Identification of earthquake precursors in the hydrogeochemical and geoacoustic data for the Kamchatka peninsula by flicker-noise spectroscopy

A phenomenological systems approach for identifying potential precursors in multiple signals of different types for the same local seismically active region is proposed based on the assumption that a large earthquake may be preceded by a system reconfiguration (preparation) at different time and space scales. A nonstationarity factor introduced within the framework of flicker-noise spectroscopy, a statistical physics approach to the analysis of time series, is used as the dimensionless criterion for detecting qualitative (precursory) changes within relatively short time intervals in arbitrary signals. Nonstationarity factors for chlorine-ion concentration variations in the underground water of two boreholes on the Kamchatka peninsula and geacoustic emissions in a deep borehole within the same seismic zone are studied together in the time frame around a large earthquake on October 8, 2001. It is shown that nonstationarity factor spikes (potential precursors) take place in the interval from 70 to 50 days before the earthquake for the hydrogeochemical data and at 29 and 6 days in advance for the geoacoustic data.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; to be published in Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sc

Long-term operation of a multi-channel cosmic muon system based on scintillation counters with MRS APD light readout

A Cosmic Ray Test Facility (CRTF) is the first large-scale implementation of a scintillation triggering system based on a new scintillation technique known as START. In START, the scintillation light is collected and transported by WLS optical fibers, while light detection is performed by pairs of avalanche photodiodes with the Metal-Resistor-Semiconductor structure operated in the Geiger mode (MRS APD). START delivers 100% efficiency of cosmic muon detection, while its intrinsic noise level is less than 10^{-2} Hz. CRTF, consisting of 160 START channels, has been continuously operated by the ALICE TOF collaboration for more than 25 000 hours, and has demonstrated a high level of stability. Fewer than 10% of MRS APDs had to be replaced during this period.Comment: Proceedings of NDIP-2008. 8 pages, 8 figures, 6 reference

Control of chronic excessive alcohol drinking by genetic manipulation of the Edinger-Westphal nucleus urocortin-1 neuropeptide system

Midbrain neurons of the centrally projecting Edinger-Westphal nucleus (EWcp) are activated by alcohol, and enriched with stress-responsive neuropeptide modulators (including the paralog of corticotropin-releasing factor, urocortin-1). Evidence suggests that EWcp neurons promote behavioral processes for alcohol-seeking and consumption, but a definitive role for these cells remains elusive. Here we combined targeted viral manipulations and gene array profiling of EWcp neurons with mass behavioral phenotyping in C57BL/6 J mice to directly define the links between EWcp-specific urocortin-1 expression and voluntary binge alcohol intake, demonstrating a specific importance for EWcp urocortin-1 activity in escalation of alcohol intake

Comparative Analysis of the Dynamical Spectra of a Polarization of an Active Medium and an Electromagnetic Field in the Superradiant Heterolasers

The complicated pulsed generation regimes of a CW-pumped superradiant semiconductor laser are analyzed via the dynamical spectra of the dipole optical oscillations of active centers. This novel approach appears to be more informative than the standard analysis of the dynamical spectra of laser emission if a dipole relaxation rate is less than a cavity relaxation rate. The advantages of the method are demonstrated for a number of superradiant lasing regimes on the basis of the numerical solution to 1D Maxwell–Bloch equations for a two-level active medium in a low-Q cavity within one-dimensional approximation

Universal Oligonucleotide Microarray for Sub-Typing of Influenza A Virus

A universal microchip was developed for genotyping Influenza A viruses. It contains two sets of oligonucleotide probes allowing viruses to be classified by the subtypes of hemagglutinin (H1–H13, H15, H16) and neuraminidase (N1–N9). Additional sets of probes are used to detect H1N1 swine influenza viruses. Selection of probes was done in two steps. Initially, amino acid sequences specific to each subtype were identified, and then the most specific and representative oligonucleotide probes were selected. Overall, between 19 and 24 probes were used to identify each subtype of hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). Genotyping included preparation of fluorescently labeled PCR amplicons of influenza virus cDNA and their hybridization to microarrays of specific oligonucleotide probes. Out of 40 samples tested, 36 unambiguously identified HA and NA subtypes of Influenza A virus

Urocortin-1 within the Centrally-Projecting Edinger-Westphal Nucleus Is Critical for Ethanol Preference

