Classical Nature of the Inflaton Field with Self-Interaction

Taking into account the effect of self-interaction, the dynamics of the quantum fluctuations of the inflaton field with $\lambda\phi^4$ potential is studied in detail. We find that the self interaction efficiently drives the initial pure state into a mixed one, which can be understood as a statistical ensemble. Further, the expectation value of the squared field operator is found to be converted into the variance of this statistical ensemble without giving any significant change in its amplitude. These results verify the ansatz of the quantum-to-classical transition that has been assumed in the standard evaluation of the amplitude of the primordial fluctuations of the universe.Comment: 23 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev. D1

Epidemiological evaluation of cat health at a first-response animal shelter in Fukushima, following the Great East Japan Earthquakes of 2011.

The Great East Japan Earthquakes of March 11, 2011 caused immense harm to the community and subsequent nuclear accident in Fukushima Prefecture extended the damage. Local residents were forced to evacuated without pets and the left behind animals were rescued from the restricted zone one month later. Unplanned animal rescue and unregulated sheltering caused secondary damage to animals such as disease epidemics at impounded animal shelter. The purpose of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the incidence of upper respiratory infection (URI) and diarrhea in cats at the first response animal shelter in Fukushima, and investigate factors affecting the duration of disease and determinants of treatments performed. Eighty percent and 59% of impounded cats developed URI, 71% and 54% of cats developed diarrhea, and 91% and 83% of cats had at least one disease in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Uses of multiple drug administration (more than five drugs) was associated with prolonged URI and diarrhea. Multiple antibiotics, antihistamines, interferon, and steroids were associated with relapse of and prolonged URI. Developing a standardized treatment protocol for commonly observed diseases at Japanese animal shelters to prevent and control diseases, to promote animal welfare, and protect public health in the face of future disasters is overdue

Algebraic independence of the partial derivatives of certain functions with arbitrary number of variables

We construct a complex entire function with arbitrary number of variables which has the following property: The infinite set consisting of all the values of all its partial derivatives of any orders at all algebraic points, including zero components, is algebraically independent. In Section 2 of this paper, we develop a new technique involving linear isomorphisms and infinite products to replace the algebraic independence of the values of functions in question with that of functions easier to deal with. In Section 2 and 3, using the technique together with Mahler's method, we can reduce the algebraic independence of the infinite set mentioned above to the linear independence of certain rational functions modulo the rational function field of many variables. The latter one is solved by the discussions involving a certain valuation and a generic point in Section 3 and 4

On Local Symmetric Order Parameters of Vortex Lattice States

This paper gives a new refined definition of local symmetric order parameters (OPs)(s-wave, d-wave and p-wave order parameters) of vortex lattice states for singlet superconductivity. s-wave, d-wave and p-wave OPs at a site (m,n) are defined as A, B and E representations of the four fold rotation C_4 at the site (m,n) of nearest neighbor OPs etc. The new OPs have a well defined nature such that an OP(e.g. d-wave) at the site obtained under translation by a lattice vector (of the vortex lattice) from a site (m,n) is expressed by the corresponding OP (e.g. d-wave) at the site (m,n) times a phase factor. The winding numbers of s-wave and d-wave OPs are given.Comment: RevTeX v3.1, 5 pages with 3 figures, uses epsf.sty. to appear in Prog. Theor. Phys. Vol.101 No.3. (1999

GLOBAL SOLUTIONS FOR ABSTRACT FUNCTIONAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS WITH NONLOCAL CONDITIONS

In this paper we study the existence of global solutions for a class of abstract functional differential equation with nonlocal conditions. An application is considered

The Role of Public Broadcasting in Media Bias:Do People React Differently to Pro-government Bias in Public and Private Media?

People often reject new information, especially when it does not fit their prior beliefs. But do publics in advanced democracies reject information from public and private media outlets in the same way? We examine this question in the form of the media’s pro-government bias in the under-examined case of Japan. By combining unique textual data with an original survey experiment, we document that (1) people generally tend to reject pro-government biased information that overly praises government actions; but (2) the reasons why people reject the same biased information vary—based on their expectations of neutrality for public media, and on expectations derived from political ideology for private media. Our study suggests that the basis of people’s motivated reasoning differs when they evaluate content from public and private media

Nanostructure-enhanced infrared spectroscopy

While infrared spectroscopy is a powerful technique that provides molecular information such as chemical constituents and chemical structures of analytes, it suffers from low absorption cross-section resulting in low sensitivity and poor signal-to-noise or signal-to-background ratios. Surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) spectroscopy, which is supported by nanometer scale structures, is a promising technology to overcome these problems in conventional infrared (IR) spectroscopy and enhances IR signals using the field enhancement properties of surface plasmon resonance. Recently resonant SEIRA technique was proposed, and signal enhancement factor was significantly improved. In this review, we present an overview of the recent progresses on resonant SEIRA technologies including nanoantenna- and metamaterial-based SEIRA, and also SEIRA techniques with nanoimaging capabilities