Centrifugal acceleration of ions in the polar magnetosphere

The transport of ionospheric ions originating near the dayside cusp into the magnetotail is parametrically studied using a 3-D model of ion trajectories. It is shown that the centrifugal term in the guiding center parallel force equation dominates the parallel motion after about 4 Re geocentric distance. The dependence of the equatorial crossing distance on initial latitude, energy and convection electric field is presented for ions originating on the dayside ionosphere in the noon-midnight plane. It is also found that up to altitudes of about 5 Re, the motion is similar to that of a bead on a rotating rod, for which a simple analytical solution exists

Acceleration and transport of ions in turbulent current sheets: formation of non-maxwelian energy distribution

The paper is devoted to particle acceleration in turbulent current sheet (CS). Our results show that the mechanism of CS particle interaction with electromagnetic turbulence can explain the formation of power law energy distributions. We study the ratio between adiabatic acceleration of particles in electric field in the presence of stationary turbulence and acceleration due to electric field in the case of dynamic turbulence. The correlation between average energy gained by particles and average particle residence time in the vicinity of the neutral sheet is discussed. It is also demonstrated that particle velocity distributions formed by particle-turbulence interaction are similar in essence to the ones observed near the far reconnection region in the Earth's magnetotail

Bubbles, clusters and denaturation in genomic DNA: modeling, parametrization, efficient computation

The paper uses mesoscopic, non-linear lattice dynamics based (Peyrard-Bishop-Dauxois, PBD) modeling to describe thermal properties of DNA below and near the denaturation temperature. Computationally efficient notation is introduced for the relevant statistical mechanics. Computed melting profiles of long and short heterogeneous sequences are presented, using a recently introduced reparametrization of the PBD model, and critically discussed. The statistics of extended open bubbles and bound clusters is formulated and results are presented for selected examples.Comment: to appear in a special issue of the Journal of Nonlinear Mathematical Physics (ed. G. Gaeta

New Constraints on Dispersive Form Factor Parameterizations from the Timelike Region

We generalize a recent model-independent form factor parameterization derived from rigorous dispersion relations to include constraints from data in the timelike region. These constraints dictate the convergence properties of the parameterization and appear as sum rules on the parameters. We further develop a new parameterization that takes into account finiteness and asymptotic conditions on the form factor, and use it to fit to the elastic \pi electromagnetic form factor. We find that the existing world sample of timelike data gives only loose bounds on the form factor in the spacelike region, but explain how the acquisition of additional timelike data or fits to other form factors are expected to give much better results. The same parameterization is seen to fit spacelike data extremely well.Comment: 24 pages, latex (revtex), 3 eps figure

ReCROP: bioinocula and CROPping systems: an integrated biotechnological approach for improving crop yield, biodiversity and REsilience of Mediterranean agro-ecosystems

The Mediterranean economy is highly dependent on agriculture. However, agricultural sustainability and productivity in this region is under serious threat due to climate change and the depletion of water resources. This is worsened by poor management practices, such as the overuse of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, overgrazing and monoculture farming. Recent climate change models indicate that European and Northern African regions will undergo extreme climatic events throughout the year, this will negatively impact crop yield and productivity. Summer droughts and heat waves periods will increase for most parts of Europe, as well as short intense rain events. Preserving and improving productive agricultural land in this region is vital, especially through the application of sustainable soil and crop management practices that promote soil fertility and water conservation; this will improve resilience to degradation and to extreme climatic events. ReCROP is a European project that aims to identify sustainable and resilient agricultural production systems in the Mediterranean region through the combined use of biotechnological tools, such as bioinoculants, and environmentally friendly agronomic practices. ReCROP will assess different agroecosystems with key local crops (i.e vineyards, maize and aromatic/medicinal plants) of the Mediterranean region under field conditions to help improve crop resilience, yield, water conservation and soil health under the current scenario of climate change. Soil organisms play a key role in ecosystem processes, leading to essential soil functions and are used as bioindicators of soil quality. Their monitoring is crucial to assess the impact of beneficial agricultural practices on soil functioning. One of the goals of ReCROP will be to evaluate the beneficial impact of different agricultural practices on the structural and functional soil diversity at different levels of the soil food web. The macrofauna and mesofauna (i.e springtails and mites) as well as microbial biomass, activity and biodiversity of soil microbial communities (bacteria, archaea, fungi) will be monitored with a special effort to produce a multitaxa index of soil biological quality. This work will contribute to identify which practices are beneficial for the biodiversity of Mediterranean agricultural soils, thus providing resistance and resilience, in terms of soil functioning and against soil disturbances.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Photo- and Electroproduction of Eta Mesons

