Search results for "values."
showing 10 items of 1353 documents
More Choice for Better Choosers: Political Freedom, Autonomy, and Happiness
2016
A substantial literature finds that freedom in the sense of an expanded opportunity set is positively related to happiness. A contrasting literature, however, finds that an excess of choice can have socially undesirable outcomes. We test the effect of two types of freedom—autonomy and political—on happiness using five waves of World Values Survey data (1981–2008). We find evidence supporting the claim that equipping people with the tools to direct the course of their lives (i.e. increasing autonomy freedom) incentivizes the desire to investigate alternatives (e.g. political parties) before making a decision. The effect of freedoms on happiness is diminished in contexts where individuals hav…
Modified Landau levels, damped harmonic oscillator and two-dimensional pseudo-bosons
2010
In a series of recent papers one of us has analyzed in some details a class of elementary excitations called {\em pseudo-bosons}. They arise from a special deformation of the canonical commutation relation $[a,a^\dagger]=\1$, which is replaced by $[a,b]=\1$, with $b$ not necessarily equal to $a^\dagger$. Here, after a two-dimensional extension of the general framework, we apply the theory to a generalized version of the two-dimensional Hamiltonian describing Landau levels. Moreover, for this system, we discuss coherent states and we deduce a resolution of the identity. We also consider a different class of examples arising from a classical system, i.e. a damped harmonic oscillator.
Commutators, C0-semigroups and resolvent estimates
2004
Abstract We study the existence and the continuity properties of the boundary values on the real axis of the resolvent of a self-adjoint operator H in the framework of the conjugate operator method initiated by Mourre. We allow the conjugate operator A to be the generator of a C 0 -semigroup (finer estimates require A to be maximal symmetric) and we consider situations where the first commutator [ H ,i A ] is not comparable to H . The applications include the spectral theory of zero mass quantum field models.
The second Weyl coefficient for a first-order system
2020
For a scalar elliptic self-adjoint operator on a compact manifold without boundary we have two-term asymptotics for the number of eigenvalues between 0 and λ when λ → ∞, under an additional dynamical condition. (See [3, Theorem 3.5] for an early result in this direction.) In the case of an elliptic system of first order, the existence of two-term asymptotics was also established quite early and as in the scalar case Fourier integral operators have been the crucial tool. The complete computation of the coefficient of the second term was obtained only in the 2013 paper [2]. In the present paper we simplify that calculation. The main observation is that with the existence of two-term asymptoti…
A model-based approach for assessing bronchodilator responsiveness in children: The conventional cutoff revisited
2020
An increase in FEV1 >=12% has been proposed in international guidelines as a clue to airway reversibility for diagnosing asthma in both adults and children. However, the validity of this cut-off has been questioned in the pediatric population. The aim of this study was to provide evidence that different cut-off values in BDR may be associated with better performance in discriminating among outpatient children with naïve asthma (A) and without asthma (NA). We compared three approaches: i) the conventional cutoff (12%); ii) the cut-off estimated by Youden's criteria; and iii) the cut-off based on a model-driven approach. we found that the conventional cut-off of 12% showed poor sensitivity in…
Determinants of dynamic inspiratory muscle strength in healthy trained elderly.
2021
Background: The S-Index assessed by means of electronic devices is a measure of Inspiratory Muscle Strength (IMS) that highly correlates with the maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP). The variables involved when using regression models for the prediction of IMS/MIP depend on both the sample characteristics and the device or protocol used. In light of the scarce information on the influence of physical activity (PA) on IMS in healthy older adults (OA), together with the incorporation of new assessment devices, the objectives of this research are: 1) to determine which factors influence the IMS in a group of trained OA, using a portable electronic device; and 2) to propose a regression model to…
Determination of anti GAD65 autoantibodies with an ELISA before and after standardization with the new international reference serum
2009
The serum of a stiff-man syndrome patient was declared international GAD reference standard at the "1st GAD Antibody Workshop" held at the "12th International Immunology and Diabetes Workshop" in Orlando, Florida, USA 1993. A comparative study was performed with 123 diabetic and non-diabetic patients to evaluate whether standardization of this reference serum had changed the properties of a commercially available ELISA assay. All samples classified positive with the old test were confirmed with the new assay. Four additional samples with high "normal" values became positive with the new test. One of them was a control person having a family history of diabetes and genetic loci DR4/DR11. The…
Economic values for production and functional traits in Valle del Belice dairy sheep using profit functions
2011
Abstract A deterministic static model was used to estimate the economic values (EV) of production (MY, milk yield; BW, birth weight; and ADG, average daily gain) and functional traits (ASR, adult survival rate; LSR, lamb survival rate; FE, fertility; PR, prolificacy; and LW ewe , mature weight of ewe) in Valle del Belice dairy sheep. In this study, values for the biological parameters and the production traits used in the model were taken from real data, by surveying 15 Valle del Belice farmers and reflected the production circumstances of pasture based dairy production systems. In this system feed cost accounted for 95% of total variable costs, whereas fixed costs were low and reflected tr…
Tests against stationary and explosive alternatives in vector autoregressive models
2008
. The article proposes new tests for the number of unit roots in vector autoregressive models based on the eigenvalues of the companion matrix. Both stationary and explosive alternatives are considered. The limiting distributions of test statistics depend only on the number of unit roots. Size and power are investigated, and it is found that the new test against some stationary alternatives compares favourably with the widely used likelihood ratio test for the cointegrating rank. The powers are prominently higher against explosive than against stationary alternatives. Some empirical examples are provided to show how to use the new tests with real data.
Vector coherent states and intertwining operators
2009
In this paper we discuss a general strategy to construct vector coherent states of the Gazeau-Klauder type and we use them to built up examples of isospectral hamiltonians. For that we use a general strategy recently proposed by the author and which extends well known facts on intertwining operators. We also discuss the possibility of constructing non-isospectral hamiltonians with related eigenstates.