238 research outputs found
Axion-Dilaton Cosmology and Dark Energy
We discuss a class of flat FRW cosmological models based on D=4 axion-dilaton
gravity universally coupled to cosmological background fluids. In particular,
we investigate the possibility of recurrent acceleration, which was recently
shown to be generically realized in a wide class of axion-dilaton models, but
in absence of cosmological background fluids. We observe that, once we impose
the existence of radiation -and matter- dominated earlier stages of cosmic
evolution, the axion-dilaton dynamics is altered significantly with respect to
the case of pure axion-dilaton gravity. During the matter dominated epoch the
scalar fields remain either frozen, due to the large expansion rate, or enter a
cosmological scaling regime. In both cases, oscillations of the effective
equation of state around the acceleration boundary value are impossible. Models
which enter an oscillatory stage in the low redshift regime, on the other hand,
are disfavored by observations. We also comment on the viability of the
axion-dilaton system as a candidate for dynamical dark energy. In a certain
subclass of models, an intermediate scaling regime is succeeded by eternal
acceleration. We also briefly discuss the issue of dependence on initial
conditions.Comment: 28 pages, 11 figure
Learning progressions: An overview and how-to guide for researchers in physics education
Learning progressions are a well established model in science education research to represent the learning process. It lies at the heart of the learning progressions the idea that students develop their knowledge of a subject from naive conceptions and, through a series of intermediate stages of increasingly sophisticated understanding, come to master a scientifically correct body of knowledge. Starting from a learning progression, it is possible to develop entire curricula and large-scale evaluation tools based on empirical data. We will present a review of the literature on learning progressions and discuss possible implications for research in physics education and teaching practice
Cooperación judicial penal en Europa
Directores: Miguel Carmona Ruano, Ignacio U. González Vega, Víctor Moreno Catena. Coordinadora: Amaya Arnáiz SerranoUnión EuropeaEvolución de la Cooperación Judicial Penal Internacional: en especial, la Cooperación Judicial Penal en Europa / Amaya Arnáiz Serrano. -- El cambio de paradigma y el principio de reconocimiento mutuo y sus
implicaciones. Perspectivas del Tratado de Lisboa / Víctor Moreno Catena. -- El fortalecimiento de la confianza mutua: garantías procesales del imputado, estatuto de la víctima y protección de los datos personales / Jorge Albino Alves Costa y Marcos Loredo Colunga. -- El Convenio de Asistencia Judicial Penal de 1959 / José Miguel García Moreno. -- El Convenio Europeo de Extradición / Emilio Gatti. -- Otros Convenios / Andrés Palomo del Arco. -- Espacio Schengen / Raquel Castillejo Manzanares. -- El Convenio de 2000 / María Poza Cisneros. -- El principio de Disponibilidad: antecedentes penales y Convenio de Prüm / Fernando Martínez Pérez y María Poza Cisneros. -- La Orden de Detención Europea / Clara Penín Alegre. -- Orden Europea de Embargo Preventivo y Aseguramiento de Pruebas,
Decomiso y Exhorto europeo / Andrés Salcedo Velasco. -- Sanciones Pecuniarias / Ignacio Pando Echevarria. -- Otros instrumentos: las medidas cautelares personales, la ejecución de las penas de prisión y la libertad vigilada. La orden de protección de la víctima / Fabio Licata. -- Instrumentos multilaterales en el ámbito de las Naciones Unidas. La
jurisdicción penal internacional / Ignacio U. González Vega. -- Estupefacientes, delincuencia organizada y corrupción / José Mouraz
Lopes. -- Terrorismo: Convenios sectoriales. Financiación y blanqueo / José Ricardo de Prada Solaesa. -- Convenios bilaterales y de la Unión Europea con terceros: Especial referencia al Convenio UE-EEUU / Raquel López Jiménez. -- Instituciones de apoyo a la Cooperación: Red Judicial Europea, Eurojust, Europol, Interpol, Magistrados de Enlace, IberRed / Julieta Carmona Bermejo. -- Conflictos de jurisdicción, “ne bis in idem” y transferencia de
procedimientos / Rosa Ana Morán Martíne
Fertility-sparing treatment for endometrial cancer and atypical endometrial hyperplasia in patients with Lynch Syndrome: Molecular diagnosis after immunohistochemistry of MMR proteins
Introduction: Lynch Syndrome (LS) represents the hereditary condition that is most frequently associated with endometrial cancer (EC). The aim of this study is to assess the presence of Lynch Syndrome (LS) in young women with mismatch repair (MMR)-deficient atypical endometrial hyperplasia (AEH) and non-myoinvasive FIGO G1 endometrioid EC and its possible impact on the outcome of conservative treatment. Methods: Six MMR-deficient cases identified from a previous cohort of 69 conservatively treated patients were selected to be screened for germline mutations in MMR genes. In each patient, the outcomes of conservative treatment for AEH and EEC, including response, relapse, progression, and pregnancy, were assessed. Results: Five out of 6 patients underwent genetic test for LS. Three out of these 5 patients showed a positive genetic test. Patient 1 showed the c.942 + 2 T>A heterozygous variant of MSH2 mutation; after 12 months of complete response, she had relapse and progression of disease. Patient 4 showed the c.2459-1G>C variant of MSH2 mutation; after complete response, she failed to achieve pregnancy; she had relapse after 24 months and underwent hysterectomy. Patient 6 showed the c.803 + 1 heterozygous variant of PMS2 mutation; she had relapse of disease after 18 months from the first complete response and then underwent hysterectomy. Conclusions: In this series, 3 out of 6 women with MMR-deficiency had LS. None of the patients achieved pregnancy, and those who responded to treatment had subsequent relapse of disease. Patients undergoing fertility-sparing treatment for atypical endometrial hyperplasia and endometrial cancer should perform MMR immunohistochemical analysis in order to screen LS
New Constraints from PAMELA anti-proton data on Annihilating and Decaying Dark Matter
Recently the PAMELA experiment has released its updated anti-proton flux and
