1,991 research outputs found
Magnetic Field Effects on the Structure and Evolution of Overdense Radiatively Cooling Jets
We investigate the effect of magnetic fields on the propagation dynamics and
morphology of overdense, radiatively cooling, supermagnetosonic jets, with the
help of fully three-dimensional SPMHD simulations. Evaluated for a set of
parameters which are mainly suitable for protostellar jets (with density ratios
between the jet and the ambient medium 3-10, and ambient Mach number ~ 24),
these simulations are also compared with baseline non-magnetic and adiabatic
calculations. We find that, after amplification by compression and
re-orientation in nonparallel shocks at the working surface, the magnetic field
that is carried backward with the shocked gas into the cocoon improves the jet
collimation relative to the purely hydrodynamic (HD) systems. Low-amplitude,
approximately equally spaced internal shocks (which are absent in the HD
systems) are produced by MHD K-H reflection pinch modes. The longitudinal field
geometry also excites non-axisymmetric helical modes which cause some beam
wiggling. The strength and amount of these modes are, however, reduced (by ~
twice) in the presence of radiative cooling relative to the adiabatic cases.
Besides, a large density ratio between the jet and the ambient medium also
reduces, in general, the number of the internal shocks. As a consequence, the
weakness of the induced internal shocks makes it doubtful that the magnetic
pinches could produce by themselves the bright knots observed in the overdense,
radiatively cooling protostellar jets.Comment: To appear in ApJ; 36 pages + 16 (gif) figures. PostScript files of
figures are available at http://www.iagusp.usp.br/preprints/preprint.htm
The Possibility of Thermal Instability in Early-Type Stars Due to Alfven Waves
It was shown by dos Santos et al. the importance of Alfv\'en waves to explain
the winds of Wolf-Rayet stars. We investigate here the possible importance of
Alfv\'en waves in the creation of inhomogeneities in the winds of early-type
stars. The observed infrared emission (at the base of the wind) of early-type
stars is often larger than expected. The clumping explains this characteristic
in the wind, increasing the mean density and hence the emission measure, making
possible to understand the observed infrared, as well as the observed
enhancement in the blue wing of the line. In this study, we
investigate the formation of these clumps a via thermal instability. The
heat-loss function used, , includes physical processes such as:
emission of (continuous and line) recombination radiation; resonance line
emission excited by electron collisions; thermal bremsstrahlung; Compton
heating and cooling; and damping of Alfv\'en waves. As a result of this
heat-loss function we show the existence of two stable equilibrium regions. The
stable equilibrium region at high temperature is the diffuse medium and at low
temperature the clumps. Using this reasonable heat-loss function, we show that
the two stable equilibrium regions can coexist over a narrow range of pressures
describing the diffuse medium and the clumps.Comment: 21 pages (psfig.sty), 5 figures (included), ApJ accepted. Also
available at http://www.iagusp.usp.br/preprints/preprint.htm
Gestational age acceleration is associated with epigenetic biomarkers of prenatal physiologic stress exposure
BACKGROUND: Physiological maternal stress response, such as imbalance in the glucocorticoid pathway and immune system seems to be mediated by DNA methylation (DNAm) and might translate intrauterine stress exposures into phenotypic changes in a sex-specific manner. DNAm in specific sites can also predict newborn gestational age and gestational age acceleration (GAA). GAA occurs when the predicted biological age is higher than the chronological age. In adults, poor health outcomes related to this deviance are well documented and raise questions for the interpretation and prediction in early stages of life. Boys seem to be more vulnerable to intrauterine stress exposure than girls; however, the mechanisms of adaptive sex-specific responses are still unclear. We hypothesize that intrauterine stress exposure is associated with GAA and could be different in boys and girls if inflammatory or glucocorticoid pathways exposure is considered. RESULTS: Using the Western Region Birth Cohort (ROC-Sao Paulo, Brazil) (n = 83), we calculated DNAm age and GAA from cord blood samples. Two epigenetic risk scores were calculated as an indirect proxy for low-grade inflammation (i-ePGS) and for glucocorticoid exposure (GES). Multivariate linear regression models were applied to investigate associations of GAA with prenatal exposures. The i-ePGS and GES were included in different models with the same co-variates considering sex interactions. The first multivariate model investigating inflammatory exposure (adj. R(2) = 0.31, p = < 0.001) showed that GAA was positively associated with i-ePGS (CI, 0.26-113.87, p = 0.049) and negative pregnancy-related feelings (CI, 0.04-0.48 p = 0.019). No sex interaction was observed. The second model investigating glucocorticoid exposure (adj. R(2) = 0.32, p = < 0.001) showed that the higher was the GAA was associated with a lower the lower was the GES in girls (CI, 0.04-2.55, p = 0.044). In both models, maternal self-reported mental disorder was negatively associated with GAA. CONCLUSION: Prenatal epigenetic score of exposure to low-grade inflammatory was a predictor of GAA for both sexes. Glucocorticoid epigenetic score seems to be more important to GAA in girls. This study supports the evidence of sex-specificity in stress response, suggesting the glucocorticoid as a possible pathway adopted by girls to accelerate the maturation in an adverse condition
Presence of Enterobacteriaceae and Clostridiaceae in thte soil according to the use of biofertilizers of feces from goats and sheep.
