2,139 research outputs found
Enigma of ultraluminous X-ray sources may be resolved by 3D-spectroscopy (MPFS data)
The ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) were isolated in external galaxies for
the last 5 years. Their X-ray luminosities exceed 100-10000 times those of
brightest Milky Way black hole binaries and they are extremely variable. There
are two models for the ULXs, the best black hole candidates. 1. They are
supercritical accretion disks around a stellar mass black hole like that in
SS433, observed close to the disk axes. 2. They are Intermediate Mass Black
Holes (of 100-10000 solar masses). Critical observations which may throw light
upon the ULXs nature come from observations of nebulae around the ULXs. We
present results of 3D-spectroscopy of nebulae around several ULXs located in
galaxies at 3-6 Mpc distances. We found that the nebulae to be powered by their
central black holes. The nebulae are shocked and dynamically perturbed probably
by jets. The nebulae are compared with SS433 nebula (W50).Comment: Proceedings of the ESO and Euro3D Workshop "Science Perspectives for
3D Spectroscopy", Garching (Germany), October 10-14, 2005. M. Kissler-Patig,
M.M. Roth and J.R. Walsh (eds.
Automated phenotyping of mosquito larvae enables high-throughput screening for novel larvicides and offers potential for smartphone-based detection of larval insecticide resistance
Pyrethroid-impregnated nets have contributed significantly to halving the burden of malaria but resistance threatens their future efficacy and the pipeline of new insecticides is short. Here we report that an invertebrate automated phenotyping platform (INVAPP), combined with the algorithm Paragon, provides a robust system for measuring larval motility in Anopheles gambiae (and An. coluzzi) as well as Aedes aegypti with the capacity for high-throughput screening for new larvicides. By this means, we reliably quantified both time- and concentration-dependent actions of chemical insecticides faster than using the WHO standard larval assay. We illustrate the effectiveness of the system using an established larvicide (temephos) and demonstrate its capacity for library-scale chemical screening using the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) Pathogen Box library. As a proof-of-principle, this library screen identified a compound, subsequently confirmed to be tolfenpyrad, as an effective larvicide. We have also used the INVAPP / Paragon system to compare responses in larvae derived from WHO classified deltamethrin resistant and sensitive mosquitoes. We show how this approach to monitoring larval response to insecticides can be adapted for use with a smartphone camera application and therefore has potential for further development as a simple portable field-assay with associated real-time, geo-located information to identify hotspots
Australian tertiary learning and teaching scholarship and research 2007-2012
Research into Higher Education is strongly supported in Australia by journals and conferences. Teaching and learning awards, projects and programmes in Australia have gained a significantly larger profile over the last five years thanks, in part, to an imaginative and supportive environment fostered by the federal government through the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) and now the Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT)
Angular Conditions,Relations between Breit and Light-Front Frames, and Subleading Power Corrections
We analyze the current matrix elements in the general collinear (Breit)
frames and find the relation between the ordinary (or canonical) helicity
amplitudes and the light-front helicity amplitudes. Using the conservation of
angular momentum, we derive a general angular condition which should be
satisfied by the light-front helicity amplitudes for any spin system. In
addition, we obtain the light-front parity and time-reversal relations for the
light-front helicity amplitudes. Applying these relations to the spin-1 form
factor analysis, we note that the general angular condition relating the five
helicity amplitudes is reduced to the usual angular condition relating the four
helicity amplitudes due to the light-front time-reversal condition. We make
some comments on the consequences of the angular condition for the analysis of
