342 research outputs found
Nonlinear electron-phonon coupling in doped manganites
We employ time-resolved resonant x-ray diffraction to study the melting of
charge order and the associated insulator-metal transition in the doped
manganite PrCaMnO after resonant excitation of a
high-frequency infrared-active lattice mode. We find that the charge order
reduces promptly and highly nonlinearly as function of excitation fluence.
Density functional theory calculations suggest that direct anharmonic coupling
between the excited lattice mode and the electronic structure drive these
dynamics, highlighting a new avenue of nonlinear phonon control
Application of Volcano Plots in Analyses of mRNA Differential Expressions with Microarrays
Volcano plot displays unstandardized signal (e.g. log-fold-change) against
noise-adjusted/standardized signal (e.g. t-statistic or -log10(p-value) from
the t test). We review the basic and an interactive use of the volcano plot,
and its crucial role in understanding the regularized t-statistic. The joint
filtering gene selection criterion based on regularized statistics has a curved
discriminant line in the volcano plot, as compared to the two perpendicular
lines for the "double filtering" criterion. This review attempts to provide an
unifying framework for discussions on alternative measures of differential
expression, improved methods for estimating variance, and visual display of a
microarray analysis result. We also discuss the possibility to apply volcano
plots to other fields beyond microarray.Comment: 8 figure
Psychosocial Screening in Disorders/Differences of Sex Development: Psychometric Evaluation of the Psychosocial Assessment Tool
© 2019 S. Karger AG, Basel. Background/Aims: Utilization of a psychosocial screener to identify families affected by a disorder/difference of sex development (DSD) and at risk for adjustment challenges may facilitate efficient use of team resources to optimize care. The Psychosocial Assessment Tool (PAT) has been used in other pediatric conditions. The current study explored the reliability and validity of the PAT (modified for use within the DSD population; PAT-DSD). Methods: Participants were 197 families enrolled in the DSD-Translational Research Network (DSD-TRN) who completed a PAT-DSD during a DSD clinic visit. Psychosocial data were extracted from the DSD-TRN clinical registry. Internal reliability of the PAT-DSD was tested using the Kuder-Richardson-20 coefficient. Validity was examined by exploring the correlation of the PAT-DSD with other measures of caregiver distress and child emotional-behavioral functioning. Results: One-third of families demonstrated psychosocial risk (27.9% Targeted and 6.1% Clinical level of risk). Internal reliability of the PAT-DSD Total score was high (α = 0.86); 4 of 8 subscales met acceptable internal reliability. A priori predicted relationships between the PAT-DSD and other psychosocial measures were supported. The PAT-DSD Total score related to measures of caregiver distress (r = 0.40, p \u3c 0.001) and to both caregiver-reported and patient self-reported behavioral problems (r = 0.61, p \u3c 0.00; r = 0.37, p \u3c 0.05). Conclusions: This study provides evidence for the reliability and validity of the PAT-DSD. Given variability in the internal reliability across subscales, this measure is best used to screen for overall family risk, rather than to assess specific psychosocial concerns
First hint for CP violation in neutrino oscillations from upcoming superbeam and reactor experiments
We compare the physics potential of the upcoming neutrino oscillation
experiments Daya Bay, Double Chooz, NOvA, RENO, and T2K based on their
anticipated nominal luminosities and schedules. After discussing the
sensitivity to theta_{13} and the leading atmospheric parameters, we
demonstrate that leptonic CP violation will hardly be measurable without
upgrades of the T2K and NOvA proton drivers, even if theta_{13} is large. In
the presence of the proton drivers, the fast track to hints for CP violation
requires communication between the T2K and NOvA collaborations in terms of a
mutual synchronization of their neutrino-antineutrino run plans. Even in that
case, upgrades will only discover CP violation in a relatively small part of
the parameter space at the 3 sigma confidence level, while 90% confidence level
hints will most likely be obtained. Therefore, we conclude that a new facility
will be required if the goal is to obtain a significant result with high
probability.Comment: 27 pages, 12 figure
Precision on leptonic mixing parameters at future neutrino oscillation experiments
We perform a comparison of the different future neutrino oscillation
experiments based on the achievable precision in the determination of the
fundamental parameters theta_{13} and the CP phase, delta, assuming that
theta_{13} is in the range indicated by the recent Daya Bay measurement. We
study the non-trivial dependence of the error on delta on its true value. When
matter effects are small, the largest error is found at the points where CP
violation is maximal, and the smallest at the CP conserving points. The
situation is different when matter effects are sizable. As a result of this
effect, the comparison of the physics reach of different experiments on the
basis of the CP discovery potential, as usually done, can be misleading. We
have compared various proposed super-beam, beta-beam and neutrino factory
setups on the basis of the relative precision of theta_{13} and the error on
delta. Neutrino factories, both high-energy or low-energy, outperform
alternative beam technologies. An ultimate precision on theta_{13} below 3% and
an error on delta of < 7^{\circ} at 1 sigma (1 d.o.f.) can be obtained at a
neutrino factory.Comment: Minor changes, matches version accepted in JHEP. 30 pages, 9 figure
