1,728 research outputs found
Spread and Control of Rift Valley Fever virus after accidental introduction in the Netherlands: a modelling study.
Rift Valley Fever (RVF) is a zoonotic vector-borne infection and causes a potentially severe disease in both humans and young animals. The Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation (EL&I) is interested in the risk of an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever virus (RVFV) for the Netherlands, and more knowledge is needed about the risk of introduction of the virus, the risk of spread (transmission) of the virus in the country once introduced, and the methods for control and surveillance. For this purpose, a mathematical model was developed to study (1) the probability of a RVF outbreak at different days of introduction during the year, (2) the probability of persistence of the infection during the entire year, and (3) outbreak size and duration at different days of introduction during the year
Electroweak and finite width corrections to top quark decays into transverse and longitudinal -bosons
We calculate the electroweak and finite width corrections to the decay of an
unpolarized top quark into a bottom quark and a -gauge boson where the
helicities of the are specified as longitudinal, transverse-plus and
transverse-minus. Together with the corrections these
corrections may become relevant for the determination of the mass of the top
quark through angular decay measurements.Comment: 4 pages, 7 postscript figures adde
Creep motion in a random-field Ising model
We analyze numerically a moving interface in the random-field Ising model
which is driven by a magnetic field. Without thermal fluctuations the system
displays a depinning phase transition, i.e., the interface is pinned below a
certain critical value of the driving field. For finite temperatures the
interface moves even for driving fields below the critical value. In this
so-called creep regime the dependence of the interface velocity on the
temperature is expected to obey an Arrhenius law. We investigate the details of
this Arrhenius behavior in two and three dimensions and compare our results
with predictions obtained from renormalization group approaches.Comment: 6 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Illness perceptions in women with breast cancer:A systematic literature review
Women with breast cancer respond to the illness and its medical management in their own personal way. Their coping behavior and self-management are determined by their views (cognitions) and feelings (emotions) about symptoms and illness: their illness perceptions. This paper reports the results of a systematic literature review of illness perceptions and breast cancer. In the 12 studies identified, published between 2012 and 2015, illness perceptions were found to be important concomitants of medical and behavioral outcomes: fear of recurrence, distress, quality of life, satisfaction with medical care, use of traditional healers, and risk perceptio
Organ-dependent in vivo priming of naive CD4+,but not CD8+,T cells by plasmacytoid dendritic cells
Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (PDCs) play a pivotal role as cytokine-secreting accessory cells in the antimicrobial immune defense. In contrast, the capacity of PDCs to act as antigen-presenting cells in naive T cell priming remains unclear. By studying T cell responses in mice that lack conventional DCs (cDCs), and by the use of a PDC-specific antigen-targeting strategy, we show that PDCs can initiate productive naive CD4+ T cell responses in lymph nodes, but not in the spleen. PDC-triggered CD4+ T cell responses differed from cDC-driven responses in that they were not associated with concomitant CD8+ T cell priming. Our results establish PDCs as a bona fide DC subset that initiates unique CD4+ Th cell–dominated primary immune responses
Predictions from Quantum Cosmology
The world view suggested by quantum cosmology is that inflating universes
with all possible values of the fundamental constants are spontaneously created
out of nothing. I explore the consequences of the assumption that we are a
`typical' civilization living in this metauniverse. The conclusions include
inflation with an extremely flat potential and low thermalization temperature,
structure formation by topological defects, and an appreciable cosmological
constant.Comment: (revised version), 15 page
Nucleon axial and pseudoscalar form factors from the covariant Faddeev equation
We compute the axial and pseudoscalar form factors of the nucleon in the
Dyson-Schwinger approach. To this end, we solve a covariant three-body Faddeev
equation for the nucleon wave function and determine the matrix elements of the
axialvector and pseudoscalar isotriplet currents. Our only input is a
well-established and phenomenologically successful ansatz for the
nonperturbative quark-gluon interaction. As a consequence of the axial
Ward-Takahashi identity that is respected at the quark level, the
Goldberger-Treiman relation is reproduced for all current-quark masses. We
discuss the timelike pole structure of the quark-antiquark vertices that enters
the nucleon matrix elements and determines the momentum dependence of the form
factors. Our result for the axial charge underestimates the experimental value
by 20-25% which might be a signal of missing pion-cloud contributions. The
axial and pseudoscalar form factors agree with phenomenological and lattice
data in the momentum range above Q^2 ~ 1...2 GeV^2.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl
Functional morphology of the forelimb of Early Miocene caviomorph rodents from Patagonia
Caviomorph rodents (New World Hystricognathi) are represented in the Santa Cruz Formation of Patagonia (Early Miocene, Santacrucian) by four superfamilies. From this unit, excellent cranial and associated postcranial remains of Neoreomys, Eocardia, Schistomys (Cavioidea), Perimys (Chinchilloidea) and Steiromys (Erethizontoidea) are known. To interpret their use of substrate, a comparative description of limb bones (scapula, humerus, radius and ulna) of the five genera was performed within a taxonomic and ecologically diverse sample of extant rodents. Using palaeobiological inferences based on the habits and functional morphology of members of the extant sample, hypotheses were generated for the use of substrate by the Santacrucian taxa. Neoreomys would have had a marked flexo-extension capacity of the humerus and a moderate flexion of the manus. This genus and Eocardia would have had a complete and stabilized forearm extension, with wide stride and moderate extension of the forearm for the latter. Schistomys presents features similar to Eocardia. Perimys would have had strong external rotation of the humerus, moderate flexion of the manus and moderate, complete and stabilized extension of the forearm. Steiromys would have had good pronation/supination capacity, strong internal rotation of the humerus and flexion of the forearm and manus. Neoreomys would have been ambulatory and an occasional runner. Eocardia and Schistomys would have been good runners. Perimys would have been a digger and Steiromys a climber. This morphological disparity reflects a high ecological diversity, compatible with differential use of space during the Santacrucian.Fil: Muñoz, Nahuel Antu. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleontología Vertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Toledo, Néstor. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleontología Vertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Candela, Adriana Magdalena. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleontología Vertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Vizcaíno, Sergio Fabián. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleontología Vertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentin
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