the high- deuteron electromagnetic form factors, and we further apply the
general angular condition to the electromagnetic transition between spin-1/2
and spin-3/2 systems and find a relation useful for the analysis of the
N- transition form factors. We also discuss the scaling law and the
subleading power corrections in the Breit and light-front frames.Comment: 24 pages,2 figure
Photoassociation inside an optical dipole trap: absolute rate coefficients and Franck-Condon factors
We present quantitative measurements of the photoassociation of cesium
molecules inside a far-detuned optical dipole trap. A model of the trap
depletion dynamics is derived which allows to extract absolute photoassociation
rate coefficients for the initial single-photon photoassociation step from
measured trap-loss spectra. The sensitivity of this approach is demonstrated by
measuring the Franck-Condon modulation of the weak photoassociation transitions
into the low vibrational levels of the outer well of the 0g- state that
correlates to the 6s+6p3/2 asymptote. The measurements are compared to
theoretical predictions. In a magneto-optical trap these transitions have
previously only been observed indirectly through ionization of ground state
molecules
Tumor-homing cytotoxic human induced neural stem cells for cancer therapy
Engineered neural stem cells (NSCs) are a promising approach to treating glioblastoma (GBM). The ideal NSC drug carrier for clinical use should be easily isolated and autologous to avoid immune rejection. We transdifferentiated (TD) human fibroblasts into tumor-homing early-stage induced NSCs (h-iNSCTE), engineered them to express optical reporters and different therapeutic gene products, and assessed the tumor-homing migration and therapeutic efficacy of cytotoxic h-iNSCTE in patient-derived GBM models of surgical and nonsurgical disease. Molecular and functional analysis revealed that our single-factor SOX2 TD strategy converted human skin fibroblasts into h-iNSCTE that were nestin+ and expressed pathways associated with tumor-homing migration in 4 days. Time-lapse motion analysis showed that h-iNSCTE rapidly migrated to human GBM cells and penetrated human GBM spheroids, a process inhibited by blockade of CXCR4. Serial imaging showed that h-iNSCTE delivery of the proapoptotic agent tumor necrosis factor-A-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) reduced the size of solid human GBM xenografts 250-fold in 3 weeks and prolonged median survival from 22 to 49 days. Additionally, h-iNSCTE thymidine kinase/ganciclovir enzyme/prodrug therapy (h-iNSCTE-TK) reduced the size of patient-derived GBM xenografts 20-fold and extended survival from 32 to 62 days. Mimicking clinical NSC therapy, h-iNSCTE-TK therapy delivered into the postoperative surgical resection cavity delayed the regrowth of residual GBMs threefold and prolonged survival from 46 to 60 days. These results suggest that TD of human skin into h-iNSCTE is a platform for creating tumor-homing cytotoxic cell therapies for cancer, where the potential to avoid carrier rejection could maximize treatment durability in human trials
Diffusion of particles moving with constant speed
The propagation of light in a scattering medium is described as the motion of
a special kind of a Brownian particle on which the fluctuating forces act only
perpendicular to its velocity. This enforces strictly and dynamically the
constraint of constant speed of the photon in the medium. A Fokker-Planck
equation is derived for the probability distribution in the phase space
assuming the transverse fluctuating force to be a white noise. Analytic
expressions for the moments of the displacement along with an
approximate expression for the marginal probability distribution function
are obtained. Exact numerical solutions for the phase space
probability distribution for various geometries are presented. The results show
that the velocity distribution randomizes in a time of about eight times the
mean free time () only after which the diffusion approximation becomes
valid. This factor of eight is a well known experimental fact. A persistence
exponent of is calculated for this process in two dimensions
by studying the survival probability of the particle in a semi-infinite medium.
