14,791 research outputs found
Brain Monitoring: Do We Need a Hole? An Update on Invasive and Noninvasive Brain Monitoring Modalities
The ability to measure reliably the changes in the physical and biochemical environment after a brain injury is of great value in the prevention, treatment, and understanding of the secondary injuries. Three categories of multimodal brain monitoring exist: direct signals which are monitored invasively; variables which may be monitored noninvasively; and variables describing brain pathophysiology which are not monitored directly but are calculated at the bedside by dedicated computer software. Intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring, either as stand-alone value or study of a dynamic trend, has become an important diagnostic tool in the diagnosis and management of multiple neurological conditions. Attempts have been made to measure ICP non-invasively, but this is not a clinical reality yet. There is contrasting evidence that monitoring of ICP is associated with better outcome, and further RCTs based on management protocol are warranted. Computer bedside calculation of “secondary parameters” has shown to be potentially helpful, particularly in helping to optimize “CPP-guided therapy.” In this paper we describe the most popular invasive and non invasive monitoring modalities, with great attention to their clinical interpretation based on the current published evidence
Observation of a New Fluxon Resonant Mechanism in Annular Josephson Tunnel Structures
A novel dynamical state has been observed in the dynamics of a perdurbed
sine-Gordon system. This resonant state, has been experimentally observed as a
singularity in the dc current voltage characteristic of an annular Josephson
tunnel junction, excited in the presence of a magnetic field. With this
respect, it can be assimilated to self-resonances known as Fiske steps.
Differently from these, however, we demonstrate, on the basis of numerical
simulations, that its detailed dynamics involves rotating fluxon pairs, a
mechanism associated, so far, to self-resonances known as zero-field steps.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter
Diagnostics for specific PAHs in the far-IR: searching neutral naphthalene and anthracene in the Red Rectangle
Context. In the framework of the interstellar polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs) hypothesis, far-IR skeletal bands are expected to be a
fingerprint of single species in this class. Aims. We address the question of
detectability of low energy PAH vibrational bands, with respect to spectral
contrast and intensity ratio with ``classical'' Aromatic Infrared Bands (AIBs).
Methods. We extend our extablished Monte-Carlo model of the photophysics of
specific PAHs in astronomical environments, to include rotational and
anharmonic band structure. The required molecular parameters were calculated in
the framework of the Density Functional Theory. Results. We calculate the
detailed spectral profiles of three low-energy vibrational bands of neutral
naphthalene, and four low-energy vibrational bands of neutral anthracene. They
are used to establish detectability constraints based on intensity ratios with
``classical'' AIBs. A general procedure is suggested to select promising
diagnostics, and tested on available Infrared Space Observatory data for the
Red Rectangle nebula. Conclusions. The search for single, specific PAHs in the
far-IR is a challenging, but promising task, especially in view of the
forthcoming launch of the Herschel Space Observatory.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Analytic continuation of the Hurwitz Zeta Function with physical application
A new formula relating the analytic continuation of the Hurwitz zeta function
to the Euler gamma function and a polylogarithmic function is presented. In
particular, the values of the first derivative of the real part of the analytic
continuation of the Hurwitz zeta function for even negative integers and the
imaginary one for odd negative integers are explicitly given. The result can be
of interest both on mathematical and physical side, because we are able to
apply our new formulas in the context of the Spectral Zeta Function
regularization, computing the exact pair production rate per space-time unit of
massive Dirac particles interacting with a purely electric background field.Comment: Replaced version, minor changes. 9 pages, to be published in J. Math.
Phy
Localization of Gauge Fields and Monopole Tunnelling
We study the dynamical localization of a massless gauge field on a
lower-dimensional surface (2-brane). In flat space, the necessary and
sufficient condition for this phenomenon is the existence of confinement in the
bulk. The resulting configuration is equivalent to a dual Josephson junction.
