27,375 research outputs found
RELICS: The Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey and the Brightest High-z Galaxies
Massive foreground galaxy clusters magnify and distort the light of objects behind them, permitting a view into both the extremely distant and intrinsically faint galaxy populations. We present here the z ~ 6-8 candidate high-redshift galaxies from the Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey (RELICS), a Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescope survey of 41 massive galaxy clusters spanning an area of ≈200 arcmin². These clusters were selected to be excellent lenses, and we find similar high-redshift sample sizes and magnitude distributions as the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH). We discover 257, 57, and eight candidate galaxies at z ~ 6, 7, and 8 respectively, (322 in total). The observed (lensed) magnitudes of the z ~ 6 candidates are as bright as AB mag ~23, making them among the brightest known at these redshifts, comparable with discoveries from much wider, blank-field surveys. RELICS demonstrates the efficiency of using strong gravitational lenses to produce high-redshift samples in the epoch of reionization. These brightly observed galaxies are excellent targets for follow-up study with current and future observatories, including the James Webb Space Telescope
Service Platform for Converged Interactive Broadband Broadcast and Cellular Wireless
A converged broadcast and telecommunication
service platform is presented that is able to create, deliver, and
manage interactive, multimedia content and services for consumption
on three different terminal types. The motivations of
service providers for designing converged interactive multimedia
services, which are crafted for their individual requirements, are
investigated. The overall design of the system is presented with
particular emphasis placed on the operational features of each
of the sub-systems, the flows of media and metadata through the
sub-systems and the formats and protocols required for inter-communication
between them. The key features of tools required for
creating converged interactive multimedia content for a range of
different end-user terminal types are examined. Finally possible
enhancements to this system are discussed. This study is of particular
interest to those organizations currently conducting trials
and commercial launches of DVB-H services because it provides
them with an insight of the various additional functions required
in the service provisioning platforms to provide fully interactive
services to a range of different mobile terminal types
The role of agency in the emergence and development of social innovations in rural areas. Analysis of two cases of social farming in Italy and the Netherlands
Social innovation is considered a relevant concept to tackle societal challenges and needs in rural areas and to promote smart, inclusive and sustainable growth. The characterising sector of rural areas is agriculture; therefore, the focus of this paper is on social innovation in the field of social farming. Among the many factors leading to the emergence and development of social innovation, agency has been considered relevant in the literature on transformability and transformative social innovation as it is the ability to turn contextual difficulties into opportunities for social innovation and for inclusive growth. This paper proposes an evaluation framework to assess the different dimensions of agency by triangulating quantitative with qualitative data and by using indicators. This paper adopts a case study approach, analysing two cases of social farming in Italy and the Netherlands. The results show that the social innovation idea and the resilience of the agency are among the most relevant dimensions for the emergence and development of social innovations. Finally, this paper discusses the three most relevant factors for agency to lead to social innovation: idea and embeddedness of the agency, transformability of the context through agencys resilience, and agency as catalyst for empowerment
Networks of gravitational wave detectors and three figures of merit
This paper develops a general framework for studying the effectiveness of
networks of interferometric gravitational wave detectors and then uses it to
show that enlarging the existing LIGO-VIRGO network with one or more planned or
proposed detectors in Japan (LCGT), Australia, and India brings major benefits,
including much larger detection rate increases than previously thought... I
show that there is a universal probability distribution function (pdf) for
detected SNR values, which implies that the most likely SNR value of the first
detected event will be 1.26 times the search threshold. For binary systems, I
also derive the universal pdf for detected values of the orbital inclination,
taking into account the Malmquist bias; this implies that the number of
gamma-ray bursts associated with detected binary coalescences should be 3.4
times larger than expected from just the beaming fraction of the gamma burst.
Using network antenna patterns, I propose three figures of merit that
characterize the relative performance of different networks... Adding {\em any}
new site to the planned LIGO-VIRGO network can dramatically increase, by
factors of 2 to 4, the detected event rate by allowing coherent data analysis
to reduce the spurious instrumental coincident background. Moving one of the
LIGO detectors to Australia additionally improves direction-finding by a factor
of 4 or more. Adding LCGT to the original LIGO-VIRGO network not only improves
direction-finding but will further increase the detection rate over the
extra-site gain by factors of almost 2, partly by improving the network duty
cycle... Enlarged advanced networks could look forward to detecting three to
four hundred neutron star binary coalescences per year.Comment: 38 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in Classical
and Quantum Gravit
Structure formation in active networks
Structure formation and constant reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton are
key requirements for the function of living cells. Here we show that a minimal
reconstituted system consisting of actin filaments, crosslinking molecules and
molecular-motor filaments exhibits a generic mechanism of structure formation,
characterized by a broad distribution of cluster sizes. We demonstrate that the
growth of the structures depends on the intricate balance between
crosslinker-induced stabilization and simultaneous destabilization by molecular
motors, a mechanism analogous to nucleation and growth in passive systems. We
also show that the intricate interplay between force generation, coarsening and
connectivity is responsible for the highly dynamic process of structure
formation in this heterogeneous active gel, and that these competing mechanisms
result in anomalous transport, reminiscent of intracellular dynamics
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Search for Solar Axions Produced in Reaction with Borexino Detector
A search for 5.5-MeV solar axions produced in the reaction was performed using the Borexino detector. The Compton
conversion of axions to photons, ; the
axio-electric effect, ; the decay of axions into
two photons, ; and inverse Primakoff conversion on
nuclei, , are considered. Model independent
limits on axion-electron (), axion-photon (), and
isovector axion-nucleon () couplings are obtained: and at 1 MeV (90% c.l.). These limits are
2-4 orders of magnitude stronger than those obtained in previous
laboratory-based experiments using nuclear reactors and accelerators.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Phys.Rev.
