541 research outputs found
Editorial: Muscle and Tendon Plasticity and Interaction in Physiological and Pathological Conditions
Near threshold eta meson production in the d+d->alpha+eta reaction
The d+d->alpha+eta reaction has been investigated near threshold using the
ANKE facility at COSY-Juelich. Both total and differential cross sections have
been measured at two excess energies, Q=2.6 MeV and 7.7 MeV, with a
subthreshold measurement being undertaken at Q=-2.6 MeV to study the physical
background. While consistent with isotropy at the lower energy, the angular
distribution reveals a pronounced anisotropy at the higher one, indicating the
presence of higher partial waves. Options for the decomposition into partial
amplitudes and their consequences for determination of the s-wave eta-alpha
scattering length are discussed.Comment: 8pp, fig.3 added, normalisation in eq.4.1 correcte
Simplified Triceps Surae Muscle Volume Assessment in Older Adults
Triceps surae (TS) muscle volume can be estimated in young adults by only considering the maximal anatomical cross-sectional area (ACSAmax) and the length of the muscle due to the presence of a constant muscle-specific shape factor. This study aimed to investigate if this simplified muscle volume assessment is also applicable in older adults or if muscle-specific shape changes with aging. MRI sequences were taken from the dominant leg of 21 older female adults. The boundaries of all three TS muscles (SOL, soleus; GM, gastrocnemius medialis; GL, gastrocnemius lateralis) were manually outlined in transverse image sequences, and muscle volume for each muscle was calculated as the integral of the obtained cross-sectional areas of the contours along the whole length of the muscle (measured volume) and, in addition, by using the average muscle-specific shape factors of each muscle obtained from the ratio of the measured volume and the product of ACSAmax and the muscle length (estimated volume). There were no differences in the measured and estimated muscle volumes (SOL: 357.7 ± 61.8 vs. 358.8 ± 65.3 cm3; GM: 179.5 ± 32.8 vs. 179.8 ± 33.3 cm3; GL: 90.2 ± 15.9 vs. 90.4 ± 14.8 cm3). However, when using the reported shape factors of younger adults instead, we found a significant (p < 0.05) overestimation of muscle volume for SOL and GM with average RMS differences of 6.1 and 7.6%, respectively. These results indicate that corrections of muscle-specific shape factors are needed when using the previously proposed simplified muscle volume assessment as aging may not only be accompanied with muscle atrophy but also changes in the shape of skeletal muscle
New determination of the mass of the eta meson at COSY-ANKE
A value for the mass of the eta meson has been determined at the COSY-ANKE
facility through the measurement of a set of deuteron laboratory beam momenta
and associated 3He center-of-mass momenta in the d+p -> 3He+X reaction. The eta
was then identified by the missing-mass peak and the production threshold
determined. The individual beam momenta were fixed with a relative precision of
3 x 10^-5 for values around 3 GeV/c by using a polarized deuteron beam and
inducing an artificial depolarizing spin resonance, which occurs at a
well-defined frequency. The final-state momenta in the two-body d+p -> 3He+eta
reaction were investigated in detail by studying the size of the 3He momentum
ellipse with the forward detection system of the ANKE spectrometer. Final
alignment of the spectrometer for this high precision experiment was achieved
through a comprehensive study of the 3He final-state momenta as a function of
the center-of-mass angles, taking advantage of the full geometrical acceptance.
The value obtained for the mass, m(eta)=(547.873 +- 0.005(stat) +- 0.027(syst))
MeV/c^2, is consistent and competitive with other recent measurements, in which
the meson was detected through its decay products.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables, published versio
Kaon Pair Production in Proton--Proton Collisions
The differential and total cross sections for kaon pair production in the
pp->ppK+K- reaction have been measured at three beam energies of 2.65, 2.70,
and 2.83 GeV using the ANKE magnetic spectrometer at the COSY-Juelich
accelerator. These near-threshold data are separated into pairs arising from
the decay of the phi-meson and the remainder. For the non-phi selection, the
ratio of the differential cross sections in terms of the K-p and K+p invariant
masses is strongly peaked towards low masses. This effect can be described
quantitatively by using a simple ansatz for the K-p final state interaction,
where it is seen that the data are sensitive to the magnitude of an effective
K-p scattering length. When allowance is made for a small number of phi events
where the K- rescatters from the proton, the phi region is equally well
described at all three energies. A very similar phenomenon is discovered in the
ratio of the cross sections as functions of the K-pp and K+pp invariant masses
and the identical final state interaction model is also very successful here.
