184 research outputs found

    Could be the rotation of earth's inner core as the cause od dipolar magnetic field generation?

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    Beginning with the comment of S. Marinov (Nuovo Cimento C, 19 (1966) 215) article, we studied two processes that could generate a dipolar magnetic field: the electron inertia in metals and the Barnett effect, and calculated the field generated by such processes. Then, we solved analytically the hydrodynamic problem of the fluid motion in the spherical shell when the inner and outer spheres rotate with different angular velocities and considered an analogue model for the liquid outer core of the Earth. Putting this solution into the kinematics equation of the dynamo theory, we discussed about its solution and about the possibility of modifying and amplifying the dipolar field by the fluid motion

    Leveraging Self-Supervised Training for Unintentional Action Recognition

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    Unintentional actions are rare occurrences that are difficult to defineprecisely and that are highly dependent on the temporal context of the action.In this work, we explore such actions and seek to identify the points in videoswhere the actions transition from intentional to unintentional. We propose amulti-stage framework that exploits inherent biases such as motion speed,motion direction, and order to recognize unintentional actions. To enhancerepresentations via self-supervised training for the task of unintentionalaction recognition we propose temporal transformations, called TemporalTransformations of Inherent Biases of Unintentional Actions (T2IBUA). Themulti-stage approach models the temporal information on both the level ofindividual frames and full clips. These enhanced representations show strongperformance for unintentional action recognition tasks. We provide an extensiveablation study of our framework and report results that significantly improveover the state-of-the-art.<br

    Geomagnetic jerks characterization via spectral analysis

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    In this study we have applied spectral techniques to analyze geomagnetic field time-series provided by observatories, and compared the results with those obtained from analogous analyses of synthetic data estimated from models. Then, an algorithm is here proposed to detect the geomagnetic jerks in time-series, mainly occurring in the eastern component of the geomagnetic field. Applying such analysis to time-series generated from global models has allowed us to depict the most important space-time features of the geomagnetic jerks all over the globe, since the beginning of XXth century. Finally, the spherical harmonic power spectrum of the third derivative of the main geomagnetic field has been computed from 1960 to 2002.5, bringing new insights to understand the spatial evolution of these rapid changes of the geomagnetic field

    Two geomagnetic regional models for Albania and south-east Italy from 1990 to 2010 with prediction to 2012 and comparison with IGRF-11

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    Here we present a revised geomagnetic reference model for the region comprising Albanian territory, south-east part of Italian Peninsula and Ionian Sea from 1990 to 2010 with prediction to 2012. This study is based on the datasets of magnetic measurements taken during different campaigns in Albania and Italy in the time of concern, together with a total intensity data set from the Ørsted and CHAMP satellite missions. The model is designed to represent the Cartesian components, X, Y, Z and the total intensity F of the main geomagnetic field (and its secular variation) for the period of interest. To develop the model, we applied a Spherical Cap Harmonic Analysis (SCHA) of the geomagnetic potential over a 16° cap with most of the observations concentrated in the central 4° half-angle. The use of a larger cap than that containing the data was made to reduce the typical problems in SV modelling over small regions. Also a new technique, called ``Radially Simplified Spherical Cap Harmonic Analysis" (RS-SCHA), was developed to improve the model especially in the radial variation of the geomagnetic field components. Both these models provide an optimal representation of the geomagnetic field in the considered region compared with the International Geomagnetic Reference Field model (IGRF-11) and can be used as reference models to reduce magnetic surveys undertaken in the area during the time of validity of the model, or to extrapolate the field till 2012

    Linear Collider Test of a Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay Mechanism in left-right Symmetric Theories

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    There are various diagrams leading to neutrinoless double beta decay in left-right symmetric theories based on the gauge group SU(2)_L x SU(2)_R. All can in principle be tested at a linear collider running in electron-electron mode. We argue that the so-called lambda-diagram is the most promising one. Taking the current limit on this diagram from double beta decay experiments, we evaluate the relevant cross section e e to W_L W_R, where W_L is the Standard Model W-boson and W_R the one from SU(2)_R. It is observable if the life-time of double beta decay and the mass of the W_R are close to current limits. Beam polarization effects and the high-energy behaviour of the cross section are also analyzed.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures. v2: minor changes, references added, to be published in EPJ

    Role of Esrrg in the Fibrate-Mediated Regulation of Lipid Metabolism Genes in Human ApoA-I Transgenic Mice

