A holistic multimodal approach to the non-invasive analysis of watercolour paintings

A holistic approach using non-invasive multimodal imaging and spectroscopic techniques to study the materials (pigments, drawing materials and paper) and painting techniques of watercolour paintings is presented. The non-invasive imaging and spectroscopic techniques include VIS-NIR reflectance spectroscopy and multispectral imaging, micro-Raman spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) and optical coherence tomography (OCT). The three spectroscopic techniques complement each other in pigment identification. Multispectral imaging (near infrared bands), OCT and micro-Raman complement each other in the visualisation and identification of the drawing material. OCT probes the microstructure and light scattering properties of the substrate while XRF detects the elemental composition that indicates the sizing methods and the filler content . The multiple techniques were applied in a study of forty six 19th century Chinese export watercolours from the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) and the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) to examine to what extent the non-invasive analysis techniques employed complement each other and how much useful information about the paintings can be extracted to address art conservation and history questions

Impact of behaviour and lifestyle on bladder health

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98122/1/ijcp12143.pd

Structure of hybrid protoneutron stars within the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model

We investigate the structure of protoneutron stars (PNS) formed by hadronic and quark matter in $\beta$-equilibrium described by appropriate equations of state (EOS). For the hadronic matter, we use a finite temperature EOS based on the Brueckner-Bethe-Goldstone many-body theory, with realistic two- and three-body forces. For the quark sector, we employ the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model. We find that the maximum allowed masses are comprised in a narrow range around 1.8 solar masses, with a slight dependence on the temperature. Metastable hybrid protoneutron stars are not found.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, revised version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Hybrid protoneutron stars with the MIT bag model

We study the hadron-quark phase transition in the interior of protoneutron stars. For the hadronic sector, we use a microscopic equation of state involving nucleons and hyperons derived within the finite-temperature Brueckner-Bethe-Goldstone many-body theory, with realistic two-body and three-body forces. For the description of quark matter, we employ the MIT bag model both with a constant and a density-dependent bag parameter. We calculate the structure of protostars with the equation of state comprising both phases and find maximum masses below 1.6 solar masses. Metastable heavy hybrid protostars are not found.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures submitted to Phys. Rev.

Astrophysical constraints on the confining models : the Field Correlator Method

We explore the relevance of confinement in quark matter models for the possible quark core of neutron stars. For the quark phase, we adopt the equation of state (EoS) derived with the Field Correlator Method, extended to the zero temperature limit. For the hadronic phase, we use the microscopic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock many-body theory. We find that the currently adopted value of the gluon condensate $G_2 \simeq 0.006-0.007 \rm {GeV^4}$, which gives a critical temperature $T_c \simeq 170 \rm MeV$, produces maximum masses which are only marginally consistent with the observational limit, while larger masses are possible if the gluon condensate is increased.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Generalized entropy and temperature in nuclear multifragmentation

In the framework of a 2D Vlasov model, we study the time evolution of the "coarse-grained" Generalized Entropy (GE) in a nuclear system which undergoes a multifragmentation (MF) phase transition. We investigate the GE both for the gas and the fragments (surface and bulk part respectively). We find that the formation of the surface causes the growth of the GE during the process of fragmentation. This quantity then characterizes the MF and confirms the crucial role of deterministic chaos in filling the new available phase-space: at variance with the exact time evolution, no entropy change is found when the linear response is applied. Numerical simulations were used also to extract information about final temperatures of the fragments. From a fitting of the momentum distribution with a Fermi-Dirac function we extract the temperature of the fragments at the end of the process. We calculate also the gas temperature by averaging over the available phase space. The latter is a few times larger than the former, indicating a gas not in equilibrium. Though the model is very schematic, this fact seems to be very general and could explain the discrepancy found in experimental data when using the slope of light particles spectra instead of the double ratio of isotope yields method in order to extract the nuclear caloric curve.Comment: 26 pages, 9 postscript figures included, Revtex, some figures and part of text changed, version accepted for publication in PR

The prevention of lower urinary tract symptoms (PLUS) research consortium: A transdisciplinary approach toward promoting bladder health and preventing lower urinary tract symptoms in women across the life course

Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) are highly prevalent in women, and are expected to impose a growing burden to individuals and society as the population ages. The predominance of research related to LUTS has focused on underlying pathology, disease mechanisms, or the efficacy of treatments for women with LUTS. Although this research has been vital for helping to reduce or ameliorate LUTS conditions, it has done little to prevent the onset of LUTS. Health promotion and prevention require an expansion of scientific inquiry beyond the traditional paradigm of studying disease mechanisms and treatment to the creation of an evidence base to support recommendations for bladder health promotion and, in turn, prevention of LUTS. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) introduced the concept of prevention as an important priority for women's urologic research as a prelude to supporting the formation of the Prevention of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (PLUS) research consortium. In this article, we introduce the PLUS research consortium to the scientific community; share the innovative paradigms by which the consortium operates; and describe its unique research mission: to identify factors that promote bladder health across the life course and prevent the onset of LUTS in girls and women