219 research outputs found
Vertical and interhemispheric links in the stratosphere-mesosphere as revealed by the day-to-day variability of Aura-MLS temperature data
The coupling processes in the middle atmosphere have been a subject of intense research activity because of their effects on atmospheric circulation, structure, variability, and the distribution of chemical constituents. In this study, the day-to-day variability of Aura-MLS (Microwave Limb Sounder) temperature data are used to reveal the vertical and interhemispheric coupling processes in the stratosphere-mesosphere during four Northern Hemisphere winters (2004/2005â2007/2008). The UKMO (United Kingdom Meteorological Office) assimilated data and mesospheric winds from MF (medium frequency) radars are also applied to help highlight the coupling processes.
In this study, a clear vertical link can be seen between the stratosphere and mesosphere during winter months. The coolings and reversals of northward meridional winds in the polar winter mesosphere are often observed in relation to warming events (Sudden Stratospheric Warming, SSW for short) and the associated changes in zonal winds in the polar winter stratosphere. An upper-mesospheric cooling usually precedes the beginning of the warming in the stratosphere by 1â2 days.
Inter-hemispheric coupling has been identified initially by a correlation analysis using the year-to-year monthly zonal mean temperature. Then the correlation analyses are performed based upon the daily zonal mean temperature. From the original time sequences, significant positive (negative) correlations are generally found between zonal mean temperatures at the Antarctic summer mesopause and in the Arctic winter stratosphere (mesosphere) during northern mid-winters, although these correlations are dominated by the low frequency variability (i.e. the seasonal trend). Using the short-term oscillations (less than 15 days), the statistical result, by looking for the largest magnitude of correlation within a range of time-lags (0 to 10 days; positive lags mean that the Antarctic summer mesopause is lagging), indicates that the temporal variability of zonal mean temperature at the Antarctic summer mesopause is also positively (negatively) correlated with the polar winter stratosphere (mesosphere) during three (2004/2005, 2005/2006, and 2007/2008) out of the four winters. The highest value of the correlation coefficient is over 0.7 in the winter-stratosphere for the three winters. The remaining winter (2006/2007) has more complex correlations structures; correspondingly the polar vortex was distinguished this winter. The time-lags obtained for 2004/2005 and 2006/2007 are distinct from 2005/2006 and 2007/2008 where a 6-day lag dominates for the coupling between the winter stratosphere and the summer mesopause. The correlations are also provided using temperatures in northern longitudinal sectors in a comparison with the Antarctic-mesopause zonal mean temperature. For northern mid-high latitudes (~50â70° N), temperatures in Scandinavia-Eastern Europe and in the Pacific-Western Canada longitudinal sectors often have opposite signs of correlations with zonal mean temperatures near the Antarctic summer mesopause during northern mid-winters. The statistical results are shown to be associated with the Northern Hemisphere's polar vortex characteristics
Decoherence and CPT Violation in a Stringy Model of Space-Time Foam
I discuss a model inspired from the string/brane framework, in which our
Universe is represented as a three brane, propagating in a bulk space time
punctured by D0-brane (D-particle) defects. As the D3-brane world moves in the
bulk, the D-particles cross it, and from an effective observer on D3 the
situation looks like a ``space-time foam'' with the defects ``flashing'' on and
off (``D-particle foam''). The open strings, with their ends attached on the
brane, which represent matter in this scenario, can interact with the
D-particles on the D3-brane universe in a topologically non-trivial manner,
involving splitting and capture of the strings by the D0-brane defects. Such
processes are described by logarithmic conformal field theories on the
world-sheet. Physically, they result in effective decoherence of the string
matter on the D3 brane, and as a result, of CPT Violation, but of a type that
implies an ill-defined nature of the effective CPT operator. Due to electric
charge conservation, only electrically neutral (string) matter can exhibit such
interactions with the D-particle foam. This may have unique, experimentally
detectable, consequences for electrically-neutral entangled quantum matter
states on the brane world, in particular the modification of the pertinent EPR
Correlation of neutral mesons in a meson factory.Comment: 41 pages Latex, five eps figures incorporated. Uses special macro
Diffusion quantum Monte Carlo study of three-dimensional Wigner crystals
We report diffusion quantum Monte Carlo calculations of three-dimensional
Wigner crystals in the density range r_s=100-150. We have tested different
types of orbital for use in the approximate wave functions but none improve
upon the simple Gaussian form. The Gaussian exponents are optimized by directly
minimizing the diffusion quantum Monte Carlo energy. We have carefully
investigated and sought to minimize the potential biases in our Monte Carlo
results. We conclude that the uniform electron gas undergoes a transition from
a ferromagnetic fluid to a body-centered-cubic Wigner crystal at r_s=106+/-1.
