The Relationship Between Intolerance of Uncertainty, Sensory Sensitivities, and Anxiety in Autistic and Typically Developing Children

Guided by a recent theory that proposes fundamental differences in how autistic individuals deal with uncertainty, we investigated the extent to which the cognitive construct ‘intolerance of uncertainty’ and anxiety were related to parental reports of sensory sensitivities in 64 autistic and 85 typically developing children aged 6–14 years. Intolerance of uncertainty and anxiety explained approximately half the variance in autistic children’s sensory sensitivities, but only around a fifth of the variance in typical children’s sensory sensitivities. In children with autism only, intolerance of uncertainty remained a significant predictor of children’s sensory sensitivities once the effects of anxiety were adjusted for. Our results suggest intolerance of uncertainty is a relevant construct to sensory sensitivities in children with and without autism

Long-wavelength spin- and spin-isospin correlations in nucleon matter

We analyse the long-wavelength response of a normal Fermi liquid using Landau theory. We consider contributions from intermediate states containing one additional quasiparticle-quasihole pair as well as those from states containing two or more additional quasiparticle-quasihole pairs. For the response of an operator corresponding to a conserved quantity, we show that the behavior of matrix elements to states with more than one additional quasiparticle-quasihole pair at low excitation energies $\omega$ varies as $1/\omega$. It is shown how rates of processes involving transitions to two quasiparticle-quasihole states may be calculated in terms of the collision integral in the Landau transport equation for quasiparticles.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Semi-leptonic B decays into higher charmed resonances

We apply HQET to semi-leptonic $B$ meson decays into a variety of excited charm states. Using three realistic meson models with fermionic light degrees of freedom, we examine the extent that the sum of exclusive single charmed states account for the inclusive semi-leptonic $B$ decay rate. The consistency of form factors with the Bjorken and Voloshin sum rules is also investigated.Comment: Latex, 27 pages. A few references and errors corrected, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Nordic Seas and Arctic Ocean CFC Data in CARINA

Water column data of carbon and carbon relevant hydrographic and hydrochemical parameters have been retrieved from a large number of cruises and collected into a new database called CARINA (CARbon IN the Atlantic). These data have been merged into three sets of files, one for each of the three CARINA regions; the Arctic Mediterranean Seas (AMS), the Atlantic (ATL) and the Southern Ocean (SO). The first part of the CARINA database consists of three files, one for each CARINA region, containing the original, non-adjusted cruise data sets, including data quality flags for each measurement. These data have then been subject to rigorous quality control (QC) in order to ensure highest possible quality and consistency. The data for most of the parameters included were examined in order to quantify systematic biases in the reported values, i.e. secondary quality control. Significant biases have been corrected for in the second part of the CARINA data product. This consists of three files, one for each CARINA region, which contain adjustments to the original data values based on recommendations from the CARINA QC procedures, along with calculated and interpolated values for some missing parameters. Here we present an overview of the QC of the CFC data for the AMS region, including the chlorofluorocarbons CFC-11, CFC-12 and CFC-113, as well as carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). The Arctic Mediterranean Seas is comprised of the Arctic Ocean and the Nordic Seas, and the quality control was carried out separately in these two areas. For the secondary QC of the CFCs we used a combination of tools, including the evaluation of depth profiles and CFC ratios, surface saturations and a crossover analysis. This resulted in a multiplicative adjustment of data from some cruises, while other data were flagged to be of questionable quality, which excluded them from the final data product

Dynamic Approach to the Fully Frustrated XY Model

Using Monte Carlo simulations, we systematically investigate the non-equilibrium dynamics of the chiral degree of freedom in the two-dimensional fully frustrated XY model. The critical initial increase of the staggered chiral magnetization is observed. By means of the short-time dynamics approach, we estimate the second order phase transition temperature $T_{c}$ and all the dynamic and static critical exponents $\theta$, z, $\beta$ and $\nu$.Comment: 5 pages with 6 figures include

Scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy of sodium-chloride overlayers on the stepped Cu(311) surface: Experimental and theoretical study

