816 research outputs found
On Invited Inferences
This work was supported in part by the 1970 MSSB Advanced Research Seminar in Mathematical Linguistics, sponsored by the National Science Foundation through a grant to the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, and held at the Ohio State University
Rapid and Precise Semi-Automatic Axon Quantification in Human Peripheral Nerves
We developed a time-efficient semi-automated axon quantification method using freeware in human cranial nerve sections stained with paraphenylenediamine (PPD). It was used to analyze a total of 1238 facial and masseteric nerve biopsies. The technique was validated by comparing manual and semi-automated quantification of 129 (10.4%) randomly selected biopsies. The software-based method demonstrated a sensitivity of 94% and a specificity of 87%. Semi-automatic axon counting was significantly faster (p<0.001) than manual counting. It took 1hour and 47minutes for all 129 biopsies (averaging 50sec per biopsy, 0.04seconds per axon). The counting process is automatic and does not need to be supervised. Manual counting took 21hours and 6minutes in total (average 9minutes and 49seconds per biopsy, 0.52seconds per axon). Our method showed a linear correlation to the manual counts (R=0.944 Spearman rho). Attempts have been made by several research groups to automate axonal load quantification. These methods often require specific hard- and software and are therefore only accessible to a few specialized laboratories. Our semi-automated axon quantification is precise, reliable and time-sparing using publicly available software and should be useful for an effective axon quantification in various human peripheral nerves
Star Formation in M51 Triggered by Galaxy Interaction
We have mapped the inner 360'' regions of M51 in the 158micron [CII] line at
55'' spatial resolution using the Far-infrared Imaging Fabry-Perot
Interferometer (FIFI) on the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO). The emission is
peaked at the nucleus, but is detectable over the entire region mapped, which
covers much of the optical disk of the galaxy. There are also two strong
secondary peaks at ~43% to 70% of the nuclear value located roughly 120'' to
the north-east, and south-west of the nucleus. These secondary peaks are at the
same distance from the nucleus as the corotation radius of the density wave
pattern. The density wave also terminates at this location, and the outlying
spiral structure is attributed to material clumping due to the interaction
between M51 and NGC5195. This orbit crowding results in cloud-cloud collisions,
stimulating star formation, that we see as enhanced [CII] line emission. The
[CII] emission at the peaks originates mainly from photodissociation regions
(PDRs) formed on the surfaces of molecular clouds that are exposed to OB
starlight, so that these [CII] peaks trace star formation peaks in M51. The
total mass of [CII] emitting photodissociated gas is ~2.6x10^{8} M_{sun}, or
about 2% of the molecular gas as estimated from its CO(1-0) line emission. At
the peak [CII] positions, the PDR gas mass to total gas mass fraction is
somewhat higher, 3-17%, and at the secondary peaks the mass fraction of the
[CII] emitting photodissociated gas can be as high as 72% of the molecular
mass.... (continued)Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, Accepted in ApJ (for higher resolution figures
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China’s emerging global role: dissatisfied responsible great power
China has (re)emerged as a great power in a world not of its own making. The distribution of power in major organisations and the dominant norms of international interactions are deemed to unfairly favour the existing Western powers, and at times obstruct China’s ability to meet national development goals. Nevertheless, engaging the global economy has been a key source of economic growth (thus helping to maintain regime stability), and establishing China’s credentials as a responsible global actor is seen as a means of ensuring continued access to what China needs. As an emerging great power that is also still in many respects a developing country, China’s challenge is to change the global order in ways that do not cause global instability or generate crises that would damage China’s own ability to generate economic growth and ensure political stability
Lowering the radioactivity of the photomultiplier tubes for the XENON1T dark matter experiment
The low-background, VUV-sensitive 3-inch diameter photomultiplier tube R11410
has been developed by Hamamatsu for dark matter direct detection experiments
using liquid xenon as the target material. We present the results from the
joint effort between the XENON collaboration and the Hamamatsu company to
produce a highly radio-pure photosensor (version R11410-21) for the XENON1T
dark matter experiment. After introducing the photosensor and its components,
we show the methods and results of the radioactive contamination measurements
of the individual materials employed in the photomultiplier production. We then
discuss the adopted strategies to reduce the radioactivity of the various PMT
versions. Finally, we detail the results from screening 216 tubes with
ultra-low background germanium detectors, as well as their implications for the
expected electronic and nuclear recoil background of the XENON1T experiment.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
Search for Event Rate Modulation in XENON100 Electronic Recoil Data
We have searched for periodic variations of the electronic recoil event rate
in the (2-6) keV energy range recorded between February 2011 and March 2012
with the XENON100 detector, adding up to 224.6 live days in total. Following a
detailed study to establish the stability of the detector and its background
contributions during this run, we performed an un-binned profile likelihood
analysis to identify any periodicity up to 500 days. We find a global
significance of less than 1 sigma for all periods suggesting no statistically
significant modulation in the data. While the local significance for an annual
modulation is 2.8 sigma, the analysis of a multiple-scatter control sample and
the phase of the modulation disfavor a dark matter interpretation. The
DAMA/LIBRA annual modulation interpreted as a dark matter signature with
axial-vector coupling of WIMPs to electrons is excluded at 4.8 sigma.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Search for Two-Neutrino Double Electron Capture of Xe with XENON100
Two-neutrino double electron capture is a rare nuclear decay where two
electrons are simultaneously captured from the atomic shell. For Xe
this process has not yet been observed and its detection would provide a new
reference for nuclear matrix element calculations. We have conducted a search
for two-neutrino double electron capture from the K-shell of Xe using
7636 kgd of data from the XENON100 dark matter detector. Using a
Bayesian analysis we observed no significant excess above background, leading
to a lower 90 % credibility limit on the half-life
yr. We also evaluated the sensitivity of the XENON1T experiment, which is
currently being commissioned, and find a sensitivity of
yr after an exposure of 2 tyr.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Removing krypton from xenon by cryogenic distillation to the ppq level
The XENON1T experiment aims for the direct detection of dark matter in a
cryostat filled with 3.3 tons of liquid xenon. In order to achieve the desired
sensitivity, the background induced by radioactive decays inside the detector
has to be sufficiently low. One major contributor is the -emitter
Kr which is an intrinsic contamination of the xenon. For the XENON1T
experiment a concentration of natural krypton in xenon Kr/Xe < 200
ppq (parts per quadrillion, 1 ppq = 10 mol/mol) is required. In this
work, the design of a novel cryogenic distillation column using the common
McCabe-Thiele approach is described. The system demonstrated a krypton
reduction factor of 6.410 with thermodynamic stability at process
speeds above 3 kg/h. The resulting concentration of Kr/Xe < 26 ppq
is the lowest ever achieved, almost one order of magnitude below the
requirements for XENON1T and even sufficient for future dark matter experiments
using liquid xenon, such as XENONnT and DARWIN
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