1,796 research outputs found
The simulation of action disorganisation in complex activities of daily living
Action selection in everyday goal-directed tasks of moderate complexity is known to be subject to breakdown following extensive frontal brain injury. A model of action selection in such tasks is presented and used to explore three hypotheses concerning the origins of action disorganisation: that it is a consequence of reduced top-down excitation within a hierarchical action schema network coupled with increased bottom-up triggering of schemas from environmental sources, that it is a more general disturbance of schema activation modelled by excessive noise in the schema network, and that it results from a general disturbance of the triggering of schemas by object representations. Results suggest that the action disorganisation syndrome is best accounted for by a general disturbance to schema activation, while altering the balance between top-down and bottom-up activation provides an account of a related disorder - utilisation behaviour. It is further suggested that ideational apraxia (which may result from lesions to left temporoparietal areas and which has similar behavioural consequences to action disorganisation syndrome on tasks of moderate complexity) is a consequence of a generalised disturbance of the triggering of schemas by object representations. Several predictions regarding differences between action disorganisation syndrome and ideational apraxia that follow from this interpretation are detailed
Skyrmion Multi-Walls
Skyrmion walls are topologically-nontrivial solutions of the Skyrme system
which are periodic in two spatial directions. We report numerical
investigations which show that solutions representing parallel multi-walls
exist. The most stable configuration is that of the square -wall, which in
the limit becomes the cubically-symmetric Skyrme crystal. There is
also a solution resembling parallel hexagonal walls, but this is less stable.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figur
Neutralino versus axion/axino cold dark matter in the 19 parameter SUGRA model
We calculate the relic abundance of thermally produced neutralino cold dark
matter in the general 19 parameter supergravity (SUGRA-19) model. A scan over
GUT scale parameters reveals that models with a bino-like neutralino typically
give rise to a dark matter density \Omega_{\tz_1}h^2\sim 1-1000, i.e. between 1
and 4 orders of magnitude higher than the measured value. Models with higgsino
or wino cold dark matter can yield the correct relic density, but mainly for
neutralino masses around 700-1300 GeV. Models with mixed bino-wino or
bino-higgsino CDM, or models with dominant co-annihilation or A-resonance
annihilation can yield the correct abundance, but such cases are extremely hard
to generate using a general scan over GUT scale parameters; this is indicative
of high fine-tuning of the relic abundance in these cases. Requiring that
m_{\tz_1}\alt 500 GeV (as a rough naturalness requirement) gives rise to a
minimal probably dip in parameter space at the measured CDM abundance. For
comparison, we also scan over mSUGRA space with four free parameters. Finally,
we investigate the Peccei-Quinn augmented MSSM with mixed axion/axino cold dark
matter. In this case, the relic abundance agrees more naturally with the
measured value. In light of our cumulative results, we conclude that future
axion searches should probe much more broadly in axion mass, and deeper into
the axion coupling.Comment: 23 pages including 17 .eps figure
Virtual signatures of dark sectors in Higgs couplings
Where collider searches for resonant invisible particles loose steam, dark
sectors might leave their trace as virtual effects in precision observables.
Here we explore this option in the framework of Higgs portal models, where a
sector of dark fermions interacts with the standard model through a strong
renormalizable coupling to the Higgs boson. We show that precise measurements
of Higgs-gauge and triple Higgs interactions can probe dark fermions up to the
TeV scale through virtual corrections. Observation prospects at the LHC and
future lepton colliders are discussed for the so-called singlet-doublet model
of Majorana fermions, a generalization of the bino-higgsino scenario in
supersymmetry. We advocate a two-fold search strategy for dark sectors through
direct and indirect observables.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl
Broad Spectrum Antiviral Activity of Favipiravir (T-705): Protection from Highly Lethal Inhalational Rift Valley Fever
Background:Development of antiviral drugs that have broad-spectrum activity against a number of viral infections would be of significant benefit. Due to the evolution of resistance to currently licensed antiviral drugs, development of novel anti-influenza drugs is in progress, including Favipiravir (T-705), which is currently in human clinical trials. T-705 displays broad-spectrum in vitro activity against a number of viruses, including Rift Valley Fever virus (RVFV). RVF is an important neglected tropical disease that causes human, agricultural, and economic losses in endemic regions. RVF has the capacity to emerge in new locations and also presents a potential bioterrorism threat. In the current study, the in vivo efficacy of T-705 was evaluated in Wistar-Furth rats infected with the virulent ZH501 strain of RVFV by the aerosol route.Methodology/Principal Findings:Wistar-Furth rats are highly susceptible to a rapidly lethal disease after parenteral or inhalational exposure to the pathogenic ZH501 strain of RVFV. In the current study, two experiments were performed: a dose-determination study and a delayed-treatment study. In both experiments, all untreated control rats succumbed to disease. Out of 72 total rats infected with RVFV and treated with T-705, only 6 succumbed to disease. The remaining 66 rats (92%) survived lethal infection with no significant weight loss or fever. The 6 treated rats that succumbed survived significantly longer before succumbing to encephalitic disease.Conclusions/Significance:Currently, there are no licensed antiviral drugs for treating RVF. Here, T-705 showed remarkable efficacy in a highly lethal rat model of Rift Valley Fever, even when given up to 48 hours post-infection. This is the first study to show protection of rats infected with the pathogenic ZH501 strain of RVFV. Our data suggest that T-705 has potential to be a broad-spectrum antiviral drug. © 2014 Caroline et al
