188 research outputs found
In search of hair damage using metabolomics?
YesHair fibres are extraordinary materials, not least because they are exquisitely formed by each of the 5 million or so hair follicles on our bodies and have functions that cross from physiology to psychology, but also because they have well known resistance to degradation as seen in hair surviving from archaeological and historical samples [1]. Hair fibres on the head grow at around 1cm each month, together totalling approximately 12km of growth per person per year. Each fibre is incredibly strong for its small diameter; with one fibre typically holding 100g and together a well-formed ponytail [allegedly] has the collective strength to support the weight of a small elephant! Hair – and from here I mean scalp hair – is under constant scrutiny by each of us; whether it be style, split ends, the first few grey hairs or the collection of hairs in the shower that should be firmly attached - leading to the fear that is hair loss
Relativistic description of electron scattering on the deuteron
Within a quasipotential framework a relativistic analysis is presented of the
deuteron current. Assuming that the singularities from the nucleon propagators
are important, a so-called equal time approximation of the current is
constructed. This is applied to both elastic and inelastic electron scattering.
As dynamical model the relativistic one boson exchange model is used.
Reasonable agreement is found with a previous relativistic calculation of the
elastic electromagnetic form factors of the deuteron. For the unpolarized
inelastic electron scattering effects of final state interactions and
relativistic corrections to the structure functions are considered in the
impulse approximation. Two specific kinematic situations are studied as
examples.Comment: (19 pages in revtex + 15 figures not included, available upon
request.) report THU-93-10
UNDERSTANDING THE SCALAR MESON NONET
It is shown that one can fit the available data on the a0(980), f0(980),
f0(1300) and K*0(1430) mesons as a distorted 0++ qq bar nonet using very few
(5-6) parameters and an improved version of the unitarized quark model. This
includes all light two-pseudoscalar thresholds, constraints from Adler zeroes,
flavour symmetric couplings, unitarity and physically acceptable analyticity.
The parameters include a bare uu bar or dd bar mass, an over-all coupling
constant, a cutoff and a strange quark mass of 100 MeV, which is in accord with
expectations from the quark model.
It is found that in particular for the a0(980) and f0(980) the KK bar
component in the wave function is large, i.e., for a large fraction of the time
the qq bar state is transformed into a virtual KK bar pair. This KK bar
component, together with a similar component of eta' pi for the a0(980) , and
eta eta, eta eta' and eta' eta' components for the f0(980), causes the
substantial shift to a lower mass than what is naively expected from the qq bar
component alone.
Mass, width and mixing parameters, including sheet and pole positions, of the
four resonances are given, with a detailed pedagogical discussion of their
meaning.Comment: 35 pages in plain latex (ZPC in press), 10 figures obtainable from
the author ([email protected]) with regular mail or as a large PS
fil
Proton propagation in nuclei studied in the (e,e’p) reaction
Proton propagation in nuclei was studied using the (e,e’p) reaction in the quasifree region. The coincidence (e,e’p) cross sections were measured at an electron angle of 50.4° and proton angles of 50.1°, 58.2°, 67.9°, and 72.9° for 12C, 27Al, 58Ni, and 181Ta targets at a beam energy of 779.5 MeV. The average outgoing proton energy was 180 MeV. The ratio of the (e,e’p) yield to the simultaneously measured (e,e’) yield was compared to that calculated in the plane-wave impulse approximation and an experimental transmission defined. These experimental transmissions are considerably larger (a factor of ∼2 for 181Ta) than those one would calculate from the free N-N cross sections folded into the nuclear density distribution. A new calculation that includes medium effects (N-N correlations, density dependence of the N-N cross sections and Pauli suppression) accounts for this increase
Optimizing real time fMRI neurofeedback for therapeutic discovery and development
While reducing the burden of brain disorders remains a top priority of organizations like the World Health Organization and National Institutes of Health, the development of novel, safe and effective treatments for brain disorders has been slow. In this paper, we describe the state of the science for an emerging technology, real time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rtfMRI) neurofeedback, in clinical neurotherapeutics. We review the scientific potential of rtfMRI and outline research strategies to optimize the development and application of rtfMRI neurofeedback as a next generation therapeutic tool. We propose that rtfMRI can be used to address a broad range of clinical problems by improving our understanding of brain–behavior relationships in order to develop more specific and effective interventions for individuals with brain disorders. We focus on the use of rtfMRI neurofeedback as a clinical neurotherapeutic tool to drive plasticity in brain function, cognition, and behavior. Our overall goal is for rtfMRI to advance personalized assessment and intervention approaches to enhance resilience and reduce morbidity by correcting maladaptive patterns of brain function in those with brain disorders
