2,113 research outputs found
Electric field and exciton structure in CdSe nanocrystals
Quantum Stark effect in semiconductor nanocrystals is theoretically
investigated, using the effective mass formalism within a
Baldereschi-Lipari Hamiltonian model for the hole states. General expressions
are reported for the hole eigenfunctions at zero electric field. Electron and
hole single particle energies as functions of the electric field
() are reported. Stark shift and binding energy of the
excitonic levels are obtained by full diagonalization of the correlated
electron-hole Hamiltonian in presence of the external field. Particularly, the
structure of the lower excitonic states and their symmetry properties in CdSe
nanocrystals are studied. It is found that the dependence of the exciton
binding energy upon the applied field is strongly reduced for small quantum dot
radius. Optical selection rules for absorption and luminescence are obtained.
The electric-field induced quenching of the optical spectra as a function of
is studied in terms of the exciton dipole matrix element. It
is predicted that photoluminescence spectra present anomalous field dependence
of the emission lines. These results agree in magnitude with experimental
observation and with the main features of photoluminescence experiments in
nanostructures.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl
Search for CP Violation in the decays D+ -> K_S pi+ and D+ -> K_S K+
A high statistics sample of photo-produced charm from the FOCUS(E831)
experiment at Fermilab has been used to search for direct CP violation in the
decays D+->K_S pi+ and D+ -> K_S K+. We have measured the following asymmetry
parameters relative to D+->K-pi+pi+: A_CP(K_S pi+) = (-1.6 +/- 1.5 +/- 0.9)%,
A_CP(K_S K+) = (+6.9 +/- 6.0 +/- 1.5)% and A_CP(K_S K+) = (+7.1 +/- 6.1 +/-
1.2)% relative to D+->K_S pi+. The first errors quoted are statistical and the
second are systematic. We also measure the relative branching ratios:
\Gamma(D+->\bar{K0}pi+)/\Gamma(D+->K-pi+pi+) = (30.60 +/- 0.46 +/- 0.32)%,
\Gamma(D+->\bar{K0}K+)/\Gamma(D+->K-pi+pi+) = (6.04 +/- 0.35 +/- 0.30)% and
\Gamma(D+->\bar{K0}K+)/\Gamma(D+->\bar{K0}pi+) = (19.96 +/- 1.19 +/- 0.96)%.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Social sciences research in neglected tropical diseases 2: A bibliographic analysis
The official published version of the article can be found at the link below.Background
There are strong arguments for social science and interdisciplinary research in the neglected tropical diseases. These diseases represent a rich and dynamic interplay between vector, host, and pathogen which occurs within social, physical and biological contexts. The overwhelming sense, however, is that neglected tropical diseases research is a biomedical endeavour largely excluding the social sciences. The purpose of this review is to provide a baseline for discussing the quantum and nature of the science that is being conducted, and the extent to which the social sciences are a part of that.
Methods
A bibliographic analysis was conducted of neglected tropical diseases related research papers published over the past 10 years in biomedical and social sciences. The analysis had textual and bibliometric facets, and focussed on chikungunya, dengue, visceral leishmaniasis, and onchocerciasis.
Results
There is substantial variation in the number of publications associated with each disease. The proportion of the research that is social science based appears remarkably consistent (<4%). A textual analysis, however, reveals a degree of misclassification by the abstracting service where a surprising proportion of the "social sciences" research was pure clinical research. Much of the social sciences research also tends to be "hand maiden" research focused on the implementation of biomedical solutions.
Conclusion
There is little evidence that scientists pay any attention to the complex social, cultural, biological, and environmental dynamic involved in human pathogenesis. There is little investigator driven social science and a poor presence of interdisciplinary science. The research needs more sophisticated funders and priority setters who are not beguiled by uncritical biomedical promises
Study of the Cabibbo-suppressed decay modes D0-->Pi-pi+ and D0-->K-K+
Using data from the FOCUS (E831) experiment at Fermilab, we present a new
measurement for the branching ratios of the Cabibbo-suppressed decay modes
D0-->Pi-Pi+ and D0-->K-K+. We measured:
Gamma(D0-->K-K+)/Gamma(D0-->Pi-Pi+) = 2.81 +/- 0.10(stat) +/- 0.06(syst),
Gamma(D0-->K-K+)/Gamma(D0-->K-Pi+) = 0.0993 +/- 0.0014(stat) +/- 0.0014(syst),
and Gamma(D0-->Pi-Pi+)/Gamma(D0-->K-Pi+) = 0.0353 +/- 0.0012 (stat) +/-
0.0006(syst).
These values have been combined with other experimental data to extract the
ratios of isospin amplitudes and the phase shifts for the D-->KK and D-->PiPi
decay channels.Comment: 12 pages, 1 Figure, accepted for publication in Phys.Lett.
Study of the decay mode D^0 -> K-K-K+pi+
Using data from the FOCUS (E831) experiment at Fermilab, we present a new
measurement of the branching ratio for the Cabibbo-favored decay mode . From a sample of fully reconstructed events, we measure .
