791 research outputs found
Herschel Planetary Nebula Survey (HerPlaNS) - First Detection of OH+ in Planetary Nebulae
We report the first detections of OH emission in planetary nebulae (PNe).
As part of an imaging and spectroscopy survey of 11 PNe in the far-IR using the
PACS and SPIRE instruments aboard the Herschel Space Observatory, we performed
a line survey in these PNe over the entire spectral range between 51 and
672m to look for new detections. OH rotational emission lines at
152.99, 290.20, 308.48, and 329.77m were detected in the spectra of three
planetary nebulae: NGC 6445, NGC 6720, and NGC 6781. Excitation temperatures
and column densities derived from these lines are in the range of 27 to 47 K
and 210 to 4 10 cm, respectively. In PNe,
the OH+ rotational line emission appears to be produced in the
photodissociation region (PDR) in these objects. The emission of OH+ is
observed only in PNe with hot central stars (T > 100000 K), suggesting
that high-energy photons may play a role in the OH+ formation and its line
excitation in these objects, as it seems to be the case for ultraluminous
galaxies.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures; accepted for publication in A&
Development of a BelRAI screening instrument for correctional facilities preparatory phase for testing
Commissioned by the Belgian federal government, a BelRAI screening tool for the detention context was developed. The aim of this screening instrument is to collect all information necessary for care providers inside prison to decide whether a penitentiary care trajectory is needed
First-principles scattering matrices for spin-transport
Details are presented of an efficient formalism for calculating transmission
and reflection matrices from first principles in layered materials. Within the
framework of spin density functional theory and using tight-binding muffin-tin
orbitals, scattering matrices are determined by matching the wave-functions at
the boundaries between leads which support well-defined scattering states and
the scattering region. The calculation scales linearly with the number of
principal layers N in the scattering region and as the cube of the number of
atoms H in the lateral supercell. For metallic systems for which the required
Brillouin zone sampling decreases as H increases, the final scaling goes as
H^2*N. In practice, the efficient basis set allows scattering regions for which
H^{2}*N ~ 10^6 to be handled. The method is illustrated for Co/Cu multilayers
and single interfaces using large lateral supercells (up to 20x20) to model
interface disorder. Because the scattering states are explicitly found,
``channel decomposition'' of the interface scattering for clean and disordered
interfaces can be performed.Comment: 22 pages, 13 figure
Functional Requirements for Assistive Technology for People with Cognitive Impairments and Dementia
The amount of technological aids on the market to support people in their everyday functioning is increasing. For example mobile telephone, electronic diary, skyping and domotics. Many of these aids are too complicated to operate for people with cognitive impairments, like dementia. For technology to be practicable and useful for them, it will have to meet certain requirements. This paper addresses the needs and impairments of people with dementia, and the functional requirements for assistive technology for people with dementia. © 2012 Springer-Verlag
E6,7,8 Magnetized Extra Dimensional Models
We study 10D super Yang-Mills theory with the gauge groups , and
. We consider the torus/orbifold compacfitication with magnetic fluxes and
Wilson lines. They lead to 4D interesting models with three families of quarks
and leptons, whose profiles in extra dimensions are quasi-localized because of
magnetic fluxes.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figur
Ballistic and diffuse transport through a ferromagnetic domain wall
We study transport through ballistic and diffuse ferromagnetic domain walls
in a two-band Stoner model with a rotating magnetization direction. For a
ballistic domain wall, the change in the conductance due to the domain wall
scattering is obtained from an adiabatic approximation valid when the length of
the domain wall is much longer than the Fermi wavelength. In diffuse systems,
the change in the resistivity is calculated using a diagrammatic technique to
the lowest order in the domain wall scattering and taking into account
spin-dependent scattering lifetimes and screening of the domain wall potential.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Batalin-Vilkovisky gauge-fixing of a chiral two-form in six dimensions
We perform the gauge-fixing of the theory of a chiral two-form boson in six
dimensions starting from the action given by Pasti, Sorokin and Tonin. We use