Experimental Tests of Factorization in Charmless Non-Leptonic Two-Body B Decays
Using a theoretical framework based on the next-to-leading order QCD-improved
effective Hamiltonian and a factorization Ansatz for the hadronic matrix
elements of the four-quark operators, we reassess branching fractions in
two-body non-leptonic decays , involving the lowest lying
light pseudoscalar and vector mesons in the standard model. Using
the sensitivity of the decay rates on the effective number of colors, , as
a criterion of theoretical predictivity, we classify all the current-current
(tree) and penguin transitions in five different classes. The recently measured
charmless two-body decays and charge conjugates) are
dominated by the -stable QCD penguins (class-IV transitions) and their
estimates are consistent with data. The measured charmless and transition ,
on the other hand, belong to the penguin (class-V) and tree (class-III)
transitions. The class-V penguin transitions are in general more difficult to
predict. We propose a number of tests of the factorization framework in terms
of the ratios of branching ratios for some selected decays
involving light hadrons and , which depend only moderately on the
form factors. We also propose a set of measurements to determine the effective
coefficients of the current-current and QCD penguin operators. The potential
impact of decays on the CKM phenomenology is emphasized by
analyzing a number of decay rates in the factorization framework.Comment: 64 pages (LaTex) including 13 figures, requires epsfig.sty; submitted
to Phys. Rev.
Ward Identities, B-> \rho Form Factors and |V_ub|
The exclusive FCNC beauty semileptonic decay B-> \rho is studied using Ward
identities in a general vector meson dominance framework, predicting vector
meson couplings involved. The long distance contributions are discussed which
results to obtain form factors and |V_ub|. A detailed comparison is given with
other approaches.Comment: 30 pages+four postscript figures, an Appendix adde
Seismology of the Sun : Inference of Thermal, Dynamic and Magnetic Field Structures of the Interior
Recent overwhelming evidences show that the sun strongly influences the
Earth's climate and environment. Moreover existence of life on this Earth
mainly depends upon the sun's energy. Hence, understanding of physics of the
sun, especially the thermal, dynamic and magnetic field structures of its
interior, is very important. Recently, from the ground and space based
observations, it is discovered that sun oscillates near 5 min periodicity in
millions of modes. This discovery heralded a new era in solar physics and a
separate branch called helioseismology or seismology of the sun has started.
Before the advent of helioseismology, sun's thermal structure of the interior
was understood from the evolutionary solution of stellar structure equations
that mimicked the present age, mass and radius of the sun. Whereas solution of
MHD equations yielded internal dynamics and magnetic field structure of the
sun's interior. In this presentation, I review the thermal, dynamic and
magnetic field structures of the sun's interior as inferred by the
helioseismology.Comment: To be published in the proceedings of the meeting "3rd International
Conference on Current Developments in Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Nano
Physics with Applications", December 14-16, 2011, New Delhi, Indi
Leptonic and Semileptonic Decays of Charm and Bottom Hadrons
We review the experimental measurements and theoretical descriptions of
leptonic and semileptonic decays of particles containing a single heavy quark,
either charm or bottom. Measurements of bottom semileptonic decays are used to
determine the magnitudes of two fundamental parameters of the standard model,
the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements and . These
parameters are connected with the physics of quark flavor and mass, and they
have important implications for the breakdown of CP symmetry. To extract
precise values of and from measurements, however,
requires a good understanding of the decay dynamics. Measurements of both charm
and bottom decay distributions provide information on the interactions
governing these processes. The underlying weak transition in each case is
relatively simple, but the strong interactions that bind the quarks into
hadrons introduce complications. We also discuss new theoretical approaches,
especially heavy-quark effective theory and lattice QCD, which are providing
insights and predictions now being tested by experiment. An international
effort at many laboratories will rapidly advance knowledge of this physics
during the next decade.Comment: This review article will be published in Reviews of Modern Physics in
the fall, 1995. This file contains only the abstract and the table of
contents. The full 168-page document including 47 figures is available at
http://charm.physics.ucsb.edu/papers/slrevtex.p
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