The physical properties of ultrathin NaCl overlayers on the stepped Cu(311) surface have been characterized using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy, and density functional calculations. Simulations of STM images and differential conductance spectrum were based on the Tersoff-Hamann approximation for tunneling with corrections for the modified tunneling barrier at larger voltages and calculated Kohn-Sham states. Characteristic features observed in the STM images can be directly related to calculated electronic and geometric properties of the overlayers. The measured apparent barrier heights for the mono-, bi-, and trilayers of NaCl and the corresponding adsorption-induced changes in the work function, as obtained from the distance dependence of the tunneling current, are well reproduced by and understood from the calculated results. The measurements revealed a large reduction of the tunneling conductance in a wide voltage region, resembling a band gap. However, the simulated spectrum showed that only the onset at positive sample voltages may be viewed as a valence band edge, whereas the onset at negative voltages is caused by the drastic effect of the electric field from the tip on the tunneling barrier

Static response of Fermi liquids with tensor interactions

We use Landau's theory of a normal Fermi liquid to derive expressions for the static response of a system with a general tensor interaction that conserves the total spin and the total angular momentum of the quasiparticle-quasihole pair. The magnetic susceptibility is calculated in detail, with the inclusion of the center of mass tensor and cross vector terms in addition to the exchange tensor one. We also introduce a new parametrization of the tensor Landau parameters which significantly reduces the importance of high angular harmonic contributions. For nuclear matter and neutron matter we find that the two most important effects of the tensor interaction are to give a contribution from multipair states and to renormalize the magnetic moments. Response to a weak probe may be calculated using similar methods, replacing the magnetic moments with the matrix elements of the weak charges

Infrared Spectroscopic Detection of Biosignatures at Lake Tírez, Spain: Implications for Mars

The detection of potential biosignatures with mineral matrices is part of a multifaceted approach in the search for life on other planetary bodies. The 2020 ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover includes within its payload three IR spectrometers in the form of ISEM (Infrared Spectrometer for ExoMars), MicrOmega, and Ma-MISS (Mars Multispectral Imager for Subsurface Studies). The use of this technique in the detection and characterization of biosignatures is of great value. Organic materials are often co-deposited in terrestrial evaporites and as such have been proposed as relevant analogs in the search for life on Mars. This study focuses on Ca-sulfates collected from the hypersaline Tírez Lake in Spain. Mid infrared and visible near infrared analysis of soils, salt crusts, and crystals with green and red layering indicative of microbial colonization of the samples was acquired from across the lake and identified the main mineral to be gypsum with inputs of carbonate and silica. Organic functional groups that could be attributed to amides and carboxylic acids were identified as well as chlorophyll; however, due to the strong mineralogical absorptions observed, these were hard to unambiguously discern. Taxonomical assignment demonstrated that the archaeal community within the samples was dominated by the halophilic extremophile Halobacteriaceae while the bacterial community was dominated by the class Nocardiaceae. The results of this research highlight that sulfates on Mars are a mixed blessing, acting as an effective host for organic matter preservation but also a material that masks the presence of organic functional groups when analyzed with spectroscopic tools similar to those due to fly on the 2020 ExoMars rover. A suite of complementary analytical techniques therefore should be used to support the spectral identification of any candidate extraterrestrial biosignatures

Theoretical study of the N N --> N N pi pi reaction

We have developed a model for the N N --> N N pi pi reaction and evaluated cross sections for the different charged channels. The low energy part of those channels where the pions can be in an isospin zero state is dominated by N* excitation, driven by an isoscalar source recently found experimentally, followed by the decay N* --> N (pi pi, T=0, s-wave). At higher energies, and in channels where the pions are not in T=0, Delta excitation mechanisms become relevant. A rough agreement with the experimental data is obtained in most channels. Repercussions of the present findings for the ABC effect and the p p --> p p pi0 reaction close to threshold are also suggested.Comment: 22 pages, 12 postscripts figures, revised: a more general N* N pi pi Lagrangian is considered, to be published in Nucl. Phys.

From scalar to string confinement

We outline a connection between scalar quark confinement, a phenomenologically successful concept heretofore lacking fundamental justification, and QCD. Although scalar confinement does not follow from QCD, there is an interesting and close relationship between them. We develop a simple model intermediate between scalar confinement and the QCD string for illustrative purposes. Finally, we find the bound state masses of scalar, time-component vector, and string confinement analytically through semi-classical quantization.Comment: ReVTeX, 9 pages, 5 figure