Encapsulation of Bifidobacterium longum in alginate-dairy matrices and survival in simulated gastrointestinal conditions, refrigeration, cow milk and goat milk

The aim of this study was to microencapsulate Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis CCUG 52486 using the extrusion method in a variety of matrices, namely sodium alginate (SA), sodium alginate-cow milk (SACM), sodium alginate-goat milk (SAGM) and sodium alginate-casein hydrolysate (SACH), and to evaluate the survival of free and encapsulated bacterial cells under different conditions. The encapsulation yield, size and surface morphology of the microcapsules were evaluated. The survival of microencapsulated bacterial cells and free bacterial cells were evaluated under simulated gastrointestinal conditions as well as in refrigeration, cow milk and goat milk during storage at 4 oC for 28 days. The average size of SACM capsules and SAGM capsules was 2.8±0.3 mm and 3.1±0.2 mm respectively. Goat milk and cow milk based matrices resulted in dense microcapsules which led to better performances in simulated gastrointestinal conditions than SA and SACH microcapsules. The bacterial cells encapsulated in SAGM showed the highest survival rate in cow milk (7.61 log cfu g-1) and goat milk (8.10 log cfu g-1) after the storage of 28 d. The cells encapsulated in SA and SACH and the free cells performed poorly under the simulated gastrointestinal conditions and in all different storage conditions. This study showed that SACM and SAGM are suitable to encapsulate B. longum subsp. infantis CCUG 52486 using the extrusion technique and more specifically, SAGM has a potential to be used as a new encapsulation material for encapsulating probiotic bacteria, resulting milk and goat milk-based products with higher probiotic cell concentrations during refrigerated storage

Newtonian Limit of Conformal Gravity

We study the weak-field limit of the static spherically symmetric solution of the locally conformally invariant theory advocated in the recent past by Mannheim and Kazanas as an alternative to Einstein's General Relativity. In contrast with the previous works, we consider the physically relevant case where the scalar field that breaks conformal symmetry and generates fermion masses is nonzero. In the physical gauge, in which this scalar field is constant in space-time, the solution reproduces the weak-field limit of the Schwarzschild--(anti)DeSitter solution modified by an additional term that, depending on the sign of the Weyl term in the action, is either oscillatory or exponential as a function of the radial distance. Such behavior reflects the presence of, correspondingly, either a tachion or a massive ghost in the spectrum, which is a serious drawback of the theory under discussion.Comment: 9 pages, comments and references added; the version to be published in Phys. Rev.

Control of conditional pattern with polarization entanglement

Conditional interference patterns can be obtained with twin photons from spontaneous parametric down-conversion and the phase of the pattern can be controlled by the relative transverse position of the signal and idler detectors. Using a configuration that produces entangled photons in both polarization and transverse momentum we report on the control of the conditional patterns by acting on the polarization degree of freedom.Comment: Submitted for publication in Optics Communication

White holes and eternal black holes

We investigate isolated white holes surrounded by vacuum, which correspond to the time reversal of eternal black holes that do not evaporate. We show that isolated white holes produce quasi- thermal Hawking radiation. The time reversal of this radiation, incident on a black hole precursor, constitutes a special preparation that will cause the black hole to become eternal.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, revtex; revised version to appear in Classical and Quantum Gravit

Gauge Transformations in Quantum Mechanics and the Unification of Nonlinear Schr\"odinger Equations

Beginning with ordinary quantum mechanics for spinless particles, together with the hypothesis that all experimental measurements consist of positional measurements at different times, we characterize directly a class of nonlinear quantum theories physically equivalent to linear quantum mechanics through nonlinear gauge transformations. We show that under two physically-motivated assumptions, these transformations are uniquely determined: they are exactly the group of time-dependent, nonlinear gauge transformations introduced previously for a family of nonlinear Schr\"odinger equations. The general equation in this family, including terms considered by Kostin, by Bialynicki-Birula and Mycielski, and by Doebner and Goldin, with time-dependent coefficients, can be obtained from the linear Schr\"odinger equation through gauge transformation and a subsequent process we call gauge generalization. We thus unify, on fundamental grounds, a rather diverse set of nonlinear time-evolutions in quantum mechanics.Comment: RevTeX, 20 pages, no figures. also available on http://www.pt.tu-clausthal.de/preprints/asi-tpa/021-96.htm

Aspects of Neutrino Mass Matrices

After an Introduction briefly describing the rise and fall of the three-zero texture of the Zee model, we discuss still-allowed two-zero textures for the Majorana three-neutrino mass matrix. Finally, a model with two right-handed neutrinos and two Dirac texture zeros is described (FGY model) which can relate CP violation in leptogenesis to CP violation in long-baseline neutrino oscillations.Comment: 9 pages latex. Talk at Coral Gables 2003. Added reference

Static BPS 'monopoles' in all even spacetime dimensions

Two families of SO(2n) Higgs models in $2n$ dimensional spacetime are presented. One family arises from the {\it dimensional reduction} of higher dimensional Yang-Mills systems while the construction of the other one is {\it ad hoc}, the $n=2$ member of each family coinciding with the usual SU(2) Yang-Mills--Higgs system without Higgs potential. All models support BPS 'monopole' solutions. The 'dyons' of the {\it dimensionally descended} models are also BPS, while the electrically charged solutions of the {\it ad hoc} models are not BPS.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure

Single Z' production at CLIC based on e^- gamma collisions

We analyze the potential of CLIC based on e- gamma collisions to search for new $Z'$ gauge boson. Single Z' production at e-gamma colliders in two SU(3)_C X SU(3)_L X U(1)_N models: the minimal model and the model with right-handed (RH) neutrinos is studied in detail. Results show that new Z' gauge bosons can be observed at the CLIC, and the cross sections in the model with RH neutrinos are bigger than those in the minimal one.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, To appear in JET

Optimal Axes of Siberian Snakes for Polarized Proton Acceleration

Accelerating polarized proton beams and storing them for many turns can lead to a loss of polarization when accelerating through energies where a spin rotation frequency is in resonance with orbit oscillation frequencies. First-order resonance effects can be avoided by installing Siberian Snakes in the ring, devices which rotate the spin by 180 degrees around the snake axis while not changing the beam's orbit significantly. For large rings, several Siberian Snakes are required. Here a criterion will be derived that allows to find an optimal choice of the snake axes. Rings with super-period four are analyzed in detail, and the HERA proton ring is used as an example for approximate four-fold symmetry. The proposed arrangement of Siberian Snakes matches their effects so that all spin-orbit coupling integrals vanish at all energies and therefore there is no first-order spin-orbit coupling at all for this choice, which I call snakes matching. It will be shown that in general at least eight Siberian Snakes are needed and that there are exactly four possibilities to arrange their axes. When the betatron phase advance between snakes is chosen suitably, four Siberian Snakes can be sufficient. To show that favorable choice of snakes have been found, polarized protons are tracked for part of HERA-p's acceleration cycle which shows that polarization is preserved best for the here proposed arrangement of Siberian Snakes.Comment: 14 pages, 16 figure