32,048 research outputs found
Apollo helmet dosimetry experiments Final report
Procedure for measuring heavy cosmic ray particles directly incident on spacecrew
The Index Theorem and Universality Properties of the Low-lying Eigenvalues of Improved Staggered Quarks
We study various improved staggered quark Dirac operators on quenched gluon
backgrounds in lattice QCD generated using a Symanzik-improved gluon action. We
find a clear separation of the spectrum into would-be zero modes and others.
The number of would-be zero modes depends on the topological charge as expected
from the Index Theorem, and their chirality expectation value is large
(approximately 0.7). The remaining modes have low chirality and show clear
signs of clustering into quartets and approaching the random matrix theory
predictions for all topological charge sectors. We conclude that improvement of
the fermionic and gauge actions moves the staggered quarks closer to the
continuum limit where they respond correctly to QCD topology.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Increased platelet reactivity in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is mediated by a plasma factor
Introduction Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive, incurable fibrotic interstitial lung disease with a prognosis worse than many cancers. Its pathogenesis is poorly understood. Activated platelets can release pro-fibrotic mediators that have the potential to contribute to lung fibrosis. We determine platelet reactivity in subjects with IPF compared to age-matched controls. Methods Whole blood flow cytometry was used to measure platelet-monocyte aggregate formation, platelet P-selectin expression and platelet fibrinogen binding at basal levels and following stimulation with platelet agonists. A plasma swap approach was used to assess the effect of IPF plasma on control platelets. Results Subjects with IPF showed greater platelet reactivity than controls. Platelet P-selectin expression was significantly greater in IPF patients than controls following stimulation with 0.1 µM ADP (1.9% positive ±0.5 (mean ± SEM) versus 0.7%±0.1; p = 0.03), 1 µM ADP (9.8%±1.3 versus 3.3%±0.8; p<0.01) and 10 µM ADP (41.3%±4.2 versus 22.5%±2.6; p<0.01). Platelet fibrinogen binding was also increased, and platelet activation resulted in increased platelet-monocyte aggregate formation in IPF patients. Re-suspension of control platelets in plasma taken from subjects with IPF resulted in increased platelet activation compared to control plasma. Conclusions IPF patients exhibit increased platelet reactivity compared with controls. This hyperactivity may result from the plasma environment since control platelets exhibit increased activation when exposed to IPF plasma
Electronic Raman scattering in Magnetite, Spin vs. Charge gap
We report Raman scattering data of single crystals of magnetite (Fe3O4) with
Verwey transition temperatures (Tv) of 123 and 117K, respectively. Both single
crystals reveal broad electronic background extending up to 900 wavenumbers
(~110 meV). Redistribution of this background is observed when samples are
cooled below Tv. In particular, spectra of the low temperature phase show
diminished background below 300 wavenumbers followed by an enhancement of the
electronic background between 300 and 400 wavenumbers. To enhance the effect of
this background redistribution we divide the spectra just below the transition
by the spectra just above the transition. A resultant broad peak-like feature
is observed, centered at 370 wavenumbers (45 meV). The peak position of this
feature does not scale with the transition temperature. We discuss two
alternative assignments of this feature to a spin or charge gap in magnetite.Comment: 4 figures, 1 tabl
Monopole clusters, Z(2) vortices and confinement in SU(2)
We extend our previous study of magnetic monopole currents in the maximally
Abelian gauge [hep-lat/9712003] to larger lattices at small lattice spacings
(20^4 at beta = 2.5 and 32^4 at beta = 2.5115). We confirm that at these weak
couplings there continues to be one monopole cluster that is very much longer
than the rest and that the string tension, K, is entirely due to it. The
remaining clusters are compact objects whose population as a function of radius
follows a power law that deviates from the scale invariant form, but much too
weakly to suggest a link with the analytically calculable size distribution of
small instantons. We also search for traces of Z(2) vortices in the Abelian
projected fields; either as closed loops of `magnetic' flux or through
appropriate correlations amongst the monopoles. We find, by direct calculation,
that there is no confining condensate of such flux loops. We also find, through
the calculation of doubly charged Wilson loops within the monopole fields, that
there is no suppression of the q=2 effective string tension out to at distances
of at least r ~ 1.6/sqrt{K}, suggesting that if there are any vortices they are
not encoded in the monopole fields.Comment: 26 pages of LaTeX and PostScript figure
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Contributions of anterior cingulate cortex and basolateral amygdala to decision confidence and learning under uncertainty.
The subjective sense of certainty, or confidence, in ambiguous sensory cues can alter the interpretation of reward feedback and facilitate learning. We trained rats to report the orientation of ambiguous visual stimuli according to a spatial stimulus-response rule that must be learned. Following choice, rats could wait a self-timed delay for reward or initiate a new trial. Waiting times increase with discrimination accuracy, demonstrating that this measure can be used as a proxy for confidence. Chemogenetic silencing of BLA shortens waiting times overall whereas ACC inhibition renders waiting times insensitive to confidence-modulating attributes of visual stimuli, suggesting contribution of ACC but not BLA to confidence computations. Subsequent reversal learning is enhanced by confidence. Both ACC and BLA inhibition block this enhancement but via differential adjustments in learning strategies and consistent use of learned rules. Altogether, we demonstrate dissociable roles for ACC and BLA in transmitting confidence and learning under uncertainty
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