Space-borne Observations of Atmospheric Pre-Earthquake Signals in Seismically Active Areas: Case Study for Greece 2008-2009

We are conducting theoretical studies and practical validation of atm osphere/ionosphere phenomena preceding major earthquakes. Our approach is based on monitoring of two physical parameters from space: outgoi ng long-wavelength radiation (OLR) on the top of the atmosphere and e lectron and electron density variations in the ionosphere via GPS Tot al Electron Content (GPS/TEC). We retrospectively analyzed the temporal and spatial variations of OLR an GPS/TEC parameters characterizing the state of the atmosphere and ionosphere several days before four m ajor earthquakes (M>6) in Greece for 2008-2009: M6.9 of 02.12.08, M6. 2 02.20.08; M6.4 of 06.08.08 and M6.4 of 07.01.09.We found anomalous behavior before all of these events (over land and sea) over regions o f maximum stress. We expect that our analysis reveal the underlying p hysics of pre-earthquake signals associated with some of the largest earthquakes in Greece

The Intrinsic Dimensionality of Attractiveness: A Study in Face Profiles

The study of human attractiveness with pattern analysis techniques is an emerging research field. One still largely unresolved problem is which are the facial features relevant to attractiveness, how they combine together, and the number of independent parameters required for describing and identifying harmonious faces. In this paper, we present a first study about this problem, applied to face profiles. First, according to several empirical results, we hypothesize the existence of two well separated manifolds of attractive and unattractive face profiles. Then, we analyze with manifold learning techniques their intrinsic dimensionality. Finally, we show that the profile data can be reduced, with various techniques, to the intrinsic dimensions, largely without loosing their ability to discriminate between attractive and unattractive face

Estudio in vitro de la actividad citotóxica de resinas dentales tipo BIS-GMA

Las resinas composites se emplean desde hace varias décadas en distintas aplicaciones estomatológicas, volviéndose indispensables para lograr una alta calidad en los servicios modernos. Uno de los monómeros acrílicos más utilizados en estos materiales poliméricos de recubrimiento es el 2-bis-[p-(2-hidroxi-3-metacriloxipropoxi) fenil] propano, conocido comúnmente como Bis- GMA. El conocimiento de las interacciones de estos materiales con el sistema biológico es de vital importancia debido al uso tan difundido de los mismos en la práctica clínica. El comportamiento de una célula viva en contacto con un material extraño es un problema esencial en las aplicaciones biomédicas de polímeros sintéticos. Los ensayos in vitro son sistemas muy útiles para la evaluación de los efectos biológicos de los biomateriales. En el laboratorio de Inmunofarmacología del INOR se llevó a cabo la evaluación de la toxicidad de dos resinas dentales tipo Bis-GMA producidas por el Centro de Biomateriales de la Universidad de La Habana: el Obtudent Fotocurado (FC), resina fotopolimerizable para restauraciones dentales y el Cubridem Autocurado (AC), sellante dental para fosas y fisuras. Este estudio forma parte de las evaluaciones preclínicas biológicas de biomateriales y equipos médicos implantables que se lleva a cabo en Cuba a través de la Red Funcional de Implantología del Ministerio de Salud Pública. Se aplicó el método de citotoxicidad in vitro descrito por Stanley para la evaluación toxicológica de materiales dentales. Ambos composites resultaron citotóxicos para la línea de fibroblastos L929, lo que se corresponde con lo descrito en la literatura para este tipo de material. Su citotoxicidad se encontró en el rango de la de los análogos comerciales evaluados.Peer Reviewe

Destruction of humic substances by pulsed electrical discharge

Currently, the water recourses in the territory of Tomsk region are groundwater which is limited to the high concentration of iron and manganese ions and organic substances. These impurities present in water in different forms such as soluble salts ant the colloid forms. Therefore, the present work is a part of a continuations researcher of the processes in natural waters containing humic substances at the influence of pulsed electrical discharges in a layer of iron pellets. It is shown that the main stage of water purification process of humic substances during treatment by pulsed electric discharge in the layer of iron granules is a difficult process including several stages such as formation of iron oxyhydroxide colloid particles, sorption and coagulation with humic macromolecules substances, growth of particle dispersed phase and precipitation. The reason for the formation and coagulation of the dispersed phase is a different state of charge of the colloid particles (zeta potentials of (Fe (OH)3) is +8 mV, zeta potentials of (Humic substances) is -70 mV. The most intense permanganate oxidation reduction to the maximum permissible concentration occurs at the processing time equal to 10 seconds. The contact time of active erosion products with sodium humate is established and it equals to 1 hour. The value of permanganate oxidation achieves maximum permissible concentration during this time and iron concentration in solution achieves maximum permissible concentration after filtration

Formation of a narrow baryon resonance with positive strangeness in K^+ collisions with Xe nuclei

The data on the charge-exchange reaction K^+Xe --> K^0 p Xe, obtained with the bubble chamber DIANA, are reanalyzed using increased statistics and updated selections. Our previous evidence for formation of a narrow pK^0 resonance with mass near 1538 MeV is confirmed and reinforced. The statistical significance of the signal reaches some 8\sigma (6\sigma) when estimated as S/\sqrt{B} (S/\sqrt{B+S}). The mass and intrinsic width of the \Theta^+ baryon are measured as m = (1538+-2) MeV and \Gamma = (0.39+-0.10) MeV.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figure

Detecting the (Quasi-)Two-Body Decays of τ\tau Leptons in Short-Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiments

Novel detector schemes are proposed for the short-baseline neutrino experiments of next generation, aimed at exploring the large-$\Delta m^2$ domain of \omutau oscillations in the appearance mode. These schemes emphasize good spectrometry for charged particles and for electromagnetic showers and efficient reconstruction of \ypi_gg decays. The basic elements are a sequence of relatively thin emulsion targets, immersed in magnetic field and interspersed with electronic trackers, and a fine-grained electromagnetic calorimeter built of lead glass. These elements act as an integral whole in reconstructing the electromagnetic showers. This conceptual scheme shows good performance in identifying the $\tau$ (quasi-)two-body decays by their characteristic kinematics and in selecting the electronic decays of the $\tau$.Comment: 34 pages, 8 figure

Nuclear Attenuation of high energy two-hadron system in the string model

Nuclear attenuation of the two-hadron system is considered in the string model. The two-scale model and its improved version with two different choices of constituent formation time and sets of parameters obtained earlier for the single hadron attenuation, are used to describe available experimental data for the $z$-dependence of subleading hadron, whereas satisfactory agreement with the experimental data has been observed. A model prediction for $\nu$-dependence of the nuclear attenuation of the two-hadron system is also presented.Comment: 8 page

Quasiperiodic Patterns in Boundary-Modulated Excitable Waves

We investigate the impact of the domain shape on wave propagation in excitable media. Channelled domains with sinusoidal boundaries are considered. Trains of fronts generated periodically at an extreme of the channel are found to adopt a quasiperiodic spatial configuration stroboscopically frozen in time. The phenomenon is studied in a model for the photo-sensitive Belousov-Zabotinsky reaction, but we give a theoretical derivation of the spatial return maps prescribing the height and position of the successive fronts that is valid for arbitrary excitable reaction-diffusion systems.Comment: 4 pages (figures included