Curing black hole singularities with local scale invariance

We show that Weyl-invariant dilaton gravity provides a description of black holes without classical spacetime singularities. Singularities appear due to ill-behaviour of gauge fixing conditions, one example being the gauge in which theory is classically equivalent to standard General Relativity. The main conclusions of our analysis are: (1) singularities signal a phase transition from broken to unbroken phase of Weyl symmetry, (2) instead of a singularity there is a "baby-universe" or a white hole inside a black hole, (3) in the baby universe scenario there is a critical mass after which reducing mass makes black hole larger as viewed by outside observers, (4) if a black hole could be connected with white hole through the "singularity", this would require breakdown of (classical) geometric description, (5) the singularity of Schwarzschild BH solution is non-generic and so it is dangerous to rely on it in deriving general results. Our results may have important consequences for resolving issues related to information-loss puzzle. The theory we use is basically a completion of General Relativity, containing neither additional physical excitations nor higher-derivative terms, but requires physical scalar field such as Higgs field of Standard Model. Though quantum effects are still crucial and may change the proposed classical picture, a position of building quantum theory around essentially regular classical solutions normally provides a much better starting point.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, v2: Improved explanations, restoration of Weyl symmetry emphasized. References added. v3: Misprints corrected, improved explanations, one new figure. References added. v4: improved explanations. Discussion on regularity of observables added. v5: improved presentation, additional examples added. Main results and conclusions unchanged. Matches published versio

The place and role of serologic methods in detecting Helicobacter pylori infection

The aim of the study was to determine the place and role of serologic methods in detecting Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection, on the basis of estimated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and complement fixation test (CFT) sensitivity and specificity. A total of 549 patients were included in the study. ELISA and CFT as serologic methods were compared with invasive methods (rapid urease test--CLO test, culture, histology). The sensitivity of serologic methods was above 90%, and their specificity was around 80%. Study results confirmed the value, reliability and usefulness of serologic methods in the detection of H. pylori infection

Important Aspects of Inspection Monitoring the Crafts Considering New Tax Regulations

Posebni porez (trošarina) na plovila, sukladno Zakonu o posebnim porezima na osobne automobile, ostala motorna vozila, plovila i zrakoplove (NN, br. 139/97., 105/99., 55/00., 127/00., 107/01. i 95/04.), do 8. kolovoza 2009. plaćao se u fiksnom iznosu ovisno o duljini plovila, kada je stupio na snagu Zakon o izmjenama Zakona o posebnim porezima na osobne automobile, ostala motorna vozila, plovila i zrakoplove (NN, br. 94/09.). Tako su kriteriji za oporezivanje plovila bili izjednačeni s oporezivanjem osobnih automobila i motocikla, pa se porezna osnovica za sve naznačene proizvode od tada utvrđivala prema njihovoj vrijednosti. To znači da se posebni porez na osobne automobile i motocikle te na plovila i zrakoplove plaćao u fiksnom iznosu utvrđenome prema pripadnosti predmeta oporezivanja pojedinome od cjenovnih razreda (osnovica), koji su Zakonom prošireni dodavanjem povećanih vrijednosti i propisanog postotka na iznos vrijednosti (cijene) predmeta oporezivanja koji prelazi donju granicu određenoga cjenovnog razreda. Važnost novina u Zakonu o izmjenama Zakona o posebnim porezima na osobne automobile, ostala motorna vozila, plovila i zrakoplove (NN, br. 21/10.), koji je stupio na snagu 15. veljače 2010., sastoje se u tome da se visina posebnoga poreza na osobne automobile i motocikle nije promijenila, ali je uvedena nova visina posebnog poreza na plovila i zrakoplove. Sukladno tim izmjenama posebni porez na plovila plaća se i dalje prema vrijednosti plovila, ali su uvedeni novi cjenovni razredi s drugačijom visinom posebnog poreza u odnosu prema osobnim automobilima i motociklima, čime se želi postići veći stupanj oporezivanja ekonomski snažnijih obveznika. To znači da bi kupci skup(lj)ih plovila i u relativnom i u apsolutnom iznosu, snosili veći porezni teret.Specific tax (excise) on vessels consistent with the specific tax law on passenger cars, other motor vehicles, crafts and aircraft (NN no. 139/97,...) used to be paid in the fixed amount depending on the length of the craft until 8th August 2009. Then the law, about some changes of the law on passenger cars, other motor vehicles, crafts and aircrafts came into force (NN no. 94/09). So, since then the criteria of taxation the crafts were equalized with taxation the passenger cars and motorcycles and the tax base for the all mentioned products was defined considering their values. That means that specific tax on passenger cars and motor cycles, crafts and aircrafts was paid in the fixed amount defined in accordance with belonging the items (to be taxed) to one particular price sections (base): There are extended by the staled law by adding the increased values and regulated percentage to the amount of value (price) of the item to be taxed which exceeds the lower limit of definite price section. The importance of innovations in the law on supplementary law about specific taxes on passenger cars and other motor vehicle, crafts and aircrafts which came into force on 15th February 2010. consists of not changing the rate of specific tax on passenger cars and motorcycles, but a new specific tax rate on crafts and aircrafts was introduced. Following these changes, specific tax on crafts has been kept on paying according to the values of crafts, but new price sections have been introduced with different specific tax rate in relation to passenger cars and motorcycles. The aim of this is to achieve a higher rate of taxation of economically more powerful taxpayers. That means that buyers of (more) expensive crafts would bear the brunt of higher tax both in relative and absolute amount

Non-conformal higher spin supercurrents

In four spacetime dimensions there exist two off-shell formulations for the massless multiplet of superspin $(s+\frac 12)$, where $s=2,3, \dots$. These supersymmetric higher spin gauge theories, known as longitudinal and transverse, are dual to each other and describe two massless fields of spin $(s+\frac 12)$ and $(s+1)$ upon elimination of the auxiliary fields. They respectively reduce, in the limiting case of $s=1$, to the linearised actions for the old minimal and the $n=-1$ non-minimal ${\cal N}=1$ supergravity theories. Associated with these gauge massless theories are non-conformal higher spin supercurrent multiplets which we describe. We demonstrate that the longitudinal higher spin supercurrents are realised in the model for a massive chiral scalar superfield only if $s$ is odd, $s=2n+1$, with $n= 1,2, \dots$.Comment: 12 pages; V2: typos corrected; V3: published versio