5,030 research outputs found
Monte Carlo Study of Supernova Neutrino Spectra Formation
The neutrino flux and spectra formation in a supernova core is studied by
using a Monte Carlo code. The dominant opacity contribution for nu_mu and
nu_tau is elastic scattering on nucleons. In addition we switch on or off a
variety of processes which allow for the exchange of energy or the creation and
destruction of neutrino pairs, notably nucleon bremsstrahlung, the e^+ e^- pair
annihilation process and nu_e-bar nu_e -> nu_{mu,tau} nu_{mu,tau}-bar, recoil
and weak magnetism in elastic nucleon scattering, elastic scattering on
electrons and positrons and elastic scattering on electron neutrinos and
anti-neutrinos. The least important processes are neutrino-neutrino scattering
and e^+ e^- annihilation. The formation of the spectra and fluxes of nu_mu is
dominated by the nucleonic processes, i.e. bremsstrahlung and elastic
scattering with recoil, but also nu_e nu_e-bar annihilation and nu_mu e^\pm
scattering contribute significantly. When all processes are included, the
spectral shape of the emitted neutrino flux is always ``pinched,'' i.e. the
width of the spectrum is smaller than that of a thermal spectrum with the same
average energy. In all of our cases we find that the average nu_mu-bar energy
exceeds the average nu_e-bar energy by only a small amount, 10% being a typical
number. Weak magnetism effects cause the opacity of nu_mu to differ slightly
from that of nu_mu-bar, translating into differences of the luminosities and
average energies of a few percent. Depending on the density, temperature, and
composition profile, the flavor-dependent luminosities L_{nu_e}$, L_{nu_e-bar},
and L_{nu_mu} can mutually differ from each other by up to a factor of two in
either direction.Comment: 33 pages, 16 eps-figs, submitted to ApJ. Sections added: weak
magnetism, discussion of different analytic fits to the spectra and detailed
spectral shap
Electron Neutrino Pair Annihilation: A New Source for Muon and Tau Neutrinos in Supernovae
We show that in a supernova core the annihilation process nu_e nu_e-bar ->
nu_{mu,tau} nu_{mu,tau}-bar is always more important than the traditional
reaction e^+ e^- -> nu_{mu,tau} nu_{mu,tau}-bar as a source for muon and tau
neutrino pairs. We study the impact of the new process by means of a Monte
Carlo transport code with a static stellar background model and by means of a
self-consistent hydrodynamical simulation with Boltzmann neutrino transport.
Nucleon bremsstrahlung NN -> NN nu_{mu,tau} nu_{mu,tau}-bar is also included as
another important source term. Taking into account nu_e nu_e-bar -> nu_{mu,tau}
nu_{mu,tau}-bar increases the nu_mu and nu_tau luminosities by as much as 20%
while the spectra remain almost unaffected. In our hydrodynamical simulation
the shock was somewhat weakened. Elastic nu_{mu,tau} nu_e and nu_{mu,tau} nu_e
scattering is not negligible but less important than nu_{mu,tau} e^+ or e^-
scattering. Its influence on the nu_{mu,tau} fluxes and spectra is small after
all other processes have been included.Comment: 11 pages, 9 eps-figs, submitted to Ap
Neuroprotective strategies for ischemic strokeâFuture perspectives
Ischemic stroke is the main cause of death and the most common cause of acquired physical disability worldwide. Recent demographic changes increase the relevance of stroke and its sequelae. The acute treatment for stroke is restricted to causative recanalization and restoration of cerebral blood flow, including both intravenous thrombolysis and mechanical thrombectomy. Still, only a limited number of patients are eligible for these time-sensitive treatments. Hence, new neuroprotective approaches are urgently needed. Neuroprotection is thus defined as an intervention resulting in the preservation, recovery, and/or regeneration of the nervous system by interfering with the ischemic-triggered stroke cascade. Despite numerous preclinical studies generating promising data for several neuroprotective agents, successful bench-to-bedside translations are still lacking. The present study provides an overview of current approaches in the research field of neuroprotective stroke treatment. Aside from âtraditionalâ neuroprotective drugs focusing on inflammation, cell death, and excitotoxicity, stem-cell-based treatment methods are also considered. Furthermore, an overview of a prospective neuroprotective method using extracellular vesicles that are secreted from various stem cell sources, including neural stem cells and bone marrow stem cells, is also given. The review concludes with a short discussion on the microbiotaâgutâbrain axis that may serve as a potential target for future neuroprotective therapies
DeepCare: A Deep Dynamic Memory Model for Predictive Medicine
Personalized predictive medicine necessitates the modeling of patient illness
and care processes, which inherently have long-term temporal dependencies.
