270 research outputs found
Chiral three-nucleon forces and bound excited states in neutron-rich oxygen isotopes
We study the spectra of neutron-rich oxygen isotopes based on chiral two- and
three-nucleon interactions. First, we benchmark our many-body approach by
comparing ground-state energies to coupled-cluster results for the same
two-nucleon interaction, with overall good agreement. We then calculate bound
excited states in 21,22,23O, focusing on the role of three-nucleon forces, in
the standard sd shell and an extended sdf7/2p3/2 valence space. Chiral
three-nucleon forces provide important one- and two-body contributions between
valence neutrons. We find that both these contributions and an extended valence
space are necessary to reproduce key signatures of novel shell evolution, such
as the N = 14 magic number and the low-lying states in 21O and 23O, which are
too compressed with two-nucleon interactions only. For the extended space
calculations, this presents first work based on nuclear forces without
adjustments. Future work is needed and open questions are discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, published versio
European regulatory agenices should employ full time statisticians
No abstract available
The nuclear energy density functional formalism
The present document focuses on the theoretical foundations of the nuclear
energy density functional (EDF) method. As such, it does not aim at reviewing
the status of the field, at covering all possible ramifications of the approach
or at presenting recent achievements and applications. The objective is to
provide a modern account of the nuclear EDF formalism that is at variance with
traditional presentations that rely, at one point or another, on a {\it
Hamiltonian-based} picture. The latter is not general enough to encompass what
the nuclear EDF method represents as of today. Specifically, the traditional
Hamiltonian-based picture does not allow one to grasp the difficulties
associated with the fact that currently available parametrizations of the
energy kernel at play in the method do not derive from a genuine
Hamilton operator, would the latter be effective. The method is formulated from
the outset through the most general multi-reference, i.e. beyond mean-field,
implementation such that the single-reference, i.e. "mean-field", derives as a
particular case. As such, a key point of the presentation provided here is to
demonstrate that the multi-reference EDF method can indeed be formulated in a
{\it mathematically} meaningful fashion even if does {\it not} derive
from a genuine Hamilton operator. In particular, the restoration of symmetries
can be entirely formulated without making {\it any} reference to a projected
state, i.e. within a genuine EDF framework. However, and as is illustrated in
the present document, a mathematically meaningful formulation does not
guarantee that the formalism is sound from a {\it physical} standpoint. The
price at which the latter can be enforced as well in the future is eventually
alluded to.Comment: 64 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Euroschool Lecture Notes in Physics
Vol.IV, Christoph Scheidenberger and Marek Pfutzner editor
An investigation of the potential application of chitosan/aloe-based membranes for regenerative medicine
A significant number of therapeutics derived from natural polymers and plants have been developed to
replace or to be used in conjunction with existing dressing products. The use of the therapeutic properties
of aloe vera could be very useful in the creation of active wound dressing materials. The present work was
undertaken to examine issues concerning structural features, topography, enzymatic degradation behavior,
antibacterial activity and cellular response of chitosan/aloe vera-based membranes. The chitosan/aloe
vera-based membranes that were developed displayed satisfactory degradation, roughness, wettability
and mechanical properties. A higher antibacterial potency was displayed by the blended membranes.
Moreover, in vitro assays demonstrated that these blended membranes have good cell compatibility with
primary human dermal fibroblasts. The chitosan/aloe vera-based membranes might be promising wound
dressing materials.The authors acknowledge financial support from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (grants SFRH/BPD/45307/2008 and SFRH/BD/64601/2009), the "Fundo Social Europeu", and the "Programa Diferencial de Potencial Humano". This work was partially supported by the FEDER through POCTEP 0330_IBEROMARE_1_P
An Integrated TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource to Drive High-Quality Survival Outcome Analytics
For a decade, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program collected clinicopathologic annotation data along with multi-platform molecular profiles of more than 11,000 human tumors across 33 different cancer types. TCGA clinical data contain key features representing the democratized nature of the data collection process. To ensure proper use of this large clinical dataset associated with genomic features, we developed a standardized dataset named the TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource (TCGA-CDR), which includes four major clinical outcome endpoints. In addition to detailing major challenges and statistical limitations encountered during the effort of integrating the acquired clinical data, we present a summary that includes endpoint usage recommendations for each cancer type. These TCGA-CDR findings appear to be consistent with cancer genomics studies independent of the TCGA effort and provide opportunities for investigating cancer biology using clinical correlates at an unprecedented scale. Analysis of clinicopathologic annotations for over 11,000 cancer patients in the TCGA program leads to the generation of TCGA Clinical Data Resource, which provides recommendations of clinical outcome endpoint usage for 33 cancer types
Electromagnetic wave propagation in rain and polarization effects
This paper summarizes our study on microwave and millimeter-wave propagation in rain with special emphasis on the effects of polarization. Starting from a recount of our past findings, we will discuss developments with these and how they are connected with subsequent research
Keeping the herds healthy and alert: implications of predator control for infectious disease
Predator control programmes are generally implemented in an attempt to increase prey population sizes. However, predator removal could prove harmful to prey populations that are regulated primarily by parasitic infections rather than by predation. We develop models for microparasitic and macroparasitic infection that specify the conditions where predator removal will (a) increase the incidence of parasitic infection, (b) reduce the number of healthy individuals in the prey population and (c) decrease the overall size of the prey population. In general, predator removal is more likely to be harmful when the parasite is highly virulent, macroparasites are highly aggregated in their prey, hosts are long-lived and the predators select infected prey
Electrophysiological assessment methodology of sensory processing dysfunction in schizophrenia and dementia of the Alzheimer type
Schizophrenia and Alzheimerās disease impacts on various sensory processings are extensively reviewed in the present publication. This article describes aspects of a research project whose aim is to delineate the neurobiology that may underlie Social Withdrawal in Alzheimerās disease, Schizophrenia and Major Depression. This is a European-funded IMI 2 project, identified as PRISM (Psychiatric Ratings using Intermediate Stratified Markers). This paper focuses specifically on the selected electrophysiological paradigms chosen based on a comprehensive review of all relevant literature and practical constraints. The choice of the electrophysiological biomarkers were fundamentality based their metrics and capacity to discriminate between populations. The selected electrophysiological paradigms are resting state EEG, auditory mismatch negativity, auditory and visual based oddball paradigms, facial emotion processing ERPās and auditory steady-state response. The primary objective is to study the effect of social withdrawal on various biomarkers and endophenotypes found altered in the target populations. This has never been studied in relationship to social withdrawal, an important component of CNS diseases
- ā¦