Structure, tectonics and metamorphic development of the Sancti Spiritus Dome (eastern Escambray massif, Central Cuba)

The Sancti Spiritus Dome of the eastern Escambray (Cuba) represents a metamorphic fold and thrust structure which was part of the Cretaceous subduction-accretion complex of the Greater Antillean Arc. On the basis of structural data and pressure-temperature-time evolution the metamorphic complex can be subdivided into four units interpretable as nappes: a high-grade greenschist-facies unit (Pitajones unit), a high-pressure tectonic mélange (Gavilanes unit), high-pressure amphibolites (Yayabo unit) and - tectonically overlying - low-pressure metagabbros of the Greater Antillean Arc (Mabujina unit). The oldest rock fabrics are preserved in eclogite- and blueschist-facies rocks of the Gavilanes unit, indicating arc-parallel extension. Maximum metamorphic conditions are recorded in eclogites (16-20 kbar, 580-630 °C) and garnet-mica schists (16-23 kbar, 530-610 °C) of the Gavilanes unit. Field observations and fabric studies show that greenschist-facies dynamic indicators are dominated by top-to-NE tectonic transport in the lowermost nappes. The greenschist-facies shear zone between the Yayabo unit and the Mabujina unit is viewed as the main detachment zone between the subduction complex and the overlying arc complex. Active subduction ceased at about 70 Ma, followed by rapid uplift, exhumation and thrusting to the north

Relationships of trace gases and aerosols and the emission characteristics at Lin'an, a rural site in eastern China, during spring 2001

We present measurements of trace gases and fine aerosols obtained from a rural site in eastern China during 18 February to 30 April 2001. The field program aimed to characterize the variations in aerosol and gaseous pollutant concentrations and the emission signatures from the inland region of eastern China in the spring season. The data included O3, CO, NO, NOy*, SO2, methane, C2-C8 nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs), C 1-C2 halocarbons, and the chemical composition of PM2.5. The average hourly mixing ratios (±standard deviation) of CO, SO2, and NOy* were 677 (±315) ppbv, 15.9 (±14.6) ppbv, and 13.8 (±7.2) ppbv, respectively. The mean daytime ozone mixing ratio was 41 (± 19) ppbv. The most abundant NMHC was ethane (3189 ± 717 pptv), followed by ethyne (2475 ± 1395 pptv), ethene (1679 ± 1455 pptv), and toluene (1529 ± 1608 pptv). Methyl chloride was the most abundant halocarbon (1108 ± 653 pptv). The average concentrations of particulate organic matter (POM, as organic carbon, OC, times 1.4) and elemental carbon (EC) in PM2.5 were 21.5 (±7) μg/m3 and 2.5 (±0.7) μg/m3, respectively, and sulfate and nitrate levels were 17.3 (±6.6) and 6.5 (±4) μg/m3, respectively. CO showed moderate to good correlation with NOy* (r2 = 0.59), OC (r2 = 0.65), CH3Cl (r2 = 0.59), soluble potassium (r2 = 0.53), and many NMHCs, indicating contributions from the burning of biofuel/biomass. CO also correlated with an industrial tracer, C2Cl4, indicative of some influence from industrial sources. SO2, on the other hand, correlated well with EC (r2 = 0.56), reflecting the contribution from the burning of coal. Ammonium was sufficiently abundant to fully neutralize sulfate and nitrate, indicating that there were strong emissions of ammonia from agricultural activities. Silicon and calcium had poor correlations with iron and aluminum, revealing the presence of source(s) for Si and Ca other than from soil. Examination of C2H2/CO, C3H8/C 2H6, nitrate/(nitrate + NOy* , and sulfate/(SO2 + sulfate) suggested that relatively fresh air masses had been sampled at the study site in the spring season. Comparison of the observed ratios/slopes with those derived from emission inventories showed that while the observed SO2/NO y* ratio (1.29 ppbv/ppbv) in March was comparable (within 20%) to the inventory-derived ratio for the study region, the measured CO/NOy* slope (37 ppbv/ppbv) was about 200% larger. The observed slope of CO relative to NMHC (including ethane, propane, butanes, ethene, and ethyne) also indicated the presence of excess CO, compared to the ratios from the inventories. These results strongly suggest that emissions of CO in eastern China have been underrepresented. The findings of this study highlight the importance of characterizing trace gases and aerosols within source regions of the Asian continent. The springtime results were also compared with data previously collected at the site in 1999-2000 and with those obtained on the Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific (TRACE-P) aircraft and from a coastal site in South China for the same study period. Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union

Perturbations of the local gravity field due to mass distribution on precise measuring instruments: a numerical method applied to a cold atom gravimeter

We present a numerical method, based on a FEM simulation, for the determination of the gravitational field generated by massive objects, whatever geometry and space mass density they have. The method was applied for the determination of the self gravity effect of an absolute cold atom gravimeter which aims at a relative uncertainty of 10-9. The deduced bias, calculated with a perturbative treatment, is finally presented. The perturbation reaches (1.3 \pm 0.1) \times 10-9 of the Earth's gravitational field.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure

Final State Interaction Effects in pol 3He(pol e,e'p)

Asymmetries in quasi-elastic pol 3He(pol e,e'p) have been measured at a momentum transfer of 0.67 (GeV/c)^2 and are compared to a calculation which takes into account relativistic kinematics in the final state and a relativistic one-body current operator. With an exact solution of the Faddeev equation for the 3He-ground state and an approximate treatment of final state interactions in the continuum good agreement is found with the experimental data.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Lett. B, revised version, sensitivity study to relativity and NN-potential adde

