43,978 research outputs found
Quasiquarks in two stream system
We study the collective quark excitations in an extremely anisotropic system
of two interpenetrating streams of the quark-gluon plasma. In contrast to the
gluon modes, all quark ones appear to be stable in such a system. Even more,
the quark modes in the two-stream system are very similar to those in the
isotropic plasma.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, minor corrections, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Effect of electrolyzed high-pH alkaline water on blood viscosity in healthy adults.
BACKGROUND: Previous research has shown fluid replacement beverages ingested after exercise can affect hydration biomarkers. No specific hydration marker is universally accepted as an ideal rehydration parameter following strenuous exercise. Currently, changes in body mass are used as a parameter during post-exercise hydration. Additional parameters are needed to fully appreciate and better understand rehydration following strenuous exercise. This randomized, double-blind, parallel-arm trial assessed the effect of high-pH water on four biomarkers after exercise-induced dehydration.
METHODS: One hundred healthy adults (50 M/50 F, 31 ± 6 years of age) were enrolled at a single clinical research center in Camden, NJ and completed this study with no adverse events. All individuals exercised in a warm environment (30 °C, 70% relative humidity) until their weight was reduced by a normally accepted level of 2.0 ± 0.2% due to perspiration, reflecting the effects of exercise in producing mild dehydration. Participants were randomized to rehydrate with an electrolyzed, high-pH (alkaline) water or standard water of equal volume (2% body weight) and assessed for an additional 2-h recovery period following exercise in order to assess any potential variations in measured parameters. The following biomarkers were assessed at baseline and during their recovery period: blood viscosity at high and low shear rates, plasma osmolality, bioimpedance, and body mass, as well as monitoring vital signs. Furthermore, a mixed model analysis was performed for additional validation.
RESULTS: After exercise-induced dehydration, consumption of the electrolyzed, high-pH water reduced high-shear viscosity by an average of 6.30% compared to 3.36% with standard purified water (p = 0.03). Other measured biomarkers (plasma osmolality, bioimpedance, and body mass change) revealed no significant difference between the two types of water for rehydration. However, a mixed model analysis validated the effect of high-pH water on high-shear viscosity when compared to standard purified water (p = 0.0213) after controlling for covariates such as age and baseline values.
CONCLUSIONS: A significant difference in whole blood viscosity was detected in this study when assessing a high-pH, electrolyte water versus an acceptable standard purified water during the recovery phase following strenuous exercise-induced dehydration
Black hole evaporation in a spherically symmetric non-commutative space-time
Recent work in the literature has studied the quantum-mechanical decay of a
Schwarzschild-like black hole, formed by gravitational collapse, into
almost-flat space-time and weak radiation at a very late time. The relevant
quantum amplitudes have been evaluated for bosonic and fermionic fields,
showing that no information is lost in collapse to a black hole. On the other
hand, recent developments in noncommutative geometry have shown that, in
general relativity, the effects of non-commutativity can be taken into account
by keeping the standard form of the Einstein tensor on the left-hand side of
the field equations and introducing a modified energy-momentum tensor as a
source on the right-hand side. Relying on the recently obtained
non-commutativity effect on a static, spherically symmetric metric, we have
considered from a new perspective the quantum amplitudes in black hole
evaporation. The general relativity analysis of spin-2 amplitudes has been
shown to be modified by a multiplicative factor F depending on a constant
non-commutativity parameter and on the upper limit R of the radial coordinate.
Limiting forms of F have been derived which are compatible with the adiabatic
approximation.Comment: 8 pages, Latex file with IOP macros, prepared for the QFEXT07
Conference, Leipzig, September 200
Algorithms to automatically quantify the geometric similarity of anatomical surfaces
We describe new approaches for distances between pairs of 2-dimensional
surfaces (embedded in 3-dimensional space) that use local structures and global
information contained in inter-structure geometric relationships. We present
algorithms to automatically determine these distances as well as geometric
correspondences. This is motivated by the aspiration of students of natural
science to understand the continuity of form that unites the diversity of life.
At present, scientists using physical traits to study evolutionary
relationships among living and extinct animals analyze data extracted from
carefully defined anatomical correspondence points (landmarks). Identifying and
recording these landmarks is time consuming and can be done accurately only by
trained morphologists. This renders these studies inaccessible to
non-morphologists, and causes phenomics to lag behind genomics in elucidating
evolutionary patterns. Unlike other algorithms presented for morphological
correspondences our approach does not require any preliminary marking of
special features or landmarks by the user. It also differs from other seminal
work in computational geometry in that our algorithms are polynomial in nature
and thus faster, making pairwise comparisons feasible for significantly larger
numbers of digitized surfaces. We illustrate our approach using three datasets
representing teeth and different bones of primates and humans, and show that it
leads to highly accurate results.Comment: Changes with respect to v1, v2: an Erratum was added, correcting the
references for one of the three datasets. Note that the datasets and code for
this paper can be obtained from the Data Conservancy (see Download column on
v1, v2
Robust study design is as important on the social as it is on the ecological side of applied ecological research
1. The effective management of natural systems often requires resource users to change their behaviour. This has led to many applied ecologists using research tools developed by social scientists. This comes with challenges as ecologists often lack relevant disciplinary training.
