15,056 research outputs found
Neurological consequences of traumatic brain injuries in sports.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is common in boxing and other contact sports. The long term irreversible and progressive aftermath of TBI in boxers depicted as punch drunk syndrome was described almost a century ago and is now widely referred as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The short term sequelae of acute brain injury including subdural haematoma and catastrophic brain injury may lead to death, whereas mild TBI, or concussion, causes functional disturbance and axonal injury rather than gross structural brain damage. Following concussion, symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, reduced attention, amnesia and headache tend to develop acutely but usually resolve within a week or two. Severe concussion can also lead to loss of consciousness. Despite the transient nature of the clinical symptoms, functional neuroimaging, electrophysiological, neuropsychological and neurochemical assessments indicate that the disturbance of concussion takes over a month to return to baseline and neuropathological evaluation shows that concussion-induced axonopathy may persist for years. The developing brains in children and adolescents are more susceptible to concussion than adult brain. The mechanism by which acute TBI may lead to the neurodegenerative process of CTE associated with tau hyperphosphorylation and the development of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) remains speculative. Focal tau-positive NFTs and neurites in close proximity to focal axonal injury and foci of microhaemorrhage and the predilection of CTE-tau pathology for perivascular and subcortical regions suggest that acute TBI-related axonal injury, loss of microvascular integrity, breach of the blood brain barrier, resulting inflammatory cascade and microglia and astrocyte activation are likely to be the basis of the mechanistic link of TBI and CTE. This article provides an overview of the acute and long-term neurological consequences of TBI in sports. Clinical, neuropathological and the possible pathophysiological mechanisms are discussed. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'Traumatic Brain Injury'
Neutrino-electron processes in a strongly magnetized thermal plasma
We present a new method of calculating the rate of neutrino-electron
interactions in a strong magnetic field based on finite temperature field
theory. Using this method, in which the effect of the magnetic field on the
electron states is taken into account exactly, we calculate the rates of all of
the lowest order neutrino-electron interactions in a plasma. As an example of
the use of this technique, we explicitly calculate the rate at which neutrinos
and antineutrinos annihilate in a highly magnetized plasma, and compare that to
the rate in an unmagnetized plasma. The most important channel for energy
deposition is the gyromagnetic absorption of a neutrino-antineutrino pair on an
electron or positron in the plasma ().
Our results show that the rate of annihilation increases with the magnetic
field strength once it reaches a certain critical value, which is dependent on
the incident neutrino energies and the ambient temperature of the plasma. It is
also shown that the annihilation rates are strongly dependent on the angle
between the incident particles and the direction of the magnetic field. If
sufficiently strong fields exist in the regions surrounding the core of a type
II supernovae or in the central engines of gamma ray bursts, these processes
will lead to more efficient plasma heating mechanism than in an unmagnetized
medium, and moreover, one which is intrinsically anisotropic.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, minor corrections, references added, to be
published in Phys. Rev.
A new analysis of 14O beta decay: branching ratios and CVC consistency
The ground-state Gamow-Teller transition in the decay of 14O is strongly
hindered and the electron spectrum deviates markedly from the allowed shape. A
reanalysis of the only available data on this spectrum changes the branching
ratio assigned to this transition by seven standard deviations: our new result
is (0.54 \pm 0.02)%. The Kurie plot data from two earlier publications are also
examined and a revision to their published branching ratios is recommended. The
required nuclear matrix elements are calculated with the shell model and, for
the first time, consistency is obtained between the M1 matrix element deduced
from the analog gamma transition in 14N and that deduced from the slope of the
shape-correction function in the beta transition, a requirement of the
conserved vector current hypothesis. This consistency is only obtained,
however, if renormalized rather than free-nucleon operators are used in the
shell-model calculations. In the mirror decay of 14C a similar situation
occurs. Consistency between the 14C lifetime, the slope of the shape-correction
function and the M1 matrix element from gamma decay can only be achieved with
renormalized operators in the shell-model calculation.Comment: 9 pages; revtex4; one figur
Prime numbers, quantum field theory and the Goldbach conjecture
Motivated by the Goldbach conjecture in Number Theory and the abelian
bosonization mechanism on a cylindrical two-dimensional spacetime we study the
reconstruction of a real scalar field as a product of two real fermion
(so-called \textit{prime}) fields whose Fourier expansion exclusively contains
prime modes. We undertake the canonical quantization of such prime fields and
construct the corresponding Fock space by introducing creation operators
--labeled by prime numbers -- acting on the vacuum. The
analysis of our model, based on the standard rules of quantum field theory and
the assumption of the Riemann hypothesis, allow us to prove that the theory is
not renormalizable. We also comment on the potential consequences of this
result concerning the validity or breakdown of the Goldbach conjecture for
large integer numbers.Comment: 20 pages in A4 format, 2 figure
Quantum Mechanical Interaction-Free Measurements
A novel manifestation of nonlocality of quantum mechanics is presented. It is
shown that it is possible to ascertain the existence of an object in a given
region of space without interacting with it. The method might have practical
applications for delicate quantum experiments.Comment: (revised file with no need for macro), 12, TAUP 1865-91
An Intuitionistic Formula Hierarchy Based on High-School Identities
We revisit the notion of intuitionistic equivalence and formal proof
representations by adopting the view of formulas as exponential polynomials.