Precise Neutron Magnetic Form Factors

Precise data on the neutron magnetic form factor G_{mn} have been obtained with measurements of the ratio of cross sections of D(e,e'n) and D(e,e'p) up to momentum transfers of Q^2 = 0.9 (GeV/c)^2. Data with typical uncertainties of 1.5% are presented. These data allow for the first time to extract a precise value of the magnetic radius of the neutron.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Physics Letters

Relationships of trace gases and aerosols and the emission characteristics at Lin'an, a rural site in eastern China, during spring 2001

Author name used in this publication: Li, Y. S.2004-2005 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Production of π0 and η mesons in Cu+Au collisions at sNN =200 GeV

Production of π0 and η mesons has been measured at midrapidity in Cu+Au collisions at sNN=200GeV. Measurements were performed in π0(η)→γγ decay channel in the 1(2)-20GeV/c transverse momentum range. A strong suppression is observed for π0 and η meson production at high transverse momentum in central Cu+Au collisions relative to the p+p results scaled by the number of nucleon-nucleon collisions. In central collisions the suppression is similar to Au+Au with comparable nuclear overlap. The η/π0 ratio measured as a function of transverse momentum is consistent with mT-scaling parametrization down to pT=2GeV/c, its asymptotic value is constant and consistent with Au+Au and p+p and does not show any significant dependence on collision centrality. Similar results were obtained in hadron-hadron, hadron-nucleus, and nucleus-nucleus collisions as well as in e+e- collisions in a range of collision energies sNN=3-1800 GeV. This suggests that the quark-gluon-plasma medium produced in Cu+Cu collisions either does not affect the jet fragmentation into light mesons or it affects the π0 and η the same way

Serum Peptidome Profiling Revealed Platelet Factor 4 as a Potential Discriminating Peptide Associated With Pancreatic Cancer

Purpose: Mass spectrometry-based serum peptidome profiling is a promising tool to identify novel disease-associated biomarkers, but is limited by preanalytical factors and the intricacies of complex data processing. Therefore, we investigated whether standardized sample protocols and new bioinformatic tools combined with external data validation improve the validity of peptidome profiling for the discovery of pancreatic cancer associated serum markers. Experimental Design: For discovery study, two sets of sera from patients with pancreatic cancer (n=40) and healthy controls (n=40) were obtained from two different clinical centers. For external data validation, we collected an independent set of samples from patients (n=20) and healthy controls (n=20). Magnetic beads (MB) with different surface functionalities were used for peptidome fractionation followed by MALDI-TOF MS. Data evaluation was carried out comparing two different bioinformatic strategies. Following proteome database search the matching candidate peptide was verified by MALDI-TOF MS after specific antibody-based immunoaffinity chromatography and independently confirmed by an ELISA assay. Results: Two significant peaks (m/z 3884; 5959) achieved a sensitivity of 86.3% and specificity of 97.6% for the discrimination of patients and healthy controls in the external validation set. Adding peak m/z 3884 to conventional clinical tumor markers (CA 19-9 and CEA) improved sensitivity and specificity as shown by ROC analysis (AUROCcombined=1.00). Mass spectrometry based m/z 3884 peak identification and following immunological quantitation revealed platelet factor 4 as the corresponding peptide. Conclusions: MALDI-TOF MS based serum peptidome profiling allowed the discovery and validation of platelet factor 4 as a new discriminating marker in pancreatic cancer

Satisfaction with care after total hip or knee replacement predicts self-perceived health status after surgery

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Inpatient satisfaction with care is a standard indicator of the quality of care delivered during hospitalization. Total hip and knee replacement (THR/TKR) for osteoarthritis (OA) are among the most successful orthopaedic interventions having a positive impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The aim was to evaluate the effect of satisfaction shortly after hospital discharge on 1-month, 6-month and 1-year Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short Form (SF-36) scores for OA patients after THR and TKR, controlling for patient characteristics, clinical presentation and preoperative SF-36 scores.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A multicenter prospective cohort study recruited 231 patients with OA scheduled to receive THR or TKR. Satisfaction was assessed by the Patients Judgment of Hospital Quality (PJHQ) questionnaire and HRQoL by the SF-36 questionnaire. Linear models for repeated measures assessed the relation between satisfaction (scores were dichotomized) and postoperative SF-36 scores.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 231 participants, 189 were followed up 12 months after discharge (mean age 69 SD = 8; 42.6% male). The mean length of hospital stay was 13.5 (SD = 4) days. After adjustment for preoperative SF-36 scores, sociodemographic and clinical patient characteristics, satisfied patients (PJHQ score > 70) had higher SF-36 scores 1 year after surgery than did less-satisfied patients. Admission, medical care, and nursing and daily care scores mainly predicted bodily pain, mental health, social functioning, vitality and general health scores of the SF-36.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Besides being a quality-of-care indicator, immediate postoperative patient satisfaction with care may bring a new insight into clinical practice, as a predictor of self-perceived health status after surgery.</p

Controlled generation of momentum states in a high-finesse ring cavity

A Bose-Einstein condensate in a high-finesse ring cavity scatters the photons of a pump beam into counterpropagating cavity modes, populating a bi-dimensional momentum lattice. A high-finesse ring cavity with a sub-recoil linewidth allows to control the quantized atomic motion, selecting particular discrete momentum states and generating atom-photon entanglement. The semiclassical and quantum model for the 2D collective atomic recoil lasing (CARL) are derived and the superradiant and good-cavity regimes discussed. For pump incidence perpendicular to the cavity axis, the momentum lattice is symmetrically populated. Conversely, for oblique pump incidence the motion along the two recoil directions is unbalanced and different momentum states can be populated on demand by tuning the pump frequency.Comment: Submitted to EPJ-ST Special Issue. 10 pages and 3 figure