1,134 research outputs found
Chiral phase properties of finite size quark droplets in the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model
Chiral phase properties of finite size hadronic systems are investigated
within the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model. Finite size effects are taken into
account by making use of the multiple reflection expansion. We find that, for
droplets with relatively small baryon numbers, chiral symmetry restoration is
enhanced by the finite size effects. However the radius of the stable droplet
does not change much, as compared to that without the multiple reflection
expansion.Comment: RevTex4, 9 pages, 6 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.
Release of Bet v 1 from birch pollen from 5 European countries. Results from the HIALINE study
Exposure to allergens is pivotal in determining sensitization and allergic symptoms in individuals. Pollen
grain counts in ambient air have traditionally been assessed to estimate airborne allergen exposure.
However, the exact allergen content of ambient air is unknown. We therefore monitored atmospheric
concentrations of birch pollen grains and the matched major birch pollen allergen Bet v 1 simultaneously
across Europe within the EU-funded project HIALINE (Health Impacts of Airborne Allergen Information
Network).
Pollen count was assessed with Hirst type pollen traps at 10 l min 1 at sites in France, United Kingdom,
Germany, Italy and Finland. Allergen concentrations in ambient air were sampled at 800 l min 1 with
a Chemvol high-volume cascade impactor equipped with stages PM > 10 mm, 10 mm > PM > 2.5 mm, and
in Germany also 2.5 mm > PM > 0.12 mm. The major birch pollen allergen Bet v 1 was determined with an
allergen specific ELISA. Bet v 1 isoform patterns were analyzed by 2D-SDS-PAGE blots and mass spectrometric
identification. Basophil activation was tested in an Fc 3R1-humanized rat basophil cell line
passively sensitized with serum of a birch pollen symptomatic patient.
Compared to 10 previous years, 2009 was a representative birch pollen season for all stations. About
90% of the allergen was found in the PM > 10 mm fraction at all stations. Bet v 1 isoforms pattern did not
vary substantially neither during ripening of pollen nor between different geographical locations. The
average European allergen release from birch pollen was 3.2 pg Bet v 1/pollen and did not vary much
between the European countries. However, in all countries a >10-fold difference in daily allergen release
per pollen was measured which could be explained by long-range transport of pollen with a deviating allergen release. Basophil activation by ambient air extracts correlated better with airborne allergen than
with pollen concentration.
Although Bet v 1 is a mixture of different isoforms, its fingerprint is constant across Europe. Bet v 1 was
also exclusively linked to pollen. Pollen from different days varied >10-fold in allergen release. Thus
exposure to allergen is inaccurately monitored by only monitoring birch pollen grains. Indeed,
a humanized basophil activation test correlated much better with allergen concentrations in ambient air
than with pollen count. Monitoring the allergens themselves together with pollen in ambient air might
be an improvement in allergen exposure assessmen
Acoustic Events in the Solar Atmosphere from Hinode/SOT NFI observations
We investigate the properties of acoustic events (AEs), defined as spatially
concentrated and short duration energy flux, in the quiet sun using
observations of a 2D field of view (FOV) with high spatial and temporal
resolution provided by the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) onboard
\textit{Hinode}. Line profiles of Fe \textsc{i} 557.6 nm were recorded by the
Narrow band Filter Imager (NFI) on a FOV during 75 min with a
time step of 28.75 s and 0.08 pixel size. Vertical velocities were computed
at three atmospheric levels (80, 130 and 180 km) using the bisector technique
allowing the determination of energy flux in the range 3-10 mHz using two
complementary methods (Hilbert transform and Fourier power spectra). Horizontal
velocities were computed using local correlation tracking (LCT) of continuum
intensities providing divergences.
The net energy flux is upward. In the range 3-10 mHz, a full FOV space and
time averaged flux of 2700 W m (lower layer 80-130 km) and 2000 W
m (upper layer 130-180 km) is concentrated in less than 1% of the solar
surface in the form of narrow (0.3) AE. Their total duration (including rise
and decay) is of the order of s. Inside each AE, the mean flux is W m (lower layer) and W m (upper). Each
event carries an average energy (flux integrated over space and time) of J (lower layer) to J (upper). More than events
could exist permanently on the Sun, with a birth and decay rate of 3500
s. Most events occur in intergranular lanes, downward velocity regions,
and areas of converging motions.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figure
Euclidean Distances, soft and spectral Clustering on Weighted Graphs
We define a class of Euclidean distances on weighted graphs, enabling to
perform thermodynamic soft graph clustering. The class can be constructed form
the "raw coordinates" encountered in spectral clustering, and can be extended
by means of higher-dimensional embeddings (Schoenberg transformations).
