1,280 research outputs found
The Role of Chemerin in Metabolic and Cardiovascular Disease:A Literature Review of Its Physiology and Pathology from a Nutritional Perspective
Chemerin is a novel adipokine that plays a major role in adipogenesis and lipid metabolism. It also induces inflammation and affects insulin signaling, steroidogenesis and thermogenesis. Consequently, it likely contributes to a variety of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis, diabetes, hypertension and pre-eclampsia. This review describes its origin and receptors, as well as its role in various diseases, and subsequently summarizes how nutrition affects its levels. It concludes that vitamin A, fat, glucose and alcohol generally upregulate chemerin, while omega-3, salt and vitamin D suppress it. Dietary measures rather than drugs acting as chemerin receptor antagonists might become a novel tool to suppress chemerin effects, thereby potentially improving the aforementioned diseases. However, more detailed studies are required to fully understand chemerin regulation.</p
Optimal packetisation of MPEG-4 using RTP over mobile networks
The introduction of third-generation wireless networks should result in real-time mobile
video communications becoming a reality. Delivery of such video is likely to be facilitated by the realtime
transport protocol (RTP). Careful packetisation of the video data is necessary to ensure the
optimal trade-off between channel utilisation and error robustness. Theoretical analyses for two basic
schemes of MPEG-4 data encapsulation within RTP packets are presented. Simulations over a GPRS
(general packet radio service) network are used to validate the analysis of the most efficient scheme.
Finally, a motion adaptive system for deriving MPEG-4 video packet sizes is presented. Further
simulations demonstrate the benefits of the adaptive system
Electronic and Magnetic Properties of Nanographite Ribbons
Electronic and magnetic properties of ribbon-shaped nanographite systems with
zigzag and armchair edges in a magnetic field are investigated by using a tight
binding model. One of the most remarkable features of these systems is the
appearance of edge states, strongly localized near zigzag edges. The edge state
in magnetic field, generating a rational fraction of the magnetic flux (\phi=
p/q) in each hexagonal plaquette of the graphite plane, behaves like a
zero-field edge state with q internal degrees of freedom. The orbital
diamagnetic susceptibility strongly depends on the edge shapes. The reason is
found in the analysis of the ring currents, which are very sensitive to the
lattice topology near the edge. Moreover, the orbital diamagnetic
susceptibility is scaled as a function of the temperature, Fermi energy and
ribbon width. Because the edge states lead to a sharp peak in the density of
states at the Fermi level, the graphite ribbons with zigzag edges show
Curie-like temperature dependence of the Pauli paramagnetic susceptibility.
Hence, it is shown that the crossover from high-temperature diamagnetic to
low-temperature paramagnetic behavior of the magnetic susceptibility of
nanographite ribbons with zigzag edges.Comment: 13 pages including 19 figures, submitted to Physical Rev
Weak and strong electronic correlations in Fe superconductors
In this chapter the strength of electronic correlations in the normal phase
of Fe-superconductors is discussed. It will be shown that the agreement between
a wealth of experiments and DFT+DMFT or similar approaches supports a scenario
in which strongly-correlated and weakly-correlated electrons coexist in the
conduction bands of these materials. I will then reverse-engineer the realistic
calculations and justify this scenario in terms of simpler behaviors easily
interpreted through model results. All pieces come together to show that Hund's
coupling, besides being responsible for the electronic correlations even in
absence of a strong Coulomb repulsion is also the origin of a subtle emergent
behavior: orbital decoupling. Indeed Hund's exchange decouples the charge
excitations in the different Iron orbitals involved in the conduction bands
thus causing an independent tuning of the degree of electronic correlation in
each one of them. The latter becomes sensitive almost only to the offset of the
orbital population from half-filling, where a Mott insulating state is
invariably realized at these interaction strengths. Depending on the difference
in orbital population a different 'Mottness' affects each orbital, and thus
reflects in the conduction bands and in the Fermi surfaces depending on the
orbital content.Comment: Book Chapte
Cronin effect for protons and pions in pA collisions
Pions and protons production cross-sections are analyzed in proton-proton and
proton-nucleus collisions at the RHIC energy at midrapidity. We employ the pQCD
factorization scheme supplemented with the color-dipole formalism to
investigate the Cronin effect. We calculate the broadening in the color-dipole
approach for different centralities. Our main goal is to investigate, in a
parameter-free manner within a unified framework, how much of the cronin effect
for both pions and baryons comes from the transverse momentum broadening due to
initial partons multi-scatterings. We conclude that final-state effects in pA
collisions are important. Uncertainties in nuclear shadowing of various parton
distributions and parton fragmentation functions are also discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure
Continuous-distribution puddle model for conduction in trilayer graphene
An insulator-to-metal transition is observed in trilayer graphene based on
the temperature dependence of the resistance under different applied gate
voltages. At small gate voltages the resistance decreases with increasing
temperature due to the increase in carrier concentration resulting from thermal
excitation of electron-hole pairs. At large gate voltages excitation of
electron-hole pairs is suppressed, and the resistance increases with increasing
temperature because of the enhanced electron-phonon scattering. We find that
the simple model with overlapping conduction and valence bands, each with
quadratic dispersion relations, is unsatisfactory. Instead, we conclude that
impurities in the substrate that create local puddles of higher electron or
hole densities are responsible for the residual conductivity at low
temperatures. The best fit is obtained using a continuous distribution of
puddles. From the fit the average of the electron and hole effective masses can
be determined.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure
Does accelerating universe indicates Brans-Dicke theory
The evolution of universe in Brans-Dicke (BD) theory is discussed in this
paper.
