11,335 research outputs found
Scaling cosmology with variable dark-energy equation of state
Interactions between dark matter and dark energy which result in a power-law
behavior (with respect to the cosmic scale factor) of the ratio between the
energy densities of the dark components (thus generalizing the LCDM model) have
been considered as an attempt to alleviate the cosmic coincidence problem
phenomenologically. We generalize this approach by allowing for a variable
equation of state for the dark energy within the CPL-parametrization. Based on
analytic solutions for the Hubble rate and using the Constitution and Union2
SNIa sets, we present a statistical analysis and classify different interacting
and non-interacting models according to the Akaike (AIC) and the Bayesian (BIC)
information criteria. We do not find noticeable evidence for an alleviation of
the coincidence problem with the mentioned type of interaction.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, 11 tables, discussion improve
Fabrication and Comprehensive Modeling of Ion-Exchanged Bragg Opitcal Add-Drop Multiplexers
Optical add–drop multiplexers (OADMs) based on asymmetric Y branches and tilted gratings offer excellent-performance in wavelength-division multiplexed systems. To simplify waveguide fabrication, ion-exchange techniques appear to be an important option in photosensitive glasses. Optimum OADM performance depends on how accurately the waveguide fabrication process and tilted Bragg grating operation are understood and modeled. Results from fabrication and comprehensive modeling are compared for ion-exchange processes that use different angles of the tilted grating. The transmission and reflection spectra for the fabricated and simulated OADMs show excellent agreement. The OADM’s performance is evaluated in terms of the measured characteristics of the Y branches and tilted gratings
The optical conductivity of graphene in the visible region of the spectrum
We compute the optical conductivity of graphene beyond the usual Dirac cone
approximation, giving results that are valid in the visible region of the
conductivity spectrum. The effect of next nearest neighbor hoping is also
discussed. Using the full expression for the optical conductivity, the
transmission and reflection coefficients are given. We find that even in the
optical regime the corrections to the Dirac cone approximation are surprisingly
small (a few percent). Our results help in the interpretation of the
experimental results reported by Nair {\it et al.} [Science {\bf 320}, 1308
(2008)].Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
An Intentional Discipleship Strategy for an Increasingly Diverse Generation in Victory Outreach International
The goal of this ministry project is to develop an intentional discipleship strategy for Victory Outreach International (VOI) that can transmit specific principles, values, and ministry practices and enable transgenerational progression of a common vision within a changing reality. This involves a missionally grounded strategy that can bridge generational gaps and cultures. It means identifying values and principles that have contributed to VOI’s growth as a ministry to gangs and addicts and understanding how the convergence of generations has enabled VOI to become an international multicultural ministry.
Part One presents the uniqueness of VOI. It studies the beginning of VOI, its strengths and weaknesses, and the sources that have contributed to its growth and deficiencies. Appreciative Inquiry is considered for use among the generations to understand the past. Analyzing how VOI’s ministry context has broadened helps in understanding new challenges and innovations within postmodern contexts.
Part Two engages in relevant biblical and theological exploration. It examines VOI ecclesiology and the main tenets of VOI adherents and foundations that support and detract from the ministry initiative. VOI is based on a Pentecostal perspective that originated from the Assemblies of God.
Part Three creates a model of intentional discipleship that links VOI’s DNA, biblical and theological framework, and issues being raised by newer generations in light of the concerns of elders. The goal is developing a discipleship strategy that enables the transmission of VOI’s vision to emerging leadership. The pilot strategy is implemented with discipleship groups within the Victory Outreach Church of Riverside. Each group consists of leaders with specialized gifting, skills, and capacity to form a healthy cell that can reproduce and assimilate people into the life of the church and ultimately throughout the region, to become a model across various cultures.
Content Reader: Juan F. Martínez, Ph
A photometricity and extinction monitor at the Apache Point Observatory
An unsupervised software ``robot'' that automatically and robustly reduces
and analyzes CCD observations of photometric standard stars is described. The
robot measures extinction coefficients and other photometric parameters in real
time and, more carefully, on the next day. It also reduces and analyzes data
from an all-sky camera to detect clouds; photometric data taken
during cloudy periods are automatically rejected. The robot reports its
findings back to observers and data analysts via the World-Wide Web. It can be
used to assess photometricity, and to build data on site conditions. The
robot's automated and uniform site monitoring represents a minimum standard for
any observing site with queue scheduling, a public data archive, or likely
participation in any future National Virtual Observatory.Comment: accepted for publication in A
Parthenolide Blocks Cocaine’s Effect on Spontaneous Firing Activity of Dopaminergic Neurons in the Ventral Tegmental Area
Chronic cocaine administration leads to catecholamine reuptake inhibition which enhances reward and motivational behaviors. Ventral Tegmental Area dopaminergic (VTA DA) neuronal firing is associated with changes in reward predictive signals. Acute cocaine injections inhibit putative VTA DA cell firing in vertebrates. Parthenolide, a compound isolated from the feverfew plant (Tanacetum parthenium), has been shown to substantially inhibit cocaine’s locomotion effects in a planarian animal model (Pagán et al., 2008). Here we investigated the effects of parthenolide on the spontaneous firing activity of putative VTA DA neurons in anesthetized male rats (250-300g). Single-unit recordings were analyzed after intravenous (i.v.) parthenolide administration followed by 1mg/kg i.v. cocaine injection. Results showed that parthenolide at 0.125 mg/kg and 0.250mg/kg significantly blocked cocaine’s inhibitory effect on DA neuronal firing rate and bursting activity (p< 0.05, two way ANOVA). We propose that parthenolide might inhibit cocaine’s effects on VTA DA neurons via its interaction with a common binding site at monoamine transporters. It is suggested that parthenolide could have a potential use as an overdose antidote or therapeutic agent to cocaine intoxication