After observing that most of the invertible proof rules of intuitionistic
(minimal) propositional sequent calculi are formula (i.e. sequent) isomorphisms
corresponding to the high-school identities, we show that one can obtain a more
compact variant of a proof system, consisting of non-invertible proof rules
only, and where the invertible proof rules have been replaced by a formula
normalisation procedure.
Moreover, for certain proof systems such as the G4ip sequent calculus of
Vorob'ev, Hudelmaier, and Dyckhoff, it is even possible to see all of the
non-invertible proof rules as strict inequalities between exponential
polynomials; a careful combinatorial treatment is given in order to establish
this fact.
Finally, we extend the exponential polynomial analogy to the first-order
quantifiers, showing that it gives rise to an intuitionistic hierarchy of
formulas, resembling the classical arithmetical hierarchy, and the first one
that classifies formulas while preserving isomorphism
An improved calculation of the isospin-symmetry-breaking corrections to superallowed Fermi beta decay
We report new shell-model calculations of the isospin-symmetry-breaking
correction to superallowed nuclear beta decay. The most important improvement
is the inclusion of core orbitals, which are demonstrated to have a significant
impact on the mismatch in the radial wave functions of the parent and daughter
states. We determine which core orbitals are important to include from an
examination of measured spectroscopic factors in single-nucleon pick-up
reactions. We also examine the new radiative-correction calculation by Marciano
and Sirlin and, by a simple reorganization, show that it is possible to
preserve the conventional separation into a nucleus-independent inner radiative
term and a nucleus-dependent outer term. We tabulate new values for the three
theoretical corrections for twenty superallowed transitions, including the
thirteen well-studied cases. With these new correction terms the corrected Ft
values for the thirteen cases are statistically consistent with one another and
the anomalousness of the 46V result disappears. These new calculations lead to
a lower average Ft value and a higher value of Vud. The sum of squares of the
top-row elements of the CKM matrix now agrees exactly with unitarity.Comment: 15 pages, 2 postscript figures, revtex
The Advertising Handbook
The Advertising Handbook provides a critical introduction to advertising and marketing practices today. Contributions from leading international scholars and practitioners offer extended coverage of the contemporary shifts and pressures reshaping the marketing communications (or advertising and marketing) industries and their relationship to the consumer. Profiles and case studies illustrate innovation and diversification among advertising, marketing and public relations companies. Discussion questions aid learning and encourage debate about the activities and influence of advertising today.
Revised edition of The advertising handbook, 2009
Reflective Ghost Imaging through Turbulence
Recent work has indicated that ghost imaging may have applications in
standoff sensing. However, most theoretical work has addressed
transmission-based ghost imaging. To be a viable remote-sensing system, the
ghost imager needs to image rough-surfaced targets in reflection through long,
turbulent optical paths. We develop, within a Gaussian-state framework,
expressions for the spatial resolution, image contrast, and signal-to-noise
ratio of such a system. We consider rough-surfaced targets that create fully
developed speckle in their returns, and Kolmogorov-spectrum turbulence that is
uniformly distributed along all propagation paths. We address both classical
and nonclassical optical sources, as well as a computational ghost imager.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure
Flight evaluation of the STOL flare and landing during night operations
Simulated instrument approaches were made to Category 1 minimums followed by a visual landing on a 100 x 1700 ft STOL runway. Data were obtained for variations in the aircraft's flare response characteristics and control techniques and for different combinations of aircraft and runway lighting and a visual approach slope indication. With the complete aircraft and runway lighting and visual guidance no degradation in flying qualities or landing performance was observed compared to daylight operations. elimination of the touchdown zone floodlights or the aircraft landing lights led to somewhat greater pilot workload; however, the landing could still be accomplished successfully. Loss of both touchdown zone and aircraft landing lights led to a high workload situation and only a marginally adequate to inadequate landing capability
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