Harmonic measures and rigidity for surface group actions on the circle

Let $\Gamma$ be a torsion-free lattice of $\operatorname{PSU}(1,1)$. We study rigidity properties of $\Gamma$-actions on the circle $S^1$ via foliated harmonic measures on the suspension bundles. We will show a curvature estimate and a Gauss-Bonnet formula for an $S^1$-connection obtained by taking the average of the flat connection on the suspension bundle with respect to a harmonic measure. As consequences, we give a precise description of the harmonic measure on suspension foliations with maximal Euler number and an alternative proof of rigidity theorems of Matsumoto and Burger-Iozzi-Wienhard.Comment: 22 page. v2, v3: minor corrections. v4: simplified the proof of Claim 4.1 & updated the bibliographic information on Thurston's pape

Significance of ethnic values in the process of the youth self-definition in Northern Caucasus

В статье выявляются факторы, воздействующие на этническую социализацию в поликультурном пространстве Северного Кавказа. Рассматривается специфичность этнической идентичности юности.In this paper factors, affecting the increasing significance of ethnic socialization in policultural space of North Caucasus are considered. The specificity of the youth ethnic identity forming is shown and the necessity of other identity kinds development, allowing to develop constructive forms of intergroup reciprocity is demonstrated

Gene expression in nontumoral liver tissue and recurrence-free survival in hepatitis C virus-positive hepatocellular carcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The goal of this study was to understand gene expression signatures of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurrence in subjects with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Recurrence-free survival (RFS) following curative resection of HCC in subjects with HCV is highly variable. Traditional clinico-pathological endpoints are recognized as weak predictors of RFS. It has been suggested that gene expression profiling of HCC and nontumoral liver tissue may improve prediction of RFS, aid in understanding of the underlying liver disease, and guide individualized patient management. Frozen samples of the tumors and nontumoral liver were obtained from 47 subjects with HCV-associated HCC. Additional nontumoral liver samples were obtained from HCV-free subjects with metastatic liver tumors. Gene expression profiling data was used to determine the molecular signature of HCV-associated HCC and to develop a predictor of RFS.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The molecular profile of the HCV-associated HCC confirmed central roles for MYC and TGFβ1 in liver tumor development. Gene expression in tumors was found to have poor predictive power with regards to RFS, but analysis of nontumoral tissues yielded a strong predictor for RFS in late-recurring (>1 year) subjects. Importantly, nontumoral tissue-derived gene expression predictor of RFS was highly significant in both univariable and multivariable Cox proportional hazard model analyses.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Microarray analysis of the nontumoral tissues from subjects with HCV-associated HCC delivers novel molecular signatures of RFS, especially among the late-recurrence subjects. The gene expression predictor may hold important insights into the pathobiology of HCC recurrence and <it>de novo </it>tumor formation in cirrhotic patients.</p

Thermal Probe Measurements of Energy Flux onto a Substrate in Inductively Coupled Plasmas

ナノダイナミクス国際シンポジウム 平成22年1月21日(木) 於長崎大学Nagasaki Symposium on Nano-Dynamics 2010 (NSND2010), January 21, 2010, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan, Invited Lectur

A Ly-alpha Emitter with an Extremely Large Rest-frame Equivalent Width of ~900A at z=6.5: A Candidate of Population III-dominated Galaxy?

We have identified a very interesting Ly-alpha emitter, whose Ly-alpha emission line has an extremely large observed equivalent width of EW_0=436^{+422}_{-149}A, which corresponds to an extraordinarily large intrinsic rest-frame equivalent width of EW_0^{int}=872^{+844}_{-298}A after the average intergalactic absorption correction. The object was spectroscopically confirmed to be a real Ly-alpha emitter by its apparent asymmetric Ly-alpha line profile detected at z=6.538. The continuum emission of the object was definitely detected in our deep z'-band image; thus, its EW_0 was reliably determined. Follow-up deep near-infrared spectroscopy revealed emission lines of neither He II lambda1640 as an apparent signature of Population III, nor C IV lambda1549 as a proof of active nucleus. No detection of short-lived He II lambda1640 line is not necessarily inconsistent with the interpretation that the underlying stellar population of the object is dominated by Population III. We found that the observed extremely large EW_0 of the Ly-alpha emission and the upper limit on the EW_0 of the He II lambda1640 emission can be explained by population synthesis models favoring a very young age less than 2-4Myr and massive metal-poor (Z<10^{-5}) or even metal-free stars. The observed large EW_0 of Ly-alpha is hardly explained by Population I/II synthesis models with Z>10^{-3}. However, we cannot conclusively rule out the possibility that this object is composed of a normal stellar population with a clumpy dust distribution, which could enhance the Ly-alpha EW_0, though its significance is still unclear.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

Deposition of transparent conducting Al-doped ZnO thin films by ICP-assisted sputtering

Aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) is one of the promising transparent conductive oxide materials, which is expected to be an alternative to tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) that for long has been widely used in industry. The authors have been engaged in the development of AZO deposition process using inductively-coupled plasma assisted sputtering in a couple of years. This paper reports the results showing effectiveness of inductively coupled plasma (ICP) assisted sputtering in AZO film deposition process.2010 IEEE Region 10 Conference (TENCON 2010) : Fukuoka, 2010.11.21-2010.11.2