Geographical flow data, properly conditioned, illustrate the procedure as well
as visualization aspects.Comment: accepted for presentation (and further publication) at the ECML PKDD
2010 conferenc
SIR performance evaluation of MB-OFDM UWB system with residual timing offset
Signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) performance of a multiband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing ultra-wideband system with residual timing offset is investigated. To do so, an exact mathematical derivation of the SIR of this system is derived. It becomes obvious that, unlike a cyclic prefixing based system, a zero padding based system is sensitive to residual timing offset.This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant, funded by the Korean government (MSIP) no. 2010-0018116.Islam, SMR.; Ullah, S.; Lloret, J.; Ullah, N.; Kwak, KS. (2015). SIR performance evaluation of MB-OFDM UWB system with residual timing offset. Electronics Letters. 51(5):427-429. https://doi.org/10.1049/el.2014.3967S42742951
Mining metrics for buried treasure
The same but different: That might describe two metrics. On the surface
CLASSI may show two metrics are locally equivalent, but buried beneath one may
be a wealth of further structure. This was beautifully described in a paper by
M.A.H. MacCallum in 1998. Here I will illustrate the effect with two flat
metrics -- one describing ordinary Minkowski spacetime and the other describing
a three-parameter family of Gal'tsov-Letelier-Tod spacetimes. I will dig out
the beautiful hidden classical singularity structure of the latter (a structure
first noticed by Tod in 1994) and then show how quantum considerations can
illuminate the riches. I will then discuss how quantum structure can help us
understand classical singularities and metric parameters in a variety of exact
solutions mined from the Exact Solutions book.Comment: 16 pages, no figures, minor grammatical changes, submitted to
Proceedings of the Malcolm@60 Conference (London, July 2004
The Value of Information for Populations in Varying Environments
The notion of information pervades informal descriptions of biological
systems, but formal treatments face the problem of defining a quantitative
measure of information rooted in a concept of fitness, which is itself an
elusive notion. Here, we present a model of population dynamics where this
problem is amenable to a mathematical analysis. In the limit where any
information about future environmental variations is common to the members of
the population, our model is equivalent to known models of financial
investment. In this case, the population can be interpreted as a portfolio of
financial assets and previous analyses have shown that a key quantity of
Shannon's communication theory, the mutual information, sets a fundamental
limit on the value of information. We show that this bound can be violated when
accounting for features that are irrelevant in finance but inherent to
biological systems, such as the stochasticity present at the individual level.
This leads us to generalize the measures of uncertainty and information usually
encountered in information theory
Itinerant Ferromagnetism in the Periodic Anderson Model
We introduce a novel mechanism for itinerant ferromagnetism, based on a
simple two-band model. The model includes an uncorrelated and dispersive band
hybridized with a second band which is narrow and correlated. The simplest
Hamiltonian containing these ingredients is the Periodic Anderson Model (PAM).
Using quantum Monte Carlo and analytical methods, we show that the PAM and an
extension of it contain the new mechanism and exhibit a non-saturated
ferromagnetic ground state in the intermediate valence regime. We propose that
the mechanism, which does not assume an intra atomic Hund's coupling, is
present in both the iron group and in some f electron compounds like
Ce(Rh_{1-x} Ru_x)_3 B_2, La_x Ce_{1-x} Rh_3 B_2 and the uranium
monochalcogenides US, USe, and UTe
Physical Fruit Traits in Moroccan Almond Seedlings: Quality Aspects and Post-Harvest Uses
The physical traits of local almond populations from Morocco were studied to characterize their genetic resources and to evaluate the possibility of their commercial valorization. Nut weight ranged between 1.15 and 7.39 g, and kernel weight between 0.54 and 1.85 g, but most accessions were characterized by small kernels, pronounced wrinkles, and double kernels. Although the physical quality of the kernels of these populations was low, they show the possibility of some specialized uses, which could improve their marketable value. The genotypes with favorable values could be incorporated into an almond breeding program as parents to increase the kernel quality.Publishe
Multiwavelength studies of MHD waves in the solar chromosphere: An overview of recent results
The chromosphere is a thin layer of the solar atmosphere that bridges the
relatively cool photosphere and the intensely heated transition region and
corona. Compressible and incompressible waves propagating through the
chromosphere can supply significant amounts of energy to the interface region
and corona. In recent years an abundance of high-resolution observations from
state-of-the-art facilities have provided new and exciting ways of
disentangling the characteristics of oscillatory phenomena propagating through
the dynamic chromosphere. Coupled with rapid advancements in
magnetohydrodynamic wave theory, we are now in an ideal position to thoroughly
investigate the role waves play in supplying energy to sustain chromospheric
and coronal heating. Here, we review the recent progress made in
characterising, categorising and interpreting oscillations manifesting in the
solar chromosphere, with an impetus placed on their intrinsic energetics.Comment: 48 pages, 25 figures, accepted into Space Science Review
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