This duality leads to an interesting puzzle, as it implies that a localized
massless theory, even in the Abelian case, must become confining at
exponentially large distances. Through the use of topological arguments we
clarify the physics behind this large-distance confinement and identify the
instantons of the brane world-volume theory that are responsible for its
appearance. We show that they correspond to the (condensed) bulk magnetic
charges (monopoles), that occasionally tunnel through the brane and induce weak
confinement of the brane theory. We consider the possible generalization of
this effect to higher dimensions and discuss phenomenological bounds on the
confinement of electric charges at exponentially large distances within our
Universe.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, improvements in the presentation, version to
appear in Physical Review
Spin analog of the controlled Josephson charge current
We propose a controlled Josephson spin current across the junction of two
non-centrosymmetric superconductors like CePt_3Si. The Josephson spin current
arises due to direction dependent tunneling matrix element and different
momentum dependent phases of the triplet components of the gap function. Its
modulation with the angle \xi between the noncentrosymmetric axes of two
superconductors is proportional to \sin \xi. This particular dependence on \xi
may find application of the proposed set-up in making a Josephson spin switch.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure; title is changed; article is rewritte
Observation of mesoscopic conductance fluctuations in YBaCuO grain boundary Josephson Junctions
Magneto-fluctuations of the normal resistance R_N have been reproducibly
observed in high critical temp erature superconductor (HTS) grain boundary
junctions, at low temperatures. We attribute them to mesoscopic transport in
narrow channels across the grain boundary line. The Thouless energy appears to
be the relevant energy scale. Our findings have significant implications on
quasiparticle relaxation and coherent transport in HTS grain boundaries.Comment: Revised version, minor changes. 4 pages, 4 figure
Josephson junctions in thin and narrow rectangular superconducting strips
I consider a Josephson junction crossing the middle of a thin rectangular
superconducting strip of length L and width W subjected to a perpendicular
magnetic induction B. I calculate the spatial dependence of the gauge-invariant
phase difference across the junction and the resulting B dependence of the
critical current Ic(B).Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, revised following referee's comment
AC Josephson effect and resonant Cooper pair tunneling emission of a Cooper Pair Transistor
We measure the high-frequency emission of a single Cooper pair
transistor(SCPT) in the regime where transport is only due to tunneling of
Cooper pairs. This is achieved by coupling on-chip the SCPT to a
superconductor-insulator-superconductor junction and by measuring the photon
assisted tunneling current of quasiparticles across the junction. This
technique allows a direct detection of the AC Josephson effect of the SCPT and
provides evidence of Landau-Zener transitions for proper gate voltage. The
emission in the regime of resonant Cooper pair tunneling is also investigated.
It is interpreted in terms of transitions between charge states coupled by the
Josephson effect.Comment: Revtex4, 5 pages, 4 figures, final versio
Drafting a prioritized checklist of Crop Wild Relatives and Wild Harvested Plants of Italy: problems and solutions
The National checklists of Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) and Wild Harvested Plants (WHP) are the basic tools for the development of in situ and ex situ conservation strategies of plant genetic resources. Here we discuss the methodologies and the prioritization process we previously used in the preparation of the prioritized checklist of CWR and WHP for Italy.
The starting point were the most up-to-date Italian checklists of native and alien flora with their updates used as a nomenclatural and distributive source of data. Sardinia and Sicily were kept separate from peninsular Italy to perform detailed analyses focused on the taxa of the two major islands. The origin, the endemic status, cultivation, economic importance, uses, gene pool or taxon group, and the Red List status information were added. The WHP status was attributed to all the taxa with known direct uses. A qualitative approach was adopted in the prioritization
process, the main criteria used were: 1) the inclusion of wild relative taxa of crops listed in Annex I of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) and/or by the Italian Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) for cultivated areas and yield in the last 5 yearsÍľ 2) the threatened taxa occurring in national or global Red listsÍľ 3) the endemism.
This prioritization process generated 102 taxa as most in need of specific protection and /or monitoring measures, 57 taxa requiring monitoring because of their restricted distribution although not requiring specific protection measures and 735 taxa not requiring any specific protection. However, different prioritization processes could have been applied to the Italian checklists yielding different results. Here we discuss the matter
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