The diffusion quantum Monte Carlo results are compared with those from
Hartree-Fock and Hartree theory in order to understand the role played by
exchange and correlation in Wigner crystals. We also study "floating" Wigner
crystals and give results for their pair-correlation functions
Review of AdS/CFT Integrability: An Overview
This is the introductory chapter of a review collection on integrability in
the context of the AdS/CFT correspondence. In the collection we present an
overview of the achievements and the status of this subject as of the year
2010.Comment: 31 pages, v2: reference added, references to other chapters updated,
v3: footnote 1 on location of references added, v4: minor changes, references
added, accepted for publication in Lett. Math. Phys, v5: minor corrections,
links to chapters updated, attached IntAdS.pdf with all chapters in one file,
see http://arxiv.org/src/1012.3982/anc/IntAdS.pdf or
http://www.phys.ethz.ch/~nbeisert/IntAdS.pd
Dynamics of evaporative cooling in magnetically trapped atomic hydrogen
We study the evaporative cooling of magnetically trapped atomic hydrogen on
the basis of the kinetic theory of a Bose gas. The dynamics of trapped atoms is
described by the coupled differential equations, considering both the
evaporation and dipolar spin relaxation processes. The numerical time-evolution
calculations quantitatively agree with the recent experiment of Bose-Einstein
condensation with atomic hydrogen. It is demonstrated that the balance between
evaporative cooling and heating due to dipolar relaxation limits the number of
condensates to 9x10^8 and the corresponding condensate fraction to a small
value of 4% as observed experimentally.Comment: 5 pages, REVTeX, 3 eps figures, Phys. Rev. A in pres
Resummations of free energy at high temperature
We discuss resummation strategies for free energy in quantum field theories
at nonzero temperatures T. We point out that resummations should be performed
for the short- and long-distance parts separately in order to avoid spurious
interference effects and double-counting. We then discuss and perform Pade
resummations of these two parts for QCD at high T. The resummed results are
almost invariant under variation of the renormalization and factorization
scales. We perform the analysis also in the case of the massless scalar
theory.Comment: 16 pages, revtex4, 15 eps-figures; minor typographic errors
corrected; the version as it appears in Phys.Rev.
Candidalysin is required for neutrophil recruitment and virulence during systemic Candida albicans infection
Background
Candidalysin is a cytolytic peptide toxin secreted by Candida albicans hyphae and has significantly advanced our understanding of fungal pathogenesis. Candidalysin is critical for mucosal C albicans infections and is known to activate epithelial cells to induce downstream innate immune responses that are associated with protection or immunopathology during oral or vaginal infections. Furthermore, candidalysin activates the NLRP3 inflammasome and causes cytolysis in mononuclear phagocytes. However, the role of candidalysin in driving systemic infections is unknown.
Methods
In this study, using candidalysin-producing and candidalysin-deficient C albicans strains, we show that candidalysin activates mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling and chemokine secretion in endothelial cells in vitro.
Results
Candidalysin induces immune activation and neutrophil recruitment in vivo, and it promotes mortality in zebrafish and murine models of systemic fungal infection.