2. Using an example from the current issue of Journal of Applied Ecology that investigated how conservation interventions influenced conservation outcomes, we discuss the challenges of conducting interdisciplinary science. We illustrate our points using examples from research investigating the role of law enforcement and outreach activities in limiting illegal poaching
and the application of the theory of planned behaviour to conservation.
3. Synthesis and applications. Interdisciplinary research requires equal rigour to be applied to ecological and social aspects. Researchers with a natural science background need to access expertise and training in the principles of social science research design and methodology, in order to permit a more balanced interdisciplinary understanding of social–ecological system
Fiber transport of spatially entangled photons
Entanglement in the spatial degrees of freedom of photons is an interesting
resource for quantum information. For practical distribution of such entangled
photons it is desireable to use an optical fiber, which in this case has to
support multiple transverse modes. Here we report the use of a hollow-core
photonic crystal fiber to transport spatially entangled qubits.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Validation of the Harvard Lyman-α in situ water vapor instrument: Implications for the mechanisms that control stratospheric water vapor
Building on previously published details of the laboratory calibrations of the Harvard Lyman-α photofragment fluorescence hygrometer (HWV) on the NASA ER-2 and WB-57 aircraft, we describe here the validation process for HWV, which includes laboratory calibrations and intercomparisons with other Harvard water vapor instruments at water vapor mixing ratios from 0 to 10 ppmv, followed by in-flight intercomparisons with the same Harvard hygrometers. The observed agreement exhibited in the laboratory and during intercomparisons helps corroborate the accuracy of HWV. In light of the validated accuracy of HWV, we present and evaluate a series of intercomparisons with satellite and balloon borne water vapor instruments made from the upper troposphere to the lower stratosphere in the tropics and midlatitudes. Whether on the NASA ER-2 or WB-57 aircraft, HWV has consistently measured about 1–1.5 ppmv higher than the balloon-borne NOAA/ESRL/GMD frost point hygrometer (CMDL), the NOAA Cryogenic Frost point Hygrometer (CFH), and the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) on the Aura satellite in regions of the atmosphere where water vapor is <10 ppmv. Comparisons in the tropics with the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite show large variable differences near the tropopause that converge to ~10% above 460 K, with HWV higher. Results we show from the Aqua Validation and Intercomparison Experiment (AquaVIT) at the AIDA chamber in Karlsruhe do not reflect the observed in-flight differences. We illustrate that the interpretation of the results of comparisons between modeled and measured representations of the seasonal cycle of water entering the lower tropical stratosphere is dictated by which data set is used
Multi-Magnon Scattering in the Ferromagnetic XXX-Model with Inhomogeneities
We determine the transition amplitude for multi-magnon scattering induced
through an inhomogeneous distribution of the coupling constant in the
ferromagnetic XXX-model. The two and three particle amplitudes are explicitely
calculated at small momenta. This suggests a rather plausible conjecture also
for a formula of the general n-particle amplitude.Comment: 21 pages, latex, no figure
Hard Loop Approach to Anisotropic Systems
Anisotropic systems of quarks and gluons, which at least for sufficiently
short space-time intervals can be treated as homogeneous and static, are
considered. The gluon polarization tensor of such a system is explicitly
computed within the semiclassical kinetic and Hard Loop diagrammatic theories.
The equivalence of the two approaches is demonstrated. The quark self energy is
computed as well, and finally, the dispersion relations of quarks and gluons in
the anisotropic medium are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, revised to appear in Phys. Rev.
Global and regional effects of the photochemistry of CH_3O_2NO_2: evidence from ARCTAS
Using measurements from the NASA Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) experiment, we show that methyl peroxy nitrate (CH_3O_2NO_2) is present in concentrations of ~5–15 pptv in the springtime arctic upper troposphere. We investigate the regional and global effects of CH_3O_2NO_2 by including its chemistry in the GEOS-Chem 3-D global chemical transport model. We find that at temperatures below 240 K inclusion of CH_3O_2NO_2 chemistry results in decreases of up to ~20 % in NO_x, ~20 % in N_2O_5, ~5 % in HNO3, ~2 % in ozone, and increases in methyl hydrogen peroxide of up to ~14 %. Larger changes are observed in biomass burning plumes lofted to high altitude. Additionally, by sequestering NO_x at low temperatures, CH_3O_2NO_2 decreases the cycling of HO_2 to OH, resulting in a larger upper tropospheric HO_2 to OH ratio. These results may impact some estimates of lightning NO_x sources as well as help explain differences between models and measurements of upper tropospheric composition
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