anti-proton to proton flux ratio data up to energies of ~200GeV. With no clear
excess of cosmic ray anti-protons at high energies, one can extend constraints
on the production of anti-protons from dark matter. In this letter, we consider
both the cases of dark matter annihilating and decaying into standard model
particles that produce significant numbers of anti-protons. We provide two sets
of constraints on the annihilation cross-sections/decay lifetimes. In the one
set of constraints we ignore any source of anti-protons other than dark matter,
which give the highest allowed cross-sections/inverse lifetimes. In the other
set we include also anti-protons produced in collisions of cosmic rays with
interstellar medium nuclei, getting tighter but more realistic constraints on
the annihilation cross-sections/decay lifetimes.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 3 table
Tracking Quintessence and Cold Dark Matter Candidates
We study the generation of a kination-dominated phase in the context of a
quintessential model with an inverse-power-law potential and a Hubble-induced
mass term for the quintessence field. The presence of kination is associated
with an oscillating evolution of the quintessence field and the barotropic
index. We find that, in sizeable regions of the parameter space, a tracker
scaling solution can be reached sufficiently early to alleviate the coincidence
problem. Other observational constraints originating from nucleosynthesis, the
inflationary scale, the present acceleration of the universe and the
dark-energy-density parameter can be also met. The impact of this modified
kination-dominated phase on the thermal abundance of cold dark matter
candidates is investigated too. We find that: (i) the enhancement of the relic
abundance of the WIMPs with respect to the standard paradigm, crucially depends
on the hierarchy between the freeze-out temperature and the temperature at
which the extrema in the evolution of the quintessence field are encountered,
and (ii) the relic abundance of e-WIMPs takes its present value close to the
temperature at which the earliest extremum of the evolution of the quintessence
field occurs and, as a consequence, both gravitinos and axinos arise as natural
cold dark matter candidates. In the case of unstable gravitinos, the gravitino
constraint can be satisfied for values of the initial temperature well above
those required in the standard cosmology.Comment: Final versio
Requirements on collider data to match the precision of WMAP on supersymmetric dark matter
If future colliders discover supersymmetric particles and probe their
properties, one could predict the dark matter density of the Universe and would
constrain cosmology with the help of precision data provided by WMAP and
PLANCK.
We investigate how well the relic density can be predicted in minimal
supergravity (mSUGRA), with and without the assumption of mSUGRA when analysing
data. We determine the parameters to which the relic density is most sensitive,
and quantify the collider accuracy needed. Theoretical errors in the prediction
are investigated in some detail.Comment: 42 pages, 16 figures. v2 incorporates referee's comments: minor
corrections/clarifications with additional figures to show regions of m12-m0
plane considere
Alterations in vascular function in primary aldosteronism - a cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging study
Introduction: Excess aldosterone is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. Aldosterone has a permissive effect on vascular fibrosis. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) allows study of vascular function by measuring aortic distensibility. We compared aortic distensibility in primary aldosteronism (PA), essential hypertension (EH) and normal controls and explored the relationship between aortic distensibility and pulse wave velocity (PWV).<p></p>
Methods: We studied PA (n=14) and EH (n=33) subjects and age-matched healthy controls (n=17) with CMR, including measurement of aortic distensibility, and measured PWV using applanation tonometry. At recruitment, PA and EH patients had similar blood pressure and left ventricular mass.<p></p>
Results: Subjects with PA had significantly lower aortic distensibilty and higher PWV compared to EH and healthy controls. These changes were independent of other factors associated with reduced aortic distensibility, including aging. There was a significant relationship between increasing aortic stiffness and age in keeping with physical and vascular aging. As expected, aortic distensibility and PWV were closely correlated.<p></p>
Conclusion: These results demonstrate that PA patients display increased arterial stiffness compared to EH, independent of vascular aging. The implication is that aldosterone invokes functional impairment of arterial function. The long-term implications of arterial stiffening in aldosterone excess require further study.<p></p>
The Role of Antimatter Searches in the Hunt for Supersymmetric Dark Matter
We analyze the antimatter yield of supersymmetric (SUSY) models with large
neutralino annihilation cross sections. We introduce three benchmark scenarios,
respectively featuring bino, wino and higgsino-like lightest neutralinos, and
we study in detail the resulting antimatter spectral features. We carry out a
systematic and transparent comparison between current and future prospects for
direct detection, neutrino telescopes and antimatter searches. We demonstrate
that often, in the models we consider, antimatter searches are the only
detection channel which already constrains the SUSY parameter space.
Particularly large antiprotons fluxes are expected for wino-like lightest
neutralinos, while significant antideuteron fluxes result from resonantly
annihilating binos. We introduce a simple and general recipe which allows to
assess the visibility of a given SUSY model at future antimatter search
facilities. We provide evidence that upcoming space-based experiments, like
PAMELA or AMS, are going to be, in many cases, the unique open road towards
dark matter discovery.Comment: 34 pages, 18 figures; V2: misprints in the labels of fig. 2,3 and 5
correcte
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