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    We have used a new ApoA-I transgenic mouse model to identify by global gene expression profiling, candidate genes that affect lipid and lipoprotein metabolism in response to fenofibrate treatment. Multilevel bioinformatical analysis and stringent selection criteria (2-fold change, 0% false discovery rate) identified 267 significantly changed genes involved in several molecular pathways. The fenofibrate-treated group did not have significantly altered levels of hepatic human APOA-I mRNA and plasma ApoA-I compared with the control group. However, the treatment increased cholesterol levels to 1.95-fold mainly due to the increase in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. The observed changes in HDL are associated with the upregulation of genes involved in phospholipid biosynthesis and lipid hydrolysis, as well as phospholipid transfer protein. Significant upregulation was observed in genes involved in fatty acid transport and β-oxidation, but not in those of fatty acid and cholesterol biosynthesis, Krebs cycle and gluconeogenesis. Fenofibrate changed significantly the expression of seven transcription factors. The estrogen receptor-related gamma gene was upregulated 2.36-fold and had a significant positive correlation with genes of lipid and lipoprotein metabolism and mitochondrial functions, indicating an important role of this orphan receptor in mediating the fenofibrate-induced activation of a specific subset of its target genes.National Institutes of Health (HL48739 and HL68216); European Union (LSHM-CT-2006-0376331, LSHG-CT-2006-037277); the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens; the Hellenic Cardiological Society; the John F Kostopoulos Foundatio

    Brabykinin B1 Receptor Antagonism Is Beneficial in Renal Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury

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    Previously we have demonstrated that bradykinin B1 receptor deficient mice (B1KO) were protected against renal ischemia and reperfusion injury (IRI). Here, we aimed to analyze the effect of B1 antagonism on renal IRI and to study whether B1R knockout or antagonism could modulate the renal expression of pro and anti-inflammatory molecules. To this end, mice were subjected to 45 minutes ischemia and reperfused at 4, 24, 48 and 120 hours. Wild-type mice were treated intra-peritoneally with antagonists of either B1 (R-954, 200 µg/kg) or B2 receptor (HOE140, 200 µg/kg) 30 minutes prior to ischemia. Blood samples were collected to ascertain serum creatinine level, and kidneys were harvested for gene transcript analyses by real-time PCR. Herein, B1R antagonism (R-954) was able to decrease serum creatinine levels, whereas B2R antagonism had no effect. The protection seen under B1R deletion or antagonism was associated with an increased expression of GATA-3, IL-4 and IL-10 and a decreased T-bet and IL-1β transcription. Moreover, treatment with R-954 resulted in lower MCP-1, and higher HO-1 expression. Our results demonstrated that bradykinin B1R antagonism is beneficial in renal IRI

    Decreased hippocampal translocator protein (18 kDa) expression in alcohol dependence: a [11C]PBR28 PET study

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    Repeated withdrawal from alcohol is clinically associated with progressive cognitive impairment. Microglial activation occurring during pre-clinical models of alcohol withdrawal is associated with learning deficits. We investigated whether there was microglial activation in recently detoxified alcohol-dependent patients (ADP), using [11C]PBR28 positron emission tomography (PET), selective for the 18kDa translocator protein (TSPO) highly expressed in activated microglia and astrocytes. We investigated the relationship between microglial activation and cognitive performance. Twenty healthy control (HC) subjects (45±13; M:F 14:6) and nine ADP (45±6, M:F 9:0) were evaluated. Dynamic PET data were acquired for 90 min following an injection of 331±15 MBq [11C]PBR28. Regional volumes of distribution (VT) for regions of interest (ROIs) identified a priori were estimated using a two-tissue compartmental model with metabolite-corrected arterial plasma input function. ADP had an ~20% lower [11C]PBR28 VT, in the hippocampus (F(1,24) 5.694; P=0.025), but no difference in VT in other ROIs. Hippocampal [11C]PBR28 VT was positively correlated with verbal memory performance in a combined group of HC and ADP (r=0.720, P&lt;0.001), an effect seen in HC alone (r=0.738; P=0.001) but not in ADP. We did not find evidence for increased microglial activation in ADP, as seen pre-clinically. Instead, our findings suggest lower glial density or an altered activation state with lower TSPO expression. The correlation between verbal memory and [11C]PBR28 VT, raises the possibility that abnormalities of glial function may contribute to cognitive impairment in ADP

    Influence of the left-handed part of the neutrino mass matrix on the lepton number violating e-e- -> W-W- process

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    Influence of the neutrino mass submatrix MLM_L on the e-e- -> W-W- process is discussed. Taking into account various possible CP signatures of heavy neutrinos it is shown that, in some cases, nonzero MLM_L substantially changes predictions for maximum possible values of the e-e- -> W-W- cross section. A direct role of the ω2\omega^2 parameter (coming from neutrinoless double beta decay) is clarified. The consequences of doubly charged Higgs particles δ−−\delta^{--} with resonances even far away from energies of the future linear lepton collider (s=0.5−1\sqrt{s}=0.5-1 TeV) are studied.Comment: revtex, epsfig, 5 figures, 9 pages. To appear in Phys.Rev.
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