227,686 research outputs found
Complete description of polarization effects in emission of a photon by an electron in the field of a strong laser wave
We consider emission of a photon by an electron in the field of a strong
laser wave. Polarization effects in this process are important for a number of
physical problems. A probability of this process for circularly or linearly
polarized laser photons and for arbitrary polarization of all other particles
is calculated. We obtain the complete set of functions which describe such a
probability in a compact invariant form. Besides, we discuss in some detail the
polarization effects in the kinematics relevant to the problem of electron to
photon conversion at photon-photon and photon-electron colliders.Comment: 18 pages, minor changes, published versio
Adiponectin Deficiency Impairs Maternal Metabolic Adaptation to Pregnancy in Mice.
Hypoadiponectinemia has been widely observed in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). To investigate the causal role of hypoadiponectinemia in GDM, adiponectin gene knockout (Adipoq-/- ) and wild-type (WT) mice were crossed to produce pregnant mouse models with or without adiponectin deficiency. Adenoviral vector-mediated in vivo transduction was used to reconstitute adiponectin during late pregnancy. Results showed that Adipoq-/- dams developed glucose intolerance and hyperlipidemia in late pregnancy. Increased fetal body weight was detected in Adipoq-/- dams. Adiponectin reconstitution abolished these metabolic defects in Adipoq-/- dams. Hepatic glucose and triglyceride production rates of Adipoq-/- dams were significantly higher than those of WT dams. Robustly enhanced lipolysis was found in gonadal fat of Adipoq-/- dams. Interestingly, similar levels of insulin-induced glucose disposal and insulin signaling in metabolically active tissues in Adipoq-/- and WT dams indicated that maternal adiponectin deficiency does not reduce insulin sensitivity. However, remarkably decreased serum insulin concentrations were observed in Adipoq-/- dams. Furthermore, β-cell mass, but not glucose-stimulated insulin release, in Adipoq-/- dams was significantly reduced compared with WT dams. Together, these results demonstrate that adiponectin plays an important role in controlling maternal metabolic adaptation to pregnancy
Singular Cross Sections in Muon Colliders
We address the problem that the cross section for the collisions of unstable
particles diverges, if calculated by standard methods. This problem is
considered for beams much smaller than the decay length of the unstable
particle, much larger than the decay length and finally also for pancake-
shaped beams. We find that in all cases this problem can be solved by taking
into account the production/propagation of the unstable particle and/or the
width of the incoming wave packets in momentum space.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures. References corrected. Removed one sentence about
a fact that was known. Added explaination why one of our graphs is different
as compared to one of the references. Clearified explaination in sec. 3.
Dams
The construction of large dams is one of the most costly and controversial forms of public infrastructure investment in developing countries, but little is known about their impact. This paper studies the productivity and distributional effects of large dams in India. To account for endogenous placement of dams we use GIS data and the fact that river gradient affects a district's suitability for dams to provide instrumental variable estimates of their impact. We find that, in a district where a dam is built, agricultural production does not increase but poverty does. In contrast, districts located downstream from the dam benefit from increased irrigation and see agricultural production increase and poverty fall. Overall, our estimates suggest that large dam construction in India is a marginally cost-effective investment with significant distributional implications, and has, in aggregate, increased poverty.
Dams
The construction of large dams is one of the most costly and controversial forms of public infrastructure investment in developing countries, but little is known about their impact. This paper studies the productivity and distributional effects of large dams in India. To account for endogenous placement of dams we use GIS data and the fact that river gradient affects a district's suitability for dams to provide instrumental variable estimates of their impact. We find that, in a district where a dam is built, agricultural production does not increase but poverty does. In contrast, districts located downstream from the dam benefit from increased irrigation and see agricultural production increase and poverty fall. Overall, our estimates suggest that large dam construction in India is a marginally cost-effective investment with significant distributional implications, and has, in aggregate, increased poverty.Dams, Development Planning, Program Evaluation, India
The Electroweak Standard Model in the Axial Gauge
We derive the Feynman rules of the standard model in the axial gauge. After
this we prove that the fields and do not correspond to
physical particles. As a consequence, these fields cannot appear as incoming or
outgoing lines in Feynman graphs. We then calculate the contribution of these
fields in the case of a particular decay mode of the top quark.Comment: 16 pages, no figures. Added derivation of polarization su
A Risky Climate for Southern African Hydro
This in-depth study of the hydrological risks to hydropower dams on the Zambezi River gives an early warning about what Southern Africa could be facing as it contemplates plans for more large hydropower dams in a time of climate change.Currently, 13,000 megawatts of new large-dam hydro is proposed for the Zambezi and its tributaries. The report finds that existing and proposed hydropower dams are not being properly evaluated for the risks from natural hydrological variability (which is extremely high in the Zambezi), much less the risks posed by climate change.Overall, Africa's fourth-largest river will experience worse droughts and more extreme floods. Dams being proposed and built now will be negatively affected, yet energy planning in the basin is not taking serious steps to address these huge hydrological uncertainties. The result could be dams that are uneconomic, disruptive to the energy sector, and possibly even dangerous.The report recommends a series of steps to address the coming storm of hydrological changes, including changes to how dams are planned and operated
Jamming-Resistant Learning in Wireless Networks
We consider capacity maximization in wireless networks under adversarial
interference conditions. There are n links, each consisting of a sender and a
receiver, which repeatedly try to perform a successful transmission. In each
time step, the success of attempted transmissions depends on interference
conditions, which are captured by an interference model (e.g. the SINR model).
Additionally, an adversarial jammer can render a (1-delta)-fraction of time
steps unsuccessful. For this scenario, we analyze a framework for distributed
learning algorithms to maximize the number of successful transmissions. Our
main result is an algorithm based on no-regret learning converging to an
O(1/delta)-approximation. It provides even a constant-factor approximation when
the jammer exactly blocks a (1-delta)-fraction of time steps. In addition, we
consider a stochastic jammer, for which we obtain a constant-factor
approximation after a polynomial number of time steps. We also consider more
general settings, in which links arrive and depart dynamically, and where each
sender tries to reach multiple receivers. Our algorithms perform favorably in
simulations.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figures, typos remove
Should we build more large dams? The actual costs of hydropower megaproject development
A brisk building boom of hydropower mega-dams is underway from China to
Brazil. Whether benefits of new dams will outweigh costs remains unresolved
despite contentious debates. We investigate this question with the "outside
view" or "reference class forecasting" based on literature on decision-making
under uncertainty in psychology. We find overwhelming evidence that budgets are
systematically biased below actual costs of large hydropower dams - excluding
inflation, substantial debt servicing, environmental, and social costs. Using
the largest and most reliable reference data of its kind and multilevel
statistical techniques applied to large dams for the first time, we were
successful in fitting parsimonious models to predict cost and schedule
overruns. The outside view suggests that in most countries large hydropower
dams will be too costly in absolute terms and take too long to build to deliver
a positive risk-adjusted return unless suitable risk management measures
outlined in this paper can be affordably provided. Policymakers, particularly
in developing countries, are advised to prefer agile energy alternatives that
can be built over shorter time horizons to energy megaprojects
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