The world data on the energy dependence of the non-phi total cross section is
also reproduced, except possibly for the results closest to threshold.Comment: 12 two-column pages, 12 figures, 1 tabl
Absence of spin dependence in the final state interaction of the d(pol) p --> 3He eta reaction
The deuteron tensor analysing power t_{20} of the d(pol) p --> 3He eta
reaction has been measured at the COSY-ANKE facility in small steps in excess
energy Q up to Q = 11 MeV. Despite the square of the production amplitude
varying by over a factor of five through this range, t_{20} shows little or no
energy dependence. This is evidence that the final state interaction causing
the energy variation is not influenced by the spin configuration in the
entrance channel. The weak angular dependence observed for t_{20} provides
useful insight into the amplitude structure near threshold.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
The Near-Threshold Production of Phi Mesons in pp Collisions
The pp->pp phi reaction has been studied at the Cooler Synchrotron
COSY-Juelich, using the internal beam and ANKE facility. Total cross sections
have been determined at three excess energies epsilon near the production
threshold. The differential cross section closest to threshold at epsilon=18.5
MeV exhibits a clear S-wave dominance as well as a noticeable effect due to the
proton-proton final state interaction. Taken together with data for pp
omega-production, a significant enhancement of the phi/omega ratio of a factor
8 is found compared to predictions based on the Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka rule.Comment: 4 Pages, 3 Figures, 1 Table, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
TVB-EduPack: An interactive learning and scripting platform for The Virtual Brain
The Virtual Brain (TVB; thevirtualbrain.org) is a neuroinformatics platform for full brain network simulation based on individual anatomical connectivity data. The framework addresses clinical and neuroscientific questions by simulating multi-scale neural dynamics that range from local population activity to large-scale brain function and related macroscopic signals like electroencephalography and functional magnetic resonance imaging. TVB is equipped with a graphical and a command-line interface to create models that capture the characteristic biological variability to predict the brain activity of individual subjects. To enable researchers from various backgrounds a quick start into TVB and brain network modeling in general, we developed an educational module: TVB-EduPack. EduPack offers two educational functionalities that seamlessly integrate into TVB's graphical user interface (GUI): (i) interactive tutorials introduce GUI elements, guide through the basic mechanics of software usage and develop complex use-case scenarios; animations, videos and textual descriptions transport essential principles of computational neuroscience and brain modeling; (ii) an automatic script generator records model parameters and produces input files for TVB's Python programming interface; thereby, simulation configurations can be exported as scripts that allow flexible customization of the modeling process and self-defined batch- and post-processing applications while benefitting from the full power of the Python language and its toolboxes. This article covers the implementation of TVB-EduPack and its integration into TVB architecture. Like TVB, EduPack is an open source community project that lives from the participation and contribution of its users. TVB-EduPack can be obtained as part of TVB from thevirtualbrain.org
Lineshape of the Lambda(1405) Hyperon Measured Through its Sigma0 pion0 Decay
The pp -> p K+ Y0 reaction has been studied for hyperon masses m(Y0)<1540
MeV/c2 at COSY-Juelich by using a 3.65 GeV/c circulating proton beam incident
on an internal hydrogen target. Final states comprising two protons, one
positively charged kaon and one negatively charged pion have been identified
with the ANKE spectrometer. Such configurations are sensitive to the production
of the ground state Lambda and Sigma0 hyperons as well as the Sigma0(1385) and
Lambda(1405) resonances. Applying invariant- and missing-mass techniques, the
two overlapping excited states could be well separated, though with limited
statistics. The shape and position of the Lambda(1405) distribution,
reconstructed cleanly in the Sigma0 pion0 channel, are similar to those found
from other decay modes and there is no obvious mass shift. This finding
constitutes a challenging test for models that predict Lambda(1405) to be a
two-state resonance.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Lett.
Near-threshold production of omega mesons in the pn -> d omega reaction
The first measurement of the p n -> d omega total cross section has been
achieved at mean excess energies of Q = 28 and 57 MeV by using a deuterium
cluster-jet target. The momentum of the fast deuteron was measured in the ANKE
spectrometer at COSY-Juelich and that of the slow "spectator" proton p(sp) from
the p d -> p(sp) d omega reaction in a silicon telescope placed close to the
target. The cross sections lie above those measured for p p -> p p omega but
seem to be below theoretical predictions.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures; second approach to describe the background has
been added; results changed insignificantly, EPJ in pres
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