Conclusions
The data demonstrate a key role for candidalysin in neutrophil recruitment and fungal virulence during disseminated systemic C albicans infections
Regulatory T cells reduce acute lung injury fibroproliferation by decreasing fibrocyte recruitment
Acute lung injury (ALI) causes significant morbidity and mortality. Fibroproliferation in ALI results in worse outcomes, but the mechanisms governing fibroproliferation remain poorly understood. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are important in lung injury resolution. Their role in fibroproliferation is unknown. We sought to identify the role of Tregs in ALI fibroproliferation, using a murine model of lung injury. Wild-type (WT) and lymphocyte-deficient Rag-1-/- mice received intratracheal LPS. Fibroproliferationwascharacterizedby histology and the measurement of lung collagen. Lung fibrocytes were measured by flow cytometry. To dissect the role of Tregs in fibroproliferation, Rag-1-/- mice received CD4 +CD25+ (Tregs) or CD4+ CD25- Tcells (non-Tregs) at the time of LPS injury. To define the role of the chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 12 (CXCL12)-CXCR4 pathway in ALI fibroproliferation, Rag-1-/- mice were treated with the CXCR4 antagonist AMD3100 to block fibrocyte recruitment. WT and Rag-1-/- mice demonstrated significant collagen deposition on Day 3 after LPS. WT mice exhibited the clearance of collagen, but Rag-1-/- mice developed persistent fibrosis. This fibrosis was mediated by the sustained epithelial expression of CXCL12 (or stromal cell-derived factor 1 [SDF-1]) that led to increased fibrocyte recruitment. The adoptive transfer of Tregs resolved fibroproliferation by decreasing CXCL12 expression and subsequent fibrocyte recruitment. Blockade of the CXCL12-CXCR4 axis with AMD3100 also decreased lung fibrocytes and fibroproliferation. These results indicate a central role for Tregs in the resolution of ALI fibroproliferation by reducing fibrocyte recruitment along the CXCL12-CXCR4 axis. A dissection of the role of Tregs in ALI fibroproliferation may inform the design of new therapeutic tools for patients with ALI
Development and external validation study of a melanoma risk prediction model incorporating clinically assessed naevi and solar lentigines
Background:
Melanoma risk prediction models could be useful for matching preventive interventions to patientsâ risk.
Objectives:
To develop and validate a model for incident firstâprimary cutaneous melanoma using clinically assessed risk factors.
Methods:
We used unconditional logistic regression with backward selection from the Australian Melanoma Family Study (461 cases and 329 controls) in which age, sex and city of recruitment were kept in each step, and we externally validated it using the Leeds Melanoma CaseâControl Study (960 cases and 513 controls). Candidate predictors included clinically assessed wholeâbody naevi and solar lentigines, and selfâassessed pigmentation phenotype, sun exposure, family history and history of keratinocyte cancer. We evaluated the predictive strength and discrimination of the model risk factors using odds per ageâ and sexâadjusted SD (OPERA) and the area under curve (AUC), and calibration using the HosmerâLemeshow test.
Results:
The final model included the number of naevi â„ 2 mm in diameter on the whole body, solar lentigines on the upper back (a sixâlevel scale), hair colour at age 18 years and personal history of keratinocyte cancer. Naevi was the strongest risk factor; the OPERA was 3·51 [95% confidence interval (CI) 2·71â4·54] in the Australian study and 2·56 (95% CI 2·23â2·95) in the Leeds study. The AUC was 0·79 (95% CI 0·76â0·83) in the Australian study and 0·73 (95% CI 0·70â0·75) in the Leeds study. The HosmerâLemeshow test Pâvalue was 0·30 in the Australian study and < 0·001 in the Leeds study.
Conclusions:
This model had good discrimination and could be used by clinicians to stratify patients by melanoma risk for the targeting of preventive interventions.
What's already known about this topic?
Melanoma risk prediction models may be useful in prevention by tailoring interventions to personalized risk levels.
For reasons of feasibility, time and cost many melanoma prediction models use selfâassessed risk factors. However, individuals tend to underestimate their naevus numbers.
What does this study add?
We present a melanoma risk prediction model, which includes clinicallyâassessed wholeâbody naevi and solar lentigines, and selfâassessed risk factors including pigmentation phenotype and history of keratinocyte cancer.
This model performs well on discrimination, the model's ability to distinguish between individuals with and without melanoma, and may assist clinicians to stratify patients by melanoma risk for targeted preventive interventions
Exact quantum phase model for mesoscopic Josephson junctions
Starting from the two-mode Bose-Hubbard model, we derive an exact version of the standard Mathieu equation governing the wave function of a Josephson junction. For a finite number of particles N, we find an additional cos 2 phi term in the potential. We also find that the inner product in this representation is nonlocal in phi. Our model exhibits phenomena, such as pi oscillations, which are not found in the standard phase model, but have been predicted from Gross-Pitaevskii mean-field theory
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