4,904 research outputs found
Magnetic Helicity in Sphaleron Debris
We develop an analytical technique to evaluate the magnetic helicity in the
debris from sphaleron decay. We show that baryon number production leads to
left-handed magnetic fields, and that the magnetic helicity is conserved at
late times. Our analysis explicitly demonstrates the connection between
sphaleron-mediated cosmic baryogenesis and cosmic magnetogenesis.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure. v2: Minor revisions; matches published version in
Physical Review
Gravitational Stirring in Planetary Debris Disks
We describe gravitational stirring models of planetary debris disks using a
new multi-annulus planetesimal evolution code. The current code includes
gravitational stirring and dynamical friction; future studies will include
coagulation, fragmentation, Poynting-Robertson drag, and other physical
processes. We use the results of our calculations to investigate the physical
conditions required for small bodies in a planetesimal disk to reach the
shattering velocity and begin a collisional cascade. Our results demonstrate
that disks composed primarily of bodies with a single size will not undergo a
collisional cascade which produces small dust grains at 30-150 AU on timescales
of 1 Gyr or smaller. Disks with a size distribution of bodies reach conditions
necessary for a collisional cascade in 10 Myr to 1 Gyr if the disk is at least
as massive as a minimum mass solar nebula and if the disk contains objects with
radii of 500 km or larger. The estimated 500 Myr survival time for these disks
is close to the median age of roughly 400 Myr derived for nearby stars with
dusty disks.Comment: 23 pages of text + 16 Figures; to appear in the Astronomical Journal,
January 200
Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease - Impact of guidelines on GP management
Copyright © 2008 Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Copyright to Australian Family Physician. Reproduced with permission. Permission to reproduce must be sought from the publisher, The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.Background: This program examined the impact of clinical guidelines and a 3 year self audit process on general practitioners’ diagnosis and management of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. Methods: Nine hundred and sixty-six Australian GPs participated in a retrospective five step clinical audit reporting on data for 28 622 patients. Results: General practitioners demonstrated significant improvements in their diagnosis and management of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease across the audit period, including: - a significant 3% decrease in use of endoscopy - improved GP assessment and identification of risk factors and exacerbants - significant increases in GP recommendations for patient weight loss and dietary change (7 and 10% respectively) - a significant 4% reduction in patient use of medications that may exacerbate reflux symptoms. Discussion: The findings provide a snapshot of current diagnostic and management practices in Australian general practice, and highlight the benefits of clinical audit as a tool for eliciting evidence based, guideline driven practice change.Catherine N Kirby, Leon Piterman, Mark R Nelson and John Den
CTS 11.7 GHz isolation data for the calendar year 1978
Monthly and annual percent-of-time data on polarization isolation measured for the CTS spacecraft 11.7 GHz downlink are presented. The relationship between isolation and attenuation and the degree to which isolation can be predicted from attenuation data are discussed
Sub-millimeter images of a dusty Kuiper belt around eta Corvi
We present sub-millimeter and mid-infrared images of the circumstellar disk
around the nearby F2V star eta Corvi. The disk is resolved at 850um with a size
of ~100AU. At 450um the emission is found to be extended at all position
angles, with significant elongation along a position angle of 130+-10deg; at
the highest resolution (9.3") this emission is resolved into two peaks which
are to within the uncertainties offset symmetrically from the star at 100AU
projected separation. Modeling the appearance of emission from a narrow ring in
the sub-mm images shows the observed structure cannot be caused by an edge-on
or face-on axisymmetric ring; the observations are consistent with a ring of
radius 150+-20AU seen at 45+-25deg inclination. More face-on orientations are
possible if the dust distribution includes two clumps similar to Vega; we show
how such a clumpy structure could arise from the migration over 25Myr of a
Neptune mass planet from 80-105AU. The inner 100AU of the system appears
relatively empty of sub-mm emitting dust, indicating that this region may have
been cleared by the formation of planets, but the disk emission spectrum shows
that IRAS detected an additional hot component with a characteristic
temperature of 370+-60K (implying a distance of 1-2AU). At 11.9um we found the
emission to be unresolved with no background sources which could be
contaminating the fluxes measured by IRAS. The age of this star is estimated to
be ~1Gyr. It is very unusual for such an old main sequence star to exhibit
significant mid-IR emission. The proximity of this source makes it a perfect
candidate for further study from optical to mm wavelengths to determine the
distribution of its dust.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures. Scheduled for publication in ApJ 10 February
2005 issu
The role of protein phosphatase 2A catalytic subunit Cα in embryogenesis: evidence from sequence analysis and localization studies
Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) constitutes one of the major families of protein serine/threonine phosphatases found in all eukaryotic cells. PP2A holoenzymes are composed of a catalytic subunit complexed with a structural regulatory subunit of 65 kDa. These core subunits associate with regulatory subunits of various sizes to form different heterotrimers which have been purified and evaluated with regard to substrate specificity. In fully differentiated tissues PP2A expression levels are highest in the brain, however, relatively little is known about expression in the developing embryo. In order to determine the composition of PP2A catalytic subunits in the mouse, cDNAs were cloned and the genomic organization of PP2A Cα was determined. By a gene targeting approach in the mouse, we have previously shown that the absence of the major catalytic subunit of PP2A, Cα, resulted in embryonic lethality around embryonic day E6.5. No mesoderm was formed which implied that PP2A plays a crucial role in gastrulation. Here, we extended our studies and analyzed wildtype embryos for Cα expression at subsequent stages of development. After gastrulation is completed, we find high expression of Cα restricted to the neural folds, which suggests that PP2A plays an additional pivotal role in neurulation
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