Converging lines of evidence point to the involvement of neurons of the centrally projecting Edinger-Westphal nucleus (EWcp) containing the neuropeptide Urocortin-1 (Ucn1) in excessive ethanol (EtOH) intake and EtOH sensitivity. Here, we expanded these previous findings by using a continuous-access, two-bottle choice drinking paradigm (3%, 6%, and 10% EtOH vs. tap water) to compare EtOH intake and EtOH preference in Ucn1 genetic knockout (KO) and wild-type (WT) mice. Based on previous studies demonstrating that electrolytic lesion of the EWcp attenuated EtOH intake and preference in high-drinking C57BL/6J mice, we also set out to determine whether EWcp lesion would differentially alter EtOH consumption in Ucn1 KO and WT mice. Finally, we implemented well-established place conditioning procedures in KO and WT mice to determine whether Ucn1 and the corticotropin-releasing factor type-2 receptor (CRF-R2) were involved in the rewarding and aversive effects of EtOH (2 g/kg, i.p.). Results from these studies revealed that (1) genetic deletion of Ucn1 dampened EtOH preference only in mice with an intact EWcp, but not in mice that received lesion of the EWcp, (2) lesion of the EWcp dampened EtOH intake in Ucn1 KO and WT mice, but dampened EtOH preference only in WT mice expressing Ucn1, and (3) genetic deletion of Ucn1 or CRF-R2 abolished the conditioned rewarding effects of EtOH, but deletion of Ucn1 had no effect on the conditioned aversive effects of EtOH. The current findings provide strong support for the hypothesis that EWcp-Ucn1 neurons play an important role in EtOH intake, preference, and reward

Cross-Correlation Earthquake Precursors in the Hydrogeochemical and Geoacoustic Signals for the Kamchatka Peninsula

We propose a new type of earthquake precursor based on the analysis of correlation dynamics between geophysical signals of different nature. The precursor is found using a two-parameter cross-correlation function introduced within the framework of flicker-noise spectroscopy, a general statistical physics approach to the analysis of time series. We consider an example of cross-correlation analysis for water salinity time series, an integral characteristic of the chemical composition of groundwater, and geoacoustic emissions recorded at the G-1 borehole on the Kamchatka peninsula in the time frame from 2001 to 2003, which is characterized by a sequence of three groups of significant seismic events. We found that cross-correlation precursors took place 27, 31, and 35 days ahead of the strongest earthquakes for each group of seismic events, respectively. At the same time, precursory anomalies in the signals themselves were observed only in the geoacoustic emissions for one group of earthquakes.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, 1 table; to be published in "Acta Geophysica". arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1101.147

Study of QGP signatures with the phi->K+K- signal in Pb-Pb ALICE events

The phi->K+K- decay channel in Pb-Pb collisions at LHC is studied through a full simulation of the ALICE detector. The study focuses on possible signatures in this channel of quark-gluon plasma (QGP) formation. On a basis of 10^6 collisions at high centrality some proposed QGP signatures are clearly visible both in K+K- invariant mass and transverse mass distributions. The high significance of this observation appears to reside heavily on the use of the TOF (Time Of Flight) system of ALICE in addition to its central tracking detectors.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, to appear in EPJ

Treatment- and Population-Dependent Activity Patterns of Behavioral and Expression QTLs

Genetic control of gene expression and higher-order phenotypes is almost invariably dependent on environment and experimental conditions. We use two families of recombinant inbred strains of mice (LXS and BXD) to study treatment- and genotype-dependent control of hippocampal gene expression and behavioral phenotypes. We analyzed responses to all combinations of two experimental perturbations, ethanol and restraint stress, in both families, allowing for comparisons across 8 combinations of treatment and population. We introduce the concept of QTL activity patterns to characterize how associations between genomic loci and traits vary across treatments. We identified several significant behavioral QTLs and many expression QTLs (eQTLs). The behavioral QTLs are highly dependent on treatment and population. We classified eQTLs into three groups: cis-eQTLs (expression variation that maps to within 5 Mb of the cognate gene), syntenic trans-eQTLs (the gene and the QTL are on the same chromosome but not within 5 Mb), and non-syntenic trans-eQTLs (the gene and the QTL are on different chromosomes). We found that most non-syntenic trans-eQTLs were treatment-specific whereas both classes of syntenic eQTLs were more conserved across treatments. We also found there was a correlation between regions along the genome enriched for eQTLs and SNPs that were conserved across the LXS and BXD families. Genes with eQTLs that co-localized with the behavioral QTLs and displayed similar QTL activity patterns were identified as potential candidate genes associated with the phenotypes, yielding identification of novel genes as well as genes that have been previously associated with responses to ethanol