Pain and analgesic use associated with skeletal-related events in patients with advanced cancer and bone metastases
PURPOSE: Bone metastases secondary to solid tumors increase the risk of skeletal-related events (SREs), including the occurrence of pathological fracture (PF), radiation to bone (RB), surgery to bone (SB), and spinal cord compression (SCC). The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of SREs on patients' pain, analgesic use, and pain interference with daily functioning.
METHODS: Data were combined from patients with solid tumors and bone metastases who received denosumab or zoledronic acid across three identically designed phase 3 trials (N = 5543). Pain severity (worst pain) and pain interference were assessed using the Brief Pain Inventory at baseline and each monthly visit. Analgesic use was quantified using the Analgesic Quantification Algorithm.
RESULTS: The proportion of patients with moderate/severe pain and strong opioid use generally increased in the 6 months preceding an SRE and remained elevated, while they remained relatively consistent over time in patients without an SRE. Regression analysis indicated that all SRE types were significantly associated with an increased risk of progression to moderate/severe pain and strong opioid use. PF, RB, and SCC were associated with significantly greater risk of pain interference overall. Results were similar for pain interference with emotional well-being. All SRE types were associated with significantly greater risk of pain interference with physical function.
CONCLUSIONS: SREs are associated with increased pain and analgesic use in patients with bone metastases. Treatments that prevent SREs may decrease pain and the need for opioid analgesics and reduce the impact of pain on daily functioning
Pain and analgesic use associated with skeletal-related events in patients with advanced cancer and bone metastases
PURPOSE: Bone metastases secondary to solid tumors increase the risk of skeletal-related events (SREs), including the occurrence of pathological fracture (PF), radiation to bone (RB), surgery to bone (SB), and spinal cord compression (SCC). The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of SREs on patients' pain, analgesic use, and pain interference with daily functioning.
METHODS: Data were combined from patients with solid tumors and bone metastases who received denosumab or zoledronic acid across three identically designed phase 3 trials (N = 5543). Pain severity (worst pain) and pain interference were assessed using the Brief Pain Inventory at baseline and each monthly visit. Analgesic use was quantified using the Analgesic Quantification Algorithm.
RESULTS: The proportion of patients with moderate/severe pain and strong opioid use generally increased in the 6 months preceding an SRE and remained elevated, while they remained relatively consistent over time in patients without an SRE. Regression analysis indicated that all SRE types were significantly associated with an increased risk of progression to moderate/severe pain and strong opioid use. PF, RB, and SCC were associated with significantly greater risk of pain interference overall. Results were similar for pain interference with emotional well-being. All SRE types were associated with significantly greater risk of pain interference with physical function.
CONCLUSIONS: SREs are associated with increased pain and analgesic use in patients with bone metastases. Treatments that prevent SREs may decrease pain and the need for opioid analgesics and reduce the impact of pain on daily functioning
Quantum physics meets biology
Quantum physics and biology have long been regarded as unrelated disciplines,
describing nature at the inanimate microlevel on the one hand and living
species on the other hand. Over the last decades the life sciences have
succeeded in providing ever more and refined explanations of macroscopic
phenomena that were based on an improved understanding of molecular structures
and mechanisms. Simultaneously, quantum physics, originally rooted in a world
view of quantum coherences, entanglement and other non-classical effects, has
been heading towards systems of increasing complexity. The present perspective
article shall serve as a pedestrian guide to the growing interconnections
between the two fields. We recapitulate the generic and sometimes unintuitive
characteristics of quantum physics and point to a number of applications in the
life sciences. We discuss our criteria for a future quantum biology, its
current status, recent experimental progress and also the restrictions that
nature imposes on bold extrapolations of quantum theory to macroscopic
phenomena.Comment: 26 pages, 4 figures, Perspective article for the HFSP Journa
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