Healthcare observations, recorded in electronic medical records, are episodic
and irregular in time. We introduce DeepCare, an end-to-end deep dynamic neural
network that reads medical records, stores previous illness history, infers
current illness states and predicts future medical outcomes. At the data level,
DeepCare represents care episodes as vectors in space, models patient health
state trajectories through explicit memory of historical records. Built on Long
Short-Term Memory (LSTM), DeepCare introduces time parameterizations to handle
irregular timed events by moderating the forgetting and consolidation of memory
cells. DeepCare also incorporates medical interventions that change the course
of illness and shape future medical risk. Moving up to the health state level,
historical and present health states are then aggregated through multiscale
temporal pooling, before passing through a neural network that estimates future
outcomes. We demonstrate the efficacy of DeepCare for disease progression
modeling, intervention recommendation, and future risk prediction. On two
important cohorts with heavy social and economic burden -- diabetes and mental
health -- the results show improved modeling and risk prediction accuracy.Comment: Accepted at JBI under the new name: "Predicting healthcare
trajectories from medical records: A deep learning approach
Rights Myopia in Child Welfare
For decades, legal scholars have debated the proper balance of parents\u27 rights and children\u27s rights in the child welfare system. This Article argues that the debate mistakenly privileges rights. Neither parents\u27 rights nor children\u27s rights serve families well because, as implemented, a solely rights-based model of child welfare does not protect the interests of parents or children. Additionally, even if well-implemented, the model still would not serve parents or children because it obscures the important role of poverty in child abuse and neglect and fosters conflict rather than collaboration between the state and families. In lieu of a solely rights-based model, this Article proposes a problem-solving model for child welfare and explores one embodiment of such a model, family group conferencing. This Article concludes that a problem-solving model holds significant potential to address many of the profound theoretical and practical shortcomings of the current child welfare system
Benthic carbon mineralization in hadal trenches:assessment by in situ O<sub>2</sub> microprofile measurements
Hadal trenches are considered to act as depo-centers for organic material at the trench axis and host unique and elevated biomasses of living organisms as compared to adjacent abyssal plains. To explore the diagenetic activity in hadal trench environments we quantified in situ benthic O2 consumption rates and sediment characteristics from the trench axis of two contrasting trench systems in the Pacific Ocean; the Izu-Bonin Trench underlying mesotrophic waters and the Tonga Trench underlying oligotrophic waters. In situ oxygen consumption at the Izu-Bonin Trench axis site (9200 m; 746±103 ”mol mâ2 dâ1; n=27) was 3-times higher than at the Tonga Trench axis site (10800 m; 225±50 ”mol mâ2 dâ1; n=7) presumably reflecting the higher surface water productivity in the Northern Pacific. Comparing benthic O2 consumption rates measured in the central hadal Tonga Trench to that of nearby (60 km distance) abyssal settings (6250 m; 92±44 ”mol mâ2 dâ1; n=16) revealed a 2.5 higher activity at the trench bottom. Onboard investigations on recovered sediment furthermore revealed that the prokaryotic abundance and concentrations of phytopigments followed this overall trend (i.e minimum values at the abyssal site followed by higher values from the Tonga and Izu-Bonin Trenches axis, respectively). Excess 210Pb profiles suggested that mass-wasting events contributed to the deposition of material enhancing the concentration of organic matter in the central trench as compared to the abyssal settings. Our results complement recent findings from the Challenger deep in the Mariana Trench area, which also revealed elevated diagenetic activity in the central trench underpinning the importance of hadal ecosystems for the deep sea carbon cycling
Local charge and spin currents in magnetothermal landscapes
A scannable laser beam is used to generate local thermal gradients in
metallic (Co2FeAl) or insulating (Y3Fe5O12) ferromagnetic thin films. We study
the resulting local charge and spin currents that arise due to the anomalous
Nernst effect (ANE) and the spin Seebeck effect (SSE), respectively. In the
local ANE experiments, we detect the voltage in the Co2FeAl thin film plane as
a function of the laser spot position and external magnetic field magnitude and
orientation. The local SSE effect is detected in a similar fashion by
exploiting the inverse spin Hall effect in a Pt layer deposited on top of the
Y3Fe5O12. Our findings establish local thermal spin and charge current
generation as well as spin caloritronic domain imaging
The CoRoT B-type binary HD50230: a prototypical hybrid pulsator with g-mode period and p-mode frequency spacings
B-type stars are promising targets for asteroseismic modelling, since their
frequency spectrum is relatively simple.
We deduce and summarise observational constraints for the hybrid pulsator,
HD50230, earlier reported to have deviations from a uniform period spacing of
its gravity modes. The combination of spectra and a high-quality light curve
measured by the CoRoT satellite allow a combined approach to fix the position
of HD50230 in the HR diagram.
To describe the observed pulsations, classical Fourier analysis was combined
with short-time Fourier transformations and frequency spacing analysis
techniques. Visual spectra were used to constrain the projected rotation rate
of the star and the fundamental parameters of the target. In a first
approximation, the combined information was used to interpret multiplets and
spacings to infer the true surface rotation rate and a rough estimate of the
inclination angle.
We identify HD50230 as a spectroscopic binary and characterise the two
components. We detect the simultaneous presence of high-order g modes and
low-order p and g-modes in the CoRoT light curve, but were unable to link them
to line profile variations in the spectroscopic time series. We extract the
relevant information from the frequency spectrum, which can be used for seismic
modelling, and explore possible interpretations of the pressure mode spectrum.Comment: 26 pages, 12+6 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
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