Eta photo- and electroproduction off the nucleon is investigated in an effective lagrangian approach that contains Born terms and both vector meson and nucleon resonance contributions. In particular, we review and develop the formalism for coincidence experiments with polarization degrees of freedom. The different response functions appearing in single and double polarization experiments have been studied. We will present calculations for structure functions and kinematical conditions that are most sensitive to details of the lagrangian, in particular with regard to contributions of nucleon resonances beyond the dominant $S_{11}$(1535) resonance.Comment: 24 pages RevTeX/LaTeX2.09, NFSS1, 13 figures (in separate file (tar,gzip and uue)), accepted for publication in Z. Phys.

Photon- and meson-induced reactions on the nucleon

In an unitary effective Lagrangian model we develop a unified description of both meson scattering and photon-induced reactions on the nucleon. Adding the photon to an already existing model for meson-nucleon scattering yields both Compton and meson photoproduction amplitudes. In a simultaneous fit to all available data involving the final states $\gamma N$, $\pi N$, $\pi\pi N$, $\eta N$ and $K \Lambda$ the parameters of the nucleon resonances are extracted.Comment: 57 pages, 14 figures, LaTex (uses Revtex and graphicx). Submitted to Phys. Rev. C. References updated, Fig. 14 change

Evidence for Factorization in Three-body B --> D(*) K- K0 Decays

Motivated by recent experimental results, we use a factorization approach to study the three-body B --> D(*) K- K0 decay modes. Two mechanisms are proposed for kaon pair production: current-produced (from vacuum) and transition (from B meson). The Bbar0 --> D(*)+ K- K0 decay is governed solely by the current-produced mechanism. As the kaon pair can be produced only by the vector current, the matrix element can be extracted from e+ e- --> K Kbar processes via isospin relations. The decay rates obtained this way are in good agreement with experiment. Both current-produced and transition processes contribute to B- --> D(*)0 K- K0 decays. By using QCD counting rules and the measured B- --> D(*)0 K- K0 decay rates, the measured decay spectra can be understood.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure

No association between fear of hypoglycemia and blood glucose variability in type 1 diabetes: The cross-sectional VARDIA study

AIMS: In type 1 diabetes (T1D), treatment efficacy is limited by the unpredictability of blood glucose results and glycemic variability (GV). Fear of Hypoglycemia (FOH) remains a major brake for insulin treatment optimization. We aimed to assess the association of GV with FOH in participants with T1D in an observational cross-sectional study performed in 9 French Diabetes Centres (NCT02790060). METHODS: Participants were T1D for ≥5 years, aged 18-75 years, on stable insulin therapy for ≥3 months. The coefficient of variation (CV) of blood glucose and mean amplitude of glycemic excursions (MAGE) were used to assess GV from 7-point self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG). FOH was assessed using the validated French version of the Hypoglycemia Fear Survey-II (HFS-II) questionnaire. RESULTS: Among a total of 570 recruited participants, 298 were suitable for analysis: 46% women, 58% on continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion [CSII], mean age 49 ± 16 years, HbA1c 7.5 ± 0.9%, HFS-II score 67 ± 18 and 12% with recent history of severe hypoglycemia during the previous 6 months, mean CV 39.8 ± 9.7% and MAGE 119 ± 42 mg/dL. CV and MAGE did not significantly correlate with HFS-II score (R = -0.05;P = 0.457 and R = 0.08;P = 0.170). Participants with severe hypoglycemia in the previous 6 months had higher HFS scores. Participants with higher HFS scores presented more hypoglycemias during follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: FOH as determined using the HFS-II questionnaire was not associated with 7-point SMBG variability in participants with T1D, but was associated with a positive history of severe hypoglycemia. Higher FOH was associated with higher frequency of hypoglycemia during follow-up