the Batalin-Vilkovisky formalism, introducing antifields and writing down an
extended action satisfying the classical master equation. Then we gauge-fix the
three local symmetries of the extended action in two different ways.Comment: 15 pages, latex, no figures, version accepted by Class. Quant. Gra
The Herschel Planetary Nebula Survey (HerPlaNS) I. Data Overview and Analysis Demonstration with NGC 6781
This is the first of a series of investigations into far-IR characteristics
of 11 planetary nebulae (PNs) under the Herschel Space Observatory Open Time 1
program, Herschel Planetary Nebula Survey (HerPlaNS). Using the HerPlaNS data
set, we look into the PN energetics and variations of the physical conditions
within the target nebulae. In the present work, we provide an overview of the
survey, data acquisition and processing, and resulting data products. We
perform (1) PACS/SPIRE broadband imaging to determine the spatial distribution
of the cold dust component in the target PNs and (2) PACS/SPIRE
spectral-energy-distribution (SED) and line spectroscopy to determine the
spatial distribution of the gas component in the target PNs. For the case of
NGC 6781, the broadband maps confirm the nearly pole-on barrel structure of the
amorphous carbon-richdust shell and the surrounding halo having temperatures of
26-40 K. The PACS/SPIRE multi-position spectra show spatial variations of
far-IR lines that reflect the physical stratification of the nebula. We
demonstrate that spatially-resolved far-IR line diagnostics yield the (T_e,
n_e) profiles, from which distributions of ionized, atomic, and molecular gases
can be determined. Direct comparison of the dust and gas column mass maps
constrained by the HerPlaNS data allows to construct an empirical gas-to-dust
mass ratio map, which shows a range of ratios with the median of 195+-110. The
present analysis yields estimates of the total mass of the shell to be 0.86
M_sun, consisting of 0.54 M_sun of ionized gas, 0.12 M_sun of atomic gas, 0.2
M_sun of molecular gas, and 4 x 10^-3 M_sun of dust grains. These estimates
also suggest that the central star of about 1.5 M_sun initial mass is
terminating its PN evolution onto the white dwarf cooling track.Comment: 27 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in A&
The effect of ozone exposure on the release of eicosanoids in guinea-pig BAL fluid in relation to cellular damage and inflammation
The observed effects after ozone exposure strongly depend on ozone concentration and exposure time. We hypothesized that depending on the O3 exposure protocol, mainly either an oxidant damage or an inflammation will determine the O3 toxicity. We compared two different ozone exposure protocols: an acute exposure (3 ppm 2 h) for studying the oxidant damage and an exposure (1 ppm 12 h) where an inflammatory component is also probably involved. We measured LDH activity and protein and albumin exudation as markers for cellular damage. After the acute exposure an increase in LDH activity was measured and after exposure to 1 ppm ozone for 12 h the exudation of protein and albumin was also enhanced. The histological examinations showed a neutrophilic inflammatory response only after exposure to 1 ppm ozone for 12 h. The acute exposure protocol resulted in an increased release of PGE2, PGD2, PGF2α and 6-ketoPGF1α whereas exposure to 1 ppm ozone for 12 h led to an additional release of LTB4. No effects were measured on the release of TxB2 and LTC4/D4/E4. These changed amounts of eicosanoids will probably contribute to the ozone-induced lung function changes
Identification of CD8+ T Cell Epitopes in the West Nile Virus Polyprotein by Reverse-Immunology Using NetCTL
West Nile virus (WNV) is a growing threat to public health and a greater understanding of the immune response raised against WNV is important for the development of prophylactic and therapeutic strategies.In a reverse-immunology approach, we used bioinformatics methods to predict WNV-specific CD8(+) T cell epitopes and selected a set of peptides that constitutes maximum coverage of 20 fully-sequenced WNV strains. We then tested these putative epitopes for cellular reactivity in a cohort of WNV-infected patients. We identified 26 new CD8(+) T cell epitopes, which we propose are restricted by 11 different HLA class I alleles. Aiming for optimal coverage of human populations, we suggest that 11 of these new WNV epitopes would be sufficient to cover from 48% to 93% of ethnic populations in various areas of the World.The 26 identified CD8(+) T cell epitopes contribute to our knowledge of the immune response against WNV infection and greatly extend the list of known WNV CD8(+) T cell epitopes. A polytope incorporating these and other epitopes could possibly serve as the basis for a WNV vaccine
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