Atmospheric neutrino oscillation analysis with sub-leading effects in Super-Kamiokande I, II, and III
We present a search for non-zero theta_{13} and deviations of sin^2
theta_{23} from 0.5 in the oscillations of atmospheric neutrino data from
Super-Kamiokande -I, -II, and -III. No distortions of the neutrino flux
consistent with non-zero theta_{13} are found and both neutrino mass hierarchy
hypotheses are in agreement with the data. The data are best fit at Delta m^2 =
2.1 x 10^-3 eV^2, sin^2 theta_{13} = 0.0, and sin^2 theta_{23} =0.5. In the
normal (inverted) hierarchy theta_{13} and Delta m^2 are constrained at the
one-dimensional 90% C.L. to sin^2 theta_{13} < 0.04 (0.09) and 1.9 (1.7) x
10^-3 < Delta m^2 < 2.6 (2.7) x 10^-3 eV^2. The atmospheric mixing angle is
within 0.407 <= sin^2 theta_{23} <= 0.583 at 90% C.L.Comment: 17 Pages, 14 figures. To be submitted to Phys. Rev. D Minor update to
text after referee comments. Figures modified for better grayscale printing
Online Monitoring of the Osiris Reactor with the Nucifer Neutrino Detector
Originally designed as a new nuclear reactor monitoring device, the Nucifer
detector has successfully detected its first neutrinos. We provide the second
shortest baseline measurement of the reactor neutrino flux. The detection of
electron antineutrinos emitted in the decay chains of the fission products,
combined with reactor core simulations, provides an new tool to assess both the
thermal power and the fissile content of the whole nuclear core and could be
used by the Inter- national Agency for Atomic Energy (IAEA) to enhance the
Safeguards of civil nuclear reactors. Deployed at only 7.2m away from the
compact Osiris research reactor core (70MW) operating at the Saclay research
centre of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA),
the experiment also exhibits a well-suited configuration to search for a new
short baseline oscillation. We report the first results of the Nucifer
experiment, describing the performances of the 0.85m3 detector remotely
operating at a shallow depth equivalent to 12m of water and under intense
background radiation conditions. Based on 145 (106) days of data with reactor
ON (OFF), leading to the detection of an estimated 40760 electron
antineutrinos, the mean number of detected antineutrinos is 281 +- 7(stat) +-
18(syst) electron antineutrinos/day, in agreement with the prediction 277(23)
electron antineutrinos/day. Due the the large background no conclusive results
on the existence of light sterile neutrinos could be derived, however. As a
first societal application we quantify how antineutrinos could be used for the
Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement.Comment: 22 pages, 16 figures - Version
Search for Astrophysical Neutrino Point Sources at Super-Kamiokande
It has been hypothesized that large fluxes of neutrinos may be created in
astrophysical "cosmic accelerators." The primary background for a search for
astrophysical neutrinos comes from atmospheric neutrinos, which do not exhibit
the pointlike directional clustering that characterizes a distant astrophysical
signal. We perform a search for neutrino point sources using the upward-going
muon data from three phases of operation (SK-I, SK-II, and SK-III) spanning
2623 days of live time taken from April 1, 1996 to August 11, 2007. The search
looks for signals from suspected galactic and extragalactic sources, transient
sources, and unexpected sources. We find interesting signatures from two
objects--RX J1713.7-3946 (97.5% CL) and GRB 991004D (95.3% CL)--but the
signatures lack compelling statistical significance given trial factors. We set
limits on the flux and fluence of neutrino point sources above energies of 1.6
GeV
Search for Matter-Dependent Atmospheric Neutrino Oscillations in Super-Kamiokande
We consider muon neutrino to tau neutrino oscillations in the context of the
Mass Varying Neutrino (MaVaN) model, where the neutrino mass can vary depending
on the electron density along the flight path of the neutrino. Our analysis
assumes a mechanism with dependence only upon the electron density, hence
ordinary matter density, of the medium through which the neutrino travels.
Fully-contained, partially-contained and upward-going muon atmospheric neutrino
data from the Super--Kamiokande detector, taken from the entire SK--I period of
1489 live days, are compared to MaVaN model predictions. We find that, for the
case of 2-flavor oscillations, and for the specific models tested, oscillation
independent of electron density is favored over density dependence. Assuming
maximal mixing, the best-fit case and the density-independent case do not
differ significantly.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figur
Experimental study of the atmospheric neutrino backgrounds for proton decay to positron and neutral pion searches in water Cherenkov detectors
The atmospheric neutrino background for proton decay to positron and neutral
pion in ring imaging water Cherenkov detectors is studied with an artificial
accelerator neutrino beam for the first time. In total, about 314,000 neutrino
events corresponding to about 10 megaton-years of atmospheric neutrino
interactions were collected by a 1,000 ton water Cherenkov detector (KT). The
KT charged-current single neutral pion production data are well reproduced by
simulation programs of neutrino and secondary hadronic interactions used in the
Super-Kamiokande (SK) proton decay search. The obtained proton to positron and
neutral pion background rate by the KT data for SK from the atmospheric
neutrinos whose energies are below 3 GeV is about two per megaton-year. This
result is also relevant to possible future, megaton-scale water Cherenkov
detectors.Comment: 13 pages, 16 figure
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