3,080 research outputs found
Gravitino Dark Matter and the Cosmic Lithium Abundances
Supersymmetric extensions of the standard model of particle physics assuming
the gravitino to be the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP), and with the
next-to-LSP decaying to the gravitino during Big Bang nucleosynthesis, are
analyzed. Particular emphasis is laid on their potential to solve the "Li7
problem", an apparent factor 2-4 overproduction of Li7 in standard Big Bang
nucleosynthesis (BBN), their production of cosmologically important amounts of
Li6, as well as the resulting gravitino dark matter densities in these models.
The study includes several improvements compared to prior studies. Heavy
gravitinos in the constrained minimal supersymmetric standard model (CMMSM) are
reanalyzed, whereas light gravitinos in gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking
scenarios (GMSB) are studied for the first time. It is confirmed that decays of
NLSP staus to heavy gravitinos, while producing all the dark matter, may at the
same time resolve the Li7 problem. For NLSP decay times ~ 1000 sec, such
scenarios also lead to cosmologically important Li6 (and possibly Be9)
abundances. However, as such scenarios require heavy > 1 TeV staus they are
likely not testable at the LHC. It is found that decays of NLSP staus to light
gravitinos may lead to significant Li6 (and Be9) abundances, whereas NLSP
neutralinos decaying into light gravitinos may solve the Li7 problem. Though
both scenarios are testable at the LHC they may not lead to the production of
the bulk of the dark matter. A section of the paper outlines particle
properties required to significantly reduce the Li7 abundance, and/or enhance
the Li6 (and possibly Be9) abundances, by the decay of an arbitrary relic
particle.Comment: 13 pages (revtex), 9 figures, minor changes, submitted to PR
Direct multiple shooting and direct collocation perform similarly in biomechanical predictive simulations
Direct multiple shooting (DMS) and direct collocation (DC) are two common
transcription methods for solving optimal control problems (OCP) in
biomechanics and robotics. They have rarely been compared in terms of solution
and speed. Through five examples of predictive simulations solved using five
transcription methods and 100 initial guesses in the Bioptim software, we
showed that not a single method outperformed systematically better. All methods
converged to almost the same solution (cost, states, and controls) in all but
one OCP, with several local minima being found in the latter. Nevertheless, DC
based on fourth-order Legendre polynomials provided overall better results,
especially in terms of dynamic consistency compared to DMS based on a
fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. Furthermore, expressing the rigid-body
constraints using inverse dynamics was usually faster than forward dynamics. DC
with dynamics constraints based on inverse dynamics converged to better and
less variable solutions. Consequently, we recommend starting with this
transcription to solve OCPs but keep testing other methods.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figure
A 16-channel Digital TDC Chip with internal buffering and selective readout for the DIRC Cherenkov counter of the BABAR experiment
A 16-channel digital TDC chip has been built for the DIRC Cherenkov counter
of the BaBar experiment at the SLAC B-factory (Stanford, USA). The binning is
0.5 ns, the conversion time 32 ns and the full-scale 32 mus. The data driven
architecture integrates channel buffering and selective readout of data falling
within a programmable time window. The time measuring scale is constantly
locked to the phase of the (external) clock. The linearity is better than 80 ps
rms. The dead time loss is less than 0.1% for incoherent random input at a rate
of 100 khz on each channel. At such a rate the power dissipation is less than
100 mw. The die size is 36 mm2.Comment: Latex, 18 pages, 13 figures (14 .eps files), submitted to NIM
Protention and retention in biological systems
This paper proposes an abstract mathematical frame for describing some
features of cognitive and biological time. We focus here on the so called
"extended present" as a result of protentional and retentional activities
(memory and anticipation). Memory, as retention, is treated in some physical
theories (relaxation phenomena, which will inspire our approach), while
protention (or anticipation) seems outside the scope of physics. We then
suggest a simple functional representation of biological protention. This
allows us to introduce the abstract notion of "biological inertia".Comment: This paper was made possible only as part of an extended
collaboration with Francis Bailly (see references), a dear friend and
"ma\^itre \'a penser", who contributed to the key ideas. Francis passed away
in february 2008: we continue here our inspiring discussions and joint wor
Towards a first observation of magneto-electric directional anisotropy and linear birefringence in gases
In this contribution to PSAS'2010 we report on recent progress on an
experiment aimed at measuring small optical directional anisotropies by
frequency metrology in a high finesse ring cavity. We focus on our first
experimental goal, the measurement of magneto-electric effects in gases. After
a review of the expected effects in our set-up, we present the apparatus and
the measurement procedure, showing that we already have the necessary
sensitivity to start novel experiments.Comment: Proceedings of PSAS'2010, to be published in Canadian Journal of
Physics, 2011 Ja
Deciphering the Anti-Aflatoxinogenic Properties of Eugenol Using a Large-Scale q-PCR Approach
Produced by several species of Aspergillus, Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a carcinogenic mycotoxin contaminating many crops worldwide. The utilization of fungicides is currently one of the most common methods; nevertheless, their use is not environmentally or economically sound. Thus, the use of natural compounds able to block aflatoxinogenesis could represent an alternative strategy to limit food and feed contamination. For instance, eugenol, a 4-allyl-2-methoxyphenol present in many essential oils, has been identified as an anti-aflatoxin molecule. However, its precise mechanism of action has yet to be clarified. The production of AFB1 is associated with the expression of a 70 kB cluster, and not less than 21 enzymatic reactions are necessary for its production. Based on former empirical data, a molecular tool composed of 60 genes targeting 27 genes of aflatoxin B1 cluster and 33 genes encoding the main regulatory factors potentially involved in its production, was developed. We showed that AFB1 inhibition in Aspergillus flavus following eugenol addition at 0.5 mM in a Malt Extract Agar (MEA) medium resulted in a complete inhibition of the expression of all but one gene of the AFB1 biosynthesis cluster. This transcriptomic effect followed a down-regulation of the complex composed by the two internal regulatory factors, AflR and AflS. This phenomenon was also influenced by an over-expression of veA and mtfA, two genes that are directly linked to AFB1 cluster regulation
Simulating geometric uncertainties of impervious areas based on image segmentation accuracy metrics
International audienceUrban sprawl monitoring is important for developing land management policies at various spatial scales. Segmentation and classification of satellite images allows obtaining polygons of impervious areas regularly over large areas, e.g. as has been implemented for the region LanguedocâRoussillon in the south of France using 5 m RapidEye images. Starting from the results of this previous study, we aim to: i) evaluate the geometric and thematic accuracy of the impervious polygons (S) using segmentation accuracy metrics, and ii) use these metrics to simulate polygons having the same level of uncertainty. A manual segmentation (M) was used to evaluate the accuracy. After matching the polygons, the distance (d) and azimuth (a) of each vertex of M to the closest segment of the boundary of S was calculated. Spherically correlated random fields of d and a were used to randomly move the vertices of S. Realistic simulations of impervious polygons were obtained
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