Low-Temperature Hall Effect in Substituted Sr2RuO4

We report the results of a study of the Hall effect and magnetoresistance in single crystals of Sr2RuO4 in which Sr^(2+) has been substituted by La^(3+) (Sr(2-y)La(y)RuO(4)) or Ru^(4+) by Ti^(4+) (Sr(2)Ru(1-x)Ti(x)O(4)). For undoped Sr2RuO4, the purity is so high that the strong-field Hall coefficient can be measured for fields above 4 T. The conventional weak-field Hall coefficient as a function of doping shows a sharp jump and sign change at y ~ 0.01 that is unrelated to either a sharp change in Fermi-surface topography or a magnetic instability. The implications of these results are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

PRISMA database machine: A distributed, main-memory approach

The PRISMA project is a large-scale research effort in the design and implementation of a highly parallel machine for data and knowledge processing. The PRISMA database machine is a distributed, main-memory database management system implemented in an object-oriented language that runs on top of a multi-computer system. A prototype that is envisioned consists of 64 processing elements

Translation and validation of the Dutch version of the Effective Consumer Scale (EC-17)

PURPOSE: The Effective Consumer Scale (EC-17) measures the skills of musculoskeletal patients in managing their own healthcare. The objectives of this study were to translate the EC-17 into Dutch and to further evaluate its psychometric properties. METHODS: The EC-17 was translated and cognitively pretested following cross-cultural adaptation guidelines. Two hundred and thirty-eight outpatients (52 % response rate) with osteoarthritis or fibromyalgia completed the EC-17 along with other validated measures. Three weeks later, 101 patients completed the EC-17 again. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis supported the unidimensional structure of the scale. The items adequately fit the Rasch model and only one item demonstrated differential item functioning. Person reliability was high (0.92), but item difficulty levels tended to cluster around the middle of the scale, and measurement precision was highest for moderate and lower levels of skills. The scale demonstrated adequate test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.71), and correlations with other measures were largely as expected. CONCLUSION: The results supported the validity and reliability of the Dutch version of the EC-17, but suggest that the scale is best targeted at patients with relatively low levels of skills. Future studies should further examine its sensitivity to change in a clinical trial specifically aimed at improving effective consumer skills

Serotonin receptors as cardiovascular targets

Serotonin exerts complex effects in the cardiovascular system, including hypotension or hypertension, vasodilatation or vasoconstriction, and/or bradycardia or tachycardia; the eventual response depends primarily on the nature of the 5-HT receptors involved. In the light of current 5-HT receptor classification, the authors reanalyse the cardiovascular responses mediated by 5-HT receptors and discuss the established and potential therapeutic applications of 5-HT ligands in the treatment of some cardiovascular pathologie

Comparison of LISA and Atom Interferometry for Gravitational Wave Astronomy in Space

One of the atom interferometer gravitational wave missions proposed by Dimopoulos et al.1 in 2008 was called AGIS-Sat. 2. It had a suggested gravitational wave sensitivity set by the atom state detection shot noise level that started at 1 mHz, was comparable to LISA sensitivity from 1 to about 20 mHz, and had better sensitivity from 20 to 500 mHz. The separation between the spacecraft was 1,000 km, with atom interferometers 200 m long and shades from sunlight used at each end. A careful analysis of many error sources was included, but requirements on the time-stability of both the laser wavefront aberrations and the atom temperatures in the atom clouds were not investigated. After including these considerations, the laser wavefront aberration stability requirement to meet the quoted sensitivity level is about 1\times10-8 wavelengths, and is far tighter than for LISA. Also, the temperature fluctuations between atom clouds have to be less than 1 pK. An alternate atom interferometer GW mission in Earth orbit called AGIS-LEO with 30 km satellite separation has been suggested recently. The reduction of wavefront aberration noise by sending the laser beam through a high-finesse mode-scrubbing optical cavity is discussed briefly, but the requirements on such a cavity are not given. Unfortunately, such an Earth-orbiting mission seems to be considerably more difficult to design than a non-geocentric mission and does not appear to have comparably attractive scientific goals.Comment: Submitted to Proc. 46th Rencontres de Moriond: Gravitational Waves and Experimental Gravity, March 20 - 27, 2011, La Thuile, Ital

Review of approaches to establish reference levels to interpret indicators

Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use,

The Individual Day-to-Day Process of Social Anxiety in Vulnerable College Students

Transitions requiring the creation of new social networks may be challenging for individuals vulnerable to social anxiety, which may hinder successful adjustment. Using person-specific methodology, this study examined social anxiety in vulnerable university freshman away from home during their first semester of college to understand how day-to-day processes of social anxiety influenced future social anxiety and social withdrawal. Participants completed daily measures of four components of social anxiety which were examined as a process during a single day, and as a process affecting social anxiety and social withdrawal the next day. For most individuals, same day fear of negative evaluation was associated with maladaptive cognitive processes (anticipatory processing and post-event rumination) and influenced social withdrawal behaviors. Across time relations were less robust and varied between participants suggesting the importance of situational factors and individual differences. These findings may have implications for the effectiveness of various intervention strategies

Noninvasive assessment of reperfusion and reocclusion after thrombolysis in acute myocardial infarction.

The clinical significance of ST-segment changes and of the time course of appearance in serum of different cardiac proteins has been reviewed for the diagnosis of coronary reperfusion and reocclusion after thrombolysis. In particular, the value of serial 12-lead electrocardiographic (ECG) studies, of Holter monitoring, and of continuous multilead computer-assisted ECG monitoring is compared. Regarding the serum proteins, the clinical significance of reperfusion indices described so far for serum creatine kinase (CK), its isoenzyme serum creatinine kinase MB, the CK isoforms, and myoglobin is reviewed. Emphasis is placed on (1) the calculation method used for deriving the reperfusion indices; (2) the sensitivity and the specificity of the reperfusion indices; (3) the minimum turn-around time needed to produce the reperfusion indices (depending on the practicability of the analytical and calculation methods and their applicability in an em