more than ∼1.5min

Tribimaximal Neutrino Mixing and a Relation Between Neutrino- and Charged Lepton-Mass Spectra

Brannen has recently pointed out that the observed charged lepton masses satisfy the relation m_e +m_\mu +m_\tau = {2/3} (\sqrt{m_e}+\sqrt{m_\mu}+\sqrt{m_\tau})^2, while the observed neutrino masses satisfy the relation m_{\nu 1} +m_{\nu 2} +m_{\nu 3} = {2/3} (-\sqrt{m_{\nu 1}}+\sqrt{m_{\nu 2}}+\sqrt{m_{\nu 3}})^2. It is discussed what neutrino Yukawa interaction form is favorable if we take the fact pointed out by Brannen seriously.Comment: 13 pages, presentation modifie

Generalized pricing formulas for stochastic volatility jump diffusion models applied to the exponential Vasicek model

Path integral techniques for the pricing of financial options are mostly based on models that can be recast in terms of a Fokker-Planck differential equation and that, consequently, neglect jumps and only describe drift and diffusion. We present a method to adapt formulas for both the path-integral propagators and the option prices themselves, so that jump processes are taken into account in conjunction with the usual drift and diffusion terms. In particular, we focus on stochastic volatility models, such as the exponential Vasicek model, and extend the pricing formulas and propagator of this model to incorporate jump diffusion with a given jump size distribution. This model is of importance to include non-Gaussian fluctuations beyond the Black-Scholes model, and moreover yields a lognormal distribution of the volatilities, in agreement with results from superstatistical analysis. The results obtained in the present formalism are checked with Monte Carlo simulations.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl

Transit Timing Analysis in the HAT-P-32 system

We present the results of 45 transit observations obtained for the transiting exoplanet HAT-P-32b. The transits have been observed using several telescopes mainly throughout the YETI network. In 25 cases, complete transit light curves with a timing precision better than $1.4\:$min have been obtained. These light curves have been used to refine the system properties, namely inclination $i$, planet-to-star radius ratio $R_\textrm{p}/R_\textrm{s}$, and the ratio between the semimajor axis and the stellar radius $a/R_\textrm{s}$. First analyses by Hartman et al. (2011) suggest the existence of a second planet in the system, thus we tried to find an additional body using the transit timing variation (TTV) technique. Taking also literature data points into account, we can explain all mid-transit times by refining the linear ephemeris by 21ms. Thus we can exclude TTV amplitudes of more than $\sim1.5$min.Comment: MNRAS accepted; 13 pages, 10 figure

Neutrino Interactions In Oscillation Experiments

We calculate neutrino induced cross-sections relevant for oscillation experiments, including the $\tau$-lepton threshold for quasi-elastic, resonance and deep inelastic scattering. In addition to threshold effects, we include nuclear corrections for heavy targets which are moderate for quasi-elastic and large for single pion production. Nuclear effects for deep inelastic reactions are small. We present cross sections together with their nuclear corrections for various channels which are useful for interpreting the experimental results and for determining parameters of the neutrino sector..Comment: 24 pages, 18 figure

Data quality monitoring and performance metrics of a prospective, population-based observational study of maternal and newborn health in low resource settings

BACKGROUND: To describe quantitative data quality monitoring and performance metrics adopted by the Global Network´s (GN) Maternal Newborn Health Registry (MNHR), a maternal and perinatal population-based registry (MPPBR) based in low and middle income countries (LMICs). METHODS: Ongoing prospective, population-based data on all pregnancy outcomes within defined geographical locations participating in the GN have been collected since 2008. Data quality metrics were defined and are implemented at the cluster, site and the central level to ensure data quality. Quantitative performance metrics are described for data collected between 2010 and 2013. RESULTS: Delivery outcome rates over 95% illustrate that all sites are successful in following patients from pregnancy through delivery. Examples of specific performance metric reports illustrate how both the metrics and reporting process are used to identify cluster-level and site-level quality issues and illustrate how those metrics track over time. Other summary reports (e.g. the increasing proportion of measured birth weight compared to estimated and missing birth weight) illustrate how a site has improved quality over time. CONCLUSION: High quality MPPBRs such as the MNHR provide key information on pregnancy outcomes to local and international health officials where civil registration systems are lacking. The MNHR has measures in place to monitor data collection procedures and improve the quality of data collected. Sites have increasingly achieved acceptable values of performance metrics over time, indicating improvements in data quality, but the quality control program must continue to evolve to optimize the use of the MNHR to assess the impact of community interventions in research protocols in pregnancy and perinatal health.Fil: Goudar, Shivaprasad S.. KLE University. Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College; IndiaFil: Stolka, Kristen B.. Research Triangle Institute International; Estados UnidosFil: Koso Thomas, Marion. Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; Estados UnidosFil: Honnungar, Narayan V.. KLE University. Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College; IndiaFil: Mastiholi, Shivanand C.. KLE University. Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College; IndiaFil: Ramadurg, Umesh Y.. S. Nijalingappa Medical College; IndiaFil: Dhaded, Sangappa M.. KLE University. Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College; IndiaFil: Pasha, Omrana. Aga Khan University; PakistánFil: Patel, Archana. Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Lata Medical Research Foundation; IndiaFil: Esamai, Fabian. University School of Medicine; KeniaFil: Chomba, Elwyn. University of Zambia; ZambiaFil: Garces, Ana. Universidad de San Carlos; GuatemalaFil: Althabe, Fernando. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Efectividad Clínica y Sanitaria; ArgentinaFil: Carlo, Waldemar A.. University of Alabama at Birmingahm; Estados UnidosFil: Goldenberg, Robert L.. Columbia University; Estados UnidosFil: Hibberd, Patricia L.. Massachusetts General Hospital for Children; Estados UnidosFil: Liechty, Edward A.. Indiana University; Estados UnidosFil: Krebs, Nancy F.. University of Colorado School of Medicine; Estados UnidosFil: Hambidge, Michael K.. University of Colorado School of Medicine; Estados UnidosFil: Moore, Janet L.. Research Triangle Institute International; Estados UnidosFil: Wallace, Dennis D.. Research Triangle Institute International; Estados UnidosFil: Derman, Richard J. Christiana Care Health Services; Estados UnidosFil: Bhalachandra, Kodkany S.. KLE University. Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College; IndiaFil: Bose, Carl L.. University of North Carolina; Estados Unido