Axion effects on gamma-ray spectral irregularities with AGN redshift uncertainty

We investigate the photon-ALP (axion-like particle) oscillation effect on TeV gamma-ray spectral irregularities from the uncertain redshift active galactic nuclei (AGN) VER J0521+211. The gamma-ray spectra are measured by the collaborations Fermi-LAT and VERITAS with the three flux states in 2013 and 2014. We set the combined constraints on the ALP parameter ($m_a, g_{a\gamma}$) space with these states and test the extragalactic background light (EBL) absorption effect on ALP constraints with the four redshift upper limit scenarios of VER J0521+211. The 3$\sigma$ photon-ALP combined constraints set by VER J0521+211 are roughly at $g_{a\gamma} \gtrsim 2.3\times 10^{-11} \rm \, GeV^{-1}$ for $m_a \lesssim 5\times 10^{-8}\, \rm eV$. We find no clear connection between the redshift upper limit scenarios and the photon-ALP constraints.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Impact of information cost and switching of trading strategies in an artificial stock market

This paper studies the switching of trading strategies and its effect on the market volatility in a continuous double auction market. We describe the behavior when some uninformed agents, who we call switchers, decide whether or not to pay for information before they trade. By paying for the information they behave as informed traders. First we verify that our model is able to reproduce some of the stylized facts in real financial markets. Next we consider the relationship between switching and the market volatility under different structures of investors. We find that there exists a positive relationship between the market volatility and the percentage of switchers. We therefore conclude that the switchers are a destabilizing factor in the market. However, for a given fixed percentage of switchers, the proportion of switchers that decide to buy information at a given moment of time is negatively related to the current market volatility. In other words, if more agents pay for information to know the fundamental value at some time, the market volatility will be lower. This is because the market price is closer to the fundamental value due to information diffusion between switchers.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, Physica A, 201

3-Bromo-1-(3-chloro­pyridin-2-yl)-N-(4-eth­oxy­phen­yl)-1H-pyrazole-5-carbox­amide

In the title compound, C17H14BrClN4O2, the pyrazole ring is almost coplanar with the benzene ring [dihedral angle = 0.5 (2)°], whereas the pyrazole ring is close to perpendicular to the 3-chloro­pyridine ring [dihedral angle = 73.7 (2)°]. An intra­molecular C—H⋯O hydrogen bond occurs. The dominant inter­action in the crystal packing is an N—H⋯N hydrogen bond, which generates a chain along the c axis. Weak inter­molecular C—H⋯O and C—H⋯N contacts are also observe

Sensor placement in the noise source identification based on acoustic radiation modes

The noise source identification technology based on acoustic radiation modes could identify the noise source under less measuring points, while the sensor placement has great influence on the result of noise source identification. Under the prescribed number of sensors, a method to configure the measuring points is proposed. By the means of successive removal, select a set of measuring points in the candidate field points, which make the orthogonality of the acoustic field distribution modes matrix achieve the maximum value. The results of numerical simulation and sound box experiment have shown that when sensors are arranged in accordance with the measuring points selected by this method, the noise source could be identified effectively, and the identification result is better than that when sensors are arranged evenly

Effects of Fatty Acid Treatments on the Dexamethasone-Induced Intramuscular Lipid Accumulation in Chickens

BACKGROUND: Glucocorticoid has an important effect on lipid metabolism in muscles, and the type of fatty acid likely affects mitochondrial utilization. Therefore, we hypothesize that the different fatty acid types treatment may affect the glucocorticoid induction of intramuscular lipid accumulation. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The effect of dexamethasone (DEX) on fatty acid metabolism and storage in skeletal muscle of broiler chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) was investigated with and without fatty acid treatments. Male Arbor Acres chickens (31 d old) were treated with either palmitic acid (PA) or oleic acid (OA) for 7 days, followed by DEX administration for 3 days (35-37 d old). The DEX-induced lipid uptake and oxidation imbalance, which was estimated by increased fatty acid transport protein 1 (FATP1) expression and decreased carnitine palmitoyl transferase 1 activity, contributed to skeletal muscle lipid accumulation. More sensitive than glycolytic muscle, the oxidative muscle in DEX-treated chickens showed a decrease in the AMP to ATP ratio, a decrease in AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) alpha phosphorylation and its activity, as well as an increase in the phosphorylation of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and ribosomal p70S6 kinase, without Akt activation. DEX-stimulated lipid deposition was augmented by PA, but alleviated by OA, in response to pathways that were regulated differently, including AMPK, mTOR and FATP1. CONCLUSIONS: DEX-induced intramuscular lipid accumulation was aggravated by SFA but alleviated by unsaturated fatty acid. The suppressed AMPK and augmented mTOR signaling pathways were involved in glucocortcoid-mediated enhanced intramuscular fat accumulation

Topical Timolol Vs. Oral Propranolol for the Treatment of Superficial Infantile Hemangiomas

Objective: Infantile hemangiomas (IHs) are the most common vascular tumors of infancy. Oral propranolol has achieved great success in treating IHs since 2008. To minimize the systemic side events caused by oral administration of propranolol, topical timolol started to be applied in the treatment of IHs, especially for superficial lesions.Methods: We treated 724 children with superficial IHs using oral propranolol or topical timolol, and investigated the efficacy and safety of the two treatment patterns.Results: Both oral propranolol and topical timolol achieved a satisfactory therapeutic outcome, with an effective response rate of 97 and 96.4%, respectively. No significant differences in visual analog scale (VAS) improvement between the two groups were observed. Occurrence rate of systemic adverse events for patients treated with oral propranolol (3.9%) was significantly higher than that for patients treated with topical timolol (0%). Clinical response was not associated with gender, duration of treatment, lesion location, lesion size, gestational age, and progesterone use during pregnancy, but closely associated with age at treatment initiation, which indicated that younger age at treatment initiation predicted for a better regression rate.Conclusions: We recommend that topical timolol instead of oral propranolol could be the first-line therapy for superficial IHs because of its good efficacy and improved safety