Extremal black holes in D=5: SUSY vs. Gauss-Bonnet corrections
We analyse near-horizon solutions and compare the results for the black hole
entropy of five-dimensional spherically symmetric extremal black holes when the
N=2 SUGRA actions are supplied with two different types of higher-order
corrections: (1) supersymmetric completion of gravitational Chern-Simons term,
and (2) Gauss-Bonnet term. We show that for large BPS black holes lowest order
\alpha' corrections to the entropy are the same, but for non-BPS are generally
different. We pay special attention to the class of prepotentials connected
with K3\times T^2 and T^6 compactifications. For supersymmetric correction we
find beside BPS also a set of non-BPS solutions. In the particular case of T^6
compactification (equivalent to the heterotic string on ) we
find the (almost) complete set of solutions (with exception of some non-BPS
small black holes), and show that entropy of small black holes is different
from statistical entropy obtained by counting of microstates of heterotic
string theory. We also find complete set of solutions for K3\times T^2 and T^6
case when correction is given by Gauss-Bonnet term. Contrary to
four-dimensional case, obtained entropy is different from the one with
supersymmetric correction. We show that in Gauss-Bonnet case entropy of small
``BPS'' black holes agrees with microscopic entropy in the known cases.Comment: 28 pages; minor changes, version to appear in JHE
On walls of marginal stability in N=2 string theories
We study the properties of walls of marginal stability for BPS decays in a
class of N=2 theories. These theories arise in N=2 string compactifications
obtained as freely acting orbifolds of N=4 theories, such theories include the
STU model and the FHSV model. The cross sections of these walls for a generic
decay in the axion-dilaton plane reduce to lines or circles. From the
continuity properties of walls of marginal stability we show that central
charges of BPS states do not vanish in the interior of the moduli space. Given
a charge vector of a BPS state corresponding to a large black hole in these
theories, we show that all walls of marginal stability intersect at the same
point in the lower half of the axion-dilaton plane. We isolate a class of
decays whose walls of marginal stability always lie in a region bounded by
walls formed by decays to small black holes. This enables us to isolate a
region in moduli space for which no decays occur within this class. We then
study entropy enigma decays for such models and show that for generic values of
the moduli, that is when moduli are of order one compared to the charges,
entropy enigma decays do not occur in these models.Comment: 40 pages, 2 figure
Parthenolide Blocks Cocaine’s Effect on Spontaneous Firing Activity of Dopaminergic Neurons in the Ventral Tegmental Area
Chronic cocaine administration leads to catecholamine reuptake inhibition which enhances reward and motivational behaviors. Ventral Tegmental Area dopaminergic (VTA DA) neuronal firing is associated with changes in reward predictive signals. Acute cocaine injections inhibit putative VTA DA cell firing in vertebrates. Parthenolide, a compound isolated from the feverfew plant (Tanacetum parthenium), has been shown to substantially inhibit cocaine’s locomotion effects in a planarian animal model (Pagán et al., 2008). Here we investigated the effects of parthenolide on the spontaneous firing activity of putative VTA DA neurons in anesthetized male rats (250-300g). Single-unit recordings were analyzed after intravenous (i.v.) parthenolide administration followed by 1mg/kg i.v. cocaine injection. Results showed that parthenolide at 0.125 mg/kg and 0.250mg/kg significantly blocked cocaine’s inhibitory effect on DA neuronal firing rate and bursting activity (p\u3c 0.05, two way ANOVA). We propose that parthenolide might inhibit cocaine’s effects on VTA DA neurons via its interaction with a common binding site at monoamine transporters. It is suggested that parthenolide could have a potential use as an overdose antidote or therapeutic agent to cocaine intoxication
Revisiting the genus Photobacterium: taxonomy, ecology and pathogenesis
The genus Photobacterium, one of the eight genera included in the family Vibrionaceae, contains 27 species with valid names and it has received attention because of the bioluminescence and pathogenesis mechanisms that some of its species exhibit. However, the taxonomy and phylogeny of this genus are not completely elucidated; for example, P. logei and P. fischeri are now considered members of the genus Aliivibrio, and previously were included in the genus Vibrio. In addition, P. damselae subsp. piscicida was formed as a new combination for former Vibrio damsela and Pasteurella piscicida. Moreover, P. damselae subsp. damselae is an earlier heterotypic synonym of P. histaminum. To avoid these incovenences draft and complete genomic sequences of members of Photobacterium are increasingly becoming available and their use is now routine for many research laboratories to address diverse goals: species delineation with overall genomic indexes, phylogenetic analyses, comparative genomics, and phenotypic inference. The habitats and isolation source of the Photobacterium species include seawater, sea sediments, saline lake waters, and a variety of marine organisms with which the photobacteria establish different relationships, from symbiosis to pathogenic interactions. Several species of this genus contain bioluminescent strains in symbiosis with marine fish and cephalopods; in addition, other species enhance its growth at pressures above 1 atmosphere, by means of several high-pressure adaptation mechanisms and for this, they may be considered as piezophilic (former barophilic) bacteria. Until now, only P. jeanii, P. rosenbergii, P. sanctipauli, and the two subspecies of P. damselae have been reported as responsible agents of several pathologies on animal hosts, such as corals, sponges, fish and homeothermic animals. In this review we have revised and updated the taxonomy, ecology and pathogenicity of several members of this genus. [Int Microbiol 20(1): 1-10 (2017)]Keywords: Photobacterium · taxonomy · symbiosis · pathogenesis · virulence factor
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