A coherent amplitude analysis has been performed to determine the resonant
substructure of this decay mode. This analysis reveals a dominant contribution
from and states.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, to be submitted to Physics Letters
Maternal position during the first stage of labor: a systematic review
BACKGROUND: Policy makers and health professionals are progressively using evidence-based rationale to guide their decisions. There has long been controversy regarding which maternal position is more appropriate during the first stage of labor. This problem has been examined often and repeatedly and the optimal recommendation remains unclear. METHODS: This is a systematic review of the effect of maternal position during the first stage of labor. The main question addressed here is: Does encouraging women to adopt an upright position or to ambulate during the first stage of labor reduce the duration of this stage? All randomized controlled trials carried out to assess this effect were taken into consideration in this review. The following electronic databases were accessed to identify studies: MEDLINE, Popline, the Scientific Electronic Library On-line and the Latin American and Caribbean Health Science Information. Citation eligibility was independently assessed by two reviewers. The methodological quality of each trial was also evaluated independently by two reviewers and a trial under consideration was included only when consensus had been attained. Allocation concealment and screening for the occurrence of attrition, performance and detection biases were considered when studies were appraised. The decision whether to perform data pooling was based on the clinical similarity of studies. RESULTS: The search strategy resulted in 260 citations, of which 18 were assessed in full-text. Nine eligible randomized controlled trials were included in the systematic review. Randomization methods were not fully described in eight studies. The allocation concealment was considered adequate in four studies and unclear in five. The investigators pooled the data from seven studies in which the length of the first stage of labor and results were in favor of the intervention, but the high level of heterogeneity (I(2 )= 88.4%) impaired the meaning of this finding. The intervention did not affect other outcomes studied (mode of delivery, use of analgesia, labor augmentation and condition of the child at birth). CONCLUSION: Adoption of the upright position or ambulation during first stage of labor may be safe, but considering the available evidence and its consistency, it cannot be recommended as an effective intervention to reduce duration of the first stage of labor
Gene-Disease Network Analysis Reveals Functional Modules in Mendelian, Complex and Environmental Diseases
Scientists have been trying to understand the molecular mechanisms of diseases to design preventive and therapeutic strategies for a long time. For some diseases, it has become evident that it is not enough to obtain a catalogue of the disease-related genes but to uncover how disruptions of molecular networks in the cell give rise to disease phenotypes. Moreover, with the unprecedented wealth of information available, even obtaining such catalogue is extremely difficult.
We developed a comprehensive gene-disease association database by integrating associations from several sources that cover different biomedical aspects of diseases. In particular, we focus on the current knowledge of human genetic diseases including mendelian, complex and environmental diseases. To assess the concept of modularity of human diseases, we performed a systematic study of the emergent properties of human gene-disease networks by means of network topology and functional annotation analysis. The results indicate a highly shared genetic origin of human diseases and show that for most diseases, including mendelian, complex and environmental diseases, functional modules exist. Moreover, a core set of biological pathways is found to be associated with most human diseases. We obtained similar results when studying clusters of diseases, suggesting that related diseases might arise due to dysfunction of common biological processes in the cell.
For the first time, we include mendelian, complex and environmental diseases in an integrated gene-disease association database and show that the concept of modularity applies for all of them. We furthermore provide a functional analysis of disease-related modules providing important new biological insights, which might not be discovered when considering each of the gene-disease association repositories independently. Hence, we present a suitable framework for the study of how genetic and environmental factors, such as drugs, contribute to diseases.
The gene-disease networks used in this study and part of the analysis are available at http://ibi.imim.es/DisGeNET/DisGeNETweb.html#Download
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A Search for Dark Higgs Bosons
Recent astrophysical and terrestrial experiments have motivated the proposal
of a dark sector with GeV-scale gauge boson force carriers and new Higgs
bosons. We present a search for a dark Higgs boson using 516 fb-1 of data
collected with the BABAR detector. We do not observe a significant signal and
we set 90% confidence level upper limits on the product of the Standard
Model-dark sector mixing angle and the dark sector coupling constant.Comment: 7 pages, 5 postscript figures, published version with improved plots
for b/w printin
Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
A search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu decay
channel, where l = e or mu, in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7
TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC, with the CMS detector,
and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 inverse femtobarns. No
significant excess is observed above the background expectation, and upper
limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section. The presence of the
standard model Higgs boson with a mass in the 270-440 GeV range is excluded at
95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to JHE
Search for New Physics with Jets and Missing Transverse Momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
A search for new physics is presented based on an event signature of at least
three jets accompanied by large missing transverse momentum, using a data
sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 inverse picobarns
collected in proton--proton collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV with the CMS detector
at the LHC. No excess of events is observed above the expected standard model
backgrounds, which are all estimated from the data. Exclusion limits are
presented for the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard
model. Cross section limits are also presented using simplified models with new
particles decaying to an undetected particle and one or two jets
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