What is Quantum? Unifying Its Micro-Physical and Structural Appearance
We can recognize two modes in which 'quantum appears' in macro domains: (i) a
'micro-physical appearance', where quantum laws are assumed to be universal and
they are transferred from the micro to the macro level if suitable 'quantum
coherence' conditions (e.g., very low temperatures) are realized, (ii) a
'structural appearance', where no hypothesis is made on the validity of quantum
laws at a micro level, while genuine quantum aspects are detected at a
structural-modeling level. In this paper, we inquire into the connections
between the two appearances. We put forward the explanatory hypothesis that,
'the appearance of quantum in both cases' is due to 'the existence of a
specific form of organisation, which has the capacity to cope with random
perturbations that would destroy this organisation when not coped with'. We
analyse how 'organisation of matter', 'organisation of life', and 'organisation
of culture', play this role each in their specific domain of application, point
out the importance of evolution in this respect, and put forward how our
analysis sheds new light on 'what quantum is'.Comment: 10 page
Vacuum Stability, Perturbativity, and Scalar Singlet Dark Matter
We analyze the one-loop vacuum stability and perturbativity bounds on a
singlet extension of the Standard Model (SM) scalar sector containing a scalar
dark matter candidate. We show that the presence of the singlet-doublet quartic
interaction relaxes the vacuum stability lower bound on the SM Higgs mass as a
function of the cutoff and lowers the corresponding upper bound based on
perturbativity considerations. We also find that vacuum stability requirements
may place a lower bound on the singlet dark matter mass for given singlet
quartic self coupling, leading to restrictions on the parameter space
consistent with the observed relic density. We argue that discovery of a light
singlet scalar dark matter particle could provide indirect information on the
singlet quartic self-coupling.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures; v2 - fixed minor typos; v3 - added to text
discussions of other references, changed coloring of figures for easier black
and white viewin
The Pioneer Anomaly
Radio-metric Doppler tracking data received from the Pioneer 10 and 11
spacecraft from heliocentric distances of 20-70 AU has consistently indicated
the presence of a small, anomalous, blue-shifted frequency drift uniformly
changing with a rate of ~6 x 10^{-9} Hz/s. Ultimately, the drift was
interpreted as a constant sunward deceleration of each particular spacecraft at
the level of a_P = (8.74 +/- 1.33) x 10^{-10} m/s^2. This apparent violation of
the Newton's gravitational inverse-square law has become known as the Pioneer
anomaly; the nature of this anomaly remains unexplained. In this review, we
summarize the current knowledge of the physical properties of the anomaly and
the conditions that led to its detection and characterization. We review
various mechanisms proposed to explain the anomaly and discuss the current
state of efforts to determine its nature. A comprehensive new investigation of
the anomalous behavior of the two Pioneers has begun recently. The new efforts
rely on the much-extended set of radio-metric Doppler data for both spacecraft
in conjunction with the newly available complete record of their telemetry
files and a large archive of original project documentation. As the new study
is yet to report its findings, this review provides the necessary background
for the new results to appear in the near future. In particular, we provide a
significant amount of information on the design, operations and behavior of the
two Pioneers during their entire missions, including descriptions of various
data formats and techniques used for their navigation and radio-science data
analysis. As most of this information was recovered relatively recently, it was
not used in the previous studies of the Pioneer anomaly, but it is critical for
the new investigation.Comment: 165 pages, 40 figures, 16 tables; accepted for publication in Living
Reviews in Relativit
Neurodegeneration and Epilepsy in a Zebrafish Model of CLN3 Disease (Batten Disease)
The neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses are a group of lysosomal storage disorders that comprise the most common, genetically heterogeneous, fatal neurodegenerative disorders of children. They are characterised by childhood onset, visual failure, epileptic seizures, psychomotor retardation and dementia. CLN3 disease, also known as Batten disease, is caused by autosomal recessive mutations in the CLN3 gene, 80–85% of which are a ~1 kb deletion. Currently no treatments exist, and after much suffering, the disease inevitably results in premature death. The aim of this study was to generate a zebrafish model of CLN3 disease using antisense morpholino injection, and characterise the pathological and functional consequences of Cln3 deficiency, thereby providing a tool for future drug discovery. The model was shown to faithfully recapitulate the pathological signs of CLN3 disease, including reduced survival, neuronal loss, retinopathy, axonopathy, loss of motor function, lysosomal storage of subunit c of mitochondrial ATP synthase, and epileptic seizures, albeit with an earlier onset and faster progression than the human disease. Our study provides proof of principle that the advantages of the zebrafish over other model systems can be utilised to further our understanding of the pathogenesis of CLN3 disease and accelerate drug discovery
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