Maximum Mass-Radius Ratio for Compact General Relativistic Objects in Schwarzschild- de Sitter Geometry

Upper limits for the mass-radius ratio are derived for arbitrary general relativistic matter distributions in the presence of a cosmological constant. General restrictions for the red shift and total energy (including the gravitational contribution) for compact objects in the Schwarzschild-de Sitter geometry are also obtained in terms of the cosmological constant and of the mean density of the star.Comment: 8 pages, no figure

Criminal Contempt—Preliminary Injunction not Broad Enough to Include Forty-Five Faculty Members Charged With Criminal Contempt

State University of New York v. Denton, 35 App. Div. 2d 176, 316 N.Y.S.2d 297 (4th Dep\u27t 1970)

Phase diagram and thermal expansion of orthopyroxene-, clinopyroxene-, and ilmenite-structured MgGeO<inf>3</inf>

The MgGeO3 system is a low-pressure analog for the Earth-forming (Mg,Fe)SiO3 system and exhibits recoverable orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, and ilmenite structures below 6 GPa. The pressure-temperature conditions of the clinopyroxene to ilmenite phase transition are reasonably consistent between studies, having a positive Clapeyron slope and occurring between 4 and 7 GPa in the temperature range 900-1600 K. There are, though, significant discrepancies in the Clapeyron slope of the orthopyroxene to clinopyroxene phase transition in existing works that also disagree on the stable phase at ambient conditions. The most significant factor in these differences is the method used; high-pressure experiments and thermophysical property measurements yield apparently contradicting results. Here, we perform both high pressure and temperature experiments as well as thermal expansion measurements to reconcile the measurements. High-pressure and -temperature experiments yield a Clapeyron slope of -1.0-+1.0-0.7 MPa/K for the MgGeO3 orthopyroxene-clinopyroxene phase transition, consistent with previous high-pressure and -temperature experiments. The MgGeO3 orthopyroxene-clinopyroxene-ilmenite triple point is determined to be at 0.98 GPa and 752 K, with the ilmenite phase stable at ambient conditions. The high-temperature (>600 K) thermal expansion of the clinopyroxene phase is greater than that of the other phases. Debye-Grüneisen relationships fitted to the volume-temperature data give Debye temperatures for the orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, and ilmenite phases of 602(7), 693(10), and 758(13) K and V0 of 897.299(16), 433.192(10), and 289.156(6) Å3, respectively. The Clapeyron slopes calculated directly from the Debye-Grüneisen relationships are consistent with previous thermophysical property measurements. The presence of significant anharmonicity and/or formation of defects in the clinopyroxene phase at high-temperatures, which is not apparent in the other phases, accounts for the previous contradictions between studies. The inferred increased heat capacity of the clinopyroxene corresponds to an increase in entropy and an expanded phase field at high temperatures

Faraday cage screening reveals intrinsic aspects of the van der Waals attraction

© 2018 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. General properties of the recently observed screening of the van der Waals (vdW) attraction between a silica substrate and silica tip by insertion of graphene are predicted using basic theory and first-principles calculations. Results are then focused on possible practical applications, as well as an understanding of the nature of vdW attraction, considering recent discoveries showing it competing against covalent and ionic bonding. The traditional view of the vdW attraction as arising from pairwiseadditive London dispersion forces is considered using Grimme's "D3" method, comparing results to those from Tkatchenko's more general many-body dispersion (MBD) approach, all interpreted in terms of Dobson's general dispersion framework. Encompassing the experimental results, MBD screening of the vdW force between two silica bilayers is shown to scale up to medium separations as 1.25 de/d, where d is the bilayer separation and de is its equilibrium value, depicting antiscreening approaching and inside de. Means of unifying this correlation effect with those included in modern density functionals are urgently required

Inhibition of the growth of Bacillus subtilis DSM10 by a newly discovered antibacterial protein from the soil metagenome

