Galactic Substructure and Energetic Neutrinos from the Sun and the Earth

We consider the effects of Galactic substructure on energetic neutrinos from annihilation of weakly-interacting massive particles (WIMPs) that have been captured by the Sun and Earth. Substructure gives rise to a time-varying capture rate and thus to time variation in the annihilation rate and resulting energetic-neutrino flux. However, there may be a time lag between the capture and annihilation rates. The energetic-neutrino flux may then be determined by the density of dark matter in the Solar System's past trajectory, rather than the local density. The signature of such an effect may be sought in the ratio of the direct- to indirect-detection rates.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Replaced with version accepted for publicatio

Refined Kato inequalities and conformal weights in Riemannian geometry

We establish refinements of the classical Kato inequality for sections of a vector bundle which lie in the kernel of a natural injectively elliptic first-order linear differential operator. Our main result is a general expression which gives the value of the constants appearing in the refined inequalities. These constants are shown to be optimal and are computed explicitly in most practical cases.Comment: AMS-LaTeX, 36pp, 1 figure (region.eps

Classes of confining gauge field configurations

We present a numerical method to compute path integrals in effective SU(2) Yang-Mills theories. The basic idea is to approximate the Yang-Mills path integral by summing over all gauge field configurations, which can be represented as a linear superposition of a small number of localized building blocks. With a suitable choice of building blocks many essential features of SU(2) Yang-Mills theory can be reproduced, particularly confinement. The analysis of our results leads to the conclusion that topological charge as well as extended structures are essential elements of confining gauge field configurations.Comment: 18 pages, 16 figures, several sections adde

Medical Image Data and Datasets in the Era of Machine Learning-Whitepaper from the 2016 C-MIMI Meeting Dataset Session.

At the first annual Conference on Machine Intelligence in Medical Imaging (C-MIMI), held in September 2016, a conference session on medical image data and datasets for machine learning identified multiple issues. The common theme from attendees was that everyone participating in medical image evaluation with machine learning is data starved. There is an urgent need to find better ways to collect, annotate, and reuse medical imaging data. Unique domain issues with medical image datasets require further study, development, and dissemination of best practices and standards, and a coordinated effort among medical imaging domain experts, medical imaging informaticists, government and industry data scientists, and interested commercial, academic, and government entities. High-level attributes of reusable medical image datasets suitable to train, test, validate, verify, and regulate ML products should be better described. NIH and other government agencies should promote and, where applicable, enforce, access to medical image datasets. We should improve communication among medical imaging domain experts, medical imaging informaticists, academic clinical and basic science researchers, government and industry data scientists, and interested commercial entities

Stereocomplex formation in ABA triblock copolymers of poly(lactide) (A) and poly(ethylene glycol) (B)

Two series of triblock copolymers of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG, number-average molecular weight [bar M ]n = 6000) and poly(L-lactide) (PLLA) or poly(D-lactide) (PDLA) were prepared by ring-opening polymerization of lactide initiated by PEG end groups using stannous octoate as a catalyst, either in refluxing toluene or in the melt at 175°C. The weight percentage of PLA in the polymers varied between 15 and 75 wt.-%. Blends of polymers containing blocks of opposite chirality were prepared by co-precipitation from homogeneous solutions. The melting temperatures of the crystalline PEG and PLA phases strongly depended on the composition of the polymers. The melting temperature of the PLA phase in the blends was approximately 40°C higher than that of the single block copolymers. Stereocomplex formation between blocks of enantiomeric poly(lactides) in PEG/PLA block copolymers was established for the first time. Water uptake of polymeric films prepared by solution casting was solely determined by the PEG content of the film

Energy Conversion Using New Thermoelectric Generator

During recent years, microelectronics helped to develop complex and varied technologies. It appears that many of these technologies can be applied successfully to realize Seebeck micro generators: photolithography and deposition methods allow to elaborate thin thermoelectric structures at the micro-scale level. Our goal is to scavenge energy by developing a miniature power source for operating electronic components. First Bi and Sb micro-devices on silicon glass substrate have been manufactured with an area of 1cm2 including more than one hundred junctions. Each step of process fabrication has been optimized: photolithography, deposition process, anneals conditions and metallic connections. Different device structures have been realized with different micro-line dimensions. Each devices performance will be reviewed and discussed in function of their design structure.Comment: Submitted on behalf of TIMA Editions (http://irevues.inist.fr/tima-editions

Rapid changes in shape and number of MHC class II expressing cells in rat airways after Mycoplasma pulmonis infection

This article is made available for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.Mycoplasma pulmonis infection in rodents causes a chronic inflammatory airway disease with a strong immunological component, leading to mucosal remodeling and angiogenesis. We sought to determine the effect of this infection on the shape and number of dendritic cells and other major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II expressing cells in the airway mucosa of Wistar rats. Changes in the shape of subepithelial OX6 (anti-MHC class II)-immunoreactive cells were evident in the tracheal mucosa 2 days after intranasal inoculation with M. pulmonis. By 1 week, the shape of the cells had changed from stellate to rounded (mean shape index increased from 0.42 to 0.77). The number of OX6-positive cells was increased 6-fold at 1 week and 16-fold at 4 weeks. Coincident with these changes, many columnar epithelial cells developed OX6 immunoreactivity, which was still present at 4 weeks. We conclude that M. pulmonis infection creates a potent immunologic stimulus that augments and transforms the OX6-immunoreactive cell population in the airways by changing the functional state of airway dendritic cells, initiating an influx of MHC class II expressing cells, and activating expression of MHC class II molecules by airway epithelial cells