The use of biofertilizers appears as an alternative to the use of chemical fertilizers and use of residues generated by animal production. However, the presence of possible pathogens belonging to the families Enterobacteriaceae and Clostridiaceae in biofertilizers from feces can lead to sanitary and ecological problems
Estudo prospectivo: demanda de pesquisa e transferência de tecnologia com extrativismo do babaçu e com projetos de assentamentos ambientalmente sustentáveis no Maranhão.
O babaçu representa um expressivo recurso do extrativismo vegetal no Maranhão. Geralmente, a posse da terra não é dos extrativistas e o acesso destes é realizado por parcerias com os latifundiários, tanto na produção agrícola quanto na forma de comercialização das amêndoas. Porém, os proprietários das terras também limitam o acesso de extrativistas motivados por outros interesses de produção em suas terras, portanto a coleta de cocos oscila, ao correr das circunstâncias. De maneira geral, os estudos mostram um prognóstico de declínio da comercialização do babaçu, em virtude das problemáticas dos direitos de propriedade e da concorrência com outras espécies, que também são utilizadas na produção de óleo
Preparation of robust polyamide microcapsules by interfacial polycondensation of p-phenylenediamine and sebacoyl chloride and plasticization with oleic acid
Microcapsules produced by interfacial polycondensation of p-phenylenediamine (PPD) and sebacoyl chloride (SC) were studied. The products were characterized in terms of morphology, mean diameter and effectiveness of dodecane encapsulation. The use of Tween 20 as dispersion stabilizer, in comparison with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), reduced considerably the mean diameter of the microcapsules and originated smoother wall surfaces. When compared to ethylenediamine (EDA), microcapsules produced with PPD monomer were more rigid and brittle, prone to fracture during processing and ineffective retention of the core liquid. The use of diethylenetriamine (DETA) cross-linker in combination with PPD did not decrease capsule fragility. On the other hand, addition of a small fraction of oleic acid to the organic phase remarkably improved wall toughness and lead to successful encapsulation of the core-oil. Oleic acid is believed to act as a plasticizer. Its incorporation in the polymeric wall was demonstrated by FTIR and (1)H-NMR.This work was funded by FEDER funds through the Operational
Programme for Competitiveness Factors (COMPETE), ON.2 – O Novo
Norte – North Portugal Regional Operational Programme and National
Funds through Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the projects: PEst-C/EQB/UI0511, NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000026 – RL1_ Energy and PTDC/CTM-NAN/119979/2010. The Bruker Avance III 400 spectrometer is part of the National NMR network and was purchased under the framework of the National Programme for Scientific Reequipment, REDE/1517/RMN/2005, with funds from POCI 2010 (FEDER) and (FCT). Joana R. Góis acknowledges FCT-MCTES for her PhD scholarship (SFRH/BD/69635/2010)
Observing Non-Gaussian Sources in Heavy-Ion Reactions
We examine the possibility of extracting non-Gaussian sources from
two-particle correlations in heavy-ion reactions. Non-Gaussian sources have
been predicted in a variety of model calculations and may have been seen in
various like-meson pair correlations. As a tool for this investigation, we have
developed an improved imaging method that relies on a Basis spline expansion of
the source functions with an improved implementation of constraints. We examine
under what conditions this improved method can distinguish between Gaussian and
non-Gaussian sources. Finally, we investigate pion, kaon, and proton sources
from the p-Pb reaction at 450 GeV/nucleon and from the S-Pb reaction at 200
GeV/nucleon studied by the NA44 experiment. Both the pion and kaon sources from
the S-Pb correlations seem to exhibit a Gaussian core with an extended,
non-Gaussian halo. We also find evidence for a scaling of the source widths
with particle mass in the sources from the p-Pb reaction.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures, 5 tables, uses RevTex3.
Analysis of Long-Lived Slepton NLSP in GMSB model at Linear Collider
We performed an analysis on the detection of a long-lived slepton at a linear
collider with GeV. In GMSB models a long-lived NLSP is predicted
for large value of the supersymmetry breaking scale . Furthermore in
a large portion of the parameter space this particle is a stau. Such heavy
charged particles will leave a track in the tracking volume and hit the muonic
detector. In order to disentangle this signal from the muon background, we
explore kinematics and particle identification tools: time of flight device,
dE/dX and Cerenkov devices. We show that a linear collider will be able to
detect long-lived staus with masses up to the kinematical limit of the machine.
We also present our estimation of the sensitivity to the stau lifetime.Comment: Minor changes, Ref. 10 fixed. 12 pages, RevTex, 4 eps figure
The Hahn Quantum Variational Calculus
We introduce the Hahn quantum variational calculus. Necessary and sufficient
optimality conditions for the basic, isoperimetric, and Hahn quantum Lagrange
problems, are studied. We also show the validity of Leitmann's direct method
for the Hahn quantum variational calculus, and give explicit solutions to some
concrete problems. To illustrate the results, we provide several examples and
discuss a quantum version of the well known Ramsey model of economics.Comment: Submitted: 3/March/2010; 4th revision: 9/June/2010; accepted:
18/June/2010; for publication in Journal of Optimization Theory and
Application
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