A functional metagenomics based approach exploiting the microbiota of suppressive soils from an organic field site has succeeded in the identification of a clone with the ability to inhibit the growth of Bacillus subtilis DSM10. Sequencing of the fosmid identified a putative β-lactamase-like gene abgT. Transposon mutagenesis of the abgT gene resulted in a loss in ability to inhibit the growth of B. subtilis DSM10. Further analysis of the deduced amino acid sequence of AbgT revealed moderate homology to esterases, suggesting that the protein may possess hydrolytic activity. Weak lipolytic activity was detected; however the clone did not appear to produce any β-lactamase activity. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the protein is a member of the family VIII group of lipase/esterases and clusters with a number of proteins of metagenomic origin. The abgT gene was sub-cloned into a protein expression vector and when introduced into the abgT transposon mutant clones restored the ability of the clones to inhibit the growth of B. subtilis DSM10, clearly indicating that the abgT gene is involved in the antibacterial activity. While the precise role of this protein has yet to fully elucidated, it may be involved in the generation of free fatty acid with antibacterial properties. Thus functional metagenomic approaches continue to provide a significant resource for the discovery of novel functional proteins and it is clear that hydrolytic enzymes, such as AbgT, may be a potential source for the development of future antimicrobial therapies

Ventricular longitudinal function is associated with microvascular obstruction and intramyocardial haemorrhage.

Microvascular obstruction (MVO) and intramyocardial haemorrhage (IMH) are associated with adverse prognosis, independently of infarct size after reperfused ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Mitral annular plane systolic excursion (MAPSE) is a well-established parameter of longitudinal function on echocardiography.We aimed to investigate how acute MAPSE, assessed by a four-chamber cine-cardiovascular MR (CMR), is associated with MVO, IMH and convalescent left ventricular (LV) remodelling.54 consecutive patients underwent CMR at 3T (Intera CV, Philips Healthcare, Best, The Netherlands) within 3 days of reperfused STEMI. Cine, T2-weighted, T2* and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) imaging were performed. Infarct and MVO extent were measured from LGE images. The presence of IMH was investigated by combined analysis of T2w and T2* images. Averaged-MAPSE (medial-MAPSE+lateral-MAPSE/2) was calculated from 4-chamber cine imaging.44 patients completed the baseline scan and 38 patients completed 3-month scans. 26 (59%) patients had MVO and 25 (57%) patients had IMH. Presence of MVO and IMH were associated with lower averaged-MAPSE (11.7±0.4 mm vs 9.3±0.3 mm; p<0.001 and 11.8±0.4 mm vs 9.2±0.3 mm; p<0.001, respectively). IMH (β=-0.655, p<0.001) and MVO (β=-0.567, p<0.001) demonstrated a stronger correlation to MAPSE than other demographic and infarct characteristics. MAPSE ≤10.6 mm demonstrated 89% sensitivity and 72% specificity for the detection of MVO and 92% sensitivity and 74% specificity for IMH. LV remodelling in convalescence was not associated with MAPSE (AUC 0.62, 95% CI 0.44 to 0.77, p=0.22).Postreperfused STEMI, LV longitudinal function assessed by MAPSE can independently predict the presence of MVO and IMH

Generic Mechanism of Emergence of Amyloid Protofilaments from Disordered Oligomeric aggregates

The presence of oligomeric aggregates, which is often observed during the process of amyloid formation, has recently attracted much attention since it has been associated with neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. We provide a description of a sequence-indepedent mechanism by which polypeptide chains aggregate by forming metastable oligomeric intermediate states prior to converting into fibrillar structures. Our results illustrate how the formation of ordered arrays of hydrogen bonds drives the formation of beta-sheets within the disordered oligomeric aggregates that form early under the effect of hydrophobic forces. Initially individual beta-sheets form with random orientations, which subsequently tend to align into protofilaments as their lengths increases. Our results suggest that amyloid aggregation represents an example of the Ostwald step rule of first order phase transitions by showing that ordered cross-beta structures emerge preferentially from disordered compact dynamical intermediate assemblies.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

Suizid und Internet

The number of people aged 14 and older that use the Internet in Germany has doubled to 35.7 millions (55.3%) since the year 2000. The Internet also more and more expands into the domain of psychiatry and psychotherapy, and is used by psychiatric patients for information, communication and therapeutic purposes. Nevertheless, the infinite possibilities of the World Wide Web are linked with several advantages and disadvantages. Easily accessible information, numerous opportunities for exchange among like-minded people and therapeutic support from online therapies are juxtaposed with such risks as frequently lacking quality and transparency of the available information, possible enhancement of social withdrawal and certain Websites concerning suicide. If the mentioned risks of the Internet rather provoke new problems and trigger suicidality or if the chance of an easily accessible online discussion rather results in mental relief cannot be answered generally