The case of a stochastic amplifying medium is also discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures(Submitted to Phys. Rev. E
Ground-based observations of Saturn’s auroral ionosphere over three days:trends in H3+ temperature, density and emission with Saturn local time and planetary period oscillation
On 19–21 April 2013, the ground-based 10-m W.M. Keck II telescope was used to simultaneously measure View the MathML sourceH3+ emissions from four regions of Saturn’s auroral ionosphere: (1) the northern noon region of the main auroral oval; (2) the northern midnight main oval; (3) the northern polar cap and (4) the southern noon main oval. The View the MathML sourceH3+ emission from these regions was captured in the form of high resolution spectral images as the planet rotated. The results herein contain twenty-three View the MathML sourceH3+ temperatures, column densities and total emissions located in the aforementioned regions – ninety-two data points in total, spread over timescales of both hours and days. Thermospheric temperatures in the spring-time northern main oval are found to be cooler than their autumn-time southern counterparts by tens of K, consistent with the hypothesis that the total thermospheric heating rate is inversely proportional to magnetic field strength. The main oval View the MathML sourceH3+ density and emission is lower at northern midnight than it is at noon, in agreement with a nearby peak in the electron influx in the post-dawn sector and a minimum flux at midnight. Finally, when arranging the northern main oval View the MathML sourceH3+ parameters as a function of the oscillation period seen in Saturn’s magnetic field – the planetary period oscillation (PPO) phase – we see a large peak in View the MathML sourceH3+ density and emission at ∼115° northern phase, with a full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of ∼44°. This seems to indicate that the influx of electrons associated with the PPO phase at 90° is responsible at least in part for the behavior of all View the MathML sourceH3+ parameters. A combination of the View the MathML sourceH3+ production and loss timescales and the ±10° uncertainty in the location of a given PPO phase are likely, at least in part, to be responsible for the observed peaks in View the MathML sourceH3+ density and emission occurring at a later time than the peak precipitation expected at 90° PPO phase
Current in the light-front Bethe-Salpeter formalism II: Applications
We pursue applications of the light-front reduction of current matrix
elements in the Bethe-Salpeter formalism. The normalization of the reduced wave
function is derived from the covariant framework and related to non-valence
probabilities using familiar Fock space projection operators. Using a simple
model, we obtain expressions for generalized parton distributions that are
continuous. The non-vanishing of these distributions at the crossover between
kinematic regimes (where the plus component of the struck quark's momentum is
equal to the plus component of the momentum transfer) is tied to higher Fock
components. Moreover continuity holds due to relations between Fock components
at vanishing plus momentum. Lastly we apply the light-front reduction to
time-like form factors and derive expressions for the generalized distribution
amplitudes in this model.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, RevTex
Perturbative QCD and factorization of coherent pion photoproduction on the deuteron
We analyze the predictions of perturbative QCD for pion photoproduction on
the deuteron, gamma D -> pi^0 D, at large momentum transfer using the reduced
amplitude formalism. The cluster decomposition of the deuteron wave function at
small binding only allows the nuclear coherent process to proceed if each
nucleon absorbs an equal fraction of the overall momentum transfer.
Furthermore, each nucleon must scatter while remaining close to its mass shell.
Thus the nuclear photoproduction amplitude, M_{gamma D -> pi^0 D}(u,t),
factorizes as a product of three factors: (1) the nucleon photoproduction
amplitude, M_{gamma N_1 -> pi^0 N_1}(u/4,t/4), at half of the overall momentum
transfer, (2) a nucleon form factor, F_{N_2}(t/4), at half the overall momentum
transfer, and (3) the reduced deuteron form factor, f_d(t), which according to
perturbative QCD, has the same monopole falloff as a meson form factor. A
comparison with the recent JLAB data for gamma D -> pi^0 D of Meekins et al.
[Phys. Rev. C 60, 052201 (1999)] and the available gamma p -> pi^0 p data shows
good agreement between the perturbative QCD prediction and experiment over a
large range of momentum transfers and center of mass angles. The reduced
amplitude prediction is consistent with the constituent counting rule, p^11_T
M_{gamma D -> pi^0 D} -> F(theta_cm), at large momentum transfer. This is found
to be consistent with measurements for photon lab energies E_gamma > 3 GeV at
theta_cm=90 degrees and \elab > 10 GeV at 136 degrees.Comment: RevTeX 3.1, 17 pages, 6 figures; v2: incorporates minor changes as
version accepted by Phys Rev
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