Considering a parameterized scenario for BD scalar field
which plays the role of gravitational "constant" ,
we apply the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to investigate a global
constraints on BD theory with a self-interacting potential according to the
current observational data: Union2 dataset of type supernovae Ia (SNIa),
high-redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) data, observational Hubble data (OHD),
the cluster X-ray gas mass fraction, the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO), and
the cosmic microwave background (CMB) data. It is shown that an expanded
universe from deceleration to acceleration is given in this theory, and the
constraint results of dimensionless matter density and parameter
are, and
which is consistent with the
result of current experiment exploration, . In
addition, we use the geometrical diagnostic method, jerk parameter , to
distinguish the BD theory and cosmological constant model in Einstein's theory
of general relativity.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figure
Scale Setting in QCD and the Momentum Flow in Feynman Diagrams
We present a formalism to evaluate QCD diagrams with a single virtual gluon
using a running coupling constant at the vertices. This method, which
corresponds to an all-order resummation of certain terms in a perturbative
series, provides a description of the momentum flow through the gluon
propagator. It can be viewed as a generalization of the scale-setting
prescription of Brodsky, Lepage and Mackenzie to all orders in perturbation
theory. In particular, the approach can be used to investigate why in some
cases the ``typical'' momenta in a loop diagram are different from the
``natural'' scale of the process. It offers an intuitive understanding of the
appearance of infrared renormalons in perturbation theory and their connection
to the rate of convergence of a perturbative series. Moreover, it allows one to
separate short- and long-distance contributions by introducing a hard
factorization scale. Several applications to one- and two-scale problems are
discussed in detail.Comment: eqs.(51) and (83) corrected, minor typographic changes mad
Nonmonotonic inelastic tunneling spectra due to surface spin excitations in ferromagnetic junctions
The paper addresses inelastic spin-flip tunneling accompanied by surface spin
excitations (magnons) in ferromagnetic junctions. The inelastic tunneling
current is proportional to the magnon density of states which is
energy-independent for the surface waves and, for this reason, cannot account
for the bias-voltage dependence of the observed inelastic tunneling spectra.
This paper shows that the bias-voltage dependence of the tunneling spectra can
arise from the tunneling matrix elements of the electron-magnon interaction.
These matrix elements are derived from the Coulomb exchange interaction using
the itinerant-electron model of magnon-assisted tunneling. The results for the
inelastic tunneling spectra, based on the nonequilibrium Green's function
calculations, are presented for both parallel and antiparallel magnetizations
in the ferromagnetic leads.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, version as publishe
General Brane Geometries from Scalar Potentials: Gauged Supergravities and Accelerating Universes
We find broad classes of solutions to the field equations for d-dimensional
gravity coupled to an antisymmetric tensor of arbitrary rank and a scalar field
with non-vanishing potential. Our construction generates these configurations
from the solution of a single nonlinear ordinary differential equation, whose
form depends on the scalar potential. For an exponential potential we find
solutions corresponding to brane geometries, generalizing the black p-branes
and S-branes known for the case of vanishing potential. These geometries are
singular at the origin with up to two (regular) horizons. Their asymptotic
behaviour depends on the parameters of the model. When the singularity has
negative tension or the cosmological constant is positive we find
time-dependent configurations describing accelerating universes. Special cases
give explicit brane geometries for (compact and non-compact) gauged
supergravities in various dimensions, as well as for massive 10D supergravity,
and we discuss their interrelation. Some examples lift to give new solutions to
10D supergravity. Limiting cases with a domain wall structure preserve part of
the supersymmetries of the vacuum. We also consider more general potentials,
including sums of exponentials. Exact solutions are found for these with up to
three horizons, having potentially interesting cosmological interpretation. We
give several additional examples which illustrate the power of our techniques.Comment: 54 pages, 6 figures. Uses JHEP3. Published versio
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